Most Learning Doesn’t Happen At School

 My husband and I were quite impressed with the kids' newsletter this week.


(Andrew Fuller‘s Handy Hints for Improving Learning
Most Learning Doesn’t Happen At School!)
Did you know …
"Children spend only 15% of their week at school!
They spend more time asleep - 33 %
(And some teens combine the two)
But most of their time 52 % is at home, awake, mucking
around, playing, and learning about life
- it’s what they do with that time that is important."

"Most of their future learning also wont occur occur in school. It is estimated that 70% of the jobs that will exist in 2020 do not exist now. It is estimated that 50 years ago a high school graduate left school knowing about 75% of what they would need to know in their working life - today's high school graduate will leave knowing 2%."

{Trying our best as parents to give our children opportunities to learn especially through fun and play.}

Blog neglect

Blogging has not been  a priority lately so its been neglected which I think is not a good idea as I will find it hard to catch up. I did have a night recently where I tried to fix up this blog as my 15 month old thought it amusing to stay awake til 4am.
What are my priorities at the moment? Sleep...eating....and of course family. Its all I seem to manage day to day. I am trying to let things go of the wanting to do more. Its not possible.
For now I enjoy the quiet moments, getting non-disrupted sleep, eating good food, and seeing my children smile.
I am not a goals orientated person at all. I don't like routine or schedules. I do want for things, Desire is a good thing, something to keep me going. I think about studying, organising the house, making things easier for myself. Sometimes I even work towards those things. I think this year may be a more personal year, time for growth and progress and working to understand who I really am. I don't expect to blog about that so may be this blog may become quieter but hopefully not neglected.  hope I can continue to create and have fun with my kids so I will document that.

Planet 51

I took the awesome 4 to have lunch and see Planet 51. They wanted to see Cloudy with a chance of meatballs but we missed our opportunity.

The kids had fun so we may do it again soon. It was a strange movie - made humans look very stupid not that it made aliens look very smart but maybe they were making fun of how non thinking  people are day to day?

Coloured felt balls

Easy felt balls

We went to our local yarn store to get some organic merino which just happens to be a fair drive (10 minutes or so - that is not very local to me) and we came across a store I have only heard about. The boys  were entranced and in wonderment over the wooden toys and felt and other creations. The Friendship Tree.
My eldest son was so happy to see 3 felt balls for $1. So I gave the boys a $1 each to buy them. They were so excited. I told them we could make them at home. Silly me, thought there would be nothing to it but it was harder than I thought.

 The kids with their roving.

The pink one is a bought one, the purple by my girl. She did well.

Later on, my eldest boy and I tried again with varied results.

Finger Knitting

 

I decided to learn how to finger knit just for something different. My 6 year old learnt alongside me and made a few things just for fun. Of course, Av had a go though he rather just wrap the wool around his hand and cut off circulation but he was rapt to be involved!

Jelly colours

On Av's birthday he wanted to colour his wool I gave him with jelly and food colour. It was excessive by the amount he used but its all fun!

The result was fantastic, he wants me to make everything with it! but may just settle for a dragon hood.
Av also helped with colouring some more organic merino with jelly - lime and grape.

Swimming

Sometimes Daddy takes the kids swimming. We prefer the beach but the pool is closer. We are having some warmer weather so J and I came along.

This was J's first time in the pool. He was weary at first but once in he was content.

Av has great water confidence, putting his head and face under the water, which is something the big kids still struggle to do.
The three big kids want to have swimming lessons now, just for fun. The two eldest have been to lessons through the school before.

Arcade Games

The kids enjoy playing games at Highpoint.
They had events at the stage - Starsearch and Glee cast.

I took some cruddy pics of the Glee cast, the last one is my eldest daughter's favourite character.

Slide

Up there....
Fun!