End of School Year Fun

Today is our last day of school for the school year.  Beyond the excitement of having 6 weeks of summer ahead of us, it’s fun to look back at some of the activities we experienced in the last few weeks.

Falconry

One week the kids had a falconry visit to their ‘Flexi-school.’  Cami and I stayed behind to see the birds as well.  I thought this would just be a demonstration and informative discussion about the different birds, but it was hands-on.  Each of the kids had a chance to ‘fly’ the birds and feed them.  Emma was the only one of our bunch to attempt this on any level.

Barn Owl

Harris Hawk

Emma did, however, shy away from handling the large owl.  It was huge!

European Eagle Owl

London Bombings

We have been full-force into studying World War II and the Holocaust, as evidenced from our recent trip to Amsterdam.  It has been a great experience studying these events from the actual places that they occurred.  One day we talked about the time during the war when many families in London were sending their children away to the countryside, away from the bombings.  So, after our lesson, I told the kids we were going to pretend that they lived in London during the time of the war.  They had 5 minutes to grab their backpacks and pack whatever they thought they would need, not knowing how long they’d be gone.  They thought the idea of it was great fun and were laughing and giggling the whole way.  After 2 minutes, a couple kids were back but when I asked if they had packed clothes, they were back up the stairs.

When the kids had gotten everything, I had them put their shoes on and we walked out the front door.  They were clueless as to where we were going and couldn’t stop laughing.  It just so happens that we live down the road from where the first V-2 rocket was dropped in London.

I had seen the marker for it, but have never stopped to look at it.  We found out 3 people had been killed in that spot.

When we got back home, I had the kids (one by one) empty out their backpacks and show us what they had packed.  We had an assortment of things – piggy banks, toys, journals, books, toiletries, and each had 1 change of clothes.  Then we each voted on who we thought packed the best.  It really was fun and the kids keep talking about it.

**I found out later my great-grandmother was one of the women who took in children from London during the bombings.  She was a widow and her 3 children were all away serving in the military.  All three of the children that stayed with her formed a close bond with her family and called her “Mum”.  When she passed away, they came to her funeral.  The war definitely changed lives . . . many people made the best out of it and I think that is amazing.**

REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) Army Museum

We jumped at the chance for a homeschool group field trip to the REME Army Museum discussing . . . World War II.  We actually made 2 separate trips out there during a two week time to discuss science and history.

Some of our favorite activities were –

• using the old field phones to talk across the vehicle hall,

• learning and sending morse code messages,

• building and ‘flying’ our own parachutes,

• learning to be a good soldier,

• as well as dressing up like one.

By far, my favorite activity was the mock air-raid drill.  This was by no means ‘fun,’ as I actually was trying to control my emotions watching some of these little kids with pure fear on their faces from the loud sirens.  But, it was so interesting to see what the war was like here in England.  This is part of history you don’t learn about fully in American history classes.  The kids each grabbed one item off a table (ranging from important documents to the chamber pot) and raced to get under the ‘kitchen table’ (which we were pretending to have been a special steel table used especially as a bomb shelter).

The Warden, an unpaid volunteer, stayed out in the open during the ‘attack’ and when it was safe for everyone to come out, she gave the ‘all-clear’ signal.  I think it was eye-opening for the kids, but I felt like I learned a great deal as well.