Our Learning Journey Through A Birthday Week!

This first week of October has flown by, centering around Sophia's 6th birthday, and our learning journey has strongly been influenced by new crafts which were gifted to Sophia. 

Arts and crafts have an important role to play in teaching and reinforcing skills, particularly for those who are in early years education. Sophia has decorated a clock for her bedroom, counting in fives around the clock as she coloured. It was a project that required great concentration, she wanted to stay within the lines and create an end product she was proud of. She chose a beautiful and elegant colour scheme and took regular breaks to make sure she kept concentration, to rest her hand. She would go outside to play, then come in and work on the next piece. 

She was also gifted with a weaving project, and this was the first time she had seen this skill so she had a lot of questions about what the skill was used for. Following her interest we watched YouTube videos to show her the history, art and practical knowledge of weaving baskets and furniture. Armed with this new information, she followed my instruction and produced a rainbow bowl which she then used for her snacks. 

Sophia also wanted to create one of her many sewing projects. She chose a little bag to make, as she still likes to collect treasures from around the house. Although it is a dying skill, living as we do in a society where we tend to replace clothes rather then mend them, and buy clothes rather than patterns and materials. There is a rich history behind the skill, both via hand and machine, which still should be taught and enjoyed, if only as a hobby. The girls love making stuffed animals, puppets and bags, and they do have an extra appreciation for the finished product as they have made it, and not just had it brought for them. 

Kira chooses her outfit out very carefully every morning and usually turns her drawers upside down in the process. One day she chose a white fluffy jumper and it must have sparked a thought process. She came down to me and told me she was a polar bear. Nothing new here, she's a different animal every day. However there was a new twist this day. She asked me a dozen multiple answer questions about polar bears which she had formed. One answer was correct, and there were two wrong answers with every question. This showed a great understanding of adjectives and understanding of polar bears and their habitats. It was a very engaging session and it was surprising how much she knew about the subject, let alone presenting it in this new format and becoming the teacher asking me the questions. She mixed up the order of correct and incorrect multiple answers and corrected me when I gave the wrong answer to test her knowledge. 

Sophia had asked for a special exercise book to write down all her thoughts about science, which she received for her birthday. This will be a different handwriting exercise which we can add into her rotation. She has already given me an explanation of her understanding on each topic that we have covered over the past year, which I can dictate back to her. Before this begins however, she will be writing a thank you letter to the little girl next door who brought her some lovely presents, and will make her a friendship bracelet out of the jewellery kit she received. Sophia is also looking forward to writing her next letter to her little penpal when she has received her letter. We did a spelling review of the twenty word families that they have learnt so far since August and the girls easily completed them, including the magical words of the double ING family which make them laugh. They are currently learning pronouns and have almost learnt the 'up' and 'ay' word families. Sophia surprised me by spelling the word 'love' from memory, and Kira knew the word 'free'. Sophia moved on to decorating a book bag that she also received for her birthday from her friend next door and is looking forward to keeping her school work in it, like a proper school girl. In the midst of the above Xander has started to learn his colouring mixing whilst he has been busy painting, and has also read the first half of 1a Peter and Jane to me. 

We have been reviewing our multiples of 2, 5 and 10 this past week and Kira has moved on from simply counting in multiples to beginning to apply the official multiplication terminology to it. Sophia is not quite there yet. They are also learning multiples of 3 currently. The aim is to know the multiples of three and four by the end of the school year. If they can recite them within the context of multiplication terminology that would be a bonus. 

We have had a couple of days where home economics were the centre of their learning journey. We have made bread rolls, pizza dough, several cakes, lots of pancakes and of course the birthday cake. I usually take the opportunity to race through daily housework chores whilst the children are outside in the garden, however they sometimes become more interested in what I am doing and want to join in. We had a very productive learning session one day where we worked together like a well oiled machine, had fun, and finished the housework with super cat speed. 

Kira emptied the dishwasher, dried and put the dishes away whilst I lined up the next load. Xander was pulling out the washed clothes from the machine and putting dirty clothes in it. Sophia was supervising to make sure the piles were not being mixed up whilst singing the alphabet in Spanish with gusto. She then placed the surf in the drawer under my supervision and turned the correct cycle on. Kira pulled the clean clothes bag to the bottom of the stairs whilst Xander tidied his toys away. I rescued some baking from the oven and Sophia cleaned the table and set it for dinner and dessert. All three of them then carried the recycling out to the bin singing the recycling song, whilst I swept the floor. We all then enjoyed snack time, hot rolls from the oven, smothered in jam. These sessions are only initated by the children currently. 

They join me sometimes when I'm moving through the house cleaning the bathrooms, all of us holding cleaning supplies marching in line to our destination. Kira will get in the bath and clean with her sponge and warm water, drying it with a bath towel. Sophia will tackle the sink (which is usually covered in toothpaste!) and tidy the cupboards which Xander will be busily emptying, whilst I clean the toilet and empty the bins. They find these sessions fun, pretending to be mummy, and they certainly make it more entertaining for me. They always show appreciation when the house is tidy and clean, and thank me on a regular basis. Teamwork is a key principle behind how we run our home school, we all make a mess so we help each other to tidy up. By learning the basic skills in how to run a house from an early age it will become second nature and they'll have fun memories cleaning alongside mummy, cooking alongside daddy etc. Sophia amuses me, as she always tidies their bedroom up whenever she's in a timeout. She'll be up there for six minutes (a minute for every year) and she'll make their beds, tidy the playhouse, and set out their night things. 

Their free time this week has mostly been playing with birthday presents of course, she has been rightly spoiled and the new trampoline is a massive hit! Daddy also brought the girls their first archery kit and they love it! Sophia fired a suction arrow at Xander who was marching towards her unafraid of the fact that there was a bow pointing at him, or an arrow flying towards him. He didn't flinch a muscle and merely caught the arrow in his hand and kept moving toward his target which was the bow. Sophia was still laughing that he had caught the arrow so she was easily disarmed and he ran off with his spoils. 

Kira came to me another day in the week after she had enjoyed a red tongue changer lolly pop, and she just so happened to be wearing a red jumper. She flew into the kitchen being a red scaled dragon and gave me a presentation on what a dragon means to her. According to Kira they are mythagaical creatures (a mix between mythical and magical). They have reptilian skin, some are colourful, where others have no colour. They are beyond massive, flying through the sky at night, stealing their prey from their beds (humans). They return to their caves where their eggs are hatching, and sit with their heads sticking out of the cave doorway. I love her little presentations, she's a right method actor, dressing and acting to the part.

There you have it dear readers, a fun filled, very busy birthday week!