Update

Sorry its been a while since my last post.  We have been doing things, but i have been busy and basically forgot to up date this blog.


SO what have we done.  well, the lap books kinda got forgotten about, but soon they will be restarted.

We have been doing art stuff and watching documentaries and one day last week I woke to find Curious Teacup snuggled beside me in bed, and as soon as i even cracked an eye, he was telling me things i had no idea about!
"Mummy, did you know the Snapping Turtle is the most meanest creature in the sea?"
"no, why is that?"
"Cos when it wants is breakfast or dinner it sits on the floor and looks like a stone and its tongue looks like a worm and the fish thinks its going to get its breakfast, but then the turtle SNAPS its mouth shut and the fish becomes breakfast"

He got that little bit of information from a show called Deadly 60 on CBBC.
 
The children also spent a week with Daddy L.   They had fun and Daddy L had found some books on Romans and Greeks etc and they watched Documentaries on Greek Myths and Legends.  He took them for a picnic too.

When they came home we started some Butterfly models out of cardboard.  They are not yet finished, but I want to make a bigger one and then some caterpillar models too.

Momma L is starting a fairly big Mixed Media project too, in the hopes that if the teacup humans see the big humans doing stuff and following through, finishing it off, they will follow suit and also get some inspiration from what Momma L makes. 

I am also considering redoing the "Art Gallery" in the

dinning room idea, but with a difference.

Curious Teacup asked about cave paintings and Graffiti and asked me to buy him some spray paint so he can learn now to do graffiti.  I said no, but maybe we can use the iPads and look at it digitally and maybe get an airbrush system and use that instead.  He has had a go at designing his own tag and made some cave art on the iPad.

SO i thought maybe we could repaint the dinning room, have the kids make cave art, graffiti tags, and then pick an artist, like Picasso, Dali or Munch and ask the teacup humans to copy the piece of art, but give it a twist of their own.

Pink Teacup noticed how windy it was yesterday, came in the house grabbed a carrier bag, a ball of string and a giant pencil and made herself a kite.

It flew so well, it popped off the pencil and almost over the fence!.  I taped the string down for her.  While tying the string to the bad, Pink Teacup asked me "Mummy, can we maybe get some stuff and make Butterfly Kites?"  Just as i was saying to Marmite Mug "I wonder where i could get some silk and make butterfly kites"

The Teacup Humans are off to see Daddy L tonight till Thursday afternoon.  We have an art group workshop that day..and Momma L turns 32 year old.  Its going to be a good day.  Im hoping to either be gifted or buy some more art supplies.


I am really getting into art, sketching, drawing etc.  There is more i want to learn about, Watercolours, Silk painting, Modeling with mesh and other materials.   I have project ideas i want to explore too.



Here are a few of my smaller things i have made, just testing out new pencils.

 Not brilliant, but i had fun doing them.

That's it for the update.  See you all soon

 Momma L

Lets Kick Cancers Butt

While not strictly Home Ed I though it a worth topic to talk about.

Cancer.  It suck. 

Something like 1/3 people will be affected by cancer in their life either by getting cancer or having a loved one get cancer.

I lost my Grandad in 2010 to lung cancer,   He was given a few months and got over 2 years. 

That year was the year I did the first race. I walked it in 58 minutes while toting a 9 month old baby on my back.   He died 2 weeks later.

The year after I also did the race for life, i jogged it in 45 minutes. 

2012 I missed the race, child care issues that cropped up at the last moment

This year myself, and my 3 girlie Teacup Humans (one of them being said baby, though she is now 3) are going to walk the Race for Life together.  I am kind of planning to make them a little Superhero costume each. 

Here is out just giving page if anyone would like to sponsor us.  I am in no way expecting donations and don't want people to feel that they have to donate, but if you can that would be ace. 

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/KizandGirls


In other, more home ed related news Noisy Teacup has really gotten into "writing"  and by that I mean making marks on paper with a pen and copying letters and generally doodling with a pen. 

I bought a cheap calligraphy set and they have all had fun "writing" with it.   

Noticing Curious Teacup has difficulty holding pens I bought him a Stabler pen that is ergonomically designed for kids who have handwriting issues.  I bought Big Teacup a fountain pen, that promptly leaked everywhere and now we need some more cartridges.

Big Teacup asked for a Criss-Cross word puzzle book and he seems to really enjoy word puzzles.

A new rule has been instituted Here Chez Chaos too.  No TV in the dinning room till 3pm.  They can watch what ever is on in the living room (generally set to Documentary channels or educational TV) or draw, paint, write, read, play, do a workbook, work on their project or just sit and be bored, because boredom is key to unlocking their inner creativity. 

Today is Day 3 of the rule and apart from 3 of them asking repeatedly for TV in the dinning room, its not been too bad.

Time will tell how it works out.

Momma L

Lifecycles and Lapbooks

As part of our first project on Life-cycles we have started looking at insects.  More specifically Butterflies.

We decided to give lapbooking a try.  I went to The Works outlet and bought some blank cards.  Staple two cards together in the middle makes an 8 page booklet.

Yesterday the Teacup Humans watched a few episodes of the BBC documentary series Life.  They saw insects laying eggs, Larvae hatching and drying off before flying off to mate.  We saw a  Stalked Eyed  Fly inflating its eyes.  The male with the widest eye span wins the right mate with the females. 

We saw Damselfly's laying their eggs underwater.  We saw Australian wasps fighting over mating rights.  The Teacup Humans were fascinated when one of the females was accidentally decapitated in the battle. 

Today we watched Anatomy for Beginners.  A fascinating show on Netflix, but it was aired on Channel 4 a few years ago.  People had donated their body to science and they were dissected right there on stage in front of an audience and the cameras.  We watched the first 3 episodes on Movement, Circulation and Digestion.  We got part way through Reproduction then Netflix stopped working. 

The Teacup Humans then designed and drew the cover for their lap booklet. 


Here they are.  I did mine last night as an example of what they could do. 

They are from left to right, Big Teacup,  Pink Teacup, Momma L
Curious Teacup, Noisy Teacup and then Mini Teacup.

They kind of got the idea, Noisy Teacup said she couldn't fit hers on the page so she drew the caterpillar on the back. 

Tomorrow we will work on adding content.

Momma L and the Teacup Humans. 

Educating Teacups

Hello and Welcome to our Home Education blog.

Here I will be posting what we get up to on our Home Ed journey.

This is our family. 

I am Momma L,  Momma to 5 Teacup Humans.
I like Music, The Sims 3, SimCity, finding out new things, having fun and reading.

There there is Marmite Mug.  Momma L's partner in crime and lover of all things Marmite.  He is into Lego, Music, Batman, Tech, Graphic Novels, bad humor and Horror. 

Daddy L does not live with us anymore, but he may feature here from time to time.  The Teacups Humans get to see him very regularly.  He is into watching football, gaming, reading and music.

Big Teacup is 10.  He is into puzzles, doing experiments, reading books, Dr Who and asking a lot of questions. HE really likes inventing his own world and what lives there and how things work there.  He wants to be a Scientist that studies planets.

Pink Teacup is 8.  She is into running very fast, Hello Kitty, Bondi Vet and anything to do with ponies.  She wants to be a Vet.

Curious Teacup is 7.  He is into asking the oddest of questions, seeing how things work, TV, doing art, making a noise and getting messy.   

Noisy Teacup is 5.   She is into art, writting her name on everything, Hello Kitty, looking at books, running, and joining Curious Teacup in getting messy.   I once asked her "what do you want to be when you grow up?"  her answer?  "The Boss"  attagirl!

Mini Teacup is 3.  Shes into everything, literally.  I asked her "what do you want to be when you grow up?"  her answer?  "Bigger"


The Teacup Humans and I have been home educating for about 3 years (since Easter 2010)  We spent the first few months De-schooling then tried some "Lesson time"  which failed miserably,  it didn't fit our family.  So we decided to just chill and follow a more Unschooling philosophy.

Recentaly we have decided to try again at Project Based learning.  We are going to do projects on certain topics and see what we can learn.

I have plans for 4 projects this year.

Our first topic this year is Life Cycles.

 Our other projects are

• "The British Monarchy" 
• "Weather Patterns and Us" 
•  "Vikings, Romans and Egyptians"

Each project will in some way involve some or all of the following

• English
• Art
• Typography
• Cookery
• Sewing
•  Maths
• Museum visits
• Reading books
• Watching documentaries
• Library Visits
• Science
• Experiments
• Using the Internet
• and having FUN. 
• we could also possibly have workshops at the local museum with other home ed families. 

At the end of each project we will make a presentation to keep.  During the projects we will take a lot of photos to show on here and on the Facebook Home Ed groups we are on. 

That's of now. 

Off to have a fresh cuppa tea, and then gather the Teacup Humans and begin Brainstorming out Life Cycle project. 

TTFN

Momma L