Home Education Lately – October 2021

Welcome to another round-up of our Home Education. October has felt like a bit of a mixed bag; we have had some time off due to annual leave and half-term falling in October and we had a bit of a wind-down of some projects and eased ourselves into a new one.

We don’t usually stop for half term, but the paid activities that the children do all run term time only so it saw a natural break in those. The half-term also coincided with Damian’s planned annual leave so we decided we would take a well-earned break. The plan is that November and through to Mid-December is spent working hard and finishing up some bits and pieces before the start of 2022.

Despite being a relatively quiet month, we did manage to get a fair bit done.

Core Subjects

As ever, we continued with maths. H started his new book and to be honest, I think he will be progressing through this pretty rapidly. H loves maths and has taught himself his times tables (we have a printout from Twinkl that he has taught himself from). He has also really been enjoying practicing his addition, subtraction and times tables with some maths mosaics.

H is doing well with his reading; he isn’t yet confident and needs support but we are progressing well and we are happy with where he is at.

The older two are doing well with their maths and D is almost at the end of his current book, and will have that done in early November and Em is progressing well with her book too. They both continue to read vociferously and I am planning to do a more in-depth literature study with them in the New Year.

Project Work

We started the month by sharing the children’s Ancient Egypt project at the History Fair. These are always quite tiring events (I organized and ran this one so it was a particular load on me) but the children enjoy them and it’s great to see the activities taking place across the local area.

The main project work this month has been the start of our STEM fair project on Energy and the Environment. This has coincided well with COP26 and has become a wide ranging project that also builds in history and social issues too. We have been doing some hands-on bits and pieces including building a functioning wind turbine as well as some solar-powered lights. I also plan a few more bits and pieces on this project in November before we share them with friends at the STEM fair. We have looked a lot at Ecology and this online game did a really good job of helping the children understands food chains and the impact of not looking after the environment properly.

Our artist study work has continued with a look at some indigenous artists including Kenojuak Ashevak and Emily Kame Kngwarre. The children really enjoy these studies and I need to get the next few in the diary.

Regular Groups

Swimming has continued for the children and they’re really enjoying it. All three are enjoying their Spanish lessons and, after a rocky start, H is enjoying it too and is able to demonstrate some basic Spanish.

Em and D are still really enjoying their music lessons and this month Em got a flute. As she is quite petite she has a curved headed flute for the time being. When she is a little bigger she’ll use the normal straight head. They are both doing really well and I’m very proud of how well they’ve taken to it.

Athletics continues to be a big hit and it’s been a great way to start the week for them. I enjoy the time too to chat with friends or catch up on some admin!

Days Out

Damian had a week off in October so we managed some bits and pieces then. We headed out to Leeds to the day to do their Owl Trail and also headed to Haigh Woodland Park another day which the children enjoyed. The leave came after Daniel’s birthday so we were able to enjoy some downtime which was nice.

Other Bits and Pieces

I’m sure there’s been other bits and pieces during the month. I know we have started on the CREST Super Star badge and had a meeting in preparation for meeting the MP at a Parliament Week gathering.  There’s been other bits and pieces too I am sure.

November should be a productive month with finishing our energy and the environment project and I need to write a plan for our next big Geography project as well as plan some other little bits and pieces.