Green Energy & Conservation – Topic of the week in our homeschooling curriculum
Really interesting few days as the girls have worked through the green energy, recycling and sustainability focus in this week’s topic… quite often we’re asked in conversation when discussing home schooling “Do you have a fully planned curriculum” or “What do you do to ensure you cover everything“.
The beauty of the year in Europe has been the ability to create opportunities that would never have existed otherwise i.e the WW1 battlefields compared to Culloden Moor and its Scottish History or agriculture on a small scale (snail farming) to agriculture on a mass scale (Hampshire’s arable farming visits near Romsey).
Whilst also ensuring we keep it topical and relevant to whatever is newsworthy at the time – Green Energy being one of those instances. The Scottish concerns over fracking/gas fields on Newsnight this week was discussed today. With both girls strident in their views of how best to protect the NE of Scotland (having visited Aberdeenshire in January).
Others can be more linked to good content such as the chance to watch the excellent Mary Beard – New Secrets Revealed on Pompeii. This coincided brilliantly with the girls recent visit to Pompeii and the great visuals / recreations added another level of detail onto those recorded in both girls memories.
Whilst the recent trip to the tulip fields of Haarlem, Holland were easily linked to the water cycle when planting these bulbs that we purchased at the time (in April) to ensure a splash of colour across their grandparents gardens later in the summer.
Whilst the likes of the French snail farm and visit to the Leonardo da Vinci museum in Florence led to the invention/creation of the bird feeders – an interesting take on recycling things whilst inventing new ways to use the ‘old’.
So with a basic framework to try and follow, all faithfully recorded on the macbook ensuring a collection of ever growing scheme of works…. to be added on this site by June… we are throughly enjoying the opportunity to engage both girls in parts of the curriculum that both interest them practically but also have a relevance to our journey.
But before I conjure up a vision of education from yesteryear with the freedom that went with it, I should also add that the maths and english lessons are progressing equally well.. with both girls keen to complete their daily lessons especially if it gives them more time to learn how to make a dynamo torch, how to create a bird feeder from scratch, how to plant bulbs and create wildlife gardens….
Click below for full details on the Dynamo Torch and Bird Feeders. All blogged by both girls on their site.
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