Homeschool – End of Autumn Term

As we round the corner into 2023, it’s time for a new term to begin at Newton World School and an opportunity to take a look at some of the topics we covered over the autumn term. We’ve found that school work is best approached first thing in the morning, rather than after a long day of activities when the appetite for learning wanes somewhat.

Core subjects

For the foundations of maths and english, we have kept close to the curriculum of what each child would have been learning back at school and have subscribed to the same maths resources the school uses. Depending on where we are and what we’re doing, the usual approach is to work through a maths worksheet after breakfast. For english, we again have online resources which cover the key literacy learnings for each year and Friends at home have kept us supplied with the spellings each class learns each week. The kids also have their journals which their school kindly gifted them where they can keep up their writing along with postcards and emails back to family and friends. Each child has a kindle with e-books to read. Rafe in particular is a voracious reader and has recently finished a series of Sherlock Holmes mysteries rewritten for younger readers. Odessa prefers reading about animals or unicorns. Long road journeys have seen us get through a large selection of audiobooks while on the move.

Each child has worked on researching and writing up projects related to places we have been or things we’ve seen. Odessa investigated the life of the Komodo dragon – with interesting facts such as the dragon has 54 species of bacteria in its saliva, the young live in trees until they are eight months old. She also researched how rice is grown in paddy fields in Ubud in Bali. Rafe learnt about how tides are created by the moon and what conditions are needed for the perfect waves to surf.

Museums

We have been fortunate to visit some fantastic museums across the world, from the wonders of the Egyptian museum (sadly we were a few months early for the launch of the new grand museum at Giza) to the museum of the UNESCO geopark at Batur volcano in Bali.

Australia and New Zealand were particular highlights for museums with excellent resources and helped by the fact that they speak English (of a fashion). These included learning about the rich history of seafaring and coming face to face with a rare megamouth shark in Freemantle in the maritime museum, and the history of New Zealand’s trade in Kauri tree gum at the gumdiggers museum. At the recently reopened WA Museum Boola Bardip in Perth we successfully followed a trail to crack codes, find clues and save the museum from criminals which made for a fun and interesting way to experience the museum, which incidentally contains a particularly impressive collection of meteorites. Some of the best museums have been small ones which tell a specific story, the mummification museum in Luxor was fascinating, and the story behind treasures found in Herculaneum brought life in the little Roman town vividly to life.

In Wollongong, we spent a fantastic afternoon at the Science Space where hands on exhibits brought a range of science topics to life. Rafe and Jim followed up a number of the experiments with further work on the laws of physics.

A favourite activity in Australia and New Zealand has been to head to a library for a morning. Although the kids love their Kindles, the feeling of exploring the shelves and holding a real book cannot be replaced. It also helps with inspiration for what new book series to get into. Our experience has ranged from tiny libraries in small outback towns to the impressive State Library of New South Wales.

Religion

The changing religions between the different countries we have travelled to has been a big theme throughout the trip, and we’ve seen a lot. After visiting enormous catholic cathedrals in Italy, we headed to the Middle East where we learnt the words and meaning of the ubiquitous call to prayer from the mosque, a sound which followed us throughout the region. We learnt about Buddhism in Thailand, the particular form of Hinduism in Bali and once on Flores, back to Catholicism. The kids were fascinated with the Dreamtime stories of creation from the aboriginal people of Australia who, with beliefs strongly linked to the natural world tell stories of how the land was created. We learnt about the tales behind the creation of landmarks such as the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains and Natural Bridge in the Torndirrup National Park.

The Environment

The children are well aware of the problems of plastic waste and pollution of the oceans having been taught about it at school, but have seen the issue brought to life with the amount of plastic which can be found washed up on remote beaches in otherwise pristine wilderness. After Rafe swam into a crisp packet the kids organised their own clean up on Fins beach in Oman, filling three black sacks in a industrious hour or so. Seeing how single use plastic bottles can end up strewn pretty much anywhere has increased their resolve not to be part of the throw away problem. We’ve also leant a lot about how the actions of humans affect the world’s ecosystems. This included the replanting of corals in Komodo national park to repair damage done in the past by fishing using dynamite. In New Zealand we learnt how the islands were a safe place for many ground dwelling birds with few natural predators until humans introduced rats, stoats and possums. These mammals are keen to prey on the birds and their eggs, driving some birds to extinction. We learnt what measures are being put into place to help kiwis thrive and takahē return following their rediscovery, once thought to be extinct.