Wise Little Acorn

Sparse posts = busy life

2011-11-18T21:15:00.001Z

I keep meaning to update this blog - but when?

We continue to plod on in much the same fashion, struggling to juggle work and home ed, never feeling there is sufficient time to do either properly, until something makes us look back and realise that both are going well.

Becoming a Gran!

2011-10-08T21:06:00.000+01:00

On 7th October 2011, I became a Gran. My daughter Kate gave birth to this little bundle.
A very cuddly little boy. I am happy and proud. Auntie Emily is too.

Holiday!

2011-08-02T17:35:00.000+01:00

We have spent the last week in Cornwall, on a holiday won by our fabulous big daughter Kate. The farm we stayed on had an indoor pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room which were no less than wonderful. It was amazing to have a pool all to ourselves.

Saturday night we took a trip to the local beaches of Portreath and Portowan. The sunset was amazing.

Sunday we tried to visit Newquay - but it was full. Not a parking space anywhere - so we cheered ourselves up with a visit to Callestick farm. These people make the best ice cream ever.

Monday started out a bit grey and overcast, so we visited the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek. Although by lunch time we were searching out the shade. We saw the rescued baby seals in the hospital and videos on how the sanctuary works and we learnt what to do if we find a seal on the beach.

Tuesday and Wednesday we went to the beach at Gwithian, and spent both of the entire days there. If the tide is wrong at Gwithian, there's no chance of leaving the beach as the steps get cut off by the tide. No worries - move up the beach and wait it out. Rich, Emily and I all had fun body-boarding, although Kate was a bit restricted by her now rapidly growing bump. We used to take James and Kate to this beach when they were little, so it was amazing to be able to go back and do it again with Emily.

Thursday we finally made it to Newquay for a trip to the Blue Reef Aquarium and a browse around the shops. We watched the staff feed the Giant Turtle and heard about how he was rescued and how he manages to find his food as he is blind. Then we watched the Caimen Crocodiles being feed, they are trained to bite a big red ball on a stick and when they do so they are rewarded with food, this is so they can be coaxed into a box fro transportation as they will leave the water to touch the ball. They live in a large aquarium with turtles and fish, and we were interested to learn that they do not eat the other occupants as they are regularly fed, this is how the centre manages to keep sharks in the same tank as other fish too. The staff member compared these predators to humans, who could easily go and kill there own food - but we don't bother as it's easier to go to the supermarket!
They have only been at the centre a few months and already have a nest full of eggs, so we'll be watching the website in a few weeks time to see if they have hatched.

By Friday some of us were a bit sun-scorched (not me), so we opted to avoid the beach. Instead we went for a boat trip in Falmouth up the river Fal. It was amazing scenery and a very interesting trip, although the gigantic tankers that are "parked" up the river waiting for work made it all a little surreal. Emily and Rich went crabbing from the pier and then later in the day from the rocks by the castle.

Time to come home on Saturday, but still time to "pop" into Boscastle and admire the beauty of the place. We saw how high the flood in 2004 had reached up the still standing buildings, and learned about their new flood defences. Emily wanted to visit the Witchcraft museum, and found it fascinating.

We are all well rested, and feeling a bit glum to be home. Well, all apart from Emily who is looking forward to Badger Camp next week!

Planning for next year.

2011-07-18T20:50:00.009+01:00

Because Rich is a teacher, we tend to work our home education around the school terms simply so we can take our holidays with him. So at the moment, we're having a break until September. Well, when I say "we", obviously I mean Emily, not me. I'm still working, the NHS doesn't give me the summer off unfortunately, and I'm planning the educational activities for next year.

We do work to a loose schedule, we have a certain amount of topics we hope to get covered each term. It's not that we are organised folk, or think that autonomous education doesn't work (it does), but simply because with both of us working full time, we have to be organised to be able to do this.

So far the loosely arranged plan is:

English- We will continue to follow the structure of Study Ladder, although it will be year 4 work not 3. Emily has already covered the year 3 work, so our plan is to take the year 4 work slowly and supplement the topics they have with other activities.

Maths - Again we will use study ladder (year 3), supplemented by other activities.

Science - we will be using the free science curriculum from MrQ, along with our chemistry set.

History - continue our wander along the timeline. We will start next term with the Norman invasion

Geography - 3 separate projects - 1 each term. Rocks, Rivers and something undecided as yet...

PE - 1x swimming lesson & 1 free swim each week. Gymnastics weekly and starting karate.

I will plump this up further during the summer, with suitable visits and games.

May? Already?

2011-05-27T16:11:00.000+01:00

Oh no - time is flying by - where did May go?
OK so it's catch up time again - not unusual for this blog I know.

So May...
Well, as Pagans, May is a big deal. We celebrated Beltaine as usual with our friends in Charnwood Grove.
We also attended a May Fair at Beacon Hill. It was a beautiful Spring day, with Maypole dancing, a May Queen, Storytelling, and lots and lots of ribbons.

A few days later it was Emilys 7th Birthday. We celebrated as a family, with James coming home from Uni to join us. We hadn't seen him since the beginning of January so that was lovely. (I will add the photos when I have uploaded them to the computer)

Then the following week, Emily had her party at Oak Farm Park. She had a great time, despite being a little under the weather.

Kate has been spending a lot of time with Emily over the past few weeks as I struggle to catch up with my Uni course. They've have started and completed the personal safety section on Study Ladder. We have also continued looking at the Vikings (so now I know where the blonde hair comes from - my daughters are Vikings!), and linked this to Geography.

Emily has finished the year 2 Maths on Study Ladder, she just needs to complete the exams, which I think we are both putting off! They have little relevance to us - we know she knows her stuff and we are taking a break before starting the year 3 work. We have also returned a little to Mathletics (although it's still not a favourite). Emily has also started using Dance Mat Typing, to improve her skills.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Plantasia with a group of local Home Edders. Unfortunately we didn'tmake it all the way round all of the mazes, so we're sending Emily and her Dad back later to try harder! It was a lovely day, despite the rain, with the wonderful kind of company you only get in Home Ed groups.

Vikings

2011-04-30T15:18:00.004+01:00

We have finally finished the Viking settlement. The image below right shows the whole thing including the trading long ship while the image on the left is focused on the boatyard.
Below is Milly's favourite part. That's the man on the toilet. I gave us a good chance to talk about Viking plumbing (or lack thereof).

Growing Beans

2011-04-22T12:07:00.003+01:00

The bean on the left is confused. It has too much light and it can't find up or down. We've covered it with a sleeve (on the right). Let's see if it grow up towards the light now.

Crafty History

2011-04-18T16:45:00.001+01:00

The first four buildings of our Viking Settlement. We now need a quick Jorvik Centre visit.

Swimming

2011-04-18T13:21:00.003+01:00

Level 3 done. That's 10 meters on the front and back and a lot of water skill stuff. Milly is very pleased with herself. Now she has a green hat!

Fire Station Visit (take 2)

2011-02-24T13:15:00.000Z

Zoo

2011-02-23T12:31:00.000Z

Celts, Romans and Treasure

2011-02-17T12:34:00.000Z

Today Emily is doing the blog. Hi

Yesterday I went to the museum with my friends.

Ha ha I am a celt! cool!

I wore some SILLY HELMETS!

I made a silver coin.

I swept in the sand pit to get some treasure and I found a tile with 2000 year old dog foot prints. I wrote about it.

INVADERS!

I made a helmet.

Magnets

2011-02-11T11:31:00.001Z

Well, I think it's fascinating....

....and as usual, if I can be enthusiastic, then Milly has to be interested too.

Now, just have to learn how to be enthusiastic about fractions...

Silk Painting

2011-02-07T11:10:00.004Z

Today we met with other home educating families in South West Leicestershire at an artists studio in Hinckley to do some silk painting.
This was a new craft to both Emily and me, I must admit I found it quite frustrating to sit back and watch and really wanted to have a go myself.

After planning their designs on paper, the design was traced onto the silk with silver and gold pens before being painted. Emily had some difficulty in deciding what to draw, opting initially for an exact replica of what the artist had demonstrated. At least this served to remind me that at school she would be very compliant and would be lost in the system, following instructions exactly and losing her own identity; these reminders are comforting at times! She decided in the end to draw shapes on her silk in an abstract pattern.

Light

2011-02-07T11:02:00.001Z

Emily and her Dad have been working on the topic of light at weekends. Yes she'll happily work at weekends...very different from her brother and sister who went to school in the week and believed weekends were solely for sleeping and playing.

They started just after Xmas by making a stained glass window out of sweet wrappers, and then went on to make a kaliedoscope from a kit.
This week they have made a periscope out of a couple of cat food boxes (cat food boxes seem to feature highly in everything around here!), a tube and 2 acrylic mirrors.

Craft with Dad

2011-02-05T10:43:00.001Z

A theatre made from a cat food box and some cardboard people on lolly sticks.
Oh the fun they have when I'm at work!

Slime

2011-02-02T12:18:00.001Z

Yuck

Who is this strange person?

2011-02-01T12:21:00.001Z

and what are they doing in my house?

Jan 9th-15th - Online Resources

2011-01-09T22:43:00.006Z

As usual this week we will be doing English and Maths via Study Ladder, and Letts KS1 workbooks. Spelling will be via "Spelling bee" and a workbook.

Science this week will be about Magnets and Magnetism. We will use some videos -introduction, sorting rubbish and Breakfast cereal. We will do the breakfast cereal experiment, and some others in our science book. We will use BBC Science Clips & the Worksheet, and further Printables if we need them.

We will listen to music from the musical Peer Gynt (In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg), if we have time we will look at notation again. Blank Music Paper

In History we are moving on from the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons. This week we are aiming for an overview of the period. Online we will use the BBCs The Anglo Saxons, we may also look at the Anglo-Saxon cook book and Early Britons.

Geography is going to be an introduction to The Water Cycle, which will mainly be Printables.

Early Morning Learning

2011-01-07T10:55:00.001Z

As I've said before, much of our "learning" goes on in the mornings, despite me definately NOT being a morning person. In fact, a good percentage of learning - goes on in bed!
Milly usually comes and climbs in my bed when Rich leaves for work, we'll doze for a while before she says,
"Muuuummmm?" This morning this was followed by...
"Why doesn't the Government ban smoking?","What does guilty and innocent mean?", then "What are drugs?", "Tell me about drugs", "Why doesn't the queen execute people?"
Yee Gods! So before even getting out of my bed this morning we had discussed at some length the following:
- Smoking and the problems with making things illegal - where do we stop?
- Courts, Judges and Jury
- Innocent and Guilty
- Illegal drugs and their effects and why illegal drugs lead to crime
- The death penalty, including the problems of filling up the jails and executing innocent people.

Running late for Home Ed group now...

New Year.

2011-01-06T15:02:00.000Z

Woo, a whole new year - where did the last one go?
I am hoping to make a bit more use of this blog this year compared to last. Being a family of geeks, we use the internet a lot for resources, the addresses of which are often scribled on bits of paper. So I am hoping to be able to post the links I intend to use here, before rather than after I need them.
We haven't got back to "learning" yet, as James is still home. He returns to Preston on Saturday and won't be home again until May, so we're making the most of having him around. Kate has already gone back to Leeds, as her course restarted on Tuesday, but she will be back again in February.

I feel less chaotic than I did back in November. At that time it felt as if we were stumbling along blindly, haphazardly learning on the way. Looking back I don't think we were as bad as it felt, certainly I can see a good deal of basic English and Maths went on, but maybe not much else. I feel better prepared for this term and have spent time organising and planning. We have spent the morning cleaning out the "supplies" cupboard. One day, I'll take this cupboard back and fill it full of homemade jams and wines and cakes and bread, until then it will continue to look like an advert for Horrible Science kits and bits of left over tissue paper!

My New Years Resolution is to lose weight, not exactly a new idea for me, but one that's becoming increasingly necessary. I had Flu in December and since then the arthritis in my knees has become much worse. It's now a struggle to get upstairs. Maybe the pain will inspire me to lose weight...

Worshipping at the Temple of the mighty Cocoa.

2010-11-21T11:43:00.007Z

Blessed be the Chocolate bar! Today we visited Cadburys World in Birmingham. What better therapy for the winter blues?
It was much much better than I expected, interesting, educational and with a wonderful aroma of Chocolate.
We learnt about Coco beans, the Incas, fair trade and obviously - chocolate. Also a bit about Quakers and life in the late 1800's.

We had a lovely relaxing family day out, which made us realise that we don't make enough effort to get out and enjoy things together. Until September this year, I worked every weekend and Rich worked in the week, we simply haven't had opportunity to spend time together. Since then, we've been using our weekends together to catch up on mundane tasks that need both of us, like painting the landing! But now we are making an attempt to claim our weekends back!

We also came away with lots of chocolate bars. WOW! BONUS!

Inspired by this, we have put aside all other work this week and we are going to have a chocolate themed week, learning more about the production of chocolate, fair trade, Incas, and lots of choccy cooking.

Still struggling

2010-11-19T11:37:00.000Z

So much for last weeks plans! I still feel as if we are failing to achieve anything. To be fair, it could be because I've had virus after virus for the last fortnight, or the ongoing pressures from work which, at the moment, are immense.
Plodding on...

New Plan...

2010-11-12T12:38:00.000Z

New Plan...
1. English - continue using the Letts workbooks. Emily enjoys them and they make life easier...
2. Maths - as above, plus mathletics.
3. Science - abandon all sense of direction and go where curiosity takes us; at least, for a little while...
4. History - Never mention dinosaurs again. Never ever. Continue our own journey through time, using the galore park books as a reference not a lead. Might need to recap a bit, since we abandoned our journey in September.

Everything else remains as chaotic as before.
Now where's that Yellow Moon catalogue?

Teeth and worries

2010-11-05T21:30:00.000Z

Emily has lost 2 milk teeth in the last 2 weeks and this week we find that the next chapter of her science book is about teeth. Good timing! I think we will be looking at this site too.

It has been an extrememly busy week and I am beginning to worry about the small amount of learning that seems to go on. I know I go through this periodically, so to find myself doubting again is no surprise. I know that Emily is learning, but I seem to spend my time worrying about the process! Structure or no structure, maybe a little structure. Workbooks? Writing? Computer? Aggghhh.

I think I need some quiet time to review where we are and where we are going. If I will be able to find that quiet time is a totally different matter. I am under great pressure at work, and whereas being offered as much overtime as I want is a good thing, having to work extra hours isn't so great.

Busy Week

2010-11-01T08:21:00.002Z

Eeek - a busy week.

Monday - I'm working, Emily will go to the childminders, then she has Badgers in the evening.
Tuesday - Home Ed group, then Shopping. Hopefully we'll get to look at some fractions later.
Wednesday - Cinema (Schools Film Week) to see Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs
Thursday - Cinema to see The Princess and the Frog, then Home Ed craft group, then work.
Friday - Cinema to see Nanny McPhee, then a new Home Ed group.
Saturday - Swimming, then Fireworks.

Agggghhhh.

Spanish

2010-10-12T20:45:00.000+01:00

Emily wants to learn Spanish, in fact, she wants to learn Spanish so much, that she's teaching herself!
I have always been totally useless at languages, I have vivid memories of looking aghast at the women at the front of my class shouting at me in French. What did she say? I still don't know, but it obviously wasn't a compliment. It wasn't an occasional occurrence either, it happened twice weekly...
So as you can imagine, Emilys announcement about wishing to learn Spanish wasn't met with the enthusiasm apparently appropriate to a Home Educating Mum.

Thank goodness for online resources.

Learn to sign Week

2010-10-08T11:28:00.000+01:00

We've been taking part in "Learn to Sign Week" reminding ourselves of some basic BSL. Emily and I have been signing together since she was a baby, but in the busy social whirl of a Home Educated 6 year old, it's one of those things that has been forgotten. It was good to spend time reminding ourselves of the basics, hopefully it's something that we'll do a little more regularly now.
In the past we have found it very useful to be able to communicate without speech at busy parks, it saves on the shouting!

Colours
Weather
Dictionary

National Poetry Day

2010-10-07T11:41:00.001+01:00

We have spent some time reading and listening to poetry today.
This was Emilys favourite:

Macavity the Mystery Cat

Swampy pays up!

2010-09-18T16:40:00.000+01:00

Our hard work earlier in the year has led to this:

Loads of carrots, thousands of chillies (not very strong, we will be trying a new variety next year), cauliflowers, several different sorts of squash, lots of apple cucumbers and more runner beans than a runner bean farm.

Also, lots of hazelnuts from the garden. We still have much much more to harvest and we hope we can get to the remainder of the food before the advancing line of slugs.

On Thursday it was Sunny. SUNNY! Emily and I went to the local park, to look for signs of autumn and generally play around. Autumn wasn't hiding, we found lots of conkers, acorns and the leaves on the Horse Chestnuts trees were brown and crisp.

All Change !

2010-09-14T09:19:00.000+01:00

Everything is suddenly very different in this house. James and Kate both left home for uni this weekend. I am so pleased and proud they both got the places they wanted at uni and that they are moving on, that's the whole point after all. But I admit to more than a prang of sadness at this change...trying to keep busy...

Onto brighter news.
Emily has been working hard. She continues her love of history and this year we have begun work on the Galore Park books. Having covered a lot of the material in history already, we sailed through the first chapter and began work on dinosaurs yesterday. This lead to a wonderful conversation about evolution and creation, with Emily able to immediately see the holes in both theories!

Here we go again.

2010-09-14T09:18:00.001+01:00

Emily and I have been busy planning the next few months ahead.

Emily requested to do more formal work this year, so that has been the basis of our plans. We had some problems finding suitable workbooks, as Emily would be going into year 2 at school but we found that most of the work had already been completed last year by expanding on the work we were already doing. Luckily a friend then recommended Galore Park, which starts at year 3 - so we're taking it slowly.

Back to school (aka: the dining table)

2010-09-02T09:18:00.000+01:00

So I haven't blogged since, well, since the dawn of time. So just for the sake of completeness here's a catch up.

Our summer holiday was very wet. Again this year we opted for camping in the UK. We were going down to Cornwall, but the weather forecast was so pessimistic we went over to Norfolk instead.
I recommend Scratby Hall as a lovely campsite.

We spent most of the remainder of the summer at home. Our allotment has been mainly successful, lots of peas, beans and potatoes. The difficulty at the moment is keeping up with all the picking. We've made mead and runner bean wine, so far. Methinks that beetroot wine might be next on the menu.

Nanny was 70 in August so we went to her party.

Then Emily and Rich popped down to Kent to see the other Nanny. They took advantage of the abundance of Romans in Kent and went to visit a Roman villa to round off our studies on that time period.

Waiting on exam results and University places has played a large part in the last few months. Happily both James and Kate passed their courses and have been accepted into their first choice universities. A bit of a struggle to sort out accommodation, but now its all packing and waiting for them to go. Very mixed emotions about the whole thing, especially as they are both moving so far away. I never had twins, I never expected them both to leave in the same week!

Rich has now returned to work in that way that teachers do this time of year, and Emily and I are beginning a whole new year of work and play.

Oh yes - I remember - the blog...

2010-08-21T12:39:00.002+01:00

oooopppsss...

Horrible Science

2010-05-19T20:05:00.004+01:00

We've been to see "Horrible Science" at the Curve this morning. It was truly brilliant, Milly was transfixed by it, although sometimes a little shaken by the 3D effects (especially the germs which came to get us!).
Afterwards we had a walk around town, popped into Lush to buy lovely smellies and brought another "doodle" colouring book. Milly likes the very complicated patterns.

This evening I have been to see Swampy, I have finally sorted out my peas! (Yes!) Meanwhile Milly has been playing with Kate. She is exploring music at the moment, we have numerous instruments in the house and she is picking them up and trying to make music with them, sometimes successfully. I have been trying to teach her the recorder (on and off) for the past year, but she is not interested, maybe we'll try the keyboard.

Jewry Wall Museum

2010-05-13T22:31:00.000+01:00

We have been continuing our exploration of the Romans. Today we visited Jewry Wall museum in Leicester.
Although I've lived here for 20 years, I had never been to this museum before.

James came with us and we had a pleasant afternoon. I think we have to revisit sometime soon though as there was far too much to take in on one visit.

Blaby Park

2010-05-12T18:00:00.000+01:00

This afternoon we went for a walk in Blaby park. A very relaxing time after a "run-around-silliness" type of morning.

Pizza!!!

2010-05-11T17:32:00.001+01:00

Milly and I met with Home Ed friends at Pizza Express in town today for a Pizza making session.
It was very well presented and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. Milly tried a few ingredients that she has never tried before and ate all her pizza when we reheated it for dinner.

Still here - just not blogging

2010-05-09T13:08:00.000+01:00

I haven't felt inspired to blog recently. I don't know why.
Hopefully I'll post a catch-up soon and get back to it.

Happy 6th Birthday!

2010-05-05T22:44:00.001+01:00

Emily May is 6 today!! Happy Birthday Babes!

We opened presents this morning and this afternoon we met a few friends at a local park. Milly has had a lovely day, and so did I.

Wow, 6 already...

Catch up again...

2010-03-17T11:38:00.001Z

We have been excessively busy over the past few weeks, so here I am playing catch up again!

We have pretty much finished our work on the Celts, although Emily is enjoying it so much it still seems to be going on (and on and on...hello bored mother here). I think this has been helped by our local museums activity sessions on the Celts and the wonderful pages on the Celts at the BBC website.
We have started our work on weather, but as usual we are off to a slow start! I will have to get a little more organised. We have began work on our weather station, but it needs finishing - hopefully this week!
Emily has continued to enjoy using Mathletics and really hasn't needed much encouragement to do so.

But mostly, as always at this time of year, Mother Nature has been taking up our time.
We have planted peas, sweetcorn, parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, sweet peas, asters, pansies, chillis, peppers....
We have taken cuttings of various plants, chitted our potatoes and spent lots of time at the allotment.
Emily has really appreciated the opportunity to be outside again. The frogs in our pond have declared it to be Spring and the world seems to be waking up around us.

Roman Music

2010-02-27T15:36:00.004Z

We just got back from a Roman Music Workshop at Market Harborough museum. Emily sat really well through the demonstrations of instruments and showed a great interest when given a chance to look at them.
Then we made a Roman helmet. No trip to the museum is complete without some crafting.
(oh, and that's a bowling ball in her right hand...probably not Roman)

A sad day.

2010-02-25T21:04:00.000Z

The News is once again full of the terrible death of Khyra, and the suffering of her and her siblings. No-one can fail to be horrified by the events reported surely, and no-one wants to see them repeated EVER. But realistically, children will continue to suffer at the hands of adults who are supposed to care and love them. Sadly, there are going to be lots more Khyras, children will be continue to be abused and there will be no full stop.

We can try as individuals and as communities to protect our young. That's the most we can do - we can try.
We can remove children from abusive parents to place in the care of foster parents or state run homes, are they safer? Often not, abuse occurs in the system that is supposed to protect these children, it is not confined to the family.
However this is not an education issue, it is a safeguarding issue. Monitoring Home Educators because of this case makes no sense.

If we are to monitor Home Educators because of this case, then we will also have monitor the parents of under 5's, 5-18's in the school holidays and ultimately everyone 24/7. Think this is ridiculous? Think again - if home educators can't be trusted to care for their children, can anyone? The answer is obviously not.
Abuse doesn't have a time frame, it can take place over years, weeks... seconds. Death can come quickly, or he can tiptoe in...

The BBC report here states that

"Four months after Gordon pulled her daughter out of school in April 2008 the social work team manager agreed to close the case as home tutoring had been approved, according to the city council. Weeks later the seven-year-old was dead. "

Social services were unconcerned. If they had safeguarding concerns they could have used child protection laws to see Khyra, if they were concerned that education was not taking place they could have issued a School Attendance Order. They didn't, they were unconcerned, there was nothing that indicated that this tragedy was about to take place.
How can we prevent tragedies like this happening again? Treat all parents as potential abusers - this seems to be the governments answer, beginning with Home Educators.
Do you trust them to stop there?

Allotment!!!

2010-02-24T20:34:00.000Z

It looks like we may finally have an allotment. We have been on the waiting list for almost 3 years - so this is good news!
Apparently it needs a lot of work, but (within reason) that doesn't really matter to us. We are going to meet the allotment man on Saturday to take a look. But as you can probably tell, we're happy!

Maths success

2010-02-20T17:15:00.002Z

More success with Mathletics. Milly is very pleased with her first certificate. I love the way she is happy to repeat an exercise until she has really got an understanding of it

Eating Snow

2010-02-18T15:19:00.000Z

The Finished Product

2010-02-18T15:07:00.000Z

and a beaming smile of achievement!

Market Harborough Museum

2010-02-17T15:07:00.001Z

We visited Market Harborough Museum today as part of our work on the Iron Age.
They have The Hallaton Treasure there, the biggest Iron Age "Hoard" found in England. There are lots of tiny little coins which we looked at closely and noted the symbols on, brooches and obviously loads of Iron Age information.
It was very busy when we went as our visit unfortunately co-incided with a half term activity day, so I suspect we'll return later this month or next.

Planting time again

2010-02-17T10:00:00.004Z

Last week we washed up all the gardening pots and equipment from last year, ready to start again. While doing this, we found some old beans we had saved from last year.

We very carefully peeled one to see what it looked like inside. We could see 2 tiny shoots and wondered if one of these became the stem and the other the root - we're not quite sure how to find out, as having taken the bean apart - it's not going to grow! Pondering on this...

Then we planted up our first seeds; sweetpeas, tomatoes, chillis, Asters and Pansies. Emily wrote the labels so we knew what was what, unfortunately she then watered then and now we seem to be growing lots of smudges.

We also planted up some cress seed we found from last year, and observed it swelling up and beginning to sprout.

Springs on her way!!!

Half Term means learning with Dad...

2010-02-16T15:23:00.001Z

Emily and Dad made a bird house today, from plans on the RSPB site (they needed a little adaptation apparently).

They found us!! Although we weren't really hiding...

2010-02-13T15:34:00.001Z

We received the dreaded letter from the Local Authority recently, informing us that they were aware that we "intended" to Home Educate Emily. ("Intend????")
I wasn't surprised, I haven't really been hiding. I refuse to hide.
The paperwork they sent had it's problems, rather patronising. They also enclosed a form for us to fill in a return to them so that we could discuss when the Home Ed officer visits.
And there's the stumbling block...
Oh dear.
So I'm sitting here tippy typing away a report, thinking "Wow haven't we done A LOT" and feeling rather pleased with Emily’s achievements.
But, what purpose would a visit serve? Emily would get worried about being "sent" to school, and the LA would get what extra information? None.
No, we don't need a visit, thank you.

Planet Earth

2010-02-13T15:25:00.012Z

So far this term we have looked at Planet Earth, Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis.

Swimming Success

2010-02-09T17:38:00.002Z

After stopping Emilys swimming lessons for this term, we also forgot to take her swimming regularly. So it was with great enthusiam that we set of for swimming today.
She exceeded all of her expectations and was amazed to find that she could swim a whole width of the pool with no help at all.
Brilliant!

Home Ed Dragons

2010-02-08T15:48:00.000Z

Home Ed group do Chinese New Year!

Success - Mathletics

2010-02-07T17:34:00.002Z

Emily completed a unit of Mathletics today. She's very pleased with herself.

Chemistry for beginners

2010-02-03T20:49:00.000Z

After a lovely morning at K & H's house yesterday, when H excitedly showed Emily what happens when you mix Bicarbonate of Soda with Vinegar, we have been doing more of the same today.

We mixed vinegar and Bicarb again and made a lovely foamy mess.

Then we did the cleaner but noisier version with citric acid and Bicarb. Emily found this all very fascinating.

We spoke about how mixing chemicals together often makes different chemicals - in this case carbon dioxide. We then looked at how trees take in Carbon dioxide and give off Oxygen, whereas animals do it the other way round. We spoke about the composition of air. We then talked about how chemicals have symbols and we don't always write out the whole name; O for oxygen for example.

Finally we made a bath bomb, which we will be testing later.

The Waterways folk

2010-01-28T20:36:00.006Z

We met at a friends house this morning with some nice ladies from British Waterways, who are bidding for a pot of money to provide Home Educated children with some educational sessions.
It went reasonably well, I think. The children certainly enjoyed it and it was nice meeting some new HE parents. Some of the older children will be taking part in a presentation which will hopefully result in the money being released. I have some reservations about the suitability of the activities the waterways folk are planning compared to the ages of the children who attended today - but we will see...
(Thanks to Ceri for the photos)

Back to business

2010-01-26T18:42:00.003Z

Back to Home Ed group yesterday, after a 6 week break. The session was a creative one, everyone brought in as many boxes (the bigger the better) as they had left from Christmas as the children (and the adults) got creative with them. There were boats, robots, cars and everything inbetween. Emily and I made a hovercraft.
It has returned to its former states as a cardboard box now, all the knobs and levers have fallen off.

Today we have been busy with "real HE stuff". This morning stated with me reading Emily a chapter of "Matilda" by Roald Dahl. Then we got ALL the craft things out and made a get well card for my sister in law, which Emily wrote beautifully. He writing really is improving, The various materials I keep giving her to write with seem to be making her think about the way she forms her letters. Afterwards we made lots of little paper people.

This afternoon Emily has made labels for our cross section of Planet Earth, and again surprised me at the amount she can take in. We only discussed it once and she was able to tell me which part was the inner core, outer core, Mantle and crust (and then if it was solid or liquid!). She does like working on a project.
She then played with the Cuisenaire rods, whilst I did a bit of housework. Then we looked through the recipe books to find something yummy to bake. Again, she surprised me with her ability to read the ingredients lists.
We made chocolate buns, and decorated them with icing. They didn't last long.

Making the most of the space!

2010-01-21T12:00:00.001Z

We finally made it to the Space Centre, and fought our way round through the 700 schools that seemed to be visiting at the same time. It was VERY noisy which meant that we had a double dose of over excitement to deal with; however it was also very good. We particularly enjoyed the Space Theatre show.

Emily as usual found every "face looker" in the place and demanded a photo...

Yesterday we started out very grumpy - so decided to go to the local Country park for a good walk and a hot chocolate. After that we played with the exhibits in the visitor centre and discussed insulation and wildlife gardening. We have decided that we have a very wildlife friendly garden as we already have most of the suggested wildlife friendly items (pond, log pile, hedge, fruit trees etc) in our tiny garden.

Another week that flew by...

2010-01-11T20:46:00.001Z

We've continued to be busy, James and Kate are completing their UCAS applications this week. The deadlines Friday, so we are hoping they make it. Unfortunately they don't seem terribly motivated, so we are hoping they get finished!

On the other hand, Emily continues to want to go go go...
We have almost completed our space project. We have investigated the planets, the sun, comets and moons. We have discussed galaxies and solar systems. We have looked at books and video clips of mans space exploration - both sucessful and tragic and to finish we will be treating ourselves to the trip to the Space Centre later this week.

Emily has been working hard on her hama beads, she has worked out how to follow complex patterns and just gets on with these herself.

She has also been busy this weekend making wooden models from kits. Here are the Spider, Butterfly and Dolphin she made. She needed a little help with some of the difficult parts, but mostly managed with just a little encouragement.

SNOW!!!

2010-01-06T12:40:00.000Z

We watched the children go to school - and then we went and played in the snow!!

We came home to discover the boiler had broken again - no hot water and no heating! AGGGHHH!
Thankfully we have a couple of electric heaters so we're not freezing.

Iron Age / Celts: Resources

2010-01-03T11:32:00.008Z

A topic we plan to explore Spring term 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/celts/index.shtml?1
http://education.gtj.org.uk/trails/iron/iron5.html
http://www.castellhenllys.com/english/howtobuild.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/celts.htm
http://resourcesforhistory.com/
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/history/boudicca/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/ironage_roundhouse/index.shtml

Our Plans: Such as they are...

2009-12-31T12:00:00.002Z

New Year on the Horizon Alert!!

We have sat and discussed this together and this term (before the end of March) we hope to do this:

English
Emily still likes the Wizard workbooks and would like to do some more of these, so we will be continuing to use the KS1 workbooks we started last term. We enjoy our morning reading sessions, although now Emily can read we seem to have lost our way with these, so we hope to find a paperback to share. We are looking for opportunities to do useful writing as she is not keen on writing for no reason - we have joined Postcrossing, we hope to write letters to the Nannys, and I hope to get her writing my shopping lists etc. I would like her to try to form her letters correctly, but she disagrees. We will also be looking at the spellings of basic rhyming words to help Emily with her spelling which she has identified as something she would like to do.

Maths
Again Emily would like to carry on with the Little Wizard workbooks. She also enjoys Whizz.com and Education City. We also have subscriptions (via Home Ed groups) to Mathletics and Grid, which we have not yet explored.
She has identified that she would like to learn how to tell the time, we have numerous resources for this: Cards, watches, timers and a large cardbook clock to name but a few.

Science
We would like to finish our Space project and reward ourselves with a visit to the Space Centre. After this, we would like to concentrate on planet Earth. Emily is interested in Volcanoes, so we will look at these and earthquakes and if time allows we will move onto weather.

Geography
We will continue our exploration of Geography from big to small. As Emily is able to identify the Continents, we will continue to explore the countries. We will hopefully be doing this with the help of Postcrossing. We will look at the countries as we receive cards, and we will use news stories to fill in any gaps.

History
We have finished our work on the Stone Age, so moving forward our next logical step is the Bronze and Iron age. I need to think further about how we can do this, as I don't intend it to be a long project.

We will also continue to cook each week and do as many arts and crafts as we can. We will visit as many Home Ed groups as we wish to, and we will spend as much time with our friends as possible.

Panto time

2009-12-30T16:34:00.001Z

Every year, we take Emily to see the Panto. We used to take James and Kate, but at 20 and 17 we doubt they'd join in - and where's the fun in a panto if you're not shouting at the stage and singing songs about Bums?
Exactly - so they stay at home and complain that we don't take them!
This year we went to Loughborough Town Hall to see their production of Beauty and the Beast. It was excellent, plenty to join in with and shout about, fake snow falling from the ceiling onto us and lots of opportunities to get squirted with water (I'm easily pleased!).
But best of all - Emily was chosen to go up on the stage, something she has been desperate to do for many years but has never been chosen. In fact it has probably been her number one wish for a couple of years, and yesterday her wish came true. I'm not certain the experience lived up to the dreams, as she didn't like it when she thought people were laughing at her, but she stood on the stage in front of a theatre full of people and spoke clealy and confidently to a very large man dressed in a frock.
Proud Mum moment.

Postcrossing

2009-12-29T16:34:00.011Z

We have started Postcrossing as an addition to our work on World Geography. We have sent 3 postcards so far:

To Finland
To Luxembourg
To Germany

Emily has found these places on our world map and we are looking forward to receiving some cards too. We have been into Leicester to buy some more postcards, and we will send 2 more tomorrow:

To USA
To France.

Here's hoping it works...

Lots of space

2009-11-27T10:44:00.000Z

We've been continuing our topic of space, we have started on a wall display which at the moment has all the planets in our Solar system on it and labelled. We are planning to find out a little more about each planet and stick notes on.
LA painted the planets, but wanted to do them in the correct colours, so she looked through an encyclopedia and found them all with no problem. It was another one of those - "where did you learn to do that?" moments. She didn't need to do worksheets and workbooks on alphabetical order to grasp the concept, and it made me realise that my thinking is still very much in the school mindset at times.
The swimming issues from last week were resolved, they now have 2 instructors in the group, which helped enormously. The child which needed the individual attention received more attention without having to resort to destructive behaviours and the rest of the group were able to continue.
We baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday, and LA's friend H came to play. LA is having a few issues with control at the moment, we are experiencing numerous tantrums and sometimes aggression on a daily basis. It's hard going, but I'm sure its just a phase. It is about control and her perceived lack of it, so we're trying to be adaptable - but obviously there are limits.

Space, TV and Swimming...

2009-11-17T22:24:00.003Z

LA has decided that she doesn't want to do the "My body" project that she originally requested and I have provided! This is no surprise as she has been avoiding it since September. I rather suspect she knows most of it already, so no worries. She would like to learn about Space instead - so I've been doing my homework!

Rich has splashed out and brought a new (very posh) TV and Sky, both of which are now installed and working. It is nice to get the huge old TV out of the room, there seems to be so much more space now. Although we are having problems getting rid of the old one, I always struggle with Freecycle (or Freegle, as it calls itself now). Whatever I do, I seem to get my posts rejected. I tried again last night. I tried really hard and I'm sure I finally got all the information in the right places for them. But no, it came back to me. It seems that there is now an even more local group than the local group, so I'm not allowed to offer on the old local group until I have advertised on the new local group. Of course I'm not a member of the new local group - so I can't do that until I join... and to be honest, I really can't be bothered, because next time I wish to offer something, something else will have changed and I'll have to start all over again. So we still have the old TV. Any ideas, ideas that don't involve the little Hitlers at Freegle/Freecycle?

It was LAs swimming lesson tonight, but she only managed to swim for 10 minutes before banging her head on the wall and getting a huge bump. In her group there is a small (5 ish) girl who is totally unable to behave. I and the other parents spend time trying to conceal our "tuts" each week, but her Mother doesn't notice anyway, she's got her paperwork to do! She jumps on the instructor, physically stops the other children swimming by deliberately blocking them, spends enormous amounts of time playing the fool to get the instructors attention, throws her floats away, and refuses to stay in the same area of the pool to the rest of the group - all of which mean that the other children get less time. Well, today she decided that she would spit water at LA and wouldn't stop. LA backed off but she followed, LA tried to get out of the pool, but slipped and banged her head. I have asked for the head instructor to call me tomorrow, but I have concerns that I'm over-reacting. I would not send a child of mine who behaved like that to swimming lessons, I couldn't. So I'm hoping to be able to express my concerns about the child in an appropriate manner. I'm hoping to go down the "The instructor is trying very hard, but I think maybe there are reasons why the group needs a little more support". But I know I'll probably say something more like "There's a horrid little brat in the group, who caused my child to hurt her head, it could have been much worse! I strongly suggest you look at the safety of the children in the group if this child is to continue swimming..." Blagh!

Redecorating

2009-11-17T20:24:00.002Z

I think I like this template. I'll give it a test run.

Reassuring myself...

2009-11-13T17:53:00.000Z

... I think its the climate, no not the weather but the political climate. I pretend it doesn't really have any relevance to our daily life, but it does, in a sneaky sinister unspoken way.
I have been worrying that we are achieving very little. We seem to socialise an awful lot, but education? Nope none of that happening here!
So, I took stock.
Since September 2009:
LA has taught herself to read - really read, not that faltering monotonous reading that 5 years olds often adopt for their adults, but real reading with tone and emotion, both loudly and silently.
She is working on writing - but has little interest at the moment. Well, no that's not true - she will eagerly write memos and lists.
We have explored the Stone Age using books, games, videos and visits.
We have looked at Evolution, the big bang, and various religions.
We have been to Spain and learnt a little Spanish and about air travel.
LA has been able to label all the continents and many (15) countries on our big map of the world and is able to identify these countries on different maps.
She continues to work eagerly with numbers. I'd find this difficult to describe in more detail, because she does bits and bobs of lots of different maths topics, addition, subtraction, times tables, shape, time, measuring ...
We have learnt about Guy Fawkes, Gunpowder and fireworks.
She has learnt to swim 5 metres.
As well as all the usual crafts, cooking, shopping, playing etc etc etc.

I'm feeling better now. We've done quite a lot in 2 months. I'll stop worrying.

Still here...

2009-11-09T21:16:00.001Z

... just a little busy.
We had a lovely time at Twin Lakes with friends last week, they have free pumpkin carving available in the run up to Halloween so we came home smelling of pumpkins.
Then we went to the best party EVER! A halloween party organised by some Home Ed friends. Wow, what a party - a magician, dancing, McDonalds, Pizza, Icecream, Fireworks, and Lanterns! We came home very happy but very knackered. Eoin and Emma - you definately get the award for best party of the year!
On Saturday we went to see the Firework display at Abbey Park. A beautiful evening and as always a brilliant fireworks display.

LA has continued to exceed all my expectations (child number 3 - why do I have expectations???) in her reading ability. She is now on the (dreadful) Rainbow Fairy books and has read the first 4 books in the last 3 weeks. She really enjoys them, so we're going along with it, but the stories are awful! Any recommendations for a 5 year old would be very welcome!

Its still not so easy to get her to write, but we're not pushing this, I'm sure the time will come.

She now has her own website - its a blog on which I have listed lots of sites that I feel are relevant for the week ahead - she loves the independence of being able to go to the computer and get on with it, so its working well.

Holiday Number 4: SPAIN!!!

2009-10-25T09:46:00.002Z

We have just returned from our final holiday of the year, we borrowed my brothers apartment in Fuengirola on the south coast of Spain for a week.

The weather was for the most part beautiful, and we spent 5 days on the beach and in the sea.

LA has learnt some Spanish and was able to see differences between the Spanish Culture and our own. I could, I suppose if I was pushed, list all the wonderful educational opportunities that presented themselves - but bugger it - we had a lovely time, we spent much needed time together as a family and we all learnt loads!

Holiday Number 3: Butlins, Skegness

2009-10-03T16:08:00.000+01:00

LA and I have just returned from a very hectic 5 days at Butlins. We went last year, but had to come home early as LA was unwell, so I promised we'd return this year.

We did have a lovely time, very busy but good fun. I find that I really enjoy being able to give her all my time without other commitments getting in the way.

I also find, that having a break at this time of year, puts us in a good mental place to begin working, LA is fired up and ready to get on with it. Whilst we have been away we have also agreed on several ground rules that will help us throughout the year.

We watched Sooty in Space and we got to meet Richard!

We had lovely weather, so we spent time on the beach and in the sea.

On the way home we called in to Natureland, the seal sanctuary in Skegness. This knowledgable chap, told us all about the seals and the penguins (who were busy building a nest, and looked really funny with huge stones in their beaks).

Tree-mendous

2009-09-19T16:45:00.004+01:00

LA and Rich have been to "Tree-mendous", the local Wildlife Trust's annual event.
They certainly seem to have had a good time.

They made a tree hanging.............................................and hung it in a tree (obviously!)

They made willow wands.

and no day out would be complete without pretending to be a tiger... would it?

Why we Home Educate...

2009-09-12T12:36:00.002+01:00

This post was inspired by the HE blog carnival.

I have 3 children, although the 2 oldest aren't strictly 'children' anymore. James is 20 this week and Kate is 17. They are both still studying full time at college. They both went through the entire school system, we had our ups and downs - but they got through it.
I didn't know about Home Education then, and even if I had I don't think I would have considered it as a viable option. I believed that school was the place for learning...oh my goodness how I resented the time it took away from my family, and the rules they imposed, and the useless teaching during the daytime which ended with piles of homework in the evening...which my children never did, because I never made them...because I didn't approve...but still, I continued to send them, unthinkingly, to school.
When LA was born, James was 14 and Kate was 12. We had already stepped someway outside of 'normal' society by becoming involved in Paganism. We remained unaware of Home Education, believing that we had to send children to school. However, as the time approached for LA to start school I became increasingly concerned about it. She seemed so young. I started investigating the law on the Internet and that's how we discovered that WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SEND HER TO SCHOOL!!!
We didn't have to let our family disintegrate and become absorbed by the routines of school, we didn't have to dance to that tune at all. We didn't have to return to the time where we failed to encourage our child to do homework as we felt that they had spent enough hours of their precious childhood on school work, then they would get told off for our failings... We didn't have to resent the fact that as parents we only had the tired grumpy times with our child as school demanded all the best parts of the day, every day. We didn't have to put up with the bad behaviour that was copied from classmates, or the bigoted teaching that had led our older children to come home with some decidedly odd ideas. Whats more, as intelligent caring parents - we knew we could do it better...
LA spent sometime at playschool and nursery, but didn't really like it so we took her out.
Last week was when LA should officially have started school. We just continued as usual.
We have a very vague structure to our days, we do spend time each day doing some reading, writing and maths. Everything else is optional, but we do have "topics" available and LA does enjoy them.
We haven't ruled school out for the future, we have said we will consider it when she is 7 if she requests to go, but we continue to believe that we can do better so it will depend on her ability to overcome the obstacles to learning and living that school places in children's way!

Grimes Graves

2009-09-07T18:06:00.006+01:00

LA and I have just returned from a trip to Thetford (£9 travelodge bargain!!) to see Grimes Graves, as part of our current focus on Early Man. We went to the bottom of a flint mine which early man dug with stones and antlers. This is all the more amazing when you stand and look at the landscape, it looks as if its had a very bad case of acne! There is evidence of numerous mines here, well worth a visit if you are in the area. LA was very brave climbing down the vertical ladder with me into the darkness.

Then we spent some time walking in the forest, we were lucky enough to get very close to a deer grazing on a bank which didn't see us for some time. We also discussed adders and how humans fear of them had led us to destroy them and how they were now returning to the countryside. We talked about why dogs were at risk from them, but of the small risk they posed to humans and how we could get help if we were unlucky enough to be bitten by one.

Dinosaurs

2009-09-03T17:57:00.002+01:00

We've been visiting the dinosaurs with our HE friends. We had a lovely time at the museum, learning about the dinosaurs (and loving the look of horror on LA's face when she discovered that she was holding fossilized dinosaur poo).
It was nice for both of us to catch up with old friends who we haven't seen all summer.
It was also a convenient time for us, as we are about to start looking at history. We planned to begin with the Stone Age and early man - but dinosaurs definitely fit right there, at the very beginning!!

Reading, reading, reading...

2009-08-29T19:11:00.002+01:00

LA loves books, always has done. I suppose living in a house that is wallpapered with them makes it easier.
However, I was quite unprepared for the giant leap in her reading ability that we witnessed yesterday.
Before the summer holidays, we were reading level 4 of the Oxford reading tree, and other books of the same difficulty. Yesterday, she picked up a level 8 book and read it from start to finish with no problem...
OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!
So I've put the level 5 books I did have planned, back into the cupboard until I find time to put them on ebay and I'd better go off in search of something more appropriate.

Holiday Number 2: Wiltshire

2009-08-22T21:29:00.006+01:00

We're back from our camping expedition in Wiltshire.

We visited Avebury and Woodhenge, but we gave Stonehenge a miss due to the crowds. LA and I will visit at a more sensible time later in the year. Stonehenge seems to be one of those things that people consider "has" to be visited. The crowds of bored looking folks, listening intently to the audio "Guided tour" gadgets, put us off visiting. I guess they do the same to St Pauls Cathedral, so fairs fair.

So we visited Woodhenge instead, and then visited Avebury. I adore Avebury, it has a lovely peaceful feel to it and we had a beautiful day.

On the way home, we visited Danebury Hill fort. LA and Daddy explored the earthworks whilst Holly and I took a long but very pleasant walk around the hill.

Houses and Castles

2009-08-08T10:12:00.001+01:00

Little Acorn and Daddy have been busy.
They've made cardboard houses...

And then, they made a huge cardboard castle...

HOLIDAY!!!

2009-07-24T09:54:00.004+01:00

We've been off on our holidays. We are lucky, we manage to get away several times a year. This year our first holiday was to Norfolk. We went camping in Scratby, and had a wonderful time.

LA had a fantastic time, she made friends wherever we went.

Thankfully there are no photos of my experience with the clowns at the circus.

Fox-ton

2009-06-18T20:35:00.003+01:00

On the way home, we met this little fella, with his sibling, playing by the road.
Old Mother Fox was watching nearby.

Foxton Locks

2009-06-18T20:16:00.003+01:00

We met with a group of other home educators to celebrate I's 6th Birthday.

A lovely day. Happy Birthday I.

We continue...

2009-06-15T17:26:00.005+01:00

...despite the horrors that have emerged from the Badman Review into Home Education. What on Earth is that man thinking???
We are not autonomous in our approach to Home Education, we do have some structure, albeit loose and open to instant change! We have a slack routine, because that is what suits us best.

Each day, we start by reading a book to each other. LA is currently reading Level 4 on the Oxford Reading Tree. She enjoys these books, so we mainly use them, although we will read anything else that takes our fancy.
We then plan our day. I tend to have ideas which I offer to LA and she chooses which we will do, obviously often, as is the way of a 5 year old - she has the ideas and I choose!
Today we played a few board games, made various solid shapes with the magnetixs, watched a little TV, we looked at the tadpoles in our pond, some of which are still tadpoles, and some of which have become minifrogs, we marvelled at the stages inbetween and we talked about the order in which these things happen.
Then we found a very strange looking insect on the Hazel Tree, we spent about an hour looking it up on the Internet - but failed to find out what it is. I shall continue to look after she goes to bed.
Then we looked at the plants we are growing in our vegetable patch, and noticed how they are changing. We looked closely at the peppers emerging from the flowers. LA then wanted to draw a picture of one of the flowers, so got out the pastels and did so.
She then got the inks and stamps out and stamped a garden picture.
We have sung several songs, played clapping games and played the drum. We have talked about temperature and placed a thermometer in the garden so that we can record the temperature. Obviously when it thundered we took the opportunity to discuss thunder and lightening and how the sound moves slower than the light.
LA has written all about this in her diary. She's now experimenting with bubble solution in the garden.

What a waste of a day, she hasn't had any opportunity to fulfill her potential - better send her to school.

Oh, I forgot, she learnt how to sew too - picture of her first piece arriving shortly.

Have to tell you about this site...

2009-06-10T14:14:00.002+01:00

never mind LA, this is gonna keep me amused for hours!
http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/1006/

Settling down

2009-05-30T19:57:00.004+01:00

Life has began to settle back down here now. It has been very trying and stressful few weeks, but hopefully we have all learnt from it and can now move on.

LA has had a couple of difficult days, reacting to all the stress around her, but remains as eager and keen to experience life to the absolute full as ever.

We've been enjoying the gorgeous weather, she has almost mastered her bike and her drawing and writing are improving day by day. I love to see the changes in her as her interests change and something new takes her attention. I cannot imagine how different life would be if she were in school and constrained by a timetable.
Thank goodness I discovered Home Education!

Difficult times

2009-05-21T19:33:00.004+01:00

Livings not easy here at the moment.
Too many stressors and insufficient pleasures.
Difficult times.

Birthday Party

2009-05-10T17:51:00.002+01:00

LA's birthday party...

James and Kate came too!

Play Day

2009-05-07T21:58:00.005+01:00

LA and I have spent the day playing.
We have played with her new playdough, beads and playmobile.
We have been to the park (LA dressed in her police officer outfit, she has hardly taken it off since Tuesday!), played ball, football, and on the swings.
We have read books, played with stickers and posted the last of LAs party invitations.
A lovely day.

Happy 5th Birthday

2009-05-05T21:20:00.007+01:00

It's LA 5th Birthday. "Excited" simply doesn't describe it.

Unfortunately as I still can't drive (health not alcohol), I haven't been able to take her out for the day as I had planned, but we have had a lovely time playing together with her new presents.

We have also baked and decorated her cake.
It's family tradition that the birthday person gets to pick where we eat so we all went out to McD's for dinner.

She's just (at 9.15pm) gone to bed, looking forward to her party on Sunday.

A Weekend at Nanny Frogs

2009-05-04T22:03:00.005+01:00

Rich, LA and I have spent the weekend in Rochester, Kent visiting Richs Mum.

The "Sweeps Festival" was on and we had a lovely few hours wandering through the town watching the dancing. LA joined in by copying the dance whilst watching.

Then Nanny surprised LA with an early birthday treat.

Sunday 26th April

2009-05-04T21:38:00.007+01:00

We've been for a walk in Swithland Woods, to see the Bluebells.

A beautiful day.
LA has had a wonderful time climbing the rocks and trees and taking photographs.

Wednesday 22nd April

2009-05-04T20:56:00.004+01:00

Playing catchup again...

On Wednesday (22nd) LA and I spent the day at a local park. The sky was blue, the air was warm and it was a beautiful day. However, apart from a few dog walkers, we had the park to ourselves.

We took some pens and paper and LA did some writing about the things we saw. She also had great fun playing in the dens and "being alone".

We had a lovely picnic by the river, and blew lots of bubbles

Fifi

2009-04-15T15:30:00.002+01:00

Today we have been to see Fifi and the Flower Tots at DMH. I was worried the LA was a bit old at almost 5 for this, but actually she had a really good time. We got squirted with water, by Stingo and at the end LA led a rebellion by leaping out of her seat to dance at the front and was immediately followed by 20-30 other little girls!
I must find a drama group for her soon.
Then we caught the train back. LA was a bit worried about this, as she thought it might be scary. However, she enjoyed the journey and would like to do the whole day again please!

Oooppps

2009-04-14T18:32:00.003+01:00

Doh! We meant to go to the HE group today, but we got diverted.

The HE group used to take place in a very dismal building, and I could rarely summon up the enthusiasm to attend. However, things change and the powers that be decided that said dismal building will be a childrens centre (!!!), so the HE group has to find a new home.

Last week we went to a very nice park with old trees, a play area and an indoor space. This week I believe it was at a community centre, but as we never made it, I don't know!

Next week is another new venue, but I think I'm working so we might not make that one either.

Still we managed to stock the cupboards and then we did a bit of gardening.

This is our new raised vegetable bed. We have a row of Radishs coming up and further back a row of Lettuces, we are still waiting for the beetroot and carrots. Lots of strawberries too.

We have beans growing in the conservatory ready to go in later and we planted up our tumbling tomato plants into a basket earlier. I think I'll bring it in the house during the evening for a while, as I think (but being a total novice, I'm not sure) that its early for them to be out. However, they are close to flowering, so I thought the insects outside would be a good thing.

Our free potatoes are beside them. No signs of them popping out the top of the bags yet.

Our pond, about 6ft by 6ft. Currently swarming with tadpoles and some kind frog has laid more frogspawn for them to eat!!

LA's Photos

2009-04-11T18:37:00.003+01:00

LA is a keen photographer, here are two of her photos from today.

Bosworth Battlefield

2009-04-11T16:55:00.006+01:00

Rich, LA and I have spent the day at Bosworth Battlefield .

LA had a tree climbing session.

Then we got a little fed up with her...

The men of Ambion Parva, who came lunging their weapons at us.

Sir Acorn.

But the highlight of the day, was obviously, tracing a coat of arms and colouring it in.

Hover Discs

2009-04-10T12:32:00.003+01:00

LA and Rich have been making Hover discs.
Here's the video they made so that you can make them too.

Plants

2009-04-09T15:45:00.003+01:00

Plants, Plants, Plants.
Yep, Plants.
LA and I have been doing a project on Plants. They are growing well...

We have geraniums, tomatoes and peppers in this "collection". The empty pot on the right is an ambitious attempt by LA to grow an apple tree ( I suspect there may be some plum stones in there too). The empty looking pots on the left are...

... hopefully going to be runner beans to plant in our vegetable garden. No signs of life yet though.

This is our herb collection, we have absolutely no idea which herbs these are, because we are so organised and obviously took notes as we were planting them... NOT!
Outside, our radishes have germinated and we are still waiting on the carrots, beetroots and lettuces. We still have peas, broccoli and cabbages to plant.

LA is lapping up this topic, although it seems she can remember to either water the plants OR feed the fish, not both.

She has also moved onto Level 4 of the Oxford Reading Tree, the vaguely organised lifestyle appears to suit us better.

Krishna and the Butter Pot

2009-03-25T20:15:00.003Z

Rich and LA went to see Krishna and the Butter Pot at the Curve on Saturday morning. (I took some me time and went shopping!)

There was a lot of Indian dancing and a chance to take part, which for LA and her "I want to go on the stage" was ideal. She was first up!

Next weekend its Mother Goose, and its my turn to accompany her. Somehow, I don't think she's going to be quite as impressed.

Our plants project

2009-03-25T20:02:00.004Z

As part of our new ordered (vaguely timetabled) lives, we have been looking at plants.

We have grown fast seeds (cress) and slower seeds (basil). We have planted up small flower plants, tomatoes and peppers and watched them grow. We have watched daffodils bloom, flower and die and we currently have one sitting in a vase with green coloured water, the flower was supposed to change colour, but doesn't seem keen.

We have chitted our free potatoes and will be planting them up at the weekend. And Rich has dug and built a raised vegetable bed for us to grow a few of our own vegetables this year (still we wait for the allotment...)

We have propagated African violets from a leaf cutting and transplanted the strawberry runners.

LA has really enjoyed this project so far, and is keen to look at the seeds and plants each day to spot any tiny changes! She has taken on board much of the vocabulary and can now talk like a gardener to anyone who stands still long enough to listen!

Hopefully I can find a way to inspire her to put pen to paper and write or draw something about it soon, but so far no luck.