So, we've had lots of outs-and-abouts this past week. At the weekend it was Granny's birthday so we took her out to one of our favourite National Trust places for lunch and a nice autumn walk :-) It turned out they had some sort of Autumn Festival event on, which was a bonus. Lots of lovely hands on stuff for the kids to get involved in. They made butterflies, pressed apples to make (and drink!) fresh apple juice, played African drums (tenuous connection there! I think the idea was that they had numerous instruments made from dried gourds etc :-) ), attended a fab talk about bees and helped with the honey harvesting AND ground wheat to make their own bag of flour that we brought home with us! This was all, quite literally, DS Heaven :-)
The following day we went to a FAB Fun Day, organized by a lovely new Home Ed friend (that organized the Home Ed camp we went on this summer) raising money for Alzheimer's research. She had done an AMAZING job pulling it all together - they had stalls, a band, food, all the firm favourites like tombola, raffle, hook a duck plus face painting, glitter tattoos, bouncy castle and climbing wall! Well DS and DD were back in Heaven again! They LOVE all this kind of stuff but always found the school fairs too over-crowded and competitive. This was laid back and just great fun, no pressure on anyone to do more, win more, spend more. We stayed for the whole entire time, and won an Usbourne books voucher in the raffle :-) And about a million tombola prizes! :-)
Monday kicked off with a big trip I'd organized to The Tower of London. 44 Home Educating adults and children, set to do a digital mission at the tower! What a wonderful day! The sun shone -
and there was just so much to see and do, and LEARN :-) And the kids had an absolute blast, running around the tower and grounds with their iPads, trying to solve the clues on the Digital Mission to help Arbella Seymour aid her husband, William, to escape the Tower in 1611. Pleased to say we succeeded :-)
Yesterday we were at home, yay! The kids have continued working on their USA projects. DS watched a couple of educational videos about Prospecting and The Gold Rush for his Wild West Project -
And DD continued working on her State Flowers display -
(which I happen to think is just Stunning :-) ).
We spent a couple of hours out in the garden together, reading, chatting, playing. DS made his own bow & arrow out of wood and string and made himself a target with our giant chalks. I was surprised how far his arrow flew! :-) While DD sat with me writing her birthday party invitations. The kids have decided to have a joint party this year, as they share many of the same friends and, well, actually like each other these days! :-)
And while we were out there, DD found this magnificent little fellow -
I'm reliably informed (by a couple of fellow HE Mums) that he is a Pale Tussock Moth caterpillar. We've looked him up on the internet, he is :-) So we looked up what he eats etc and went on a quick nature walk where we picked/ cut oak, beech and birch for him, filled a tank with an inch or so of soil (that she has a water spray to keep moist), put in our twigs etc and carefully lifted him in. He climbed up the tallest twig, appeared to drink a few droplets of water and then nestled down on a birch leaf. This morning DD woke up to find he has already begun spinning his cocoon! I can't tell you how excited we all are! I'll get some pictures to upload of his progress :-)
Last night the kids had Cubs and DS got a special badge for having belonged to the Scouting Group for 2 years now (he was previously a Beaver). He was SO proud of this :-)
This morning, after inspecting the Pale Tussock Moth cocoon, DS decided to make some Lego (customizing his X-Wing that DH got him in The Daily Mail on Saturday!) -
and then we headed off for a nice splashy walk in the rain (aka Mummy needed to pick up a prescription and buy stamps!)
DS loves the rain and was feeling very happy and like this was a Really Good Day, so he decided to make a tea party!
DD continued working on a writing a letter in German (having received one from a lovely HE friend, also just starting to learn German). This led to another friend asking me if she would like to write to their daughter, in either French or German, as she also is starting out :-) DD very much DID want to - as she loves writing and receiving letters, and making friends this way. So she opted for French, having just done German, and she popped those both in the post this afternoon (after having some cake of course!)
Besides this we've read, coloured, created, helped each other with chores, talked and listened.
I just LOVE how Home Ed gives the children the time and space to pursue their own interests, at their own pace. I love that they love learning, and that everything is an opportunity for learning. I love that, right now, we are able to make this work as a family. I hope and pray it can continue for as long as we need it xx
Your doing a great job , and what's best for your kids xxx
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