Sunday, April 12, 2009

Our week of Learning - 12th April


English: Copywork for handwriting practice. He wrote a 4-step procedure for making chocolates as one of the "text types" to learn about. Lots of reading each night.

Maths: MEP lessons, and practising 2 times tables.

Science & Technology: We summarised the Push / Pull unit by discussing what he'd learnt; then he completed a worksheet on forces.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We read about and discussed the history of Easter (both secular and Christian) and symbols like eggs, rabbits & hot cross buns.

Creative & Practical Arts: He made a paper mache Easter basket & painted it. More chocolate making!




LOTE (Languages other than English): He learnt some of the Spanish greetings & questions such as "How are you?" "Muy bien, gracias!"

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): We went for a walk together around the neighbourhood one day, plus lots of scooting and running around.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): With the chocolate making, all I did was melt the chocolate for him, and he took it from there! Bed-making chore is doing really well - when he doesn't muck around he's doing a great job of it! He helped me vacuum the car today.

Inspired by this post over at Blue Yonder, I've been more mindful of letting him help out with cleaning and have allocated him a weekly chore to do that he'll enjoy (like clean the cupboard doors in the kitchen - he loves spray bottles, it's safe for him because I use my own non-toxic cleaner, and it saves me getting down on my hands & knees!)

1 comment:

Catherine said...

I love to read about homeschooling - I homeschooled 3 boys in tanzania from 1989-1994 and loved it. I followed a british homeschool service, WES = worldwide education service. They were great support and audited the work of the boys every term. They visited once and we had a great welcome party for their teacher rep. The boys learnt a lot and it was very flexible, and were more than ahead when it came to "real" school when we moved to the capital Dar-es-Salaam and they went to IST (International SChool). They went to another International school in Laos the following year and enjoyed that experience too. I am glad I did the homeschooling, many people do it for idealogical reasons but in Ireland you need to be comfortably off to enable one parent to stay home and teach. Most families need two incomes to pay mortgages, sadly from the overinflated property bubble that has now burst so spectacularly.
Drop by my blog sometime and leave a comment or two! Your boy is so sweet!