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……
Tag: Homeschooling
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……
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: Setting the Scene
Although traditionally Chaucer is taught to children older than 12, the Canterbury Tales are far too good to postpone, especially as I will only be studying the Middle Ages once with the older children. Just because it is written in language which may be hard to understand doesn’t mean we should be literary snobs and insist that Chaucer……
Precious Memories
This is the last week of our six week term and we are all biting at the bit for a break. This term has felt hard work, but not in a good way. I’m still trying to rebalance my life after learning to sleep for the first time in forty years. All you people out there who home……
Plans for the Next Two Weeks
This Monday we will start what will essentially be a two week fest of doing whatever our heart desires. Well, pretty much. The girls will be learning some unusual tales to learn the tricky tables which don’t seem to stick in their head. I’m fairly certain that is not top of their list of ‘things they……
If You Go Down to the Pond Today…….
….you’re sure to get a surprise! (sung badly out of tune to ‘if you go into the woods today…) You may or may not remember our year-long pond study? Although we do not ‘officially’ pond anymore, the pond in question is situated in our village and so we often walk past or dander down for……
Project Based Learning: Microbes – Bacteria
This week we have been learning all about Bacteria. Bacteria, a type of prokaryotic cell, can come in an assortment of shapes: Source As we are currently studying the plague we decided to concentrate primarily on the rod-shaped bacilli, of which Yersinia Pestis (the bacteria that causes the plague) is one: Yersinia Pestis magnified x200 Source……
Precious Memories
This week I’m letting my pictures do the talking….. And we also managed a bit of school work: I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend filled with love and laughter!
Van Eyck Artist Study
Van Eyck is the first artist we have studied from the renaissance period, albeit the Northern renaissance. I was looking forward to this study because he is often called the father of oil paint, being one of the first to perfect their use, and I haven’t had the chance to paint with oils since I……
The Joy of Sleep……
After 40 years of crippling insomnia and averaging about 10 hours of sleep a week, a wonderful new doctor has somehow managed to figure out what was wrong and treated it. I now sleep almost the same in one night as I did in one week. Every night. I can’t begin to tell you what a difference……
Looking Back on our Week
This week has been a funny ol’ week in so many ways. The weekend started with us discovering bees had taken up residence in our chimney. It was the hottest day of the year and we were advised to smoke them out with a fire and that it could take up to three hours! I’m……
Be Still My Beating Heart…
Incr-Edible Science: Yeast (Micro Fungi – part 2)
After covering mold type fungi in Part 1, we moved onto the unicellular yeast: This is Leeuwenhoek, the man responsible for the discovery of micro-organisms through his very simple ‘microscope’ A labelled diagram of a yeast cell Yeast as we know it To find out a bit more about yeast we mainly used the same resources as before: We……
You Blutiful
My three-year old sidled up to me today, sticky fingers running through my not yet brushed hair. ‘Mummy, you blutiful. So blutiful.’ I smiled as I reflected on my girl’s words. She looked at her mummy, probably the most precious person to her in her tiny world, and saw beauty. There I was, not yet……
Project Based Learning – Making a Bug Observatory
You remember the Bug Adventure box I made up for the little ones to help with their chosen bug project? There was a reason I put everything in a large plastic box, rather than the customary wooden box I had used for the past few years. I had plans to turn it into a bug……