We’ve been incredibly busy this month, it seemed to pass by in a flash! The last week we headed over to Copenhagen in Denmark, perfect timing as new restrictions came in just after we returned. Whilst in Copenhagen we visited several museums a day, so be prepared to see a lot of Danish museum hopping in this months diary!! We still managed a lot of things at home in Scotland beforehand too!
Table of Contents
Science – Home Education
Science as always has included the podcasts ‘Wow In The World’ and ‘Tumble’, the kids enjoy listening to both podcasts. It’s one of the ways they’ve learned about so many science topics!
In Copenhagen we visited Experimentarium, which is basically a fantastic hands-on science centre. The children learned about various ocean topics in the water area. From coastal erosion to wind power and creating waves.
However, out of all the cool areas to visit and play (way too many to list!) the giant marble tracks section was their favourite. It’s actually all about industry and how much Carbon Dioxide is produced via different transport between Denmark and Asia. The kids enjoyed trying to reduce emissions and sending their marbles across to other cities!
At the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen we met Tristan Otto. Tristan Otto is a huge T-Rex skeleton, one of the best preserved specimens in the world. It was very impressive and we learnt some new facts about dinosaurs that the kids enjoyed. The museum also had an amazing gemstone and mineral collection (a favourite topic of the youngest) and photos from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
The Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum was not my favourite. I don’t like the way they try to make people appear as ‘freaks’ for show. However there were some great illusions that show kids that you shouldn’t always believe what you see!
History
As always the kids have had plenty of time to learn about a variety of history topics. As we are fairly autonomous with our learning the kids don’t sit down to learn about one particularly topic. Instead they learn about various topics via museums, castles, books of their choice, television and podcasts.
In Scotland we have visited a few historic places. First off was a lovely walk along to Kilmadock cemetery in Doune. The voluntary group that maintains the cemetery has a new leaflet out that explains what is on each gravestone, from hourglasses and skull and crossbones to ploughs and lions. It’s really interesting to see all the gravestones and know that over 6000 people of all statuses have been buried there over the years!
We also headed over to Stirling Castle for a beautiful day exploring the castle again. We’ve visited many times before and know it like the back of our hands. But we still learnt some new facts about the castle from the wonderful actors in the royal rooms of the palace.
We were also invited to Edinburgh Castle to see the Castle of Light. It was pretty amazing with a lot of history being discussed. The stories from the area opposite the cannons was particularly interesting. We definitely all learnt a bit more about Edinburgh castle during our visit!
Copenhagen Museums – Home Education
In Copenhagen we spent time learning about Vikings at the Viking Ship Museum. The kids were fascinated by the remains of the ships and particularly enjoyed acting out being Vikings in the room with dress up clothes (adult sizes available too!) and pretend ships.
We LOVE museums, if we’re visiting a city we actively seek out museums and the kids get quite excited about visiting new ones too! Maybe we’re just strange, but we all enjoy learning new things and Copenhagen has some great interactive museums. The eldest is enjoying learning about the 2 world wars and so particular liked visiting the Museum of Danish Resistance.
This museum was very informative and told the stories of those involved in the Danish resistance during the German occupation of WW2. There were a few interactive exhibits in the museum too, the photo below is trying to decode and record messages.
The National Museum of Denmark is a brilliant family museum. They had a special Viking exhibition when we visited. But for younger kids the children’s wing was perfect for playing in! Lots of areas and things to play in and on. The youngest got into a friendly sword battle with a Danish family which was funny!
The museum also had plenty of other things to see, but we quickly found the ‘boredom buttons’ in some of the rooms. They bring to life various interesting parts of history and made it even more fun to visit!
Another museum that we visited was the Danish Museum of War, although we weren’t so impressed with this one. There were plenty of historic artefacts in glass cases and the different cannons used over the years. But it wasn’t quite so interactive and we did spend too long visiting.
The Museum of Copenhagen was a great introduction to Copenhagen. We learnt a lot about the history of the city and various wars and fires that had destroyed the city. It was definitely interesting to learn more about how it was built and survived over the years.
Copenhagen Sculptures
Church of the Saviour in Copenhagen has opened it’s tower up to visitors. The church has historical importance itself, but everyone really wants to climb up the 400 steps to the top of the tower for the view! The tower has several bells and a lot of history, mentioned in the tower visitor information. This was particularly fun to visit and didn’t take long to climb at all.
Although be warned that the gold fence at the top isn’t that tall, plus the steps get narrower and narrower until you can’t go any higher! The littlest was a little nervous about how open it was, but it certainly has an awesome view across the city.
Of course we couldn’t go to Copenhagen and not visit The Little Mermaid statue. It was a damp morning when we visited, so it was fairly quiet. The kids were a bit miffed why she had legs in the sculpture and not a mermaid tail though!
Whilst walking to the Museum of Danish Resistance we came across the Gefion Fountain. Gefion was a Norse goddess who apparently ploughed up an area of Sweden creating a lake. The soil that was removed was used to make the island of Zealand where Copenhagen is located.
The Kastellet, Copenhagen is a fortress constructed by King Christian IV of Denmark (it appears that most kings of Denmark are named Christian, like French kings were mostly Louis and Scottish kings James!!). The Kastellet has been an important part of Copenhagen’s history and is still preserved for use as a public park. If you look it up on a map you can see the amazing star like shape of the fortress with water surrounding it.
Geography – Home Education
The National Museum of Denmark had some information about different areas of the world, not just Denmark. One of the children’s favourite parts was watching this interactive folk legend.
Visiting different areas of Copenhagen and looking out from the top of buildings like the Roundtower (pictured below) was great for the children to understand the layout of the city. They could spot Tivoli and the Botanic Gardens, trying to work out the map of the city in their heads. I pride myself on having a good sense of direction and being good with maps, so it’s important to me that the kids get a chance to work on this too. It makes it easier to not get lost!!
The botanic gardens in Copenhagen are rather beautiful (and warm in the glasshouses!). We loved seeing the cactuses and succulents, along with the butterflies flying about nearby.
However, the ‘piece de resistance’ was definitely the palm house! There were insect sounds everywhere and in the preceding glass house, that was more humid for mangrove plants, there were tiny frogs. We spotted a few frogs and loved listening to them! The palm stretch up to the top of the glass house dome. Although you could take the spiral steps to reach the upper walkway and look down into the jungle. It was a beautiful view and a great way to make the plants more interesting to the children.
If you are wondering why this is geography rather than science it’s because it actually fits both! However I think it mostly belongs in the geography section as it discusses different ecological habitat types.
English
The eldest decided to go through all Teach Your Monster to read app and has completed it quickly. He is more than at ease reading things now, quite happily reading things out loud when we play games. Although my favourite things is to watch him read books out loud to his brother. He’s 10 years old now and has been reading fluently for just under 2 years. But he’s more than capable of reading longer books and frequently reads anything lying around. I have started to need to hide my phone when friends are WhatsApping!!
He’s currently reading through various series of books, although most seem to take him only 1-2 hours to read. So I’m hoping to encourage him to read some other books that will take longer. Although he’s not so keen when they don’t have any pictures at all!
The youngest has been working through Teach My Monster to Read and is definitely capable of reading shorter words. But he still doesn’t have that urge to try to do any more than that at the moment. I’m sure he will get there in his own time too.
Whilst in Copenhagen we also visited the Hans Christian Anderson museum. It had various stories that Hans Christian Anderson had written being read out with interactive displays. Although many of the stories are a little depressing when you read all the story!
Maths – Home Education
As usual we have played plenty of board games, including those that have maths concepts. The eldest particularly enjoys playing El Dorado which he received for his last birthday. The youngest likes to play a variety of games including Sleeping Queens and Outfoxed.
Both children have been working on Doodle Maths. Which has definitely been useful! The youngest is getting to grips with money and understanding it better. Which is great, as since Covid we hardly use cash in shops anymore! So they don’t get that chance to practice money through using it!
Music and Arts
Both children love to play different songs on the keyboard, although they are mostly making them up or playing along to the songs it plays! The 7 year old also loves to dance around to his music. He’s currently working on a panto for his theatre group, practicing his dances and songs for that. Alongside this is his dance groups songs and dances which they are working on for his show in summer next year. He loves dancing and musical theatre, it’s definitely his passion, so it’s good to see him going on stage again!
Exercise
We’ve been out for various walks together and spent most the days in Copenhagen walking around. I think we managed around 7 miles every day there! We also have been out with other home educators each week where the kids can climb trees together, run around and explore.
Of course there’s also the many afternoon clubs they go to with schooled kids. Littlest particularly enjoys gymnastics and dancing. They both also go to dodgeball, with the eldest winning the player of the week trophy once this month! Another activity we’ve taken up is indoor rock climbing with some other home ed friends. The kids love trying different routes out and playing in the bouldering area too.
I’ve also resorted to Cosmic Kids Yoga on some wet days, in the hope it would calm the children as well as provide exercise. I’m not sure it had any calming effect on them, but they do enjoy it!
Home Education Clubs and Groups
The kids have been continuing with their usual clubs and groups this month. Both children received badges at their Beavers and Cub Scouts and are working towards the next one. The eldest also went to a campsite to practice lighting campfires and fire safety one evening.
My youngest has been taking part on the local panto and has been busy every Sunday with rehearsals. He spend most of the week singing and dancing as he practices his parts! It will be the show soon so that will be exciting to watch!
In addition to this the youngest has a weekly drama class, dodgeball, gymnastics and dancing. Whereas the eldest does dodgeball alongside his cubs. I always feel a bit sorry for the eldest getting dragged round taking his brother to groups, but the youngest loves doing all these things and the eldest doesn’t want to do much at all! Such different personalities!
All Of Our Monthly Diaries For 2021
- January 2021
- February 2021
- March 2021
- April 2021
- May 2021
- June 2021
- July 2021
- August 2021
- September 2021
- October 2021
- November 2021
- December 2021
More Home Education Posts to Read
Pin Home Education Diaries November 2021
Leave a Reply