Dave Pommier
I am a homeschooling dad with a wife and two boys. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, so I feel compelled to write it all down. In my spare time, I work as a manager for the local health district, drink too much coffee, and am an overenthusiastic martial artist.
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Tag Archives: history
Are monsters real?
We have been reading a lot of mythological stories from Ancient Greece lately. I have always found them to be great adventure stories, and have read countless translations and retellings over the years. In all the magic, nobility and high … Continue reading
Posted in History, Teaching and learning
Tagged ancient greece, bloke, history, homeschool, imagination, mythology, philosophy
6 Comments
The Minoan bulls
Our history lessons are shifting away from Egypt and the fertile crescent and into the Aegean Sea. We spent a morning looking at the ancient Minoans. The morning began with a deal of time looking at maps. The island strewn … Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged ancient greece, bloke, history, homeschool, Lego, maps, Minoan, mythology
10 Comments
ANZAC day – My grandad’s war stories.
Anzac day is a hugely important holiday in Australia. In many ways, it has become the de facto national day. Unlike Australia day, which is somewhat arbitrary and often divisive, Anzac day has a much deeper sense of purpose to … Continue reading
Posted in History, Life experiences
Tagged ANZAC, bloke, history, homeschool, life experience, reflection, world war 1
9 Comments
Bark canoes
Last week was largely spent in an aside, looking at traditional boats of the Pacific. The whole thing was fueled by the sudden appearance of a fleet of ocean going canoes. Outside of our field trip, we also spent quite … Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged bloke, history, homeschool, learning in context, nature, ocean, ship
10 Comments
Arrawarra fish traps
Stone age cultures seem to get a raw deal from historians. This is probably because they leave no written records, and relatively few archaeological remains. Also, they lived a lifestyle with almost no cultural commonality to people alive today, which makes … Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged bloke, history, homeschool, learning in context, local history, ocean
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The sound of distant voices
Some years ago, when my wife was pregnant with our first boy, I found myself reading a story by a woman who was describing the strained relationship she had with her dad. They had always clashed and then, fairly recently, … Continue reading
Posted in Life experiences
Tagged bloke, history, homeschool, learning in context, life experience, parenting, philosophy
2 Comments
The immensity of time
We have been looking a fair bit at the history of early people lately. We took a bit of a stab at early cultures in and around the fertile crescent, but it was not a great success. I decided to … Continue reading
Socialising and subculture
Like many people, one of the first questions I had when I was thinking about homeschooling was ‘Where are all the boys friends going to come from?’ We are not very social people. We do not belong to any interest … Continue reading
Posted in Life experiences
Tagged bloke, confidence, history, homeschool, philosophy, socialisation
11 Comments
Their drills were bloodless battles
A couple of years ago, I did something a little bit naughty. I bought myself a gift, and pretended it was a Christmas present to my son. What I bought was an Isle of Lewis chess set. It was my … Continue reading
Posted in Math
Tagged bloke, board game, chess, history, homeschool, imagination, learning in context, life experience, math, philosophy
6 Comments
What we felt
Being the sort of person who delights in etymology, I found it kind of charming the other day to be told that the word ‘card’, as in to card wool, comes from the Latin carduus – thistle. I can’t really … Continue reading
