Our Tribe

Our Tribe

Friday 24 February 2017

Play Date

Bean, 9, and mummy tried to do some origami this morning. It was tricky. Pippin, 2, wanted to sit on mummy's lap and would not be content with sitting next to me playing or colouring. We had to abandon origami. We came back to it in short bursts throughout the day. We read the next chapter of Harry Potter together.

Pumpkin, 8, spent all day on his tablet and the pc. He spent a large portion of time on Clash of Clans and then found a clash of clans map on roblox and invited Bean to come and play too (he accepted). We downloaded a lucky blocks mod onto minecraft for him and he watched minecraft songs on Youtube.

Plum, 5, spent the morning watching SevenAngels on Youtube and had her friend V, 4, to play in the afternoon. The played minecraft together and then hide and seek around the house for about an hour. Both mummies joined in and Bean and Pippin.

Pippin spent time looking at books sat in the blanket box, drew pictures, played with her Bing toys, watched Topsy and Tim, built a railway line with the brio and played trains.

The day ended with a game of monopoly with daddy, stories for Bean (The Chronicles of Narnia) and curled up on the sofa watching Gigglebizz with Plum before bed.

Thursday 23 February 2017

Doggy days

Part of Bean's, 9, unschooling journey has involved us recently connecting with dog owning families via borrowmydoggy. Today we met Archie for the second time and went for a walk with his owner Kat and her children. It was the first time that Pumpkin, 8, Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, met Archie. He is a young cockapoo with soft blond curls who has lots of energy but is really friendly and well behaved, he's a perfect match for our family. The excitment of meeting him also ment that we all managed to get dressed and out with everyone on side. Next time we will have Archie all to ourselves for a play.

Bean fell in a pile of freshly sprouting stinging nettles and stung his whole hand back and front which continued to bother him for the remainder of the day. We also read an9ther chapter of Harry Potter together.

Pumpkin played on the Pokemon minecraft mod for the first time and loved it. He played Terreria with Bean and they watched cartoon network together.

Plum and Pippin played together all morning. They made dens from umbrellas and blankets and put their teddy bears in with them.

Pippin fell asleep on the sofa under a blanket early evening. She had said she was tired and wanted to sleep after lunch but because we had a date with a dog the best she got was a rest whilst in the buggy.

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Game play

Monday. We had friends to play today and had a very succesfullay date. I created Roblox accounts for each of the children and they joined together across platforms to play together. The boys on one game and the girls on another. It was good watching them play together and interesting to see that dispite there being 100's of games to choose from they enjoy the same ones, surviving natural disasters being today's favourite. The girl's enjoyed a city game where you are a character in a city and are able to live in this virtual world.
We also played in the garden together using the slide and playing ball with a beach ball and the sticks came out to play too. Bean, 9, asked if we had any large marshmallows for the fire pit. Plum, 5, and J, 5, played in my wardrobe and lottie dolls and cats.

Tuesday. Today we met friends at church. We also had C, 10, over for the day. We all made pizza together and played uno and beanbag diving and hide and seek and it. We came home for the afternoon and played minecraft multiplayer Bean, Pumpkin, 8, Plum, 5, C and mummy on a map that Bean has downloaded. There was pvp battling in a tnt filled arena which was good fun.

Mummy and Bean continued reading Harry Potter and Plum and C played upstairs together. They then played wrestling and murder in the dark before C went home. The evening was full of Mr. Bean episodes.

Pippin, 2, has not been napping on days at home and this has resulted in lengthy crying episodes at around 5pm which is also the time that the others start requesting food. Monday evening didn't go so well as i attempted to cook food (put chicken dippers in the oven) whilst Pippin cried continuously and Pumpkin was pretending to be a ghost and whhhooooooood loudly in Pippin's face which increased the crying and upset me. So, Tuesday, i made sandwiches mid afternoon which Pumpkin ate immediately so i made more and then when hunger time came they helped themselves to sandwiches and bits and i sat with Pippin and we watched Peppa Pig and ate food. Much better.

Monday 20 February 2017

Winter Butterflies

There are no holidays when you are learning all the time. This week is the school holidays, February half term, our days will change slightly as regular classes will be taking a break and public spaces will be busier so we will give them a miss for a week.

Over the last week we stayed three days at FA#3 and played with cousinsC and H. We went to nana's funeral and the boys gave out mulled wine at the graveside and enjoyed tapas at the wake. We loved looking at all the photos of nana and grandad and daddy and FA#3.
Plum, 5, had gymnastics class where she mostly went on her own as i sat near the door this week. Bean, 9, has asked if he can join the class too.
We loaded a new app for Pumpkin, 8, who is loving scribblenaughts, he also bought a candy texture pack in minecraft for himself and bean and then he bought The Amazing Frog too.
We have loaded Pokemon texture packs for Bean and he has played more pc minecraft. He also began a new game that was sent to us as a gift. Bean has also learnt more magic tricks from his book and we have read more Harry Potter together.
The big three went to Wisley gardens to see the butterflies with daddy on Saturday.


Sunday 12 February 2017

LegoBatman

We met FA#1 today and cousinB and went bowling. Pumpkin, 8, had an interesting technique which won him first place. We hd the bumpers up and he used them to zig zag the bowling ball towardd the skittles, he got two strikes for himself and two half strikes and two strikes for Pippin, 2, using this method. He was so happy.

We drove to FA#1 house and played lego, looked at Pumpkin's new World Record book, played dollies, watched on tablets, watch Shrek 3 together and a Tom and Jerry movie.

Back home Bean, 9, and i began reading Harry Potter together.

Saturday. I took Plum, 5, and Pippin to cousinH's 3rd birthday party. Pippin had a fabulous time and was busy doing her own thing for most of the party: bouncy castle, tunnels and tents, csr driving. And we got to meet Elsa.

Bean and Pumpkin went to the cinema for the first trip of the year to see Lego Batman Movie. Daddy also bought them lego batman minifigures.

Back home, Plum watched on her tablet, Pumpkin played Roblox, Bean watched Pokemon and Pippin was playing Peppa Pig toys.

Friday 10 February 2017

In the Making

Thursday: Plum, 5, had gymnastics class which she is continuing to love. We dropped Pippin, 2, off at daddy's work so that i could go in with Plum and stay with her. Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, ate their lunch and played zombie dice and top trumps, Pumpkin watched the squash plauers, Bean played on his tablet and then they made a real life game of PacMan with some of the other children.

Bean sent out his invite to his friends for the Treasure Hunt and they can all come.

Plum spent the rest of the afternoon watching on her tablet and then fell asleep in her bed. She had no longer than 20 minutes and i woke her for dinner.

Pumpkin was desperately trying to play with the others and after being refused he then turned to upsetting them instead. Eventually he setled with playing with Pippin.

We tried new meatballs for dinner, no one liked them so there was a second meal of beans on toast or tuna sandwiches.

In the evening Plum and Pippin played mummies and babies. Pumpkin and Plum played on Friv together. Bean had stories, continuing with Narnia. Pippin went to bed but is struggling with a cold and coughing so was a little restless.

Thursday 9 February 2017

Project Work

Today we followed up on the Treasure Hunt idea that Bean, 9, had begun yesterday. We spent one and a half hours finding the rght map and resizing it on google and copying it into Publisher and drawing on grid lines and then adding them on the computer. There was lots of toing and froing of ideas about what the treasure is and how to hide it and where to hide it. He marked x on the map to show where the clues are hidden and has come up with a game plan and an invitation list. All the maps he made and clues and treasure are now in one folder ready for the event.

Pippin, 2, found the aqua draw and happily spent time drawing on it whilst Plum, 5, played on cbeebies games. She has been watching a lot of alphablocks, squigglit letters and other alphabet programmes on youtube and copying out the alphabet onto paper. In the afternoon Plum and Pippin and mummy made a dress and shoes for Lottie doll together. We had enough material to make a matching one for Plum and material in a different colour for Pippin. Plum began using the felt tips to draw on the cotton so i found th fabric pens and we drew pictures and patterns on Pippin's dress.

Pumpkin, 8, watched Cartoon Network and played Roblox. We ordered daddy the Lego present that he had found for him and talked about how much he would like to contribute to it.

In the evening we finished watching Ocean's 12 and played zombie dice with Bean and Pumpkin. The children all helped daddy unload the food shopping from the car and put things away.


Wednesday 8 February 2017

Legomania

Everyone woke with a smile on their face and in a happy disposition. Plum, 5, slept the whole night in her bed in her room wotout waking. We dressed, breakfasted, Bean, 9, fed the animals and helped pack the lunch bag, and then we headed to Milestones museum in Basingstoke for the Legomania exhibition.

It is one of our longer days trips but has always been worth it as the smalls all love it. As this is our fourth or fifth year going we were prepared with cash for the 1940's sweetie shop, minifigure building, and penny arcade.

Legomania was imo the best one we have been to. I took so many photos and we all really enjoyed it. The challenge invited the children to be agents who had to follow the suspect around the 8 continents and find clues and crack codes to decipher the suspects plans to steal the crown jewels. There was a simpler version for Plum where she had to find a soft toy animal in each continent and write down the letter it was holding. The lego models were impressive and the set up was fun. The boys knew most of the landmarks built in lego and had a great time codebreaking. It was really right up our street. We will be going again before the exhibition ends. A significant portion of the photos today were staged around the lego models. The boys leaning on the eiffel tower, Bean and Plum running away from the fearsome tiger and Bean and Pippin in a mini story in four scenes from the dressing up section. We had some lovely collective lol moments and Pumpkin had a great day, completely excited and engaged and absorbed in it all. There were also two other HE families there that we know so we got o be a little sociable with friends too.

Pumpkin, 8, found a birthday present for dad and has offered to spend his birthday/christmas money on it.

We came home via MacDonalds.

Back home Plum went and rested in her bed and watched YouTube, Pumpkin went and watched Cartoon Network on the gaming pc.

Bean began drawing maps of the town and a grid over it to set up coordinates inspired by the map work at Legomania. We printed off maps from google but they are not very clear. He would like to set up a tresure hunt around town for his friends. After this we began to watch Ocean's 12 together inspired by today's theme of catching The Suspect.

There was also sancks and dinner and pudding and more snacks and toast and drinks and stories for Pippin, (Dr.Suess) Bean (Little nose) and Plum (Sarah and Duck)







Legotastic

Monday.
We were up later than normal, all of us. Bean, 9, took to playing on his tablet in his bed and Pumpkin, 8, played on his downstairs. Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, played with the Peppa Pig and Bing small world toys.

Bean had a message from a friend inviting him to play Terreria via the magic of the internet. We managed to work out how to join fairly simply and then set to finding skype contacts (which took a bit longer but we did it) Bean and his friend A played happily for a short while and then Bean went back to playing on his tablet in bed.

We set up Lego Club in the afternoon. One other family came. There were moments when we were enjoying it. Bean and mummy made their names using lego bricks. Plum found have made vehicles and adapted them. Pippin took the bowls and filled them with lego repeatedly. We played a few rounds of build battle towards the end. However mostly the smalls took it in turns to cry or be angry with each other so we packed up early and came home. They all disappeared to their safe and quiet spaces when we got home and i made drinks and snacks and an extra large dinner for them all.

Mummy and daddy made a concious effort to guide them all to bed a bit earlier tonight. And it was successful.

Monday 6 February 2017

How much is that Doggy?

Alex the guinea pig died on Friday night. Daddy put him in a box and buried him in the garden with Bean, 9, and Plum, 5. They found a prayer about pets in Bean's prayer book and said that together.

This news began our day of unexpected events. We had planned to collect pallettes for Bean's tree house project and meet our first dog from BorrowMyDoggy. We rang to check that the pallette place had pallettes o ly to discover they are shuton a weekend and the dog lady postponed our meeting until tomorrow.

The morning was spent mostly cooking mushrooms for Pippin, 2. Mummy had made mushrooms on toast for her breakfast and shared them with Pippin. She then asked for more and cut up her own mushroom, i cooked it and then she ate it, and then she cut another one, i cooked it and she ate it, we did this one more time before i gave her the remainder of the mushrooms and we did the last four at one go.

Daddy took Bean and Plum into town in the afternoon. We were on the search for welly boots for Bean and Pumpkin, 8, as we plan on dog walking in the woods tomorrow. It was an unsuccessful welly trip but they did get to meet Star Wars characters in the shopping centre and Bean took selfies of him with Chewie and some Storm Troopers whilst daddy held an apprehensive Plum. Plum returned her bird toy to the ToyShop and exchanged it for a Misfits card game. The game was opened as soon as she got home and played with Bean and then daddy.

Sunday:

Today we met the dog lady and Archie the Cockapoo. We found each other on BorrowMyDoggy. Bean has been keen to have a dog for several months, maybe a year but we are/I am not in a position to own a dog right now. This scheme means that we will be able to spend regular time with a dog, walking and playing and cuddling, without the full time responsibility. We walked around Leechpool Woods, me, Bean, Archie and his owner and Bean loved it. We have arranged a second meet so Archie and the other three can be introduced to each other and assuming that is successful then we will take Archie on our own.

Big event today, moving the bunk bed from mummy and daddy's room (I can call it that now) into Plum and Pippin's room. Pippin slept in the bottom bunk (as is normal) until about 1.30am. She was very wet so daddy got her changed and then she slept with mummy. Plum woke about 4am and i held her hand for a while, as is normal, she was still awake/woke again about 4.30am and came and lay on the toddler mattress next to mummy's bed.


Saturday 4 February 2017

One hour

Today i set aside one hour for each of the children, just for them, well, almost mostly interupted with requests for food and drink and reading this or helping with disputes, but always returning to the one and playing with them.

First was Pippin, 2, we drew pictures and read books for an hour. She is sat next to me now readin 'i like it when...' to me. She's also good at Not Now, Bernard and Jesus loves me and Brown Bear Brown Bear.

I sat with Bean, 9, for an hour and played Roblox Murder Mystery. He showed me how to play, which keys to use and how to pick up weapons and strike others. I had a few goes with him alongside giving me pointers.

Plum, 5, made messy stuff today with Pippin joining in too. She got a large bowl and added water and lemon and chopped up carrots and added spoonfuls of flour. She added in cashew nuts and black beans and mixed it all together. We transfered it to a pirex dish and put it in the oven. We then spent some time watching Fixies and chatted about friction, surface tension and tools.

I watched Jimmy Two Shoes with Pumpkin, 8, and then we joined Bean and finished the ninth season of Pokemon and began the 10th season.

Daddy was out for the evening. The boys put on What's in the Bible and then Bean chose Winnie the Pooh movie. Everyone helped tidy up the living room. Pippin went to bed about 9 but took a while to settle. I read stories with Bean and we chatted about how humans have progressed over the centuries. Plum was playing on cbeebies games and skipped a story tonight and went straight to sleep about 10. I put on Finding Neverland to watch on iplayer and Pumpkin watched with me until the end.

Friday 3 February 2017

Harry Potter

Harry Potter had been a interest in our house for about 18 months now. Bean, 9, got the dvd set for Christmas 2015 and has watched them repeatedly over the last year. Today we attended a Harry Potter Book Night hosted by friends and included games, quizes, themed snacks, reading excerts and film watching. A group of about 10 Home Educated children across six familes. Pumpkin, 8, joined in too. S, 12, gave Plum, 5, a tour of her bedroom proving once again that age is no barrier.

And the biggest news was that Bean went with another family as the event clashed with Plum's gymnastic class with 15 miles or so between locations. Pumpkin had a tough time deciding what he was going to do but made a last minute descision to go to the Harry Potter event with Bean.

So today we travelled south to drop off Bean and Pumpkin, travelled North back past home and on to daddy's work to drop off Pippin, 2, and then to gymnastics. Plum is loving gymnaatics and today the coach proved to be fabulous and helped Plum out when she wasn't so sure by running the races with her and offering alternatives when the activities looked too daunting for her.

We picked up Pippin from daddy and then back South again to a different location to collect the Bean and Pumpkin. The boys were full of chat about the Harry Potter event, sharing their pictures and telling us about the snacks. Back home the boys went gaming on Roblox, mummy running up and down the stairs typing messages in chat for them, Plum went and curled up in bed with cbeebies and Pippin had Bing on whilst playing with her Bing plush toys.

The day ended with Bean and mummy quizzing each other on Harry Potter questions that we made up.

Plum is enjoying Charlie and Lola books, Bean reading Narnia: the magicians nephew.

Thursday 2 February 2017

Money money money

Pippin, 2, was up first as she is most days. We got the Bing toys out and watched Bing together on cbeebies. Bean, 9, joined us about an hour later folloed hortly by Plum, 5. Bean came downstairs fully dressed. He was keen to go and spend his money in town. We decided though not to go until the afternoon, Pippin would take a nap and daddy would be home so we only had to take the children to town who wanted to go.

We set up realms on minecraft and Bean and Pumpkin played on the minigames and in his realm for a whilst i tried to contact friends for Bean. I played on the wii with Plum and then we got out the playdough tools and cutters and played with slime. Pippin wanted playdough so i found the recipe and made some pink playdough. I found a apple cake recipe too whilst i was looking and put one in the oven. We then played doll's house amd more games on the wii together. Bean wasback downstairs watching 'Dude, That's my Ghost'. Plum and Pippin whisked egg whites and mixed with cheese with for lunch.

After lunch Pippin had a sleep, daddy arrived home and then Bean and Plum and mummy went into town to spend Christmas and pocket money. Bean bought a stickman, lego set, bubblegum and harry potter stickers for his collection. Plum bought a flying bird, two pots of sweets, and kinder eggs. We bought Pumpkin some Grosseries and a kinder egg and we bought Pippin Pando and a kinder egg too.

Back home, after tea and drinks and snacks and opening our toys, i played on the wii with Bean. Plum and daddy opened and played with her flying bird.

Parkour and wrestling took place in the evening followed by a viewing of Tangled and baths.

Wednesday 1 February 2017

We Can work It Out

Today has felt like a day of negotiations and somehow we have made it through without incident. Everyone seems tired after the visit from our friends and Bean, 9, woke up still angry with Pumpkin, 8, for not wnting to finish watching Pirates of the Carribean 4, which as it is Pumpkin's means that Bean can't watch it either.

We went out today. We went to Box Hill and met with other Home Educators. They are relatively new families to us who we have only met once before. Pumpkin wasn't keen to get out of the car because he didn't want to walk in the fog. Getting out of the car always takes a while anyway. First we had to pay for parking, then one by one the children decided what they wanted to wear (hat/coat/gloves etc) next i changed Pippin's nappy and then went back to check on Pumpkin. He was adament that he didn't want to come. We talked through the options and negotiated that we would be only an hour and off we went. We walked through the mud and the fog, climbed trees and played on the nature trail. Not one of my children had wellies or walking boots on, in fact, Pippin was even wearing odd shoes. Bean got on really well with one of the other children and asked if she could come back to our house to play. I tried to keep our lot moving so we had time to play in the den area as this is what Bean had said he wanted to do more than anything other. The three families sat in the giant den and ate food and talked about spider's webs. Bean began to recount interesting facts to everyone and then him and Pumpkin moved onto jokes. Before we left we finger painted our faces with some coal that was found in a tree log.

Back home Bean and Pumpkin went to play on the gaming pc and Plum, 5, played with mummy and Pippin, 2. We began with a board game of pirates treasure, then doll's house, cbeebies games, followed by watching Beethoven. Half way through the film she took her tablet upstairs and lay on my bed.

Bean came downstairs and watched Monster's University with Pippin whilst he counted his pocket money ready for a trip to town tomorrow. Pippin played dinosurs and dressing up. Pumpkin and him sat and watched The Loud House whilst i helped Pippin to bed and they also put the dressing up clothes away and got their own snacks. Plum was now lying curled up with her tablet in her bedroom, daddy found the toddler bed mattress for her so she can sleep on that. Plum went to bed in her own room again.