We seemed to have been super busy as March ended, hence why this update is much later than usual! I’m not sure when March ended and April began, but it’s been busy and a lot of fun.
Core Subjects
We continue on with Maths and I think during this month E and H moved onto their next books of Maths No Problem. We still love this curriculum and it’s working well for us. H really excels at maths at the moment and is doing really well. I am supplementing his Maths with additional bits but I like the structure of MNP for making sure we are covering all elements of the subject.
We also started a little more formal English work this month. There are two reasons for this, firstly Em needs to get better at punctuating her written work, and D can often be a little rushed with his written work and adds in erroneous capital letters etc. They are also starting to conjugate verbs in their Spanish classes and I think understanding this in English will aid their second language learning – it’s something I think would have helped me more when I was learning French.
I will probably write separately about how we do English in Home Ed as it’s not as straightforward as other subjects (for us). But we have been using some bits from Twinkl to understand nouns, verbs, and adjectives. All three children have been doing this but with more of a focus for the older two.
In addition to this, Em has been doing a book study using Girl who Stole an Elephant workbook from Chatty Zebra. Em is really enjoying these workbooks and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next book in the read around the world series is.
H has been really getting to grips with reading and is getting there now. We have been using Reading Chest and I’ve just moved him up to the next reading band so look forward to seeing how he gets on with that.
Project Work
The main projects in March were to finish our Mayan’s study. This wasn’t as much fun as I had hoped for, and it’s one we will definitely re-visit in the future. The children lost a bit of interest in this one I think so I’ll pick it up again in the next 12-18 months. We did move onto a Sri Lanka study which ties to the book study Em is doing above. That’s been much more engaging for the children and we are really enjoying it.
We also finished up the Creative Fair projects. H did football team badges, and tied into that we did some work on tesselations. Em did about birds and did some drawings, collage and made a toucan from a felt kit. D continued his love of trains and did a whole host of train drawings and collages. It wasn’t the biggest set of projects but the children enjoyed doing it and seeing other families and their projects.
We have also been doing some sciencey stuff including the Twinkl kitchen science experiments which the children really enjoyed.
We received a Post from the Past letter too in March so did a short bit of work on Queen Victoria using that as an introduction.
Regular Groups
All the regular groups have been running, so Spanish, music, athletics, swimming and PE/Football. We have also been doing an online Comic Club session as well as continuing with Night Zoo Keeper for the older two. They’re still really enjoying this programme and it works well for us.
Days Out
Our months started with a lovely home ed trip out the see the Halle Orchestra for their Schools session. This was lovely and it’s always a great trip the Bridgewater Hall to see the Halle. It was great to be able to include H in this too now that he is school age.
We also did a local trail which was hat themed, to commemorate the towns’ hatting heritage. This was a lovely way to spend the morning and for the children to understand a bit more about local heritage.
The older two went Ice Skating with cubs which they really enjoyed – it was a little cold for me stood at the side watching them but the main thing was that they really enjoyed it. I love that these things are opening back up now and that we are in a position to be able to take advantage of these opportunities.
We had another home ed session that a friend arranged with The Dogs Trust. This was a great session and was all about learning about dog behaviour and how to look after dogs and be safe around them.
Finally, we ended March with another brilliant home ed event arranged by a local Muslim group. This was aimed at building communiy links and was to teach the children (and us parents!) about Islam and Ramadam. We have covered elements of Ramadan and Eid but there’s nothing like actually meeting people who follow a faith and listening to their own experiences first hand. This was a really lovely session and I really liked the different representations of faith. There were four speakers; two men and two women, who each explained different elements to us. At the end, four children told us a little about their favourite parts of Ramadan and Eid. We ended the session with a traditional Iftar meal (Iftar is when the fast is broken in the evening during Ramadan) and the food was delicious and got a huge thumbs up from all four of us! I’ve since made contact with the group who ran the session, Yuvanis, and they have put me in touch with a local Mosque so I need to contact them to arrange a visit there to continue this learning.
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Other Bits and Pieces
We had a World Book Day session at the start of the month. This was a nice session where we hired a room and did some book-themed crafts, puzzles and had cakes. It was a fun afternoon.
We also did the Glo Walk this month to raise money for Alzheimer’s. The children enjoyed this and it was a good way to connect with the charity that we support. We have also had park meets, birthday parties and a baptism. We have also been enjoying lent and joining the church’s Friday soup lunch (which also involves a lot of cake!)
And, finally, despite just how much we managed to do during March, it was also a sad month for us as we had to have one of our cats put to sleep. He had disappeared one evening and a neighbour had messaged me to say he was in her house and she was a little worried about him. He did dart out but didn’t return home for 4/5 days. We did a lot of walking around looking for him and the children and I posted leaflets. He did return home but within 24 hours it was clear he wasn’t well and we made the decision to have him put to sleep. He was around 15 years old and hadn’t been in great health for a little time so it was the right thing to do. Em and D were most affected by it, and Em was quite tearful for a few days. A hard lesson but one that is, sadly, part of life. He was a much-loved cat, despite how much of a nuisance he could be at times! We are now giving extra attention to our other cat who seems a little ‘lost’ without Jasper.
April promises to be fun, and has already had a busy start!
