A P R I L 2 0 2 0 FREE MONTHLY HOME EDUCATION RESOURCE P A G E 2 Calendar Dates April 2020 11th– National Safe Motherhood day/ Na- tional Pet day/ National Submarine day/ Na- Mo Tue We Th Fri Sat Su tional Support Teen Literature day 1 2 3 4 5 12th– Easter Sunday/ Big Wind day/ Rus- 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 sian Cosmonaut day/ Walk on your Wild Side day 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 13th– Dyngus day/ International Plant Ap- 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 preciation day/ Scrabble day/ Thomas Jef- 27 28 29 30 ferson's Birthday 14th– National Look Up at the Sky day/ Na- 1st– April Fools day/ Sourdough day tional Dolphin Day 2nd– Autism Awareness day 15th– Titanic Remembrance day/ World Art day 3rd– National Find a Rainbow day/ Tweed day 16th– Mushroom day/ Save the Elephants day 4th– International Mine Awareness/ Na- tional Ferret day/ National Peanut Butter 17th– World Haemophilia day/ Bat Appreci- and Jelly day ation day/ International Haiku Poetry day 5th– Ching Ming Festival in Japan/ Na- 18th– World Heritage day/ International Jug- tional Read a Road Map day/ National glers day Nebraska day/ International Maritime 19th– National Garlic day day/ Palm Sunday 20th– Chinese Language day/ Volunteer 6th– National Tartan day Recognition day 7th- World Health day/ International Bea- 21st– National Civil Service day/ World crea- ver day/ International Reflection on tivity and innovation day/ Fish Migration day Rwanda Genocide 22nd– World Earth day/ St Georges day 8th– Draw a picture of a bird day/ Zoo lovers day/ Passover/ International Rom- 23rd– Ramadan/ World Laboratory day/ any day/ International day of Human English Language day/ Spanish Language Spaceflight day/Talk like Shakespeare day/ National Picnic Day 9th– Name yourself day/ National Former Prisoner of War day 23rd till 25th– Gathering Nations Pow Wow 10th– World Homeopathy day/ Good Fri- 25th– World Malaria day/ National DNA day/ National Siblings day/ National En- day/ World Penguin day/ International Girls courage a Young Writer day/ National in ICT day/ ANZAC day/ National Flag day/ Farm Animals day National Telephone day HOME ED LOOKS LIKE T HIS P A G E 3 26th- World Intellectual and Copywrite ing arranged throughout April so keep your day/ Richter Scale day/ International eyes open! Chernobyl Disaster day 27th– Morse Code day/ National Tell a NATIONAL POETRY MONTH Story day National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the 28th– World Vet day/ International As- Academy of American Poets in 1996. Over the tronomy day/Superhero's day/ Brave- years, it has become the largest literary cele- heart's day bration in the world. 30th– International Jazz day For more information on how you can get in- volved head over to https://www.poets.org/ national-poetry-month/home NATIONAL AUTISM MONTH/WEEK National Humour Month World Autism Awareness Week is a full seven days where people across the UK take part in International Guitar Month activities to raise money and awareness for Stress Awareness Month the National Autistic Society. This year, World Autism Awareness Week will Week 1 be taking place from 1 - 7 April. Library Week World Autism Awareness Day is an inter- nationally recognised day taking place on 2 Read a Road Map Week April every year. Turn to page 18 For more information and to Week 2 find out why there is such disharmony over Garden Week the puzzle logo and Autism Speaks. Week 3 INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY WEEK Organize Your Files Week Created by teenager Jennifer Barlow in 2003, Medical Labs Week Dark Sky Week has become an international event and a key aspect of Global Astronomy Month. Week 4 The event starts on 31st march and runs Administrative Assistants Week through till 7th April. National Karaoke Week International Dark Sky Week draws attention to the problems associated with light pollution and promotes simple solutions available to PATRIOTS DAY– 3rd Monday of April mitigate it. ARBOR DAY– Last Friday in April There will be several online family events be- SAAM Day of Action– First Tuesday in April P A G E 4 April Fools Day April fool’s day is considered the most light-hearted day of the year. How could it not be, it is all about sharing laughter and fun with the people we love. The best part is in theory no one is offended and the nation tends to play along together. It certainly celebrates foolishness. But when, where and how did April Fools day start? We celebrate April fools on the 1st of April. are confirmed. In the UK we always play jokes on each oth- er, at the end of this joke we would tradition- ally shout ‘April Fools’. Calendar change: These jokes can only happen until 12 noon, The most famous of all the theories is that it if you don’t stop joking around then some got into our lives when the Gregorian Calendar believe you get ‘bad luck’ however it is more was first introduced in 1582. The people who commonly believed that you yourself be- knew nothing about the change continued cele- come the fool instead. brating New Year’s start on April 1st, and the ones who knew about it started calling them This day is very fun and a lot of people in the fools and thus started April Fool’s Day. UK enjoy taking part. Other names for April fools day around the world are April Noddy April fools day 1976: day, Gowkie day, Huntigowk day and saint In 1976, BBC announced that on that day the all-fools morn. gravity of earth would be reduced by a certain In some countries people throw flour at each level and whoever jumped in the air would float other as a part of festivities on April fools for a brief second or two. People who hadn’t day, in others they get fish and stick them on noticed the date around the country jumped to peoples backs, once the person finds out check out the theory, the phone lines were full they have a fish on their back they say of people claiming to have felt the effects. ‘poisson d’avril’. April fools day 2008: In 2008, the BBC again telecasted news saying When did it start: penguins in Antarctica started flying. It’s not just that! It stated that those penguins had April fools is thought to have first taken flown to South America’s tropical rainforests. A place in 1582 however it’s true origins are huge majority of the population fell for their lat- unknown and there are many theories. est April Fools. As much as we love to celebrate Fools day, we don’t actually know when and how it Who will you fool this year? started! There are several theories, but none HOME ED LOOKS LIKE T HIS William Wilcox. 15 years P A G E 5 P A G E 6 children are being diagnosed with autism, and they don’t make it easy, many children are undiagnosed and a higher percentage of adults have never been correctly diagnosed. There is no register or exact count kept. Any information about the possible number of autistic people in the community must be based on epidemiological surveys. An education that caters to the per-sons learning preferences is the end goal, regard- less of what your needs are or why you have those needs you should be able to access an education. Which avenue to choose can be We take a quick look back over our article one of the biggest choices a parent and child printed in our April 2019 issue: can face. Another aspect is the transition pe- Autism awareness day is on the 2nd April. The riod following that decision. If you find day was arranged by The National Autistic So- change difficult, as my brother does, any ciety. This day is important to everyone and is change no matter how small it may appear a date everyone should remember. This day is to some one, really isn't that small at all for observed to raise awareness of autism. others. Starting the transition process early Autism is a neurological and develop-mental means there is plenty of time for their choic- disorder characterized by difficulty in social es to be explored and decisions to be made, interaction, affecting communication and and changed if necessary. causing repetitive behaviour, thought patterns Some autistic children cannot attend school and a range of symptoms. As autism is a spec- because they are unable to cope with the de- trum no two children, or adults, with autism mands of school and the environment. This is will be the same. Therefore, each autistic per- sometimes referred to as school refusal, alt- son has different needs especially when in a hough some individuals feel this terminology learning environment. Autistic adults and chil- implies that the child or young person has a dren are entitled to the any help and support choice when in fact they feel un-able to at- they need whilst learning, sadly it is becoming tend. School absence or refusal can be ongo- harder to find educational establishments that ing until the reasons behind it have been can meet those needs. Some may follow main- identified and ad-dressed. stream, others home education/ schooling and Home education provides extra security for then some children will remain in mainstream my brother that he didn't receive at school. education. Autism is more common than peo- Raising awareness of autism is crucial as the ple think, there are around 700,000 autistic world moves forward.