Over the last few weeks, I’ve been so grateful for the good weather, meaning we can still get out and about, even if we’ve been self-isolating for 4 weeks as Cc, the youngest, has had a high temperature and cough – twice! Luckily, she seems to be on the mend and coping admirably, so our routine of home-school mornings and fun themed afternoons have still worked well.
We had our two weeks off for the Easter break but still did some lovely activities, such as Easter Tree decorating, bunting making etc. But no school work, which was a nice break for everyone!
Home-School:
I’ve re-jigged the timetable now we know school expectations for the next few weeks, so it looks somethings like this:
The two key things have been fitting in a quick task at 8.45 til 9, then working through til 1pm, giving us the afternoons free. We’re trying do do something ‘quick’ after breakfast, say tt rock stars, tables questions, spellings activities etc. Then Joe Wicks or Andy’s Wild Workout for Cc.
Then we start with English (a writing task from Pobble, or a comprehension or spelling activity…not all three) and if its a short one, e.g. spelling, we follow it with a task from the year group thematic work.
Next is break time, followed by MyMaths with a possible follow up of a worksheet or a White Rose session. What’s making it work, is working til 1pm when we have lunch as it coincides with my husband’s meeting schedule. This means we’re all done and get the afternoons off to do something the girls want to do, or make dinner, or play out.Timings aren’t strict and things take as long as it takes but approximate timings are here, dependent on whether we do the maths or English session first.8.45 Spelling or times tables.
9.00 Exercise
9.30 English
10.30 Theme work if not an English Pobble write at 9.30
BREAK
11.30 ish Maths and continuation of Theme work if time before lunch
1.00 Lunch
Once started off, I work with the youngest, Cc who turned 4 in March. I try to look at basic maths and tackle anything she is unsure of the next day. We’ve been looking at number words and recognition of these and what makes a teen number, knowing the 1 is actually worth ten. We’ve also done some measuring using non-standard units (you could use pasta pieces) where she had to measure some drawn ‘Socks’ since we’d read Simon Sock, then draw some the required length! She also loves a ‘hiding’ activity, where I hide sticky notes with numbers on around the house. She has to find them ad work out where they go on the number line. You can make it harder by including sequences that go backwards, or that jumps in twos, threes, etc. for older children.
With Reading and Writing, I’ve been led by her. We take a familiar story and watch it, read it, find key words, write key words and sound out. I put together a ‘story sack’ idea, with object she could use to re-tell the story. Activities have included her sounding out and writing cvc words from the story, e.g. jam, red, etc; ordering and sequencing the story; her telling me her version of it and me writing it down with her illustrating it; acting it our; playing with it!
And when ‘school’ is finished, F, our 8.5 year old, chooses a topic to get involved with. The last two weeks have been space! We’ve stayed up to watch Elon Musk’s Rocket Launch of new satellites, then seen them zoom over our heads 30 minutes later; watched Maddie Moate on YouTube with Space Week and made a pocket Planetarium; Joined UNSA’s Astro Science Challenge; and even made Duplo and Lego satellites and rockets, with a view to making a short animation.
This is the sort of learning I prefer – child-led, amazement and wonder because they’re enthused and excited as its been their choice!
Creativity:
We haven’t just done schooly activities – there has been lots of making fun too! Both girls have used paper strips to weave an ‘Elmer’ background and used tissue and milk cartons to create a recycled Elmer.
I put together a Drive-Thru McDonalds using Lad Bible’s simulator and make a homemade version with boxes and everything!
The girls helped create a Theatre for the afternoon, making tickets, putting on ‘free’ glitter activities and making nachos and popcorn. We settled down to watch Cinderella from The Mercury in Colchester.
We re-purposed a pallet into a chalkboard door for the garden den, gave it a good clear out and the girls made it a new Fairy Den, planting Stocks and Gladioli and generally making it a nice place to have fun. I helped out by cleaning and tidying the old mud kitchen and building a new ‘water wall’.
And F set up a day nursery for Cc (mainly so she could boss her around I think!) but they had fun together. F made a video introducing all the aspects and drew up a daily timetable of activities!
One of the most enjoyable activities for me and F was using a Hapa Zome technique to create Fairy Skirts! You simple put petals or leaves or grasses under some material and bash them til the dye bleeds onto the fabric! I then rough cut holes along the top of the materials and threaded ribbon through to create an outdoor Fairy Skirt!
Another fun one was adding petals to egg-shells where you’ve used the egg by just creating a small hole in the top, then filling with water and freezing in the egg-box to keep them upright. The girls were very excited to peel the eggs the next days and expose the flowers…I think they quickly became dinosaur eggs, inspired by a Pobble writing task from earlier in the day!
Life-Skills:
Over the last few weeks, the girls have been far more involved in ‘running a home’ and have been getting to grips with cleaning, sweeping and hoovering a little more! As usual, tho, cooking skills are the ones they really enjoy. We’ve baked lots. F wanted to do pancakes on her own, so I created a jug with levels marked where all she has to do is tip in the right amounts and mix up. She loves this and even cooks them herself.
My first attempt at sourdough was, let’s say…well, a complete disaster is a bit of an understatement. It took an hour to get the ‘loaf’ out of the baking dish! Photos of the disaster are on Facebook for anyone needing a good laugh! I’m going to try again tho – I’m fairly determined with this one, so will see how I get on!
Again, both girls loved using the mixer for homemade pasta – 100g of ’00’ flour and 1 egg per person for a simple pasta. And the Foccacia turned out much better than the Sourdough attempt too! Thanks to A Good Crumb for the perfect recipe.
We’ve also done lots of planting, sowing, watering in the garden to keep the plants fed and watered.
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Well, I think that’s about if for the last few weeks. I dare say things will stay pretty much the same for the next few too – I’ll continue to be led by the little one in terms of her learning and the big one will get on with the school work. Another theme I’m hoping to do is Our Body as I’ve seen some brilliant activities for that, and it’s something more tangible for Cc too.
But do you know what, this is the sort of thing I love – creating, doing, cooking … if you don’t, then don’t worry! If doing a bit of schoolwork then turning on the tv gets you through, do that. If it’s a case of bribery with 3 hours of X-Box, so be it. We’re all adults, we need to choose what works best for us, our family, our children. The most important thing at the moment is that they feel loved and secure. And how that works for you will differ from anyone else. My eldest likes routine, she likes to plan and know what’s coming. And the little one likes to copy, so it works well for us. She is also far more enthused if any ‘extra’ learning is of her choice, so garden play, creativity and theme ideas work well in our house, but I know they won’t for everyone.
Remember, we’re #inittogether – the same storm, not necessarily the same boat.
Stay safe x
The Chimney House 