End of Term Excursion: Aboriginal Culture

We went walkabout for a week. To complete this term's study on the geography and cultural melting pot of Australia and Aboriginal Art, we took a week long camping trip to Cape York Peninsula.

The Laura Dance Festival was the pinnacle focus of the trip and neither Boy, Step-father or I were disappointed. Some photos appear below but also check out my info article over at Imaginif: The Culture of Dancing Corroboree for Child Safety.

Whereas Boy has previously visited Split Rock at Laura, my attendance (and a handy tour guide book) ensured a degree of Rock Art painting, culture and myth appreciation. Boy has grown up around Indigenous Australian culture, has heard the words, the language, and knows some of the myths (Quinkins are a favourite in our family), but he had no deeper appreciation than knowing that bread from the bakery can be bought sliced or whole.

Imjim Quinkan - A malevolent spirit. Still very feared.

The story has it that the Quinkan bounces across the rocks on his long knobbed penis. OUCH! The women who married Quinkans are portrayed with breasts that stick out sideways. The breasts were also used for bouncing across rocks.

These Aboriginal Rock paintings and etchings (top pic with Boy) below are approximately 50,000 years old.

1) Woman, Quinkan, Echidna. 2) Flying Foxes (staple tucker [food]). 3) Woman, Red Dingo, Quinkan

Tall Spirit
(they like to hide behind tall Gum trees and can be hard to see)

Another focal point at the Dance festival was meeting up with my foster brother - Joseph McIvor: a celebrated Aboriginal artist, who lived with my family in Cooktown and Cairns during his high school years. Joseph was my brother's best mate and they were always together. It seemed logical that Joseph just live with us and have the opportunity to extend his art through training and access to resources that he may not have otherwise been able to gain access to. Joseph held a Didgeridoo making stall at the Laura Dance Festival and Boy got right into the making of a Didj (pictured).

Boy with his completed Didgeridoo and Joseph McIvor.

Following our attendance at the Laura Dance festival, we spent 3 days in Cooktown, a place I lived as a teenager and young first time mother. The weather was miserable and freezing (by Far North Queensland standards) but Boy's highlight was the abundance of Wallabies around our cabin. The following photo's are of wild wallabies - not zoo tamed creatures.

We are currently on school holidays and Boy refuses to raise any blogs on what he learnt on his camping trip to Laura and Cooktown. Guess how our new school term will be beginning then!!

Spelling Bee

Think of every swear word that starts with B. That's how our school day ended.

"What's for school today Mum?"

"We're going to finish your origami fish, do some Australian spelling and a Kinetic Math and English unit."

We managed the origami fish okay (well, Boy did. I could not understand the instructions at all!!!). Spelling though: B**!!"""___!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a beautiful hook in to a melt down.

We're studying Australian culture. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to include some Aussiecentric words. Did he carry on!

"Those aren't Grade Six words. I'm not learning high school words. What, do you think I've got a photographic memory! You're stupid, you're a bitch," etc, etc, etc.

This is the spelling result:

Aboriginal - Abarikanl
Indigenous - Indichaness
Culture - colcher
Barramundi - Baramundy
Australia - Austalya
Southern Cross - Southen Cross
Rock Painting - Rock Painting
Kangaroo - Kangkaroo
Campfire - Campfire
Koala - Cawla

While I can accept that Boy spelt some of the words phonetically, I was shocked at how his anger appeared to block his ability to sound some of the words out. Boy knew he couldn't spell the words but used his anger as a smoke screen - a way to divert my attention and give up on the spelling exercise. I persevered and stayed calm during the barrage of abuse hurled at me.

Kinetic Math and English though: Oh dear!!!!! I confiscated Boy's lap top as a result of the school refusal. Step father saved the day though. He and Boy are great mates and when Boy calmed down he went to step father to apologise and discuss what had just happened.

Step father backed my confiscating action up. Boy knew that he could get around neither of us so finally agreed to do a Kinetic Math and English unit, but with step father.

It's now hours post the incident and I am still smarting. I know it's a passing thought yet today I have wondered why I home school. Why do I put myself through this? Why do I insist on my son being educated?

I home school my child because his anger tantrums and Asperger meltdowns do upset other people. His anger and excellent articulation of a range of put downs do block teachers ability to stay learning focused with Boy. His meltdowns are a result of his disability, not because he is a naughty little boy and our decision to home school was based on taking the stress off Boy and enticing him with knowledge that does not look educationally institualised.

Bxxxx##**! It was me who buggered up - AGAIN. I tried to make Boy do what I thought was the best thing for him. I disempowered him by expecting him to be like children without Aspergers. I became too teacher orientated and forgot that we value natural learning, as far removed from instutionalised curricula as possible.

Tomorrow we'll have a spelling bee. I will allow Boy to pick ten words that start with B. I'll write them on slips of paper and ask him to give them a spell - a rest. He will have to hide the B words in things that start with "B" (bureau, biscuit tin, bathroom, etc). The next time he hears either myself or step father say an Aussiecentric word that starts with B, Boy's task will be to find his list of hidden "B" words and to test both step father and I. If we wrongly spell any of the words, Boy can pick another ten B words for us to spell.

I will make a spelling mistake on purpose. I will do whatever I have to to help Boy learn how to spell. Boy has Aspergers, I do not. It is my job as his home educator to educate him, not further reinforce his hatred of anything that looks like school.

And right now....Boy and step father are playing Monopoly. We figured that this was a nice way for Boy to have some additional Math learning without us having to suffer the trauma of another meltdown. Beautiful.

Melt and Mould Soap Making

Today we made soap as a home school activity. Boy does not prioritise personal hygiene and I'm sure that when he does bath, the soap remains dry! Not unusual for kids with Aspergers, personal hygiene is often far from their mind. We've tried the novelty of electric toothbrushes, very expensive gorgeous spelling soaps from Lush, shampoos of every variety and now we need a new trick to get Boy into the bath and washing the dirt and sweat off.

Trying the Melt and Mould soap kits that I've recently listed in my on-line protective behaviour shop, Boy and I made four different soaps (there's still enough base left to make another two soaps): two coloured and scented with Mango and two opaque, scented with Passionfruit. The opaque soap making was the hit.

Into the soap moulds we put two toys prior to poring (yes, it really is that easy: melt the soap base and pour it into a mould) the melted, clear soap liquid. One toy was a wooden key ring of Boys choice and the other - well, what can I say - I think I have a budding entrepreneur on my hands.

Boy chose a flashing LED soft plastic ring. Rather than submerging the ring and completely covering it with soap, Boy suggested that we make a soap ring. We carefully balanced the ring in the setting soap (so that the finger part was exposed) and waited for it to dry. Boy could not wait to try it out. He rather fancied the idea of wearing his soap like a ring and scrubbing himself without having to hold the slippery soap in his hand.

It struck me that Boy's slipping hygiene corresponded with the cessation of his youth worker hours. The youth worker spent ample time with Boy talking about hygiene being a social skill: if you are stinky, people get slinky. They slink off to get away from you. Now that Youth Worker is out of the picture, I guess that Boy fails to understand why he needs to smell clean. We expect cleanliness yet don't necessarily teach it. Today's activity provided me ample teachable moments to talk about the different types and styles of soap and how they often smell different depending on the chemistry of an individuals skin.

We're off to bathe now. Wonder if Boy will "ring me" from the bathroom?

An economical and fun home school activity, we've used the completely natural melt and mould glycerin soap kits from Renascent College. Now a retailer of their soap kits, we're never going to be short of creative ways to get Boy trialing our new soaps. It's not school work, it's Boy helping Mum to try new products (if only he knew the suds I sink to for encouraging his education!).

UPDATE: Big girl (21) tried out the ring soap. Her verdict, "WICKED!" When switched on, the LED flashes through the opaque soap. It is very, very cool and Boy has already had two baths.

Second update: Big girl's friends came around and thought the ring soap was "cack" (intonations and facial expressions suggested the translation was "cool"). Everyone in our house has very clean hands. This was GREAT for Boy's self-esteem.

Volcanoes in the Backyard

Our verandah table was washed away with bubbling lava and joyous laughter from three children (okay, one child, one 20 year old and one old[er]adult). Boy's kitchen science evolved into a more elaborate demonstration of the volcanic forces of vinegar and bicarbonate soda.

We made a plaster of paris mountain around a small plastic vial. Once the plaster was dry, Boy painted it to resemble hot lava flowing down and destroying trees in its path. Into the plastic vial we added vinegar (dyed pink with food colouring) and bicarb soda. The resultant eruption was pure bliss for Boy who kept adding bicarb until my box was empty!!!

A wonderful, easy and frugal home school experiment that encompassed chemical reactions and art, Boy has played with his new toy for hours. All you need is plaster of paris, water to mix, a small plastic vial/jar, a cardboard cone to place over the vial (we made one from a cereal box) and on which to plaster the plaster, and paint to decorate the plaster mountain. Add vinegar and baking soda to the vial, and watch your volcano spew its fury forth.

Hint for the volcano lava - add a drop of dish washing detergent and note the difference in the lava flow.

Boy's youth work hours on Mondays have been used up. Looking to replace this with another Monday group activity, Boy chose beading classes. At our first lesson, Boy produced a necklace that he hasn't taken off since (pictured). We plan to attend every Monday morning but I have had to place a monetary freeze at $10.00 per lesson.

Boy's eyes widened in glee as he surveyed the array of gem stone beads. While they are indeed beautiful, the cost of them falls well outside our weekly budget. And then...Boy spotted the leather thronging in all colors of the rainbow. Quiet impressive and double the price of jewellery wire it is! Even more impressive though was that Boy knew the names of most of the gem beads. Lapidary classes are paying off with overall learning.

In an effort to instill real life budgeting, Boy has to stay within the $10.00 limit. If he chooses to make a full necklace, he has to use budget beads. If he chooses to use leather thronging, he will need to sacrifice quantity of beads and rely upon a few well chosen beads separated with knots rather than spacer beads.

Eager to use the beautiful glass and gem stone beads that he was in awe of, Boy has been collecting loose change to add to his $10.00 limit. Without even meaning to teach financial skills, beading classes have opened up new teachable moments and probable presents for all the females in the family. My favourite colour is red, I keep telling him. He hasn't got it yet!

In our travels to find a Youth group replacement, we stumbled upon a supply of crystal flowers. At only $2.00 each, we purchased a bulk lot for Boy to play with and for me to use in my work with children. A most effective display of crystal growth, Boy has used so many already that I wonder if I'll have any left for work. Check it out: it's Christmas in July already!

And finally, finally...my new web site is almost ready. We are going live this Thursday, the 17th of May. For a sneak preview and to find out exactly why I've been so busy, have a look at Imaginif's new home. I hope you consider joining us in the forums and getting some good discussion going around child safety and protection.

Science in the Kitchen: the Bicarb Experiment

What happens when Bicarbonate of Soda (aka Baking Powder) is mixed with different pantry products?

What you need: Bicarbonate of soda, drinking glasses, teaspoon, a range of different pantry liquids.

Method: Boy set up five glasses and add an inch of the following products: one product per glass.

• Malt vinegar


• Balsamic Vinegar


• Water


• Mango Juice


• Coca-Cola

Systematically, and one at a time, Boy added a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda to the liquids.

Outcome: The different results were marked:

• Malt vinegar fizzed


• Balsamic Vinegar really fizzed up


• Water did not fizz at all (this may change depending on the pH of your water supply)


• Mango Juice did not fizz


• Cocoa-Cola fizzed.

Variations: Add different amounts of Bicarb to five glasses of the same liquid. After the experiment was over, Boy added double the original amount of Bicarb to the malt vinegar. It produced a greater fizz and the bubbles crept up over the top of the glass and down the side to make a nice little fizzing mess on the bench!! Worked well though.

How does this work: Bicarbonate of Soda reacts with acids, releasing carbon dioxide which bubbles up through the solution. The more acidic a liquid, the more fizz produced. But what about when cooking butter, sugar and Bicarb together? That creates a fizz yet there’s no acid in the ingredients? Sugar likes to oxidize so that’s why you get a fizz when you add bicarb to a mixture on the stove (like Anzac Biscuits).

Boy’s rating of this Science in the kitchen project: 5/5.

For more simple science experiments for early and middle school years, have a look at Deakin University’s Ideas for Teaching Science: Years P-8 Chemical Change

The Art of Learning

Boy likes art. Boy HATES anything that looks remotely like traditional school. Eager to expand his creative mind and burgeoning artistic talents we spend ample time on art projects and weaving unschooling principles into suggestions, presentation and home school work time. To achieve this I have had to unschool myself and treat Boy as my academic equal – as though he is one of my university students.

This morning he begged for art. He nominated a yearning for drawing mountains. Ummm, this did not fit my plan for reading and comprehension. How could I weave my requirements for overall learning with his need for creativity?

“No worries darling. I just have to put this book away. Actually, it’s got some great photos of mountains and volcanoes if you want to have a peek for inspiration.”

I was born and raised in Papua New Guinea: a mountainous place of constant earth tremors and erupting volcanoes. A friend, who also spent most of her early adult life in Papua New Guinea, gave us a coffee table book on Papua New Guinea as a present for our recent wedding. When handing it over she said it was to help new husband understand where and how I was raised and why I am the person I am.

I told Boy the story she told as she handed the book across at my hen’s party:

I met Megan when our biggest children were very little. The kids were attending a group and every week, Megan was huddled in a corner poring over books and writing notes. When curiosity got the better of me, I approached Megan and began a conversation. Megan said she was studying for another degree. After only 10 minutes of talking with her, I asked if she was a “territorial brat” (a white child raised in one of the Australian territories, Papua New Guinea). Territorial brats grew up thinking they owned the world, could do anything and allowed nothing to stop their thirst for knowledge, practical learning and artful navigation of life. Megan fitted the mould to a T. It is because of Megan that I decided to go to university. Now that I’ve gone back to do a Masters degree, would you believe that: that little territorial brat has become my lecturer!

Interested in my early life that turned me into a monster (his words, not mine!), Boy began flicking through the book and asking me questions. Enthralled by my animated stories of jumping out of bed in the middle of the night to stand under doorframes until the quake was over, Boy asked a myriad of questions around lava, poisonous gas and the weight of volcanic ash. While story telling, Boy began drawing a volcano (pictured with the inspirational book).

Even more interested in how to become a “territorial brat”, Boy questioned how he also could rule the world.

“It’s all in the way you ask the questions and respond to people. Listening, responding and standing up for yourself are skills. You can them in a helpful way or a not so helpful way. That book club surprise you got last month is all about how to rule the world.”

Eager to capitalize upon the teachable moment, I hoped that I could find the book in Boy’s incredibly disorganized room. Bingo. It was right beside his bed.

“I read that. It’s boring,” Boy scoffed.

“Really? You must have just read the boring bits because check this out: "This book is all about how to deal with other people and get what you want from them, whether it’s a new bike, a fair deal, or a little respect” and “What to say to Grown-ups who treat you like a kid.”

After reading the first chapter together, Boy changed his mind about the book being boring. He completed the pop quiz that resulted in an analysis of:

“You have an okay idea of how to handle yourself, but you don’t always make the best decisions about what to say or do. Don’t worry – that’s where this book comes in! Read on to learn how to get through all kinds of sticky situations.”

How Aspergers does that analysis sound?! As I type, Boy is at the kitchen table drawing a picture of how to get me to stop treating him like a little kid. What an artful way of learning.

To learn more about the art of storytelling, have a look at this article I wrote. Here is another one on being self-assertive. Both are useful ideas to teach to children and to use as home school lessons.

Finally, and just because I cannot fit them into anything else, here are some quilt squares I made for our Wedding quilt. I had terrific fun telling Boy my story behind the quilt square symbols and listening to him embellish the stories beyond belief.

Guess What This Creature Is?

Hint: It is Boy's favorite. Leave your guess below. Boy says the correct guess will be the correct generic name of the creature...BUT...he wants you to know that the pictures are of the creature from two different South Pacific countries. Once somebody correctly guesses, Boy will tell you the identifying names of each creature.

Don't you hate it when the student becomes the teacher!!!!!

Youth Week 2007 Met Home School Goals

Home school activities that help others and raise the profile of young people and their unique needs and culture:

Boy participated in some voluntary work and free workshops for Youth Week 2007. As a youth helper, Boy attended a signage workshop and helped to paint signs for the Youth Week celebrations. He loved it. He contributed toward signs for Body Painting (painted inside the scripted letters), Clay work and Drama.

Major bonus for Boy was actually attending and participating in learning workshops on Drama and body painting. Other participants showed a good deal of interest in Boy being home schooled and how his involvement in the workshops counted toward home school hours. Boy appeared to proudly share the knowledge he had about youth issues and how making a few changes to his life has greatly helped him (Boy has Aspergers).

Evidence of meeting two of our short term goals for home school was delivered when I was least expecting it. Boy was invited to speak publicly about his involvement in the Youth Week activities. He took the microphone and told the audience how much fun he had had. His self esteem healthy and his sense of self comfortable, Boy unknowingly has met the following two goals, without connecting that his fun days were school work related:

· To reduce Boy’s anxiety and to increase his self esteem.
· To reignite an interest in education as a worthwhile activity.

I LOVE home schooling for my child with Aspergers. Youth Week provided us a platform of measurement to observe how significantly Boy has improved since our decision to home school.

Norfolk Island - How it Became Populated.

We have just returned from our honeymoon on Norfolk Island. A living museum and a refuge from the worlds cruel abuse of itself, Norfolk Island is a place we will now travel to every year. We have spent hours telling our home schooled son about the marvels of the island. Interested in how people first came to discover Norfolk Island, I have written our conversations up so that you can use them as a Norfolk Island information plan.

How Norfolk Island Became Populated.

Norfolk Island is a tiny South Pacific Island, halfway between New Zealand and New Caledonia. Green, hilly and a long way from anywhere, it takes two and a half hours in a plane from Brisbane or Sydney (Australia) and one and a half hours from New Zealand.

Beautiful, unspoilt and organic, Norfolk Island is an extinct volcano. It is the only above ocean part of a rocky ridge that runs from New Zealand to New Caledonia. Where the rocky ridge rises majestically from the ocean, golden sand has congregated around some edges. Where there is no sand, the island edge is instead dimpled with rock pools of azure blue. Wherever you are on the island and wherever you look, Norfolk Island provides amazing views of either unspoilt coastlines and never ending blue, blue, blue ocean or green forested rolling hills, guarded by majestic and tall Norfolk Pines.

Norfolk Island is its own country. You need a passport and visa to go there and they have their own Island rules and regulations. Their government is made up of only nine politicians who work in a magnificent old building made by convicts.

Norfolk Island had three beginnings at becoming populated:

1. The first settlement (1788-1814). Although discovered by Captain James Cook on his second voyage in 1774, there weren't any people around to live on the island until 1788. England had banished their convicts to a hard life in Australia and as soon as they all arrived, the English masters were keen to get their hands on the other beautiful little Island that Captain Cookie boy had described as "paradise". Cook had noted in his ships log that Norfolk Island was covered with tall pine trees (Norfolk pines) with plenty of flax that looked as thought they would make good masts for ships and sails. A small party of convicts and mean guards were sent immediately to claim the Island and to collect food to send back to the starving new colony at Botany Bay Australia.
   
   Bad luck for the English: the Norfolk Pines were unsuitable for ships and there was little food to feed the starving convicts and officers in charge of them. After killing off all the birds for food, the English decided to not only abandon the island but to destroy all the strong stone buildings that the convicts had made. The English did not want to make it easy for anyone else to claim the island, especially the French. By 1814, the English had taken all of the convicts back to Australia and the island had only broken remains of buildings. The English bashed and raided the island and left her bleeding and alone, spoilt so that nobody else would want her.
   


2. The second settlement (1826-1856). Imagine if after the first sad start and end of Norfolk Island that things got better. Unfortunately, things got worse. In 1826, The English settlers of the penal colony in Australia needed somewhere to send the worst of the worst convicts. Already sent away from their families by being banished to Australia, the English governors punished the convicts a second time by sending them to Norfolk Island. This time there was nothing nice; no semi freedom for the convicts. The conditions were harsh beyond belief and the lives of the convicts meant nothing. There was no plan for the convicts to ever return to the mainland of Australia and nobody cared about them. They starved, drowned as they worked, or died from disease of filthy conditions. They slaved in chains to build magnificent stone buildings (the stone was quarried from under the ocean) but never got the opportunity to enjoy seeing what they had built. The conditions, suffering and cruelty they endured caused an outcry from people who cared about human life and the Norfolk penal settlement was again abandoned. The few surviving convicts were sent to Tasmania and the island again sat alone and uninhabited. During this second settlement, Norfolk Island was referred to as "Hell in the Pacific."
   
   
3. The third settlement (June 8, 1856). The British Government declared Norfolk Island as an independent settlement and allowed the descendants of the Bounty mutineers to move to the island. Embarrassed by these people and their ties to a mutiny against the British Navy, England didn't know what to do with them. The mutineers had settled on Pitcairn island (they married Island women and had many babies), but the island was so small that it could no longer support them all. Norfolk was uninhabited, was viewed by the English as unworkable, and so the descendants of the Mutiny on the Bounty were granted the right to settle there.
   
   In the loving hands of these people from Pitcairn Island, people who understood the precious balance of nature and island life, Norfolk Island has risen from it's gory and sad history to become a safe and jeweled island paradise. Nowadays, Norfolk Island has approximately 2000 people living on her. These people take very good care of her and protect her from misuse, disease and over population.

Norfolk Island has the second cleanest air in the world. The cleanest air is in Antarctica but its a little too cold to live there! Norfolk Island has no snakes or poisonous spiders and is a safe and healthy haven for children to explore. No fruit or vegetables are allowed to be imported onto the island so that the island's disease free status can be maintained.

The biggest pest on the island is the feral chickens (chooks). They roam where they want, digging up people's vegetable gardens and making havoc in flower gardens. Nobody seems to like the wild chooks and everybody would like them gone.

Because the island is so small (8km by 5km), the government has to be careful about how many people live there and how many tourists can visit. The island is an interactive museum. You don't just see and hear about history on Norfolk Island, you live it, walk on it, touch it. Too many visitors would destroy the natural beauty and living history of the island.

Norfolk Island has become our new family holiday place. We will go there every year because it is beautiful, safe and healthy. Living with the Australian history of the island also makes a visit to the island an educational experience that no other place can match.

If you'd like to visit Norfolk Island you can fly there with either Qantas or Air New Zealand. Start saving your pocket money. Not only is it a beautiful place to visit, it also boasts having the cheapest Lego in the world. Cool!

Just Married

We celebrated our wedding in the rainforest on March 31. The day was perfect. The weather held, the guests all enjoyed themselves and in the words of an eleven year old to her mother as we began our wedding waltz straight from a Pulp Fiction scene,

"This wedding is wicked."

For all of Boy's Aspergic difficulties around coping with change and being surrounded by too many people, he did exceedingly well.

Our vows were a tear jerker for both of us and our friends and family shed tears at Boy's and Paul's displays of affection to each other.

Our Honeymoon on Norfolk Island was divine. We fully intend to take Boy back to the island as a living history trip and home school excursion. As I impart the historical and botanical highlights to Boy over the next few days, I will share the information and photos in posts.

In a nut shell, our wedding in the rainforest was beautiful and will remain a special and happy memory for all of us.