A challenge of a hill!

A great day yesterday was concluded at Challenge Hill. After all that cognitive workout it was

good to do something physical!

"The obstacle course on Challenge Hill is a major fun feature of Woodhouse, and one of the best of its kind in Australia.

It does demand a level of fitness, but if tackled with care and consideration, will provide fun for all!

Challenge Hill is a great test of physical fitness and mental agility

it's a great team-building exercise and it provides thousands of people with great entertainment, and some good healthy outdoor exercise.

Before using Challenge Hill, please speak to a Warden, so that you may be briefed on the use and safety requirements of the course." quotes courtesy of this site

See you there next time!

What is a weed?

 A team of two from the  Mt Lofty Resource Management Board,  lead us in an informative afternoon looking at biological control of weeds in the Mt Lofty Ranges at Woodhouse.

 Woodhouse uses many biocontrol agents including English broom gall mite, Cape broom psyllid and Gore spider mite. This was  a hands-on workshop and  included releasing some of the mites.

 Hopefully you can see some of the galls in this picture.

And above under the gum trees, a large amount of english broom. Beautiful if its growing in the right place.We also learned that our eucalyptus are a pest in South Africa.What is a weed:

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Anything But Typical" by Nora Raleigh Baskin

I enjoyed this book for teens enormously. It is written from a  first person perspective about Jason Blake, an autistic twelve year old.

Jason Blake is autistic and finds the neuro-typical world around him, but especially school, over-stimulating, often unfathomable. Most days it is just a matter of time before something goes wrong, before he either does something or says something others find "weird" or unacceptable, or before one of his classmates (and sometimes even his teachers) find him amusing or react negatively to him. Jason's one comfort and “time out” is the Storyboard website, where he can be himself, where he can write his stories and be creative. The story he writes about a made-up character Bennu  parallels his own life as in Bennu’s world he is also different from what is typical. When Jason actually makes an online friend on the website (Phoenixbird, whose real name is Rebecca), he dares to dream that they might be friends. But when Rebecca is going to be at the same Storyboard convention as Jason, Jason is concerned that once she actually meets him, she will, like most others, only see him as someone who is "anything but typical."

 Jason is a believable character that we can’t help have empathy for.

"Neorotypicals like it when you look them in the eye. It is supposed to mean you are listening, as if the reverse were true, which it is not:Just because you are not looking at someone does not mean you are not listening. I can listen better when I am not distracted by a person's face:What are their eyes saying? Is that a frown or a smile?Why are they wrinkling their forehead or lifting their cheeks like that?What does it mean"

"...my occupational therapist has taught me:look people in the eye when you are talking(even if this makes it harder for you to listen),talk even when you have nothing to say(that's what NT's do all the time).."

"even though it is harder for me to talk than to listen, even though it is also hard for me to listen, I think it is much harder for NTs to listen than it is to talk. This is something I have observed over the years. "

"People don't mean everything they say, my mother has told me. So has my physical therapist. Then why do they say it? Why do people say things they don't mean? So far no one has given me a good answer."



 "This is what I notice: NT's will lie. And its not that I can't. I could. If I wanted to. But even when everyone who is listening knows it's a lie, they can pretend it's not, and then everybody is lying. The listeners and the tellers. And its hard for me to tell what is real and what is not."

"It was noisy in the restaurant. Every time the door opened, I could hear cars driving on the road. I heard a dog bark outside, and I heard the wood floor creak when someone walked by the doorway to the kitchen. my occupational therapist was teaching me how to try and block out all these sounds. She taught me to hear them one by one and then send them away. Hear them. Hold them. And then let them go. Until finally all I saw were the words on the page an all  heard was my own breathing. And I knew I was calm."

“The tragedy of the world is that so many are unloved. Roses always look beautiful and smell sweet, and hence they are a prize to be possessed. Sweetbriar, however, has fragrant leaves, and they are never so fragrant as when it rains. The common people of the world are like these leaves; they have something fragrant about them, particularly when the days are dark and clouded and rain falls in their lives. Anyone can love a rose; but it takes a great heart to love a leaf.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

I found this quote on my good friend Louise's facebook page. Thank you Louise for posting this beautiful meditation!

Bird in the Classroom by Colin Thiele

This is a poem we looked at this week and here are birds that visited us this week





The students drowsed and drowned

in the Teacher's ponderous monotone -
limp bodies loping in the wordy heat,
melted and run together, desk and flesh as one.
swooning and swimming in a sea of drone.
 

Each one asleep, swayed and vaguely drifted

with lidded eyes and lolling weighted heads,
were caught on heavy waves and dimly lifted,
sunk slowly, ears ringing in the syrup of his sound,

or borne from the room on a heaving wilderness of beds.
And then on a sudden, a bird's cool voice
punched out song. Crisp and spare
on the startled air,

beak-beamed
or idly tossed,
each note gleamed
like a bead of frost.

A bird's cool voice from a neighbour's tree
with five clear calls -  mere grains of sound
rare and neat
repeated twice
but they sprang from the heat
like drops of ice.

Ears cocked, before the comment ran
fading and chuckling where a wattle stirred,

 

 

 

 

 

the students wondered how they could have heard
such dreary monotone from a man, and
such wisdom from a bird















 

 

 

Colin Thiele was born in Eudunda, a small town north of the Barossa Valley in South Australia.He attended local schools here and then graduated from the University of Adelaide, later serving in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War, and then became a high school teacher, college lecturer, principal and director.
 


He wrote a novel when 11 years old (and, it is said he later burnt it). He had a love of interesting words and unusual language, perhaps because he was a bi-lingual child. One of his first early favourites was 'While the Billy Boils' by Henry Lawson. 

Its a new term , its a new day

India country study

Yesterday was the first day back to school for T+L. The whole day seemed to go really well! I started the day myself with some solitary peace and quiet. I got up at 5.45 ,dressed and came down to the living room. I read some of  book about Thomas Merton written by an Anglican Franciscan friar.

pergoda project contd

I made porridge for the boys and woke them at 6.15. Then I decided to have some myself with a cup of earl grey tea. The boys were seated by 6.30 and we started reading Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls by Lynne Jonell and illustrated by Jonathan Bean. Last year we read Emmy and the Shrinking Rat. So far it seems  good readaloud, combining humor with a fairly fast paced plot. Its written in an engaging style.

T revised our nature table

Some of the sentences in the book make good examples for Lachlan's english work(gotta love those teachable moments!):
"The afternoon sun slanted through the dusty air of the attic room. The window was dirty, but the rays stamped the wooden floor with gold, and a long trapezoid of light stretched out to touch a small girl with her back to the wall"

Plus the book contains interesting vocabulary study:
" Just because you have no style," he muttered,"no sartorial instinct...."
 After breakfast violin practice started. I was grateful that even after  a month without practice(shhh don't tell the suzuki police!) L remembered his pieces mostly quite well. T will be doing 2 practices as he will have work to do for the youth orchestra,  as well as for his lessons. Both boys also have pieces to practice for boys club too, so quite a busy time musically speaking!

Our history is a continuation from last year but I want to move at a faster pace. I would like T to have some study of modern history before he finishes his homeschooling. Our first reading in Genevieve Foster's book: The World of Columbus and Sons began with Columbus'  discovery of the coast of South America.The boys wrote in their notebooks that Trinidad was named for the trinity by Columbus and Venezuela was named after Venice as it was reported "the natives had houses built on stilts over water".

We next read some poetry from the Harp and the Laurel Wreath. We read "The Falconer of God". Here is a quote from it on beauty:
          A strange white heron rising with silver on its wings
          Rising and crying
          Wordless,wondrous thing
          The secret of the stars, of the world's heart-strings
          The answer to their woe

sea glass and other beach found treasures!

As an introduction to our study of Culture and Society we discussed the basic needs of humans. This lead to a discussion about what it means to be human, what differentiates us from animals. T suggested that thinking and language was the key, so we thought a bit more about what context language existed in. Continuing they decided that language existed in culture which brought us back to "what is culture". I deliberately left these at the question stage and then threw them two other questions;"what is every person on earth entitled to and how can this be achieved?""When we study  a particular country what are we wanting to learn from our study?" I don't intend to give them answers! This is really meant  to set them on the road to thinking about these concepts.

sea treasures

The boys then worked on english and maths assignments. T is studying "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" and "Robinson Crusoe for literature this term.

more treasures from sea + shore

And then it was time for science. T will study Chemistry and Biology this year. These are his choices of topics. We will use a mix of literature and text books and online resources.
With L I outlined some science projects he can achieve this term towards his cub badges. He is trying very hard to get his grey wolf award before he moves up to scouts in April. As he has been at cubs for not quite a year this will mean quite an endeavor!

Pig Latin

"Fun fact about this scene; in Ginger Roger's autobiography she talks about how she had been rehearsing this song for a very long time and started singing it in pig latin because she was so bored. Well Darryl Zanuck, Warner's production chief came in and Ginger thought that she was going to be fired for fooling around in rehearsal, but he had her sing it in pig latin again and decided to put it in the number. So Ginger Rogers is to thank for the pig latin part of the song."

"Chasing Vermeer"

We have discovered a new readaloud author! Not only does she write thought provoking prose but we get to do art history and maths at the same time!As one reviewer comments:"

Secrets, lies and mysteries surround the work of one of the greatest artists of all time. Moonlit chases, hidden hiding places, and even a secret code help to solve the mystery."

 There are clues in the art work that help you solve the mystery. The art work itself is worth close investigation.The author has her own site with games and puzzles and even downloadable pentominoes for you to work with! 







The book also has plenty of scope for writing projects:"Is writing the most accurate way to communicate, investigate",  "Research letter writing by asking people to describe a piece of mail that changed their lives and then,write me a letter I won't be able to forget ". "At the beginning of chapter three Petra "window gazing" from a train is described, write about a changing scene you have observed on a journey." Then there are descriptive writing examples including the children's narratives of famous paintings(but not just these!) that beg to be used as jumping boards for further discussions/projects.     This is a book we will remember for a long time. And the good news? The author has two more in the series along similar lines. No we haven't read them. Yes we are looking forward to doing so!                                                                                                                              

"The Genius of Leonardo" picture book find

I love to use picture books as an introduction or summary of a particular topic. I was surprised and delighted to find this at our local library. As part of our readings for history we are reading "the Second Mrs Gioconda". This book is a fictional representation of the life of Leonardo de Vinci. (Now I have heard some negative reviews by homeschoolers of this book because it mentions one character's unfaithfulness to his wife but again I think if you are reading this to older children it can give you a good opportunity to discuss such topics as trust and commitment. Again I don't think a book has to ascribe to my world philosophy for it to be worthwhile in our homeschool. )

I enjoy reading books by E.L Konigsburg for myself but I think she is a fabulous author for older children.Books by her always encourage lots of discussion!
However back to my picture book find. It is described as being written by Guido Visconti with quotations from the notebooks of Leonardo. The artist's illustrations are supurb. one reviewer says:"When I first saw the cover and title for this book, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it. The illustrations did not remind me of Leonardo Da Vinci. I was ready to be disappointed. Instead, I was surprised when I found myself enjoying the book.

I like the portrayal of Leonardo and his apprentice. The genius of the man is portrayed while still keeping him imperfect. Leonardo doesn't have answers for all of life's questions. Still, the book reminded me how fascinating math and science can be while reminding me why the Renaissance is such a fascinating time in history.

All around, this is a wonderful book." another states"The illustrations by Bimba Landmann are amazing, making the book a work of art. The text is meaty, telling us a lot about Leonardo and his ideas (with direct quotes). Kids will relate to the mischievous character of Giacomo, Leonardo's 10-year-old assistant, who frequently annoys his famous boss. I would recommend this book for anyone age 6 to adult!"(reviews from Amazon)I think this is a book worth re-reading long after our history study has been completed.