Saturday, 24 August 2013

HSMJ - Scientific Adventures and Fireworks

In my life this week…
My mom discovered a book written about the life of my great great great great grandparents. I have ordered a copy and am looking forward to reading it.
I'm still trying to get my act together and join The Pebble Pond Beauty Captured challenge ... I was extremely frustrated about a photography course that was touted as being Free turned out to be an advertisement to sign up after the first week...
In our home school this week…
  • This was week four of our five week cycle.  Sir N was sick for three out of the five days.  So we will do a light school week next week to make up for what we missed this week even though it's supposed to be our holiday week.
  • We are enjoying Charlottes Web and Seed Sowers Gospel Planting Adventures 
  • Science this week was a blast.  We went across town (an hour and a half drive one way) to play in a highschool science lab!
  • We had heaps of fun making and playing with HexaFlexagons

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I am inspired by…

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
  • We travelled across town to go to a science class and played with milk, water and soap to explore the properties of surface tension. 
  • Spent the evening in Docklands and went to see the Docklands Fireworks.  Boy was it cold out there!
  • Tennis
  • A birthday party and a mini trip to the zoo
My favorite thing this week was…

What’s working/not working for Me…

Questions/thoughts I have…
  • How on earth do you use Google+ ?  I finally found a way to add a widget with my Google+ account to this blog BUT I realised that for some reason my stuff is not public :(  Please can you tell me how to use it or where I can find a good tutorial for my tired brain ...

Things I’m working on…
  • Applying for positions to review some new products on the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

On My Bedside Table ...
  • I've been reading instruction manuals to use a DSLR camera
In Bloggy world I’m reading…

I’m cooking…
  • same old same old ...

On Pinterest I found...

I’m grateful for…
  • Saints who are faithful prayer warriors and pray for me diligently
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…


Blessings

Chareen


Homegrown Learners Hammock Tracks It's a Wrap

Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

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Thursday, 22 August 2013

HexaFlexagon


Welcome to the Virtual Fridge a weekly art meme where we can hang our children's art on a virtual fridge. This meme was started by Jennifer over at A Glimpse of our Life who kindly invited three other bloggers to take turns hosting this weekly meme.

Your hosts are


This week Sir N and I have been playing with HexaFlexagon's.

A Flexagon is a flat geometric model constructed out of folding strips of paper to form a moveable/flexible shape.  When flexed these shapes reveal different faces/facets of the shape produced. They were discovered by Arthur Stone in 1939.

Over at Aunt Annie's Crafts you can download and print either a patterned, numbered or blank template to colour in. She also has a step by step tutorial.

My nephews school sent home a pdf link to some instructions and templates you can find HERE.


I had a little trouble with folding it so I watched this video which is a step by step on making one from a piece of blank paper without a template.





For an over view and history of the Hexaflexagon is watch this clip. She speaks very fast but it's still interresting.


I have since found out that you can make a TriHexaFlexagon which is a lot easier.

We're having a lot of fun with these.  Do you know of any other mathematical game puzzles along these lines that we could try ?

Blessings
Chareen

I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.

Every bed of Roses

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Tuesday, 20 August 2013

My teaching style goals for 2013/14

Personality wise I am a very strong sanguine with a slight touch of choleric.  This as some of you might know results in a lot of talk but sometimes not quiet enough action!  If I had my way I would love to read read read and make loads of lap packs.  Unfortunately the season of life I am in results in very little energy (I've spent far too much of it on anxious worry as of late.  Yes I'm learning to let go and let God but that my friends is not as easy as it sounds...)

In order to understand teaching styles one also needs to understand learning styles and a multitude of other factors that influence this area of your life as a home school parent.  It's important to note here that learning and teaching styles having nothing to do with intelligence. They are the vehicle by which we impart and receive information.

A few years ago I embarked on a journey of discovery of just how complex we have been created.  It is not my intent to share everything about this topic today, however I shall touch upon a couple of areas and point you to those better equipped to help you understand these vital areas in yours and your child's life before sharing my goals with you.

I first heard about teaching/learning styles around 10 years ago when I attended a conference with Diana Waring.  One of the workshops was titled: Different Strokes for Different Folks.  If you are ever at a conference and this is an available elective I would highly recommend it. Chapter 6 in Beyond Survival (as you can see from the cover of my book it's well loved) covers this topic in detail.

If you look into this huge area of human development you will come across a plethora of ideas.  There is left / right brained, personality,  seven intelligences learning modalities, gender and the list goes on. Bill and Diana did a wonderful job of simplifying the information. In this workshop they used information from the book: Learning Style and Tools.


After doing this particular workshop I came away with a much better insight as to how people learn and how this in turn effects the way we teach.  I am a visual learner.  I am quite happy to watch you do the experiment or read about it in a book.  Sir N however loves to do everything hands on.  Sigh

She recommends the following resources
  1. People Types and Tiger Stripes: Practical Guide to Learning Styles  by Gordon Lawrence
  2. The Way they Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias
  3. Learning Styles by Marlene LeFever
The Seven Learning Styles
I discovered that there is a Learning Styles website where you can read more about the seven learning styles.
  1. Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
  2. Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
  3. Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
  4. Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
  5. Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
  6. Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
  7. Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study
 They also have a FREE learning styles inventory available.

Intelligence's pay a huge role in how our children assimilate information.  I have enjoyed learning about this influence over our children's inbuilt style of learning
 Teaching Styles
  • Formal Authority - Teachers who have a formal authority teaching style tend to focus on content and feels responsible for providing and controlling the flow of the content and the student is expected to receive the content.
  • Demonstrator or Personal Model - This type of teacher acts as a role model by demonstrating skills and processes and then as a coach/guide in helping students develop and apply these skills and knowledge
  • Facilitator - Teachers who have a facilitator model teaching style tend to focus on activities
  • Delegator - This type of teacher will often give students a choice designing and implementing their own complex learning projects and will act in a consultative role.

You can take an online teaching style self evaluation.

For More information
Pinterest

For me I still have a lot more learning to do about this area of education and how it affects my home school.  For now I do know that Sir N enjoys hands on learning, hates writing, and would rather be outside building forts all day.

Seeing as I am not a hands on learner and he is my one goal this year is to pursue a more hands on approach for him so that we can have a more delight directed approach in our homeschool.

My aim over the next six months is to follow this advice from over at The Mom Inititative:

  1. Observe patterns of behaviour. What excites your child, what frustrates them? 
  2.  Listen to the way your child communicates. Listening carefully can teach you how you need to talk to them. 
  3.  Experiment with what works and what doesn’t. Remember that even if an approach to learning doesn’t make sense to you it may work for your children. 
  4. Focus on natural strengths, not weaknesses. You can’t build much on weaknesses, but strengths provide a much better foundation. 
  5. Learn more about learning styles in general. Find out what your own style is and how you can relate to your child’s learning style.
I would love to know your thoughts and how you approach this delicate area in your home school
Blessings

Chareen

This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


This week
 ---ooOoo---


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