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.

Grade 8 curriculum: History

The Age of Revolution
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.

'An overview of world history from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, including the French, American and Industrial Revolutions. Kovacs chooses pertinent stories which create a tapestry showing the development of humankind from Medieval times, when every person had their place in the hierarchy of society, to the awakening of individualism in modern times.'


Rebellions

1. Spain and Holland
2. The Dutch Rebellion
3. The Siege of Leyden
4. The Divine Rights of Kings
5. Charles I
6. Chromwell and the Civil War
7. The execution of Charles
8. England and Scotland
9. The Lord Protector
10. The Restoration
11. The Merry Monarch
12. The Plague and the Great Fire
13. The Glorious Revolution
14. Union of 1707
15. The Jacobite Rebellion
16. Past and Future: Russia and Germany

The French Revolution

17. The Huguenots
18. Le Roi Soleil
19. Versailles
20. Banking
21. Louis XV
22. The Count of Saint Germain
23. Rousseau, Voltaire and the Aristocrats
24. The American War of Independence
25. Louis XVI. The Three Estates.
26. Liberty - Equality - Fraternity
27. The Tuileries
28. Danton, Robespierre
29. The Reign of Terror
30. Napoleon
31. Egypt
32. Emperor Napoleon and Trafalgar
33. Austerlitz
34. Elab, Waterloo

The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

35. The Threefold State
36. The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution
37. The Arrival of Steam Power
38. The Locomotive
39. The Proletarians
40. Liberty and Economics
41. Robert Owen
42. The workers' Struggle
43. Robert Clive
44. Garibaldi: the Early Years
45. Garibaldi and the Unification of Italy
46. Henry Dunant
47. Abraham Lincoln
48. Tsar Alexander II
49. Bismarck
50. The Turn of the Century
51. The First World War
52. The Rise of Nationalism
53. The Second World War
54. Prospects

I will be teaching this as three main lessons, three weeks each as the book has been divided so nicely for it.

Grade 7 & 8 curriculum: Natural science / Biology

Muscles and Bones
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 is an overview of human physiology and anatomy, including health and hygiene.'

Health and the Human Body

1. Uprightness and the spine
2. Posture and Walking
3. Head, Trunk and Limbs
4. Sleep
5. The Skin
6. Care of the Skin
7. The Four Elements and the Body
8. The changing Solid Body
9. Regulating Warmth
10. Warmth and Clothing
11. Digestion
12. Teeth and Saliva
13. Food
14. Bread
15. The Quality of food
16. Drugs, Coffee and Alcohol

Physiology

17. Dr Harvey and Blood Circulation
18. The Threefold Human Being
19. The Three Cavities of the Body
20. Digestion and the Stomach
21. Digestion and the intestines
22. Breathing
23. Breathing and the Blood
24. Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
25. Blood Circulation, lives and kidneys
26. The Healing Power of blood
27. The Heart
28. The Nervous System
29. The Eye
30. The Ear
31. Balance, Taste and Other Senses
32. The Brain
33. The Brain and the Spinal Cord
34. The Threefold Human Being

Muscles and Bones: Anatomy

35. Calcium and the Bones
36. The Structure of the Bones
37. The Joints and the Bones
38. The Spine and the Vertebrae
39. The Spine and balance
40. More Correspondences
41. Carrying the Weight of our Body
42. Walking
43. The Hand
44. The Muscles
45. Voluntary and Involuntry Muscles
46. Human and Animal Skulls
47. The Shape of the Skull
48. Human Beings and Animals