Project 101: Politics

When the mother of parliaments is having its first home education day, in the middle of the Prime Minister proroguing parliament, it would be churlish not to have politics as the week's project!

We started the week with the usual videos, readings and discussions about parliament: how it works, who can vote, and (most importantly) what laws children would vote for if they could vote.

Some reading material...

The big event of the week, however, was the visit to the Houses of Parliament. Obviously a visit to the Houses of Parliament would have be noteworthy enough in any week, but with a showdown between the government and parliament and protesters on the street, we began to worry whether the day would be cancelled. As it was, it all went ahead without a hitch - although this did mean it was necessary to give the children a potted history of Brexit from the financial crash of 2008 to the election of 2017 and why the PM's got a problem of parliamentary arithmetic.

UK Parliament

The visit was split broadly into two halves: the first half in the education centre was learning how elections work and how laws are made; and the second half was the tour of parliament. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures in the Lords and Commons, but the children nonetheless got to see a quiet House of Commons as Phil Wilson discussed a fenland project in County Durham, and a bustling House of Lords as the Brexit legislation was discussed there. The children almost got to see their local MP, Shailesh Vara, at the end, but he was stuck in a meeting so his assistant came along instead. It probably didn't matter anyway, as it was always going to be a long shot that they would be future Conservative voters.

Solomon announced on the way back that he was a bit like Boris Johnson, as he doesn't always know what to do...but he is only six and not in charge of a country, so that's OK.

Next week's project: China.

2 Years of Home Education and 100 Projects!

Last week's project was our 100th (Project 100: The Middle Ages), and marked the end of our second year of home education. It therefore seemed an appropriate time to look back on all the projects we have done, and reflect on how we are finding the experience.

The First 100 Projects
We all sat down as a family and looked back over the blog and the projects we have studied. The first thing that hits you is how much you can cover in two years, how much you forget, and how long it takes to look back over this blog! This was not made easier by the fact that every other blog post seemed to include at least one video the children wanted to watch again.

The children were asked to pick their favourites projects, and after a lot of whittling down they eventually settled on their favourite five.

Solomon's top five:

• Project 1: History of Computer Games
• Project 21: Writing a short story
• Project 31: Minecraft and Redstone
• Project 82: Football!
• Project 95: Films

Monica's top five:

• Project 24: World Book Day and the Wizard of Oz
• Project 26: Trains
• Project 40: Cartoons
• Project 88: Painting 
• Project 91: The Seaside

It's quite nice that three of Monica's picks are actually from before she was officially being home educated - it emphasises the fact that home education is something that you do as a family rather than revolving around one-to-one teaching. 

In many ways the five 'favourites' felt quite arbitrary: they initially marked so many of the projects as favourites that the term was virtually meaningless (with the possible exception of Project 1: History of Computer Games which in Solomon's opinion we are destined never to surpass).

The Second Year is Easier and Busier!
Our approach to home education in the second year is the same as the first: writing and maths every day, afternoon rest time/reading time and a weekly project (see How We Home Educate). The writing and maths tends to be done on a one-to-one basis, so now having two children to home educate does mean it takes longer than in year one, but as they get bigger they inevitably need less supervision during other parts of the day, so it balances itself out overall.

If there is one noticeable difference from our first year of home ed, it's how many more activities there are now. This is not just within the home education community, but also with other groups such as music lessons, Beavers, and Rainbows. As a home educating parent you inevitably worry about the social aspect, school may not be natural but it is considered normal, and when you start home educating the relationships and networks don't all naturally spring into being on day one. They will, however, build up naturally over time and by the end of the second year you are more likely to have too many rather than too few social commitments.

Not Stopping Yet
When we first discussed the idea of home educating our children, it was based on the idea that school in the UK started at too young an age, and we agreed to home educate for a couple of years before reassessing the situation. Two years on and school is further from our mind than ever: we are all enjoying the home education experience as a family, and the children are thriving academically.  Of course 'thriving academically' is difficult to quantify outside the increasingly test based culture of the school environment, but as our five year old happily reads Mary Poppins on her own, and our six year old is coming to the end of key stage 2 maths, we can happily risk a few more years of home education.

Project 100: The Middle Ages

The Measly Middle Ages segments on Horrible Histories prompted Solomon to suggest 'the middle ages' as a project, which just so happened to coincide nicely with trips planned for Norwich and York this week. 

We started the week with the usual plethora of videos and readings, including watching the Horrible Histories special on the Magna Carta (we saw one of the original documents back in Project 3: Medieval Castles) and The Worst Jobs in History: The Middle Ages. 

The trip to Norwich included a visit to the Norman castle, although unfortunately the Norman gallery in the castle keep had been moved as part of an upgrade. There were, however, some unexpected viking galleries relevant to the project, with a viking trail and a hands-on table. 

Vikings at the Castle Museum

Unsurprisingly the Yorkshire Museum also touched on the medieval period (and also had a hands-on table). The exhibit that really caught the children's imagination, however, was the medieval dinner table, or rather the blackboard next to it on which they wrote a menu for the time. This descended from the sensible to the farcical; from venison to 'rat pie' and 'plague pie'. It seems unlikely that 'plague pie' would have been a popular dinner choice, but the children nonetheless managed to find themselves hilarious for about 30 minutes before being dragged away!

Medieval Dinner Table

For a more practical activity the children designed their own coats of arms, using templates from a book we bought at the Castle Museum, Norwich. 

Solomon (left) and Monica (right) Coats of Arms

Finally we finished the week by watching The Secret of Kells, which they all enjoyed. 

Next week's project: Politics

Project 99: The Earth

The week's project was prompted by the Gaia artwork at Peterborough Cathedral. A huge rotating earth acting as a point of reflection about the fragility of the earth and how we are treating it.

We read and watched a wide range of videos about everything from the position of the earth in the solar system to its structure and climate change (a project touched upon previously in Project 72: The Climate).  Mostly, however, it was a week of practical activities.

The children did a craft project at the cathedral, painting their own globe, and visited again on an evening when it was lit up.

Gaia at Peterborough Cathedral

We also made our own globe at home with a balloon and some papier-mâché. Undoubtedly we are now ready to follow in Drake's footsteps! (See previous Project 94: Sir Francis Drake)

Papier-mâché Earth

Of course you can't do a project on the Earth without trying to improve things a little bit, and we bought Simple Acts to Save Our Planet: 500 Ways to Make a Difference. Unfortunately we are a pretty green family anyway (no car, tumble dryer, and limit the meat), and the book had rather bizarre suggestions (e.g., buy a digital picture frame!), so there's wasn't much room for improvement, but we did at least go on a litter pick.

Litter Picking

We also watched a couple of classic environmental films: WALL-E (2008), and FernGully (1992). At the end of FernGully one of the characters says  "Guys, things have got to change". What's so depressing is that 27 years later, and in a week when the Amazon rainforest burning is in the news, so little has changed. Unfortunately it seems we are likely to have to revisit this topic many, many more times in the future. 

Next week's project: The Middle Ages.

Project 98: Doctor Dolittle

It was another hectic week of activities this week, so we picked a book as the basis of the week's project to ensure that the project work wasn't lost amongst the chaos! As the week was already including a trip to a 'mini-farm' we decided to read the classic The Story of Doctor Dolittle.

We bought the Alma Junior edition of the story, which also includes a nice multiple choice quiz at the back. It's a nice feature, and we will probably buy some more Alma Junior editions again in the future.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

At the 'mini-farm' we asked the children how they thought the animals felt, and if they were the animals what noises they would make. There was a difference of opinion on how the animals would feel, with Monica thinking they would be happy because they were with their friends, and Solomon thinking they would be sad because they were locked up.

'Mini-farm'

We watched the classic Doctor Dolittle with Rex Harrison, rather than the Eddie Murphy version, as it was closer to the spirit of the book, if not actually following the story itself. Despite being longer than most modern children's films (at 2 hr 32 mins), they've all enjoyed it.

Finally, the children made their own animal masks. Solomon chose a tiger, and Monica chose a rabbit.

Two rabbits and a tiger.

Next week's project: The Earth.

Project 97: Jobs, careers and vocations

As Solomon is always trying to come up with money making schemes, we tried to get the children to think a bit more this week about what they might like to do for when they get older, and the importance of different jobs.

We started the week by discussing some of the many different jobs that are available, from footballers and games designers, to bin men and priests. Rather than just thinking about how much the jobs would pay, or how much fun they would be, we got them to plot the jobs on a chart, with importance on the X axis and pay on the Y axis.  We also introduced the idea of them working for themselves, with the Usborne Business for Beginners. 

Job chart showing that pay and importance are uncorrelated!

When asked what they might like to do when they grow up both Monica and Solomon went for stereotypical choices: Solomon wants to be a computer games designer, and Monica wants to be a mummy.

Neither of their choices particularly lends themselves to a family excursion - but we nonetheless took them to a new soft play centre with a series of traditional shops for the sort of role-playing fun they always enjoy (see also Project 74: Royal Mail).

Jobs at the Soft Play

After watching some videos on the work of games designers, Monica and Solomon had to write a short composition on what they wanted to do and why. Despite our best efforts at suggesting alternative careers to Monica (and watching related videos), she nonetheless stuck to her guns on wanting to be a full time mum.

Based on Solomon's choice of career, it also seemed an appropriate project for introducing a new Nintendo Switch game: Super Mario Maker 2. This game allows users to design and share their own Super Mario levels, and share them online.  After a few initial efforts, where games were designed on-the-fly, we took our time to plan out a game in a bit more detail (and with pen and paper first) and our Mario maze was rewarded with our first 'like'.

Pipe Maze on Super Mario Maker 2

Next project: Doctor Dolittle

Project 96: The Fens

As our home town of Peterborough is also known as 'the Gateway to the Fens', the Fens seemed an appropriate project for a project - especially as there are plenty of museums to choose from in the Fens that we haven't visited yet.

We started the week by exploring the history of the fens, and how the area has changed over time with a number of videos . 

This was followed by some of the stories associated with the fens, most notable of which was the story of Hereward the Wake. Hereward's story was also told in a Horrible Histories episode, and Horrible Histories has quickly become the children's programme of choice.

Books with Stories of the Fens

We picked Ely Museum for our weekly excursion, as it has a few displays on the fens (and was also about to be closed for a year as it undergoes a refurbishment). It is a nice little museum, with plenty to do and see. 

Ely Museum at the Old Gaol

We followed our trip with a closer exploration of more recent fen life - from wildfowling and flooding to fen skating and bandy. That southern England has such a close connection with winter sports is one of the more surprising aspects of the fens.

Finally the children made their own eels from paper plates.

An eel in Jubilee Gardens, Ely, and some made from paper plates

Next week's project: jobs, careers, and vocations.