Clik here to view.
Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum – Grade 3
Our Grade 3 (UK Year 4) language arts programme is centred around Brave Writer’s The Arrow. We love how The Arrow exposes us to new literature and inspires us to use language in new and exciting ways....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Popsicle Stick Fractions
We got out the popsicle sticks this week to help C(9) understand the meaning of fractions like 5/8 of 24. Memorising Algorithms v. Understanding C had no trouble calculating one eighth of twenty-four....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fun With Magnets
This week we spent one whole morning (plus a bit of the afternoon) exploring magnets. We started out by reading a chapter of The Magic School Bus: Amazing Magnetism. I was delighted to find that the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Japan – History & Geography
Japanese Ink Wash Painting – Evening Landscape (anon) c.1540 This post is about some “spin-off fun” we’ve been having as we’ve been learning about medieval Japan. We’re using The Story of the World vol...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Days of Maths Playtime
I wrote last week about how the excellent book Let’s Play Math inspired me to establish a living maths routine in our homeschool. So – here’s what our first week of maths playtime looked like. Day 1 –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Miniature Japanese Zen Garden For Kids
As part of learning about how Zen Buddhism spread to Japan in the Middle Ages, we made miniature Japanese Zen Gardens. It seemed like a great excuse to play with sand! What You Need Sand Pebbles or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pythagoras and the Knotted Rope
Now we’ve switched to a full-time living maths approach, we’re actually making time to play with some of the wonderful resources we’ve had on our shelves for years. What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? On...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Creative Science with Ice, Salt and Colour
This week we played with salt, ice and liquid watercolours. It was one of those cool activities that combines science and creativity, and has everyone happily engaged for hours. What You Need One or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fun With Tessellations
After we read about tessellations in The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places we decided to make our own artistic versions. I got the directions from Big Ideas for Small...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lessons Learned – What’s Going Well This Term
We’re not using any curriculum in our homeschool at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I don’t set goals for what I want us to achieve. In fact without a textbook telling us what we need to cover each...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Air Pressure Experiments
Air is always pressing around everything, but we can’t see it. This week we did some experiments that helped us see air pressure in action. Experiment 1 – Rising water What You Need shallow dish tall...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Living Maths Approach to Angles
For our living maths story this week I’d planned to build on what we learned recently about right angles by reading Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland. As usual, I think I learned as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Living Maths Curriculum 2013-14
Now that we’ve officially wrapped-up our school year, I’m joining Highhill Homeschool’s Lesson-Planning Link-Up to talk about our maths plans for next year. We started last year using a combination of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Audiobooks for All Our Family
In my last post I listed some of the audiobooks C(9), J(8) and I listen to together. Today I’ll share some of the books we’ve been listening to individually, plus some non-fiction audiobooks we’ve...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Ways to Homeschool Foreign Languages
Some homeschooling parents are a little overwhelmed at the idea of teaching foreign languages. But in many ways in this internet age it’s easier to homeschool foreign languages than it is to learn...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Week in My Life 2013 – Monday
I’m joining Melissa at Adventuroo for the Week In My Life Challenge 2013. See Melissa’s Week in My Life intro post if you want to join in the fun. This won’t be a typical week, of course – on account...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Week in My Life – Friday
Welcome to my final post in Week in My Life 2013. Click here for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Today’s dog walk Most Fridays at 12 PM J(8) has therapy for his Sensory Processing Disorder....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hands-On Russian History
We took a couple of fun rabbit trails – one artistic, one linguistic – when we learned about early Russian history. History How Russia got its name Russia (the land of the Rus) derives its name from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hands-On Ottoman History – Design Your Own Turkish Rug
The fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 marked the end of the last vestiges of the Byzantine Empire (the Eastern part of the old Roman Empire). The Ottoman Turks, who ruled over the largest...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unschooling Plans for English and Maths
Unschooling plans? Is that an oxymoron? I was going to say “unschooling ideas” but that sounded too vague. Call them what you will – over the last few weeks I’ve been chatting with the children about...
View Article
