Stone age hunter gatherer bags, (basic and deluxe editions), and other random sporrans

We've started on our Ancient History theme and are working roughly to the chapters and activities in The Story of the World Vol1.

However, there's very little on Ancient Britain and being a US classical education book it misses out anything that might include evolution, so we'll be supplementing for both these areas as and when we need. There are other activities we'd like to try out, including those from Encyclopedia of The Ancient World, and History Pockets so we'll slot those in as well.

Today we were making hunter gatherer bags. I had a bundle of fake fur in the loft and this proved the most popular option with the kids.

As the kids found out, it takes practice to work out just how shapes
drawn on material translate to finished product.
Mentioning seam allowances and the need for the bag to actually
have room to carry something - anything - is obviously a BAD thing.
(Just as well we have a lot of material!)

ds2 discovers that sewing fur fabric isn't as easy as it looks.
How those stone age people must have struggled!

Hunter gatherer pouch

Onwards to the outdoors!
(Dressed appropriately for foraging in the fields)

My theory is that the mammoths died out because
they got stuck in the mud. It's just a theory, mind.

Evidently it works with teenagers too.

Hunter Gatherer bag, deluxe version.

Stone Age Cat

Ok, that's taking the P. Get off the sewing materials!

Hunter gatherer belt pouch

And close-up.
My comments about it looking like a sporran probably weren't helpful.

The Local Authority's Guide to Making Cupcakes

If you wish to quantify your educational provision to the Local Authority

this is how to make cupcakes. 

Measuring ingredients (maths and literacy)

Cracking eggs (hand-eye coordination)

Pouring on the icing (er...experimenting with surface area distribution and viscosity flow)

Sprinkling on the sprinkles (estimating quantity of small brown things that will make it to the cake surface)

Links and Resources

As you may have seen I've been beavering away (very slowly) to transfer my heap of resource links that were cluttering up the side bar to the tabs at the top of blog.

At the same time I've been checking (most of) the links to see

a) whether they are worth keeping and
b) whether they still work.

Trying to decide which links might be useful to others is tricky. The links that catch my eye (and my children's) may not be everyone's cup of tea. However I've provided a cross-section of academic and more hands-on so I think among them there will be something useful for everyone.



Trying to categorise resources was another headache. As my kids have never been to school, I've had many years of not thinking in traditional education style, of not boxing activities into curriculum subjects. So where do you draw the line between maths and physics? Where does geography end and science or history begin? Personally I think the lines are very blurred and any activity you do will most likely tick more than one 'subject box'. But despite this, in order to make the links manageable, I've done my best to group them under, what I think are the most useful, subject headings.


You may note I haven't got a tab for 'English/Literacy'. I'm reluctant to make a separate section for this because, well, I think pretty much any of the activities from any of the other tabs will more than cover literacy, if that's what you want. But perhaps in a while I'll put one up, just for 'learning to read' resources. If you know of any 'gems' I've missed out, do let me know.

Surfacing from the primordial soup

...a cycle ride/dog walk out to the woods is just what the doctor ordered.

Especially when it's in the company of a good friend.

Time to chat, grumble, put the world to rights, smile and plan the future.

Then back home for a cup of tea.

The sandy cheese and onion rolls consumed by an enthusiastic hound (who has no taste buds).

The contentment of a child totally engrossed

Sand is a wondeful art material

Sticks, glorious sticks.

The Monopoly Marathon - London destroyed by 600ft walking hairball

After I banned most screen-based activities (too much post-Christmas lethargy caused by a Christmas week plugged in) the children started a two-day monopoly marathon.

Much shouting, fighting, cheating, negotiation, and occasional violence (all of which I did my best to ignore) later, the thought that my children might be money-grabbing materialistic psychopaths began to creep in.

'Loadsa Dosh' ds2 (with dd in the background calculating her projected profit rate on my scientific calculator)

Thankfully the second day of the war monopoly game was cut short by Dogzilla who in a fit of overexcitement dragged his extra large chewy bone in true 'Zilla style through the streets of London, sending the stock market crashing (not to mention the hotels on Park Lane and Pentonville).

Dogzilla - the calm before the rampage

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!