Showing posts with label NBTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBTS. Show all posts

Tuesday 28 February 2012

NBTS Week 3 - {Learning Spaces}

Our Worldwide Classroom Welcome to Week 3 of the Aussie NBTS Blog Hop.  This week we are sharing our Learning Spaces for 2012!

In week one you met my three children Mr T, Miss J and Sir N who have all been homeschooled.
In week two I shared the curriculum choices I have made for the year ahead with Sir N.  This inspired me to share a Time Line of my homeschool journey with you.

I have a confession to make (blushing) I had been avoiding this post.  I had popped on over to Our World Wide Classroom and had a look at some of the dedicated learning spaces that  Our Aussie Homeschool, Pumpkin Patch, Our little Homeschool and Educating April had shared and got cold feet showing our space as we do not have dedicated space for homeschooling. Over the weekend I popped back over and had a look at Doves Rest, Home School Dreaming, Defying Gravity, Herding Hobbits!, Acres of Learning, Mansted Family Project and Seven Little Australians and was inspired to tidy up and invite you on in to see where we learn.

Welcome to our Learning Spaces
Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them for a better view.
Sir N's drawing of where he learns.
This picture means a lot to me.  Sir N did not know about this blog hop. He asked me for a piece of paper yesterday to draw.  Quietly sat down and drew me a picture.  He brought it to me and said "This is where I learn ! "

This is a panorama of our living area where 80 % of our learning takes place. The balance is outside and in the community {e.g. Sustainability Expo, Fishing, Ballet, Hanging Rock, Australia Post}

Our lounge is currently occupied with Sir N's Farm !


This is our read aloud space.  If it's cold we hop into bed with a warm doona and read there.  In summer we read here and if the day is not too hot we will hop onto the trampoline or a picnic blanket in the garden. To the left of the chair I have a bookshelf with most of the years Core books and some extra research books.
To the right of the read aloud chair I keep two boxes.  The blue one contains the current read alouds.  The basket contains our library books.

This is our dining room where Sir N sits and does his writing work. The draws to the right of the freezer contain all his pens, pencils and books we are working through. On top of these draws is a terrarium where what ever we have caught in the garden temporarily lives for us to study. We also have some rather unique pets in our home. Being married to a Zoo Keeper means that we get to look at and touch many interesting types of wildlife and get to go to the zoo as often as we like.  Last year we enjoyed Night Zoo.

This is our kitchen where we cook together.  A few months ago I moved the microscope to the kitchen bench. It used to live next to my computer but never got used because we forgot we had it.  It now gets used quite regularly. An example of one of the things we looked at last year is a flea we found on our cat.

I have this wonderful corner display cabinet we keep our treasures and memories and talk about.  It is also a perfect spot for our world globe.

This is our rumpus room which contains five of my seven book shelves.  I am truly blessed. One word of warning to homeschool Mums you do NOT need or have to own this many books to effectively homeschool.  I have this many books because I LOVE books and my husband graciously indulges my delight.
The three identical book shelves on the right are special to me.  My Dad hand made these when we immigrated to Australia.  I was in need of book shelves as the last house we rented had built in book shelves.  I was frustrated over the expense and design of book shelves.  We purchased the wood and my Dad spent hours making these for me. The tallest one contains mainly novels. 

Thank you to all of you who shared your spaces and inspired me to share mine.

Blessings
Chareen



Sunday 19 February 2012

NBTS Blog Hop - {Week 2} Curriculum.

Our Worldwide Classroom Welcome to Week 2 of the Aussie NBTS Blog Hop.  This week we are sharing our curriculum for 2012!

Last week you met my three children Mr T, Miss J and Sir N who have all been homeschooled.  Mr T and Miss J have completed their education with me and the only student I have at present is Sir N.   This is a new experience for me educating an only child so each day is a little different to what I 'know' from then.

Our major family experience will be returning to South Africa for a 10 year Family Reunion in




We will be spending the majority of our time in Hoedspruit which is where Paul and I met, married and were blessed with our first two children.  We are looking forward to some great rest and fellowship with Paul's parents up at Trackers.

This will be a summary of what I would like to do with Sir N this year. For a full breakdown you can have a look at our Curricula for 2012 page.

I would summarise our style as Sonlight at the core and Eclectic. Please note I do not use every single item in it's entirety.  I use what we need and ditch the rest.

For our spine we are using Sonlight Core A with Grade K Readers - 5 - day.  This core is all about Exploring God's big world! It's about aquiring a very broad overview of world history and exploring different cultures. I LOVE my IG (Instructors Guide) it is my saving grace.  It keeps me on track and moving forward because I can take many scenic routes and follow one too many rabbit warrens in my schooling.  You can have the first 3 weeks from Sonlight IG emailed to you just select which Core, Language Arts & Science.

Time Line
Bible

History
Geography
Read Alouds
Readers
Language Arts
Science 
  • Sonlight Science A - 5 Day 
  • Sonlight Science P4/5
  • During our trip to South Africa we will be living on a beautiful game farm with Dave Rushworth who pioneered outward bound education.  He is a fountain of knowledge and a wonderful mentor and amazing naturalist.  I love watching him impart his wisdom and knowledge and look forward to Sir N spending time with him for two months.
  • Paul is a wonderful source of Natural information and generously imparts his love of nature with Sir N daily. (this weekend he found a frog and gecko and brought them in for us to see)
  • I would like to incorporate Nature Journaling this year and spend at least an hour each week outdoors looking at nature (The Outdoor Hour).
Art & Art appreciation
 Music
Math
Notebooking
Handwritting
Whew it's quite a list !  I felt overwhelmed writing it and wanted you to know that we do NOT do everything everyday. More on that in week Four of the Not Back To School Blog Hop.

Writting this list certainly took me down memory lane and inspired me to write a Time line of my homeschool journey.  Come back on Monday and see a little of my journey over the last 15 years in the wonderful world of Home Schooling.  The things that have influenced my choices and kept me moving forward. 

Don't forget to hop over to Our World Wide Classroom and read what other Australian homeschoolers are using this year in their homes.  There are excellent links and summaries so grab a cup of coffee (or two or three ...) and hop around Australia.

Till Thursday when we will all be sharing about our Learning Spaces.

Blessings
Chareen

This post is linking to: Our World Wide Classroom NBTS Blog Hop

Thursday 9 February 2012

NBTS Blog Hop - Introducing My Children

Our Worldwide Classroom Kylie from Our Worldwide Class Room dropped me a note and invited me to join in her Not Back to School Blog Hop

Welcome to our little space in blog land.  I am Chareen, mom to three roses and have been home educating since 1998. This is my first year home educating my youngest.  Our family has been home educating for 14 years.  My eldest attended school for one week and decided it was not a good idea when he was 16. As a family we are eagerly anticipating a trip to South Africa in April it has been 10 years since we have been back.

Week 1:  Meet my children




This is my first born Mr T who is 18.  He was born in Hoedspruit South Africa.

He is 6'4" tall and likes to let me know I am short! (...I am 6')

He is great at computer IT and can make a pc do things that makes my head spin.  He finished school with me a year ago and is currently exploring the greater world to find the right path for himself.

This is my second rose Miss J.  Miss J is South African born and is 16 years old. Miss J has not been to school.

Miss J did 11 years of homeschooling with me and last year attended Carrick Institute where she graduated with a Cert III in Children's Services.

Last year she also started her first job and became an adept Barista and attained her Cert III in Retail.

Today she will be starting her first permanent part time position up at the local Plaza.



This is Sir N whose current passion is fishing with Dad. Sir N is the natural kiwi in the family.  He was born in Christchurch New Zealand and is six years old.

Sir N started official homeschool last year with me and features in this blog quite often.

He likes green and gold and his favourite book this year has been The Box Car Children.

He likes learning about drawing, making snow globes, and building / making things with Dad.

He would like to be a forklift driver (this is his current favourite toy)

His favourite place to go to is Werribee Open Range Zoo and Granny's house.

Looking forward to next weeks topic:

Week 2: Your Curriculum. Your plans for the year, resources you will use etc.

It's not too late to join in the linky is open till 13 Febraury. So please join in the fun :) Be sure to hop on over and meet some fellow homeschoolers blogging around Australia.

Blessings