Vision | 
06 26th, 2009| 
Sierra is now officially finished her Grade 1 year of homeschool/life learning. She had an amazing year of growth, experience and learning. We worked together with a learning consultant Maria provided by Wondertree and she is amazing, together we wrote Sierra’s Annual Review which sums up some of the highlights of her year, I have posted it her for those of you who want to read it 
Here is a slide show of pictures of her year
Sierra Robinson Annual Review
LANGUAGING
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to language learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year and has met age appropriate learning outcomes. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Sierra has integrated skills, concepts and knowledge demonstrating significant progress and learning breakthroughs in the following areas:
Sierra made very strong progress in her reading skills this year, through a variety of activities. She spent lots of time working on her reading and word recognition, and is now able to read much more difficult words and sound out ones she doesn’t know. She also learned the strategy of breaking longer words into shorter segments to sound out Sierra knows the difference between short and long vowel sounds and can pick out words with either. She can read many more sight words now and will ask for help if she needs it. This has helped her to increase her fluency and vocabulary. She is very proud at her ability and reaching her goal of reading early reader/chapter books and will read to her family and friends. As planned, she has been read to a great deal, and read books of her choosing, from the library and other sources.
Sierra enjoyed working in her “School Zone-Beginning Reading-Grade 1 and 2 ” workbook, where she learned about short and long vowel sounds, word recognition, and categorizing. She can now differentiate things that are opposite, and rhyme. Sierra now has her own journal that she prints in regularly. She has been starting on her cursive writing already and doing excellent work. She also demonstrated her growth when she wrote in all her Junior Ranger booklets herself. She took care to write smaller to fit between the lines, and applied her thinking and writing skills for the task. She has also created a scrap book of her travels and glued in memorabilia. She is currently continuing to draw and write about her adventures and learning experiences. As planned, Sierra has been using her phonics workbook and the Starfall.com website, when available. Sierra had lots of opportunity for creative drawing with crayons, and felts, and her fine motor skills have improved. As planned, she printed short notes, cards, emails, and letters, especially for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s day, and special occasions.
Sierra’s communication skills grew as she engaged in many conversations around family daily life and plans. She has shown she is able to articulate questions well, and this indicates that her thinking skills are well developed. Traveling gave her many opportunities to contrast, compare, and discuss what she experienced.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue language learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in her learning plan. Sierra will do more cursive writing in her new workbook, and journalling. She will also continue to work on her goal to read longer chapter books on her own.
HUMANITIES
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to humanities learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year and has met age appropriate learning outcomes. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas: knowledge of self and families, her environment, social and environmental issues, and First Nations culture. Specific highlights of developing skills and knowledge include:
Sierra learned beyond expectations this year as she had so many wonderful opportunities while traveling. She became fascinated with First Nations culture of North America, and her interest led her to explore and learn through many avenues. She continued to learn and read about many of the people, cultures, and their ancient ways of living, since returning to BC. She was also very excited to be involved in and complete the Junior Ranger Programs at the National Parks that she visited. Sierra learned about the rich cultural and geographical diversity while visiting Joshua Tree, White Sands, Saguaro, Organ Pipe, Carlsbad Caves, Guadalupe, Arches and Mesa Verde National Parks. Her favorite place was White Sands National Park in New Mexico. Her travels allowed her to see and experience firsthand family and community life through museums, hikes, and artifacts. Throughout, Sierra used a map workbook, and now knows the four directions and how to use a compass and read a map. She used her own map, kept track of her travels and marked the route. She was very excited to learn about the new states as she traveled through them.
Sierra began her journey in the fall in Alberta, on her grandparents’ farm, where she learned a great deal about farm life, the environment, and technology. Through this process she visited and learned about different families, communities, and cultures in Alberta and BC. As planned, Sierra enjoyed field trips and activities outdoors, including trips to the Drumheller dinosaur museum and the Calgary zoo. Sierra’s critical thinking and problem solving skills have been encouraged and developed through family discussions and meetings. Her understanding of timelines and geology increased as she learned about the age of the dinosaurs and the process of paleontology. She learned more in this area during a visit to the Royal BC Museum, where she also enjoyed the displays about First Nations’ culture and communities.
On the topic of families, communities and housing, she visited Salvation Mountain in Slab City, New Mexico and Taos, where she learned about alternative buildings called earthships. As she drove and travelled, new sights and experiences gave her opportunities for questioning, critical thinking and discussion, with her family. Sierra learned about cob homes and sustainable farms as she toured with her family while learning about sustainable and off the grid building. Sierra also learned by documenting her travels and experiences by keeping a journal, drawing, and photography. She took lots of pictures with her digital camera, e-mailed some to family and friends and also learned and helped her mother to post and add them to their website. As planned, Sierra also met with another 15 families in California who were part of the group “Families on the Road”, where she engaged in a variety of different social and cultural activities, and learned about different families. Sierra did not attend “Homeschool Day at Disneyland”as she decided to learn from the ‘Junior Ranger’ programs at the parks instead. Sierra learned more about money as a means of exchange as she counted, budgeted and spent her own money. She also learned about sustainable technology as she was involved in helping her family apply solar panels to their RV this fall, and a small windmill. She experienced their operation during her trip. Sierra participated in recycling by visiting and touring recycling centers, and her parents helped to her to find ways to help save the earth, which she is inspired to do. She learned more about the environment and technology through these and many other discussions and experiences.
Sierra is now living on a farm in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. It has been an amazing learning experience for her. She watches for the frogs and their eggs in the pond. There is a family of black bears that live on the property that she watches eat grass though the binoculars. She has also seen three baby calves being born. Sierra also helped collect eggs from the chickens and cook them for supper. She learned more about farm animals, cows, goats, horses, chickens and gardening as well.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue humanities learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in the learning plan. Sierra would like to study more about Native Indians of North America, study maps, plant a garden, and learn more about farming and farm animals. Changes to learning plan: deletion of “Homeschool Day at Disneyland”.
MATHEMATICS
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to math learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year and has met age appropriate learning outcomes. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas: numbers, patterns, variables and equations, measurement, and 2&3D. Specific highlights of developing skills and knowledge include:
Sierra enjoyed math and made very good progress this year. As planned, she worked on basic addition and subtraction and answered questions that her parents wrote out for her, as well as working in math level 1/2 workbooks. She used an abacus and learned to use a number line for these operations. She successfully worked on grouping in 1s, 5s and 10s. She can now count to 100 by 1’s and 10’s . As planned, she participated in cooking and baking with her family, where she used measurement and fractions. She can now do the measurements of the ingredients herself. Also as planned, Sierra used her own calendar to track important dates, birthdays and events, and a set of time cards to learn to tell time.
Sierra enjoyed playing a variety of cooperative board games such as checkers, chess and memory with her family, which strengthened her strategic skills. She played cards and games such as Go Fish, and Crazy Eights, Egyptian Rat Killer, Snap, and Snakes and Ladders and this improved her counting, mental addition and subtraction skills. Sierra learned about money as she saved, budgeted and spent her own money this year. She also worked on a project to collect and display data; as her family drove she counted and kept track of the number of different bird species she saw. She recorded these numbers and also drew pictures of them. A wonderful math learning application as she is very interested in birds!
Also as planned, she used LEGO, playmobil, and puzzles to learn about 3D objects and 2D shapes, patterning, and transformations. She worked with these concepts as she drew, painted, sewed, and created with other art materials. She worked with pattern as she learned songs to sing and on the mbira. Sierra is now able to solve 1 and sometimes 2 sides of the rubiks cube , which her Dad taught her to do. She started to do some crocheting as well. Sierra was very inspired to create with found and natural objects, and she showed a wonderful ability to use form, balance and symmetry in her work.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue math learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in the learning plan. Sierra will continue with her experiential and applied math learning program.
SCIENCE
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to science learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year and has met age appropriate learning outcomes. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas: the needs of living things, (dinosaurs, frogs, lizards, sea creatures, bears), fossils, daily and seasonal changes, planets, rocks and volcanoes, and solar power. Specific highlights of developing skills and knowledge include:
Sierra experienced a wealth of scientific information as she participated in Junior Ranger programs at nine different national parks while her family traveled in the United States this winter and spring. She found all the hands on opportunities fascinating and was able to absorb an incredible amount! She obtained some excellent learning materials and books through her travels as well. She learned many things about the people, plants and animals of the southwest. She went to the desert museum while in Arizona which was an incredible learning experience for her.
After getting back to Canada she continued to learn about bats, deserts, and the indigenous cultures, through books and other resources.
As planned, much of Sierra’s science learning focused on the natural world. She was especially interested in life science and continued to learn through books, hands on experiences, field trips, DVDs and the Internet. She attended the Calgary Zoo and Drumheller museum, which were excellent learning experiences. She also took a trip to the Royal BC Museum and the IMAX theatre. As planned, frogs and dinosaurs were a big interest and focus for her. Sierra learned about lots of lizards during the winter; and through using a lizard field guide she was able to identify and draw different types of lizards. Sierra currently spends lots of time observing for frogs and toads in a pond. She has been looking for and hoping to find some eggs so she can watch them hatch into tadpoles and release them. Sierra has learned a great deal about the different calls of frogs and birds and animals as well.
Sierra learned a great deal about dinosaurs when she went to Drumheller, Alberta, and visited the museum and also did her own fossil finding expedition. Sierra really progressed in her understanding and use of the processes of science; she asked excellent research questions. She then went about learning how paleontologists answered them. She has been used her own paleontology kit to dig for and discover fossils. It was a delight to share in her enthusiasm when she found one! Sierra is now able to name a number of different types of dinosaurs, their characteristics and what they ate. She demonstrated how much she learned as she can now answer most of the questions in the Professor Noggin Dinosaur Game. Sierra has been really interested in bats so she read and learned about them. She has been observing a black bear this spring; she loved watching for him on the lower field with binoculars when he was out “greening”.
Sierra used procedure and equipment to learn about birds and birdwatching, a new passion. She bought a bird book and put together a bird watching kit with a sketch book, pencil, bird book and some binoculars, which she loved to do. She documented numbers of birds seen and drawn them, developing her observation skills. She learned a great deal about different types of lizards, bats, plants and creatures of the seashore, and how to differentiate between similar species.
For earth and space science, Sierra went to a campground that had a trail with signs about the planets and galaxies; this was a great learning hike for her and she learned about the planets and their sizes and features. She also looked at the observatory during the day. She has yet to visit the planetarium, however it is still in her plan for the future. Sierra enjoyed cooking and baking this year. Sierra enjoyed making a volcano out of clay and then mixed up baking soda and vinegar to see the chemical reaction. She helped her parents install and operate solar panels, and also did an experiment with wind power generation. In the desert, she built and operated a solar oven.
Sierra camped at a state park in New Mexico called “Rockhound”, and learned a lot about geology and the volcanic landscape. A geology expert helped her learn with lessons about the rocks in the area and how they formed. She also learned about volcanoes, volcanic rock and history, how volcanos form, and the different types.
Sierra did lots of work with magnets with her Dad. She used the magnets to do opposites, compass effects, and magnetic poles (north / south). Her experience with building the Meccanno crane also showed her about mechanical advantage. She also did some building of bridges with an online program called Bridge Maker. She understands about objects and motion, for example that a heavy object in motion stays in motion.
As planned, Sierra is in the process of planting of a garden this spring. She didn’t participate in the “gardening for children” workshops at homeschool day in Disneyland.as she decided to take the Junior Ranger programs at the parks instead.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue science learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in the learning plan. Sierra would like to learn more about birds, eagles, lizards, horses, frogs, and find frog eggs to hatch.
SELFDESIGN PRAXIS
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to selfdesign praxis learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas:
Sierra is a very keen and excited learner. She is passionate about many things and the list continues to grow. She really enjoyed her travels with her family this winter and spring to the US. As planned, she was very active in the decision making and planning of the trip and destinations.
Sierra showed her confidence and her love of learning in many ways. With the support of her family she was able to learn a great deal in her areas of interest: dinosaurs, frogs, and photography.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue selfdesign praxis learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in the learning plan. Sierra and her family will continue to explore and encourage her learning in the areas of her interests.
LIVING SKILLS
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to living skills learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year.
As planned, Sierra learned many living skills as she helped her parents and siblings with the work of their daily lives. She participated in cooking and baking, sewing,, preparing their trailer for travelling, and setting up solar panels.
CREATIVITY
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to creativity learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas:
Sierra has been wonderfully prolific this year. As planned, she did lots of drawing, painting, beading, coloring and sewing, and worked with a variety of materials: felt, acrylic paint, oil pastels, crayons, markers and pencil crayons. Her Nana helped her learn the basics of crochet. She also created seasonal crafts and gifts for her family and friends. She drew animals, frogs and dinosaurs and loved the ‘learn to draw books’ she got from the library. Sierra was very inspired to create with found and natural objects, and she has shown a wonderful ability to use form, balance and symmetry in her work. She loved to play with Playmobil and sat for hours using her imagination creating elaborate play sets.
As planned, Sierra bought a camera this fall, which she used to take pictures to document her travels and adventures, and also to put in albums and scrapbooks. Sierra also printed some pictures off to make her Nana a set of photocards that she could give away. Her love of music has blossomed through many experiences; she has been singing, writing songs, and practicing songs on the marimba, mbira, recorder, and drum with her family. She would now like to get a children’s guitar and learn from her Dad how to play.
Sierra applied her creativity to all facets of her life and learning. For example, she made arrowheads out of obsidian that she found, using a big round stone to hammer and break off sharp pieces. This is how the native people used to do it so she wanted to do it the same way.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue creativity learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in the learning plan. Sierra would like to continue sewing and to make another Waldorf doll, and learn to play more guitar.
WELLNESS
Learning Successes:
Sierra has been and continues to attend to wellness learning as outlined in her learning plan for the 2008-09 learning year. She has demonstrated progress in the following areas:
Sierra participated in a wide range of wellness activities this year, as she had planned. She went on regular outdoor walks and activities with her family. While on her grandparents’ farm in Alberta she spent a great deal of time outdoors exploring, playing, and helping with the animals. She also spent time riding her bike in the good weather. Sierra spent a lot of time playing outside in the snow, sledding, building snowmen and also building a “SnowCano”. She also participated in food preparation, and various games that she created with her siblings.
As planned, while travelling, Sierra had many opportunities for lots of exploring, hiking and camping with her family. She became very confident with her swimming and is able to swim on her own now without a lifejacket. While she was on her trip Sierra also got to learn how to do some rock climbing and bouldering, (a type of climbing without ropes), which she loved. Some of her favourite activities were climbing on the rocks, looking for lizards, and playing with new friends. In the spring she played lots of baseball and soccer, as well as hiking and biking.
Sierra didn’t have a chance to learn to ski, so this goal will be on hold for future years. She also didn’t participate in the “gardening for children” workshops as she wanted to take the fabulous junior ranger courses she discovered instead. Sierra is currently working on her own garden this spring and summer.
Future Directions and/or Updates for Learning Plan:
Sierra will continue to pursue wellness learning goals according to her personal interests as outlined in the learning plan. Sierra will continue to be active and swim, mountain bike, hike and climb. Sierra has become very keen on horses, and may have some riding lessons this summer.
