Halfway through the year and officially into the summer now! This month has been a bit crazy as we have only been home for 1 week! The first 10 days were spent in Greece and the last 2 weeks on a train trip from Scotland to Sicily. So suffice to say we learnt a lot, particularly about history, but also spent a HUGE amount of time outside and playing! As a home educating family it’s really useful to spend time abroad, it’s fantastic for learning. Plus we can travel when it’s cheaper too, benefits of a home educating family!
Here is what we have learnt this month…
Table of Contents
Science
Science always starts with podcasts in our house. The kids love a good podcast and I’m always open to any suggestions, please do message me on Instagram or leave a comment if you have podcast suggestions! Our usual science podcasts are currently WOW In The World, Tumble and Flip and Mozi.
Other science activities include spotting flora and fauna on our trips. Shouts of ’LIZARD’ whenever we saw a lizard stray across our path. In Palermo botanical gardens we had great fun admiring all the giant fig trees with roots hanging down and growing new supports to long branches. The kids were amazed at how wide one particular tree had grown with the fig roots helping to support the giant branches. Of course there were lots of ants and trails to admire too.
When visiting Sicily we had to go up Mt Etna, it last erupted in February this year. Because of it’s recent eruption we weren’t allowed to go as high as previously people were able. However it was still interesting to see the plumes of smoke rising from the volcano and look at all the fantastic lava rocks. The kids loved these huge pieces of rock, but we certainly weren’t taking them home with us!
English – Home Educating Family
We spend time everyday sitting together as I read to the children, which both kids enjoy. The eldest has also been reading everything he finds as usual. Although he has spent a large amount of his time this month reading book six of the Harry Potter series himself. We took the kindle with us on holiday so he could easily read it without carting a huge book around!
Littlest has been attempting to read words a little more, but still isn’t as interested in reading as his older brother. I’m not too worried though, he will get there when he is ready.
Writing has mostly been for greetings cards that they’ve made or on paper planes and drawings!
Maths
Whilst travelling we’ve been looking at prices of food and drinks. The kids know we can’t afford things that are too expensive, so I’ve been advising them to look for the items that are cheaper prices. Although this still seems more expensive than UK food prices!
We have also played a few board games and Prodigy whilst at home. The eldest has also been considering dates and times more as we have been away.
History
Our biggest section in our diary this month is going to have to be history. The kids are really interested in History thanks to podcasts like Greeking It Out and the Horrible Histories tv program.
Greece
In Greece we found a lot of history. Starting with a visit to Milos and learning more about the mining industry on the island. As shown in one of the mining tunnels in the photo below.
This led on to visiting the mining museum, where we could enjoy looking at all the fantastic variety of rocks that are on the island. Including lots of Obsidian arrow heads from the stone age. They also had an interesting video of people talking about how difficult their lives were when mining.
There are obviously a lot of historic sites throughout the islands from Ancient Greece. Including this ancient greek marble amphitheatre on Milos. It is also next to an ancient catacombs, which we also visited.
On Elafonisos we visited an underwater city and ancient tombs from the bronze age. The city sunk after an earthquake that made the land between the island and mainland sink beneath the ocean. The kids are standing on steps leading down to a tomb (below the sand) in this photo.
Finally we went to Athens, which was amazing for the kids and their knowledge of Ancient Greece. They love all the Greek myths and were excited to visit temples such as Temple of Olympian Zeus. Even if most the temple had fallen down or was covered in scaffolding!
A favourite museum in Athens was the Greek Museum of technology, near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I highly recommend it to everyone as it showcases all the amazing forward thinking technology of the Greeks. From robots and alarm clocks to giant cruise ships! They also had an exhibition of ancient musical instruments and games that was interesting too.
The kids have heard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in other countries, so we had to stop to see the tomb in Athens too.
We visited many museums whilst in Athens. They have so many fantastic ones! The kids actually enjoyed spotting the different names they recognised on the sculptures. From Zeus and Poseidon to the gold mask of Agamemnon! The Acropolis museum was particularly interesting to see what used to decorate the building and also a short film about the Parthenon’s history.
We decided to do a kids mythology tour of the Parthenon, which was brilliant. The kids loved it, even if the youngest did know most of the stories and tell the person other Greek mythology!
Scotland – Home Educating Family
Back in Scotland we visited Doune Castle. It’s been shut for a little while so it was great to visit again! You might recognise it from films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Outlander.
We used the audio guide whilst walking round, although I think the kids know it well by now. It’s always fun to look at the different ’secret’ rooms and the toilets too! Ha ha!
Italy
Our second trip of the month was a train trip from Scotland to Sicily, with a few days stopped at Rome. The kids were excited to see the colosseum and learn about the gladiators fighting. We also saw Rome’s pyramid built in Egyptian style.
Another interesting museum was the Leonardo Da Vinci museum where we could see some of his inventions, including the first tank!
In Sicily we stayed in Taormina so we could visit nearby Mt Etna and also take the cable car up to the town to see the ancient theatre. It was first built by the Greeks when they owned Sicily and then later added to by Romans.
Mt Etna was definitely a highlight on Sicily. The history of the volcanic eruptions and what people thought was causing the eruptions in the past (gods, devils etc!) was very interesting.
The kids enjoyed going into an old lava tube to see the different layers of lava too.
Geography
With our travels in both Greece and across Europe to Italy we had plenty of time to discuss geography. The kids learnt where Greece and certain islands were on the map and followed our train trip on Google Maps across Europe as we travelled to Sicily.
There were some pretty amazing buildings (such as Milan station pictured below) and fantastic views out the window through the Alps. Great for learning more about Europe.
Art and Crafts
The kids spent a lot of time in the mornings in Greece making paper airplanes. They decorated them as different squadrons and had a lot of fun playing around with them all.
Perhaps a little more educational was visiting the Van Gogh Alive exhibition in Edinburgh. Watching the screens light up with huge images of Van Gogh’s art work from throughout his life. Littlest liked the combination of music and art and had great fun dancing around.
Outdoor Time – Home Educating Family
Being abroad in good weather means we spent a lot of time outside. The kids played in pools and the sea, walked around for hours and ate outside too. So that now has out 1000 Hours Outside Sheets up to 500 hours outside so far this year.
Clubs and Groups
We’ve only made it to a few classes and groups during the month as we’ve been away. Littlest has attended his dancing, drama and gymnastics classes. He also took part in his club’s competition and was very excited to win a 4th place pennant out of around 40 children of his age.
They both enjoy dodgeball as well, although eldest wasn’t able to take part as he broke his nose the week we were home! It also meant they missed out on their usual climbing too, as we spent the day at A&E instead.
All Our Monthly Home Education Blog Diaries 2022
- January 2022
- February 2022
- March 2022
- April & May 2022
- June 2022
- July 2022
- August 2022
- September 2022
- October 2022
- November 2022
- December 2022
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