The Georgians. 

This time we focused a lot more on England's place in world history, e.g. how our tea taxes triggered the American Revolution.  Panda Girl did more craft related things (flags etc) while Ballet Girl and Monkey Girl began learning how to extract information from sources.  We also learnt how to identify Georgian houses and looked at the progression of fashion and Parliament.

We finished this project early in order to focus on Advent but plan to return to it after our trip to France in the New Year.  My plans are that we will look at Napoleon's rise and fall, move onto the Regency period and then William IV and the end of the Slave Trade.

Georgian worksheets - we worked on Bonnie Prince Charlie, the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. 

 Georgian wig making shop.  This caused a little hilarity:

We learnt about the South Sea Trading Bubble and how Robert Walpole, who was instrumental in fixing' it, became Britain's first Prime Minister.  Each then chose their own political party and what their manifesto would be and then we had an election, after they each did their best to persuade the rest of us how awesome they were :)

I suggested to Panda Girl that she could be the Whig Party.  Ballet Girl totally got the joke and fell about laughing.  Panda Girl insisted she was going to save pandas with the Panda Party.

Monkey Girl reading the election results on the news :)

The Boy spent the whole time bemused.  The following morning before the girls were awake I sent him downstairs while I opened the curtains.  I heard him talking and found him delivering his Party speech - something about ducks, cooking and the colour blue :)

Boston Tea Party:

The Stuarts


We spent two weeks studying the Stuarts.  We had fun learning about Guy Fawkes and theories put forward by historians which suggest that he was set up by Robert Cecil to counter Catholic uprisings.  It fitted in nicely with Bonfire Night.  We looked at the Civil War(s) and Oliver Cromwell's rule, and Panda Girl did a project on the Mayflower's Voyage after we learnt about the Puritans in Parliament.  The girls fell a little in love with Charles II on Horrible Histories and we spent some time learning about James II escape from England and James 'III' and Bonnie Prince Charlie, 'Pretenders to the Throne'.

Making bread at 'Pudding Lane Bakery' where the Great Fire of London started.

We talked about and looked at some examples of Baroque architecture and then discussed the differences we could see between the Tudor part of Hampton Court Palace and the Baroque part which was built during the reign of William and Mary.  The girls (and The Boy) designed their own style building out of lego.  Their design brief was to be as far from a 'normal' house as possible.  FUN!

The Tudors


The girls thoroughly enjoyed this project.  We found some good interactive games online and they each put together a whole folder of worksheets on Tudor life, food, people, exploration and fashion.  We also went on a Tudor house hunt and learnt to distinguish between genuine Tudor and mock Tudor houses.  It was a good excuse to have a hot chocolate in our local pub, which although dating from slightly after Tudor times, has great examples of wooden pegs in the beams, low ceilings and doors and a wonderful bread oven.

Tudor Window Display

Our King Henry costume arrived in the post.  Monkey Girl was first to try it out :)

Mini Hans Holbeins.  The girls drew their own portraits of King HenryVIII.

The Spanish Armada

 We spent a happy morning making Tudor sweets :)

In search of Queen Katherine of Aaragon's Cross in Ampthill Park, erected on the site where Ampthill Castle once stood: the home of the Queen while Henry sought his annulment.

I took TWO whole years out from my Blog as things got tough during my 4th pregnancy and subsequent birth of my son.  We still ploughed on with our homeschooling, and I have uploaded a selection of thematic unit displays, below.  Life is a little easier now so hopefully the blog will continue at full speed, God willing :)

Spring, Bats, The English Coast, Space and Autumn Thematic Units

'Ch', Italy, Japan, Rainforest and Spring Thematic Units

We are enjoying our text books suggested by the Mater Amabilis curriculum. The girls have been working on:

Music, Picture Study, Reading and Writing, Maths, Earth Geography, Family Geography, Mapwork, Art.

As of the new term all 3 are doing weekly Gymnastics and Trampolining lessons and the 2 eldest also do Ballet and Piano lessons.

My 2 eldest girls, Ballet Girl and Monkey Girl (now 7 and 6) have rapidly progressed with their reading this year. They are both so excited by the fact and have read 'The Gruffalo' so many times to eachother, to themselves or to friends that Panda Girl (3) knows most of it by heart now :)

I'm back! I return to my blog after the birth of my beautiful darling son and a rather difficult year including 15 weeks on crutches, my husband's 5 month redundancy and the tragic death of his dear brother.