I mentioned in my last post that the children will be doing some Shakespeare based PBL. PBL works very well in our household, not maybe as our main way to home school, but definitely as an important extra. I thought I would give a bit more detail as to what I will be expecting over…
Category: Project Based Learning
South America Unit Study: Summer Adventure Box
I have already outlined my plans for my youngest two for this summer, and you will know that I am having a lot of help from my mum, Sarah and Lorna (Aren't I blessed?). This Summer Adventure Box needed to be extra special for just that reason. There will be more people than just me…
Project Based Learning: South American Animals
Whilst the older children dig deep into Shakespeare and all he has to offer, the little ones will be focused on South America. It will be a primarily literature based study, with the exception of the project based learning the littles will do. They have attempted to do projects before with my help but they…
Elizabethan Unit Study
Just collating all my Elizabethan Posts into one big post! Week One: A Renaissance Queen Week Two: Reformation and Coronation Week Three: Elizabethan Progresses and Elizabethan Games Week Four: Drake and the Spanish Armada Week Five: Spies and Spy craft Project Based Learning: Pirates Enjoy!
Project Based Learning: Pirates
For the past five weeks the children have been beavering away at their chosen projects on the topic of pirates. I have not helped them at all. For once I have backed off entirely. I didn't check on their work, I didn't make sure they were on the right path, I left them completely to…
Incorporating Unschooling into a Project Based School
So, with the help of the children, I have chosen all our curriculum and am continuing to pursue project based learning whenever I can. Yet everything which pulls me towards unschooling is still pulling, whilst everything in me which rejects unschooling is still rejecting it. What's a girl to do? A while ago I read…
Project Based Homeschooling: Mona Lisa Picture Study
Great Resources to Have on Hand Becoming Leonardo L decided to journal as she did her research and called her journal 'Becoming Leonardo'. Her goal was to really to try to get into his head and try to understand what it was that made him tick. This was her own idea and her own journal,…
Project Based Homeschooling: Gutenberg’s Printing Press
Great Resources to have on hand Making a Wooden Model of the Printing Press We had already done a bit of work on the printing press and Gary and T had put together the model of Da Vinci's design, which was very similar to Gutenberg's: Making your own rag paper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XoTGFC-0NAÈ T ripped up…
Project Based Homeschooling: Making A Chaucer Newspaper
Great Resources to Have on Hand The Content of the Newspaper Many of these activities we did together, but C11 loves anything literary and asked if her project could focus on Chaucer rather than Da Vinci. Of course I said yes, and together we decided that her main project could be creating a newspaper containing…
Microbes: Fungus and Bacteria – Intrinsically Linked
I probably don't need to say this, but did you know that fungi can kill bacteria? Most antibiotics used today were found originally in fungi, although many of these chemicals are now synthesized in factories. Strictly speaking, antibiotics are substances made by microorganisms that stop growth of other microbes or kill them outright. The first ever antibiotic…
Project Based Learning: Leonardo Da Vinci and His Ornithopter
Although the area of flight was a topic T12 would be covering extensively, I thought we'd do a very quick group activity, exploring Leonardo's fixation with flight and the resulting idea of an ornithopter. Da Vinci always claimed his earliest memory was of a Kite bird swooping down whilst he was in his cradle. It…
Project Based Learning: Individual Leonardo Da Vinci Projects
This term we are focusing on Leonardo Da Vinci. We spent most of last week looking through the resources and getting a feel for what each child might be drawn towards. After much to-ing and fro-ing topics have finally been agreed upon and the children have enthusiastically thrown themselves into their work. We have discussed…
Project Based Learning: Microbes – Virus
The first thing I wanted to do was revise what makes something living alive. The reason for this is that Viruses aren't generally accepted as being a living thing, but instead of simply teaching that to the children I wanted them to work it out for themselves. Characteristics of living organisms – movement as an…
Reflections on an ‘Unsuccessful’ Term
When we first tried out project based learning, I knew somewhere deep inside, that this would forever change the way we do school. And I was right. It remains a good choice. However, this term has not been as successful as last term. The premise of project based learning (PBL) is autonomy, which has always…
Spar-Klean Science – Is the loo really cleaner than the dish cloth?
I need to be honest and say I am posting this against my better judgement. I mean, no one is going to want to eat at my house if the cloth we use to clean the dishes is actually dirtier than my loo! That said, 'dirty' may be a misnomer here because we all know…