Caz
Sadly we are not home the exciting, world traveling type home schoolers ;)  But here is a day in our life!

0550:  Awaked by Merry who is wanting to know if he can play with Sam's new toy (gift from nana, both younger boys insanely obsessed by it) GO back to bed is the reply, hide under covers for half an hour, vowing that tomorrow morning the door is to be locked by dh as he departs for work lol.

0700:  Get the schoolers all geared up in uniforms, make lunches etc.    Breaky all around, coffee for me .. that I never got to even touch *sigh*  Not a good sign for the day! lol

0830:  Put Frodo on T4L to work while I took the 2 schoolers to school (his teenage brother is home), came home & remade coffee while the kiddo finished his language arts online.  Hung out a load of laundry before getting started with other stuff.

0900ish:  Growl at real estate agent regarding our current leaky roof and useless builders :)  Ignore call from my boss, then leave him a msg on voicemail that I am not available until 2pm and to please call me then! (apparently sahm means you have nothing to do all day long)     Watch Math U See dvd lesson with Frodo, he does a couple of practice pages.

0945: History Odyssey time.  Today it's the Intro to Ancient Egypt history pocket which includes some vocabulary, some map work and some crafty stuff along with some reading.  Frodo decides we need to find his name in Hieroglyphs so that he can put that on the front of his History Pocket 'book' instead of English hehe.

1130:  Still at it, sidetracked by annoying big brother who came out of his cave for food lol.  Frodo checking out what a 'shaduf' is and how it works.  Frodo finishes up by doing a 'Summing it up' page for the pocket.
Frodo, deep in thought :)

1200:  Lunch... Frodo helps make what we called one eyed gypsies growing up (yeah, we weren't on the politically correct bandwagon back in the day lol)

1230:  Timez Attack!  Frodo is working hard on his times tables, he has struggled with them in school but is catching on pretty well now which will make future math SO much easier.  He spent about half an hour playing that and made it through the 4's level so I let him have about 15minutes on Luxor (marble matching/shooting game) to chill.

Timez Attack, BRILLIANT math program!  Ignore dh's messy desk lol
1pm:  Yesterday in his Science with Dr. Joe, he learned about friction and made a cool little climbing dude that uses friction to travel along a string so today we're watching Bill Nye the Science Guy's Friction episode. (we have about 100 episodes of Bill Nye,  my teenager LOVED him growing up and insisted his brothers had to have Bill! lol).  Makes science totally fun.  This show is awesome :) (but no,  I did not pay that much $$ for it!! It came to me by another road :P)

230:  Frodo goes WOOP!  as I tell him that yes, he can finally play Minecraft while I go and get his brothers from school lol!

250:  Back from the school run, homework (reading eggs & mathletics plus take home readers) for the school goers.  Frodo usually gets to choose a book to read on his own but today is going to use Google Translate to get caught up on the first two weeks of Spanish that he missed when our car was in the car morgue.

300:  Study time for me :)  I'm starting a distance program at USQ and my intro pack arrived today :D  Little schoolers did their homework.

400:  Started  dinner (silverside & roast veggies, OM NOM NOM hehe) .. kids played on the computers while we cooked.

500:  Dinner time for the hobbit household.. a little Global Village on tele after.

530: onward.. insanity ensues as Merry is incredibly crabby and doesn't want to go to the toilet *sigh*

600pm:  I need coffee.... with bailey's if I can get it lol.

645:  children off to bed to read,  they don't actually go to sleep for at least 45minutes... but they enjoy having reading time before bed... and I enjoy the peace & quiet, such as it is! lol

It's only 7pm, and I won't get to bed until at least 10pm (ha, if I'm lucky)  But the rest of the evening consists of reminding the boys they are going to SLEEP (they seem to forget frequently lol), cleaning up after dinner, folding laundry that i washed & dried earlier in the day, and finally blobbing out with my hunny who has scored a day off work tomorrow (and can stay up later than the kids for a change hehe)


I hope you have enjoyed a peek at our somewhat boring home schooling day!
Caz
It was in the works for over 6 weeks, and eagerly awaited... mum was taking all 3 little boys so DH & I could run away to the Gold Coast for a weekend anniversary getaway!  This is what mother nature had to say about that...

cranky ole meanie! lol

It rained.. and RAINED, it's backside off pretty much the entire weekend! lol.  We weren't too fussed though, we still had a great time... just the peace & quiet alone was worth it !!!  

This is our little cabin, taken during one of the breaks in the rain.  Blogger is being mental, thus the wonky formatting. GRRR.  It was a cute little place with a small kitchen, living dining area, separate bedroom with ensuite.  Perfect for a weekend away :)


We grabbed our favourite gourmet pizza Friday night and vegged out watching movies and snuggling on the couch.  Saturday morning we hit the most massive shopping centre ever, and had posh coffee & sushi for lunch.  We picked up a zippy chili calamari salad too that near killed me lol.

We also popped over to the beach when there was a little bit of a break... if you look closely you can see a teeny bit of blue sky even :)   I love the beach when it's windy & overcast ... 



And I LOVE the feel of my feet in the sand :)


Here's a shot of the beach with the Gold Coast cbd (city business district for my American friends) in the background.  You can see it was already raining there again!


It was a little hard to tell when it actually started raining due to the sea spray in the air from the wind... so we had a MAD dash up the beach & back to the car!  Just barely beat a drenching lol



This little guy washed up with the surf... isn't he COOL looking?  All I know is he's some sort of jellyfish, marine biologist I am not hehe.  We knew enough not to touch him (some jellyfish are deadly I think, and MANY have wicked stings) and shortly the surf washed him back out with the tide and we ran for cover from the rain.

Sunday morning we had a delish breakfast on the deck of the unit, and a cuppa then checked out and headed off.  We made a stop through an open air mall to grab a coffee and browse before leaving the coast and heading home.  Ironically, the weather was fabulous from that point on lol.   I guess maybe it was the universe making sure we actually spent the time TOGETHER instead of on the go constantly :)
Caz
Thanks to our car being FINALLY repaired, this week we were able to make it to Frodo's weekly home school Co-op!   He was super excited and got on really well with the other kids, from where I was watching anyway :)    The group holds classes at a local church and they currently have Spanish, Science with Dr. Joe, and Art with the ever popular Ms. Liz!  


Science this week had the kids learning about water pressure.  Their experiment was called 'Bob the Blob' lol.  It consisted of a water bottle, a bit of blue tac type stuff, and a tiny balloon. Frodo would have to explain the HOW of it... but when you give the bottle a squeeze, the little 'bob' enlarges & shoots to the top of the bottle... and when you let it go, he shrinks & sinks to the bottom again      
 Like so :D
Art with Ms. Liz was pretty fun ...Frodo made a surrealist pastel 'painting' of an elephant in the style of Dali (I think it was)   Here's Frodo proudly showing off his finished product :D.  Last week the kids started surrealist cityscape paintings ... one of Frodo's friends made a spectacular peice of work that is gorgeous enough for framing!  It was done using pastels for the outlining and water colours for filling in. I think Frodo & I will keep that idea on file so that when art classes have finished, we can give it a try :)


Spanish was really good according to both the kiddo and the teacher.  I was stoked, she sought me out after class to let me know how well he behaved for the class and that he's got a good knack for language :)   He and I are going to Google up translations for the first two lessons, which we missed, & practice so he can be caught up with the class next week.  Looking forward to next week!
Caz
This week is all about our learning spaces,  and I'll admit that I think my post will be pretty boring lol.   We don't have a specific, separate, place that we use for school activities.  We do the largest part of our every day learning sitting right where I am now, at the dining room table :)  If you were to turn up, you would also quite regularly find Frodo working on the computer, or curled up with a book on the sofa.



Frodo, who is watching his Math U See lesson, at my usual workspace.  I REALLY need a desk area of my own again!  Ikea, I shall see you soon!  I'm looking to upgrade that expedit to a 5x5 which with the desk attachment one of these days :)

We have a separate book case where Frodo's school specific books & things go.  It lives next to the computer he uses for online school activities.   I didn't take a close up, but the shelves are in the beginning stages of being grouped by theme... so his math materials will live in one, History Odyssey stuff in another, and one is the start of our science materials & books.  (on the right of the computer, is our pet rats' condominium hehe.  They're currently grounded to the downstairs for being naughty rodents though lol)


Note the mom fuel sitting by the laptop (I had to pay Gloria Jeans a visit this morning for an iced coffee lol)
Somehow the pic of the cozy corner spot of the sofa, which is a favourite reading nook of Frodo's, got eaten during the upload.

We've also got a not linen cupboard (lol) that now houses all of our art materials, messy projects occur on the patio (art is about the only activity we can get away with this!) 

Quite a lot of our science-y stuff will take place at the good old kitchen counter/sink area

But,  for the most part, we aren't one of those lucky home school families that can do "school" on the veranda, or at the park, or in the car... Frodo is far too distract-able  for all that.  He requires a very much distraction free zone in order to focus on what he's doing.   We still do things 'out' and about, but it's kept very casual and informal and more about getting him thinking about things than hoping he retains whatever we talk about!

He does get a lot out of hands on learning, so museums/galleries, the science centre and all manner of other great places will be included in our learning spaces as the year goes on :)  And for Term 1 at least, we have his Monday co-op classes that he was most impressed with.  (Post & Pics on that later!)


Look forward to having a peek inside everyone else's learning spaces!


Caz
This week we are hopping around chatting about curriculum!  I only have one home schooler, so that really simplifies things a bit for me, which is kinda nice :)  Frodo is 10, and doing grade 5 work in most things (math is 3/4 as we catch him up... he might as well have missed all of last years' math at school for all he learned). We don't do a total 'boxed' curriculum, I pick and choose things that Frodo will enjoy and get the most out of.  Without further adeiu...
Frodo in his natural habitat lol

Sose:   For our Sose (social studies) we are using History Odyssey, Ancients Lvl 2, by PandiaPress .   We've done both Ancients & Medieval level 1 so I know the kiddo enjoys it.  This program is a crosscurricular in a lot of ways... it has a lot of geography & map work, vocabulary, obviously history, some literature, and it also does a LOT of writing & outlining... so it covers a great deal of language arts as well ;)   I like the hands on feel of this program, the cool projects that the previous level had were a big draw too!  I'm also planning a a few outings that are relevant ...A trip to the Queesland museum for This!  and the  Abbey Medieval Festival, and anything else fun that pops up on my radar.

Other Language arts:  Aside from what's covered with History Odyssey, we'll also being some separate reading comprehension work and some additional writing using some Learning a-z sites.   Reading  & Writing a-z  are a couple of neat membership sites that I thought I'd try out this year.  Reading a-z has leveled readers that you can print (they aren't very big) and worksheets and fun activities to go along with.  What sold me about writing a-z was the great graphic organizers for different types of writing, and that they have lesson plans for various genre's of writing.   Great for Language Arts samples for reporting time ;)

Math:  Frodo really struggled with math last year so this year we are starting off with a review of multiplication tables to make sure he has them all down.  Given a couple of choices, he decided he's like to stay with Math U See, which I was happy with.  We're working through Gamma (multiplication & other topics), then Delta (division & other topics), and I'm trying to buy Epsilon  (fractions and other topics) from another homeschooling mum but my car is in the shop for another week... not happy Jan!  He also has Timez Attack, which is a multiplication 'video game' that he enjoys practicing on and he wants me to get him a Mathletics subscription so he can do that while his brothers are doing their online school homework :)

Science:  Frodo will be doing a term of Science with Mr. Joe at the coop that we've signed on with, although he's having to miss the first two weeks :(   After that we are going to work through Real Science 4 Kids chemistry and possibly Astronomy or Physics (great looking programs!)   We'll also make a trip or two to the science centre during the year and he is crazy about start gazing, so we're looking into getting a beginner telescope.

Arts:   Art with Miss Liz is on for term 1, Liz is a lovely lady that works really well with the kids and helps them learn some techniques to make great artworks!   Frodo got a digital drawing pad for his computer on his birthday, so he'll be creating on that as well.  We're also going to try to get together with other homeschoolers and book school workshops at the local art gallery, which has awesome exhibits.  We also have several great art books with *real* art projects for kids to recreate (not 'crafts', although those are fun too!)

Technology:  I've got a few cool projects lined up for Frodo that he's pretty excited about.  First up, he'll be designing his very own logo for our home school (which we have officially dubbed "Tea Trees Academy") starting from the ground up.  He's also going to re-try a blog, which we tried a few years ago but he really didn't have the maturity for it then. In our daily lives he has access to computers, digital cameras, a digital drawing tablet and numerous gizmos' and gadgets and computer programs.  Honestly, these days I think the parents need the technology education... the kids are practically born with the ability to use modern technology!

Health & Physical Ed:  Frodo and I will be do units on nutrition & dental health this year, and sun safety is obviously huge for us here in Australia.  We are going to try to source tennis lessons for him, as he's expressed an interest in learning.

LOTE:  Frodo will be taking an intro to Spanish class with the home schooling network in term 1 and we'll continue working on that on our own, hopefully the teacher can recommend some resources.  Frodo has also been interested in Auslan, so I'd like to source some classes for the both of us to learn a bit.

So, in a nutshell, that's our study plan for the year!  There may be things that don't work, and get tossed aside in favour of things that do.   I look forward to seeing what everyone else is going to be using this year and swiping ideas!
Caz
I've been toying with this for a while, because I really do feel like my life is all about keeping up with these short people I've spawned :)  I'll keep this brief , if it's available, my blog url will be changing to  herdinghobbits.blogspot.com.au !  So please hop over & follow me once I change it (I'm guessing that you have to do that??)  If it's not available... well I'll still be right here where you left me lol
Caz
Ok, I'm a few days behind schedule posting this lol!  It's been one of those weeks for me... Saturday my cars' engine literally blew up (ok, so there wasn't actual fire.. but the smoke must have been visible from a kilometer away!) and I've spent the week trying to scramble a solution to that issue while trying to keep up with home schooling Frodo and keeping up with my 2 schoolers' and their activites :)     So, better late than never ... right?

Frodo's Not Back to School Portrait 2012

Although I homeschooled two of my boys, and home pre-schooled the youngest, only one of them is now learning full time from home.  Frodo is a pretty special kid... he's sweet boy, but he struggles at a few things.  He is 10 now (double digits woo!) and homeschooled for 3 years before going to grade 4 at public school.  What a disaster THAT was for him! :(    Frodo has ADHD and a sensory integration disorder.. the noise & chaos of a class room of 34 students was NOT for him at all.   He struggled and worked hard at it all year but in November we made the call to bring him home again, and he couldn't be happier.

Some of his favourite things are computers, video games (Mario & Link, his two favourite hero's ever),  he loves drawing and his favourite subject to study as far as school work goes is History!

Here are Sam & Merry.
 These are my two traditional schoolers all g'd up in their uniforms after a big day at school.  They both absolutely love school (I freely admit that I go back & forth between wishing they'd want to come back to homeschooling, and being thankful that they DO seem to be thriving at school & enjoy it!... depending on how my day has been lol)  

Sam is in grade 2 and enjoys going to school, he asks if tomorrow is a school day and is rather crestfallen if it's not.  He loves math, I'd go as far as to say it's his favourite subject.  His other interests are legos... computers... and some more legos lol.

Merry is in prep (kindergarten) and is settling in really well.   He really likes his teacher and has several little friends already.  He loves his take home readers (just learning letter sounds at this point, although he's got a lot of them), rainforest maths,  and reading eggs... but his favourite thing about school is playing on the playground with his friends :D  

Looking forward to 'meeting' everyone else's homeschoolers and getting to know some of you on the blog hop!  Thanks Kylie for getting it going!