Category Archives: Ideas of what to do

HOMESCHOOLING WITH LIVING BOOKS

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From Heart and Soul Homeschooling

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It’s no secret that we love books in our family. Homeschooling has introduced a great variety of reading material into our studies. The concept of living books has enabled us to learn in a way that is engaging, unlike the way I learned dry boring facts in public school.

Living books are commonly associated with the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. They can be a great alternative for those homeschoolers who want to learn about history topics, but do not thrive academically when presented with traditional textbooks.

WHAT ARE LIVING BOOKS?

Charlotte Mason was a firm believer in introducing children to great literature. She didn’t believe in books that were dumbed down or that kept expectations of a child’s reading potential low. She felt that the value of good literature was that it could inspire as well as inform. However, she didn’t think that textbooks (in the traditional sense) encapsulate all that literature could bring to the table. Like many others, she found textbooks to be dry and not very engaging. The biggest drawback, though, was that they didn’t really provoke thought. Instead, they told you what to think and believe. They don’t encourage imagination, creativity, or exploration – they simply present information.

Living books are a way to not only educate, but to inspire new ideas and individual thoughts.They are typically written by someone who has firsthand experience with the subject or who is truly passionate about it. For example, if you wanted to study the Holocaust, you could read a textbook about World War II or you could read books such as The Diary of Anne Frank or Night by Elie Wiesel, which give firsthand accounts of life in the midst of the Holocaust.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF LIVING BOOKS?

As you could imagine, reading a textbook would give you facts, but reading the autobiographies would provide you with depth, spark emotions and thoughts, and generally be more engaging.

They provide more opportunities for curiosity. They bring not only the subject to life – but the people, issues, things, and times that the subject covers. Living books put you in the shoes of people. They encourage you to see, think, and feel as though you were in that world. In short, you LIVE the books that you read.

how to homeschool with living books

HOW DO YOU USE LIVING BOOKS?…

Find out how to use Living books and much more by visiting: https://heartandsoulhomeschooling.com/homeschooling-with-living-books/?fbclid=IwAR2NACHtGab10UtddGM98ARijii_tfjIRyBGMkbDRYy79097ZvbM46ib8ts

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Huge List of Free Homeschool Printable Sites

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As part of The Chaos and The Clutter 5 part series on Frugal Homeschooling, they are sharing a reference list for finding the best online printables for free or almost free. Using printables, you can create an entire curriculum that will fit with many types of homeschooling.Huge List of Free Homeschool Printable SitesClick on the link above or here to get to the Huge List of Free Homeschool Printable Sites

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

 

Taratahi Agriculture Training School

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A note from Gwenda Smithies

I thought you might be interested in putting the following info out to NZ homeschoolers…

Last year we discovered Taratahi Agriculture Training School.  They offer distance learning courses in agriculture and their courses give you NCEA credits.  You can choose whether you want to do level 1, 2 or 3 courses.  Our son did sufficient level 3 credits (14 credits) to gain an entire subject for the purposes of University Entrance.  You don’t have to have done levels 1 and 2 before level 3.  Our son went straight to level 3 and the material was straightforward.

Taratahi post out all required materials and offer a wide range of agriculture areas to choose from  – for example you can study sheep breeding, how to improve soil health, recognizing common pasture plants and lots of other things.  You can do as many or as few courses as you want.  It is totally flexible and the workload required for each course is not high.  There is a cost but it is not unreasonable.  We were their first ever homeschoolers but they liked the experience of having homeschoolers!  They have now streamlined a process to make it easier for other homeschoolers to get qualifications and credits in agriculture.  We think this is a brilliant option for homeschoolers.  Their website is https://www.taratahi.ac.nz/programmes/primary-industries-in-schools  This site contains all the various options for secondary school-age students.  You will notice that they also offer some pretty cool on-farm courses but these practical courses are not available in all parts of New Zealand, however we can certainly all access the many distance-learning options (scroll to the bottom of the page on that site to find the distance learning section).

Regards, Gwenda Smithies rgsmithies@xtra.co.nz

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

From Homeschool Heartbeat: WORK+HOMESCHOOL

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I have not listened to this yet. Whenever I have listened to Homeschool Heartbeat it has always been helpful and encouraging. So I think this will be as well.

Work + Homeschool: The Paradox That’s Helping Families Soar: An Interview with Pamela Price
How can you successfully homeschool your kids and work at the
same time? Is that even possible?
Tune in to this week’s Homeschool Heartbeat as Pamela Price—a
blogger, author, and homeschooling mom—offers tips and guidance
for working homeschool parents.
.
In this podcast, you’ll learn about:
  • How to become a successful ‘homeschool entrepreneur’
  • The diversity of homeschooling
  • Why self-care is so important
  • How to homeschool as a single parent
  • The most essential thing for working homeschool parents
  • to remember
play-podcast-now-button.jpg

 

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Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online:https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

 

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Golden Bay High School prizegiving: high achieving students honoured

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Golden Bay High School's dux Yerren van Sint Annaland

Nina Hindmarsh

Golden Bay High School’s dux Yerren van Sint Annaland

In the news November 8, 2016

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/86175288/golden-bay-high-school-prizegiving-high-achieving-students-honoured

This year’s Golden Bay High School’s dux wants to pursue a career in computer programming.

Yerren van Sint Annaland, 17, was recognised as the top scholar at the school’s senior prizegiving on Thursday.

Along with the dux award, van Sint Annaland also won the University of Otago’s Academic Excellence Entrance Scholarship of $45,000.

He was heading to Dunedin next year to start a computer science degree.

The award is given to just a few high school graduates who display not only outstanding academic results but also community service.

Van Sint Annaland said he was chosen for his involvement in a number of different areas including work for the conservation group Project Janszoon. He was on the student advisory board and helped his school adopt a section of the park.

He was also involved with sporting groups representing his school in tennis and football, as well has leading the production and design of his school’s magazine.

He also tutored younger students in maths, English and tennis, as well as helping to make the school magazine and looking after the school’s 3D printer.

Van Sint Annaland said he has kept busy this year with maths, digital technology and physics.

“I managed to complete my level three English last year, and I also did level 3 statistics last year so this year I got to really focus on the stuff that I actually enjoy,” he said.

As part of his digital technology course, van Sint Annaland redesigned Golden Bay’s weather mapping page.

“The old one was was really outdated,” he said. “I had to re-design it more or less from scratch, it was all code and scripting.”

He said home-schooled by his father until Year 9.

“It taught me that you just have to enjoy what you’re doing to learn,” he said.

“When I was home schooled I didn’t do anything except what I wanted to do, so I learned so much about computer programming, which I got into really early on.”

He said he was never taught to read, but just picked it up when he was ready.

“It was the same for maths. It just happened when I was ready.”

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Needing help for your home schooling journey:

https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online:https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Coming Events:https://hef.org.nz/2013/some-coming-events-for-home-education-during-2013-2/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading