Educated By Life

Time has really flown

2009-07-27T13:03:00.004+01:00

Where has the time flown to.

My last post was in January, and here I am at the end of July, bordering on August.

Well I think partly it has to do with being busy with renovating my house, and having a house full of builders. Part of it has been time away from the PC, initially due to the PC not working, but then out of choice. I have to admit has been great, I found I was getting consumed by checking emails, checking blogs, replying to these and so on.

I hope now I've ventured back into cyber land, I can do so with refreshed eyes.

So what's been happening with the kids.

Both Tom and Annie have taken their SATs, both have done well, Tom getting level 4 and 2 level 5's in Science and reading.

This from the boy who had 5 years of HE, and didn't follow the National Curriculum particularly closely, so in effect had to play catch up.

From September , he will be in Year 7, and we are going to flexi-school at our nearby high school.

The subjects, he will be taking in school are D&T, Art and Spanish. Thankfully the lessons times will slot in well with my 'time table' at home...which has still to be tweaked.

So that leaves me with English, Maths, Science, Geography and History as my main subjects at home. I will post later on what I am using and how it's going.

Annie and Ruth will remain in school, Annie will be in Year 3 and Ruth is at Nursery in the mornings, which gives me the time I need to spend with Tom.

It will be interesting to see how this academic year pans out.

Hoping to keep on top of this blog more now.

Very pleased

2009-01-06T11:54:00.011Z

I think I've about sussed the basics now for Tom, this September, ( I may start him in July...shh don't tell him)
He will be in yr7, so age appropriate between 10-12

I've already posted about getting Maths and English sorted. Click on highlighted links to see what I've put.

Now for Science and History

I've just sorted Science

I wanted something that backed up God as Creator, rather than pushing evolution as fact, when it is only a theory. I also didn't want anything preachy! Something that was going to have good grounding for future exams, possibly IGCSE or GCSE.

I came across various curriculum's mainly US based, and finally plumped for Apologia Science you can find sample chapters there.

I bought mine from Conquest Books, they posted the same day as I ordered and I received the books the next day, excellent service!

Apologia is pricey, but I worked out the cost over the year, then divided it between 3 kids , and it seems reasonable then. Although we haven't started it I looked thoroughly through it, just some tiny points that I may adapt or leave out, but that's to do with personal preference nothing more.

It is very good, and covers quite a lot, I'm very pleased with it, I just hope it reaches my expectations, when Tom starts this.

I will use along side where appropriate with Galore Parks, So You really Want To Learn Science Bk 1 found here
It seems quite tame in comparison with Apologia, but it is in it's own right a very good book for yr7 ish Key stage 3, and one of the best I've seen from the UK.

Now for History, I wanted something to follow chronologically with World history and British history.

For World History I'm going to use the Story of The World books.
Book1,
Book2,
Book3,
Book4

There are 4 years worth of books there, I shall start with Book 1, when appropriate I shall use Galore Park History books I have all the junior and the two SYRWTL books here is junior book3
The Galore park books will be my spine for British History along with Our Island Story
With both World History and British History I shall use Encyclopedias to help with research along with any biographies and fiction books along the way.

Just got to get Geography sorted(nearly there with that) plus the very hard job of scheduling lessons plans , making workable schedules...that is what's going to take the time.

Thank you to Anthony.

2009-01-05T17:21:00.005Z

Some of you will notice I have changed my profile picture. I wanted something that depicted what my children were all about. Initially I was looking at old paintings, then I came across this picture on Anthony's blog. I fell in love with it straight way,because for me, it just so looks like my 3 children!

I emailed Anthony for his permission to use his picture and as you see, he kindly gave his permission :-)

Thank you Anthony.

They are Anthony's kids in the picture, you can see what they painted here just scroll down to Nov 7th

Anthony has done some wonderful pictures, make sure you check his blog out.

One of those moments

2008-12-18T20:02:00.002Z

When the kids were quietly working either side of me on the sofa, Annie with her spellings, and Tom with his new fraction book, which thankfully has proved to be a hit.

I bought the fraction, decimal and percentage workbooks from *here*

Ruthie, played happily by herself playing shops. Then she curled up on my lap at the end, so we were altogether. It was a nice moment, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like it too, but it does prove they are capable of doing it together.

Annie had started off on her FLL book, lesson 8, she begs to do more, I find it strange as it is a repetative book, but she seems to love it and it's working so I shouldn't grumble.

While they are on 'school' holidays, I want Annie to master the spellings she has, and to be confident with her 2's, 10's and 5 times tables, plus adding on 10 from any point from a number square.

With Tom I think I may get him started on Writing Strands 3 continue with the fractions book and do some Galore Park SYRWTL 1

We will lots of meets with friends, family and have sleepovers. The next 2 weeks will fly by.

I shall not post again until the new year now.

Full of cold & Plans

2008-12-14T16:39:00.006Z

The whole family has gone down with very bad colds, the ones that go onto your chest and leave you with horrible coughs.
I'm lying on my bed surrounded by scrunched up tissues, ruminating about what I wanted to do with the kids during the holidays.

Since their going back to school last spring, the time has just flown by. I have pockets of time that I feel we did some 'HE' together.

With Annie it has been using First language lessons

That has been a success it's hard though as I feel she has to keep up with her school work, but for the time she is happy doing FLL along side school.

Tom as has been noted in previous posts, has both Maths and English sorted.

English mainly from posts from the SHE forum, which incidently has gone AWOL, if any members from there, pass by this blog , then do pop on and say hello.

I'm musing now what to sort out for the rest of the subjects for him. Science is the next on my list.

I have Galore Park Science SYRWTL 1

I like what Ive read so far, but I am wondering what else to supplement it with, perhaps Apologia General Science which is supposed to real thorough science. I'm not quite sure on that yet, as it is rather pricey!

That leaves, History, Geography, ICT, Art and Music, and maybe a language.

Maths now sussed - well just about.

2008-12-06T22:33:00.004Z

English seems to be sorted, now it's the turn of Maths for Tom.

So You Really Want to Learn Maths Book 1: A Textbook for Key Stage 2 and Common Entrance (So You Really Want to Learn)along with the answer book that goes with it So You Really Want to Learn Maths Book 1: Answer Book (So You Really Want to Learn)

Next to help back up Galore Park is ConquerMaths I have the 2 discs, but many go online and pay monthly, I've been impressed with what I've seen so far, and I know quite a few from the HE community have used Conquer maths

then I'm hoping to use MEP which is from the University of Plymouth, it's free although you can buy the practise books for £3.00 which I'll think I'll probably do.

There sorted!

Some good links

2008-12-04T12:08:00.003Z

I've posted below some good links from my old blog, I've posted them seperately as it helps if someone is looking on google search engine. I will be posting more over the next few days, hopefully there will be something that may be useful to someone.

Scott Foresman Reading - Online Grammar and Writing -Free

2008-12-04T12:06:00.000Z

I came across this programme a little while ago, and I've just recently used it again. Thus reminding myself to put it on here.

It's called Scott Foresman Reading - Online Grammar and Writing by Pearson Education, Inc.

It's a great little scheme, you can take it 'grade' by 'grade' (yes it is American) you can check what year/grade your child would be in *here* It goes from Grade 1 to Grade 6

There are 6 units within each grade, you can pick and choose or do as I have which is take a couple of bits out of two or 3 of the grades (in this case it was on Proper and Common Nouns ) for some extra practise work. This is what makes this a great site it's very adaptable and flexible to what your child may need, and best of all it's FREE!

Coxhoe Primary School

2008-12-04T12:04:00.001Z

This website for Coxhoe Primary School takes you from reception year up to year 6. They list their curriculum, but also have lots of resources and ideas too.

Click on either the classroom link or curriculum link.

Scholastic Free Printables

2008-12-04T11:59:00.000Z

*Scholastic Magazines* is a place that has some free printables, these are activity/worksheets that are published in their magazines. Some are very good indeed, such as these *here*

English sussed!

2008-12-02T22:32:00.004Z

I have been preparing for when T comes out of school. I wanted mainly Maths and English sussed first, I think I've just about sorted English.

Some he will be able to work independantly ie, Galore Park, Writing Strands, and the Spelling Book, with me just then testing the spellings. FFL3, will be done along side myself as it requires parent/teacher participation. Finally with Story Starters, this will not be done every week, but as and when needed.

Writing Strands is something I'm keen for him to do, with him still in school, I may add FFL3 to that, but I'll see.

Now to sort out the Maths

First Language Lessons - English

2008-11-27T11:01:00.005Z

The latest buzz at the moment on SHE is First language lessons by Jessie Wise from The Well Trained Mind

I already had First languages Lessons (FLL) 1-2, but at the time A wasn't ready for it, and she showed no interest at all.

A has had this week ill off school, so I decided to start FLL 1-2 with her, she has done really well, she has had to memorise a poem by Cristina G. Rossetti, called The Caterpilillar and I have to say she learnt it pretty quickly. She has also been asking any adult about if they know what a Noun is. Then she will proceed to tell them, A Noun is a Person, Place, Thing, or Idea. This is only 3 lessons in! As a parent or teacher you have to play an active role in teaching it, but the lessons are scripted out, which makes it incredibly easy. There is 2 years worth of lessons in FFL 1-2

I've just bought FLL level 3 for T,

along with the workbook that goes with it

They are huge books, and I feel they are value for money, as I will be able to use both books with the other children, the workbook is consumable, but after looking at it, I think I can adapt it easily enough for the excersixes to be to in a notebook, while viewing the workbook. There is a years worth of lessons in this book.

I've enjoyed this week with A at home, I feel I've had a taste for HE again and it's a nice feeling to have.

*edited to add*

If you go to peacehillpress.com This gives you the blurb about First Language Lessons level 1-2, it also gives you sample pages, the link is just below the authors name (Jessie Wise). There is the list of contents, and the first 8 lessons listed, plus a couple of later lessons.

2008-11-22T14:46:00.001Z

I love Enid Blyton, I've read so many of her books starting from when I was about 7 years old, when my dad started to read theAdventurous Four to me.

Shipwrecked! (The Adventurous Four) (Adventurous Four)

Enid Blyton is considered by some, a tad old fashioned, and in some cases non PC, ones would argue we have a wealth of brilliant modern day authors, who provide some great books to read therefore why read Enid Blyton?

Why indeed! - well for one I loved her stories when I was a child brought up in the 70's, most of her books were written in the 40's and 50's, so perhaps could have been considered old fashioned even for my day. But I was a bookworm, my friends were, and we just thoroughly enjoyed reading them. We enjoyed them for what they were, some great adventure stories.

Thus I'm enjoying them all over again, along with my children, we read all sorts of books, modern and older, enjoying the stories for what they are.

Which brings me to this book, Nature Lover's Book

I ordered it purely because it was Enid Blyton, well OK, because it was about nature too, which is something I love. I also knew it was a hard to get book, so I was delighted to see that it has been reprinted.

Well my copy arrived a couple of days ago, and I have enjoyed reading it. It will be a book that gets lots of use, that's why I am recommending it on here.

It's a hard back book with a dust jacket. There are 255 pages.

The contents consist of these headings;

NATURE WALKS

There are 2 stories to each month of the year, we are introduced to Janet, John and Pat and 'Uncle Merry' who takes them on these walks. They learn something each month

POEMS OF THE OPEN AIR

12 poems by Enid Blyton, one for each month

SOME INTERESTING THINGS TO DO

6 nature crafts to make

DO YOU KNOW THESE FLOWERS?

100 Flower descriptions, there are no illustrations, but the flowers are listed by what you might see in certain months

DO YOU KNOW THESE BIRDS?

24 birds listed along with a black and white illustration

DO YOU KNOW THESE POEMS?

One poem for each of the months by famous poets, including; Sir Walter Scott, John Clare, Wordsworth, Keats, Morris

DO YOU KNOW THIS TREE?

24 trees in black and white illustration, along with illustrations of their leaves and berries/seeds

NATURE STORIES

6 short nature stories by Enid Blyton to finish the book off.

It's a nice chunky book, I'm looking forward to breaking the months up next year, and searching for the flowers and trees in season.

Some might call it Twee, with it's old fashioned middle class roots.

I call it a cosy dip in nostalgia, with the added bonus of learning about nature in a simple and delightful way.

New Website

2008-11-22T14:44:00.003Z

I've decided to have a website that is free by freewebs, you can upgrade to an advert free site later, with cost of course.

It is called Homeschool Resources

I'm going to put all the useful links and resources here as it's easier to navigate.

It's in the early stages and has not got the large amount of links that I had collected, but hopefully by adding daily i'll soon build upon them.

It's been awhile!

2008-09-24T20:37:00.005+01:00

Time has flown by, the summer holidays have come and gone. Tom and Annie have gone back to the little village school, they started to attend at the end of the summer term.

Both enjoy it, I think because it's so small, it has helped with them settling in quickly.

Even though primary school has been a success, the forms requiring that we choose a high school have arrived, just 1 week into the school term. After much talk, we have (Tom included) decided he shall not go High School, all that he'll miss he says is the friends he's made in Primary, but since these live close by, I don't think it will be a major problem, especially as he'll get more time with his HE friends again.

We realised too, that if he suddenly decided to try High School, it's not something that will phase us, as it has been a success with Primary. So I've been looking to a year ahead and even further to what sort of things Tom needs and wants to study. The basics are a given, although science eventually will probably concentrate on Biology.

I think the key will not to try and cover all the subjects, less is more will be the motto!

As it stands Annie will continue in school, giving me that much needed time with Tom, of course any problems then there will be no problem bringing her out.

The past few weeks

2008-05-28T09:27:00.012+01:00

I can't believe we are now at the end of May, where has the time gone?

The past few weeks have whizzed by, the children spent about 3 weeks at school, before we went on our holidays, it is now half term.

Annie just loves school, in fact when she found out that she was not going back after our hols she was quite disappointed! I think this is due to the fact, that she is very much a social person and has enjoyed making friends.

Tom enjoys the footie at break time , he has made a couple of nice friends. He has coped with the work very well, including taking the SATs and something called PIPs which monitor the children.

I have been given confidence in myself and the way I taught the kids, as they are not really lacking, and are coping very well with the academic side of school.

Annie does need to improve her reading, not something her teacher told me, rather something she has observed herself. So I need to help her in a way, she doesn't feel pressured in.

Tom's writing, is not the huge problem I thought it might be, although it does lack quantity.

Annie's teacher told me, that I've taught my children well, although not perhaps the things the school teaches, but I've given them a much broader education. (she taught her kids at home)I've found her to be very supportive.

Tom is wavering about year 6, I think he's inclined to give it a go, but he's adamant about not going to High School, something I'm rather relieved about.

I feel I have the confidence, that I can teach them at home. To stick with my instincts on things as this has served me well so far.

Something that has been talked about is to take Tom out for High School and keep Annie in. I know this wont be easy as it's juggling the two, but it's something that can be reviewed as we go along. Ruth will be going to nursery, which is linked to the school, so it would be just Tom at home.

Never say never though, the beauty of Heing is knowing I can take them out immediately.

To keep on top of how they are at school, and how the school works, I've volunteered my time to go in one afternoon a week.

Butterfly update
I've not been on the PC much, plus I'd had trouble getting my photos on the PC, but, they all hatched from their pupas into beautiful butterflies.

An empty pupa

Looking at freedom

Enjoying the view

Freedom at last

Sorry these took so long to upload...it was enjoyable to do, and we will definiately do it again, but with caterpillars from our garden.

Update part 2

2008-04-24T11:23:00.002+01:00

Well we all went to visit the school, hubby included.

The head greeted us all, the showed us around the school, chatting to the children all the way around.

Annie met the teacher she would have, I liked how she took Annie all around the classroom, asking and showing her things. Annie seemed quite excited by it all.

Then we got to where Tom would go, there was some children having an extra science class, they will be going to high school in the summer. They were dissecting daffodils.

The teacher he would have seemed nice, introduced herself, explained what they were doing.

Taken into the outside grounds to the wild wood, which the children loved as I knew they would.

We went back to the staff room, where we discussed some bits and pieces, the children are more than happy to go, so will attend on Monday...eeek!

I still had the warm happy feeling when I revisited, my hubby was quiet, he said later he was taking it all in, he liked the school and like me felt we are extremely blessed to have moved close to a school we didn't really know existed, that had such a family feeling.
He did feel the weight of the enormity of them going back into the school system, so he feels for them having to do this.

I asked the kids on a scale of 1 to 10 how they felt, 1 being it was awful, 10 being they would be very happy to go.

Annie gave it a 10 I'm not surprised as she skipped all the way around chatting animatedly to the head

Tom surprised me by giving it a 9, far higher than I thought he would give, he said by visiting the school before hand helped him with some of his fears. he liked what he saw.

I think Tom will have the most adjusting to do, so will keep a watchful eye out for him

Each child will be assigned a 'buddy' to show them the ropes to hep them settle. They both liked that idea.

I'm sure there will be teething problems, but the school seems to have a policy of good communication with the parents, so hoping that any issues that may arise can be dealt with quickly.

I feel more happy about the decision, but still looking at curriculum's...lol!

Sketch Tuesday - closet (wardrobe/cupboard)

2008-04-22T11:54:00.003+01:00

Only just emailed the kids pictures across to Barb at Harmony FineArts for Sketch Tuesday so hoping they make it into the slideshow. If not they can be seen here anyway, both drew the same subject, a coat hanger!

Here is Annies.

Tom's

I'm not sure if we will continue Sketch Tuesday, not because we don't want to, but whether there will be time once the kids start school, suddenly feeling rather berift :-(

If we manage to do any it will be a bonus.

Update

2008-04-22T10:41:00.002+01:00

I visted the school yesterday, and basically to cut a long story short, quite liked what I saw, I've given a more detailed explanation on SHE.

I go to visit, with Hubby and the kids wednesday after school, if that's OK, then they shall go.

It's a hard decision, but made easy by a lovely little village school I never knew existed until recently.

I love Home Educating.........

2008-04-17T22:55:00.003+01:00

..........but it seems I may be sending Tom and Annie to school ...temporarily

The decision has not been made yet, although it does look likely. I've to view the school, then the kids will have to view it to. I've explained some of but not all my reasons elsewhere why this has come about.

This is not because HE does not work, on the contrary it does, but circumstances are not conducive to it at the moment. I need to recharge and refresh myself, so I can give my best to my kids. This seems at the moment the only option available to me to accomplish that.

I encourage my children to embrace new things, I really don't want them going to school, and although I do have negative experiences myself of school and have seen it, I do hear occasionally of rare people who loved school.

So if they do go, (and it's still an if )it's going to be as an educational experience in itself, to treat it as a glorified feld trip (I know what I mean) take all the good points and store them away, if anything seems not right or not working then they shall leave sooner than I can say Perpendicular (my favourite word)

I do feel sad, as one of my biggest regrets was Tom setting foot in a school, but I almost get the feeling I shall regret it if I don't send them. Annie occasionally asks about going to school. But I'm of the opinion never say never, and not to be too proud to go back in, or come back out, or even return again at a future date.
It's what's best for the family, MY family at any given time.

I wondered if I would change my blog title Educated By Life, to something else, we can get an education from school without a doubt, but is it a rich one? sometimes schools seem glorified babysitters - is that what I'm thinking of using them for?

But school is part of life, so I'll keep the title, because if they go they will have to come home to me each day, their lives won't stop because they have finished school for the day.

Until a decision is made, I shall continue as I have been doing, if they do end up going, I'll relate our experiences on here.

Sketch Tuesday - spring leaves

2008-04-15T08:25:00.007+01:00

I nearly forgot Sketch Tuesday this week, and only remembered late yesterday afternoon.

That being the case, it caught Tom in a grumpy mood, so he didn't want to do it then, but Annie was quite happy to.

Here is her picture

I'm not sure whether it will be included, as I had computer problems last night, so couldn't send it across, I've sent it this morning, so hoping the time difference between us and the US will make it all right.

It's been a strange few days, mainly as I'm still 'resting' (even though I feel fine), I know the kids have done work, but for the life of me really can't remember what.

There has been feeble attempts at 'basics'. There has been lots of TV, now I don't mind TV in small doses, as treats, but I can tell they are TV'd out, they would argue they are not...but it does seem to change their moods, they get more irritable etc.

If anything, this has showed me, that to go completely autonomous is just not for us now. My children don't jump up and say they want to do something crafty, then proceed to make a replica boat out of matchsticks, as much as I would love them too...lol.

Some children are self motivating, others are not, mine unfortunately are the latter. That being said, when they get on with their work, after the odd grumble, they get on with it happily, they seem more inspired, more creative and then the ideas and self motivation starts to flow.

That's why mainly 'school' work is in the mornings and afternoons are left free to get on with what they want.

But TV hampers all that, as well as time on the PC. I'm seriously thinking of having a TV/PC free week, to see what happens.

The trouble is my own selfish side, I get things done when they zombie in front of which ever box they are looking at. Little Ruth keeps especially quiet for half an hour, other wise she is pestering the older two.

I do know the answer, it's being super organised, having activities/projects in place for them to do. But it means a lot of organising on my part, organisation is not my forte! That's why I started to put all my resources or anything I found of use in one place!

It's also the reason why I've started planning out their curriculum for September, if they know what they are doing, and I know what's to be done, everyone is a lot happier. By starting this early I'm hoping it will help me be more organised and motivated.

I don't like rigid schedules, and I like flexibility, I don't want it to be 'school' at home. So hoping to work something out that will make us all happy. Of course I'm not expecting it to be perfect, the best laid plans and all that!

Change of subject now and onto our caterpillars 13 days ago they looked like this

yesterday they looked like this

and now they are starting to turning into chrysalises

Unfortunately one of them has fallen to the bottom, so we shall have to wait and see, when they have all turned into chrysalises, we have to transfer them into the mesh pop up garden that was provided for them.

I read one book with Annie, and she learnt a lot from it. She was fascinated by caterpillars looking like twigs, and butterflies looking like leaves. It was an usborne beginner book

I wanted this week to go back to normal after the plasterers last week, but just had a phone call and we are having some new windows tomorrow!!! It's wonderful they are fitting us in, but of course workmen disrupt the routine, if only the constant cups of tea they want.

Oh well there is an extension to be built sometime in the early summer hopefully, I'd just better get used to the chaos around me...lol!

Singapore Placement Test

2008-04-07T21:27:00.002+01:00

I'm working on sorting out Maths at the moment.

Annie just took the Singapore placement test and scored 72%, on 1A so I'm more than happy.

Tom on the other hand was in a grumpy mood, I thought I'd make it easy on him and a booster in confidence and gave him 2A, he should be doing about 4A. He scored 54% and missed chunks out that I know he can do.

After marking it, along with tears and wails (that's just me) he sulked for a while, after I told him, if he had to go back school they would drop him down a class or 3 (I know, bad mother)*rolls eyes*

He then asked if he could do another one, so I gave him 1B, needless to say he got 94%, the mistakes he made were minor as well.

This then did boost his confidence and now he's asking for more, but I'm going to hold off.

The placement tests have told me what I needed to know.

Tom's Snowman

2008-04-07T12:27:00.002+01:00

Like everyone elese we had a smattering of snow, I missed it being tucked up in bed, but Tom made a snowman and took a picture for me to see, here he is.

Mixed bag of a rambling post

2008-04-07T11:34:00.004+01:00

As I've been in hospital for a minor op, I've spent the last 3 days resting in my bed.

Mostly I've read, I've had my trusty laptop in bed with me too.

So the children have had an extended holiday which has continued into this week, (I'm not supposed to do anything strenuous - lol no danger from that then)

So they have done some Education City (EC) I've just upped Tom to level 5 in Literacy.

They done their 'Basics' but more of a slimmed down version.

I've yet to start their caterpillar/butterfly projects with them but Tom has wrote a couple of simple posts on his butterfly diary

He has done this willingly and we have enjoyed watching the caterpillars, although a song and dance routine they are not.

They eat and sleep and they are getting fat so quickly, you look at them in the morning, then look again in the afternoon and they have grown!

Tom is posting a picture of them every 2 days, as we feel it will show their progress better than everyday.

While resting, I've realised I have to be more organised with regard to their work, especially starting September, so I've set myself up yet another blog to start planning out a curriculum for them. Now Ruth is getting very independant and demanding although quite gorgeous still(terrible twos, )I need to have more things she can do quietly, a good post by Cherie has given me some ideas.

I'm hoping to get lots of ideas and advice and although I'm sure it wont be fool proof, having it all set in place will give me peace of mind. I've felt as the kids get older, especially Tom he needs more structure, Annie still 'plays' a lot all the time learning of course.

I'm supposed to have an LEA visit sometime in July, I've always enjoyed having them, our chap is great, but with moving into a house that's a renovation project, plus we are hoping to start an extension some time soon (for family - we have had our plans passed at last)
I'm even less organised than normal..so wondering whether to just to type all we've done and send it off, then have him the following year..I'll think on it as the kids like him visiting, and 'showing' off what they've done.

One of my main priority's is to keep their physical fitness up, so in the mornings, it's a 5-10 minute strecth and warmup, even Tom is now joining in with a bit of spirit now.

Theu are getting out and about on their new rollerblades, and we've just bought a trampoline from here it's yet to be put up as we have had the snow, but will be put up soon.
In our last garden it slopped so we couldn't have one, but I used to Trampoline and it's great excercise.

Annie is continuing with her swimming lessons, but as Tom isn't, we shall make more of an effort to go swimmimg, again more good excercise.

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

2008-04-03T13:36:00.005+01:00

We received our caterpillars from Insect Lore yesterday. We had bought the Butterfly Kit at the education show see post *here* about the visit.

You receive a paper form to fill in and send off with the week you require the caterpillars for. You need to block out approximately 5 weeks, to watch their progress.

You can buy it from Amazon and it seems to indicate that's free delivery to at £14.99, you have to pay P&P at Insect Lore, which is dearer at £19.99

To document their progress I have set up a blog for my son Tom to do called Butterfly Diary

Tom hates to write with a passion, so I'm hoping by doing this blog it will encourage him, more with his literacy.

It took him a while to do, as he was constantly spell checking, he did alright,at least he is doing plenty of ICT. I'm just hoping he will keep it up, and not give up after the novelty of blogging wears off...I shall be with him as he does this, helping him upload photos etc.

Tom and Annie, shall both a Butterfly Project. I shall put some resources together and brainstorm over at my resources blog. I might do a lapbook too!

Lots of arts and crafts can be included, along with plenty of reading...young Ruth who is fascinated by them, will join in where appropriate.

Sketch Tuesday - alive

2008-04-01T10:29:00.015+01:00

Has a week passed already?

We have slowed down a little due to the holidays, we have been working on the house a renovation project! I've been to hospital, where I should have had a small op, but got sent home at 5:30pm, as they had run out of time, grrrr!!!

Due to go again this week, but now full of cold and I may have to cancel.

Anyway onto this weeks sketches, this weeks assignment was to draw something alive, the kids drew these with a friend, as I was hanging about the hospital for the day *rolls eyes*

Take a look at all the other sketches that entered barb's gallery this week here at Sketch Tuesday

There is no assignment for next week Tuesday April 8th, but there will be one for the Tuesday April 15th assignment is to draw a leaf.

So onto our sketches

This one is Tom's

and here is Annie's, note that she was thinking about me in hospital, although the subject matter was draw something 'alive', she was obviously hoping I still would be, that's me on the table looking dangerously pink !!! lol

Although not much work has been done, they have played, drawn, are learning to skate with the new roller blades. Much reading has been done too.

I think sometimes, the kids need to recharge and take a small break - too much of a break and they don't want to get going, but a small one does refresh them, and of course me.

My owl puke book arrived:

-----

Here are some pictures I've taken of it, these are what you get, the purple paper they are on is A4 size, so the book is just under that, you get a yellow flimsy plastic tray which has compartments to put the bones in. Plus the Owl Puke which is in foil.

This is the contents page

and here is the Bone Sorting chart

Even though the book is small, it's packed full of information. I'm going to see if I can find a downloadable bone sorting chart, so i can laminate it, to place the bones on. I don't know about the kids but I'm really looking forward to do in this one.

Sketch Tuesday Blue...experiment update

2008-03-25T13:34:00.008Z

This weeks Sketch Tuesday was to draw something blue, so here are the pictures Tom and Annie drew

This one is Annie's

this is Tom's

Next weeks assignment is to sketch something alive.

Check out the other 29 sketch's at Heart of Harmony, there are some lovely hues of blue.

Now for the update of Stalactite and Stalagmite experiment, unfortunately it's not gone well, or I should say it's not gone as expected. (But that's often the case is it not with experiments!!!)
In this first picture, you will see we swapped the large white plate for a small saucer, on it you can see where the liquid has dripped causing white staining, the string had become rock hard, and had crystallised, but not was not showing the proper shapes of the stalactites and stalagmites.

We stirred the water, and changed the saucer for a toy saucer so the string was drooping more, it then went all soggy! You can see the drip of water in this one. There is a puddle in the toy saucer too! Although you probably can't see it around the edges of the saucer it is starting to crystallise.

Stalactites and Stalagmites - create your own

2008-03-21T11:22:00.008Z

As part of our Geography topic, we are now doing Stalactites and Stalagmites we use this book as our base

(click on pictures)

This is the experiment we are doing from the book

You need 2 jars, a small plate or saucer, washing soda ( we bought ours from Wilkinsons), string, and warm water.

First mix the washing soda with the warm water in the jars, we had put the string in already.

Then put the jars with the saucer/plate in the middle between the jars on a sunny windowsill, it needs to be a warm place.

Then you WAIT !!!

A friend did this experiment and it didn't work the first time, she felt it was because it wasn't put in the right place by a sunny windowsill, we put about 5 - 6 tablespoons in each jar of the washing soda, if our experiment fails, we will probably need to add more. I will keep you all updated on how this one works.

About Stalactites and Stalagmites how can you remember the difference?

www.jimloy.com/geology/stalac.htm

http://www.geocities.com/bunyankids/caves/titemite.htm

http://memorymentor.com/blog/mental-tips-tricks/stalagmite-or-stalagtite/

Sketch Tuesday - legs!

2008-03-18T16:25:00.010Z

This weeks assignment from Sketch Tuesday was draw something that had legs, Tom and Annie had a couple of friends stay over who joined them with this activity J and Y

Here are their pictures;
Annie's

Tom's

Y's

J's

If you want to see the rest of the pictures from all over, 36 in all, then check out *here*

Next weeks assignment is to draw something blue.

With having their friends sleepover the kids played mostly, but did all have to finish some English, Maths and Spellings.

Tom and J made their own board game which the girls then joined in with. Much fun was had.

Today was finished off with making jam tarts yet again!

I'm finishing up with a link to a HEer's recent post on dissecting Owl pellets, an excellent post, this is something I would like to do in the future. See *here*

Playing shops

2008-03-17T11:13:00.006Z

I had to play shops with Annie yesterday, she loves playing shops, I don't - but I sat down with her and played as it helps with the concept of money.

She does give her money over in real shops but I don't always think it clicks as it does when playing, as often there is a queue. She has time at home to see what she has, how much it costs etc.

We have used real money, but it keeps disappearing, so I've bought some play money from ELC, it includes euros as well.

She was delighted, I'm going to look out for stickers and some nice money worksheets to give her, any suggestions would be welcome.

I remember when I got mumps when I was 5 and had to have a lot of time off school, they sent work for me to do at home, money was one of them, I remember really enjoying doing it, in fact I remember just enjoying being a t home learning and I got through lots of work and really enjoyed myself...so I was home taught for about 4 weeks ;-)

Back to Annie, and less of my reminiscing, as promised here are the two paper masks she happily made all by herself

Tom and Annie went to their weekly swimming lessons and now after 4 years Tom wants to stop, he's a good swimmer and reached as far as he wants to go, so now I've got to make sure he gets enough exercise...I'm made all the more conscious of this as I watch the school kids charge up the hill to the school as they pass my house.

Spring Flowers in March

2008-03-15T11:08:00.014Z

Tom and Annie have done their basics the last couple of days and both have been on EC

Annie has done a fair amount of writing practise, and some more reading from Ladybirds 5a (click on picture),

I bought the next ones 5b, 6a and 6b. She likes reading them, whereas by now Tom was more than happy not to bother and just read what he wanted, but for Annie they are confidence boosters.
What I have noticed is that she's looking at labels, signs, and pieces of writing, and having a jolly good attempt at pronouncing the words she see's and doing quite well at it.

On Friday's we meet with a family, taking it in turns at each others houses, and we attempt to something on a nature theme, we use nature detectives as our base.

We decided to look at spring flowers in March, this week the children have been looking out for them all about.

We then had a couple of daffodils on the table which the children drew, and then pasted other spring flowers that can be seen at this time in their nature notebooks

The children drawing together

Annie's drawing of daffodils

Tom's drawing
Not forgetting Ruth having a go!

Sketch Tuesday (dinner plate) and roundup

2008-03-11T20:20:00.006Z

It's Sketch Tuesday again! That seems to have come quickly around.
The assignment this week was to either draw your dinner plate, with or without food on.

Tom wasn't happy with his, ( I thought it was fine) so respecting his wishes I didn't send his off, but Annie was happy with hers and I have to say I thought she did well for her age.

Here is her picture, sorry it's a bit dark

If you want to see the other sketches or join in, then go here
Next weeks assignment is to draw something with legs!

The last few days have been hit and miss, as OH is on holiday at home, so that always interferes with schooling, plus we are trying to renovate the house at the same time.

So mainly core subjects, Maths with Tom has been multiplication and a bit of division, this will continue for the next few days.

I want to get Maths 4b finished by the end of April, watch this space to see if it gets done!

I must concentrate more on Annie's maths, more about the understanding of it, it's become recently a little too much workbook, so I've got some ideas off Boyceview, that may help.

Tom is using My Spelling Workbook 'C' from Prime-ed Publishing book cover looks like this

although a little younger than his age group I wanted to start him off on something that would be achievable, we have got into a good pattern with it, and now do it weekly, rather than just being hit and miss. I like this spelling book, as it gives the spellings to learn, but then reemphasises them through pcrossword,s puzzles etc. There are sample pages to look at on prim-ed's site.
I have Spelling Workbook A for Annie, but we have yet to start it, hopefully it ill be soon.

Last summer Annie, wasn't bothered about reading, then she got interested, she started on Peter and Jane 1A, and is now on 4b,though she insists it's 5A, but I like to cover them properly, these are our base books, meaning that we use them as our main reading scheme, but not solely as it would be very boring. So we have a mixture of other early readers avaible for her to choose, but she must do whatever Peter and Jane book she is on first. It works well for us.

Since making the Roman Theatre Masks, Annie has been making her own out of paper, I must takes some photos of them. Finally Tom related the whole stroy of Boudicaa to MIL, she was mightyily impressed.:-)

Jam Tarts - a lesson in rolling pastry

2008-03-06T13:08:00.018Z

Although we have baked many cakes, I realised I had never made jam tarts with the kids. So when my dad came visiting, I got him to help the kids make them.

Now first off I have to admit to having bought ready made pastry (it was buy one get one free - I couldn't resist)but the main lesson was about rolling pastry, so I wasn't too worried. My dad made sure they did it well, telling them not to handle it too much, as it doesn't want to get too warm.

Rolling out, to just the right thickness

I couldn't find my pastry cutters so we improvised using plastic cups

Putting the filling in

Before the oven

All cooked - you will see there is less than in the tray, once on the plate, they were being gobbled up. Soon there was an empty plate.

It was a big hit, although they must make their own pastry, we shall do that hopefully soon.
The only downside was that I'm watching what I eat, and these were rather irresistible, so perhaps not too many pastry sessions ;-)

The last couple of days, have been doing the usual Basics subjects, maths for Tom, we are using at the moment as our base, CGP's 4B we also use other books and resources, but I like to follow one main book so I know where we are and if any particular area needs working on, plus hopefully I wont miss much out.
Today he has just started a book called Using Maths - solve a crime
(click on pictures)

The book says for ages 8 - 12
The principle is to use use Maths in 'real life' settings. So far so good, Tom has seen a direct link for how useful Maths can be.
Tom and Annie have both done read alouds, some spelling, writing, and science. They have socialised and played with friends over here too.

Almost forgot, lots of Education City too.
You will have noticed, that I'm using names rather than initials, as I had showed my dad my blog, he thought they needed names (not real) so here they are Ruth is the youngest. I'm not sure if I'll keep up with names as initials are so much quicker ...lol!

Sketch Tuesday

2008-03-04T13:54:00.006Z

This is the first time the kids will have participated in this. It's a great idea by Barb from the Heart of Harmony

Basically, Barb sets each week an assignment of what to sketch,then you email your finished drawing and Barb will then add it to the Sketch Tuesday Gallery I've always enjoyed seeing what others have drawn, so I asked T and A if they would like to join in, I had an enthusiastic YES!

This weeks assignment was to draw a piece of fruit, so I had different fruits and asked them t pick one, neither could just pick one so the drew what they wanted.

This A's drawing

and this is T's drawing

Why don't you go think about joining in

Roman Theatre Masks

2008-03-03T20:34:00.013Z

I have a new goal to start the day off with some exercise, nothing too strenuous, just 5 mins of jogging, marching, waving hands wildly into the air. I felt great A, and R joined in enthusiastically, whereas T just grumbled and showed little effort. I will get T jumping and running around first thing in the morning, poor child, is so not an early morning person.

T sat down to a Maths test which was at the end of the Maths book he was doing. It was a Scofield and Sims 'adding and subtraction' He just got a couple of mistakes and on his workings out I could see it was just carelessness. I was pleased though as he hates subtraction and has grasped it well now.

A sat and did some writing practise, from this here(click on picture)

Then we did a couple of pages from the Key Stage 1 science book from CGP learning about seeds and what plants need. This will come in useful when we start planting seeds soon.

Then we discussed about Roman Masks that were used in Roman Theatre, how women were not allowed to perform ,and that men played both parts, wearing masks. If it was a brown mask, that indicated it was a man, and if it was a white mask ,then it was a women.

T and A went on to make a Roman Mask each. First the designed on paper what they wanted.

Then they started to paint the designs on their masks, which we had bought from Asda for a couple of pounds

Their masks next to their designs

Wearing the finished masks

I was really pleased with how they turned out. We got the idea from History on the Net we bought the download and use this as our basis for our Romans project, interspersed with other material.

We have visited a fort, where the children, 10 altogether, learn how a Roman soldier lived and on another occasion visited our local museum, same number of children where they learnt about Roman life, food, and were able to dress up as Romans.

After finishing the masks, we went and picked up R who had been at a friends, then on to the Library, then back home to write up about what they had learnt regarding Roman Theatre Masks.

Transpiration

2008-02-29T11:26:00.009Z

As part of our Geography, we are working through this book

(click on pictures)

We are using it as a starting point and then adding to it as needed. This week in the discussion of transpiration, the books experiment was to make a bottle garden, but we wanted to do something a little easier, so used an experiment from another book called Amazing Planet Earth - isbn 1843092026 (sorry Amazon doesn't seem to stock it - I bought it from Borders for £4.99)Apparently it's an Australian book view it *here*

This involved getting a couple of plants

Wrapping them in clear plastic bags, (I used the plastic sheets you put A4 paper into binders with)and sealing the bottom with cellotape.

Then we put the plants on a sunny window sill for about 3 hours - you will notice that the plastic is clear.

After about 3 hours, you can see that the leaves of the plants are transpiring, where they give off water into the atmosphere - look carefully and you can see that the plastic has steamed up.

If left long enough in a sunny spot, the water turns to droplets, falling back down on the plants.

This is part of our water cycle project, the children drew the process, and will label photos to go into their Geography folders.