Home Education Blogger August 2025

August has been an incredibly busy month for us. Especially as we’ve been away travelling for half the month. Schools in Scotland returned in the second week of Scotland, although we didn’t get quite back into our usual routine until our return on the 1st September! We had 2 weeks interrailing around Northern Europe, so this has been a big part of the kids learning this month.

Table of Contents

History

The kids are very interested in history, with the Greeks always being a favourite They are both loving reading fiction books about mythology too, including the Percy Jackson series. We also listen to various podcasts, from Greeking Out to Who, When, Wow.

This month we visited a variety of places in Sweden that included historical aspects. These included Skansen open air museum in Stockholm and the Viking Museum. Both shown in the photos below. We learnt a lot about how people see to live in Sweden, from Vikings to more recent times in the last 100 years.

We also visited the Vasa museum in Stockholm. It tells the tale of a royal military ship that was built in Stockholm and sank just minutes after its launch. It was very interesting to learn about the mistakes that led to it sinking and all about the details carved onto the ship.

In Linköping we went to the Swedish Air Force museum. Which had planes dating back to before the air force was created to modern day planes. The kids were very interested in exploring the older planes. But also enjoyed the science centre area upstairs, trying the flight simulator games.

There were another two open air museums in both Linköping and Lund. Although the first didn’t have many buildings open. The second in Lund, Kulturen, was fully open and excellent. We spent a lot of the day exploring the exhibitions and learning about the people who once lived in these buildings.

Geography

With travelling across Europe we tend to look at the map, or at least Google maps a lot. So the kids can see where we are. Hopefully it helps them learn a bit more about the geography of Europe. We also noticed that the Swedish forests had similar vegetation our Scottish forests, finding blaeberries and other plants that we know.

Science

Science topics start with science podcasts. These include Wow in the World, Tumble and Earth Rangers. We tend to listen to them on car journeys, both short and long. So we’ve listened to the latest podcasts and some repeats too.

The children also both love building Lego, which is a great STEM activity. We took these small suitcases with us for them to build on our Swedish train trip. Kept them busy for a little while, and then they both liked taking them out to inspect the contents every so often.

In Hamburg we visited Chocoversum and learnt all about how chocolate is made. The kids already have a good idea as we’ve done this type of tour a few times. So hopefully they know a bit now! Also in Hamburg we went to a show at Port de Lumieres, which was about space. The kids could see different planets, rockets launching and a variety of astronomical objects.

At the Swedish Air Force museum the kids had fun with all the science activities related to planes and flying. They particularly enjoyed making different paper items to try and fly them on the air machine. I think we spent an entire hour with them just doing this! There were other activities too, many looking at how planes are engineered to be able to fly.

Maths

We haven’t continued with our normal maths routine during the summer holidays. However the kids still use maths in everyday ways, from checking time/how long until the train arrives. Or weighing ingredients when we were at home and playing board games.

Now the summer holidays are over we’ll get back into using Beast Academy or other things to practice the kids maths skills.

Language

At the beginning of the month we visited the Edinburgh Book Festival to see AF Steadman and Abi Elphinstone. They were both awesome to listen to and the kids really enjoyed both talks. They are big fans of Skandar and the 11 year old has enjoyed a few of Abi Elphinstone’s books, but even the eldest loved her talk about how she writes. A great way to encourage children to write and read more. We obviously bought several more books and the kids spent time sitting reading whilst in the queues.

The kids also spent a lot of time reading on the trains whilst travelling (I left the tablet behind!). The oldest had several books and his kindle with him. The youngest listened to many books on Borrowbox (free app for borrowing library ebooks). He isn’t a quick reader, so this makes it easier for him to read the books he wants, without having to decipher every single word (I’m looking into dyslexic support for his reading, but still waiting).

Clubs and Groups

All the kids clubs and groups were off at the beginning of the month for the holidays. Although the youngest did take part in a local show in a week, so was busy every day learning the Beauty and the Beast kids musical.

Some groups started back in the second week when we were still at home, so the kids did manage gymnastics and dodgeball, plus dancing for the youngest. But everything else started back later in the month, so we missed the first groups back.

Socialisation

We did see home ed friends a few times at the beginning of the month. But the kids also socialise with school friends during the holidays. So they had plenty of time with friends.

Art and Music

Port de Lumieres in Hamburg had some cool visual art to watch. The youngest especially loved that! There are also many artistic metro stations in Stockholm. You can take a tour, or just ride the metro yourself to visit different stations. Some are better than others!

Physical Education

We have been outside a lot this month! We spent one day on the Elie chain walk, which is following several different sections of chain along rocky cliffs around the shore (only to be done when tide is out!). Walking around open air museums was a considerable amount of exercise, and the youngest even enjoyed practising to use stilts.

We managed to get out kayaking on a Swedish lake, walking and playing in the water. Plus pedalling a rail inspection bike up and down the rails of an old Swedish railway line.

Then at home the youngest was out on his bike and scooter a lot with his schooled friends, when they were still on holiday.