Planning and Term 1

When I make a plan for the year, I like to do it at the end of the year for the coming year, and then forget it for the Summer.  This  year, like some other years, I have totally failed to get my plan done when I prefer, so it looks like I'll be finishing it off in the next few days.  When planning I also like to cross over themes with my children as much as possible, and this year, this is the one area that I am still reviewing in my plan.  I also like to make a plan, as it gives me a sense of the areas, that I hope to cover in the year, and it is amazing how often I come across activities, or interesting books, or resources, just because of reviewing the ideas that we wish to look into for the coming year.

Willow is working an office job as an operations assistant and loving it.  Turns out all her volunteering on message boards as a moderator was useful for getting and succeeding at this sort of work.  Gabriel has started a cert 3 in Screen and media (digital) this is a 6month course, and he has plans to follow on with a second course later in the year.  It is feeling good after 13yrs to have two completed, and enjoying where they are.  The younger two are up to class 6 and class 1, and we have had a lovely gentle start to the year.

All the kids together on Gabriel's 17th birthday.

Lots of lovely moments at the beach and in our pool.  We are truly blessed with glorious beaches, beautiful water and perfect Summer weather in Perth, much of the time.  Especially when I remember beach life in Adelaide. (Usually the water is freezing in Adelaide, unless it has been *very* hot, and on the way home, one can't help but wonder if the trip, to feel pleasant for 1/2 hour of so, was worth the effort.)

Watching the water

Swim between the flags!

Painting with the younger two.

Doing some sewing.  I have done quite a lot this Summer.

We got to a couple of shows in this  years Fringe, and Willow was working flyering again at it.  We also spent some time in the Pleasure Gardens where we came across these "magic apples".  The youngest two *loved* them and the process of collecting the peel, making a wish, and watching them being coiled and covered in cinnamon sugar.  One of the lovely things about how we homeschool, is that the magic of life is kept alive for such beautiful simple joys.

We also got to a home ed excursion to see a Fringe show about culture, performed by young Korean and Vietnamese students who attend an American school in Vietnam.  It was quite insightful into a different way of learning.  The students of the school seemed to have the advantages of what American schools offered as topics long ago, but sadly lack the ability to study them at a higher level at home in Vietnam, as there is nowhere to study drama,etc.

Irving discovering what it's like to be a flyerer in Perth fringe, by assisting Willow on the job.

Collecting leaves, just because they were gigantic for London Plane trees.

Starting on some Shakespeare for Arden's yr 6 family reading.  We all sit around one evening a week (the first time someone in the family reads Shakespeare) and read together.....sometimes it can get confusing remembering who we are.  LOL.  Previously we have read Julius Casear and Antony and Cleopatra, this time Cymbeline that is about a British King in the Roman empire.

Onto the next book in the Little House series, plus Irving and Arden just finished listening to "The Wizard of Oz."  The book is quite lovely and it is the first older kids' book that Irving has really enjoyed.  Though it does still seem funny reading it and knowing that Dorothy has silver slippers and not red!

Irving was excited to get a smartrider finally and especially to get a changing colour sequin holder for it.

It looks like Autumn might be coming a bit earlier this year....noticing the season changes with the kids.

Off to see Kwongkan with Arden at Fremantle Arts centre.  It was a Perth Fringe Performance about taking care of our home this Earth.  Beautifully done as a cross cultural experience of Aboriginal and Indian performance, Arden and I enjoyed it very much and thought that it communicated the changes across time well. 

As a whole family we also got to see A O Lang Pho, the Vietnamese circus in the festival.  It was very interesting to see them after the Fringe show by the Vietnamese students and to learn that there are very few places offtering opportunities like this in Vietnam.  In fact the circus show's booklet stated that they were expanding there, but that the show we were to see, received a better response in France!

We started ice-skating lessons again this year, with Irving taking his first formal lesson.  He did very well on his first try, and seems to have gained the maturity at 5 1/2 to manage himself for his half hour lesson.  I did wonder if he was ready, so it was a nice surprise to see him do well, and not look to me much.

Again at Fremantle Arts centre, this time to see a Bluegrass band- Bluegrass Parkway.  We felt the gig was too large for their style, having seen them at other more intimate locations, particularly as they use old fashioned microphones for amplification, so we stopped in the cafe for coffee and enjoyed the music from the distance instead.

Finally this pic of youngest and oldest child is why we started to home educate 13years ago.  Family.  I feel blessed that we made this choice, as it has transformed our lives, and especially anyone (like us) who has a child close to the cut off date for starting pre-primary in WA (Irving is 6 days off it), and is finding that their child is already being labelled a "problem", contemplate the idea that the child is simply too immature for a system that has forgotten how children learn.  When I was 5, 40yrs ago, and 4yr olds were expected to start school, we often started with half days,  had afternoon naps! and there was so much play (my favourites were dress up, and water/sand play on hot days). Our culture that encourages adults to become parents later and later, has lost its ability to understand how children learn, and is causing immense emotional issues for many small people who simply have nothing wrong with them other than needing more time to grow, so that they can cope with skills in a flexible age appropriate manner.  

Scandinavian countries start school at an older age-7- knowing that this is the age that most children will succeed to learn to read easily.  If that is the case, starting 4 1/2 yr olds, we as a culture and schooling system are  sacrificing a lot of children to a school life of feeling like a failure and various forms of anxiety. 

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2025

In recent years, we have gone to very few Fringe and Festival performances, both because we somewhat feel the quality has declined since covid and because we no longer have a student interested in being a performer.  Our recent years in home ed have seen a much larger amount of time spent on fitness, woodwork and aviation.

Preparations

We usually spend the beginning of the year, heading off to a few Fringe and Arts shows and enjoying the weather and ambiance that Perth offers during this time.  This year, we've already been out and about quite a bit, catching some buskers last night, and Arden and Gabriel both getting an opportunity to be part of a show.  Gabriel was invited to help the strong man, and Arden was invited to help a balloon comedian. Last week as a family we all head to a vaudeville show for my birthday;down at Scarborough beach, where we enjoyed fish and chips after the show.  Everyone's made a bit of  a list of things that they would like to see this Fringe so hopefully we'll make it to some more shows.

Chocolate cherries and cherry cinnamon glaze cake for my birthday!

I've been continuing to work on my sewing, and have made a silk bra, using raw silk, combined with the back off an old maternity bra, and I've now progressed onto gingham pyjamas for Arden and another gingham bra for me.

Preparations are being made for our home ed activities starting in around 4weeks.  Classes mostly start back next week, and Willow is starting her work before the rest of the family.  We're having a very natural learning year 11 for her where she is focusing on a variety of goals that she wishes to achieve this year with the aim of putting a portfolio together and applying for WAAPA again at the end of the year.  Some of her plans involve self-publishing a book, repairing her vintage bike, putting together a busking show involving circus and singing, studying mythology and operas that are connected to this area, and learning to sew further to develop some skills in costumery.  It is looking to be quite an interesting year.  Damien and Willow are both looking at auditioning for Gilbert and Sullivan's first performance for the year, which this time is Iolanthe.

I have Arden's class 3 planned, got that done at the end of last year.  I quite enjoy class 3, and it's interesting how it's easier to plan 3rd time around; something I know and am familiar with vs learning about.

I am still to sit down with Gabriel and plan his class 9, I'm hoping to do this next week.  I've made some notes and have some ideas, as does Gabriel, so it will be good to sit down together and apply our ideas to a plan.

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2025

Willow got through some of those activities on her list to varying levels.  She did self-publish a short novel, which can be found here.  She made some small progress on here bike.  Not sure about the mythology and opera study now...., and she was a bit over the busking by then, so she continued to sing, but never really put a show together.  She did continue to sew, and has done a bit of sewing over the years.  She did spend quite a bit of time dressing up and creating different costumes and make-up styles over the years.  In her free time, she also used to spend quite a bit of time moderating lego message boards, as well as writing fan-fiction based around Ninjago, both of these have ended up being useful for her current work, as she works in online fraud payment analysis.

Iolanthe performance.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2016/06/iolanthe-has-take-over.html

Summer Holidays

It seems like Summer has disappeared very quickly round here.  My normally speedy home education planning took far too long, due to chasing Irving around, but was finally finished just over a week ago (Yay!).  So now we are largely sorted for the coming years work for yr 10, yr 8 and yr 2.

This year we are focusing on getting Willow's music at a consistent level so that she can look at entry into WAAPA in the next couple of years.  So for her, this years curriculum is *very* music heavy.   She's already working on her music, and is doing well at being self directed and motivated.

Gabriel and Arden are yet to start work- as usual we are waiting til the worst of Summer is over (and everyone's birthdays). We still have two birthdays left for the Summer with Gabriel's the last one in a couple of weeks.

To complement Willow's music curriculum, and just because we like going to performances, we've been busy getting to lots of Fringe performances and are looking forward to some of the Perth Arts festival shows.  There's so many great things happening that it can be a bit hard to pick, but we felt it was particularly important to get to all the operas this year, given Willow's interest in classical voice, so we are off to see Madama Butterfly in the Arts festival, as well as two Baroque Orchestras.

One of our friends has also been doing computer portraits on the screen near PICA, in the Cultural and Centre and both Damien and Arden have had a turn being drawn on the big screen.

Damien

Arden

Over the New Year, we decided to get out of Perth, and we headed for our first trip down South.  We stayed with some friends in Walpole.  We headed off to the tree top walk, and visited the giant Tingle tree and the circular pool, as well as going fishing and visiting Denmark.  I *really* liked Denmark, it reminded me of the things that I miss about living in Adelaide.

I also completed my first machine sewing project recently, which I was very pleased with.  I was making some tap shorts, form a vintage pattern which I found online at Vera Venus and adapted. 

I've also been enjoying opening the freezer to get my home made butter out as needed all Summer.  It's so lovely to have a stash of butter awaiting me, from my preparations last winter.  :)