Best laid plans...

It is typical that I when try to update  J's Home Ed plans and routines, that we are bombarded with various illnesses.

We have had high temperatures, virus's, stomach and sickness bugs and coughs and colds!

Despite all of this, college for B has continued as usual, with just a couple of days off because of a high temperature and persistent cough. D is continually studying, with his first exam in just under two weeks, and has still had time to pick up a medal with his local rugby club after winning a league final (against his old club lol).

J's routine has been tweaked a bit, slowly but surely throwing a bit more structure into the mix, but still focusing on a child led approach to home educating.
The structure part mainly being having some kind of routine during the day, with a learning activity in the morning, stopping for lunch of course, and then activities resuming again between 1 and 3pm.
He has been keen to start to learn to read over the past few months, so each morning we have been going through early reading books and now he is very confident and is rapidly moving through each level.

I have always found it difficult explaining to others, not just to  parents of school children but home educators as well, that I feel children should learn to read in their own time and at their own pace. My older two both started to read when they were 8,  and now so has J. Have to say though, I am relieved that he has started to read now, but that is mainly  because I worry about what other people say more than worrying about J's development in this area.

*Very interesting article here from Psychology today about children teaching themselves to read*


Moving on - we managed to get out on the odd occasion, J to Clip n Climb with other Home Ed families

River walk, while learning about the history of the River Exe and Exeter Canal

Quick tour of the Custom House

Ice cream of course

We also followed the Roman Wall Walk and the Exeter Woollen Trail

Weekend ahead -  heatwave, storms and apparently a toxic cloud is heading our way

New Year New Term

Having had a fairly quiet but enjoyable Christmas, its time to crack on with the new "school" term.

B was back to college on the 5th and D went back to studying for his iGCSEs and rugby training. With J I will still be using the child led approach, but as he gets older I will throw a bit more structure into the mix.

Monday we went head on into English and Maths, then the rest of the week we did a few science experiments. M followed the experiments using the James Dyson Challenge Cards and also a Volcano experiment pack I had picked up before Christmas.

Also:
Tornado in a bottle - create a water vortex in a bottle.
Scared Pepper - Move pepper away from you without touching it
Lights Out - learn how flames use up oxygen in an enclosed space and create a vacuum.

History - Victorians and Castles.

At the weekend both rugby matches for the boys were cancelled because of water logged pitches. So on Sunday, leaving the teens at home, we went for a bike ride

Afterwards M took J swimming while I warmed up in the cafe with a latte.

This week,  as we are supposed to see a  temperature drop in the weather, I thought it would be a good idea to look at other climates where the temperature is significantly lower than ours.

We have watched a programme about Alaska, (lots of deer guts in this) looked at how snowflakes are made, we made a crystal snowflake with borax, string and water, snow playdough using cornflour and oil and a blubber glove experiment to learn how Arctic animals are protected from the cold weather.

And because his hands were so cold, a hot chocolate in a penguin cup with cream topped with candy snowmen