It’s a little way into November now, but it’s been extra busy due to celebrations for Halloween and Bonfire Night. I feel like I haven’t had an extra moment to start writing this! We had two weeks school holidays in October. Which, although the kids don’t go to school, all their clubs and groups are off. So the first week we had a few days on the Isle of Gigha and the second week was spent ferrying the youngest to and from rehearsals for the senior show in a week with his theatre group. It was Legally Blonde and involved some VERY long days. It all paid off as it was an amazing show!
Then of course there was the inevitable rush to finish making Halloween costumes in time for Halloween. And the excitement of guising on Halloween evening with friends, collecting plenty of sweets. So all in all it’s been a pretty busy month, with all the usual activities in the non-holiday weeks.
Table of Contents
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
The kids love history and spend a lot of time listening and reading about different stories or myths as well as facts. The eldest has been listening to a lot of Greeking Out whilst doing the dishes too. It’s his favourite thing to do when he has to do chores!
Other history learning has come from books, often when the kids are reading fiction stories like Percy Jackson we may look up information to double check stories and history facts. We haven’t visited any historical sites this month, but we have still been reinforcing their knowledge. For example I was curious when someone online said there is no point in bonfire night nowadays, as kids today don’t even know why we celebrate. I asked my eldest who was sitting on the sofa at the time. He immediately told me the history of Guy Fawkes attempting to blow up the parliament. So yes, the kids do know a surprising amount. We’ve not discussed Guy Fawkes in the last year, but he still easily remembers the history of it!
Geography
We haven’t really covered any particular geography this month. However the children are surrounded by maps and globes in our house. Mainly because I love maps and globes! I also went to World Travel Market at the beginning of November, so the kids were asking me in October what meetings I had lined up. Which inevitably led to them asking about different countries and me asking if they knew where they were. They did.
The weather has been pretty bad recently, so we’ve also been discussing various weather phenomena. It’s always an interesting topic to discuss, especially when you live in a temperate climate where the weather can change dramatically daily! A lot of the kids learning is through discussions and then looking up the answers together and fact checking where we get the answer from.
Science
The kids love a good podcast, and there are plenty of science options about. We tend to listen to Tumble, Mysteries of Science and Wow in the World. All of which have great information about scientific discoveries, mysteries and scientific papers in an interesting way.
We also tried to see the salmon jumping in a nearby river. No luck unfortunately, but we’ve seen them there before! We’ll try earlier in October next year, hopefully we’ll see them again then!
During the October holidays it was Stirling Science week, so we went to the local observatory at a Stirling hotel. It’s fantastic to see it move and look through the giant wooden telescope. Unfortunately, despite a clear day and early evening, the clouds came in just as we went to the observatory! So all we managed to see was the Wallace Monument. Upside down, as the telescope turns images the wrong way around!
The youngest also built a hydraulic arm from his Tinkerer box. It’s a great STEM activity for kids. Check out the photos below!
Maths
The children have maths in everyday life, from measuring when baking and cooking, to telling the time and working out problems.
However, we also do a Beast Academy lesson every day or two (it’s an online paid maths program). The kids also choose to play Prodigy maths, on their free program, which is a wizard based computer game that you have to answer math questions to fight in battles. Their maths has certainly improved since we started using Beast Academy, with the youngest quickly working out problems in his head and the eldest beginning to lengthen his concentration span.
Language
The eldest is always reading and is currently part way through the Hunger Games series. He’s also finished the new Which Way To The Future book by Cressida Cowell and is reading another couple of books on his kindle (not sure which ones!).
The youngest has been listening to audio books and has finished the Hunger Games series (not the last book as it may be a bit much for an 11 year old!). He’s also finished listening to Serpent Sands by Vashti Hardy and another Skulduggery Pleasant book. He’s now begun the Northern Lights series. Most of his reading is via audio books as he practices his Diablo skills. His actual reading skills are definitely improving, but he needs to improve his fluency with larger books of text. Unfortunately he’s dyslexic and a page full of tiny writing is just too overwhelming for him and certain fonts make it hard for him to read. So we are currently experimenting with a dyslexia tutor to improve his fluency so he can read the books that he is interested in. She’s only visited once, so we’ll see how it goes!
Both children have also been practicing writing by hand, mainly so I can ensure that they have legible writing whenever they need to write in the future. They are not asked to write essays, just a few lines each day to practice writing neatly!
Clubs and Groups
We’ve had two weeks of the kids usual clubs and groups this month. This includes, drama, gymnastics, dancing, choir, scouts and lead climbing for the 11 year old. Then Scouts and dodgeball for the eldest. They are completely different children, with one child wanting to do very little evening activities and the other preferring to do them ALL. Ha! They both also have home education groups during the week, including an alternating board games and Lego club, two different park meets and an online Minecraft education coding meet.
The 11 year old also had various rehearsals for panto and of course a whole week of rehearsals for Legally Blonde. Which made it rather busy for us!
Both children have plenty of time with other children at clubs, both home educated and schooled.
Socialisation
The kids have had plenty of time at different groups and also meeting up with friends outside of groups. So there is a LOT of socialisation going on, we’ve never had to worry about this!
I know that many people are concerned about socialisation, but once you find yourself a group of children who they get on well with it becomes much easier! I recommend you try different home education groups in your area and then go back to them several times over until your child is more comfortable and ready to join in.
Art and Music
The children haven’t managed any actual artwork of their own. But they have enjoyed a visit to Enchanted Forest (they enjoyed the first bit, but were tired after a busy week before the end!) to see the beautifully laid out light designs and shows.
The eldest also spent some time sewing his Viking costume for Halloween. It’s a basic tunic, but he did well with it!
The youngest has also been rehearsing various musicals and different songs from musicals. I’m not sure if Diablo skills are an art form too, but he’s definitely at the stage he could be performing Diablo tricks on a street!
Physical Education
We’ve been out on quite a few different walks this month, from beaches and moorlands on Gigha to walks along the river at the Hermitage. We’ve also been outdoors with friends, the kids racing around at the park, climbing trees, playing on rope swings and more.
Plus there are all the indoor physical activities such as gymnastics and dodgeball.
