Week 27 - Our Barefoot School House

It has been a slow week for us here at Our Barefoot School House. I say slow because I think know we are tired. It has been a long school year and with three weeks left of our third term - a break from it all seems so very inviting.

English, Afrikaans and the Learning subjects seem to pass without too much fuss, we actually enjoyed the themes, but Mathematics seemed to carry on for way too long. The usual unit a week that is expected from the curriculum doubled to two for this week. That in itself seem to rattle Garren's confidence. It is not that he struggles with the subject, no not at all. What I think has happened is that he has heard from his peers, from the schoolyard last year and the soccer field as well as others talk about how tedious it all is and he has got it into his head that this is how it should be. We are working on showing him that it really isn't that way at all and that a slight change of attitude will alter the mood of the subject. Today went a little smoother and he seemed to focus more at the task at hand than that of the whole week. He may also be excited and trying to get the tasks done so that he can start on his Science project 😉.

For Science we have been learning about Movement and Energy - Input & Output Energy. This week we focused on Movement and Energy found in Musical Instruments. He will have to design and construct a homemade musical instrument with recycled materials. I'll let you know how that goes in the week ahead. 

Themes For Week 27:

English - Caring For Our World.
This theme is carried over two weeks. We have touched on the topic of poverty and global warming. Focusing on reading and interpreting text with visuals. Writing information text and translating and organising graphic information. Our Core Reader is "Working Children" with spelling learnt from the theme itself. Language practice is on Stems, Verb Clauses, Colons, and simple and complex sentences.

Afrikaans - Waarheen Gaan Jy? (Where Are You Going?)
This theme is carried over two weeks. We have touched on Directions and placing sentences in the correct order as per text read. Our core reader for the week was "Liewe Heksie en die roomys" (The Little Witch and The Ice cream). Our poem was "Die Apie"(The Monkey) with spelling practice about "Die Kombuis"(The Kitchen).

Mathematics - Number Patterns and Adding & Subtracting.
Plenty of revision on what has been learnt through the year so far. 

Geography - Processed and Unprocessed Foods.
This week the theme learnt more on Agriculture and Farming but focusing on Unprocessed and Processed Foods. Subject touched on the meaning of processing food and a few ways on how food can be processed. 

History - Transport on Water.
This week we moved forward with the general theme of Transport and focused on Modern forms of water transport. 

Science - Movement and Energy in a System (Musical Instruments).
Moving forward with Movement and Energy - we were focusing this week on Musical Instruments. We covered many African handmade stringed and wind instruments such as the Uguhu (a stringed bow) and the Gorah (a reed pipe). Through the next week Garren will work on making his own musical energy while focusing on the design and solution. He has to use recycled material.

Danika and I built puzzle after puzzle. I think it is time to invest in new ones. The ones we have are of no challenge to her anymore. She is deliberately placing the pieces in the wrong holes and sighing "Oh No!..." then I have to find the correct place for her. How my nearly two year old is testing me to ensure that I am paying attention to her next moves astounds me. There has been ample outside free play too. The weather has been beautiful, all for one day, this week. I have let the younger two play for a little longer in the backyard after sunset before calling them in. We have also replaced the sand in her sandpit in the hope that the transition from my herb garden to her raised pit will go smoothly. I have seeds sprouting that will need to be planted in there soon. We also constructed a very rustic obstacle course to keep her busy on. It is now put away and plans for new wooden pallets to be used are in the works. A little safer than the ones used here as they are really old and weak.

There wasn't in the way of much extramural activities this past week. Garren was recovering from a bout of flu so we thought it best to keep him away from the rest of his soccer mates. But he does have a couple of matches this weekend that he will be playing.

So that's a wrap for our week in homeschooling. How did your week go?
What are you working on on your school desk?

Happy Friday
Love as always, Angela ♥

Week 26 - Our Barefoot School House

Happy Friday Friends,

Our school week is finally done. It was rather a trying one. Home school activities seemed more of chore than fun this week due to Garren coming down with a flu bug that made him absolutely miserable. But, we are now on the road to recovery. I have been forcing copious amounts of vitamin C and tissue salts number 5 into his system regularly through the days and slathering his back, chest and soles of his feet with Homemade Eucalyptus chest rub oil. We made it through Week 26 but just barely and although we are home free for the weekend I wonder how much he actually took in this week. I say this as our weekly spelling and times table test results left much to be desired.

I am looking into something a little more detailed for art lessons for next year. Something we can focus on with intent. We have just kept school books up to date with colours and presentation this year. And, he has had a Colour Book that was gifted him at Christmas that he works through. I just feel we need to give him a little more options. Do you have any ideas?

We did not make soccer practice at all this week and will not be part of the games for the weekend. He was a little disappointed but I think he really knew that he just wasnt going to be up to that amount of running about. I'm sure next week he will feel much better and be able to participate again.

I have been sharing our past weekly school activities on facebook. What we will be learning for the week ahead with links to the curriculum we use for those who wish to look into the same for their family. But, that has come to an abrupt halt and I do not see myself sharing this on that platform again. After a few weeks of sadly not being able to share any of our posts due to being told our content was abusive I went ahead and deactivated my personal account. I am not too saddened by this at all I might add. I feel that time had come for me to move on anyway. And for me to keep all my thoughts and shares right here on the blog. What do you think?

This week Danika's curriculum for next year arrived. I am still going through the paperwork and will be spending time going through the activities and ideas for her learning for next year during the rest of the year. I like to be organised and have a feel for what is expected of me. So, this should be interesting.

Next year will be lesson planning for not only Grade 5 but for a 2-3 year old as well.
I will write more about this as I go along. I am actually quite excited - it has been so rewarding and so interesting this new life (well not so new anymore) of homeschooling. I wouldn't change all of this for anything in the world.

So, in saying all of this... Here is to new words and pictures and posts.

Love as always, Angela ♥

Planting Seeds + Wheelbarrow Rides

Hello there and brightest of blessings for the new week ahead my friends.

I do hope your weekend was relaxing and enjoyed by you and yours? What did you get up to?

Saturday was pretty glum and miserable with much needed rain. Soccer was cancelled due to this so we didn't need to venture out at all and since all the shopping (miraculously) was done on Friday I didn't have to worry about going out at all, the whole weekend or for the rest of this coming week either in fact. I have weeks were I just cant get all the shopping done for the week ahead in one day, so then I catch up with the rest on the Saturday. (or send Rob with a list to do it for me 😉 ).

Sunday, although still pretty icy, cleared and by mid morning we were able to venture outside again. In fact it even warmed for the rest of it. So much so that we got so involved with outside it almost felt that it was time for a new season of gardening. I found Rob and the younger two outside clearing what was left in the vegetable beds and prepping them for just that. I love when we get to this time of the year. It can still get pretty cold and we're usually hit with a freakish cold front that brings on in snow as close as dammit to our mountain ranges before we can even consider being in the clear for real Spring weather. But, in saying this, there are other ways we can start getting prepared. Like clearing and prepping the beds. AND then dreaming about what will be planted in them.

We have also added gardening to our homeschooling curriculum. Rob and I feel it is so very important that the kids take part in the growing of our food and of course in doing so learn to appreciate what ends up on our plates at the end of it all.

A few months back our grocery store was adding a couple of these sweet little pots with every purchase made at their store. The incentive was (of course) that depending on the amount spent that would determine how many little pots you were given. Clever 😉 right? But, for us, as gardeners it was completely the wrong time of the year for them to be planted. So we kept them to one side for just the right time. We planted all the veggies pot this weekend and have left the edible flowers for another time. Each little pot comes with instructions and it will be up to Garren to keep them going.

He really is so excited about his project. He knows that once the plants are established he will be given his own space in one of the beds to nurture them until harvest time.

Finally we ended off our day in the garden with the inevitable wheelbarrow rides.

This was Danika's first time and in true Danika style she summoned her brothers to be there alongside her through it all.

There is so much to plan for our garden for the months ahead.

i certainly cant wait.

How are your gardens coming along?

Love Angela ❤

First Week - Third Term

Happy Friday You Guys!

If you are anything like me you are watching the clock to celebrate (with a wine glass in hand) for making it through the first week back at school for the third term - right.?!

How did you fare?

We made it through without incident - it could be because we have decided to change schedules a little with homeschooling.

What is the point of not being able to do just this. It's part of the reason for it all.. isn't it? Being able to decide how and when it all should be learnt and done.? And all of this at their pace.

We have cut back drastically on the hours a day spent on book work. I was finding that we were spending way too much time with our noses in books and not enough hours spent outside under the Sun. Don't get me wrong, I love to have my nose buried deep in any book. But this is not for everyone. This was not working for us. G is not a child who can cope with not enough fresh air time. The whole other schedule was just too stressful for us both. So we have cut down and are focusing more on one subject at a time with math every morning.

AND its been wonderful.

Math in the morning with breakfast and coffee and then we get ourselves outside after 10am. There is still a chill in the air and the ground is still soaked from dew from the night before. But all this can be made right with the right sized Wellies and a hand knit jersey.

One subject is then read and spoken about while lunching alfresco on a blanket under the Pines. Anything needing to be written or answered in exercise books will be done after, while D has her afternoon nap.

And then after 3 when naps are done and the last of school work has been marked we're all outside for a couple more hours or until it is just too cold to stand it anymore.

Our Coop is D's obsession at the moment. She needs to be in there as soon as I set them free from the cottage in the morning. She beelines there as fast as her Wellie Boots can carry her. And of course he follows.

He is teaching her to clean up, check that their water and food is enough for the day and collect the eggs for lunch. Pine needles are raked to fill their nesting boxes too.

Of course, you know how well that goes with small humans. He does everything and she stands about the coop calling "Cheekins". Did you see that video on Instagram :) ?

I will add it here just in case you didn't ;)

Credit: @a n g e l a 🌙

Our Barefoot Schoolhouse.

This week we completed our first week of homeschooling....

We did it, successfully and without incident. I am pleased and exhausted. I must admit that although the thought of homeschooling was anticipated with much excitement there were moments on the brink of due date when I questioned our decision as to whether this was something I could or should be doing for our family and our children. But, thinking back now, these feelings must have come from the various remarks made over the months prior to starting from skeptic people out there. When questions such as - "aren't you afraid that you will mess up your children's lives" are continually put forward to you, it would only make sense that (even if for a fleeting moment) you should question this of yourself too. That of course now has been place so far behind me and will never be questioned again of myself or allow that of someone else.

In the end we decided that we would further G's studies via Clonard Education. It seems a more natural way for us to carry on with G who has been in the school system since Grade RR. The transition would be smoother and if at any stage there should be a need to filter back into the system he could do so with ease. There is also the nitty of registering with Education Department which each Homeschooling family is required "by-law" to do. Again, here Clonard, for us, seemed the best option as they are well known with the Education Department so the registration should be a little smoother. I will let you know how that process pans out. It is a process, so I am told. Ordering the curriculum was easy and the staff are ever so sweet and efficient. We have all in place except for one teacher's aid in English and our Atlas. So, starting our week was super easy with all or most of our books at hand. Each subject is laid out so that anyone with passion to do so can teach from both the Teacher/Parent guides and manuals for each subject and an overall one. And teach we did this week.

This week I have found our week to be erratic in time spent on each subject. I have allocate time for Math, English, Afrikaans and Subject to be completed each day as prescribed via the Education Department but I am going to go with a more child-led (Garren-led) structure - we found that we either didn't have enough time to complete a certain unit or there was just way too much time allocated to that unit for the day - and I know that we will complete what needs to be done at terms end. He feels more at ease with this too and has even commented after each mornings schooling in our Barefoot SchoolHouse that he is happy we have chosen this new path.

Eclectic Homeschooling for the win I'd say and I am feeling rather pleased with this.