The Making of Us

What a resource -
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/the-making-of-me-and-you

This BBC link is a springboard to some fabulous human body work. The possibilities are endless but we've spent a couple of hours on some unstructured exploration:

Weight, convert between imperial / metric
Finding out height, team work required!
Big numbers - what's a trillion, what's an octillian
Imagining 2000L using water bottles
Microbes - how many and what are they up to?
How much our organs weigh & does your soul weigh anything?
Percentages - how much of you is water
Elements, which interesting things have you got in your body

There is No Hurry

Rivers know this : there is no hurry.

We shall get there some day.

Winnie the Pooh, A.A.Milne

A morning spent in the river with sunshine, dogs & wellies full of water. Happy days.

Paperwork - Practical Planning

Structure. A dirty word in some EHE families, a survival technique in others. I'm the planning type and so structure is my friend but avoid the rest of this post if you follow an unstructured approach as it may offend.

I love structure because I love stationery. Labels, dividers, lever arch files ... There's nothing quite as satisfying as well ordered paperwork, organised in files and lined up on a shelf.

Side note - good tip for stationery / stationary is that the one with the A is for Adjective (a stationary car) so the E must be the noun.

Approaching a full curriculum can be a bit overwhelming if, like me, you haven't taught the primary NC before. I've been through how to start tackling the big-picture objectives (if you're following the NC) here : http://uncommonlyeducated.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/200-pages.html) so this post is just to briefly share our organisational approach to the day to day business of planning and teaching .. through the wonder of A4 folders.

Produced Work
> One or two folders per child, with dividers by subject for them to keep their worksheets, drawings, notes, etc.

English and Maths
> One folder of Applied Maths worksheets, organised by topic. Perfect for when you need a bit of extension, reinforcement or practical application of a particular skill.
> One folder of English scheme notes, arranged by term or topic - mostly lists of which electronic or book resources to use alongside some worksheets/activities.

Topics
> One folder of exciting topic work ideas, unformed - bits and pieces, things I've found on wanders through the internet or from Facebook links from friends and forums. The place to go when I need inspiration for a theme day or scheme of work.
> One folder of stand alone activity lessons : science experiments, cooking games, challenges, etc. Perfect for when I need to pull something out of the bag after a 'bitty' morning.

Transfer Test
> One folder for 11+ skills sheets, examples, practice questions, etc.

Magazine Files 
> By subject, with workbooks for spelling, handwriting & particular maths skills, plus leaflets for exciting outings.

Electronically I keep files by subject with powerpoints, useful links, activities and worksheets - as soon as I'm planning to use them I'll print out any necessary resources and add to the folders above, ready to grab.

Our curriculum choice is our own so although we follow the NC we're under no legal obligation to do so - having a record of the work we've done also isn't a requirement. From a personal perspective, I find it reassuring and gives me a measure of progress and continuity, putting the boys in the best position to slot back into mainstream when the time comes.

And it means I get to buy loads of stationery. Yay.

Making Fire

Loving these sunny days. We've found EHE to be the reverse of school in terms of work pattern : we get loads done when the sun is shining. The summer term is full to the brim with science experiments, reading and talking in the sunshine and outings to interesting places.

When I was teaching the summer term was the toughest - a room full of kids (and one teacher) who wanted to be outdoors but were trapped in a small, hot room together for hours on end. I miss an awful lot about teaching in a school, but not that.

So the sun is out and our pace picks up. We're motoring through literacy, science and maths and the boys are actively seeking out learning opportunities. At 8am this morning we were making potato stars because W wanted to set up an experiment about osmosis.

The other awesome thing about the sun, other than relying on it for life, is that it is actually interesting. The moon might be great for tides and werewolves but it's just a rock. The sun is super-hot, gassy and destroys things - what's not to love? Curriculum links are easy: from ancient Egyptians and their worship of Ra to space, chemistry and geography.

Nothing so fancy for us today, just a good bit of exploring how a magnifying glass works and testing out what burns (no ants harmed, obviously). Learning shouldn't be this fun.

Getting On

A bad day yesterday doesn't mean a bad day today : we start fresh, the past is past (thanks mindfulness app). K asks if I want a cuddle. I don't need asking twice.

Lots of parents wish they could spend more time with their children at this age; I'm in the unusual position of spending almost every waking hour with mine. It's a blessing and a curse.

First out, I like my kids. I know they're random and a bit awkward socially and they sometimes don't listen and they wind each other up but they're also kind and funny and interesting and independent and brave.

Loving them is easy but it's not a given that you'll actually like your children. Traits that are completely adorable in me are downright irritating when W demonstrates them. That analysis and overthinking which make my husband successful at work - it hinders K and I get frustrated with him. We've been lucky that the boys got a very equitable split in the personality-gene-department so I get equally annoyed by both of them. It's good to be fair.

There are particular quirks with spending so much time together, foremost that my roles get muddled. I'm a teacher, housekeeper, mum and colleague. Using physical spaces to define and segregate our day and my role isn't something I considered before we started EHE but, even in our open plan set up, it can help mark distinctions.

When we're at our desks we're in work mode and I have my teacher hat on. The kitchen table doubles up - at mealtimes it's family time, it's a desk when we're working. The sofa is for snuggling and chatting with Mum hat firmly on head. I don't feel bad escaping to spend 10 minutes reading in my bedroom where I'm just boring old me and it's good for everyone.

Spending time together helps you to get to know who your children are; watching them learn gives you an insight into how their minds work. I love the moments when they give me an answer lightning fast, tell me their own way of working something out or show me something they've made or found.

Whatever our future holds I am grateful I've had the chance to do this. If I can survive another year and still like the kids, we'll call it a success.

Ouch

Low point today. Tired children, tired me, too much to do, too little time.

An argument with eldest that ended with a cutting truth :
"I'm fed up of you Mum."

Today I'm fed up of him too.

Tomorrow will be better.

Rhyme and Reason

Rounding off this poetry section I wanted to focus on rhyming couplets. Free verse is great but there's something satisfying in finding a rhyme. Less satisfying when the word is 'hamster' or 'spider'. Wasted a bit of time on those.

Rhyming couplet poems are prolific; we read lots for laughs and then looked at whether we can spot rhythms which sound best and why (tip: if the number of syllables is one different between the two lines it doesn't tend to flow).

Inspired by Grizzly Tales and the idea of morals in fairy tales the boys came up with a character called Billy with big eyes (no, I'm not sure either) who is cruel to animals and gets his just deserts.

There's a charming definition of poetry which is "the best words in the best order". We start with a brainstorm : a big board of words, rhyming pairs and ideas and then we pick out the best. Saying the couplets aloud helps choose - some just sound better than others.

W comes up with the name and K sets up the back story. W questioned K's premise throughout - why would a boy who is teased for having huge eyes be mean to animals? It's a leap, but I like K's logic that the big eyes hint at what might become of Billy later.

They managed to include an onomatopoeia (W's new favourite word!) with 'whizzed', rhyme, some sense of rhythm and alliteration (big brown bear).

A true team effort, here's the finished poem :

Silly Billy

There once was a boy called Billy

With big eyes which looked rather silly.

Because he was bullied by everyone

He started to hurt animals for fun.

At the zoo he stole a small giraffe

Then had a laugh when it took a bath.

In the woods he caught a big brown bear

At home he shaved off all its hair.

Billy took his neighbour's snake

And baked it into a birthday cake.

In the desert he found a cheetah

And roasted it inside a heater.

He woke one morning, my oh my,

Billy had turned into a fly.

As he whizzed around the ceiling

Billy got a sinking feeling.

He tried to find a way to flee

Bu a spider ate him for its tea.

Recipe for Survival

The reality of managing EHE, work and family/home is pretty brutal. Social media and blogs tend to highlight successes and happy moments but there's usually a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

Some nights I work until 3am to stay on top. I try to fit in 2 hours of work before school starts. On days I haven't left the house I am boggled that I can still rack up 7000 steps (thanks FatBot. Sorry, FitBit) as I bounce like a pinball between sink, computer and children.

I'm not complaining - this is my choice and I wouldn't swap places with anyone but when life doesn't fit inside the 24 hours granted each day it's draining.

I am writing this from a place of deep, deep tiredness but it occurs to me that my bad and good days from an EHE perspective can be predicted regardless of the amount of sleep I've had. Or not had.

This is my recipe for a good day :

1. I've made packed lunches the night before
2. The plan for the day is written up on the board when we start
3. I printed all my resources for the week on Sunday night
4. I had a theme or topic running through the day's activities
5. We have at least one tangible outcome, worthy of fridge-display
6. I focus on the things we did, not the things we didn't

So I know the recipe. I wish I was a better cook!

Free Verse : Best Value Poetry in the Curriculum

Free verse can be engaging and funny so it is the perfect start point for two boys who wailed 'I hate poems' as soon as I put it on the timetable.

They were easily swayed thanks to the likes of Michael Rosen, Kit Wright and Mandy Coe.

Free verse is defined by its lack of rules. Without the constraints of rhyme and a fixed rhythm, there are no distractions from other interesting poetic devices : we focussed on imagery, line breaks, alliteration, repetition and onomatopoeia.

First stop - The Magic Box by Kit Wright.
A fantastical poem with an easy to follow structure. Alliteration, imagery and onomatopoeia all feature in the first 2 lines so it's packed full of useful examples. We read it twice and then brainstormed what could go in our magic box - focussing on feelings, smells, tastes and sounds as well as things. The boys wrote their poems and then typed them up for display for a sneaky bit of ICT.

To say they were proud of them would be an understatement.

Next lesson was deeper into nonsense with Don't by Michael Rosen, who uses repetition for impact. We covered the way reading a poem aloud rather than in your head changes the feel and impact (link to slam/performance poetry) and watched some YouTube videos of poetry performances. We brought in elements of rhyme within phrases and I wish I could share them here but any poems that include lines like 'Don't put a plum in your bum' and 'Don't burp' are best kept offline. Thanks boys.

If I say there are no rules I can't be surprised that they produced rude poems. Hooray for freedom of expression.

Their 'Don't' poems might have lacked the charm of their Magic Box attempts but they did present them as a performance for Dad in a mini slam poetry jam.

Using the theme of 'Don't' we imagined a friend in a fantastical situation (the boys settled on : locked in an iron room and hair on fire) and wrote them a helpful postcard of Dos and Don'ts for a literacy link.

There's always scope for a bit more silliness so this week we'll move onto rhyming couplets with poems by Marian Swinger and Hilaire Belloc covering metaphors, similes, personification and some Spoonerisms from Michael Rosen.

Resources:
Michael Rosen compilations are terrific fun for browsing
Roald Dahl Revolting Rhymes are a classic
The Works, chosen by Paul Cookson, is a great one-stop compilation and includes lesson plans at the back

Our favourite onomatopoeia examples : buzz, crunch, pop, whizz, bang. Roald Dahl is the master of using these, especially in The Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Turning Negatives into Positives

K wanted proof that subtracting a negative number is the same as adding. The rule is clear cut but I was failing to convince K. There were raised voices and it was not fun.

Luckily MathsIsFun delivered on its promise and rescued us from a mother-son rift.

I went with their hot air balloon example which has the added bonus of reinforcing the number line concept.

My hot air balloon looks like a flower pot (art is not my thing) but the idea is sound and it works like this:

The orange circles are balloons, worth +1. The grey are weights, worth -1.

• Start with the balloon pointing to zero then remove balloons (subtract a positive) or add weights (add a negative) to make the balloon drop. 
• Add balloons to make it rise (add a positive).
• Remove weights to show how subtracting a negative results in the balloon rising (a positive).

It's an effective way of proving to a 9 year old that taking away a negative can make a positive and there was a bonus bit of craft work preparing the number line and stamping out the circles.

Fabulous ideas from : http://www.mathsisfun.com/positive-negative-integers.html

Triangles

2D shapes aren't tricky but their names are. There are a lot of them and some are subsets of others which is mind blowing to my 8 year old. Today we're on triangles.

"It's just a triangle, like a normal triangle" he muttered, thoroughly defeated, as I pointed to yet another shape that, to him, still looks like a triangle.

Repetition and familiarity is the only way forward so we'll rinse and repeat in the next few days but here is our system for those pesky names :

Equilateral ... Equal easily spotted because the sides and angles are all equal.

Scalene ... Scatty Scalene - so muddled up that every side is a different length.

Isosceles ... iSausages - Okay I was desperate. Here is my artist impression of why isosceles is iSausages, based on the flimsy premise that if you ate two sausages for tea they're highly likely to be the same length (but the size of your plate might vary).

Also :
Right angled triangle ... Right Angle the clue's in the name - if it's got a right angle, this is your triangle. Can also be a scalene or isosceles, just to confuse any shape-name-matching activities. To prove this, I had to show W that you could lay your sausages in an L shape.

For reinforcement we're going to make pizza over the weekend and cut the slices into various triangle types.

Sausages and pizza. Not a great week for nutrition but a good one for maths.