Space Project Part 1

Over the last four weeks we have been learning about Space. The children started the project by copying out some verses from Genesis Chapter One on how God made the Heaven and the Earth. They found out that the Solar System is our family of planets and that the Solar System makes up a tiny part of our Milky Way galaxy.

 

 

They had fun playing with our Solar System jigsaw

 

 

and made planets out of play dough to compare and contrast the different sizes.

 

 

Together we made a glow in the dark mobile of the Solar System. They loved this so much that I had to split it into two and hang some of the planets in the girls room and the others in Nathanael's.

 

 

We watched some interesting video clips on how astronauts do various things in Space and we have enjoyed reading the book To Space and Back.

 

 

 

We planned what we would take into Space in our rocket!

 

 

The children found the Moon fascinating

 

and they each wrote their own legend about the Moon based upon the story of the
Man in the Moon.


In the January sales I made a bargain purchase... a cardboard rocket! The children enjoyed colouring the pictures and playing inside it, imagining they were travelling to space.

 We revised what we already knew about the Sun from our previous Seasons project and found out more facts from books and video clips.
 

The children made their own galaxies using lots of glitter

 

 and made meteor craters by smashing play dough shapes into a tub of flour.

On our visit to Jodrell Bank we saw the Lovell Telescope

 



and identified the different planets on the moving clockwork Solar System.

 

We have taken a break from our Space project and plan to revisit it in a few months.

 

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

Psalm 8:3-4

Life Lately - Christmas, Birthdays and Space Project

My updates are becoming less and less frequent, but I see that as a good thing, because life is very full and busy! I do however wish to keep a record of what we do as a family and our home education journey, so I am determined to keep posting whenever I get the chance.

 Before Christmas the children took part in our annual church nativity service.

Our baby turned two (she is still our baby!) and we celebrated with breakfast at Krispy Kreme 

doughnuts followed by a game of bowling.

A few days later our middle child Abigail turned 5!

Her birthday treat was a trip to the cinema to see the Paddington Movie followed by lunch at a family favourite, Pizza Hut!

In between birthdays we had a quiet family Christmas and kept our focus on Christ and His birth.

On New Years Eve Abigail was in hospital undergoing a Bronchoscopy under general anaesthetic to assess any changes in her airway restriction, caused by her double aortic arch.

We were really proud of how brave she was.

At Christmas we had a week off from formal lessons, but we were back the week after and have started a new project on Space. The children are thoroughly enjoying it and so am I.

Each day we set aside time to play puzzles and games. I found a lovely 3D Solar System jigsaw at the charity shop that ties in well with what we are studying.

For my Birthday (yes another one!), we had a family day at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. The children were very excited to see the Lovell telescope up close.

 Looking forward to another home schooling year in 2015!

Life Lately

Autumn has been very mild so far this year; we have enjoyed had some beautiful walks in the country. At home, we have come to the end of our weather and seasons project. The children have learned, through hands on activities, about day and night and shadows

 

and have drawn what they have found out in their books.

 

 

They have written some sentences on sun and rain

 

 

and have discovered some of the different cloud formations.

 

 

We did two mini unit studies on the books A New Coat for Anna (seasons link) and the Little Red Hen (windmill link).

 

The children did some paper weaving

 

and inspired by a visit to the Stockport Hat Works, they designed A New Hat for Anna.

 



 

 Little Red Hen activities included bread baking, making windmills and acting out the play with masks.

 

The Vikings came to Stockport Market last weekend, so we went to visit them!

 



 

Nathanael had the opportunity to fire a cross bow at a Knight.
 

We also had a lovely morning out in Manchester this week to see the Halle Orchestra's interactive children's performance of the book Giraffes Can't Dance.

 

 

We celebrated Reformation Sunday at church, with the children performing a short drama and song.

 

 

In History, the children have been finding out about the Reformation, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, Anne Askew and Thomas Cranmer.  

 

We are moving on to a two week study on ancient and modern China and finding out about Hudson Taylor and Gladys Aylward, missionaries to China.



Our Week: Lego and Pets Projects

*I am late posting this, due to my laptop being in for repair.

 

For Nathanael's current Lego project, he has been researching different themes around the subject. For Science we investigated plastic, the material from which Lego is made. He went on a hunt around the house to find different plastic items.

 

 

We found out how to make plastic out of milk and white vinegar

 

 

so we made our own.

 

 

Nathanael has also been researching Denmark, the country where Lego originated from, and wrote down some facts he found out then made the Danish flag out of Lego.

 

 

He has also been finding out about different toys in the past

 

 

and we took a trip to a local museum to look at some of their examples of historic toys, the children's favourite being a Zoetrope, an early animation device.

 

 

Nathanael has been enjoying experimenting with Lego Movie Maker app on the iPad and made a short animation for his project.

 

 

Tabitha and Abigail enjoyed meeting our friend Carole at the park with Buddy her pet dog

 

 

 

and walked him on the lead. They found out about keeping dogs as pets as part of their pets project.

 

  

We also visited a local Garden Centre to see the different pets sold there and Tabitha and Abigail are working towards making an e-book about their visit.