This week has been the first real realisation that wet cold days are coming and play parks and beach trips have ended for a spell, what to do? We can manage maybe one or two days a week at home but we are used to at least an hour of running around and a walk from here to there or maybe a bike ride. A lot of the boys play is physical and energetic and this is not conducive to many days at home.
Today's answer was a trip to the woods, hoping that we caught a break in the rain (we didn't) and that the branches overhead provided some protection (possibly but we still got soaked.) The waterproofs and wellies did well though. We went to Leechpool woods and did a circuit route we haven't attempted before. It was about 1 mile and very muddy with hills up and down and very uneven ground. The boys loved it. My thoughts today turned towards the way in which Bean assesses his own risk and would judge whether to ride or walk the section of path ahead. Mostly the path looked treacherous but he didn't fall once although he did get stuck whilst pushing the bike through a muddy area. I like the idea of the smalls assessing their own risk (obviously I'm always close to hand in case something goes wrong or the assessment is wrong) but it gives them the chance to give things a go, take chances that they weighed up the options on, test their limits, set some goals and challenges and push themselves when they're ready. In essence they do their own risk assessment!
Bean is slowly, on and off, doing writing. By this I mean the emergent squiggly shapes writing but he is also asking how to write certain words. What fascinates me is his choice of words. In a Reception class there are 40 words which are selected 'sight words' that are common and often don't follow a phonetic pattern i.e. they have to be learnt. The word 'love' is not on the list but children frequently use this word in there homes and when writing cards and it is one of the words that Bean was asking me about today. We wrote 'love you' on a piece of paper and then he covered it with kisses and presented it to me. So special. This choice of words has come after wanting to know how to write his name, his siblings names and his cousin's name. I'm guessing that it's significant that the words he's inspired to write are words that are important to him and people that are important to him. (And just in case you're wondering Bean can neither read or write any of the words on the Reception list mentioned and it is not something we are concerned about.)
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