What have we been doing..?

With the change in seasons we've been a bit out of sorts. However, slowly we are getting back into a rhythm, and these are some of the things we've been doing...

Dd has been learning to crochet:


Ds2 has been reading up about design for computer games:

We've downloaded the free 3D computer graphics software Art of Illusion and ds2's been getting to grips with it. It might as well be Japanese to me - I just make approving noises with the occasional interested-parent comment, like: 'What does that bit do?'

We've also downloaded the trials for various Sony video/music editing packages here . today the kids have been testing out Sony's Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum, which looks on face value a little like Windows Movie Maker, but with a million more whistles and bells.

Ds1 has been reading about survival techniques and has created his own survival kit (everything but the kitchen sink stuffed into a rucksack I think). He's also been reading about guns. And more guns. And weapons in general. And been watching the series 'Weaponology' that I recorded which shows techniques that snipers use,and real footage of war time shooting (nice). This child-led learning is fabulous, but there are times when I wonder if there is such a thing as encouraging the wrong hobby?

We've been to a fireworks party:

and the boys have attended their yearly Capoeira Batizado

"Batizado literally means "baptism"; besides being an initiation rite for new students it is also a graduation ceremony for advanced students and a great capoeira community celebration with masters from near and far are invited and the fraternity of capoeira is measurably strengthened by the camaraderie and interplay."

For more info see here

And today I took the bears off to the woods to let off some of that grizzly energy:

The low rope swing over a muddy ditch was particularly popular:

(This is what wellies and leggings were made for)

and there's always time to poke in the sand:

January Catch Up

I've been so focused on the snow that I haven't really posted about anything else for several weeks. So this is a bit of a catch-up of non-snow-related activities.

Ds2 has been working on three cub badges: 'Home Help', 'Martial Arts' and 'Scientist'. For part of his Scientist badge we made a magnet out of a cork and a magnetised needle. I think the cork was rather large, but it still worked. We tried another with a smaller slice of cork too. Both pointed the same direction as a compass, so methinks that was a success.

Next we have a telescope to make. Watch this space.



The 'Home Help' badge has been rather a shock to ds2. Making his own bed and keeping his room tidy for A WHOLE WEEK! Just clearing his room (which he shares with ds1) was a whole morning's work! Washing up, emptying the dishwasher and sewing on a badge, all rather a challenge. Hopefully the effect will last longer than a week.



Ds2 has also been working on a film presentation about Capoeira for his Martial Arts badge. I'll try and post it up here if I can. I introduced ds2 to the programme 'Windows Movie Maker' and he hasn't looked back. Ds1 has also started using it, putting together some of his photos to music.



I gave ds1 and ds2 building sets for Christmas. Here is ds2 working on his:




It's a good test of his temperament when parts of the building fall apart :)



At the weekend we did the 'tourist' thing with my sister and visited the museums in town. Ds1 didn't want to come with us, but dd and ds2 were willing enough. Here is dd doing a museum 'trail', filling in numbers on her sheet. oooh my 6 year old doing writing! (One has to grasp on to these moments).





And here is ds2 playing with the hands-on technology in the newly revamped museum:





The museum is so much more child-friendly since it's renovations. I've already checked out the family-friendly workshops and I think we will be visiting more frequently. The Ancient Greece gallery might be handy as we are doing some work on Ancient Greece at the moment.

(Don't look now but there's a naked man behind you! )

We visited the SteamPunk Exhibition again, in another museum:



And made the most of the sunshine:

Today we visited friends and explored the woods. A few bumps and scrapes and some tired children at the end of the day, but it was wonderful to get out in the fresh air with some good company. I feel like we've been shut away since before Christmas and I'd forgotten how good it is to get together with others and get muddy!

On the way to the woods we saw a buzzard, cooly perched on a fence post. I think it's the closest I've ever seen one. It confirmed that the large bird we saw a few weeks ago was also a buzzard; it's a similar size to a Red Kite, but without the forked tail. Whoo, I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about.

Dd's moth 'pet':

She has a thing about pets at the moment. We have a pet lemon in the bathroom (yes, a real lemon) and a pet coconut in the fridge and for a while we had a pet snowball called 'puppy' in the garden. We do still have some pet icicles and pet snowballs in the freezer.

Dd on the rope swing ("If I was a bat sat on here then I'd be the wrong way up")

Catch up - halloween, fireworks, capoeira, and other stuff!

Ok, ok, so I haven't blogged for AGES (smacked hand, naughty naughty).

Which means

ta ta ta da da da daa daaaaah...

I'm due one of those mammoth catch up posts. I posted the photos a few days ago, but didn't get around to writing the blurb. So, here goes:

HALLOWEEN

(Me, looking gorgeous):

FIREWORKS

(Cub fireworks night)

Too noisy!

CAPOEIRA BATIZADO

An annual event when ds1 and ds2 play Capoeira with Brazilian masters to earn their next belt.

THINGS WE MADE

Dd sewing felt teddy bears:

Dd helping me make candles with our freebie candle-making set from the Swap Shop:

(Guess what eveyone's getting for Christmas this year?)

Ds2 finally finished his James Watt steam engine. If you look closely you'll see that it's held together with double sided tape and pins and a few (non-religious) prayers.

Now we just have the Viking settlement and medieval town to start (remind me not to buy any more of these cut out cardboard kits in future...arghhh!)

Dd1 has been making loads of films on his camera and creating all sorts of interesting items for his warhammer scenery (most of which are part assembled on my conservatory table...). He doesn't really play warhammer, but likes making the scenery.

And ds2 showing off his natural ability with technology again, while his mother disappears down the other end of the hall and feigns complete ignorance...well actually I didn't need to feign it :)

Plastic ducks, real reindeer and other pre-Christmas oddities

Well we seem to have had a manic few weeks! Somehow we got caught up in that end of term/pre-Christmas frenzy (how did that happen?) and it's been busy pretty much every day.

Any spare moments have been filled with exciting activities like wrapping up the hundreds of small donated items for dd1's preschool Christmas lucky dip. Being someone who quite likes wrapping up presents I thought this wouldn't be too much of a chore, but let me tell you, the novelty does wear off after a while...

The kids had volunteered to run several stalls at dd1's Preschool Christmas 'thing'. I'm not sure what to call it because it's a sort of nativity 'thing', crossed with end of term party, crossed with some fundraising activities and er anything else that happens. The nativity is always nicely chaotic and there is no attempt from staff to make it anything other than that (having been to some fairly regimented performances at other places, it's rather refreshing). Kids wander on and off, occasionally remembering what they are meant to do, and then they sing one or two songs , and then we all rush to the table to get party food.

Once when ds2 was in the preschool Christmas play, they put on 'The Gruffalo'. The role of Gruffalo was so popular that they ended up with about 5 Gruffalos. Unflustered, the staff and children ploughed through this unique adaptation of the book, with random animals appearing and an awful lot of Gruffalos traipsing their warty noses across the 'stage'. Yeah, we loved it!

Anyway, this year ds1 was put in charge of the 'hook a duck' stall and we made the - perhaps questionable - decision that you can't really have a 'hook a duck' in a pool without water. So, poor kid was left to supervise small toddlers intent on drowning themselves in the 2 inches of water we put in it. I suppose I believe those warnings that a toddler can drown in 2 inches of water, but would it have made a difference if we'd only put just a little bit less than 2 inches of water in it instead? This is why I never get anything done, because I am constantly puzzling over inane things like this.

Thinking about it, if this had been a preschool attached to a school we'd probably have had to do a risk assessment on the 'hook-a-duck' (those hooks on the ends of the sticks - the danger! Shock horror!) Even the lucky dip items (ds2 was in charge of this stall) would have had to have been certified choke-free and nut-free and toxin-free. Maybe I wouldn't have had to wrap them though...sellotape would no doubt be considered to be a choking hazard.

Anyway...ds1 did a grand job.

'Don't move - or they'll all drown!' I bellowed at frequent intervals across the craft stall from the adult lucky dip where I was posted. Hmm...well...they already know we're a bit nutty. 'Home Education? You must be mad!'

Ah and we also made the mistake of buying those blow-out party squeaky things as consolation prizes for the hook-a-duck stall. Ho hum, that went down well during the nativity [squeak!!!] and I'm sure lots of parents [squeak!] were loving me as they drove their kids back home [squeak!]. Actually if I'm honest, I have to confess that the inconvenience of the noise did cross my mind when I was buying the things. And then I promptly thought about something else. Perhaps I'm just naturally evil ha ha ha.

So I think we can conclude that it's just as well dd1 has left preschool. It's ok everyone, you can send your children to that preschool now!(the mad family has left). I'm sure we will have left a lasting impression...

Dd1 in party mood [squeak!]

So, what else have we been up to? Well we went to some Christmas festivities as you can see below. Fake snow, Father Christmas, and other festive things.

A Winter Wonderland!

Ok, guys, just humour your mother and stand still while I take a photo...

What do you mean you're shivering??!

dh tells santa what he'd really like for Christmas...

(don't think I have enough wrapping paper for that one...)

Dd1 is always ready to pose

Oh, and here she is again! (Yes that's a real reindeer).

And the kids got to practice their circus skills...

We also visited relatives for a weekend to drop off presents...

Has anyone seen dd1?

I forgot, also, to mention that the boys did their yearly Capoeira Batizado and got their belts back in Novemeber. The Batizado is when the students of Capeoira play against a master (some from Brazil/South Africa) to earn their belt. Ds2 got his first belt and ds1 his 4th. Doing that sort of thing in front of an audience..well all I can say is that the kids are much braver than me. I did try to load up videos of the day, but couldn't get them to load up. Maybe they were too long? Anyway have uploaded another video instead. This is what the kids are aiming for {g}.Think they'd better get practicing!

Happy talk, keep talking happy talk, talk about things we like to do...

(I'm thinking the Captain Sensible version which if you're as ancient as me you'll know what I'm talking about...)

I've been spending the past few days adding various bits and pieces to the blog layout, including a visitor counter and some home education web ring links. I'm yet to hear whether I'm accepted into the rings and not entirely sure what their criteria are. Are the ramblings of a slightly demented home educating mother worthy enough I wonder? I guess I'll find out sometime soon. I'm not entirely satisfied with the layout, but not being knowledgeable about html code and not having the time or inclination to learn, I'm limited by the basic framework provided by blogger.com.

After ds1 has been to his Capoeira* class tonight the boys are being taken to a science talk on Science and Music. It's advertised as being aimed at age 11+ I think, but having 2 scientists (well, one practising scientist and one ex-scientist) as parents, the boys are probably quite advanced in science compared with their primary school peers. Anyway, as dh is taking them I don't really care whether they'll be bored or not as for once it wont be me having to put up with their fidgeting . At least they'll be out the house and I wont have to cook a proper tea tonight. If I ever get to be rich the first thing I'm going to do is hire myself a cook. Oh the luxury of not having to think about what to cook, buy the food, cook the food, negotiate the eating of it with 3 fussy eaters and clear up after the food!

Dd1 is currently emptying out her money boxes on my bed (oh joy!) and talk talk talking. If there was ever a good reason to send a child to school it is probably to stop a parent going mad from the constant talking that small children do. I know it is all very educational and very important for their language development (and of course educated middle class parents aren't meant to say these sorts of things),but oh for a bit of peace some time! When books mention mothers' abilities to multi-task they forget the most important example of multi-tasking - the ability to concentrate on or do anything while small children witter inanely 2 inches from your ankles ALL DAY.

And of course there is the 'look at me' phase. For those who don't have children I can best explain this as follows: at a certain age young children develop the concept that they are the centre of the known universe. Therefore in their mind everything they do has universal importance and must be viewed and commented on (usually with overenthusiastic praise) by any adult in the viccinity. If the required adult is not paying the child their full and total attention person the child has a foolproof way of attracting this attention. The phrase they use to get this attention is 'Look at me'. While this might sound innocuous at first listening, or even on first repetition, it has a stealth approach. After any adult has heard 'Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Loook at me! Look at me! Look at ME! Look at ME! Look at ME! LOOK at ME! LOOK at ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT MEEEEEE! ' over a hundred times, they will have no choice but to acknowledge whatever event the child wishes them to notice.




<-- Look at me!!!











'What a lovely drawing/model/mess, aren't you clever?' followed by intermittent approving sounds 'mmm' or 'oh yes mmm' is normally suffice to satisfy even the most egocentric toddler. BUT...The adult has to be careful to slightly alter these textbook phrases during the day, otherwise the authenticity of the adult's response will be questioned by the child. This will elicit this type of retort, 'But Mummy, you're NOT looking' , and in my experience is usually followed by a long piercing wail that can only be appeased by giving the child some item that the adult wouldn't normally allow the child to have. If this was a war of two opposing armies the adult army would be guaranteed to hold up the white flag every single time.

Call me crazy, but I've developed a theory about why parents are not very good at listening to their teenagers. My theory is that these parents have spent so many years filtering out the natter natter natter stream of mostly irrelevant talk that children produce, that by the time their child reaches his teen years and actually has something relevant and interesting to say, then the parent no longer has the ability to listen to them. I'm not sure what the excuse is for teenagers who don't listen to their parents, but I'm guessing that will have to be a completely different and very silly theory too.

Anyway, now my brain hurts and my mattress is covered in coins.


*Capoeira (IPA: [ka.pu.ˈej.ɾɐ]) is an Afro-Brazilian blend of martial art, game, and dance created by enslaved Africans in Brazil during the 16th Century.[1] Participants form a roda (circle) and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The game is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Throughout the game, a player must avoid a sweep, trip, kick, or head butt that may knock him or her on the floor. Less frequently-used techniques include elbow-strikes, slaps, punches, and body-throws. Capoeira has evolved from one main form, now referred to as capoeira angola, into two other forms known as capoeira regional, and the ever-evolving capoeira contemporânea.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoeira which also has lots of information about the history of Capoeira and even some links to videos of the various Capoeira movements.


[by the way, the little picture of the man up there is meant to move - it's a flash animation of one of the Capoeira moves, but no matter what I do, it isn't doing what it's supposed to. Ah if only I was a bit more IT literate]


There's some videos of Capoeira on the internet, this being a good example: http://www.abolicao.co.uk/video/promo2005 (takes a while to load, so be patient), which shows just how fast paced it can be!

Ds1 has been doing Capoeira for over 3 years now (he has been to 3 Batizados - see Wiki for explanation) and has received 3 belts. Ds2 started Capoeira more recently and is in his first year, but has done really well.

Ds1 receiving his Capoeira belt at the 2007 Batizado