I first heard about these little videos on Radio 4.  Professor Martyn Poliakoff from Nottingham university has made a short 'video' about every one of the elements in the periodic table.  He was interviewed on PM and was engagingly enthusiatic about it all. Apparently the idea started as a bit of a joke and then blossomed as the potential for teaching and learning became apparent. 

It is quite useful to start with the introductory video, rather than just jump in with an element, because it gives you an idea of who he is and his starting point.  I found him a little eccentric, but with very short exposure to what he has done I have already understood more about the periodic table than I did before.  I hope in time, my children will find them similarly useful.

Sarah

PS. Since I first looked at this I have discovered that the 'other' periodic table posters he has in his office, like the one about vegetables, or fruit are available from various online shops, not least ebay.  I have yet to find the one about desserts, sadly.

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe.  It is not a government initiative, but a registered charity which gains most of its funding from contributing publishers and National Book Tokens Ltd, and the booksellers who accept the tokens.

In the UK and Ireland the next Book Day will be 5th March 2009.

In the FAQ section the question is posed: 'My children are are educated at home. Are they entitled to receive WBD £1 Book Tokens?

The answer is 'Yes'.  All you need to do is supply your details, including the number of children in your care and they will be despatched to you by the WBD Helpline. There is no charge for this service.

There is a deadline for schools to register of Nov. 30th or they are required to pay a £10 administration fee, however I registered 'late' last year and was not charged anything for doing so. 

If you are a member of HEAS or Home Service they will send you WBD tokens if you request them early enough, and you then have no need to register directly with WBD.  I didn't know this last year when I registered, but one perk of registering direct was that I received the 'schools pack' some time in January which contained ideas of things to do and a free book too.

Just to update you on this project.  They have kept their word and today I have received my pots and bulbs and various exciting looking goodies to link to the project and we'll be starting to grow our plants soon.

I came across this project, called Mini Pots of Care, a Marie Curie Cancer Care activity, in the local newspaper.  They say that "Mini Pots of Care is a fun and creative way for children (aged 3 to 11 years) to learn all about science and nature whilst making a positive difference to the lives of people with cancer".

The basic idea is that they send you pots and daffodil bulbs to grow through the winter and into the spring and then each group of children is asked to make a small donation to the charity.

Knowing several who have have been helped by this charity, I thought I would check out if they would accomodate home educators, as their target group is schools and groups such as Guides and Scouts. They have replied favourably to me so I thought I would pass this on to you.

If you would like to know more then follow this link.

Sarah

Today, 10th October is World Egg Day.  If you are looking for something different to do today, maybe this is a little inspiration!

The second Friday of October is World Egg Day each year. Eggs are popular all over the earth. People of many different cultures eat and enjoy eggs. There's even an International Egg Commission (IEC) that holds meetings for egg industry people from around the world. The IEC members declared World Egg Day so all the egg farmers on the globe could tell cooks about eggs at the same time.

Although most people enjoy eggs, they're sometimes served a little differently from country to country.

For example, an omelette might be filled with ham and cheese in America.

In France, though, an omelette might be filled with white asparagus and topped with Hollandaise sauce.

A Spanish omelette is called a tortilla and often has potatoes inside.

An Italian omelette is a frittata and all its filling ingredients are cooked right along with the eggs.

Chinese egg foo yung patties are small, thick omelettes filled with bean sprouts and other vegetables.

In Japan, very thin omelettes are cut into strips and tossed into soup - just like noodles.

I'm wondering what 'eggy creation' I can make today.

Sarah

   First of all I want to thank everyone for the tremendous outpouring of love to the Murphy family at this time. Rob has been quite overwhelmed with the love that has been poured out on their family. He promised to read all the comments and tributes as soon as he is able. At the moment they are just so wonderful it is hard to read them through the tears!

   Secondly I thought I'd draw your attention to the fact that Chrissy was actually named 'Blogger of the week' at the 'Company porch' for HSB! You can go here to read the post and all the links to Chrissy's blog and various fun and wonderful posts she wrote over the years. Be sure to have a hanky handy, especially when you get to the letter she wrote to Deiniol.  What a wonderful gift for him to have all these wonderful things his mother wrote to treasure forever!

   Thirdly I wanted to let you all know the arrangements for the funeral. Rob wrote me this following in an email, so I'll copy and paste it here.

   This is such a hard post to write! I've been sat at the computer for an hour fiddling with other things to avoid having to write this.

   This morning I had a phone call from Papasmurf. He rang to tell me that our dear Mamasmurf, aka Chrissy, went home to be with the Lord last night at 10:50pm.

   She was still in the hospital since it was determined that she was far too poorly to be moved to the hospice as planned. She actually went into pneumonia since I last updated you all. Papasmurf was with her all day yesterday and by her side last night to say 'Goodnight' at the end.

   Thankfully she regained a bit of consciousness yesterday afternoon. Enough for the family to speak to her and for her to respond and let them know she heard them. We are praising the Lord for that small answer to our prayers!

   At this time we have no idea of the arrangements. If it is appropriate and the family wish me to, I'll post and let you know the funeral details. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers and cards at this time, so if you haven't already contacted me for the postal address and you wish to have it, please email me off list and I'll be sure to email it to you.

   Please remember Littlesmurf in all of this too, as it is hard on him loosing his dear Mum. It might be nice if people popped over to his blog to leave him a comment too.

   I'm thinking that it would be nice to do some kind of tribute to Chrissy here on the UK blog, but I'm not quite sure of what form it will take exactly.

   If you want to write something about Chrissy or you post about her on your blog, could you please send the piece or the link to me so that I can compile them for the family to read? I just thought it would be nice for them to be able to easily read all the things that Chrissy's friends write about her. Sometimes reading what a blessing a loved was to others can be a real joy and comfort in these difficult days ahead.

   Most of all right now, please lift Rob and Deiniol up before the Lord in prayer. They need our Heavenly Father to be especially close to them at this time. And we send our love and prayers to them as well.

   We know that 'we don't mourn as those that have no hope' as the scripture reminds us. Chrissy is in a far better place, out of pain, whole and well again for the first time in many years! She is rejoicing in the presence of her Lord and Saviour! And she is waiting for the day she will be reunited with her family. We actually rejoice for her, but our sorrow if for her precious family who will miss her so, and for us her friends. Our lives have been blessed by knowing Chrissy and we will feel the hole she leaves in our lives. HSB and blogland won't be the same without her. - Deedee

Are you looking for somewhere different to visit with your family?  Recently I discovered that there is a national standard for parks and green spaces and those that match up are awarded a green flag.

You can type in your post code here and find the nearest parks and green spaces to you that have been given this award.

Some friends are making a point of visiting as many as possible that have the award and have thoroughly enjoyed every park so far!

Sarah

   Sorry for it being so long since an update, but I only managed to catch up with Papasmurf this afternoon after a long game of telephone tag.

   The news isn't looking good I'm afraid. Chrissy devoloped another infection last week in hospital, apparently due to a lack of sufficient care on the ward. The family has made a formal complaint against the hospital today in fact.

   This infection has taken Chrissy on a downward turn rather swiftly. The hospital actually phoned Rob this morning telling him that he had better come in quickly because Chrissy was REALLY poorly! The family has made the decision to move Chrissy as soon as possible to hospice now, in the hopes that she will receive better care there for the time that she has left.

   Papasmurf promised to email me late tonight after visiting Mamasmurf again this evening, so if there is any further news, I'll pass it on tomorrow. Please pray for Papasmurf and Littlesmurf at this time as it is very difficult. They are feeling very helpless to do anything to help her as she is beyond their care now. She hasn't even been conscious for some time now. Please pray that she regains some consciousness so they get a chance to even say 'Goodnight' to her.

   I promise to update as soon as there is any news. I know that your prayers are really appriciated by the family, and they sent their thanks and love to all.   -  Deedee

I've have been looking at some new curriculum over the last couple of weeks and the more I look the more I like it!  It is British and links to the National Curriculum.  It is also Christian.  Janice Ross,  who has developed this curriculum has many years of experience in teaching and has a desire to write Christian curriculum for those involved in homeshooling or for Christian schools.

She started writing the topic packs after contact with some homeschooling families who wished to work together.  Their children were aged 5-8 and with these packs it was possible for each child to learn something at their own level whilst studying a topic altogether.  Each idea in each topic has 3 to 5 activities suggested so that, depending on the child's age and interest, a parent can choose appropriate activities and how many they wish to do. She comments, ' I find that a topic approach is brilliant for skill development as it works across subject areas and gives loads of opportunities for investigative study. '

At the moment there are 5 topics packs available.  Family, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and All things bright and beautiful were written for 5-6 year olds.  Changes and Houses and Homes are aimed at 7-8 year olds.  It is expected that each topic would be covered in 6-10 weeks.

In each topic pack she gives a Christian rationale for the work, which clearly underpins each lesson.  She also lays out the specific aims and gives links to the Scottish 5-14 and the National Curriculum.  The topics cover a wide variety of subject areas including history, geography, science, technology and health.  There are also opportunities to develop maths skills, look at art, listen to music and develop P.E. skills according to which pack you choose.

They are intended to be a pick-up, ready to use plan of main teaching and learning activities and I would say they match up to that.  You are not told word-for-word what to say, but there is enough information to enable you to help your child learn.  There are additional resources required which are a necessity but a quick check on my local library website tells me that the majority of those books are available there.  There is an assumption that some Christian songs will be known and be used to reinforce ideas, however, they are not an essential part of any lesson.

There are many opportunities for 'going off on a tangent' too, for those of us who are more used to a less structured approach.  For instance, in Fearfully and Wonderfully Made  there is a small section about nursery rhymes, which could easily be developed into its own little topic, with discussing a wider variety of rhymes, learning how rhymes work, changing last lines to make new rhymes, illustrating rhymes etc. (Something which when my son was in school they managed to make last a full half-term!)  There is also a section about sheep, which just begs its own lap-book!

The author is Janice Ross and you can contact her  at schooloftheword@googlemail.com

The packs cost £25 for the teacher's book and £9 for the student's workbook, which can be photocopied if you are using the topic for more than one child within your family. 

If you are just starting out and concerned about what you should be teaching you will find these packs excellent.  If you want to keep in touch with National Curriculum guidelines they are also a very good resource and for the price, a good deal cheaper than other curriculum available.

These packs have been endorsed by Julia Morgan of the King's School Oxford who has highly recommended them, as has an Assistant Director of Education in Highland Region.  

Janice has also just finished a book of ten short stories for 5-7 year olds. Each story includes a range of activities to do across three days including designing and making, talking and listening, recording and comprehension. Friday is a Fun Day, Monday a Meaning Day and Thursday a Thinking Day.  I haven't seen this yet, but judging by the quality of the packs I have seen it will be well worth a look.

Sarah

   Hiya folks! I'm back off my holiday. Thanks to Franbles for doing such a great job on the UK blog while I was gone!! Wow! I think we might keep her on blogging part time with us, she did such a stellar job!

   I thought many of you might be interested in an update on Chrissy, loving known to us as Mamasmurf. I spoke to her husband Rob today. This morning he told me that Chrissy is back in hospital because she was having some symptoms that suggested a possible heart attack coming. So they rushed her in and ruled out a heart attack and ran some other tests.

   She was doing well and he was on his way to see her in hospital shortly after. He promised to give her our love and to keep me informed of any changes so that I could update all of you too. Then the phone rang again this evening and it was Rob again. When he went to see Chrissy she wasn't doing too well.

   She had alot of pain in the night and this morning and they had to put her on morphine to control the pain, but the dose isn't quite right because it was knocking her out! She is very frail, in pain, and not doing too well at all. He thought we would like to know.

   Please remember Chrissy, Rob and Deiniol in your prayers. This is a hard time for them all. We are hoping that she will still gather her strength and be able to come home to them again, but there is a very real chance that won't happen this time.

   I suggested earlier today that some of us might like to send Chrissy cards to cheer her up and brighten her day, and Rob thought it was a great idea! In an email to me later he said that "... if anyone wants to send cards etc to Chrissy they are quite welcome. I'm sure Chrissy will be so pleased to hear from the many friends that she has on the blogs and lists."

   He said it would be OK to share their address with you all, so if anyone wants the address please email me off blog and I'll send it to you. We just feel that is a bit safer for their sakes than writing it out here.

   I promise to keep you all updated as I get any more news from the family. Please spread the word to others who you know are friends with Chrissy. Thanks everybody!

This is a very interesting website.  Here you can find out details of any local organic farms which are open for visits.  You can also access online farm trails: 17 organic farm trails which available to 'walk' online, accompanied by facts, photos and national curriculum links.

I found this  about an animal school on 'The Homeschool Minute'.  I thought it was beautiful and well worth a watch.  How we need to love and nurture each child as an individual!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

You may be interested to know that the BBC educational programmes start again next week. You can find out what will be on and when here.   I don't know about all of their programmes but my boys have loved their phonics programmes and learned a lot from them.

Channel 4 also has educational programmes for all ages but it seems mainly for older children.  Details of these can be found here.  I have never watched any of these, so cannot comment further!

For all you budding artists out there, here is another nationwide event that may be of interest to you.   

It is called THE BIG DRAW and it is a campaign to invite everyone to join in, using drawing to engage with the past, present and future. The ninth Big Draw runs from 1 to 31 October 2008, with a special focus on Saturday 11 October.

I quote, 'Every October over 1000 venues, including: galleries, museums, science centres, heritage and environmental sites, libraries, archives, community and shopping centres, colleges, schools and art clubs host drawing activities for people of all abilities. They explore technical, scientific, architectural, archaeological or fine art drawing. Participants of all ages are invited to help expand the definitions and uses of drawing - experimenting with pencils, crayons, charcoal, sand, clay, digital imagery, choreographed movement, vapour trails and fire drawings. These activities are mainly free and widely accessible. Please join us at the 2008 Big Draw National Launch and The Big Picture Party in libraries or find an event in your area.'

Here's another one for you to check out.  There are events on all over the country, which including tasting sessions, (always sound good to me!) and how to make bread or cheese.  Their blurb states that: During Soil Association Organic Fortnight, people across Britain will be celebrating all things organic. From 6-21 September, individuals, businesses and communities will be hosting events to raise awareness of the environmental, health and social benefits of organic production. Not only that, but the campaign gives everyone a chance to enjoy organic products from delicious food and drink to beauty and textiles.

Find out more at : http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/GetInvolved/orgweek.html

I just found out about the 2008 Heritage Open Days event directory.  It is now 'live' and is being constantly updated.  

There are about  3,500 events taking place across England in the next few weeks, many in places that are not often open to the public.  There are many churches open, as well as historical sites, museums and parks.  It seems to be a very popular event and I have struggled to get much more information to tell you here, due to the website experiencing problems due to high demand!  However I am sure it is worth checking out for an interesting day out.

Here's where to start your search:   http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory

This is something that is well worth checking out:

The programme for National Schools Film Week 2008 is now live.  You can find all the information in your local area at  http://www.nsfw.org/.

All the film viewings are free, linked to National curriculum, and open to home educators.  This year's theme is 'Discovering cultures' and among the films being offered are 'Prince Caspian', 'Nim's Island', 'Ratatouille', 'Heidi' and 'Charlotte's Web'.  There is a wide variety of films on offer and it is worth checking more than just your closest town if you don't find what you want.

The screenings take place

20-24 October (England, Northern Ireland & Wales)

3-7 November (Scotland)

This is a very popular event so book early to ensure your places!