Submitted by Darren on
The Powells - Warwickshire Family photography
After lat month I was missing my proper camera so after having been reacquainted with my loyal friend I was back to photographing my boys on a daily basis in the style that I feel comfortable with.
At the beginning of the month I took the opportunity to ask Harry and Finley what else they wanted from their home schooling, to encourage further interest from them. The general consensus was that they wanted more fun. So, my challenge was to inject more fun… challenge accepted!
Science lessons included the egg experiment. The boys were tasked with finding six different types of material from around the house to then wrap around an egg. I love the boys’ creativity – yes they claimed the standard cardboard box but who else will have used underpants in their experiment?! With the egg securely fastened into its new home it was time to throw it out of the window to see how the material protected it. It was going well until we got an egg stuck on the roof! Oh well more initiative from the boys meant the fishing rods were found and the egg rescued. We had science nailed!
PE lessons included encouraging the boys to get out on the bikes every day. Over the month we covered 200 miles which has not only been great exercise for them, but it’s been wonderful to explore some beautiful parts of Warwickshire. Although I think the most fun was had on the bump track where Finley could practise being a speed demon. Having been inspired by The Last Dance, I managed to get a basketball hoop for the driveway. The boys are already getting their eye in with their shooting although their spinning skills still need a bit of practice. And I’ve clearly demonstrated to the boys that white men can’t jump! Other PE activities included the daily go on the trampoline and swimming in the paddling pool (although I think in reality there was far more chilling in the pool than anything).
Art lessons involved the use of the driveway a lot. They enjoyed painting the balloons for me to then take a photo of them floating away with the balloons. Arts and crafts led us to create an awesome castle and inspired us to inject some creativity into our history lessons. The boys had smiles on their faces as they painted the biggest English flag I’ve seen, made paper aeroplanes and created bunkers to help celebrate VE Day. Although that day I think their favourite activity was baking the Victoria Sponge cakes. Their home economics skills are improving which I’m definitely benefiting from. Yum!
On to engineering – would they grasp the concept of stability? Armed with a mountain of marshmallows and spaghetti not only did they quickly learn that they needed more spaghetti to make their structures sturdier, both of their competitive natures came out. I’d never seen such intense concentration on their faces. They were also clever enough to realise if they didn’t use all of the marshmallows, we could use these on the fire later on… you can’t beat the smell and taste of toasted marshmallows.
We also explored architecture. Yes we could build dens but only if the boys thought about what would be the best structures to use and plan this out within drawings. The biggest question that day was should we use the sofa or the chair as the main supporting structure?
It’s amazing how much more engaged the boys are with maths now that it involves working out sums on the driveway. It’s the same sum as on the piece of paper but again I’ve seen their competitive natures come out and they seem to wizz through the answers now.
As someone who loves to travel, I am also keen for the boys to learn about different countries and their cultures. What better way to celebrate the coming of spring than to have our own Holi Festival? Although I’m not quite sure how I ended up with twice as much paint on me than the boys?!
I couldn’t quite get away from using technology for some of the classes. The videos explaining space and the different planets are much more engaging then I could be, so some classes have still remained indoors (and of course we aren’t always blessed with sunshine in the UK).
Technology has been a great way of keeping the boys in touch with their friends. As Finley took his first zoom call with his classmates, I pictured Finley in the future being a successful businessman and leading the zoom call with some important strategy discussions. But then after all of the activities they’ve done this month I’m no clearer which direction their future will take as they have embraced each subject with such vigour. Am I living with future engineers, artists or sportsmen? Whatever their future holds I just feel very lucky to have had so much time with them and I hope I’ve enriched their learning. Harry and Finley chose a great challenge this month. I think between us we smashed the fun challenge! Although I can now see why we all seem to have needed more power naps and snacks to keep us going this month.
