We did not spend much time at home this month, instead we were travelling around a lot! Starting the month with a 2 day trip to the Lake District, followed by 2 days in Fife, a few days visiting grandparents on the West Coast of Scotland, 4 nights in Denmark and another 4 nights in London. So yes, certainly very busy, but although travelling comes with the benefits of lots of educational activities!
Table of Contents
Science
With a busy month it would be easy to think we neglected various educational topics. However, there is science everywhere, from the conversations we have as a family to podcasts we listen to in the car. I can’t remember all the conversations we’ve had, but suffice to say we use google a lot at dinner!
This month we also visited the Science Museum in London, including Wonderlab and the Science Fiction exhibition. The kids learned about various forces, reminded about the fire triangle and different elements properties. There was a lot of excitement over dry ice too!
Other scientific places we visited included the Natural History Museum with lots of interesting displays on dinosaurs, mammals and geological wonders – volcanos were a favourite!
Kew Gardens also had plenty to explore and we particularly enjoyed the palm house and the facts around the canopy walkway.
Another trip this month was Lego themed, to see Lego House and Legoland in Billund, Denmark. Lego itself is a great engineering material, but they also had fun coding bee robots, making cities, cars and fish for various interactive activities. In Miniland at Legoland the kids also admired the engineering capabilities of the Lego builders, there is a lot of amazing builds there! Of course there has also been some Lego building at home and at the grandparents too!
History – Home Education Report
London has a lot of historical places to visit, so we certainly overdid it a bit on the history there! Our first piece of history was spotting and photographing the Mallard’s speed record sign on the way down by train. It’s at the edge of the track and is labelled on Google if you want to find it! It’s still the world’s fastest steam train at 126mph! You can find the Mallard locomotive itself at the National Railway Museum in York.
In London itself we visited the Tower of London and were particularly interested in the prisoner stories. There are lots of stone carvings inside the buildings from prisoners. The Tower Bridge is a feat of engineering, but also history, so we had to visit to learn more about it! Of course there was also the Natural History Museum and the Prime Meridian. The Greenwich Observatory was very interesting with the history of the astronomers who used it.
Earlier in the month we visited Fife and before that the Lake District. In Fife we visited the Historic palace of Culross, Dunfermline Abbey, the Carnegie library and galleries museum and the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum. You can read more about this in my Dunfermline blog post.
The Lake District offered us a chance to learn more about the early motor vehicles at the Lakeland Motor Museum, the life of Beatrix Potter and how bobbin were made in the last working bobbin mill.
English – Home Education Report
The eldest has finished the Harry Potter series again and has spent this month reading the ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ series, by Cressida Cowell. He seems to spend 2 days reading one book and then he’s ready to download this next one to his kindle. It’s working out more expensive than visiting the library, but the kindle is much easier for travelling with! He’s now on book 10 of 12, so I’m sure he’ll be reading something else next month!
I’ve also been reading the Cressida Cowell Wizards of Once series to the children. We’re now on book 2, as we only read a chapter in the evening. For the youngest’s bed time story I’ve been reading the Alex Bell Explorers series, we’ve just ordered the newest book, Stardust City. I’m not sure what the eldest is currently reading with his dad at bedtime at the moment!
The youngest has also been practicing his reading skills with Reading Eggs, although not as much as previous months due to travels. Both children have also been enjoying reading the Phoenix Comic and Whizz Pop Bang magazine too.
Maths
The kids are really enjoying Prodigy at the moment, so they’ve spent time learning maths there. However, we haven’t tried as many board games as usual, mostly due to lack of time.
The kids have started playing a game whilst they walk. It involves different ‘battles’ etc. that seem to give points/coins. So this has led to a lot of mental maths for them both.
Art and Crafts – Home Education Report
Following on from the children’s art classes last month we have found a lot of art during our trips this month. These include sculptures in Grizedale Forest Park, sculptures in Billund, Denmark, exploring the Tate Modern and special Inifinity Mirrors exhibition. Plus photo exhibitions and Lego sculptures! There’s a surprising amount of art out there wherever we go!
We also went to the Lyceum in London to watch the Lion King Musical, which was brilliant! The kids absolutely loved the show and are excited to go back to the theatre to watch something else.
1000 Hours Outside
With all the time away we spent a good number of hours outside. This includes walking with grandparents, Easter egg hunts with cousins, visiting the races, hours outside on rides and walking around Miniland at Legoland. In London we also spent a whole day at Kew Gardens, walking the streets of London and sitting outside to eat dinner in the parks.
The kids have also had some time at home playing outdoors with friends and some outdoor birthday parties too. So our hours are definitely up for the month, which is good after last month when we were stuck inside a lot more due to weather!
Clubs and Groups – Home Education Report
Most clubs and groups were off for the first half of the month for Easter holidays. As we were away in London for the last week of April the kids only had one week of usual clubs. This included Scouts and Cubs, dodgeball, gymnastics for the littlest, drama and swimming for the littlest, plus dance classes at the weekend.
All Our Home Ed Monthly Diaries For 2023
- January 2023
- February 2023
- March 2023
- April 2023
- May 2023
- June 2023
- July 2023
- August 2023
- September 2023
- October 2023
- November 2023
- December 2023
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