Category: art

9th September, 2018 – two birthdays!

This week brought two birthdays for our family – one for J, who turned 10, and one for my partner too. W also squeezed in a trip to Ireland with her other Mum (for our non-regular readers, W’s other Mum is my ex-partner. My new partner is W’s stepmum and we are a blended family of 3 children and two mums / stepmums). As you can imagine, it has been a very busy week for us all, so here is a condensed version of W’s learning, arranged by subject, as usual….

Geography: W learned where Ireland is in relation to England and also learned a little about the Irish language. When she was travelling there, she asked why we need passports, so learned about that too.

Art: W and her Mum went to a photo exhibition, where there were big portraits of local people. W asked why they were in black and white and then said which ones she liked and why.

When W was back home with me, she did a lot of colouring-in over several days. She has better pen-control now and colours very much inside the lines. However, she doesn’t have the patience to colour large areas without gaps yet, which is fine, of course.

She also spent some time drawing using lots of sheets of paper to try to get it just right.

Politics: When we were at Liverpool Street station, W saw a statue of evacuated children, so she asked about them. I explained that their parents thought it was a good idea to send them to the countryside when the war was on, to keep them safe. I then explained that there would not be a war here, and even if there was, she would never be sent away from her parents.

The next day, W asked who Jesus was, so I explained that he was someone who lived a long time ago and that some people believed he was God’s son, but some people believed he was not. We had quite a discussion and this led again to war and why people would argue about God.

Numeracy / Maths: On the way home, we had to buy a couple of small things for the birthdays coming up, and W did very well at her mental maths, working out how much change she would get when she paid for certain items.

W asked about university and qualifications, so my partner, F showed her a few of her diplomas so that she could see what they looked like. We then talked about what each one was for (F is a doctor, so has a few).

When we got home, W wanted to make new blankets for her toys in the doll’s house as she had more dolls than blankets. She found an old t-shirt and cut out some ‘blankets’ with a little help. She was very definite about how they should look and how big they each should be. She wanted 5 of them and said things like, “so we have 3, which means we need two more,” which was great.

Literacy: On the train to and from the picnic, I read some of her book on dog training to her, which she really liked.

We found a couple of items with our names on when we were tidying and W could identify all of our names on each item straight away, without sounding out the letters (the items were letters, exercise books, envelopes etc). I am certain she can read more than she says she can…..

On J’s 10th birthday, W helped to make the cake and biscuits. She is great at putting the ingredients together and weighing them. She can read all numbers easily. She looked at the packets and tried to figure out the words to identify the sealed pack of flour and sugar etc.

W wrote a lovely message in J’s birthday card, which she had chosen herself.

J had a great birthday and we all enjoyed seeing his joy on opening his presents and playing with his new toys, one of which was Articulate For Kids, among other things. When we played this game, we all had a lot of fun trying to describe words to each other, with W keeping up with the rest of us well.

W loves it when one of the others has a birthday. She gets so excited, but was able to keep J’s cake a secret this year, which was no easy task for her!

At bedtime, we sorted through her library books and realised we have read all of the chapter books that we have from there, so we will make a trip there on wednesday for more chapter books and hopefully an encyclopedia on animals.

Socialisation: W met her Irish cousins B (13), T (11) and K (15) for the first time this week, which she was very excited about. They had some lovely chats and she can’t wait to see them again soon, when she next goes to Ireland.

On Wednesday, we went to our first ‘Not Back To School Picnic’ in a lovely park. It was fun and we saw a few of our friends from our social groups there. W wasn’t too keen on dashing about and playing (I think she was still tired from her trip), but did chat to some of the other children and played a little with a few of them.

We dropped J (9) and D (7) off at school for their first day back and W loved seeing their new classrooms and where they were sitting. We talked a lot about school and what happens there and W is very aware of what J and D do in the day and still says that she doesn’t want to go to school.

The social group was very busy this week and we met lots of new people, along with our usual friends. W played mainly with B (5), who she knows well, and J (5), who she had just met. She also did a lot of charging about and rolling down the hill too, and also playing football.

Science: At the airport, W saw different type of planes: some with propellers, some with covered engines and even private jets.

On a visit to a lovely sandy beach near Cork, W paddled in the sea and climbed sand dunes. She also had the chance to look at commercial fishing boats up close, with their fishing nets and lobster pots. While she was there, she collected shells and stones and threw lots of stones in the water, listening to the different sounds that they made.

Back at home, some plants arrived through the post and W learned that some plants like the shade and some prefer the sun. We talked about plants flowering at different times of the year and W told me what she had learned about cactus plants previously. Then, whilst I was cooking dinner, I found a potato with roots growing out of it, so we spent some time talking about potatoes and where they grow and how.

On Saturday, we went to Kidzania for J’s birthday. The children really enjoyed it there and knew what they wanted to do there as they have been a few times now.

W and D went into the PDSA room to work as vets and performed an ‘operation’ on a toy dog who had swallowed a toy. They absolutely loved doing that one and loved learning about animal care.

They then went into the Baby care unit as a nurse and cared for the babies, which were realistic dolls. After that, D, J and W all performed a liver transplant as a doctor in the hospital (W didn’t drop the liver on the floor this time)!

In the hotel section, the Kidzania employee said that the children were the tidiest children she had had there and that they could work there again. I told her that we do tidying time every day at home, and the member of staff said that W had told her about that!

In the evening, we decorated cupcakes for my partner, F’s birthday, wrapped a present and the children wrote in cards that they had chosen.

On Sunday, F opened her presents from the children and I and then we spent a long time in the garden planting the plants that she had received as gifts. W was great at digging holes, putting the plants in gently and watering them too. She was reluctant to get her hands dirty at first, but then really enjoyed making the garden look good. She also spent time sweeping the yard and generally tidying the garden.

After we had finished, W asked me to help her to make a list of things that she wanted to do in the garden, which we then put up at the desk so that we can work through it.

In the evening, we watched a movie called ‘we bought a zoo,’ which we all really enjoyed… and W had the chance again to learn about animal care.

Play / Spatial Skills: W built her Lego Horse Trailer set by herself and then played with it for ages. She really does love her Lego these days

She later helped to build some Lego desk tidys and enjoyed putting different colours together to make them look stylish.

W again spent lots of time with her Lego and helped to build lots of little cars, which her minifigures drove and then got stuck in a traffic jam. She also played with her doll’s house. She seems to know exactly what she is doing when she starts a game and has it all planned out in her head first.

When she was in Ireland, W played frisbee and catch, managing to catch the ball with ease, then also played quite a bit by herself with the Sylvanian families and My Little Ponies that were at the house there.

After all that happened this week, we were ready for a rest…. but next week we have an appointment with the Elective Home Education Officer from the Local Authority, who is coming to the house to check that I am providing a suitable education for W. I’m nervous as it is my first visit from them. Watch this space to find out how it goes…..

 

2nd September, 2018 -a bike ride

Socialisation: When we were on our street, we spotted a children’s bike with a sign on it saying that it was free to a good home, so we took it for D (7) as it was just the right size for her. We then bought some chocolates for the family that gave the bike away. When we got back to their house, they would not accept the chocolates and told us to keep them for the children, so all the children learned about doing good deeds for others and how they can benefit everyone.

W was excited about D’s new bike as she has wanted to go on a bike ride for a while, so we made plans to go together soon.

The next day, we went to visit Grandma and Grampy and had a lovely time at their house, playing board games and going to the park.

On Wednesday, D’s friend, B (7) came over for a playdate. They all played well together and also helped to cut down the grapevine at the back of our house. The children took it in turns to pull on very long branches while I cut it. They found it hilarious that the branches were so long and often stumbled backwards as they were pulling on them. It was like a scene from “The Giant Turnip”.

One of the kittens then arrived home without his collar, so my partner knocked on a few neighbours doors to see if it was in their garden. In the process, W and D ended up making a new friend that lives a couple of doors down (T, 6 years old).

Literacy / English: At the grandparents’ house, we played a board game called Sorry, in which is a little like Frustration, but with cards. W had a go at reading some of her cards and played well.

Science / Nature: We visited the local lake for a walk. W was very good on the walk and enjoyed all of it. There was a nature trail and loads of wooden animals to spot, which we identified. We also saw dragonflies, learned the difference between butterflies and moths, and then stroked every single dog on the way round (asking the owners first, of course).

On the way home, W asked about twins again and how they are created, so we built on the learning about this from last week.

The next day, W was looking at D’s (age 7) dinosaurs, which were ‘hatched’ from an egg that you put into water. They are exactly the same toy, but one is bigger because it was in the water for five days and the other only for two days. This led to a discussion on osmosis and how the toy dinosaurs absorbed the water over time.

We watched two vet programs over the next couple of days, with more learning about animal care.

Numeracy / Maths: W showed me again how she can count in twos and then counted backwards, which I didn’t know she could do. She now knows her numbers up to 100 very well.

When we played Monopoly Junior, W was adding and subtracting amazingly well. She has come up with her own method of how to do it on her fingers and was correct every time.

Politics: At the dinner table, we have had more discussion about politics and Donald Trump. W asked why people voted for him, so we had a discussion about the American voting system and why it was that Trump became president, even though more people (2.87 million more) voted for Hillary Clinton than for Trump.

Geography: We talked about countries – J (9 years old) asked if Jersey is in the British Isles and whether states are countries. W was listening as we chatted about what a country is and what a state is etc. She has said that she wants a globe for her bedroom, so I might get her a little one or a poster.

Play: W played again with her Lego – she is really into her vehicles at the moment. She then got all of her Sylvanian Families, My Little Ponies and Peppa Pig figures and took them on trips in her buses and cars around the house. They all had a specific purpose and a particular thing that they were doing and I sometimes wonder how she keeps track of it all….

All the children also played hide and seek many times this week, with W now able to hide without giggling!

At tidying time, W was really, really pleased that her room has been categorised in the way that she wants, because that means that it now takes only 10 minutes to tidy away and she knows where everything should go.

Art: W decided to do lots of colouring-in. She tried to stay inside the lines and was careful to choose the colours so that they were the correct colours for each Shopkins character in the book.

Later, W asked to paint her doll’s house, so we got out all the paints to check that we had the right ones. I asked W what colour she wanted each part to be. We had to go out and buy some white paint and then W got to learn about what happens to paints when you mix them with white. We spent some time mixing the black and white paint to make the correct colour grey that Violet wanted for the roof. She and D spent ages painting the roof, chimneys and floors, which they loved.

Board Games: We played cards: Go Fish and Chase the Ace, during which, W wanted to mark down how many turns each person had had, so she got her own pen and paper and wrote each person’s initial and a tally of their goes.

Music: W wrote some musical notes and tried to compose a song.

PE: As W had asked to go on a bike ride at the beginning of the week, we went round the block on our bikes together very slowly. She was initially very reluctant to make her bike move and we spent a very long time indeed getting to the corner of our street. After a bit of a chat, W explained that she didn’t want to make the bike move by herself because she was scared of going too fast. I explained that I would be right next to her all the time and I can slow her down any time, and also it would be more fun for her if she rode her bike herself (I knew she could do it as she has previously ridden it herself). After that, she was much more happy to ride her bike herself and only needed help when she had got stuck in a dip on the pavement.

I’m glad she managed to do it in the end as she had so wanted to go out on her bike. Hopefully we can soon go for a ride all together.

26th August 2018 – more categorising

Literacy / English:  W asked what the holes in skin are, and found it funny that pores, pause and paws all sound the same. She then tried to come up with other words that sound alike.

Socialisation: W got to hold a 6-day old baby (a friend’s son) and then played with his big sister (her friend K, 4) for a while. They fed ducks together by the river during a walk through the countryside. When they saw some cows, W identified which ones were Jerseys. A bit further along the walk, W helped to find a dockleaf for K, who had been stung by nettles.

W and K had a chat about who was tallest or oldest, then they talked about people they knew who also had two mums, like them.

Art: W did lots of colouring-in this week. She was careful to stay inside the lines and was pleased with the end result.

Later, she drew pictures of our cats. She drew Flash and Jerry in the correct patterns and colours, and then even attempted Watson, which she found difficult as she is so many different colours in different places… Then she made another picture of a pink cat and a purple cat, which was very good.

Board games: We played “Crazy Chefs” and also Charades, which is one of the children’s favourites. W is becoming very good at demonstrating things in a way that other people can understand now.

Literacy / English: W was in charge of writing down who had had a turn at Charades, so that all 5 of us had an equal amount of goes. She hasn’t done this before and she was good at it, making a table of names and a tally of turns.

Play: W set up an elaborate game involving Shopkins, Lego, some palaces, the doll’s house and her Paw Patrol set and then continued the game over the next two days, between trips out of the house.

Maths / Numeracy: W spent a long time categorising her Shopkins into a ‘house’ that she had set up. She put her Shopkins all around the room into little rooms that she had made out of Tupperware tubs. She loved ‘tidying’ all the Shopkins away into their correct places.

We later spent a few hours categorising W’s whole bedroom as she has wanted to do this for some time. She was really pleased with the result because she said she can now find everything she needs. She did really well in continuing to concentrate on the task and was great at deciding what items should be put with what and which things go together.

Her room was previously arranged by colour to make it easier for her to find things, but now she prefers items to be tidied by type, decided by her.

W also helped to categorise some items for sale in my shop. She spent a very long time doing so (and was paid for it too). I wrote about this a few months ago when W had a categorising obsession last time…. It seems that it is back again, so it was good to put it to good use in my shop!

PE: At the park, W played frisbee, then climbed the biggest climbing frame.

Science / Nature: On the train to Leeds, we sat opposite a woman with a budgie in a carrier. He was a lovely friendly little thing and his owner let W stroke him. She explained to W about how budgies learn to talk and also how budgies are cared for. We then watched a ‘pet rescue’ programme, in which they talked about hoof care for horses and how to repair a broken leg. W loves these shows.

W discussed what career she would like when she grew up. She decided on animal rescuer, a vet (without operations) and a dog walker. She also detailed how she would live on a farm and have lots and lots of animals.

So, will W still be categorising next week? It is interesting to look back over these blog posts and to see how W has changed over the past months. Of course, it is impossible to predict the future, but I am genuinely excited to see what happens next and to see how W’s education and interests evolve over time.

 

12th August, 2018 – Family Time

The school holidays are a special time for us as the family finally gets to spend a solid amount of time all together, as the older two (J, 9 and D, 7) go to school, so this week, we focused on family time, with less emphasis on learning and more emphasis on spending time together, as a family unit, but also with the grandparents too.

Having said that, we did go to the London Museums for a little incidental learning, making our first subject this week science…..

Science / Nature: On our visit to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, we met Grandma and spent the whole day with her looking at items, using the interactive objects and generally having fun. W’s favourite was the Blue Whale skeleton and we also went through the dinosaur section again, building on the knowledge we gained the last time we visited and the time before that.

At the Science museum, W spent quite a while at the little screens, in the ‘ Who Am I?’ Section and learned about DNA and genetics, amongst many other things.

We did some more learning about operations as I had to go to the hospital for an appointment in anticipation of an operation that I will need to have in the future.

As usual, on the journey home, W told me when our train was coming, by looking at the display and she tried to read signs also.

Later, W looked at her venus fly trap and asked questions about how the plant digests the insects it captures.

Mechanics: A neighbour gave me an old bike that was not roadworthy, so W helped me to fix it and make it work again. She also helped to clean it and got very grubby in the process!

Numeracy / Maths: W counted her money from her money-box and was pleased with the amount that she had saved, as usually she likes to spend her £3 a week straight away (more on pocket money here).

On the train, W did some of her workbook, which was dot-to-dots. She is becoming good at recognising numbers over 20 now. She then coloured in the pictures that she had made.

On Monday, we went to our regular social group, where they sometimes let the children run a little stall, to sell things that they had made. As we were able to bring the older two children this time, D could sell some of her Hama bead designs that she had worked on this week. W helped D to run her ‘shop’, asking people for the money and helping D to count it.

Art: Also at our Monday group, W made a ‘laptop’ and book for her soft toys, out of paper. These were good – the book had a picture on the front and writing inside. The laptop had a keyboard design when you open it up.

Afterwards, the children sat in a circle and drew the person opposite.

Play: As we have been all together this week, there has been a lot of playing happening. W is playing longer and longer ‘small world’ games with her toys now, showing that she can move through lots of steps within a game and then change the direction of the game as it progresses.

Another chance for some good playing was outside the museums, where the regular ‘Bubble Man’ was. D, J and W spent some time chasing bubbles together, having lots of fun.

Music: On the walk to the Museums, we saw many buskers. W’s favourite was the harpist, who offered to let her have a go on the harp, but she politely declined. We did spend some time watching her play, which the children were fascinated by.

PE: On a visit to Nanna and Grandad’s, W played football in the garden with her aunt, who is football mad… W learned some new skills and has got much better at dribbling the ball now.

And that concludes this week – a great week of mainly play with some learning along the way!

5th Aug 2018 – a playful week

This week, the focus was mainly on play. W has spent a lot of time playing with her toys. Some nights, she even struggled to get to sleep because she had so many ideas floating round in her mind of what to do with her toys the next day. Having read the research on the importance of play (an example here), I knew I needed to let it happen as much as possible as W clearly had a strong need for it this week.

So here is the breakdown of our week of mainly play-based learning:

Socialisation / Play:

W played with B (6), who came over for a visit.

Later, E (9) and F (6)  arrived for a sleepover. They all played hide-and-seek together and later played with Lego.

The next day, W, her sibling D and her friend F played ‘library’, which involved setting up a library in the living room. They used all of their books, which were brought down from upstairs in many stages! Tidying time was fun on that day……

W has played ‘small world’ at different times this week, with various toys – first with her Shopkins in the doll’s house, then with her Playmobil farm and later with Lego.

On Sunday, my parents came for a visit and the children loved reading with them, playing with a frisbee in the park, going to the library for more books and then making cookies and pizzas at home.

At our Monday social group, W played with B (7) for most of the time. They put on a show on the stage, before which, W wrote some tickets and gave them out to everyone.

W played with her minifigures and Lego animals for a long time, in which she got the horses ready for riding, the minifigures rode them and then brought them back to a stable to care for them.

As usual, we played board games in the evenings. This week, W requested the “Guess How Much I Love You” board game when it was her turn to choose (the children take it in turns to choose a board game each evening). It is a very simple game, but lots of fun and the children love it.

We went to our local pool, which the children really enjoyed. We spent some time jumping over the waves in the shallow area and generally messing about – exhausting but fun!

Science / Nature:

W learned about bones this week, as our accident-prone kitten Flash had broken his leg! We have no idea how he had managed to do it – he is still an indoor cat until he is ready to venture outside. We got up one morning to discover he couldn’t walk on one of his legs, the poor thing. We took him straight to the vet’s, where W learned about the care of a broken bone, how it heals and why it is important for Flash to rest. She also learned about pain medicine and anaesthesia too.

We have a grapevine in the garden and W looked at it one day and asked how grapes are harvested. We ended up watching a Youtube video of the big machines that do the harvesting. She watched the video twice and asked questions about how the machine was cleaned and where the grapes are taken after harvest.

W rediscovered her dinosaur encyclopedia and asked me to read it to her. We read the whole thing entirely. In it, she learned about the history of life on Earth and we went through the timeline of what creatures were alive at what times in history. We also covered prehistoric sea creatures, dinosaurs, reptiles and early humans.

W particularly liked the parts about evolution and also the birth of the Earth and how it came to exist. At the end, she was fascinated by how the dinosaurs and parts of the environment turned into coal and oil.

Later, W wanted to watch a vet program on the TV, so we did. We had previously been talking about operations and how a person feels no pain at all when operated on, and how the body then heals itself. This tied in well with the program as they showed a small clip of an operation on a dog who had swallowed some stones. I asked W if she definitely wanted to watch the clip and she did. She was totally fascinated and enjoyed it.

We saw a little bit of the next program on the TV and that one was about elephants. She learned a little about droughts, conservation and safaris.

W helped to bake cheese scones and a chocolate cake with her siblings and my partner, which I count as science, but was mainly fun, I think!

In the bath, W wanted to play with her Lego minifigures again and she noticed how some minifigures stand on the bottom of the bath because their hair is less dense than the rest of the figure. W really enjoyed experimenting with them, and it followed on well from Last week, when W was doing the same thing with her Playmobil toys in their little swimming pool.

We went to the pet shop to buy our cat Watson a brush. While we were there, W wanted to look at all the animals and she mentioned how you care for each one and what they need to keep them happy.

When we got home, the first thing W wanted to do was to brush the cats and I showed her how to get the cats used to the brush gently, instead of holding them still. W did very well at letting them sniff the brush first and was very gentle with them, meaning that the cats were happy to have her brush them whilst they lay down.

On the train, W said that it would be funny if there was no gravity on the train and we were floating. That reminded me of a video I saw of what happens when you wring out a wet cloth in space, so we watched that and then ended up watching ‘9 facts about foxes’ too.

Literacy / English:

Unusually, W asked to have lots of books read to her this week. She took in all the stories and then requested more.

When we had to take the train, W helped me at the ticket machine to type in the code to retrieve my tickets. She loves doing this and she is becoming quite quick at it. Then, when we were on the train, she found our carriage and seat all by herself, by reading the ticket.

At dinner later in the day, W helped to set up a ‘restaurant’ where she helped to make menus, tell me the prices of the food and serve me my dinner. It was a great game to play and was very funny!

Numeracy / Maths:

W spent time categorising toys in her bedroom by type and by colour, just as she did three weeks ago.

She did some addition whilst we were at our Monday social group as a couple of children had made things to sell, so W tried to add up how much money she would need to buy these things.

We have been working some more on telling the time as W seems very ready now. She is not too keen on waiting for things, so being able to tell the time is really helping. When W would ask when something is going to happen, I used to respond with ‘after lunch’ or ‘two Mr Bloom episodes’, but now she needs more information than that. Every time she asks, we go to look at the clock and I will show her where the hands need to be before the thing happens and this is really helping with her understanding the concept of time.

Later, we popped to the shop that W likes as she wanted to buy a toy with her pocket money and she did well adding and subtracting amounts to work out which toys she could buy together.

History:

At breakfast, we discussed when the Queen was born, when the Queen mother was born and whether or not they were alive during the second world war. We then did the same for her grandparents’ birth dates.

W said that she had visited the Great Wall of China, which is odd since she has never left Europe. On further questioning, it turned out that W meant she had been to Chinatown in Manchester! This later led to a discussion on Hong Kong and its history.

Art / Design:

W did a craft activity at Rainbows, which was to make a rabbit out of card, and then on the way home, W was singing a song that she made up about loving animals so much!

Since W has been playing long games with the Lego minifigures and horses, she asked me if we could make stables for the horses to rest in. I asked her exactly how she wanted it to look and we made a diagram together so that we both knew how to make it. She was very clear on how many stables she wanted, what the roof should look like and where the paddock should be. She helped to choose the pieces from my Lego spares and we then built it together. W was really pleased with the result and spent hours playing with it over the week (and I got to build some Lego, so it was a win-win for us)!

 

22nd July 2018 – Lego at Hall Place

We are a household of Lego fans here and when we heard that there was a Lego exhibition at Hall Place, we knew we had to go! An artist had built scale models of famous landmarks from all over the world out of Lego and they were really very good.

We looked at each exhibit (there were a lot) and the children asked where in the world each of them were from, so this was a great learning experience. There was the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, Las Vegas, St Pancras Station, the Olympic stadium, Hall Place itself, etc etc. There was even Lego there for children to play with.

It was a great time to visit the exhibition as W’s love for Lego seems to be at its peak right now…. I’ll start of the learning log this week with Spatial Skills since Lego was the theme for most of the week:

Spatial Skills: W enjoyed building even more Lego sets than last week and has played with them a lot with D. She also helped me to count all the pieces in one of her sets before building it, to check that all the pieces were there.

Later in the week, W spent a lot of time playing with her Lego minifigures and also D’s Lego Tour Bus. She also later helped to build a Lego playground (not a set – just created with the family) and loved playing with it.

Home Economics: W, J and D baked cookies together.

Play: These past two days, W has taken part in a lot of role play and small-world play, including putting each and every one of her soft toys to bed, using all her Lego sets to make a ‘world’ and playing with all the minifigures within it.

W has also played with the kittens a lot this week and has learned very well how to handle them and play with them. She is very confident with them and they are very calm as a result.

W’s imaginative games are becoming more elaborate now. Today, she got together as many Lego vehicles (including a Lego Hot Air Balloon) and all of her minifigures and played a game in which they travelled from one end of the house to the new Lego playground at the other end of the house. Once they had packed and got everything ready (along with all their pets), they talked to each other about where they were going and who they would travel with. Then, when all the minifigures had reached the playground, they all queued at the entrance and the game went on from there for quite some time. W really enjoyed doing that and even took the game into the garden to play.

Literacy: At dinner, we discussed compound words and what they are (Football, forecast etc) and W came up with her own compound words too.

Art: W did lots of painting in the afternoon and decided to put two colours together at a time to see what the result would be and really enjoyed finding out what they would become. She made a couple of pictures and then did some very neat handprints afterwards.

Science / Nature: We visited the Lambeth Country Show, which is a huge event in Brockwell Park. The children experienced so many things: learning different breeds of sheep, watching a sheep being shorn, seeing a ‘best breed’ competition, watching untrained Collies herding ducks and also watching a talk on dog behaviour and training. They also saw some owls too.

The highlight of W’s day was watching the Met police horses jumping through rings of fire, charging towards each other without fear, and seeing a fantastic routine where the mounted police removed their jackets whilst riding. They then removed their stirrups and later their saddles – all whilst riding. W was absolutely blown away by the show. What helped was meeting a police horse beforehand (I took her around the back of the arena, pretending not to know my way…) and chatting to the mounted police officer. W was allowed to stroke his horse (his name was Quest) and she listened to the officer explain what Quest does for a job. She learned that he was 8 years old and had been a police horse since he was 4. He was 18 hands and a cross with a thoroughbred and a Shire – a massive beast. W absolutely loved him and cheered just that horse all the way through the show!

On the way home, we saw a Magpie and W learned about how they collect shiny things and why. She then asked how nests are made and also how they stay on branches and don’t fall off in the wind.

A cricket landed on my foot whilst we were waiting for a train and W wanted to know how they have babies, whether the cricket was male or female, how big they grow and where they live, so we looked all that up at the train station on my phone.

At dinner, W noticed that I had changed the posters in the dining room and asked about the new ‘Space’ poster. She wanted to know the names of the planets, how many moons they each had, which planets people could travel to, which supported life, whether we had sent any robots to any planets, whether we could live on any other planets, what colour the light is that comes from the sun, how rainbows are made and why the sky is blue. She was really interested in all of this and, although it was exhausting answering all of those questions, it was really lovely to see W so interested in a subject.

There was a lightning storm overnight that W missed as she was asleep. When I told her about it in the morning, she wanted to see what it looked like, so we watched a video of a lightning storm over Brighton Beach from Youtube.

Socialisation: Monday was our favourite social group day. W chatted to lots of people there and also did a difficult geometric shape puzzle.

Tuesday was Rainbows day, where W played with her friends and also learned a little about seahorses while she was there.

Numeracy / Maths: As usual, W read the bus numbers on the front of the buses when we were out, and whilst we waited for a bus, we counted the seconds until the bus arrived and she did very well counting all the way up to 100 (finishing the exact second that the bus arrived)! W has also learned how to read the digital display on the train platform and can now tell me how many minutes it is until our train will arrive.

We played the Frustration game and W recognises the number patterns on the dice without counting them now.

We also continued the theme of categorisation from last week when W categorised all of her Lego animals into type and then rearranged them by colour. After that, she added minifigures and fit them into the animal categories according to colour too.

The next day, she got all of the toys in her bedroom that are cat-related and categorised them. She wants to do the dogs next. She even categorised her bread crusts at lunchtime into shape order!

I’m now wondering what will be categorised by W next week? Will it be yet more Lego, or will she start on something else? I’m wondering if I will walk into a room to find the entire room rearranged according to colour…. in fact, maybe I could get her to start on my wardrobe for me….

 

15th July 2018 – 100 years of the RAF

On Tuesday this week, we went to see the RAF flyover, marking 100 years of the RAF. It was a much bigger deal than I expected. We met up with friends and watched a big parade. W loved it and we all had a great vantage point at the front of the barriers on the Mall.

We then moved to nearer to the palace to watch the flypast. The flag on Buckingham Palace was up and there were security staff on the roof, looking down….. then the Queen, Prince Harry, Meghan, Prince William, Kate, and the other folks came onto the balcony. W was absolutely blown away (as was I – we weren’t expecting that at all)!

Then the planes came and W was even more blown away. We ended up standing next to a pilot who used to fly with the RAF, who told us what each of the planes were that flew over. W loved the big planes, little planes, the planes in formation….. and then the Red Arrows!!

It was such a great learning experience for W (and all of us actually) and we learned a lot of the history of the RAF just by being there. It was such a good experience to be there for a once-in-a-lifetime event like that.

So I suppose  that was our history lesson for the week. Below are the other subjects we journeyed through this week:

PE: W played games all day on Saturday with her friends: N (7), A (5), M (3) and K (2), including frisbee and racing. She was very patient with the smaller ones.

Later in the week, she watched the tennis with her Granddad and learned some of the rules.

Science / Nature: At a theme park, W saw different animals and was talking a lot with her friend N about their different features.

At a playground, there was lots of water and sand play; building dams, sending water down different chutes with barriers etc.

After that, we went to the pet shop to buy a cat box for our trip to the vet’s tomorrow. On the way, we saw a dead bird and W asked why there were flies on it, so we had a conversation about how flies help to break down dead animals and how this happened with the dinosaurs too (she asks lots of questions about why only the dinosaurs’ bones remain).

At the pet shop, W looked around the fish section and looked at the various types of fish and plants in there.  In the reptile section, she learned about the care of cold-blooded animals. She learned about their diets and also looked at their names and type. Seeing a real dragon really helped with her fear of mythical dragons as real ones are small and quite cute….

W collected seeds from our poppy heads all by herself – she was proud of herself for being able to do it.

The next day, we took all three cats to the vets for their vaccinations and check-ups. W learned about microchips in cats and the vet showed W the needle for putting the chips into the kittens. She watched him do so and then the vet scanned the kittens to show her how the chip worked (he knows that W is home educated and is happy to assist in her learning!).  W then watched all three cats being examined and weighed and we discussed how Flash had previously dropped in weight because he was so unwell and now he has put on lots more weight and is finally growing how he should. Such a relief, I must say….

Our cat Watson was up next – W watched the vet examine her teeth and saw that some of them are red and we discussed how we would treat her sore gums.

W was allowed to look at models of animal kidneys, following on from reading a poster about kidney disease last time. She then watched the vet listen to Watson’s chest.

When it was time for Watson’s injections, W learned again about vaccinations and how important they are and then we discussed neutering too. The vet then told W that he was astonished at all 3 cats’ behaviour in the treatment room. We did not need to hold any of the animals for any injections and they all sat patiently while being examined and injected (even with the chip) and the vet said he had never had an experience where 3 cats would just sit there instead of fighting or trying to escape or meowing.  W said that it is because you have to keep animals relaxed and then they won’t be ‘bitey’!

When we went out to the reception desk, we saw a fish tank with algae in it and the vet explained to W what the fish eat and how the algae grows. W then learned about why dogs shouldn’t eat bones from a poster.

On the way home, W saw a fox for the first time. She asked why the fox was out in the daytime and we wondered if it had cubs somewhere that needed feeding.

At the bus stop, an engineer from Thames Water was looking at the large underground water pipes, so we popped over to have a look at those to see what they looked like. W asked where the water comes from and goes, so we talked about fresh water and sewage and where it goes.

The next day, W made a card from flowers she had pressed. She named lots of flowers from the garden and on a walk as well. She also looked at how blackberries were forming from the flowers and talked about how bees pollinate the flowers.

Numeracy: We played Junior Monopoly again, including adding and subtracting, which W continues to do really well at.

W spent some time categorising things on Monday. She chose to categorise her hairbands and hair clips into colours and also into shapes and styles. She then moved on to matching up her Lego card doubles and categorising those also according to pattern and colour.

On the train, W did some of her new mermaid sticker book, which is all about categorising and matching mermaids and shapes, so she loved it. She did lots of pages. As usual, she had found the correct platform for our train (platform 0, which she found hilarious), the correct carriage and seat numbers (more about learning on our travels here).

Later, W played  ‘Go Fish’ with her grandparents  – paying attention and understanding that she needs to listen to what others are asking for in order to get the cards she needs. Demonstrated very good logical reasoning.

Drama: We went to watch J’s assembly at the school as his drama group were doing their play. It was about a girl having her first day at a new school and how she made friends and avoided the people who were mean to her. W enjoyed it and laughed in the right places.

Socialisation: W’s friend came to play for a few hours on Monday and they had great fun playing with lots of different toys. Then the next day she got plenty of time to play with her friends at Rainbows too.

On Wednesday, we noticed a cat running through our garden that had been reported missing days ago, so I sent the owner a message and we popped outside with treats and a cat box to try to entice him back. We managed to capture him with difficulty as he was scared, but when we finally had him, the owner cried and hugged us and was very, very grateful. She then came back to our house with chocolate, flowers and two brand new books for W to read about kittens! W was so happy about the whole process and she and I had a good chat about helping people and why it is important to do so when you can as you would hope that someone would help you when you needed it.

Spatial Skills: In the afternoon, we built almost all of W’s Lego sets as she said she wants to have them all on display instead of all in their individual bags. We cleared a shelf in her bedroom for the display and started to build. Her skills at putting these things together now are amazing. She first got a large ‘Belle’s Castle‘ set at Christmas and it took her hours and hours to build. Now she has even better fine-motor skills and can build the sets so quickly.

W was lucky enough to go on a short camping trip with her other mum this week.  She was very involved in everything, from putting up the tent to washing up and tidying everything away. She is becoming much more independent now and was very bold in exploring the environment and doing more things by herself without help.

Literacy: We read one of the books that W got as a present for finding the lost cat (Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter) and she loved it.

W also did some writing practise – a lot of it was writing ‘poo’ on pieces of paper and thinking it was hilarious……

Geography: On her camping trip, W walked a lot and followed a map of the park.

Art: At Rainbows, W decorated cupcakes for her friend’s promise ceremony, watched do her promise and get her badge.

Languages: Took a friend’s dog for a walk; she is deaf so W learned some sign language to communicate with her.

…and at the end of a long blog post here, I have noticed that I have included a section for ‘socialisation’, which is quite small. However, we see people and socialise all the time without it being a separate subject, or task to perform, if you see what I mean. The camping trip, the walking a friend’s dog, seeing grandparents and the wonderful trip to the flypast with our buddies all count towards W’s socialisation too. I suppose I have a holistic approach to W’s education and it is becoming clear to me through this writing that the subjects that we work through are not separate at all, but that there is so much crossover between them all. And that, I suppose, is part of the beauty of home ed itself.

24th June, 2018 – a trip along the river

Following on from my blog post last week in which we got two new kittens, W has been very interested in finding out as much as she can about their care. This is great for us as we can include many different subjects to learn into this particular topic, and W has been very motivated to learn as much as she can in order to give the kittens the best care possible.

So, our week looked a little like this:

Science / Nature: We put up our posters that we received last week from The Cat’s Protection League and read through what cats and kittens need to keep them happy and safe.

We did an experiment with Skittles sweets and made a rainbow pattern on a plate, while talking about how the pattern is made and how sugar dissolves in water.

We learned about the summer solstice and why daylight hours are longer in June than in December.

W has a tablet, which she spends little time on (more on screen time in a later blog). However, today she wanted to play on her Playmobil Hospital App, where she learned about medicine, broken bones, nurses’ roles, doctors’ roles etc. It is a brilliant app for her as she loves hospitals and going to the GP….

Science / Engineering: We saw a cruise ship on the Thames, which W had never seen before, so we talked about the lifeboats, cabins, satellite receivers etc and what they were for. She also asked how such a big ship can stay afloat.

We ended up passing a different cruise ship whilst walking back alongside the Thames and looked at the differences and similarities between this ship and the first one.

We also passed the HMS Belfast, which W loves and is able to explain what it was for and when it was in use, then we finished off the sea theme with a walk past the Cutty Sark.

On the way home, we rode on the DLR , which W loves to do, especially because there is no driver, so we can sit at the front and pretend to drive the train. Sometimes, there is someone at the controls at the front of the train, but that’s even better because then W often gets to do the announcements herself, when they ask her to!

This time, W loved spotting where the points and signals were on the railway. She was especially pleased when she saw some points coming up and then the train changed tracks when she said it would.

A few weeks ago, W asked how the Shard was built, so today we looked at timelapse videos of the construction. She wanted to know if there was actually a crane that tall. The answer was yes and no…

History: W asked about the great fire of London and how it started, so we went through the events that happened then. We then moved on to fire hydrants and what they do and where modern firefighters get water from when they are fighting fires.

On the bus, we talked again about the Royal Family, building on discussions we have had over the last few weeks. We also covered how a monarch abdicates and who is next in line to the throne.

Biology: My partner gave blood this week, which gave W an opportunity to learn what the blood is used for and how it helps people.

Geography: W revisited the worksheets we did a few weeks ago on wheat and how it is turned into flour.

Later, we went on a boat trip on the Thames and saw lots and lots of famous landmarks. We went under Tower Bridge and we talked about the engines that lift the bridge again, following up on our previous visit there.

Economics: W wanted to buy a toy online, so we counted her pocket money together and she learned about the different coin denominations.

Music: As we were passing the Cutty Sark earlier, we stopped to watch the filming of a music video and then the children were asked to appear in it as audience members. It was very exciting for them to watch the filming and to have the cameras on them too.

Board Games: We played many games of Monopoly Junior, which seems to be a favourite for all the children at the moment.

Socialisation / Play: W and D played with the little dolls in the dolls’ house a lot. W also played with it by herself, setting up a home for all the dolls and deciding which one should have which room and furniture.

Whenever we were waiting for a bus, we played catch with W’s teddy (she always carries a soft toy with her on our travels) to occupy ourselves and to practice our throwing and catching skills.

We went to Greenwich park, which is a fabulous space for play, where all the children played with their Grandpa.

Later in the week, we went to our favourite social group, where W played with her friends and also chatted to the adults a lot about her new kittens!

At Rainbows, there were more opportunities to be sociable, with W playing a lot with all her friends there.

On the train to visit relatives, W and I played ‘fashion shows’ with some Lego minifigures, which was funny for us, but possibly not for the other travelers….

Literacy / Maths: We visited Waterstone’s, where we bought a new book. Storytimes are very enjoyable these days. We read a chapter of her book per night and she loves the cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, which leave her wanting to read more each time.

W decided later that day that the kittens needed a ‘Welcome Home’ card, so she bought one and painted in it for them. I think they liked it, but it was hard to tell.

For part of our literacy learning this week, W has been reading the letters and mail that arrives at the house to see who each item is for (we get a lot of post for my business). She was delighted to see that she had received a parcel herself, so that was a lovely natural reward for her reading by herself.

The next day, W decided that she wanted to more reading and writing, so worked on some of her activity book that she had received from Rainbows. She then moved on to another activity book with word puzzles and number exercises too.

When we were talking about the Great Fire of London, we ended up discussing the definitions of ‘Great’ and we talked about examples such as the Great wall of China, the Great War and the Great fire of London. W was concerned that the fire was described as “Great”, but it didn’t seem to fit with her definition of great…

Spatial Skills: W completed a geometric shape puzzle by herself when we were at our social group earlier in the week.

Art: To round off a very busy week, at Rainbows, W enjoyed the craft section – she painted some salt dough that she had made in a previous week and was pleased with the results.

It is interesting looking through this blog and seeing that some weeks seem light on learning and some weeks seem quite full. Last week has around half the word-count of this week, for example…. and that is the beauty of home education. Letting W discover and learn at her own pace means that she is incredibly motivated to learn when she is ready to.

 

17 June 2018 – new kittens and a trip to the vets!

We had been thinking about getting another cat for a while now and have decided that now is a good time to do it. All the children are great with our current cat, who is also very easy-going and has lived with other cats that are not related to her, so we thought she would welcome a new friend for her into the household. Therefore, a few weeks ago, the hunt for a new addition to our family began, opening up more opportunities for learning along the way….

Science / Nature: W has now been learning about how to settle a cat in, what it needs to stay happy and healthy (with the help of these brilliant resources from the Cat’s Protection League and some books from the library too). She also learned about what kittens need to eat and why, and how to meet all of their needs.

We went to visit a kitten to see if we might like to have him, but he was nervous and used his claws to get away from us. W learned about why it is really important to choose a cat with the right temperament and why it would not be right for the cat to live with us if he was scared of us (children especially).

The next day, we visited a couple more kittens and found that one of them was a perfect fit for our family. He was very calm and friendly and loved being handled. His brother was quiet, but not nervous, and clearly very attached to his litter-mate…. So we brought both kittens home later that day, after all our family had met them.

Later in the week, W learned a little more about vaccinations and general care for cats afterwards from the vet. When the vet heard that W was home educated, he explained what he was doing when he was examining the kittens and then he brought a model of a dog skeleton into the room and showed a scan of the ligaments of a dog’s knee, which he had on the computer. I love how some professionals are happy to give some of their time to help to educate W. When she asks someone a question, who happens to be a specialist in that area, I find that they are most often happy to answer the question in detail. It is one of the many lovely things about learning as we go through life….

At Rainbows, W was very excited to tell her friends all about the new kittens. She also saw a real bird’s nest (no longer used and taken with permission) and was fascinated with it. She had a lovely sociable time with the other children, whilst they played games such as the sack race, catching balloons and dribbling a ball around obstacles.

Continuing with the science theme for the week, we covered orbits over dinner. W learned how the Earth orbits the sun, how long it takes and why it looks like the sun is rising and setting to us.
Literacy: W helped to make tiny signs to welcome toy visitors to her Playmobil Farm“>Playmobil Farm.
Board Games / Play: Later, we played Monopoly Junior. W really enjoys this one and fully understands the whole game now.
Art: We made posters for the front, porch and back doors, to remind the children to not let the kittens out yet. W coloured the posters in and stuck pictures of cats on them.
Home Economics: W helped me to make dinner, which is unusual for her. She is often happy to bake sweet things, but doesn’t often want to make dinner. This time she wanted to be involved, which was lovely as we got to have a lovely chat, instead of her finding ways to entertain herself while I cook. A win for us both!

10th June 2018 – Questions

This week, W seemed to be full of questions. It was a week of learning outside the home, with little sit-down work.

Here is what we did:

Numeracy: When we walked along the street, W read every house number along the way (they were 3-digit numbers).

Later, she also enjoyed reading the numbers on her old Lego trading cards (numbered 1 to 140) whilst she put them in order.

Music: We visited the library to take out and return some books. When we were there, there was a Rhyme Time session on and W listened and sang along to the songs.

Science / Nature: We spent some time feeding the squirrels in the park again and W enjoyed watching them bury their nuts. She is really good at being calm and quiet around the squirrels, so that they will come to her to get the food. This is another benefit of home education: it really does give us these lovely quiet opportunities when there are very few other people around and we can take our time to look at animals or flowers uninterrupted by others.

We visited the Science museum and W really enjoyed it there. She was a little nervous of the dim light in the ‘Space’ area, but loved the orb in the centre of the room, which had the different planets and moons projected on to it whilst audio was playing with information about each one. She was particularly interested in our moon.

We looked at space suits and how they keep astronauts cool, found out how astronauts go to the toilet (poo and wee are hilarious at the moment….), looked at models of space rockets and the space station, saw a real spacecraft, saw a real skeleton from 100BC and found out how they worked out how old those bones were.

Together, we learned so many things, including facial reconstruction of skulls, how skeletons are excavated, how vaccinations work, how anaesthetic used to be administered, what gravity is and more!

On the way home, we looked at, and talked more about how train points work, as we did last week.

Then she wanted to know how cranes are delivered and how they can turn into lorries. Luckily, I have seen many cranes at work due to a previous employment, so was happy to bore W with details about them….

And to top off a day of questions, W asked how steam engines work, why they can’t go into space, and why there were no spacecraft a long time ago, so we covered that too.

A few days later, W was thinking about our visit to the science museum visit and asked how a person’s skin and flesh decay to become just a skeleton (I tried to explain this in as nice a way as possible – saying that it basically becomes the earth around it with the help of insects and bugs).

Politics: On by-election day, we had a discussion over breakfast about the main political parties and touched on their policies too. W came to watch me vote and we discussed how the voting system works in this country. We went through the political parties again and talked about their policies a little and then she wanted to know how a person can become an MP.

Play: After our visit to the Science Museum, W played with her siblings and other children, chasing bubbles in the ‘garden’ of the Museum.

At home, there were many opportunities for play and the children chose board games, Lego and dolls to play with.

History: One evening, W asked to see the Royal family’s family tree with pictures, which I showed to her and explained what it meant and who the people are.

She then asked to see a family tree from a different country, so we looked at the French kings and queens back to 1300!

Religion: We visited a church on the way to Bank station (at her request) and learned what the pulpit and font are for and we looked at the ten commandments on the wall. She asked what the bible was and we talked about that. She wanted to read a gravestone inside the church, so we did, and then after that, we lit a candle and made a donation.

Time: At Euston station, W saw a digital clock and asked why it is different from an analogue clock. This led to a discussion on the 24-hour clock.

Literacy:  This week, W wasn’t feeling like doing any writing, so only did a couple of pages of an activity book until she moved on to something else.

As always, I didn’t push W to do any more writing than she was comfortable with. She is still so little at 5 years old and has many years ahead in which to perfect her skills in that area. An interesting recent study has shown that children taught to read and write early perform no better (often worse) academically at 11 years old than those who experienced play-based learning in the early years. This really shows that, if children are allowed to learn subjects when they are ready to, they will remain keen to learn the subject and are also capable of learning it more quickly.

For now, W writes when she wants to and loves to do so.