Tag: homeschooling

A Child’s History Of The World

Annotated Classic Fairy Tales Fairy Tales are going down a storm with Rose right now – she is lapping them up, making great connections, asking thoughtful questions, & even coming up with scientific ideas, such as the porridge in The Three Bears cools incorrectly (the Middle Bear’s being the coolest)

Gazzilions of the Usborne Beginners

Elianna:

Mockingjay

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

I have completed my plans for the 2015-2016 school year, which I am very excited about. I really must post them soon!

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning, Spring

Week 26 ~ Coal Mining

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015by raisinglittleshoots2 Comments

The weather has been rather mixed this week, but we have had a couple of lovely nature walks, including one with daddy. As per usual, Rose was off into the water splashing about. Spring has sprung!

Rose collected lots of lovely, fresh Ramsons, which became part of a lovely dinner that evening.

Elianna & I travelled on the train to Manchester to meet another home ed family on Monday, so Rose had fun with Granny & Grandad. Tuesday was another day away from home as we visited a local Colliery Museum.

Rose still has her interest in coal mining, so I was delighted to discover that we actually have a local mining museum!

What an eye opener, and it really ins’t so far removed from me in both locality & in time. How very different our lives could have been, had we been born a century or two earlier. Most humbling…

We had a smashing day with our local Home Ed group, it was a fascinating trip & we ll learned so much. How times have (thankfully) changed.

Here is Rose ‘clocking on’ for her shift 😉

Here is Rose, listening to Fairy Tales. It looks like she is giving the thumbs up sign, but look closely, & you will see her scratching Michael the cat’s chin.

Elianna met with two friends this week for ‘Science Club’ This week we reviewed the particulate nature of matter, atoms, molecules, elements, and compounds. We had some great discussions. The girls are all very enthusiastic & a joy to teach!

Rose got on with some nature study in the garden whilst the big girls worked on their lesson…

Elianna wrote an ‘Eclipse Myth’ based around British culture. It was a comedic take on the British love of tea & had the moon & sun meeting for afternoon tea…

Plus all the regulars; English, maths & Latin.

I have very little to report in the way of reading this week;

Rose:

The Song OF Hiawatha

Gazzilions of the Usborne Beginners

Elianna:

I am currently working on my plans for the 2015-2016 school year, which I love to do…I am pretty much there…just undecided on my Literature plans for Elianna…I shall keep you posted

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning

Week 24 ~ A science-y Sort of Week

March 13, 2015March 18, 2015by raisinglittleshoots4 Comments

Rose completed her egg experiment by leaving it to soak in coloured water & then after a few days, bursting it. We talked about osmosis & she was utterly fascinated. And it was messy – always a bonus!

Maths is coming along…Rosie is working steadily through Graded Work In Arithmetic, a vintage text which is very solid. This is done orally, or on our whiteboard. It is working right now…

Greek Myths have taken a back seat this week & lots of Grimm’s Fairy Tales have been read. LOTS. She loves the gore…

Plus lots of non-fiction reading from her favourite series:Usborne Beginners

Ellie is really enjoying her reading…The Children Of Odin (Norse Mythology – her favourite) & she is still reading & enjoying Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl.

We made more ice-cream this week, in honour of our read aloud, Anne Of Green Gables. Essentially, you just make a custard & freeze it. It was utterly delicious!

Rose went through the box in which I keep special items for our nature table. She re-discovered the wooden eggs we have & promptly decided to build a bird’s nest. She wrapped up one of the eggs in cling-film, popped it in the nest & has put the nest in a tree in our garden to see if a bird will use it. I love that child…

Rose cut up the last of the seeds from her bean experiment & added a wee booklet to her notebook (Parts of a seed shape book)

There have been lots of froggy goings on in the garden, with Rose keeping a close eye on them

She has observed them, sketched them, & generally just enjoyed being with them, dancing around with glee each time a new globe of frogspawn appears.

Elianna has been drawing a lot…still inspired greatly by mythology…

This week I tentatively invited two friends of Elianna to join us for science once a week. This week one of them was poorly, so I was eased into it with just one extra student! We began with states of matter. The girls worked hard & it all went well. Everyone is really looking forward to these lessons as this week I ordered a bunsen burner! Yay!

More molecule modelling from Elianna….

All the regulars, English, maths & Latin & another week is over.

Some of the books we have been reading this week;

Rose:

Favourite Poems Old & New – this is my most favourite poetry book, of all that we own!

The Song OF Hiawatha

What Is A Living Thing?

Gazzilions of the Usborne Beginners

Elianna:

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

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

D’Aulaire’s book of Greek Myths

We are meeting with our home ed groups this afternoon…

Happy Weekend!

Books, Faith, Learning, Lent & Easter, Winter

Week 23 ~ 100 Days Of School

March 6, 2015March 8, 2015by raisinglittleshoots2 Comments

Wednesday was our ‘100th Day Of School’. We always make it a special day; special breakfast, lessons worked around the 100 theme, a little educational gift…but this year I had forgotten all about it until the day before! So, I played it cool & surprised the girls with a trip to a local farm. (Don’t tell them I forgot!)

As a bonus, Elianna got time to photograph the Banana Snake they have there. She was so excited, as this will be useful for her ‘Mythical Creatures’ art project.

In other news, Rose is making the Herman The German Friendship Cake, which is the activity for week three of Lent in the 40 Acts family guide.

Essentially a sourdough cake, she made the ‘starter’ on Monday & each day we have to tend wee Herman..

Elianna has made more molecule models

Rosie with the white board cloth on her head for maths (it helps!)

Making hydrogen gas with a 9V battery. We used this video.

The terminal releasing impure oxygen.

Rose is here with the results of her ‘egg in vinegar’ experiment. We discussed what had happened (the egg shell – calcium carbonate & vinegar – acetic acid, reacted which produced carbon dioxide gas – lots of bubbles – & dissolved the shell!

She has now added the ‘naked egg’ to a bowl of coloured water…we shall keep you posted!

Rose dug out our continents jigsaw, which she hasn’t played with for a while…

Rose & I have read quite a bit of poetry this week. I ordered a lovely book which arrived this week, so we read Hiawatha’s Childhood again, this time with this lovely picture book.

I read some more of The Annotated Anne Of Green Gables to Elianna. She wrote a description of her own playhouse, as was suggested in this great Anne Of Green Gables Teacher’s PDF, and we made ice-cream!

She has also been busy drawing & painting this week:

Plus all the usuals – narrations, maths, & English for both girls, Latin for Elianna, Latin & Greek roots for Rose.

And finally…our first frog of the year showed his face in our garden pond!

Some of the books we have been reading this week;

Rose:

Favourite Poems Old & New – this is my most favourite poetry book, of all that we own!

Hiawatha’s Childhood

Gazzilions of the Usborne Beginners

Elianna:

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

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

D’Aulaire’s book of Greek Myths

We are meeting with our home ed groups this afternoon…

Happy Weekend!

Books, Learning, Winter

Week 22 ~ A Week With The Annes

February 27, 2015February 27, 2015by raisinglittleshootsLeave a Comment

On Monday Elianna & I went to a local-ish home ed meet for older children. Rose stayed with her Granny & Grandad, whilst us ‘big girls’ went off for the day.

More model molecule making for Elianna this week, plus she is making her own Periodic Table.

Rose has been busy as always. Her bean experiment is rocking, & all the plants she is growing are shooting up! She definitely has green fingers!

We have been reading The Childhood of Hiawatha from The Song Of Hiawatha & Rose has begun a watercolour of the forest & Hiawatha’s home…hopefully more on that next week. Still going strong with our Greek Myths, we have also been reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales this week.

Elianna is really enjoying Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl. She would happily spend all day reading it if she could! I have begun reading Anne Of Green Gables aloud to her, as I had really wanted to reread this myself, & it wasn’t happening, so I am reading it to her. Love!

Elianna has begun a new art project – a sketchbook into which she is gathering ideas for work on ‘Mythical Creatures’ I am hopeful that this will produce lots of lovely creativity, effort & development.

Plus all the usuals – Maths & English for both girls, Latin for Elianna, Latin & Greek roots for Rose.

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

Who is Jane Goodall

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

Gazzilions of the Usborne Beginners read by Rose…

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

D’Aulaire’s book of Greek Myths

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:

Charlotte’s Web

Valentine’s Day Is

Sinbad The Sailor & Other Stories

Who is Jane Goodall

The Graveyard Book

The Care & Keeping Of You

A Picture Book Of Anne Frank

A Guide For Using Charlotte’s Web In The Classroom

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:

Charlotte’s Web

Sinbad The Sailor & Other Stories

Who is Jane Goodall

The Graveyard Book

A Guide For Using Charlotte’s Web In The Classroom

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful:

Off to meet up with home ed friends this afternoon…

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

Charlotte’s Web

Odd & The Frost giants

The Big Book of Dinosaurs

Illustrated Book Of Great Adventures

Exploration & Discovery

Sinbad The Sailor & Other Stories

Marie Curie

A Guide For Using Charlotte’s Web In The Classroom

I am finding these ‘teacher guides’ helpful: