A Late Round Up!

Despite whacky BM's Benedict actually achieved quite a lot of work last week, below is our resume of accomplished activities.



Monday 15th -



 Numeracy - Cuisenaire worksheets/number stories using the rods and counting in two's up to the value of 50.



Home Front - Cutting and gluing the base plate for the Anderson Shelter/Garden Model.  Benedict also watched the second instalment of The 1940's House entitled "Women at Work".  Since the Grandad in the programme was "away on important war work", the eldest boy Ben aged ten years, assumed the role of The Head of the House.  The war cabinet asked him to undertake the role of Fuel Warden, he had to calculate the family's fuel usage and reduce consumption as per the guidelines of the day.  The family were only allowed three bucketfuls of coal per day to run the boiler, all lights had to be turned off in rooms not used and each member was only allowed one bath per week of no more than five inches of water.  Benedict was especially keen to undertake such a role in this house, so watch this space!!



Gardening - Planted more seeds and watered the existing seedlings in the mini greenhouse.



Literacy - Benedict has just moved up a band to level seven of The Oxford Reading Scheme, he read the first three books in that series: Red Planet, Lost in the Jungle and The Lost Key.



Tuesday 16th -



Literacy - Read The Broken Roof from The Oxford Reading Scheme and when tested on his spellings knew them all apart from the word "said".



Numeracy - Cuisenaire worksheets on interchanging numerals and rods to make number stories.



Space Odyssey 2010 - We looked at The International Space Station (ISS), we discussed the similarities between the ISS and an ordinary home, what materials are used in the construction of the ISS and why and what work is being carried out on the station.  Using his Space book as a guide Benedict coloured in a printed sheet of the ISS.



Wednesday 17th-



Literacy - Spellings, knew them all apart from "are", read The Motorway from the Oxford Reading Scheme and practised handwriting using the rhyming word sheets.



Numeracy - Two times table using the clock face and printed cards and Cuisenaire worksheets for addition tables and number patterns.  Benedict found looking for a pattern really easy with the rods but found the addition table more challenging when using a number sequence.



Home Front - More work on the Anderson Shelter/Garden model.



Thursday 18th -



Science Meet with the Lancaster and Cumbria Home Ed groups.  Everyone met at the Maritime Museum and representatives from British Energy, Lancaster City Council Library Service and The Sea Life Centre led workshops on Electricity and its generation, Weather and The Solar System and Rock Pool Life.  The activites were enjoyed by all and it was good to meet with other local Home Ed families.



Friday 19th-



We spent the day with the Cumbria Otherwise Group.   After a bring your own lunch the kids and adults settled down to painting miniature canvasses.  We were blessed with lovely weather and Benedict had fun running around with newfound friends.  In fact he had a hypo as a result of all the extra activity!!



Below are sample pictures from the week:

Times Table Clock Face

Cards covering the clock face.

Using the rods in preparation for interchanging rods with numerals in addition tables.

Life in the rock pool.

Inner strengthening supports for the Anderson Shelter.

Using a CD Rom package to design your own car!

  

Sick Day

With help Benedict managed to plan his drawing of the Anderson Shelter and accompanying vegetable garden.  We talked about the importance of growing your own crops since  the ships were needed for carrying ammunitions and soldiers.  As a result the Dig for Victory campaign began and all householders were encouraged to do their bit for the war effort.  Benedict decided that in his "garden" he would grow, cabbages, carrots, potatoes, onions, swedes, leeks, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber.

After lunch we had intended to put the plan into action and begin constructing the base plate for the model.   Unfortunately a combination of high blood readings as a result of the cold virus left him feeling quite unwell and he ended up in bed for the remainder of the afternoon.

Having the sleep made all the difference and he had brightened sufficiently to help make the currant scones for tea.  Once the evening pots had been cleared Benedict helped put fresh bed linen on his bed and then spent some time working on the Meccano Space Shuttle.  As I write he is now watching a documentary with Dad based on The Solar System.

Number Grids and Counting in Twos

We swapped rhythm today and did our own thing in the morning and once Pip had settled for her nap we used the computer and gemstones to help with this weeks maths topic.

After tea Benedict and Dave began working on the Meccano space shuttle:

Space Cooking

All astronauts have to organise their own catering and those ready meals supplied by NASA leave a lot to be desired!!  On today's menu was Rock Cakes!  Here are the pictures from today's baking session as supervised by Dad:

Ingredients at the ready

Concentrating hard

Rubbing in the dry ingredients

Having fun getting messy!

The best bit and cooks perks, eating the leftovers from the bowl!!

If you want to see the finished articles check out the Kitchen Angel blog tomorrow.

What else did we do today?  Reading, lego building, writing a shopping list for mum and completing three pages of Maths from a colourful work book.
 

3-2-1 Blast Off

There was astronaut trouble this morning (Benedict was physically sick with high blood sugars!) so take off was delayed until after lunch!  Once he'd brightened and had managed to eat a light lunch, we set forth on the first leg of our space odyssey!  Benedict read excerpts from his Space Discovery Book and this then led to him copying the astronaut picture inside.  He originally had decided to omit the labels accompanying the drawing but when I explained to him  their importance in giving the reader much needed information, he proceeded to write with enthusiasm and care.

Whilst he was engaged in his own mini project I cut and glued the base for our " Black Hole" board game.  It looks to be a very informative and lively game; all the cut outs and design are courtesy of NASA.  I've still yet to print there educators booklet- I'm sure it will be a very useful resource.  Here are our pictures of the day:

Hard at work

Showing the front cover of his book: a multi-coloured, multi-functional robot

The completed base of the Black Holes game, it's amazing what recycled cardboard and sticky tape will do!