I have been pondering my need to increase the breadth of science I do with my children. One, T11, shows a near obsession with it, and I do feel that I am somehow not providing enough learning opportunities in this area. I have already posted about how I intend to have a Young Scientists at Play Lab…
Category: Homeschooling
Castles
When I was planning our castle study, I knew this was an opportunity to a practical, more field trip based learning. So I asked Gary if he would mind taking some time off for us to go and visit a couple of castles and spend enough time in them and exploring them that the children…
Looking Back: Middle Ages Reenactments
Usually on a Wednesday I write about something we've studied previously. My goal is to have fully caught up and have a record of all our history by the end of this year (probably before). This post was due to be on Mycenae, but I was going through some old photos and found a heap…
Easter Adventure Box for the Littles
Next week begins a four-week stint into our Easter Adventure boxes. The idea behind the boxes is to give the children some structure, without it being too much like school time. It is also a great excuse for some less serious schooling but with lots of learning still happening. The older ones are going to follow in…
Incr-Edible Science
Having four young girls and at least two of them being passionate about being in the kitchen, I thought I would take a bit of time and create a curriculum that not only teaches my children how to cook but also teaches them why ingredients work as they do. The science of cooking, if you…
One Year Pond Study: Week 1: Assessing the Pond
Thus begins our year-long study. I've roped my intrepid mother into it as well! She is passionate about nature and will be able to help her hapless daughter answer questions to which she herself has no reply (ie most nature related questions!) So at 9am last Monday morning with all our chores finished, we ventured forth, noisy…
Knights
It took us a week to study knights. Not long, no. The children, however, have been reading so many great books, playing loads of dressing up that there seemed little point wasting time teaching them that which they already knew. So I didn't! After a little questioning to find any glaring gaps, I thought we…
Create a Preschool Science Area
The idea to create a preschool science area has been whizzing about in my head for weeks. I honestly tried not to go too mad, but inevitably I did just that! Perusing Amazon, I came across this beautiful, colourful science equipment. I, of course, pressed buy before my brain had connected with my fingers... And…
Looking Back: Ancient Greece – Minoans
I’m doing a series called looking back, documenting learning the children and I did together prior to me blogging. This week I'll be going back 2 years to when we studied the ancient Greeks, beginning with the Minoans (the girls were 8 and T11 was 9). I loved teaching about the Minoans. They seemed to…
Maths at the Manor
Last week I mentioned our foray into living maths using the Domesday survey as our basis for learning about percentages. We used our handy-dandy papier-mache map (again-this is one of the best investments in time we have made!). The children built up our very own Manor, complete with a Keep: I showed them what an average Manor…
Nature Study: Plans for a Year Long Study of our Village Pond
I LOVE history. I didn't take it at school, so I come to it with clear, fresh eyes and I think this makes it very, very interesting for me. Science, however, I took at GCSE level (all of them), A level (again, all of them) and my degree is a BSc (Hons) - more science. I think I'm all…
Domesday Book
I'm all for fun school work. I know that sometimes in life one simply has to knuckle down and do the work regardless of the fun factor or lack there of, but as Mary Poppins once said 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down' (I'm currently breaking off into song - you should be glad…
Easter Adventure Box: Marco Polo and Ancient China-Part 2
Yesterday I shared the resources I'm using for the Ancient China part of our adventure box. The other half of the box will be focused on Marco Polo. I intend to read aloud his own autobiographical book about his travels: We are using 'Marco Polo- History's Great Adventurer' I LOVE these books. We have a similar…
Easter Adventure Box: Marco Polo and Ancient China-Part 1
Just the name sends shivers down my older children's spines! They are very excited about their Easter Adventure Box! This year it is going to be both a revisit to Ancient China and also learning the new topic of Marco Polo. Marco Polo was a well-known medieval explorer, who traveled the silk road to China. He therefore…
Schooling Together: Thomas the Tank Engine-Part Two
On a Friday we have a time where all five children are doing school together. I use the term school loosely due to the age differences, however the older one's are still learning. They learn their needs come secondary to their little sisters. They learn to put aside their wishes for a couple of hours…