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I think it has been a fabulous year, full of ups and downs and interesting things and thoughtful moments. I hope I can continue to post well-written, humourous, insightful blogposts. Failing that, I hope the photos are good!
We've been pottering away this last week or so.
We have been watching Federation on ABC iView. And when I went searching for some "meat" to put on the bones of this excellent program, I found wonderful (free!) resources from the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra (which is on the "to do" list now). We have been learning about Australia's population at the time of Federation (1901 for overseas readers who don't get to learn Australian history), interpreting data from tables and creating pie graphs on Excel.
I first discovered the Joy of Algebra when my father asked me to solve the following problem - if 1q + 1q is 2q, and 2q + 3q is 5q, what is 5q + 5q?? I thought about it for a second and responded "10q" to which he said "you're welcome!".
Ahh, gotta love a bit of maths humour!
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| Using algebra to solve a Fibonacci "magic" trick |
In science, Wombat Girl has been working through Science Focus 1 as I helped Video Boy with his physics.
We were looking at particle motion in waves, and I was sure that I had seen a Surfing Scientist video about that, so we Googled. We found a lesson plan with detailed instructions on how to make an animation using Powerpoint. Unfortunately we don't have Powerpoint 2010, so to turn the animation into a video for upload (to say, a blog), you have buy software (which I'm not prepared to do at this point!). So, I did a screen snip (imagination waves moving):
We have also been on a "field trip" to look at the fossils on the local rock platforms. They are sedimentary rocks (mudstones and siltstones for those interested) and were formed in the Permian, about 270 million years ago - before dinosaurs, but after trilobites (so, none of those found). But they are pretty spectacular:
We took plasticine moulds of the fossils and will soon make plaster of Paris casts (soon).
Unfortunately, the much anticipated Drama lessons have been postponed until Term 2, but Wombat Girl has been enjoying her piano lessons very much. I found this book in the library and we have been enjoying learning about the different periods in classical music (supplemented by my extensive iTunes libary!!). The second half of the book goes into detail about the different sections of the orchestra.
Lots of reading...especially by Wombat Girl...
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| Sometimes one book just isn't enough! |
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| Oops - what is that doing there?! My reading choices are always high-brow... |
Are your kids into Minecraft too? For those not in the know, this immensely popular game is deceptively simple - you "mine" stuff (hunt for different resources) and then you use that to "craft" stuff (to mine better stuff). If you play multiplayer (apparently considerably more fun), you also work together. My kids are close to being addicted to this game, having now set up a server, installed and set up Skype so they can chat to their friends (and weirdly, to each other from different computers in different parts of the house) as they mine and craft. Video Boy has also been busy setting up and capturing himself playing PS3 games and uploading them to YouTube. Just as well I'm pretty techo, or these kids would have left me in the dust by now!
I have to say that as far as "video games" go, Minecraft impresses me with its use of imagination, construction, use of technology, science, strategy and social interaction. I'm reasonably happy to let them spend time developing those skills!
They've have lots of time to work on Minecraft and also delve into the world of documentaries...
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| Barney's Barrier Reef |
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| Museum of Life |
Happy blogiversary, Ingi. I enjoy popping in and seeing what y'all are up to :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much verdemama - the compliment is returned!!
DeleteHappy 1 year anniversary!
ReplyDeleteOh I love your honesty about your reading choices :). I love your honesty period! You guys bring a smile to my face (your daughter reading two books at once. My daughter plays her DS and watches television at the same time :).)
They are not into Mindcraft yet but I sure have heard about it, who knows maybe it will become an interest but for now they are still happy with Animal Jam and Club Penguin.
Well, you've got to balance all this high-level cognitive stuff with a bit of trash every now and then (and honestly, who doesn't want to know how Scary Spice lost her baby fat?).
DeleteYou wait - they will be into Minecraft! It's lots of fun (and educational too, I keep telling myself).
Happy anniversary!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy coming here every time. To get inspired.
Thanks for the great sharing for the past year.
Absolutely my pleasure! Your pictures inspire me to do better too :-)
DeleteHappy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for all that you share.
I'm so glad that yours was one of the first homeschool blogs I came across when we started our hs adventure.
Sometimes I wonder if I share a little too much, but I can't censor too much - it's just not me.
DeleteIt's a wonderful adventure, isn't it? I can't get over how much we are enjoying it - it seemed so scary just over a year ago, and now I can't imagine doing anything else :-)
Same here.
DeleteTa :-)
ReplyDelete