Rainy days can soemtimes work out for the best!

We have been incredibly busy !So a rainy day has been welcome as we are able to catch up on some home cooking craft projects anything outstanding!

Daisy is now allowed to come out fr short walks!
She is still a little unreliable on the toilet training front but improves daily!
Dotty is just amazing we are ever aware of how far she has come in terms of grace composure and skils ,but we really wish she didn't pull so much whenever on the lead!
This is something we need to tackle sooner rather than later!

We baked bread for lunch today to have with frsh tomato and basil soup.
We also made banana muffins for breakfast and flapjacks for desert at lunch time!
We have baked
Rosemary Foccacia bread to accompony minced steak and vegatable casserole which is in the slow cooker simmering away we will serve it with macaroni and green veggies this evening!

Both children are busy studying at their own ability levels and paces.
They are enjoying some boks reccomendd on the living maths site which are beautiful stories with maths as the core of the story one was about rumpelstiltskins muliplication revenge!
Sudeenly the children see how maths can work better than magic as multiplication and division save the day!

YDD has been very creative and is writing lots of stories and making lots of things, she is having a cookery phase too!
DS has been really into lego,drawing wildlife and is enjoying setting up his aqaurium to prepare for new fish arriving soon!
DH took DS out alone to shop for all of the componants!

We are loving the Halcyon River diaries on BBC1 on Sundays.
This has inspired the children and we have spent alot of time at riversides or naturalm pond areas simply sitting and observing wildlife as well as pond dipping too!
Ds has read another of the how to train your dragon books this time in two hours flat!

Science wise Ds has made soap and DD has been exploring matter and has also set up several experiments to explore things about air.
We have been for lots of walks ,played basket ball,plyed other game sin the park and had lots of play dates too as well as keeping our allotment going as much as possible!

Yeseterday DD attended a local fun day in the park opposite our homeshe enjoyed trying out the stalls,rides and enjoying the entertainment too!

Busy days,sleepless nights and lots of Dotty and Daisy!

We have been very busy !This is partly becuase Daisy arrived here on April 29th!
To try to summarise would give an endless list of social and educational visits ,but here is a taster.
We went to a nature walk at Yately Common with a park Ranger who explained her role and allowed the children to compare differnt habitats and explore the different creatures who live there.
We have been studying renaissance artists in our history of art group where the children try to create similar master pieces!
We also had a dragon hunt on April 26th when we searched around the park for pictures and symbols from the legend of George and the Dragon then claimed the prize of a dragon's egg made form paper mache stuffed with colouring pens!
Both children contnue to read books from the How to train your dragon series.
We are following the election with close interest.
The children wish they could vote!
We are totally taken with little Daisy our Puppy,so is Dotty who plays with her snuggles up to her and enerally protects her little sister!
Despite this I am sleep deprived and a little weary of cleaning up numerous accidents!
We have cooked ,painted,talked drawn maps ,plansexplored space,planned a science experiment with awater repelled rocket done more bubbleology as our children like to call it!
Here are some piccys!.........

Flower power!

Well today was the day we had to kiss our oldest at child goodbye as she returned to her school term to recieve some GCSE results .
She loves school,and we are supporting her desire to be a part of this more formal style of education, but we just feel sad cos we love her being part of what we all do together .Having a child who does attend school makes the division between the holidays and so called term time seem more distinct for those of us at home.




So today as therapy and clebration of our lifestyle,we had a not back to school outing to RHS gardens in Wisley Surrey.We met another home educating family there so the children had peers to share their experience with.
DS and DD delighted in the many blossoms and flowers we could see while we were there.
We visited the Hot house, succulents and an educational root exhibition with interactive elements.
We also had a good look at their vegetable patch and there were next to no plants visibly growing there!
Thee were lots of perfectly raked and tilled plots though and a few containers with fleece covering the tender plants groing up.
DD and DS were amazing in their observations about seasnal change in these gardens!
We observed mallard ducks,Canadian geese a swan and a bird we have never encountered before but intend to identify.
We also observed adult managers trying to crisis manage when a power cut affected the area and the cafeteria was forced to close its doors to the public.
We discussed the cultural uniqueness of the style of queing and crowd formation amongst those present!
We talked about the problem solving we saw occurring and the need to bring in a shiny stand with a red cordon to control the queue formation!
We discovered the library and in particular the childrens corner and our children spent a long time there DS reading horrible science books and DD drawing and writing about her visit in the childrens visitor book and then reading childrens books about nature and gardening followed bu adult books which listed nearly every type of flower imaginable!!The children have taken about 121 photos of the gardens today.
I will ask them to chose some for me to add to this blog!
DS is now playing an interactive game on line with his Father and a friend.
YD is out with her friend who attends a nearby school for a playdate and tea.
ED is upstairs doing home work chatting on socail networks and trying to allow her body chance to recover from the day she has had at school!

The circle of life

Bethan our pet goldfish has sadl died,there was a terrible incident which ended up with finding the poor goldfish being found trapped in the filter of the tank.
This was a very sad day for YD who had this fish as part of her birthday present.
Ds was also very sad as he loves fish and has been terribly concerned about the whole incident change and transition for Ds is hard as he is considered to have Aspergers syndrome or difference.
ED is very familar with this situation and offered lots of things to try to eas the discomfort.
There was a brief but touching funeral and the children all went out to the garden for a goodby to the fish bounce on the trampoline together.
It may seem dramatic but even such a small animal dying has led to the children discussing our mortality as they have in the last two years witnessed the death of their very much loved grandfather so are aware that life has a finite period to it in this bodily form.
Later they all went into the garden and did a coke and mentos experiment in honour of beloved Bethan the Goldfish.
I feel touched that the children are able to clearly express such a variety of feelings and needs.
I am touched that even a small pet dying matters to them.
I am confident that even a sad day like this for them will prove helpful in the lessons they will need for life ahead.
I feel I can learn much from children who can move from sad feelings of loss to silly giggles and happy memories.

Milestones an adventure in history for our children!

Old fashioned sweet shop,where the children had to use old coinage to make thier purchases!

the only occaision our youngest daughter will have attended school this year!

finally helping witha few domestic chores!

Bubbleology

Just an updated album of lovely bubbly fun from our home education group called Popcorn when we met in our local park on Monday!
Happy days!

Learning everywhere we go!

We have been very busy indeed so
here is a summary of the story so far...

Monday :
Dotty had a sunny walk pouncing on every shadow she saw !
We had a brill morning with pancakes for breakfast,fed chickens,played music,read ,and prepared for Popcorn our home education group where we held a bubble bonanza in our local park!It was all goodclean fun honest!
We filled a paddling pool with home made bubble solution gave, the children a step and a hulahoop and they created bubbles large enough to stand inside!the children had bubble wands of every size and shape including home made ones!We also had a solution of paint and bubbles in a smaller container so that the children could blow bubbles and print the images onto paper!

There was a lot of joy and giggles amongst our group that day!
Then to top it all one lovely family bought every child present a yummy ice cream!

Tuesday:
Dotty nearly caught a squirrel on her morning walk!!!Squirrels aren't prepared for how high she can spring!
We read ,youngest daughter continued working on ideas for home school musical,we played musical instruments together,played games and started to make fruit syryp fro fruit tea and sugar for snow cones! Yummy!
Youngest daughter decided she wanted to learn how to prepare cottage pie so I helped her as she learnt....the results were amazing!
DS was very busy building lego and using his computer on an interactive game to do with pirates!

Wednesday:
Dotty had glorious walk,with some of her canine comapnions and enjoyed eating half of my banana with her breakfast!

we packed up a picnic and headed to Basingstoke to the Milestones Museum which is an interactive history Museum startingf rom victorian ages to the present day.
Both daughters dressed up in victorian clothes and really entered into the whole thing,DS spent
We learnt about work conditions,care for employees etc.
We met with three other home educating families and ate lunch in the education picnic room!
The children had the experience of using authentic antique money to but sweets weighed out in a reconstructed sweet shop, interacted with people dressed up and playing victorian roles and generally enjoyed the numerous displays including and amusing display of hair treatment equipment !!!
We paid for a culture passport which will give us fee entry and parking at numerous attractions in hapshire and unlimited entries to Milestones from now on.his time exploring the mor eengineering based exhibits and trying to build a viaduct using the foam bricks provided for this purpose!
Both daughters attended school for an hour victorian style!
Ds refused saying he was only happy to renact history as a home educated child!!!
We also watched a presentation about Taskers a Company form Hampshire who durig the victorian period produced a huge variety of parts and products made of iron!
This could be a great place to visit.
After our trip YD went to a home educated friends house for a play date and DS and ED came home for a well earnt rest!
Thought you might like to see the progress of our propogated seeds!