Snap That - Take a Photograph it Lasts Longer.

A funny thing happened last night. I was whitening my teeth and Boy kept asking me questions about how it worked. Muted by the mouth guard, I attempted sign communication. Unable to decipher my sign language (I feel another home school activity brewing around this), I gave Boy the instruction manual and pointed to the relevant sections.

Boy read aloud like he had completed a master class in reading. He attempted words he had not come upon before and got all but one correct. The whitening treatment took 30 minutes. During this time Boy oscillated between reading and teasing me with the camera as he threatened to take photos to show people how ugly I am when I'm trying to make myself pretty!!!

And speaking of cameras: In my search for helping Boy progress in his learning maturity I came upon a photographic idea from Aussie Home Education: How, What, When, Where, Why? (Check out their other photographic lesson plans too on their website). They advocate a photographic hunt ending in pictorial representation of the concepts How, What, When, Where and Why. They suggest arming the student with a camera and sending them out to snap answers to questions such as: How do you do it? What next? When did it occur? Where did it happen? Why is it this way?

Snap. I'm going to use it this week with Boy. It is brilliant and fits in nicely with my struggle to get Boy to write movie reviews. Busy with last minute wedding organisation, the in-laws will be helping Boy with his school work. However, Boy is as much out of routine as I am. He won't want to do boring stuff while I'm out doing exciting stuff. The idea of giving him a camera and sending him off with the step grandparents appeals to me. Boy loves to use my camera so this has got to be a win/win home school project. He can do a review on what they did in my absence. Displaying the project on the wall is going to enhance the learning and make sure that the higher learning and understanding of difficult concepts last longer and becomes integrated.

Reviews: In preparation for our crazy week, I hit the video store and got five space and war documentaries for Boy to watch with the step Grandies. Boy is fairly knowledgeable around the Vietnam war (my father was a career soldier and did three tours of Vietnam) and he is looking forward to educating step Pop around the types of Guns used during the conflict. This positive anticipation that Boy is displaying is music to our ears. One of our short term goals was for Boy to like learning and to want to learn. We are well on the way to achieving our goal: even if it has occurred as a result of wedding madness.

And the wedding: this Saturday we are getting married at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall, surrounded by rainforest and the people we love. We are going away for a honeymoon and family is coming to look after Boy.

From now until after Easter my home school diary blog is going to be sporadic. This does not mean that Boy is not learning or involved in educational pursuits. Instead, it means that mother is too busy or without Internet.

No matter how busy I am, Boy still has to do the dreaded spelling words every morning with the step Grandie there to encourage and correct. This week the list of words has come straight from Education Queensland's list for grade seven children: teeth, cascade, waterfall, adventure, different, Easter, explain, moment, yesterday and suddenly

Take care, stay safe and I'll see you all on my return (or on those times where I sneak some time at my beloved computer).

Photo is Boy's big sister filming me as I snapped her.