Finding the joy in the small things is becoming more natural for me as the days go on. Even seemingly innocuous things like the rhythms of life nurture us all as we go about our days. Rhythms of Life Each morning, sleepy with the blessing of yet another night's sleep (sleep will never grow old…
Month: February 2015
Precious Moments: A Superduper Week!
We are a family who likes to be busy and when we are busy all is well in our camp. And this week has been super busy which has lead to a super week! This was a schooling week (as opposed to an unschooling week) and we finished everything I had planned. The older children…
Biology: Genetics – DNA
We have just finished Microbe studies and together we have chosen to look at Inheritance and Genetics next. Again, I will be using the Edexcel IGCSE specification as guidance. Our studies will hopefully be in-depth and very hands on before we settle down to answering past exam papers to test how much the children understand.…
Biology : Extracting Your Own DNA
Actually this post will describe how to extract DNA from a banana, a tomato and from yourself. The method is similar for all three. Extracting DNA samples I gave the children the choice of extracting DNA from tomatoes, bananas or from themselves. It is very easy to do requiring nothing more than water, salt, surgical…
Scientist Study: Watson and Crick
Crick and Watson were 20th century scientists accredited (with help from Franklin and Wilkins) for discovering the structure of DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid), one of the most significant discoveries of that century. The three men were awarded a nobel prize for discovering the 'secret of life'. Franklin had died and so missed out, even though it…
Living Maths, Anyone?
This week's giveaway is full of fun maths books to help your child play maths. I found all these useful when I took my twins off a curriculum for a year. Being curriculum free allowed the girls to relax and enjoy maths. They lost their fear of numbers. That year of no pressure, fun maths,…
IGCSE Biological Science – Microbes
Our biological science is based on the specification of Edexcel for their Biology IGCSE. My goal is to very gradually work through the specification with the hope of digging a little deeper than is required and letting the children follow areas of interest. I aim to make this study as hands on as possible and…
Seasons of Joy: Healing from the Inside Out
Letting go of a little piece of my heart.... Last year I spent a huge amount of time decluttering and apart from school stuff and books I really felt like I was getting somewhere. We have no loft, cellar or garage to store anything in which means everything we own has to live with us…
More Unschooling Thoughts
Back when I first started home schooling I latched onto what seemed to be a very successful way to home school (according to friends who home schooled and to a blog I regularly read at the time). It was workbook home schooling using a very tight and regular half hour schedule. For a good couple of years…
Happy 4th Birthday, Gorgeous Girl!
B blasted into our life four years ago with a huge wail and really didn't stop wailing for a good couple of years! She has by far been my hardest child, but with hard comes a deep love and an utter joy which is very difficult to put into words. She has a huge, huge…
Biology: Microbes – Protoctista
Protoctista The last micro-organism we need to cover for their IGCSE Biology is the Protoctista. This is basically the 'rubbish bin kingdom'. Every organism which is living and eukaryotic but is not an animal, plant, fungi or bacteria belongs to this kingdom. Protoctista are more complicated than bacteria, containing a cell nucleus, but less complex…
Conquer Maths
I have been wanting to share the treasure of a maths program I had found for ages, but having enthused about various other maths programs and ultimately found them to no longer work, I chose to wait a while. However, it seems it is here to stay and I really do feel confident in recommending it. This…
Spar-Klean Science at Angelicscalliwags
Spar-Klean Science (Age 10+) Apologies, I am still attempting to organise my blog by grouping like posts together. These are all my posts within my home-made Spar-Klean Science course. It will be added to as and when we do lessons. Investigating where the dirtiest place is in the kitchen Is the loo cleaner than the…
Seasons of Joy: The Very Best Valentine….Ever!
It is Valentine's day today. For the first time since they were born the older ones have been asking about it. Usually we do not make a huge deal. Gary and I swap cards with beautiful handwritten notes of love. But they are private messages, not to be shared with the rest of the family.…
Precious Moments – Unschooling
This week has been peppered with bad days and illness and very little has been achieved. I was going to write yesterday about new thoughts I had concerning our unschooling weeks but to be honest I really didn't think it would be a fair reflection. However, I will say this - leaving the children completely to…