Type to Learn 4 (Review)

~ Agents of Information

Now this is a Typing Tutor with a difference. I have tried it my self & must honestly admit, I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit.

This tutor has a teacher facility and allows 5 students. It has reporting facilities for tracking students’ progress. It starts with a pre-test and places the student at the appropriate level. This program contains 27 lessons, each of which have a lesson and a variety of game type activities for practicing the learned skills.

The look and feel of this game type tutor also makes it more appropriate for boys who usually don’t enjoy the “girly type” typing tutors available.

I also enjoy how the program unlocks bits of information as you work through the lessons, allowing the student to learn additional information on top of the typing practise.

Working through the levels can easily become quite addictive. My son insisted he didn’t need a typing tutor, but didn’t protest too much when I had him try it out.

All in all it is really a great teaching tool and so much fun too.

Craft Day

On Saturday afternoon I ditched my boys for a tea date at Clearwater Mall with some homeschool moms. Unfortunately our visit at Mug & Bean got cut short, so I stopped by the Crafters Market to find some crafting materials for Misha. I found some lettering & mosaics which I thought might work to make some name plates for their bedroom doors. After finishing the washing this morning I figured we might as well do something creative for school…

First the boys arranged all the items on their boards to plan what they want the name board look like…

Then we painted the board & all the items. Misha painted his own, but I did Jesse’s since he doesn’t care for arts & crafts much. He did however choose the colours & draw the lines for his background.

Finally the boards are complete & have been hung on the bedroom doors with huge excitement…

they added the bandannas that they painted for the horse camp last year & woalla, they have character on their doors.

Irene Weather Station

WoW, this has been quite a hectic month where field trips are concerned. We’ve done SAASTA Telescope Building & Science Outing; Steam Train Trip & Cullinan History Tour; eTV Tour; SAASTA Night Sky Viewing as well as the Weather Training Centre in Irene. That’s 5 Field trips in one month & more than I can remember doing in all of my schooling career. Obviously in the process I’m also re-learning a whole lot of stuff that I learnt for the test many years ago but remember none of…

Irene Weather Station VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This afternoon we visited the Irene Weather Station, one of the 23 weather stations in our country. We met Hendrik, a technician with an absolute passion for the job he’s doing. Very patiently, & with the simplest of terms, he explained how they measure air temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed & direction as well as direction are measured & sent to their Head Office where the information is processed to supply the public with climate & weather reports.

I was quite surprised at how simple it all is. Now here is one area where the digital collection is still verified daily by taking daily measurements the old primitive way & checking it with the automated readings. We also had the privilege of seeing a radiosonde that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them to a fixed receiver, being attached to a balloon & released for a daily reading taken for the aviation industry.

Although this may not have been a very WoW experience we still enjoyed this field trip & learnt a lot.

Reading Eggs

Review     Hello Everyone, I thought you and your little one might like to trial the ABC Reading Eggs and Eggspress programs for two weeks absolutely FREE. Those of you who have followed our journey into home education will remember that we took up home educating our then 7-year old 2nd grader because he was struggling at private school and unable to read. Reading time was always a huge challenge & whenever I brought out a book for reading he’d tense up completely because he absolutely hated it. I kept on trying during the course of last year & finally, in June just gave it up & left all reading. No more books, no more tension & no more frustration. Then in January this year I stumbled on the Reading Eggs site & decided to give learning to read another try. This program caters for 7 – 13 year olds & addresses the way Misha learns best. I started him on Level 2 “Beginning to Read for emerging readers” on the 19th January & for the first week I just left him as he spent 6 to 8 hours a day working the programme. By the 26th January he had mastered 20 lessons & moved up to Level 3. Since then he’s completed a lesson a day & finished Level 3 reading on the 19th April. Reading Eggs activities include a Skills Bank with 96 lessons to teach spelling the fun way. There’s a Story Factory to encourage writing stories as well as Driving tests to assess student knowledge in one of three essential reading skills. For the little ones it includes a Play Room & a Puzzle park. When I checked his reports in at the end of April, he was still at 7 years reading age, but by last Friday when I checked again he had improved to 9 years reading age. I’m amazed at how much his confidence has grown & his hatred towards reading has reduced. Lately he’s insisted on reading the Clinker Castle stories to me before going ahead with the comprehension exercises. Today I was quite surprised that he wanted to read eNews to the group on our Field Trip to eTV. Although some of the words were a bit difficult for his current reading level, he wasn’t deterred… This afternoon he finished the last lesson at Storylands, Clinker Castle & will be moving on to Reading Express with its 200 lesson Comprehension gym & Library with its 650 levelled books with reading ages from 6 – 12+ years, next week. Finally learning to read is no longer a chore & completing his lessons is done in about 40 minutes each day. Finally, after 21 months of home education, we’re making a breakthrough with reading. Letting go & trusting God & Misha to pick it up when he’s ready, is finally paying off… Reading Eggs is working really well for Misha and registering is quick and easy. Give it a go, it really works! Blessings, Patrizia (a.k.a. Trys/Trixi) Schwartz Mom to Jesse (14) & Misha (9)     testimonials       Parents At first we thought that this is not suitable for ou… Teachers Reading Eggs is wonderful for early and beginning re… Special needs Hi I am the Curriculum Co-ordinator at an independen…       contact       Send us an email Tel: +44 1173 600246        9am - 5pm        Monday - Friday

ABC Reading Eggs is 100% Australian and is designed for 3 to 7 year olds who are learning to read. The program is successful because it makes learning phonics and basic reading skills a truly enjoyable experience, through a range of educationally sound, fun and interactive activities. Over 200 000 parents and 4000 teachers across Australia are using ABC Reading Eggs with their children. Be one of the 90% of parents who have reported seeing a noticeable improvement in their child’s reading skills and register for your 2 week FREE trial NOW! To receive your 2 weeks FREE access simply click on the provided link and complete the registration form provided > Register now for my FREE 2 week trial To see what parents and teachers have to say about the program click here > Testimonials Click here to visit www.readingeggs.com Yours sincerely Matthew Sandblom Chief Eggsploring Officer www.readingeggs.com   news       We are very proud to announce the launch of our NEW Storylands destination. The first 20 lessons of Clinker Castle are open to play! Storylands opens after lesson 60 with 4 exciting maps, 20 wonderful books and lots of new rewards. This area build…

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Friends of Kloofendal

Jesse’s been on holiday in Shelly Beach with an old school friend since the 30th November and was only due back on the 16th. This has left Misha home alone, but I’m surprised to say that he’s actually been quite content on his own, although he’s used this time to sleep in Ouboet’s room every night…

When the email came around last week for the Friends of Kloofendal Adventure activities I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to allow him some independent learning close to home. Up to now, he’s always had Jesse with on activities to keep an eye on him, but flying solo was a new learning curve for both of us…

Monday ~ Bush Survival

The guide, made the children aware what is needed to survive in the bush, is not just food, as water, shelter, warmth, navigation are all important factors in bush survival. The children were then sent off into the bush with guides to ensure that they find all the essentials to survival. Back in the amphitheatre the guide checked whether the various groups found their survival ingredients with which, with under experienced guidance, they were able to make a fire and cook bush food, which included meal worms and crickets. Did you know meal worms contain more protein than meat? I was told they tasted like seafood and found it very amusing that this cook refused to eat her own cooking, but then I don't think I would have either.

I gave him a camera to use for taking photos, but Misha had so much fun during the activities that he forgot to take photos, so most of these I took when I came to fetch them afterwards.

Kloofendal Nature Reserve ~ Bush Survival VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tuesday ~ Goldmine Tour

I wanted to see the mine myself and asked Misha if he would mind me accompanying him on the tour. Of course, he was not very impressed because he reckoned I's said I'd let him fly solo from Monday to Thursday. I decided to join next time when both boys go on the adventure activities.

The guide took the children on a gold discovery experience, which included a visit into the Confidence Reef, the first goldmine on the Witwatersrand (= the beginning of Johannesburg). They tried out gold panning, which is quite a skill, but no gold was found. They learnt about the history of the miners, and the stamp mill, what this huge machine is used for, how it works and why it came from all the way England to South Africa.

Once again, Misha forgot to take photos until his friend reminded him about the camera, so we these are what we got...

Kloofendal Nature Reserve ~ Goldmine Tour VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Wednesday ~ Bundu Bash Adventure & Action Programme

Experienced guides accompanied the children on this adventure for active children with inquiring minds. They explored what is all happening in the nature around them, discovering signs of animals, learning about the wonderful uses of local plants, tasting, smelling, feeling, hearing the different sounds (birds, frogs, insects?), collecting various required items on the way to discuss at end of the walk, finding a treasure using simple map reading skills, exploring mine trenches and adits. The boys came out there quite dirty and obviously had loads of fun.

Fortunately the guide's camera battery was flat thus he used Misha's for photos and we got a few more than the previous days...

Kloofendal Nature Reserve ~ Bundu Bash Adventure VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Unfortunately Thursday’s Rand Water Programme was cancelled due to too few bookings received so we went to the movies to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 (Chipwrecked) instead.

Misha had so much fun with these activities and said he’d be disappointed if he weren’t able to do them again, so I will definitely be looking into letting the boys take part into many more of these activities during the course of next year.

 

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers (SACH Bloggers) where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more. You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page. We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!

SA Home Schooling Blog Carnival #14

 

What we Achieved this Year

Since we finished our first year home educating last week, I’ve been asking myself what we actually achieved this year…

I must admit goal setting has never been one of my strong points. Generally I just take life in it’s stride, although I always managed to get things done…

Academically, however, I had their year all planned out. By the end of last year I had bought their “worksheet wasteland” curriculum and expected the schedules to run smooth sailing… but alas, my schedules were met with much resistance. By the end of the first term already they were getting annoyed with my insistence to get the worksheets done.  They wanted to wrestle and play instead of doing the boring bookwork.

During the second term I learnt about learning styles and realised that this approach wasn’t going to work for us and I was back on the internet searching for alternatives. I canned the schedules and decided instead to take one day at a time. I realised that for my own sanity as well as the boys I just had to find a better way to educate the kids.

Misha started with Le-Amen worksheets, changed to All-In-One programme, then we used Switched on Shoolhouse for Language Arts and Teaching Textbooks for Maths. Eventually we converted worksheets into lapbooks and finally we switched him over to Time 4 Learning. He has redone his whole Grade R foundation with Hettie and his gross and fine motor skills as well as midline crossing abilities are finally up to date. He has learnt to read and his overall confidence has improved a great deal. He’s discovered a love for art and has his future all planned out, wanting to become a Science and Art teacher.

Although I eased off on the bookwork with Jesse, he still had to do his assessments and write the Le-Amen exams. He did very well for a child that hated schoolwork so much. It took most of the year to get there, but he’s finally started to open up to me. All the “sit on mommy” time and wrestling have finally paid off. I’m getting to know him better and finally have a better idea how to approach the next year with him. The Technology lessons with the Tutor were a hit and he really seems to love the hands-on learning.

Thanks to HomeSchool Tracker Basic edition I was able to track all their activities and scores to give an accurate report on all they have achieved.

In spite of all the challenges, with curricula that didn’t work for them, both boys still managed to improve their grades substantially.

I was blown away after collecting the boys' reports today…

I have absolutely no idea how Le-Amen got to their scores but somehow, only Jesse's Afrikaans & Social Science results correspond with what I handed in and his 83% average has dropped to 70%.

Misha scored a whopping 86% average for all the assignments he has done, but their report classes him as an average student... Now how does this make sense?

Although the Le-Amen results don’t correspond with mine, at least they have promoted the boys to grades 4 & 9 respectively for next year. I don’t have the energy to put on a fight about it, so I'll just write this homeschool support center off to a very bad experience never to be used again... I will just ignore their reports and use our own instead.

Bringing them home, where they belong has been the best move ever. I just love having the boys around all the time. We’re enjoying our new found freedom and are not missing the daily trips rushing to and from school at all.

I, of course, failed miserably at being super organised (having been a secretary, PA & Office Administrator before becoming a housewife), have everything filled, up to date, know what’s happening where, complete tasks etc. Somehow time just didn’t seem to be on my side.

We did manage to get into a routine and even managed to get them doing some chores. Jesse’s become a master at making fudge and jelly. Even Misha’s been helping around the kitchen lately.

We managed to do many things together, from baking, to playing and of course we even managed to fit in more field trips than our whole family has had in all our schooling careers together. They loved the monthly ice skating trips and the horse camp in September was a major hit.

I’m most impressed with their personal progress though. All the sweat and tears this year were well worth it just looking at how much they’ve grown…

Misha is no longer a tired, stressed-out whiney child and the boys hardly ever fight any more. They play games together and get along so much better these days. Jesse also seems to be much more relaxed. He’s even started doing small maintenance jobs in and around the house. If he keeps it up, one day he may be able to teach Daddy a thing or two…

All in all, our whole family life style has changed for the better… I’m beginning to understand the way they learn and I have an idea of how to make “school” work for us next year… And of course we’ve saved about R20,000 on school fees, even with all the extra murals which included ice skating, Junior Engineering, Tutors as well as camping for both of them.

Misha’s starting to show interest in some forms of learning and I trust by the end of next year Jesse will be enjoying learning again too…

Well done boys, you did us proud!

We’re Finished

WoW, we have finally delivered our evaluations to Le-Amen on Tuesday afternoon and that officially marks the end of our first year of homeschooling. Little did we know that this "school at home" approach would make our journey such a hectic and stressful one for us.

Home education is not for the faint-hearted…

Honestly, I do regret using Le-Amen as our service provider as our experience with them has been rather disappointing. Their material for Misha was way too much "worksheet wasteland" orientated and boring to work with. He hated doing them, & I didn't enjoy marking them either. Needless to say, I’m still waiting for feedback on the missing activities in his environmental studies manual… After repeatedly querying this, I gave up and he was overjoyed when I finally discovered lapbooking and allowed him to cut the worksheets up for his lapbooks.

We eventually replaced all the worksheets with Smart Tutor, Switched on Schoolhouse Language Arts, Teaching Textbooks and many other alternative resources until we recently stumbled onto Time4Learning again. After all the chopping and changing, he still managed to do quite well for a child that was struggling through school years before.

We also discovered his sudden interest in painting after taking him to a tutor to help with his “way beyond his age” art project for his Le-Amen portfolio. We were amazed at the end result and this term decided to let him continue art lessons with Edward.

He thoroughly enjoyed these lessons. From building the frame for the canvas, to painting this picture with Edward’s guidance. It turned out quite pretty. He enjoyed it so much that he’s been asking for more lessons this week.

Thanks to HomeSchool Tracker I was able to track everything the boys did. Misha averaged 86.11% covering Afrikaans, English, German, Art, Bible, Environmental Studies, Social Studies, Life Skills, Maths & Science.

Jesse’s books were not at all homeschool friendly. Pushing this textbook approach, just fuelled his intense hatred for schoolwork instead of help recover his love for learning. The textbooks were classroom orientated & the teachers manuals were aimed at professional teachers and not homeschool parents. When I questioned this I was told English and Maths were important and I shouldn’t worry about the others as they were “poer vakke”. How on earth is a child's supposed to be able to self-study with material that’s not appropriate for that purpose? I finally replaced most of his textbooks with alternatives and also got him Switched on Schoolhouse Science to try out.

Technology VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

He thoroughly enjoyed the technology lessons with Edward. This year he’s had in depth training on architectural drawings, built a miniature sample to accompany the drawings. He also started AutoCAD drawing lessons. As a technology project he’s busy building me a new washing line for the back stoep. This entailed measuring, drawing, planning material as as well as welding lessons.

Although he hated the bookwork, Jesse still managed to increase his average with 14+% from last year to 83.72% covering Afrikaans, English, German, Accounting, Bible, Social Studies, Life Skills, Maths Natural Science, Science & Technology. Now if this is what he’s capable of whilst hating what he’s doing, I can just imagine what he’ll achieve when he loves learning again.

However, apart from the “school” stress, we did also have loads of fun this year. We’ve done more field trips in one year than what Clive & I had in our combined school careers. I love having the boys home with me. We’ve grown so much closer as a family.

Fortunately I have discovered learning styles and how that affects their ability to retain what they've learnt and we still have some time to salvage the damage caused by the "system". For next year I’m planning loads of hands-on activities and fun instead of the traditional “school at home” approach.

I have been inspired to write a home educating philosophy for our family… but this is as far as I got for now…

I must admit I haven't been this tired & stressed in ages. It's already taken me a few days to de-stress and I'm only now starting to feel slightly normal again. I've been in bed by 22h00 most nights this week and am still tired. Fortunately we have a few weeks’ break now and I trust next year will be better and less stressful as we explore educating the WAY THEY LEARN.

For now, I’m looking forward to a nice long break and I’m sure the boys are happy to be on holiday too…