Sebastian is diligent and attentive, a delightful student. Attentive, thoughtful and applies himself to his work. Sebastian excels in mathematics, he is two years in advance. His reading is strong and he enjoys a range of reading material.
English
Reading
Sebastian reads fluently and confidently. Last year he went from strength to strength, reading his way through the Box Car Children books and happily reading other chapter books as well.
During the upcoming year the focus will be on encouraging him to continue to nurture his love of reading and immersing him in quality literature. He has a particular interest in reading series.
We also hosted a Book Club a couple of times within our homeschool group and the children absolutely loved it! They totally facilitated the group, the book selections, the questions, the structure, it was all so exciting to see and the children are keen to continue this in the upcoming year.
Spelling
Sebastian worked extremely hard on his spelling last year and completed All About Spelling Level 2 and All About Spelling Level 3. He learnt: 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 spell words with C+l-e syllables, to spell words with consonant suffixes and vowel suffixes, common contractions and common homophones.
In the upcoming year Sebastian will complete All About Spelling Level 4 and continue to grow in strength as a confident speller.
Resource: All About Spelling Level 4
Dictation
Sebastian will begin doing weekly dictation lessons, which will strengthen his spelling, punctuation and listening skills.
Resource: Spelling Wisdom
Handwriting
Sebastian writes neatly, though occasionally writing some of his letters incorrectly.
Last year we focused on correction of letter direction, in the upcoming year we will continue to correct beginning and direction of letter and number formation and will introduce cursive writing.
Resource: Startwrite
Creates customised handwriting practice sheets.
Creative Writing
Sebastian’s story writing skills have improved this year, mostly due to Writing Club. We hosted a weekly Writing Club with homeschool friends throughout 2019 and we will continue to do so in the upcoming year. Sebastian wasn’t initially keen on joining in with Writing Club, we let him determine his participation, and soon the synergy and enthusiasm of the others convinced him, whilst the majority of children are pre-teens and teens he manages to keep up and learn along with.
In the upcoming year our intent is to write daily, encouraging Sebastian’s creative writing skills for him to develop into a stronger writer. His logical sequencing and sentence structure are good. Our plan is to foster strength and growth in his story plot and vocabulary.
Resources include: Writing Club, Writing Prompt Cards and Programmed English – Clare Kinsella
Grammar
Sebastian has a good 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 mechanics such as capitals, commas, full stops, question and exclamation marks, correct tenses, nouns, verbs and adjectives.
In the upcoming year we will be cementing these concepts further and introducing other concepts such as abbreviations and contractions.
Resources include: Little Grammar People – Nuri Mass, World of Language – Ruth Heller 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. 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. Narrations can take various forms; oral, written, illustrations, acting, building or creating.
Sebastian’s narrations are fine, though he still needs encouragement and support. He can deliver the big picture, his sequencing skills are fine, but he needs to work on sharing more detail.
Sebastian 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’.
Sebastian loves listening to our daily Read Alouds and always begs for more. He has great comprehension skills and can listen for long periods of time.
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.
Sebastian 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, Australian poetry and more from our extensive poetry collection
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Mathematics
Sebastian is incredibly quick to grasp new concepts and has a fantastic understanding of his maths, working at 2 years above his age peers.
Last year Sebastian covered: 3-7 digit subtraction & addition, 1-12x tables, multiplying by a multiple of 100, division by 10, 100, 100, division with fractional remainders, improper and mixed fractions, 2 step problem solving, 24 hour time, calculating distance, speed & time, hectares, mass & tonnes, area & volume, right angles, grid co-ordinates and column graphs.
In the upcoming year we will take time to consolidate areas that Sebastian has covered in the last year. Whilst he has ‘galloped along’, there are areas that he needs to revise to ensure he thoroughly comprehends. Maths at this level is harder and he is still so young.
After a period of revision Sebastian will then go on to cover: multiplication and division of fractions, algebra, problem solving, area of triangles, volume of cubes and prisms, angles and sector 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 Sebastian’s 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 Sebastian was a toddler and he has grown up observing, learning and building.
Sebastian and his brothers have a particular fascination with ‘all things science’. All three 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 Sebastian studied various topics including; Australian animals, water and weather. He watched many youtubes, documentaries and science videos, enjoyed a variety of science experiments, made K’nex models and Kapla designs including the Eiffel Tower, to name a few endeavours.
This year our studies will include; Living Things, Earth & Space, Physics & Digital Technology, including Robotics and Coding, as well as always being flexible to follow any further interests that arise. With the 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: Our home and town libraries, Young Scientist set, DVDs and youtubes, creating a garden, Experiment kits, Snap Circuit Kits, K’nex, Lego, Kapla Blocks, the Drone & Robotic kits; Edison, Boson and the Robobloq Qooper.
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HSIE
History
We wish for Sebastian 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 a deep focus on Australian history – we did an indepth study of Indigenous history prior to European settlement and the impact after Europeans arrived. We covered the Discovery of Australia, the First Fleet and Early Settlement and then a broader overview up into this Century. Our World History studies included Mesopotamia.
This year we will continue our Australian History studies, doing a more indepth study of Exploration, Bushrangers and the Gold Rush. We will also continue to study what was happening to our First Peoples concurrently. We want Sebastian to have an awareness of and passion for our nation’s history.
Our World History studies will continue this year to follow a chronological plan, it will include: Egypt, the Vikings and Greece.
Resources Include:
History of Australia – Meredith Hooper, Story of the World – Susan Wise Bauer and our extensive collection of historical living books, picture as well as chapter books, and the town library.
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Geography
We want Sebastian 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.
We will continue to use Mega Maps for our mapwork which continues to be hugely popular with our children, Sebastian’s skill for tracing lends well to developing mapwork skills. We will also use Shepard Software which is enjoyable and effective.
We will also focus on the Australian environment, our impact upon the environment and ways in which we can best care for our environment.
Much of our geography approach is covered by using our collection of geography living books, we are always flexible to follow any interest areas that arise.
Resources include: Our library and town library, DVDs and youtubes, Sheppard Software and Mega Maps
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Creative Arts
Creative Arts spontaneously happens in our household daily, there is always some form of creative arts being undertaken.
Visual Arts
We have had an annual membership with Artventure , for a few years now and continue to be highly impressed. The work that Sebastian has begun to produce after a few years with Artventure is amazing us. He didn’t start out naturally skilled but the work he is now producing is wonderful. To see a child who was not overly interested, not naturally gifted produce wonderful artwork is so special. We will continue with this program in the upcoming year.
We will also continue to expose Sebastian 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.
Music & Dance
Sebastian will be exposed to a variety of music genres, with the opportunity for movement and free expression. Dance Star and Sing Star are always popular here. Sebastian has a particular love of free flow dance and is always the first to begin moving to music.
Various musical instruments are available in our home: piano, drums, guitar and woodwind and percussion instruments which Sebastian can readily access.
Drama
Last year Sebastian took part in the play Alice in Wonderland produced by our homeschool group. Sebastian was the bottle and was a great hit as he called out in a loud voice, “Drink me, drink me!” He was also one of the Caterpillar parts. It was an incredible production, directed and orchestrated by our local theatre director Sue Kearns. The children put many, many weeks into it and Sebastian learnt alot.
This year ‘home grown’ plays are the rage, complete with costumes and props. Sebastian is always happy to be directed, and thoroughly enjoys the camaraderie and acting.
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Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
Many Personal Development skills learnt 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.
We have had many opportunities in our homeschool group during the past year as it has grown rapidly, to discuss strategies and practice kindness and acceptance. Many of the children joining our group are just below Sebastian in age, he is one of ‘the big ones’s’. Most of the incoming children have autism and other issues and Sebastian has been wonderfully accepting and understanding and has meet the children’s various needs in a leadership capacity.
Faith Studies
Sebastian is to deepen his personal relationship with God and increase his knowledge of God and His Church.
Resources include: Liturgical Year Resources, saints biographies and the ‘Green’ Catechism.
Sebastian will be continuing with swimming lessons this year, moving up to level 3, his last lesson level before moving up to Stroke Development Squad. Some weeks Sebastian will participate in Park Run, working towards achieving a Personal Best for the 5km course. Sebastian will also be kayaking regularly, he has great aptitude, confidence and a love for this sport. Sebastian will compete in our annual home education Sports Day.
Sebastian is to further develop an understanding of the importance of an active lifestyle and nutritional health. Sebastian will continue to deepen his knowledge and understanding of the human body, the need for personal hygiene and an awareness of nutritional health choices and their impact. To be aware of the positive and negative choices that we can make for our bodies and the consequence of our choices.