Finding a new Rhythm.....again

 So we started our term in March, after quite a busy summer spending time at the beach, and down South celebrating my birthday and getting to know Aurelia.  I've been contemplating our flow and our rhythm over the last while and wondering how to find a way that works for Irving and I. I'm hoping to really simplify things, and have longer periods of time for us to do some projects together at home.  

Although Arden was at TAFE for the last 18months I've only really considered him finished home ed, with the end of last year, and so I've only really been considering what home ed could look like with just one child since late last year.  So I've been tentatively adjusting the rhythm that I've used for the last 13 or so years, since Irving was born, and I had to juggle four children with my time.  

We have had many different flows over our time as a home educating family.  Our first year we used a kit, from a Steiner school, that was very much in the style of school.  We worked in the mornings that year.  Initially we were home educating in Glasgow, Scotland and we had a lot of friends there, and so the afternoons were play dates.  We headed to Paris for a couple of months, and afternoons were for exploring the city.  Finally we went back home to Adelaide, where we followed a similar routine until Willow went back to school.

When we settled back into home schooling, we had 6months before our 3rd child was born and we were in what I called baby rhythm.  Following the baby's cues as to what our priorities would be each day.  We didn't worry too much about holidays, we just did things as it suited us, and that continued until we started doing a few classes, and we decided it was nice to have the down time.

Now I'm trying to go with how Irving and I want the day to flow, so that we can harmoniously in a manner that suits just the two of us.  I'm finding it's working quite nicely to do our new topic at the beginning of the day, and leave the maths and english to the end, and then flow the other things that we are doing amongst that.  We still seem to end up with music starting our day, which is how it has been for a very long time.  He's really interested in learning foreign languages, and we are currently learning French using Michel Thomas, and online programmmes.  So we have a tendency to end our day with watching something in French.  So far I've been enjoying the fluidity of our days, although our current topic- Chemistry is something that Irving is *very* interested in, and occasionally it has felt like it could take over the whole day!

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Some extra reading on how we've structured ourselves over the years.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2015/10/timetables-part-1.html

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2015/10/timetables-part-2.html

Coming to a Close and New Beginnings

 We had quite a busy finish to the year, and a very exciting start to 2026  From our very full holidays we had a fairly full term- with incidental events appearing and classes to get to.  We started off with our moderator in the first week,which went well, and that was us again til next  October. 

We finished off some English studies using Beowulf and Stephen Fry's "The Ode Less Travelled".  Interestingly Irving really got into doing the poetry, and it was really helpful that Stephen Fry had time limits for all the exercises.  It seemed to help him from getting overwhelmed, as he put all his attention into being quick!  He enjoyed finally getting to hear Beowulf, as the older kids have all talked about the story, and we have a boardgame version of it.

We moved on to the end of the Roman Empire, and interestingly Irving didn't find it as interesting as the older kids.  He was much more interested in Ancient Greece.  We also started reading 1434 to complement the topic, which worked nicely as it has a lot of discussion about where did various knowledge come from, and encouraged us to look more deeply into history.

We also read "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" this term, and Irving really enjoyed Jules Verne's writing style and his creativity with science, and how he explored and expanded on the ideas of his era.

We put in some artwork into the Darlington Arts Festival.  Irving, Gabriel and I put a piece in each, with Irving deciding to submit one of his copperwork pieces from this year.

Irving's bowl up close.

Irving's bowl on exhibition.

We had continued to make open back rings in various styles during the remainder of the last term including using rouge to polish them by hand.  We had not done this with any of our earlier pieces and Irving decided that he was going to prioritise that for his exhibition piece.

                                  

Gabriel's butterfly- above the
 exhibition sign

His piece up close

This reminded me of the first time we did an art exhibition.  We had homeschool friends in Adelaide, who ran a cafe, and they invited all the kids in the community to exhibit their work in their cafe.  That was Gabriel's first time exhibiting.  He was probably about 8.

My turtle

My abstract watercolour piece.

Since then I've been working on boats, whilst Irving has been learning to sail.

We finished our coppermaking off for the year with some engraving.  Including engraving rings....I seem to have neglected to photograph Irving's engraving.

in the vinegar pickle

  


We head to the Perth Gem and Mineral show- Irving was very interested in the Rubies.

We bought a guitar making kit a few years ago for Damien to work on with Gabriel, but for various reasons he never got around to it.  One of the things he wanted done was a pattern on the neck of the guitar- since Irving and I have done a bunch of woodwork in recent years I have made a start on it.

We've been working on Perspective drawing.  This book is really fabulous for explaining how to.

Working on perspective drawing together.

The homeschool Christmas market was a great success again, and Irving was starting to get the hang of running a stall and thinking about what sells and how he needed to manage it.  This year he was selling plants, and pendants (left over stock from last year) and his new addition was home made Scottish Tablet (it's like a crumbly fudge).  

We're back at nippers for another Summer season.

We cleaned up and unwanted delonghi kettle- it was starting to look rusted inside and we suspected it was scale build up from Perth's iron heavy water.  Turned out we were right, after a lot of descaling- it cleaned up nicely and we now have a lovely new kettle.

Just because I really liked the latte art, and I think I've found my new favourite drink- hot black sesame latte.

Our final home ed excursion for the year was to the fisheries department.  We learnt a lot and Irving had an interesting time doing his first dissection.

Working on lego models.

Finishing off the year and beginning eventually too we had a couple of birthday highlights.  First of all Arden turned 18......and around the same week finished his Diploma in Aviation Management and finished off airforce cadets.  It was a very eventful week or so for him!  So he had an eventful 18th by starting the day with skydiving.

Here he is landing after his dive

Whilst we were off at Jurien Bay we stopped at the beach for a swim.

the water was lovely

Final stop for the day was Lancelin, where we all went sandboarding.  We'd meant to do this before, and it kept getting delayed.  We had a lot of fun and I'd definitely go again!

And the final birthday news is that there is a new member of our family!  Willow and her fiance, have welcomed their first child....she was meant to arrive in December, but made us all wait out for almost the very end of New Year's day.  Her name is Aurelia, and everyone is very excited about her arrival!  Although there might be some people feeling that they are a bit young to be uncles!

Structure or No Structure

From my point of view, after home educating after 20years.  How one chooses  to home educate almost does not matter.  What matters, it seems to me, is the level of dedication and attention parents are willing to put into their children to help them succeed through their educational, life and learning experiences.  

I think this opinion is unlikely to be unpopular with those starting out, who are keen to know the "right" way to do it, and are still themselves caught up in the schooling system, or perhaps even reacting to it, and in all likelihood need some experience of deschooling, and learning based purely off interest, to understand more about how people learn, what motivates them and what creates a successful learning opportunity or environment.  Those who are true life learners after their educational experience, are not necessarily concerned about the "right" answer, but are aware that via the journey they will inevitably discover a successful pathway if they are consistent, and redirect and correct themselves when errors occur.

I myself, am not a fan of a wholly interest led learning experience, but I know that with the right attention and guidance from parents that this method of home education is as valid and as successful, as those who follow what I call, "school by other means" where children are ferried to classes the majority of the week, all over town and get an alternative schooled education.  The only method that I have direct experience with not working, is those that believe unschooling is doing nothing.

I have met many families over my 20yrs of homeschooling, who chose school, when they reach high school level, when they have taken the doing nothing, unschooling approach for the primary years, because when faced with the later part of education those families have not learnt *how* children learn.  I have even come across a couple of people now, who did not  want to home educate their own children, because they disliked the do nothing approach.

I do think this is unfortunate, as having read John Holt many years ago, I see a lot of value in interest led learning/unschooling, but it certainly is not doing nothing, and it is a pity that many people have mistaken it for that.  At it's core if that is the system one chooses, as far as I understand it takes a fair bit of discipline to manage to educate and cover all the learning areas via an interest led approach.  I know people that have done that, and have had their children do well too.

Personally we do a blended natural learning, Steiner inspired approach, that suits our family and I know it works.  I have three children finished now.  Two are very certain of the pathways they have chosen, and one who is still working it out, and from my view point this is fine.  Not all of us know excatly what we want to do, or where we want to be, and learning, and in particular interest led and exploratory learning is a continuous journey that will hopefully lead to the discovery of one's passions.

I am also at a point, where I just know so many home educated adults, who have experienced different types of education- no two families are identical in how they teach/raise their children and all of them were successfully home schooled or home educated.  Their children have gone onto careers in many different areas, and are leading successful and happy lives......some of these adults are now teachers, gardeners, hair dressers, naturopaths, electrical engineers, farm hands, nannies, zoo keepers, librarians.  

My own children have so far studied a Diploma in Music industry (classical voice)- Willow, a cert 4 in digital screen and media- Gabriel, a cert 3 in aviation (remote pilot), a cert 3 in ground operations, and  (recently completed) a Diploma in Aviation Management- Arden.  They have all made money busking when they were younger and also had a range of jobs working in cafes, juice bars, coffee bean stalls, clothing shops, admin work which turned in online fraud payment analysis.

This journey has certainly not been easy, but it has been worthwhile, and our children have had childhood and teenage lives unlike the majority of school children that I have met.  They are involved in life right from the beginning, and they get loads of opportunities to engage in the real world, and learn practical and useful life skills.

Now obviously this is my way to home educate, and it may not be yours, or your family's.  It's your job to work out how that will look, and what it will look like for you.  The rhythm should suit *your* family, the philosophy should suit you, the style should suit you.  If you decide it doesn't you can change it.  If what works for one child doesn't work for another, you do something different.  It is a learn on the job role, and with adequate support it is a very satisfying experience.

So Much Action

We were consistently busy over term 3.  I was looking forward to the holidays, but they ended up being rather chaotic with Willow here, and house sitting.  And Irving having sailing all during the second week.  I had also intended to write my moderator's report during the first week, but with Willow out and about all week, it got put back til Irving and I were on the river.

Irving sailing at tackers 3.

Enjoying the view, with some tea.

Painting whilst the classes are happening.

We started our term 3 later, and had some fun dismantling some of the electrical items that we had collected for Irving to examine. 

Dismantling a broken scanner.

All the left over pieces.

Our kettle broke, so we pulled that apart too.

 

Off to the art gallery with our homeschool group and did a tour of some of the current exhibitions as well as a drawing session.

Irving's sketch of one of Perth's buildings

We did a lot of poetry this past term, using Stephen Fry's, the Ode Less Travelled- there were a lot of new terms and it was a lot of fun!  I had used it before with Arden, but Irving and I got a little further through the book, and although Irving found some of it challenging, Stephen Fry comes up with some very amusing topics, and puts time limits on the activities so it kept us progressing along nicely.  We got half way through the book and will do the second half next year.  To complement our study of poetry we read Beowulf too.

And we also started a book club with some home school friends, and our first book, was Momo by Michael Ende.

We did some reading about Ancient Rome using Charles Kovac's book, and spent some time watching documentaries on Rome.

We had a home education session at the Constitution centre, and did a tour of Parliament.  Sadly the Constitution centre does not receive as much funding as it once did, and their range of courses is significantly cut back.  We were reading about King Arthur and his knights by Roger Llancellyn Green as a way to complement our civics studies.

The Lion and the Unicorn in WA Parliament

We finally finished the lund stools that we had been making in our Joy of Wood woodwork classes.

Irving's on the left and mine on the right.

He also picked up a sword and shield making kit from them at their moving sale.

We picked up a couple of new books.

Something to our inspire our copperwork

And Irving bought himself this.

 

Tried out braiding some copperwire.  

  

We worked on patterns wtih a range of different objects before trying out making rings, in theory with patterns, but it seem that only really appealed to me!

We moved onto open backed copper rings.  Irving decided not to pickle his rings, and so his came out with these interesting patinas.

Irving's rings

My rings

Pickling a copper bowl in double strength white wine vinegar.

We started making a tool for shaping out copper bowls.

 We happened to see a car show on our way home one day.

Irving's been making Scottish tablet to sell at the homeschool Christmas market.

Me doing some painting, whilst eating my subject.

We happened to be at City Farm for the Watercolour exhibition.  I really liked these paintings.

We also saw a local exhibition at the Perth City Council.

Irving checking out the artworks

Trialling making sauerkraut with nasturtium leaves.

  

Irving and Arden and I are reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

When I was reviewing this blog earlier in the year, I discovered that I had recipes on here- and so I tried one of them, and it turned out that when modified it made very nice chocolate mousse!