By Nicky Waddell.
David and Nicky Waddell have 2 sons – Caleb (13) and James (10). They live in Long Bay and have been homeschooling forever. They love the beach- surf, sand and sun, geology- particularly fossiling and blowing things up!
Many children would love a gold embossed certificate and an enamelled brass badge to sit on their dressing table. Some would love two or three or four….
Our family recently stumbled across the Science Award Trust badge scheme. The trust’s aim is to switch children on to science. The trust states that the badges are aimed at Year 7-10 but personally i think they are more suited to Middle Primary -Intermediate aged children. One aim of the Trust that I find delightful is “not to involve teachers in a lot of extra work” (Yay!)
There are 24 badges/certificates that children can work towards. These include Ornithology, Home Chemistry, Food Technology, Geology and Meterology.. An activity sheet on your chosen topic is purchased (see website for details). This sheet contains between 30 and 40 activities that are allocated points. The activities are wide-ranging including things like photography, experiments, sketching, planting and poster making.The child (or Mum!) can pick and choose whcih activities they would like to complete- if they love writing- let them write, if they love drawing- sketch away!
Once the 20 points are recieved the children recieve their badge and certificate.The beauty of these awards is in the independent nature of the tasks, the flexibility in choosing the activities and the time frame allowed for completion (reccommended timeframe: 1 year).
We recently completed our Botany Badge, along with a group of other home educated families. Our children have had the opportunity to participate in some lovely experiences such as: adopting a reserve, water testing, nature photography and growing plants from leftover veggies. Awards were presented at an afternoon tea and children shared their botany folders with one another.
My son is eagerly eyeing up the “Home Chemistry” badge, but his cupboard is already full of potassium nitrate and smoke bombs so maybe the “Food Technology” badge would be a bit more sedate. Hmmmm……..
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