We have already written our first Edexcel IGCSE Maths Paper and we have Paper 2 in a weeks time so as you can imagine our lives are all about Maths past papers at the moment.
As with all things on YouTube there is always a bit of choice on who to use for Maths Walkthroughs. Quite by accident we found someone that we really like and we been using a lot of his content. So I thought I would introduce him – Mr Flynn
He has uploaded walkthroughs for Edexcel IGCSE past papers from 2018 all the way through to 2023, I think last time I checked there were 39 walkthroughs (he has Paper 1 and Paper 2 content).
Now his videos are quite long but that is because he works through each question step by step and explains everything very clearly. But please don’t be put off by the length of his videos. In the beginning we watched the entire video but as we did more and more past papers we would skip the questions that we were happy with and just watch the questions that we needed some help on. So really it is up to you, but the important thing is he has proper step by step answers and he even shows what he inputs into his calculator when he uses it.
He have found his walkthroughs incredibly helpful, and we like the way he explains his answers and workings. So if you are doing Edexcel IGCSE Maths have a look you just might agree with us and find his videos as helpful as we have.
Oh and I know this is a short post but we are very busy on this end with both our Maths and Physics revision.
We are going a bit Maths crazy on this side, my daughter writes her first IGCSE Maths paper next week and then the second paper in a months time. And I will admit Maths is not one of the subjects that she enjoys or finds easy. With Maths she really has to work (and she really has been, I am very proud of how hard she has been working).
And yes we have a good student book and we have multiple workbooks but with our Maths revision that we have been doing we actually stumbled upon an amazing site which we have been using a lot and it is FREE so I wanted to share it because really it has been one of the best Maths resources that we have found. It is called 1st Class Maths. And yes when you first see it, it is advertised as a GCSE Maths site but honestly most of the content is what you will need for Edexcel IGCSE Maths.
When you first go to the site you will get a page like this.
We then clicked through to the GCSE Revision (Edexcel)section and you will get one of the best breakdown’s of Maths topics for this stage. Honestly this page and I have become best friends.
Really how amazing is this – find the topic that your kid needs to revise, you can click on the link for the explanation video (by the way his explanations are excellent and have become one of my go to places for Maths explanations). Then once your kiddo has refreshed their understanding you can download the question PDF and the answer PDF.
Now the questions are great, they really are. He always gives a lot of examples for the kids to work through but for me the answers are GOLD. Because unlike some the workbooks that we have been using his answers show his working. And this was one of the things that we found we were really needing, we kept getting questions for workbooks or other sources with just an answer and no workings, and it was driving us crazy. But on this site you can see step by step what he is doing and it really helps.
I really can not stress how much this has helped us. The whole combination of the video with examples and proper step by step solutions. I actually wish we had stumbled upon the site earlier. So please do not be put-off by the fact that it is advertised as GCSE Maths, honestly your kiddo will find a lot of good content on here.
A short while ago we were sent a book – Moving to Mars, Building a Colony on the Red Planet. Now I must admit my son has always had an interest in space and lately he has been quite into fantasy space themed books and programs, stories where people need to set up a new world, so when this book arrived I was sure he would be interested.
He started reading it and although he found the facts about Mars interesting it was really when he got into the ideas on how you could potentially make Mars habitable that it really got him thinking. The ideas of how do you start this off, when you arrive on a new planet what would you do first? How would you deal with the atmosphere and the different climate? What about growing food? or Water? And where do you live? How do you structure and build on a “hostile” planet?
I could see these thought really got him thinking and we had a few discussions about what could work and why (I must admit after reading about Mars I would not be one of the people to volunteer to go and live there). But my son is more adventurous and he loves thinking through what would be the problems, how could you overcome these issues and would you really be able to form a new colony on a new uncharted planet.
As a home educator I found the the first part of the book was filled with lots of interesting facts about Mars and I have to admit that I think they managed to explain some rather complex concepts really well (better than I would have ever been able to explain them).
But the second part, the part which is more about possible options and possible ways to live on Mars (so not so factual) is the part that I think most home educators would find fascinating and would be the part that I think could inspire some fun creative writing and even some research. I have always liked books which inspire imagination and thinking outside of the box and I think this one does that. It combines facts with potential options which makes it even more engaging and interesting.
My son and I both enjoyed learning more about Mars and going on a bit of a “Would that really work” journey.
I have not spotted this book at our local library or bookstore yet (I think it may still be a bit new) but I did see it on Amazon so for those interested I am including an Amazon Link here – Moving To Mars.
Admin – As I mentioned above I was sent this book. However the fact that the moving to Mars bit inspired my son had nothing to do with us getting a copy of the book, he picked it up and read it because he thought it was interesting.
I do include 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 recommend.
After I mentioned that the kids and I had watched The Sword and the Brocade and we watched it as a way to gain a better understanding of what Chinese life would have been like during the Ming Dynasty, I received quite a few comments and questions.
For us watching a series like the Sword and the Brocade while we were studying China’s history is just like us watching 1917 when we studied World War One or watching Dunkirk when we studied World War Two. Allowing the kids to watch these programs just gives them a better sense of those times, what life during that time would have been like and why a class of people may have wanted change. When the kids can put faces (even an actors face) and places to people and events it really does help them connect with what they are learning about (and as the one guiding them through their learning it really helps me to understand the topic and be able to give them better background).
So keeping with that thought and following on from some of the question about other series that we would recommend I wanted to mention a few that I think are really good.
Staying with our Chinese history, The Rebel Princess which you can also watch on Amazon Prime is another excellent series. We are about two-thirds of the way through and all of us are loving it. It is more complex that the Sword and the Brocade in terms of plots and family connections and is a lot longer but we are loving the story line, the development of the characters (and I have to say the actors are doing an amazing job with their characters) and the settings for the different scenes are stunning. It ranges from being inside the palace, to private residences to battles fields and all are just exquisitely portrayed with a lot of detail and care.
The main character (Awu) is the niece of the Emperor and has grown up with a very close relationship to her uncle. The story starts with her disappointment at not being able to chose her marriage partner and being married off to a General who she has never meet. But as the story develops she comes to realize that the General is a good person and the story follows not only the development in their relationship but also the power struggle between the 3 Princes and Awu’s own father.
I like the fact that although they do discuss concubines and the palace harem it is not a main topic (I am not keen on the series where there is a lot of concubine fighting). Awu (the main female lead) and her husband are in an arranged marriage but it turns out to be a good marriage and they end up with a healthy relationship (a big plus for me, I am not a fan of letting my kids watch series where there are arranged marriages that are toxic). Also the fight scenes are good, none of the crazy fighting while suspended in midair stuff that you sometimes find in cdramas.
The age rating for The Rebel Princess is 16+ but really I have come to realize that most of the age ratings on the Chinese shows are a lot stricter than what I am used to. There are no explicit adult scenes and although there are some battle scenes it is nothing hectic. Honestly I am watching it with my very sensitive 16 year old and my 14 year old and it is totally fine (I think a 12+ age rating would be what we would expect for it).
I have started to watched a few of the cdramas set in the Warlord times but I have found those tend to be filled with toxic relationships and lots of abuse towards the female characters, so I tend to stop watching them without finishing them. At the moment there are none in the Warlord times that I feel I could recommend. If you are looking for a modern day Chinese drama which shows some of the cultural differences I would recommend Forever and Ever (also on Amazon Prime). It is a lovely story, great characters and the actors are brilliant.
I did search for Japanese series to link in with a Japanese topic and so far I have only found two which I think are really noteworthy. The first is Shogun, which is NOT a family show. It is a series on Disney+ and I must admit it is one of the best series that I have watched in the past 12 months but it really does deserve the 18+ age restriction (there is NO way my kids will watch the whole series), there are lots of very explicit scenes and the violence is very in your face. I did feel that it was a great Historical fiction drama for that period and I thought the entire production was excellent (the sets and costumes were truly first class), they really went all out but I want to stress the age restriction on this one is VERY valid. Although I did not show the series to my kids I did show them some specific scenes from the series just to give them a visual reference of certain things.
The only Japanese show which I have found so far (I am still searching for more) that I was happy for the kids to watch was My Happy Marriage (also called – As long as we both shall live), it was on Amazon Prime but has been removed and now I can only find it on YouTube. This does give you a feel about Japan, their culture and way of life but it does have a fantasy/ supernatural element in it. There are people with super-powers and strange creatures (my kids are not fussed by that). The female lead grows up in a cruel family and there is one scene where she is almost drown. The main lead does rescue her in time but I wanted to mention it as some younger kids may find it a bit intense. Overall it is a lovely story and the actors did a good job. I enjoyed the historical references and we did not mind the fantasy parts. It is teen-friendly and although there are some violent scenes there was nothing that I felt was too much for my kids (mine are 14-years and 16-years old).
We enjoy finding shows which give us a glimpse of different cultures and ways of life that are very different from ours. And for us learning about different cultures and different Histories (in other words not just the History of the country that we live in) is all part of our home education.
We used the Biology version of these cards with my daughter before her Biology exam and we found them incredibly useful so since they worked before I thought why not and I bought her the Physics set.
They are what you expect from CGP – well made and good value for money. They contain lots of good question with the answers on the back. Perfect for revision and the kind of revision resource that your kids can use over and over again (honestly we tend to go through the cards a few times and that is where the well made comes in, I am planning on using the cards with 2 kids and they will last without getting torn and will still be in a decent condition).
There are 94 question cards. But bear in mind each question card contains somewhere between 4 to 7 questions – so you really are getting a LOT of questions.
The questions are split into – Quick questions (great starters) followed by some more detailed questions. And they mark which questions are ONLY included in Paper 2 (something which is incredibly useful as Paper 2 is a month after Paper 1 so you can use the cards to to do targeted revision for Paper 1 content.)
Oh and the Physics card set also comes with a very handy formula card – they have put all the formulas that you need to know onto one card (I was actually busy doing this for my daughter when we bought the set of cards).
This is a VERY useful set of question and answer cards. I bought them for my daughter to use and I will be using them with my son as well. I think they are well worth the money. And honestly for us they are one of the best revision resources we have come across.
Admin – I do include 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 recommend.
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