The Time In-Between

What did we do in-between Christmas and New Year?  We went to... (surprise, surprise!) the IWM London!  Only because it's the kind of place we would go when we don't know what to do with ourselves.

The IWM was reopened last summer to coincide with the First World War Centenary but for whatever reason we have not been there until now.  I must admit that we were not too impressed with the immeidate exhibits at the first instance, only because we have been to places choked full of military exhibits.  However, we went back two more times (that's right, we clocked three visits to the IWM London in the space of two weeks) and were increasingly impressed with the layout as well as the content of the museum, especially the newly opened First World War galleries, which has a long queue outside everytime we were there.

There is so much to see that we will definitely have to go back for more!  While we were there, we visited the Horrible Histories: Spies temporary exhibition before it closed.

My overall impression of this particular exhibition is that it was very entertaining.  The curator obviously tried to present a realistic view of the life of spies in WWII, with all its glory (e.g. the secret weapons) and gore (that spies had to kill innocent people in the process of completing their missions) while not losing the draw for young children.

There have been some controversies around the related series of books lately with regards to them being a cause of children's trivialised view of English history.  While I have let Tiger read all of the Horrible Histories books, we did it with the understanding that:

1. they would not be his main or only source of history learning;
2. they are just entertainment; and
3. he would only read them in the summer, and he completed the whole series three summers ago; and
4. to be able to appreciate the humour behind the serious topics, one needs to have a solid knowledge of the actual historical accounts.

I probably would not rely on this series as the sole source of history for Tiger, in the same way that I would not dream of teaching history based on the Blackadder series even though I think the people behind the series are exceptionally clever to be able to pull the comedy off.

Besides running to the south of London three times, we spent the last two weeks of 2014 not doing anything that is remotely academic.  It was  a time for all of us to take a complete rest and to do whatever we fancied.  During that period, Tiger spent a lot of time drawing mostly military vehicles, especially fighter jets and dogfight scenes.  He has been sketching from aircraft photos from his library of books and stills from dogfight documentaries.

In his usual autodidatic way, Tiger has been very focused on teaching himself to draw the subjects that interest him.  In my plan for this year, I have hoped to focus on developing our drawing skills but Tiger has told me decidedly that he is not interested to draw still life, the subject that is often covered in beginners' drawing courses, so I have not pushed the matter too hard, except to provide him with the necessary drawing materials and reference books when he asked for them.

Learning in this way, he has since filled out two A2 sketch books (30 pages each) with his numerous drawings and his very recent drawings show much improvement from those in the first pages of his first sketch book.

His latest interest lies in drawing people and faces so I got hold of this little book in which the illustrator's style is very similar to Tiger's early attempts at drawing people.  He has been doing some of the exercises in the book each night before bed with much enthusiasm.

I noted a few things while observing how Tiger goes about teaching himself to draw:

• that he does not require anybody's permission to start learning;
• that he does not feel he needs to wait for anybody to come along to teach him;
• that he knows when he needs more instructions - "I think I can do with a book that shows me how to draw different tanks from start to finish."
• that he knows what kind of help he needs - "Mum, can you get me a book on how to draw different people and faces?"

This child clearly shows signs of knowing how to learn.


This post is linked up to:

1. Hip Homeschool Hop - 1/6/15
2. My Week in Review #18
3. Virtual Refrigerator
4. Collage Friday: Learning About the Civil War
5. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with all the Painting

Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane?

Since we did not see enough air vehicles at the military show and Tiger is most interested in the air combat aspect of warfare (see below for the related books he has read so far),

we made up for the gap by going to the air show at the IWM Duxford.

There were many aeroplanes on display and in flight that day, I'd say the distribution between historic planes and modern aircraft is about 70-30.  That is fine by me because both Tiger and I find historic aircrafts to be more relevant to our history study, but Tortoise is much more fascinated by the modern planes.

For example, I appreciate that triplanes and biplanes were flown at the beginning of the air show so that we could see for ourselves what the dogfights in the First World War would have looked like:

We were astonished at the slowness of the planes, but considering that planes were cutting edge technology 100 years ago (as was the Mark IV tank we saw at the military show), we were able to get some perspective on how quickly military technology has been advancing since then.  The following documentary on the dogfights in the First World War uses CGI to recreate the air combat scenes but there's nothing like seeing the WWI planes in action for ourselves.  The next best alternative is to use the dogfight simulator, which Tiger is allowed to play for 10 minutes each time, three times a week.

The highlight of this year's air show is the fly past of the last two airworthy Lancaster Bombers, escorted by two Spitfires.  Many people stood up and applauded at the sight of the planes that represented hope and victory for the British people in WWII.  As a non-British attending a very nationalistic event where feelings of patriotism run high, I pondered upon the thought of how those very same planes would have stirred up a totally different set of emotions in those on the receiving end of the planes' missions.

There were many different types of planes flown on that day, but the most iconic has to be the Spitfires.  Before Tiger's interest in military history took hold, I wouldn't have been able to recognise this plane at all.  Now, thanks to numerous exposure (via books, documentaries, visits) I am able to recognise the Spitfire from the distinctive sound of its Merlin engine.

The finale was a splendid display by the Red Arrows.  Everybody loves the Red Arrows, which is an acrobatic team of the RAF.  Their presence brought a sense of fun and skill to the show, which was a refreshing way to end the day, having spent four sombre hours watching military combat aircrafts displaying their growing capabilities and thinking about who really benefits from the never-ending military campaigns around the world throughout history.

After all this running around, we really ought to buckle down and do some real work by staying at home next week...


This post is linked up to:

1. Hip Homeschool Hop - 9/16/14
2. Finishing Strong #29
3. History & Geography Meme #135
4. Home Education Blog Link Up #15
5. Collage Friday - A Well Rounded Homeschool
6. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Officially Have 3 Teens
7. The Homeschool Mother's Journal (9/20/14)

Heaven! (for a military history buff)

By looking at my plan for Tiger this academic year, it may appear to many that I am overriding his  interest in military history, or that I am abandoning the interest-led learning environment that dominated our household last year to a more classically-driven environment.  Contrary to these appearances, my goal this year is to find a way forward to amalgamate both approaches to provide Tiger with a rigourous foundation in his area of interest.

It seems that military history is here to stay for the foreseeable future.  To bring the life the information in the books that Tiger has read,

I took Tiger to a military machines and vehicles show to look at and touch the various machines up close and to talk to those who are as keen on this subject as Tiger is.

There was so much to see that we spent a whole day (10am to 6pm) there.  Never in a million years would I have thought I would attend such an event, but there you are, I was there walking around the grounds with my boy for eight hours.

There were so many different military vehicles on display that the many hours we spent were necessary just to look at everything.

A sample of the military vehicles on display.

The best thing about going to such a show is that the vehicles are not static displays but are actually in excellent working conditions so we could see them in action:

I was amazed at how fast some of these tanks can go, so I really appreciate being able to see them in action.

Besides watching the tanks and other military vehicles roll by, Tiger also got to go on a 'tank ride' (it's really an armoured personnel carrier).

Tiger really enjoyed the experience, although he admitted that ride was very bumpy and rather uncomfortable when compared to riding in a normal car.

There were also many soldiers' tents set up to depict the weapons and machinery used in different regions/conditions or in different historical periods:

With bombs and weapons at one end of the conflict, at the other end we find the Anderson shelter.  The one on display there was kitted out inside so we could get a really good idea of the amount of available space inside the shelter:

The site was roughly sectioned into different areas of:

• land vehicles
• air vehicles
• shelters
• tents
• weaponry

In the weaponry section we saw many different types of guns and explosives, including land mines.

Many of the displays could be touched and felt, so Tiger had a good time working his way through the various types of guns.  I was fumbling about with a hand gun at a stall where different guns were taken apart and the event-goers were challenged to put them back together, not quite sure which part goes where, when Tiger decided it was too painful for him to watch his mother struggle with it so he asked, "May I show you?"  I promptly passed the gun over to him and watched him assemble it together and showed me how to hold it, load it and fire it, all under 30 seconds.  I don't know where he's learned how to do this but I'm guessing it's from all the military books and documentaries he has watched.

Interspersed with the moving vehicles display were reenactments of battle scenes throughout history, which helped us understand the development of warfare tactics as a result of the advancement of weaponry.

It started off with guns in the Hundred-Year War:

Then the next big leap forward in technology came in the First World War when the British developed the Mark IV.

Tiger has read about the Mark IV tank in the various historical books but this was the first time he came up close to it, to be able to touch it, walk around it, look inside it, and best of all, to see it in action.  Although the Mark IV is very slow compared to the modern tanks, it must have been a terrifying sight to the soldiers 100 years ago when they had never seen anything like it before:

Closely associated with the First World War is the trench warfare.  We saw a few "desmontration" trenches on site. These were not the full size trenches of the First World War but they gave us some ideas of the equipments used and the hardships endured by soldiers who have to fight in that condition. 

From the First World War, we moved on to the Second World War.  The majority of the vehicles and machines we saw on site were from WWII.

We also wtached a reeanctment of a WWII skirmish between the British and German troops:

The reenactment went on for about half an hour and gave us a realistic idea of what the numerous WWII skirmishes might have looked like:

While the majority of the displays were land vehicles, we did see a few planes and helicopters.

What we saw, which we haven't seen anywhere else, was a working life-size plane engine:

It was a very long day but Tiger came away at the end of it saying that it has been his best day out so far.  Tiger's love affair with military history continues.  All I can say is that I am grateful to find such opportunities where Tiger's keen interest is supported and where he can meet and talk with fellow enthusiasts to his heart's content about something that both my husband and I aren't particularly knowledgeable or enthusiastic about.


This post is linked up to:

1. Hip Homeschool Hop - 9/16/14
2. Finishing Strong #29
3. History & Geography Meme #135
4. Home Education Blog Link Up #15
5. Collage Friday - A Well Rounded Homeschool
6. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Officially Have 3 Teens
7. The Homeschool Mother's Journal (9/20/14)

A Self-Determined Education: Who's Teaching?

Besides reading from books and watching documentaries at home for his military history study, Tiger and I have been out and about a fair bit, looking for a more hands-on experience, if that's possible.  We came across The Muckleburgh Military Collection one day, and decided to go in and take a look.

It is certainly one of those places that, had it not been for Tiger's massive interest in this subject, I would never have stepped into.  For a private collection, the number, range and types of military vehicles in it are very impressive.

The many historical artefacts are exceptionally wide-ranging and extensive.

The Anderson Shelter and signbaords from WW2.

Different countries' gas masks in WW2 and a photograph of nurses and babies in gas masks.

I saw many artefacts that I have not seen anywhere else.

For example:

1. Post WW1 souviner from Belgium and France.
2. Knives used by the Hitler Youth and the SS.
3. WW1 flare guns and pistols.
4. Modern guns.

The collection doesn't look very big from outside, so we were thoroughly surprised to find the exhibition halls packed with actual military weaponry and vehicles.

Even though the exhibits were displayed by category rather than by time period, the sign boards were very clearly written so I learnt a lot just by reading through each board, while Tiger raced ahead because he already knew all about the different artillery...

A 13-Pounder Field Gun, a mainstay of WW1.

Argentinian 155MM Field Gun, used in the Falkland War.

Then, in another gallery we were wowed by the number of artillery vehicles and tanks there.  For the life of me, I can't remember any of the names of those vehicles so I won't risk looking silly by giving them wrong labels, but there are many, many tanks!

Every now and then, I tried to test Tiger's knowledge by asking him what type of tank a certain one is, and which war it was used in (not that I knew the answers but I had the signboards for help).  What amazes me is that not only can Tiger correctly identify each tank, he can also tell me accurately their individual specifications such as:

• the type of ammunition it used;
• which war(s) it was used in;
• the firing range and firing power;
• which country designed or built it;
• which country used it;
• what its strengths and limitations were.

Here is an example of what Tiger told me:

1. Photo 1: AMX 13 Light Tank.  Post WW2, French-made, can take different types of guns but mostly uses the 75mm, very popular in Africa.
2. Photo 2: A41 Centurion.  Used at the end of WW2, powered by Rolls Royce engine, best tank at that time but slow at about 20mph and range of about 100 miles, British made, later also used in the Korean war, Vietnam war, and Yom Kippur war.
3. Photo 3: Chieftain Tank.  British made, to replace the Centurion, used in the Iran-Iraq war, best in the world until the Leopard tank were used by the Germans in the 1980s.
4. Photo 4: Panzer.  Swiss made but British-designed guns, used mostly in the 1960s and 1970s, secondary armament either a 20mm cannon or a 7.5mm machine gun.

To be honest, that freaked me out a little.  Nobody has asked Tiger to memorise anything.  Evidently, he has somehow remembered these facts from his volumninous reading of this topic and by paying attention to details such as the length of the guns that are mounted on each tank, the paint work that differentiated the tanks, the track designs, etc, whereas to me, every tank looked the same... (the difference between a Russian T-55 and a Patton tank, anyone?)

"The most important thing any teacher has to learn, not to be learned in any school of education I ever heard of, can be expressed in seven words: Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners."

-- John Holt

I was further educated about the differences between a tank and an armoured vehicle...

Although we couldn't get into any of the vehicles, we did have a good nose around the interior whenever they were made available for looking into.

I have to admit that 90% of the time I really didn't know what I was looking at.  I have no idea what the buttons, controls, or gears are for, and Tiger had to explain to me what each does as we walked around the collection.

As if the collection so far wasn't impressive enough, there was even an anti-aircraft gallery!

At this point, I was starting to feel totally saturated by military weaponry but Tiger was absolutely in his element as he happily went around as my tour guide (we were there on a weekday so had the entire collection all to ourselves) and explaining what each machine does, almost as though he has been living in the collection all his life!

Anti-aircraft Search Light, used in WW2 during the blitz.

Rapier Missile, used by the British forces in 1970s, could reach 6800 metres.

I only intended for us to spend two hours at the Collection, but we spent an entire day there.  It is a treasure cave for Tiger, both inside the buildings and outside.  We were able to get really up close to the few displays outdoors.

1. Photo 1: a 12-Pounder Naval Gun used on merchant ships in WW2.
2. Photo 2: a German V-1 Flying Bomb used in WW2, with a pulse jet engine.
3. Photos 3 and 4: checking out the Harrier jet that can go 735mph.

I often wonder whether our path might be "easier" if Tiger's passion were in something more conventional like science, maths, art or music, in the sense that:

• I know how to guide him in those areas whereas I'm totally out of my league and comfort zone with military history;
• I won't get so much stick from the PC crowd for allegedly encouraging and glorifying warfare; instead, I might even get lucky and be honoured for producing the next science/maths/art/music prodigy!

That doesn't seem to be the way for us, at least for the foreeseable future.

“The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret.” 

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson