How we homeschooled today #108
Cheesy fractions and lots of books
How We Homeschool is on Bookshop.org!
A quick announcement before we begin. I’ve set up a bookshop on bookshop.org, where you can find a selection of our favourite books from babyhood onwards. It’s not every single book I’ve mentioned here, because that would be hopeless. It’s the best ones, and I’ll add more as we come across them.
When you buy from bookshop.org, I get a 10% commission, and 10% goes to support independent bookshops. And in February, 10% of all children’s book sales will go to Booktrust, a charity which works to boost children’s literacy. They particularly work to reach vulnerable children and low-income families.
Current lists in the bookshop are Inspiring Science, Favourite Chapter Books, Favourite Books for Babies, and Favourite Picture Books. Take a look!
How we homeschooled today
(If you’re new here, my daughter is 8 and my son is 6.)
About three times a year, the children leap out of bed and get themselves dressed. Today was one of those days. My daughter even tidied their room and made her bed. My son then climbed into my bed (fully dressed) and read The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Beast Beyond the Fence, with frequent ssssshhh-ing of anyone who dared to speak in his presence, and my daughter went outside to do some gardening. I drank my tea slowly and ignored this unusual morning efficiency.
At breakfast they begged me to read them another chapter from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. I started reading this aloud in the hope that they would then read it to themselves, but I now see it’s a bit too advanced for them. (Although as I read this back before sending it out, my son is now reading it to himself. What do I know, eh?) But they are thoroughly enjoying hearing me read it to them. This morning I wondered if cannibalism was a bit too much for them, but it proved not to be—and the reading got scarier as the day progressed, as you shall see…
Over the weekend I bought the Math for Love 3rd Grade Fraction Curriculum (usually $95 but only $20.75 with the two How We Homeschool discounts applied. If you’re still thinking about getting something, the discount codes expire 1st March, so don’t miss out.) So far, I’m impressed. You get three big documents: a teacher’s guide, student worksheets, and teacher master documents. Today we started with lesson 1, which is about sharing cheese slices between varying numbers of children. For maximum appeal, I cut out yellow paper ‘cheese slices’, and we used Lego minifigures to share the cheese. The children got really into it, using scissors to cut slices when required, and we had a great discussion about why you sometimes have to cut a slice and sometimes not. They then each set their own challenge to answer. At the end I attempted to show them why 6/8 is the same as 3/4, which was possibly a bridge too far. It was an enjoyable, engaging, successful maths session—what more could you want?
They then recited their Shakespeare and I paid out another 20p each—they’ve now each got 8 lines learnt by heart, and continuing apace. Send funds!
Then some prep before a trip to the library. Which books did they really want to keep and which were they happy to return so they could choose new ones? I’m finding that this is a great way for them to practise making difficult choices, because there’s always a chance to borrow a book another time so the stakes aren’t too paralysingly high.
At the library we borrowed:
Usborne Young Readers
Non-fiction
Hannibal’s Epic Elephant Journey (my daughter’s already read this through today and says it’s great)
Lots of things to know about your body (from the same series as the space book we enjoyed last week)
Usborne History of Britain, The Middle Ages
Usborne Medieval World (the whole world, not just Britain)
Big Ideas for Curious Minds (An Introduction to Philosophy) (this might be a bit beyond us but I’ll give it a try)
Around the World in 80 Trees (very excited about this one)
Inventors: Incredible Stories of the World’s Most Ingenious Inventions
Survivors: Extraordinary Tales from the Wild and Beyond (I read this on the way home. It’s an excellent book, but some of the stories are harrowing. I thought it was a book about adventurers but it’s more about people who survived against all the odds, which the title does make clear and I should have realised. Not for the sensitive child, or anyone with a plane trip coming up soon!)
History Atlas: Heroes, villains, and magnificent maps from fifteen extraordinary civilisations
Usborne First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life
Fiction
Usborne Illustrated Arabian Nights (because this series is always popular and I thought they might like to be able to read the stories themselves)
The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, Philip Pullman
I Was a Rat, Philip Pullman
Jack Beechwhistle: Attack of the Giant Slugs
The Empire Strikes Back (a Lego story book)
Secret Explorers: Rainforest Rangers
The Wooden Dragon, Joan Aiken (a picture book)
I’ll give you proper thoughts on all these as we read them.
Then out into the bright February sunshine, where we sat on a bench and shared a pizza while we read our new books, and then carried on reading all the way home. My son read Frankenstein, which I did warn him would be scary, but he insisted and is now, of course, terrified to be in a room by himself. Bedtime will be interesting tonight.
Back at home the children had some TV and I put my feet up (I couldn’t work out why I was so tired, but I now realise it will have been the effort of carrying 25 books home!). I talked them through the day’s spellings on the blackboard, which they later wrote out quickly at teatime. By 5pm I realised we hadn’t done any French, but I think I’ll let that slide for the day. It’s safe to say that the evening will consist of more reading, and much reassurance that Frankenstein is not hiding in the cupboard.
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The tree book looks amazing!
I’m very impressed by the selection at your library! Do you mind sharing in which area of London you live? (We are in the borough of Richmond).