Exploring and Settling In

Over the last few weeks, we've been out and about around Perth, done some research in terms of classes and been sick. So generally times have been busy.

Last week Willow went off to try a new choir - Cottage Children's Choir. She had a great time, and overall their teaching technique appealed to me. It was very active, and fun and made the singing look much less like work. I've also been looking into music teachers, and sport classes, but unfortunately this has all been slowed down a bit by Damien and I being unwell.

We've now been to City Farm, and although we love the feel of the market, it is very small and really won't be suitable as a place to do our food shopping every week. So at this stage we're thinking of alternating between it and Subiaco. City Farm has a fabulous cafe, and also has a circus skills class happening there on the weekends, so overall there's lots of great stuff on there that really appealled to us. Yesterday we went back to Subiaco, and Willow did some finger knitting, to help with creating some knitted pieces to yarn bomb Subiaco for Christmas. Over the course of the coming months, a local artist is working at the market to get the community involved in the project.

We've been getting out to a few homeschool meet ups too, and meeting lots of foreigners that have moved here. It seems Perth is very international- I had no idea prior to moving here, and I do like the way that makes for a more diverse city. We've met homeschoolers from Portugal, South Africa, Ireland, Queensland, NSW- it even amused me that most of the Aussies we've met here, have been from other parts of Australia. The last homeschooling outing we got to was at Scitech, the kids really enjoyed it there, and they certainly had a diverse range of activities happening. Last week we missed an excursion to Whiteman Park, which I was sorry about, but hopefully we'll get out there one weekend ourselves. In the coming weeks we'll be getting to the Observatory, the Bell Tower and the Mint- so it seems there are lots of interesting activities being planned by people.

Just to finish off, we've found a french cafe here- Jean Pierre Sancho, which I'm very happy about. Real French bread is so good.

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2025

We still shop at City Farm semi-regularly, and in fact we've done a bunch of things there over the years.  Willow, Gabriel and Arden all took circus classes there, as for a while there was a circus school running from their hall.  Willow also volunteered with a local artist, and disability support group and helped work on some of the mosaics there.  I helped out a friend's daughter by selling her goat's milk and cheese there for about a year.  These days I do most of our shopping at Manning Markets, and when I feel like staying nearer to home, I head to City Farm.

A unicorn mosaic, on this post, by Willow, from her volunteering days at City Farm.
https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2013/08/change.html

This one has a bench that she worked on.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2012/06/happenings.html

On the stilts with a circus friend.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2012/11/counting-down.html

At home in Perth

Perth, from the South side of the River



So we're settled into our new apartment in Perth. It's been a few weeks, but the ADSL only arrived recently, so it makes it easier to 'connect' with the rest of the world. The apartment is comfortable, and the space suits our needs, plus we have two balconies overlooking a park, which is great. My only minor concerns, is our storage space is a little small (hopefully we'll be able to sort a way to balance things) and we're on the second floor- even with airconditioning I'm not sure that's going to be great come summer.

Otherwise we've been getting out and exploring the city, as well as doing some schoolwork. Our trip across the Nullabor took almost two days by train, and it was quite relaxing on the whole, plus the view of the stars at night was spectacular.

The first few weeks here, Damien had lots happening at work, so we were only getting to the farmer's market together. We've been heading to the Subiaco market every Saturday so far, and have found the selection quite good, though it's much smaller than the Adelaide market and has a different feel. This week we're planning to head to the City Farm, to check out their weekend market.

We've also been out to meet some homeschoolers, both times at a playground, and so far the playgrounds here have been amazing. They seem to have retained more playgrounds with equipment for older kids. The pirate ship at Applecross really went down well, and it was in such a beautiful location, overlooking the Swan River.

A black swan with her cygnets.


During all this we've been doing maths and English around here. Willow has been looking at the structure of sentences, and doing some writing. I also took her to her first performance of Shakespeare- Julius Caesar. Gabriel has finished his writing block on the Norse Myths, and has moved back onto fractions. We've also been getting into some more complex celtic knots, and drawing the King's crown for geometry. Craft has seen Gabriel finish the first picture on his cushion, and Willow move onto designing her pattern, for a toy horse.

Willow's picture of Kilhuch and King Arthur, to complement her writing for the week.



Willow's model unicorn


My cross stitch is finally nearly finished!

Reading

Full Moon Feast
I loved this book! So interesting, and beautifully combined fact with story. Absolutely essentially for any WAP eaters out there.

We've also just started Willow's language block reading Beowulf and The Story of King Arthur- we'll be looking at doing some poetry writing and creative writing with this block too.

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2025

Oh this is about where I'm at with Irving at the moment,  we finished reading "Robin Hood" by Roger Llancellyn Green not long ago, and ATM we're taking a winter break, and he's been doing some knitting, and we've also been reading "Pinochio".  The Story of King Arthur is on our list for this year, and Beowulf, is on the plan for the end of the year I think.

Latest activities

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Time for a Break

Today was our last bit of planned school work before leaving Adelaide next week. It's been a little hectic around here, with socialising, school work, packing, inspections, finding a new home and sending Damien off to Perth. He's been there 4 days now, and we're all glad to be at the half way point, and are counting down til he gets back.

I thought it was funny that one of the coldest and wettest days we've had this year occurred with Damien interstate, I'm sure he's sorry to have missed it, even with all his fun experiences and adventures around Perth.


Willow has just come to the end of her block on Ancient Rome.


And here's her latest geometry.



Gabriel is working on the structure of english at the moment. Here's his picture of Thor throwing Miolnir at Hrungir.


And finally Gabriel's progress on his cushion.

Geometry, Ancient Rome and Celtic Knots

A drawing by Willow, of a bust of Livia, from ancient Rome.


Some of Gabriel's recent knotwork.




A selection of Willow's recent geometry

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, and probably most importantly that everyone can understand maths, with the correct guidance.

Cushion Design and Horses

Gabriel's cushion design.


Willow's drawings.....