Interesting Stuff – January 2021
The first lockdown of 2020 was at the end of March. Each day we took our daily exercise the days were getting longer and the weather was getting warmer. Not so January lockdown 2021! So, if you need some inspiration to keep all bodies moving in these cold, bleak days of winter, check out Katy Bowman’s Dynamic at Home series for tips on dynamic work and learning stations and taking on the task of physical education.
Kimberley Wilson (@foodandpsych) explains the link between hunger, behaviour problems, school exclusions and incarceration in her Stronger Minds podcast (there is a short video explanation on her Instagram too) as Eloise Rickman (@mightymother) fumes over the latest free school meals debacle. I really feel for the teens missing out on exams at this time, but we mustn’t lose sight of the myriad of health, social and economic problems future teens and young adults from low-income backgrounds will be facing as a direct result of this government’s handling of the pandemic.
No Nationalisation of Our Kids has posted a series of video clips from the Global Home Education Conference in November 2020. The clips provide a flavour of current government interference in home education across Europe. The full conference can be viewed on the GHEX website, free registration required.
Just for fun, call the kiddos ’round the talky box for this interesting video on an illusion only some can see, brought to our attention by Katie at Learn What you Live. Join her newsletter for more interesting bits n bobs!
Little World Wanders make free world cultures unit studies for 3-13 year old, that strive to be respectful and inclusive. You can read a great post here about why the units are always free, and their commitment to cultural appreciation and not appropriation here. (We are just starting the Japan unit. Hopefully I’ll get a review up soon.)
The Intuitive Homeschooler wrote a great post called “The Homeschooling Community Isn’t A Monolith. It’s Time to Rethink Who Homeschoolers Really Are” which you should go read.
HumbleBundle have a couple of great deals going on at the moment that get you some really interesting ebooks, as well as directly supporting great charities. Start Something New (till the 4rd Feb 2021) includes books about cooking, crafting and starting your own business. It also includes two of the Handy Dad books.
Be the Change (till the 8th Feb 2021) includes books about youth activism, and highlights BIPOC authors, creators and characters. It also includes The Power Book, This Book is Anti-Racist and Big Ideas for Young Thinkers.
(Note – most of these books are not specifically children’s books so do your own research. As with all bundles, some of the books won’t be useful, but you are still making significant saving on the books that are useful to you. Also as a US based project, while the books are DRM free and should be usable in the UK, the charities being supported are US based.)