10k

First 10k finished!

After only 10 weeks training today Adam completed his first 10k run. He set himself a challenge and has been inspiring us all with his dedication and determination. We are very proud of him! It was a very, very hilly route, something he had not been anticipating, but he completed it in his own personal goal time.

Kids running along for the last 200m

Made it!

Just had to show off a little bit!

made by me!!

I have finally made something bigger than a hat or scarf and I feel very pleased with myself. That she likes the colour, style and is happily wearing it is an added bonus! Now i just need to fins some good boy patterns (not so easy for crocheting it seems) and just like Mrs Weasley there'll be jumpers for everyone!

Need a cuppa!

Have had a positive day with everone at iflow today (but neeeeed a cup of tea now!) and it made me remember our trip the other week.

Through iflow we have been really lucky to have made contact with some fabulous community groups and people and over the past year we have been working with the rockingham forest trust on an Iron age project. We have made and  displayed work for their new discovery centre at Stanwick Lakes and been invited along to several interesting talks and walks.

making "cats"

not sure what they are doing here!

Ah! A young Celt

My little roman

homemade roman helmet

listening intently

coins 

bashing their tin coins

very heavy hammer

the finished coin

Our last trip out was to daub a reconstruction of an iron age roundhouse and an afternoon with a storyteller and crafter.  And a fabulous day was had by all!

We are mooching.

Mooching around, lazing, generally moping about with not a lot of enthusiasm.

I'm not really sure why.

I know things are still going on around me. Books have been got out and left around in piles suggesting someone has looked at them. Music has been heard coming from various instruments suggesting they are being practiced. Pens and pencils are littering the table suggesting someone may have been drawing or writing, but all that has been required of me the last couple of days have odd smuggles and stories or Requests for DVD's. And replies to my questions of "what are you doing, can I help with anything?" that mostly take the form of "no, we're just playing/dancing/looking for something".

Is there a stealth educational revolution happening behind my back? Or are they just mooching too? Maybe a bit of both! Because I'm not pushing are they just doing? I know I've had some interesting conversations about the history of numbers with a child and talked art styles and techniques with another!!! And that same child seems to be undertaking a project of their own making and working on it at various times of the day and night.

Perhaps I shall carry on with my own stealth educational revolution. Drink tea, crochet, feed those who request to be fed, decipher hard words when asked and shut up the rest of the time.

It seems to be working for this week at least!

Mmmnn Gyozas.

Our culinary exploration of Japan continues! Making veggie filled dumplings called Gyoza. They can be filled with all sorts and cooked several ways, deep fried and steamed and they way we chose, to pan fry in a teaspoon of oil on both sides followed by a flash steam with a ladle full of hot water with the lid on. They were one of the most yummy things we have tried the only problem being there are never enough!!!

chopping

stirring the filling

filling the dumpling

quick grab one before they all go!

frying

Done, yummy!

We have also completed our first, or should I say Ollies first, Kimono.  With quite a bit of success too! We trawled the internet for inspiration and patterns and cobbled together something we are both very pleased with. And as an added bonus it required lots of measuring and number crunching to make it just so, maths box ticked then!!!!

measuring up

sewing

one warrior ready

Beware!

He will not take it off now! I think he'd like one to sleep in too.

Squeal! (I am very excited)

Weeks of waiting are finally over. We have all been awaiting the news. What will it be, What will it be? But now we know, it will be Medieval!

No, not our new topic of choice, although it may spark an interest. But the theme of this years Camp Bestival fancy dress. Headline acts have also been announced. OMG! I am going to see Blondie and Mark Ronson all in one sun filled (hopefully!) weekend.

What? It's not that exciting? Well you should try living with four children and a few grown ups for the past couple of months, you would think it was the most important thing to be happening to them EVER! There was a little disappointment that a James Bond outfit would not be required but that has been replaced with cries of "never mind, I can be a medieval samurai warrior, you can make that can't you Mummy?".

We are all a little bit music obsessed, our lounge looks more like a practice room now and our favourite family game is our own version of the intros round from Never Mind The Buzzcocks! Also known as the kitchen game where it is invariably played! Someone is normally singing or playing or dancing somewhere in the house. And we love the fact that, as we did as children, our children love listening to all sorts of music and genres. Not for us a car cd player full of nursery rhymes, they never really had a choice!!!

Outside our Tipee 

Waiting for the very first act

sword making at spinney hollow

View from the Castle towards main stage

My dressing up concession!

Waiting for The Wurzels (a highlight!)

David rocking out with the "school of rock"

Now Camp Bestival is a big thing, it's expensive and a long way from home. But as family festivals go for us it's a winner. Now we just need to find some gigs closer to home to fill the gap between now and August!

Local resources

Like most of the home educators I know and no matter what their educational philosophies are, we all use our local resources to their fullest. Libraries, parks, museums and workshops are all regularly used and enjoyed.  We go to the library at least once a week and are very fortunate to have our own small library with lovely helpful staff. We also use the bigger library in the next town (a much bigger YA section is the main draw!). It also houses an art gallery and next door has the tourist information centre and a small museum.

Just gonna slip this on!

New bedroom furniture?

I am enjoying myself

See, I think its really interesting.

Trainers of the future info.

matching the shoes

brass rubbing

To be honest we frequent the museums little shop most often!!! I find it useful for odd little resources when doing history projects and it has good pocket money items when the kids are feeling flush. But the other day visit to the museum was requested by David so that we might see the temporary exhibition on trainers. He had found out about the exhibit via the facebook page of his favourite local shop (who said social network sites are all bad!!). It was small but perfectly formed and had some really interesting facts presented as well as some very cool trainers. We followed it up with a bit of brass rubbing in the room next door and a visit to the shop. The museum is quirky and all higgledy piggledy but always we find something of interest, although the staff are not the most welcoming and when we visit during school hours we are regarded very suspiciously.