Our Week - China and Guy Fawkes Night

We have started a two week study on China. As part of this, we took a trip into Manchester to visit China Town.

 

The children had fun exploring the different shops and we tried some Chinese food for our lunch.

 



 

 

The children made Chinese dragons following these instructions,

 

 

have found out about Pandas

 

and Chinese inventions.

 

 

On November 5th in the United Kingdom, we celebrate the foiled attempt of Guy Fawkes to blow up the houses of parliament and King James I in 1605. This has special significance for us as Christians, because it was King James who authorised the translation of the Bible into English in 1611, the same version our family use today.

 

The children made mini Guy Fawkes models, which they burnt on the bonfire in the evening.

 

 

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.



For tea we had hot dogs followed by parkin for pudding. We then went out in the garden to light our bonfire, watch the fireworks and the children had sparklers for the first time. Tabitha and Abigail concluded it was their best night ever!

 



On Friday we had a home education visit to a local pet shop where the children had the opportunity to hold some pets and they found out how to care for them.

 



Our Week: Lego, Pets and WWI

This week was the last in our 6 week term. The children spent time finishing their current projects. Nathanael completed some Lego challenges...

 

Putting the Lego bricks into alphabetical order.

 

Making a symmetrical Lego design.

 Nathanael was inspired by this news report about a container full of Lego shipwrecked in 1997 off the Cornwall coast. Since then, Lego has been washed up on beaches in England, Wales and even Ireland. Nathanael wrote his own newspaper article based upon this.

 

Tabitha and Abigail made an e-book based on last weeks visit to the garden centre.

 

They finished off their projects with some explanation writing, giving their opinion on what they think is the best pet to have and why.

 

 We thoroughly enjoyed watching Over by Christmas, described as a choral commemoration in Cheshire's railway stations featuring words and songs of the Great War. It was a very moving performance, remembering those who lost their lives for our freedom.  It was also a fitting end to our studies on WWI.

 

 

We also took a trip to Bury Fusiliers Museum where they have a section dedicated to WWI, the children's favourite being the reconstructed trench.  

Nathanael with a WWI soldier!

 On Friday we had a special time where we laid out all the work the children had completed over the last 6 weeks and invited Daddy and Granny to come and see what they had done! We had a piano piece by Nathanael and watched some of the videos they had made. We also had cake, which was the highlight of the celebration for the children! 

 

We are having a weeks break before returning to our formal studies and will be starting projects based upon the weather and seasons.

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.