Sunday 9 January 2011

Jan 9th-15th - Online Resources

As usual this week we will be doing English and Maths via Study Ladder, and Letts KS1 workbooks. Spelling will be via "Spelling bee" and a workbook.

Science this week will be about Magnets and Magnetism. We will use some videos -introduction, sorting rubbish and Breakfast cereal. We will do the breakfast cereal experiment, and some others in our science book. We will use BBC Science Clips & the Worksheet, and further Printables if we need them.

We will listen to music from the musical Peer Gynt (In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg), if we have time we will look at notation again. Blank Music Paper

In History we are moving on from the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons. This week we are aiming for an overview of the period. Online we will use the BBCs The Anglo Saxons, we may also look at the Anglo-Saxon cook book and Early Britons.

Geography is going to be an introduction to The Water Cycle, which will mainly be Printables.

Friday 7 January 2011

Early Morning Learning

As I've said before, much of our "learning" goes on in the mornings, despite me definately NOT being a morning person. In fact, a good percentage of learning - goes on in bed!
Milly usually comes and climbs in my bed when Rich leaves for work, we'll doze for a while before she says,
"Muuuummmm?" This morning this was followed by...
"Why doesn't the Government ban smoking?","What does guilty and innocent mean?", then "What are drugs?", "Tell me about drugs", "Why doesn't the queen execute people?"
Yee Gods! So before even getting out of my bed this morning we had discussed at some length the following:
 - Smoking and the problems with making things illegal - where do we stop?
 - Courts, Judges and Jury
 - Innocent and Guilty
 - Illegal drugs and their effects and why illegal drugs lead to crime
 - The death penalty, including the problems of filling up the jails and executing innocent people.

Running late for Home Ed group now...

Thursday 6 January 2011

New Year.

Woo, a whole new year - where did the last one go?
I am hoping to make a bit more use of this blog this year compared to last. Being a family of geeks, we use the internet a lot for resources, the addresses of which are often scribled on bits of paper. So I am hoping to be able to post the links I intend to use here, before rather than after I need them.
We haven't got back to "learning" yet, as James is still home. He returns to Preston on Saturday and won't be home again until May, so we're making the most of having him around. Kate has already gone back to Leeds, as her course restarted on Tuesday, but she will be back again in February.

I feel less chaotic than I did back in November. At that time it felt as if we were stumbling along blindly, haphazardly learning on the way. Looking back I don't think we were as bad as it felt, certainly I can see a good deal of basic English and Maths went on, but maybe not much else. I feel better prepared for this term and have spent time organising and planning. We have spent the morning cleaning out the "supplies" cupboard. One day, I'll take this cupboard back and fill it full of homemade jams and wines and cakes and bread, until then it will continue to look like an advert for Horrible Science kits and bits of left over tissue paper!

My New Years Resolution is to lose weight, not exactly a new idea for me, but one that's becoming increasingly necessary. I had Flu in December and since then the arthritis in my knees has become much worse. It's now a struggle to get upstairs. Maybe the pain will inspire me to lose weight...