Thursday 31 July 2014

Vikings

We had the fantastic fortune this week of a once in a lifetime visit and stepping foot on the Dragon Harold Fairhair Viking Ship this week.

What an experience, such a beautiful ship and what fantastic history.

The kids learnt a fundamental fact that the Vikings did not run round with horns on their heads.. 


 You can find out all about the ship here http://den.vikingkings.com/en/dragon-harald-fairhair.html but for those that don't want to click the link the ship is the largest Viking ship built in modern times.

What a superb vessel, the ship had a broken mast which was being replaced at the sailing Club in Walsall and they kindly allowed visits before it sails back again to Norway.

You can take a peek at their facebook page which will give details of its visit to UK.. https://www.facebook.com/groups/277020215675452/

We had a fabulous time on board and decided to visit the beach before heading back home where we drew names in the sand and fund some shells.








Thursday 24 July 2014

Egyptians coming to life.

We had a little meet with a fellow home edder on Monday a lovely family who both Oliver and Olivia have taken too over the past few months, we decided on the Manchester Museum, which suited us down to the ground as the twins have been covering the Egyptians and they found it fab that they got to see the mummies up close and personal.

We have been to the museum many times but each time the twins get something new out of it and they see the place in a different way, depending on what they are focused on.

We did a little workshop whilst we where there making Conopic jars a did some hieroglyphic writing, we all had fun.









Saturday 19 July 2014

Educational Link find of the month (July)

  • Learning Environmental Education Seasons
http://www.opalexplorenature.org/education-packs-seasonal

Great link for KS1, environment by seasons, some great ideas here for our walks at Daisy Nook.

http://www.opalexplorenature.org/education-packs-arts-creative

This is perfect for me to give some art inspiration to the kids to encourage them more in art.

  • Lego Story Pack
 http://marketing.legoeducation.com/acton/form/7842/0013:d-0001/0/index.htm

I have applied for this pack which will arrive in September, I am not entirely sure what the benefits will be but if it help them put pen to paper then it will be worth it.

  • Children's creative writing competitions.
 http://www.writersreign.co.uk/Children%27s-Writing-Competitions.html

I will hopefully try to encourage Oliver with his writing, he isn't very competitive so it may not work, but it is worth a try.

  • World Flag bunting
 http://paperzip.co.uk/topics/geography/around-the-world/world-flags-bunting-a-e

I love this resource  as we will be putting some decoration up for September for their celebration of the official start of their learning Journey, so this will come in handy to make a world flag bunting decoration.

  • Chess guide.
 http://www.albertachess.org/Teaching%20Manual.pdf
I have been teaching the kids chess and also have a chess club planned if we can get enough interest so this is a great guide on learning chess.

https://www.chesskid.com/login.html
This is a great place for kids to learn and play chess with others online.

  • Chocolate
 http://recipes.cadbury.co.uk/HomeCategory

As it is officially the holidays I think what better way to celebrate than with chocolate, here we have lots and lots of chocolate recipes to get stuck into.

  • Dance mat typing
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Here is great game to get the kids learning to type, my two love using the computer so this should have them both glued.

  • Science Activity Pack, 
 http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/national-science-engineering-week/download-activities-competitions-and-quizzes/activity-packs

A whopping 350 science activities to download and have lots of fun with... I think signing up is a must for this site to keep on top of the latest science news.

  • Frozen Printables
 http://missionmouse.com/free-frozen-printable-packs-for-age-2-9-years/


If your minis are anything like mine you will love these printable's.

  • Nourish Interactive
 http://www.nourishinteractive.com/

  • Food A fact of life
 http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/index.aspx

We will be covering healthy eating quite extensively throughout  our time in daily life and this website looks good for nutrition information for the kids to get interactive with.

Education Update.

Well its ended up being a while since I have been here again. We have done some fabulous things and been to some fabulous places and met some fabulous fellow home edders,  I have just been so short on time keeping up with this blog.

But as the twins will be official come September (wow where has the time gone) this blog will have more content as I will be using it as a bit of a planning tool as well as a record of what we get up to.

I have found some great resources to use next year to help me plan some activities and give me ideas of what direction things will take for the twins.

At the moment we do what the twins want to do, for example if they are interested in Egyptians then we do stories and activities containing Egyptians, they very much direct their own learning at the minute, but I always like to be prepared and ahead of the game, so I have collected many many resources for a just in case scenario, and to be quite honest I am so pleased I started out like that, as those books on Saxons, and Egyptians and Vikings that I bought when they where a few months old have all come to good use already and are being well used.

Olivia and Oliver are both doing fabulous and are both coming on at a rapid pace, just a few months ago I wrote in this bog how Oliver had struggled with recognising letters but wow what a transformation, he is now spelling full words, both Oliva and Oliver are both spelling words and Olivia has read one book completely on her own from start to finish with no help at all, she is also writing her name very keenly.

Oliver is a reluctant writer so I will be concentrating on making writing fun for him over the next year, he loves books and he loves learning and he loves using the computer but when it comes to using a pen he just turns to jelly.

Neither Oliver or Olivia are drawers, they rarely draw anything although Olivia spends a lot of time walking round with a pen and paper in her hand.

Oliver is more of a maths guy, he loves maths, he spends a lot of time preferring to do maths seeds on the computer, whereas Olivia likes to put pen to paper and is doing very well with maths. At the moment I write maths questions on a piece of paper which Olivia loves to do, and she enjoys the challenge but I think I will introduce some maths books over the next year, they both have their own maths folder and Oliver never gets his out and is just not bothered about it. Oliver just goes to the computer for maths but Olivia takes great pride in her maths folder, I think the only maths Oliver likes that is not on the computer is the Multi Links that I purchase, he actually loves those but he uses them like lego and takes great pride in making his constructions so more multi link actvities will be forthcoming for him, but measurements is something Oliver likes, he often refers to things in metres.

History is one of their favourite subjects which we cover quite extensively at the moment, we have acquired the History of the world curriculum book and it is amazing, full of stores which we expand on with activities, other books, videos and outings. I love this book as it is stories that follow on from one era to the next which is really engaging for the twins who listen and ask lots of questions. It is a great bedtime book which gets them thinking.

It has been an interesting journey so far despite it not being a compulsory thing until September, it has become a way of life for us now and the twins are well conditioned for learning in a way that suits them without pressure or a have to attitude.

They have fitted well into the home ed community and there is an abundance of things to do. The last few years of planning for home ed are coming to an end and the start of the journey will become official in September, I am still anxious and excited and wondering what the next few years will bring for the twins education, but so far I have exceeded my own expectations easily and I am really looking forwards to September to really get my teeth stuck in and see what we can achieve over the next year.

If anyone is reading this and you are also starting out in September I would love for you to post your blog or comment on your own experience below in the comments, seeing how others do it would give me a huge boost and possibly some ideas  could use myself..