Thursday 29 January 2015

Space Project Part 1

Over the last four weeks we have been learning about Space. The children started the project by copying out some verses from Genesis Chapter One on how God made the Heaven and the Earth. They found out that the Solar System is our family of planets and that the Solar System makes up a tiny part of our Milky Way galaxy.
 
 
They had fun playing with our Solar System jigsaw
 
 
and made planets out of play dough to compare and contrast the different sizes.
 
 
Together we made a glow in the dark mobile of the Solar System. They loved this so much that I had to split it into two and hang some of the planets in the girls room and the others in Nathanael's.
 
 
We watched some interesting video clips on how astronauts do various things in Space and we have enjoyed reading the book To Space and Back.
 
 
 
We planned what we would take into Space in our rocket!
 
 
The children found the Moon fascinating
 

and they each wrote their own legend about the Moon based upon the story of the
Man in the Moon.



In the January sales I made a bargain purchase... a cardboard rocket! The children enjoyed colouring the pictures and playing inside it, imagining they were travelling to space.


 We revised what we already knew about the Sun from our previous Seasons project and found out more facts from books and video clips.
 


The children made their own galaxies using lots of glitter
 

 and made meteor craters by smashing play dough shapes into a tub of flour.


On our visit to Jodrell Bank we saw the Lovell Telescope
 


and identified the different planets on the moving clockwork Solar System.

 
We have taken a break from our Space project and plan to revisit it in a few months.
 
"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"
Psalm 8:3-4

Friday 23 January 2015

Geography Fun at Home Education Group

Today we travelled around the world at our Christian Home Education group. Each family created a display based upon a country they had been studying and also organised an activity for the other children to join in with. We chose China.
 
 
At our table we made a paper dragon craft and tried to pick up and eat a sweet using chopsticks.
 
 
We visited Australia and found out about the different animals that live there. There was also Vegemite to taste! 
 
 
The children built Eiffel Towers out of straws and marshmallows in our visit to France and found out about the artist Monet.
 
 
At the Italian table they learned about the language and different foods eaten in that country, and saw a model of Mount Vesuvius. 
 
 
The children discovered some interesting facts about Zambia and watched a slide show of images from this family's recent visit.
 
 
It was a fun day, with games from different countries played and lots of sharing of ideas. We are very thankful for such a lovely group of friends.

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Life Lately - Christmas, Birthdays and Space Project

My updates are becoming less and less frequent, but I see that as a good thing, because life is very full and busy! I do however wish to keep a record of what we do as a family and our home education journey, so I am determined to keep posting whenever I get the chance.


 Before Christmas the children took part in our annual church nativity service.




Our baby turned two (she is still our baby!) and we celebrated with breakfast at Krispy Kreme 
doughnuts followed by a game of bowling.




A few days later our middle child Abigail turned 5!




Her birthday treat was a trip to the cinema to see the Paddington Movie followed by lunch at a family favourite, Pizza Hut!




In between birthdays we had a quiet family Christmas and kept our focus on Christ and His birth.


On New Years Eve Abigail was in hospital undergoing a Bronchoscopy under general anaesthetic to assess any changes in her airway restriction, caused by her double aortic arch.
We were really proud of how brave she was.




At Christmas we had a week off from formal lessons, but we were back the week after and have started a new project on Space. The children are thoroughly enjoying it and so am I.




Each day we set aside time to play puzzles and games. I found a lovely 3D Solar System jigsaw at the charity shop that ties in well with what we are studying.




For my Birthday (yes another one!), we had a family day at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. The children were very excited to see the Lovell telescope up close.







 Looking forward to another home schooling year in 2015!

Saturday 10 January 2015

Tabitha's Phonics Lapbook (6 years old)

Before Christmas Tabitha was working on a lapbook to help her revise phonics. Inside the lapbook I made 16 coloured paper flaps, one for each sound that she needed to practise.
 
Inside the lapbook
She decorated her front cover with flower sight words.
 
 
On each flap she practised writing that digraph.
 
 
Under the flaps she drew a picture of a word with the sound in it, for example she drew a clown for "ow" and a coat for "oa."
 
 
 
As you can see, she was very pleased with her finished lapbook!