At Home Day: i spent 40 minutes this morning setting up Skype accounts for children whilst simultaneously trying to fix the wii and playing with Pippin, 2, in the boys' room, that is trying to distract her from playing with their toys. It is our first day with daddy back at work. It will take sometime for us to get back into the swing of an adult:child ratio 1:4. However, downstairs, Pumpkin, 7, and Plum, 5, were playing with her cake making playdough kit together and Pippin went to join them. Bean, 9, was lying on his bed playing on his tablet.
With Skype accounts finally set up, Plum had a playdate with a friend, E, who moved away 18 months ago, yet she still talks about her all the time. They showed each other their Christmas presents and then both got pens and paper so they could draw together. Plum made a playdough cake to show her and E shared a book with Plum. It was delightful and will become a regular thing. It fulfilled Plum's social need whilst we were also able to stay at home. During the afternoon she lay next to me and watched on her tablet as i rested whilst Pippin slept.
Bean and Pumpkin played escapists together on the computer and continued watching Gravity Falls, coming to get us to show us the funny parts. It was a restful afternoon.
In the evening Bean took all the dvds that Plum doesn't like and found a box for them and took them upstairs. Bean and mummy played two rounds of poopyhead. Pumpkin had a bath. Plum watched cbeebies hair and the tortoise ballet.
Our Tribe
Wednesday, 4 January 2017
Tuesday, 3 January 2017
Five Years
Although our decorations are still up, today really marks the end of Christmas for us as daddy's 11 day staycation is over and he returns to work.
Yesterday we celebrated Plum's fifth birthday. Some of us stayed at home all day enjoying a much needed At Home Day. Plum wanted to go the the play park at Sainsbury's with daddy and Pippin, 2, went too. We had birthday lunch with presents and cake made by daddy. Plum got a ballet dress and Peppa Pig puzzle, toy horses, a cake making playdough set and some tights. She spent the morning curled up in bed eatching on her tablet after an initial board game of dinosaur races with Bean, 9, and mummy. After the trip to the park she came home and played with her playdough and horses.
Pumpkin, 7, decided on an app to buy with some of his Christmas money. He chose toca lab and sat and played it most of the day. During the evening he organised his apps on his tablet into different catergories: fighting games, toca games, building and block games, round games.
Bean played the escapists again in the afternoon for a while. But mostly he wanted to be left alone today.
Yesterday we celebrated Plum's fifth birthday. Some of us stayed at home all day enjoying a much needed At Home Day. Plum wanted to go the the play park at Sainsbury's with daddy and Pippin, 2, went too. We had birthday lunch with presents and cake made by daddy. Plum got a ballet dress and Peppa Pig puzzle, toy horses, a cake making playdough set and some tights. She spent the morning curled up in bed eatching on her tablet after an initial board game of dinosaur races with Bean, 9, and mummy. After the trip to the park she came home and played with her playdough and horses.
Pumpkin, 7, decided on an app to buy with some of his Christmas money. He chose toca lab and sat and played it most of the day. During the evening he organised his apps on his tablet into different catergories: fighting games, toca games, building and block games, round games.
Bean played the escapists again in the afternoon for a while. But mostly he wanted to be left alone today.
Monday, 2 January 2017
Celebrating You (Plum)
Celebrating Plum, aka Anna Grace, today who turns five, FIVE!! Having not spent a full day at home since... i can't remember...over 10 days, which is unusual for us plus the busyness of Christmas and all the tiredness that that brings, we have plans to stay at home all day. It is bank holiday so daddy is here to. There will definitely be presents and birthday tea with cake (i have seen the cake daddy has made.) There is a party planned for Thursday to celebrate with friends and family.
Plum, 5, has recently moved into her own bed. She has spent the Christmas period sleeping on the boy's bedroom floor and has already mentioned that she wants to sleep in her room when she has to move out of theirs. I still have the privaledge of holding her hand and lying with her though as she falls asleep. She tends to go to bed between 9 and 10pm with Bean and wake up about 9am although she has been know to sleep until 11am on occasion.
She is incredibly social. She loves being out of the house and in large groups of people. She has friends of all ages. She enjoys playing with older girls and just recently she has taken to successfully organising small groups of friends in the game that she has devised. She equally enjoys friends of her own age and younger. She is just as happy to play with Pippin, 2, and her cousins C, 4, and H, 2. Plum particulary enjoys small world and role play/ dressing up games. She plays through family scenerios a lot in these games, most of them revolving around a 'mummy's and daddy's' theme. Her favourite things to encorporate in her play (other than other people) are dollies and soft toys with accompanying equipment, polly pocket, doll's house, kitchen set and she is loving her new collection of My Little Ponies. Plum also likes crafting and making. She loves painting and sticking and junk modelling and especially play dough and face painting. She is a natural goal setter. She is able to tell you what she is trying to achieve and then will set about working on it until it is accomplished. She is a natural gymnast and enjoys tumbling and is currently trying to perfect a head stand.
She has definite preverances in what she wears. She loves dresses and most things pink or sparkly but she also loves to wear items with pictures of her favourite things on, Hello Kitty or My Little Pony. She likes to "decorate" herself too. She likes to wear nail polish and braclets and necklaces. Sometimes she will ask for hair clips too.
Plum likes watching Youtube. She enjoys watching toy reviews and often asks for things she has seen on there. Her favourite though is Family Fun Pack. She also enjoys playing cbeebies games and dressing up and make up game son Friv. Her favourite thing to watch is the cbeebies pantos and ballets.
She is a very busy little one. Most of the things she does happen all at once with a board game thrown in too. There are often several moments a day when she requires everything to happen simultaneously before she settles on one game or activity. However she also knows when she needs to rest. She likes to curl up cosy somewhere, on a bed or make a den or cuddle on the sofa or watch a dvd. She knows her own mind and how to articulate what she wants but is also able to show huge consideration for others and suggest plans and ideas that will suit everyone. One of her most used phrases is "why don't we...." as she proposes what we can do so everyone is happy with the outcome. She also likes to say "why don't you....whilst i...." as she organises everyone.
Five years seems to have gone incredibly quickly and also marks the beginning of our HE journey and meeting the first of our HE friends.
Plum, 5, has recently moved into her own bed. She has spent the Christmas period sleeping on the boy's bedroom floor and has already mentioned that she wants to sleep in her room when she has to move out of theirs. I still have the privaledge of holding her hand and lying with her though as she falls asleep. She tends to go to bed between 9 and 10pm with Bean and wake up about 9am although she has been know to sleep until 11am on occasion.
She is incredibly social. She loves being out of the house and in large groups of people. She has friends of all ages. She enjoys playing with older girls and just recently she has taken to successfully organising small groups of friends in the game that she has devised. She equally enjoys friends of her own age and younger. She is just as happy to play with Pippin, 2, and her cousins C, 4, and H, 2. Plum particulary enjoys small world and role play/ dressing up games. She plays through family scenerios a lot in these games, most of them revolving around a 'mummy's and daddy's' theme. Her favourite things to encorporate in her play (other than other people) are dollies and soft toys with accompanying equipment, polly pocket, doll's house, kitchen set and she is loving her new collection of My Little Ponies. Plum also likes crafting and making. She loves painting and sticking and junk modelling and especially play dough and face painting. She is a natural goal setter. She is able to tell you what she is trying to achieve and then will set about working on it until it is accomplished. She is a natural gymnast and enjoys tumbling and is currently trying to perfect a head stand.
She has definite preverances in what she wears. She loves dresses and most things pink or sparkly but she also loves to wear items with pictures of her favourite things on, Hello Kitty or My Little Pony. She likes to "decorate" herself too. She likes to wear nail polish and braclets and necklaces. Sometimes she will ask for hair clips too.
Plum likes watching Youtube. She enjoys watching toy reviews and often asks for things she has seen on there. Her favourite though is Family Fun Pack. She also enjoys playing cbeebies games and dressing up and make up game son Friv. Her favourite thing to watch is the cbeebies pantos and ballets.
She is a very busy little one. Most of the things she does happen all at once with a board game thrown in too. There are often several moments a day when she requires everything to happen simultaneously before she settles on one game or activity. However she also knows when she needs to rest. She likes to curl up cosy somewhere, on a bed or make a den or cuddle on the sofa or watch a dvd. She knows her own mind and how to articulate what she wants but is also able to show huge consideration for others and suggest plans and ideas that will suit everyone. One of her most used phrases is "why don't we...." as she proposes what we can do so everyone is happy with the outcome. She also likes to say "why don't you....whilst i...." as she organises everyone.
Five years seems to have gone incredibly quickly and also marks the beginning of our HE journey and meeting the first of our HE friends.
Wednesday, 28 December 2016
Fun and games
Unschooling changes everything, including celebrations. It encourages you to question everything. What does it matter if we eat all the advent chocolate on one day and go and buy another one (or two or three, as i remember for Plum last year)? What does it matter if someone opens a present early? Ehat does it matter if they don't sit at the table for a fullthree or four course meal and finish their plate full and eat all their vegetables? What does it matter if they open their presents all at one/ get engrossed playing with one and don't open the remainder/ play o ly with the boxes and wrapping?
Christmas Eve and the children posted the neighbours Christmas cards and put presents under the tree, they decorated a cardboard box each with christmas wrapping paper, drawings and sparkly bits and they took their bikes to the play park with daddy whilst Pippin, 2, slept and mummy began Christmas Day food prep.
Christmas Day and we had to wake Pumpkin, 7, and Plum, 4, by preagreement as they wanted to open some presents before going to church. After church we opened the rest of the presents and had Christmas lunch together. And then came the afternoon playing with new stuff, watching new dvds, daddy setting up the boys' new computer. Plum is stillsleeping on the boys' bedroom floor.
Boxing Day mummy's family came to our house. We exchanged presents, ate turkey curry, went to the green to kick a ball about, played our new games: pie face, poopyhead, tabletop pool. Mummy downloaded minecraft for Bean and we played together.
Tuesday. Daddy is on a staycation for a total of 11 days. We went to Nyman's Gardens today. It was sunny and cold and beautiful. Bean, 9, enjoyed ticking off the gingerbread charaters on the Gingerbread hunt in the rose garden. Pumpkin finally caught two Christmas Pikachu and a few other Pokemon plus Nyman's has a reasonable amount of Pokestops. Pippin received a bag for Christmas which came with a lead. She loves it. What she really likes is Plum walking her. She gives the handle to Plum and says "walk." I played 40 40 with the boys and hide and seek with Plum. Bean drew a map of the bamboo walk. Back home Pippin slept, Pumpkin played on his tablet, Plum watched ballet on cbeebies, daddy decorated gingerbread shapes with each of the smalls, mummy downloaded terraria and the escapists and played them with Bean. We watched Angry Birds in the evening and played more escapists, drew pictures, watched more ballet, read stories and slept.
Friday, 23 December 2016
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.
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.
Thursday, 22 December 2016
Comfort and Joy
An almost At Home Day. Of course Plum, 4, was desperate to go out so when daddy arrived home from work early, mummy and Plum went to town to finish the last bits of present shopping and food shopping. She also went on a walk with daddy later to see the Christmas lights around and about.
We mostly wrapped presents the rest of the day. Each child wrapped their own presents at around 45 minutes each, that was a large portion of our day (about 2 1/2 hours total). Interspersed with food, colouring, rough play with Pippin, a Mr Men dvd, lots of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wrestling, baths for Bean, Pippin, 2, and Pumpkin, 7, toca mini played by the big three, skylanders imaginators app played by Bean, 9, and Pumpkin.
It has been a very relaxed day, sometimes i wonder if we can be more relaxed, but maybe I mean peaceful.
We mostly wrapped presents the rest of the day. Each child wrapped their own presents at around 45 minutes each, that was a large portion of our day (about 2 1/2 hours total). Interspersed with food, colouring, rough play with Pippin, a Mr Men dvd, lots of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wrestling, baths for Bean, Pippin, 2, and Pumpkin, 7, toca mini played by the big three, skylanders imaginators app played by Bean, 9, and Pumpkin.
It has been a very relaxed day, sometimes i wonder if we can be more relaxed, but maybe I mean peaceful.
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Joy to the World
We met church friends today and went to the church to play. We made snowflakes, i made a 3d one, and christmas tree pictures. The children made a den under the tables and played doctors and nurses together, they put bean bags on the top and sat up there pretending they were beds. The three boys, Bean, 9, Pumpkin, 7, and R, 7, dressed up and played a game that they have played before which seemed to involve catching each other and freezing for 10 seconds. We all played Uno together and the three girls, Plum, 4, Pippin, 2, and T, 8, played horses together. They ended together with a game of hide the ribbon. We had lunch there and the children were sad to have to leave but Pippin was becoming tired so we headed home so that she could sleep.
Back home was very active for the remainder of the day, wrestling, harry potter magic game, hiding, running, chasing, hopping, bouncing. We settled in the evening with a SpongeBob dvd, stories with Pippin and Bean (seperately) and more Miranda with Pumpkin.
Back home was very active for the remainder of the day, wrestling, harry potter magic game, hiding, running, chasing, hopping, bouncing. We settled in the evening with a SpongeBob dvd, stories with Pippin and Bean (seperately) and more Miranda with Pumpkin.
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