In the house

The gaming computer is back in the house and fully functioning so bean, 10, and pumpkin, 8, spent most of the day on the sims4 and roblox, plum, 5, joined them on her tablet. We researched new rabbit hutches and watched Back to the Future 3 (having watched the previous two at the weekend.) I watched The tinkerbell movie with Plum and Pippin, 3.

Bean has discovered 5 minute crafting videos on youtube and has made telephones using paper cups, origami book mark animal faces and is now attempting a snow globe.

Pumpkin is enjoying roblox: cowboy showdown and murder mystery and warfare.

The big three all went to gymnastics and pumpkin and C played chess afterwards before we headed home. Bean, pumpkin and m

Plum and pippin played more doll's house together and misfits board game.

Summer solstice

Today, the hottest and longest day of the year, bean, 10, gets all active. We wrote another chapter of his minecraft story which we haven't worked on in months; he finished whittling his tent peg and began work on a spoon; and he spent five hours putting together a solar powered robot dog.

Pumpkin, 8, found his usual spot on the sofa and settled down to watch and play on his tablet, he also played roblox and the amazing frog on the computer, he joined bean putting together the dogbot for a while, played in the garden and the paddling pool for a bit too. His favourite part of the day was eating the chocolate brownies that daddy brought home from work after his birthday so we must get the recipe.

Plum, 5, played in the garden and the paddling pool with pippin, 2. Mostly she spent the day lying on her top bunk in the breeze of an open window, watching on youtube. She did ask if we could go to the prk but was happy with the suggestion of going after gymnastics tomorrow and meeting friends.

Pippin watched frozen twice and madagascar 2 twice today as well as playing in the paddling pool and playing with my wool, pretending it was a dog on a lead.

Bank Holiday

Saturday

Bean, 10, and dad headed off to Roothill Christian camp for three days. Pumpkin, 8, planned our day of roblox and cake making. Plum, 5, chose to make the chocolate cake with white butter icng and the she and Pippin, 2, decorated it with chocolate chips. Plum placed hers in a perfect ring on the edge of the cake.
Pumpkin and I played roblox. We played Natural Disasters, Zombie Rush and cake baking.

Sunday

I took Pumpkin, Plum and Pippin to church. They all went to Sunday School without me, things have changed and i now attended the adult bit. Situations changing all the time. We came home and had soup and then we cut Pumpkin's hair. He last had it cut April 2016, 13 months ago.
This was followed by everyone making giant chocolate chip cookies together ready to take to the play park, except it rained a lot so we stayed home instead.
We also watched a hedgehog in our garden today, weeding the herb garden and making a nest in the store.

Monday

Pumpkin up and dressed himself, even though i hadn't asked him and we had no plans to be out and i usually have to dress him. We made a spontaneous trip to the play park for an hour and took the cookies we had made yesterday. The smalls pushed 3ach other on the swings and the roundabout and played hide and seek together.
Back home Pippin slept long, Plum got out her horses and combed their hair, Pumpkin put on The Simpsons to watch.
Then we went to collect Bean and daddy, had a picnic tea and played on all the equipment. I was completely stumped when a child asked me why my children don't go to school. Pumpkin stepped in and told him how we like to be together and you don't get to see your family much if you go to school and everyone tells you what to do all.the.time and that is boring.
We headed home and all collapsed on the sofa/bed.

Nerf War

Today was a nerf war kind of day. We made dens in the living room, kitchen, large bedroom and Plum's top bunk. Bean, 10, and Pumpkin, 8, teamed up and mummy and Plum, 5, were on the opposing team. We made barracades and shields from pillows and cushions and hid behind doors and walls and shot at each other. This game lasted for about three hours (although i did manage to call a food break in the middle and another break to breastfeed Pippin, 2, in the hope that she would go to sleep, which she didn't until i found her in my bed at 4.30pm)

We also hot glued more youhurt pots onto Bran's pot tower. It is now over 2m tall. He measured it with the tape measure. His aim is to reach the ceiling. Pumpkin then picked up the tape measure and measured the coffee table and himself and the width of his knees and various other objects he found.

Plum and Pippin hung the laundry outside with me and played on the slide and the see-saw. Plum set up a shop in the large bedroom and Pumpkin went and played with her and then they moved on to playing roblox (natural disasters) together.

Having the time and the space to move between one activity and other as necessary is one of the many reasons we love Home Ed. Playing on the see saw for one minute and then moving to the slide or emersing ourselves into three hours of a nerf war or continuing a project with yoghurt pots that we began weeks ago, having the freedom explore and play and create and managing our own time and pace is essential.

My Favourite Things

Hours of play with Pippin, 2, in the morning as the big three slept long. We drew pictures and face painted and watched Winnie the Pooh as we buttered toast together and played Charlie and Lola Snakes and Ladders.

The Big Three woke up several hours later. Plum, 5, spent most of the day lying on the bed or sofa and watching on her tablet. This was interspersed with playing in the garden and playing with the kitchen set with Pippin. They picked the tulips and Pumpkin put them in a vase for us.

Pumpkin, 8, played Roblox and we tried to load The Amazing Frog but there is an issue that, dispite my best efforts and following all the suggestions, we cannot access the game. He has also been helpful as i hurt my back and suggested that i think about something else instead of the pain so we sang Raindrops on Roses.

Bean, 9, dictated the Fifth chapter of his minecraft story to me which was trickier than the previous four as it involved a flashback and he wasn't sure how to make sure the reader knew that it was a flashback. We got there in the end. He also made me a flower vase from lego.

Daddy's home

For Bean, 9, he's had a walking Archie (the dog), watching films (Star Wars, War of the Worlds, The Italian Job, Madagascar 3) bbq at friends, trampolining, easter egg hunting, Sims4, Roblox playing, four day weekend.

Pumpkin, 8, has had a Roblox extraveganza, minecraft card gaming, project ideas, rediscovering our hoppers, bbq at friends, easter egg hunting, trampolining, bank holiday weekend.

Plum, 5, has been helping daddy replace fence panels and clear some of the garden, she has swept the patio and washed chairs inbetween playing picnics and chalk drawing, there was the bbq at friend's house, trampolining, swinging, climbing, easter egg hunting, going to the park with daddy, loving daddy weekend.

Pumpkin, 2, has coloured and drawn and chalked, washed furniture and helped daddy load the car for the tip, wearing Topsy hair, watching Toy Story 2 cuddled on the sofa, book reading, easter egg hunting, bbq at friends, trampoling, going to the park with daddy, weekend.

We had a fire in the pit and all the children toasted marshmallows with daddy.

All by myself

The Sims4. Six plus hours of playing the Sims4. Bean, 9, predominantly with Pumpkin, 8, looking on and advising or contributing ideas.

Pumpkin also squeezed in a few goes on Roblox and had an hour to himself to play in the evening.

Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, played with the farm set and playmobile together. Plum tidied her bedside shelf whilst Pippin played with the bears. Plum and i also made chocolate cupcakes together and did some puzzles whilst sat in the garden. Pippin read The Little Princess to herself "no, i want to do it by myself" (that is the repeated phrase in the book that she read to herself)

Daddy made a den with them all in the living room in the evening following a roarcus game of hiding and chasing throughout the house and garden.

Indoors and Outdoors

Monday
A whole day of cleaning down, sanding and painting the wood items in the garden, the pickett fence, the children's picnic bench and the loveseat. It also involved three baths for the girls and a mega hair wash but we completed the experience with using the hairdryer and spraying detangler in and the result was salon looking hair!

Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, have finally got their computer back in working order so a day of roblox and playing on the wii ensued alongside lego. Bean did come and have a go at ysing the electric sander for a while too.

Tuesday
We took a trip to do Pond Dipping at Pulborough Brooks, i think it's the third or fourth year in a row we have done it. Pumpkin especially loves it. Bean, Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, all had a dip. They loved finding the creatures in the water and Bean and Pumpkin were finding out what things were by using the identification sheet.

We ate our picnic in the playarea in the sunshine and then tree climbing in the surrounding woods. Plum amd Pippin bought an ice cream each in the shop, Bean bought a bee pin badge and Pumpkin bought a swallowtail butterfly badge.

Pumpkin played roblox back at home, bean watched the loud house with Plum and Pippin had a long nap. Bean and i played Poker together whilst Pippin drew pictures and we downloaded Sims4 for Pumpkin.

One boy and his dog

Archie, the dog, came to play for three hours on Friday. We took him over to the green to play ball for half an hour. We took turns to throw the ball using the flinging stick and had competitions to see who could get it the furthest. Then we took him home where we played with his soft toy and finally settled down to cuddle on the sofa.

Plum and I made biscuits in the shape of flowers and decorated them with petals and a bee, she counted and made exactly two each for our trip out tomorrow. I then made choclate chip cookies for everyone else.

Saturday was a mummy and daughter day for Plum, 5, and I. We drove to FA#3 house and played with cousins C and H until it was time to go see My First Ballet:Cinderella. We all loved it. Plum is already planning our next ballet outing. We then went back to FA#3 house for more play and pizza and climbing piles of woodchips which led to a shared bath and hairwash too.

Sunday Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, stayed at home for Church as Bean is full of cold. We bbq'd our sausages and garlic bread for lunch and spent the afternoon sitting in the garden. Bean got out his remote control monster truck and Plum played with our neighnour across the fence. Pumpkin was playing on his tablet and Pippin slept.

I took Bean, Pumpkin, Plum and our neighbour to t@4 at church for the story of the cruxifixion and an egg hunt. We then came home and i spent time loading the boys games onto our newly refurbished computer. Daddy then lit the firepit and the smalls all toasted marshmallows into the evening.  Pumpkin ser himself down to play roblox now that the computer was all set to go.

Playing Together

A second At Home Day imposed on us this time by the car taking two days at the garage for its service and MOT.

The morning was spent with Bean, 9, videoing stop frame animation and Pumpkin, 8, playing roblox, Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, playing play dough.

We went out to the cafe at Sainsbury for lunch and essential food supplies. We had plans to go to the play park but it was raining so we went home via the weir instead.

During the afternoon the Big Three recorded three Trying Not To Laugh Challenges whilst Pippin watched Bing and we got the skateboards out. Then the Big Three played roblox together. Bean and Plum played hide and seek with each other and Plum and Pippin played in the garden together.

Such Fun

The morning was spent playing with the Peppa Pig and Bing sets with Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2. Bean, 9, played on his tablet and Pumpkin, 8, played Roblox on the pc sometimes Bean joined him via cyberspace.

Gymnastics continues to be a favourite with Plum and Bean. Plum now goes in on her own but only after the group has done the warm up games and stretches. Pumpkin played on his tablet and watched some people playing squash.

Back home Plum disappeared to rest, Bean put on James and the Giant Peach to watch follo2ed by Turbo. Pumpkin played more Roblox.

Plum came out on adventures with mummy in the evenin to Maraccatak with friends from church. Such fun.

London, lunch and lego

Friday

We had a home day on Friday with a very relaxed and easy vibe.

Bean, 9, made up a game based on things he has watched. It was called Dare or Dodge? He wrote two sets of cards, one with Dares on the back and one set with Dodge challenges on the back (less risky dares!!) We played one round and then he and Plum, 5, wrote some more and before the third round I got to write some too. We used the monopoly board to move around and the rules were that if you landed on a hotel you picked a dare card and if you landed on a house you picked a dodge. You could also do a dodge instead of a dare if you chose to. It was a great and fun game and we played it several times throughout the day and again with daddy in the evening.

Plum was keen to have a fairy picnic outside but then wasn't keen on the weather so we ate the tiny chocolate chip cakes we had made with pizza and picniced on the living room floor and watched The Lion King together.

Pumpkin, 8, continued playing Terreria and Minecraft PE for most of the day. He joined in Bean's game and helped write the shopping list.

Daddy attended his third funeral so far this year. Food for thought.

Saturday

Mummy and Bean had a day together. We took the train to London, had lunch in a cafe and went to the Lego Shop on Leicester Square. Bean had a fantastic time. He loves earing out and declared the pizza to be the best pizza ever. And we loved the lego shop and only queued to get in for ten minutes. We played Star Wars Top Trumps in the queue. Bean bought a Batman Joker car, nexo knight shield and blind bags for Plum and Pumpkin.

We played Top Trumps and Lego on the way home together.

Back home Pumpkin had spent the day playing Roblox, Plum and Pippin playing dollies and daddy tidying the house as we had a viewing at 4pm (which coincided nicely with picking us up from the train station) and the saga of buying and selling houses continues.

Daddy had i have come up with a plan for Pumpkin and church after last weeks epic fall out.

Down Days

Some days are less intense than others. Following our natural rhythms allows us to accept that some days are more restful than others and quite rightly so. I can't deny that the early signs of Spring and the sunshine are encouraging me to consider outside more but for today opening the window and the back door will have to fill that need.

Chicken pox continues to leave our nights sleepless and our days restful. Plum, 5, spent all day watching films and on her tablet. She managed about 5 minutes of playing cbeebies games on the pc before returning to her duvet on the sofa. Later in the afternoon we made chocolate cupcakes together with Pippin, 2, too.

Pippin took one two hour sleep today and has spent the remainder of the day sat or lying on the sofa cuddling mummy. Breastfeeding has increased significantly. We have been allieviating the itch with camomile and daddy has bought some moiserising soap for bathtime. I'm hoping this will relieve some of the night itching and support more sleep.

We found a Treasure Trail company online and have purchased our first trail around Horsham for Bean, 9. We sat and played minecraft together,bean, Pumpkin, 8, Plum, 5, and mummy, on a jungle temple map that Bean had downloaded. We played for over an hour. Bean and Pumpkin played Terreria together and Bean spent an hour or more building lego. We continued reading Harry Potter.

Pumpkin has been enjoying watching the Try Not To Laugh videos on YouTube. He fails miserably but it's beautiful listening to him laughing. He has played Roblox today and watched minecraft songs on YouTube. He played with his new Skylanders with Bean. He watched Cars with us in the afternoon and made a soft landing using all the duvets and pillows so the smalls could all jump off the sofa.

The girls had a moisterising bath after dinner and Plum fell asleep on the duvet pile in the evening.

Pancake Day

Tuesday

Reason number 457 that Home Education is amazing: when we have sick days there is no informing anyone or having to provide proof. I'm not in a pickle trying to organise getting the boys ready and to school whilst the girls are ill.

Although being ill does have its own misery. Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, (who has presented with spots overnight) have largely sat and watched films and cbeebies today interspersed with board games but the energy levels are low and even sitting up for board game play is tiring. Pippin has had two two hour long sleeps as well.

Bean, 9, has sat next to us and watched films and played on his tablet. His new excitement is finding and downloading minecraft PE maps and playing and exploring and building on them. He has also ventured into using redstone to create doors on a temple after us playing a levers map together.

Pumpkin, 8, has been enjoying Terreria more and joining Bean on the downloaded minecraft maps. He has played extensice amounts of roblox and been watching minecraft songs too.

The sticking points during the day are when i need to get food for  anyone as Plum purely wants me to sit with her. I have tried to limit the number of times i get up by preparing food and drink in bulk but this then means that i am away for a longer period of time. Not easy.

Daddy made us all pancakes when he got home. The smalls love pancakes any day of the year and had all said today that they would like some but i couldn't manage this with crying girls and clinging to my legs whilst doing it so we waited and enjoyed sharing together with daddy. Pippin didn't want any. Plum had chocolate spread and sugar and lemon all together, Pumpkin had chocolate spread and Bean ate them plain.

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.

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.

Sleep tight

The morning was Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, playing in turns on Roblox interspersed with food and drink requests and "mummy come and look at this" and "mummy can you read yhis for me?" Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, played mummies and babies. They use the wardrobe in our room as the school and the bus, the laundry basket is the bath, the bed is the bed. They use the toy laptops as their ipads and the dollies go too. We made chocolate chip muffins together and played with the peppa pig toys too.

Then FA#2 came to visit. She brought birthday presents for Plum and Pumpkin. Pumpkin got a superhero lego set and got to putting it together straight away. Plum played board games with her all afternoon: orthello, jumior cranium, snakes and ladders, princess games box, gobblt, monopoly. Bean played the minecraft card game with me and then we played monopoly together uninterrupted for a whole game. Pumpkin had an uninterupted game of Roblox on the pc.

With FA#2 here i managed to fit in hoovering and dinner prep and laundry (of sorts) too. Our new tumble dryer was delivered yesterday, a welcome delivery after over a week of no dryer, and just in time for the washing machine to break down.

Bed time was a bit epic even by our standards. I bathed with Pippin after we had finished Plum bathed followed by Pumpkin. Meanwhile i planned to read Pippin stories and breastfeed and sleep. Plum sat on her top bunk and watched youtube whilst i put Pippin to bed. Pippin finished breast feeding and then started crying for daddy, "daddy home" for over half an hour before we left the bedroom. Pumpkin had been waiting almost 45 minutes by now for me to help him out of the bath. I took Pippin and Plum downstairs, five minutes later Bean came to ask if he could go to bed now (cue stories for Bean) I asked if he could wait five more minutes as daddy would be home soon. Daddy came home and took Bean to read him stories and Pumpkin became upset because he wanted his last turn on Roblox. There were a lot of tears from Pumpkin. We offered him to play on the pc downstairs and tried to distract him with the offer of food but neither of these worked. We talked through him having the first go tomorrow and all his feelings of disappointed and frustration and anger. Finally daddy offered to do stories in another room so he could have a few minutes play. This resolved the issue. I made toast for Pumpkin, Plum and Pippin. Daddy took Pippin to bed who went peacefully to sleep. By now it was 2 hours after her normal bedtime circa 10pm now. Pumpkin took himself to bed a few moments later (about an hour earlier than normal) and Plum asked if we could go to bed too, we read a story first and changed our pyjamas.  By 10.30pm everyone was sleeping including daddy.