Starting Year 9 History Resource Ideas

Posted on August 10, 2021 by ofamily

History is an important one for us because my daughter already knows she wants to do a History GCSE and potentially even study it at University level. Plus this year we are going to do History AND we are going to start Ancient History (she is also keen to do Ancient History as a GCSE subject). So we are taking what has worked really well for us over the past 2 years and we are going to expand on it a bit more this year with a few extras thrown in.

Our main resource is going to be the third book in the Aaron Wilkes KS3 History series – Technology, War and Independence.

Technology, War and Independence 1901 to present day. History book for KS3

We have worked through the first two in her previous years and I am beyond impressed with this series. The events are laid out in a clear, logical manner. They include lots of source and interpretations throughout the books which I think is vital because the kids get used to dealing with, understanding and interpreting these pieces of information. They also use photographs and colourful images whenever possible which makes the pages engaging and interesting. My daughter really LOVES these books (she actually asked me to buy this one as an early Christmas present last year so she could read it in her own time).

Then for me what I really and I do mean REALLY appreciate about this series are the longer questions at the end of each chapter (there are shorter questions on each double page as well). They call these questions -Literacy Focus and History Skills Assessments.

Now I have looked at other History books and they don’t include these type of questions and it is one of the reasons that I am such a huge fan of this series. The kids need practice on how to deal with longer, written, discussion type questions, they need to be able to give an opinion and then back it up. And these questions at the end of each chapter give them step by step guidance on how to structure these type of discussion questions. I think they are vital and we always work through them. I will also say that after using the first 2 books in this series and working through the longer written questions my daughter’s confidence in tackling this style of questions has soared. And I have seen how her answers have improved.

This year we are also going to use the Teacher’s Guide (which I know is expensive and the price is the reason why I have not used it in the last 2 years). So why this year? Well, it has all the answers in it and my daughter is becoming a more independent learner, who likes to mark her own work and see how she could possibly have improved it (the questions at the end of each page). She also wants me mark her longer written questions and for that I feel like I need a mark scheme (which are in the Teacher’s guide).

Oh and I also like the further reading sections that they include.

Okay so that is our main resource.

Then we like to extend our History topic into our English. We have found it workes well to read English literature that links into our History. And since we are covering both the First and the Second World War this year we are planning on reading a lot of war literature (and probably also going to listen to some audio books on car trips). I already have a few ideas on books – Soldier Dog, Private Peaceful, An Elephant in the Garden and When the Guns fall Silent are four that are already on my list but I am sure we will add more as the year progresses.

And we are going to use the Hodder Education English Anthology War book (I only found this series recently and I have been really impressed with it).

And of course since we live in such a rich Historical country we will make sure to visit some of the sites and museums that deal with this time period.

We do tend to submerge ourselves in our History.

I mentioned Ancient History at the top of this post. We are dealing with that as a separate subject and this year the plan is to do some background learning on Ancient Greece and then potentially Ancient Rome. We will not start the actual Ancient History course work just yet but rather learn more about that time period. I am going to be putting this together as we go along because really there is not a book that I can use as a guide so I am sure I will write updates about our Ancient History throughout the year.

So that is our starting plan for History.

For those of you interested here are some Amazon links for the books mentioned

KS3 History 4th Edition: Technology, War and Independence 1901-Present Day Student Book

KS3 History 4th Edition: Technology, War and Independence 1901-Present Day Curriculum and Assessment Planning Guide

Soldier Dog

Private Peaceful

An Elephant in the Garden

When the Guns Fall Silent

Key Stage 3 English Anthology: War

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.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Starting Year 9 Maths resources

Posted on August 5, 2021 by ofamily

For my daughter’s Year 7 and 8 Maths we used a wide combination of Maths resources – lots of worksheets downloaded from different sites (Twinkl and TeachitMaths) and a few CGP workbooks. It worked fine but it did mean that she relied on me to give her the pages or tell her what was next and it limited her ability to read ahead or revise something by herself. As she gets older she is becoming more and more of an independent learner, yes I still explain concepts, we sit down and work through problems together but she likes to know where she is going and she likes to able to drive her own learning. So I started looking around for Maths books that I thought would give her more independence but that I also thought would be engaging and have good explanations and examples (I am determined that both kids have a good grasp of all areas of Maths). And I must admit I looked quite hard at different options until I found this series produced by Hodder Education – Mastering Mathematics Key Stage 3.

I chatted to someone at Hodder and we got the Book 3 text book and book 3 practice book for my daughter to use. As soon as they arrived I was impressed and I actually quickly bought my daughter practice book 2 (we were finishing up a few sections of her Year 8 Maths and I was struggling to find the good examples so I thought why not try this series). And in her last few weeks of Year 8 she used the Practice Book 2 and she really enjoyed it and I was really impressed (my youngest who is going into Year 6 actually asked if he could get a Maths book in this series – and he never asks me to buy him academic books). So I have high hopes for Book 3.

Using Practice Book 2

We are only going to start using the combination of the text book 3 and practice book 3 in September so this is just going to be a quick explanation of what you get and then once we have really gotten to grips with this new set I will write a more detailed post.

To start with you can get a text book, a practice book and an extension practice book for each year of KS3. At this stage we are going with the text book and the practice book and I may add in the extension book later all depending on how we progress.

Okay the text book and the practice book go hand in hand. Chapter 1 in the text book matches chapter 1 in the practice book but don’t worry the examples are different. So by including the practice book you are really giving your kid more examples to work through (also I must stress ALL the answers are FREE to download from their site). And I should also state these are not write-in workbooks. The questions are in the books and your kids will need to answer them in an exercise book or on a piece of paper. This is actually something which I think is a bonus because then you can get them to repeat a question a few months later or if you have multiple kids you can reuse the book with your younger kids.

The Text Book. We like the layout. Each chapter starts with a Coming up block – which explains what you are about to learn in the chapter. Then there is an activity and a skill checker – which is an introduction of sorts to what you are going to cover.

Next you get an explanation (from the explanations we have looked at we really like these). Which is followed by a worked example, my daughter has already commented that she likes the worked examples, and some activity questions.

Then you get three sets of questions – Band 1, Band 2 and Band 3, which are questions that get progressively harder.

And at the end of the chapter there is a review exercise – so more examples.

And if you link your text book to your practice book you get even more questions to work through.

This is why it appeals to me – I like the explanations and the worked examples. And then they have included a LOT of practice questions. And for me, Maths is about practicing what you have learnt and making sure you can apply it to different situations, so I like the fact that you get a whole lot of exercises to work through.

Okay so that is the basic layout.

What is covered in the Book 3 of this series?

  • Powers and Indices
  • Fractions
  • Accuracy
  • Progress Review 1
  • Percentages
  • Ration and Proportion
  • Progress Review 2
  • Using measures
  • Equations, expressions and formulas
  • Progress Review 3
  • Graphs
  • Real-life graphs
  • Transformations
  • Progress Review 4
  • Prisms and Cylinders
  • Constructions
  • Trigonometry
  • Progress Review 5
  • Working with Data
  • Probability
  • Progress Review 6

Like I mentioned I will write an update post once we have used these books properly but based on how much she liked using the Practice Book 2 I am optimistic that she will like these.

And as always if I feel like we need anything extra we will have use the KS3 Maths pages from the Twinkl Resources website.

Okay so that is Maths for Year 9, a bit different to what we have done in the past but I am hopeful it is going to be a positive change.

The books mentioned can be purchased directly from the Hodder Education website or from Amazon

Key Stage 3 Mastering Mathematics Develop and Secure Practice Book 3

Key Stage 3 Mastering Mathematics Book 3

Admin – After I mentioned I would like to review this series, Hodder Education kindly gave us the Book3 Text Book and Practice Book. I bought the Practice Book 2 myself.

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 love.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gill Lewis Books

Posted on August 4, 2021 by ofamily

About a year ago a book called Sky Hawk was recommended to us. We read it and we loved it. And I really do mean loved it. All three of us (yes I am including myself) were captivated by the story of the Osprey and the story of friendship and hope that the author managed to weave effortlessly together. There were some sad moments (I may have had a tear in my eye at one stage) but there were also moments of happiness at reading how everything unfolded.

It was such a massive hit with both of my kids that I started searching for more books by this author and luckily there are quite a few out there. So far I have read 3 of her books but my kids are racing ahead and have read a LOT. When I started searching for other books by the author, Gill Lewis, everyone seemed to say she was an animal story writer but I disagree yes there is a wildlife/ conservation message in all the books we have read but I actually think her books are about different people’s journeys, journey’s of self-discovery. And often there are hardships, sad moments but the journeys always include a powerful message of friendship, hope and the fact that most people are ultimate good underneath all their own pain and sadness. I think the fact that she weaves in the animal theme enhances the human journey because they often mirror each other.

Based on what I have read I would say the books are generally aimed at the 10+age group. And I have never felt that anything inappropriate has been included but they do deal with real issues, like a child coping with the death of her mother, another child in foster care, kids living harder lives, this is not, everything is wonderful type stories, there is a real life element to these stories. I think it makes the stories powerful and moving but I am aware some highly sensitive kids may find them upsetting.

All three of us highly recommend the author Gill Lewis. In fact my daughter recently created a list of her favourite authors and books and her top three authors were – Jane Austen, Gill Lewis and Lucy Worsley.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Our Top Year 8 Resources

Posted on August 3, 2021 by ofamily

My daughter has just finished her Year 8 so I thought I would write a summary post about our Top Year 8 resources. The educational resources that were both a massive hit with my daughter and with me. So here they are..

Pride and Prejudice. I have to include this book because this past academic year has really been the Pride and Prejudice year, it seemed to just take over our whole house for months and every member in our house got involved in the discussions and debates.

  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. An excellent read for kids
  • Reading Pride and Prejudice
  • reading Pride and Prejudice

It is normally covered as part of GCSE and the fact that they normally do it later on meant I did initially wonder if we should attempt it in her year 8 but oh boy I am so glad that we did. It was such a massive success and my daughter really dove into the story and the characters. I know it was a more challenging read than the other books we did this year but sometimes it is when you challenge the kids that they really rise up and show you what they are capable of.

We read Pride and Prejudice together, we worked through a number of activities, we watched the mini-series and the movie and then we compared the book to them and had an amazing time talking about how we would create our own miniseries and what we would keep the same and what we would change. Oh, it really was one of the highlights and we still talk about it, she often draws comparisons between the characters in Pride and Prejudice and characters in other books. It has become one of the books that she know measures others against.

So if you are considering reading Pride and Prejudice I say dive in, enjoy the ride and give way to letting your household become Jane Austen obsessed.

As much as Pride and Prejudice was the book of the year I have to mention the Rollercoaster books and resources. This was the first year that I used them and I love them as English Literature resources. You just need to get the book to read with the kids and then you can download a Teacher’s resource pack free from their site (How did I not know about this earlier?). I am really glad that we discovered this (for those of you who may now know about these books and resources look here – Shy Hawk, The Last Wolf, White Dolphin and Lightning Strike).

Sticking with English resources a new one that we discovered this year was the Myths and Legends book. It is part of an English Anthology series by Hodder Education (a series which I honestly stumbled upon but one which we now LOVE). They have really managed to make the activities engaging and enjoyable and all three of us (my youngest included) has enjoyed using this new book. This is probably new favourite surprise book of the year (by surprise book I mean a book I was not planning on using, stumbled onto it, loved it and now want to use more in the series).

KS3 Myths and Legends. Part of the English Anthology series by Hodder Education

History is always a big topic in our house because my daughter loves sinking into the different time periods and reading up about them. In her Year 8 we stuck with the Aaron Wilkes series that we used in her Year 7 (and we are sticking with it for Year 9). She loves this series, she just finds the way they present History to be engaging and I must admit as a home educator I am a massive fan of the longer, writing questions that they include at the end of each chapter and they way they help the kids structure their answers. So yes for kids you are considering doing a History Exam I really do recommend this book because it does lay down a solid foundation for further studying.

Revolution, Industry and Empire. KS3 History book by Aaron Wilkes

On the History side of thing we also read more of Lucy Worsley’s books this year (The Austen Girls and Eliza Rose). They are brilliant. She weaves a fictional story into detailed Historical periods. My daughter is a massive fan of these books and highly recommends them to other kids her age who also enjoy History.

Science. Not her favourite subject. I liked using the Activate 2 range this year because it gave me the confidence that we were covering what we needed to. I also really like the fact that you can get a workbook to use alongside the student book.

KS3 Science. Activate 2 student book and Activate 2 workbook

My daughter’s favourite Science and Geography resources are the Oaka Books Topic Packs. She loves these packs. We always use them with our other resources but however we mix them in, she always enjoys using them and often requests them. We both agree that even though we like the History topic packs, the Topic packs are most powerful as a learning tool for the subjects that she does not feel comfortable with (It is a bit of an inverse relationship – the more she dislikes a topic or just feels uncertain about it the more she actually likes using that Topic Pack.)

  • Oaka Books population Topic Pack. KS3 Geography resource
  • Oaka Books population Topic Pack. KS3 Geography resource
  • Plants and Photosynthesis Topic Game from Oaka Books
  • REvising with the Forces Active Learning Game

And on a Art note – she actually just recently completed a Paint by Numbers painting (again something I was not sure about) but she really enjoyed it and she worked hard to complete her picture. So I am including it here as her favourite Arty type activity that we did this year.

So that is Year 8 done. I have started our planning our Year 9 and will be writing some Resource posts in the coming weeks

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Painting Fun for older kids

Posted on July 30, 2021 by ofamily

We have been having a lot of fun lately with an art project that I really stumbled upon, was not sure if I should do it, worried it might be too easy but then just went for it. And it really turned out to be a great Art activity, so I thought I would write about it……….

I had been struggling to find art activities for my oldest, she just seemed to have lost that love of art that she once had so about a month ago while I was searching online I stumbled upon some Paint by Number canvases. And spur of the moment, I called her over and asked if she would like to try one. As soon as she spotted the Tiger images she was interested. I really had no idea what to expect but I knew I wanted to find an art activity that she would enjoy so I thought – why not? I ordered her the iCoostor Paint By Numbers DIY Acrylic Painting Kit For Kids & Adults Beginner – 16” x 20” Colorful Tiger Pattern and I ordered my son the ifymei Paint By Numbers Kits , DIY Acrylic oil Painting for Kids & Adults & Beginner , Colorful Dinosaurs 16 x 20 inch Canvas – Without Frame (oh just to mention I did read up a bit before I placed the order and most people suggest ordering the ones that are already on the frames even though they are slightly more expensive. The ones that are not on the frames often get crease marks in them and then you have to get the finished product stretched onto a frame. And I must admit I am really glad we did just get the ones already on the frame just from ease of painting and storing them, it is much easier if they are already on a frame).

They arrived in a nice little box and straight away I can tell you that you get everything that you need. The picture is printed on the canvas, there are paints, brushes and a small finished picture of what the end result will look like. So apart from some water to wash your brushes in you are all set.

Well both my kids were keen so they started immediately.

They loved it. And I mean really LOVED it. My daughter told me it was relaxing and fun. She actually asked if she could paint (which from a kid who has lost that interest in ART was Huge). And it did take them quite some time to finish them (this is NOT a quick art project). But they were both determined and stuck with it and they never lost their interest or enjoyment.

The other thing I must say is they are actually a bit more challenging than I thought. My initial thought was Paint by numbers, that’s too easy, what will they learn? But the truth is without the pressure of wondering what colours to paint where, both my kids focused on brush strokes, on painting carefully and trying to get some of the really small details in. It was actually a really great brush stroke / brush control activity and one that I am really glad that we did.

And after they had finished what did my kids think? They LOVED it. Both are planning on hanging their picture up in their new bedrooms and both are thrilled with the end results.

Admittedly I did this as a way of just finding something that my oldest would enjoy but after watching her spend hours working on it and really loving it. I actually really think it was a Fantastic art project.

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 love.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment