Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Dot Point

• school going well, especially in the reading department

• have too many books on my "must read aloud to the kids" list...at this rate I'll still be reading out loud when they're grown-ups.

• the laundry is (partly) under control

• the ironing is not

• neither is the folding

• I don't want to be 40 and fat.  I've got 13 months to do something about it.

• am supposed to be getting a new outfit for a wedding in 9 days time...am not feeling strong enough at the moment to cope with changeroom mirrors

• can't work out when I began the slide from slightly untidy to Stage One in three rooms and stage 2 in one room (yes, it's cryptic, no, I'm not going to explain)

• have come to a sudden realisation that this is NOT normal.  So how come it's acceptable.

• I need to stop whining and do something about it.

• The computer needs to go off for a season

New template = happy teacher

Went hunting last night for (free) homeschooling ideas, planners, templates, calendars, doodads etc and found this site just jam packed with all the templates and ideas a stationery mad homeschooler could desire.  Tucked away on the site was this template.  Perfect for my style of programming, all the work has already been done in setting it up and it looks lovely too.  What more could I ask for?

This week is already planned (in pencil) for both kids in maths, phonics, grammar, handwriting, reading and spelling.  I'm partly planned for history, science, biblical studies, sport, music, for the juniors and craft.

I'm returning to a more structured programme with the essentials in the morning and the  perhaps-not-quite-so-essential after midday.  That's my comfort zone and the kids seem to cope with it ok too.

They've got eight minutes left in their afternoon break.  When they come inside we'll read a chapter of Charlotte's Web, and then get stuck into history and science and finish the school day with some craft.

Pardon my cynicism

Hmmm.

Three years ago the Federal Government ties education funding to the implementation of standardised reports across all states of Australian.  The State Government capitulates without a second thought as to what it will mean for the teachers concerned.  The teachers, me included, protest.  This move would result in the creation of "league tables" with schools being unfairly compared with one another and teachers having their efficiency called into question.

No, no, no we were assured.  League tables were out of the question.  The new reporting system was for the benefit of the students.  It would result in resources being channelled to needy schools, to *support* teachers, not question their efficiency.

Then this news today.  All the results from all the schools on one website.  Ergo, league tables.

Do they think we're stupid?  The writing was on the wall three years ago.  Of course they would result in league tables.  The next step will be questioning the efficiency of the teachers in "underperforming" schools.

I am glad to be out of it, but it makes me tremble for my former colleagues.

STOP PRESS: Teacher arrives home from excursion without headache!

Took the kids on their first official homeschooling excursion (field trip) today. 

We got the train at the local station, changed at Central for the City Circle and arrived at Circular Quay just after 9.30am.

We met up with the homeschooling group at Cadman's Cottage and were taken on a brief walking tour of The Rocks and then we spent the remainder of the morning at The Rocks Discovery Museum.  We're not doing a unit on early Australian History, but we have been looking at the way historians and archaeologists reconstruct the past.  The Rocks has had a number of archaeological "digs" and it was a great opportunity for the kids to see how archaeology works in practice.

We ate lunch overlooking Sydney Cove and watched the ferries come in and out.  We fed the seagulls (of course) and then returned to some of the haunts for a few photos.

My back is sore...two full water bottles in the backpack + lunch + jackets + camera, wallet, phone keys, dettol, tissues, chewing gum etc etc etc, but there's no headache and for that I am unbelievably grateful.

25th - 29th May

This week:

Chickabid - as well as all the schoolwork listed here, Chickabid also finished the NAPLAN assessments in Langauge Conventions, Writing, Reading and Numeracy.

PHONICS Completed work on the four 'o' sounds, completed work on three 'e'e sounds (e as in legs, e as in we and the bossy e), commenced work on the four sounds for 'u' (u as in umbrella, u as in uniform, oo as in pull and oo as in ruler)

MATHEMATICS Completed unit of work on Time focussing on the function of the minute hand, telling the time in 5 minutes intervals, calculating the number of hours and minutes between two set times and beginning to use the terms 'to' and 'past' in referring to the time.

READING Finished reading Toothless and completed four narrations, one for each chapter of the book. 

WRITING Copywork from Downunder copywork book, several narrations (see under subject headings), a procedure (joint construction) for cave paintings

GRAMMAR only one lesson due to NAPLAN  Completed a narration based on the tale of the Hare and the Tortoise

The Duchess -

PHONICS Completed work on the 'u' sounds, completed work on the 'm' sound and commenced the unit on 'p'

MATHEMATICS Completed unit of work on addition statements, commenced the revision section of the book Easy Learn Maths 1A.

READING Read "The Wish Cat" and gave a narration 

WRITING Copywork from Blinky Bill Copywork, several narrations (see under subject headings), a procedure (joint construction) for cave paintings

GRAMMAR Completed a narration based on the tale of the Hare and the Tortoise; worked on proper nouns for grandparents; recited memorised poem.

Together:

MUSIC: 45 minute keyboard lesson, began learning the songs from "I Want My Mummy" - Colin Buchanan

ART: created mock cave paintings which will be finished next week

SPORT: 60 minutes of basketball

HISTORY: Revised what historians and archaeologists can tell us about the past, began learning about the Nomads from approx 5000BC, wrote narrations, commenced cave paintings, did a little research of petroglyphs on the internet.

SCIENCE: commenced unit of work on Mammals to be completed over the next few weeks.

GENERAL KNOWLEGDE: Watched a documentary on how honey is made; wrote narrations describing what was learned.

Tuesday, 19th May, 2009

 PHONICS

Mike:  oo as in shoe, cloze activity using all the o sounds learned so far

Giana:  medial vowels, begin chapter on u

MATHEMATICS

Mike:  Time on the analogue clock

Giana:  Addition using pictures, greater than, less than or equal to

COPYWORK

Mike:  last verse of Hey there, Hoopla by C J Dennis

Giana: letter n and n words

SPELLING

Mike:  o sound as in squash

Giana: Dolch words #5/#6

READING

Mike: Toothless chapter 2 + narration

Giana: Lions and Tigers + narration

GRAMMAR

Mike: Lesson 9 (beginning memorisation of poetry)

Giana:  Lesson 4 Proper nouns are in the family + writing activity

HISTORY

* collect objects for archaeological "dig"

* look through books from Library on Archaeology

SCIENCE: Kingfisher First Book of Animals

Mammals

• narration
• paint outside of "Animals" lapbook
• locate books on home bookshelves related to mammals

Recording our work

I'm recording our daily work and some notes about it on the homeschooling blog (link in sidebar to your left).

Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments, especially if you are a schoolie :)  Does it seem enough/too much/can you follow what we're up to??

Back in the saddle

School starts again today, along with the chore charts, GFS, Mister Bear back at work and NAPLAN preparation.

We've had a long break...about 16 days all together...and it has been a real time of renewal and refreshment.  But as they say all good things must come to an end.

Never work with children or animals II

Ladybaby and I are working on the next chapter in her phonics book "i as in igloo".  The book asks the student to name the picture, and identify if the "i" sound is contained in the middle of the word.

Ladybaby goes fine until we reach the picture of a top.  She's adamant that it has an "i" in the middle and I am equally adamant that it doesn't.

Me: Ladybaby, it's a top... ( I painstakingly sound the word out) T  O  P

Ladybaby:  It's a spinning top.  (She sounds it out equally painstakingly) SP I NNING

At that point I gave up arguing.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have met my match.

Never work with children or animals

We're learning about polar bears.

Chickabid was reading some information about polar bears in preparation for completing a quiz.

Chickabid (reading): Polar bears don't drink water.  Why don't they drink water, Mum?

Me: They get enough water from the food they eat, just like koalas.

Chickabid (incredulous): Polar bears eat koalas?!?!?!?!?!

Me: (slaps forehead)!