A Winter Solstice Walk.

 On Tuesday evening we joined a few friends to celebrate the Winter Solstice.  I needed to look that up on the internet (Geography was not my favourite subject at school!) One site says it is the start of Winter!  Are they serious?!  Is it only just the start?!  I think I prefer the other explanation I found: the longest night and shortest day.  Which means the days are getting longer......and to me that sounds like we're heading towards summer :-)  Ok, it's a bit of a long shot, but a girl can dream right?!

Anyway, back to our celebration....

We made lanterns............. by making colourful pages covered in crayon patterns,

and then we rubbed artist's turpentine all over the crayon, which made it smudge like this....

after which we coated the back of our page with sunflower oil, which makes it look translucent when a candle is placed inside the lantern.

 And after a bit of cutting and gluing, wire bending and sand filling we had these beautiful lanterns.  (Sorry I whizzed through that process without any pictures....it was a very hands-on experience for us moms!)

Our creative hostess then told the children a story and taught them a song, which they all sang as they walked out the door to find their lanterns waiting for them, lit, inside the spiral.

After they each received their lantern it was time to go on our walk, welcoming the Winter season in....or  the start to the days becoming longer, if you prefer to look at it that way ;-)

Appropriately walking into the sun.....

but, by the end of our walk, when the sun had set, we had a beautiful sight for all the neighbours to see as we walked by.

And to end it off: warm winter soup, hot chocolate and stories to listen to.  A wonderful way to make winter a more exciting event for those of us who don't enjoy this cold season we're apparently just beginning! 

Finding time to get outdoors in winter.

It's winter now.  Getting out for time in nature is a bit more sporadic so when it's a sunny day we take advantage of it and head out doors.  Last Friday was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect for duck spotting....

Welcome to Glencairn Conservation Area.

As part of our Nature Club this year we've decided to focus on four different areas: sea, forest/trees, fynbos (indigenous plants) and wetlands/rivers.  The moms take it in turns to lead the nature walk, rotating the venue each week.  At times it means organising a back up plan at our homes which focuses on anything to do with nature using experiments, crafts, researching skills etc.  My focus area is the Glencairn Wetlands/Rivers.  Nature Club hasn't been there for a while, last Wednesday we were rained out, so I decided it would be a good place for the kids and I to visit on our own.  I'm so glad we did, because look what we found:

Four little fluffy Egyptian Goslings swimming behind their mommy.

I think this is an African Black Duck.

A Common Moorhen.  

I expected this little one to have webbed feet as it was such a fast swimmer, but it doesn't!  It's legs are almost luminous green in colour! 

This looks like an African Darter.  We often see them sunning themselves in the middle of the vlei.

My little animal whisperer having a conversation with the African Black Duck.

We love these stepping stones.  They were placed here by local residents who work together to maintain the vlei area.  During winter the water floods over the vlei and widens the Else River which flows into the sea at Glencairn Beach.  It's very exciting to cross over when the water is flowing!

On this day it became a lesson about putting others first....it's wonderful to be in front and be the leader, but so difficult to be last!  

Quiet time to contemplate.....

Jenna was so desperate to feed the birds, she bit up her apple and threw pieces into the water....what a squabble ensued!

We can't wait to go back with our Nature Club friends, we'll have to remember to pack in some old bread though !

Making Maths Moments.

A friend asked me today how I do Maths at home?  I was stumped.... how do I explain what we do?  I'm not very consistent about teaching maths....most of our maths happens through day to day experiences, not seat work. 

I'm still battling with my teacher conscience and the reality which I see playing out in front of me daily: do I follow a progressive curriculum or do I let the learning happen naturally?  

I loved teaching Maths at school.  I used a problem solving method which, in theory, is taught through real life experiences....... make maths relevant.....make it relate to what you're learning....let the learner discover their own method of solving a problem.  However, there was always a progressive curriculum you needed to complete within a year......I'm not so sure there is really a need to tick off every progressive step anymore.

But I do believe in making Maths relevant.  Using materials which we use in everyday life, like a calendar.

Charlotte Mason speaks of a Calendar of Firsts in her Nature Study notes.  (The idea is to record when one sees something in nature for the first time in a season and as the years go by you add your finds to it.)

With this idea in mind I introduced the calendar to my kids this year....maybe one day we'll get to that Calendar of Firsts, but in the mean time this is what we do....

record the weather, birthdays and special events....(the kids do the drawings most days)

Maths? Yip, data handling.  And a whole lot more....

Number recognition/concept: find the day/date, what came before, after?

Time: what day is it? what is the date? which month are we in? (Sometimes we even sing a days of the week/months of the year song-with actions!!) Which season? What day will it be tomorrow? Yesterday? Today?

Which month came before? Will come after?

Counting: How many days in the week/month?  How many have we had?  How many are left? Counting forwards, backwards, from a number. Introducing ordinal numbers (first, second etc.)

Jenna has been interested in Afrikaans lately so we've also used the calendar to learn the days of the week, months and counting in afrikaans.

You could also use it for:

• making a graph of the different weather types-a simple picture graph or bar graph.
• counting in 2's and 5's (seven's if you're adventurous)
• recognising odd and even numbers
• how many sleeps till? since?

As you can see we haven't been very fancy with colours-I'm not a frills kinda gal-but I do get bored with the same old, same old so next month I think we'll colour code the weather types.  A step up in recording and data handling skills ;-)

We've also, just this week, started another calendar on which we are recording the daily rainfall.  I'm thinking of using it for:

• comparing numbers (more, less, same as)
• problem solving (adding totals, how much more rain fell on...?)

This is probably one of our more consistent activities we do daily..... nothing fancy, but a whole lot Foundation Phase maths, and it doesn't take more than 15 minutes.  Which is great because that means on good weather days we can head out the door a lot quicker!

Thoughts that run around in my head....

Knowledge of the world is not a yard stick by which I'd like my children to be measured or assessed....

Geography, history and science are interesting facts to read about, but they don't teach my children where their true identity and purpose lies.

What I do wish for them, or rather hope for them, is that they would have roots which go down deep. That when the stormy times in life come they would know who to lean on, not what to lean on....

And in the good times they'll know who is really worthy of all praise.....

That they will know that when they are thirsty for knowledge there is only one teacher that they need to turn to.

And that He is always willing to quench their thirst.

After a week-end at my first CHE Winter Workshop I'm feeling a little restless again....

Am I really listening to My teacher?

Am I really following His lead?

Routines are easy for me.  Lists to tick off make me feel my work has been done.  But is it really what works for us as a family? Am I doing what works for me....or everyone?

How do we as home school parents break away from the fears? (because if I'm really honest that's what they are)  The what if's?  The comparisons?

Why is it so difficult for me to feel ok when I'm feeling different from the norm?

I don't have the answers....yet....but I do know that I believe in a God who asks me to not be like those of this world....

And when I'm sitting with my children doing our devotions book and we read:   "Learn from me" Matthew 11:29, I'm reminded again of the one thing He has said for me to do....follow Him and He will show me what we need to learn.

Because for us, this home school thing isn't about what I teach my children but rather it is about how we learn together, our relationships.  It isn't about knowing all the facts but rather it is about learning to be in relationship with the One who caused all those facts to be put into place in the first place.

The moments I love the most.

Although we're following more of a school routine this year, well most days, these are the moments I love the most:

When she designs her own garlands, bracelets and outfits.  I love her creativity.  To others her dress sense may seem different but I love that she has the freedom to "design" her own outfits and has a definite reason for each design..... who knows, perhaps someday she will become a designer who cooks food in space.  Well, at least that's what she said she wanted to be when she turned six.

Or when she sees something her friends have made at their home and she comes home and tries to work out how to make her own one....

and then teaches her little brother to make one too.  Isn't that what all designer's do?  "Steal" with their eyes and then go and teach their apprentices?

When he recreates what he has heard read at Bible time on his own initiative:  Jesus on the cross (the sword) with the soldiers standing around him.  

Or when she insists that she must have her "time to be alone with God" to read her Bible and he joins her with his own little Bible to tell his own stories.

When I decide to skip school plans and ask if they'd like to join me in making lunch and supper for the day. And when they enthusiastically join in-no negotiations needed-and then real life lessons are learnt.

When he sits quietly entertaining himself for at least ten minutes....

leaving her to create on her own for a while-sometimes big sisters need a break from being the teacher too.