Teeth Unit Study

 

Motivated by a recent dental check up, we decided to do a Science unit on teeth.

 

 

We found out the names of all our teeth and the different functions that they have.

 

The children then made a collage of the different layers inside a tooth.

 

To find out the effects that different drinks have upon our teeth we carried out an experiment in which the children put white duck eggs (to represent teeth) into glasses with the drinks.

 The results below show what had happened to the eggs after being left in the drinks for 24 hours. From left to right the drinks were Orange juice, Coke, Ribena, milk and water.

We read some interesting books that explained what causes tooth decay and the children
wrote up, in their own words, some of the information they had found out.



They drew and collaged pictures of foods that are good for our teeth and foods that are bad.

 

Every month we attend a Science group where we share what we have been working on. For this we made a display board of our work and demonstrated our egg experiment.
 

 

To extend the experiment, the children measured out the sugar content in each of the drinks.



 

The results were rather shocking and have inspired the children to make more healthy drink choices. 



India Unit Study

 

Over the last three weeks the children have been finding out about India. Armed with a pile of library books they have read all about the country.

 

They located India on our large map of the world, noting it is in the continent of Asia and each made an Indian flag.

 



 

Gathering information from the books they read, they compiled some simple sentences on facts they thought were important to know about India.

 

 

 

We were inspired by the story of Amy Carmichael, Missionary to India, and her love for the children of the temples and her faithfulness to her mission. We read about her story and watched the Torchlighters DVD. Nathanael wrote a book about her.

 

 The children enjoyed finding out about the different animals that live in India. Whilst at the zoo for Tabitha's birthday, the children were excited to identify the elephant they saw as being Asian rather than African due to the size of its ears.

 

 

As an art activity they had fun drawing the Taj Mahal using black Sharpie pens followed by a watercolour wash for the background.

 

 

We also had a go at collaging some Indian style patterns, inspired by some textiles we have.

 

We had an enjoyable afternoon out at Rusholme, an inner-city area of Manchester. There are a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants and shops along the main road, known locally as the 'Curry Mile.' The girls especially enjoyed looking at the different shops containing traditional Indian clothing, shoes and jewellery.

 

 Of course we had to stop for lunch in one of the restaurants to try the food, and we took home a box of Indian sweets to sample!

Catch Up - Part Two

In attempt to get my neglected blog up to date, this post is very picture heavy!

 

Back in the spring we took a short break in the Lake District to tie in with a unit study we had being doing on the life and work of Beatrix Potter. My favourite place that we visited was Hill Top Farm, her Lake District home which was to become the setting for some of her later books.

 

 

 Thanks to our Home Educators National Trust card we had some lovely visits to beautiful sites in the Lake District including Wray Castle.

 

 

Inside the Castle the children could run about, dress up and play imaginary games.

It was such fun!

 

 The scenery was breath-taking  

 

 

and the children enjoyed paddling in the lakes and running free in the woodland.

 

 

 When we came home the children compiled their work into lapbooks.

Another enjoyable day was had at a scarecrow hunt at Styal Mill. The scarecrows were book characters and the children had fun finding them.

 



Burglar Bill

Paddington

The Iron Man

 At one of our spring Christian Home Education meets ups we found out about living things and the children planted sunflower seeds.

 

After a few weeks, they did some observational drawings in their sketchbooks. They enjoyed looking at the book, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, for inspiration

 



 

The children planted out their sunflowers into the garden and made labels so that they could keep monitoring whose was the tallest!

 

 

I took the oldest three on a trip into Manchester to attend pizza making workshop with some other home educators.

It was such fun finding about where the ingredients came from, making and of course eating our pizzas!

 



 

In June it was a special birthday for Daddy and we celebrated with an interesting day out at the Liverpool World Museum.

 

 

Paul and I had a rare night away on our own to celebrate his birthday and we returned to the Lake District to see some of the sights at a more leisurely pace.

 

Birthday season was upon us and we had fun celebrating some friends' birthdays.

 

Our sweet Miriam turned four and she had a birthday lunch to share with some friends after the church service.

 

Miriam would be due to start school this September. She is a real joy and is keen to join in with schoolwork with her older brother and sisters.

 

 

We finished a project on Electricity

 

in which the children had fun experimenting with static electricity and making simple circuits with lamps, switches and motors as well as investigating materials which were conductors or insulators.

 

 

Our current project is on India and even Elisabeth is keen to join in.

 

 

More Geography fun was had at a home ed meet up where we found out about Italy

 

...and we made even more pizzas!

 

 



Whilst we have continued with some school work throughout the summer, we have also had lots of free time to do different things. We went on the Gruffalo trail at Lyme Park on a very hot summer afternoon.

 

 

 

A highlight of July is always the Stockport Carnival where we had a church stall.

 

Into August, and Nathanael enjoyed a day hiking and a night camping in Edale with Daddy.

 



 

 I think I have now officially caught up with our family news! Of course I have missed much out (for there have certainly been days which were not blog worthy) but on the whole we have had a very enjoyable spring and summer. God has been good, we are so blessed.