A taster of what my kids have been up to. Ds2 on the left, ds1 on the right.
p.s. This is my second blog post today...scroll down for the other one.
Showing posts with label sport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sport. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Saturday, 11 October 2008
wow! How many weeks has it been since I blogged? Seems like ages. Well, here's a brief overview of what we've been up to...
Ds2 has been busy making working models. The one below is from the book, 'How Things Work: Cars, bikes, Trains and other Land Machines', by Ian Graham. We had to make it up a bit as we went along, but it kinda worked.
Continuing the theme of model making, here is a video of a 'wind generator' we made from a kit during a short break at Pontins.
We'd visited an Eon information centre in Great Yarmouth and had a long chat with the guys inside. They had some kits and information so we came back to our chalet with lots to do!
One of the staff was an ex-teacher, so our conversation about home education was interesting. He was very 'old school' so the conversation revolved around how dreadful school is now and how much better it was in the 'good old days'. I was surprised to find out that he had taught a class of 40+ students with no problems at all; large class size seems to be one of the frequent excuses for poor academic results nowadays, so I wonder how valid it is. At least the conversation wasn't confrontational, though when he started testing ds1 on percentages I figured it was time to change the subject!
And model-making of a different sort...
Also at Pontins, ds2 had a go at climbing. He's been climbing quite often at a local climbing wall, but has never climbed using a harness before. Dh had a go too. It's a long way up!
We all had a go at crazy golf. I have a limited concentration span for this sort of thing, and dd1 was quite 'flexible' about the rules (lol) so it was all a bit random!
And yes, it was my ankles that she managed to hit with the ball!
So what else have we been doing?
Well the music lessons have been continuing at a local Montessori school. I'm not sure how much the kids get from it: ds2 seems more enthusiasitc that ds1, but we'll see. Having cut out pretty much all the regular group activities, this is something I want to continue, at least for this term.
We've been spending a fair amount of time down at the sailing club, doing various activities and also some conservation/clearance work, spotting wildlife etc.
Above you can see ds2 lopping some bushes at the sailing club. Below is a willow kayak that I made using a scaled-down version of the willow kayak on http://www.instructables.com/ (http://www.instructables.com/id/Four-Hour-Kayak!/ )
I used a black binliner instead of tarpaulin.
We have ambitions (or perhaps they are just my ambitions) to make a larger version, or even a full-sized coracle using a framework of willow. There's plenty of willow to cut at the sailing club grounds. The children did some willow weaving and made some bows and arrows. I have plans to cut willow poles for my allotment beans for next year, though I'll be careful to let the poles dry out over winter before using them just in case they start growing.
And we've been continuing our indoor activities too...
Making a bird beak from paper
Next we plan to make some lanterns for bonfire night.
As for more fomal activities, well we're not quite in 'winter mode' yet. However, I have been encouraging the children to practice their handwriting a little and it looks like ds1 may have finally written a letter back to his penfriend in Australia. Writing just one or two sentences a day, it takes a while, lol! With this autumnal weather I have to resist the urge to start getting workbooks off the shelves as I know it will only send us all into a foul and stressful mood. There's something about the start of the new school year that is internally programmed into me ; I want to rush out, buy up loads of textbooks and stationery and start playing 'teacher'. Hopefully the feeling will pass! I have to keep reassuring myself that all the things I'm doing with the children are educational and that they are learning. Lots.
p.s. we're still waiting for the big fat brown chrysallis to hatch out into a moth (remember, the neighbour arrived at our door with a big caterpillar for us). It's been chrysallized for a month or so now; maybe it'll hatch out in Spring? It's sat on some compost in a fish tank on the windowsill in our lounge, right by the tv. I wonder if this is something that normal families do. I've been home educating so long now I think I've lots all perspective of what normal families do, lol!
Friday, 7 March 2008
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.
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
Thursday, 24 January 2008
So, what about socialisation...?
One of the most frequent questions I am asked about home education (after 'Is that legal?' and 'Are you a teacher?') is 'So, what about socialisation?'
Well you know that's always a tricky one to answer. There are lots of tempting - but cheeky - replies that cross my mind, but I generally resist. After all, what would anyone whose kids are in school understand about socialisation? Is socialisation spending the majority of the day sitting in a classroom with 25 other children the same age as you, not being allowed to talk, make noise or interact as a child would normally do with his peers? Is socialisation the 15 minutes of running around in a restricted environment at 'play time' (or for some running and hiding somewhere so the kids who don't like them can't find them)?
Nah, socialisation is what us home edders and their kids seem to do best.
When I look back on the past 2 weeks it has probably been a good example of how sad and lonely my poor little home educated kids are - NOT! What with ice skating, climbing, wading through flooded fields, playing on scooters out front with the neighbours and having lots of children over to play in between, it has been non-stop socialising!
Thursday last we took a friend to ice skating, then ds1 went back to hers to play and we had another family with 3 children visit us in the afternoon. Friday we had a museum visit with a large group of home educated children - took one friend and came back with 3! All 7 children crammed on the sofa to eat chips and watch a DVD in our lounge (ok, unhealthy I know, but how else was I supposed to feed 7 kids who all liked different things?)
Well you know that's always a tricky one to answer. There are lots of tempting - but cheeky - replies that cross my mind, but I generally resist. After all, what would anyone whose kids are in school understand about socialisation? Is socialisation spending the majority of the day sitting in a classroom with 25 other children the same age as you, not being allowed to talk, make noise or interact as a child would normally do with his peers? Is socialisation the 15 minutes of running around in a restricted environment at 'play time' (or for some running and hiding somewhere so the kids who don't like them can't find them)?
Nah, socialisation is what us home edders and their kids seem to do best.
When I look back on the past 2 weeks it has probably been a good example of how sad and lonely my poor little home educated kids are - NOT! What with ice skating, climbing, wading through flooded fields, playing on scooters out front with the neighbours and having lots of children over to play in between, it has been non-stop socialising!
Thursday last we took a friend to ice skating, then ds1 went back to hers to play and we had another family with 3 children visit us in the afternoon. Friday we had a museum visit with a large group of home educated children - took one friend and came back with 3! All 7 children crammed on the sofa to eat chips and watch a DVD in our lounge (ok, unhealthy I know, but how else was I supposed to feed 7 kids who all liked different things?)
Tuesday this week we spent the morning on the allotment clearing up after winter and then went on to the local Scrapstore to talk to the people who volunteer there and hunt out fascinating treasures. Wednesday we went to a friend's house, ate wonderful pizza and chocolate cake and took 11 children and 2 dogs out for a walk which ended up with most of them wading through a flooded field! And yes, they did all get Very Wet! And then today we took the kids climbing on the local climbing wall. Well there were 6 familes and around 15 children (I've just done a quick count and I figure that's right). The toddlers went into 'Energizers' the toddler gym session, while bigguns just wore themselves out on the climbing wall. Again, the boys invited a friend back to our house for the afternoon.
So, next time someone asks me about socialisation, what am I going to say? Well, you know, it's still a tricky one. I suppose I'll just have to say that we're so busy socialising to stop we really don't have much time to answer daft questions like that!
__________________________________________________________________
p.s. forgot to say. My freecycling and selling going well:
sold the Sindy stuff (£60), freecycled the camping mats, packed up a bundle of stuff to recycle in the clothes bin, passed on some kids toys to a friend's fostered child (plus wellies and hopefully a mac and leggings soon), gave away some david attenborough DVDs, some unused language CDROMS (to go soon) and freecyled the large gym mat and some leftover washable nappies. Also got rid of most of my old camera stuff over the weekend (sad, but it's gotta go). OOOh all this space I'm making...
Unfortunately now got huge bags of scrap from the scrapstore...
Thursday, 29 March 2007
A GOOD WEEK
I haven't posted for a while as it's been hard to be positive about home education with the gloomy tail-end of winter, but with the clocks going forward bringing lighter evenings and a few days of Spring sunshine I think we're back into the swing of things.
We've had a pretty good week so far. It's Thursday, so I guess that's more like a pretty good 4 days, but I like to think of it as a week. It's called positive thinking (apparently).
Here is our week so far.
Monday:
It starts with the usual morning stuff: getting dressed, breakfast, kids help feed the rabbit, our 2 chickens and the goldfish (not necessarily in that order). For ds1 it's 20 minutes of maths on the online maths programme on the pc and 10 minutes of piano practice, then play with lego or in the garden. ds1 goes to the local shop to buy a few things for me (good for his maths) - they know him well.
We're off at lunchtime to play games and meet with other home educated friends at the park. Sometimes they play chess (my 5 year old particularly enjoys this - he taught himself using a chess computer programme), while other times they run around with sticks and scream alot. Today we've brought along the go kart and a bicycle so they all take turns on these. Ds1 has in the past run a 'tuck shop' at some of the home ed meetings - he's a budding entrepreneur.
Normally after games club we'd go and spend an hour with some other home ed friends and the children would do some science or dig ditches in their garden, but the weather is so nice and the children are having so much fun we stay in the park. Then a half hour drive to piano lesson for ds1 while keeping the others entertained and home again. Ds2 catches me finishing off the sock I'm knitting and begs me to teach him to knit sometime. I promise I will, but not now. I'm not very patient at teaching things and I need to choose the right time.
Kids play a game on the pc and watch a DVD until tea time. I ask the kids to get the table ready for tea. While eating tea in theory we should be watching some of the schools programmes that we've recorded in the morning, though it doesn't always happen. I go out to our monthly home ed parents pub evening.
Tuesday:
We get up late after my evening out. Eldest son reads a letter he's received from his home educated penfriend in Australia. His family have traveled around Australia while the father makes natural history films so the letters are always full of wonderful things - this time the penfriend has seen crocodiles and they have a python near to their house. I think about maths and piano practice, but the moment goes, and at just gone 10am we decide to join some other home educators at the sandpit at Shotover (they are meeting there at 10am and my kids still have their pyjamas on!). 40 minutes later we're pulling our wooden hand trailer down the hill to the sandpit, full of buckets and spades, trowels, towels and assorted picnic items.
About 7 parents and 15 children aged from a few months to 8 or 9 years play together in the sand and mud for several hours and in a den made of branches in the wooded area - their 'camp'. One of the parents is visiting from New Zealand with her 2 children and was herself home educated for 17 years. It's interesting to see how our children could be in 20 years time. The sun comes out, the fog clears, the company is good and we stay a further 2 hours. On the way back to the car we bump into an ex-home educated child that we know who is now at private school. He is heading towards the sandpit in his smart school uniform (I doubt if he'll be allowed to play in it) as we are leaving. We arrive home at nearly 4pm, tired and muddy, just as the school children are coming down the road from a day indoors. The advantages of home education!
Later when I'm getting dinner ready I hear ds1 practicing his latest piano piece - I didn't need to remind him. Bizarrely his reading has improved vastly since he has started piano lessons and I wonder if there is somehow a link that has been made in his brain. Before bed I continue reading 'Doctor Illuminatus' to him, a fantastic story from the library about the time travelling son of an alchemist. It fits in nicely with our medieval theme that we are covering in history, with lots of references to medieval times, but also lots of science too. We look up a few of the words in the dictionary and try and work out what the ancient 'gantry' is that they describe in the boy's magical chamber. As I read, ds1 squats on the floor and draws a picture from his imagination of the 'gantry' - a platform on a hook lifted up and down by pulleys like a crane.
Wednesday:
After the usual getting up stuff, and a trip to the corner shop to photocopy some sheets from our history book, we start work on our history project. At the moment we're doing medieval times. Today we're looking at the arrival of Christianity to Britain and the changes to Anglo Saxon pagan beliefs. So with a 'monasteries and medieval writing' theme, the children use a book of celtic script to copy out some letters with a calligraphy pen. Eldest child draws his initial and 'illuminates' it with our gold and silver pens. It's interrupted briefly by the postman who they always welcome at the door - this time there's a package, a book for me off Ebay on philosophy of education. Often it's books we have ordered secondhand from Amazon on topics we are hoping to cover and the kids get really excited when packages arrive.
I read a little to them from a history book from the library while they're drawing. We play a section of a DVD on 'The Dark Ages', and it shows how the anglo saxons cooked their stews using super heated rocks from the fire. It's similar to the something we've seen on a Ray Mears programme we recorded. We talk about whether we could do this - how long would the rock have to be in the fire? Would it really boil a pot of liquid faster than a gas cooker? Would it have to be a certain type of rock? - and decide next time we have a fire in the garden we might try it out. I remind myself to take them to the Museum of Oxford which I remember has some medieval relics in it and to look up something about medieval art in the book I bought cheaply the previous week.
Ds2 has long since disappeared upstairs with his sister to play. Because of his age he has a shorter attention span than his elder brother and I encourage, but don't force him to do 'work'.
During lunch I phone up dh and ask him if he can get hold of some feathers suitable for making quills. Art shops would be too expensive we decide. After spending his lunch break walking around a park in Oxford he phones back and says he has found some shabby specimens from pigeons. Will those do? We have a recipe for making ink from crushed walnut shells, so maybe the kids will want to do this later in the week.
After lunch we'd usually visit their elderly grandmother (my MIL), but not today, so the children take turns playing Age of Empires II on the pc (fits in very nicely with our medieval theme!). Ds2 has taught himself to read simple words while using computer games with little input from me. Child-led/autonomous learning is really working for him.
In the background I hear him singing in an American accent 'Oh Susannah, don't you cry for me, I'm off to California with a washpan on my knee'. It's probably been influenced by the Little House on the Prairie series that I've just finished reading to his elder brother - we bought a CD with the music of Laura Ingalls and I think it may be on it. I need to play it again, so he can learn some more. The repetition of just one line of the song gets a bit wearing after a while!
I think about taking the kids swimming, but they seem happy playing and when the next door neighbour's children arrive home from school they play together, an imaginary 'training academy' game at the bottom of the garden, racing up and down and climbing the apple tree. DD1 (age 3) paddles in the paddling pool with her 8 year old brother (it's March and still a little chilly!) and then goes inside (leaving a trail of wet footprints - 'my socks are only a little bit wet') to warm up and watch a DVD. While youngest is out of the way (she likes to 'help') I sneak into the greenhouse and quickly pot up some seedlings - future plants for our allotment - and sow a few more seeds while trying to keep the chickens from getting at the plants. It's my 'time out' while everything is quiet. The children also have their own allotment plot which we are converting into a wildlife garden.
Ds2 has been crinkling paper in our paper crinkler. He compares it with a lego model he has made with cogs and a handle to see which is the most effective at the job of crinkling.
Dinner in the garden, eldest son comes and shows everyone his illuminated letter - he's very proud of his work. Another chapter of 'Doctor Illuminatus' and bed.
Thursday
After several arguments about the time it takes for them to get dressed (a whole hour this morning!) we set off to the Ice Rink to meet up with some other home educators; we get cheap entry fee if we all go as a group regularly. As we leave the postman passes us a package - it's a cut-out and assemble model of a medieval town. Looks like it might be good. The kids argue in the car. I shout.
Dd1 has really taken to skating and after a few stumbles seems quite confident. I don't think it'll be long before she's skating independently (hooray! Then I'll be able to skate without having to prop up a child!). There are free skating classes on offer during the session, but my children always decline. On a few occasions I've bribed them (unsuccessfully) with the offer of chocolate if they do the lesson. This time I just say feebly 'But you could get a badge'. It seems a pathetic reason to force them to do something they have no real interest in. What I really mean is 'but it's free and you might not get another chance because we can't afford proper skating lessons and if I had the chance I'D DO IT'. But they're having fun without the lessons anyway. I make a mental note to stop expecting them to be the next Torvil and Dean. If I don't watch out I'm going to turn into one of those 'pushy parents'.
After the ice skating we race back to the car before the parking ticket runs out and drive on to an adventure playground where the kids run around like mad things, take turns on the ropes and tyres and us parents get time to sit and chat. It only rains a little, thankfully.
As we leave Ds1 gets the offer of a playmate for a few hours, so he goes home with one of the other parents. Ds2 and dd1 and I head home. Ds2 gets on the computer (Age of Empires again) and dd1 snuggles into my bed and watches a video with a bottle of milk. I spend an hour or so in the greenhouse again. After tea, the younger ones head upstairs for a bath. Ds1 starts practising piano, but is called up by dh to clear up the lego in his bedroom (shame since he is practising without being prompted). He returns a few minutes later to continue. Ds2 watches 15 minute episode of 'Astro Boy' on the DVD recorder, while I read to ds1 another chapter of 'Dr Illuminatus' while snuggled up in my bed. All in bed eventually, time to phone a friend and open the wine!
We've had a pretty good week so far. It's Thursday, so I guess that's more like a pretty good 4 days, but I like to think of it as a week. It's called positive thinking (apparently).
Here is our week so far.
Monday:
It starts with the usual morning stuff: getting dressed, breakfast, kids help feed the rabbit, our 2 chickens and the goldfish (not necessarily in that order). For ds1 it's 20 minutes of maths on the online maths programme on the pc and 10 minutes of piano practice, then play with lego or in the garden. ds1 goes to the local shop to buy a few things for me (good for his maths) - they know him well.
We're off at lunchtime to play games and meet with other home educated friends at the park. Sometimes they play chess (my 5 year old particularly enjoys this - he taught himself using a chess computer programme), while other times they run around with sticks and scream alot. Today we've brought along the go kart and a bicycle so they all take turns on these. Ds1 has in the past run a 'tuck shop' at some of the home ed meetings - he's a budding entrepreneur.
Normally after games club we'd go and spend an hour with some other home ed friends and the children would do some science or dig ditches in their garden, but the weather is so nice and the children are having so much fun we stay in the park. Then a half hour drive to piano lesson for ds1 while keeping the others entertained and home again. Ds2 catches me finishing off the sock I'm knitting and begs me to teach him to knit sometime. I promise I will, but not now. I'm not very patient at teaching things and I need to choose the right time.
Kids play a game on the pc and watch a DVD until tea time. I ask the kids to get the table ready for tea. While eating tea in theory we should be watching some of the schools programmes that we've recorded in the morning, though it doesn't always happen. I go out to our monthly home ed parents pub evening.
Tuesday:
We get up late after my evening out. Eldest son reads a letter he's received from his home educated penfriend in Australia. His family have traveled around Australia while the father makes natural history films so the letters are always full of wonderful things - this time the penfriend has seen crocodiles and they have a python near to their house. I think about maths and piano practice, but the moment goes, and at just gone 10am we decide to join some other home educators at the sandpit at Shotover (they are meeting there at 10am and my kids still have their pyjamas on!). 40 minutes later we're pulling our wooden hand trailer down the hill to the sandpit, full of buckets and spades, trowels, towels and assorted picnic items.
About 7 parents and 15 children aged from a few months to 8 or 9 years play together in the sand and mud for several hours and in a den made of branches in the wooded area - their 'camp'. One of the parents is visiting from New Zealand with her 2 children and was herself home educated for 17 years. It's interesting to see how our children could be in 20 years time. The sun comes out, the fog clears, the company is good and we stay a further 2 hours. On the way back to the car we bump into an ex-home educated child that we know who is now at private school. He is heading towards the sandpit in his smart school uniform (I doubt if he'll be allowed to play in it) as we are leaving. We arrive home at nearly 4pm, tired and muddy, just as the school children are coming down the road from a day indoors. The advantages of home education!
Later when I'm getting dinner ready I hear ds1 practicing his latest piano piece - I didn't need to remind him. Bizarrely his reading has improved vastly since he has started piano lessons and I wonder if there is somehow a link that has been made in his brain. Before bed I continue reading 'Doctor Illuminatus' to him, a fantastic story from the library about the time travelling son of an alchemist. It fits in nicely with our medieval theme that we are covering in history, with lots of references to medieval times, but also lots of science too. We look up a few of the words in the dictionary and try and work out what the ancient 'gantry' is that they describe in the boy's magical chamber. As I read, ds1 squats on the floor and draws a picture from his imagination of the 'gantry' - a platform on a hook lifted up and down by pulleys like a crane.
Wednesday:
After the usual getting up stuff, and a trip to the corner shop to photocopy some sheets from our history book, we start work on our history project. At the moment we're doing medieval times. Today we're looking at the arrival of Christianity to Britain and the changes to Anglo Saxon pagan beliefs. So with a 'monasteries and medieval writing' theme, the children use a book of celtic script to copy out some letters with a calligraphy pen. Eldest child draws his initial and 'illuminates' it with our gold and silver pens. It's interrupted briefly by the postman who they always welcome at the door - this time there's a package, a book for me off Ebay on philosophy of education. Often it's books we have ordered secondhand from Amazon on topics we are hoping to cover and the kids get really excited when packages arrive.
I read a little to them from a history book from the library while they're drawing. We play a section of a DVD on 'The Dark Ages', and it shows how the anglo saxons cooked their stews using super heated rocks from the fire. It's similar to the something we've seen on a Ray Mears programme we recorded. We talk about whether we could do this - how long would the rock have to be in the fire? Would it really boil a pot of liquid faster than a gas cooker? Would it have to be a certain type of rock? - and decide next time we have a fire in the garden we might try it out. I remind myself to take them to the Museum of Oxford which I remember has some medieval relics in it and to look up something about medieval art in the book I bought cheaply the previous week.
Ds2 has long since disappeared upstairs with his sister to play. Because of his age he has a shorter attention span than his elder brother and I encourage, but don't force him to do 'work'.
During lunch I phone up dh and ask him if he can get hold of some feathers suitable for making quills. Art shops would be too expensive we decide. After spending his lunch break walking around a park in Oxford he phones back and says he has found some shabby specimens from pigeons. Will those do? We have a recipe for making ink from crushed walnut shells, so maybe the kids will want to do this later in the week.
After lunch we'd usually visit their elderly grandmother (my MIL), but not today, so the children take turns playing Age of Empires II on the pc (fits in very nicely with our medieval theme!). Ds2 has taught himself to read simple words while using computer games with little input from me. Child-led/autonomous learning is really working for him.
In the background I hear him singing in an American accent 'Oh Susannah, don't you cry for me, I'm off to California with a washpan on my knee'. It's probably been influenced by the Little House on the Prairie series that I've just finished reading to his elder brother - we bought a CD with the music of Laura Ingalls and I think it may be on it. I need to play it again, so he can learn some more. The repetition of just one line of the song gets a bit wearing after a while!
I think about taking the kids swimming, but they seem happy playing and when the next door neighbour's children arrive home from school they play together, an imaginary 'training academy' game at the bottom of the garden, racing up and down and climbing the apple tree. DD1 (age 3) paddles in the paddling pool with her 8 year old brother (it's March and still a little chilly!) and then goes inside (leaving a trail of wet footprints - 'my socks are only a little bit wet') to warm up and watch a DVD. While youngest is out of the way (she likes to 'help') I sneak into the greenhouse and quickly pot up some seedlings - future plants for our allotment - and sow a few more seeds while trying to keep the chickens from getting at the plants. It's my 'time out' while everything is quiet. The children also have their own allotment plot which we are converting into a wildlife garden.
Ds2 has been crinkling paper in our paper crinkler. He compares it with a lego model he has made with cogs and a handle to see which is the most effective at the job of crinkling.
Dinner in the garden, eldest son comes and shows everyone his illuminated letter - he's very proud of his work. Another chapter of 'Doctor Illuminatus' and bed.
Thursday
After several arguments about the time it takes for them to get dressed (a whole hour this morning!) we set off to the Ice Rink to meet up with some other home educators; we get cheap entry fee if we all go as a group regularly. As we leave the postman passes us a package - it's a cut-out and assemble model of a medieval town. Looks like it might be good. The kids argue in the car. I shout.
Dd1 has really taken to skating and after a few stumbles seems quite confident. I don't think it'll be long before she's skating independently (hooray! Then I'll be able to skate without having to prop up a child!). There are free skating classes on offer during the session, but my children always decline. On a few occasions I've bribed them (unsuccessfully) with the offer of chocolate if they do the lesson. This time I just say feebly 'But you could get a badge'. It seems a pathetic reason to force them to do something they have no real interest in. What I really mean is 'but it's free and you might not get another chance because we can't afford proper skating lessons and if I had the chance I'D DO IT'. But they're having fun without the lessons anyway. I make a mental note to stop expecting them to be the next Torvil and Dean. If I don't watch out I'm going to turn into one of those 'pushy parents'.
After the ice skating we race back to the car before the parking ticket runs out and drive on to an adventure playground where the kids run around like mad things, take turns on the ropes and tyres and us parents get time to sit and chat. It only rains a little, thankfully.
As we leave Ds1 gets the offer of a playmate for a few hours, so he goes home with one of the other parents. Ds2 and dd1 and I head home. Ds2 gets on the computer (Age of Empires again) and dd1 snuggles into my bed and watches a video with a bottle of milk. I spend an hour or so in the greenhouse again. After tea, the younger ones head upstairs for a bath. Ds1 starts practising piano, but is called up by dh to clear up the lego in his bedroom (shame since he is practising without being prompted). He returns a few minutes later to continue. Ds2 watches 15 minute episode of 'Astro Boy' on the DVD recorder, while I read to ds1 another chapter of 'Dr Illuminatus' while snuggled up in my bed. All in bed eventually, time to phone a friend and open the wine!
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