It's December! This time we're enthusing about our trip to MCM ComicCon in Birmingham, Mirabelle's talking about her universe topic and the lifecycles of stars. Asher's discussing his recent exercise module and how it's impacted his times at Junior Parkrun, and Eden's discussing mock exams and past papers. Plus we're thinking ahead to what we're looking forward to over the Christmas period.

Links we mention include Everstromn hobbies, Dice and Destiny, Shelby on Safari and the Mad Hatter.

This time round Asher is talking about his latest PHSE course module, and helping change a car battery. Mirabelle is talking about the gases in the air around us and the story of flight. Eden's excited about her next steps for A-levels, and we're all talking about Stir Up Sunday, a film festival, and our latest family read aloud. Plus we're reviewing two games from Button Shy Games: Tussie Mussie and Dionysia.

It's our 200th episode! To celebrate we've got a bumper edition with highlights from our recent cruise around northern Europe and visits to Hamburg, Rotterdam, Brugge and Honfleur. Plus we're reviewing two fantastic games we were given by the nice team at Gamely games after they answered our questions for our boardgames focused last episode: Clues in Twos and The Pretender.

In case you want to listen to any of our 199 previous episodes from the last decade they are all available to listen to directly on our website www.homeedmatters.co.uk

Boardgames special! Like many home ed families we're huge boardgames fans and as we start to think about skills and subjects for future success we reached out to a number of boardgames designers and producers with some questions on the topic. In this episode we're discussing the thoughtful and insightful answers we got from a range of fab companies - questions around the skills that make a good games designer, the kinds of subjects they studied, what games inspired them, what games they're proud of and why are game boards often square or rectangular!

Huge thanks to the contributions we received from Gamely, Dranda Games, Professor Puzzle, Helvetiq, Catch Up Games, Button Shy and Off the Page Games. We'll be featuring some of the games from these companies in future episodes and on our website, so watch this space!

This time round Asher is discussing natural disasters from his Environmental Management course and Mirabelle is discussing cholera and famine in the Victorian era. More positively Mirabelle is doing tasty experiments studying genes and dna, and Eden is auditioning for roles in a forthcoming play. Plus the kids are enthusing about a climbing trip and making recommendations of books, games, films and shows they're currently enjoying!

In this episode we're discussing book adaptations, visiting Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Back to Backs. Plus Asher is talking about the board game design course he's doing, Mirabelle's talking about some books she's working through in her Victorians topic, and Eden's reflecting on two weeks back at college and various groups. Plus the kids are making recommendations again at the end of the show.

We're back with a new season as we start our 12th year of Home Education! As Eden goes into Year 11, Asher into Year 9 and Mirabelle into Year 5 we share some of the topics and approaches we're using this year. We're also sharing about what we're looking forward to this term, plus recommendations from the kids on things they are enjoying at the moment!

In this episode we're camping in the Lake District and attending the 150th Keswick Convention, plus making a quick trip to Scotland! Plus we're excited about our three new chickens, and staying busy over the summer.

We're enjoying our summer holidays, but Eden and Asher are pushing on with some of their GCSE studies regardless. Mirabelle's sharing about the paw print badge projects we're doing, we share about a fun trip to Southport and Blackpool, and we look ahead to a trip to the Lake District.

We've finished another academic year! Eden's discussing how her last GCSE exam (this year) went and what she's studying over the summer. Mirabelle gives an update on her summer reading challenge, and we head for a wonderful break in Devon including a (windy) recording on the amazing Lundy Island!

As we're approaching the end of our academic year, Mirabelle and Asher are sharing some of the year-long book studies they've recently finished. Plus we're visiting a farm for Open Farm day to tie into our Environmental Management studies, and looking ahead to an exciting holiday to north Devon.