Imperial War Museum

Home Education Scuba Diving

Earls Court Gaming Expo

The Cartoon Museum

Trip To Hastings

Testing The Oculus Rift

The Rift is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display, being developed by Oculus VR.  We visited Master's of Pie at Greenwich University to test the new Oculus Rift.  One of the designer's explained how the Oculus Rift works and gave us the opportunity to test the device, the new games and their own program which creates a 3D virtual dinosaur experience. 

Home Education Honey Bee Workshop

Annual HESFES Home Education Festival 2014

Making Natural Shelters at the Forest School

Owen learnt how to make shelters out of natural materials at the Forest School.

The Shame - An Unschooled Drama Project

This is a play written and directed by Anya and her friend and interprets their feelings about bullying and cyber bulling. The film is also in the psychological horror genre, but Anya did not want to use the famous music from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film as it would detract from what they were creating.

Ancient Burial Site Oxford

Unschooled Learning at Go Ape May 2014

Go Ape is a great place for kids (over the age of 10) to learn about safety, heights and climbing equipment through an unschooled environment.  The instructors provide about 15 minutes hands on training and then the kids are allowed to experience the equipment and take responsibility for their own safety as long as a adult is watching and no more than one climb away.

Lyric Writing - Left to the Right

New song lyrics written by Anya:

Left To The Right

 Left to the right and right to the left

Cos I, left to the right and right to the left

Cos I  got a song in my mind and you know.

 

Left to the right and right to the left

Cos I, left to the right and right to the left

Cos I don't know if I can stand days goin' by

 

Left to the right and right to the left

Cos I , left to the right and right to the left

Cos I don't know if I can stand because I don't know.

 

Left to the right and right to the left

Cos I, tell me all the time there a day for us

and that something can work out

But you know what I am saying deep down in your head

 

Left to the right and right to the left

Cos I know where you're going

and I know where your goin'

and I know you're there for me in the shadows

and I am behind the darkness of the Sun

 

Left to the right

left to the right and right to the left

Cos I don't I know, I know

Oh I know, Left to the Right

Car Boot Sales & Maths

Anya and I have recently started selling vintage jewellery at car boot sales.  We have both invested in mixed lots of jewellery purchased at auctions.  Anya has purchased her own jewellery using her pocket money and savings.  Anya demonstrated a real ability to  communicate with the customers, maths and business skills at the car boot sale.  She was able to work out her own prices based on what she paid, upsell by offering customer discounts for bulk buys, work out the total costs on large sales,  check for fake notes and the correct change.

Box Hill Nature Trail

Back Stage Pass To War Horse 2014

Extreme Climate Exhibition at The Horniman

Anya's Lyric Writing - One Step Further

One Step Further

Cuz im going one step further than I am willing,

and I got this thing my heart that won’t stop ringing,

so don’t let my issues bring you down,

cuz we all have feelings and its okay to feel down.

(oha x3)

 

(Chorus) and if your hearing out all thunder then just realise your living further.

So don’t let my issues bring you down,

and all this time i’ve been wishing and wishing,

and every time I look behind I see you in the way,

I can’t get over the truth.

 

(Chorus)

 

Cuz im going one step further than I am willing,

and i got this thing my heart that won’t stop ringing,

so don’t let my issues bring you down,

cuz we all have feelings and its okay to feel down.

(Oha 4x)

 

 

 

 

Ragged School Museum - Mile End

Monopoly: Cash Flow, Risk & Negotiation Skills

The kids were given an Adventure Time Monopoly game for Christmas.  Monopoly is such a great game for learning many Maths and Business skills.  When the kids were younger the game helped them with basic counting skills.  As they have grow older they have learnt  that cash flow is crucial to be successful in monopoly and if they spent too much money on property they are unable to pay rents.   The game is all about negotiating and making deals.  Using proper negotiation skills are vital in the game.  In the game you must take risks, if you don’t take risks you will not win. But some risks result in losing the game too.

 

 

The Clash - Straight to Hell Cover By Anya Bedford

Making Stain Glass Baubels

We made out own stain glass baubles today.  It is amazing how much the kids can learn from an activity like this.  For example they have learnt to identify copper and lead and understand about the melting point of lead compared to copper and how the lead can be used to join other metals.  They have learnt about cleaning the metals to make good joining points and why we use flux.  They have improved their soldering skills and of course been able to be creative with glass and colours.

Glass Blowing Workshop - Pumpkins

Testing for Blood Groups

We purchased some blood testing kits from Ebay and tested our own blood to identify our blood groups.

Home Education Animation Workshop

Animation workshop attended by Owen and a group of locally home educated kids aged 11 to 16.

Learning About Mean & Averages

My kids do not have any scheduled Maths lessons.  When they want to learn something they ask me.  For example my daughter recently wanted to learn how to add a list of large numbers so I taught her long addition.  When they are keen and ready I find they are able to learn most things quickly.  But there is also a great deal of Maths in every day life.  For example I run a small business and my son often helps me book the post in.  To do this he needs to weight each bag and then work out the average weight of each item and select the right Royal Mail code depending on the size of the parcels.  As a result of this he is pretty confident with means and averages.

Painting & Decorating

A huge part of our unschooling is that the kids learn by taking part (if they wish) in normal day to day activities, jobs and routines.  We are currently decorating a room and Anya has learnt which paints to use on wall and wood, what types of brushes to use, how to clean them and without much instruction has learnt to paint really well by simply watching and trying.

Anya Looking After a Friends Dog

Anya loves dogs and asked if she could look after a friends dog whilst we were on holiday.  Although we have lots of animals (cats, chickens, ferrets and fish), caring for a dog required more time than our other pets.  She really took her responsibility seriously and walked the dog twice a day including cleaning the mess, fed the dog and slept with him on her bed every night.  She really enjoyed the experience but decided she didn't want her own dog as they needed more time and were less independent than her cats.

24 Hours By Anya Bedford