A stone's throw

Who would think that we have a stone henge almost on our doorstep...(and until a few weeks ago I knew nothing about it).

A rainbow appears, perfectly timed for an atmospheric photo

First of the stones, looking very crumbly and worn

"I'm not doing this for the photo, I'm using it as a windbreak."

More stones

And a few more (getting bored yet?)

The two ditch/moat thingies (yeah I know I should know what they are)

Pretty in Pink

The only signs of civilization (apart from the methane pipes coming from the next door refuse site)

ds2 running for some wind cover

Ok, time to go home. Bloomin' freezing out here!

Four things Captain Scott found in Antarctica (and one that found him)

On an icy theme still...see this article here

"Found in the tent alongside their frozen bodies were 16kg (35lb) of fossils, a meteorological log, scores of notes, and rolls of film taken by Scott himself.

The dying explorers thought these too valuable to jettison, even though lightening their load could have played a part in the life and death struggle after weeks of travelling in temperatures below -37C (-35F)."

Michael Morpurgo and the Imperial War Museum, London

Thinking of putting this photo permanently on my blog:

(It's a chunk of The Berlin Wall outside the Imperial War Museum, London)

Yes. I'm the nutter who takes photos on London buses.

Michael Morpurgo talking at the Imperial War Museum.



'Little Manfred' the wooden toy dog that inspired Michael Morpurgo's recent book.



A gun. (There were lots more).


First World War Trench Experience (obviously you can't tell by the photo but it was very smelly and a tad claustrophobic):


ds2 posing by a tank:


dd getting to grips with submarines


Perfect photo opportunity:


Ice creams by the Thames:


Southbank:

A wolf made of (?) straw:


Beach huts (they weren't there last time so I'm assuming they are part of something arty):


Yep. It's bigger than our kitchen.


'Rent a dog'. For a dog-mad daughter (on the side of a beach hut):


I think they call it dancing. Looks painful to me:

The end.

Samurai Warriors, Bucks County Museum, Aylesbury

Saturday last week. Ds2 is 'doing' Samurai at the moment and this exhibition/demonstration came along just at the right time.


Spot the odd one out...


Pick a weapon, any weapon:



Reminds me of something from a Right Guard advert

This is how you kill 'em:

Or you could do it this way:

Samurai in action:

The Festival of History

The Festival of History, at Kelmarsh Hall, near Kettering. Last weekend.

Weather, very British.


and totally appropriate for the First World War trench experience

Guns for the boys

More guns

Interspersed with WWI horses

And a lot of water

Archery

Michael Morpurgo

(yes, ok, so we did sneak round the back of the marquee because all the tickets for his talk had gone even though we queued, and we did get told off by some jobsworthy English Heritage woman for standing outside the marquee and looking in (!), but I did stand my ground (since when is it a crime to stand outside a marquee?) and we did see Michael Morpurgo and it was very much worth an English Heritage bollocking to do so and I would highly recommend that anyone else does the same)

More guns

Horse, man and gun.

More horses, more men, more guns.

Oh look! Is that a gun over there?

Red flag. And gun.

Yeah, you get the idea...

Michelle Paver talking about the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness and her encounter with a bear(note: no guns)

Think I've seen this one before. I recognise the gun.

Friday: Home Things

People often ask what we do for home education; what our weeks are like. 'But how do you make them sit down and do work?' They ask.

Well. Most of the time they don't do 'work'. And they certainly don't spend much time at the table, unless it is to eat, to draw, make models or do some other child-directed activity.

So if you look at my past few blogs you will see a few of the things we did last week. Not every week is like this, but I guess it's fairly representative of how we do home education.



And so to Friday...

Friday is a 'home day'. Usually we tidy up, clean rooms, potter in the garden, bake, go to the library, and generally pursue our own interests. Of course you can label these activities however you like. For us everything we do has value, simply because we have chosen to do it.


Last week, this was our Friday.


Dd playing on her ds (literacy, IT, problem solving skills)

Ds1 writing a storyboard for his latest film (art, literacy, drama, media studies)

Metal detecting in the garden... (archaeology, physical education, history)

Lego modelling (design and technology)

Ds2 with his nose in a book (literacy, pure pleasure)

The tidying, undone (hey, what the hell):

A day of treasures:

(Check out my previous posts for Tuesday-Thursday)