Saturday 20th October 2012
Phase 6: not being so busy. Failed.
Today daddy disappeared to a men's breakfast and I was left with the challenge of getting three smalls ready to leave the house by 10.30 in order to drive to Oxford for a birthday party. All was well and all were a little tired by mid-afternoon but it was well worth the journey and the ensuing tiredness just to be able to catch up with old friends and remember good times.
Our Tribe
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Friday, 19 October 2012
Friends
We took a visit to Amberley Museum today, it closes in a couple of weeks for the winter months :(
We met some new home ed friends there and introduced them to some of our favourite parts. We printed our names in the print workshop and it's lovely to note that some of the volunteers there are beginning to recognise us and engage with the smalls it such an enthusiastic way. Today the gentleman in the print shop made a print just for Plum...her first of many I suspect!
The boys rode on the bus whilst I walked the route and we went into the telecommunications building and played morse code and semaphore and telephone operators. Bean was particularly interested in the different machines they used in aeroplanes to communicate and why they would need them. Fortunately the information given in the museum is comprehensive.
We also went to see the wood turner and saw someone new today who's speciality is making pens. He was very obliging and did a demonstration for us.
We took a train ride together and sat in the barn to eat a late lunch. Thankfully I had taken hot chocolate and soup as I had forgotten my coat and Wellies and it was wet all day, I was rather damp.
We met some new home ed friends there and introduced them to some of our favourite parts. We printed our names in the print workshop and it's lovely to note that some of the volunteers there are beginning to recognise us and engage with the smalls it such an enthusiastic way. Today the gentleman in the print shop made a print just for Plum...her first of many I suspect!
The boys rode on the bus whilst I walked the route and we went into the telecommunications building and played morse code and semaphore and telephone operators. Bean was particularly interested in the different machines they used in aeroplanes to communicate and why they would need them. Fortunately the information given in the museum is comprehensive.
We also went to see the wood turner and saw someone new today who's speciality is making pens. He was very obliging and did a demonstration for us.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Marvelous medicine
Phase 4: responding to the rhythm of the smalls.
So today we tried a second at home day this week with nothing especially planned although I had a few ideas in mind of things the boys have been interested in. The morning started with me cleaning out an old shower gel bottle and Bean jumped at the chance to make a potion (recently read George's Marvolous Medicine) It was a progressive move towards Pumpkin taking over the bathroom floor with a pile of lotions and old half used bottles of stuff from the cupboard. The boys had a great time. Bean enjoyed making his froth and bubble and kept adding a bit of this and a bit of that to make it more bubbly. Pumpkin just enjoyed using what he could and mixing it altogether. We used utensils from the kitchen set and then got the jam funnel out to decant into the bottle.
Daddy phoned and needed the laptop delivered to the other side of town so we all got dressed (nothing like the motivation of seeing daddy to get us dressed!) and drove to meet him. We coupled this with some deliveries where Bean did some lovely map reading and number spotting as we went to find houses.
The potion making continued when we got home plus some colouring and reading books.after lunch we had a shouts moment and whatever I tried there seemed to be no way of breaking the cycle, Bean especially was finding it difficult to exit the angry stress mode so we jumped ship completely and took ourselves out on bikes to the local park. Worked wonderfully.
Plum had a feed and a sleep when we got home and the boys put on some I player whilst I was settling her. The I player stayed on until dinner time.
So today we tried a second at home day this week with nothing especially planned although I had a few ideas in mind of things the boys have been interested in. The morning started with me cleaning out an old shower gel bottle and Bean jumped at the chance to make a potion (recently read George's Marvolous Medicine) It was a progressive move towards Pumpkin taking over the bathroom floor with a pile of lotions and old half used bottles of stuff from the cupboard. The boys had a great time. Bean enjoyed making his froth and bubble and kept adding a bit of this and a bit of that to make it more bubbly. Pumpkin just enjoyed using what he could and mixing it altogether. We used utensils from the kitchen set and then got the jam funnel out to decant into the bottle.
Daddy phoned and needed the laptop delivered to the other side of town so we all got dressed (nothing like the motivation of seeing daddy to get us dressed!) and drove to meet him. We coupled this with some deliveries where Bean did some lovely map reading and number spotting as we went to find houses.
The potion making continued when we got home plus some colouring and reading books.after lunch we had a shouts moment and whatever I tried there seemed to be no way of breaking the cycle, Bean especially was finding it difficult to exit the angry stress mode so we jumped ship completely and took ourselves out on bikes to the local park. Worked wonderfully.
Plum had a feed and a sleep when we got home and the boys put on some I player whilst I was settling her. The I player stayed on until dinner time.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Castles and knights
We met our very own knight in shining armour today at Leeds Castle and implemented phase 3: finding people who love our family to share the load.
We had a bit of a rainy drive over to Kent to meet fav auntie #2 at Leeds Castle and we saw a great rainbow. The weather cleared up though and we walked throug the grounds to the castle. The boys continue their fascination with rivers and played pooh sticks at every bridge we came to, put their fingers in the flowing water and worked out which direction the water was travelling in.
Bean insisted we went into the castle and we enjoyed one of the children's activity cards. I invested in two different children's guides and an adult one too so we can build on our knowledge of castles. Bean's interest in castles has spanned almost two years now.
We enjoyed both play areas to ourselves and fought of a pesky peacock whilst we ate.
It started to rain as we returned to the car and the heavens truly opened as we were sitting in the car. We had a little difficulty with the automatic lock and it took us a while to get in the car and the alarm repeatedly went off and i couldn't open the boot but we put the buggy into FA#2car and went to leave except the car wouldn't start. So I braved the rain and returned to the reception to ask for help and our very own knight in shining armour arrived 10minutes later in a green land rover with spark plugs and we soon in th rain and jump started the car. Praise God it worked!
The rest of the day was spent visiting FA#2 new house and dinner at FA#1 house accompanied with Lego, train sets and a new Lego book.
We had a bit of a rainy drive over to Kent to meet fav auntie #2 at Leeds Castle and we saw a great rainbow. The weather cleared up though and we walked throug the grounds to the castle. The boys continue their fascination with rivers and played pooh sticks at every bridge we came to, put their fingers in the flowing water and worked out which direction the water was travelling in.
Bean insisted we went into the castle and we enjoyed one of the children's activity cards. I invested in two different children's guides and an adult one too so we can build on our knowledge of castles. Bean's interest in castles has spanned almost two years now.
We enjoyed both play areas to ourselves and fought of a pesky peacock whilst we ate.
It started to rain as we returned to the car and the heavens truly opened as we were sitting in the car. We had a little difficulty with the automatic lock and it took us a while to get in the car and the alarm repeatedly went off and i couldn't open the boot but we put the buggy into FA#2car and went to leave except the car wouldn't start. So I braved the rain and returned to the reception to ask for help and our very own knight in shining armour arrived 10minutes later in a green land rover with spark plugs and we soon in th rain and jump started the car. Praise God it worked!
The rest of the day was spent visiting FA#2 new house and dinner at FA#1 house accompanied with Lego, train sets and a new Lego book.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
New every morning
So the new vibe plan is working so far. Phase two: not so much gallivanting around and a few more at home days. The boys are constantly coming up with things they want to do and days out take a lot of planning as do days at home but it involves different things.
Anyhow, today. Asher choose to play Lego with me this morning and showed me how to make different vehicles. The collection of home made Lego boats/ cars/ spaceships etc has been growing. Some have been demolished and parts rescued for newer models but I finally got around to taking some photos of their collections.
Bean choose to build a skate park with the Jenga bricks with me but this very quickly turned into writing his name in bricks and taking photos of different things that he has made. It's common for him to come up with one plan and it turn into another, he can then look back on things and comment that we didn't do what he had planned but we're learning lessons from life and he's beginning to see that he needs to choose carefully and we can do things tomorrow.
We took a quick trip to the farm shop and charity shop and stocked up and then back home. The boys had chosen some craft bits from the shop so got straight stuck into picture making. Bean is making a seasonal picture and has begun with a very colourful interpretation of Autumn, winter is going to be next.
This afternoon adventures have taken us to the play park around the corner (Pumpkin's choice) and Plum took her second go on a swing. Daddy had taken her on Saturday and said she loved it but didn't have the chance to take any photos. He was right, she did love it and this time i took photos.
Anyhow, today. Asher choose to play Lego with me this morning and showed me how to make different vehicles. The collection of home made Lego boats/ cars/ spaceships etc has been growing. Some have been demolished and parts rescued for newer models but I finally got around to taking some photos of their collections.
Bean choose to build a skate park with the Jenga bricks with me but this very quickly turned into writing his name in bricks and taking photos of different things that he has made. It's common for him to come up with one plan and it turn into another, he can then look back on things and comment that we didn't do what he had planned but we're learning lessons from life and he's beginning to see that he needs to choose carefully and we can do things tomorrow.
We took a quick trip to the farm shop and charity shop and stocked up and then back home. The boys had chosen some craft bits from the shop so got straight stuck into picture making. Bean is making a seasonal picture and has begun with a very colourful interpretation of Autumn, winter is going to be next.
This afternoon adventures have taken us to the play park around the corner (Pumpkin's choice) and Plum took her second go on a swing. Daddy had taken her on Saturday and said she loved it but didn't have the chance to take any photos. He was right, she did love it and this time i took photos.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Travelling with you
No photos again today. Getting poor at taking photos but Mondays is the same old routine, to the point where I feel that I'm not doing enough because there is an extreme lack of thought put into the day.
Having struggled last week with morning routine almost daily I have started the week with a new approach. Today the lunch was packed the night before and I encouraged the boys to get dressed before second breakfast which they did. The only slight hic cough was after breakfast water play and the need to change our clothes before going out (best laid plans...) but all in all it improved things so much that we were able to ride our bikes across town to join our Monday morning activity Little Verse. Pumpkin has taken up singing and doing actions again and is now able to sing all the words to most of the songs and even corrected his own actions today. Plum really enjoys the singing and the boys love the story and bean especially enjoys the craft.
This was followed by Bean's gymnastics session where he has achieved his first badge (ironically badge 10) and then a play in the park. We were momentarily the only family in the play area but soon joined by four other home ed families and a few others. The rain breezed in on and off but was largely dry and the whole group of smalls played excellently together. There was climbing the crows nest, climbing, sailing and sliding on the ship, negotiating the round about and playing houses on the sand pit equipment, amongst other things.
We then headed home, still on our bikes. We have been out today for what is exactly the same amount of time as a school day, we got rather caught up in the school foot traffic on the way home, inevitable as we live down the road from two Primary Schools and round the corner from a Secondary School. We've had a great day out and I was glad to have spent it with my boys and not missed out on their journey today.
Having struggled last week with morning routine almost daily I have started the week with a new approach. Today the lunch was packed the night before and I encouraged the boys to get dressed before second breakfast which they did. The only slight hic cough was after breakfast water play and the need to change our clothes before going out (best laid plans...) but all in all it improved things so much that we were able to ride our bikes across town to join our Monday morning activity Little Verse. Pumpkin has taken up singing and doing actions again and is now able to sing all the words to most of the songs and even corrected his own actions today. Plum really enjoys the singing and the boys love the story and bean especially enjoys the craft.
This was followed by Bean's gymnastics session where he has achieved his first badge (ironically badge 10) and then a play in the park. We were momentarily the only family in the play area but soon joined by four other home ed families and a few others. The rain breezed in on and off but was largely dry and the whole group of smalls played excellently together. There was climbing the crows nest, climbing, sailing and sliding on the ship, negotiating the round about and playing houses on the sand pit equipment, amongst other things.
We then headed home, still on our bikes. We have been out today for what is exactly the same amount of time as a school day, we got rather caught up in the school foot traffic on the way home, inevitable as we live down the road from two Primary Schools and round the corner from a Secondary School. We've had a great day out and I was glad to have spent it with my boys and not missed out on their journey today.
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Tired little teddy bears
No photos today as I completely forgot!
A whole day spent in a management meeting for CAC and daddy largely taking on the smalls. They have built a den in their room, drawn pictures and Bean has made a bed for some of his toys from a small box which he cut large pieces off to make the shape he wanted, Bean used a pillow that he had designed and coloured yesterday and made a duvet for them. I had asked him why the sudden notion to draw a pillow and where he got the idea from but it seems it was his idea and there was no special reason. There has also been lots of lego making, a trip on the bikes to the park round the corner (daddy taking all three of the smalls for the first time single handedly- worth noting) and watching iplayer in their bedroom (special treat as mummy was hosting a meeting downstairs) And after yesterday's late night two very tired boys in bed by 7pm and Plum too.
A whole day spent in a management meeting for CAC and daddy largely taking on the smalls. They have built a den in their room, drawn pictures and Bean has made a bed for some of his toys from a small box which he cut large pieces off to make the shape he wanted, Bean used a pillow that he had designed and coloured yesterday and made a duvet for them. I had asked him why the sudden notion to draw a pillow and where he got the idea from but it seems it was his idea and there was no special reason. There has also been lots of lego making, a trip on the bikes to the park round the corner (daddy taking all three of the smalls for the first time single handedly- worth noting) and watching iplayer in their bedroom (special treat as mummy was hosting a meeting downstairs) And after yesterday's late night two very tired boys in bed by 7pm and Plum too.
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