Living and Learning Together

Blogging Mojo Gone....

2011-11-04T14:17:00.003+01:00

Happy Times

Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre - Climbing Wall Session

2011-10-03T17:22:00.007+02:00

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

2011-10-02T12:34:00.003+02:00

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

2011-10-02T12:09:00.003+02:00

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

2011-09-26T16:12:00.008+02:00

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

2011-09-23T15:38:00.007+02:00

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

2011-09-22T23:41:00.001+02:00

http://shesoffagaindiaryofastudentnurse.blogspot.com/

New Walk Museum- Meet the Mummies

2011-09-21T19:51:00.005+02:00

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

2011-09-15T19:50:00.004+02:00

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

2011-09-13T19:55:00.005+02:00

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

2011-09-07T19:39:00.007+02:00

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

2011-09-05T16:03:00.007+02:00

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

2011-09-02T15:12:00.014+02:00

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

2011-08-29T17:16:00.005+02:00

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.

Catching up with Friends

2011-08-29T11:33:00.003+02:00

Time catching up with friends spent in Worcestershire yesterday. Firstly a catch up with my bubbleologist friend (Busking Bubbles & Friends) and hearing her news about an up and coming trip to Romania at the end of October. She's offering her services to bubble with the intention of raising much needed financial support for children's charities in Romania. We caught up otherwise too whilst sitting in Worcester Woods Country Park. Sometimes you forget how very important good friends are - I was reminded of that yesterday :-).

Then onto Worcestershire Royal Hospital to visit Pete's good friend who is recovering from a major knee op that he had on Friday - lattes and cappuccino's all round and we left Ken in good spirits after chatting about his work and plans to meet up again soon and share some much needed beer ;-)

The eldest two had spent the day at home and at the local swimming pool; with Alice and Bill with their dad down in Oxford at his parents home we took our time driving back to Leicestershire - stopping to take a walk for awhile and chat about our future plans over the coming months.

Catching up

2011-08-26T20:26:00.005+02:00

Part of the week for Alice has been spent at Beaumanor Hall, this time taking part in a Mini Beasts day. Pond dipping and woodland floor forages took place in the morning session, and a Wild Art activity in the afternoon. Alice has really enjoyed the sessions she has done recently at Beaumano, and Kitty also with the four Outdoor Pursuit Courses she has taken part in. I'm now in the process of booking some of a similar style for local home ed children; Survival and Gruffalo Hunting are just two from six that have been arranged in-between now and the end of October which will be right up their street! ;-)

In addition, Alice and Bill joined in a medieval session at the Guild Hall in Leicester on Thursday of this week, crafting away making clay castles and knights shields, quite by chance really as we were in the city shopping for stationary - it always motivates them - and never ceases to amaze me at the 'power' of a newly stocked pencil case. The Medieval session was a useful distraction to recharge batteries and Bills aching legs whilst they crafted for nearly two hours...

Earlier in the week time was spent in Dovedale with an over night stay, a challenging walk - which really was a challenge in terms of steep inclines and uneven ground but such beautiful countryside - 12 miles were completed which felt like a massive sense of achievement, we ached in places I thought not possible. Pete found the walk in a recent edition of Trail walking magazine and we thought we would give it a whirl - I'm pleased we did and am looking forward to our next one.

Climbing at the Outwoods

2011-08-21T20:14:00.008+02:00

A lovely Sunday morning spent climbing in the Outwoods Loughborough - Bill has taken to climbing with ease and almost seems to run up and down the rocks - Alice needs more encouragement and support, though is growing in confidence with each time she she gives it ago. Laura joined in today too; she's enjoying trying her hand with new things and climbing is something that is a skill of Pete's that he has recently begun sharing with us all.
Next week the eldest two and Pete will spend time climbing a higher rock on their own - they are currently planning just where to go....

Over The Moon

2011-08-18T11:23:00.001+02:00

All Laura’s hard work has paid off. Today she went to college to receive her A level exam results, and has gained a place at De Montfort University to study Mental Health Nursing. Well done Laus :-) xx

Spells and Potions

2011-08-17T16:06:00.004+02:00

We have been going along to art and science sessions at Charnwood museum for over three years now, with first Alice and now Bill enjoying the variety of activities they put on throughout the school holidays. Alice has grown out of many of them now, and has instead moved onto their Artzone sessions which run each Saturday morning during term time. Today’s though was a special session aimed at the over 6’s to take part in fun science -witches and wizards potions.

Volcanoes were constructed and exploded, potions made, ghosts formed from rather a lot of loo paper (!) and secret message’s written.

Waiting for A levels...

2011-08-16T17:57:00.002+02:00

Killing time whilst waiting for the A level results that come out this Thursday; time will tell whether Laus has gained what is required for her to be accepted at De Montfort University to study mental health nursing this coming September, but we're all keeping everything crossed…

Treading Carefully

2011-08-16T16:25:00.008+02:00

Those of you who know me in ‘real life’, or those who are my FB friend will know that I have been struggling to write this blog of late, I wanted, we both wanted, to be sure that this relationship was right, and it had a chance of working, before we ‘announced’ it.

But now I feel the time is right, to introduce Pete, my partner. We have known each other for over a year through work, but our relationship together is still relatively new. We have spent 5 months getting to know each other more out of ‘work’ mode, and then spending time together with my children. Pete will now be a permanent fixture here at Living and Learning Together, he is fully supportive of the kids and their educational development, and will no doubt be useful for all those ‘manly’ jobs like constructing dens and electrical circuits! ;-).

So that’s us, 6 once more, LIving and Learning Together.

Forest Quest, Beaumanor Hall

2011-08-10T21:00:00.009+02:00

Now the summer holidays are in full swing, we have fully broken our pattern of working each morning, instead opting to do more reading and art work- as well as take part in holiday activities. Alice has been attending a local play scheme for a few days each week, as well as art and science sessions, Kitty has been on an outwood bound course and has done everything from high wire death slides to rock climbing (!) and Bill has enjoyed his swim school and mini discovery sessions at the local museum.

Yesterdays session for Alice was at Beuamanor Hall in Woodhouse , Leicestershire. We found sessions aimed at the 6-10’s rather last minute, after Kitty took part in days there as part of her outwood bound experience. They have numerous ones aimed at different age groups over the summer- but yesterdays was around the theme of Robin Hood's adventures, something that caught Alice’s attention immediately and declared it the best session ever by the time we had finished the days activities!

They put the day in a trail format, with different activities throughout the session all aimed at survival and forest skills. The first job was to meet Robin and Maid Marion in the woodland, where the children had to construct bridges to cross a stream and escape from the Sherriff of Nottingham!

The next job was of course to make a camp, Alice and her team were making a dwelling, and then had to sit under it whilst it ‘rained’ to ensure it was water tight! ;-). Camp fires were then lit (real ones much too all the children’s pleasure!) and tomato soup was boiled and shared amongst the merry men.

Shooting arrows were constructed for a grand archery tournament, practising first in the cover of the forest before venturing out onto the archery field.

Alice absolutely loved the session, and can’t wait for the next one in a fortnights time :-).

Splash Swim School, Kings Camp Loughborough

2011-08-05T21:05:00.002+02:00

Bill has just completed a week at Splash Swim School, run by Kings Camp kids play scheme over the school holidays. After asking for swimming lessons for a while he was very excited to be going for a week of morning sessions, and has loved them from start to finish!

On his final session today Laura took the camera along to get a few snaps, but the memory card had been left in the scanner- meaning using her phone instead.

Bill was very pleased that his work had led him to get his first swimming award- Ducking Two, and is eagerly awaiting the postman to deliver his certificate and badge!

Evening Fire

2011-07-26T17:32:00.005+02:00

Just a couple of shots after a recent evening fire poi session Kitty spontaneously decided to do on Saturday evening.

Within half an hour she had quite a crowd gathering, even encouraging the next door neighbours out to watch, drink wine, and even have a go themselves! ;-)

Bakewell Monsal Trail

2011-07-24T19:40:00.007+02:00

A beautiful walk today along the Monsal Trail in Bakewell. The trail is an 8.5 mile woodland walk, which is set on the former site of Bakewell railway station, which closed down in the 60’s. With the weather being so pleasant today the town and the walk itself was a hive of activity, with dog walkers, horse riders and bike riders making full use of the beautiful area.

Whilst Alice and Bill were staying with their grandparents down in Oxfordshire it seemed like the perfect area and activity for the older two and I to spend a lazy Sunday. My Partner also came along with us, he has been spending far more time with us recently, and Laura mananged to capture some special pictures not only of the beautiful surroundings but of the two of us enjoying time together in everyone’s company.

Of course no trip to Bakewell would be complete without sampling some of their famous Bakewell tart, and seeing as it was so warm Bakewell tart ice cream seemed like a good option! We stopped off at Fredericks , before walking back up over the bridge to a local pub garden.

Torn....

2011-07-23T15:04:00.002+02:00

Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway

Whilst I have enjoyed a week away with the children that reside where I work I have felt incredibly torn towards my own children. At times a working mothers heart and brain are just out of tune as one competes with the other to be heard and to rule....
Phft! How I missed my own kids - whilst at the same time saw how those I facilitate care for benefited from time away enjoying new experiences. Part of the groups visit down to Ilfracombe in Devon was spent here at the cliff railway - stunning views - a Unique Victorian Water Powered Lift. I haven't spent time in this area for many years - though this was one visit I particularly enjoyed and will look at re visiting with my own children.

Circus Stars Summer Reading Challenge

2011-07-14T20:56:00.003+02:00

Alice and Bill were delighted to receive their summer reading challenge packs today whilst visiting the local library. We have followed each year the national library summer reading challenge- but for Bill this has been the first summer he has been old enough to do it, and was very excited at receiving a bag full of goodies and a reading tracker.

The idea is to read 6 books over the summer, each time one is completed Alice and Bill can collect stickers to add to their tracker and at the end of the challenge receive a prize and certificate. It has them both hooked and as soon as they were home they were helped to make a start on their trackers, and the books!

Wicksteed Park HE Trip

2011-07-09T16:09:00.001+02:00

A few photo's of the Leicestershire HE'ders yearly summer trip to Wicksteed Park.

Hands On

2011-07-09T15:17:00.008+02:00

Now our standard work is starting to slow down for the summer, we’ve had the opportunity, to do some more hands on based leaning and games. Kitty and Bill started the day with educational game ‘Who is on the Bus’ and Jolly Phonic’s Ludo.

Alice and I played a BrainBox game which she received from relatives a few weeks ago- this one was ‘The World’ addition and a really good quick facts tool.

After both their typical work books and tasks I read Alice this book- I love these ‘Blast Off’ factual books for children, we were first introduced to them through Sonlight- the first curriculum I purchased, I have since found other textbooks and curriculums that suit our family better- but these books have firmly stayed and have remained a favourite with Alice and Bill. With it being a stage two book it was a little out of Bill’s understanding, but he still joined Alice to watch the magic school bus episode which matches the book- he adores the series too much to miss it purely due to being a little young to get its full value ;-).

Kitty has done her own form of hands on today by investigating a crime scene! I purchased a blood typing kit from Espo, the school supplier, at the end of September, and have kept it intentionally until now to fit in with her science work topic which she is currently studying, the circulatory system. She was given a sample of mock blood, with chemical makeup form of haemoglobin in order for the experiment to work. She had to blood type the sample, and then blood type the three suspects using simulated anti- sera. Depending whether the blood aggluited indicated whether the blood was type A, B, AB, O or Rh. A fantastic recourse which I would defiantly recommend to others looking to study a similar topic- the pack was aimed at a class size of 40, and whilst I don’t believe that 40 children could use and get something out of it comfortably, defiantly 10 children could all use the resources per 1 pack.

Galleries of Justice HE Visit

2011-07-06T17:47:00.014+02:00

We had a fantastic visit today to the Nottingham Galleries of Justice, with a group of HE’ers with children and young people aged 8-15. It was particularly enjoyable to do a session aimed at older children, as typically the sessions we access are aimed at infants and juniors.
The day was split into two, with a costumed ‘Crime and Punishment’ tour in the morning, and Narrow Marsh Victorian slums in the afternoon.

The tour started in the courtroom, which was used until the 1980’s, the children re-enacted a real court room trial, and then were all given an identity card of a prisoner, which they had to find on a chart to discover who they were, and what there punishment was. Alice’s character was hung for murder, where as Kitty’s was sent to a behaviour readjustment centre!

After a ‘tried and tested’ session of the cells (!) the jailer was waiting to go through prison exercise drills with them, and then send them off on a ship destined for Australia. Brilliantly laid out with plenty of information on hand without becoming over facing.

After Alice’s favourite part of any trip out, her packed lunch (!!), we went into the Narrow Marsh, a modelled street which in reality used to sit just the other side of the prison walls. Alice and her friend ‘M’ seemed to enjoy the hands on activities such as the Victorian games and puzzles which were available in each room, as well as getting attached to some rather odd Victorian hats and cardigans!

A really good, accessible, visit- we’ll defiantly be making the trip to going to the Galleries of Justice again.

July Already?!

2011-07-02T19:09:00.006+02:00

Goodness, where did those last two weeks of June go? It’s been busy as usual here, with Kitty and Alice almost finishing their year’s workbook’s and topics- were more at the ‘finishing off’ stage now, before we move on to our more art and science based summer topics.

Bill is working well also, I don’t plan to stop with him so much over the summer- as I think the little and often approach is appropriate when learning so many new skills. He often now asks to go on reading eggs and completes a lesson unaided, as well as now working on the Reading Eggs textbooks which accompany the online lessons, Pippa over at When I Get The Time kindly sent me one of the textbooks- and Bill’s been a keen fan ever since! ;-)

And now revealing my new little man...

His locks have gone! He’s thrilled and calling it his new ‘summer do!’ I have to say it got some getting used to for me, but he loves it. :-) As a treat after his hair cut Laura took Alice and Bill of on the train to visit Build a Bear, their favourite soft toy shop- Bill made an owl and dressed in a scuba diving outfit, where as Alice took her favourite Build a Bear Bearramy with her, and chose a new Disney outfit for her.

Kitty’s work today was a roundup of her human biology chapter and a final challenge on her Food Technology mini topic. I was rather happy to dig out a model of the heart which seemed to really help with the understandings of the inner workings of the organ.

Her final food tech piece was to come up with a meal for four for under £5, she went to the local supermarket and came back with a bag of veg and produced this- a lovely light vegetable tart with homemade pastry and new potato chips, needless to say it was polished off rather quickly. ;-)

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-21T11:16:00.007+02:00

Potentially a complex and difficult day for us all, although with Alice and Bill to obviously consider we went ahead and whilst not doing a ‘typical’ Father’s Day celebration for us - as we don't actually celebrate it - the children made gifts and drew cards whilst the older girls and I prepared a meal for us all to eat together in the evening when David returned with the younger two from a day out he'd planned. Unexpectedly it worked far better than predicted. I'm pleased that we managed to pull the few hours together off in the same house and actually give the children a positive time - not easy for separated parents but something that we will endeavour to do occasionally in the future

Let's Go Walkies!

2011-06-16T19:57:00.001+02:00

Isn’t it odd that the walk’s most close to us we seem to overlook? Our local wood, The Shepshed Railway Track, is in full bloom with poppies at the moment. As it’s our ‘local’ we rarely take the camera with us, although whilst I was out with the younger two at a home ed group this afternoon Laura and Kitty remembered to carry it with them and took these gorgeous photo’s of the woods whilst walking Monty.

Busy Bill

2011-06-12T13:03:00.010+02:00

We have potatoes- I don’t know who was more impressed! The sacks have been sitting on the decking for the last few months, and after a quick Google it looked like the plants were ready to be dug up.

So with a bit of tugging, and then a bit of turning the bag upside down(!) Bill was rather happy to discover the potatoes and set about collecting and washing his ‘harvest’. ;-)

He has also been rather busy with his Kumon books, almost finishing his alphabet and number editions. He only started ‘work’ 6 months ago, and I’m so pleased to see his letter formation develop.

Oxford Reading Tree is going great guns, with him now on level two books. When I first began HE’ing Alice I purchased the whole set of ORT from a school supplier/ Amazon and EBay. Although a huge expense at the time I’m so pleased I did. Whilst the libraries are useful for supplement books there’s no way I would have got Bill reading without them. Most families I come across in my local HE community are not avid supporters of ORT, criticising its repetitiveness, although for Bill it’s exactly what he needs to reinforce new words and ideas, and finds it far more interesting to read a book that trying to persuade him with flashcards!

Ticking along and Establishing New Routines

2011-06-09T18:00:00.017+02:00

The weeks seem to be flying by at the minute, with the welcome arrival of summertime the days just don’t seem to be long enough to pack in all the educational and recreational activities we would like!

Alice and Bill have now both finished their mini projects. Alice’s English topic work on Cliffhanger by Jacqueline Wilson came to an end by having to design an eBay style advert advertising tickets for the adventure holiday next year. Deciding that Alice would get far more out of the task if she could do it ‘properly’ I set about trying to find a computer programme where the software was available. After some mooching I came across Purple Mash, a lovely ICT site with many of the activities available to complete and print for free. I was very impressed by her advert design, and her typing stamina. :-)

Bill’s final rhyme was Sing a Song Of Sixpence, where we used role play to become the king counting his money, the queen eating bread and honey, and the maid hanging out the washing. During this Bill found a love for honey, and spent the rest of the morning with a French stick and a jar of the sweet stuff!

Whilst we haven’t been able to get to our regular groups for a few weeks, we have been able to catch up with friends- one of my main problems with HEing is that everyone lives so spread out! Alice loved spending an afternoon with her friend 'M' at Wheelgate Adventure Park.

Kitty has been enjoying her food technology and human biology projects. Today she made some delicious banana bread which was swiftly devoured by all!

I’m really pleased with how well she has been doing with human biology, she following an IGCSE course with a view to taking her exam in November. When Laura first came out of the conventional school system I was thrown into the unknown and swiftly purchased expensive GCSE packages, they contained no more information than typical textbook, and the courses were so specific it was almost impossible to find an exam centre! After trial and error with Laura, I have now realised that Amazon stock all of the textbooks we need at a fraction of the cost. Kitty is following Edexcel Human Biology IGCSE, it has no coursework so there are no issues there, and with it not being modular there is only one exam fee. The Edexcel website has been a fantastic source of information, with the exam specs all there for you to go through at your own pace. I looked at all four main exam boards- OCR, AQA, Edexcel and WJEC, Edexcel was our first choice mainly because Amazon had the exact textbook for the course, which is a lot easier than trying to cobble together the relevant parts of information from numerous textbooks.

Kitty and Laura were both in London last week, for a Young People’s Board Meeting chaired by the chief exec, the Family Justice Review panel were present for part of the morning, and took a few pictures for part of their consultation

Young Peoples Board - aged in-between 12 - 25 (Kitty being the youngest member)

Hattie and Henry's adventures in Kenya! - Novieto Family

2011-05-27T11:17:00.014+02:00

A month ago our flat travellers set off to Kenya, to spend time with a traditional family and see the sights of Africa. We received back some fantastic pictures of their time away, as well as some lovely gifts of traditional children’s clothing, shoes and foods.

This is the home in which Hattie and Henry stayed for the month, travelling about in this car...

They met families from the village, and had tier pictures taken with many of them!

And even took a trip to a wedding, where they went onto the top table to have a picture with the bride and groom!

Towards the end of the trip the host family took them both to a local crafts fair, Alice loves these pictures the most, looking at all the different items which are on the market stalls.

Thank you very much the Novieto family, what a fantastic collection of pictures you took for us all to share and learn further from - next week we'll begin a study of Africa.

Plantasia HE Visit

2011-05-26T18:42:00.009+02:00

A day at Plantasia, organised by a fellow home ed Mum for 15 families around Leicestershire.

The children had an educational session in the morning on the theme of minibeasts, observing them with magnifying glasses (Bill’s ‘very best’ bit!) and collecting them from the woodland habitat to look at closer.

After a picnic lunch they then had free reign of the centre (!) enjoying the maze world, park and animal areas. Cleverly when each child enters the centre they are given a card to collect stamps on from machines which are hidden over the park- collecting all of the stamps exchanged for a prize in the shop area. Alice and Bill were both very keen on collecting these stamps- and we had to go round a few times before spotting all of the machines! ;-)

Hickory Dickory Dock

2011-05-23T17:33:00.006+02:00

Today after his daily work Bill did his nursery rhyme project- based today on Hickory Dickory Dock.

We sang the song- lots!!

Watched videos on Youtube about Mice and other Mice nursery rhymes.

The made our own edible mice out of sugar dough and pumpkin seeds- as well as liquorish for the tails. ;-)

Dog Sitting

2011-05-22T20:50:00.005+02:00

The Lovely Pea-Wee, who we have been 'dog sitting' for the last couple of days.

Cwmiar Farm Holiday, Wales

2011-05-22T18:20:00.003+02:00

For the past week we have been staying in the idyllic Carmarthen, at the Cwmiar Farm- ran by Jimmy and Kay along with their young son Josh. Based at the foot of the stunning Llanllwni Mountain, the cottage holiday has been a relaxing and enjoyable holiday for us all, and a much needed break for me and the children after the decision was made by myself and David to separate - this has been along time in coming and although up until recently living uder the same roof we have lead very seperate lives for some years. Time away has allowed us all the space and reflection required to start moving further in our new directions and plan and prepare for the future and new beginnings. The children are of course our main concern though so far are adapting well.

We arrived to find a winding farm track leading up to a series of cottages, all renovated from their original purposes from when the farm was a larger operation. We were staying in the old farmers store now named Mountain View; the stone crafted cottage had all its original beams exposed making it a beautiful and inviting place to relax for the week.

The farms main attraction for me when booking was the opportunities the children got to be up close with animals, with none of the health and safety restrictions you now so commonly get at commercial childrens farms. Every morning at 9:00 Jimmy and Kay took all of the families who were staying on the farm on a feeding trail- beginning with the ducks and chickens, then the sheep and cows, then finally mucking out and grooming the horses. They all enjoyed feeding the sheep (they all came running with a shake of the bucket!) and watching the new born calf -who was only 12 hours old when we arrived! The farms natural and organic ethos extended to their natural play park, which Bill and Alice spent many a happy morning on- as well as the stream when it was sunny, and the mini clubhouse in the not so fair weather, where traditional indoor games were all enjoyed.

Oakwood Theme Park and BlueStone were both enjoyable attractions to spend the day at. Oakwood was a large scale children’s theme park, where the youngest two both enjoyed riding the fairground rides and sunny weather. Bluestone was an attraction suitable for a day not so pleasant weather wise- a huge indoor park space with an aerial adventure, which Kitty was keen to have a go at, along with park equipment, golf, a Lego centre, a science museum and fun pool.

On the penultimate day we opted to stay close to home, another family staying at the farm that week recommended the National Gardens to us, which was only a couple of miles down the road. What a stunning location, I think between us we took over 100 photos in that day alone! The centre compromised of every type of cultural garden you could think of, with play gardens for children, paddle streams, bio sphere and woodland, a lovely was to spend the final full day of our holiday

Road trip to Carmarthenshire

2011-05-09T10:19:00.002+02:00

Carmarthenshire - West Wales

We're a road 'trippin' - and I'm driving - argh - back with an update soon

Birthday Treats

2011-05-07T19:11:00.009+02:00

Photo’s of Kitty and Hermione’s trip to Leicester today- a treat to celebrate Hermione’s 15th Birthday.

Lunch at the Buddhist Peace Cafe

NY Beauti, where the girls were both getting their nails done

Before....

Choosing the colours

After!

New Term, New Topics

2011-05-05T11:22:00.011+02:00

Kitty, Alice and Bill have all began their new summer projects today, Alice and Bills were both purchased from a primary recourses shop on EBay- they were originally purchased for Kitty and Alice, when they first came out of school – as I must admit to floundering a little initially - but they were so well put together and easy to use I photocopied the worksheets and recourse sheets to use again at a later date with a different child. We now have about 12 KS1 and KS2 packs which have been gathered over the years based on English, Maths and Science skills. Alice has started an English one on the book Cliffhanger, by Jacqueline Wilson, and Bill is doing a whole early years 2 week curriculum based on Nursery Rhymes. Here’s the link to the EBay shop- , which still stocks some of our earliest recourses now- http://stores.ebay.co.uk/primaryteachingtoolkit

Kitty has shown an interest in food technology, she’s always enjoyed cooking and wants to explore the more theoretical side, as well as the practical side which she does regularly. Her pack has been put together from various internet sites and textbooks- as well as using the KS3 year 9 curriculum for recipes.

Whilst Kitty was doing a piece of work on packaged foods, and Alice compound words found in the piece of text she had read in Cliffhanger, Bill was busy in the workroom embarking on the first stage of his new topic. Today’s nursery rhyme was ‘Jack and Jill’, so we sang the rhyme and did the actions in the book, followed by ordering sequence cards which came with the pack. Following this Bill was delighted to have to construct a well out of Lego and building bricks, and then find ways of getting the water from the top to the bottom- without getting wet! ;-)

I provided him with lots of part made recourses, like scoops, straws, cotton reels, dowel, and tubs. He began with a scoop, although quickly realised that the best thing to use for a well would be something that could be wound up and down. Using string and a giant peg board peg I helped him make a ‘bucket’ on a rope that could be dunked into the water without it spilling. He was very happy and engaged in using his bucket to transfer water from one container to the other, and can’t wait for tomorrows Nursery Rhyme of ‘Mary Mary Quite Contrary.’

Toy Review - BrainBox Toys – Alpha Animals

2011-05-01T00:03:00.003+02:00

Junior Alpha Animals was the final board game of this month’s set that my youngest two had received from BrainBox Toys. The stimulating game guides the players through the alphabet naming animals of the letter they land on. The game progresses for older children where the animals are categorised into land, sea and air, where the player is only aloud to name an animal that fits the description along with the letter. The format worked well with my youngest two, with Alice (8) playing using the older version, whilst Bill (4) continued with naming the animals corresponding with the letter he had landed on. They also both particularly enjoyed the ‘Alpha Cards’ where they were asked to roar like a lion or maybe even get stuck in quicksand! The packaging engaged them both from the start and out of the three games that we have received this month Junior Alpha Animals was the one that got the most attention from both children and gained the most enjoyment from whilst taking part. The game also provided a useful base of discussion, using the internet to find animals of a certain letter (although the game already included a very thorough list if needed), and discussion with Alice of what the more rare of the animals mentioned habitats were.

Overall a very well packaged, thought out and engaging game which stimulates learning though play and discussion, as well as a rare opportunity for both my 4 year old and an 8 year old to play the same game together but at a level personalised for their current understanding.

Watercolour Peacock

2011-04-30T23:56:00.003+02:00

Kitty has been working on a watercolour peacock this afternoon, gaining inspiration from a young peoples art blog which she is now an avid follower of. ;-)

All Things British ;-)

2011-04-29T21:02:00.021+02:00

As a family we all adore Emma Bridgewater pottery- and have been collecting bits and bobs of her vast collection of kitchen items for the past few years.

In honour of the royal wedding the company were holding street party style events up and down the country, with the seconds and specials of EB pottery available to purchase, as well as children’s events and workshops. We went along to the main one today, at the EB factory in Stoke on Trent, about an hour’s drive away from us.
I actually don't care much for the royals so a day doing something different whilst the rest of the country were gripped in wedding excitement appealed. Stoke-on Trent is where I was born and lived in the early years of my life - as we were driving along I recognised Fenton Swimming pool where I learnt to swim at the age of 6 - seemingly time had stood still as it was all so familiar.... Ha! I guess in those days I'd of said Fenton 'Baffs' - local dialect is an interesting one and strangley I am able to revert back to that accent instently - amusing at times.

The main shop had some fantastic displays of some of her most recent collections.

A huge Union Jack teapot, which would probably keep me supplied with tea for the week! ;-)

After a nose in the main shop we walked down into the factory outlet store, which stocks discontinued items from her ranges of time gone by, as well as seconds due to small imperfections or marks in the hand painted items. As somebody who doesn’t conform to matching items I adore the mix style of her designs, I was rather thrilled to find a few items of my favourite collection by her- Speckled Hen, which was discontinued from her main range last year, needless to say I added a hen mug, bowl and plate into my basket!

‘Wedding fever’ swiftly rose through the factory floor as 11’oclock drew closer, so much so they actually shut up the whole site apart from the cafe, where people watched the celebration over a cup of tea and a slice of cake- on EB pottery of course!

After a morning at the factory we stopped off at a nearby pub for a lovely lunch, followed by a Union Jack cake back at home, made by Laura and Kitty, we forgot to take a photograph before we cut it, so here’s one huge slice that Kitty was about to tuck into, on a Union Jack plate obviously!

Ben and Stanley visit the National Space Centre

2011-04-28T19:20:00.007+02:00

Yesterday Bill decided that he would take out flat travellers on an expedition- at the moment Bill’s favourite place is the National Space Centre, so with Ben under one arm and Stanley under the other he set of with his big sisters Laura and Alice for a morning of space fun.

The centre had on a Gagarin event celebrating 50 years since he became the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961, the children were both given a Gagarin challenge card to complete as they were going round, and they both enjoyed the space challenges throughout the centre.

Bill had received some money over the Easter period from relatives and is now the proud owner of a LEGO space rocket, complete with astronaut and satellite, he is one very happy little boy! ;-)

Easter Fun

2011-04-24T14:47:00.017+02:00

Bill's cards ;-)
Bill and Alice have enjoyed Easter crafting leading up to the big day, Bill made these gorgeous cards with his eldest sister at Charnwood Museum yesterday- his handwriting inside brought a tear to my eye- his first card to me that he has wrote all by himself :-)

Alice dyed hen’s eggs using a vinegar based colorant- a smelly but effective technique!

The finished eggs after leaving them in the vinegar solution for 30 minutes- quite effective against the green raffia strips.

Easter in this house means only one thing to my youngest two- Easter egg hunts! Egg’s were swiftly stuffed under bushes and lodged between branches, for two rather small and over excited children who charged into the garden- armed with baskets and a list of goodies to find!
The lists - Bill read his himself this year - no help necessary.

Rubix the cat was of course on hand to ensure fair play throughout the grand Easter egg search!

About to start a mass munching session! ;-)

St Georges Day- Dudley

2011-04-23T19:56:00.011+02:00

Kitty enjoyed performing in a St Georges Day gig today in Dudley town centre with Sherwood Legends. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UPOmLzrflM)

Charnwood Museum- Animals in Hands

2011-04-20T15:15:00.005+02:00

Bill had a fantastic time at the Animal in Hands session at Charnwood Museum today, holding a millipede with 240 legs, a giant toad which weighed 6 times as much as as typical UK one, and dangling stick insects from his fingers!

Enjoying The Easter Break

2011-04-19T18:32:00.008+02:00

Those that were around spent a lovely few hours with Sandra on Monday, her husband Terry is currently attending a mathematics conference at Leicester University for a number of days and Sandra had dropped him off before coming on to us. Laura and Kitty's leek and potato soup was well received as was the bread that I made that morning. We walked and chatted and caught up on each others news - hard to quantify my feelings for this special (to me) lady - though someone who has known me from childhood and the person that has been my surrogate mother for well over 28 years....

Otherwise -now it’s the school holidays all of Alice’s favourite holiday clubs have started back up again, she is loving the day sessions at Loughborough Leisure Centre, focusing on team sport and swimming, as well as a new drama session that she and her friend ‘M’ went along to today. Rather amusingly for the staff after the drama workshop which including going on the main stage, playing drama games and mini role plays, the girls were asked what they had enjoyed most at the end of their day session - Alice swiftly replied she enjoyed her packed lunch best, with ‘M’ agreeing! ;-) Clearly these two don't get out often enough (ha!)

Today whilst Alice spent her day at the Curve Bill went along to an Easter art session at Loughborough museum, Alice used to enjoy these when she was younger, as did Bill today when he came to meet me in Leicester with Laura, proudly demonstrating the rabbit puppet he had made.

We all spent the afternoon in Leicester- the Lanes is a gorgeous part of the city, full of little boutique style shops and crafted gifts, I picked up this pretty woven wooden heart from Niche which is now displayed in the sitting room. The rest of our shopping was tedious really, I didn't appreciate all those years ago when I held my new daughters in my arms just how many hours we would spend underwear shopping over the coming years.... Today was yet another 'session' this time Laura needed kitting out - I'm convinced my family keep the underwear departments in business - as it was Kitty a fortnight ago ;-P Least I won't have this 'problem' with Bill....

A while ago a fellow home edding friend recommended the Buddhist World Peace Cafe to me- we stumbled across it by chance today as we were up by the cathedral and decided to go in for lunch. What a fantastic place! So relaxed and welcoming, spacious and child friendly, the cafe is purely vegetarian with some vegan options, a rare and welcome ethos to my family who are all currently veggie. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals and no doubt we will be back there many more times- it's our new favourite place to eat. ;-) What a pity I didn't take my camera along as it was such an interesting place - camera phones just don't do any justice - Laura has come away with plenty of new ideas to add to her room over the next few months....

German Friendship Cake And Other Going's On

2011-04-16T20:10:00.002+02:00

Bill a number of days ago adding the necessary 'cups' of ingredients leading up to making the German Friendship Cake

Remember the German Friendship Cake Kitty started off about a fortnight ago- well today was the day when after two weeks of adding ,stirring and generally tending to an ever growing cake mixture she had to add yet more items in, and then bake it and hope for the best! ;-)

We had never come across a Friendship Cake before, and it wasn’t until we started researching it on the internet after one of Kitty’s friends at a HE group gave her the basic mix that we realised how it get’s it’s name. In theory, this cake’s mixture will never run out, as after leaving the yeast for 14 days you take out three mugs of the mix, and give it to three separate people, to then follow the recipe themselves and give it to three more people- and so, hopefully, the mix goes on and on! We were only the second to receive this batch of mix, but now we have passed it on to three other local friends hopefully that’ll be 3 more cakes from a mix that was started back in March!

The mix was huge, and Kitty easily got two loaf cakes plus cupcakes out of it. It tasted unlike any other cake we had tasted before, a cross in-between a tea bread, fruitcake and a sponge- all rather tasty though, and there was certainly call’s for seconds! ;-)

In her more structured side of her learning, Kitty has decided and began to work towards her first international GCSE, we have chosen Human Biology due to the availability to get textbooks and Kitty’s sound knowledge of the subject already through the use of Noeo curriculum. Our hope is that she will sit the November examination down in Bristol, with a company called 3A Tutors. We used this company as an exam venue with Laura in the early days of HE, but then found that the local college would accept her at 14 to do the GCSE’s there in the evening - as Kitty is 12 she's a couple of years away from making use of the college services - so we'll make the trek to Bristol. 3A’s advantages compared to the local grammar schools (Which also accept HE candidates) are that they offer any examination, and specification, and any awarding body- therefore less likely for me to buy textbooks by the wrong company- for the wrong module! She has used the Edexcel Human Biology A textbook, which matches the syllabus directly, as well as Bitesize KS4 for top up tests and videos. She has just completed her first module on cell make up and specific cells, as well as chemical equations for respiration, and balanced symbol equations. She’s enjoying getting her teach stuck into something new. The closing date for entry into the November examinations for IGCSE is July - towards the end of next month I will make the necessary arrangemnets for her to take the examination - always exciting that first one. So much easier this time as I have prior knowledge from guiding Laura through the exam system a few years ago.

Leicestershire has now broke up for the Easter break, meaning that our local ‘after school’ style clubs have ended until May, Alice is excited to be taking part in the local Kids club and drama sessions, whilst Bill is off to mini art and Kitty taking part in a St George’s Day gig.

Welcoming Ben and Stanley!

2011-04-16T17:45:00.000+02:00

This week our new American flat travellers have arrived, Ben from Texas, and Stanley from New Hampshire. They came on the warmest day of the year so far, so enjoyed a well earned rest in the garden after their transatlantic flight!

Ben and Stanley both enjoyed their first experience of English theatre at the Curve, Leicester, coming to watch The Jungle Book with the rest of the family! Bill adored the puppet of Mowgli used throughout the first part of the story, whilst Alice enjoyed the clever costumes and catchy songs.

We hope to get round to seeing more theatre performances over the next few weeks due to it being half term, with more children's theatre being about. Our next booked show will be David Walliam’s ‘Mr Stink’, again at the Curve.

Bluebell Time 2011

2011-04-14T17:54:00.000+02:00

Bluebell time of year again - simple, timely reminders that winter is behind us as the warmer air & lighter conditions of April & May are upon us. My children and I look forward to visiting the local Outwoods (Loughborough) to marvel at the display. We're actually quite fortunate in having three areas locally where we can walk amongst the densely blue carpeted areas in the woodland (with occasional white and pink smaller patches). It doesn't feel like a year ago since we last enjoyed the display here - last year when Bill's smaller legs couldn't manage the whole walk round and we took him in turns and shared carrying him in a sling.... The last time we were here was on Christmas day with snow on the ground and a chill in the air. No streams today to play in - all dried up and in their place dry channels to follow and jump across...

Kitty and me - sitting, watching & talking - I adore days like this - simple - these kids of mine are such brilliant company :-)

Eldest - Laura and youngest - Bill

Alice

After a couple of hours walking and playing - no visit here is complete with out calling into the pub close by to sample (again!) their hot chocolates

Once home this is what Alice completed before drawing some illustrations to decorate her work.

1. In what sort of places can bluebells be found?

2. A fully grown bluebell would normally reach a height of how many centimetres?

3. Describe the appearance of the leaves of a bluebell?

4. At what time of year do the first leaves of the bluebell appear?

5. Which parts of the flower are like a bell shaped tube?

6. Are bluebell flowers always blue?

7. Which part of the flower contains the pollen?

8. How far below the surface might the bulb be found?

9. What is the main purpose of the bulb?

10. When is the best time to find bluebells flowering?

11. What happens when the flowers die?

12. Can you explain why bluebells and woodland plants might flower earlier than
many other plants, (Hint: Woodland tree canopy in early Spring)

Moira Furnace Education Session

2011-04-11T17:02:00.000+02:00

A small number of home educating families today visited Moira Furnace in North West Leicestershire ( 19th Century iron-making blast furnace) to participate in one of their education sessions. Those attending split into two groups and moved round the activities on offer – making soap, canal boat ride on the Ashby canal, olden style toys and museum visit & talk.

1st group waiting for the boat

Bill making soap penguins!

We arrived earlier than planned to spend time playing on the park and walking along the tow path for awhile – mobile phone photos today as we wanted to travel lighter – I’m pleased we did arrive early as the best of the weather was in the morning before our session began. I had also intended visiting the craft shops that are also located here but they were all closed – as was the cafe....

Waiting for them to set

Playing with the old toys whilst waiting for the boat

A much smaller group (6 families) assembled together today, Alice and Bill enjoyed all the activities on offer though they would have liked a more hands on session with the soap making instead of the session leader carrying out the tasks and the group watching – easy enough for us to redo this activity at home, I just need to remember to pick up the Glycerine on my next trip into town and they can get cracking. We all enjoyed the barge ride despite the now grey skies and the sudden rain fall – umbrellas were shared and the chatting and fun continued. During the museum tour the children discovered that Sir Francis Rawdon Hastings, the second Earl
of Moira, built the furnace in 1804 – and that it was built to produce machine parts, tram tracks and cannon balls amongst other things – though it had a very short life in terms of operation. We had looked at the Furnace history a couple of years ago – and I was surprised at how much Kitty and Alice could rapidly recall. We didn’t stay for all the museum tour as we needed to head home earlier than the session end time. Great to visit somewhere so local – we often dismiss what is on our doorstep ;-)

All aboard!

Off around the canal

Butterflies HE Group- ‘Spring’

2011-04-06T13:10:00.000+02:00

We know it’s 'really spring now' - as Sid our Land Snail has awoken from his fourth hibernation period- I must remember to ‘treat’ him to a cuttlefish bone! ;-)

Otherwise may different sessions on planting and spring crafting have been had, ensuring the spring display takes shape in the workroom. Further items were made today at Butterflies HE Group, Swadlincote. Bill enjoyed planting flowers whilst Alice created things with Winter from junk modelling. Kitty and the other older members of the group produced fantastic origami style paper plant pots, which Bill and Alice have now claimed to plant runner beans in!

What Shall we do Today?

2011-04-05T13:25:00.001+02:00

As I opened my eyes this morning, the first thing I heard from my four year old was ‘Mummy- What shall we do today?’(!) Bill loves structure; he enjoys his workbooks and set activities along with crafts and cooking. This morning we began on Reading Eggs, Bill is now on map 5 and adores the fun programme- along with the incentive of gaining eggs to buy body parts and accessories for his online robot character!

Following two lessons on the computer programme, (and numerous ‘eyeball’ purchasing!!) Bill moved onto his workbooks and set activities. He has many simple paper activity and education books, and tends to do a couple of different sheets each day. Today we used Abacus paper maths books, dot to dot, a stage 1B ORT reading book and my (and his) favourite workbook at the moment- Kumon letters and sounds. My eldest daughter did Kumon when she was primary school age, and I have recently discovered the company do textbooks for ages 3 to 11 via Amazon. The books are simple, engaging and short and snappy bursts of information- just right for my 4 and 8 year old! Alice currently has the comprehension book for her age group, and Bill the letters and numbers additions.

Whilst Alice was busy with her maths, looking at shapes and her English - 'suffix' Bill did some cooking with his big sisters, choosing another recipe from his junior cooking book, he made a giant mud pie cake- complete with chocolate mud!

Kitty joined in on Bill's cooking theme after a friend gave us a '10 Day German Friendship Cake' starter mix. I've never done one before - I've been put of by not been able to refrigerate the mixture - anyhow, we're trying it. Kitty added the necessary plain flour,sugar and milk to the given mixture and we'll continue adding and doing for the next 10 days - I'm looking forward to a lovely mosit cake ;-)

Otherwise, Kitty and Alice went along to Stoneygate HE group in Leicester and Bill enjoyed his Tuesday afternoon Gym group with Laura; before we all met up back at home to flop on the sofa.

Letting go and accepting the way things are.

2011-04-04T21:45:00.000+02:00

Last May....
http://motheroffourhealymarstons.blogspot.com/2010/05/destination-unknown.html

Blar, I've never been a fan of mother's or father's day. I guess my feeling of uneasiness began many years ago as a child in local authority care. On special days such as these most cared for children went off for part of the day somewhere and I was always the one that was left to 'enjoy' the day with staff members. I recall vividly, despising the situation, the feeling of abandonment in the pit of my stomach and when I could contain it there no longer those intense feelings would rush through my veins and turn into anger. I was a bugger, a complex case, emotions that swung as the second hand changed on the ever ticking clock - my clock,racing me towards adulthood even though I was so ill prepared...

Over the years, I learnt to control the obvious sadness, the abandonment and the anger and built a wall of sorts to protect myself. Humour also played a large part of 'covering' my more destructive emotions and by the age of 18 my adult life began. I never dared think of either of my birth parents, occasionally they would come up in conversation but I didn't allow myself to think any longer than was necessary and answer the question that someone or another that didn't really know me posed.

I recall the birth of my first daughter at the age of 22 and the ache I felt as I held her, the ache of no one to guide me, no one to share the intense feelings with - I worried desperately of just how I would parent this little person. Would history repeat itself, how would I parent without fond memories to hold me together for the next journey in my life? Motherhood was the *only* role that I have truly wanted as an adult. To me, how I am judged as a mother means so very much more than any other role that I facilitate; the make or break of another human life - getting it wrong causes such deep set issues I knew somehow I just had to get it right.

I went on to have a subsequent child 6 years later, followed by a messy divorce, 2ND marriage and two other children. Life ticked along until just after my son was born 4 years ago and I received a message from my birth father - 25 years from when I'd last heard/seen him. He was an ill man, a man terminally ill with cancer of the oesophagus and given just 6 weeks to live at the age of 55. Emotions ran all over the place, coupled with the fact our son had been hospitalised for a number of weeks following birth after an 'iffy' start, and not helped by me having a 'burst' 'C' section wound - I was a mess (!!) Three weeks later my birth father was asking if I would go and see him, he wanted to make his peace & apologise for wrong doings. He informed me that he now lived in Yeovil, had a second marriage and then made what can only be described as polite conversation. I asked for time to think and in the end took 2 weeks of fluctuating emotions to decided to go.

It was a hard visit, 15th February 2007, an emotionally charged visit, his wife must have found it all terribly strained, a daughter removed by the courts some many years earlier, a void and now here she was. He had been hospitalised, he was losing a great deal of blood, I really wouldn't have recognised him, this was an old man, a pitiful sight of a man, not someone like the one I remember who seemed so cruel and powerful. We didn't speak about my past, we didn't speak about his. Though he did apologise and asked me to give a message to my birth mother. Only one problem, I hadn't seen her for nearly as long as him, and I didn't know where to begin looking for her. As it happened, I didn't have the energy, I needed to grieve and take stock and learn to forgive and let go. A phone call came through that my birth father passed away at his home on the 28th February 2007 - 2 weeks from him saying hello and good bye to me. Crap, utter crap at just what life can throw at you sometimes.

Slowly life became predictable again. With 4 children to now care for and our home ed life style, I just got on with 'it' and slowly things hurt less and somehow we got back to normal. Until early last year. I was about to turn 40 and thoughts of my birth mother were never far away - which was a new situation for me as previously I'd never allowed myself more than a slightest moment of thought. I decide to apply for my care file, the file that may provide me with a link to where she may be now - also fill some of the gaps in from way back then. After a period of time, I received the documentation in full - an enormous amount of paper work - probably the years photo coping budget for Cheshire had been blown on just one LARGE file..... I hadn't realised just how horrified I would be in finding the contense and actually I didn't mange to read more than a small amount of it - it repulsed me, I'm unsure if I'll ever find the courage to read it through - though it almost now ceases to be relevant...

What that file did do though was provide me with an address and the correct spelling of a surname that my birth mother used from her second marriage. I'd been spelling it wrongly when I'd tried the various methods of loosely trying to trace her. I began more seriously attempting to find her - it seemed an impossible task and I concluded that she'd either moved abroad or had passed away. Until one night, something made me type into the Face book search engine the names of two subsequent children that my birth mother had had. And instantly they appeared. It was too much of a coincidence for them not to be her children. Their surname has an unusual spelling - my gut reaction was, it just had to be them. How right I was! Within a day of my message going, her son now in his middle twenties had emailed back to confirm my suspicions and he agreed to speak with his mother to let her know I was trying to contact her. A couple of weeks passed, he no longer lived at his family home in Chester (bloody Cheshire, I should have known!) so he would speak when he next visited his parents. Eventually an email was returned with my birth mother in agreement to begin slowly communicating via email or postal mail. The first few were immensely difficult for me, I wouldn't like to second guess her emotions but I can imagine... She was keen to ask questions regarding my birth father and his sad passing - she wished she'd of known, as she would have visited him too. After a couple of months, I pushed for a face to face visit, I needed to see her, to be near to her, she had a daughter of 21 as well as her son, I was intrigued at what they looked like and did they have similarities to me. She took some persuading, though fortunately for me she agreed. We met last June in a hotel directly opposite Stoke railway Station - she'd driven, I used the train, no way could I have focused enough to drive. Her daughter accompanied her and my eldest daughter came along with me. We arrived loaded with the largest basket of flowers that could be carried by hand, and with such a mixture of emotions I couldn't even begin to write them down. Laura and I arrived first and sat in the hotel drinking coffee, I worried I may not recognise her/she may not recognise me... I need not have, as she entered I just knew, she looked so very like her own mother it was uncanny and in looking towards her daughter it was as though Kitty had aged a few years - the resemblance was striking, even to the point of mannerisms... How could one of my children be so like this other young women and yet our lives had not touched - it was so hard watching her and talking to her as this was Kitty but somehow older. We spoke, my birth mother bought our lunch, though made it clear she wasn't prepared for my daughter to call her anything other than her first name - she wasn't a grandparent - that was hard - painfully hard, stupidly for me, Laura, sensible Laura took it all in her stride.... We spoke about my birth father further, I had a few photos that his wife had passed on to me, him when they had first met etc.. my birth mother seemed interested to see those. After 2.5 hours we parted company, they left to go shopping, I ran to the toilet to vomit, feeling empty and hollow.

Emailing continued at regular intervals, superficial 'stuff' now, I was hopeful it would move on, perhaps she'd give me her phone number, invite me to meet with her son, her husband as i did have some recollection of him as he was occasionally with her when she attended meetings when I was in care. I tried to arrange such a gathering, the timing was never right, her holidays, her work load, etc... It just didn't happen. At Christmas I received my first Christmas card from her in over 28+ years - bitter sweet. I sent her a card on the 19th of this month for her birthday and she reciprocated and I received one for mine last week. I am 'friends' with her daughter on Face book - though that is where the relationship (is it even that?) sits. Painfully sits... Her son has always responded to my emails (I've sent about 4 to him in total) though he doesn't want to meet up - it appears that he feels (apologies if I'm wrong) that this is for his mother to sort, somehow this is nothing to do with him.

As it was Mother's Day on Sunday, I'd purchased a card some weeks before whilst I was enjoying some delicious cake and hot chocolate in Templars with my own children - a simple though gorgeously hand made card - I never did send it. I wrestled what to do for the best, do I , don't I? And the implications of doing or not... A mother to me is someone that gives and loves unconditionally, that supports and comforts without question, who cheers from the sidelines and picks her loved one up when they fall and forgives and loves over and over.

Now is the time for me to let go, to recognise that sometimes others are just not ready or able to react and engage in a way that makes any sense to another. That some can have other children, forge solid relationships with them but space for others is just not there... I now need to forgive and hold no bitterness and to continue my life and be true to myself.

To my birth mother
I wouldn't have missed this journey for the world, if for nothing else but the chance to have you fully in my life and not on the fringes.

What will be will be - and sadly this was never meant to be.... xx

Toy Review - BrainBox Toys - UK Money Snap

2011-04-04T16:13:00.001+02:00

Uk Money Snap game - on the outer packaging of this game are a couple of suggestions of how to play - either 'snap' or 'pairs'. As identifying coin denominations was a new concept for Bill (4) I initially decided to play 'go fish' and place a small number of the cards down for us to identify together and as his skill and confidence developed introduced a few more until he recognised all of the single coins in the UK monetary system. I then added the number values - which he paired up with ease, before we moved on to the snap game which he loved.
This small and compact game is great at supporting younger children with identifying monetary value - we added real money in conjunction with the cards to further enhance play/learning value. The game has been played in many areas, from at home to waiting in a train station - they fit so easily in my bag and more importantly for me something that my young son enjoys using with.
He's not ready for adding more than a few small numbers of coins together as yet (up to 10p) but when he is, this game will be used further to enhance the adding and subtracting of coins totalling a larger value.

Photograph session

2011-04-03T17:58:00.000+02:00

Some images from the lovely photo session this morning with Sophie White of White-Hall Photography: www.white-hallphotography.com. We are all really pleased with the photos she has taken- Kitty is planning to go back for an individual shoot later this week to get more beautiful pictures of her new hair style. :-)

Sophie is the 18 year old daughter of a HE family that live a short drive from our home. I'm impressed by her confident, relaxed manner - her ability to work with all ages and take 'hi-cups' from children (well okay my 8 year old ;-) ) in her stride. She produced some great photos - I wish her well in her career.

Kitty's New Hair Style :-)

2011-04-03T00:34:00.000+02:00

Beautiful girl, with the confidence to be just who she wants to be - today my 12 year old decided on a new hair style.

Adorable

She's delighted with the result and so am I.

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-04-02T13:41:00.000+02:00

Little Gifts

Fantastic Cake - Thank you Laura :-) xx

Link to cake maker here - http://cakes-by-emma.co.uk/default.aspx

Cake Sharing

A happy day, shopping in Leicester, then having a meal - spent with the people that mean the most to me in life.

Pastel Spring Eggs

2011-03-30T13:56:00.000+02:00

Gaining inspiration from this children’s art blog - (www.artprojectsforkids.org/2011/03/pastel-egg-painting.html) Kitty had a go this morning at creating her own image of pastel eggs. Using soft colours and a bright background, she drew her design using templates on the website, directly onto a small A5 board canvas.

BrainBox Toys - Wikki Stix

2011-03-27T17:53:00.001+02:00

Recently my family have become involved with BrainBox – testing and reviewing a number of their products – out of the three that were received by us this month, Alice (8) and Bill (4) first had to decided what to play with...

Our first game to test (and have fun with) was Wikki Stix Activity Set. The set included a reusable plastic board for the child to work on as well a clever ‘story starter’ that had my 8 year old wanting to join in with too. The wikki stix are very pliable in younger children’s hands and mould with ease into the various desired shapes – resulting in beautiful pictures from my 4 year old. My 8 year old preferred to assemble the stixs into 3d shapes, making brightly coloured jewellery. These clever sticks that are much the same as pipe cleaners – though they stick together – could be used for many different activities. On our second play with them we all constructed our names, moulding each letter from the stixs.

A game that you can return to time and again, this set further encourages my children’s creativity in a way that doesn’t require a great deal of adult input or clearing up after. My only criticism would be that whilst the packaging is colourful and eye catching the photographs of the children are quite dated which deflect from the modern engaging product.

After using this game a number of times with my own children I will certainly be purchasing it to give to others in the 3 – 10 age bracket as a gift.

Visit to Stonehurst Farm

2011-03-27T16:39:00.000+02:00

This morning Laura and I took the youngest two to Mountsorrel farm, meeting up with a number of local HE families as we were there.

To help celebrate Corrine’s Birthday her family brought some cakes for us all to enjoy whilst we were there- yummy!

Market Harborough HE session

2011-03-27T16:22:00.000+02:00

Every other Friday Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire HE families get together for a skate and swim group at Market Harborough Leisure centre. It’s a friendly, relaxed session, and unique for Leicestershire in the sense that a good proportion of HE teens attend, as well as younger children.

As the weather was so pleasant a number of families met at Welland Park before the session, worth the trip to the fantastic outdoor play space.

Matlock Bath

2011-03-24T16:30:00.000+01:00

Whilst Alice and Bill were having a fun afternoon with their grandparents, I took the oldest two for an impromptu visit to Matlock Bath. Due to a change in my regular working pattern I found unexpectedly to have the day free. A great many parents have difficult relationships with their teens – for me I find that quite a hard concept to grasp. With my teen and pre teen we enjoy spending time together – yes our interests can be different but that adds to our relationships and keeps it alive and interesting. I trust them to make the right choices for themselves, whilst always been available as a soundboard or support person as and when they require it. I don’t see the teen years as any more or less challenging than any other period of time in childhood and get quite frustrated at the bad press often associated with the time period of someone’s life from 13-19. Spending time with my eldest two today, reinforced my own beliefs in what great, lively, intelligent, interesting and loving people they are.

We have visited here once or twice as part of a holiday as a family, and tended to stick to more family aimed attractions- the favourite with the younger two being Gullivers Kingdom - today it was a pleasant change to have a look around the abundance of craft shops and boutiques, as well as enjoy a walk in woodland surrounding the town. The town had that feeling of not being fully awake after its winter hibernation period – I think the sudden pleasant rise in weather temperature had caught many of the shop and attraction holders out.

Enjoying the many boutiques and craft shops, selling flower arrangements, clay sculptures, wicker creations and jewellery to name a few.

We popped into the tourist information centre whilst in the town and collected various leaflets and maps to add to the ‘Geo’ box that we are mid way through preparing. (Geography box - items of interest sent over to another country to enhance another families learning of a particular area, maps, pictures, information brochures magazines, small souvenirs to name but a few) We are still waiting to see who we have been paired up to exchange with – it will add interest and further learning to our flat traveller theme as we plot areas on the world map.

And of course no trip out to Matlock would be complete without a visit to one of the many tea rooms which line the main street. Kitty decided on a coffee house towards the outskirts of the town, where we all enjoyed iced coffee, tea and cupcakes. :-)

Rex Visits London

2011-03-23T14:47:00.000+01:00

Rex’s stay is now coming to an end with our family, but before we say goodbye and parcel him back up to Ohio he wanted to go on one more trip to the capital city. Laura is working in London for the next four days, so she took Rex along on the first day when she was interviewing in Archway for Children’s Practitioners.

Rex coming down on the train in the early morning, choosing where to go!

On the way to Laura’s work, Rex spotted the London eye, Big Ben and the houses of Parliament.

Laura was working on the 14th Floor in a central London business tower, Rex spent his time spotting London buses and black cabs!

Back on the underground again and Rex managed to get a free seat on the Northern Line!

Time to admire London St Pancras station before waiting for the train back home.

First Day of Spring 2011

2011-03-21T14:23:00.000+01:00

Lovely to see the busy ladybirds whilst we were in the garden today

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne

2011-03-20T18:45:00.000+01:00

The horrors of the Second World War – I don’t think anyone could read either the book or watch the DVD as Kitty and I did this afternoon without being affected by it.

A great deal of sensitive discussion has taken place - around man's capacity for evil - with Kitty also picking up that the narrator is unreliable when she re-examined certain areas of the text as elements simply did not ring ture - Reading and discussing is something that interests Kitty greatly, I’m pleased that we can take time out together to enjoy many different styles of novels/fact style books and explore them together in a none hurried way.

What has surprised me about this current reading is how Kitty has questioned elements surrounding the story herself and been able to give both thoughtful and critical discussion.

Kitty is now about to write her own review of what she’s both read and watched.

Space Rocks - Bill's Space Project

2011-03-20T18:03:00.000+01:00

Continuing with his space project Bill has made Space Rocks this afternoon, from a simple recipe book we picked up this morning at the Library.

Mixing together 250g of flour and 90g of butter.

Binding in 90g of sugar, chocolate balls and a beaten egg

Yummy-Yummy!

Bill’s First Project and Welcoming Our 'Guest' Rex

2011-03-19T23:18:00.000+01:00

Following from his visit to the National Space Centre last week, Bill has been very enthusiastic to do some work around the theme of space. He has so far enjoyed making a paper astronaut doll, a paper tube rocket and a rocket countdown poster.

Our first flat traveller Rex arrived from Ohio, USA earlier on this week. He arrived just in time to celebrate Roly’s 80th Birthday party, and enjoyed his first roast dinner!

Today Rex took an outing with Bill to Abbey Park, Leicester, and visited the Cathedral ( http://www.crosbyheritage.co.uk/location/leicester/leicester-cathedral/ ) with Kitty who was interested in looking around a vintage craft fair they were hosting today. Next week Laura plans on taking Rex down to London with her to a meeting that she's attending - I'm sure he'll stop by some places of interest on the way ;-)

Alice is eagerly waiting to have adventures with Rex when she arrives home on Wednesday from a stay with her grandparents in Oxfordshire. She has kept in touch via Facebook (!) and phone calls, and is enjoying all of the lovely activities she has been up to. Tomorrow she is very excited to be off to London via coach to watch the Lion King, and of course visit Big Ben and Buckingham Palace.

80th Birthday Celerbration

2011-03-18T20:51:00.000+01:00

Roly turns 80 years young ;-)

Picking others brains ;-)

2011-03-17T10:56:00.000+01:00

In responding to Liz on a previous post of mine, I began to think how difficult – cost wise – it can be for home edding families to enjoy the many attractions up and down the country. The main hurdle is often the accommodation side – even more so if you don’t fit into a standard hotel room (2 adults 2 kids…) And I wondered if home edding house swaps were happening anywhere as it’s something I would be interested in exploring further for my family. If anyone has any links to information please let me know :-)

Alternatively if anyone is interested in swapping with us and enjoying a Leicestershire weekend in a home that would accommodate 7 + a baby – please email me….

Artzone Session- Celtic Designs

2011-03-12T18:28:00.000+01:00

This morning Kitty and her friend Hermione attended an Artzone session at Charnwood Museum, creating their initials in a Celtic design. With local artist Jo Sheppard

Using ink pens they first drew their initials on card, and then used different painting techniques to fill in the outline with Celtic patterns.

Work Continues as Usual

2011-03-10T20:26:00.000+01:00

Something which Kitty always used to enjoy was shared reading, it gave the opportunity to read something which perhaps she wouldn’t pick up herself naturally, and to explore classics with someone able to explain some of the language used if required. Today I began Alice on her first shared reading book- Kaspar, Prince of Cats, by Michael Morpurgo. She enjoyed reading something in a completely different style than what she would normally choose, and the beautiful illustrations throughout the book. I’m sure it will be something Alice chooses to take part in for a while.

I also began Alice on long addition- her textbooks were teaching the method of partition, which for me seems rather an odd route to go down, considering that they then have to lean long addition the following year. After my older two girls finding this skill difficult I was surprised to find that the skill just clicked, and she now is fluently adding numbers with carry-on’s up until 1000. She certainly enjoys knowing a ‘quick’ way of adding up- and is already finding ‘short cuts’ with her set maths work ;-).

Kitty has been focusing on English language and German for much of this week- she is currently leaning phrases and sentence structure based on the theme of home life in German, and becoming an adult in English. Today after reading an example classic text of a shipwreck, she had to create a short story of her own, based in modern times.

Whilst the girls were busy with their individual work tasks, Bill continued to work on his reading; he now knows the majority of the early year’s words- and is reading Oxford Reading Tree stage 2 books. He still loves leaning words and sound blends, especially when new activities are introduced to reinforce newer material.

The girls are both looking forward to the Science Museum live on tour theatre experience which comes to Nottingham Playhouse tomorrow, they are going along with friends from a home ed group to watch the performance, which will also count as the last piece of work for Alice’s Brownie science investigator badge.

The National Space Centre Leicester

2011-03-10T18:56:00.001+01:00

Yesterday saw our family spread around seemingly all over the place! Whilst I was attempting to navigate my way around the horrendous road net work in Coventry to attend a work related course; Laura and Bill went along to the Space Centre in Leicester. It’s somewhere that Bill’s never been to – when we first relocated here after moving from Oxfordshire 7 years ago the space centre was a favorite with us all. Yearly passes were purchased and many a wet afternoon was spent there and then like all things we just got fed up of doing the same things and moved on to new interests and activities.

. Once Laura had dropped Kitty off at the train station as she was meeting friends to travel to Nottingham to skate for the afternoon and Alice to a friend’s house for a play session she drove Bill into the city. He loved it – giving it the same enthusiasm as his sisters had done some years earlier. When I arrived home he was full of tales of what he’d been up to with the planetarium coming out top for him – as the tickets purchased yesterday give re-entry for a year – it looks like Laura and Bill will be making a few more visits this year ;-)

Finger Painting and Good News!

2011-03-10T16:54:00.000+01:00

We all began the day with some spring finger painting, choosing yellow spring chicks to print, then draw with ink pens the eyes and beaks - fun and messy :-)

Kitty helped Alice to created a card crafted frog, which looks very effective up with the spring display.

Laura received her A level results this morning which we were all thrilled with and to celebrate we treated ourselves to hot chocolate and cakes at a local (ish) cafe – delicious. I’m so proud of her and the future she is beginning to create for herself. 18 with the world at her feet and a level head on her shoulders.

The girls tucking in

Start them young...

On the way home we called into one of the garden centers not a particularly good one but time was in short supply. I much prefer the small independent ones though today we added further to our seed potato collection and purchased more from this selection as well as picking up growing compost to plant the ones that are ready to go home.

Flat Traveller Adventures Begin - Beginning with the Clark Family in Ohio

2011-03-07T12:11:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend the youngest two have worked on their ‘Flat Traveller’ this is our first swap - I don’t think the older two did them when they were younger, though I may be wrong… I do recall Kitty bringing a green dragon home from school - guessing she was in year one - and we took him about with us for a week and recorded ‘his’ adventures - a similar idea to what we’re about to begin working on now.

Bill

After some time discussing and after reading Flat Stanley (Jeff Brown) as our traveller is to go abroad the kids developed the idea that the traveller should be native to the UK - further time was spent goggling and looking at picture books before they chose - Hedgehogs - 2 of them - Hattie and Harry which they printed out and then Alice coloured them in before Bill took over on the laminator (!) A passport was also found, I couldn’t’t find a ‘true detailed’ one - as many of the sites I checked into were dodgy to say the least, but they did print one off and then add a photo of their travellers - getting the idea that to leave and enter countries (legally) a passport is essential and for Alice she understood the concept of a legal requirement.

Alice

Our travellers also have a journal for their time away which we hope the Clark Family in Ohio will fill in for us - many swaps are in operation in the ’Home school Facebook network’ amusing to think how many lovingly made travellers are currently racing across the airways ;-)

The Pack

As well as introducing Geography to Alice (and in a small way Bill) I’m hopeful that the two of them will have a great deal of fun taking part in the traveller swaps - it will give a base for future discussions on so many subjects that they perhaps wouldn’t have raised with out taking part.

Paying at the Post Office

Today we parcelled up Hattie and Harry and made a trip to the post office to send them on their journey to the USA - I wonder just what they will get up too ;-)

Off in the post box - bye for now!

We’re looking forward to welcoming our Flat Traveller, we have lot’s of adventures planned - including a train ride to visit Big Ben and Buckingham Place in London!

New Resources

2011-03-05T17:34:00.000+01:00

Alice’s maths work centred on the topics of weight and measurement - she’s so much more focused now and self motivated and can’t wait to get stuck in to some of the new resources that we took delivery of today from Espo. Bill's keen to play the Bus Stop Game, whilst Kitty is eager to begin working with a science kit 'The Mystery of the Bloody Stain' (Objectives, perfom a test to identifiy if a red stain is simulated blood, determin the ABO and Rh blood type of unknown simulated blood samples, identify which of the three suspects is most likley to have committed the crime and determin the probability that the same blood type as the suspect's is found in the general population - some maths!!) She will begin with a given crime scenario; I’m just waiting for our microscope to be returned that a friend has been using and then we’ll begin. I’m hopeful it will be engaging and informative as once it has been road tested with Kitty, I will use it in a number of groups with home ed teens. And Laura (ha!) can't wait for the younger two to work with the trundle wheel - apprently in school when she was younger she recalls never having a turn to do this - I just need to download some measuring resources and they can begin an outdoor measuring project!

Kitty and Alice went along to an art group in Loughborough earlier today - ArtZone: A Shady Business
'Transforming a boring old paper shade using procion dyed tissue paper. Create a bold and beautiful shade to take home. With Loughborough based crafts person Jo Dunn - Suitable for 8-15 year olds'.
Whilst Laura & I took Bill along to the Children’s cinema club (discounted films) and watched Tangled - even though he’s seen it previously he enjoyed it for a second time and remained fully engrossed for the whole film.

It’s been a busy few weeks, I seem to have spent more time at work than at home and I’m looking forward to readdressing the balance - apart form a course in Coventry on Wednesday - I can spend time catching up until next Friday. We have a number of activities planned, both home based ones and groups/days out and as the evenings have become noticeably lighter over the past weeks - some late afternoon walks that we all enjoy from this time of year until late October.

World Book Day 2011

2011-03-03T17:28:00.000+01:00

The 3rd March marks World Book Day 2011, an opportunity for children to get immersed in the world of fiction and spend a day focusing on their favourite books.

Not that usual in this house, as often Kitty and Alice will disappear with a book and read for hours. Kitty has recently been introduced to the world of the Kindle and purchases regularly from Amazon - getting through two or three novels a week - she’s currently reading The Bower Bird (Anne Kelley). Alice prefers traditional books and selects hers from the library with the occasional treat of new books from various books shops. Michael Morpurgo currently her favourite author - though this changes regularly. To think when I first made the decision to home educate my children the idea of teaching the younger ones to read filled me with dread (Kitty and Laura already fluent readers) with fears that it would be difficult to encourage a love of reading. The very fact that ’Book Day’ is a daily occurrence in this house - the younger two are often story characters for the whole day - as and when they chose - not requiring the freedom of ‘World Book Day’ to allow them permission to spend a all day immersed in written text has helped immensely I feel. They read what’s relevant to them, what grabs their individual interest for as long as they like - with no interruptions. I’m sure this very fact has helped them develop their own passion for written text, requiring little adult persuasion. Bill is at the beginning of his reading journey - recently acquiring the reading skill and now developing his reading stamina to progress further as his confidence grows.

Alice and Bill began the day with ideas from the World Book Day website. Alice produced a piece of writing on one of her favourite books, Tracy Beaker, and then illustrated it with an image of the main character.

Bill was read Billy Monster's Daymare, and then created his own Billy monster using the images from the book to cut and paste eye’s and horns!

A number of the local home ed groups we attend had signed up to the World Book Day scheme, so Kitty, Alice and Bill had a couple of WBD tokens to use to select new books. A walk to the local bookshop meant Alice and Bill could spend one of their tokens on a book of their choice; Alice went for a flip book with ‘Stories of Humphrey the Hamster’ on one side and ‘Tales of Winnie the Pooh’ on the other; Kitty used hers for money off a book on Needle Felting. Bill chose a Thomas book, which he then enjoyed reading on the way to Bosworth HE group, for an afternoon of playing, and becoming a Space Ranger! ;-)

Butterflies Home Ed Group

2011-03-02T23:04:00.000+01:00

Today we attended a new EHE group set up by Alison, aimed at children 3-16 years. Situated in Swadlincote town centre, Derbyshire it’s fairly near for us to travel to and meets fortnightly Wednesdays for a morning 9-12 session.

Themed activities will be on offer each session- today’s were general crafts with various items to make or free style junk modelling that appealed to Bill. ;-) A fantastic display of Fairtrade to tie in with Fairtrade fortnight was produced by HE teen Beth, Alice and Bill came home with a Fairtrade information pack that we will be looking further at later and perhaps base some work style sessions on it at home.

It was good to catch up with home edding families from the area that we knew of previously and also make new contacts that will hopefully become friends. Kitty didn’t attend today’s session but it looking forward to the ‘Hands on Science’ on the 16th March. Red Nose Day 2011 will also be marked at this session with silly hair and wearing pyjamas, along with a red nose of course!

Third Art Session - Wool Felting

2011-02-28T23:16:00.000+01:00

Winsome demonstrating and explaing the equipment to be used

The third art session that took place today in Hinckley looked at the art of wool felting. My older two have used this technique previously with a friend to produce pictures, bags, valentine hearts and Easter Eggs though the younger two have never had a try at it. Interesting to see different tools been used to produce similar results - more user friendly perhaps for the younger ones than I have seen in the past - I certainly will use the water from a recycled milk bottle - with needle holes in the top - as a method of adding the hot soapy water as the wool is layered up before the felting process begins - much easier for small ones to control the water this way rather than ending up with pools of unnecessary water on their work or the towel underneath…
Busy, busy...

Alice deciding what to do with her wool

Building the layers of wool and adding hot & soapy water

Alice rolling her picture

Bill's picture developing

Alice's beginning to take shape

Both Alice and Bill were pleased with their results and as we left the session earlier than intended we then took a detour into B&Q to purchase some pipe lagging to take home and cut down to size for rollers - haveing another go with the wools at home & giving more time to the fulling stage - often the make or break bit - as if the air isn't removed from between the fibers the project will pill and fall apart...
The plan is to now put their work into a frame :-)

Kitty's Sketching

2011-02-23T14:58:00.000+01:00

Kitty has spent the morning sketching and gathering ideas for a 80th Birthday card that she is going to design. Water colour pencils are one of the most forgiving art tools to use and she chose these after going through our supplies cupboard. It took a couple of attempts to get the amount of water required just right after applying colour layers in different densities. She is pleased by the results and is now developing her ideas on canvas.

Finished piece

February Half Term Begins

2011-02-21T16:39:00.000+01:00

The beginning of half term means the opportunity to play and interact with friends who Alice rarely sees during the school term time. Today her friend Eleanor, who she met via the Brownie group she attends, spontaneously came around to play Sylvanian families, card games and StarDoll, the new internet game craze!

After all usual options had been played, the girls decided to make perfumes and crystals using a new set Alice had received for her birthday.

Creating mint, jasmine and eucalyptus mini perfumes.

The finished products, scented slime, mixed perfumes and rose crystals, which are currently forming in a tray on the windowsill.

Happy 18th Birthday Laura - AGAIN!

2011-02-21T13:05:00.000+01:00

Part of Laura’s 18th Birthday Gift(s) back on the 4th December was to spend some time at our local conservation wild life park (Twycross) and spend some time hand feeding the elephants and having a short education session relating to their care and breeding programme. As the weather was so awfully cold for December, I arranged the session for February, in the hope the worst of the winter weather would be over and as something extra for Laura to look forward to.

Signing their life away... Health and saftey side of the elephant feed

We arrived earlier than our booked session to spend time looking at the other animals- strange for me coming to a zoo without very young ones and been able to go at a more adult pace. We managed to spend some time on photography, which is an interest of both Laura and Kitty’s – catching some splendid results; before making our way over to the elephant heard.

What a size these animals are once you’re up close to them and yet so gentle as the reach out for the food – very easy for them to swipe their trunks and knock the food to the floor – hardly graceful but so very careful. The keepers who had all worked with these animals for many years explained about each of the heard from the eldest to the youngest of just 18 months allowing us to get a glimpse of each of their personalities.

Mother and Baby

Keepers doing a quick health check before we feed them

Hand Feeding Bananas and monkey nuts

How long are those trunks?!

Usual types of things have occupied us this week....

2011-02-21T12:37:00.000+01:00

Alice has chitted the potato seeds – leaving them on the window ledge in the conservatory – rocket potatoes and Scottish ‘spuds’ will be planted in a couple of weeks time.

Bill sharing his developing reading skills with Nee-nee. He now understands the full stops and capital letters indicate a pause in the written text. He's reading at least daily from books (Oxford Reading Tree and Wide Range Readers) as well as continuing with the Reading Egg programme - all of which he enjoys....

Kitty’s maths – decimals have been worked through recently (firstly adding and subtracting before multiplying and dividing.... Galore Park Maths programme is working well for her.

Laura reading through the Cafcass main board papers ready for the meeting down in London at Sanctuary Building. Next week (22nd) being the Young people's Board Meeting that both Kitty and Laura will attend down in London. Changes are immanent for both of them, the peer mentoring service that the organisation provided and my two supported is to be axed in the latest round of cost cutting measures. Other services that the YPB support will continue to be finically supported with a different team overseeing, my eldest two continue to be interested in the organisation even if they don’t believe in some of their work and principles (!)

Second Art Session - Hinckley

2011-02-15T15:25:00.000+01:00

Valentine’s Pancake Breakfast – I had planned something grander but after a trip to the Walk- In with Bill a quick batch of pancakes followed by use of the heart shape cutter seemed like more than enough to do. They were well received by the kids and we polished off more than I dared count ;-)

During the second of our six week sessions the children taking part used ceramic tiles to create pictures and pattern designs. The tile cutters were too difficult for Bill to manipulate though he did enjoy deciding what picture to make and arranging the cut tiles – rather like a jigsaw puzzle – to create his penguin picture. Alice on the other hand could manipulate the tile cutter and created a mermaid – the first stage of grouting was done also; next week before we begin another piece of art the last stage of grout will be done and the children can take their work home.

Cafe - complete with small box of toys to keep 'smalls' entertained...

Goggles!

Bill's penguine - deciding what back ground to do - if any...

I hummed and erred to find the motivation to go along to art today as Bill had been unwell again during the night (asthma), resulting in a very early morning trip to the walk in centre. As a result everyone was tired and it would have been very easy to just remain at home and sleep (!!) As in the past I have organised group tuition sessions I know only too well how frustrating it is when families don’t turn up when they are expected (to cover costs!) and dug deep into energy reserves to get there. I’m pleased we did, despite weary bodies and minds the session was well received by both Alice and Bill. I kept awake and calm with two visits to the cafe and jumped into bed before 6.30pm that evening – fortunately Bill was accepting of an early night too...

Bill’s ‘Waddle Waddle’ complete with blue background

Alice’s mermaid – one more piece to cut to finish the tail

So many little pieces – time to brush the dust away with a paintbrush.

Time to grout

And relax...

‘Tattoo Parlour’

2011-02-15T15:08:00.000+01:00

Keeping themselves entertained...
One of Alice’s Birthday gifts from a friend, were a whole pile of tattoos, I thought her and Bill were keeping themselves amused when I discovered them both busy in the bathroom ;-)

Home Ed Fire Station Visit - New Parks Leicester

2011-02-13T00:24:00.000+01:00

This session was following on from one back in November that was brought to an abrupt end due to an emergency call out...
A lovely younger aimed session arranged by a fellow HE parent over at New Parks Fire Station in Leicester. Initially I assumed that Alice would not have been too interested, more coming along for the ride, as this is Bill’s ‘thing’. I couldn’t have been more wrong; Alice enjoyed it too, especially as it was a hands on session lead by a very approachable fire-fighter – from blue watch (!)

Call out time

On with the boots...

Future Career Perhaps ;-)

The usual fire safety talk took place before an informative ‘show and tell’ style session on the fire engine – the kids taking part were fascinated by the weight of the equipment aboard.

Talking through the equipment carried on board

Setting up the equipment for each of the children to have a go with the hose

Bill in his element – Fireman Sam at last ;-)

Bill soaking the cars...

Alice enjoying squirting the hose

As over 50 people (children and associated adults) wanted to take part the session is to be repeated in a fortnight to accommodate all.

Alice Turns 8!

2011-02-13T00:08:00.000+01:00

My wonderful 8 year old – Happy Birthday Alice!

Jokey Horsey Cake – Horse laying down & refusing to move and Alice sat in a puddle – all appealing to Alice’s sense of humour

Surprise! Lovely sweetie bouquet of our friend June – looked amazing and tasted even better – Alice was very impressed

A Party for 25 of your friends

Folowed by more prezzie opening

What a lovely day xx

Silk Painting and Home Ed 'Inspection'

2011-02-08T00:09:00.000+01:00

Whilst I was chatting with HS the county side of Leicestershire’s Home Education officer during our annual inspection; Laura accompanied the younger two to a new art session over in Hinckley aimed at home educated children. These sessions will run each Monday afternoon for a period of six weeks. Today the first session was silk painting - which both Alice and Bill enjoyed & remained focused during the two hour session. Firstly the group looked at design and pattern that they may wish to incorporate in their work & made rough sketches on paper to develop ideas before beginning on the silks.

Alice’s completed cupcake silk hanging – and last photo of my 7 year old ;-)

Bill’s finished silk hanging

They both hurriedly ran through the door as I was about half way through discussions regarding the children’s education provision and Alice shared some of her thoughts before going off to play. Kitty also spent time sharing her feelings on the activities she’s taken part in over the past 15 months or so as she stayed with me during the visit. Disappointingly the work done by HS during her 3+ years in post in building and maintaining a positive rapport with the home educating families in this area; is to be ‘bulldozed’ by the cost cuts implemented at County Hall. Very short sighted I feel, HS has earned the respect and trust of many, in contracting the visits out to numerous other representatives’ continuity will be lost and greater numbers of families refusing to engage in the ‘inspection’ process. I for one will not be having any more visits (unless a change in The Law...) I’m quite saddened and feel county side home educating families of Leicestershire have lost a great patronage. If indeed every child does matter, it beggars belief that this role has been cut.

Preparation for my Home Education Inspection Tomorrow

2011-02-06T21:42:00.000+01:00

English
So you really want to study English, yr 7- Kitty
LETS rising stars revision for English- Kitty
Galore park junior English, Alice
Scholfield and Sims comprehension, Alice
Learn@home joined up handwriting, Alice
EdPlaces printable worksheet site, Alice

Maths
So you really want to study Maths, yr 7, Kitty
Mathletics- online mental maths programme, Alice
Abacus yr 3, Alice
LET’S time tables, Alice

Science
Following a set curriculum for both girls, as well as supplementing this with LETS and CPG books & experiments relating to a certain topics to demonstrate the concept.

Sonlight science curriculum, Alice
Noeo KS3 Chemistry curriculum, Kitty

Languages

German - Kitty CGP Key stage 3
Alice French

Art
Photography, Kitty
Felted hearts and eggs – Kitty
Christmas Paper chains- Alice
Marbling- Kitty
Lino printing- Kitty
Paper wreath making- Alice
Wire beaded wreaths- Kitty
Natural wreaths- Kitty
Degas pastel dancers- Kitty
Kandinsky style heart print- Kitty
Stained glass windows- Alice
Chalk snowy scene- Alice
Lanterns- Kitty and Alice
Chinese images from drawing inks- Kitty
Hamma Beads- Alice
Willow weaving- Kitty
Clay sculptures- Alice
Iranian style tiles- Kitty
Watercolour country scene- Kitty
Scarecrows- Alice
3D models- Kitty and Alice
Waxed leaf mobile- Alice

Projects-
Chinese New Year, Alice and Kitty
Judaism, Alice and Kitty
Flour and Grain KS3 study, Kitty
Eggs, Alice
Buddhism, Alice and Kitty
Horses lap book, Alice
The Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge, Alice
Photography, Kitty
Creative writing, Kitty
Psychology, Kitty
Brownies science investigator badge, Alice
Cookery of sweet and savoury meals and snacks, Alice and Kitty
Valentine’s Day, Kitty and Alice
Autumn, Kitty and Alice
The stone age, Alice
Map reading, Kitty

Family visits-
Rocky Horror show with friends- Kitty
Coventry transport museum
Dobbies World
Making it Centre
Natural History and V&A museums
Horrible Science live on stage, Alice and Kitty
Chatsworth House
Alton Towers
Little leap forward theatre performance, Kitty and Alice
DMH family trail, Alice
Birdland
Charnwood museum craft and history sessions, Alice
Elveston Castle
Coombe Park
Wicksteed Park
Twinlakes
Swan Lake ballet, Kitty
Bonfire night at Marketon Park
Cinderella Pantomime
Gunpowder, treason and plot at Donnington Le Heath, Alice
Cinderella the ballet, Kitty

Educational Sessions
Synagogue visit, Alice and Kitty
CELS astronomy course- Nottingham Trent Uni, Kitty
Nottingham contemporary art gallery- Alice and Kitty
Foxton Locks with British Waterways- Alice and Kitty
Nottingham Buddhist Centre, Alice and Kitty
Pizza Express, Alice and Kitty
Nottingham city Mosque, Alice and Kitty
Radcliffe on Soar power station, Kitty
Bosworth Battlefield, Kitty and Alice
Forest school, Alice
Leicester Space exhibition, Alice
Leicester Fire Station, Alice
Pantomime- Aladdin

Regular groups
EHE Stoneygate free play, Alice
EHE Crafty Afternoon, Alice
EHE ice skating, Kitty and Alice
EHE photography club, Kitty
EHE husbands Bosworth free play, Alice
EHE Mesham sports group, Alice
EHE swim and skate, Kitty and Alice
Charnwood school of Dance and Drama- Kitty
Burliegh academy of dace, Kitty and Alice
101 Performing arts group, Kitty
Brownies, Alice
Cafcass Young People’s Board- Kitty
Gymnastics, Alice
National forum of Cafcass Peer Mentors, Kitty

Other experiences
Creative writing holiday for EHE teens in North Wales, Kitty
Performing in Burleigh’s dance display in Modern, Alice
Performing in Burleigh’s dance display in Modern and Ballet, Kitty
101 performing arts group performances, such as a Haiti fundraising cooperate event and St Georges Day, Kitty
Training to become a fully qualified national peer mentor- Kitty
Speaking at conferences for up to audiences of 200 about children’s rights in practice throughout the family justice system, Kitty.
Training and taking part in spot checks of Cafcass office’s as part of the young inspector’s enactive, Kitty

Brownies Science Investigator Badge

2011-02-05T20:51:00.000+01:00

Alice has keenly began a Brownie Badge based on science- with three experiments, a research topic and a visit to science museum needing to be completed before she gain’s her first badge to add to her sash.

Recently she has completed two experiments- balloon rockets and salt crystals.

Whilst she was merrily completing this Kitty made Valentines cards based on Kandinsky’s circles. Using oil’s and water colours she created a full page pattern- with the end result looking very effective.

Potato Time For Alice ;-)

2011-02-02T14:03:00.000+01:00

Unsure what quite we have done this week – we did try a new – to us – home ed group in the south of the county which is held fortnightly in a sport centre. A roller skating and swimming session is on offer there. Amazing that driving 25 miles in a different direction lead me to so many new home edding families’s that previously we hadn’t come into contact with. We all enjoyed it – I’m disappointed that it’s something we can’t do regularly as it’s held on a day I always work. Laura has offered on occasion to drive the younger three along – those driving lessons are giving me a ‘return’ (!)

We seem to have eaten a great deal to this past few days – must be the weather. Pancake breakfasts – both sweet and savoury followed by plenty of cups of tea. No hurry this end to have breakfast over and done with at a certain time – it’s becoming quite a leisurely affair.

I just wish Bill would sleep a little longer in the mornings – 6 o’clock starts are a ‘killer’. With always having either a child under 5 or been pregnant for the past 18 years – early starts are a way of life for me but recently I’ve found it harder to motivate myself into getting up.... Bill will keep himself busy once up – Hama Beads continue to be his ‘thing’ – if a story is also on offer – so much the better.

He’s now more comfortable using his inhalers – toys have helped and his steroids are now been reduced - in-fact he’s back to normal :-)

Alice was pleased to take delivery of her ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ today and can’t wait to begin to chit /plant them. Part of the AHDB organisation – Potato Council – it’s an organisation that we as home edders have been involved with before and something Alice in particular likes to participate in– online support with graphs of your plants to plot, competitions – a pack containing 2 different potato types, grow bags etc... Her challenge begins on the 1st March and grow bags must be harvested by Tuesday 21st June – the largest crop win a prize from the Potato council. As well as the obvious learning opportunities, Alice will have a lot of fun with this.

Otherwise, painting has taken up my time – four coats later and the sideboard is beginning to look more the way I had in mind – another coat and then I’ll begin stencilling. I’m working now until the weekend so perhaps I’ll find some time to have another ‘play’ with it then.