Rejoice with those who rejoice

Sunday 8th January 2017

There are lots of things that we love about Home Educating and especially Unschooling. There are lots of things that are a direct result of us choosing Home Education, choosing to spend our days together. We can rejoice together in our good times and comfort each other in our sadness without the interuption or forced separation of school.

Today we travelled back to Kent and dropped daddy off at Nana's place where we left him with FA#3 and drove to her house. We unpacked, Plum, 5, immediately found CousinC and CousinH and picked up playing where they left off yesterday. Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, went and settled in their beds and were playing on their tablets. It wasn't long before daddy called to tell us that Nana had died peacefully. And not long after that that daddy and FA#3 returned home.

Over the next few days we stayed at FA#3's house. Ten of us in total, 11 on occasion. We cooked and played with the children, there was a lot of negotiation and refereeing, mummy took the children out for a walk to the beach, we collected stones and caught Pokemon, walked along the wall and climbed steps and stairs, and played hide and seek. We talked about fishing boats and the wind whistling, islands and land masses, oyster shells, harbours and housing development. We walked down Harbour Street and the boy's thought it could pass for diagon alley and renamed all the fabulous looking shops. We stopped and bought food at the supermarket and cousinC asked to buy flowers so we got some for FA#3, their daddy and our daddy. We played board games and puzzle games, magic:the gathering and top trumps and cheat. We watched movies and cbeebies, Pippin followed the cats endlessly around the house. By the third day the boys were beginning to long for their space at home. They were too tired to successfully take out but not comfortable or relaxed enough in the space they had created for themselves. That evening we came home.

Romans 12: 15

Jingle bells

So, pancakes are back on the breakfast mene. We began 2016 eating pancakes every morning from January until at least March possibly longer and then at some point it pittered out. Well now they are back to end our year the way we began.

Today Bean, 9, watched more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and we all played a lot of minecraft together. We defeated the ender dragon twice and began to build our homes on sky islands in the End. Bean was desperate to hatch an ender dragon egg on creative pe but after much research, that is googling and youtube watching, it appears that this is not something that is possible in this mode. We walked to the park around the corner this afternoon. B3an's bike wheels were so muddy that his brakes weren't working so he chose to walk. He walked beside Plum, 4, on her bike for a while to help her. Once at the park he invented a pirate game. The two play structures were boats. He was the captain of one and Pumpkin, 7, was his first mate. Plum was captain of the other and mummy was her first mate. They used the bikes as small raft boats to travel the sea inbetween the two ships and had to try and steal treasure from each other. He also took Pippin, 2, on the round about and helped Plum on the way home, when she had lost a race, by racing her again a d giving her a 5 second head start so that she won.

Pumpkin spent the morning on toca mini and skylanders imaginators app and clash royale. He rode his bike to the park. He spent a lot of time being spun fast on the round about. He put Mr Men on this afternoon and was keen to play wrestling, and harry potter, and hide and seek, and escapers, and murder in the dark. There is a myth that unlimited access to technology means that children's imaginations are stunted somehow or not encouraged. These games are all derived from and inspired by films and computers games that the children have watched and played, serving to ignite their imagination not surpress it. In the evening we played magic:the gathering together. He has been singing jingle bells all day.

Plum slept until 11am. She seemed to wake rested and happy but her reactions to things today were extreme in the first instance. She has been joining in the games with the boys but their level of play is often more challenging and more physical than she is happy with and whilst they are often accomodating, they do also want/need to play more challenging and physical games. It is our current conundrum. Plum rode her bike to the park, surprisingly finding the up hill parts the easiest.

Revisit

 One of the things that I have notived in the last year is how games in our family have become established. One of the smalls will call "let'someone play houses/wrestling/babies/families" and everyone immediately knows what the game so,  where we play it, what role they play, what the story line is, what the rules are.  And each time they play the game evolves. It'seems a beautiful process to watch.

Today it was Bean and Pumpkin wrestling at Nyman's gardens.  We joined friends for a visit and played Pokemon as we walked. The smalls (all four of them) climbed trees and ran around chasing with their friends. Plum wore a summer dress even though the weather was cold and everyone else was wearing coats.

The trip out was topped and tailed with Bean and Pumpkin playing Magic: the gathering. I think it was Pumpkin'so first go at playing but he knew the game play really well from watching so many times and understood the cards in the pack. Bean is keen to introduce new cards to the pack.