Blogging Mojo Gone....

Happy Times

Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre - Climbing Wall Session

Great session on the climbing wall - sadly I missed it but my three that took part were really pleased with the way the session went earlier today. I think it's got them in the mood for our Centre Parc's holiday next week ;-)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Live on Stage

To complete Bill's project of the VHC he went to see the story of the book performed live on stage by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia at Nottingham's theatre Royal. He loved the 3D effects and glow in the dark puppets that were used throughout the show, and rounded off the end of his topic nicely.

Once home he had a VHC tea party, with the essential caterpillar cake and mini picnic foods, just like the caterpillar are in the Eric Carle story.

Enjoying the weather

An impromptu trip to Twycross zoo - in weather like we're currently experiencing it would be 'wrong' to do much else ;-)

Continuing Much the Same

It's Laura first day at university today, and we're all keeping busy - following much the same timetable as usual although her absence created an uneasiness - more so with the younger two who kept asking "When would she be home..?" It's something that many non home edding families struggle to understand, in that the kids are all so close to each other and actually enjoy spending time together without the fallouts that are perceived to be the norm with kids in general. Kitty worked on her Biology and Maths GCSE studies whilst I occupied the younger ones.


After reading and doing some sentence writting Bill played a number of games, his favourite is currently 'Odds and Evens' he's picked it up remarkably quickly and knows that no matter how large the number it's just the last digit that has to be thought about. It wasn't long before he was working out 3 digit numbers and grouping them into odds or even sets.


Alice continued with writing up her visit up on the Egyptian session last week before moving on to some quick timetable 'fun' style books and then got ready to go along to a home ed group in Syston - today's theme was dinosaurs and she sat colouring a picture that she'd printed off from the computer before we went along.

After chatting with friends and playing for awhile Bill sat down to construct a 3d dinosaur with Pete whilst I made dinosaur masks with Alice.
Laura returned by bus just before 3pm - looking a little drained from information overload - though looking forward to getting her teeth stuck into the course once the necessary information is imparted from the course facilitators.
This evening the older ones and I are looking forward to a visit to the local cinema to watch Warrior - I hope Laura can stay awake ;-)

Birthday Wishes

Today Kitty turned from a child to a teenager- we had planned to celebrate the day at Go Ape in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, but with Pete's recent and painful shoulder injury we decided to change plans and go next month when hopefully he will be fit enough to climb on the equipment.

Instead Kitty chose to go to Watermead Country Park, a beautiful green space over in Thurmaston, followed by a visit to a boutique style cafe for Panini's and cupcakes.

Back home Alice and Bill decorated biscuits for Kitty, we used to do this a lot at one point, such a simple yet well enjoyed activity.

Happy Birthday Kitty, 13 today! Xx

Laura's Blog

http://shesoffagaindiaryofastudentnurse.blogspot.com/

New Walk Museum- Meet the Mummies

Today Alice and Bill went along to the Meet the Mummies session that I organised at the start of last month at a local museum. All of the children seemed to enjoy themselves and did some hands on making and object handling throughout the session. With it being dark within the Ancient Egyptian section it was problematic to get photographs which you could actually make out who was who ;-), but after a bit of photo editing they have come together. This almost marks the end of Alice's Ancient Egyptian project, the last few days will be spent consolidating what she has learnt at the museum and some interactive mummy activities.

GCSE's are go - Kitty

Kitty has started back with all her GCSE courses - with Japanese and Religious studies both new subjects. She is taking Japanese at Rawlins College in Quorn, it was so refreshing to be able to simply book her on an evening adult course, without any of the usual associated problems of under 16 going on adult courses. She had her first session yesterday evening and really enjoyed getting stuck into something completely different. RS is being taken independently, she is following the WJEC spec B syllabus, and will take the exam in May 2012 at The 3A tutors independent exam centre in Bristol. She has been studying IGCSE human biology for 6 months now, and is over half way through the syllabus, she'll sit the exam the at the same time as the RS one - the science she has studied previously with both Sonlight and Noeo have really given her a comprehensive foundation to her science work and although she enjoys all the subjects she's studying - science remains her favourite.

Maths and English are being studied at Loughborough College - with the same tutors that taught Laura a couple of years ago - it seems like only yesterday when I was driving Laura to and from college; and now here I am again with Kitty...

New clubs

With the start of a new term, it was a natural time for Alice and Bill to join new clubs and groups in the area. Bill has continued with his gymnastic group on a Tuesday afternoon, and Alice with Brownies on a Monday evening. Alice has now also chosen to join the gym group that Bill attends, and has a class there on a Friday afternoon. She is enjoying getting back into gym again after she finished the Shepshed gym group last year.

Bill has began 'Punchin' Panda's', martial arts sessions for 4-7 year old's in Shepshed. He absolutely adores them and relishes the sessions each week- he was very proud to receive his first belt in the session yesterday, as well as his official uniform which we have struggled getting of him since!


After a few years at Burleigh dance Alice decided she was ready for a change and wanted to try different styles and techniques.Brightlights Theatre School is new to Loughborough and had its first session this weekend. Aimed at 6-18 year old's it holds sessions for three hours on a Saturday morning in dance, singing and drama. She came back full of excitement and rearing for the next class this weekend.

Mean while Kitty is about to begin army cadets - though her group doesn't begin until next week.... For the past couple of weeks Laura and Kitty have spent a great deal of time doing things together, I think the realisation that Laura will suddenly not be around quite so much once her uni course begins is going to hit Kitty hard - the rest of us also.....

Not Back to School Picnic 2011

A lovely day was had by all at the Leicestershire NBTS Picnic today, celebrating another year of home education - for my family this is the beginning of our 5th year - we've come along way :-)

Every Egyptian Needs a Pyramid

Both of my youngest are avid collectors of Playmobil, so when we came across the Egyptian pyramid set in Argos half price it was swiftly ordered, predominately for Alice to go alongside her Ancient Egypt project. What they don't tell you on the box is how many bits it all comes in, and the fact that it takes hours(!) to put the thing together! Between the 5 of us it took just under three hours to build it all up, complete with falling scorpions, trap doors and moving staircases. Alice and Bill adore it, and have been playing with it for most of the day!

Back to it - September 2011

With the Leicestershire schools going back after the summer break yesterday, we too took it as an opportunity to get back to learning and doing. Kitty, Alice and Bill have now all stared back on their learning paths, with different directions for each of them.

Kitty at nearly 13 is now beginning her IGCSE and GCSE's, next year she will take three subjects- Human Biology IGCSE and Religious Studies GCSE, which she will study at home and take as a private candidate at a Bristol exam centre and Japanese GCSE which she will take and study at a college evening class.

Alice and Bill will continue with their usual routines with English, Maths, Science and a topic. Alice is starting with the Egyptians and I have tied this in with an Ancient Egyptian educational session at New Walk Museum. We began the topic yesterday and have so far done a brief background using Horrible Histories, then the Pharaohs with resources from the British Museum and Hieroglyphics with home made resources and the Birmingham children's museum website, Alice is really enjoying the topic, interesting as its something that Kitty really enjoyed when she first came out of the school system also.




The Very Hungry Caterpillar is Bill's first topic of the term, I had most of the resources already for him as its something Alice did when she was younger. I decided to purchase the board and card games off of Amazon, which Bill has loved and has played with different people numerous times! Since it's the wrong time of year to be actually watching caterpillars hatch we have used Youtube and DKLT to demonstrate the life cycle though craft and games. It has also been useful for reinforcing sequencing of the days of the week, which he can now read and order.

St Peter's Church Craft and Flower Fair - Bardon

A lovely afternoon was spent in Bardon (Leicestershire) today, attending their annual flower and craft fair. Laura spotted the sign as we were driving along, churches are really not my 'thing' and Christianity generally for me so hypicritcal; but this was a pleasant way for us to spend an hour. Kitty was pleased to take some photos and Laura and I keen to look at both the crafts and the clever flower arrangements.