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The Genial Hearth
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Archive for Reflection

Progress 2007

I certainly learnt a lot over the last year… I started with good intentions, but in the early part of the year, they rarely moved beyond that. But that was what last year (and this year as well!) was all about. Learning what sort of structures and plans I needed to make things work.
So, what did work?
The blog as a planning/recording tool.
It does make for not necessarily such interesting reading for ‘the world at large’, but I found it a manageable discipline, and very helpful. I found I could generally manage the weekly ‘Progress’ notes (dated on the Saturday, but written at some point over the weekend)—I think there are about half a dozen in the first half of the year that I later filled in very briefly much after the fact, so that there was some sort of record. I found the weekly ‘Plans’ much better to do at the start of each Block, and just post-date them. It made for a lengthy session over one weekend a block, but that meant for the remainder I could work on other preparations.
I like that I can select the ‘This Week’ category, and see what we’ve done for the year. It’s helpful as a reminder now that we’re heading into 2008, and I think it will also be handy when I come to begin with Bilby, in terms of planning our reading.
Mat Time
Although this fell to bits in the Christmas Block (along with pretty much all my non-Advent plans), it was working really well for quite a time. As long as I made the move early enough, and we kept it brief (no more than 20 minutes) and focussed (with plenty of singing… and actually checked that the stories are not too long!) we got quite a bit done. He was even choosing to do some of our letter work in this time, where as I had mostly planned it for the songs/poems/readings. I would have liked to have included picture study and composer study, but logistically, I didn’t get that sorted this year. A separate box/basket with all the books we’re currently using would help me be a bit more organised (they’re on the one shelf, but Puggle ends up carrying them one at a time because they slip if he tries to carry more… he could manage a basket much more easily).
TV School
This was brilliant! Having the words readily accessible made nursing work more easily, and was part of the ‘inspiration’ for Mat Time. We certainly recited the poems much more regularly because they were highly visible—rather than just being in a book. It also helped keep Paddington in the loop of what we were doing, and was a great ‘conversation starter’ (I can see that being helpful down the track with grandparents). I didn’t ever get to printing out copies of our picture for study, but I think that would be a good addition (would help me add that in to Mat Time).
Sewing Cabinet
I haven’t talked about this at all, because I only started using it in this last Block, when I was too busy to blog:-) My sewing cabinet (with machine, overlocker, and space) is in our dining room. Normally it’s a bit of a ‘hot spot’, but when I had all these Christmas crafting activities on the go, I cleared it off and put them out on there. For the most part, it’s out of Bilby’s reach (very important!), within Puggle’s reach, and allows for things to be spread out. It’s also really close to the dining table, where Puggle tends to work now because Bilby can’t reach (unlike his ‘desk’ a table in the corner of the lounge room). If need be, I can plug things in there (like the laminator, for the tree decorations), and Puggle can use it there. I intend to make more consistent use of it in 2008, for craft stuff, but also for some of the other materials we’ll be using.
Alphabet stuff
Not quite as I’d planned (really, not at all!) But by the end of the year he recognises all the letters (I suspect he would have, even if I hadn’t done anything specific), can find most of them on a keyboard (aside from ‘P’… he often has trouble with that!), and can trace the shapes.
Blocks
The organisation of the year worked (for me, at any rate). Four weeks is enough time to sustain focus on something. Break week was a good opportunity to catch up a bit, although I’d like to make more of an effort to go out and do other stuff in that week. Three Blocks before changing direction also worked well, although wasn’t as obvious as it might have been.
Singing
The folksongs generally went well. Putting them on the front of the TV cabinet was a real help, but obviously worked best when I had a real grasp of the tune:-) We tended to be more successful at learning the more pacy songs (although, he is now singing bits of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ after I put it up on New Year’s Eve).
My Planner
I had started the year by putting all my plans in a document, and printing it out. It’s 13 pages, most of them double-sided (2 pages each for a yearly overview, and each of 10 Blocks—the only reason they’re not all double-sided is so that I can look at both parts of each block in a single layout). Putting it all together ahead of time was good. I generally was quite relaxed about adapting it as the year went on (although, I did try not to too much this year, as it was our first year). I didn’t refer to the printed out copy nearly as often as the electronic one… but I think I will still print it out next year.

And what didn’t?
Cooking
I started quite well, but only in bits. I didn’t really manage to get consistent with this. I’m not overly concerned, Puggle did do quite a bit of cooking, usually in chunks of a couple of days at a time. My main reason for including it was so that I’d be sure to do stuff with him, I wasn’t sure how distracted with Bilby I’d be:-) But she sleeps well, so Puggle and I had time together. As far as the cooking goes, I think it would be more use to simply break down the skills he should master in the next year, and make sure he has a chance to practise them in day-to-day cooking. Much more measuring is definitely a focus for 2008, and cutting—what a shame! He might just have to make lots more Rocky Road :-)
Listening to Music
I was much less consisent with this than in 2006:-( I think I need to develop a better approach to organising my playlists. And to work out how to include it in Mat Time (well, not in Mat Time necessarily, but hang it on that peg).
Artist Study
Again, I was more consistent in 2006. I’m fairly sure that having copies of the pictures on the TV cabinet in addition to the screensaver (which did work, just not as well as previously) will be a big help.
Planned Art
I had tied these in to the letters we were doing… somewhat arbitrarily. We didn’t get to most of them. Partly because I didn’t always remember to look at what the activity needed in advance, and partly because they seemed too random. I am still planning art for next year, but my approach will be a bit different… we’ll see how that goes:-)
Christmas Block
This worked from the perspective of getting ready for Christmas, but I had anticipated continuing some ’schooling’ (I had planned for a fairly minimal programme… I wasn’t expecting much). As it turned out, that didn’t happen. Mostly that was probably me getting distracted with all the other things I was concerned about doing, and failing to make a point of doing the reading/singing I had planned. We’ll try this again another year before I decide it needs to change.
Narration
I think I was just expecting a bit much a bit soon—and wasn’t properly prepared to develop the skill. We’ll go with much shorter texts, and that should help a lot.
Nature Walk
I failed to make this a regular activity. The couple of times we went it was great, but I need to be more particular about including it.
My Planner
I didn’t refer to the printed out copy of the planner nearly as often as the electronic one… but I think I will still print it out next year.

The worked list is longer than the didn’t work list, so I’m happy:-)

Resolutions

Quickly and simply, before I go to sleep!

To play more games! I’ve finally sorted our games stack so it’s possible to actually get a game out without having to remove the whole pile… now I want to make use of them.

I had thought to get back to the piano, but maybe I’ll just make it to make more music—it certainly wouldn’t hurt if I did more violin:-)

To read more ’serious’ stuff… I didn’t do so well last year, but maybe it’ll take better this year.

To make more ‘art’ (more watercolour with Puggle, more photography).

Oh, and I guess going hand-made for birthdays:-)

More functional ones?
To go to bed earlier (tonight’s not a good start, but New Years never is).

To drink more water.

To de-clutter.

To finish putting books/movies/music into Delicious Library.

I can’t believe it’s 2008!

Progress—Thinking about the Term

Term One
(This week is the end of Term One. There are three terms, plus a Christmas block to make up the total year. I plan for us to school year round. We’ll work for four weeks with a focus, and then have a week that is unstructured (aside from Swimming and Co-op which both follow the local school year). Three of these blocks will form a term, which will mean twelve weeks of school and three weeks of break per term, three terms a year. There will be a tenth block, which will be basically December, where we will still do some formal work for the first four weeks, but much lighter than usual (this is planning generally for the future, at the moment it probably won’t make much difference) while we prepare for Christmas.
I want to name the terms, as we’re not using the same structure as local schools, so I think numbering them will just lead to confusion. Not sure what we’ll name them… need to ponder on something appropriate…)

Back to this last term. We stuck to the plan in fits and starts. I was kind of expecting that—it’s one of the reasons for
beginning now, so I can develop the habit.
The singing and the art study works well. The craft and cooking basically falls down when I forget to look ahead at what I’m doing. I kept going to begin a craft and then realise that there was something that I should have looked out ahead of time. Actually, the same applies to the composer study too… We didn’t listen to much Mozart, because I forgot to line up tracks ahead of time.
Puggle enjoyed the poems a lot, although we rarely read them more than twice a week. I should make more of an effort to read them each day (at this stage, they’re all quite short). The same with the nursery rhymes.
The stories that we were reading were less successful. Partly that was me not making a push to sit and read them (we read picture books a lot, but not the longer stories). But I think part of the problem was also the slow reading of the tales. I think for now, we might change to reading the whole story each day, a couple of times a week, and see how that goes.
I started printing out letter outlines, just so that he’d be seeing the letter each week, but he loves to trace around them! I’ll keep doing this, but I think I’ll put away the skinny pencils and crayons, and just leave the thick ones. His grip is quite variable of late, but with the thick crayons, it tends to be more correct.
We’ve been gluing his work into a journal (that will be what we take to co-op fair), but I probably need to be more regular about that, perhaps do it on Friday afternoons? (That’s also probably a good time to be sure to add cooking requirements to the shopping list).
Mostly though, I just need to make a point some time on the weekend of printing out what we need, gathering craft supplies, and making sure the music is lined up. That and the full story readings should make a difference to how this next term progresses.
Actually, I guess I should try and be more regular about posting my progress reports… I have a number drafted, but incomplete…