The Australian Seasons Mnemonic Chart – I designed this to help teach my two youngest the seasons.
Days of the week – Has three wheels the child turns to show the day that corresponds. Yesterday (red wheel), Today (green wheel) and Tomorrow (orange wheel).
WOW... I just had to share this great site! Being very visual learners my kids love to learn by DVD / movie whenever they can and because of that I think I may have just found the site for us. The Great Courses website offers a range of courses that are available on DVD, CD and Audio / Visual download, their full price is a little exuberant but they regularly have sales (sometimes up to 70% off) and I think they may be one of those things that could be a great investment if you have more than one child. They actually have a sale on now; you can see their courses on their site www.shopgreatcourses.com or if you are in Australia like us their Australian site www.shopgreatcourses.com.au I’m seriously going to look into some of their High school and maybe some of their writing courses for my eldest.
Keith’s think Zone – (Math, Science, History, Geography, Language, Art & Music) http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/
Other Greek Alphabet Options Greek Alphabet with pronunciation (free) http://www.akronphitau.org/images/greek_alphabet/greek_alphabet.pdf Greek Alphabet with pronunciation – easier (free) http://www.livingwaterbiblegames.com/greek-alphabet-flash-cards.html Greek Alphabet flash cards (free) http://www.livingwaterbiblegames.com/greek-alphabet-flash-cards.html Learn to write the Greek alphabet worksheet (free) http://www.livingwaterbiblegames.com/greek-alphabet-handwriting.html I had always wanted one of those magnetic whiteboards on wheels like this one here http://empirefurniture.com.au/Shape-Mobile-Whiteboard.aspx?p27550 , but I being budget minded was in no way going to pay that sort of money. I ended up finding two magnetic whiteboards on clearance for a couple of dollars, and then whilst in a local thrift shop several months later I stumbled upon a old portable clothes hanger for $10. I brought it not knowing what I was going to do with it until I got home and spotted the whiteboards, I instantly knew what I wanted to use it for. It only took me half an hour and under $30 and I had created my own portable whiteboard. Here are the building instructions for our double sided magnetic whiteboard.
If your hanger doesn’t have the same ball on either end ours dose you may be able to screw a screw part way in to help hold the whiteboards in place. Attaching the flippable posters.
Many of you know that we have an eclectic learning style and that still hasn’t changed, although over the last year our curriculum has evolved to become mostly student lead. I used to set a large amount of their work for them and use a workbox system (based on Sue Patrick's Workbox System )to help organise their work, for ages it worked really well but last year I started to trust in my children’s desires to learn and gave them more control. This year the kids have almost complete control of their own educations, I say almost complete control because I believe they need to learn that sometimes we have to do things in life that we don’t always like. Each of my children have a subject that they hate (T=mathematics, L & F=Writing), I believe that by strongly encouraging them in the things they consider less desirable they are more likely to become accepting of life’s little ups & downs. Below is a sample of what we have done with the kid’s workboxes. What used to be the kids workboxes have now become communal workboxes, each drawer is dedicated to one subject. I have found this worked extremely well. First it saves us a lot of time filling boxes and second it allows the kids their more natural learning style they crave. As the kids are working they go to the desired drawer and take the objects they want to use and when they are finished they return the item to its drawer. A sample of what’s in the boxes. Magnification drawer Zoology drawer Like many of the other drawers our zoology draw contains family, three part cards, flash cards and quiz cards. Map drawer The map drawer contains a variety of maps, an atlas and a wooden map (has flags with facts about the country on the back). Money drawer Reading drawer Our reading primers are kept in our reading drawer, each of the kids have their own book storage system in their rooms for their books. The reading drawer is just for our beginner reader and will be retired once she progresses past this stage. Music drawer The Music drawer has a variety of music books, flash cards and the Legacy Learn and master Guitar DVD’s. To find a balance that both the kids and I’m happy with took a fair amount of negotiation, the system that we eventually decided would probably work best were a form of task cards. I ended up making three sets of task cards for each child, this works out as one for each month of a class term. At the start of the term I fill out the skills that I want each child to cover for the following three months and divide them so that the skills are spread over the three sets of task cards for each child. When I have completed all of the kids task cards I let them choose which set of cards they wish to complete in each month, taking away each set as it has been completed. It is up to each child how and when in the month that they complete those skills. Example of skill; a child may have measurement on a math skill card, they can then choose how they are going to meet that criteria. 1. They may decide to do some backing and work out how to adjust the amounts in a recipe to make enough for more or less people. 2. They may want to do some worksheets. 3. They may go outsides and measure things (taking notes). 4. They may come up with some other creative way of meeting the requirement. Below is a picture of our blank laminated task cards, I write the required skill studies on them with a dry erase marker. Here is part 2 of our school area; or rather areas as our supplies are spread throughout the house wherever we can find a little spare space. The pictures below are from our main living area. The following pictures are of our enclosed veranda. The shelves in our dining area. | |||||||||||||||||||||



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