And what else...

...has been happening with the children for the past few weeks (apart from all the art!)

Ds1 plays drums at Rock School for a week. (The staff praised him on his talent and were gobsmacked he'd never had any lessons - just a teeny proud mum moment :) ). Meanwhile ds2 went rollerblading in the local park, and dd went for playdates with her friends.

We go to a local festival, held at a large allotment. Dd stays at the festival with friends for the rest of the day, while we made our way home.

We pick courgettes from the garden. (Note the closeness of the yellow football. Plants in our garden have to be hardy to survive!)

Ds1 continues with his IGCSE chemistry and Geography reading

  Blackberry picking, to make crumble and wine.

Ds2 empties the counties' libraries of books about manga. Then teaches himself.

He makes a short list of equipment he needs to do animation 'old school', then goes onto the internet to do a price comparison.

 Ds2 decides he wants to make shortbread.

We move paving slabs to make a base for the new chicken coop that we're making out of a packing case that was being thrown out (our 10 hens need more space).

 And discover a huge ants' nest:

 Lots of reading - Guinness World Records, British History, The Aztecs, and a 4-inch tome called "3D Game Development"...

Lots of talk and plans for the kids' new Minecraft server:

 Thoughts on design:

We took down our posters and information about Australia and New Zealand:

 And replaced them with posters on space and art:

We started a chart of moon phases. The moon decided to hide behind cloud for the next three nights :)

The children caught flies and fed them to the garden spiders, overcoming their fear of spiders and experimenting with size and type of fly.

We walked to the park intending to pick blackberries. But came home with elderberries for wine.

 Swimming in the lake (bit chilly, but fine once we got over the initial shock!)

And catching crayfish

Ds2 took the screwdriver to the waterpistol to try to fix it.

Wine, all bottled up and fermenting happily under the piano.

Dd and I have a discussion about wine-making, fermentation, yeast, gas and the similarities with the chemistry of bread baking. So that's chemistry, biology, self-sufficiency and home economics in one 5-minute conversation.

Dd continues on her reading journey. Having finally decided she wanted to learn to read (or at least was willing to give it a go), in a matter of weeks she has gone from simple words like cat and bed to reading words like 'couldn't' and 'everyone'. She seems to have an excellent memory for sight-recognition of words, less tendency I think towards phonics deciphering. Each of my children has been different and found their own combination of what works for them. I haven't been teaching her. I just sit with her while she reads. She'll do it at her own pace when she wants to. Being, at the peak of "reading readiness" (which she, herself, has recognised) I expect there'll be no stopping her now.

Question: When is a hen not a hen?

Answer: when it turns into a cockeral.

No, it's not a joke. It's a rather serious business actually.

Two mornings ago there was a strange noise outside in the early hours. I looked out, couldn't see anything (it was dark). The noise? Well it was just odd. Like a barking, croaking, gurgling, clucking sort of noise - but actually none of those.

And then this morning I heard it again. But this time it was a barking, croaking, gurgling, clucking sort of noise with 'a-doodle-doo' added at the end.

Now, I don't know a huge amount about hens. I feed them, I clean them out, I worm them, and I run around very quickly when they turn on me (especially when chicken food falls down the inside of my welly -a very dangerous situation indeed!). But the one thing I do know is that hens don't - as a rule - make any noise that involves 'a-doodle-doo'. Are you following my drift?

So my conclusion (being the Sherlock Holmes type) is that the cute fluffy chick that we raised last year, that looks like a hen and acts like a hen (well ok, so its legs are becoming mini tree trunks and it's got a nasty temper on it) is actually not a hen at all.

NOT A HEN.

Putting it simply: Lola is actually Charlie.

But it looks like a hen. Well except today, when it is looking less and less like a hen the more I examine it. But maybe that's because I have been influenced by the vocal suggestion that it may be something other than a hen (all the time it sounded like a hen, then it also looked like a hen).

My only thought is that it's one of those breeds that when I googled it said 'it's very difficult to sex these chickens, because the first you'll know about it is that they'll either lay an egg or they'll crow."

Bummer.

So why didn't somebody tell me that it takes 6 months before a hen - I mean a cockeral - starts to crow? So, it gets to puberty and starts strutting its funky stuff going 'hey, look at the cool dude here' or something like that? In a very loud and strange -'my voice has just broken' - noise. It's all news to me.

Well, whatever. All it means is that out goes 'egg-laying potential' and in comes 'potential to mightily pee-off the neighbours'.

Don't suppose anyone want a free lunch (with feathers)?

---------------------------------------------

Ok, on to the home ed now. Yes, I know my posts are completely random. You probably click on the blog link and think 'I wonder what it'll be this time - Some political rant about home education? Some funny comment about parenting (or lack of)? Or a dull list of home ed activities with some photos of kids we've never met and have no interest in whatsoever?'

Well today ladies and gentlefolk, I'm going for option C...

Here is the news:

Spring has arrived (at last)

and with it, comes that craziness that infects all who stand in the way.

Mad teacher woman with tambourine in museum reminds home ed children exactly how patronising adults can be:

(it goes without saying that I am always very very thankful when others organise home ed workshops at other locations - but there are times when the workshops serve to remind me why I home educate)

Shocking new discovery of 'hoody' mummy - freed from it's crypt it roams the museum withh unfilled-in worksheets:

Criminal mother finds exactly how quick it is between taking a photo of the stage and the theatre police tapping her on the shoulder and telling her off (approx 2 secs after this photo):

[We saw Charlie and Lola - well worth a visit if it comes to you. Lovely for littleuns. True to the original. And no silly adults in funny costumes singing stupid songs (always a sticking point for me).

Of course I'd give it a full review if the security thugs at the theatre had let me take a few more fuzzy pictures. Pah! Who do they think I am? There's this badly dressed frump of a mother who couldn't find the hairbrush, with my crappy little digital camera and 3 fidgetty kids? Like I'm going to film the whole show (in blurry wobbles with 4 heads in front of me and small child begging for jelly beans) and put it on Youtube..? Ok. Rant over. I suppose it's a fair cop, guv. I give you the full two-fingered salute.]

Child praises miracle of mother actually finishing a knitting project:

[Do they look different lengths? Nah! I reckon it's just that one leg is longer than the other.]

[Notice the non-slip rug stuff sewn underneath? No more hall floor slides for you, my child. You have super sticky feet. Ha!]

One of the family proves that they can actually do academic work without mother threatening to send them to school ('..I'm phoning St Christophers now..what d'you mean? You're willing to do it now..?')

Small child demostrates how best to drown very tiny seeds:

(and then leave them to die from lack of water later)

Middle child demonstrates at science festival how to soak stall-holder's feet with water pump (and not apologise):

Small child makes mother freeze her wotsits off for 2 hours at science festival so small child can ask stall holder 'How big is Space?'

(I wouldn't have minded but the stall holder is her dad. )

'And how big is space?' I hear you ask

VERY.

(apparently, though I couldn't hear because my teeth were chattering too much).

Big child makes lethal additions to catapult collection (hard things to fire and targets to pretend to hit while actually aiming for squirrels):

Small child finds jelly bean on floor of theatre. Museum assistants date it to sometime in the 3rd century judging by the amount of archaic fluff attached to it:

And here endeth the news.

Classical Chickens

I wasn't allowed to watch The Muppets when I was a kid, but did a fair amount of catching up in adulthood.

If you like chickens...or even if you don't, you gotta love this.

Life and death; it's all education

Two bits of news:

The triops have died, as I predicated they would (with their ideal lifespan that just about lasts as long as the novelty of having them). Now we have to drain off the water (and dead triops) and dry the sand out. Then hopefully start up again (assuming that they've laid eggs in the sand).


And great news! We have an addition to the family! One chick has hatched.

Here it is at the beginning:

Then the day after it hatched:

And then today, just two days after hatching (I think it's gonna be a big bruiser):

There was a second chick on the way, it seemed lively but for some reason it didn't get out the shell alive.

2 of the 6 eggs were duds I think as the hen cracked and ate them a few weeks ago. No sign of anything from the remaining eggs: one of them she kicked out - completely out- of the coop a couple of days ago. I popped it back under but it was cold, possibly another dud one? So pinning our hopes on one egg really, which doesn't seem to be doing anything. Coudl be we end up with just one chick. I just hope it's not a cockeral cos with just one chick we're going to get very attached and I dont' think it'll be easy taking it for 'a walk in the woods' as planned.

Dd has had a quick lesson in life and death. She took the death of the chick extremely well really for a 6 year old girl. Though I must admit when we found the mother hen eating the dead chick today, both of us thought we'd rather not stop and look...eek. Perhaps I should have removed it, but I figured I'd leave it up to the mum to do what was needed and kick it out of the nest; didn't want to upset her into leaving the eggs. Ah well, that's what nature is all about.

Er. No title. Couldn't think of one.

Meet...

PRINCESS PAWS

(our family superhero)

She's pretty mean with a power drill

And with a bit of help from a masked marvel...

We have

THE CHICKEN COOP

complete with it's own back garden (no decking, but with a small water feature i.e. drink bowl)

and someone already has their beady eye on it...

'So that fat bird gets the new coop and I'm stuck with that old one. I'm going on strike!'

So, the coop was finished on Sunday, just in time for the eggies to arrive from Ebay on the Monday and be popped under Mrs Broody.

I had to pick up the eggies from the sorting office as the postman had stuffed a card through the letterbox (bring back my old postie, please!). No doubt the staff helped by chucking the box labelled 'fragile' around the sorting office, warming it with a blow torch, eating their lunch off it,before sticking it in the fridge [hmm...can you tell that post office staff aren't in my good books at the moment?].

Anyway we travelled back from the sorting office on Monday with the eggies on the centre seat between the boys while we drove for about half an hour to pick up dd from a play date. So there I am, yelling 'Mind the eggies! Mind the eggies!' as the boys are hitting each other over the heads with half-litre bottles of water. I do wonder sometimes if I am responsible enough to look after baby chicks...

Anyway, on the Monday we made candles. I'd picked up a large candle-making set from the local swap shop, which was mostly complete except for wicks (which dh bought in town).

It was all fairly straightforward: measuring out the wax, colouring it, melting it, putting in the wick, pouring wax in the mould, cooling the candle, topping up the mould with a bit more melted wax and voila...

Pretty cool eh? And almost for free (except for the cost of the wick). We love Swap shops.

Anyway in the afternoon I decided to give the children a few more hours forced labour lol (at the allotment). Actually I offered them some pocket money because it was a tough job. They had the task of clearing some of the weeds off our second plot, where the potatoes are. I never give my kids pocket money, don't really believe in it, so they were almost motivated.

And I have to say that it did look a lot better afterwards. I could even find some potatoes to dig up. Hopefully it will keep the allotment Weed Police at bay.

Ds2 used the extra pocket money and went and bought a lego star wars set today (Tuesday). He then lost one of the droids from the set at the sailing club. Ds2 admitted later that he'd 'dropped' it down one of the pockets in the pool table! [I have my suspicions about how 'accidental' this was, but would like to give my children the benefit of the doubt]. So this involved a return trip by dh and a slight dismantling of the pool table. And all ended well. It did. And I'm feeling calm. And tomorrow will be better.