At Home Days

I can't believe it's only Tuesday!  November was going to be our "Quiet" month, leading in to the excitement of Christmas but what with one and thing and another it seems to be chock-full again!

Starting out with the Into Film festival.  If you're not aware, Into Film run a nationwide festival throughout November, giving free screenings of films at a variety of cinemas and educational downloads to support these, for schools and Home Educators.  If you have not been before, I urge you to look in to it. it's a great free resource - https://www.intofilm.org/events

So, we saw two films last week - Ice Age Collision Course and Kubo and The Two Strings.  And yesterday morning we saw Finding Dory.  All very different films and lots of interesting themes to explore.

Then it was back home for our Learning Group on Monday afternoon.  A fellow Home Ed Mum opted to lead the session this time and had prepared a lesson on tessellation art.  It was a brilliant interactive lesson, where the kids learnt a bit about the maths of tessellation, looked at the artist M. C. Escher and had a go at making their own shape and using this to make their own piece of tessellation art on canvas -

The kids all then hung out and played for a while, whilst we Mums had a cup of tea.  It was lovely watching them play Lego or card and board games together, and winding down from their learning before we all went our separate ways.

It's only the second session we've held but I'm so encouraged by it.  The children are all so supportive and encouraging of each other and it's great watching them learn together.  We've got some ideas for some STEM activities for the next session :-)

And today we have had a lovely At Home day :-)   I have to say, of all the wonderful, magnificent, and hugely rewarding things we do as part of our Home Education program, At Home days are my favourites.  I love it when the kids are just restful and self regulated at home.  When they don't need stimulation or activities or outside agendas and can just find their own way.

Today was a beautiful example of this.  We had a slow start to the day and a nice breakfast of crumpets and tea (or juice!) and then we all did our morning routine things.  Once we were all washed, dressed, tidied rooms, pets done, etc we were ready to begin our day. 

DS decided he would go an play outside for a while, and DD wanted to show me her French workbook she had completed.  So we spent a while together, one to one, marking that and practicing her French oral.   Afterwards, we decided to work through some maths she has been finding difficult (adding fractions and discovering the fraction value of various measurements) -

This has been her nemesis for some time now, but today it finally clicked and she flew through these and more :-)

After this she decided she would have a break from 'work' and do some more of her sequin art she is working on -

I think she is doing SO well.  I helped get her started, as she was a bit overwhelmed when she opened the box, but now she has got the hang of following the pattern and counting the dots, she is going great guns :-)

DS came in from the garden, for a warm milk and a biscuit and (amazingly!) decided he would sit and do some more of his Technology workbook with me!  In fact, he ended up working through the rest of it!  We learnt about microwaves, electric powered cars and the technology of wheelchairs.

After a lovely one to one hour with each of them, I had a coffee break while DS watched videos about carnivorous plants (his current passion) and DD continued with her sequin art.

We had lunch together, and afterwards we worked on some of our Dyson STEM Challenges.  We haven't had these cards out for a while but, again, these are a fantastic FREE resource.  You can apply for a set free online and they are great for inspiring young minds :-)  They used to send you a set in the post, but you can now download them yourself from - http://www.jamesdysonfoundation.co.uk/resources/challenge-cards/

Today we worked on No 39 - Dancing Raisins -

Where we learnt about carbon dioxide and how the carbon dioxide in the lemonade we added raisins to, would attach itself to the denser raisins, increase their mass and enable them to rise. As they hit the surface, the bubbles burst, the carbon dioxide is dispelled and they sink to the bottom again.  It worked brilliantly and it was great fun watching science truly make the raisins dance :-)   Oh, and eating lemonade soaked raisins at the end!

Next we did No 11 - Lights Out

We did this one several times so both DD and DS had turns of lighting the candle and placing the jar over to create a vacuum as the candle burns away the oxygen. 

After this, as all great scientists do, DS & DD wrote up their findings!

And now, as a reward for all their hard work today, they are watching a bit of Harry Potter before Cubs tonight, where they will be doing their art badge :-)

These days are just The Best.  And in a nutshell epitimise what makes Home Ed so do-able.  Because on the focused days, when you strip away all the distractions, we can probably achieve a week/ month/ term's equivalent of learning and all in the comfort of our own home :-) xxxx