2014 Mash-up

So this year, due to age differences, we cannot go with the Sonlight Curriculum, so we have opted for a bit of lots of things.  For non-home schoolers this next paragraph will be utterly dull.

Our base curriculum this year is Ambleside.  We are making the most of their Bible, history (with a tiny bit of Sonlight), literature, and readers, as well as all the other online resources we can glean. Maths, we have stuck with Horizons, this program worked so well last year. Geography, we have opted for Ann Voskamps Geography, The whole earth and the Holy Land.  So far, it's not the kind of geography we are use to, it seems more like science.  But this may change. Speaking of science, we have gone with Jenie Fulbrights Animals of  the 6th Day.  We started this last year, but decided a broader science through Sonlight may be better for the first year.  Language Arts, I am making up, using some NZ Curriculum books, Handwriting Without Tears and then my own exercise sheets.  Memory verse, we are following Ann Voskamps Jesus Project, learning 2-3 hand picked verses through each chapter of John. Art I decided to base loosely on Ambleside and some Art books we have at hand.

I love that Sonlight has given me the confidence to be able to pick and choose to form the mash-up curriculum we are doing this year. It has been so fun to be able to pull together so many flavours.  And this has given us the opportunity to add to our day if we so desire, or to focus on areas of interest.

We may be heading back to Sonlight next year, for the American History year, but we shall see how this year progresses first.

Nature Study

When a ordinary fishing trip becomes a organic study of nature.

An overcast day in the beautiful place called Grossi Point, Mapua, what better time to go for a fish?  The boys had spent the morning with my Mum, finishing their homeschool and playing, while I gave some counselling training to a handful of enthusiastic and passionate youth workers.  Upon my return, we decided a spot of fishing was in order, at this location it is really only casting out practise, but we call it fishing anyway. Snag after snag, then birds nests, of the fishing kind rather than the feathered kind, kind of puts kids off the fishing part, so they find their own fun. Climbing trees, exploring the mudflats, hunting crabs. The opportunity to forage and explore is too much to resist.

Seb enjoyed practising casting out and exploring. Solomon collected tiny crabs to keep as pets while holding a fishing rod for all of 30 seconds.  Nana undid the birds nests. I walked the shore trying to get snags unstuck.  A couple of hours later it was off to the ice-cream shop.  A prefect afternoon.