Land and Water

As part of our geography study (via Marco Polo) these days, we have been paying more attention to the various geography terms such as 'peninsula', 'island', 'bay', etc.  While we are still in Italy in our study, we have come across these terms as they apply to the various parts of the country.  For example, the mainland of Italy is a peninsula, while Sicily is an island, whereas Naples is situated by a bay.  I thought I could get away with a quick review using an exercise from the Great Map Games book, but I soon realised that Tiger could do with a better understanding of the difference between land forms and water forms.

From his Montesori preschool days, I recall an exercise that will teach this concept in a tactile manner.  Now that Tiger is older and more capable of creating materials for his own use (as opposed to his preschool years when I had to make most of the Montessori materials), I printed off the freely available Land Form Cards and explained to him that we were (mostly he was) going to make 3D models of those land and water forms.  Tiger has always been enthusiastic about clay modelling, so he was happy to take on the project.

The bag of Sculptamold that had been sitting in the cupboard for a few years finally saw the light of day!  In its dry form, Sculptamold is very much like shredded paper pulp.  After adding water and mixing it well, following instructions on the bag, it becomes very clay-like yet much more malleable.

It didn't take Tiger too long to complete the ten models.  We waited 24 hours to let the clay dry completely.

The following day Tiger painted the models with acrylic paint.  We left the models to dry for another two hours.

The real fun began when the models were completely dry.  Using a jug of water added with blue food colouring, Tiger poured carefully into each tray.

The strong contrast in colours between the land (brown) and water (blue) makes it very easy and clear for the child to distinguish between land forms and water forms.  Therefore, Tiger had no problem to identify them correctly with their corresponding nomenclature cards.

I was wondering whether there was any need to extend the activity when Tiger suggested that he wanted to try to identify the trays while being blindfolded.  This way, he would only rely on his sense of touch in the identification process.

After Tiger called out the correct names for each tray several times, I changed the game a little by reading out the definitions of each land/water form instead.  Still with his blindfold on, Tiger now has to: (1) identify which land/water form matches the definition that I give, and (2) find the corresponding tray by touch.  He did well to identify them all correctly.

Tiger must have done the identification game at least five times in a row.  I think by now he has a pretty good idea about the ten common land and water form, if their physical forms were not already etched in his mind.  He was having so much fun that he didn't want the exercise to end, so I printed off additional definition cards, mixed them up with the other two sets of cards that were used earlier, and asked him to categorise and label everything.

Tiger had to do the exercise on the floor as there were too many labels and trays to fit on the table.  Here is a close up of his floor work:

Over the next few days, Tiger was out in the garden most afternoons, mostly digging on his patch.

When I went to see what he was doing, he showed me the archipelago that he made:

On another day, he was again found digging on his patch with intense concentration:

When I went near, he told me that he had been creating a peninsula and an island:

Given a choice, I personally would much rather see my child demonstrate his knowledge this way than by taking a paper test.  I sometimes get asked the question "How do you know that your child is learning?"  My answer has always been that I know from observing his behaviour and attitude, from listening to what he tells me, and from looking closely at what he does.  The above is an example of how I know that he has internalised what he has learnt.

Having said that, we still used the command cards for a thorough review.  The majority of the questions were answered orally with Tiger using the globe to find his answers.

For my own peace of mind, I asked Tiger to:

1. draw and label the different land/water forms on the paper as we went along, 
2. identify each land form with its corresponding water form (e.g. straits and isthmus, bay and cape, gulf and peninsula), and
3. tell me the difference and similiarities between each pair.

This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) History and Geography Meme: Learning History and Science Together
3) Hobbies and Handicrafts - May 17
4) Collage Friday - Math, Appliances, and Other Goodies
5) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Didn't Go to Nashville
6) Science Sunday: Tiger Hunt
7) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/21/13
8) Homeschool Science Share & Tell - May 2013 edition

The Italian Experience - The Most Famous Love Story

Tiger has already read the story from Tales of Shakespeare and other abridged versions.  He also remembers the masks that he decorated, which he thinks will come in handy in the masquerade party in the play.  He also watched the BBC animated version of Romeo and Juliet.


After our previous successful trip to The Globe, Tiger asked to go there again.  On his own accord, he started to read the original play at home and took it along on the day of the performance to "match what the actors are saying with the script" (his words).  The version that he read is one that is used in schools -- with the dialogues on one side and the corresponding analysis on the other.  I wasn't expecting him to read the actual play until later, but if he wanted to do that and has enjoyed doing so (as he told me afterwards), then I won't hold him back unnecessarily.

The production at The Globe that we watched was one that was specifically put up for the benefit of students who are taking literature GCSE exams this year, as Romeo and Juliet is one of the selected texts for the exam. 

The performance, although the actors still spoke in the original Shakespearean language, was modernised in its props and costumes, which reminded me more of West Side Story than the usual Elizabethan stage than we were expecting to see at The Globe.  It is very unusual for The Globe to perform in a modern version so I wonder whether it was a deliberate action to get the secondary school children interested.

I was very impressed by the performance nonetheless, as I felt that I now understand the play and the emotions within the characters more after watching the performance.  However, Tiger didn't like the modernised parts of the performance.  He wanted to see the traditional Elizabethan version that The Globe did a few years ago:

Tiger was also not impressed with the audience that day.  Compared to the very civilised, interested, paying public whom we sat amongst to watch The Taming of the Shrew, this time we were amongst secondary school groups.  Watching from the side where we were sitting, it was clear that some of the school children / teenagers really didn't want to be there.  Tiger was slightly baffled at one point by the disinterest he saw in the majority of the school-attending audience.

The quality of the audience and the modernisation of the play, both of which Tiger didn't take to, helped me make up my mind about not attending school matinees at The Globe anymore.  I would rather pay the full price to have the same experience as we did with The Taming of the Shrew.


This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) Hobbies and Handicrafts - May 17
3) Collage Friday - Math, Appliances, and Other Goodies
4) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Didn't Go to Nashville
5) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/21/13

Our Co-op Experience

At the beginning of my homeschooling journey eight years ago, I used to read about the many interesting co-op experiences that the American homeschooling families have, and wished that there were homeschooling co-ops where we live.  I imagined that I would be able to enjoy educating my son with like-minded people.  However, since there was no such arrangement near us, I had to find my own way which eventually morphs into our own unique approach, which you read about on this blog.

In the past two years, I have seen an increase in the number of co-ops started in various areas near us.  Last year, we spent a fair bit of time with one particular group and I even taught art for a term to the children there.  At the start, it was a lot of fun -- new people, new friends, new environment, new way of learning (this particular co-op hired 'specialists' to teach science and maths).  Nonetheless, after six months, I felt the need to reevaluate our participation there for various reasons, including the type of social experience Tiger was having there, as well as the difference between the goals of the co-op and our family's educational goals.

The biggest concern that I had, which made me decide to discontinue with the co-op, was that it started to feel like and was being treated as a parent-coordinated version of a private school, with the accompanying (unspoken) requirement that all children who attend the sessions learn at the same pace.  This inevitably gave rise to motivational issues and disruptive behaviour in some children who were not able to keep up but whose parents dropped them off at the venue (as they would at any school) and thus were not on site to support their learning.  The atmosphere and environment of the co-op had become counterproductive to the types of learning that I want Tiger to be exposed to, so we don't go there anymore.

Despite our discontiuity at the co-op, the experience of having been there and taking the time to reflect upon our experience was helpful in the sense that:

1. it helped me to make careful consideration about the types of environment (people, atmosphere, attitudes) that Tiger is exposed to;
2. it helped to bring about more clarity and further refinement of our family goals;
3. it gave Tiger an opportunity to start learning about the different types of environment that can result in different outcomes and behaviour;
4. it gave me confidence that our home environment is the one that provides the most flexbility and effective learning experience to meet Tiger's evolving educational needs.

I think there are some benefits to joining a co-op where learning is coordinated as a group, for example when there is a group of children who are following the same curriculum or are preparing for the same examination.  The sameness in progression required to take the examinations on a common date or to achieve a shared learning objective makes a co-op arrangement useful for peer group motivation as well as for cost-sharing of materials and instructors.  There may exist certain benefits for such an arrangement to take place at a later stage for Tiger, probably at high school level, and the experience of shared learning may not necessarily have to be in the form of attending a class at a physical location.  Online classes and discussion forums are two possible ways to experience share learning that is not limited by geographical locations and chronological age requirements.

"Kids propser best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, not just a small range of them."

-- Sir Ken Robinson, How to Escape Education's Death Valley

Based on our experience, I'd say this:
If you are lucky enough to find a co-op near you that shares your ethos for education, it would be a wonderful opportunity to explore; otherwise, a formal co-op arrangement is neither crucial nor essential to the success of your homeschool in your child's elementary years, more so if your vision for your child's childhood is one of natural exploration and learning at his/her own pace.

This is especially true if the child's home environment is warm, loving, and nurturing, and is one that provides plenty of well-rounded learning opportunities to support the development of a balanced individual.  Therefore, I think that a formal co-op for an elementary-aged child does not add anything substantial to the experiences that he/she is already getting at home.

"If you can light the spark of curiosity in the child, they will learn without further assistance, very often."

-- Sir Ken Robinson, How to Escape Education's Death Valley

While I still keep my eye out for co-op opportunities, I have not yet found one that provides a high enough "value", as I have mentioned here, to entice us to commit to the large amount of time required outside of our home environment when it is already meeting Tiger's current need for an individualised, one-to-one educational setting.

Again, I can't emphasise enough that this is my personal view, based on our personal experience with one particular co-op group, evaluated using our family's goals and values.  There are certainly many different types of co-op experiences that others will no doubt have, so I strongly encourage you to read about them from the other contributors:

• Chareen feels that Together Everyone Achieves More, as she shows that when we share the load we move forward in strength.

• Nicole asks The Co-Op Question: Yeah or Nay?, which helps us to think about how to evaluate if a homeschool co-op is right for your family.

• As co-ops are not common in Australia, Erin shares how she is Creating Synergy.

• Bernadette sees Beneficial Co-op(eration) and tells why she looks forward to organising or joining a co-op in the next few years.

• If you are interested to know How does homeschool co-op work? Julie will show you three different ways to run a co-op.

• Savannah discusses The Ins and Outs of Co-ops and asks you to think about why you are participating.

• Lucinda also talks about The Pros and Cons of Joining a Homeschool Co-op and shares how to get the benefits of being in a co-op even if joining one isn't right for your family.

This post is linked up to:
1) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/14/13
2) Hearts for Home Blog Hop #17
3) Collage Friday - Math, Appliances, and Other Goodies
4) TGIF Linky Party # 76
5) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Didn't Go to Nashville
6) Share it Saturday
7) Sunday Showcase - 5/18/13

The Italian Experience - Music

We did a little bit of Composer Study related to Italy, where we learned about Palestrina by reading a short biography of him in this book:

and watched a documentary in which he was featured.

We also watched an Italian opera, La Boheme, at The Royal Opera House.  I wasn't sure whether Tiger would be able to sit through the entire performance without feeling bored, but he was captivated by the music and the set.

As a result of his interest in the opera above, we came home to learn more about its composer, Puccini:

This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) History and Geography Meme: Learning History and Math Together
3) Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 10, 2013
4) Hobbies and Handicrafts - May 10
5) Collage Friday - A Big Change and A Big Sale!
6) Homeschool Review
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One That Was a Roller Coaster
8) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/14/13
9) Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #4

A Very Civilised Afternoon of Tea and Poetry

Tiger has always loved the afternoon tea.  He loves that we make it a special occasion -- with beautiful china tea set, specially baked treats, and beautifully laid out table cloths.  You know, the full works.  It didn't occur to me to do anything more with our afternoon tea than just sitting and eating until I saw what Lucinda does with hers.

Poetry Tea!  What a great idea!  I followed the links in her post and felt greatly inspired by the Tuesday Teatimes to start making more of our afternoons.  It so happens that I am starting to think about focusing a little more on writing and poetry, so these inspirations couldn't have come at a better time.

I ran the idea past Tiger -- I am beginning to consult him more when I plan things to do with him so as to expose him to the planning process in order to prepare him for more autonomy in structuring his own education in the future -- and he was keen to try it out.

We had run out of teatime snacks so I asked him whether he wanted to bake something fresh to mark the occasion.  He was happy to do so and quickly decided that he wanted to make scones.  How appropriate!

He chose a scone recipe and pretty much did everything himself.  I stayed on the side to supervise and to help take some ingredients from the top shelf of the cupboard.

While the scones were baking in the oven, Tiger ran out to the garden to pick a few stalks of daffodils and arranged them neatly for our table.

After 20 minutes in the oven, we were treated to the smell and sight of freshly baked scones.  Tiger thought they looked more like buns but they definitely tasted exactly like scones.

We were now finally ready to have tea.  Usually I would be rushing around the house trying to tidy up during the short break in the afternoon, but on this day I actually sat down to enjoy poetry and tea.  It was wonderful to just sit and enjoy the moment.

Since it was our first time having poetry tea and with only two of us, it was a very relaxed and informal affair.  I gathered the poetry books we have on the bookshelves and explained to Tiger that the idea was to take turns sharing one or more poetry or verse that we like from any of the books, while the other person was eating.

After reading, Tiger was inspired to make up his own verses.  Seizing the opportunity, I quickly ran to get a pen and notebook to act as his scribe while he recited his impromptu poems.  This was going way beyond my expectation!

Tiger asked whether we could do this everyday, which shows how much he has enjoyed this trial run.  I suggested that we keep it to once a week for now since it's a new routine/habit that we are trying to establish so doing it at a reasonable pace will keep our interest up, rather than sprinting at it then losing our momentum when we run out of steam.  Once we get the hang of doing this, maybe by the end of summer, we will then look into increasing its frequency.

My previous attempt at introducing poetry to Tiger felt very clumsy and awkward, which was why it didn't get very far.  Now I am pleased to have finally found a natural way to introduce this beautiful part of language arts into our home. 

This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) Spring Carnival
3) Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 10, 2013
4) Collage Friday - A Big Change and A Big Sale!
5) Homeschool Review: May 10, 2013
6) Hobbies and Handicrafts - May10
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One That Was a Roller Coaster
8) Kids in the Kitchen  - Family Taco Night
9) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/14/13

It is also featured on Tuesday Timetime: Daffodils.

Nutritious meals, quick!

Maybe it's because I like food that I don't find it a challenge to prepare meals everyday for my family.

Breakfast is usually very simple -- a few pieces of toast with butter and jam.  Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, or sandwiches if we are out and about, or jacket potatoes with an assortment of toppings.  Dinner is the main meal in our home so it's the one that I cook from scratch every day.  On Sunday the importance of the Sunday Lunch takes over so I spend most effort at preparing a full roast on that day.

Even though I enjoy preparing and cooking food, I don't want it to take over my life by spending more time in the kitchen than I have to in order to prepare a decent family meal.  I manage this in a few ways:

1.  Meal planning.  I have a weekly menu plan so I go grocery shopping with a full shopping list once a week, and I get everything I need on that trip.  This saves me time and cost since I buy only what I'll need to make meals for that week.

2.  Work fast.  This comes with practice.  Just like everything else, one gets good at what one does all the time.  I have had about 10 years of practice making meals in my kitchen, so I know where everything is and how to substitute ingredients effectively when they run out.  Speed also comes with familiarity, so I am reasonably fast when I work in the kitchen.

3.  Limit meal preparation time.  When I plan my meals, I make a mental note that each meal will not take more than an hour to prepare.  Again, Sunday Lunch is the exception but for the rest of the weeks we have relatively simple meals.  I learned most of my meal ideas from food magazines such as Easy Cook which has very clear instructions to make speedy yet delicious meals.

The application of the above three points have worked consistently to provide quick, delicious, and nutritious meals that meet my family's dietary requirements.  If you struggle to find time to cook while teaching your children at home, I hope the tips above will be useful to you as they have been to me.  If not, you are always welcome to consult the other homeschooling mums for other ideas.

This series is growing!  We have two new contributors to the series: Erin from Seven Little Australians and Counting, and Nicole from One Magnificent Obsession.  Please head over to see what they have to say about how to manage cooking and homeschooling at the same time:

• In Plating Up, Erin shares how the key for her family to successfully juggle cooking is organisation.

• Nicole talks about Realistic Meal Planning for Homeschool Moms and shows us how to avoid eating Chik Fil A every night.

• Lucinda lets us in on How to Ensure Your Kids Eat Healthily When You Don't Enjoy Cooking.

• Julie shares her Strategies for Cooking Healthy for a Family and tells us about five strategies for preparing healthy meals when time is an issue.

• Chareen shows us how she is Homeschooling and Cooking a Healthy Adventure for her family.

• Bernadette reveals her Hippie Method: Food Philosophied, in which she tells us how she makes easy, delicious, and (relatively) healthy food from scratch - almost every day.

• Savannah has a Cooking Tip for the Home School Mom which promises to show us that even if you don't enjoy cooking there are ways to conquer the "What's for dinner?" question without calling Dominoes!

This post is linked up to:
1) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/7/13
2) Hearts for Home Blog Hop #16
3) Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 10, 2013
4) Collage Friday - A Big Change and A Big Sale!
5) TGIF Linky Party #75
6) Creative Learning #14
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One That Was a Roller Coaster
8) Share it Saturday - Sensory Play Ideas
9) Sunday Showcase - 5/12/13

Spring is for...

1.  Watching butterflies sunbathe...

2.  Looking for spring flowers...

3.  Looking at/for baby animals...

4.  Long walks and more time outdoors...

5.  Being with friends and having good fun outside...

6.  Learning in nature, naturally...
Being a city girl, I did not grow up appreciating nature.  Therefore, I am very glad that I get a second chance to get aquainted with nature when, early in our homeschooling journey, my research included child development which led me to discover the importance of being in nature via Last Child in the Woods.

Being in the woods and taking long walks in the countryside are part of our regular family activity, especially in the warmer months.  As this is part of our family time, I refrain from having a structure around it.  For structured nature learning, we do regular nature study by ourselves and Forest Schools with other homeschooling families.

The Forest Schools have worked very well for us for a very long time, as each session has been very flexible and varied in terms of the level of structured activities and required participation from each child.  We get to meet and interact with different types of families, as well as meeting children with different learning needs.  The space in nature and flexibility of activities cater to a wide spectrum of abilities, which I find to be very useful for Tiger to experience first-hand.

For example, our home learning environment leans towards being very academic so I am very glad to see Tiger interacting very well with and enjoying the friendship of children who may be less academically inclined yet who are stronger than he is in non-academic areas.  While I am pleased that Tiger shows academic potential, I want him to be participate in situations that will expose him to ideas such as:

1. there is more to life than academic training,
2. that we can learn to communicate effectively with different types of people, especially those who have different views and abilities from us,
3. that everyone has something unique to contribute, if they choose to do so. 

The unstructured part of Forest Schools provide an ideal situation for such learning to take place.

Sometimes Forest Schools sessions are a little bit more structured.  During structured sessions we have learned to find and make symmetry in nature,

find shapes in nature,

measure the actual height of trees,

make tools and toys from natural materials.  Tiger has made charcoal pencils, bows and arrows, and pea shooters.

7.  Simple pleasures in the garden...  digging, gardening, contemplating, wondering.

This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 3, 2013
3) Hobbies and Handicrafts - May 3
4) Collage Friday - Taking Time to See Beauty
5) Homeschool Review
6) Spring Carnival
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where We're Wrapping Up
8) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/7/13