Elf on The Shelf

Our tree is now up, following our tradition of putting the decorations up on the weekend of first Sunday of Advent.

This means that Elfie (from Elf on the Shelf  - but not the actual Elf who was far to creepy looking for my liking) is back.

Have typed out the letter from Santa announcing that he is back, and he will be dangling from our tree in a woollen stocking holding the letter for J tomorrow morning.

This means that for the next 27 days Elfie will be naughty or nice, so we have to make sure we have prepared his pranks or treats every night until Christmas for J to find each morning.

So being fairly organised here is a list:

1. Arrive with letter from Santa (29th of November)
2. Special breakfast - 
   
3. Line up toy figures opposite Elfie who has Nerf gun
4. Put in Slow Cooker as if asleep with pillow and blanket
5. Fishing in bowl with paint brush, string with Fish from Fish and Chip snacks in bowl 
   
6. Put red noses on faces on family photo
7. How many days to Christmas written on bedroom mirror with lipstick
8. Make snowflakes and hang all over room
9. Toilet roll tepee the tree
10. Cover the room in post it notes with Christmas jokes on
11. Put in blender
12. Draw minions on bananas 
    
13. Make snowman  out of toilet rolls  
    
14. Snowball fight with toy figure 
    
15. Elf workout with straw and marshmallows 
    
16. Sat on Sofa watching Elf with a bowl of spaghetti and M&Ms beside him
17. Elf in tree after putting Candy Canes all over tree
18. Elf drinking from pint of milk with straw 
19. Roasting marshmallow over tea light
20. Make snowman shape out of cars 
    
21. Head sticking out of rice krispie box  
22. Take selfie of elf and print out
23. Head sticking out of sharks mouth
24. Snowman on door 
    
25. Elfie in tree again this time with chocolate tree decorations
26. Special Christmas Eve box gift
27. Christmas Day - sat on Nativity Scene with letter from Santa.

The Christmas Eve box will contain anything elf like I can find, socks, pj's and hats along with Snowman Soup  and chocolate treats.

Venus, Penguins, Carrots and of course the Rugby World Cup

Last  week our routine was a  little disrupted as I worked in the mornings (usually work weekends but covered for someone who was on leave).  I had planned on the regular English and Maths for J in the afternoon, but as I have always found with all three of my children in their primary years, they cannot focus so well past 1pm!

 So in the mornings with his Dad it was mainly dinosaur based, along with lots of  Lego building  and of course mine craft.

This week  B is at College and starts her Yoga class, D continuing with his study and  rugby training on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  

J and I originally planned to visit Cockington with a Home Ed Group, but the forecast wasn't good so decided on The Dinosaur Museum.  I then discovered it did not open on a Monday so we ended up going to Living Coasts to see the Penguins, Otters, Seals and of course sea horses, which is part of the study for Cedric's Day At the Castle with Picture Book Explorers.

(I have to be honest, I did not continue with this as I dropped the book down the back of the radiator and couldn't get it out for ages, so Mike has just recently unscrewed the metal bits each side of the radiator to get it out - so will be back to following the activities for this book next week). Lol

Living Coasts

We have been covering English and Maths in the morning, and then going to the allotment in between showers.

Other topics we have covered:-

Canals - History of canals and how they were built and how the locks work

Science - why do our ears pop

              condensation

              astronomy 

Venus is quite bright early in the morning where we live so we looked at the facts and pictures about this planet

Geography - Locating all the countries in the Rugby World Cup on an interactive map.

Also swimming, rugby, lots of walking and having fun digging up carrots at the allotment

All that's left for me to say today is

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!

England v Wales Saturday 8pm

First week of Term

My daughter started college on Monday, very strange just having the boys at home. She seems to be enjoying Freshers Week and is doing really well.

D is continuing studying, and has joined a Home Ed Group for free tutoring once a week for a few hours for Math which is run by our County Council.  Unfortunately there were no GCSE English Groups running for him to join that were nearby.  The rest of the week he is studying iGCSE English (Spec A) Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

J is now at the age where a little bit more structure is needed in his day to day learning. Which means more planning and organising.

This week we started with English in the morning, using worksheets, workbooks, games, TV and websites.
For History and Geography I tried Picture Book Explorers for the first time, using Cedrics Day at the Castle.

This book is about Polly and her Grandfather  who visit a Norman Castle in Suffolk accompanied by Polly's imaginary friend, Cedric the seahorse. 

The Picture Book Explorer pack takes you to Suffolk,where you can learn about Orford castle and 12th Century legends.  Activities include learning about spits,   maritime messaging, learning  about seahorses and various other activities.

This week we have looked at the Counties of England and printed a map and located and highlighted Suffolk, and also the County where we live.

We used the Maritime Message Codes to spell out his name.

Made bakes from Suffolk and Devon - Suffolk Rusks  and Devon Flats

We visited our local Norman Castle

We also explored our town by following part of the town trail, and while we were out and about, identified the flags in our High Street which are all from Countries who have qualified for the Rugby World Cup.

Yesterday we visited CricklePit Mill who were hosting a Milling Day, so we got to see how the water mill worked and even bought some flour made from the mill.  Also lots of wildlife to see there, including footage of otters who visit the centre and climb on the water wheel.

Also J has been sketching, swimming, rugby training and gardening.

So that was our first week back homeschooling.

Tomorrow we are back to Sunday morning rugby -  for both boys! 

Learning outside in the sun

Yesterday we were out and about - did the Sculpture trail at the Uni, stopped there for lunch, had a walk around the grounds and then went onto our local Home Education  Group at the park.

Today J did Reading, Writing and Maths in the garden as the weather was so nice

For History we are finding out about Anglo Saxons, starting off with looking at how they lived using the BBC Bitesize Website, going on a virtual Archaeological dig and watching the Anglo Saxon Horrible History Episode on You Tube.

We also did a bit of Cloud Spotting using this Cloud Spotting Sheet from the Met Office

Spotted Alto cumulus Clouds, which could be the sign of an on coming storm, but no thunder and lightening as yet

As it was such a lovely day we headed to the pool

Later we went to the allotment where we picked our biggest strawberry yet

B sat the first paper of her GCSE Maths Exam this morning, and D is still studying, aiming to take his next year.  All three will finish at the end of next week when B finishes all her exams for the summer, so just over a week to go before they are on their "school holidays". Hopefully we will continue to have this lovely warm weather!!!

Mainly a geography based day I think

Today we focused mainly on Geography topics

China - we looked at what various children's lives were like living in different parts of China.  It featured lots of magnificent scenery, and one little girl was shown painting the mountains, so I thought I would set the art and craft table up for J to follow suit.

He did however, end up drawing lots of comic strip type villains alongside his brother.  (They were very good though).

We then went back to the soil experiment from yesterday, looking at the different layers and discussing what these layers were made up of.  We also mixed  compost and water together to see the difference, which resulted in the compost floating at the top, which was the opposite to the soil.  We then took a small sample of soil to look at under the microscope
.

In the afternoon, once M was home from work we went Geocaching for the first time and found 3 out of 5 caches which wasn't bad for our first attempt. Using the Geocaching app on my phone, J was able to use the local map to pinpoint the cache.  It is aimed at adults but there are quite a few all over Devon and beyond that children can do. The one shown below though was a bit too high for J  and he had to go on his Dads shoulders to reach the cache.

Also throughout the day he has been on and off on Minecraft, building a house.

Tomorrow, hoping for nice weather, maybe go to the allotment, play some maths games out in the garden and get round to doing the handwriting practice that we didn't get to do today.

June

Pouring with rain all day is not unusual during the British Summer, or gale force winds, but not so when you find yourself putting the heating on for an hour to take the chill of the place.

Anyway, with the impending heatwave (believe it or not) due to arrive within the next few days, we spent today catching up with educational programmes, (computer and TV) and experiments as I anticipate that we will be making the most of the sunshine and will be outdoors from Thursday onwards.

So today has been mainly science topics. We have looked at different parts of the eye and its functions, started a soil experiment using soil from our allotment.   Bees - watched a children's schools programme on iPlayer all about bees and made honey cookies. Watched a Science programme about shadows, then played an online game on BBC bitesize about shadows made from sunlight and moonlight. Also had the usual reading hour, which includes reading programmes, apps, games and of course reading books.

Tomorrow weather looks bad again, so looking at Geography topics, maths and a handwriting.

Home Educating our way.

Home Educating J is going mainly the same way as the eldest two, very much child led.  I make sure I have lots of materials ready, subjects with topics in mind, and then we probably sit down for about 30 minutes a day depending on his interest and what else he is doing.

Week before last we listened to The Mitten online for our story of the week, made a tornado in a jar (which we still have and everyone shakes the jar when they walk past it) made fog in a jar as well, which kind of worked but was not as spectacular as the tornado.

We finished up on the rock project as I think J was getting a bit bored with it and finished up  looking at The Egyptians - looking up his name in hieroglyphics, printing the letters out for him to colour in. Also made Pyramids out of paper mache.

We didn't go to the museum as some kind of bug swept through the house, starting with J so we spent quite a few days cooped up in the living room watching films.

J said for the next week he wanted to learn more about WW2 so last week we started by looking at the Spywatch series (learn and read) on you tube which he really enjoyed, despite it being filmed in the eighties.

We also found a monster reading website which he likes to play and we have been watching alpha blocks and numberjacks.

We didnt get around to doing the science experiment last week or have a look at animals around the world (would like to get a world map for that) apart from watching the Polar Bears on the San Diego Zoo web cam.

For most of last week  he has been mainly playing with action men and lego.

I am absolutely fine with this, I truly believe that children learn so much through play, and while he is thoroughly enjoying playing I am not going to stop him to make him sit down to learn History, Geography etc.

I do however make sure that I have enough resources and ideas to hand that will interest him, and that we do try and sit down a few times a week to read, watch or play an online game that involves learning to read.  This apparently makes me not unschooled or autonomous, and my method of "teaching" seems to not fit into the semi structured category either, as I have seen some of the semi-structured methods that people use (from as early as two years old!!!) and I am not sure what the "semi" stands for in most cases.

There is enough going on around us inside the house and out for J to be able to learn through life itself.

Last week I also had to speak to the college about B's interview date, which should be coming up in March, and D played against his old team today in the U15 rugby match and won!

(also have to mention that England beat Wales at The Millennium Stadium in the first game of the Six Nations)

Anyway, onto next week, I still have plenty of WW2 resources to look at, a visit to the  museum  to look at the Egyptians and WW2 section and possibly have at look at different types of rock.

We will try and watch the rest of the Spywatch series, and maybe have a go at making Patriotic Pudding.
Also try last weeks science experiment, look at more animals that live in the Arctic and watch the first episode of Alaska, Earths Frozen Kingdom.

B will be continuing to study, but D is starting half term week as he has two important rugby training sessions this week, one with the Devon School of Rugby and the day after a training session with the RFU England U16's coaches.  This will be followed by County trials at the weekend where he will be away for three days. So I think he has enough to focus on without having to worry about studying.

Hope its a bit warmer next week - this week it was just so cold we hardly went out of the house!

Planning Week 4

English and Maths will be covered by using workbooks. I usually sit and do a couple of pages of this with J. In addition to this we read together, play online games, usually from BBC Bitesize, play cards and English and Maths related games. This weeks book being read online is another from Jan Brett - The Three Snow Bears

Science

A couple of pages of his Science workbook, and this week the experiment is weather related, as all eyes this week for us seem to be on the weather and whether it will or will not snow!

So IF it does snow we will be examining snowflakes .  If not the cloud in a bottle experiment.

History

I planned on looking at one topic each month, so we have finished The Egyptians and J has requested that we learn more about the Second World War - plans for the month are:

Spywatch Episodes- In the modern day, adult Norman Starkey goes to the Shropshire village where he was evacuated during the Second World War. With the help of the local librarian, he writes the story of his adventure. The modern day parts include the educational aspects, which form the middle of each episode. The main adventure is set in 1942, in the middle of World War II. Three children, young Norman, Dennis and Mary are evacuated to Westbourne in the Shropshire countryside, away from the bombs. The boys stay at a farm, owned by Amy Hobbs (Aunty Amy) and her granddaughter Polly, and Mary stays at Westbourne Hall with Miss Millington and Mr Grainger. The children come across what they think is a trail of spies, but the number of suspects is very high and the children have to solve the mystery.

Britons at War -  Vividly recreates wartime Britain through a detailed three- part drama which follows the experiences of 10-year-old Johnny in a period of traumatic change in British history. 

World War 2 Aeroplane colouring pages 
Soldier Printable

Will have a go at making Patriotic Pudding

Patriotic Pudding
Ingredients
4 table-spoons Flour
4 table-spoons grated raw Potato or Fine Oatmeal
1 table-spoon Fat
½ table-spoon Jam, Treacle or Milk and Water to mix Syrup and 1 grated Carrot
½ tea-spoon Bicarbonate of Soda
Pinch of Salt
2 tea-spoons grated Orange or Lemon Rind (if available)
Milk and Water to mix

Method:
Rub the fat into the flour, add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the jam and carrot, heated in four table-spoons of milk and mix to a soft mixture adding more milk or water if necessary. Turn into a well-greased bowl, cover and steam for 1 hour.

OR: Place jam and carrot in the bottom of a well-greased bowl make the mixture as above, mixing the dry ingredients with the milk only.

(from Recipes Past and Present )

Shop for a meal in World War 2 game with a ration book at BBC Primary History

Listen to World War 2 sounds - air raid siren, music, spitfires and a Lancaster Bomber taking off.

Ordered a free resource pack from The British Legion and this from Amazon.

Children's War Memorabilia Pack

Geography 

Animals around the world, starting off with the polar bear, as in between Friends episodes (and yes, I do let my 7 year old watch this, he thinks its hilarious - as do I) there is a advertisement about  polar bears becoming an endangered species and asking for help which seems to grab his attention, so thought it would be a good start.

Animals around the World Website here, you can click on various parts of the world and it will tell you what animals live there and facts about them.

Polar Cam
Polar Bear printable activities including the life cycle of a polar bear.
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett read online
Make fake snow by using 3 cups of bi-carb and hair conditioner, preferably white.

Trip this month will be the Zoo - Exmoor, Paignton or Bristol.

Now I would dearly love to take J to Paignton Zoo. When the eldest two were younger we visited the Zoo twice a year. But then they arrived - The Crocs!

Since then I have been to the Zoo only once, and I had to go into their enclosure because the rest of my family wanted to and I had to make sure they wouldn't be eaten.

I know most of the population of the world aren't that keen on a crocodiles, but I do have reoccurring nightmares about crocodiles, especially if I have seen them on TV, read about them or talked about them. So obviously I will be expecting them to feature in my dreams tonight

 My fear of crocodiles stems from what I think is the horror movie that I call Peter Pan (tick tock tick tock)! It may also have something to do with my parents taking me to a circus at an early age and watching a man put his head in a crocodiles mouth!

So, a trip to the zoo is on the cards, but I will have to insist on not going to see them - although just knowing they are there will send shivers up my spine I am sure!

Planning - Week 3

English
Workbook and on-line games for the basics.  Reading  The Mitten (can read this on-line here) plus reading and writing activities relating to this story.

Maths
Workbooks and also printables with activities related to The Mitten.

Science
Workbook. Also Weather  experiments  Tornado in a Jar, making frost and making fog

History and Geography
Museum trip to look at the Egyptian collection and  the Geology section.
At home - Rock experiment using chocolate chips and marshmallows

Igneous Rocks: Melt some white chocolate (and red dye) on the stove.  Talk about how magma/lava is melted rock. Then take spoonfuls of the melted chocolate and let it cool on a baking sheet.  These will be ‘igneous’ rocks.

Sedimentary Rocks: Hammer the chips in a ziploc bag to make them smaller. Put spoonfuls of the different types of chips into a jar.  These will be the  sediments.Apply pressure to squeeze the rock/chocolate layers together to create sedimentary rocks:

Metamorphic Rocks: Put layers of chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows into a pan that could be baked in the oven. Put the pan in the oven and let it heat up for 10 or 15 minutes. Take it out, let it cool for a few minutes and then apply pressure to the top of half the mixture.  This will transform the “rocks/chips” into a new concoction and on the other side you will see distinct layers and distinct rock forms (like sedimentary rocks).

(above from The Homeschool Den Blog )

Egyptians - us the Discovery Kids Hierogenerator to see what our names would look like in hieroglyphics and if I can find sugar lumps in the supermarket we will make a Pyramid out of Sugar lumps.

Will also watch The Prince of Eygpt (if I can get the bloody BT pin number to work) :)

Week Two - Still on Target

We have managed another week of following our semi structured Home Ed plan for J - it doesn't always go exactly to plan, but we did cover most of the activities planned.

English and Maths - from workbooks and printable sheets.

Science
Experiment - Food Colouring  and Oil, Density.   Mix equal parts oil and water and then adding a drop of food colouring. The water-based drop remains intact until it sinks through the oil and contacts the water, at which point the colour at last disperses. The oil remains separate from the water because it lacks polarity  and floats because it’s less dense.
Workbook - Living and non living things and naming parts of animals and plants.

Also taking part in the Garden Bird Watch for the RSPB this weekend.

History 
Egyptians - We didn't look inside a virtual Pyramid as planned but instead performed a virtual mummification, which was quite gruesome but J enjoyed it.

Coloured in a sarcophagus

Mummified Action Man.

That was the end of History for that morning as J then went and mummified all his action man and had a mass battle.

Geography

Rocks and Minerals- watched The Magic School Bus on you tube, all about this subject obvs.  Read this book

Also found a magazine at Tesco,  first issue focusing on Gold.  It was 99p, but of course the price will go up,and then I wont be able to find the rest of the issues without paying a fortune for it which is what often happens with these kinds of educational magazines, but this issue was quite useful and has lots of photos of various rocks and minerals with descriptions.

The soil experiment is being saved for today when we go to the allotment to collect the main ingredient.

B is continuing to study for her exams to be taken this year, and this week submitted an application form for our local college to study A levels in English, English Literature, RE and Politics.

D also continue to study for his exams to be taken next year, which includes, English, Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Physics.  

Now making plans for J's activities for next week :)

Plans for next week

Same plan for English, and for Maths will be using a Winter Printable from Hip Homechool Moms, which is Winter themed (obvs) and covers sequencing, sorting & classifying.

History and Geography topics remain the same:

Egytptians - Interactive look inside a Pyramid and making an Eygptian Mummy from this site and will probably use an action man doll to perform this activity.

Rocks - reading from Rocks and Fossils (KingfisherYoung Knowledge) which also have a few activities to do.

Science - Living Things - Animals and Plants (printable) plus a few pages from his Science workbook plus an experiment  Dirt Discovery - looking at what is in soil.

Also it is RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch next weekend which we are taking part in.

First week of the new term 2015

Home Ed this week

First week of  our "workbox" theme and J has completed  the activities set out for him, apart from trips to the park because of bad weather.

First part of the week was taken up with English and Maths, then Wednesday he was so into his action man game all day so we carried the activities over to Thursday and were all caught up by Friday.

I don't like strict schedules for learning at this age, but I as I have only organised a few activities I would like to try and get the few I have organised done each day if possible.

So Thursday and today the activities have been Science, History and Geography based.

Science - Workbook, covering animal classification and healthy eating. Science Experiments were "What dissolves in Water"

We used five jars and rice, salt, sugar, coffee and honey

(should have been ground coffee as well as this wouldn't have dissolved but I only had instant)


 Also "Do soluble substances evaporate with the water?"

No result as yet, have to wait a day or so for the salt crystals to form.

History - Egypt, which we will be following this month.

Read a story involving Egyptian animals in the dessert, Egyptian mazes, colouring and making an Egyptian neck torque and headdress

Geography was my favourite, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks, along with the Earths Crust and Tectonic Plates, explained in Primary age form of course, and also using chocolate and pink marshmallow wafer biscuits:

 Sedimentary Rock

 Igneous

Metamorphic rock was explained by bashing a curly wurly (no photo as it got eaten straight away by J) around in a sandwich bag, then sitting on it, explaining how heat and pressure can change igneous and sedimentary rocks into metamorphic rocks.

 A Mars bar representing a tectonic plate and how it forms a mountain

The Earth, aka a cream egg, showing the earth's crust, mantle and core.

So all subjects covered this week, now to start planning for next week :)