Unschooling

Playing with circuits – electrical and racing ones!

 

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5 4 3 2 1 BLASTOFF!

We try and make the most of catch ups with Alex’s few schooled friends which can now only happen at the weekend, and due to our current activity schedule our weekend mornings are busy. So we met up at a newly refurbished local park. Unfortunately though, there were a few mishaps and Alex ended up hitting his head VERY hard twice. He complained of a headache for the rest of the night, and the following morning too. So after a discussion with nurse on call we went to the Royal children’s Hospital. Fortunately he was fine, and the kids enjoyed watching the fish. But we missed a homeschool organised activity about the water cycle. On the way home we stopped at Aldi – I had seen on a facebook group that there were ‘build your own’ circuits available, and so we bought one. Of course, Alex left with extras – an air propelled rocket but he used his pocket money for it. He cannot save it for more than 2 weeks, even when he has desired the same toy for so long (a double lightsaber).

Making circuits
Making circuits

 

The rocket was a little bit disappointing, but we eventually got it to go a few inches in the air after a bit of experimenting. The circuit was a big hit, and Alex hooked up the lights first. The we found the motor and a rotor. We connected a switch to it after I noticed Alex was disconnecting the circuit by removing pieces. When we did so, the rotor flew off! That was the fun for hours that day, showing Vio when he came home and also playing again the next day. There was a booklet that accompanied the kit that gave diagrams of circuits. Alex just did not want to use it! He wanted to do his own thing.  suggested he use the booklet to work out what each piece does – I don’t remember much about resistors from school, and in any case he probably wouldn’t listen 😉

After passing the zoo on the way to the hospital, Alex insisted we visit the zoo the following day. We visited the Australian animals which we never do! We got to see the wombats up and about. in fact we accidentally dropped Daniel’s shoe into their enclosure and they attached it! We got it back in one piece, and the wombats were thankfully unharmed. We walked through the aviary, and visited the monkeys which Daniel loves!

At home, Alex has been racing cars. asks to use the timer on my phone and sets up a circuit. Sometimes he races against me, other times just himself using different cars. On occasion we write the times down, but he can always tell me which car won the race after seeing or hearing the times. He’s also been interest in telling the time from the kitchen clock. I’ve tried on more than once to implement a calendar so Aex can visualise his activities by day. Problem is he doesn’t care much for what day it is (why should he?) and so I just let him know the night before what to expect from the day to come. However, I’m sorry to  say that this week I lost my temper with Alex. It doesn’t much matter why, I shouldn’t have and afterwards he told me that I had scared him. He decided that he would like to mark it on the calendar! So I have 2 red circles against me. He’s also been asking about camping, so I’ve left the crossing off of days to him so that he can countdown until our trip to Healesville.

Speaking of countdowns, Christmas has been on the radar – Alex has been quite fluent in the language of ‘I want’, and whilst I am not wanting to encourage consumerism (especially of cheap plastic toys) he is entitled to these feelings. So in the past I’ve dealt with this in the ‘I’ll put it on your list’. This time, Alex had the idea of taking a picture of him with an item. So that’s what we did. It means it satisfies Alex, he can decide later if he REALLY wants something, and I don’t forget to actually put them on his list too!

Alex also had a bit of a moment – he tied his own shoelaces, twice! And he’s only asked me to show him a few times. More than that, he’s only had lace up shoes for a few weeks.

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