Timelines

StickyHistory, Learning, Making things, ,

Timeline thumbnail

Simple Timeline

Here’s a simple timeline to print out and write on.

Covering 1050-2040.
Add your own notes and pictures above and below the timeline.
Use horizontally or vertically.
Cut along dashed line and stick to the next sheet for one continuous timeline, or print individual pages to cover a shorter period.
This one covers 100 years per A4 sheet.
Turn of the century in the middle – handy for English history from just before the Norman conquest to today.

Download - Timeline1050-2040.pdf

Monarch timeline 1050-2040_Page_07Monarchs and family tree Timeline

Covering 1050-2040.
Includes each English Monarch in the form of a family tree.
Add your own notes and pictures below the timeline.
Use horizontally or vertically.
Cut along dashed line and stick to the next sheet for one continuous timeline, or print individual pages to cover a shorter period.
This one covers 100 years per A4 sheet.
Turn of the century in the middle – handy for English history from just before the Norman conquest to today.

Download - Monarch timeline 1050-2040.pdf

 

 

Structure in Home Education

StickyEducation, Home education, Learning, , , , ,
Schools use structure to deliver a National Curriculum, and to organise lots of people, both children and teachers. But as parents, with our own children the need for plans and lots of organisation becomes less clear. The lines begin to blur between education and everyday life. Every home educating family finds its own balance between these elements.

What is structure?

  • the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex (noun)
  • construct or arrange according to a plan; give a pattern or organization to (verb)

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/structure

Whose structure?

Often the term structured education is used to mean a particular approach to education, where the adult determines what is covered, possibly using a curriculum.

This sometimes causes some confusion when home educators using child-led approaches such as autonomous education or unschooling are exploring what structure means to them. At its very basic structure could simply mean reading a book in order of chapters, or eating at a particular time of day. Home Education has to work for everyone involved, and that may mean more, less, or different structure for each child, or for the parent.

I find it has really helped to think of structure as a tool, rather than the name of a particular approach.

What kind of structure?

Some people find that they want structure to the day, or week, but not learning.

This can mean the daily routine of when to eat and sleep. Or a weekly structure with certain groups on certain days, or in a world of lots of groups and play dates it even mean scheduling time just being together at home and focusing on what ever the children happen to be interested in at moment. Sometimes this is adult driven, at other times, especially with children with special needs, or anxiety structure can be largely determined by the child’s needs.
This a very interesting book that has helped me focus on what they are learning, and making time available to be with girls and allow them time to follow up their interests.

Some people want the learning to be child-led but need structure for themselves in recording learning and providing resources.

There is a great blog post about how this can be done: http://organizedunschooler.com/2009/07/19/in-the-beginning/.
It is possible to record, compare progress with learning goals, tick off things you’ve done, put together files on different topics, find resources and have them available, but still have the child control their own learning. The resources come out as child asks questions or raises topics. The adult initiated structure in the learning is for home educator, not the children.

A little bit of structure.

Some people have a little bit of structure. Often this might be a small amount of literacy, maths every day or a couple of days a week.
Others follow a particular curriculum or programme very loosely, or just for the odd subject, eg. history.
Tidal homeschooling is another interesting approach  which takes elements of unschooling and a structured programme and flows between the two.

Structured programme or curriculum.

In the England most state and many independent schools use the National Curriculum. This is set down by Department of Education. There has recently been a consultation and a new National Curriculum is planned to come into effect from September 2014.
Most online resources and much of the children’s book publishing in this country is focused on National Curriculum. Some parents follow it, others keep a vague eye on it as a comparison.
Other curriculums used tend to be US in origin, as the pervasiveness of National Curriculum, the lack of state monitoring, and the great diversity of approaches in home education all make for a infeasibly small market.

How structure looks in our home?

We are autonomous/unschooling. But we still have some structure. We tend to eat at a particular time of day, have certain groups on certain days, have rhythms to each day.

I don’t do structure for reading, writing and maths as they come up in everything else we do. But we have a little bit of structure in that we do a history, library and topic group most months. So we have something to prepare for these. Being autonomous each child is free to take part or not, and determine how to contribute themselves. My eldest has recently been asking for more structure, and help in delving deeper into the things she is interested in, and guidance with investigating new more structured, formal approaches to learning that move beyond the reading, conversation and play based education that has predominated up to now.

And as a fellow learner I have found that I too have interests that I want to investigate that often come with some form of structure - whether it be organising my history group, or taking an online course.

Hertfordshire based natural parenting groups

StickyBabycare, Babywearing, Birth, Breastfeeding, Cosleeping, Parenting, ,

It is a while since I’ve touched on the subject of finding support for natural parenting.

Ten years ago I found a couple of online groups that supported me – one was a forum that no longer exists and the other was thebabywearer.com.

Over the years I’ve tried different groups online, with varying degrees of success. I’ve dipped in and out of Natural Mamas and Green Parent. But have found difficulties with staying engaged. In one case because of the lack of notification of new topics.

I used to frequent the sling meet group, but now that part of our lives has moved on and the interest is less immediate.

Today though most of my support comes from local natural parenting groups, predominantly Facebook groups. These groups feed into my email or Facebook news feed which I use every day, keeping me engaged and up to date.

I thought it would be useful to have a list of Hertfordshire based natural parenting groups.

Any more to add to the list?

Education choices Pt 1:- What would suit your child and family?

StickyBeyond babyhood, Education, Learning, Parenting, , , , ,

Where and how to educate our children is one of the biggest decisions we make for them.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the law states that ‘The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to: His age, ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.’

Education, like every other aspect of our children’s lives, is our responsibility as parents. But it is an area where our options are often hidden and it is easy to make choices without fully exploring the possibilities. The three basic options are state school, independent school and home education.

What would suit your child and family?

What suits one child or family won’t necessarily suit another. Some people use a mix of educational settings depending on what works for each of their children at any particular time. And don’t forget it needs to work for your family as a whole too. And of course your choices are not set in stone, you can always change your mind and use another option later.

What would suit your child?

Think about your child’s personality, abilities, needs and interests. Are they academically inclined, or would a setting with greater emphasis on sports or music be a better choice? Is your child very active or sensitive and better suited to an informal education or a later start to formal education?
What environment would suit your child? Think about the number of children and age range in a class or group. Should activities be child-led or directed by an adult?

What would suit you and your family circumstances?

Do you want to be actively involved in your child’s education? Can you provide or arrange full time care for home education? If you would prefer an independent school do you have the ability to pay? Is a local state school a better option because of travel arrangements?

What are your family values and parenting style?

Any adult that spends a significant amount of time with your child is going to have a major impact on your child. It may be important to you to choose an education that supports your family values. This may mean a faith school, an academically selective school, or one with a strong environmental, spiritual or creative focus. Or do you prefer the personalized, learning through life experiences opportunities afforded by home education?

There are many different approaches to education. Which education options are available in your local state school? If you have a Free School locally you may find it has a different approach to other state schools. Do you need to consider independent schools or home education to meet your requirements?

What compromises are you able to make?

How and where your child is educated has immediate financial and social impacts, as well as the long term influence on your child.

Are you able to forgo a salary if you would prefer to home educate, or can you earn enough to pay school fees if you would prefer an independent school? Are you happy for your child to travel further or board to go to a school that fits your requirements better?

Pt 2: State school, independent school or home education? >>

E learnt to read…

StickyHome education, Learning, ,

My nearly eight year old daughter E is a voracious reader. She disappears off into a book for hours, procrastinating when it is time to do anything, just to spend a few more moments reading, and regularly disappears only to be found reading in the bathroom.

But no-one has taught her.

E does not go to school, so she has had the freedom to learn in her own way, at her own pace. Outside school learning primarily happens through conversation and trying things out, so there was never any hurry to start teaching her to read!

E has always been surrounded by books, has spent sometimes hours a day being read to and regularly visits the library where all our library cards are permanently maxed out. Indeed ‘book’ was one of her first words.

Some days I will disappear into a novel, until at last I reappear, satiated for a while. And her father is frequently found to be missing, presumed reading on his i-phone in the bathroom. Reading is just something we all do for fun – both to ourselves and to E and her little sister.

I guess we have taken the ‘just read to them approach’! And it has gone something like this:

Step 1.

Read lots to E

Some days we may not read to her at all, other days we will curl up in bed in the morning and read … for hours. First picture books, then later adding in non-fiction and a chapter or more in the evening. Once upon a time it was the Far Away Tree, then Swallows and Amazons, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and most recently the Hobbit. With a sprinkling of lots of others books too!

Step 2:

Play at reading

When she was a toddler E would often play at reading to her doll of course. Just like anything else a small child sees others doing.

Step 3:

Follow her lead

As time went on we got a feel for what worked for her.

Which turned out to be absolutely no teaching, no getting her to read or try to sound out words. And definitely no asking questions, or interrupting the flow. As soon as we tried any of these E just closed down and switched off. Instead she just asked me to follow the words with my finger for a while. So we listened and just continued to read to her.

Step 4:

Find words everywhere

Reading started with E recognising her own name, then the word google when searching for pictures of animals online. Words are of course everywhere!

On one memorable occasion when she was four we were walking home down the street and she shouted ‘stop’. In a panic I turned, envisioning an oncoming truck, but found instead that she had just read the word off a car sticker.

E found words on the computer, the playstation,  in shops, in magazines, on board games, in recipes – just a few of her favourite things!

But mostly E loves books. We all still read lots of picture books, many of which we borrow time and again from the library. Indeed although E can now read Harry Potter she will inevitably spend the longest time browsing and choose to borrow picture books. I will choose the chapter books and factual books that I think might appeal to her when we get home.

Step 5:

Reading to others

As she became more confident E would read simple books to others – her sister, and her Grandpa. But not to me – oh no, never to me!

Step 6:

Fairy Magic

As her reading developed E immersed herself in the Rainbow Magic books. She worked her way through at least fifty of these highly formulaic books, building up her reading skills. Sometimes two or three per bus trip.

Step 7:

E can now read quite independently. She has read a few chapters of Harry Potter, and is reading and re-reading her current favourite – Tony Robinson’s Kings and Queens. Interestingly before she could read fiction was a firm favourite, but maybe that is more to do with the general lack of good factual picture books?

Step 8:

Keep reading to her

And of course I still read to her. Not for so many hours a day – but most days we will manage at least one chapter. The latest favourites are the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan.

Our aim has been for E to see reading as a joy, not a chore. Whether it be a story to lose herself in or a factual book that feeds that thirst for knowledge. Her personality has dictated that this meant leaving her to learn to read, whilst sharing books with her, and  surrounding her with words and stories. For our part we have simply needed to read to her, provide books and maintain faith – faith that she would learn to read.

A few favourite articles on reading:

http://lisarussell.org/blog/please-do-not-read-to-your-child-for-20-minutes-a-day/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201002/children-teach-themselves-read

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201311/the-reading-wars-why-natural-learning-fails-in-classrooms

http://schoolingtheworld.org/a-thousand-rivers/

Other experiences:

This was written as part of Liveotherwise’s Reading Carnival.
Other experiences in Oxfordshire Home Educators’ Magazine. 

Celts and Roman Britain – Children’s Historical Fiction

Children's books, Children's fiction, History Books, , , , ,

There is an abundance of stories about Roman Britain, many focusing on the Celts versus Romans theme.

For younger readers:

Older children:

  • Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Capricorn Bracelet by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • Heather, Oak, and Olive; Three Stories by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Eagle of the Ninth (The Roman Britain Trilogy) by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Silver Branch (The Roman Britain Trilogy) by Rosemary Sutcliff

    More to come…

Family History

History, Learning, Our journey

We have been exploring our family history.

An important part of discovering your family history is asking questions.
I have created some profile sheets to be used to pull together some basic facts about family members.
These can form the basis of a family history file – with a form for each known member of the family. Find out the answers by asking the person, or if they aren’t available or are deceased, then ask other family members to help fill out the forms.

Familyhistoryform_Page_1Familyhistoryform_Page_3

Familyhistoryform_Page_2

Part 1:
Includes basic information about a person,and their relationships.

Part 2:
Comes in two versions. One is a simply a sheet to start writing interesting stories about the person. The second version is for deceased family members, and includes space for religion and details of their death.

I created two versions so parents can use the simpler one if their children are concerned about family members dying.

Factual Children’s Books – Celtic or Iron Age Britain

Books and Magazines, Children's books, History Books, Learning, , , ,
Celtsceltsusborne (Usborne Beginners) by Leonie Pratt
A simple introduction for younger children. A bright, well-illustrated, clear book for younger children and beginner readers.
onthetrailceltsOn the Trail of the Celts in Britain by Peter Chrisp (Franklin Watts)
This book looks at Iron Age Great Britain (not Ireland) through the archaeological evidence, featuring sites and finds. As a result it focuses on types of buildings – and is really good at showing the diversity of building types – whether in it be hill-forts, roundhouses in wood or stone, crannogs or brochs. There are also spreads on farming, chalk figures, religion, burying the dead and human sacrifice.It rounds up with information about the Roman invasion, and the long term survival of Celtic languages.
There is a glossary, and timeline. And unsurprisingly for a book based on archaeological sites, a list of places to visit.
The pages use large scale photographs of the archaeological finds, and sites including reconstructions such at Butser Ancient Farm. The text is fairly large, and flows well over the pages. It makes good use of maps to show sites.
historydetectiveceltsThe History Detective Investigates: The Celts by Philip Steele
This books starts with a wider look geographical look at Celts, starting with different ‘Celtic’ peoples across Europe and the origins of the this cultural group. 
It then focuses on British Celtic people, looking at everyday life – rulers, war, clothes, homes, food, metalworking, religion. It then looks what happened when the Romans came and the impact of their leaving. It discusses how we know about the Celts, and has several ideas of projects. It rounds off with a Glossary, answers to the questions and further sources of informaiton. 

Pages are packed with information. Though good size photographs feature too. Box outs are used to personalise the text with quotes, and for ideas for Detective Work – things to think about or do. Some pages have a question to follow up on. 

This series aims to provide a starting point for further thinking, and projects.
by Philip Steele (Author)

British Iron Age / Celts – Children’s Historical Fiction

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , , , ,

There is very little historical fiction on the Iron Age before the coming of the Romans.

  • sunhorsemoonhorseSun Horse, Moon Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff
    Unusually this is set in Iron Age before the Romans. Although the story is concerned with inter-tribal warfare, the drama comes less from this, and more from the tension between the practical world of the warrior and and the spiritual world of the artist.
    Lubrin Dhu is the third son of the chief, and sees the world differently to others, through artist’s eyes. This is a bittersweet, story of friendship, duty and sacrifice in a tribal culture devoted to the horse.
    It is written in Rosemary Sutcliff’s signature poetic style. It is a shorter story than many of her books, and as a result makes a good introduction to Rosemary Sutcliff’s work for those unused to her style – descriptive language and long sentences.

 

 

More children’s historical fiction set in the bronze age (we haven’t read these yet)

Many of the stories from this period are viewed through Irish and Welsh mythology – the surviving tales written down in medieval times.

The Ulster Cycle:

Cornish Mythology:

 

Picture Book Month 2014

Children's books, Children's fiction,

PBMLOGO-COLOR_WEBRES

Each November celebrates Picture Book Month.
On the Picture Book Month website, and through its email newsletter you can find out about many different people’s ideas for why picture books are important.

Here though I’d like to share some of our favourite picture books based on the topics in this year’s Picture Book Month calendar.

Elephants

Kidogo: The Littlest Elephant

by Anik McGrory

Many picture books feature a character in the form of an animal, but that are in essence people. We on the other hand have a fondness of picture books about animals, that mostly show the animals as themselves.  Hence our love of the Nature Storybooks.
Kidogo is somewhere in between. A little elephant who feels dwarfed by the world around him. We particularluy love the trail of interesting savannah animals he meets on his way.

See Kidogo on Amazon

bashiBashi, Elephant Baby

by Theresa Radcliffe (Author), John Butler (Illustrator)

The story of a newborn elephant’s first days in the wild. Always great to find a book that reflects the real life stories of an animal. We haven’t yet read this one, but we really enjoy The Snow Leopard, by the same author and illustrator. The images are beautiful, really evoking the landscape and a close intimacy with the animal itself. John Butler’s illustrations are definitely in the realm of wildlife artist and they really stand out for their detail, and character.

See more of John Butler’s work
See Bashi, Elephant Baby on Amazon

thunderfootLittle Elephant, Thunderfoot

by Sally Grindley (Author), John Butler (Illustrator)

Another animal story beautifully illustrated by John Butler. This time written by Sally Grindley. Newborn Thunderfoot starts to explore his world, getting to grips with everyday family life. But his herd faces tragedy. This book deals with issues of death and poaching.
See more of John Butler’s work
See Little Elephant, Thunderfoot  on Amazon

Travel

offtomarketOff to Market

by Elizabeth Dale (Author) and Erika Pal (Illustrator)

This year in the library we discovered this charming picture book about a bus journey in Africa.
The bus is off to market today. Everyone wants to get on. The pictures are full of lively little details, and we had great fun spotting all the different people, and things getting on the bus. It is a morality tale about how taking the initiative and helping others can overcome problems.

See Off to Market on Amazon

Eyewitness Guides

Children's books, History Books, Nature Books,

Whenever we are looking at a topic I find that I end up looking to see if there is an Eyewitness book (or Eyewitness Guide) on the subject, and if I see one in a charity shop then I will inevitably buy it. Though it has to be said that at least so far this is far more for my benefit than my daughters’.

This series covers a wide range of subjects. They successfully walk a fine line between being very visual and being very detailed. The spreads break up information into one main section. And the rest of the page features bite-size text and lots of photographs, often of artefacts. With over 60 pages these books go into lots of detail of different aspects of the topic covered.

We recommend these for adults getting to grips with a subject and for older children. For younger children (pre-teen) we find that they are too detailed, unless a child has a particular passion for the subject. They might however suit a visual child, or one with a particular interest in physical things at a younger age.

List of Eyewitness Books on DK website

Ottoman Empire resources

History, History Books, ,

Here I’ve gathered a few links to resources on the Ottoman Empire

Online Resources

Books

Factual

Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul (Cities through time), by Robert Bator (Author), Chris Rothero (Illustrator)

There isn’t much available on Ottomans and Istanbul, but this is a great book. It is packed with information charting the history of the city Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul.
It is aimed at older children, and confident readers, but we found it an informative reference for adults, and accessible enough to read parts out to younger children, for whom the whole book would have been too much. It has sections of fairly dense text, but this is balanced out by large, beautiful illustrations. Includes a timeline.
It is comprehensive, with recounting key events in the city’s history, and with lots of details of daily life.

Fiction

Children’s Historical Fiction – Ottoman Empire 

Children’s Historical Fiction – Ottoman Empire

Books and Magazines, Children's books, Children's fiction, History Books, Learning, , , , ,

Although one of the world’s longest running and most powerful empires we haven’t found much on the Ottoman Empire. But we have found a couple of gems.

Abraham Hannibal and the Battle For the Throne

Frances Mary Somers Cocks (Author), Eric Robson (Illustrator)

The second book in the Abraham Hannibal series, this quirky,  fascinating book explores life as a slave gardener in the palace of the Ottoman Sultan in the early 1700s.

Read full review of Abraham Hannibal 

LeylaBlackTulipLeyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands)

Alev Lytle Croutier (Author)

Set in 1720′s this charts the story of a young girl tricked into slavery and taken to the Sultan’s palace in Istanbul, the heart of the Ottoman Empire.

Read full review of Leyla

 

Other books we haven’t read:

Leyla: The Black Tulip

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , ,

LeylaBlackTulip

Leyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands)

By Alev Lytle Croutier

Set in 1720’s this charts the story of a young girl tricked into slavery and taken to the Sultan’s palace in Istanbul, the heart of the Ottoman Empire.
We really enjoyed the way the book balances the hardships of slavery with the security and opportunity of the harem. Leyla is desperately poor and the harem provides her with a living, but at the price of her freedom and family. It manages to avoid the harem cliché of women competing for the sultans’s favours and focuses on the ordinary everyday life of women in harem. It glosses over the reality of the eunuchs, but with enough details to make it realistic enough for those with some understanding – a cleverly balanced line that allows for further examination of these issues, or not, depending on your own judgement.  The authors’ expertise on the harem shines through. The focus on the gardens and the tulip provide another layer of historical interest that gives the book an additional flavour.
See on Amazon