Home

Blog

Amber's Blog

All about my family, homeschool and The Nappy Boutique

5yo Curriculum

Posted by: Dandy in Home School on Mar 29, 2009

CIRCLE TIME THINGS

Poems & Rhymes – Mother Goose & A Child’s Garden of Verses

AUSLAN

Song - General music appreciation (Sing 2009) including composer study using Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Mozart’s Magic Fantasy, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery

Picture Study – Following Ambleside Online’s Schedule

Memory Work – Various poems and interesting facts

Weather observation

LITERATURE STUDY

Aesop’s Fables

The Just So Stories

50 Famous Stories Retold

MATH

Math on the Level

Right Start games

LANGUAGE ARTS

All About Spelling

Journal (draw picture & write sentence)

Writing with Ease – dictation, narration, copywork

Read aloud and independent reading everyday

INTEGRATED GEOGRAPHY, SCIENCE, ART, TECHNOLOGY

World Geography – Flora, Fauna & Biome study

Resource books

Children Just Like Me (already have)

Children Around the World Celebrate (already have)

Jacaranda Primary Atlas (already have)

DK Animals a Children’s Encyclopedia (already have)

Usborne Wild Places (Book Dep)

Geography A-Z (Book Dep)

Usborne science activities Vol 1 (Book Dep)

Maps & globes (Fishpond)

Material world – a global family portrait (Book Dep)

Around the World Colouring Book (Book Dep)

Global Art (Fishpond)

The Ultimate Flag Sticker Book (Book Dep)

HISTORY

Story of the Ancient World

Story of the Ancient World Activity Guide

LITERATURE FOR ENJOYMENT, BEDTIME READING MOSTLY

(Aim 1 book per month)

Blue Fairy Book

The House at Pooh Corner

Blinky Bill

Snugglepot & Cuddlepie

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Pinocchio

Wind in the Willows

Jungle Book

James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

Parables of Nature

The Muddle Headed Wombat

Family Under the Bridge

Logic

Wedgits

Puzzles

Games

Handicrafts

Physical Education - swimming & dance

Nature Study – study of specific flora and fauna found in our area & nature walks

We have a backyard, yay!!

Posted by: Dandy in Home School, family on Mar 27, 2009

Today we got a backyard, lol!

Seriously we have had a yard since moving into this house last August but we have had no fencing so whenever the kids want to go out we have to go with them. Today we got a side fence and wings at the side of the house so now we have a contained, child proof backyard. The kids can now go out whenever they like. So very exciting that they can have some freedom back. I can't believe we have about 600 square m of backyard, WOW!

On another note, doesn't time fly! I can't believe it has been over a week since I last blogged. Not a lot has happened on the school front, we have been really busy with plenty of outings and such. On the home front we have decided to put all the kids into one bedroom so we can use the other room as a school room come play room. Today we put together the bunk bed for Ethany and Xavier and we are hoping over the next month to move Imogen into a bed also. Xavier's old room will require some cleaning out as we still have boxes in there from the move but once that is done it will be a fab spot for school and play. Good things on the horizon!

They LOVE the Zoo

Posted by: Dandy in Nature Study, Home School, family on Mar 19, 2009

and the animals LOVE them!

These two bob tails followed Xavier and Imogen all around their enclosure trying to get through the glass to the kids.

We are really really enjoying A to Zoo run by Perth Zoo. This term we have been studying African Animals. Next term we will be studying Asian Animals. It is our highlight of the week!

More tasks today

Posted by: Dandy in Home School, family on Mar 17, 2009

The minute the kids feet hit the floor this morning they were asking which task they could work on. Gosh, how things change in only a few days! I did make them wait until they had completed their morning routine before starting.

Ethany set to work on a 'teens' board. She had to put an x in the correct number of boxes to show numbers from 11 - 19. After that she worked on making numbers using dice, popsticks and a notebook. First she rolled the tens, showed that with bundled popsticks, then she rolled the ones and showed that with single popsticks then she wrote the number in the notebook and announced it. She enjoyed it very much!

Later in the day she worked on odd and even numbers using counters and also completed some Explode the Code.

Xavier worked on an odd one out puzzle which was quick and easy, he had no problem identifying all of the odd things and telling me why that was so. He worked on various things throughout the day, but nothing really grabbed him today. He started and stopped several tasks several times. He also worked on some Before the Code in the afternoon.

Imogen got the giggles, pulling faces, running around the table pulling stuff out of the draws in my desk which she has now discovered she can open.

We had a very successful day at swimming today. Xavier did require LOTS of encouragement but he swam well with his new goggles, thanks L family! He actually swam so well he was awarded his very first certificate for swimming unassisted with arm floats, yeah Xavier!! Ethany also came home with a certificate for completing a torpedo with kick board.

Oooh, we also scored some goodies in the Spotlight sale!

We had a WOW day!

Posted by: Dandy in Home School, family on Mar 15, 2009

Today was not a school day however, as we have been so busy this last week I decided to mix things up a little and worked out a few tasks for the kids to work on throughout the day. They were montessori inspired. The kids had a blast and were asking for more so tonight I will be looking for some new things to incorporate into school tomorrow.

One of Ethany's tasks was the dozen game pictured above. I gave her the bottom of an egg carton with 12 spots, enough dried kidney beans for the correct number per spot and 12 cards numbered 1 - 12. She worked on this task for quite some time.

Xavier worked on pouring twice during the day. He just loved it declaring at the end of the day this had been his favorite task. I provided him with a glass jug half filled with dried kidney beans and a tea cup. Ethany really struggled with this one and didn't enjoy it. I think she has trouble with depth perception.

We also worked with spindle cups. I had some styrofoam cups that I numbered then provided the appropriate number of popsticks for the cups. Xavier worked with 5 cups and Ethany with 10. Xavier said this was the hardest task for him. Whilst he can count he is lacking 1 to 1 correspondence so we are working on that.

Other activities included ordering straws and blocks smallest to tallest, playing with complements of 10 in a block puzzle, jigsaw puzzles and a patterning game. Over the course of the day the kids would have worked at these tasks solidly for 2.5 hours without one single complaint! It was a WOW day, a WOW moment! We will be incorporating more of these tasks into our day to day schooling from this moment on. Originally I had wanted to send the kids to Montessori school, I am not sure what made me look away from this concept, maybe I thought Monti was not achievable to the same extent at home. It certainly is, I think we have found our home.

A really long day

Posted by: Dandy in Home School, family on Mar 14, 2009

We all had a long day today. We visited our new eye Dr and she was lovely. The appointment took just over 2 hours and unfortunately for Ethany the patching will continue and probably be stepped up in 2 months time. The appointment was VERY thorough, more so than the other Dr we have been seeing.

This Dr has found that not only is she long sighted but she also has an astigmatism which will now be treated too. We are back to the optical dispenser tomorrow to have the lenses in all her glasses changed over. I wonder what difference she will notice?

Needless to say, no school work today. I'm not bothering with a weekly report this week. We have had so much going on that school has really been on the back burner.

What does the future hold?

Posted by: Dandy in family on Mar 13, 2009

Tomorrow we visit a new ophthalmologist for Ethany. She would love to be told no more glasses ever, but we know that isn't a reality. I just hope we can get a better insight into her condition. She is hopeful that we will no longer have to patch everyday which she HATES!

I really have my fingers crossed that this Dr is a good communicator and is happy to answer all of my questions and gives answers that I can understand. It is sad to say that the last one was not good at communicating.

School wise we are having a light week. Today Ethany completed some Explode the Code, a few reading lessons (I think we are up to L95), we learnt a new song "Make Your Own Kind of Music" from Sing 2009 which the kids all loved. Imogen was dancing to the music, very cute!

Farewell CSB, we will miss you

Posted by: Dandy in family on Mar 11, 2009

Today we laid to rest a very dear friend, a surrogate Grandfather if you like. I will share a funny story he shared with me when Ethany was just a baby.

"We only had 32 nappies for the twins so they had to be washed everyday. I decided one Saturday morning to help IB out and wash the nappies. She told me to add just a tiny bit of starch as that helps to fold them. I went and lit the copper, put in all the nappies, washed them well, put them through the wringer and hung them out to dry, it was a few hours work. Later in the day I noticed the nappies swinging on the line, not flapping in the breeze. They were as stiff as a board, too much starch. IB was furious, and I had to wash them all over again. So much for being helpful!"

CSB we never had the opportunity to properly thankyou for the guitar you brought Xavier for Christmas. If he ever makes the big time I know the first album will be dedicated to you. Thankyou!

Thankyou for the awesome holiday in Cairns some years ago, thankyou for allowing me to spread my wings when I housesat your place, thankyou for offering your support when the going got tough at the range, thankyou for being my Dad's best friend!

We will all miss you always!!

Grrr, wireless internet!

Posted by: Dandy in family on Mar 11, 2009

Please excuse my lack of posting for the last two days. If the stars are not perfectly aligned we don't get any internet, grr. With no phone lines into our VERY old house we rely on wireless internet and being on the outer edge of 'the zone' makes for some unhappy moments at the computer!

And it seems like the venting wont end there this evening, please excuse my rambling.

To the swimming teacher - When you spend all week encouraging and geeing up your son to attend swimming lessons in a happy disposition don't shoot him down!

We have been working VERY hard at overcoming Xavier's fear of water. He has cried and screamed to get out many times since starting swimming at the beginning of the year. About 2 weeks ago Ethany was awarded a Merit Certificate for great effort at swimming. Xavier was in awe so we used this as a motivator for him. If you don't cry during your lesson and work really hard, maybe you too can earn a Merit. I mentioned that to his teacher last week. Today he worked really, really hard. He squashed that fear, never cried and participated quite well in the class. At the end after he got out he went to his teacher and asked "Did I earn a certificate today?" and she cut him down saying "No". She broke his little heart. He came to me crying his heart out. He worked so VERY hard to swim well for her and himself to earn a reward, a Merit. To make matters worse Imogen earned her very first certificate today. I know next week is going to be tough, sigh.

The Phonics Centre

Posted by: Dandy in Home School, family on Mar 09, 2009

I mentioned this a few weeks ago now so thought I would share more now I am basically finished. I have been busy (on and off) building The Phonics Centre over the last 6 weeks or so. My inspiration came when I wanted to get some salt trays for the kids. Off we went to Bunnings looking for plastic trays when I saw a 4 stack, plastic draw, pull out system and thought that's a winner!

The Phonics Centre now has 2 draws of salt, one green and one orange. I let the kids colour their own salt. The draws are completely removable. We have one draw with very large laminated phonograms, I do plan to make these sandpaper letters but have only got so far as printing out the phonograms and laminating them. The last draw has 2 copies of each phonogram cut up as little tiles to be used to make words.

Xavier in particular has really enjoyed the salt tray. I am looking forward to reviewing with Ethany those tricker phonograms like ough, igh, dge & eigh with the tiles this week.

The Phonics Centre, a one stop phonics place, hehehe. Seriously though at least it keeps everything handy in the one place.

«
Start
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
Next
End
»

Main Menu

Cloth Vs Disposables

For 2 children until toilet training:

Disposables - $6,972

Nappy Boutique Cloth Nappies - $1,958

Using just one modern cloth nappy everyday until your child toilet trains will stop approx 900 disposables going to landfill. You can make a difference with just one modern cloth nappy!