Studying the Bard, an English/History unit study.

Yes, it is true that we are enjoying the summer and taking a break from formal studies, BUT you can't keep enthusiastic children down, and we discovered a desire this week to learn about Shakespeare.
And it all started with this book: The children were enthralled by the ending, certainly not your modern day happy ending is it?
And so we moved on to this one.
And a visit to the library has given us a stack of children friendly Shakespeare books, we are excited!

Some beading fun!

I recently dug out a bead set I had bought for Eden when she was 5(but it was too difficult then). It's not too difficult now though and she really enjoyed working with the wire and beads to make this cute ladybird.


And Niamh had fun making this necklace. A lovely pattern!

Art Badge for Brownies

The girls are working on a few Brownie Badges over the summer holidays. The first one is the art badge.
They have to know the primary colours and how to mix them to make new colours and make a pattern with three colours in paint.
Very different designs to one another.
The next is a bookmark, they are getting the idea for this one from an art book.
It involves glueing over a picture and painting over with acrylic paint, finished product to be shown later.
The next is a collage, they chose to make coloured pasta.
And made a butterfly collage.

I loved the glitter on the penne.

How to Train your Dragon - A Book review by Eden!

I have enjoyed this book. We have read the book and listened to the Cd.
The book is about a Viking tribe. They have a Chief called Stoick the Vast. He has a son called Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the 3rd. Hiccup has a friend called Fishlegs. Hiccup and Fishlegs aren't very strong, but Hiccup is very thoughtful though Fishlegs is not. But in the tribe there are two big bullies called Snotface Snotlout and Dogsbreath The Duhbrain. They are friends. The bullies are tough and strong. Hiccup knows a lot about dragons, and he knows how to speak Dragonese. In those days there were dragons. Hiccup and the whole tribes boys are learning how to be terrible Vikings. In the first part of the Viking course they have to climb a snowy mountain. At the top of the mountain is a cave. Inside that cave is a dragon nursery wich has over a thousand dragons. They had to go and get themselves each a dragon without waking them. Will every single Viking boy in the tribe get themselves a dragon before someone wakes them up?

Escape in Time with the Victorians

The children have been watching a series on BBC called Escape in Time. Two families have to live in a Victorian farmhouse as it was in Victorian Times. They have to make the food that Victorians ate, do the jobs and even they have to learn the entertainment of the day.

Studying the Victorians with the children has been a major learning curve for them. In some ways I think it has been more alive for them than say learning about the Egyptians or the Romans as we see so much of the evidence of this era still around us in Britain. Also reflecting on the fact that their grandparents grandparents were alive at the time Queen Victoria was ruling also brings it closer to home for them. They are now more aware of time lines, and when they come across and author or composer they will now work out whether they were alive in Victorian times or not. This has prompted me to look into making a visual timeline for them so as we learn more about history we can piece it together on our timeline.

Eden's Victorian Study

Eden decided to do her own study and project on the lifestyles of the rich and poor in Victorian times. She enjoyed illustrating each one too. This study helped her get more into aspects like occupations, housing and food of the Victorians.










This last page is Niamh'.

Oliver Twist and all puzzled out!

In our ongoing Victorian study we have read, listened to and watched Oliver Twist.
The audio cd.
Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist.
Jude has enjoyed this version.
Niamh did a small narration and illustration of the book.

And this week we have all been puzzled out. I have been busy in the house, so it has been a time occupier for the children to get stuck into some of their puzzles.
Niamh did this 300 piece, but I couldn't resist sneaking some pieces in too.
Edem loved all the animals in this Noah's Ark puzzle.
And of course Jude loved this puzzle and has done it a few times over.

Jude really got stuck into this Hama bead creation and worked on it a little at a time, he was so pleased to finish it, it will make a lovely addition to his wall. Thanks Biebuycks for the great gift!