Endings and Beginnings

Gabriel is just coming to the end of his first block on fractions. He's been really enjoying. Initially he was finding it a bit tricky, and I started to wonder if it would suit him better if I introduced the new concept and let him sleep on it, so the ideas had time to settle. It has worked brilliantly, he's gone from being irked to being pushed into new ideas to totally embracing each concept.

In terms of maths I largely use the jump curriculum, but still remain steiner inspired. I've found this really helps me to keep on track with us getting through all the maths work that needs to be done, and also breaks down the concepts well to enable me to explain and teach them better. I generally 'get' maths, without needing the extra steps so this has been very helpful for me in teaching it, and recognising that there are steps that I may not have thought need explaining, but do for some people.

Willow has started the second half of the Ancient Rome block. We've been using Charles Kovacs' book on ancient rome.

I like the way he presents the book, and the ideas that are brought forth through it. Some of the ideas around Christianity are very conservative IMO, but they have brought forth some useful discussions during our lessons.

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2025

I've used JUMP- Junior Undiscovered Maths Prodigies for all the kids now.  I actually think it is really brilliantly put together and it has helped me with my instructions for almost everything, enabling me to think about the idea that maybe there is a misalignment in concepts between myself and my child, and trying to work out how to remedy that.  

"The Myth of Ability" by John Mighton is the original book that I read on the principles in the JUMP program.  

I actually think that this was one of the books and programs that has really helped me understand better the idea of being a learner, and what learning and progression looks like in children and people.