Ignatius Aged 9.4yrs
Ignatius is a deep thinker and attuned to others around him. He is a bright, inquisitive boy who is keen to learn.
English
Reading Skills
Ignatius made great progress with his reading skills last year. After completing the majority of All About Reading Level 2, he declared he no longer needed lessons and was determined to read books only, which he successfully did. By the year end he was happily reading ‘fat’ chapter books.
During 2018 the focus will be on encouraging him to continue to nurture his new found love of reading and immersing him in quality literature. He has a particular interest in any books featuring dinosaurs.
Spelling
Ignatius has spontaneously expressed a desire to focus on his spelling skills in the upcoming year, which is fortuitous as this is a goal that alines with mine for him.
Last year Ignatius completed All About Spelling Level 1, then began All About Spelling Level 2. He learnt about which plural ending to use, how to spell compound words, open and closed syllables, how to spell multisyllable words, to spell Vowel-Consonant-E (VCE) words to name a few.
During 2018 Ignatius will complete All About Spelling Level 2 and begin All About Spelling Level 3. I desire, as does he, for him to become a confident speller.
Resource: All About Spelling Level 2 and All About Spelling Level 3
Dictation
Ignatius will also begin doing weekly dictation lessons, which will strengthen his spelling, punctuation and listening skills.
Resource: Spelling Wisdom
Handwriting
Ignatius’s grip has greatly improved and his handwriting is reasonably neat.
Last year we focused on correcting some poor habits he had developed, he still needs supervision to ensure he is starting in the correct position and writing letters in the correct direction. We also introduced some cursive lessons.
In the upcoming year correct position and direction will continue to be the focus as well as developing his skills in cursive writing.
Resource: Startwrite
Creates customised handwriting practice sheets.
Creative Writing
Ignatius loves to ‘tell a good yarn’ and gets excited and most involved in explaining his story plots.
Last year our local home education group held three Writing Workshops wherein we hired an English teacher and Ignatius was most excited to participate. He would regale us with his stories afterwards and these classes inspired lots of extra writing through the week.
In the upcoming year our intent is to write daily, encouraging Ignatius’ love of creative writing whilst assisting him in becoming a stronger writer, another wish he has expressed for himself. His sentence structure, story plot and comprehension skills are good, his weakest area is his spelling.
Resources include: Writing Prompt Cards and Programmed English – Clare Kinsella
Grammar
Ignatius has an excellent grasp of grammar; sentence structure, correct word usage and tenses. Grammatical infractions are quickly ‘pounced upon’ by siblings so all the children are strong in this area.
Last year we focused on introducing mechanics such as capitals, commas, full stops, question and exclamation marks, correct tenses, nouns, verbs and adjectives.
In 2018 we will be cementing these concepts further and introducing other concepts such as abbreviations and contractions.
Resources include: Little Grammar People – Nuri Mass and Primary Language Lessons – Emma Serl
Narrations
A retelling of what has been read/watched/learnt into one’s own words, requires a good understanding of the subject matter, it takes concentration and sequencing skills. Narrations can take various forms; oral, written, illustrations, acting, building or creating.
Ignatius’ narrations are excellent, he can deliver the ‘big picture’ in bullet points and his sequencing skills are ‘spot on’.
As we consider narrations to be an extremely important skill, a foundation for logic and writing, we will be devoting time to narration regularly for the subjects of; Faith, Geography, History and Science.
Ignatius will be writing more of his own narrations this year as his mechanical skill level increases, though we will still be asking for lots of oral narrations and other forms of narrations.
Literature
Nurturing a love of literature within our family is at the core of our family’s learning approach, we immerse our children in quality literature from birth. We read from many genres and delight in living books – a book that makes the subject matter ‘come alive’.
Ignatius loves listening to our daily Read Alouds and always begs for more. He has excellent comprehension skills and can listen for long periods of time, though he still often enjoys listening upside down.
Resources include: Our extensive home library and the town library.
Poetry
The listening to and memorisation of poetry is part of our family’s culture of nurturing a love of literature.
Ignatius will continue to be immersed in poetry daily and memorise at least one poem a term, to recite at our family weekly recitation nights.
Resources include: Robert Louis Stevenson’s poetry, Classic Children’s Poetry, Children’s Book of Verse and more from our extensive poetry collection
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Mathematics
Ignatius is quick to grasp new concepts and received 90-1000% in all his maths topics.
Last year Ignatius covered ; 2 digit addition and 3 digit subtraction, 3 – 9x tables, division by 2, 5 & 10 and with remainders, equivalent fractions, expanding decimals, measurement, area, mass and time, right angles, axis of symmetry, grid co-ordinates and pyramids, tallies and graphs.
This year Ignatius will cover; 4-5 digit addition and subtraction, multiplication facts 1-12x, multiplying by 10, 100, 1000, division facts 1-12x, short division 2-3 digits, addition and subtraction of decimals, kilometres & metres, volume, prisms & pyramids, grid co-ordinates, measuring angles, column graphs.
Resources include: Maths Online, maths board games and our living maths books collection.
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Science and Technology
We desire to encourage Ignatius’ knowledge and love of science and technology, to encourage him to foster his questing mind and to continue to support his confidence in tackling technological challenges. We have been owner building since Ignatius’ was a toddler and he has grown up observing, learning and building.
Ignatius and his older brother Saxon both have a particular fascination with ‘all things science’. Both boys are constantly seeking out scientific knowledge on their own volition. It is quite common to find them watching a science youtube and then see them filming their own experiment, or the reverse order to ascertain why their experiment might have ‘failed’. To mention just one area of scientific interest and endeavour of theirs.
Last year Ignatius studied various topics including; jellyfish, octopus, electricity and dinosaurs. He watched many youtubes, documentaries and science videos and undertook a large variety of science experiments, made many K’nex models to name a few endeavours.
This year our studies will include; Earth & Space, Living Things; Classification and Life cycles, the Material World; heat re solids & liquids, physical properties of natural and processed materials.
We have also purchased the boys a year’s membership with Double Helix that allows access to 147 lessons, whilst these are aimed at Grade 5-6 we don’t envisage Ignatius struggling with the material at all. They are going to love it 🙂 as they love their Mystery Science videos & activities.
We will continue to be flexible to follow any further interests that arise, with both boys being so scientifically and technically minded we expect these interests to be many and varied. To meet these studies we will use various mediums and resources, and we’re confident that other areas of scientific and technological interest and knowledge will be sought and pursued.
Resources include: Double Helix lessons, Mystery Science lessons, our home and town libraries, Young Scientist set, DVDs and youtubes, Experiment kits, Snap Circuit Kits, K’nex and Lego
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History
We wish for Ignatius to have an interest about ‘all things history’ and want him have an awareness of world and Australian history and to understand the significance of certain events.
Last year we studied various topics including World War 1 and World Explorers; including Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo and Livingstone.
This year our focus of study will be Australian History. We want Ignatius to have an awareness of and passion for our nation’s history.
We will be studying the First Peoples, Convicts, Early Settlement, Exploration, Bushrangers and the Gold Rush.
Resources Include:
Arthur Bailey’s – A Sunburnt Country
Our own extensive collection of historical living books, picture as well as chapter books, and the town library.
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Geography
We want Ignatius to have an awareness of and appreciation for different cultures, customs and environments. To be familiar and confident with maps, to be able to recognise the different continents and many countries.
This year we will continue to use Mega Maps for our mapwork which continues to be hugely popular with our children. We will also focus on the Australian environment which will tie in neatly with our Australian history studies.
Much of our geography approach is covered by using our collection of geography living books, picture as well as chapter books, we are always flexible to follow any interest areas that arise.
Resources include: Our library and town library, DVDs and youtubes and Mega Maps
Creative Arts
Creative Arts spontaneously happens in our household daily, there is always some form of creative arts being undertaken, currently I feel as if we live in the March household (Little Women).
Visual Arts
Last year Ignatius had the opportunity to participate a couple of Art Workshops with our local home education group, these ran for a period of several weeks, taught by art teachers, they were full, huge days with the focus on: printing, charcoal, soft & hard crayon work and mandalas. I was totally amazed at the dedication, talent and focus of all the children. Mid 2018 the work undertaken in these workshops will be displayed at the Grafton Art Gallery.
We also continued our membership with Artventure , with which we continue to be highly impressed. Ignatius isn’t particularly a keen artist but he can produce some decent works of art once he focuses.
This year our local home education group has been selected to participate in the 2018 Drawing in Schools Outreach Program at the Grafton Art Gallery, at the conclusion of this Outreach Program their work will be displayed at the Gallery. Ignatius will be participating in this.
We will also continue to expose Ignatius to a variety of different mediums including, drawing, painting, collages, claywork and tracing.
Resources include: How to Draw books, youtubes and internet sites and our craft/art supplies including clay.
Music & Dance
Ignatius will be exposed to a variety of music genres, with the opportunity for movement and free expression. With his older sisters undertaking dance lessons they often come home and demonstrate moves learnt and spontaneous ‘classes’ ensue. Dance Star and Sing Star are always the rage here, whilst Ignatius doesn’t often chose to sing he mostly sings on key when he does. Various musical instruments are available in our home which Ignatius can readily access, often after his older sibling’s drum lessons he will replicate their lessons himself, though he maintains he doesn’t want lessons.
Drama
Last year shadow puppets were widely popular and the children designed puppets, props, choreographed the plays and manned the lighting. Most impressive.
This year ‘home grown’ plays appears to be the rage. We’ve already seen Red Riding Hood, which Ignatius’ big sisters choreographed and all the children performed in, complete with costumes and props.
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Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
Values and Attitudes, Interpersonal Relationships,Problem Solving, Decision Making, Interacting, Moving and Communicating
Many of the skills learnt in these areas are covered by the values we hold as a family which are underpinned by our Catholic Faith.
To be confident in their own selves knowing their value and dignity, to understand they must treat their bodies with care, to remove themselves from situations in which may be harmful, to treat others with kindness, consideration and generosity, to extend Christian charity to all regardless of their belief system.
Faith Studies
Ignatius is to deepen his personal relationship with God and increase his knowledge of God and His Church. This year Ignatius is likely to make his Confirmation and much of his studies will be aimed towards preparation for that event.
Resources include: St Joseph Confirmation Catechism and other Confirmation Resources.
Active Lifestyle, Dance, Games and Sports, Gymnastics
Ignatius is to develop an understanding of the importance of an active lifestyle and nutritional health.
Ignatius will compete in our annual home education Sports Day. Ignatius will be continuing with swimming lessons this year and possibly moving up to stroke direction squad. Ignatius will also participate in a Paddleboard session this year as he did last, which he loved. He will be competing in a 2 km local running competition again this year as he did last. Ignatius is a particularly fast runner and he placed very high in his age grouping. Ignatius will occasionally participate in Park Run, a 5km run as he occasionally did last year. Ignatius will also be kayaking regularly, he shows great aptitude and a love for this sport.
Growth and Development, Personal Health Choices and Safe Living
Ignatius to have an understanding of ‘the human body’, the need for personal hygiene and an awareness of nutritional health choices. To be aware of the positive and negative choices that we can make and the consequence of our choices, information discussed of an age appropriate nature.
