Term 4 2022

 Term four disappeared rather quickly - we had our annual moderator visit- which has become fairly routine after home educating so long, and we did a bunch of lovely out and about activities

We learnt a little about herbs and weaving- learning the difference between sow thistles and dandelions as we went to collection dandelion stems for weaving these lavender bunches.

Dandelion Stems

Lavender Bunches

Irving learnt about a few different animals and spent some time drawing them- this is his kookaburra.

Irving finally finished his cushion- doing all the sewing with the exception of the zip, and Arden made himself a t-shirt.

With non-seasonal Halloween both Arden and Irving wanted to make some creepy food- so we made some pizza dough and some home made lemonade with add activated charcoal for some creepy colouring!

Our final portion of the year saw us doing quite a few history walks around the city. The city of Perth has some great history guides and we got out and about and looked around our city as tourists for a few weeks. Looking at the architecture, and old stories of our local area. We also had a surprise visitor for about a month- as my brother stopped with us, on his way home from Malaysia, whilst heading back to Adelaide. So there was lots of other things going on during that time- we hadn't seen him since pre-covid, when we last visit Adelaide, and there were many interesting conversations during that time.

Arden had been wanting to do sailing earlier in the year- but with all the covid things going on here that didn't eventuate, until finally in term 4 an opportunity do a home school class appeared at Hillary's yacht club. There were a bunch of delays- with our start to summer being slow- and classes being cancelled and rescheduled though eventually sailing did happen!

Arden was also lucky to get the chance to try a rather unique home education class- herbalism- another home schooling Mum had arranged for a herbalist to run a class. There was a mix of looking at plants, studying the actions, learning how herbs treat illness. Arden found it quite interesting, and useful.

He also got an opportunity to try a one on one parkour class with Isaac from Make Parkour- another thing he had been wanting to do for some time, but seemed much easier post all the covid drama. He had an amazing lesson with Isaac, who was very attentive, and pushed Arden to try some new ways of moving.

In a continuing theme of opportunities suddenly appearing Arden was invited by his flying club to have his first attempt flying a plane. Over the years Arden started at the Aviation kids club and learnt about planes and flying, his interest has grown until he got to join the Youth Flying Club and was able to start flying on the simulator most weeks. He and another home educated friend got to share their first flying experience, his friend taxiing and flying part of the leg to Murray Field, and Arden getting to try taxiing and partial flying back to Perth. It was a very satisfying experience for him, and now he's looking forward to trying more!

Summer 2021 and slow starts....

 This year has seen us be much more relaxed into our educational year than most.  We generally start our at home structured activities in late Feb early March.  This year our brief covid lockdown saw us make the decision to do two weeks in Feb, take another month off, do 3weeks and start the more structured part of our schooling in the April Holidays. 

We had our usual hectic start to the year with Jan and Feb covering four birthdays.  With all the bowling we did last year, we headed off ten pin bowling for my birthday this year.

 

 A pleasing find in the Op shop- some fire king mugs.

 

 We drank a lot of pineapple, mint and ginger juice with sparkling water during the summer.  Freshly made and very refreshing!

Santa brought us a 3000 piece Lord of the Rings puzzle this year.  Everyone did a little, but really it ended up that I did most of it. 

We spent quite a bit of time on the Swan River.

This was an interesting insight into a potential future looking Perth.  From an exhibition at the State Library.

We read George MacDonald again- he is a family favourite.  As is this book- "At the Back of the North Wind".

Irving in recovery after a fun time at the park- there's no place like a cold floor on a hot day it would seem!

Sewing jammies.

Family walk through John Forrest National Park.

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2025

I really enjoying completing large and complex jigsaw puzzles.  I spent a lot of time doing them as a teenager and I find it quite a relaxing way to pass the time, but that 3000piece one just took up so much space and too much of my time!  Arden has just finished doing a Guns and Roses puzzle that took him a while, as it has a lot of black pieces.

We were also very lucky with covid lockdowns here, as the border was pretty much shut, it meant that we lived normally, whilst the rest of Australia or other places seemed to spend a lot of time in lockdowns.
 

Time Constraints

I must admit that now that we have come into Irving's 4th year of life I was hoping that I would have more time to post on this blog a bit more regularly, and some of the time I can manage it, and other times this year, I feel like we are off doing something, supporting Willow on her uni experience or having family time.  We are finally on our winter break, and it is lovely to be able to take it a easy for a bit, and also enjoy the very mild winter that we have been experiencing.

Arden and I did some history walks around the city, earlier this past term, including an art deco tour of Perth and a Boom and Bust trail. 

Fabulous art deco building on Wellington st, was once a school.  We had a chat about going to school in such a beautiful old building, and talked about trying to imagine all the girls leaving school  (it was a girls' school).

We liked this gate.

We imagine that it once went up the hill, and to St. Mary's cathedral, but now it is barricaded and looks into the carpark!

We enjoyed a few coffee stops on our outing...part of the fun IMO.  Matcha lattes have been going down well around here!  :)

This was a nice surprise.

We discovered this hidden garden on our walk, on the way to trying to find the back view of Bishop Hale's house.  Even after living her 6years now, the city still has some unexpected surprises.  It did feel a bit like an elite hideaway, given that it is tucked down the back of bank offices, and was totally deserted since it was the weekend when we went through.

And at the very back of the garden, we could see Bishop Hale's house, which is now a restaurant.  Made us wonder about what other beautiful homes might be once been along the terrace and in the area.

We had been intending to get to Tranby house during this last block, but that still hasn't happened, and so will sit on my to do list for a while I imagine.  The last block that Arden did was focusing on animals, and some of their processes.  Arden did a bit of study on cuttlefish (I had not idea they were so fascinating- can change colour and shape!), Giraffes and Siberian tigers.  Plus we had some discussions about humans and sex and babies, and he did a self portrait. For Sex and babies we are big fans of the BBC's Human Body Series, and Willow and Gabriel grumble now when I show it!  I used it twice as preparation for the kids for home births (the younger two were born at home), as I like that it gives a bit of insight into birthing at home and avoids the horror stories that some women experience (which IMO is not a healthful introduction to birth and babies for small people).

Arden's self portrait.

Arden managed to finish his embroidery project and I need to help him to create it into a pillow now, and we took a break from formal maths, as he is a bit ahead, and we spent some time looking at the Wooden books mathematical series.  He also has been spending some time getting familar with his new wooden piccolo.

Gabriel has been working on doing some sketches of Games Workshop miniatures for his  art this term.  He will be progressing on to modelling and designing his own.  His sketches are coming along beautifully.

Gabriel has been improving his time management and we are now discussing his progress twice a week.  Beginning of week to see what he's up to,and at the end of the week to review his progress.  He is currently working on writing in the style of an epic, and is also planning an essay on the Trojan War.

Arden and Irving and I went down to WAAPA to see Eneksis in their free lunch time concert, we saw some of it, however Irving was finding it a bit difficult to settle this time.  A lovely lady, kept an eye on Arden so he could watch all of it, and then we spent a little time in the nearby park again, and we took a look at the fish pond.

Irving has been taking a little interest in writing and numbers, and is starting to get a bit easier to play games with.  Turns out he is quite adept with mazes too!
Some copywork by Irving.

Damien and I went down to see Willow perform in WAAPA's Life as a Cabaret performance recently.  She only had a small part as a volunteer and diploma student, but it was fabulous to get to see her in a show again, and doubly fun as it was probably the first child free wedding anniversary Damien and I have had since before Willow was born....though as she pointed out not quite child free!  She has also been doing a lot of drawing, and writing now that she is on  holidays, and has recovered from her weekend volunteering at Supernova.

This is a recording from Oratorio, when Willow performed in it earlier this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsY1YDIpBLs

Willow's drawing

 
Willow has finally made it in Australia!

I was a little tempted to buy Willow this baby bib.  At the time of her birth I did not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Damien found the name in an old story....sadly he doesn't know where!  Anyhow at the time of her birth there were very few Willows ( we liked that it means liberated in old English), and now she keeps being asked if she was named after Willow on Buffy, and unfortunately for her it was just not the case! 

I have finally finished sewing myself a bag, and now have 2 nice bags!  For years and years, I've had fairly sad bags for carrying all sorts of children's treasure, and as with my decision to be clean with my fourth child (no more smudgy marked pants for me!), nice bags seemed to be in order...even if they do still end up with interesting collections!

Bag no. One.

Bag number two

I also made another bra recently, and am thinking of trying a silk one next.

This past week has seen us busy giving the house a clean over, celebrating Irving's 4th birthday and heading off to see Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" performed by Spare Parts Puppet theatre.

Candles and Cake for Irving's birthday

Wandering through UWA on the way to see the Arrival.

Enjoying the mild winter at Elizabeth Quay with the family.

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2025

Irving has just done a series of Shaun Tan classes at the Literature centre.  We have gone out of our way, over the years, to attend various activities that relate to him, as he is such an interesting artist, and storyteller.

Some other posts with Shaun Tan related excursions.

Tales From Outer Suburbia.
https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2013/10/journeys.html

Rules of Summer.
https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2017/10/fishes-family-learning.html

The Arrival again.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2017/07/winter-break.html

Hilariously I am back in a needing new bags stage.  All of my lovely bags started falling apart and I have had such a busy year, that I have not made any effort to do anything about it.

Timetables part 2

In our first year of home education we were using a pack from a Queensland Steiner school.  From what I understand it was their year 1 curriculum packaged up for use at home.  For my first year of home education this was great, as I was quite of the mindset that I needed someone else to teach my child and that I didn't know how.

Early days- exploring Regent Gardens in London.

Buying a pack that told me how to gave me confidence and guidance for finding a place to start.  I was already interested in Steiner education, from my experience working in natural skin care, and coming across Dr Haushka and learning about biodynamics and eventually coming across Rudolf Steiner.  The pack gave me somewhere to start;guidance with music, circle time, main lesson and craft.  Willow was 6 and Gabriel, 4, we did a lot of it together with Gabriel joining in the best he could. We had a lot of fun, and  very much did school at home, except in a more relaxed playful way.

When home educating became a permanent decision, on return to Adelaide, my first thought was to return to a kit.  However with a bit of searching I started finding resources and then I came across Shining Star school and their Waldorf Home Educators page.  Mrs M (who manages the page) shared so many wonderful resources that I felt that I could use her information and pull a plan together, and so for grade 2, that is what I did.

Exploring the parklands in Adelaide

In the early days I was quite regimented about sticking to her plan, I felt quite impatient to do everything!  However as time progressed, I started to relax as I came to realise that there was a time,place and season for everything and that we could fit in different work in different years.  (We also largely hung out with unschoolers in Adelaide, who frequently went on about "doing nothing" at that time and I share my feelings on unschooling here- for me my attitude to this has not changed over the years, though I am more relaxed now).  I also came to realise that I could create my own lesson plans, and that sometimes new opportunities that I had been wondering about quietly fell into place as we lived life.

Afternoon tea stall by Willow at our friend's garage sale- early foray into how to make some money. 

For the remainder of our second year home educating we followed a very similar rhythm to our first year- circle time, main lesson, craft.  Thursday was our outing day whilst we were settling into home education becoming a lifestyle decision.  Our third year was much more chaotic- Arden was born- and we did things as we could manage them.  There was a time early on when we were at home more, and we followed what I now refer to as baby rhythm.  We worked to Arden's needs and we fitted around him.  As he grew our need to structure the day around him became less and less, and we settled back into a rhythm closer to our early days.

One of our favourite places in Adelaide- Botanic Park- and particularly the Moreton Bay Fig trees

Hanging out with Alice in Rymill Park

Much of our work took place around the kitchen table, or in the garden, or at the coffee table.  We, as many home educators will tell you, became educate in pyjamas sorts of people (except for me).  I still joke that we really need to buy more pyjamas than clothes.

Kindy in the kitchen-learning to count eggs

When we moved to Perth, we started doing more classes, and this changed our daily rhythm a bit.  By this time Arden was getting bigger, so there was more time for me again, and some time for quiet each morning which was lovely.  By the time Arden was 4 3/4 I was pregnant again.  At this stage Willow was 13 and we were heading towards more self-directed learning.  We spent a couple of  years doing subjects when it suited everyone, and we gave up circle time (as Arden was not very enthusiastic for it) and with baby rhythm back in place with Irving's birth I found it easier for me to manage if we were all at least doing more or less the same work.  (I was starting to feel a little crazy jumping from craft to baby to english to baby to maths to baby,etc, etc) and so we came up with the plan of start the day with music, maths, lunch, main lesson, and craft.  This helped me feel much more grounded and centred and so made life calmer for everyone.

Arden was very pleased to discover Arden St near our home in East Perth.

Our first connection with the Swing music and dance scene in Perth- heading out for dinner and we found a great Swing band and live dancing!

That said this experience was brief for everyone and at the beginning of this year,  Willow and I sat down and came up with a plan for her to meet the requirements of the national curriculum and to cover all the musical work that she needed to do to get up to an adequate level to do further musical study.  We created some guidelines and divided up her work over the year, and on the whole I have acted as manager whilst she has got on with managing where she needs to be during the week and what she needs to do when.  It has been a very positive experience in learning how to manage time and projects to achieve goals whilst balancing free time and other interests.