what we’re enjoying this week 10

We’ve enjoyed lots of outdoors again this week. I’m finding the weather forecast on my phone to be rather more pessimistic than the reality, so ignoring it more. And the kids have put signs on the inside of our front door reminding me to ‘take the camera’ so that’s helped!

One of my favourite moments this week, was going swimming with the big two on Monday night. Matt stayed home to put Rafi to bed and bake with Joseph. We had been in nearly all day, I felt wrecked and needed to get out…and I made the right decision! I love swimming with them; they are so full of life and it’s wonderful to watch their confidence grow. There were some great big belly laughs as they played together and took turns swimming under my legs. Starbucks is on the way home, so we called in for a hot chocolate (in their pyjamas!)

It a salted caramel hot chocolate….skinny but with cream (it makes sense to me!). I’ll be fighting Matt for the swimming option from now on!

The kids had two big full days at the Zoo this week. One with Matt and visiting grandparents, which left me and Rafael having a blissfully quiet few hours. Rafi is waking in the night for feeds again, leaving me a little more tired….OK, a lot more tired. I had a lovely doze on the sofa and did lots of reading with tea and biscuits.

The next day, I took them back to the Zoo again. It’s such a great place and we’ve got membership now, so can go as often as we like. We will get our money’s worth I can tell you! It’s a lovely spacious place with farm animals too, and lots of nice play areas. They enjoyed some of the world’s greatest toys on Thursday….

Water…

 and hay….

Here’s a taster…

(Not a real cow!)

Trampolines are great aren’t they? The previous day, Grandma counted Keziah do 800 jumps!

Anyone want to feed the Meerkats?

Sorry, I wasn’t brave enough!

We’ve found an incredible hollow tree trunk to play in nearby….providing lots of climbing and crawling opportunity. Great fun to be had…

Yes, yes…you are the King of the Castle….

No, I can’t get you down…

Enjoy the power…

And these arrived….

So we’ve been doing some of this…

(I know, we wear pyjamas a lot!)

I hope you’ve had a good week too, and if it applies, have a fun and restful half term….We will be steering clear of the crowds and hopefully cracking on doing something with that new stationary…

Oh…and Rafi has found his feet 🙂

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what we’re enjoying this week 9

When I think about what the kids have really enjoyed this week, for the elder two, it is this…

A massive pile of coloured card that arrived last weekend. Delighted! We are going through a lot of stationary, but they do so love making. My picture of idyllic is using watercolours and natural crayons, but what do they love? Card, felt tips, glue, stickytape! I collect the leftovers, the cut offs and put them in a separate basket to be used up, but it’s never an easy task to encourage them to use it. They always want a fresh piece don’t they? 

Yesterday was a lovely day. The elder two played so amazingly all day. It started with their idea to recreate the sports day from school last summer…they set to making themselves and other significant people out of the coloured card and this hive of craft activity was interspersed with role play and using toys for other props. They crafted and played to their hearts content for about 6 hours! Even lunch…which I provided on stools at the breakfast bar so we didn’t have to clear the table of crafting….was eaten while talking to the card people, reassuring them of their soon return. The game continued upstairs and they would occasionally reappear in a different outfit to make some more or put music on and dance with their card children. It only ended because they heard the sound of Chipmunks on the iPad…it was film afternoon.

After the film, they played some more…

I spent most of the morning playing with Joseph. Rafael had a massive sleep which helped. Joseph is really getting into his role play and he loves me to join in. There’s usually a parent and baby theme. Often he is the parent and I’m the baby…I love ‘nap time’ but that ‘cock-a-doodle-do’ comes too soon! We also made some chocolate fairy cakes which were dreadful and burnt on top…but can always be rectified with some icing…

I’ve written out the fairy cake ingredients very simply in the hope of teaching them to be able to do it themselves. But weighing might be tricky. Even Joseph could remember ‘125’ grams but we have digital scales and the younger ones would struggle to know if they’ve put too much or too little in. So that will need a bit of help. Joseph was admiring a picture of some old weighing scales in a recipe book….’I want one of those!’ I’m sure they would be fab to use or play around with so I may do some eBay-ing. The recipe book I’m referring to was actually one he had chosen for his bedtime story. Picture me if you will, sitting snuggled up with him in bed…

’50grams of self raising flour, 50 grams of raisins, a grated carrot….’ ‘yes, yes, and what else?’, he asks, face alight with imagining the culinary wonders before us…what a little gem he is.

I’ve noticed the kids make lots of patterns in their play, using toys or other props around the house…

And Joseph is still especially fascinated with pyramid shapes. Here’s how I found him the other day…

We had a lovely Sunday afternoon last weekend. Matt and I set the kids up watching a film (a gift to ourselves) while we chatted, read the newspapers….and I may have had a little doze on the sofa….;-) Then I got some crafting things out on the rug in front of the fire for them to make when the film finished. Matt’s letter cutting led to a lesson in symmetry with a mirror! Keziah made some pictures and I knitted. It was bliss! I think Joseph was snapping happy with my camera which I allowed for the sake of a knitting opportunity. I have lots of photos that need deleting now!

Home educating has helped us use opportunities to teach the kids and spend time answering their questions more. When they were at school, I found it easy to defer those learning opportunities, but now there’s no excuse! Given a nudge, Matt is a great teacher and I enjoy watching the kids learn from him. We have very different intelligences and are a really good team. Someone in our local home ed network posted an email with a ‘code breaking’ exercise….I think her husband is a maths/physics professor and so they are a family with lots of interest and enjoyment in code breaking. I showed the message to Matt and saw him light up a little and get excited….I, on the other hand, started to feel very tired and fidgety! I enjoyed maths at school and was good at rote learning…once you teach me how to solve an equation, I will happily do more…but I’m not someone who thinks mathematically or enjoys working out solutions. Give me a recipe to follow, a craft idea to copy, a pattern to knit, a dance routine to learn; happy, but I will struggle to create my own. Matt is also amazing at building and constructing…my only memory of design/technology class at school was of being reprimanded for tap dancing in the workshop! But give me a story to read to the children, a grammar exercise, a sick child who needs nursing, a blog to write, a homeless and hungry wanderer, someone greiving who needs a listening ear…and I’m in my element. So we are a good team.

We enjoyed some more outdoors this week…

 

 

 Thanks for following us…

 

Enjoy your week…

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what we’re enjoying this week 8

A very late post, due to problems with my App…now sorted thanks to brilliant husband. So later than usual…

Playing….there has been lots and lots of playing.

And I’ve been dipping into this..

 It’s a book we’ve had since our first child was a baby…it’s a great book to dip in and out of and is very readable. It’s difficult to summarise as there’s so much information in it, but today’s summary can be this…..encourage your children to play, to spend lots of time outside, to go bare feet whenever possible and to have lots of pets…! I’m not sure what the author would think of my summary! I long for more time to read and research into child development. It’s a real passion. What I need, as well as living out these adventures is another life to spend reading and writing about it! 

Last week, we were indoors at home a lot and I knew we needed to spend more time outdoors this week. It’s a breath of fresh air, not only literally but within the dynamics of sibling relationships too. Everyone enjoys the adventure together! I get stuck on the sidelines a bit, with a baby at the moment, but I know it won’t be too long before he is also walking and running around and I’ve got my hands free again. I’m really enjoying using the moby wrap this time round. So much comfier than baby carriers I’ve used before, it does give me an element of ‘hands free’ – although not free to chase the kids like a bear (possibly their favourite thing EVER!) I like having him close to me a lot…

 

We’ve been to Blaise Castle Estate, Noah’s Ark Zoo farm and  Puxton Park. I finally remembered to take my camera out with us on Thursday!

 

 

I noticed that I’m always trying to get the kids to look at the animals, but they would far rather be doing this…

They don’t dislike animals, but I realised they prefer to be doing things than looking at things. Same here actually. Now, if I offered them a ride on a horse or donkey, that would be different! We are talking a lot about animals at the moment. As we search for and dream about what will be our next home, animals are definitely on the agenda. We started off hoping to have rabbits and chickens (eggs!) but even found ourselves reading up on keeping Shetland ponies, after admiring some at a local farm park. And I definitely want one of these….

The kids work well as a team when we’re out and about. They generally look out for each other, help each other and wait for each other. They make friends with others around them. They run and climb and find and dig and laugh and shout and discover. It’s good childhood stuff and I’m so happy they are feasting on it.

I’m still out jogging most mornings (5 out of 7 this week, I think) and enjoying the benefits. But, man, I am so tired in the evening. And being up early means going to bed early! A couple of evenings I’ve fallen asleep with the kids and not made it back downstairs until the next morning. One evening I said to Matt, ‘Im tired of being so sensible, I just want to stay up really late and knit for hours in front of the fire’! Yes, I laughed too when I realised what I’d said! 

We’ve enjoyed a bit more knitting this week. Keziah is really getting the hang of it. This project (a scarf for her bunny) is taking a while…it gets left on the sidelines for days or weeks even, but yesterday, she really got the hang of it and did a whole row on her own. She doesn’t have much more stamina than a row at a time but it’s early knitting days. I felt a surge of pride watching her really knit on her own, like the first days she began swimming alone. Those moments are so precious when you watch them really crack something.

Some other highlights of the week…

Monday morning had a theme of linking things together: 200 paperclips in a chain, most of the clothes in their drawers….

Some gorgeous ‘farm play’…

 

We made patterns with the letters….

Teaching my big girl to play ‘clock patience’. I remember my mum teaching me…:-)

Laughing my head off watching this…..

Not enough wind that day 🙂

Where Joseph is most likely to be found….

…made before 8am on Monday morning (with daddy)!

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what we’re enjoying this week 7

Saturday. And so, I can sit down unaccompanied, enjoy a good coffee and finally take the squashed raisin out of my shoe that’s been bugging me for two days.

We now have a seasonal nature table…

 

Does anyone know of a Jamie Oliver cookery school for preschoolers? Because that’s what we need! Still tolerating, and sometimes enjoying, the attempted baking! I welcome any ideas for how to use a large amount of mixed cinnamon and celery salt…

We have enjoyed some baking successes though. It was Zachary’s turn to enjoy baking with Mum on Monday night (with the bigger two swimming with Dad)… He wanted to make a cake using blackberries from the garden (at least my memory is that it was his idea!) so we used Tana Ramsey’s apple and banana cake recipe, subsitituting the apple and banana for pear and blackberries….and filling the middle with our homemade blackberry jam and whipped cream. Of course.

Is there a mathematical task more enjoyable than measuring ingredients for a cake??

The result was a success….

Enjoyed by all the returning swimmers….:-) Well, what better things are there to do at 8pm on a Monday night?!

The kids have been showing an interest in the Highway Code. Unpredictable, I know. So Matt downloaded pages of road signs and got a stash of paper plates and spent last Saturday making road signs with them. They are now on high alert spotting road signs whenever we are out in the car (and far too interested in the speed limit!). They loved the craft activity…

Another big hit craft activity this week was an idea I got from another blog. Permanent markers on tin foil. It works well if you stick the foil onto cardboard first. Of course, the table was protected and the pens are now hidden again! I had this ‘in the bag’ to pull out on a rainy day, and we’ve had a few of those this week. We had just been reading about Jonah and the Whale so used this story as a theme for our pictures. Then, they made some letter pictures and the elder two were very happy colouring for a long time, which meant I could go and help our little chef on his latest attempt. I can’t remember what it was but we did something uninteresting with a cauliflower instead. Here are the foil pictures anyway…

Can you spot my Jonah stuck inside the stripey fish? I highly recommend the activity, which makes a change from white paper and pens. The pens I bought are ‘Sharpies’ available on Amazon.

So far, we’ve had very little routine or structure to our days. This doesn’t bother me, I’m happy with a lot of spontaneity, but I expected some structure to come over time. I knew this would happen gradually though, rather than trying to have each day planned completely from the outset…an achievement I would find difficult. This week, I decided I wanted to start each day with some worship time with the kids. I expected this to be mostly in the form of musical worship but it did develop into reading the Bible together and praying with each other (pause for a moment to take this in, friends!) As with other activities, I’ve learned to just start doing it myself and inviting them to join me, rather than trying to enforce anything. And they have mostly just come alongside me to join in this week. It’s been a really good and joyful way to start our day and I am so pleased we managed it for 5 consecutive days (I knew I wouldn’t always feel like doing it and would need to make myself!) I enjoy sharing my faith with the kids and am content to go with the flow and let them take the lead sometimes. We have been using the children’s version of The Message, which uses contemporary language, although it’s American and I need to interpret a little. Each chapter has suggested activities too and we’ve sometimes followed these. Here is John the Baptist baptising Jesus…!

Five and six year olds really do challenge you with their questions! 

And before Matt goes to work, this week I have got my running shoes back on….! Oh, how much a little exercise makes a positive difference to both mind and body! Earlier in the week, I was struggling with feeling so ‘yucky’ most of the time. Most mums will relate to this postnatal phase! But the combination of being out of shape, having ill-fitting clothes, being covered in baby sick, baked beans and paint most of the time, not having had a haircut or highlights for about 6 months, and not wearing make-up was just getting a bit much. I said to Matt, ‘there’s only so much character building one woman can take!’ The past couple of months, I have found myself feeling so exhausted at the end of the day but hadn’t actually exercised at all…just lots of carrying, bending, crouching, sitting, standing around, lifting, wiping…and any walking only managed at just a snail pace! So it feels great to be active again! 

I’m not a natural runner. When I’m running, my body is usually trying to tell me I should be sitting in a comfy chair drinking tea! I mostly listen to music while I’m running and think about dancing which is what I’d far rather be doing. I jog a bit and walk a bit when I get tired, and walk up steep hills. It’s a bit higgledy piggledy, but it feels good when I’ve finished! And I’ve had much more energy in the days this week…..but I want to drop at about 5.30! That snuggle in bed with the kids at story time comes in handy!

Yesterday, we finally met some other families from a local Christian home education network. It was really refreshing to chat and find out a bit about how they do life and home school…curriculum, structure or not. It was just the beginnings of conversation but really positive to see other families making it work and loving life as home educating familes. 

I’ll leave you with a few other moments from the week…

One for the blog!…

I just love what kids sometimes do when they’re left to play…

Enjoy your weekend x

 

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what we’re enjoying this week 6

I enjoy looking over the photos from the week, reminding myself what we’ve been up to. Here are some memories from this week…

Matt took the big two kids swimming on Monday evening…what will be a weekly event but rotating which kids swim and which one stays at home with me. Joseph had me this week. We had bath time, with baby of course, who then happily went to bed and left Joseph and I doing what we do best together….(in pyjamas)..

‘Tummy Ache’ has to be Joseph’s all time favourite game. How that boy is passionate about food! Which brings me to this…

And this..

The attempted baking has been relentless, bless his heart. So we made a plan. Order cheap ingredients for him to use in his play kitchen corner, which he can mix to his heart’s content….herbs, spices, cheap rice, even some dried fruit and chocolate drops. Then we can put the ingredients back into jars to be used by him again the following day. A kind of ‘this is your space, this is mine’ approach to kitchen life.

‘Idiots!’ I hear you cry. Yes. It was messy. They couldn’t believe their luck and all got involved, obviously having no concept of making the ingredients last a few weeks. It just gave us another area of the house to tidy and clean up, he might as well have done it in the kitchen. Duh! So that plan’s been dismissed. However, there is hope of a new phase, a slightly less chaotic one…Toast! Doing a little woodwork in the garden with my biggest boy yesterday morning (ahem), Joseph asked me if I’d like some toast. Oh yes please; Joseph bringing us wooden food from his play kitchen is quite usual, one of his favourite things. But he came back with real toast….oh! So you can use the toaster without burning yourself or the house down then, big surprise. Great! This new gift is much encouraged by us. Cheap white bread and homemade jam (from the fruit in our garden, darling) a plenty. He’s happy, we’re happy (who doesn’t like toast and jam?) And it gave me confidence to let the boys make our scrambled eggs for lunch…really, no help required, except for the small offer of guidance to ‘keep stirring’ and ‘take the eggs off the heat just before they’re cooked’. But even Matt is familiar with this guidance, or more obsessive fuss of the cooking of scrambled eggs. I’ve noticed lately he’s actually become fearful of cooking my eggs, such is the wrath he has previously endured. Sorry. Must be more gentle in the kitchen.

The eggs were perfect! 

And Zachary has learned to put a load of washing in the machine 🙂 But I’m showing off now..

We’ve been painting with watercolours…

And some of this sort of painting…..

We’ve had this doll house for nearly 3 years, a birthday present for Keziah. It came from an eBay seller and was painted in not the most tasteful fashion, but I’ve never gotten round to doing anything with it. So, we are doing it up a bit. I was going to paint it white but we had a huge tin of yellow paint that’s never been opened. It looks quite nice. Still needs another coat or two. This is how it started…

I’ll show you the finished result when it’s done.

There’s been more woodwork this week. We (not me obviously, the royal ‘we’ that is) made a couple of desks for bedrooms, out of an old unused wardrobe. I’ve scrawled through a lot of desks on eBay, looking for those old school desks where you can lift up the lid. Have you noticed how much more people charge on eBay for something old, just by sticking the word ‘retro’ in? It was very satisfying to recycle instead.

And Zachary has enjoyed building with his new pile of soft wood. I tried to get him to make a mini house (I’m such a girl) but he had other ideas. Here he is painting his weapon….

Everyone loves this book at the moment. And it can bring a few moments of quietness while we search the pages. Time to breathe.

I love hearing my daughter read to her younger siblings. Moments of peace to cherish…

We’re settling into a fortnightly library visit routine. Two weeks seems a good amount of time to read the books enough. It’s interesting to see which chosen books get left with little notice and which get a lot of attention. This time, I chose a gardening book aimed at children (for my own use) I know nothing. Except how to make soup for the birds….an idea I pinched from someone else’s blog, which came in handy when the kids were hungry, tired and restless after watching a film. We had to wait about half an hour before tea and they just needed a little fresh air pick-me-up. They loved it!

 

The potato pots have done well. I think leaves are a good sign anyway. Thanks for the tips, Mum 🙂

The imaginary world continues. It makes me smile to stumble upon a story waiting to continue….I’m not sure what’s been happening here but it looks as if the animals are about to devour Mrs Noah!

And I’ve been enjoying myself too….it tastes so good (hardly surprising with the amount of sugar!)

We had a day out to a local ‘attraction’ this week. We enjoyed the farm animals, loads of outdoor play areas, sandpit diggers and zip wires. Well, they enjoyed it while I stood around wishing it would stop drizzling. Then someone needed the loo and I knew it had to be time to introduce the indoor play barn. A huge soft play centre. You know the drill….

You walk into a new one. The kids go wild…it’s amazing! The best place we’ve ever been. They run off screaming and yelping. You sit in an uncomfortable plastic chair with a crap cup of tea, regretting not having brought anything to read. You keep hearing your children make happy noises, reassuring you they are not buried under plastic balls or coloured mattresses. At least they’re having fun, you think, as you start to wonder if you’ve actually got tonsillitis. After an hour and a half, I could bear it no longer and thankfully they were ready to stop running, drink 3 litres of water and be bribed back into the Great Outdoors, with a packet of Starburst from the machine…just to make them more thirsty. Thank goodness we still had the train ride to enjoy (£4 for exactly 3 minutes of pleasure). 

Home time then, via a lovely little Starbucks I have found, which is usually quiet and has provided relief from the rain two Thursdays in a row (while Angel cleans our home). We take colouring books and stories and I enjoy a nice coffee. Oh ok, we’ll share some muffins too. I had a moment of hysteria in there this week; reading a story, holding baby who has just learnt to pull my hair with two hands pulling each side of it, Joseph on my knee and the big two sitting closely on each side of me. Trying to hold the book where everyone could see, read the story while having my hair pulled on both sides..ding dong ding dong. I lost the plot and thankfully laughed rather than cried. What’s funny Mum? they ask. It’s hard to describe to them. Bless you lovelies, you have no idea how demanding you are.

Thank you God for Saturdays, for Starbucks; the coffee, the background piano jazz, the anonymity. For space to write and read and be thankful for the days that we’ve had this week.

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what we’re enjoying this week 5

We finally made the pyramids, well they did. I wonder if we could use materials a little less plastic, a little more natural, more ‘soulemama’ as we’re starting to say in our house (please check out her blog at soulemama.com and be inspired!) After posting that I was going to ask my Mum what a flat pyramid shape was called, Matt kindly informed me that it’s a triangle. So that’s embarrassing then. Moving on with the week…

 Our Monday started with a pleasing carpet picnic in pyjamas. We didn’t have anywhere to be and made the most of it. There was music and dancing and cakes 🙂

 Insects are fascinating to the kids. They will stop most things in order to check out a spider or fly. At this point, I was trying to encourage them to tidy up some toys, but obviously trapping the fly and studying it, before sacrificing it to one of the cats was more interesting…of course.

 A new mop bucket arrived! So we must fill it with water. Queue Me….I wonder what will float in the water?

 My biggest boy is rarely happier than when he has tools in hand. He was inspired by watching the man fit a new phone line in for us this week and immediately set to taking apart our out-of-use (broken) TV set to inspect the inside. 

 Actually fascinating. But I couldn’t tell him what anything was.

We are planning some more resources for our little builder. I’m very aware that I can provide for and encourage activities that I myself enjoy and find easy. So that’s not building or fixing or any kind of tool-work. Matt can enjoy this with the kids when he’s at home but there are many hours in the day without him and Zachary would love more opportunity to build. Queue delivery of a pile of wood. 

Me and Zachary have enjoyed some collage work this week though. All the kids have joined in in bits, but it’s mostly been me and my biggest boy having some special crafting time. It was restful and joyful with relatively little frustration, unlike trying to draw something together. I struggle to draw things ‘realistically’ and can relate to the kids’ frustrations when they can’t get something to look how they want it. I try and encourage them that art is about expression and enjoying yourself but they are not hearing that! And there is something in learning a craft, so maybe it’s something we can learn together. I find myself buying a lot of books lately! 

We are very happy to receive ideas and inspiration for crafting and making.

Joseph went to a wonderful Steiner kindergarten before we moved and I remember they used a wet-on-wet painting technique (I think this is what it was called) to help the children to mix and enjoy colours, rather than ‘painting a picture’ which usually involves an object or person….And so quickly the kids get into ‘mine’s better than yours’ which is highly frustrating to listen to! Is it possible to completely irradicate this concept from their minds? Or is it a necessary concept to understand the world we live in? Perhaps I’m being idealistic. Visionary, I like to think.

I’ve been trying to change some of the language I use with the kids this week. The author of the the Unschooling book I’ve just read challenged me about how I talk to the kids about tidying up. I tend to use really negative phrases like ‘this mess’, and talk in a way which they learn that tidying and cleaning up is not an enjoyable thing (not helped by that flippin awful Cinderella story they love to read….she was made to do all the housework!) Matt and I were debating whether we can get the kids to tidy up or do certain jobs for some pocket money…to lighten the load for us. But I’ve always wanted them to join in with household tasks just because they are part of the family and not only for the incentive of money. But then, they don’t join in and I’m tired of my own voice trying to get them to do stuff….so the debate continues. In the meantime, I am choosing joy in the daily tasks of wiping many surfaces and picking up toys, inviting the kids to join with me, but not forcing them; because they learn through imitation…

Oh…and I’ve also just filled two large boxes with plastic toys that I don’t want to keep picking up…to be stored in the garage until further notice! In the meantime, I will encourage my children to play with wood and watercolours and knitted dolls. Ok, so they can keep the Lego too.

There comes a point where you start to hear your own voice in the children and we have definitely reached that point. It’s uncomfortable! ‘If you don’t….then I won’t….’ they say to each other. Hmmmm, sounds like me of old…..’if you don’t come back to the table, you will sit on the step’. The other day, I told my daughter I didn’t like the way she was speaking to me…..and she replied she didn’t like the way I was speaking to her. And she had a point! My children copy my behaviour and the way I speak. The greatest way to teach your children to be kind and respectful is to be kind and respectful to them. 

I’m trying to make some big mind shifts and I love this quote from the writer Maya Angelou…

‘You did what you knew to do at the time…when you knew better you did better’

As our understanding of human beings develops; how we learn, how we grow, we should allow ourselves and others the grace to change, not judging what went before us, trusting that they did what they knew to do at the time. I became a parent only 7 years ago and my understanding and approaches have changed in just that time. I am passionate for us to discover how we were truly meant to live…and how my children were truly meant to live, and with that I offer myself and those around me this same grace and understanding. 

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

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what we’re enjoying this week 4

I feel like its been a slow week…that we haven’t really ‘done’ anything. There’s been no project work, nothing that would resemble a school classroom…but then I’m not really trying to achieve that. Perhaps I just feel a little disappointed for not having anything to show off on my blog! The kids have done lots of things that kids love this week….dressing up, baking, painting and more painting (mostly of that messy kind I showed you last week !), climbing at the playground, reading stories together, dancing around to music….

Feasting on Play…….Something I have enjoyed this week is watching my daughter play. As she gradually gets more used to having loads of free time again, it really is like she is feasting on it. She can entertain herself for hours, happily making up stories with little people and props. Any toys we have sorted into groups (happyland, play mobile, Lego, doll-house dolls, plastic Disney dolls, soft dolls…I really could get carried away) don’t stay that way for long. Their play isn’t limited to keeping their stories within the boundaries of my organisation. I’m now wondering why I bother to continually tidy them into separate baskets…purely for my own pleasure obviously. Anyway, it’s really lovely to watch and listen to her. She’s still mostly oblivious to me watching her and I’ll be sad if and when she wants to play only in her room. I still remember dancing around our living room, as a young girl, pretending I was performing to a crowd…then noticing my mum watching me through the hatch into the kitchen. I didn’t feel embarrassed but its the feeling of beginning to be aware of those around you watching and enjoying you. I guess it’s the start of empathy, which is a good thing, but there’s something a bit sad about children losing their blissful state of unawareness of those around them…..they seem to lose a bit of freedom. 

The dressing up box has been rediscovered and this seems to help them all play together somehow..less fighting, perhaps because they play out different roles rather than be themself. 

There’s been a lot of baking this week…some of it supervised, some of it not so. I came downstairs yesterday after enjoying a lovely phone call with a friend to find that the boys were in the middle of baking something. Their choice of ingredients wasn’t a bad one, but there was no measuring, no greasing of baking trays and probably not enough mixing. Anyway, I indulged them and let them bake their ‘cake’…

It almost looks like chocolate brownie, doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled; it was ‘interesting’ we decided! Perhaps the currants were the defining ingredient..

I think the boys in particular would make and bake in the kitchen for most of the day. They love it! They’re always ready to help with stirring, mixing and chopping for mealtimes. It can be hard to celebrate because of so many hazards in the kitchen! But I want to encourage them in their passion for food, something I wholeheartedly share! And let’s face it, where sugar, butter and eggs are concerned, you can’t go far wrong, can you?

We even used the opportunity to do ‘repeated patterns’…. I think this officially counts as numeracy!

I’m still struggling to navigate a new city and find groups that we will all enjoy rather than be exhausted by! I’ve had some low moments this week and am missing friends. I want to really celebrate this season of living without the ties and demands of school, but also be honest with you about the reality. This week at times, I’ve wondered if I can do it….followed by thinking ‘oh heck, I’ve started writing a blog about this journey, I can’t give up already’! But I am motivated by the assumption that its got to be do-able. I believe we were created to live in family and community and that it must be do-able for everyone in our family to enjoy, grow and thrive in life outside of our culture’s created education system. It wasn’t ‘in the beginning’ after all….I’ve been enjoying reading a book about unschooling philosophy….I’d probably describe it as the far left of the spectrum on home education. But that’s probably for another post…..

Anyway, I’m just starting to connect with some others in the home ed world, as well as the church community we’re a part of, and will hopefully find a kindred spirit soon. It’s nice that loved ones are only a phone call away. But it will be nice when I can enjoy some friendships closer to home too. I need a bit of a boost of ‘refreshing people’ at the moment…a bit like a smoothie, a ‘hit’ of quick tasty energy!

Here’s a few moments from the week….

Making shapes with our food (child led learning!)…

Always a favourite….

Is it ready yet, Mum?…

And the prize for ‘hilarious moment of the week’ goes to our 3 year old who, in protest about having sweet potato for tea, put ‘The Menu’ on the time-out-step! …

And someone who we all enjoy…..he has started rolling over this week! Every new day, whether he is doing new things or seemingly just as he was yesterday, he is delighted in and enjoyed by all of us. The beauty of babies! He does lighten our lives so much 🙂 

 

Blessings to you all and thanks for sharing my journey…

 

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Busy Bodies….Our week has been quite mix and match. A bit messy, but that was expected as we hadn’t planned our home-time. I go with the flow a lot. The flow this week led us to looking at our digestive system in a book about bodies that we own. After looking at the diagram and following the food through the system – with a little role play of course – I got the kids to draw round me on a big sheet of paper and we filled in some of my internal parts! It was nice that this all happened spontaneously, led by their genuine interest. The photo isn’t very clear but it was fun…and there’s lots more pages of the book to work through…..

Guess what the favourite job was…..

Again!….we’ve had lots of stories and books this week. We all love a good snuggle and story time on the sofa. Mostly, I read to them, sometimes they read to each other. One day this week, my daughter read 8 books in a row to her littlest brother, bless her. Their requests for the same stories over and over again demonstrate how children learn through repetition. My instinct is often to give them a variety, but I remind myself that reading one book several times as requested is good for their growing minds. We joined our local library and the kids were all SO excited by this I felt quite bad for not having taken them for so long (but when I accumulated a £26 fine a few years ago, I gave up on the whole thing!). Start again. 

Their chosen books were a mixture of fiction stories and factual books about things they’re interested in…Egypt and Pirates at the moment. So hopefully they will lead us nicely into some light topic work. They jointly built a ‘pyramid’ out of duplo together this week – their idea – which was a gorgeous moment of sibling team work…. Their finished work was wonderful but not actually a pyramid….a flat one, whatever that’s called (I’ll ask my Mum!) Do you correct them? I didn’t….didn’t want to discourage them in their proud moment. 

 We’ve also done a fair bit of letter writing this week. Moving away from family and friends has been a good prompt for this! I’ve found there’s been much enthusiasm for the idea of sending a letter, but this can turn into frustration about spelling or pictures that didn’t turn out as they hoped….and me trying to answer several requests for help at once. Breathe. 

So that’s the literacy box ticked for one week 🙂

 Painting…I’d hoped they would use the watercolour paints a bit more, but having not been exposed much to this sort of painting, they still want red to be RED and blue to be BLUE, so more often choose this sort of painting….

…which makes for a lot of mess. I’m getting used to it.

We’ve enjoyed the outdoors a lot this week and have had some really hot weather. Discovering that our garden is lined with hundreds of blackberries was a highlight, and they have given us some tasty jam for our favourite snack…

I’m loving reading up about home education. There’s loads of info online and tons of blogs out there which inspire me. I’m particularly interested in the concept of ‘unschooling’ and just wish I had a bit more time to read about it. I’d encourage you to have a google if you’re interested. There’s useful info and stories to inspire whether your children are at school or not. 

On Sunday evening, I had a lovely chat with the local education authority appointed home-ed supporter (a teacher) who really encouraged me. She was friendly, supportive and made me feel free to enjoy this time with the children and not be under pressure to learn particular things. She will visit me and has resources to help if I want them. I had half expected a bit of a ‘fight’ in choosing to home educate but have been pleasantly surprised by how supportive and helpful the council have been. Thanks!

I’ve also been welcomed into the county home-ed network and enjoyed a social gathering with them this week. It was nice to see the kids start to meet some other friends too. We are still working out what groups and activities to join and will hopefully try a couple this week. But sometimes I find less is more and busying ourselves getting to and from different places can be more stress than its worth. One of the challenges of family life with several children is meeting and balancing everyone’s needs. One child thrives on time with other people, one thrives on time alone and I’m not sure about the other two yet! For myself, I could do with meeting a couple of friends who refresh me (I miss you back in Yorkshire!), but I’m usually at my happiest when it’s just me and the kids pottering at home, enjoying each other. 

And I’m loving this chance to blog about my life, so if you’ve got this far, thanks for indulging me. 

 

 

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What we’re enjoying this week….

Kittens! Our adorable 8 week old kittens are going to their new homes this weekend. The last few weeks, they have been in prime cuteness and we love having them around….they provide comfort and entertainment for us all. I’ve taken a couple of snaps to remember them by.

The Menu!

Since moving house, we have implemented a 3 week rolling household food menu. It is transforming our family life. No lie. Less complaints, less grumbling, more eating. Because they know what’s coming. And we are saving a lot of money because I just order what we need for the week and its delivered to us. We can just pop to the local farm shop for more fruit, milk etc as required (giving the kids a chance to use money and exercise some choice in a quieter shop). We have an empty slot on a Saturday tea time where the kids eat up any leftovers from the week and we either join them or treat ourselves to a take-away/dine-in meal after they’ve gone to bed. In all honesty, we’re yet to achieve the take-away as their bedtime is going on for ages at the moment, but we’re trying for tonight!

We had a lovely afternoon playing Post Office. I was in my element making tax disks, stamps and magazines to stock up the shop! Everyone joined in, it was role play heaven.

I’ve taken up storytelling on car journeys. Previously, this would be some relatively relaxing time, except when they’re arguing, where we listened to music and I would try and be lost in my thoughts. But I’ve been inspired to tell more stories and I thought car journeys would be a good time. So all this week on the journeys to and from the holiday club they’ve been to, I have told The Marvellous Adventures of Mavis and Barney. I make it up as I go along which I find quite hard work. So I’ve been trying to plan the next chapter beforehand and if I get really stuck for ideas, I ask the kids. They love it, are engrossed in the story and attentive to any detail I may forget! So, the story so far….Mavis is a dynamic older lady with a dog called Barney and they love to go on holiday. At the moment, they’re in Spain (after forgetting their tickets and having to go back home for them) where they have had adventures with Pirates, a golden Gromit statue in the woods, eaten in the purple picnic room, and are now daily visiting Bob the thief who stole their passports. Bob has become a friend of Jesus while in prison and is sharing his new joy with Mavis! I think perhaps these adventures may go on for some years! I must record the summary of each chapter before I forget… I really am not a natural storyteller. I find it difficult to think aloud, so if I can do it, anyone can. The older two keep asking me to tell them more stories and they particularly like stories that could be about children like them. They have lots of ideas. It’s fascinating to hear how the imagined crosses over with their reality.

We have taken away (or hidden) all screens….tv and iPads. Our kids seem to default so quickly to the tv if they can’t immediately think of what to do. The constant battle with how much the tv is on drives me crazy, so I find it easier to just remove it. We’re having a weekly film afternoon and the kids have done well to wait for it this week (well, they’ve been forced to). As the week has gone on, their requests to watch something have become a lot less frequent and I have LOVED watching their creative play. The role play stories they come up with are awesome and it’s so nice for these to be uninterrupted by the tv. It does create for more mess though, but we’re good at ‘blitzing’ the house at the end of the day now.

So, onto another week, I’m looking forward to new things beginning this week and the world seeming a little quieter with schools starting again. Have a great bank holiday weekend whatever you’re doing.

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What we’re enjoying this week….

Digging up the neglected vegetable patch in our garden….not sure what we can plant at this time of year, but getting the patch ready is a start…

…and the things we find while digging….we now have a pet worm!

Painting. The kids each have a small watercolour set and a huge pad of paper and we are exploring paints a lot. I’m finding this so relaxing and want to paint my own ideas but I’m usually called upon to ‘paint a cake’ or ‘paint a bus’! The warm dry weather makes it easier to paint in the garden. It really is eden mess!

We were able to watch some hot air balloons take off this week….the kids didn’t understand why we couldn’t join the passengers, but I am happy to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground!

Headstands. My daughter in particular spends at least half her life upside down at the moment! She can hold a headstand for ages and seems to have incredible core strength (I think she gets it from me ;-))

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