GEOGRAPHY AWARENESS WEEK

This week our main focus in homeschool inquiry will be geography and science as we like to take chunks of learning over a week to really get our teeth into the subject and the content. It really helps with interest and learning tends to be very much more connected to experience.

CHECK OUT THIS cool link: FINDING YOUR OWN LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE

 Test your GLOBAL IQ!

 How much do you know about the world?

Can you name the world's most spoken primary language? The largest consumer of oil? The most heavily fortified border on the planet? The current population of the U.S.?

We tested the geography knowledge of 18- to 24-year-olds across the U.S. to see how much they know about our world. How did they do? More know where the TV show CSI is set than can find Iraq on a map. The survey shows that too many young Americans have a limited understanding of the world.

Why Is It Important?

Geographic literacy is more than knowing state capitals. It's understanding how people and places interact, where things come from, and where we're going. Without geography, our young people are unprepared for an increasingly global future.

There is a daily geography quiz to take at two levels..... for the beginner and advanced. 10 questions against the clock.... multiple choice answers. A fun activity that also exposes kids to great language and exploration points of areas they need to explore more.

GEOBEE 

GEOGRAPHY GUIDE    

Lots of games to make learning fun. Looking forward to exploring with the boys this week. 

HANGMAN  

AUGUST MOON SPA ITHACA

 I had a really nice Swedish Massage yesterday...... made me miss my daughter Caroline's skull massages...... and remember how cool they are. It was a relaxing interlude with a very classy and comfortable atmosphere....... i really liked the physical surroundings and the staff were friendly and professional. Altogether a great experience..... still have some value on my gift voucher left how cool is that! Thanks Patrick!

Blogging and Homeschooling in Action.

Today i am showing Drew and Jye how to make their own blog for an on line journal. The most important part in setting up a blog is to understand how versatile and how simple they are to create and maintain.

Part of the reason i want to do this is to have a place for their writing and learning experiences. They are also fantastic photographers and i would like their photos to be seen. 

I will add their links when we set them up.

I think this is the beginning of a good learning experience.

 

http://www.drewaidan.blogspot.com                  


http://www.jyebraydan.blogspot.com

HOMESCHOOLING IN SEMPRONIUS...

Since returning from Australia and being reconnected to my root's i had a very strong sense of wanting to control the education of the boys since i was extremely unhappy with their public school education since moving to Moravia.

It was mostly a clash of philosophy and also content. There was very little in the way of critical thinking or science or arts being taught.... thinking how to think (metacognition) and also there was a formidable and unwanted sense of cog in a machine.

 As an educator I could no longer tolerate it. Initially the disequilibrium i felt I attributed to my need to 'connect' to a new way of doing things. It is only with hindsight it becomes apparent that while that may have initially actually been true it disguised the reality that it was a bad fit and particularly against my perception of what i find important elements OF an education.

A case of should have listened to my instincts as they were correct........ at least for Drew and Jye. So after some extensive research and investigation I decided that it was time to intervene. It had gone on some 3 years and enough was enough...... nothing had changed for the better. I had an issue with the system not the people delivering the system. Time to move on.

So we began...... once the decision was made it really was simple to implement. I contacted the school with my intent to home school. I created a program of learning (merely a scaffold for the beginning) and began on day one of the school year, Most importantly - my kids are excited.