Normal service is resumed and empowerment

Well this week has been calm and settled after all our visitors over the last 2 weeks and we started doing some more formal learning again on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was amazing as my daughter got really excited about our learning about the human body and after having drawn around her took time to draw on organs and bones from a diagram and spent a good hour on this alone.  

But today has by far been for me the best day this week and in terms of formal school type learning we have done zilch! This morning we played and then went to a group at our library called a knit and a natter. Neither me nor my daughter can knit and so we we're complete beginners and yet both of us have managed small squares of knitting this morning which we loved.  

The this afternoon after I collected my youngest daughter from playgroup we have all together gone and run the parent and toddler group at our local church and had great fun. The kids got to play some more and now we are all chilled out together having fun, but relaxed and tomorrow they will enjoy what we do because of it! This is why I love home ed! The freedom to learn things you would have no chance to learn in school, skills we can learn and develop together and enjoy!!!!! We also spent some time yesterday looking at the river just because we could,

And the as it was dad's birthday we came home and made a birthday cake for dad! 

Yum yum!!!

The end of half term

Well it has been a busy two weeks, with all our visitors we had had 2 weeks off any sort of semi structure as d had 2 weeks of fun and informal learning! 

On Friday we had our second book club and looked at hairy maclary and we baked dog shaped biscuits to decorate made our own figure puppets and made toy dogs out of old toilet rolls! Great fun

Today was no exception as the Hama beads came out and some beautiful pictures were created

But the biggest thing today was the big sort out of the girls play room! Old toys were cleared out and donated to charity, walls were cleaned and posters put up, wall hangers were ordered to store school supplies in and now we just need to set up the computer in there and put up a couple of shelves and then we are al ready to use the play room as a school room. This will be great as all toys will be in one place and the girls will be able to choose their activities to work on, be it creative play or role play or written work it will all be together in one place! 

Tomorrow their grandma departs for Spain and we will be sad to see her go but we are looking forward to getting back to some sort of routine :-)

Railway museum and Autumn projects

Well Sunday we went to see the collection of the 6 remaining worlds A4s including the mallard at the national rail museum in York! Well it was a great day out and a fantastic celebration of the 75 years since the mallard set the world speed record for a stream train! 

We also looked around the rest of the museum and enjoyed the Hornby miniature railway

There were also lots of activities in and we made our own vehicles and tested resistance 

We also drew picture of a view out a train window 

Also this week we have been finishing off our autumn trees and autumn pictures

Both girls created there own tree and leaf pictures

All in all we have had a very busy week and now we have a further vision of the girls nanny! So we are busy bees!

Spainish visitors

Well since my last post the girls grandma has arrived from Spain and is visiting for just over a week! She arrived on Tuesday and we have had lots of fun so far!

After my last post we were planning on going ice skating, well we did go and had a fantastic time.  The girls normally use penguin skating aids to help them balance but both of them had a go with out and were doing fantastic!

On Sunday we attended Church and both children are preparing to take their first Holy Communion which they will do on the 1st December, we had great fun and little one was playing with the story of the Good Shepherd and world communion.  

Monday we all spent the day together as little one was ill and we went to a home ed meeting where the children had a wonderful time playing.

Tuesday was and exciting day as that was when Grandma was visiting but she didn't arrive until around midnight so they were in bed!!

On Wednesday the girls went bowling with their Grandma and their Dad, then in the afternoon we all sat together getting crafty and making sock animals, a monkey and a rabbit. We also got messy with paint and did lots of handprints ready to make an autumn tree.

Thursday we all took some much needed down time and relaxed and then of Friday we were back in full force and went swimming!

Today we have been for a nature walk and have collected leaves and done some drawings and now we are working on our autumn lapbooks!!!

We also had a go at some pumpkin carving, we don't think they were too bad for first ever attempts.  

Then we spent some time working on our autumn projects and writing about our pumpkins.

So busy and we might even squeeze in a visit to the York railway museum to see the 75 year Mallard exhibition!!!!  

Illness, illness and more illness

Well I realise it has been a while since I posted last, the reason being we have all been ill.

Firstly it was the kids, then us then the kids again and the little one is still getting over a cough, so we have been a bit bogged down, but saying that we have still been busy.

We have made some lovely new home ed friends and have stared meeting more locally at least once a week and this is great for the kids as we are starting to get a rhythm and some level of routine.

My eldest has been working on projects of interest and we are currently working on a lapbook about cars as she asked "how are cars made mummy?" the beauty of home ed being I was able to take the time to answer this question and we watched videos read books and then started a lapbook called all about cars.

My youngest wanted to join in so has been making an abc lapbook which she loves as the main concept is cutting and sticking!!

Anyway photos to follow and we will be back in the swing of things and out ice skating tomorrow :-)

I am thankful for home ed

Well we are into October already and I am not quite sure where the year has for so far! It had been a year of change with making the decision to  home educate, this being something we will now do with our 2 children! 

I an really thankful that we found home education as it has made my happy little girl return and the sad grumpy little girl leave! 

This week has been a funny week with the change in weather making us all a bit grumpy but the beauty of home ed it that you can chill out and cuddle up when needed! 

So we started on Monday by doing a family history course at the local library and lookin into our past somethin the girls really enjoyed! Tuesday we met some other home ed families at a play centre and had a great time! Home ed was not effected by the teacher strikes! On Wednesday my car was due it MOT so we spent the first 3 hours of the day hiding from the rain in the towns central library, we read stories used the computer and completed lots of workbooks, then when the rain stopped we went for a walk round the town! 

Thursday was another strange day we all felt a bit ill so snuggled on the sofa in the morning and then went out to a toddler group in the afternoon when we returned we put on an audio book and cuddled on the sofa with mugs if hit coco, this has been the highlight of my week! 

And today Friday we went and to our first home ed book club, nervous as I had organised the event and was wondering what the turnout would be but it was great and we really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to the next one in November! We did the story funnybones!

Now to finish the day the girls are both at happily doing worksheets, something the only do if they choose to but they seem quite content!

Relaxed

Today has really been a lovely day although to onlookers we may seem to have had a lazy and unproductive day if you look closet you can see it has been a great day for personal development!!

This morning we started our day by cleaning up the garden and then going to our second secluded garden which is used a bit like an allotment! There we picked elderberries, blackberries and baking apples! Then we went back to the house and got ready for a trip to the park. There at the home ed meet my eldest daughter in her words made new friends- she had a fantastic time playing with a wonderful group of children! Mid afternoon we came home and the cleaned out out chinchillas, followed by writing  another poem and playing with a maths jigsaw puzzle. Now it is imaginative play with dad before dinner and a few board games, although it has been a pretty relaxed day my girls have ha dryer chanc ego learn about animal care and domestic routine as well as growing and harvesting your own food and making friends! All valuable and often under rated skills!

Show time......

Well it was our village show on Saturday and so this week has been themed around making things that can be entered into the different children's categories for the show, this has meant a really fun and crafty week and i just wanted to share some of the fun and fantastic things we had done and then after the show tomorrow hopefully I can share the results with you as well

So first my 3 year old has made a greeting card for one of the entries - Age under 16 - a greetings card

next entry is one from each of my 5 year old and my 3 year old and is a painting or collage of outer space

Then my five year entered a poem into the show and was up against entries from children aged 7 upwards and I am very proud to say she got second place for her wildlife poem

As well as this they both entered a plate of 4 cupcakes decorated, model space rockets, vegetable animals (they are meant to be a bear and elephant) and miniature gardens.  We did not win any other prizes but had a fantastic week making everything and it really added a sense of purpose to this weeks craft.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

The deep and twycross zoo

Well it has been a very busy week! 

On Monday we went to a home educators day arranged by the deep in hull, it was a lovely day out and  my 2 girls really enjoyed it and it gave them a great social opportunity with some other home ed families. They attended a workshop on seaside clean ups and we are going to make a model of the seaside to follow it up.

We loved looking at all the wonderful selection of sealife there and wizard around the centre the first time and then went for lunch in the cafe (my 2 had eaten all of their packed lunches before we even got there) and then went for a second look around before heading to our workshop and then with 2 extremely tired girls heading home! 

All the excitement on Monday meant Tuesday (and Wednesday) were very relaxing and chilled out days that were mostly spent doing leisurely activities such as reading together a couple of nature walks and some baking 

On Thursday we were on the go again and went to an organised visit to twycross zoo! Well the kids had another fantastic day and by Friday they were truly shattered! It was a quiet weekend anyway!

It is fantastic that here is such a vibrant home ed community and that people are so proactive in organising activities! We are always very grateful to the people who organise these events and thankful we live somewhere where home ed is so widely a choice of many!