Homeschooling Jan - June 2014

OK so my monthly updates have slid out to term updates, now to a 6 month update! We're just too busy living life to blog it!

Creative Arts

This continues to be Billy's focus. He has weekly music (singing & trumpet lessons), is heavily involved in drama and has this year started with a Scout media unit (JNN) to learn and take part in producing, filming, audio, and editing short video segments.

• Music
• Weekly singing and trumpet class
• Drama
•  As well as weekly drama class, he was backstage crew for Upstage Youth Theatre's Romeo & Juliet production - including taking part in all day bump in (technical set up of lights etc).
• He took part in audition workshop
• Went to the Gloucester Shakespeare Festival and watched "Much Ado about Nothing"
• Participated in a Bell Shakespeare drama workshop
• Is involved with weekly JNN TV Media unit training - filming, editing, audio etc
• Art
• Regular visits to Maitland Art Gallery

 

Bell Shakespeare Drama workshop

 

JNN Media Crew - editing room

Cast & crew of Romeo & Juliet

HSIE

    Australian History

• Historical walking tour of Maitland
• SteamFest
• Tunnel tour of Fort Scratchley

Historical walking tour of Maitland

Fort Scratchley Tunnel Tour

 Other cultures

• Chinese night at Scouts - ate food, made kite, discussed Chinese culture

Maths

• Billy is working through the Maths OnlineYr 6 curriculum
• Some exercises from Targeting Maths Year 6
• Everyday maths - cooking, measuring, budgeting etc

Science & Technology

• Billy watches lots of science videos including the VSauce and Veritasium channel.
• Heavily involved in creating videos including use of programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Avid

English

• Read "Refuge" by Jackie French, "The Road to Gundagai" by Jackie French, "So Much to Tell You" by John Marsden as well as listened to numerous audiobooks.
• Writing short films, plays and stories.

PDHPE

• Participated in the Homeschool Swimming carnival
• Participated in weekly Archery in Term 1
• Did an overnight hike in Brisbane Water National Park
• Took part in Menu planning for hike - discussion on nutrition, hygiene
• Basic First Aid training (emergency DRABC, snake / spider bite treatment, recovery position)
• Bowling

 

 

LOTE

• Italian classes (Term 1)
• Duolingo Italian app

Scouts 'Curriculum':

• Citizenship badge

• Knots, bushcraft construction

Making a Rope bridge

• Community service 

• helped out with crowd control at SteamFest 
• Colour Party (flags) at Region AGM
• Working bee at hall
• Masters BBQ fundraiser
• Clean Up Australia day

Clean up Australia day

As well as plenty of time spent hanging out with friends and family.

Canberra trip

Yes, I am still alive. I'm a bad blogger... Blame Facebook!

We had a quick trip to Canberra over Xmas to meet up with family. While we were there, we took the opportunity to visit a few places.

The Royal Australian Mint

The 'Holey Dollar'

From blanks to currency

Questacon Science Museum

Steal the jewel without the sensor going off

Balance platform

Simple machines

Tides

Tectonic plates

Making a tsunami

A periodic table wall.

Smoke signals

Museum of Australian Democracy (old Parliament House)

House of Representatives Chamber

Prime Ministers Office until this Parliament House closed in 1988.

Learning about current and former Prime Ministers

In the Speaker's Chair

This was a 'spy hole' from the Prime Minister's secretary's office into the PM's office :)

National Film and Sound Archive

It's housed in the most gorgeous art-deco building!

Being a projectionist

Fractured Heart - Interactive sound and light sculpture based on Goyte's song

Creating sound effects

History of Australian film and music

Homeschooling monthly memories - July 2013

This feels like the geocaching edition of our homeschool post :) It's formed a big part of our life in June and has resulted in lots of cool learning.

Scouts 'Curriculum':

• Scouts has involved campcraft skills, ropes/knots etc.

Intentional Learning:

Creative Arts

• Finished editing the Zombie movie and made a DVD cover for it.
• Drama classes.
• Singing lessons & started learning trumpet as well. (Oh my aching ears!)

HSIE

• Australian History

• We're reading "A Waltz for Matilda" by Jackie French 
• Our geocaching has taken us to a lot of historical places around the area including:

This 'tempietto' is a water-fountain built as a monument to West Maitland's first mayor, Richard Alexander Young

A monument to the dairy farmers of the area.

Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, and gravestones dating back to the early European settlers in the area.

The graveyard at Cathedral Park is one of the earliest burial grounds in Australia and was featured on Tony Robinson's Time Walks around Newcastle.

Rose Cottage, Newcastle's oldest surviving building.

A lane-way in Maitland, decorated with a mural of the history of the area - but also the site of a public hanging - yep, our history is covering everything!

A local barn decorated with an historical advertisement for the wonder-cure of the time.

Maths

• He continued using the Mathletics curriculum.
• Real-life use of Maths in cooking, measuring
• Coding puzzles 
• Longitude and latitude practice - reading and following the GPS
  

Science & Technology

• Java coding
• Photoshop
• Researched different operating systems and set up Ubuntu Linux to trial

English

• Watched the "Animated Tales of Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream"
• Learning about definite / indefinite articles

PDHPE

• AFL / AFL training
• Archery

Italian

• Back to Italian class

As well as plenty of time spent hanging out with friends and family.