Making a paper gun was one of the highlights when I worked as a Governess on an Australian Outback Station. Children of Stations don't go to traditional school but either do School Of The Air, or they are taught by mum or their Governess (Govie).
The joys of achievement!
Children on Stations grow up with horses, cattle, wild pig hunting, killing a beast for the freezer, camp fires, fencing and bore-runners and ringers (jackeroos and jillaroos). Children living on a cattle station have a lifestyle that their counterpart city children often have no clue about. These Station kids ride ponies, poddy calves, shoot guns at an early age and watch a kill to fill their freezer for the next 3 months which by the way is generally powered by diesel generators.
See:
HOMESCHOOLING IN THE OUTBACK https://peakd.com/hive-199420/@ingridontheroad/50000-acre-playground in case you missed it.
These kids have a small building or donga they call school, sit there alone or with their siblings and watch a laptop hoping it's going to work today. Internet problems are common and being cut off from online class mates is regular. Once every 3 months if they're lucky enough they travel hundreds of kilometres to attend a few days of socialisation in their nearest outback town.
Schooling upside down on the lounge with the dog is normal.
As a Govie you try decorate the classroom to the standard of their counterparts. Limited resources and limited students obviously allows for plenty of room on the walls to display the children's achievements.
How do you keep these children engaged? With great difficulty some days while other days are a breeze. Enticements such as a home kill happening, or a pony ride to their private lake for a swim is sometimes all that's needed to get work done.
Pony is keen for a walk to the lake.
Another interesting concept my little station-man learned about was making crystals using, food coloring, paper glue, and salt. Simply draw or print a picture on paper and trace it with paper glue. Sprinkle coarse kitchen salt over the glue and gently shake off excess salt. Using a dropper, slowly drop different food coloring drops on the glue sections of the drawing and watch the little crystals transform their colors. Watching the child's face is actually better!
Basic household items for your project; water, paper glue, food coloring, kitchen salt.
As you can see there is no need for expensive materials to get creativity happening once the creative mind kicks in. Keep collecting bits and pieces that would normally end up in landfill and some basic household items will do the trick.
Keep enjoying your homeschool journey regardless which way it's delivered, you’re doing an awesome job!
P.S. I've been changing my website to provide easier and free access to hundreds of printable resources for those who wish to check it out...
https://www.teachingtreasures.com.au
Photos and written work is my own.
©️ingridontheroad
I think for us metropolitan folk it's hard to fathom the distances which isolate these outback stations, even from outback towns. It must be such a different lifestyle there.
I absolutely agree, it's such a strange feeling coming from the city to this environment however, I absolutely loved it. The easy slow pace of living, flocks of galahs that are so loud that you actually have to close the door and windows otherwise the School of the Air teacher can't hear your student speaking.
The online lessons are only 1.5 hours long and broken up in segments of half hour. The rest of the day is yours as a Governess to fill in with what needs to be learned for the day. Craft is tailored to suit generally one child unless you're teaching siblings as well. Everything is recorded with photos which are uploaded to the distance education school.
The mental health of students suffer in my opinion because of isolation and lack of peers to play with. Kids grow up to fast and are exposed to many cruel facts of life that city kids are sheltered from. It's a man's world out there and little boys tend to like it but many young girls are brought up like boys which is a bit sad in my opinion.