Finishing off the Year

Its been a while since i did any photos so i thought i would put a few up to round off what we achieved together this year. I suppose we have just come to the end of our “first term” of HE in a way, and i must say i am really pleased with the way its going. I feel that not only has real learning taken place but it has been positive, constructive, largely self directed, albeit with the help of a mummy who enjoys “facilitating” and most of all she feels very confident with what she knows and understands and i think thats pretty much the most important thing. It was pretty special watching her sat between my Aunt and Uncle on Xmas day night, watchnig that (somewhat rubbish) Polar Bear thing and being able to really “chat” about the animals in the programme; she had obviously taken a lot in and more was coming out i didn’t really know we had done! I think she must have really enjoyed the video and dvds we have looked at and absorbed stuff.

So – here is a collage she did of sealife – hopefully it will go towards the wildlife badge we are working for

then there is the picture of a killer whale diet we did, looking it up in books and on the net together and finding clipart we liked as well. This has been really successful – she recalls pictorial stuff very well – it seems to suit her. I imagine she probably does have a visual learning style so it doesn’t surprise me. The picture on the right is of a shark who has just eaten an arm… the arm being the red bit in its middle… ahem… strange child…

These masks were lots of fun – Puds is from a kit FC gave her and Moo’s is a craft kit one – we still have loads to do from that! lol!

This is the Usborne Nativity scene we made together – the actual construction was way beyond her but she followed the plans, found the bits and the conversation we had during it was very interesting. She and Moo both sat doing a Nativity sticker book on Xmas Eve and clearly it had all stuck in her brain from what she chatted about as she did it.

Then, last of all are the coasters they made as presents – the 4 are from Pud to Uncle Rich and the 1 is from Moo to Gramps – she actually did several and was SO patient!!!! We backed them with thin cork and they went down very well.

Max and i have been mooting how we will go about things this year – we feel we need to bring Moo more into the realm of “actually doing stuff” rather than the approach we took with Pud, who needed space to find her own patience. We have vague notions of some sort of informal science curriculum/topics as well as getting back to using our maths materials. He is busy reading John Holt which i am finding incredibly supportive and i feel a bit more comfortable with getting it right for her i think.

Today we went to see “Finding Nimo” – i need a repeat button to whisper “The good guys always win and never die in disney” into Pud’s ear till she goes through the fright pain barrier!!!! They did enjoy it though and i thought it fitted very well with our most recent topic!!!!!

Pud has requested that next year we carry on learning about the sea, learn to read, learn spanish and “do more on Henry” (ARGH!!!!!)