I was interested to see that the kids are given exercises from the 10 - 11 years age group, demonstrating that despite having started their maths three years after mainstream schools, they had already caught up by Class Four - or P6. Certainly from my own experience, Oisin's timestables are second to none and they work on problems sums now almost daily.
Donna gives them exercises and then marks them, awarding them goldstars, as recognition for the hardwork. Another myth busted - that they don't mark the work. At Class Four, they most certainly do. The only thing which Donna reckons they miss out on in not getting homework at this stage is the spelling. It just takes them a little longer to get the spelling right, but by the end of the week they have their new words and most of them will get that all right, and they really feel like they have worked hard at it.
Another advantage to not having homework sent back with them, is that they are not worrying about it by themselves. They don't feel that they need to struggle with their spellings on their own. It is worked out in class and with the others, once again, giving a sense of camaraderie.
Another worksheet...
The exercise book they work from...
This very battered copy of Beowulf is what they will be tackling next week. I was blown away that they were now doing Beowulf. In English, abridged, of course. This week they also did Norse myths, the Creation, and they were able to relate that back to the Creation myth they did last year... the glimmerings of comparative literature!
It's safe to say that they are doing geography.... and lots of maps at this stage! Here is a map by Mika - it was copied off the board and it is fantastically detailed.
I wanted to take more photos of the main lesson books because they are all so beautiful and so different from each other.
That's another view of Ballymenoch Park...
Here's PART of a map...
...and here's the other part. This was done in two bits because the student thought it made it more manageable.
Donna also showed me the autumnal trees done by the class. Again each piece was so different, reflecting the personality of each child.
I also took the opportunity to nip into Class Five. They're doing botany this year. They start off with fungi and then move on to various parts of the plants. During the winter they do the lower plant life forms and then they let it go to 'sleep' over the winter. Then during spring time they will do flowers. This seems to make sense, of course.
The Celtic knot was a leftover from their form drawing class.
This year they do mythology from the East. Babylon, then India... i think they'll also be doing Greek and Roman myth as the age they are in is supposed to be the Golden Age. So Bhudda here is from India...
...mushroom spores....
Oh yes, they also do Ancient Egypt...
And Ganesh is also from India...
