Sunday 31 May 2015

Official Local Authority report

Here is a copy of the letter following up the visit made to us from the Local Authority.
If you are interested in the preceding post to put this in context you can find the link HERE Visit from Local Authority

Needless to say that we were happy with a lovely report!


Friday 22 May 2015

Conquer Maths and The Solar System

This week has been a bit hit and miss because putting my back out and having raging toothache has left me feeling really ropey.

I think it proved that Barnaby really feeds off my enthusiasm about getting things done and is not of an age to be self sufficient in learning. That's not to say he hasn't done anything of course, just that me facilitating his learning or putting something under his nose if often the way it begins and without that he's been inclined to build a den, hide with his tablet or watch Dr Who on Netflix (not complaining, I love Dr Who). I am looking forward to being tip top again and getting back on track.

The early start of the solar system - can't  you tell?!
We've watched some educational programmes including lots of Deadly 60 (thank you Steve Backshall for cheering me up while feeling sorry for myself) and Scrapheap Challenge which just so happened to be in honour of Isambard Kingdom Brunel so that was following on from our learning last week.

Tuesday he enjoyed sports club and as well as enjoying that, he loves when sports club ends and all the kids disappear outside and run around playing their own games in the hedges and undergrowth behind the YMCA! Tuesday night was Beavers again and they went to Forest School in the junior school next door. We had his friend over for tea and they created him a world on Minecraft for when he comes to play. As I explained to Barnaby the best way to confirm that you know how to do something is to teach someone else. You'll soon see where your own level of understanding is!

Wednesday we missed Home Ed club due to some emergency dental treatment I needed so my Mum came and made sure he got through his list of chores before taking him to the park where he spent 2 hours running around with new friends.

We have activated our account on Conquer Maths - online Maths lessons.(http://www.conquermaths.com/)  It is similar to the Mathletics he was signed up to at school but with this he can work at his own place as often as he likes. There is a 'lesson' with a test at the end and awards and certificates to work towards. He seemed to be quite interested and it helps that it's not always me teaching him - it's an online Australian teacher explaining how to do the maths. I'm just there checking his comprehension. We were really lucky to secure a super discount for a one year subscription thanks to the efforts of another Home Edder  negotiating the reduced rate for us as a group. As you will know there is no help or funding for kid educated anywhere than at school (despite the fact we aren't costing the government £5000 per year per child) so I was thrilled to be getting this with a £60 discount and intend to really make the most of it. I thought it was quite telling Barnaby wanted to start with Year 1 lessons because he is "rubbish at Maths" but soon changed his mind because it was way too easy!

The other stuff we've been working on is our Earth project - we wanted to make a paper mache Earth - but this had taken us down the route of the solar system so we all started on the Sun and Mars (thankfully the real Sun came out and aided the drying on the washing line!) It allowed us to look again at countries, continents and also the core and mantle of the earth.

At the moment Barnaby is really reluctant to do any writing whatsoever. Not sure why. He is just choosing to do everything else but that. I've mentioned a couple of writing competitions I've heard about which he tried not to be interested in but I think he was, we will see if that is enough to get him to pick up a pen!

I've put in place a fun daily test - the day before I tell him 3 things I will randomly ask him the following day: definition of a riddle/4 times table/draw the Egyptian flag and then when he's doing something else entirely (in a shop/eating tea/on the loo!) I'll ask him the questions. Just a quick way of improving his learning and recall.

I've been doing some research and found some great online resources so am merrily building up a series of powerpoints and printables that will help us in the future. I am putting them all into a blog post to share with you all.

Got a hectic week coming up so probably won't post again til next Friday - but you never know!

Sunday 17 May 2015

Scrapheaps, Balloons and an Oboe!

Barnabys TV  programme of the moment is Scrapheap Challenge - talk about engrossed. He seems to have an inherited knowledge of 'how to make things work'. His Daddy, and his Grampy, well they are engineery type peeps. His Dad 'does' 'stuff' (you might notice I am not one of these engineery type peeps and thus can't elaborate any further on that statement. It's stuff. And he does it.) Barnaby is also going to be a doer of this stuff. His engineering gene is switching on in his brain.
I am led to believe this because he shouts at the telly 'TUT. They don't have enough traction on that. If they go up anything steeper they'll just slide back down' and 'TUT one chain will never cope. They need a second to take the weight'.
Lo and behold 30 seconds later the expert is telling them their traction is dodgy and they need a second chain.
I don't know how he knows it. Neither does he. I asked him. He's got no clue.
Personally I am just thrilled he's very nearly graduated from the 'how to take things apart' stage of his life. Clocks, kitchen timers, anything with a cable, buttons or a noise has been dissected by Barnaby. Hopefully now he'll learn he has to put things back together too!

The upside of this Scrapheap Challenge fascination is that he's asked if he and his Dad can work on a project together on the weekends he's staying with him. His actual request was that he got his own workshop built and furnished with any sharp or dangerous tools and one that make bright sparks when you use it. I'm not sure that's going to happen but I expect he'll be feeling pretty chuffed when he's built himself a Go Kart or something!


This weekend was all about friends and family - it was my birthday Friday so he had chance to see some of his school friends who had popped in, then he spent 3 hours playing hide and seek with a couple of friends from in our road. Saturday he went to Cattle Country for another friends birthday and thoroughly enjoyed himself, running around, wearing himself out and stuffing his face with food!

For my birthday I was given some helium balloons - not only did they prove that 39 year olds love them as much as 7 year olds but they can prompt a whole chat about different types of gas and then cause Barnaby to spend at least an hour and a half attaching them on to various objects: socks, toy army men, toys and teddy bears to see if the balloons would lift any of them. I asked him to guess in advance whether they would, and how many he thought it might take.

The kittens were not so thrilled with this game and guess what... 3 balloons aren't enough to send a cat skyward but is enough to terrify them so they fly upstairs with the balloons bobbing behind them. Who knew?!

Sunday we had a real treat - we went with our friends Vicky and Jemima to see another friend who was playing Oboe in the Gloucester Symphony Orchestra for their performance of Peter and the Wolf! We loved it! Not only did it allow Barnaby (handily in the front row) to learn the look and style of some of the different instruments that were being played but at the end they handed out instruments to all the kids who were lead by the conductor in a final piece of music. It was great - everyone enjoyed it and it's reiterated to Barnaby that he absolutely positively must become a drummer! I was more taken aback at how much effort it looks to play an Oboe! Well done Louise, I'd have passed out after about the 12th breath not from not enough puff!!

Sorry for no pics in this blog - my phone has broken so nothing to take them with!

Saturday 16 May 2015

We're all going on a Summer Holiday!

Well, ok, not *quite* a summer holiday, it's still a bit chilly! Here's what Barnaby has been up to of late:








Tuesday 5 May 2015

Latest learning

Well we have been really engrossed in our Earth project this week, and all the offshoots from it.
Each morning we have watched 2 hours of Human Planet on TV and its been fascinating. When I was Barnabys age I wasn't in the least bit interested in that sort of thing but he really is intrigued to learn about the different ways of life and culture in far flung places he couldn't imagine til he saw it on telly. It opened his eyes to a boy of 11 who spends 6 days dangerously walking a frozen river in Tibet just to get to school, and a man who lives in an entire community floating on the ocean from man made items. He can dive under water for over 5 minutes to catch fish for his family. Was amazing to see how these people are adapting to this lifestyle to the point where his eyes actually work better in the water than they do on land.
We have downloaded google earth onto his tablet and he went to see various things from Sydney Opera House to Daddys house to the North Pole. We even found a tardis parked up in London (which I got totally over excited over!!)
Barnaby has decided he wants a bike so spent some time creating his new target chart. I got some squared paper to make it easier for him to draw a chart, counting 5's to where he wants to be. He's chosen the bike he wants to save for so we printed off a picture to stick on the top. Next job was to count up the money in his Tardis (spot the theme!) Money box and he's doing really well at the denominations and adding it all up. He's pleased he's got a third of the money he needs already.
We enjoyed farm club again, this month was chickens and eggs and all the kids collected fresh eggs then looked at them under a microscope. Then they checked some other eggs from the incubator to see if they could work out how many days growth they were and how long it'd be before they hatched. Have to say the kids guesses were better than the adults. Then we had a real treat because we saw the lamb they bottle fed last month who was in the pen with some more newborn lambs. It was amazing to see just how much he had grown in 4 short weeks!! If anyone wants to visit we go to St James City Farm in Tredworth, Gloucester. It is well worth going, they have loads of animals and a date and all the staff are very welcoming!
The last couple of days he's been den building with blankets, cushions and the lounge furniture. He spent 2 hours watching Netflix under the table this morning where I couldn't disturb him!
We've made plans for our forthcoming holiday, he's started writing his list of things to pack and started his first journal entry about when and where we are going and who he's going with. I've printed off some journal pages and seaside games to take with us.
He's been playing on Minecraft a little bit but not as much as I'd thought he might. When the weathers lovely he'd much rather be outside!
One day this week I was reading a book on Isambard Kingdom Brunel which I got out the library - its one of the things that I remember from my history lessons and still love a bit of Isambard to this day! Coincidentally, that afternoon there was a kids programme on called Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom. And it was all about Brunel! Perfect timing! I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and Barnaby was fascinated at seeing how he created the tunnels under the Thames and designed Clifton Suspension Bridge. Now I'm all excited that I might be able to take him to see Isambards legacies sooner than I imagined. Happily the tickets to the as Great Britain are annual passes so that will be money well spent I feel.
Sadly sports club was cancelled this week and we missed the Cheltenham home ed meet but we did get to the Gloucester one where he played some tennis, made some playdough something-or-others and ate some of Finns birthday cake. I met 2 more new Home Ed parents to the group which means I'm not the new girl anymore! Was lovely to meet them, and to chat to some long standing members I'd not met before. Always surprises me the number of teachers we have in our group who decided that home ed was their way forward too.
My phone broke while I was away last weekend so we managed to get Barnaby a second hand camera for a tenner which was a fab bargain. He's spent the last two days taking photos of anything that moves. Mainly me and the kittens! He loving learning how to use it, we are slowly going through the settings so he can see what they all do. It will mean we can document our adventures and our holiday too!
And that's about all to report for now. As always I'm sure there is loads more but I tend to forget it all!






Optimistic Owls

Optimistic Owls
Optimistic Owls