Friday 23 March 2012

This is not a commercial for home education

But if you like what you see...   :)


Contrary to rumours I have not spent the past three weeks taking trips to the sauna and getting my nails done while reading copies of Hello. Actually we've been doing stuff. And to prove it, this is a taster of what we've been doing.



worm anatomy
Gardening (in pink slippers)

dd writes seed labels for the first time (handy that we are growing leeks and not pelargoniums)
Digging up the decomposed baby birds buried by ds1 under the lawn last autumn

Bird-brain! (and other bones) Currently exhibiting in a tupperware tub in my kitchen.
dd has a sudden and very rare urge to do a project. It takes about 5 minutes. Then she goes off the idea. Baby steps.

A teen's gotta do what a teen's gotta do (when he needs headspace)
Making a 'worm farm' part 1


Making a 'worm farm' part 2

A visit to Butser Ancient Farm Museum

Roman Villa at Butser Farm

Inside a roundhouse at Butser Farm

You get the gist...
Ye olde thatching stolen by ye younge girle


Apparently ancient people liked animal skulls. Well, I know at least one teen who would have fitted in nicely.
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair 2012
Tech boy finds joy in a gadget or two at The Big Bang


Ds2 makes Lilly of the Valley cake decorations. Which goes to prove that you should never make assumptions about what you think a boy might enjoy doing. Boys are built for surprise.

Our Egyptian model of the Nile grows. (By the look of that river, I think they should instigate a hosepipe ban)

Making miniature Easter-themed gardens

Ds2 tries to teach his sister chess. She went off the idea in about the timespan it took me to take the photo.
Ds2 decides to make a radio transmitter with my kitchen radio and the 20,00000 billion googleplex-in-one electronics kit that has been lurking in the depths of his bedroom for a millenium. Yes it was worth putting up with the deafening screeching and white noise for the Home Ed Mother Satisfaction of a bargain-buy finally being put to good use.

Visit to local museum to see the dinosaur and the horsetail. (Not disimilar to my allotment last summer.)

But guys, we could look at Google Earth at home you know. Guys..? Isn't anyone going to look round the museum with me? You could come and dress up in a silly hat...

Go on...humour me...It'll look good on the blog...Gottcha!
Making a bird feeder for bluetits. Remarkably good at attracting every overweight feral pigeon for miles around.

Trying to think laterally about improving the spelling of a certain child. We go tactile with plasticine...

...and water powered with words.
Movie making. No. I have no idea what it was about, either.
Gambling on roulette. It lasted fractionally longer than the chess game before all hell broke loose.

Recreating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Ancient History project). You might just recognise this structure from our water cycle project many moons ago! There's such a warm fuzzy smugness about finding a second use for a resource.

Owl pellet found in field while out with friends. Yet to be dissected.


A trip to the Botanic Gardens. Inspired, we decide to buy ginger root and grow it at home. Currently growing very well among the apples in my veg basket.

Sketching at the botanic gardens. Not plants, of course. That would be far too logical. Instead they draw furniture (?!)

Getting my slaves to do the dirty work (making eggy bread)

6 comments:

Lisa Gwinnell said...

Lovely post! I really enjoyed that! You have been busy! Never a dull moment HEing ;) x

Raggy Rat said...

awwww, sigh ... so sad to be leaving HE against my will, a court order. the not-fun stars after easter ... maybe, in the future again? lovely post. HE demands humour xxx

Carol said...

Hey we went to the Big Bang Fair too! Shame we didn't bump into you.....not as crazy as it sounds as we did bump into someone who used to live opposite us in Oxfordshire!

Sam particularly enjoyed the fair - he managed to win an ipad by building a bridge out of k'nex!!!! A competition made for him in heaven!

MadameSmokinGun said...

That's enough for a couple of months innit? Time for a lie down...

Ross Mountney said...

How brilliant is this and what inspiration to all the families who are following in your footsteps. It's so great to 'see' it all happening. When we started we weren't even linked up to the web let alone able to blog with beautiful pictures. Keep going, but make sure you look after yourself in between times. x

Carolyn said...

Fab post. As always a delight to read. I've been flailing in a sea of uselessness these last few months, but seeing this makes me remember what Home Ed used to be like here!! Darn school getting in the way last year nearly killed off MY creativity let alone theirs!!! Want to come and see you guys soon!!!Drop me a line xx