October is one of my favourite months, and this one has been no exception. The weather has been that perfect autumnal style (although as I write this in early November it’s terribly wet and windy!) We have managed to do a fair bit in October, as well as have a week away from formal learning.
At the time of writing D is 9 (but turned 10 at the end of the month), E, 8, and H 6, so Year 5, Year 4, and Year 2 respectively.
Core Subjects
Maths is going great and both Em and H finished their books (aside from the review sections) and will move onto their new books in early November.
All three children continue to read vociferously and now that H has really cracked his reading he is away, Interestingly he is reading a lot of non-fiction, like D does, and is focussing almost exclusively on football-themed books! He lives and breathes football and it is no surprise that it’s these books that draw his attention. We have managed a fair few library visits this month and Em, in particular, make maximum use of her library card.
We have been working on a Space themed project this month too, covering some of the science curriculum. We are working across different key stages with this one as I find the KS2 and KS1 stuff a bit lacking in some areas so we are picking up some slightly older work too.
Projects
This month, as mentioned above, we have been doing a Space themed project and we are pretty much done on that. I just want to finish up some bits on people who have been key to space exploration and then there’s some bits and pieces that the older two want to do towards their Astronomy cubs badges.
The older two have been doing an independent country study, Italy for D and Argentina for Em. H has continued with his Heung Min Son / South Korea project and he presented that to some friends at a group a week or two ago. I’m impressed with how the older two are managing these independent study tasks and I think we will do another country study then move onto something different for January.
We looked at the Post from the Past letter, Sacagawea, and we enjoyed learning much more about her and her place in history. D in particular was pleased to show us his Sacagawea dollar coin!
Finally, we also began an Islam study this month. I am using some of the Oak Academy videos for this as well as some bits from Twinkl and other sites. The children are beginning to make connections to the other Abrahamic faiths so hopefully come next month, when we look into Christianity and the Nativity, they’ll be able to see the similarities and links across the Jewish, Isalmic and Christian faiths. I think we will then move onto Hinudism in the new year.
Regular Groups
All the regular groups continued to meet, with a break for half term. Lots of fun at athletics, Spanish, music, and swimming as well as Beavers and Cubs. These feel like the right balance for us at the moment, although I do miss some of the pre-pandemic groups we used to have, and the chance to properly catch up with friends. I find it tricky getting the right balance at the moment with this.
Other Bits & Pieces
We have had lots of little bits and pieces going on in October, from exciting Beaver trips and a Cubs Adventure Camp for D. H has been able to go to Old Trafford with Damian a couple of times and we have made the most of some community events including a great event for Green Week to encourage people to live more sustainably. We ended up using this as the impetus to try a local zero waste shop and order a weekly veg box. We have been using the zero waste shop for a month now and this week collect our second veg box. I have also signed up to a Foodini subscription for us and hope this will lead to some exciting meals over the coming months. The Veg Box last week was great, and I’ve just got some chard to use up, which I plan to use tomorrow. The food was lovely and it’s been good to have to think and not rely on the usual staple meals.
We also met with some friends at a local cafe to do some Diwali crafts and enjoy some delicious food, ice cream and cake! We also ended the month at a community ‘Friendly Friday’ group to do some Halloween crafts and a play in the park before heading into the town centre for the monthly street food festival.
We also had a week off to coincide with half term and D’s birthday. We had a fair bit planned and did manage to do some of it, but inevitably the children needed some down time to just ‘be’ so we celebrated D’s day, went swimming, built Lego and AirFix models, met friends and generally just enjoyed some down time.
Now onto November, which I plan to be a busy month so we can enjoy a little down time in December.
busy, busy, busy – all sounds good