The story so far

First came this:

And some of this:

Followed by a bit of this:

And this: (very pretty):

And then we got this:

Which meant lots of this:

A bit of this: (self-made snowball on Jack's collar after running down the garden)

Some chilly this: (chickens refusing to come out):

And plenty of this:

And some foolish this:

And recently some fantastic this:

And this: (largest icicle measured 68cm/27" approx)

And now I really need to go do some of this:

Small acts of kindness...

Well we're now on about our third day of icy snowy weather. Yes! Proper Snow!

Yesterday I rushed out in to the back garden so that I could be the first to tread in the pure white fluffy snow. Very childish, but I don't care. I snuck down and took some photos of the garden, and our pond which is frozen solid. I hope all the frogs will be ok.

Of course by the time Jack had snuffled around in the lovely white snow and left some little yellow puddles, it just wasn't the same.


There was a lovely little finch singing in the apple tree, despite such a freezing morning. Unfortunately you can't hear it very well because Jack wanted to join in too:

The whole of England has ground to a standstill because of the snow (what a surprise...). The radio announced yesterday that most of the local councils have already used up a year's worth of gritting salt, and are fast running out. Public transport is struggling to have any services at all, lots of roads are closed and some villages cut off. I'm sure the rest of the world must find our incompetence at dealing with a few inches of snow highly amusing.

Many of my friends, even if they can get to work, have decided not to. I think with the credit crunch the attitude is 'Oh stuff it! They'll make us redundant in a couple of months anyway!'
Even the more workaholic among them have been enjoying a few extra days off work (as one said 'It's been great - a bit like the Christmas holidays, but without all the stress').

Most of the local schools have been shut, so my bunch have been playing in the snow with the neighbourhood kids.

They made giant snowballs in the local park. And with the neighbours' kids my bunch made a big snowman on our street. We had problems finding things that would stick in well enough to be his eyes and buttons (the eyes ended up being those little skewer things that you stick corn cobs onto!). And yes, that is a tomato and two potatoes balanced on his tummy!

This morning we found him crushed into a heap. But I'm glad I've got some photos.

And here's proof that it has actually been snowing. It would have been nice if the snowman could have been more animated (some tap-dancing perhaps?), but I guess that's the disadvantage of having no legs.

Yesterday all the neighbourhood kids set to task clearing the snow from our next door neighbour's path with shovels and brooms. Our neighbour is virtually blind.

It was lovely to watch the kids as they worked together. One of them said 'If she comes out with money we mustn't take it. We're doing this because we're nice and we're her neighbours.'

Later she dropped a card through our door for the kids. It said: 'Thank you for clearing the snow and thank you whoever gave me a snow angel - I am told it was lovely'.

On a letter from her today she said 'I hope the children understood what I had written on their cards, I am very grateful, it restores my faith in the youth of the country.'

Small acts of kindness can make such a difference, can't they?

The Early Dog Gets the Bird Cake, and Feng Shui 'Ice Blocks' Shortlisted for Turner Prize

Well, as you can see from the photos we're still heading towards an ice age...

Top of this week's activities has been 'chiselling out large chucks of ice from a frozen lake and building it into ice towers/sculptures'.

I reckon the final results are good enough to go in the Tate Modern (I'm a mother, so of course I'm biased). Not surprisingly the artists had to suffer for their work - cold hands, wet feet and runny noses - and their parents had to suffer too (as personal assistants, carrying around the sodden gloves from their mini geniuses). Ah well...all in the name of art.

'Ok guys, I might need a hand with this one...'


There's something decidedly Feng Shui about this one...

though I think the bit of frozen pond weed hanging out of the bottom wedge on the right might be blocking the energy flow {g}

Ah, that's better. Just pile it in a heap.

Turner prize, here we come...

One of my new year's resolutions (the resolutions which I keep telling everyone that I haven't made, but are such an ingrained habit that I suppose I subconsciously have) is that I would try and do a few small things with the kids every day.

Ok, let's get this clear. I'm a home educator, and home educators are meant to do stuff with their kids; isn't that what it's all about? Well, yes, and - er - no. As the lesser-organised home educators among us will know, the reality is that days sometimes drift by, stuff kind of gets done (but we're not sure by whom and how - the home educating fairy perhaps?) and things seem to get learnt (by a mysterious osmotic process that often baffles me) and then we look around and find that the children are a year older and we sit back and say 'how did that happen?'.

So. The idea that something 'planned' (well planned-ish) will happen each and every day is a bit of a novelty for our family. Not that we haven't tried before... And that's what I intend doing. Again. No doubt human nature will intervene and we'll slip back into our chaotic - but mostly productive - selves. Isn't that what new year's resolutions are all about? Making wildly unrealistic promises to yourself, feeling good cos you've managed to fulfil them (briefly), and then several weeks later drifting back into whatever you were doing before you had ambitious hopes for change. Until the following year, when you go through the process all over again...

Anyway...er where was I ? Oh yes, doing one or two things with the kids every day. So, starting with good intentions...

Ds1 made a victoria sponge cake. Despite making a pig's ear of following the recipe (I was on the phone at the time, so he basically just chucked the whole lot of ingredients in the bowl and stirred it round - {g} - must be genetic!) it was a much better cake than most of the ones I've made.

And we made fat 'cakes' for the birds with veg lard and bird seed. We've had the bird seed in the cupboard for about 5 years. I'd given up feeding the birds as they never ate the food we put out, but since next door got 2 rotweillers and scared off all the cats in the neighbourhood, the birds have returned.

To bulk up the bird fat cakes I added some of dh's mixed raisins and nuts into the mix [shhh don't tell him or he'll start feeling even lower in the pecking order than he is already]. Anyway ds2 heated up the stuff and poured it into some yoghurt pots and we tied them to the apple tree (and my washing line) with string.

It's been too frrrrreeezing cold to go and examine if the birds have tried to eat any of it yet. It got the dog's 'seal of approval' though:Jack managed to get up on the table while the yoghurt pots were cooling and had a quick munch of the top layer! Could make the next few days' doggie walks interesting...

Yum! Bird fat 'cakes'

(Before the dog queued up for his tasting session)

And ds2 helped me cook pancakes for breakfast this morning. Not something I'd planned (so does it count towards my resolution?).

At that time of the morning I usually growl at anyone who comes near me in the kitchen, so it was a huge sign of my restraint and responsible parenting to put him in charge of a frying pan.

[We all know that cooking with kids is really great for them isn't it? Or so the parenting books say. Mind you, what these books don't tell you is that sharing a mixing bowl with a child has been known to cause long term damage to an adult's mental well-being]

ds2 pancake cooking (just before he burnt his finger on the pan)

Tis the season to be jolly....

Seeing as it's been ages since I posted, the assumption might be that we've been really busy and I've got loads to write about. Hmm...let me think about that...

Well there was the paper making session...

At one point it looked like the result of our dog encountering a cardboard loo roll (i.e. a sort of brown messy pulp). However, surprisingly the sheets did look good when we finished. Why have I never tried paper making with the kids before? Probably because it seemed like a pointless activity: you tear up paper into small pieces and squish them to make a sheet of paper smaller than the one you started with. Now where's the logic in that?

Of course there is a bit more activity in between, like the pulped up loo roll tube bit and the sieving and squashing bit, but I couldn't quite bring myself to start something that seemed so - well - un-life-enhancing. Am I converted? Well the results were good (if a bit inflexible once they'd dried on my radiators at home), and if I had a lot of time on my hands it would certainly help to fill it, but I have to confess that it still seems like a lot of effort for a sheet of paper.

The pulpy paper bit (with some berries and leaves thrown in). The colour came from blue and yellow envelopes that were also torn up and thrown in.

The sieving squishing bit

The finished pieces of paper left to dry out

And then there was the Christmas wreath making session today. Actually it was mostly me who made the wreaths (ds2 did make one), but I like them. It's handy having access to willow. I'm trying to find 101 uses for willow (there's alot at the sailing club). So far in our home education adventure it's been wigwams, mini-canoes, lanterns and wreaths. Was thinking today though that I could use them to support polythene cloches in the garden and on the allotment. Then I stopped thinking because it reminded me that I haven't been to the allotment for around a month and I'm feeling guilty. Not that anything much will be growing at this time of year, just that it's niggling at the back of my mind that I'm neglecting it and that come next Spring it will all be madness again and the weed police will be patrolling...

Christmas wreaths made from twisted willow. For some reason the photo has pasted itself the wrong way around (?)

The music session seems to be going ok at the local montessori school. If I ask ds1 what they do in their session he says something uninspiring like 'we make noise', to which I usually reply something threatening like 'you'd better be making more than noise for the amount of money it's costing me to send you there'. Non-coercive parenting...nice idea, haven't quite got the knack yet.

I went to an NLP workshop a few weekends ago. It was an introduction to NLP - if you want to know what NLP is then it's probably best to google it cos I'm not sure I know either! It was quite interesting as we focused on communication and how to create rapport with someone even if you didn't agree with what they were saying. We also tackled something that seemed like 'reframing' unpleasant events (well that's how me and my peers would refer to it as) so that you don't keep replaying them over and over again.

I don't think I'm quite NLP calibre yet. Personally I quite like a good argument (I'm too old and intolerant to want to strike up rapport with someone I didn't like) and as for reframing events...don't think I'm quite there yet. The woman running the course would have made a good subject for people watching, but I found her quite scary. Not in the conventional 'scary', but just because NLP can be used as a good tool for manipulating people it made me wonder how much she was manipulating all us poor workshop attendees. If she was striking up rapport with me then it obviously went straight over my head, cos she gave me the creeps...

Anyway, this is Wikipedia's definition of Rapport:

Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human interaction. It is commonality of perspective, being in "sync", being on the same "wavelength" as the person with whom you are talking.
There are a number of techniques that are supposed to be beneficial in building rapport such as: matching your body language (ie, posture, gesture, and so forth); maintaining eye contact; and matching breathing rhythm. Some of these techniques are explored in neuro-linguistic programming.
A classic if unusual example of rapport can be found in the book Uncommon Therapy by Jay Haley (ISBN 0-393-31031-0), about the psychotherapeutic intervention techniques of Milton Erickson. Erickson developed the ability to enter the world view of his patients and, from that vantage point (having established rapport), he was able to make extremely effective interventions (to help his patients overcome life problems).
Informally, rapport can also refer to a feeling of harmonious connection between people or groups of people.


I think I'm peaking a little too early for Christmas yet again. Did I do this last year? Perhaps I should check my blog. So we've put the Christmas tree up already. In fact it went up on the 1st December: I suppose I could say it was the kids who couldn't wait any longer, but actually it was me. I've done most of my Christmas shopping and most of the wrapping too (apart from the few items I'm still waiting for to arrive). I'm really getting the hang of this internet shopping lark. And did I tell you that I've bought a Wii? Can't play with it much yet as it's meant to be for Christmas (shhh don't tell the kids, they don't know!).

Bought a bike for dd1 off Ebay last week. It's purple. Ok so she wanted a pink one (with tassles and a doll seat on the back for her soft toy dogs), but I couldn't stomach going out with a fluorescent sickly pink tassly thing with Barbie printed all over it. Hopefully she'll like this one. Tough if she doesn't. I just have to buy a pink basket for it (she wants the one in the bike shop with kittens on the front) and hopefully it'll make her happy on Christmas day.

It's definitely winter! This is a sheet of ice!