The 8 Learning Areas assigned by the Education VQRA for school children are:
• English
• Mathematics
• Sciences (including physics, chemistry and biology)
• Humanities and social sciences (including history, geography, economics, business, civics and citizenship)
• The arts
• Languages
• Health and physical education
• Information and communication technology and design and technology
So how have WE been fulfilling this in our “Activity Based Learning Plan” – as opposed to using a Curriculum?
Well, it’s now the 2nd term of Grade 1 for our child and I wanted to share what home education looks like for us so far. While our “Learning Plan” is shown on it’s own page on this site, I am simply sharing what home “schooling” actually looks like in real life for us. This year so far, our 6 year old has completed grade level activity books (based on the curriculum) for Grammar, Maths (addition & subtraction) and (Spelling & Handwriting for ages 7+ & 8-10).
1 & 2. ENGLISH & MATHS: So, just in first term of grade 1, she has completed her grade level of English and Maths. These are actually things my daughter expresses that she really enjoys so I am happy knowing this. If she was not interested, I would follow her lead! These have been “strewn” and devoured.
3. HEALTH & PE: We have recently begun going over the Curriculum workbooks that we invested in (see Resources page).
We sped through the Health book and felt that much of it was redundant, due to the fact that our daughters are children of Health Practitioners who harp on about our passion 90% of the time…so they naturally have quite advanced levels of knowledge in this area.
4. SCIENCE: We are crazy about the natural world and spend endless hours in the wilderness and garden with all sorts of creatures in their habitats.
We also watch documentaries and I have a video of our 6 year old explaining the anatomy and physiology of the heart from a year ago!
Science is a central part of our lives as Health Practitioners, so our children naturally take this on from passionate people with sincere enthusiasm!
Just yesterday our 6 year old asked “What happens if you burn plastic?”… So Today, we’ve been watching more documentaries on plastic pollution impacts and how we can reduce our use.
One action that came from that was us FINALLY getting off our bums and subscribing to “Who Gives A Crap” toilet roll supplies.
This is something we wanted to do for a long time now, so I just LOVE all these big questions we get!
5. ART: The Arts is a very central part of our world because we truly love creating and what that brings in the way of mental health. So we’ve done more than our “curriculums worth” of that, without a doubt! I even created an instagram page just for our daughter’s creations because of the sheer amount of art she does!
6. LANGUAGES: Our children were taught Auslan since birth and we continue using this daily. She also uses a dictionary now and loves learning new words all the time… from their roots and origins. We’ll also watch movies in foreign languages occasionally, as we simply love picking up whatever we can.
It’s a lot of fun pulling out words from other languages from watching conversations! It’s also a wonderful way to become really attuned to body language which boost emotional intelligence quite effortlessly! Something we place a high value on.
7. IT / COMMUNICATION & DESIGN: I feel that with all of the drawing, garden planning, fairy house making and crafting we do, as well as research online, business and commerce discussions (we have a family business)… our children are well equipped to learn how to use these tools to accomplish whatever it is they wish.
One of the learning outcomes (or goals) in this area of the standard curriculum is “Explores how hoof is selected and prepared for healthy eating.” and another is “Explored how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter.” This are among the many things in this area we have “checked off” if you will.
We live in a farming region and are passionate about sustainability and living close to the earth. Our children naturally learn about this by living it.
8. HUMANITIES: History & Geography are fascinating areas to us, so there is certainly no void of learning in this “subject”. Our daughter LOVES everything “old fashioned” and learning about how things used to be. We are often (joyfully) reading about the various cultures and places (and farming practices) of different areas of the globe together… so I feel this is is certainly an area we cannot help but fulfil. All without a curriculum provided (go figure).
So, as we move on to another term of “Grade 1″… We’ll be snooping through anything of interest in the Curriculum books we have and obviously ditching what is redundant to us, veering wherever we choose, and moving on to higher learning, as we already have done.
I will note that much of what we have already been learning (organically) is what I’ve found in much higher “grade levels”, so the whole system continues to look more and more arbitrary to me… BUT none the less… we love to know what we’re “not” missing;)
That’s all for now… Until next time… Keep doing Your Own Thing. Love LJ.
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