Save time and simplify
your homeschooling life...
Learn from experienced
homeschoolers how to write your own curriculum.
It really is that easy!
Use this website with Beverley Paine's Getting Started with Home Schooling - Practical Considerations to help you develop your own educational curriculum to suit your family situation, beliefs and lifestyle. The checklists can help you identify your children's current educational skill level in each subject area, as well as find any 'gaps' in their learning, plan what they need to cover or keep track of what has been learned. As you can appreciate this website is continuously under development... It's our aim to add pages on a regular basis in all curriculum areas: check back frequently. We hope you enjoy the articles and activities and find the links and recommended resources useful. Over the next year we will be working our way through each subject area and writing fresh, new content. |
|
"Thank you so much for your wonderful website! I was getting quiet frustrated with finding appropriate information on homeschooling - thanks to your website we are now on the right track... Using your checklists for reassurance helped me to have the confidence to come up with my own programme that suits our needs." Rachael "I'm a frequent visitor to your website... I gain valuable knowledge from your website, luckily recommended in the very early stages of our homeschooling journey." Geradine "I checked out your website today and was incredibly impressed by it. I can tell it will be a great resource for our family for many years. THANKS for all the hard work that has gone into making homeschooling easier and much less isolating for families like us." Cynthia |
Please note that Beverley Paine is unavailable to answer telephone and email inquiries, etc. Please join a support group in your state. |
||
A Naturally Learning Activity
Make A Garden Spiral
© Beverley Paine
Do you have a patch of lawn, or perhaps a bare area in your garden that you'd like to turn into something a little more interesting? What about creating a garden spiral? This is a fun project for all the family. I was originally inspired by a 4 metre wide spiral made of single paving stones laid in a patch of grass, but you can make your spiral of anything, including plants or a continuous gravel path.
We began by marking out a square with tomato stakes and then laying a long rope in a spiral pattern, working our way from the centre to the outer edge of one side of the square. To find the centre, use two ropes crossed diagonally from opposing corners of the square.
Did you know that a spiral is the simplest pattern for a maze? Most people would not think of a spiral as a maze at all, and you might get dizzy walking it, but all maze patterns do spiral into the centre, however they twist and turn on the way.
Spirals look amazing if you put them on a turntable and rotate them slowly!
To help prepare for this activity, why not go on a spiral hunt and find as many spirals as you can? Look around your house, your garden, at the sky, in your sink, in books. You'll be surprised at the number of places you'll find these interesting phenomenon.
Why a spiral? Here are some websites to whet your appetite on your quest for knowledge about spirals. You may find some inspiration to create a truly wonderful spiral, or spirals, to help you start 2006 spinning!
- http://www.ancientspiral.com/spirals.htm
"From magnetic fields to vast galaxies swirling in space, spirals can be seen in every aspect in nature. We see them in the physical forces which shape the Earth - the tides of the ocean, the winds in the atmosphere - and within life itself. Plants and the horns and shells of animals grow in spiral formations and some animals, especially aquatic species, possess a twisting locomotion. The spiral phenomenon within natural forms can be explained through mathematics - the pattern is a result of complex sequences, equations and algorithms which nature utilises in her designs of the Universe. But mathematics alone cannot justify the lure of the spiral to the human mind." - http://celtdigital.org/Spiral.htm
collection of spiral patterns - http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_spirals_040325.html
an explanation of some spirals found on Mars! - http://maven.smith.edu/~phyllo/CourseMaterial/Teachingmodules/phyltut1.html
an article on observing spiral patterns in plants - http://ipn.persianblog.com/1383_2_ipn_archive.html
the mathematics of spirals found in plants! - http://members.tripod.com/vismath/dima/
more maths, including Fibonacci numbers and sequences - http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/perfect_spirals_030917.html
Spirals in Nature: The Magical Number behind Hurricanes and Galaxies
on this website is of a general
nature only and is not intended as
personal or professional advice.
Always Learnign Books
Beverley and Robin wish to thank everyone for their patience as they convert most of the Always Learning Book titles to e-book format. As each booklet becomes available it will be listed on this website.
If you wish to be informed about new listings as well as news regarding Always Learning Books please join our mailing list.
More questions?
JOIN a FORUM
Looking for Resources?
Home Education Directory
Join the HEA in 2008
and receive
2 FREE Booklets!
A percentage of sales
goes to Trees For Life
|
|
Thank you for visiting!
Text & Images on this site Copyright © 1999-2008 Beverley Paine. All rights reserved. Please note that the opinions and articles included in the suite of Homeschool Australia websites are not necessarily those of Beverley and Robin Paine, nor do we endorse or necessarily recommend products (other than our own) listed in contributed articles, links, pages, or advertisements.