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Teach your children at home!


After 20 years of being a contact and support person
Beverley no longer takes phone call or email inquiries.
Please join one of her yahoo groups (see below) if you want
to know more about homeschooling or have a question.

 

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Getting Started with
Home Schooling:
Practical Consideration

 
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photos of children learning at home
photos of children learning at home
photos of children learning at home

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Hickory Dickory Dock...
A Clock Counting Game

© Beverley Paine

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

As child I treasured my copy of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. I taught myself to read by remembering off by heart all the rhymes and poems. With a little bit of creative ingenuity you can use many of these rhymes to enrich learning in all areas of the curriculum. I hope you enjoy the following game I made up while lying in bed this morning.

The craft part of this activity requires adult supervision and help.

You will need 12 large broad beans, 12 2cm lengths of white yarn or string, a texta pen, ruler, pencil and eraser, sturdy card, a drawing compass, protractor, glue gun and glue, a drill and bit or nail punch and hammer, scissors or craft knife, small plastic or paper cup, 2 different coloured pop sticks.

To play this game you will need to make a clock and 12 small 'mice'.

How to make the clock

On the sturdy card draw a circle about 20cm diameter. You can draw around a plate or use the drawing compass. Lightly draw two intersecting lines with a ruler using the pencil to find the centre of the circle. Use this point and the protractor to mark in the positions of the hours around the clock, beginning at the top (12 oclock) and working your way around every 30 degrees. Write in the numbers 1 to 12 using the texta pen and erase all the pencil marks. If you wish to use this clock for other clock activities you might like to mark in the minutes too, writing them in above teh hour marks, starting with 1 and finishing with 60 just above the 12 hour mark.

Shorten one of the coloured pop sticks by about one third. Punch a hole through one end of each coloured pop stick, and through the centre of the clock face. Fasten these together using the paper fastener so that the hour hand (short pop stick) is closest to the clock face. When you turn the minute hand (long pop stick) you may need to hold onto the hour hand to stop it moving.

How to make the mice

Glue a short piece of yarn to one end of each bean. Draw in two eyes and two ears. You can paint the beans if you wish.

How to play

If you can think of any other ways to use the clock and mice together please email me and I'll add them to this page.

Teach the child the song/rhyme. Gather a number of mice into a small cup and as you sing/say the song/rhyme together toss them gently onto the table by the clock. Ask the child how many mice ran up the clock. Say you tossed three mice. Sing the song again as the child moves the hands of the clock into the three o'clock position, changing the words to:

Three mice ran up the clock.
The clock struck three,
Oh dear me!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

Create a rhyme for the third line, or use the words from the link below.

Other Activities

If you'd like to learn to sing the whole song, all the words can be found on the DLTK's Printable Crafts For Kids website.

Make a cute cardboard clock and mouse to play with while singing the song.

After 20 years of being a contact and support person Beverley no longer takes phone call or email inquiries. Please join one of her yahoo groups if you want to know more about homeschooling or have a question.

 

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Getting Started with Homeschooling - how to write your own learning programs
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Learning Without School - how 30 families homeschool
The Homeschooling Trail - Christian unschooling life
Learning in the Absence of Education - how we did it
Practical Homeschooling Booklet Series - your questions answered!
Educational Games Booklet Series - make learning fun!
Practical Homeschooling Language Development Series
Natural Learning Series
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Fridge Magnets - handy reminders!
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Sample Learning Programs
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Home education is a legal alternative to school education in Australia.
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families are able to develop curriculum
and learning programs to suit the
individual needs of their children.
For more information:
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photo of Beverley and Robin PainePioneering members of the home education movement in Australia, Beverley and Robin Paine are passionate advocates of true educational choice for families. They began homeschooling their children in 1986 and three years later started the South Australian Home Based Learners network.
Beverley wrote Getting Started with Homeschooling in 1995-97 and since then continues to write books and booklets on home education. She balances spending time helping home educators with working in her garden and renovating her home, as well as continuing to build her collection of writing on a variety of homeschooling subjects. Beverley maintains an extensive collection of websites as well as several Yahoo groups supporting families teaching their children at home. In 2007 Beverley joined the HEA and became a committee member in 2008: she also edits and produce the HEA Newsletter, HEA magazine, Stepping Stones for Home Educators, annual Resource Directory and other HEA publications. If you'd like to keep in touch with what Beverley is up to her in her life, sign up for the Homeschool Australia Newsletter or visit her Facebook page.