Friday 18 September 2015

Revamp.

Why "Freely Educated"?
As an home educator I am constantly aware that our way of life is often under attack, that scrutiny is often blinkered and those who are not on the inside simply do not have the knowledge, faith, heart, or understanding to know home education is a wonderful gift that encompasses more than academic study, and is not comparable to school.  It is about life, and the world is our classroom.

So I've reclaimed this blog; and will once again begin recording our home ed life, so should negative forces attempt to impede our journey, this blog will be the beacon and provide the light back to hearth, joy, learning and love.

So, here goes:

Rye is continuing to work on his Space project, currently he's exploring the sun, which has included facts about the sun, watching documentaries on the solar system, he's also explored myths and legends of gods and goddess associated with the sun, and looked at art influenced by the sun in some way.

We have also been camping at the Welsh Environmental Home Education Camp.   Rye spent a fair bit of time in the craft and science tents; he made hover crafts, rockets, he drew dragons, and joined in huge collages with his new friends.  He had a go at fire poi, circus skills, computer animation, raft building, sports day fun, went on bat walks etc.
Rye took these photos
After WEHEC flu hit, and we had to take a week or so out.  Rye was self directed; he watched documentaries on space, dinosaurs, the oceans, he played minecraft, played with his friends, asked me how to spell words so he could type them into the search bar and look for new videos and games.  He painted, he cooked, cleaned.  Hardly a wasted time.

Life is returning to normal.  I run a Science Club for local Home Ed children, and our topic this month is Electricity.  In preparation for the club, Rye and me watched videos on electricity, and we also used the excellent resources from "The Children's University Of Manchester"  We read about different type of fuels used to create electricity, we looked at how a Wind Turbine works, and Rye then had to reassemble it, (which he did successfully), and Rye learned how electricity travels along high voltage wires, and transformers at different stages to reduce the voltage to make it safe to use in our homes.  I sense a trip the Science Museum in Manchester may be on the cards.

I've bought Rye a subscription to  Literacy Planet and he's flying with it.  His confidence is high and he's enjoying the games, receiving trophies and collecting credits to spend on other games.
I've bought a subscription to Nessy.   Once a couple of issues with the log in have been resolved, Rye can also start using Nessy, which is designed specifically for children with dyslexia and improves reading and spelling.  I found reading eggs was too easily circumvented.  Rye would click, click, click until he got the answer correct, without trying to work the answer out.  Both Nessy and Literacy Planet have limited chances to choose the correct word/sentence/sound and some exercises are timed.  I find this provides a far more accurate record of progress.

I'll probably also buy the Nessy typing programme, the reviews are excellent, and honestly, while I'll continue to work with Rye on his handwriting, it's unlikely he'll develop beautiful handwriting and have a passion for writing by hand; learning to type, particularly in our technological world, is much more useful to him.

He's at his father's for a few days now, so opportunity to plan some more activities for the space project and think about the coming months when our learning naturally becomes more bookish, when documentaries and visits to museums and galleries increase, and being outdoors, nature, and sports take a back seat.








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