Art Exhibition
I just wanted to thank everyone who helped out and came along to our first Living Learning Art Exhibition. It was such a beautiful night.
Thank you SO much to everyone who helped set up!
Thank you to Elizabeth, whose idea it was!
Thank you to our wonderful musicians
Thank you to the Teen Homeschooling Group for being involved (you can find out more about what the teens are up to HERE)
Thank you to everyone involved!
If you would like to see some of the art works displayed (and more) you can visit the new Gallery page I have set up on the Living Learning website HERE. I can put up and take down artworks from this online Gallery at any time so if your children would like to display their work you can email me at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au
“Jungle Butterflies and Alien Frog” by Maddie
Term 2 Program
Welcome to Living Learning’s Term 2 program!
All workshops are held at the Mid Mountains Community Centre in Lawson and run from 11am-12 on Tuesday mornings, with time to share lunch and play afterwards. Everyone is welcome to come along at lunchtime for a catch up and play whether or not they attend the workshop. For all bookings and inquiries contact Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au. All workshops are Home Education Association Inc events.
1st May – Mini-beasts!
Travelbugs Mobile Mini-beasts is a fun ‘hands-on’ mobile education service that travels all over NSW (and beyond) educating people of all ages about the benefits and wonders of invertebrates or ‘mini-beasts’ (insects, spiders, snails, millipedes etc) within our environment. Every workshop includes a hands-on mini-beast experience not to be forgotten! Live mini-beasts brought along include large and colourful stick insects, centipedes, millipedes, giant burrowing cockroaches, preying mantis, spiders, scorpions, beetles, caterpillars and more.
Travelbugs Mobile Mini-beasts also offers services to the media and has featured on several popular television programs in Australia such as Creature Features, Gardening Australia, Playschool, Burke’s Backyard, Sunrise and Better Homes & Gardens.
All workshops meet the Board of Studies K-12 Syllabus Guidelines and assist teachers in meeting a variety of learning outcomes. Topics covered may include mini-beasts and:
Changes in Our World: life cycles, food chains, food webs & the seasons etc.
Preparing for the Schoolyard Safari: Discovering Mini-beasts: What you can do at home or school. Collecting and studying mini-beasts in the backyard, schoolyard & beyond. Learn how to build insect traps, terrariums, butterfly garden or compost heap, keep live mini-beasts, safety, capture, ID, re-release, surveys etc. (Several options available)
Fears & Phobias; think you’re scared?
Communities, Habitats & Ecology; Who lives where? Who helps who? Shelters.
Conservation & Threatened Species; threats & recovery plans.
Uses in Industry: Agriculture, Forestry (Pests & Allied Species) & Medical Uses & Research as well as Forensic Entomology.
Entomology: career & hobby choices available.
Anatomy & Physiology; Mini-beast form & function explained.
Taxonomy, Classification & insects ID
Art & Photography
For more information, resources, teacher/student comments and more, check out the website 
Jacqui was a Senior Zookeeper at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo for almost 10 years. Although she has experience and knowledge of a broad variety of animals, invertebrates and other “mini-beasts” have always been closest to her heart. She developed invertebrate colonies and displays and conducted extensive invertebrate research for Taronga Zoo during her time there. Several years before, she worked at the Sydney Tropical Butterfly House, once located at Dural in Sydney’s northwest where she presented workshops, lectures and tours to schools groups several times per week, as well as cared for and bred a variety of mini-beast species.
She has kept over 250 different species of LIVE spiders, scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, butterflies, grasshoppers, crickets, flies, cockroaches, beetles, worms, preying mantis, stick insects, crayfish, snails, ants and bees and the list continues to grow.
She possesses a diverse range of qualifications including a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Science from Charles Sturt University, the Zookeeping and Animal Attending Certificates from the Sydney Institute of Technology and an assortment of other specialty courses such as Spider Identification, Herpetological Techniques, Aquarium Science and Beekeeping. She also taught the Invertebrate component of the Zookeeping Certificate through the Sydney Institute of Technology for 3 years and recently taught Animal Studies at Bathurst And Orange TAFE in 2005-2006.
Jacqui has been operating Travelbugs Mobile Mini-beasts for 10 years and intends to continue to develop it wherever possible.
Cost:
HEA Members: $12 for the first child, $10 for the second child, $8 for subsequent children.
Non-HEA Members: $14 for the first child, $12 for the second child, $10 for subsequent children.
Payments are due by Friday the 27th April. Please email Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au for booking and payment details.
Due to limited places in this workshop and to allow for the presence of younger siblings, Jacqui is tailoring her show to suit interested toddlers as well as older participants. As such, younger siblings who are likely to participate need to be booked in and paid for as well. Thanks.
8th and 15th of May – Joyous Movement
An exploration of joy through music, movement games, and the co-creation of dance made up of our individual expressions of joy and sense of place. Percussion instruments will be available for those who are more inclined to create sound than dance.
Facilitated by Julie, Kaya and Gareth who have all grown up with joyous experiences of movement and music. They are influenced by contemporary dance, cooperative games, harmonic dance, belly dancing, African drumming and dancing, and the pure joy of making sound and moving your body.
Cost:
HEA members: $4 per child per week
Non-HEA members: $6 per child per week
22nd of May – First Aid in the Mountains
BLUE MOUNTAINS HOME EDUCATION NETWORK IS PROUD TO PRESENT!
FIRST AID IN THE MOUNTAINS!
CPR HELP is very excited and proud to be able to provide your children with the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program in conjuction with BMHEN.
Research has shown that children who learn the DRSABCD concepts at a young age are better equipped to deal with an emergency situation and have a greater grasp on the competencies as teenager and adults. By teaching your children these principles we are giving them the knowledge to stay safe and help if anything does happen with their family or friends.
What will my children be doing in this workshop ?
Children will be involved in learning exactly what to do in an emergency situation. In our hands on workshops they will learn about danger, how to try to get a response from an injured person, role playing how to make a 000 emergency phone call and answering questions asked by an operator, checking to see if an injured person has anything in their airway and if they are breathing and learning how to roll an injured person into the recovery position and clear the airway if needed. Children will also have hands on experience in learning how to perform CPR on manikins.
Extra, Extra…. Specifically designed just for the mountains workshops…. Your children will also learn how they can implement DRSABCD in a variety of mountain specific possible incidents. Incorporated into the workshops we will look at burns (bushfires), bleeding and bites (snakes and leeches). We will talk your children through a variety of possible scenarios and ways of dealing with each and then they will have the opportunity to role play a selection of scenarios, allowing them to put into practice what they have learned…
Although parts of this workshop were presented in 2011, parents are encouraged to enroll their children again to refresh their memories, pick up new skills and learn all the most up to date life saving skills. Who knows when we may need it?
Living Learning Art Exhibition
We recently held a wonderful series of Art Workshops with local Artist Bev Webster. We have organised an Exhibition for those involved to show their work, and would like to extend the invitation to exhibit to the rest of our homeschooling community. If your children would like to enter some of their own art work to exhibit please let me know by emailing sparksandflames@soundview.com.au For those who attended the series of workshops your exhibiting fee has been covered in the workshop fee. For those who did not take part in the workshops there will be a $2 exhibiting fee for members of the Home Education Association Inc ($5 for non members HEA).
LIVING LEARNING ART EXHIBITION
Tuesday 3rd of April
If your children would like to exhibit their work (from our art
workshops or otherwise, 1 or 2 works per child, marked with their
name) please drop it off with us (Julie and Gareth) between 12 and 1pm
at the Mid Mountains Community Centre in Lawson on Tuesday the 3rd of
April. Your child might like to include a small piece of paper with
their name, the title of their work(s), materials used, a price (if
they wish to sell their work). To clarify:
Tuesday 3rd April
12-1pm at the Mid Mountains Community Centre in Lawson.
If children would like to sell cards or postcards of their work, their work can be photographed and either uploaded to a website like www.redbubble.com which allows you to order cards, postcards etc. Otherwise the photographs of their art can be printed out and glued to cardboard. If your child would like to sell cards, on the night they can bring their cards, a sign with a price and a jar to collect money (either as an honesty system or by manning their table).
Nibbles and Live Music will be provided on the night. It should be a great evening!
We have created an invitation for sharing with family
and friends, by email, or by printing it and passing it out. Please email me (sparksandflames@soundview.com.au) if you would like a copy. Or you can make your own invitations, featuring your child’s artwork.
If you can let me know if you plan to exhibit or attend, and roughly how many people you would like to invite, that would be great!
Best Wishes,
Julie
Term 1 Program
Welcome to our Autumn Program! All workshops are located at the Mid Mountains Community Centre in Lawson and run from 11am-12 on Tuesday mornings, with time to share lunch and play afterwards. For all bookings and inquiries contact Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au. All workshops are Home Education Association Inc events.
March 13th: Stories we Love
Bring your favourite picture book and we will read it all together in a story sharing circle. We can chat about plot, setting, characters, dialogue, and how language is used in each story. We will compare, contrast and celebrate the stories we love.
Cost: $2 HEA members $4 non HEA members (to cover hall and insurance costs).
March 20th: Fire Brigade
Members of Lawson Fire Station will present a fire safety talk, with a show bag for each child, and an opportunity to explore the fire truck.
Cost: $2 HEA members $4 non HEA members (to cover hall and insurance costs).
March 27th: CSIRO Hands On Science Programs
We are still taking bookings for these two wonderful events. Please note booking is essential and payments are due by 6th of March to secure your place.
** Air, Atmosphere & Weather Workshop (K-6), and
** Energy, Forces & Motion Show (Yrs 7-10)
The CSIRO Science Education Centre create a dynamic interactive forum within which students can take a hands-on role. Their program engages students in eye-opening interactive science theatre and hands-on experiments, which have been developed around real-life CSIRO research. Our students will become the scientists, rather than just reading about them.
***Air, Atmosphere & Weather Student Workshop This stimulating interactive show is designed to encourage students to think like scientists‚. During the session, students make predictions and observations during eye-catching demonstrations involving air, water and liquid nitrogen. Demonstrations of evaporation, expanding gases and condensation are designed for students to question and gain an understanding of these processes. Allow your students to be inspired by the science of weather in a new exciting educational forum. Demonstrations allow students to:
* see that air takes up space
* feel how air exerts a force
* explore what happens when air is cooled and heated air
* understand air and the weather
* find out what makes up air.
This workshop is recommended for Kindergarten to Year 6. Costs are $12 (HEA) / $14 (Non HEA). Contact Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au
*** Energy, Forces & Motion Show This 60 minute show explores matter, energy and how they interact. Through fun demonstrations and discussion, students can: investigate magnetic braking and Lenz’s Law visualise magnetic fields with ferrofluids and nanoparticales examine electric fields, electrostatics and plasmas explore properties of sound including standing waves, harmonics and resonance experience angular momentum and gyroscopes experience different forms of electromagnetic energy including lasers and infrared use persistence of vision and find out how a stroboscope can help to freeze motion. Learn about Bernoulli’s Principle, air resistance, and fast moving air.
This show is suitable for Years 7-10. Costs are $15 (HEA) / $20 (non HEA). Contact Jane at jane@hrlearning.com.au
April 3rd: Easter Skill Sharing Market
Everyone has a skill to share! Be it a magic trick, knitting, a musical instrument, cats cradle, a tongue twister, crochet, a joke, a knot, a song, fortune telling, a poem, origami…
…the list is as endless as our imaginations! Children and adults alike, bring the tools of your trade and swap skills with everyone in our Easter Skill Sharing Market.
Cost: $2 HEA members $4 non HEA members (to cover hall and insurance costs).
Look forward to connecting with every one over Autumn!
Best Wishes,
Julie
Reminder: An Artist’s Journey
Just a quick reminder that this week is the last week to register for our series of art workshops and exhibition. Should be a wonderful journey exploring art making, our environment, and exhibiting (both online and as an exciting event to share with our loved ones to the sweet sounds of some acoustic music!). Details are below. To book please email Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au
February 14th – March 6th: An Artist’s Journey
Local artist Bev Webster will accompany us on a journey of art-making: exploring a theme, looking at relevant works by other artists, learning new techniques, creative expression with paint/mixed media, culminating in our own art exhibition.
We will be loosely exploring environmental themes, looking at the natural world, reflecting on being a part of our local ecology. Each participant will receive an art kit including a canvas and a set of brushes. Acrylic paint will be provided. Gesso, a variety of papers, raffia and leaves will also be used in building up layers of textures and imprints over the four weeks.
Bev is a local visual artist with a degree from Sydney University. She is currently working in a variety of mediums including stained glass and mosaics. As well as exhibiting locally, Bev is teaching a variety of mediums in community groups, including homeschooling groups and local schools. Bev is very flexible and encouraging and loves working with children, helping them to explore and express the creativity that is naturally inside them.
After the series of four workshops we will put together an exhibition, to hang the works created and share them with our friends and relations. Children are also welcome to bring other works of theirs that they may like to exhibit and will have the opportunity to create reproductions of their work and exhibit in a digital gallery on the Living Learning website if they wish. We will organise flyers/invitations for our exhibition opening which the children can hand out to their loved ones. Drinks and nibbles and musical entertainment will be provided for the event. The date and time of the exhibition will be arranged with workshop participants.
Cost: $55 per participant ($60 for non HEA members). This price includes venue hire, four weeks of art tuition, all materials and insurance and nibblies for our exhibition 
.
Bookings: Please book as soon as possible to ensure your place, by emailing sparksandflames@soundview.com.au and payment details will be provided.
Payment will be due by 2nd of February to allow time for purchase of materials.
Hope to see you there!
Living Learning February/March Program
Welcome to a new year of Living Learning! I have been provided with some wonderful photos of our events from last year which I have created a new page for on the Living Learning site. From the homepage click on the tab “Photos” to see a selection of moments from our past programs. I tried to choose group shots where individuals weren’t easily recognisable, but please let me know if you would like any of the photos taken off the site for any reason. Gratitude for the wondrous diverse experiences of last year and big thanks to the photographer!
Below is our Summer Program of offerings. All workshops are located at the Mid Mountains Community Centre in Lawson and run from 11am-12 on Tuesday mornings, with time to share lunch and play afterwards. For all bookings and inquiries contact Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au. All workshops are Home Education Association Inc events. Happy New Year!
February 7th: Cooperative Games Day
We will welcome the new year in with lots of fun and silliness, creativity and connection as we explore games based in cooperation, rather than competition. Last years Cooperative Games Day was one of our most dynamic, surprising and fun-filled workshops, highly recommended!
Cost: $5 per family for HEA members/$7 for non HEA members
What to bring: bodies ready to play!
February 14th – March 6th: An Artist’s Journey
Local artist Bev Webster will accompany us on a journey of art-making: exploring a theme, looking at relevant works by other artists, learning new techniques, creative expression with paint/mixed media, culminating in our own art exhibition.
We will be loosely exploring environmental themes, looking at the natural world, reflecting on being a part of our local ecology. Each participant will receive an art kit including a canvas and a set of brushes. Acrylic paint will be provided. Gesso, a variety of papers, raffia and leaves will also be used in building up layers of textures and imprints over the four weeks.
Bev is a local visual artist with a degree from Sydney University. She is currently working in a variety of mediums including stained glass and mosaics. As well as exhibiting locally, Bev is teaching a variety of mediums in community groups, including homeschooling groups and local schools. Bev is very flexible and encouraging and loves working with children, helping them to explore and express the creativity that is naturally inside them.
After the series of four workshops we will put together an exhibition, to hang the works created and share them with our friends and relations. Children are also welcome to bring other works of theirs that they may like to exhibit and will have the opportunity to create reproductions of their work and exhibit in a digital gallery on the Living Learning website if they wish. We will organise flyers/invitations for our exhibition opening which the children can hand out to their loved ones. Drinks and nibbles will be provided for the event (maybe even musical entertainment if we have any volunteers?). The date and time of the exhibition will be arranged with workshop participants.
Cost: $55 per participant ($60 for non HEA members). This price includes venue hire, four weeks of art tuition, all materials and insurance.
Bookings: Please book as soon as possible to ensure your place, by emailing sparksandflames@soundview.com.au and payment details will be provided.
Payment will be due by 2nd of February to allow time for purchase of materials.
Hope to see you there!
While our March/April Program will be out next month, here is a reminder about the CSIRO events coming up in this time:
CSIRO Hands On Science Programs
TWO EVENTS – MARCH 27th, 2012.
** Air, Atmosphere & Weather Workshop (K-6), and
** Energy, Forces & Motion Show (Yrs 7-10)
The CSIRO Science Education Centre create a dynamic interactive forum within which students can take a hands-on role. Their program engages students in eye-opening interactive science theatre and hands-on experiments, which have been developed around real-life CSIRO research. Our students will become the scientists, rather than just reading about them.
***Air, Atmosphere & Weather Student Workshop This stimulating interactive show is designed to encourage students to think like scientists‚. During the session, students make predictions and observations during eye-catching demonstrations involving air, water and liquid nitrogen. Demonstrations of evaporation, expanding gases and condensation are designed for students to question and gain an understanding of these processes. Allow your students to be inspired by the science of weather in a new exciting educational forum. Demonstrations allow students to:
* see that air takes up space
* feel how air exerts a force
* explore what happens when air is cooled and heated air
* understand air and the weather
* find out what makes up air.
This workshop is recommended for Kindergarten to Year 6. Costs are $12 (HEA) / $14 (Non HEA).Contact Julie at sparksandflames@soundview.com.au
*** Energy, Forces & Motion Show This 60 minute show explores matter, energy and how they interact. Through fun demonstrations and discussion, students can: investigate magnetic braking and Lenz’s Law visualise magnetic fields with ferrofluids and nanoparticales examine electric fields, electrostatics and plasmas explore properties of sound including standing waves, harmonics and resonance experience angular momentum and gyroscopes experience different forms of electromagnetic energy including lasers and infrared use persistence of vision and find out how a stroboscope can help to freeze motion. Learn about Bernoulli’s Principle, air resistance, and fast moving air.
This show is suitable for Years 7-10. Costs are $15 (HEA) / $20 (non HEA). Contact Jane at jane@hrlearning.com.au
