HESFES 2011

Belatedly, here are some piccys from this year's Home Educator's Summer Festival. We had a fab time. Ds1 turned feral (returning only to grab meals and disappear again), dd adopted several other families (we saw very little of her) and ds2 hung out with a few mates designing computer games (in a field with no computers).

A few of the marquees:

Bongo and band workshopping with the HESFES band (the HESFES band consisting of children from tots to teens, including about 13 drummers!):

Ds1 as one of the many drummers:

Why did you bring me camping?
Because I'm worth it:

But I've got more hair (ds2):

And I'm rougher and tougher than both of you (dd):

Making copper bowls, i.e. bashing a bit of metal for a very long time until it looks slightly more curved than it started off(note the hair wrap, patiently created by a member of one of her adopted families):

Ds1 with his home-made (tin can) drum kit before he got promoted to a proper drum:

Twirling home-made poi thingimagigs:

A demonstration of 'rocket stoves' (made from tin cans):

The result of our group effort and the dog eating an awful lot of king-size cheap dog food (our stove is the shiny one):

Lighting it wasn't so easy:

Hand-painted bandanas:

Beautiful sunset over our tent and van:

It's all been too much:

Smells like teen spirit

The arrival of the drum kit !

Thank you to the family that sold it to us. We're sorry to see you emigrate, but we're very happy to have your drum kit :)

[In case you missed it, take a look at my post below on The Festival of History]