Tuesday 28 June 2011

Tuesdays Treasures (vol 1 - 4)

Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper - Lynley Dodd 

Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Capers - © Lynley Dodd
I don't know who loves the books by Lynley Dodd more my children or I ! Lynley Dodd writes with the most beautiful rhythmical alliteration. If you can find any of her books at the library or bookshop grab them they are worth their weight in gold. Her illustrations are marvelously mischievous being  closely observed from life and enjoyed by young and old alike. The pictures and words combine to tell the story, each picture contains vital information contributing to the story and invites exploration by the reader. 

Details
  • First published in 1987
  • Pages 31
  • ISBN 9780140508734
  • Author: Lynley Dodd
  • Language: English
  • Age: 3 - Adult
To read more about Lynley Dodd you can have a look at Christchurch Library interview with NZ children's Author Lynley Dodd as well as to read about her awards and career history you can look at New Zealand Book Council: Author Lynley Dodd

Other books we have enjoyed by Lynley Dodd:
  • Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy
  • Hairy Maclary’s Rumpus At The Vet
  • Slinky Malinki
  • Hairy Maclary’s Showbusiness
  • Slinky Malinki Open The Door
  • Schnitzel von Krumm’s Basketwork
  • Schnitzel von Krumm Forget-Me-Not
  • Hairy Maclary SIT
  • Slinky Malinki Catflaps
  • Slinky Malinki's Christmas Crackers
  • Hairy Maclary's Hat Tricks
Blessings



Mini Office

Have you heard of these ?  I discovered them the other day and decided to give it a try. 


The basic idea is that each student has a manilla folder containing their personal office.  Inside the folder you place the items that the student needs help with regularly or lists you want your student to memorize such as an address or phone number.  I have made Sir N's office with items he will be using over the next few years. Once your office is complete you can laminate it to last longer.

Here are a few sites with ideas and pages you can download.
Blessings

    Sunday 26 June 2011

    The perfect church service

    "The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
    But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing than worshiping.....

    'Tis mad idolatry that makes the service greater than the god"
    C.S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)


    Read this at church today and was quite impacted by these words.

    Friday 24 June 2011

    Ballet, Lego & Gardens

    Today we caught the train and went into Melbourne central.  We started at the Art Centre where we went to see an edu ballet session titled The Baron and the Widow which was a 60 min narrated performance with exerpts from The Merry Widow ballet.
     It was so beautiful inside, red velvet and polished brass.  The curtains on the stage were a rich red with a gold picture frame.  The stage scenes were so beautifully rich.  Unfortunately no camera's allowed :(  The costumes of the ballet dancers were gorgeous. I wanted to know what do you call the male lead ballet dancer ?  A Danseur.

    The Arts Centre - Melbourne Australia

    After this Sir N and I joined another family and went to the gardens accross the road for a picnic lunch.


    From here we walked accross the road and had a look at the glass wall with water flowing down it at the National Gallery of Victoria.


     We then walked to Federation Square and had a look around.



    The Art of the Brick Exhibition



    Built by Ryan McNaught approx 172 500 pieces.


    By Aaron Amanetkis Approx 15 000 pieces
    Won 1st place at Brickvention 2007 for the best in show.
    We had a wonderful day out exploring the sights and sounds of Melbourne. 



    Thursday 23 June 2011

    End of year Sales

    I have noticed that some of the Australian Home School Supply companies are having end of year sales.

    Here are two I know of click on the graphic and it will link you over:



     And a closing down sale with some great treasures in the second hand section


    Please let me know if there are any others so I can edit and add them here


    Today we made a: Passport

    I am so excited.  I have decided to do Expidition Earth: A Journey through God's World with Sir N over the next year. I will be doing this alongside Sonlight A with K readers 5 day program, We will officially be starting on Monday. New Zealand will be our first port of entry!



    Free expansion packs and Samples


      
    Passport to travel Expedition Earth!

    Cover of Expedition Earth passport and real passport

    Today we made a passport.  We took out our real New Zealand passports (Uruwhenuwa)  and had a look at them and talked about what we need when we travel from one country to another.

    Next I went to 'quickly' make a cover, front page and second page on the pc ....  (Quickly turned into a two hour marathon, I'm out of practice with publisher) lesson learned don't attempt to do complex things when you only have a few min rather reschedule for the evening once little people are in bed..Erica does provide a page for you to make into your own by printing off bits and pieces but I wanted to make an all in one page to print and Nathaniel enjoyed finding the different letters on keyboard to type in his name and details

    I have made a New Zealand Passport and an Australian Passport and Erica has given me permission to file share them here.  These  are in pdf. format and you can download and print them from my Google drive.

      
    Our flag stamps and the ID page of N' passport

    I am quite pleased with the end result :) What do you think ?

    Tuesday 21 June 2011

    Tuesdays Treasures (Vol 1-3)

    Some of my friends have asked me about what to use if they want to start home school and have three year olds.  I have this treasure on my bookshelf and would like to recommend you take a look at it. (My copy is older and has a different colour cover)
     
    Early Education at Home 


    What the book contains:
    • Introduction
    • Understanding the Preschooler: The Key to Success
    • Materials Used in Early Education-and Where to Get Them
    • Skills Checklist for Kindergarten
    • Suggested Home School Schedules
    • Curriculum (lists of suggested activities to teach colors, numbers, letters, and shapes )
    • Weekly Planning Guides
    • 36 weeks of suggested activities, which the parent selects based on the individual needs and interests of the child
    • Bibliography
    • Ideas for Homemade Learning Centers and Games
    • Computers and Young Children
    • Additional Programs for Home Instruction (or what to do after you finish this book)
    • Planning Sheets for Daily and Weekly Use
    Additional information
    • Publisher: At Home Publications
    • Pages: 139
    • Cover: Soft spiral bound
    • Publication date: 1992
    • Author: M. Jean Soyke
    • Language: English
    • Age range: 3 - 6 years
    • ISBN: 9780975414200
    This book is a complete course of instruction for children ages 3 - 5, using simple, inexpensive materials that can be found in the home. It includes all of the basic concepts (such as letters, colors, numbers, and shapes), as well as areas such as manners, health and safety, and character development. Each weekly planning guide also includes recommended reading lists, field trip ideas, and snack activities. (quoted from the At Home Publications website)
    You can purchase this book directly from: At Home Publications , Amazon, or Rainbow Resource Center .

    Cathy Duffy heartily recommends this curriculum as “...a happy medium which provides some structure yet is not heavy with time-wasters...one of the few resources that I feel truly meets the home school situation and appropriately addresses the needs of young children.”

     All you need is what you have at home and a library card and you are set for a happy time at home with your pre-schooler

     Blessings

      

    Monday 20 June 2011

    DIY Blog - Tabbed Widget

    I enjoy surfing the web and webdesign and somewhere in the busyness of wifehood, motherhood, homeschool, sisterhood, daughterhood, friendhood and general life I would love to learn to program in CSS & HTML!  I have enjoyed looking at different blogs and the creative ways in which people do up their little corner of the web to make it their own. 

    I have felt a little frustrated (alright I confess: VERY frustrated )in trying to rearrange my little corner of blog world and have spent hours trying to figure out how some of you do the amazing things you do with your blogs.  So I thought I would share with you some of the tips I have learned from other blogs and bloggers along the way.

    Tabbed Widget

    My new Tabbed Widget

     DIY Steps for blogger:
    • Decide which three widgets you want to combine to add into this one tabbed widget.
    • Open your Design tab in blogger.
    • Make sure you drag and place the three widgets you want to combine to the top of your list
    • Edit each widget and make sure you add in a title to each widget.


    • Now click Add a Gadget

    • Select HTML/Java Script



    • Click anywhere on the page.
    • On your keyboard press Ctrl & A together, this will select all the code
    • Now press Ctrl & C together, this will copy the code
    • Go back to your widget code box, click on the box, now press Ctrl & V together this will paste the code into the box. 

    • Click save and it will autoload for you !
    • Now at the top of the Design page click Save
    • Now click View Blog
    If you want to have more than three tabs you can alter the code. For step by step instructions you will need to carefully read the steps in the installation part after the picture of the code on Blogger Sentral Easiest Tabbed Content Widget.

    Widget Colum Width

    You might need to make the colum your widget resides in wider to accomodate what you are trying to achieve.

    To do this you need to:
    • Open your blog
    • Log in
    • Click on Design
    • Click on Template Designer
    • Click on Adjust widths
    • Adjust the width by either dragging the arrow or change the number.
    • Click Apply to Blog
    • Click View Blog to make sure it is sufficient.
    Have fun making your blog tabbed widget.


    Sunday 19 June 2011

    Week 1 - Intro to The Ministry of Motherhood

    I managed this week to read the introduction chapter in The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson as well as think over a scripture a day from the S.O.A.P sheet from Good Morning Girls.  I'm glad I did as it gave me something positive to sleep on and wake up and walk around with for the day. 

    This caught my attention
    They need the authentic strength that comes from the true foundation of a biblical world-view and a proper understanding of the real Christ who is worthy of their worship. They need an unwavering, internal moral and spiritual compass that will help them weather today's storms and tomorrow's and will guide them for the rest of their lives.
    - Sally Clarkson (The Ministry of Motherhood)

    Not only my children but I need this! I find that as each day passes I long to know Him more authentically. I need this true foundation how else will my children learn it ?  As Sally points out in Luke 6:40

    "A pupil is not above his teacher;
    but everyone, after he has been fully trained,
    will be like his teacher."

    That is a weight to carry! I am responsible for the position my children are in once they are fully trained.

    Study & Discussion

    We were encouraged to look at some verses and one of them was Psalm 127:1-3 (AMP) (I'm a wordy kinda girl and LOVE the Amplified Bible!)

    Psalm 127
    A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
     1[a]EXCEPT THE Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.
        2It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil--for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.

        3Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

    I enjoyed reading this but felt a little frustrated as I wanted more than the status quo.  My head thought straight away I can't do anything without the Lord but I wanted to dig deeper to know more of what the Lord means in this.

    I have been blessed with a jewish friend who I emailed and asked for insight.  Chanah so blessed me, this is what she said (shared with her permission):
    You need to remember that generally Jews do not take one specific verse out of scripture for insight-rather we look at the whole context of what was written, when and why.

    So, the Jewish perspective on that verse is initially quite clear. If HaShem is not a part of your plans, don't bother cause it will be in vain.

    The reality is that scripture is much deaper when you look at the context of 127.. David is instructing his son Solomon on the virtues of proper training for children.

    An arrow shot with a strong hand bears within itself the strength of the bowman long after the arrow has left his hand and it follows unswervingly the direction given by the hand of the mighty man. So too, children raised by dedicated parents will remain unwaveringly and unhesitatingly true to the goal set for them by the guiding hands of parents, long after they have left the spehere of parental guidance.

    So, if HaShem does not build a house-the hebrew word is home-and what is a home made up of??? children!!!!! So, if HaShem is not a part of building your house-home-if you are not raising your children in his ways, then more then likely you will have futility and do so in vain.

    What are cities? They are heaps of homes-so if Hashem is not a part of building your city (or community) then all of the work could be being done in vain.

    Bricks and morter are only the physical things used to protect the most spiritual things-children and family-there are beautiful houses and cities that are null and void as they have not been built in the ways of HaShem and there are homes of poverty-people who live in poverty but are protected by the ways of the L-rd....
    Chanah gave me a fresh way of looking at the importance of what we are, and the choices we make do have an influence long after our children have left our sphere of influence.
    • I loved her reminder that it's not about things it's about people. 
    • She pointed me back to the eternal perspective. 
    • I've always thought about the quiver part of the scripture and never given much head to the bowman. Of what use is a quiver without the bowman who carries it ? 
    In verse two the word anxious jumped at me.  Anxious toil,  I was begining to feel anxious over the role I carry as mother in relation to this verse, but it is followed with,  He gives blessings. I thought about it.....  He gives blessings wow. I do not need to be greatly concerned, for He gives me blessing.

    I was going to try keep up with the schedule of one section a week but didn't want to miss the depth of what I could be learning so this coming week I will be looking at some of the other scriptures Sally has on page 19 and thinking about some of the things she asks.  One of them being Proverbs 31 .......


    Take courage my friends your daily walk will be echoing for eternity.  It is important

    Saturday 18 June 2011

    Just for fun :)

    Ode to English Plurals

    We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
    But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
    One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
    Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

    You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
    Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
    If the plural of man is always called men,
    Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

    If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
    And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
    If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
    Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

    Then one may be that, and three would be those,
    Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
    And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
    We speak of a brother and also of brethren,

    But though we say mother, we never say methren.
    Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
    But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
    Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

    There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
    neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
    English muffins weren't invented in England .
    We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,

    we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
    and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
    And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
    grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

    Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
    If you have a bunch of odds and ends and
    get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
    If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
    If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

    Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
    should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
    In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

    We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
    We have noses that run and feet that smell.
    We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
    And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
    while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

    You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
    in which your house can burn up as it burns down,
    in which you fill in a form by filling it out,  and
    in which an alarm goes off by going on.

    And in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

     *-*-*-*-*

    The first five verses are from a poem “Pluralities” written in January 2006 by Eugenia A. Nidia (EFITA Newsletter). I haven’t been able to determine who wrote the second part -

    This poem really illustrates some of the interesting things that our children need to learn in order to grasp the English language ! 

    I think as adults we forget just how much our students still need to learn.

     

    Friday 17 June 2011

    Encouragement Friday (Vol 1.1)

     

    It's a very ancient saying,
    But a true and honest thought,
    That if you become a teacher,
    By your pupils you'll be taught.
    ~ The King and I
    Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960)


    Getting to Know You

    It's a very ancient saying,
    But a true and honest thought,
    That if you become a teacher,
    By your pupils you'll be taught.

    As a teacher I've been learning --
    You'll forgive me if I boast --
    And I've now become an expert,
    On the subject I like most.

      Getting to know you.

      Getting to know you,
    Getting to know all about you.
    Getting to like you,
    Getting to hope you like me.

    Getting to know you,
    Putting it my way,
    But nicely,
    You are precisely,
    My cup of tea.

    To read the rest of the lyrics you can go to: Getting to know you from The King and I

    I've had the DVD the King and I for a while now and we finally watched it the other day.  This song really spoke to me about the heart of home education. When I first started home schooling I thought I would be doing all the teaching but looking back I think I am the one who was taught !







    ENCOUR'AGEMENT, n. The act of giving courage, or confidence of success; incitement to action or to practice; incentive. We ought never to neglect the encouragement of youth in generous deeds. The praise of good men serves as an encouragement of virtue and heroism.


    Factors influencing learning to read (Part 5 of 5)

    Is Left / Right brain dominance important ?

    One day I was reading about brain gym and read about the idea of brain dominance.  Basically we have two hemispheres, the left and right.  In young children these have equal dominance but somewhere around the age of five to seven the two sides argue about who is in charge and one side wins making it the dominant hemisphere.  This is an important step in learning to read.  If there is no dominant hemisphere the brain argues with itself as to who is in charge of this thing called reading.  Once you have brain dominance the brain happily assigns responsibility and learning to read becomes an easier journey.

    Easy test for brain hemisphere dominance

    • To test for dominance get your student to stand with feet together, arms at side and eyes closed
    • Keeping their eyes closed, get your student to Lift their arms shoulder height
    • With their eyes still closed get them to bring their hands together in the front but not touching.

     I asked my rose Miss J to do a photo story illustrating the method.



    • If dominance has occurred one hand will be slightly higher than the other. 
    • If equal dominance is present the hands will be perfectly alined.

    Where did all this information leave me ?

    I felt so much better equipped to teach my children and more relaxed over reading skills. Learning to read was dependent on so many more factors than me doing daily drills, or the perfect curriculum.

    It depends on the individual child's physical, emotional, psychological readiness to read as well as whether or not they have learned the necessary tools to decode the words on the page.

    This is bit a small summary of the many and varied reasons for why some take longer than others to learn to read.  There is a ton of information out there today.  This is all I was able to find out 13 years ago.

    If you know of anything of interest I would love to hear about it so leave a comment.






    A side note: Some children have very special learning needs (such as dyslexia) in their individual path to reading and will cost a lot of time in research but the time invested is so worth the dividend of being their at their personal ah ha moment when all the pieces fall into place and they read to you for the first time.

    If you have had an experience with teaching special needs children to read, blog about it and send me the link and I will and add it here.

    Other posts you might enjoy
    Other posts you might enjoy

      *-*-*-*-*

        Thursday 16 June 2011

        Moon Eclipse 16 June 2011

        We decided to go and wake our little rose Sir N up so he could come outside and see the eclipse of the moon with us.  I am so pleased we did because the other day he was asking us whether the sun ever stopped touching the moon ? 

        Explaining the mechanics of a Lunar Eclipse


         We used a torch, earth globe and a golf ball for the moon !


        Sequential Pics of eclipse from our back yard











        Brrr it was very cold. (2'C)
        14And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs and tokens [of God's provident care], and [to mark] seasons, days, and years, (Genesis 1:14 Amp)