This moment

A moment from the week, as inspired by soulemama.com.

While daddy is away................

Reading.

He's not been worried a bit. Not at all, no way!

But his Mummy was and his Daddy.
And probably his Grandma's and Granddad's.
Definitely his Uncky!!!
His other Aunts and Uncles wondered too.

But a certain little boy was not interested in reading since coming away from school. And it took a lot of effort on the part of those who love him to let him be. To watch quietly, hold tongues or sneakily offer suggestions. Try this or that, you'd love so and so.

And now.................

Because he wants to!

 Not forced, cajoled, coerced or compelled. Slowly at first, finding his own tastes he now wants to be doing this above all things. At times, when I feel worried and struggle to trust in our childrens desire and ability to learn. When I feel the urge to push and compare, these wonderful things happen and I feel once again secure in my own instincts. A once very unhappy little boy, with seemingly no desire to pick up a book for pleasure again could be found walking through town guitar on his back narrowly missing lamp posts as his nose was buried in adventure.

Volcano, volcano, volcano!

Over a period of several weeks now Mia has been planning, making and painting a volcano. We have read books and found pictures about volcanoes and found out about amazing eruptions. But what she has been really wanting to do is make her own eruptions.

First the clay needed to dry.

And the paint and the PVA needed to dry.

And So, today was the day! With Bicarb, vinegar and various food colourings (you've got to see how green lava turns out!) we were ready to go.

It was fantastic!

She was so pleased with everything. While she wasn't keen on the waiting! the whole project has been her own work and has been wonderful to watch.

Check out the video of the eruption in action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NfV5jgCSsU

Works in progress

Aha, you might think this is about the kids, home educating or even just life!

And while it could definitely be applied to all those things, it was just a sneaky intro for all the bits I've got on the go at the moment. With, oh so many more things planned and not even in the photographing stage, just simmering in my head!

Scarf with pockets - (Crochet in no time)

Crazy pink/gray/purple granny square blanket

Will be "Frou Frou" wrap cardi - (happy hooker book)

What colour to paint the hall?

Oh yes we will strip the carpet and paint the stairs!

And I want to make new dog beds, some cushions and aprons with the kids. Good job life is a work in progress really, hopefully I've got time to get it all done.

This Moment

A moment from our week, as inspired by www.soulemama.com

A boy and his book, well actually, lots and lots of books. His idea of heaven!

In our kitchen......

Apple cinnamon and spelt muffins

master egg cracker

Nearly bowl licking time

Mmmmn spicnach IS good

Even the washing up gets done

Nigella would be pleased 

Yummiest spinach pie yet!

Always a busy place! But more and more the children are helping out, gaining confidence and really enjoying themselves. I love having them choose and then help cook our meals. And while I cant completely subscribe to the only learning maths or science through tasks like these, I know they are gaining very useful life skills and it does help them learn and apply the knowledge gained in a practical way.

Best of all the results are wonderfully yummy!

The planning headache continued.............

Okay, so we can't fit our life into tons of tiny, tidy boxes. But in lieu of a full time housekeeper and gardener we have to try and have some order in our home. If only to make sure we have clean socks now and again!

After my massive headache and minor breakdown trying to work it all out the other week I have been variously musing ideas in my head. Today I have battled those ideas down into some sort of "planner" and here I have to stop myself shudder. We are a large-ish family, we all do lots of stuff, make LOTS of mess and go to various clubs, lesson and activities during the week, it has to all get DONE! So the mini planner is born. One for meals, recipe and lists  - very sensible when budgeting and catering to a large audience of differing tastes (often by the hour I might add). Another to help us plan the week, remember who goes where and when and also what just HAS to be done each day.

I am hoping to get over my phobia of the planner and remember this is not just for me. I actually have a little calendar on  my phone etc. I know what we are doing as a general rule!! But the children don't and hopefully this will not put them off, as the idea did for me at first, but encourage them to plan their time and help us do the things we need to do every day.

I realised I could plan for some bits without feeling like I was compartmentalising  our life and restricting the freedom we so enjoy by home-educating. Hopefully it will act as a reminder that all sorts of things get done every day and that we really do need to leave to get to guitar when I say so!!!!

Paper Aeroplanes - Educational!

Of course they are. Aerodynamics, construction and materials (sticky notes- not so good).

And measuring and flight testing. All this kept Ollie busy, enquiring and researching. He even did some writing, a flying note, asking to play monopoly!

Mini Me!

Hmmmn, makes me think!
Nature V nurture.
Learning through observation.

Hopefully she will copy all the other things I do too!
Mind you she seems to be missing a nice cup of tea to go with that magazine. Do you think she is saying "just 10 minutes quiet Mimi time, pleeeeease!"

A "me" moment....

As inspired by www.soulemama.com, a moment from the week past.
A finished hat, MY finished hat. After, count them, 20 hats crocheted as gifts for people running up to christmas I now have my very own. (just as the weather warms up, sigh!!!)

iflow......

Every Thursday we attend a home-ed group. The children love going and the idea of this particular group is to provide stimulating activities, share skills and provide a community for the parents and children that is more than just a drop in or meet up in the park. You get to know each other well and we really value the friendships we have made.  It requires the commitment and dedication from all the parents involved, but we feel its definitely worth the occasional blip or blank mind when it comes to resolving problems or planning an activity.  Today the kids started a french course part funded by the group. It has been met with both open arms and some trepidation! How will the french teacher feel about home-edders? Will the kids be completely bonkers and rebel or hate it? Mine thought it was good. And there has been much singing and chatting in french this afternoon, which I can only take as a good sign.

Photo Boy

In the afternoon, as a post Christmas clear out and as an open event to invite home-educating families who don't currently attend iflow,  we had a table top sale with refreshments. The bargain of the day was a box with an old SLR and lots of lenses and a brilliant flash that David bought for a pound!! He is very much enjoying his photography at the moment and loves using film. This might be because at the moment his only access to digital is with his phone. But I think he just loves it all. His next project is to start looking into us setting up our own dark room and learning how to develop and print.  His favourite website and longed for gadgets can be found at www.lomography.com. Take a look, you may see some of his snaps!

Judge Bites Star Player.......

What? Just one of the headlines made up during the game  "Man Bites Dog", a card game where the object is to make funny headlines to score points. Father Christmas thought this would also be fun. And it is really great watching the kids play together, justifying their choices and headlines as the other players can veto their headline if it doesn't make sense or is just rubbish! And then some good mental maths adding up all the points ( a fun and sneaky way to squeeze it into the day!). Home ed mummy's ideal game then, thanks Father C!

Christmas Experiments

Perhaps Father Christmas knew we might find it a little hard to find inspiration and impetus after our break, because he gave some fab little science experiments in the boys stockings!

The Books weren't used (today!)

Checking Instructions

Lava Lamp

Cartesian Diver Experiment

Magnets

 So today we have been easing back into some science playing with gravity, polymers, lava and even ketchup. While the experiments were fun they have also sparked further interest and so we will be finding out what sort of polymers are used in the super bouncy balls and how on earth do they stick and stay together after two minutes in cold water? And how and why does the ketchup rise and fall? 

Sunday Afternoon, A walk and a headache.

We had a lovely late afternoon walk with the dogs up towards the wind turbines near to home, looking at our shadows and dodging all the other dog walkers. The lane was busy today and although Chester would love to play it seems that most other dogs feel he is just too giant a Lab to play with!!! It was crisp, cold and beautiful.

The headache comes from an earlier family conversation about tidying and planning. We want all feel we need a bit of structure to our days and we definitely need to be a bit more organised. But now its come to planning how we do that and my head is pounding! I can get my head around a weekly menu planner, its been fab having everyone more involved in choosing, ordering and cooking. And having an easy place to write down ideas, shopping list items and plan of what we are eating and who is cooking it will work for us. But the specific time for activities and chores and learning is a bit harder to fit into my head. I would like something to help us keep on track but that also goes with our flexible approach to learning. We can factor in rough guides. For instance we have set times for music lessons or rainbows. But setting the same for music practice or reading just isn't making sense to me.

And now I have a big old planning headache!

How do we keep our time and home on track? While still maintaining what we love about home education? Can we have a chore rota? A meal plan? And a day to day activities calendar? I'm really not sure. Between us I'm sure we can work out a path the will suit us the best. But at the moment all I can see is our life contained in little boxes. And all everyone else can see of me is a half a head poking out from the laptop and it has a frown on its face!

Super squeak ( also space squeak and queen squeak! )

My moment of the week, as inspired by Soulemama's "this moment".

Today Mia has been all of this above (check out the tail!) how cute can a six year old get and then I found her rummaging for fabric scraps to make baby clothes, it makes this sewing mummy's heart sing!!!!

Poetry is fun!

Who is behind the tower?

 We have a white magnetic board that I though we would use for all sorts of structural time tabling and other such scheduled, organised, recorded somethings. Our version of home educating has not turned out quite like that! It is all the more fulfilling because of it in my view. Not much point of school at home when you can go to school, but I was new and naive! I also forgot my complete lack of organisational skills or desire to acquire some. But I digress, we now use it for all sorts. It has most recently been the place to record your well wishes for Christmas and the new year if you happen to be passing. And with the removal of things festive I thought a bit of poetry words would go down well. I sneakily stuck them up and hey presto the lines start appearing. I particularly love the line below.

My fave so far.

Stuff we love!

6B is his favourite

Today we've been bumbling about at home, playing games, taking down decorations, cooking chatting and even doing a bit of maths! Much Mama and Papa work organising has been going on. The coming months are definitely going to be busy and interesting!

But this afternoon we got to indulge in a bit of retail therapy that was fully justified - Yay! And in one of mine and one of David's favourite shops. A much needed visit to Chopper for new shoes and jeans. Davids joy at continually growing and passing me and now almost Granddad in height is not good for the budget, but the sales are on and the purple jeans he had been coveting for months are now finally his! On then for purchases in Colemans- pens, pencils, pastels. Rubbers and rulers, sketch pads and protractors. Apparently we needed all sorts! I love looking round shops like this, I could stand for hours choosing, touching and trying all the different brushes and pencils wondering what I could make or do.

And so now bedtime has come and gone, at least for the Little's, as they all sit around the table drawing and trying out our new purchases. I love it!!!!

Getting back into the swing!

The next Jamie Oliver?

Loving Graph paper

Spinach Filo Pie  & Tom salad

Sun and Jumping!

While we didn't sit back and do nothing for the whole month of December, we definitely lost a feeling of routine. And I find that we are missing it and this surprises me!!!

So it is with our new PMA (positive mental attitude!) that we are setting plans for the coming months. Finding a gentle routine that suits our needs, thinking about how we would like to spend our time with a renewed focus.

We have found a balance in the past, sharing breakfast while pottering around feeding animals and getting ready for the day. Working together in the morning, walking the dogs, making lunch and knowing we have time in the afternoon to be creative or indulgent or share time with friends. Of course it doesn't always turn out like that, its life, they re kids! But we are taking our firsts steps back into that rhythm that seems to work for us.

So today saw a bit of sunshine and warmth that drew the younger ones out to play and the bigger boys take pen to paper and do some fabulous drawing. Instruments were played with greater enthusiasm and focus since before Christmas and William cooked us a fabulous lunch!