Project 184: Buildings

We last explored the topic of buildings in Project 64: Buildings and Architecture, and decided to revisit the topic after discovering some printable models from the Avoncroft Museum. 

We started the week exploring different types of homes using some Twinkl resources and a Twinkl quiz, and some books about buildings and architecture. We looked at how architecture has changed in the UK during different historical periods (e.g., Tudor, Georgian, Victorian etc), and we also looked at how architecture differs in other countries based on the climate of the country. 

The children also did a creative writing activity from the Courtauld: If Buildings Could Talk. Sam and Sol wrote mission reports as though they had discovered a building on a new planet, and Monica wrote a diary entry from the perspective of a princess in a castle. 

Next project: Bronze Age

Project 183: Memory

 As Solomon is always complaining that he has an appalling memory (albeit only when it is associated with work rather than Fortnite) we thought we'd have a project on memory. We mostly made use of the book Learning how to learn (previously introduced in Project 49: Learning how to learn).

They learned about the difference between short and long-term memory, how memories are formed, and the memory palace technique for remembering information. 

They also had to write about one of their memories, and played some of the memory games we have, including Kim's Game.  

Next project: Buildings

Project 182: Trees

After having a trees 'Top Trumps' booklet kicking around the house for a year, we decided to finally make use of it and have a project on trees. 

We started the week by reading about trees in the encyclopedia and the junior science dictionary, before going on a nature walk to count tree rings and discover how old the trees were. We read about photosynthesis and why leaves change colour in the Autumn. We also went to visit the trees we had planted earlier in the year at the local tiny forest. 

We also had a big cycle out to the local country park to explore their tree trail. 

Finally, the children did some finger-painting of trees.

Next project: Memory

Project 181: Cars

 As we had just bought our first car, it seemed a good idea to make cars the topic of this week's project.

Along with learning about the history of the car, the children learned about how the engine works and the sorts of regular checks you need to make, checking the oil, coolant fluid, brake fluid, and tyre tread. 

They put together a couple of k'nex cars that used different types of power:

And they did a wide range of Twinkl worksheets on cars, including crosswords, wordsearches, designing cars of the future, and a woven police car craft. 

We also managed to squeeze in watching Cars and Cars 2.

Next week's project: Trees

Project 180: The Stuarts

It seemed about time we did another history project. Although history has been incorporated into other projects (e.g., Project 166: Animal Farm) and we'd done Project 139: A History of Music, the last project that looked explicitly at a historical period was almost a year ago with Project 134: World War II. 

 We decided to look at the Stuarts as we had previously looked at the surrounding periods (see Project 69: The Tudors and Project 104: The Georgians), and it gave an opportunity to consolidate and revisit some of the other projects we did before Sam started home education (e.g., Project 108: The Great Fire of London, Project 77: Shakespeare, Project 5: English Civil War).

As well as making use of a lot of history books, we incorporated science, literature and music. 

We read about the gunpowder plot, and then followed some instructions from the Horrible Science kit (see Project 19: Science and Chemistry) to make our own 'fireworks' with food colouring:

We read an abridged Othello, and made use of the the BBC resources to learn and sing songs about Macbeth. Finally we watched a fictional account of Shakespeare's early years from the team behind Horrible Histories. It wasn't as family friendly as we'd hoped, but that's what we get for straying into the Tudor period!

Next Project: Cars

Project 179: Materials

We like to keep a vague eye on the national curriculum, and make sure we're not missing any of the big topics, and as we hadn't done much on materials (although we had touched upon it in Project 163: Rocks and Minerals and Project 147: Sculpture), we decided that should be the focus of this week's project. 

We started the week by learning about different materials and their properties using the Schofield & Sims Science Revision Guide (key stages 1 & 2), looking at wood, stone, paper, metal, glass, pottery, plastic, cotton, and wool,  and introducing words such as brittle, transparent, opaque, absorbent, polished. We did a hunt around the house to find items for each category, and we investigated why certain materials are used for certain jobs using Sam's bike and a worksheet from the Bikeability site.

We watched videos to find out how bricks, glass, paper, metal, and plastic are made.

We discussed thermal conductors and thermal insulators, and then the kids came up with their own experiment to see which was the best thermal conductor out of wood and cardboard. We then finished the week by having a go at making some paper without specialised equipment.

Next project: The Stuarts

Project 178: Easter IV

It was our fourth Easter as home educators, so an opportunity to revisit some of the previous crafts and activities, as well as doing some new ones (see Project 29: Easter and Spring, Project 81: Easter II, Project 130: Easter III). 

There were the usual chocolate nests, as well as our first simnel cake, which everyone enjoyed:

We added to our Easter bunting (for the third year running), made some Easter cards, and even attempted to make a Lego hatching egg:

We also revisited the Easter story, explained the traditions of Holy Week, from palm crosses to the washing of feet, and watched a couple of Easter(-ish) films. We watched Ben Hur (the 2003 cartoon version on Amazon Prime):

And the 2016 film Risen: 

Risen has a 12A rating, and Amazon suggests 13+ for Ben Hur, although neither are particularly inappropriate for younger children. The ratings primarily reflect the fact that they deal with the subject of Christ's crucifixion in a more violent time. 

Next project: Materials