While ds2 has been on a narrowboat this week with Scouts, I've spent a bit of time with the oft-neglected third member of our family, dd. It seemed like an ideal time to grab a few unused resources off the shelf and give them a panel test (the panel consisting of one independent-minded girl).
I'd bought a Miquon Maths book for dd in a moment of educational enthusiasm (or perhaps it was a moment of panic, I forget now) and it has been sitting on the shelf ever since. So this week I moved it from the shelf to the table.
While I was looking up in the teacher manual that accompanies the maths book, what I was actually supposed to be doing with a page of criss-crossed blobs on a page, dd had devised her own entertainment of stacking cuisenaire rods into a block. Well at least those are getting used then.
Being a child of this house she completely ignored any instruction I gave from my teacher manual (though to be fair I wasn't sounding terribly convincing) and proceded to make up her own methods for using the incomprehensible first 3 or 4 pages.
Whatever.
If I wanted to be a shepherd I'd have bought a flock of sheep.
At least she is FINALLY reading. A little. When she is feeling in the mood. The mood being anything between enthused and just-about-compliant.
So at last I have reason to disturb the dust on my little shelf of 'readers' that I've lovingly collected over the years.
So, which did she choose?
Not the Ladybird books OR the Puddle Lane series.
No. Of all three children she is the only one who actually likes the Oxford Reading Tree books. For now. But does anything ever last in the world of Home Ed? I sense the winds of change ahead.
The best thing about Home Ed is that just once in a blue moon you get that warm fuzzy feeling (sometimes accompanied by a sigh of relief that there is evidence of something actually happening).
Like when I found this on dd's whiteboard a couple of months ago. (I have her permission to post it):
While dd has been making tiny steps into the world of reading, I've been tackling a small corner of the leaning tower of art and craft materials.
Go on. Tell me it looks better.
Just a little bit?
From a distance?
**** AUSTRALASIA ****
Dd and I have been playing with the laminator.
[For those unfamiliar with home education, possession and use of a laminator is the definitive feature of a home educator. Those few deprived home educators who don't possess a laminator are not laminator-free. No. They spend a substantial amount of time (usually around August) weighing up the pros and cons of whether they would get sufficient use from such a machine. The time spent pondering about lamination by home educators probably fills more hours than the hours they've spent wondering whether they should pack their kids off to school. One cannot understimate the pleasure gained from feeding a piece of plastic into a hot machine.]
The Australasia/Oceania (no, I can't work out the difference) animal cards are from Montessori Print Shop here . If you like any of their stuff on the website Montessori Print Shop has a 15% discount code: AugPrep2012 Valid until Aug 31st 2012. (No, I'm not on commission. But I should be).
Or alternatively, if you like a freebie, they are offering Australasian landmarks Montessori Cards, free to download here
Here you can see dd sticking together our free Megamap of the South East Asia and Australia region.
If this sort of Australasia thing floats your boat, you can send for a free map of New Zealand here It's poster-sized (bigger than A3) and well worth selling your soul (or giving away your address) to an online travel agency for.
If you're quick, there's a freebie arts sampler to download and Currclick here Once you've downloaded the PDF, scroll through to the Australian animals section. There are wordsearches and colouring pages and info.
Plus another Australian-themed freebie here (not much content but might be useful for some). And a Simple Schooling unit on Marsupials to download here (be quick cos it'll go soon). If the latter link doesn't work try here http://www.thesimplehomeschool.com/summer-school-week-nine
Tight? No. Just frugal.
2 comments:
Yes I too have a laminator lol
I've got a laminator too, and you are so right re the joy of it. I keep wondering about a comb binder, but that could be called obsessive.
More importantly, I'm glad your daughter's come to reading. See, you were right to cross your fingers and let it come in its own time! (And I wish I could do it as easily as you do!)
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