Homeschool Logbook {September}

Welcome to September’s edition of the Homeschool Logbook! We began homeschool full-time halfway through September due to birthdays and wedding celebrations…so this is only 2-3 weeks of work.

Morning Meeting

I hold a morning meeting for between 30-40 minutes per day with both girls. I read the following curriculum out-loud:

Mystery of History Vol 2: The Early Church and the Middle Ages. We completed the following lessons: St Francis of Assisi; The Children’s Crusade; King John and the Magna Carta; Frederick II; St Thomas of Aquinas; Roger Bacon; The Great Khans and the Mongol Invasion of China; Marco Polo Travels East; Sir William Wallace and Robert Bruce; Dante Alighieri; The Aztecs; The Hundred Year’s War.

The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way. We completed Chapter 17: Archimedes Claw; Chapter 18: Measuring the Earth; Chapter 19: Rome Rules; Chapter 20: Longitude and Latitude Plus Two Greek Map Makers; Chapter 21:The Greatest; Chapter 22: A Saint Who Was No Scientist; Chapter 23: No Joke – The Earth is Pancake Flat; Chapter 24: Don’t Worry The Round Earth Is Back.

Art: A Children’s Encyclopaedia. We completed the following chapters: Subject and Composition; Perspective; Colour and Tone; Prehistoric Earth; Magical Creatures; Standard of Ur; Ancient Egyptian Art; Tomb of Sennedjem; The Immortals; Minoan, Greek and Roman Art.

For the rest of the hour, Abigail reads a double spread from Help Your Kids with Study Skills by Carol Vorderman and then narrates back to me what she has learnt and how it can be put into practice. She has completed Chapter One: How We Learn and is half way through Chapter Two: Preparing and Setting Goals.

Abigail Aged 14-15 Year Ten

Maths

Abigail finished the last few lessons of Key Stage Three and began Key Stage Four (GCSE):

English

Abs is doing a short English course called ‘Analysing Non-Fiction Texts. She has four lessons to complete and has completed the first lesson which looked at analysis of texts to determine their reliability. She scored 4/4 on the short test and has handed in her assignment to be marked.

Psychology GCSE

Abs is continuing this from last year. She is working her way through Module Seven which is on Development. She has three more modules and she has completed the specification work. From then on she will be revising with the goal of taking her exams next summer.

Sociology GCSE

Again this is a continuation from last year. Abs is on Module four which is about Stratification. She only has two more to cover before moving on to revision for exams next summer.

Biology/ Chemistry and Physics GCSEs

Abs only started these a couple of weeks ago. The goal is to complete a lesson over two weeks. She is thoroughly enjoying all the learning but is struggling with wording the responses to questions in the way her tutor requires them. A perfectionist through and through, she hates doing a mediocre job so we have had a few tears this week. The result is that I will do a bit more overseeing and checking her work before she sends it in. Hopefully this will help her feel a bit more supported and decrease any anxiety about getting things wrong.

It concerns me a little because she puts the same amount of pressure on herself as Charlotte does and I think that is a factor in Charlotte’s health. It’s weird because we don’t put any pressure on our children, yet three of the five put inordinate amounts on themselves to get things right first time.

Rebecca Aged 12-13 Year Eight

Maths

Becs has done the following Key Stage Three Maths:

Art and English

Becs chooses one art piece out of the day’s double spread I have read out of Art: A Child’s Encyclopaedia to copy. She then writes annotations about her work:

Level One Diplomas: Textiles, Mixed Media and Photography

The goal for this half term is that Becca completes one workbook from each subject. She has finished her photography one and is almost done with her mixed media, which is all about paper making:

Her textiles is taking the longest because it is her large final project. She has spent much of the last few weeks creating mood boards:

Extra-Curricular Activities

As always, the girls are busy, busy, busy with extra-curricular stuff. Every other Sunday morning, Abigail volunteers at church by working in the creche. She is learning a lot, serving the church and thoroughly enjoying herself in the process! At the same time, Becca is off with Gary playing in a girls’ football match. Sunday evening they have their church youth group after the church service.

Monday afternoons are spent doing some physical activities with other homeschoolers, which they both love. Monday evenings is another youth group which meets in a church nearby. 

Tuesday evenings both girls attend children’s choir, after which Abigail attends Army Cadets. Every couple of weeks, she has a physical training session, where the goal is to improve on her own performance from week to week. She continues to struggle socially there although things seem to be getting a little bit better. Abs is the oldest by two years and most of them are boys which I think contributes to the struggles. However, she loves the learning and the activities she does so, however hard she finds it she wants to continue.

On Wednesday, the girls go to a youth group nearby and later on Abigail goes to Explorers with one of her friends from church. This month she has done lots of fun activities and this weekend will be doing a midnight hike!

Thursday, Abigail attends Army Cadets again.

On Friday, Abigail sees her best friend and every other week volunteers at a club for adults with learning difficulties. Becca plays trains with her girls’ football team in preparation for Sunday’s match.

Both girls are trialling working more independently this term. This has been amazing for Becca who really relishes working alone. Abs enjoys working alone but I think probably needs a little more input from me regarding answering exam questions. In general though, this has been a great start to a new academic year!