Sunday, May 30, 2010

Our week of learning - 30 May - writing, airport, space & musicals!



Billy had a very varied week this week.

English:

Current Readaloud:
Robin Hood (abridged), and "How the aliens from Alpha Centauri invaded my maths class and turned me into a writer and how you can be one too" by Jackie French.

How the Aliens from Alpha Cent   Voyage of the

Pete finished "The Voyage of the Basset" as his read-aloud with Billy - its a  fantasy novel that incorporates all sorts of mythical creatures like Medusa, trolls, unicorns, dwarfs etc.

Audio books: Various Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton stories

Independent Reading: - "The Bugalugs Bum Thief" by Tim Winton

Other: - Another word ladder puzzle on the board (funny how he'll do them if they're on the white board, but not if I print it out!)


He attended the 2nd 1hr writing workshop put on by the local library as part of their Writing Challenge competition.  They learnt how to find books in the library (which he already knew) and made good progress on writing his story.

Maths: We watched an episode of Cyberchase about dew point.  He played a few games of chess against the computer.  He also worked through a number puzzle I found at Risa's site.

Science & Technology: His chosen subject for the writing challenge is global warming, so he's done some research on global warming and we've had lots of interesting discussions.  (I got into trouble from him for the length of my showers!)

He took a quiz on space and looked at the space photos on the George's Secret Key site.


HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Over 40 homeschool kids from the area went on a behind the scenes tour of Newcastle Airport.  They only accepted a few parents to go along as well, so I made the big sacrifice and stayed behind and had a yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows while he went on the tour!  (Hey, someone had to do it!)  The tour lasted an hour, they took them through the security systems and showed them how they scan luggage, put it on the plane, showed them in the hanger etc.  The highlight seemed to be when they went into the security control room and got to control the cameras to spy on the parents left behind :)


Creative & Practical Arts: Drama class.

He made a shell necklace for a b'day present.

We headed off to Maitland Art Gallery for a look at their latest exhibits.

We also went to a musical production of "The Wizard of Oz" complete with live orchestra!  He really enjoyed it.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Martial arts, archery and 10 pin bowling for his cousin's b'day.



Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He's working on his cooking badge for cubs, so he's made his own breakfast (scrambled eggs on toast) and a favourite recipe (pizza).






Other fun stuff: He remade his promise at Cubs, so now he's a fully invested Cub Scout. 

It was his cousin's 13th b'day on Saturday so we went along to a party for her (10 pin bowling and then pizza!)

He was pretending to be a ventriloquist one day so I showed him some YouTube videos of Dave Strassman, possibly the world's best ventriloquist.  He's hooked!

His friend has introduced him to a new computer site called Moshi Monsters which he's been having some fun with (along with Webkinz and Club Penguin!).    

6 comments:

Home Educator's Helper said...

Jak's just started playing Moshi Monsters too! Maybe they can be 'friends'? Don't know how that works though, as I haven't explored the site.

And how do you find out about these musical/play things you head off to... I need sources, girl!

Kez said...

I think they can have friends on that site too - he can ask Jak on Tuesday what his name or whatever is and they can sort it out!

Wizard of Oz was through the Maitland Gilbert & Sullivan group - B actually saw a poster around town. Not sure if they have a website or not. Roald Dahl's 'The Witches' is on at Maitland Rep in June if you're interested - http://www.maitlandrepertory.com/index-01-events.html

Kez said...

Another source for you - http://www.maitlandhuntervalley.com.au/events/events-list.aspx

Caz said...

Sounds like a great week! That airport trip would have been great fun for him :D

Anonymous said...

Wow, you guys have been busy! So awesome that you went to see The Wizard of OZ!

Kylie said...

aahh Moshi Monsters, a friend introduced me to that awhile back. I am yet to show the kids, gee I already struggle with the telly I really don't want to add in the computer to that lol!!

Now I just realised you had a follow button up. I am sure I haven't noticed that before. Anyway, I'm following you now so I won't miss anything. :)