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Home Education Blogger UK
A week or so late in writing this, but we have had a busy March and then April started off with the Easter holidays! So there has been little time for writing new blog posts! As usual, this is a quick run-through of what the kids have been doing this month.
We are a home educating family, mostly autonomous and child-led. There is no ‘sit-down at a desk’ school work here. The kids learn in a variety of other ways as you can see below.
Read More About Our Home Educating Family
- Our Home Education Philosophy
- Best Books For Home Educators and Home Schoolers
- How Do You Teach Kids Without Formal Lessons
- The Cost of Homeschooling in the UK
- Educational Activities For Kids
- A Letter To The New Home Educators
- How To Teach Your Child To Read At Home
History
At the end of the month we visited the National Trust For Scotland property of the Hill of Tarvit, Fife. It’s actually a fairly modern built mansion house, dating back to the early 1900’s. So the owners built to the exact sizes of the tapestries they had made and had a quirky sense of humour. We particularly liked the sword fighting frogs, the duck with a hole in its bottom for incense fumes to come out and the cool laundry facilities with heated drying racks. It was interesting to see how things changed around the turn of the century when the house was built, compared to older properties we’ve visited.
In mid-March we also visited Krakow in Poland for a weekend trip. None of us have ever been to Poland before, so it was interesting to visit. Historical sights included the Wawel Castle, which has been restored, he fire breathing Wawel dragon from the ancient legend and the Turkish tents exhibition.
We also went underground and learnt the history of the salt mines at Wieliczka on a miners tour. It was a favourite as everyone got a chance to try out different activities, including sawing logs underground, turning water wheels to remove water and crushing salt rock.
Of course we also had our usual podcasts. Re-listening to Greeking Out (the new season is out next month!) and Live at Mount Olympus. Both are Greek myth based podcasts, which the kids love to listen to and seem to know most the myths and people now!
They also listen to Who, When, Wow podcast, which follows Carly Q who solves historical mysteries. These can be anything from throughout modern and ancient history!
Science
The children learn a lot of science from podcasts too. Including their favourites of Wow In The World, Tumble, Mysteries of Science and Earth Rangers. They definitely seem to learn well from listening to fun podcasts! We also watched a couple of TV documentaries this month about animals and space.
A visit to Blairdrummond safari park gave the kids some time to learn about the animals and observe them. The bird display is always great for learning more about less common species. On this visit we learnt about Kevin the vulture and some fantastic kites. Admittedly a large portion of the day is spent at the adventure playground!
We spent a day out on Loch Lomond on a hired fishing boat from Loch Lomond Shores. Which was a great way to explore the loch on a beautiful spring day. The honeybees were out on the gorse and we accidentally came across their home in a hole in a dead tree. It was fascinating to watch them swarm around the hole and then flying back off to the gorse flowers again.
The kids also went to a miniature railway open day with their dad (I was busy at a wooden spoon carving workshop that day!). The eldest loves trains and enjoyed watching both the larger sit-on trains and smaller miniature railways, learning how they all worked. He would love to have a Hornsby railway in his room!
In Krakow the children learnt about various STEM topics at the Museum of Municipal Engineering. With interactive activities on a variety of topics. We also visited a small LEGO set up which the eldest is keen to replicate at home! Of course the salt mine had engineering and science topics too.
English
The eldest is working his way through all the books he can get hold of. We’re at the library at least twice a week to drop off and pick up more books! Although one was taking too long so we did have to buy it on the Kindle so he could read the last book in the Wings of Fire series.
The youngest is spending 20 minutes or so a day reading the Princess in black books to me. He definitely is getting quicker at reading them and sounding out fewer words. We realised a few months ago that he wasn’t getting much from programmes like Reading Eggs anymore. He learns reading mostly from just practicing reading, and is definitely getting much more fluent with time and repetition of words.
Maths – Home Schooling Blogger
The eldest has been doing some maths in workbooks, which is a first for him. They stopped doin Prodigy maths when they completed the tasks. Although there was still more maths work that could be completed. He tends to shy away from anything too complicated, so trying to just repeat various easier maths activities to get his confidence up. The youngest seems to find it easier to work maths out in his head, and learn through board games
The littlest has also been practising some card tricks which involve sleight of hand and a bit of maths knowledge. Great for noticing patterns in numbers. Whereas the eldest likes technology more with Lego building and creating impressive towers of paper cups in various shapes.
Geography
We have various maps around the house for every day use and learning about world geography and locations of countries. They are quite good at the more common countries.
When visiting Loch Lomond National Park by boat I also pointed out where the Highland boundary flat line runs, evidenced by Conic hill and the 4 islands stretching out in a line across the loch. We landed on Inchmurrin, one of the 4 islands.
As the animals at Blairdrummond all have information about their countries. They are useful way to discuss a variety of different habitats from across the world.
The Arts – Home Schooling Blogger
Not much art has been happening this month. The kids aren’t so keen on drawing much! However, the youngest does spend a lot of time listening to music and dancing, which is also classed as art. Both also like to play on the keyboard from time to time too.
Youngest also was in several shows for Dr Dolittle at the beginning of the month. After spending the last few months rehearsing.
Clubs and groups
The children have attended their usual groups. With both children completing their NICAS Level 3 indoor climbing qualifications. The image below is of the youngest bouldering, but the NICAS courses were for top ropes. The NICAS level 3 qualification is the equivalent to a GCSE pass, which is awesome for my 10 and 12 year olds! The youngest was also accepted for the fun competition final, although he was busy that day and couldn’t attend. He is going to begin NICAS Level 4 lead climbing after the Easter holidays (his brother is just going to climb for fun during the week).
The youngest also had his first ballet exam, which he thought went well, but we’ll have to wait a few weeks yet to hear the results. They can apparently take quite a while.
Our 12 year old also does dodgeball, Scouts and chess cub during the week. Whilst the youngest does chess club, the National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCOS), Cubs, drama, gymnastics, dodgeball, ballet, tap, modern, and acro dancing. Phew, it’s quite a lot, but he really enjoys everything!
Socialisation – Home Schooling Blogger UK
During the week we meet up with friends and the majority of each week is just having fun and playing! The children also meet up with other schooled friends at different after school activities or having friends around to the house.