ofamily learning together

Geology Lab for Kids Book

Posted on January 17, 2018 by ofamily

I have never really like Geology. If I am honest I found it a bit boring. So when the kids started getting a big interested in the type of rocks and how they were formed and what happens when the plates move I was a bit stressed. I was not sure how I could make it interesting for both them and me (because lets me honest the kids know when you are finding a topic boring). And then I heard about this book and Quartro Publishers send us a copy to use.

This book is amazing. It has transformed what was a boring topic for me into something interesting.

As soon as we have finished the latest experiment I am already looking ahead to make sure we have everything in the cupboard for the next. And my kids, think this book is a gem, they keep wanting to do more and to redo the experiments.

The book is broken down into 12 units and within each unit there are three plus experiments (52 experiments in total). The units flow really nicely one after each other so if you are a bit Geology-scared like I was you can start at the beginning and work your way through. (Having said that we did not do every experiment within each unit).

The units are as follows

Singular Crystals
Crystal Clusters
Specimen Sleuth
Living with Lava
Super Sediments
Major Metamorphosis
Breaking It Down
Understanding the Earth
Sign of Life
Prospecting for Riches
Space Rocks Too
Rocks of Art

Each experiment is set out with easy to manage steps, photographs and a “Science Behind the Fun” section.

I am a bit of a Pinterest-crazy home-educating mom and I have seen three of these experiments on Pinterest and possibly if I searched harder I might find more (but really 3 out of 52 experiments for me this book beats Pinterest hands-down).

What I really like about these experiments is they are visual representations of what the kids are learning. The Cocoa crust experiment really showed how the earths crust would move around because of the heat from under it.

My kids Loved this one, my youngest got really excited when the cocoa started breaking up and the cream was coming through the weaker parts – he exclaimed ” mom look – it’s just the thin sections of the earths crust where the everything seeps through”. And yes I would advise parent supervision with these experiments (some experiments like this one and a few others that we tried involved using the stove).

Likewise the Chocolate Rock Cycle was ingenious – using chocolate to show the cycle rocks go through – no-one will forget that. And using sugar cubes to illustrate the boulders, cobbles, pebbles and sand, brilliant. I could go on and on with example after example.

My kids and I highly recommend this book. It has brought Geology to life for us and by bringing the topics to life it has made them all incredibly easy to understand and remember. We are still working our way through this book but I have read ahead and the experiments awaiting us are just as good.

Geology Lab for Kids is one of the books included in Quarto’s new STEAM platform – they have grouped some recommended books together for different STEAM topics and have created some Free to download teacher guides for each topic (I really like this new set-up) – this is the link for the Geology Rocks Books .

You can also get Geology Lab for Kids from Amazon – Geology Lab for Kids: 52 Projects to Explore Rocks, Gems, Geodes, Crystals, Fossils, and Other Wonders of the Earth’s Surface (Lab Series)

As I mentioned above we were given this book by Quarto Publishers

I have included Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and love.

Posted in Book Ideas | Tagged educational books, educational resources, Geology Lab for kids, home education, homeschooling, STEAM | 2 Comments

Mask Craft

Posted on January 14, 2018 by ofamily

We are definitely taking our time getting back into our normal rhythm after our Christmas break, so when my youngest asked if we could make some masks I got very excited and we quickly selected a few animal masks from the Activity Village website (they have a huge range of printable masks – Activity Village Masks). For our crafting session we mostly used the black and white zodiac animal masks. Tip – it is better to make the holes in the side of the masks before the kids start crafting.

My daughter started off by using some blow pens that we have on a standard mask template but it looks like the ink in our blow pens is drying up so we did not get the expected result.

Then the kids tried some ” squeeze” paints (Mala paints in a tube) that we got from IKEA and I must admit the colours in these paints were really nice and bright.

And having to squeeze the paints out is brilliant for strengthening those hands (after two masks my youngest told me his right hand has aching from all the squeezing).

We also added a few crafty bits to the painted masks – I love the look of the feathers added onto the dragon mask. (Just make sure the kids use lots of glue if they are adding feathers, my son made one and was a bit light on the glue and we had to re-attach a few feathers when he tried to wear the mask).

And of course we can not have a crafting session without using some tissue paper, so we made a tissue paper fox.

I really like this fox template as it is a very basic shape and I think the kids could use it create some more abstract masks as well.

And to end with my daughter just coloured in a bright dragon mask.

I LOVE crafting sessions like this, when the kids have a base to start with (the mask) and then they can create as they want, realistic or unrealistic, with lots of extra crafting items or with no crafting bits and pieces, painting, colouring, whatever they want.

Extra note – the IKEA paints that we used are these one IKEA MALA – Fluorescent/glitter paint, assorted colours / 8 pack / 8 pack (they cost £8 if you buy them in IKEA). The blow pens are from Tiger in the UK and the tissue paper and crafting feathers are just part of my stock (could have been bought in a number of different places).

Posted in Art and Craft Ideas | Tagged activity village, animal masks, children's art, children's craft, colouring masks, home education, homeschooling | Leave a comment

Recharge

Posted on January 13, 2018 by ofamily

One of the most important lessons I have learnt in the five and a half years we have been home-educating is that it is a lifestyle. You learn to stop and answer questions, when you don’t know the answers you find out together, when the kids start showing an interest you try to encourage that interest even if it is in an area that you yourself have no interest or knowledge, you find ways to ask them questions so that they start thinking about something new, you bring topics into conversations – it just becomes part of your family way of doing things.

But the more it becomes a lifestyle the more you also need to find ways to recharge. And for everyone that is different. I have found that by the end of the day I need some time to myself and luckily it just so happens that my husband loves spending that time with the kids. It developed naturally over the years but it has become a tradition in our house, as soon as he gets home from work the kids have about 45 minutes of dad only time. Everyone LOVES it and I get to totally veg out while the three of them read / discuss Science or Engineering topics (the latest one being designs of aircraft which has now developed into our youngest wanting to have his own plane design company). It is something that works well for our little family, my hubbie gets some time with the kids, the kids get dad time and I get some time to veg out or do some planning.

But as much as I value my evening break the kids and I need time to recharge together. You can not just sit indoors and work away, or go from one activity to another. I have in the past made the mistake of over-scheduling our week and no-one was happy. We have learnt that we need time to unwind together. And for us a big way of doing that is getting out and going for walks, exploring in the woods or visiting one of the National Trust Sites, just somewhere open and quiet where we can hear nature.

Everyone relaxes, breathes a bit better, even when it is freezing cold we still wrap up and get out.

For us even being out on a quiet nature walk in the middle of the week is a learning experience, but it is a relaxed, unwinding type of learning experience, where everyone gets to recharge a bit and often I get some new ideas for possible projects / activities

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged home education, homeschooling, nature walks, parenting | 3 Comments

Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

Posted on January 10, 2018 by ofamily

We have had our Frog and Toad Are Friends book for ages. I first bought it for my oldest when she was a preschooler as a story book. I choose the book initially because of the sweet, gentle stories about the lovely friendship between Frog and Toad and she LOVED it. As a story book for younger children it was worth the five pounds I paid for it.

But over the years it has developed from a story book to a point out words and sounds book to a reader. I think I have mentioned a few times how I love finding story books that double as good readers for the kids and this is one of those gems.

Both my kids have used Frog and Toad as readers as they loved it. It is a book they will happily take off the bookshelf by themselves and read over and over again (and for me this is key with young readers, finding books that they enjoy reading so that they develope a LOVE for reading and don’t think of it is a chore they need to do).

There is a good combination of easy words and slightly longer, challenging words that make it a good book for beginning readers.

In fact I discovered a few years ago that the Core Knowledge books that I like – What Your Year 2 Child Needs to Know actually includes the Frog and Toad series in its recommended list of Books for Beginning Readers. (Just to be clear I did not choose the Frog and Toad book because it was one their list, we liked the stories, but it just made me feel good that a book we naturally love so much was included on a recommended reading list).

The kids and I LOVE the gentle, sweet stories of Frog and Toad and we recommend this book both as a story book and a reader.

When I looked again on Amazon I see they now have reader versions of this book. I bought the standard picture book – Frog and Toad are Friends (Essential Picture Book Classics) (Paperback) – Common.

Posted in Book Ideas | Tagged children's book, English books, Frog and Toad, home education, homeschooling, readers, reading books | 2 Comments

Number Practice Books by Schofield & Sims

Posted on January 3, 2018 by ofamily

My daughter has been using the Schofield & Sims Written Calculation workbooks for a year now and we have both noticed how her Maths confidence has improved. The format really suits her and each book in the series contains lots of practice so when I was looking for Maths practice books for my son I immediately searched for some Schofield & Sims ones. I found the Number Book series and we bought a workbook for him. I have already shared a few photos of the number books on facebook but I thought now that we have used them for a little while it was time that I write a proper review. (Schofield & Sims kindly sent me the rest of the set of workbooks so I will include summaries of each of the 5 workbooks).

They are what I would term – practice books. So lots of examples to practice basic Maths. The examples start off easier and work up.

Number Book 1 (of 5): Early Years/Key Stage 1

This starts with some basic counting pages and then it goes onto adding 1, adding 2 (up till adding 5). The first set of adding pages has pictures and the kids add the number in the picture so 1 turtle plus 1 turtle = 2 turtles and then it goes onto just adding sums without any pictures. And finally some subtracting. Taking away 1, and then 2 all the way up till taking away 5 and some basic money pages.

Number Book 2 (of 5): Early Years/Key Stage 1

More practice of adding 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. It also shows pages which are the Story of a number. Eg Story of 8 would include all the addition sums for 8 and then the inverse subtraction sums for 8. (There are story of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 pages).

More money example pages and some basic sums where three numbers are added together or 2 numbers are added and one it taken away eg 5+5-6=

Number Book 3 (of 5): Key Stage 1, Years 1 & 2

Book 3 is all about numbers between 10 and 20 (the first 2 books only went up to 10). It continues with the Story of numbers pages but this time it is for numbers from 11 to 20.

Also some more money examples but again the sums are for larger amounts.

And the 2 times table.

Number Book 4 (of 5): Key Stage 1, Years 1 & 2

More adding and subtracting practice and 2 times table practice. Book 4 also introduces the idea of sharing between 2 (dividing by 2).

Lots of breaking numbers down to 10’s and 1’s, adding 10’s and subtracting 10’s. Also adding and subtracting in columns. And the 3 times table and diving by 3.

Number Book 5 (of 5): Key Stage 1, Years 1 & 2

Lots more adding and subtracting in columns (including examples where you need to carry). The 4 times table is introduced and practiced as well as dividing by 4.

The 5 times table and the 10 times table (including division practice for each). More money sums and more addition and subtraction practice.

If you are looking for some Maths practice workbooks – practicing addition, subtraction and basic time table these books are great. They are NOT flashy, multi-coloured with stickers and bright pictures, they are for kids you need to practice their sums and get some maths confidence. I am planning on using the rest of the set with my son this year.