September has been a very buy month for us. I spent the first half trying to finish off work as the second half of the month was spent away in Peru, a trip that had been postponed from 2020 and were glad to finally visit!
Our eldest also turned 11 just before we left for Peru, which seems a lot closer to the teen years than I’d like! It’s surprising to think it’s been 11 years already since he was born!
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History – Homeschooling Family UK
There has been a huge amount of history involved in the kids education this month! We had the usual history podcasts, the kids love these! Favourites are always Greeking out and Who, When, Wow.
We visited Stirling castle with friends earlier in the month, which we have visited many times before! But it’s always fun to visit and the actors are amazing. We learnt about how to hold and use swords, the type of sports that Mary Queen of Scot‘s would have played and much more. It’s definitely one of our favourite castles to visit!
London
To get to Peru we had to travel from London, so we had a day to explore the city. Unfortunately sightseeing was limited to seeing the outside of areas as our visit coincided with the Queen’s funeral. Everything was shut! The kids were excited to see Tower Bridge, we will come back another time to go inside and look through the glass floors. We also visited the gardens at St Dunstan in the East, which is the remains of a shelled church designed by Christopher Wren (the kids noted that half the buildings in London were built by Wren!).
We also saw the Globe Theatre and talked a little about Shakespeare, a fountain/sculpture of the old stream that ran through part of London, the monument for the Great Fire of London, read the boards outside of the Tower of London and St Paul’s cathedral. A fair amount of history in a short day, but we’ll back to visit London properly another time.
Peru
In Peru the historic highlight was of course the amazing Machu Picchu. It was absolutely amazing to actually visit and see the Inca ruins with our own eyes. We chose not to get a guide as we prefer to wander freely ourselves and look up the information we need. The kids were amazed by the view down to the ancient site and had fun exploring the ruins as we got closer. We discussed how it was built and used, plus why there are so many terraces. The youngest also placed an offering by the Sacred Stone.
Aside Machu Picchu we also visited various other Inca sites, including Maras salt pans, Moray, Ollantaytambo, Pisac and Sacsayhuaman. The Maras salt pans were a big hit, knowing the history of them being dug out by locals who made channels from the salt spring to fill the pans and dry out in the sun to leave salt was interesting. We had to look up later why there was a salt spring, but in case you were wondering there are rocks in the mountain from an ancient salt water sea, which the water runs over making it a salt water spring!
Moray is considered to be an ancient Inca agricultural experiment, Ollantaytambo and Sacsayhuaman are Inca fortresses with huge stone blocks and temples, used by the Inca kings. Pisac on the other hand is built from smaller stonework and more for military use. I think the thing that amazed the kids the most was the scale of some of the structures and blocks. I also pointed out that it was created rather quickly too, considering the Inca civilisation was only around 150 years length in total!
In Cusco we did a Bean to Bar workshop in the Choco Museo. It is about how chocolate is made, but we also learnt how the ancient Inca made cacao drinks. As well as the fact they would have used sacrificial blood in the drink, as it was sacred! We also learnt about how to say an offering to the Inca worlds before drinking too. Hana Pacha, the sky world, Ukhu Pacha, the underworld Kay Pacha, the world we reside in.
Science – Homeschooling Family UK
Peru
Of course, some of the Inca things discuss above are also partly to do with science. For example the salt pans are all about the science of evaporation to create salt and the Moray agricultural terraces that vary the temperatures between the top and bottom terraces is very scientific too. However, just walking around that altitude was difficult as we weren’t used to the lack of oxygen. This led to more discussions about lack of oxygen in our blood and how it affects us.
Whilst in the Amazon jungle we came across a huge array of interesting creatures. This was better than any wildlife documentary and great as a biology lesson. Leaf cutter ants are always fun to watch, like little gardeners composting the leaves to grow fungus.
We also saw and learnt about a variety of spiders, particularly the Wolf Spider and Tarantulas, tree frogs, poison dart frogs, pink river dolphins, sloths, caterpillars, cacao pods, giant lily pads, red firewood trees, sloth, various monkeys and bullet ants! So many exciting animals. The kids favourite wildlife was probably the resident Macaw, Pedro, who likes to hang about the lodge to pick up scraps of food.
Near Lima we also swam with sealions, which was a cold and smelly experience. But also very interesting! Later near the Ballestas Islands we saw more sealions and Humboldt penguins too.
We were all amazed at the sheer size of the buttress roots of the trees in the rainforest. Bigger than you would imagine! Our guide also showed us various edible fruits and interesting plants. The kids were more than happy to eat different fruits and were especially interested in the sensitive plant, which closes it’s leaves if you touch it.
The kids also went fishing on the Amazon river, being introduced to different types of Catfish that have a poisonous sting and piranahas.
Other Science
Another way the kids learn is through Podcasts, science podcasts are particular favourites. We generally use Wow In The World, Tumble and Flip and Mozi’s Guide To Being An Earthling. There are plenty others to choose from though!
Finally, in London we spotted several of these Chimpanzee sculptures. There is a chimp trail, but we weren’t following it. Although it was still interesting to read about the different chimp behaviours, such as this one that is using a tool to find termites.
Geography – Homeschooling Family UK
Obviously with our travels down to London and across to Peru the kids learnt a little more about world geography. Geography covers a huge range of topics, which for us this month included mountains, rainforest and desert environments. Watching the plane flying across the globe on our Avianca flight (the tablets on the seats in front are great for seeing where you are) to Bogota and checking the details of different local cities on the app.
Using the globe at home to practice locations of major countries and cities and generally just being part of the world and exploring it helps with the kids geography. We also discussed a little about different seasons and the effects of climate change on the Amazon rainforest. So it was quite a good month for geography, although the kids do seem to have a good handle on different environments and locations of places around the world.
English – Homeschooling Family UK
The eldest has been reading a lot, as usual! He finished the 6th Harry Potter book and is now onto the 7th – The Deathly Hallows. Considering he didn’t start reading until he was 8.5 years old he certainly isn’t behind in his reading skills and comprehension. He also like to read books to his little brother and has no issues reading things out loud. Occasionally he may need help with a word when we’re playing history games, but normally because it’s a term from another language or name that has never come up before.
The youngest is not reading yet, but he has been working on Reading Eggs still. I’m hoping that he can keep up with this more regularly in October onward. He does recognise some words and probably knows more than he lets on. He just likes other people reading to him as it’s easier! Plus he has 3 of us who will read to him now!
Maths – Homeschooling Family UK
Both children have continued with Prodigy maths. Although this was just the first half of the month as we were away the rest of the month.
The eldest has spent a lot of time baking and is getting very good at measuring and understanding how to use the scales for different measurements. He loves baking on his own and has plans to do lots more bakes over the coming months. He even got some new baking kit for his birthday, including new baking books and his own scales (he doesn’t like mine!) to use.
Clubs and Groups – Home Education Diary
The kids have continued with their usual clubs and groups. They’ve had NICAS climbing lessons every fortnight, which they really enjoy. They have both also been doing a local chess club and dogeball club each week. The youngest also has Cubs, drama, swimming, gymnastics, Stagecoach and dancing lessons. We’ve been waiting for ages for a place at Scouts to come up for the eldest, fortunately one has finally come up after the October holidays. So he can start that too! He’s not interested in doing as much his little brother though! It does seem unbalanced in number of groups/classes, but this is just what works for each child!
We also meet friends during the week too, making us fairly busy!
1000 Hours Outside – Homeschooling Family UK
Plenty of time has been spent outside throughout September. The kids came home from Peru having completed 800 hours this year. Another 200 hours left to finish, although we need to get back outside again more, even if it’s chilly!
Time outside has included swimming in the outdoors pool on holiday, walking through the jungle, playing at parks, picking blaeberries, going on walks in Scotland and sandboarding in Peru!
All Our Monthly Home Education Blog Diaries 2022
- January 2022
- February 2022
- March 2022
- April & May 2022
- June 2022
- July 2022
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- September 2022
- October 2022
- November 2022
- December 2022
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