Pick a Lock

One of the river features mentioned in The Wind in the Willows is the weir.  It is a very common man-made feature in the rivers here in England, but unless one know what it is, it is unlikely that one will know why it is even mentioned in the book.

It's one thing to learn about weirs at home, it's another to go and see one for ourselves.

 

It's easier to understand the functions of the weir and to marvel at the Victorian engineering when we saw it with our own eyes.  Besides, the environment is beautifully sculptured by the presence of the weir.

When there is a weir on a river, there is almost inevitably going to be a lock somewhere not too far along.  We took a look at the old Victorian versions:

before heading further along to see a more modern version:

When we were by the lock, there were a few boats waiting to cross the lock so we stood there and watched them go by, all the while observing and learning about the workings of a river lock.

Before any boat enters the lock, both ends of the locks.

• We were at the "front end" or entry point of the lock, which was shut (photo 1 above).
• This is to equalise the water level both outside and inside the lock. (photo 2).
• You can see the difference in water levels in photo 3.  It takes about five minutes for the water level to equalise on both sides.

Once the water level equalises on both sides,

• someone from the boat will jump out (usually the boats are moored a short distance away just before the entry lock to wait for water equalisation) and open the lock (photo 1 above).
• Some locks are mechanised.  The one that we were at is manual so the man from the boat had to use his body to push open the entry lock (photo 2).  The lock will not open when the water is not leveled on both sides of the lock because the water pressure on one side will provide too much resistance.
• The waiting boat sails slowly into the lock (photos 3 and 4).
• Usually the boats are parked right up to the exit lock for easy exit (photo 5).
• Someone from the boat will close the entry lock (photo 6).  This is to maintain the water level within the lock while waiting for the water level at the other end to equalised.

• This is the view at the exit lock (photo 1 above).
• The exit lock is loosened slightly after the entry lock has been shut.  This is to allow for water inside the lock to flow out gently to the other side, to bring the water on both sides to the same level (photo 2).
• Once the water level is equalised, the exit lock is again loosened fully (photo 3).
• The exit lock is then opened manually (photo 4).
• This is to let the boat out on the other side smoothly, with the water level being the same in the main river as it is inside the lock (photo 5).
• The boat leaves the lock and goes on its way (photo 6).

You might make more sense of how a canal lock works by looking here, or from watching the clip below:

Usually, when there is a river, there would be a mill nearby to make use of the river's power.  We did not find any working mills along the section of the River Stort where we walked so we read a book about the workings of a mill instead:

A visual look at how the mill works always helps:

We also found the history of mills in Europe to be quite interesting, and unsurprisingly similar to how mills were used in the past in England:

Tiger tried to make a weir on his patch in the garden using mud, sand, and stones.

As shown in the clip below, his idea didn't quite work out because the sand was washed away by the water so it didn't create the cascading effort that he was looking for:

This post is linked up to:

1. History and Geography Meme #90
2. TGIF Linky Party #94
3. Collage Friday - Latin and Fire Pits
4. Entertaining and Educational - September 13
5. Weekly Wrap-up: The One with the Curriculum Update
6. Country Kids: Blackberry Picking
7. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {September 14, 2013}
8. Look What We Did   
9. Weekly Homeschool Review and Resource Link up: September 13
10. Hip Homeschool Hop - 9/17/13

From the Source to the Sea

Since The Wind in the Willows is set by a river (the River Thames), I thought it would be interesting to have a little knowledge about rivers.

We did an experiment to show how water naturally wants to meander (which extends to the bigger scale of a river's meanders).

We went through the "Revise" and "Test" sections here to learn about the physical aspects of the river.  I would advise skipping the "Video" section because, after watching two of the videos, we found them to be unnecessarily dumbed-down and annoyingly insulting to the viewer's intelligence.  We learnt so much more from the documentary below:

In order that Tiger see the physical characteristics of a river from source to mouth, with its beautiful meanders, we went to Cuckmere Valley to see just that of the Cuckmere River. 

Standing at the high point of the valley (where the chalk white horse is located), we could see most of the river.

My camera doesn't take panoramic views so I can only show the meanders to the mouth, but I've taken the clip below to show a better view of most of the river:

This post is linked up to:

1. Hip Homeschool Hop - 9/10/13
2. History and Geography Meme #90
3. TGIF Linky Party #94
4. Collage Friday - Latin and Fire Pits
5. Entertaining and Educational - September 13
6. Weekly Wrap-up: The One with the Curriculum Update
7. Country Kids: Blackberry Picking
8. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {September 14, 2013}
9. Look What We Did 
10. Weekly Homeschool Review and Resource Link up: September 13

2013-2014 Curriculum

Every now and then someone will ask me which school year group Tiger is in.  Since Tiger has always learned at home and we work at his pace in different areas to cater to his asynchronous development, it always takes me a while to answer this question.  To those who follow the traditional school approach, a mother who can't rattle off the school year that her child is supposed to be in instantaneously looks slightly lame.  To make life easier for myself (so that I don't have to go into a discourse of how my son is all over the place in terms of what he is learning), I found the Grade Equivalents table which will no doubt be of enormous help to the next person who asks me this question.  So, for the academic year of September 2013 - July 2014, in the conventional school system, Tiger would be in the equivalent of:

• Year 4 (in UK); or
• Grade 3 (in USA); or
• Primary 4 (in Asia)

Grade level is quite meaningless around here, to say the least, but that'll do for now.

To sum up what I foresee as the way forward for our homeschool in three words: integration, relevance, engagement.

If I saw the previous academic year as a year of change from a structured learning environment to an autonomous environment, the coming academic year will be one of an increased application of the living principle whereby we strive to make more connections among different subject areas.  That also means that we will be slowing down and going into deep learning, rather than skimming over the surface of many areas and ticking boxes to show "achievements".

We shall enjoy the process of learning rather than rushing through anything just to 'get it done'.  Therefore, we may not have a lot to show in the coming year in terms of output -- which is going to be hard for this results-oriented mum -- but that's only because we are switching our focus to the joy of discovery and to obtain a real understanding of whatever we are going to learn.   I don't think learning through discovery can be rushed, certainly not in the same way as spoon-feeding the student with answers or the right formulae can.

A large part of my own growth from the previous year has been to recognise and honour the interconnectedness of various aspects of what we were learning as parts to a whole picture of life, rather than disjointed, artifically-separate "subjects".  As such, I am putting forth a broad scope of what Tiger and I will be covering from September 2013 to July 2014 in themes rather than specific curricula materials.  If our Marco Polo study is an indication of the scope that we can achieve for a topic/theme, then it makes more sense for me to plan in terms of broad themes. 

1. The Wind in the Willows (finishing up from the summer)
2. Marco Polo (carry on from where we have left off before the summer)
   
3. Magic (we'll take time out around Halloween to do this)
4. Explorers (if and when we complete Marco Polo)
5. Mystery (postponed to next summer)
   

Now for the specifics for 2013-2014, where applicable:

1) Language Arts

• Spelling: All About Spelling Level 3

• Grammar: Grammar Games and Activities that Boost Writing Skills

• Literature, Vocabulary, Writing, Poetry

The biggest area of integration for the coming year is in language arts.  Even though we plodded along with grammar, vocabulary and other aspects of language arts last year, it became obvious to me by early spring that a segregation of topics only resulted in busywork for us.  That took the joy out of what should be an enjoyable learning journey, since Tiger loves languages.  Therefore, this year I am going to adopt the Brave Writer Lifestyle, and slowly work towards a fully integrated language arts programme via The Writer's Jungle.  This book contains many gems that can seem overwhelming to implement all at once, so I am taking my time to introduce one element at a time.  For the specifics, we will be using

1. Friday Freewrite
2. Poetry Teatime
3. Nature Journaling
4. Partnership Writing
5. fortnightly drama class*
6. monthly literature and creative writing club*
   

2) Other Languages

• Chinese: Details in Planning: Foreign Language.

• Latin:  

1. Cambridge Latin Course 1
2. Latin for Children Primer A 

 

3) History, Geography, Maths, Craft, Science, and Nature Study

• theme-based study using various resources
• weekly general science class*
  
• weekly chess club* 
• monthly Young Archaeologists Club*
  

4) Art
Details in Planning: Art.


5) Music
Details in Planning: Music.

6) Sports

• weekly tennis club*
• monthly swimming

7) Life Skills

Details in Planning: Life Skills - Cooking.


* external classes


This post is linked up to the iHomeschool Network Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week 2013.


**Update in January 2014: Our plans have altered a fair bit at the half-year mark.  Please refer to the termly plans for the changes.

It's September...

Every year, when we see the following, we know it's time to start the new academic year:

We've had a really good summer this year and we really don't want it to end.  We want to extend the times to lose oneself in nature,

(Would we still have time now to lose ourselves watching these little creatures?  I think so.)

time to be by the sea,

time to be with (school-going) friends and family,

 

time to just play,

 

and time to bond.

 

I am extending our summer by continuing to work through our Wind in the Willows theme.  And guess what?  I'm not even overly concerned that Tiger isn't starting Year 4 on Monday, September 2nd.

Maybe we've been enjoying the summer to much to really think about making a full-swing start to the new academic year, or perhaps I am getting increasingly relaxed (or just laxed, depending on how you see it) about Tiger's learning process.  There doesn't seem to be a clear cut-off/starting point to mark when learning happens and when it doesn't.  I'm finally understanding and experiencing the term "holistic learning" or what it means to "learn all the time".  The process of learning-all-the-time looks different for each child but it is there if you observe your child with an open heart and an open mind.  I hope each parent recognises that in her child so that no one needs to feel stressed about not keeping up with anyone else (e.g. another child's progress, or the next homeschooling mum's superbly organised lessons, etc).

Meanwhile, we are easing ourselves back from the relaxed pace of summer to lessons.  Homeschooling activities near us have begun in earnest -- if you thought I was organised, you should meet these homeschooling mums!  It is very good to see familiar faces again and to feel the motivation (or pressure?) to get back to work.

This week at home we grew cress.  It was supposed to go into our sandwich, but we decided to put it in soup instead because Tiger decided that he couldn't possibly stomach a cress sandwich.

For someone who has consistently faired poorly at growing plants, I have found growing cress to be highly satisfying.  It is a foolproof way to introduce children (and non-green-finger adults like me) to growing food.  Just look at the results:

Already starting to sprout within an hour of planting.

Day 2 - shoots and leaves!

Day 3 - standing tall.

Day 4 - a cress jungle!!

For someone with little patience and who loves quick results (that's me), watching the cress grow made me feel really successful.  I was almost sorry when we had to harvest them.

Scene of carnage - after harvesting.

This post is linked up to:

1. Entertaining and Educational - September 6
2. Collage Friday - Memory Work Extensions & More
3. TGIF Linky Party #93
4. Weekly Wrap-up: The One Where I Finally Got an iPad
5. Country Kids: A Tree Top Challenge
6. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {September 7, 2013}
7. Hip Homeschool Hop - 9/10/13

Planning: Life Skills - Cooking

One of the new things that we are adding to our homeschool this year is cooking.  While Tiger has baked on-and-off since he was little, with increased consistency encouraged by our introduction to regular poetry teatime, I'd like him to get beyond baking and to learn the real skills of cooking.  Tiger is interested in his food -- both eating and cooking it, so learning how to cook a proper meal is a natural extension to meet his growing need for independence.

After some discussions about what he and I hope to achieve from this, we have come up with the following goals: (1) to be able to cook a decent meal for himself with minimal assistance, and (2) to be able to prepare a family dinner once a week.  By a "decent meal", I mean one that is:

• delicious
• appetising
• nutritious

In order to achieve these goals, Tiger will not only have to learn how to use the utensils in the kitchen, but also learn how to:

1. make a meal plan
2. find the best source of ingredients
3. have a good understanding of the different types of food
4. how to combine them to make the meal appealing to the senses
5. how the different food types affect the human body individually and in different combinations

We will be learning from The Science of Gastronomy, different websites and books, and whatever else we will find along the way (as we inevitably do when we start studying deeply into something).

Julie at Highhill Homeschool shared a great idea of how she incorporates writing into her son's personal cookbook.  I am going to borrow that idea and try it out with Tiger.


This post is linked up to:

1. iHomeschool Network Not Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week 2013
2. Collage Friday - First Week of Foundations
3. TGIF Linky Party #92
4. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Crazy Week
5. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {August 31, 2013}
6. HIp Homeschool Hop - 9/3/13

Planning: Foreign Language

Tiger has been studying Mandarin Chinese now with very slow progress.  We have been using the same level one book for three years and he still hasn't completed it.  Gasp!!!  The slow progress is due to a combination of a lack of exposure as well as my insistence upon him knowing how to write the Chinese characters fluently (a similar process to the English dictation) before moving on to the next lesson.  Tiger progress steadily conversationally but I don't consider him to be literate in this language until he can write it fluently.

The Chinese language is very different from the the English language in terms of sounds, characters, and sentence structures.  I imagine the difficult Tiger is facing is the same as if I were to try to learn the Russian language while residing in Botswana.  It just doesn't seem so relevant to him.

There are many examples of adults of European and African origins who have successfully mastered the Chinese language, so we will not be giving up on learning the language any time soon.  It may take Tiger twelve years to get to the equivalent of a primary school level in Chinese, so be it.  I would be worried about his progress if we were living in China where exposure to the language is in abundance but I realise that we are living in an area in England where we hardly see another Chinese person.  So far, I have been able to prevent Tiger from abandoning the language totally by going at his pace.   The last thing I want is for him to develop a distaste for the language because he is learning it in an environment with very little readily available, real-life exposure to the language and its usage.

To improve Tiger's reading ability, I have him read one basic reader (simliar to the English learn-to-read type books) to me each day.

As Tiger has been using these same books for several years, he is able to read them quite fluently.  Hence, I have raised the bar slightly by having him translate each page to me as he reads.  This is to ensure that he understands the content of what he reads, rather than merely reading from memory or parroting the phonetic pinyin sounds.

In addition to conitnuing our lessons at home, Tiger is doing a 15-minute daily practice of the HSK Level 1 Mandarin.  I have also found a weekly children's Mandarin class near us which Tiger will start attending in September.

This post is linked up to:

1. iHomeschool Network Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week 2013
2. Lesson Planning Link up -Foreign Language
3. Collage Friday - First Week of Foundations
4. TGIF Linky Party #92
5. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Crazy Week
6. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {August 31, 2013}
7. Hip Homeschool Hop - 9/3/13

A-Rowing We Went

After we have read the book several times, we decided to listen to a dramatised version of the story.  The version we have is recorded by the BBC, which we thought was very well done.

The music and voices were so captivating that we listened to the recording in the car on our way to the River and Rowing Museum, which is the only museum in the country that has a gallery fully dedicated to The Wind in the Willows.

The gallery was, in Tiger's words, "enchanting".  It truly was.  The exhibits (skilfully crafted 3D models of the main characters and scenes in the story) were arranged in such a way that they make you 'walk through the story'.  We couldn't get enough of it and went through the gallery three times slowly to immerse ourselves in the nostalgic world of The Wind in the Willows.  I say "nostalgic" because the story is essentially about an old England where rural life was the dominant way of life, where a sense of frienship, community and congeniality was more prominent than it is now.

After that we went to the River gallery to learn about many topics that pertain to river study:

• the history of River Thames
• uses of rivers (e.g. transportation, milling)
• geographic structure of rivers
• river habitat
• water cycle

While we were at the museum, Tiger attended a model motor-boat making workshop.  The workshop was led by a professional boat maker who came into the session fully prepared with all the materials and a scaled-down model boat design plan.

He gave a detailed explanation to the children about the plan and what they were required to do to put the model boat together (photo 1).  Then off they went with measuring, cutting, plying, gluing and generally assembling the model together (photos 2 to 6).

Tiger assembled the boat largely by himself but he did require some help from the workshop leader when it came to screwing the motor on (photo 7).  That was the final step before the boat was assembled (photo 8).  Tiger then tested his boat in a small paddling pool (photo 9).  Success!

The workshop included a visit to the Rowing gallery where we learnt about the history of the sport of rowing, the science behind boat building, the different materials that make up a rowing boat, and the history of boat making.

This post is linked up to:

1. Hip Homeschool Hop - 8/27/13
2. Hobbies and Handicrafts = Entertaining and Educational
3. Collage Friday - First Week of Foundations
4. TGIF Linky Party #92
5. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Crazy Week
6. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {August 31, 2013}