Our year, two: schooling

This year has been a bit disjointed with schooling. With packing up a house, moving etc, it hasn't been easy to keep a routine going. But, we have finished our year and that is all that matters.

This year Caleb has done:

• Grade 8 Waldorf
• Exploring Creation through General Science.
• He has done the first 4 modules of 'Exploring Creation through Physical Science'.
• Math-u-see Pre Algebra and has finished a third of Algebra 1.
• He has finished Llatl Green book.
• Train your brain, South African english.
• We are working on Afrikaans, using 'Pret met Afrikaans'.

He has done art and music with other teachers which is great for him and gives me a break:

• Music theory Grade 1, Trinity.(We are waiting for his marks)
• Piano practical, Intro Grade, Trinity: 78% Merit.
• Arts and craft at the Tygerberg Art Centre.
• Junior Rangers: level 3.
• Scouts: he completed Adventurer and is almost finished First Class. He was appointed as a Patrol leader and is working on his badges that go towards his 3 explorers and 3 cords!
• Bronze Presidential award, he will have completed this in January.
• Ballroom, hip-hop, african and contemporary dancing.
• Khan Academy: maths and computer programming.

Well, when I look at this list it does seem that he has done quite a lot.

Hannah:

• Grade 6 and7 Waldorf.
• Math-u-see Zeta.
• Llatl tan.
• Afrikaans, Pret met Afrikaans.
• Exploring creation through general science

With other teachers:

• Music theory, Trinity, grade 1, waiting on marks.
• Piano practical, Intro grade, Trinity: 87% distinction.
• Arts and crafts, Tygerberg Art Centre.
• Modern dance grade 1, waiting on marks.
• Scouts: Hannah has a talk with her Scouter and then she has completed her Adventurer award.
• Ballroom, hip-hop, african and contemporary dance.
• Khan Academy: maths and computer programming.

Also a full schedule.

Sheth:

• Llatl red book.
• Math-u-see Delta.
• Little Footprints.
• Waldorf.

• Guitar.
• Piano.

Well all in all a very busy year.

Sabbatical

Hi all

I guess I have taken a sabbatical from writing my blog. It has been a long time!

It has been a very tough year or two and have found life quite difficult.

I have been trying to build a client base for my Thai massage, which is rather difficult as not many people know about it in South Africa. The people who have had Thai massage have had it in Thailand on holiday so they do not understand the long term health benefits. As one of my regular clients said to me last month, "Thai Massage is a way of life".

Caleb is now in High School. He is doing grade 8. He is completing his Waldorf curriculum and then he will be doing Konos How 1. We are also doing Apologia General Science. Hannah is doing the science with us.

Hannah is doing grade 6 at this stage. Sheth is doing grade 3.

I have found schooling difficult in the house we are renting as it is really small. There is no room - I haven't been able to paint a blackboard on the wall and have no space to store one. The eating area is tiny. We have worked in the lounge and kept going obviously, but I have not enjoyed it.

The good news is that we have just bought our own home. A three bedroom, which we will convert into a four bedroom as the one bedroom is 4.5m by 6.5m. This will give is two rooms of 4.5m by 3-ish m.

There is a lounge, dinning room, kitchen, family bathroom and en suit! All this compared to our two bedroom, kitchen/lounge and en suit bathroom that we have now. We also have a granny flat which we will be renting out.

There is lots of work to be done on the new house. I love renovating and building, so we are going to have fun.

More to come soon.

End of year

It is the beginning of November and we as a family are exhausted! As I sit on the couch here and ponder this, I am noticing a pattern over the last four years. By the end of October we get TIRED.

So, taking this into account, I will plan my year next year around it, and start our school holiday the beginning of November. We will start school the first of February like we have done the past two years. This will give the children a three month holiday and me enough time to plan the next school year.

So what have we done this year?

Lets start with Caleb. Caleb has worked hard this year. His spelling has improved greatly. His reading aloud has improved - he still needs to work on it but the growth has been great. Writing has improved - he does not enjoy it but the easier it becomes the more he will enjoy doing it. We have done a good couple of main lessons this year. Starting with a joint main lesson with Hannah:

1. Man and Animal. (4 weeks)
2. Grade 5 Geometry (3 weeks)
3. Man and Animal (3 weeks)
4. Rome (6 weeks) - this was too long and I will make it into two blocks next time
5. Footprints on Our Land (3 months)
6. Geometry (3 weeks)
7. Geology (3 weeks)
8. Physics (3 weeks)
9. We have done maths every day
10. Grammar, English most days

From the creative, hands-on side, he has done woodwork, drama, recorder, piano, scouts, Junior Rangers, pottery, painting, modelling, knitting and cooking.

All in all he has had a very busy year.

Now for Hannah. Hannah seems to find academics easy, so she breezes through that with no problems. Her reading ability is way above average, reading aloud and silently. Her spelling is really good as well. But, when it comes to neatness of handwriting and workbooks, well that is another story! Hannah loves cooking and does about 30 percent of all the cooking in the house. She is learning to tidy as she goes, but again, this is the difficult part.

Main lessons that we have done:

1. Man and Animal. (4 weeks)
2. Form Drawing (3 weeks)
3. Man and Animal (3 weeks)
4. Norse Mythology (4 weeks)
5. Footprints on Our Land (3 months)
6. Norse Mythology (3 weeks)
7. We do maths everyday
8. We do grammar everyday

Hannah does woodwork, drama, piano, recorder. She did girl guides but has chosen to move to scouts. She did pottery, knitting, crocheting and felt making.

Sheth has been learning his alphabet, how to do form drawing, then we have been learning to write. We use block crayons in our main lesson book. We have done some wet on wet painting. We are learning our times tables backwards and forwards. We have also started to learn to read at a slow, steady pace. All in all we have enjoyed our school year.

Well what have I done? I have been the maid, the garden boy, the doctor, the wife, parent and friend. I have been a teacher for grade one, four and six. On top of all that I have studied this year. I have done seven courses:

1. Introduction to Thai Massage
2. Level One of Thai Massage
3. Thai Foot Massage
4. Lomi Lomi Massage Level One
5. Lomi Lomi Massage Level Two
6. Lomi Lomi Massage Level Three
7. Thai Massage Level Two

I have enjoyed this so much that I will keep doing courses next year, studying physiology and anatomy as well. Well to top it all off I have been asked to run and teach at the small local Waldorf school. This took much thought and consideration, and Greg and I have decided that it is not a good option for our family at this stage. I love my massage and want to focus on that!

Well to be earnest, just reading this has made me tired! I can now understand the fullness of our year!

I am definitely cutting Caleb's main lesson blocks next year. I think eight, three to four week main lessons will be appropriate. I will also do Footprints on Our Land with Hannah and Caleb at the end of the year, as the program is already written, so no prep work needed from me.

As you start panicking that you haven't done what you wanted to do this year, write down what you have done and I think you will be surprised.

Relax and enjoy the beautiful weather, your children and your partner.

Grade 6 & 7 curriculum: Natural science / Geology & Astronomy

Geology and Astronomy
by Charles Kovacs

• www.loot.co.za or www.bookdepository.com

Cost is about R100 to R150 depending on the exchange rate. Book Depository does not charge for shipping. Loot shipping is free for orders over R230 so even if the exchange rate is not doing too well, it might still be cheaper to buy from Book Depository if you are getting a single book.

The first part of this book describes the different kinds of rocks, soil and mountains found on our planet, and explores how they came into being. This section deals with the depths of the earth, and the long ages of time.

In contrast, the second part examines the heights of our universe, in the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. There bodies give us our sense of day, month, and year.

Throughout, Kovacs links the phenomena he describes with human experience, how they affect people in different parts of the world.

Geology

1. The Children of the Earth
2. The Story that the Mountains Tell
3. Young and Old Rocks: Granite
4. The First Rocks
5. Volcanic Rocks
6. The Restless Earth
7. Some Different Rocks
8. More about limestone
9. Coal
10. The Work of Water
11. The Circulation of Water
12. Winds
13. Glaciers
14. The Story of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Astronomy

15. The Heart and the Sun
16. The Sun's Daily Movement
17. The Sun During the Year
18. The Calendar
19. Sundials and Time
20. The Circling Stars and the Pole Star
21. The curvature of the Earth
22. Longitude and Latitude
23. The Circle
24. The Stars and Sirius
25. The Daily Movement of Stars and Sun
26. The Zodiac and Procession of the Equinox
27. The Cosmic or Platonic Year
28. The Seven Classical Planets
29. The Moon
30. Tides and Other Lunar Influences
31. Easter
32. The Planets
33. Pythagoras
34. Ptolemy
35. Copernicus
36. Tycho Brahe
37. Johannes Kepler
38. Galileo and the Telescope
39. Through the Telescope
40. Comets and Meteorites
41. The Atmosphere of the Earth

Geology would be taught in grade 6 - I would do a three week block for this - and astronomy in grade 7 - this would be about a six week block.

Grade 6 curriculum: Ancient Rome.

Ancient Rome
 by Charles Kovacs

• www.loot.co.za or www.bookdepository.com

Cost is about R100 to R150 depending on the exchange rate. Book Depository does not charge for shipping. Loot shipping is free for orders over R230 so even if the exchange rate is not doing too well, it might still be cheaper to buy from Book Depository if you are getting a single book.

'This book includes the most exciting stories of Roman history: the founding of Rome, the early battles against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, Julius Caesar's conquests of Gaul and Britain, Antony and Cleopatra, the decline and fall of the Empire, and the beginning of the Dark Ages.'


From the Foundation of Rome to the time of Marits and Sulla

1. Earlier Civilizations
2. Slavery and the Gift of Christ
3. The Latin people
4. Romulus and Remus
5. The Foundation of Rome
6. The Sabine Woman
7. The Etruscans
8. The Republic of Rome
9. How Horatius Kept the Bridge
10. Patricians and Plebeins
11. Roman Laws and Ways
12. Carthage
13. Hannibal
14. Hannibal Ante Portas!
15. The Destruction of Carthage
16. A Patrician's Home
17. The Plebeians' Home
18. The Cause of the Plebeians
19. Marius
20. The Betrayal of Jugurtha
21. The People from the North
22. Rome is Saved
23. Marius: Public Enemy
24. Marius in Exile
25. Marius' Return
26. The Death of Marius
27. Spartacus

Caesars and Christians

28. Julius Caesar
29. Power
30. Gaul
31. The Celtic People
32. Britain
33. The Rubicon
34. Greetings, O King
35. The Ides of March
36. At Philippi
37. Antony and Cleopatra
38. God on Earth
39. In Palestine and in Rome
40. Caesars and Christians
41. The Arena

Early History of Britain and the Fall of the Roman Empire

42. The Stone Age
43. The Bronze Age
44. The Iron Age
45. Boadicea
46. Alban
47. The Germanic Tribes
48. The Empire Divided
49. The Vision of Constantine
50. The Monks
51. Attila the Hun
52. The Fall of Rome
53. The End of the Empire
54. Angles and Saxons
55. The Bishop of Rome
56. Winfred

Caleb and I are busy with this as our main lesson at the moment. I made it a six week lesson. I will not do this again. I will definitely turn it into two main lessons of four weeks each. Otherwise, we have really enjoyed it.