Friday, January 6, 2012

2012

We have had a very busy month since finishing our homeschool stuff last year, and I think we're all glad to be able to relax and enjoy the rest of our holiday without quite as much business. We had family visit us, during the last two fortnights of December, both on my side and Damien's, so we were out and about doing quite a it of touristy stuff with various family members. Plus there were some homeschooling events to finish the year- we went to Spare Parts Puppet Theatre and saw 'The Arrival' and Willow sang in Christmas Carols at the Quarry Ampitheatre.

Life has returned to normal now, with Damien back at work and us spending lots of time doing interesting things during the holidays. The kids both started busking regularly at Christmas time, so we've been having lots of regular music practises. Gabriel is particularly pleased to be busking, as he has more money for the first time. Even Arden has been getting in and making some money- his first try was shaking a container of nuts- he made $1! Who would have thought shaking a container of food could be so profitable? Second time around he used an instrument and made $4, so he was even more excited! I must admit, I do like busking for children, for getting a sense of making money, and saving and donating, but never expected to have a 4yr old trying it out.

Next week we head to Cottesloe beach, for swimming lessons for the next fortnight. It will be interesting to see how vaccswim compares here. I notice that it still goes for a full fortnight here, unlike SA where it's been getting progressively shorter over the years. It will also be interesting to see how well the kids cope with swimming in the ocean, since it is rougher than St Vincent's Gulf.

We've also been very organised this year, and have done the planning for class 5 and class 7. It's nice to be so prepared, this early. Willow and I have worked out a timetable for her to follow independently, over three days, and we've put together a guide for main lessons, covering blocks in history, geography, music, physics, chemistry, horses, physiology, grammar, perspective and maths. Willow has always loved horses, so we're starting to integrate stuff that is of interest to her in our block planning too. She's planning to make an apron, a doll and slippers in craft.

I used Willow's plans for class 5 to help arrange Gabriel's blocks for the year. However I planning to use JUMP for most of our maths this year- excepting the geometry of course- as the form drawing and geometry is so beautiful in the Waldorf tradition. We are looking at focusing on knitting for this year in craft, starting with something simple to get back into it, then socks and possible a larger item of clothing.

So now I've just got to stock up on resources!

happy 2012!