Category: Books

Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl

Gazzilions of the Usborne Beginners read by Rose…

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

A Guide For Using D’allaire’s Greek Myths In The Classroom

Anne Of Green Gables Teacher’s PDF

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning, Winter

Week 20 ~ Thinking About The Garden

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015by raisinglittleshoots2 Comments

Rose & I have really been enjoying reading A Little Garden Calendar For Boys & Girls. What a smashing book! It goes through the months of the year, following the gardening adventures of a little boy & girl.

We went to our local garden centre & Rose chose runner beans, radishes, Sunflowers, corn & salad leaves (very much like the children did.) She has planted them up to grow in the window, again, just like Davy & Prue in the story.

She has also been excited about a ‘spinner’ toy she received this week. It loos like a small gun, & shoots a plastic wheel high into the air. She spent ages outside working out how the angle it is shot affects the distance it will travel….

Elianna has been busy reading The Care & Keeping Of You. This is a smashing book for younger girls learning about their changing bodies. She has read it several times & is currently focusing on the chapter about a healthy diet. She has begun to incorporate a couple of healthy snacks every day because of her reading & has been researching recipes using the various fruits & vegetables discussed. Which can only be a good thing 🙂

Rose & I have finished Charlotte’s Web. She had to read all of the last couple of pages, a again, I was in tears! Our next read aloud is D’Aulaire’s book of Greek Myths.

Science has been messy & fun with this activity. It is right up my girls street, lots of mixing & fizzing!

Elianna joined in, as it worked out nicely as a discussion point for an acid being a chemical that wants to get rid of a proton, & a base being a chemical that wants a proton, which is what she is currently learning about in her science studies.

Rosie’s bean growth experiment is coming along nicely.

She is keeping a record of what is happening & is full of joy each time she sees a change.

The girls have been working hard as always on their basics; English, Latin, & Maths. Elianna is still working on the Future Learn Archaeology Of Portus course. Lots & lots of reading this week.

Elianna made herself a necklace.

She was inspired by Steam Punk & is really pleased with it. Another of her ‘middle of the night’ creations!

Finally, we rounded off the week by making Chocolate Mousse for Valentine’s day. The girls licked the bowl & declared it a success!

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

D’Aulaire’s book of Greek Myths

Valentine’s Day Is

A Little Garden Calendar For Boys & Girls

The Care & Keeping Of You

The Graveyard Book

A Picture Book Of Anne Frank

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

A Guide For Using D’allaire’s Greek Myths In The Classroom

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning, Winter

Week 19 ~ Candlemas

February 6, 2015February 6, 2015by raisinglittleshoots4 Comments

I began this week in a very chilled out frame of mind after spending the weekend at a silent retreat. This is my third silent retreat & I was really looking forward to it. The peace & quiet, and time to be alone with God was amazing.

Then back to earth with a bump on Monday 🙂

Monday was Candlemas, so after lessons we made beeswax candles (no photos sorry!)

Rose has been investigating how sweets dissolve in different liquids. We used this experiment here. We discussed acids & bases, tested the various ph of the liquids, & then looked up our results on the pH scale.

We chatted some more & Rose wondered how the results would be affected by temperature, so we repeated our experiment with heat. Rose was really surprised at how marked the difference was.

Charlotte’s Web reached the critical point of the story this wee, so I roped in Elianna to popcorn read with Rose, as I always cry…

Rose has also been reading through our Abel & Cole weekly notes to find some things she might like to cook. she has some lovely ideas stored away for St. Valentines…

Elianna began this course on Future Learn: Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome. So far so good. Interesting videos & a fascinating topic.

The usual stuff again, Latin, English, maths, Rosie’s Latin & Greek vocabulary cards, memory work, poetry.

Rose is memorising ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’ by Robert Frost

Elianna, ‘The Bells’ by Edgar Allen Poe

Rose had some exciting news this week. We have some friends who recently adopted a stray dog. They spend a lot of time out & about & were looking for a dog sitter for the days they are not at home. Enter Rose..

Isn’t she lovely! Her name is Mini, & you can see her here with our dog, Boomer. Rose is over the moon. She would spend all her days with animals, if only she could.

Elianna is still studying Atoms & Elements. This week she built a model of a Diamond Molecule.

And then she ate it 🙂

Rose & I have begun to read A Little Garden Calendar For Boys & Girls. So far this is proving to be a lovely read. It takes you through the gardening year, in the story of a young boy & girls & their ‘chief gardener’.

Speaking of all things gardening, we have begun chitting our potatoes, & Rose has begun an experiment with bean seeds.

Rose has done some nature journaling, Elianna is spending lots of time reading The Annotated Anne Of Green Gables and The Children Of Odin, and altogether this has been another lovely week of home education.

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

A Little Garden Calendar For Boys & Girls

The Graveyard Book

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

Off to meet up with home ed friends this afternoon…

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning, Winter

Week 18 ~ Snow Days

January 30, 2015January 30, 2015by raisinglittleshootsLeave a Comment

This week has been a little…interrupted…

We have had two visits to the dentist (a family visit & a second visit to evaluate my big girl for braces. On top of that Elianna & I have both felt very low on energy, we have had a couple of days-wonderfully-interrupted-by-snow, plus I have been preparing for a trip away this weekend.

We have pootled along, at a slower pace.

Elianna & I have been making models of atoms & elements. Sarah’s post was really helpful. Elianna has made several of them now & I am forever standing on teeny-tiny beads….

Rose has a new sticker book, all about traditional costumes

And she is loving this book about Jane Goodall.

She finished her illustration of Charlotte’s Web, which she is very pleased with & I am loving that wee spider 🙂

We have done a little work in the girls English books, & they have done their maths lessons each day.

I realise I haven’t talked much about the ‘everyday’ resources we use – Eliana is working from the decimals book by Math Mammoth, and I use this vintage text with Rose: Graded Work In Arithmetic Year One (I have a printed book, but I recently found this PDF online)

I also use vintage texts for English – Primary Language Lessons & Intermediate Language Lessons.

Elianna uses dictation for spelling – we use the Simply Charlotte Mason Spelling book 2, & for Rose I use The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading as a spelling book.

Elianna has finished researching Medieval Explorers this week, so next week I am hoping to start her on this course: Archaeology of Portus.

It also has to be said, this is the week Rose discovered that she can fit into the wee cupboard in our hall…

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

The Story Of The Romans

Odd & The Frost giants

Illustrated Book Of Great Adventures

Exploration & Discovery

The Graveyard Book

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning, Nature, Winter

Week 17 ~ Brrrrrrrrr!

January 23, 2015January 27, 2015by raisinglittleshoots6 Comments

We had a light dusting of snow at the weekend, which was fun & utterly freezing! We had a lot of freezing fog which made for a bitterly cold day.

On Monday we went to do some nature study at the pond. Rose really observes the fowl closely, she has given various ones names & loves them so very much.

Eliana has begun to map the pond, roughly sketching the outline in her nature notebook.

Copywork

Rosie’s Star Wars snowflake

Rose has made fresh food for the birds. We are planning to join in with the RSPB bird watch this weekend.

Elianna is still reading about Medieval Explorers. She is writing a narration for each one & mapping their journeys. Here she is adding to our history timeline –

Rose is really enjoying the Sinbad stories. In one of his journeys, he mentions a 100 cubit long fish, so we set out to measure how long that was. That was a pretty big fish!

She is really taken with the adventure of the Sinbad stories & it also gives her a chance to play with her lego whilst I read.

Rose & I are still reading Charlotte’s Web together. This week she wrote a character web, & an Acrostic poem about Wilbur. She has also begun an illustration of Charlotte’s web with water colour.

And finally, perhaps the most exciting news is that Elianna has begun Anne Of Green Gables!

As usual we are working steadily on maths, grammar, Latin & science – Elianna is currently learning about atoms & molecules.

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

The Story Of The Romans

Odd & The Frost giants

The Big Book of Dinosaurs

Illustrated Book Of Great Adventures

Exploration & Discovery

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Happy Weekend!

Advent & Christmas, Books, Celebrating

Week 14 ~ Advent School

December 12, 2014by raisinglittleshoots2 Comments

Not many photographs this week as the photographer has been very poorly!

We have continued with basics; both girls continuing with their daily maths, Rose is steadily working through her English From The Roots Up flash cards and Elianna is learning to sing ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ in Latin.

We have played math wars, read lots of Christmas books & made Christmas cards. We also had fun with some Christmas science activities.

We have also enjoyed picture study using ‘The First Christmas’ As described on Amazon:

“The story of the first Christmas long ago is captured here in all its mystery by some of the world’s greatest painters. The beauty of the familiar words of the King James Version of the Bible weaves the glorious images together to create a new work of art: a Christmas story that will be treasured by readers young and old.”

My friend has kindly taken my girls to our local home ed group Christmas party today, I was too poorly to go, so I am hoping to make a full recovery over the weekend then we can crack on with gift making next week.

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

Advent Calendar Type books:

Other books:

Horrible Histories: Horrible Christmas

Lots & LOTS of Christmas stories & picture books.

Poetry:

The Puffin Book Of Christmas Poems

Art:

The First Christmas

Happy Weekend!

Autumn, Books, Learning, Nature

Week 11 ~ Poorly Sick

November 15, 2014November 21, 2014by raisinglittleshoots4 Comments

A slow week this week…Elianna was feeling under the weather on Monday, which by Tuesday had turned into a sore throat & heavy cold. Rose followed along shortly afterwards, but as is typical for our girls, had a lighter version of the same illness as her big sister.

Monday did prove exciting however, as on Monday evening, Rose found a duck outside our house! She worked hard to catch Jemima (as Rose called her) & brought her indoors for a quick ‘check up’.

All seemed well, so Rose & I set off to our local pond, fumbling through the woods in the dark to get there.

Jemima was given a fond farewell & took to the water like the proverbial duck 🙂

We did a little light nature study, observing & painting autumn leaves. Elianna only got one Latin lesson done this week – direct objects, subjects & predicate nominatives. Rose is steadily working through her English From The Roots Up flash cards, which are proving to be most interesting. We read a fair amount this week, watched the film version of War Horse, and lots of Horrible Histories (Including the WW1 special that was on BBC recently).

Rose had fun at our local park on Thursday. She adores animals & met up with a local cat, Arthur, whom she had not seen for a while. She also enjoyed ‘ploughing’, having been completely fascinated with the process shown in War Horse.

Rose also enjoyed making a ‘house’ for our cat Micheal this week. She took a large cardboard box & painted it in cheerful colours, and made a door & chimney. Unfortunately Michael wasn’t particularly interested…

Do you remember the wool felt that the girls dyed to make bookmarks? Eliana made two this week & Rose is finishing her last one and watching ‘Walking With Dinosaurs‘as I type…

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

The Tales of Beatrix Potter

Albert Einstein & The Theory Of Relativity

What is the animal kingdom?

What is a mammal?

War Girls

A Child’s History Of The World

The Story Of Painting

Happy Weekend!

Autumn, Books, Family

Week 9 Back to routine

November 7, 2014November 7, 2014by raisinglittleshoots4 Comments

We resumed our lessons this week after a week long break. I have added a WW1 slant to our reading, with this week being Remembrance Sunday.

Tuesday was a busy day as we went to our local cinema for the Into Film Festival showing of Maleificent. I loved it! The girls enjoyed it too 🙂 Then in the afternoon they went to a ‘Genetic Jewellery’ session at UCLAN. They made the most amazing necklaces that contain their own DNA!

Wednesday was Bonfire Night, so we read & talked about Guy Fawkes & the Gunpowder Plot. We stayed at home in the evening and gathered around our fireplace to enjoy pasta soup, toffee apple pudding & s’mores.

The rest of the week has been our usual lessons..though Elianna has taken a brief detour from Medieval history to study WW1. We took a break from The Water Babies to listen to an audiobook of The War Horse. It was a very engaging story that made me cry, but fear not! There is a happy ending.

Read Alouds Are Always Listened To Whilst Snuggling In PJ's Under The Covers! — Read Alouds Are Always Listened To Whilst Snuggling In PJ’s Under The Covers!

A new book arrived for Elianna this week: The Children of Odin. Still completely obsessed by Norse myths, she has been working on a Family Tree of the gods & goddesses whilst on her break.

Rose has been learning some Greek & Latin roots with English From The Roots Up, which is short but sweet & keeping her attention. We have also been playing math wars which is proving to be a painless way to learn the tables.

Art this week has been creating a Poppy Collage. The girls created different papers with paint, by printing with cling film, bubble wrap, buttons, even wheeling a toy car through wet paint! I will post pictures when this project is complete!

We watched a super video about the instillation of ceramic poppies at The Tower Of London. We also watched another short film that showed the Tower itself. At the end of the film these words were shown, from the poem by Robert Laurence Binyon:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

Rose said they were the saddest words she had ever heard…

Science this week was explorations into whether air has weight & occupies space:

We experimented with balloons, bottles, & water, weighing empty versus full balloons & the age old experiment – pushing an ’empty’ bottle down into water & the bottle stays ’empty’.

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

The Tales of Beatrix Potter

Favourite Grimm’s Tales

The Water Babies

Where The Poppies Now Grow

The War Horse

The Little Hen & The Great War

War Girls

Poems of the Great War

Happy Weekend!

Books, Nature

Week 8 ~ Budding Chemists

October 24, 2014October 24, 2014by raisinglittleshoots9 Comments

This week we have been listening to Handel; notably The Water Music & The Royal Fireworks. Ellie was working on her Latin lessons, Rosie played. I asked them to try to picture in their minds what they imagined to be happening….

I had planned our pond study for Monday, but when the time came it was lashing down with rain. So we had nature study indoors & sketched Mallard ducks from our nature guides.

We were very fortunate this week to take part in a Cosmetic Chemistry workshop at UCLAN (The University of Central Lancashire) with our local home ed group.

The girls made bath bombs & lip balms & learned about the chemistry behind them. They had a marvellous time and the lab was fantastic!

We are still reading through The Water Babies. This is such a beautiful & dense book. This week we had quite a discussion about ‘The Hippopotamus Major’. This is a reference by Kingsley to a debate that raged in Victorian Britain between Thomas Huxley & Richard Owen. Central to the debate was whether or not the human brain was unique in having a hippocampus minor….or do apes have them too…

The Water Babies also led us to look at ‘The Triumph of Galarea’ by Raphael. If you have not yet read The Water Babies, I would strongly recommend it! I did not read it as a child & I have really missed out!

Elianna has again been creating with clay. This time a plaque for her room with the name she would rather like for herself – Pandora – inspired by her readings from Age of Fable. She is fascinated with Runes & so has also written Pandora in Runes.

Science this week was BFSULesson A2 – Solids, liquids, and gases. We worked through the lesson, copied the main points into their science notebooks & made a little ‘foldable’ to show the main points of the states of matter, such as molecular structure.

We also worked on pumpkin inspired art that was a complete flop, and had Rosie in tears! We were making a wax resist picture, which we painted over with black acrylic paint. I fear I must have watered the paint down too much as once it washed away, it left just a grey residue, instead of a fine, bold black. No after photos I am afraid, too many tears 🙁

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

The Tales of Beatrix Potter

The Water Babies

Boys & Girls Of History

Twilight Child

Age of Fable

The Story Of The Romans

D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths

Fire Cat