Svengelska Hemskolan

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I couldn't resist this!

"You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed."

We haven't done any for a while, but one of my favourite ways of working (and getting the children to actually produce something!) is lapbooking.

In case you haven't come across lapbooking before, this is a description, which I wrote for a Lapbooking Workshop I ran for our local homeschool group:

"So, what is a lap-book?

A lap-book (also know variously as flap-books, shutter-books, project books, and mini-offices.) can be these things:

- A Hands-On Mum-Produced Teaching Tool that you can use for presenting new information to your children, or to create a visual to consolidate what you’ve already covered (like a lift-the-flap book, so most suitable for certain subjects or for very young children) These tend to be called “mini-offices”. Take a look at

- A way of presenting an older child’s project-work in a fun way, in place of boring and monotonous worksheets (although these can be included!) If you have a child who lacks motivation, lap-booking could be your answer!

- A combination of these two: a joint-effort production where parent and child work together to produce a topic book, teaching and learning along the way! (This works well for young children as well as mid-age children to begin with: once they get going they will want to take over!)

A lap book can be used with any subject matter that you are studying (Maths? Science? The only limit is your imagination!). You do not have to use the “unit study”/ theme/ project method of home-schooling to make use of them. They can be used from preschool through to college!

How are lap-books made?

Traditionally, lap-books are made from manila file folders which you refold to open in the centre, and to which further flaps can be added, but the best type of folder I have found is the “Avery Eurofold” which already has additional flaps and fastening bands, but they are limited in that they are pre-folded. Feel free to use your imagination with thick paper, cardboard, even plastic folders etc...

What supplies are needed?

File folders, paper in a variety of colours/ patterns and types (ex: patterned wrapping paper, wallpaper, colourful construction paper, cardboard), crayons, pencils, coloured pencils, glue, glue sticks, scissors, sellotape.

Now what?

When you have your folder ready, you will either want to insert project-work – writing, pictures and any other relevant items, or make “mini-books” (minature books made from paper folded in different ways) of all types, sizes, shapes and variations on which to do project-work, to glue inside your lapbook. You can make mini-books in advance for the children to work on (and older children can make their own, of course) or, if you are using them as a teaching tool for younger children, you can write, draw, or glue on pictures and items addressing the key points of the subjects you are studying. Even the youngest child will enjoy sticking things in and so, over time, your lap-books will gradually become more and more the child’s work.

One note about assembling your lap-books: don’t glue the mini-books in until they have the completed work already on them, since if something goes wrong you will be in a fix if it’s already glued in!

The main resources for learning about how to make all the different types of mini books, as well as great project ideas, are: “The Ultimate Guide to Lapbooking” by Tammy Duby and Cyndy Regeling, of Tobin’s Lab: www.tobinslab.com and available from Sandra at Ichthus Resources, “All you need to know about Flapbooking” by Jennifer Steward, available from Steward ship www.flapbooks.com and “The Big Book of Books” and “The Big Book of Projects and Activities”, both by Dinah Zike. Ichthus Resources stock some Dinah Zike books and Rainbow books RainbowBooks@Onetel.com carries some of Dinah’s other books (Great Science Adventures). For more information, see "

Well, today I decided to join the , which was recommended on the . So far so good.... but I cannot for the life of me work out how to insert the code!

I am trying to wean my children off sweet sugary breakfast cereals, so occasionally I make my own healthy and naturally sweet muesli:

Ingredients:

3 cups oats, or
1 cup oats,
1 cup barley flakes
1 cup millet flakes

2 cups of mixed dried fruits (you can buy a bag of mixed fruits from the health shop, or select your own)

1 cup of dessicated coconut (if you / your children like it)

1 cup of mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, hemp, linseed etc.)

If you really need extra sweetness, try fruit sugar or demerara (raw cane sugar) rather than the processed varieties.

Directions:

Mix together in a big bowl!
Enjoy!

I can think of very few things for which I have less affection than Pantomime. Let's see, male comedians dressed as women, rudeness disguised as humour, innuendo, a theatre full of screaming, laughing kids? Well that about sums it up! (Bah, humbug!)

I realise that I'm in danger of sound very ungrateful, after all, our next door neighbour's sister was very kind and generous to provide all six of us with free tickets for the second year running. And after all, this year's Aladdin was a vast improvement on last year's Cinderella.

But really and truly, I'd prefer a packet of biscuits. (He's behind you!)

x
Sh

We were invited to join one of our homeschool groups' German classes last week, which really pleased me because I had planned to start looking at German this term.

My intention with languages has always been to give the children a 'taste' so that they can get a feel for a language and then maybe choose to take it up later. We've tried Swedish (sadly much less successfully than I had hoped), Spanish and German previously with no real interest shown. On the other hand, we've picked up Latin and Hebrew which have both proven to be very popular with all the children (and Dragon-tamer showed some initial interest in Greek, but we haven't pursued it).

Dragon-tamer has asked at various times to try Japanese and Icelandic, but I have had to put him off for the time being. Icelandic I know from trying to teach myself, as well as a year in Old Norse during my Scandinavian studies degree course at UCL, and let me tell you that Icelandic is comparable to Latin in its complexity. We might give it a go one of these days, but there is a real scarcity of good materials available in the UK for learning Icelandic.

So anyway, now that we've signed up for German and said we'll definitely be going again, I got phone call telling me that the Hebrew classes have started up again.

(((sigh)))

My heart is definitely with Israel, and if things were different, I would always choose Hebrew over German, but the German class was so wonderfully geared to children (and mixed age range children at that), whereas the Hebrew was aimed at adults and the children were getting nothing out of it, plus the fact that it was held at someone's house meant firstly that the room wasn't big enough to sit in a way which would encourage learning, and secondly there was more time spent chatting than learning. Perhaps I sound miserable and unfriendly, but honestly I just don't have time for it with homeschooling.

So as it stands, we're going for German and we'll have to make do with my amateur learn-as-you-teach method of Hebrew classes at home. I like it better that way really. That way we can concentrate on Dragon-tamer's Bar Mitzvah portion at the same time as teaching the little ones their alef-bet, and everyone's happy (we hope).

x
Sh

We have a ton of birthdays occurring over the festive season! My Dad's before Chanukkah, my nephew's on 25th December, Motor-biker's on 2nd, my best friend's on the 5th January and then our uncle's on the 13th.

It's always a little difficult to manage to get what they want in time, because I always forget that the shops will be closed! But this year Motor-biker only wanted one thing: to be Spiderman!

This time, it was quite easy, and my does he look cute! I will try to work out how to post a photo!

If you haven't already heard me rave about ":The Home Educator's Tutor" magazine, let me tell you about it. Subtitled "Educational Tools based on Classical and Charlotte Mason Ideals",
It contains sections on:

Nature (including nature-notes and nature-stories)
Shakespeare (selections)
Character (stories and biographies)
Art (including biography of artist, and several fine art prints)
Stories (including character stories and tales from ancient Rome)
Latin (as well as selections in Greek, French and Spanish!)
Music (hymns, folk-songs, classical)
Bible (reading, memory verses, copywork)

and includes a CD of hymns, folk-songs and classical music.

http://homeeducatortutor.com

It is a family business run by home educators, and since they ran into financial difficulties last year, there is no current issue, but you can buy the back issues (which I highly recommend!), and they are working on new issues. Please consider supporting them!

"You can purchase back issues of The Home Educator's Tutor for only $10 each*, or, for a limited time, purchase a package of four for only $29.99*. That's a full year of The Home Educator's Tutor in one shipment! These prices will be going up, so order soon"

It is ideal for anyone using Charlotte Mason or Classical education, but also anyone who would like to include the above subjects in their home education.

I am just looking into how we might do a project on south America. These are the fruits of my initial search:

Unit Study Plans

Some useful links to unit studies, some to buy, some free on the internet:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eclecticchaos/74310/

http://www.homeschoollearning.com/units/units_ancient_soamer.shtml (free if you subscribe to a free 3-day trial)

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/UnitStudies/argentina.htm

http://www.homeschoolestore.com carries 4 e-book unit study guides:

- South America - a hands-on unit study (this is a Christian unit study) $13.99

- South America - History unit study $3.50

- South America - Culture and Geography unit study $3.50, and

- Adventures in Writing: A Sensory Journey of South America - $5.95

Of course, I would prefer to spend as little money as possible (there is always the risk with unschooling children of having to stop in the middle of a study if they go off the idea!) and I'm not really a fan of e-books, but the history and culture & geography studies look good value. All of these are basically idea-books, and any literature would need to be obtained separately. My search also picked up studies on cougars, anacondas and Spanish language.

When I get my act together I'll post my plan with a booklist.

Questions!

Some things I would like to know include:

- Food: what is South American cuisine like - is it similar to Mexican? What about native South American cuisine?

- Literature: Can anyone recommend any novels suitable as read-alouds and / or easy-readers, set in south America (Isabel Allende looks interesting, including "Zorro" and "Ines of My Soul" about Doña Inés Suárez of Chile, but these would be for me to read, not to the children!)

- Music: can someone point me in the right direction of south American music - both Latin-American and native south-American folk music (does such a thing as that exist on CD?) (We'll be looking in the World section at the library, but fear this might be a little bit too exotic!)

- Art: same question really. Who is who in south American art?

Hi Lillbjorne. How about Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera? Fox

- Film: what would be good family films set in south America, available on dvd or video? (We have ordered 2 BBC nature dvds "Wild South America")

We had great fun today making cookies to cheer Pony-rider up. We really did just make this up as we went along, but it came out really yummy and chewy and it went really quickly!

1 cup of Muesli (we like Alpen best)

1 cup of demerara (raw cane) sugar

1 cup of margerine

1/4 cup of cocoa

a big shake of ground cinnamon

1 egg

1 cup of self-raising flour

We doubled this up, mixing the alpen, cocoa, butter and sugar together, then the egg(s) and then the flour. We added the cinnamon last but really it should have gone in at the beginning when the ingredients were still dry.

We greased a baking tray and baked at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes. It came out looking like brownies. I cut it into squares and it came out of the tray easily :-)

In case you don't dare to do experimental cooking with the kids, here's a recipe for chocolate brownies from the bbc: http://tinyurl.com/2fchom

We have been watching tadpoles in a lake in the centre of pasture land not far from home. We decided to go and check up on them today. It was a beautiful day: the sun was shining, the air was balmy, as we walked over the bridge above the main road a tractor roared past and waved at the children which really made their day! We went armed with our nature sketch-books and penciles, and when we got to the field, there were sheep grazing which had been newly shorn. We saw a pair of moorhens with 9 young. We looked at the reeds and noticed that the fluffy top is seeds like on a dandelion clock. We spotted our tadpoles, and they have got really big! It was absolutely a country idyll. Until Pony-rider fell in.

Well, actually, firstly BabaZonni had a go. There are stepping stones, which were obviously designed for use by big burly six-foot farmers whose legs are so long their steps stretch wide. Far too wide apart for a 3-year old. I very nearly followed him in, but managed somehow to right myself and pull him back with just a slightly wet trouser-leg. But the older children went very confidently back and forth on these stepping stones through the centre of the lake.

When Pony-rider went in, the whole mood changed immediately. The scene went from calm country nature-lovers enjoying our afternoon to full-blown panic mode. Of course at this point it started to rain. It all happened so fast it frightened me. Pony-rider was shocked but she managed to get out quickly (thank goodness she can swim!). Motor-biker was terrified, and couldn't stop crying.

We managed to get Pony-rider home wrapped up in my jacket, and we pampered her with a warm drink of cocoa, a warm bath and new clothes, (Dragon-tamer was a real star) followed by the experimental cooking session which did cheer her up in the end. But the pungent aroma of pondweed may take a little longer to subside.