Full full full of love

After an evening out at a home ed supportive cake meet, Plum was some what tired this morning and we had to wake her at 9.30 ready to go to nana and grandad's. On the up side she made her first successful transfer from car to bed without waking when we got home last night.

Today we are relaxing at nana and grandad's. Finished off decorating the jubilee cheescake and then ate it all, with help of course. The boys slept on the journey here and have enjoyed a peaceful day reading books, playing computer games, throwing things around with cousin j, playing motorbikes, playing snap. Bean built a wall with some wooden bricks and then told us a story about the rich man who lived there and the people who tried to steal his money. The first had a ladder, the second built a tower and the third came with guns and he made a hole in the wall which crumbled it. It's the first narrative that he's made up from beginning to end rather than the stories he makes up in role play or with lego or the like.

The Little Red Hen

Plum is feeding 3 hourly again at night but as it is bank holiday i got to sleep in an extra bit this morning, 7.30 up.

The plan was to make a jubilee cheesecake this morning but when it came to it the boys were more interested in playing. I made it anyway as we bought all the ingredients. I felt a little like the little red hen, i'm sure the boys will enjoy eating it.

Daddy spent time playing puppets and making stories and joining in jokes that only small children understand. Bean has been busy playing with a balloon he got from yesterday's birthday party. He had it attached to an aircraft he had made and was pretending it was a bomb. It was mummy and daddy's job to defend the town using a selection of vehicles and some imagination: hurling mud from the tipper truck or hooking the string with the crane claw. Daddy was better at this than mummy.

Pumpkin has had the car garage out again for the sixth time this week. He had the cars parked on the top floor today and got very upset if they were moved. He also lined them up as if in traffic and then one by one drove them off to line them up parallel to the first line.

We went into town to join the jubilee celebrations, bumped into several people we know. Listened to a lot of music from various decades and daddy took the boys on a bus ride. We even found a random toy soldier in the sand tray outside elc...i wonder how that got there???? :)

God save the Queen

Thursday

I was utterly relieved beyond words to see SGS arrive at the craft group this morning as well as SGG (who usually works on a Thursday.) SGG played with Plum whilst I was able to help the boys with their craft. Today they made sandwiches, decorated badges and did some scratch art. I'm glad I was able to help out, normally I wear Plum in her sling but had forgotten it and sometimes the boys aren't that interested in the craft and want to play more. The soft play area required the boys to wear socks, which I had forgotten and Pumpkin wasn't wearing any. Bean was in the process of taking his socks off when I stopped him to explain that he had to wear them. "They're for Pumpkin," was the response I got. So thoughtful.


Bean turned Royalist again on us today. After attending the play and craft group this morning which had a jubilee theme he was full of questions and ideas and is still trying to figure out why we can't go to Buckingham Palace to have tea with the Queen or send her the picture he has made. He asked me to draw Buckingham Palace and we then looked up different Queen related things on the internet, inspired by the craft group and the boys both chose pictures they wanted printed. He then cut them out and completed the Palace.

I'm glad I spent it with you

Wednesday


We spent today at the Wittering's Beach with Grandma and Pops. It wasn't as sunny as last Friday but it was a great day none the less.
Today Grandma asked me the question, 'so what is he [Bean] learning today?' So here is my reply....


The journey to the beach involved Bean map reading, this mostly involved asking about the different coloured roads and guessing what the symbols meant, We looked these up using the key when we arrived at the beach to see which ones we had guessed correctly. He even spotted a National Trust sign on the roadside on the way there! (Would you like me to give them subject headings, let's call this geography.)


He also spends a lot of time trying to read the speedometer and speed limit signs. This involves reading numbers and understanding there value in relation to each other (Maths)


Today the sand was used for: building castles, which involved digging deep for wet sand; making a flag from a stick and a tissue; burying Bean; and burying the frisbee. The sea was used for: paddling in; exploring seaweed, mostly Pumpkin avoiding it!) pouring water and running through. The beach is a whole day of sand and water play, which is an unquestioned activity in most early years settings, our advantage being having them in their natural habitat. Discovering about materials and their different properties, how they change when you add things to them i.e. water to sand, or how things change over time i.e. tidal movement. This play also involves physical dexterity, problem solving, social skills, communication and a multi sensory experience all contributing to their congnitive development and knowledge (language, science, maths, social development)


Bean also set up a game of cricket using two spades and a stone. One spade was the bat and the other the wickets. Being able to use one item and pretend it is another is not only very useful for when you think you have no toys available and are able to gather together a few odd objects and they become a whole new world but is the same process of thought used in successful problem solving in adulthood (seeing a use for things that they were not designed for.) (Creative and physical development)


Pumpkin continues to be a very sensory learner and spent a large amount of time lying in the sand, head and all! Very messy but soft sand is very pleasing to touch so I could see the appeal, I just wouldn't put my face in it.


Spending a day with family and multiple generations also contributes to their social and emotional well-being. Feeling valued and cared for by those closet to them and respecting and caring in return. Today Bean took 4 pennies each for grandma and pops to buy them an ice-cream. 



We went over to the cafe to buy ice-creams where the boys learnt to select and order and pay for their own purchases, although we did have an odd moment when the shop assistant looked at me and asked if I knew that they had ordered dark chocolate even though I was right next to them when they were ordering. However, instead of merely role-playing the situation they were able to learn from a real life experience. (Maths, communication, literacy, social.)

Unbeknown to me the boys had also been watching the life guards closely and three days later (Saturday) have been playing with the playmobil men and quad bikes and walkie-talkies in the bath enacting what they observed. (observation-science; story telling-literacy, communication, language; memory recall; shared experience - social; making sense of the world around them-humanities.)



And all this was just whilst we were at the beach and I know they learnt far more than I have recorded here. All three smalls slept on the way home and consequently up later again. Pumpkin spent a happy time entertaining friends looking at books and Bean set up the dolls house on his bed having a picnic.

Take a walk on the wild side

Friday

It has been recently reported that today's children can suffer from Nature Deficiency Disorder, not so in our house. Today we saw a second visit to Nyman Gardens and loved it all over again. Bean and Pumpkin made me read all the signs they could see on trees and plants and where the plants were from (really must brush up on my Latin) and we felt and smelt and observed and described and hid and climbed and fell. (Asher fell out his first tree.)


We shared our lunch time with a Robin and two field mice, all of which were less than a foot away from us. The mice running around in the hedge row behind the benches we were on. The boys spent about 15 minutes watching them and I had fresh satisfaction and delight in our choice to home educate. 






















Our house is full of collections of sticks and leaves and cones and seed pods and various other natural findings. I can remember David Attenborough once talking about the importance of collecting things. In fact Nyman's Gardens itself is a huge collection of plants from far and wide. So our house may be full of odd bits and bobs but it is the beginnings of great discoveries.


Pumpkin has spent a lot of time with Plum today, holding her hand, singing to her, cuddling her and playing 'boo.' I love watching the boys relationship grow with each other and their sister and am glad that the transition from two to three has been a smooth and natural one for them all. 


The drawing is one of Bean's, it is the Horsham Museum. The bricks are a skate park built by Pumpkin. Bean also asked me to write "all the numbers" so he could copy them. As a teacher I was always quite apposed to giving the children worksheets of numbers or letters to copy but in the spirit of 'unschooling' I dutifully wrote down the digits from 0 - 9 for him to copy. Sometimes I think it's me that needs de-schooling, not my children!

Picnic in the Park

Tuesday



The continuing good weather led us to take our picnic to the park again today after a play session at the Needles Family Centre. (I wonder what we will do now Bean is five and no longer officially under their remit?) Bean suggested we took bread for the ducks and Pumpkin suggested the scooters came with us so car boot full, off we went. 

We picnicked in the play area and the boys interspersed mouthfuls with running around. The Trim Trail was explored again but also the sand pit today (which is a rare chose.) This took about an hour before we headed off to the duck pond. Pumpkin got a real thrill from scooting down hill. The ducks were very uninterested in our offering but the boys were not deterred at all.

This was followed by an explore around the maze. I love this maze, just the right height for the boys to go in alone and feel enclosed but I can still see them. They pretty much know their way around it now but still enjoy hiding from each other and chasing around. They even helped two girls who were very 'lost' and couldn't find their way to the middle. Their mother clearly wanted to leave but they didn't want to until they had found the dragon. The boys even showed them the way out. (Who says home ed kids don't know how to socialise?)


Plum slept for a large majority of the trip, enjoying the fresh air and warmth, I think.

Living in a box

Monday

I wonder if the inventor of the humble cardboard box had any idea what they had unleashed. The box above has been used as a house, a theatre, a boat, a plane, a biding place, a robot head, a helmet and all within the last 48 hours. Bean has even started to draw on it to add appropriate features, which he has not done before, and put a couple of holes in it in various places (eye holes and a whole in the roof.)

Today's trip to Horsham Park saw Bean continuing his (self set) challenge around the Trim Trail. He is becoming more and more confident and certain of what he is doing, although there is still some things he struggles with he gives everything a go. He used to avoid climbing the A frame but will now climb to the top and then ask for help which I supply in the form of verbal directions
accompanied with an enactment of how to climb over. 

Pumpkin still spends the majority of his time on the swing but today asked to go on the "big swing". He immediately started doing the 'swing leg' movements. I do not know where he observed this from but I was impressed (it is not something Bean does.) He won't go as high on these swings (yet!) but enjoyed it when I swung next to him.

Pumpkin has also been experimenting with words lately. Added to our vocabulary are 'swonged,' 'plimpt,' and 'runned,' amongst others.  

Pumpkin has also taken to sleeping long periods during the day again, probably due to the heat or his cold. This of course means that he is up later than usual in the evening which we have not had for a long time and is rather a shock to the system.