Term 2 in Pictures (mostly)

Irving worked out how to draw stars! This was a pleasant surprise, and he had a little burst of drawing five pointed ones.

A bit of maths. (we like to get these blocks out for our pattern making section of Arden's JUMP maths book, and Irving always enjoys joining in).

Working together.  Pre-primary and grade 5.

Labyrinth puzzle....art and maths....crazy family project!

Chocolate making.  We learnt a little about tempering with a second chocolate bar at a free workshop by Sue Lewis, and we made dark chocolate with thyme oil creatures.

Reading one of my favourite children's authors, Padraic Colum, "The Golden Fleece".

After reading about the minotaur we looked at labyrinths and mazes.

More patterning.  Working on rose windows.  These are a lot of fun to make, but can get a little complicated. (Some other examples by Willow when she was 12).

And a variation, using the kite paper to make layered pictures by tearing/cutting shapes and layers.

Reading related to our Australian history studies.  We actually took longer to read this than intended  (we just finished it recently) and it is wonderful for showing the older and slower Australian lifestyle prior to the arrival of the car. 

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During this time we did a tour of Karakatta Cemetry.

We also did a tour of the Perth mint (again)! And the Perth Bell Tower.  View from the Bell Tower.

  These are the beautiful flame trees along the river, on our walk from the Bell Tower to the Mint.

The impressive 1 tonne gold coin.  (Though I missed seeing all the beautiful collectors pieces that they used to keep in the secure vault, and which this coin has replaced).

Some of Gabriel's reading.  Gabriel is very interested in military history, and increasingly interested in working and rendering 3D objects on the computer using blendr.

Working on improving crochet, by making some dishcloths.

A blanket that I was making that is still not finished unfortunately, as I haven't found the sort of blanket binding that I would like yet.

Some new books.  Latin dictionary to help Gabriel's study.  Plus the Long Winter because we are still getting through this Little House Series.

Finally two of my favourite things about home education; Pleasurable family outings and slow breakfasts.

Gabriel, Arden and I went to see WASO performing "The Goblet of Fire", to the film.

And enjoying a family breakfast.

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2025

Link to the rose window book can be found here.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2011/10/southern-aurora.html

Some of our rose windows over the years.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/search?q=rose+windows

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2012/10/recent-work.html

April Hols

Quite some time ago I meant to do a post about our activities and outings during our April break.  Somehow this year just seems to be flying by, and I'm not getting on here very often.  Here are some moments....

What happens when escalators are being installed, and I am travelling with Arden and Irving....a mini physics lesson.  We spend quite a bit of time examining the inner structure of the cogs and wheels.

 A beautiful day catching the train across the Swan River.

Skateboarding and scootering our way down to the Swan River.  Followed by some tree climbing for Arden and Irving.

And some reading.

Arden made us some home made gnocchi.

Working on refurbishing a Bart Simpson skateboard.

Arden making hot chocolate with cinnamon topping.

Stool repairs.  We all spent a bit of time working on various repair jobs around the house.

Term 1 Highlights

This year so far, has been very full, and thus I have managed to neglect this page rather badly!  We tend to start the year a bit more slowly and relaxedly, spending a lot of time outdoors and doing activities, and whilst we did this, we didn't spend quite as much time as other years.

Arden flying his balsa wood plane.

Wandering around the Perth Hills.

Foraged some pears!  :)

We started this year with some colour painting, and focusing on what the colour expressed/felt to us.  Everyone came out with different ideas

Yellow finished.

Blue.

Green.

Orange.

Then we progressed onto modelling and drawing shapes.

Spheres.

We've been reading Uncle Tungesten, by Oliver Sacks, as a family this year, and it has led to some interesting spontaneous science.

A well-loved copy of the book!

Experimenting with burning string, to see how the idea of the first filament came about.

There was an attempt to dissolve chalk in vinegar, but during this process (the chalk *didn't* dissolve) we did more research and discovered modern day chalk, is actually gypsum.  Thus the lack of dissolving was explained!

Building out of blocks is always popular here!

Working on prisms.

Trying out a flight simulator.

Irving spotted this mysterious door way at the Perth mint- hard to see in this pic, but there are stairs and no door.  So we wandered in, and had an impromptu history lesson.  Apparently the door used to be the way they brought gold into the building, but eventually they stopped delivering it that way, and they bricked in the door.  Best bit, is that there is still a padlock on the gate!

Moving onto some Chinese calligraphy painting.

A beautiful sunset on a train ride home from the beach.

And some craft- Arden and I have been doing a little crocheting again this term, working on dishcloths.

Plus I finished a quilted skirt for the winter.  I'm looking forward to being toasty warm.

Otherwise Arden and  I have continued to work through our JUMP maths program.  He has taken up journalling in the mornings. Plus our final new section of work for the term was starting on Gilgamesh and learning about Mesopotamia.  We still have a little more to do on that theme.

Gabriel has been doing latin this term, WWI and WWII history studies, English-so far with a focus on grammar, Maths, and Art- currently he is working on 3D modelling using blendr.

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2025

This was around the beginning of Arden's interest in Aviation.  It was the year before I believe that he started attending the Aviation museum's history club for young people, and then that had a flight simulator training club that follow on for those who were 13+.

This is our visit to the Aviation Museum and Bullsbrook, when we first learnt about the Aviation history club.
https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2017/03/beach-weather.html

Arden using the flight simulator at Edith Cowan University at their Open Day.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2023/08/term-1.html

This year Arden is at TAFE studying a Diploma in Aviation Management.  He has also completed two Cert 3 courses. One in Remote Pilot(drones), and he has volunteered at a local Life Saving club to help monitor the coast using drones (for sharks) and he has completed a Cert 3 in Ground Operations.