A peaceful day

Those who receive this award are of the sweetest nature. They are kind, friendly, funny, loving, eager to share their love for Jesus with others, and brave in their efforts to reflect Him to this darkened world. They are the kind of folks you're blessed to know, even if it's only in the bloggy-sphere.

A gorgeous May Gibbs cover for the Department of Health's Handbook for Mothers, current from 1931-1959.

Love it.

School holidays have started in our neck of the woods.

From today, and for the next two weeks, we'll have school kids calling and knocking on our front door wanting Jemimah to come and play with them. There are holiday clubs to choose from, new exhibitions opening, and lots of things to occupy small children for much of everyday until school resumes. Television schedules have even changed so that kids can watch kid's TV all day if they want to. Wow.

The problem is, we don't follow the public school schedule. It's still school as usual chez nous.

Well, it should be anyhow. That's what my yearly schedule has set down for the week commencing 28/06/09...

The reality is somewhat different.

Jemimah's very bestest friend in the whole world, her cousin, P, is staying with us this week. These two girls are two peas in a pod. P is public schooled, and is very much looking forward to discovering what Jemimah's homeschooling day looks like. The plan is to school them both together. I'm hoping that her appreciation of Jemimah's day will give Jemimah something to think about. I'm hoping that P will be impressed and that this will rub off on Jemimah. Here's hoping...

From tomorrow, P's daddy and little brother, M, are arriving. My brother-in-law is our IT guru, and he's planning on ironing out the inevitable glitches that have occurred since he gave our computer an overhaul and installed I.E.8 while we were on hols. I guess that means that I'll get M to entertain as well.

On Thursday we have to travel the 3 hours to Melbourne for a funeral. On Friday we'll be coming back home.

So how much work are we going to actually get done? Only time will tell, I suppose. It doesn't matter, really. After all, it is this freedom and flexibility is what makes homeschooling work for our family.

Our general overview is three 12 week Ambleside Online terms followed by one week of exams and then a break. We plan breaks to fit holiday observances, special family events, Daddy's work schedule, and extended family holidays. When Daddy gets a rare day off, so do we. It works this way.

If we then had to schedule in school holiday breaks, then we wouldn't get much time for actually learning.

Like everything else, there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods:

Advantages:

1. We aim to finish school be the beginning of November and break until after Daddy's Christmas-New Year holiday. This way we can spend time enjoying the lead up to Christmas (yes, this RP gal celebrates Christmas - sorry Ruby and Lucila) and frolic in the early summer weather before it gets too hot. We would much prefer to be inside in airconditioned comfort during January and February.
2. We actually finish our term's work before we break rather than fitting our work into somebody else's schedule.
3. We take a short break if and when we need it. Sometimes to prevent total meltdown, we schedule a long family holiday at short notice.
4. We don't need to take school holidays into account when we plan our vacations. We visit family in the UK for a couple of months every three years. What would public school think of that, eh?
5. We have every second Friday afternoon free to travel to Melbourne. (Actually, we have most afternoons free, but we use the Friday ones.) We couldn't take Jemimah out of school every Friday, could we?
6. We can factor things like funerals into our schedule with the minimum of fuss. We wouldn't want to do it too often, but then again, I'm hoping we won't have that many funerals to go to.

Disadvantages:

1. Disruptions like this week. I'm planning on turning P's visit into an advantage though...
2. We have to plan carefully in order to fit school holiday activities into our school day. We do VicSwim every morning for three weeks in summer, for example. We actually enjoy this though, since it makes those days a bit exciting, despite having to do school into the afternoons.
3. Our system wouldn't work if we had other children in the family who were enrolled in public or if we attended a homeschool group of some kind. We don't...

If you read this month's Australian House & Garden magazine, you'll be able to meet Christine and David and their children, 15 year old Sophie and 11 year old Ben. The family live in a beautiful home in Sydney with every available mod-con. Like 44 audiospeakers and... wait for it...

...11 televisions.

11.

So, what's life like with 44 audiospeakers and 11 TVs? Here are some quotes from the article to give you some idea:

"We wanted music in every room, but different music at the one time, so the kids could have theirs and we could have ours," says Christine. While the couple has eclectic tastes, which run from Beethoven to the Rolling Stones, Sophie prefers artists like Beyoncé and Pink, and Ben loves rock group Linkin Park. The family's differing TV-viewing habits also reinforced the need for a multizone approach.

"I wanted to be able to sit in the swimming pool and watch the cricket," says Christine.

As well as a TV, each (living) hub has its own DVD player and amplifier, while three have a Foxtel set-top box. The remaining three bedrooms each have their own DVD player and a TV.

...but a whole heap funny...

If any of you have bothered to watch my Thimphu slide show carefully, you'll notice a photo of colourfully decorated house. Most of the buildings in Bhutan are decorated in this way, with symbols of special significance. Swastikas, floral patterns, whirling clouds, and mythical animals are most common.

The design I want to draw your attention to is the one on the centre of the wall...see it? Variations of these are everywhere too...

It's a picture of a...well, never mind...this is a clean family blog. Let's just say that in our culture we'd probably refer to it as a fertility symbol - a male fertility symbol. (Is this tactful enough? I hope so.)

Jemimah found these pictures very, very funny - as only a seven year old girl could, I guess.

I am telling you all this because I want to tell you something amusing. When kids are young, they say funny things all the time. With Jemimah - she of the long words and large vocabulary - these times are becoming rarer and rarer - which is why this exchange was so priceless...

Her (excitedly): Oh mummy, M (her 5yo cousin) would absolutely love Bhutan. It would be his very favourite country.

Me (curiously): Why would M like Bhutan, do you think?

Her: Well mummy, M just loves doodles.

Me (tactfully): And why do you think that, darling?

Her: (conspiratorially): Well mummy, he's got one you know!!

Hmmm I think we'll leave it at that.

MEP maths is even more fun when the counters are Smarties!!

Oh, I totally want a set of these gorgeous penguin mugs.

I'd get these ones:

Country Life - blue
A Room of One's Own - purple
Pride and Prejudice - orange
Jane Eyre - orange
Nineteen Eighty Four - orange
The Body in the Library - green

Note the combination of great reads and good colour design in my choices...

Which would you choose to make your set of six - or would you get eight? Do let us know!

So you're intrigued by the idea of MEP maths. You've read my blog posts and you've decided to take the plunge. After all, it's free - what've you got to lose? So far so good, but what do you do next?

In a departure from my usual blogging style, I'm going to walk you through the process. It seems so simple, but you can't believe how confused some people seem to get when things are simple...

So choose your starting point:

What is MEP anyway?

MEP stands for the Mathematics Enhancement Programme. It is a maths curriculum developed by the CIMT - Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching - at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. It is currently undergoing trial in British schools.

MEP is free for non-profit use and while not specifically designed for home schoolers, the programme works well with a little modification for a 1-on-1 teaching style.

You'll find the programme at their website:

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm.

What makes MEP different?

This is from the MEP website - adapted slightly for homeschoolers by moi. You can read the original on the Primary information sheet linked below.

• It has very high expectations of teachers and pupils.Maths is taught in an integrated subject in a spiral, ever widening curriculum through the Primary years, with continual revision of facts and concepts.
• Lessons are highly interactive and have many activities.
• The logical foundation of mathematics is stressed, with correct, concise mathematical notation and language used at all times.
• Visualising mentally and through the use of models and manipulatives, and relating concepts to real life situations where relevant, are important aspects.
• Creative thinking and critical evaluation and discussion are encouraged.

Most importantly, MEP aims to make all pupils mathematical thinkers and to make mathematics lessons challenging and fun for both teacher and pupils.

• Join the MEP-homeschooler's yahoo group moderated by the amazing Carol Hepburn and ask lots of questions.
• Read the Primary information sheet.
• Watch the video of how it's done in Hungary where the programme was first developed.

• Print off the Scheme of Work. This shows you exactly what MEP will be covering and when.
• It is better to begin at the start of a year. Which one suits, do you reckon? If you find your kids know many of the earlier concepts, you can always do two or three lessons per day until the work begins to challenge them once again. Then slow to one a day.
• Many people find that MEP is ahead of other programmes, especially those written expressely for homeschool like MUS, for example. I don't know - MEP is the only maths we've ever done.
• Once you've decided on a level, print off the relevant IPMA test. You'll need an access code to access the test.. Kids generally do this at the end of each year. You should expect your kids to get close to 100% on this test before you select a level. Clear as mud? What I mean is this: Say you've chosen to commence little Johnny at Year 3. Open IPMA the test for Year 2. These are not placement tests. They do not cover all the work that has already been taught for a particular year. If your child doesn't get close to 100% he or she will find the next year's work too difficult.
• Remember that is is okay to tweak your child's level. If it all gets too difficult, then just adopt the 'pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey method and give a year a go. You can always go back or forwards!

You've decided to give MEP a burl.

Congratulations. I don't think you'll be sorry. After all - it's free, right!

If you're doing Primary maths, on this page you'll find the entire MEP programme to print out...well almost all. There is a text book that is available for purchase. You don't need it - really - but if you want to buy one, here's the order form.

Regardless of grade, you'll need to print the following:

• Practice book - these are the pages that the children complete - the worksheets as it were. Warning - you can't do MEP with these pages alone. You'll also need...
• Lesson plans - these are your sheets. They tell you how to teach the programme; give the answers; and introduce new concepts. They also contain mental maths drills. You need to do MEP with your children.
• Copymasters - Some of the copymasters are contained in the practice book; others are not. I print them all, and don't use everything. Other mums only print out the pages they need. It is up to you. I need to be organised before I begin, and this way I only need to print at the beginning of a new practice book.

Label your dividers with something like these headings and place the relevant pages behind each:

1. Practice Book
2. Lesson plans
3. Copy masters
4. Mum's pages

I have a fifth divider that I call French maths. We do our maths bilingually using pages that complement MEP. If you are teaching Spanish, MEP is available in that language here.

Under Mum's pages I keep:

• The scheme of work
• Notes on the lesson plans Years 1 and 2
• The posters I only used these for Year 1. In Year 2 we found things around our schoolroom instead. Note also that the posters aren't in the correct order. You need to use your nouse a little to work out which poster the lesson plans actually refer to. at some stage I'll correctly number them and pop it in another post.)
• The OHP transparency collection. You'll need 1-5 for year 1 and the rest for year 2. You'll find reference to them in the lesson plans when you need them. I print them all off at once. Print in colour.

• Number cards Years 1 and 2. You'll need two sets.
• Number lines Years 1-3. Print on card stock, colour each line a different colour and laminate. You'll only need one, and it's very useful.
• Sign cards Year 1. You may use these in Year 2, but less often.
• Shape cards Year 1 and 2 (and maybe later years?)
• Shape cards with dots Year 2 (and maybe later years?)
• Purchase some cheap plastic dominoes - two sets preferably. Year 1 and 2
• Some cuisinaire type rods would be nice. Jemimah got some for her first birthday from an uncle with high expectations. You don't need them, but they beat cutting up strips of paper IMHO. Year 1 and 2
• A purse with coins of your own currency. Year 2
• A packet of toothpicks. Year 1 and 2
• Finally, you'll need the counters we discussed earlier. MEP says this:

Encourage pupils to collect their own materials for use in maths lessons. (eg pebbles, shells, buttons, sweets, trinkets) to make maths for relevant to them individually.

Getting started

Now it's time to start.

• Allocate a time early in the day when your mind is fresh (and so are your kids!!).
• The first few lessons may take a while. don't panic. Soon you should get finished in 20-25 minutes. Less sometimes, slightly more when a new concept is introduced.
• Don't allow procrastination. If you do find it occuring, investigate why. For us it happens when Jemimah thinks she can't do something (even if she can).
• If a lesson does take too long split it up. don't allow maths to become a hard slog that everyone dreads.
• Use coloured textas to answer questions and to liven up the page. colour things in if you like.
• Have fun!

Oh my goodness! A fur-covered Wild Things. What will they think of next?

PS It's the book of the film by Dave Eggers, not the original by Maurice Sendak.

This summary of the book worries me...

...about the confusions of a boy, Max, making his way in a world he can’t control. His father is gone, his mother is spending time with a younger boyfriend, his sister is becoming a teenager and no longer has interest in him. At the same time, he finds himself capable of startling acts of wildness — he wears a wolf suit, bites his mom, can’t always control his outbursts. During a fight at home, Max flees and runs away into the woods...

Thank you everyone who prayed for us during our recent holiday.

Cyclone Aila claimed many lives in Bhutan during those few days, including a number of children. One family from the village of Bumthang where we were staying lost six members when a land slide destroyed their car. Only two survived.

I thought you might like to see some photos and videos...

Tang River Bumthang

The river rises at the back of Bumthang's main shopping street.

A new road is created around a huge landslide.

The main road beween the Capital, Thimphu, and Paro where the Country's only airport is situated. (Look at the road, not the water... )


A land slide - and an opportunity for you to listen to our accents...


More of the Tang River


At least someone was having FUN...

See my StatCounter in the right sidebar? I Like it. It lets met know where you're coming from, and I find that pretty cool. It lets me know who I should be extra nice to, you know. It also makes me curious - who is my mystery reader from Fukushima, for example - drop me a line some time - I'd love to have a chat!

Anyway, if you press the Keyword Analysis tab, my StatCounter tells me aside from the obvious Charlotte Mason+Australia type searches, the most common way of people finding A Peaceful Day from a Google search is by typing in Youtube+learn French.

So for those people who have no interest in any of the other scintillating stuff that makes up the minutiae of our day chez nous, here are a couple more of our French Youtube faves...



This is our current french folksong.



We're learning to tell the time, so this one's perfect - funky too. You should see us grooving around the study to this little number!

Since now I am so loquacious,
Once I must have been a woman;
But I cannot tell you if this is really true.
Consider the matter yourselves.
What is your opinion?

Drukpa Kunley

Sometimes it is good for me to remember that homeschooling's not a race. If I don't get through to the end of the work I've planned for the year, no homeschooling policeman is going to be standing at my front door, big stick in hand to take me away. Often I allow my stress to become Jemimah's stress too, and that makes life unpleasant for everybody.

That's why holidays are good. Everything is so much more relaxed on your return, and you're able to focus more clearly on the things that matter in life. Like having fun.

Maths had stopped being fun in our home before we went away. We were galloping through it, aiming to get through to the end of Year 2 in our MEP programme before we left, and it had become a drag. Both Jemimah and I dreaded our maths time each day, despite the fact that it is probably her best subject and she was doing way better than I could have dreamed she would.

Instead of jumping straight back in with Year 3 last week, I pulled out something that I had been meaning to try for a while but 'couldn't find the time' for: Math Mammoth: Clock.

Mine was a freebie from Currclick. You have all subscribed to their weekly newsletters, haven't you? If not, stop reading this and do it now...this instant. If you'd done it back in March this year, you'd have Math Mammoth: Clock as well. As it is, you'll have to shell out a whole AUD$4.30 (that's A$3.50) for a non free copy. Hah!

Click here to see their current newsletter and to sign up for your own copy.

If you do decide to purchase Math Mammoth: Clock - for a whole three-fifty, you'll find it a good purchase...well we've enjoyed it anyhow.

Math Mammoth Clock is a worksheet based book that covers telling time and reading the clock, telling time intervals, and understanding the calendar. It covers first grade to third grade levels, and we covered only the first grade level this past week. It was fun, it was interesting and Jemimah can now tell the time...pretty much.

So far we've covered "x o'clock" and "half past x"; the idea that there are two 12 hour periods each day divided into am and pm, the idea of dividing the time into five minute intervals - 4:55 or 3.23, for example. It's fun. That's what we wanted to be; that's what we got.

After a week off, we started back into MEP year 3 this week. We're enjoying it again. It is a fantastic programme. I'm more relaxed, and we're covering past stuff as a review, so Jemimah is enjoying a lazy few days. It'll soon get hard again, but by that time we'll have forgotten that maths had become a drudgery and we'll get on with mastering our new concepts with enthusiasm.

When it becomes a bore again, then we'll know that it's 'time for more time' as it were. I'm glad there's still 2/3 of Math Mammoth: Clock still to go!

I was tagged to do this list on Facebook by my friend Hopewell Mom over at Hopewell Takes on Life.

I'm posting it here in the hope that some of you might like to join us. It's designed to be quick, so don't take too long to think about it.

Dr. Richard Ganz is the Senior Pastor of the Ottawa Reformed Presbyterian Church, one of our sister churches in Canada. He was born in New York City, and raised in a Jewish home.

To read his amazing testimony, click here and be inspired.

I just spent several hours blogging about our trip to the Dali exhibition at the NGV and it has disappeared. Kaputsky. It is enough to stop me blogging for ever.

Do take your kids to see the exhibition though. It's good. Dali's weird; the exhibition is too, but good weird, not warped weird - you know what I mean?

I'm going to watch some mindless television and sulk now. Don't try to talk to me - I won't answer.

I may cry though.

Le français est très drôle à ce moment. Pourquoi? Parce que...



I only wish she didn't call him un idiot. Mind you, M. Pourquoi soon accuses her of worse...

This is just priceless...


You know, I always thought I was pretty good at telling Children's Stories. Wrong. This is how it's done...

I totally underestimated We're Going on a Bear Hunt when Jemimah was a preschooler. I thought it was twaddle. I was wrong...again. Years later, she can still recite it word perfectly - not as well as Michael Rosen, but pretty well. It has certainly made a lasting impression on her.

Here is my confession in writing:

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is truly a Living Book. I'm sorry I never bought it for you, Jemimah...

Don't leave this off your list, will you?

“Addictions to ema are formed early in life and the victims, I for one, never recovered,” said Abi Sonam Kitsho, 85, from Zhemgang. “On cold winter days, I get such a passionate yearning for a bowl of ema datsi that I nearly lose my mind.” Kuenselonline

A Bhutanese cook will look bewildered and say, "I don't know how to cook without chilli," and, more seriously, most Bhutanese will declare: "I cannot eat food without chilli."

PS The quote above about Bhutanese cooks is from a book of Bhutanese Food and Society by Kunzang Choden. It's called...yep, you guessed it...Chilli and Cheese.

Here's term 2...

Our Northern Hemisphere friends are beginning to chuckle with misplaced glee as the warm weather arrives and along with it the promise of long summer holidays and days lazing in the sun.

Fortunately, she says enviously - and tongue in cheek - the pleasure of some of you will be tempered somewhat by the prospect of examinations looming, and with that comforting thought I offer you some long awaited exam questions for AO1.

Seriously, the prospect of writing Charlotte Masonesque Examinations for our kiddywinks brings some of us out in a cold sweat. These are the questions I used for Jemimah in AO1 Term 1. AO1 Term 2 will follow. I hope they're useful for some.

Enjoy the warm weather for me, will you!

AO1 Term 2
AO1 Term 3
AO2 Term 1

Doesn't this look like a beautiful book? There are more photos of it on James' blog, Process Recess.

Gorgeous.

Greensleeves

Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
to cast me off discourteously,
And I have loved you oh so long,
delighting in your company.

Chorus:

Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight;
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
and who but my lady Greensleeves.

If you intend to be this way,
it does the more enrapture me,
And even so, I still remain
a lover in captivity.

Chorus

Greensleeves, now farewell, adieu,
God I pray he will prosper thee;
For I am still thy lover true,
come once again and love me.

Chorus

One of my very bestest bloggy pals, Richele from Barefoot Voyage, is hosting this month's Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival.

Hop on over and take a peek. While you're there, have a look at the rest of her blog. It's one of my daily must reads. She is really an inspirational homeschool mum.

Thanks Richele...you're great!

A much younger Jemimah with some truly multicultural friends in Yemen, 2007

The best part of school is that it has forced me to expand my horizons, to depart from my comfort zone and gain a better understanding of the world we live in.

Even though I have studied the theory of multiculturalism, I never had a proper comprehension of what the word meant until I stepped through the doors of my high school. Our cafeteria is festooned with flags representing the ethnic origins of the school's population. It is comforting to be in a place where such an amazing variety and wealth of history, ethnicity, religion, and ideas can coexist not only peacefully, but also constructively. The best part of school is that it has forced me to expand my horizons, to depart from my comfort zone and gain a better understanding of the world we live in.

Get outside and see what your city has to offer. Read about the world, sure, but don't forget to experience it too - warts and all. That, for me is what a liberal homeschooling education is all about...and we love it!

Don't think for a moment that the Japanese have a monopoly on kawaisa 可愛さ.

Take, for example, this extremely kawaii icecream package from Hong Kong Disneyland...

So it seems that The Book of Psalms for Worship is ready. The boys seem excited about it - and rightly so. The new psalter sounds really exciting. I am delighted to learn that archaic language has finally been removed, and that it will be easier for my tired old eyes to read. I like its fancy blue and silver size. I like the fact that there are more tunes. There is only one problem then - me.

The boys tell me that I can get an extra-special deal if I order my new psalter today, but the savings are going to go nowhere near covering the years of counselling I'm going to need with the introduction of this new version. Goodness - I'm still recovering from the phasing out of the split paged Scottish metrical psalm book, and that was some time around 1973!!

Back then, my beloved Scottish psalter was replaced by the 1950 blue psalter. They came second hand from our sister churches in the US. Somewhat more willing to embrace change than we Aussies, our American brothers and sisters had given up their books to the Colonies and were using the newly introduced The Book of Psalms for Singing.

The words were different in the new Blue Book. Some of my favourite psalm tunes weren't even there. Take for example 'The Covenanter's Benediction', Psalm 72:17-19 sung to Effingham. It was gone. Kaputsy. Worse, the words of all the psalms that I'd learned at my grandmother's knee (she offered a dollar for each correct one - quite an incentive, it appears) were now wrong - only slightly so, mind you, so while the words said one thing, most of the congregation still sang the other...much to my relief.

Sometime in the early 80's we finally caught up with the Yanks (Did you know we call all Americans that, regardless of where you live in the country? Most inappropriate, sorry.) Anyhow, we caught up with America and moved to The Book of Psalms for Singing. ..the one that had been introduced back in 1973. It was maroon.

I didn't like it either. By this time I'd spent most of my teen years - the formative years - singing from the Blue Book. Perversely, I still sang the Scottish metrical words to the psalms I'd learned by heart as a kid, so that was no longer traumatising me, and I'd actually come to like some of the new selections.

The Lord will light my candle so,
that it shall shine full bright;
The Lord my God will also make
my darkness to be light.’

Psalm 18:28

It was gone in the new maroon book. (Why do they keep doing that to me?) More archaic language had been removed, and I could no longer sing the metrical words to the same tunes, they just didn't fit. Besides, the congregation had grown up with the Blue words and didn't know my old fashioned version any more. Well, the oldies did...but strangely there were less and less of them...

There were new tunes in the new book too. Sometimes they even had us sing Psalm 23 to Resignation instead of Crimmond! Nigh on sacrilege!

Eventually, of course, it was the new tunes that won me over. Who could be angry for long at a book that brought such delights as this one:



(One day I'm going to go to an RP International Conference...)

Besides, the words more clearly reflected the words of Scripture. I approved of that too. More of the thees and thous were gone, and both God and man were referred to as 'you'. Good, I reckoned.

I guess my final vote of confidence in this newfangled 1973 maroon book was when I decided to allow Jemimah to memorise this version of the psalms. In time, I've relearned most of my favourites too, although I must admit adding the odd 'eth' to the end of some words.

So now a new psalter is here. It's blue, not maroon. I like maroon. I'm familiar with maroon. I don't want to relearn new words. And I won't, so there. I'll be a child if I want to. Who says mums have to be mature and a good influence on their children? Not me!

You know, when I think about it, perhaps there's no need for a hissy fit just yet - which is good, because I'm actually in quite a good mood today, if you hadn't noticed - I've been on holidays, you know...

As I was saying, maybe I shouldn't worry. After all, we got the 1950 Blue book in 1975; the 1973 book in the mid 80's. At this rate we won't get the new 2009 book until...ooh...at least 2020 - if then. By then I'll be old and I'll be allowed to be crotchety and alarmed by change. I may even be wearing purple.

In fact, I think I will take advantage of this great offer. I wonder if the free postage applies to overseas orders? If not, at least I've saved money on the counselling - and maybe 'The Covenanter's Benedication' will be back. You never know.

Hmmm, the way I'm feeling, I could get as excited as the boys. Just give me a few years first.