Our Favourite YouTube lessons /website for IGCSE English Language

Posted on October 25, 2024 by ofamily

When we were preparing for the IGCSE English Language exam I went onto YouTube and found a few different people who shared videos on how they suggested you answer the exam questions. I showed a few of them to my daughter and she very quickly zoomed in on one – Taughtly. Out of all the different English Language videos that both she and I watched Taughtly was the one that we went to time and time again, in fact I think we ended up watching every single one of her IGCSE English Language Videos and in the end we just used Taughtly’s videos and ignore the others.

We started by watching Taughtly on YouTube, I think the first time we turned to her was for her video on how to tackle the descriptive writing question for paper 2. I am so glad we found her because my daughter is actually a really good writer but she needed to understand what the examiners were after. And she needed those vital pointers on how to structure her piece so that she could complete it within he time frame.

We then discovered her website (Taughtly website) where she shares worksheets and other bits and pieces and I even signed up for a FREE account with her which allowed us to download extra pages and access whatever we wanted. (She does also have some English Literature content but we have not used any of that we have just been using her English Language content).

So what is it about her videos that we liked?

Well firstly she speaks clearly and is easy to understand (sounds basic but I have found a few where we were struggling to understand them). But the main thing is the way she tackles the work – she breaks the questions down into stages and explains them clearly. She provides worksheets so they kids can work through activities / questions with her guidance. AAnd I feel like her advice and suggestions are both practical and doable.

If you are going to be working towards the Cambridge IGCSE English Language exam then both my daughter and I highly recommend you spend some time watching the Taughtly videos. She really was the resource that gave us a LOT of confidence before the exams (we have not got her marks for her final exam back yet but she did incredibly well in her mocks and I do feel like a lot of that was because of Taughtly’s content)

Okay for those of you wondering we decided to go for the Cambridge IGCSE English Language exam and NOT the Edexcel IGCSE English Language exam mainly because of the style of questions, we preferred the way the Cambridge exam papers were set out and their type of questions to the Edexcel exam paper.

Admin – We have No connection of Link to this content provider. We were just really impressed with her resources which I why I am mentioning her and sharing links for the resources.

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Ocean Factology Book Review

Posted on October 22, 2024 by ofamily

When I spotted this Factology book on Oceans I knew it was something that would interest my son so I immediately asked if I could get a review copy. And I was right, even though my son has already read a few Ocean themed books he still found new interesting facts in this book and I must confess I learnt quite a bit when I read it.

This is the second book in the Factology series that we have read and we are fast becoming fans of this non-fiction range. The books are jam-packed with fascinating facts but they manage to keep it engaging. I think the fact that the pages contain bite-size paragraphs and blocks of information with lots of photographs and diagrams means you are not overwhelmed by all the information.

Okay so what exactly does this book cover?

All the typical things that you would expect – like marine animals, waves, layers of light etc but it also included a lot of things that I did not expect – like why there is water on earth (according to the big bang theory), whirlpools, underwater volcanoes, detail about seaweed and different coloured beaches and then the entire third chapter. They really have fitted a LOT in. I was really impressed with how much they have included and the variety of interesting information that they have included.

My one criticism is the Index – it is a bit too brief. And as someone who has taught my kids to always look it the index to find where the information is in the book, I did feel like this could have been better. But that really is the one and only criticism. We found the pages interesting and the fact fascinating.

As for ages – I would say 9 years and up, but that really depends on the kids and it depends on whether you are reading it with your kids or if they are reading it themselves.

As for the more structured home educator – this does deal with Biology and Geography but really it is a great topic book, perfect for topic learning or projects. Ideal for kids who prefer reading non-fiction.

My son and I think it is a great little gem to add to your home bookshelf and we think it is a very useful book for some fun topic work.

Here is an Amazon link for the book – Factology Ocean

Admin – Like I mentioned this was a review copy but we were not paid for this post.

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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Some thoughts after sitting in the exam center listening to the kids before their exams

Posted on October 14, 2024 by ofamily

Last week my daughter wrote her two final English Language papers (IGCSE). Now the way it works here in England is because she is home educated, she is not linked to a school (which is where most kids would write their exams) so we have to pay for her to write her exams at an exam center. Exam centers in England tend to offer a range of exams so you often end up writing your exam on the same day as other kids writing different exams and exams from different exam boards. (I have said this before and I will say it again when your kid arrives at the exam center PLEASE double check that they have them down for the correct exam and the correct exam board – I know this sounds basic but we have already had multiple issues with our kiddo being given wrong papers).

Our exam center asks us to sign in 45 minutes before the exam and then your kid sits in a waiting room until they are called into the actual exam room. Parents are allowed to wait with them and for multiple reasons I always do. While we wait I have heard/seen a few things that I wanted to mention for future families who will also be going down the exam center route.

When your kid signs in they need to show a photographic ID (we used her passport) but once they have signed in you, the parent, can keep the ID with you. When my daughter walks into the exam room all she has with her are her pencil case (which needs to be transparent) and some water (in a clear bottle), I keep everything else with me. If your kid has a bag with them or extra bits they will need to leave this outside the exam room, this includes phones and watches. I have not heard of any bags been stolen but there are people coming and going so in my mind this is a risk.

Please, please think about how you will travel to the exam center. They ask that you sign in 45 minutes before the start time (9:30) but I saw kids (almost in tears) arriving at 9:25, once all the other kids were already inside the room sitting at the desks. Now I know there are days when things go wrong and public transport can get messed up. But an idea is plan it with time to spare. We take 2 trains to get to the center so I always think about train delays. Because of this concern we always take earlier trains and actually plan on getting to the area at 8:05 and then my daughter and I go and sit at a coffee shop, I have a drink and she eats something extra. I know that is early but we do it because firstly it means the trains are not as busy and secondly once she is in the area, she relaxes a bit and it gives her time to have something extra to eat.

When we were waiting for her English paper there were a number of kids writing a Maths paper at the same time and there was confusion over whether they would be given a formula sheet, or if they had to take their own formula sheet in with them. Please help your kiddo out and contact your exam center before hand to clarify these points, I saw one kid get really stressed out about this. (In all the cases I know of the formula sheet is given to them in the exam). Some English papers have Anthologies and there are strict rules about taking the Anthologies into the exam room (there can not be anything written on the Anthologies) please double check that your copy will be allowed in before your kid arrives at the exam.

And please make sure you have discussed the paper with your kids beforehand. Make sure you have discussed what the rules are about writing on the back of the pages, or outside the borders. It really is not a good idea to try and ask the person signing everyone in. You kid needs to know all of this before you arrive at the center. If you are unsure email your exam center when you book your exams.

Okay so one of the reasons I stay with my daughter is to try and make sure she stays calm and that is why we always take a book with and we sit together and try and block out whatever else is going on. But I have witnessed other parents who sit down and started interrogating other students about what questions they are expecting and how they were going to tackle the paper. Now the student they were interrogating stayed fairly calm and answered the questions but the kids next to her went from being calm to stressed out and panicked. Honestly it is now less than 45 minutes before they start writing, just let the kids sit there in peace, please do not start questioning them or getting them worked up. There is nothing worse than walking in panicked and worried that you have missed something out.

A few other things which may sound silly but I am going to say them anyway because I have seen examples – please make sure your kiddo is comfortably dressed and dressed for the weather (I always tell me kid she can take her tracksuit top off but if she does not have it with her and she is cold there is nothing she can do). Short skirts can mean sitting on a cold chair for 2 hours whereas joggers means you are not sitting directly on the cold chair. The same goes for hair and makeup and jewellery, no-one cares what you look like so keep the hair and extras to what is comfortable (now may not be the time for false nails or false eyelashes or lots of bangles).

Our exam center is strict about NO watches (even the good old fashion watches) but they do have a clock at the front of the room, however you may be seated at the back, so think about if you will be able to see the clock and if you are short sighted you may need to take your glasses with just for the purpose of being able to check the time.

Yes the kids can take some water in with them (they are very strict about the water bottle being clear plastic and having no writing on it) but there is NO food allowed in.

Yes the kids can go to the toilet during the exam but the toilet break is part of the allocated time (I heard this being asked and I was amazed so I am stating it here). If you go to the toilet during the exam your time is not paused, your end time stays the same no matter how long you spend in the toilet.

I am sure there are other things that I have forgotten but these are the ones points that I can think of for now.

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Edexcel IGCSE History : Superpower relations (Cold War) 1943-72 Free Question and Answer cards

Posted on September 27, 2024 by ofamily

A couple of weeks ago I shared the Russian (1905-24) question and answer cards that I made for my daughter to use with her IGCSE History revision – a LOT of people have downloaded them so I thought I would also share the set of question and answer cards that I made for her Superpower relations (Cold War) topic.

The reason why I started making her question and answer cards was just because I struggled to find this type of resource for our History topics. There are so many revision resources for the Science subjects but when it comes to History there were just not basic revision cards that she could use to test her knowledge.

This is not meant to take the place of practice questions this is what we use to test that she knows the facts and details so that she can then write a good detailed answer.

There are 142 questions in the pack so it is quite detailed and covers all of the sections needed for the Superpower topic.

There are no cute pictures or fancy colours. To be honest it took me quite a while to create this so I really was not going to spend even more time trying to make it pretty, plus at this stage I think we don’t need to worry about all of that and I did not want to wast money on printing 36 pages of colourful cards.

The idea behind the print out is you cut the strips out and then glue the two sides together so that you end up with a question on one side and the answer on the other side.

I have saved it as a pdf so if anyone wants to download and use the cards with your kids you are welcome to do that. However I must state this is something that I created so it is not for anyone to post on their website (you are welcome to include a link back to this post) and you may NOT try and sell them as your own cards.

Cold War quDownload

My daughter uses these cards quite a bit – she has them split up into smaller sections in a draw and from time to time she goes back and uses them to test for knowledge.

I hope that the cards will be helpful to a few other students.

For those of you wondering what resources we used for our Superpower topic – our main student book was this one – Edexcel IGCSE History – A World divided: Superpower Relations

I did also make her some mini timelines for this section which are free to download – Cold War timelines

If you want similar cards to these for the Germany: Conflict, Crisis and Change topic you can find them here – Germany Cards

And a set for the China: Conflict, Crisis and Change 1800-89 topic can be found here – China question cards

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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The Time Machine Next Door – early chapter books

Posted on September 18, 2024 by ofamily

Even though my kids are older, there are still certain books that catch my attention and one of those are fun, early chapter books. I think it is because I still remember spending ages searching on the internet for reviews about entertaining early chapter books for my son. So now, when I hear about a potential early chapter book that would have interested us I am still keen to know about it (I always think if I spent ages searching for something then there will be other home educating parents who are also doing the same time consuming search).

Although my son has always been a good reader he was always a bit fussy about the books that he read – they had to be entertaining or he would honestly just read a few pages and put it down. The book had to have something to grab his attention and then it had to keep him hooked. So when I first saw these Time Machine Next Door books I thought the idea of a crazy inventor, creating a time machine and then using it to travel back in time would have appealed to my son, so I decided to ask for a review copy to see if I was right or not.

The concept of these books (I think there are another 2 in this series as well), is quite fun. Sunil lives next door to Alex. Alex is a crazy inventor who just happens to have created a time machine that is powered on boredom (I loved this little detail – they have to feed to machine boring items for it to work). But as you can imagine the time travel does not always go according to plan. This means the two friends find themselves in some interesting situations, meeting famous people and experiencing different time periods. Luckily they always get pulled back to the current period before anything too dangerous happens (and yes there is a Kiwi bird that is always around causing chaos).

In both of these books they traveled back to some very interesting times and places. My favourite was when Sunil meet the young child who grew up to become Genghis Khan and he witnessed how vastly different Genghis Khan’s childhood was. Sunil also met Rosa Parks, and got to experience the British Civil war, Roman Invasion and the Witch Trials.

The story is sweet and they have fun adventures but the best part for me were all the footnotes. This is how the author explains who the people are and what happened in that specific time or place.

And I loved that the author even included a bit of humour in some of these factual footnotes (this is exactly the kind of thing that would have kept my son interested).

If you are like me and enjoy Historical Fiction then this is a great way of getting your kids hooked onto the same genre. It is Historical Fiction written for the 7 to 9 age range. It is fun, engaging and still manages to be very informative. I would recommend these as great early chapter books. And the bonus is not only are you kids reading but they are also learning about interesting people and fascinating events.

To Find out more about this series you can have a look at the publishers website here – Time machine next door series

And for those of you who are looking for Amazon links here they are (yes they are affiliate)

Rebellions and Super Boots

Rule Breakers and Keepers

Admin – I did ask for review copies of these 2 books.

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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