Don't rain on our parade

What I love about our days is that things often flow seemlessly from one thing to the next, that is, the smalls don't seperate life into subject boxes and change their thinking from learning about geography to history to P.E. We move from minecraft to lego to comic book writing to angry birds games to the park to pirates to books to junk modelling and so on it goes.

Friday was a free day, planned to be at home day, with a trip to Boys Brigade at the end of it. We began at breakfast by getting together any ideas the boys had for the day. Playing lego together, hide and seek, and going to the park around the corner, were the three requests along with my own, spend some time working in the garden. And then we laid out when each thing would happen in the day. It worked really well as a technique.

The boys spent two hours in their room upstairs playing lego happily together whilst Plum and I began tidying the garden. She was very unsettled after a rough nights sleep and ended up in the sling for a long while (which we haven't used around the house for months.) As we finished and Plum fell asleep, the rain began. We all ate lunch and did some drawing whilst we waited for Plum to wake and eat, and still the rain came. But it not change Bean's mind about going to the park. So, we pulled on our waterproofs and walked to the park in the rain, and played in the park in the rain, and walked home in the rain. The slides were extra slippery and all three smalls slide extra fast off the end of them. We spent most time with Plum and Pumpkin in the swings and me and Bean pushing them.

We zipped home and ate sandwiches before heading out to Boys' Brigade, except we didn't quite make it as Pumpkin fell asleep on the way there. We drove home and he slept for two hours waking just as everyone else was finishing their dinner about 7.30pm. The evening was spent bathing and reading stories and watching a dvd together. Plum was clearly tired but not giving in until daddy took her and laid down with her instead of mummy.

And Saturday became a lego orientated day. The boys having been saving their pocket money for ten whole weeks so that they can by some lego. It's the first time we've given them pocket money and I didn't think they would save it for so long but they did. Today they had (nearly) enough money to buy some lego and daddy and I decided to pay the excess as they have done so amazingly well. Our decision to start giving them pocket money came from the constant asking for this or that or the other whenever we went out. We decided to give them some control over what they could buy and how they use their money. Today they choose a star wars lego item each and daddy found the most cost effective source and we ended up journeying to Brighton for the afternoon. We bought the lego and spent an hour in a large park playing family football and exploring the play area before we headed home to begin building our new sets. They're bigger sets than we've previously had so it may take us the rest of the evening, in between eating and bathing. 

Dinosaur Roar

We began our week celebrating granddad's birthday with a huge roast beef dinner and an equally huge cake, obviously enjoyed by all. The smalls were busy all day eating and playing lego and enjoying nana's garden with cousinJ and cousinC. It was especially joyful to watch Plum with cousinC (11 months her junior) having a beautiful time interacting together. I can see them forming an alliance against Bean and Pumpkin in the not too distant future.

 Tuesday saw us change our existing plans once again as we had a last minute invitation to a play date in the park which we accepted and then we caught the invitation to make cards at the craft shop down the road from us. We got dressed in record time and the boys made these cards with the help of a wonderful lady who wasn't phased at all with them being children (as she was clearly expecting adults, given that it is mid-week term time)

The remainder of Tuesday turned out to be a bit of a dinosaur day. Pumpkin found the sand cast of the dinosaur bones and Plum asked for the dinosaur toys out. We ended up taking a selection with us to the park along with the bucket and spades and spent some time building volcanoes and sand castles in the sand pit as well as practising our writing (Pumpkin)

On Wednesday we finally made it to Polesden Lacey, a National Trust property north of us. It was our fourth attempt at a visit but it was a good day for it. The reason we were so keen to go was to play with the giant chess set on the grass. We had a good game between Pumpkin and Bean mostly revisiting basic rules and piece moves but they are so keen to learn. We have several chess sets at home but none appropriate for using besides, this giant set, suits the boys needs to physically move the pieces and walk the move (kinaesthetic learning.) There is also jenga, naughts and crosses, coits and nine pin bowling.

And then Thursday came around really quickly this week. Our weekly trip to gymnastics saw a few of us mum's chatting with a lady who is interesting in home educating her son and then joined by another lady who overheard us talking from the neighbouring table and joined us too as she is considering it for her, now, 11 month old. 

And on the home front I was reminded today of one more reason why I love home ed. Bean took a fall whilst getting dressed this morning and caught his chin, lip, gum and teeth on the corner of the toy box in their bedroom. We sat and cuddled for nearly half an hour, as well as administering first aid but it reminded me that I was glad that it was me who was there when he needed me to be and there was no need to rush through the first aid and miss the emotional comfort needed. 

The whole time I spent with Bean, Pumpkin played with Plum and read her stories. Equally a joy to watch.

I had a busy afternoon with the boys making runs with the marble run and reading about pirates and making pirate ships with large boxes. We're not finished yet and are in the process of making flags with plans to make treasure maps too. And this has all come when I was just thinking that we haven't done anything topic based in a long while. Bean has also asked if we can go back to Leed's Castle soon, which will move us forward in his interest in castles. And so, comforting me in my momentary anxiety that we may have stagnated. 

Freedom

Did you know that not all home educators are the same? Did you know that because home educators have the freedom to determine the how, what and where of their children's education that this means it is possible for each home educating family to be completely different? Did you know that anyone, regardless of marital status, occupation, lifestyle or life philosophy can choose to educate their own children? Did you know that this means that not all home educators agree with the choices that each other makes? 

I happen to also think that this does not give anyone the right to be rude, judgemental, exclusive, aggressive or bully those around them, both adults and children. Unfortunately, i met a group of people yesterday (Wednesday), one in particular, who were just that. And it left me grateful. Grateful that I am in a position that I don't have to return to that same group as we have the freedom to choose, and grateful that I have found a circle of home educating friends who share similar ideas and are supportive and encouraging and helpful to each other. 

It was a day in complete contrast to Tuesday when we met friends, some I know well, some I've only recently met and some I don't see that often, and we went for a walk around Swanbourne Lake. It was not so long ago that a trip like this would have been quite stressful due to having smaller and slower children and a baby that needed more regular breastfeeding our progress on a walk was often slower than others in the group. But now the boys are keen to run and play with others and Plum needs less milk stops. The group mentality is such that watching out for and engaging with children that are not yours is natural and common place and if one happens to get in a spot of bother (Bean stuck up a chalk cliff face) then others are happy to lend a hand (one mother holding Plum whilst I tried to get up to help him and two older children talking him down and encouraging him every step of the way....i think they should be in the rescue service, they were amazing.)

We followed this with a play date that Bean had arranged on Monday with his friend whilst at the park and went to our friends house for a couple of hours.  

And today we went to gymnastics followed by a swim. A fellow home ed mum came in the pool too and played with the boys who were uber confident and splashing and crawling around. I didn't think regular swimming would ever be possible but it worked out really well and we were collectively happy with the way it worked out. will definitely be repeating it.

Here be dragons

Pumpkin has really got into drawing lately and I'm thinking of investing in some sketch pads for him, not only to place value onto what he does but also to limit the amount of paper flying around the room! Today's master piece was a dragon. Inspired by yesterday evenings viewing on iplayer: Dragons. His picture came in the castle scene including doorbells. The dragon had wings and claws and talons and fire and ears and a tail and spots. 

Plum saw her brother hard at it and decided that she wanted to draw too. I had been to town at the weekend and purchased new pens too, phew.

And whilst all this was going on Bean was busy with lego in his bedroom.

The afternoon was spent with our home ed friends in the park. Three hours of play and i barely had any interaction with any of my smalls. Plum mastered the slide and went down it repeatedly. Pumpkin spent a large amount of time happily on his own and Bean alternated between being on his own and being invloved with the other. Bean even made arrangements with a friend for a play date and I notice more and more so his desire to extend his social circle beyond the few get togethers we have in the week.

Back home and the new den was put into action again and we found the box of duplo that has been hiding for some months now and this spurred the boys into two hours of play together mostly building and playing with the town scene (including a farm.) 

And my triumph of the day was finishing the curtains for Pumpkin's bottom bunk bed so that he can have his own den without having to dig out sheets every time. He loves it.

We're collecting conkers

For a while now Pumpkin has been requesting to take photos of various things, mostly food. Food art has been a part of our lives now for well over a year but Pumpkin is also interested in food that comes in its own interesting shapes or sizes as well as baking. This is this weeks selection:

We have had many excursions this week and a lot of exercise! Tuesday took an unexpected turn at breakfast when we were invited to meet friends at Horsham Park and instead of going to a National Trust site we spent six hours riding our bikes, climbing and playing in the park.

Wednesday took us to Worthing sea front, where the sea mist was so thick we couldn't tell if the tide was in or out. Bean conquered the climbing wall and our walk along the front saw us collecting stones and making up our own games with the stones. 

Thursday was gymnastics day and a trip to Tilgate Park. The interesting thing for me was Pumpkin bringing together all the clues that Autumn is here and me realising that, once again, real life learning is so much more real and we get to have a really cool time and climb trees and crush leaves in the process.

This is Plum's thing atm. She has gone from a real dislike of sand to spending most of this week in one sand pit or another. Every morning we go into the garden to play with Alex and Charlie and every morning Plum ends up in the sand pit. This week she has played here every day plus two days in the sand pit at Horsham Park and the sand at the Worthing play area. We now take bucket and spades with us everywhere! 

Daddy has been busy this weekend helping Bean build a lego lighthouse, taking us all out to dinner and creating a new den area for the smalls. All very successful :)

you can keep your hat on

It seems to me that we have done very little today but, how the smalls busy themselves. 
Plum is loving this hat at the moment and puts it on herself. She has been seen wearing it whilst eating and playing and piano playing and watching tv. It is a bit small for her but i daren't take it away as she is enjoying it so much. 

Pumpkin is keen on taking photos of his food and daily takes a photo of two. Today he went one further and took a selection of other pictures too: 

We took a trip to the park today to meet up with some fellow home ed families and spent a beautiful warm and sunny afternoon enjoying the company in the park. Plum found a girl of similar age in the sand pit and they played happily together for half an hour, covering each others feet with sand and filling a bucket up with sand and emptying it.

Plum was asleep by the time we got home and i spent an hour with the boys playing 'talking people' I was the character with the pick up truck who came to rescue the boys characters when they got stuck or broke down.

It's interesting to me in how the last few months the boys have evolved their play to building whole scenes to accommodate their story lines. 

The last few days have been a bit of a blur and it surprises me how much you can forget, i'm struggling to remember what we did on Friday! In fact, we spent the afternoon with our friends and the smalls had a great time, as always. 

Yesterday we visited Bignor Roman Villa as part of their Heritage weekend, entrance was free. The boys loved it. Bean had a go at hand spinning wool and weaving and took to it rather well. The lady was really impressed with him. Pumpkin played with the mosaic tiles and we all walked around the maze and labyrinth. As with most things Roman, I was pleased to have taken daddy. He has more head knowledge and interest than me and can answer the boys questions more readily and without having to read through masses of information to not find the answer that they are looking for. Definitely a daddy venue though as I was struggling to muster up enthusiasm for it (can you tell I'm not into Roman history?)

And today was church day. We joined our friends at their church and for the first time in months I stayed in the service and heard the message. The boys, rather to my surprise, went confidently into the Sunday School with their friends.