A round up

I think I will just do a weekly update I have too many commitments these days ....
So, this week we had M's friend over again and she went to their house and did a beautiful watercolour painting it' very detailed - I think it deserves a frame I'll add it to my things I REALLY must do list!

We went to the carnival at the weekend it was nice to not have to follow the school's regime to have to get her to the field at a certain time for a routine they were performing or to have to walk the 5 miles round and miss the entire carnival.
We got to watch the floats - not sure what the theme was this year but each one was great we threw pennies at them all went in ate our special icecream and saw the star attraction... ZORBING!!
( running round a giant hamster ball!) alas it was just for kids or I'd have gone in too - but she had a ball ( pardon the very poor pun!! )
She said it was very echo eey and hot but great fun.



We have been reading lots - Apricots at Midnight a compilation of short stories
and the stories behind a patchwork quilt - M I think sat on the fence with it I thought it was great she got a little bored - so we are back to Jacqueline Wilson and Clean Break - a story of a small family and their parent's divorce.
it's nice to talk about these things with M as her dad and I split many moons ago - I think rather amicably we've certainly tried to stay respectful of everyone's needs.

we're on the last chapter of that - maybe a classic next we have a fair few books stored away.

We've done lots of crafting she was inspired by the winning carnival float the lady had safety pinned ribbon and artificial roses to her skirt so M asked her how she'd done it we made barbie evening frocks from old socks - snip the toes and voila! you have an evening dress!
Today I think we'll do some jewellery making I bought some bits the other day memory wire and some pretty beads - if I had more time I think I'd be a bead addict but I just quell my desires by stroking them in shops instead.

Musings

For the first time in 6 years I ventured out to the shops on a Saturday - I remember now why I stopped and why I hope it will be another 6 years before I have to face it again....
I left the big ones with dad and ventured round = I got Mastermind EEEE! I LOVE the old games even if I do get screw up face and um mum? really?
but she does play a mean game of Monopoly that kid!
Picked up a few books too - the Story of Nelson Mandela - I think it's important for M to understand that not even that long ago mixed relationships were deemed as wrong and why we must always keep up the fight for our rights.
Last week we went to the Bodyshop as I walked round it brought back so many memories as a young teen I was allowed to go to town on a Saturday and buy all the lovely smelling things in there - I had a strong sense of "rights" and refused to use the family soap because it was tested on animals much to the family mirth - I even went as far as handwashing my clothes because the soap powder was made by a certain company
I had to relent on that a little there is only so far 100ml will go!
As I got older I signed petitions and got into lots of trouble for bringing "horrible" posters to school. M has laughed when I say at school I did well academically but I was always breaking "rules" I ducked out to go on marches or ducked out because I was plain bored a lot of the time
I told M about it - as delicately as you can tell a 9 year old she asked lots of questions and I could see the righteousness in her brewing!
I didn't tell her who The Bodyshop is now owned by - it's a bit political for a young child to understand.
But,still she's starting to understand about how actions have an effect on people.
Sometimes she gets huffy because I don't buy certain brands because of their ethics I keep the explanation simple and just say they aren't kind to people or animals and I refuse to make them any money,that's sinking in now.
As I walked round the shops I remembered being a teen and Saturday shopping I saw petitions from the anti animal cruelty clan - again something I haven't seen for a great number of years it's funny how these things go round - the same posters I remember the bunny with the red eyes too well.
These days I'm more on board with Human rights and so I am now imploring for some help
some of you may have heard of "Habiba" - a 22 year old woman whose baby has been removed from her - she had gone to a woman's refuge with her 15 month old baby because she refused to follow the regime of force weaning her child from the breast the authorities took her into care.
As I read it a week ago my stomach lurched I am a passionate advocate of breastfeeding
but this is not about that - the bigger picture is simply that a child was forcibly removed from it's mother with no warning and no comfort - we are all Habiba.


I see lots of posts on Netmums and the like about how their toddler has lost their binky or Mr long ears Mcbunny fluffy and they can't sleep without him babies of this age with dummies and taggies and other forms of comfort - imagine taking those without a word and not having her mother to soothe her tell her it'll be ok and say I love you holding her close in her arms.
It did finally make the Guardian yesterday and lots is being done worldwide - but I implore anyone reading this to please spread the word get it picked up so that these two are reunited so that no other families are torn apart when they need help the most.

Painting....

we love painting !
when M was small we'd have a system first thing we'd do the household stuff and settle down to paint and in the afternoon I'd work a bit and then we'd do the post office run, a little shopping get home and make the tea.

She loves painting still! we got some water colours a while back and some oil pastels some charcoal and lovely pencils to play with and she's really enjoyed those - so have I !

As you may have noticed we've been sprucing up the garden it's going great guns
the plants are growing well loving the downpours and the warm sun
the thing with this house is the previous owners had a concrete passion ( or a cheap ton of it ) !!
and we - we had a handful of gloss paints and two eager children.....
this is Daniel's carefully painted it's Peppa pig's sun he tells me - I'm so pleased to have his art set in stone

Fairy tale farm

we have stripes an oasis scene a Peppa Pig sun and Fairy Tale Farm - complete with a polar bear with wings gold mud and blue pigs !
thrilled to see her imagination coming out she was so excited when I said yes to painting - and when I started digging out the gloss she frowned .. and then the big announcement - let's brighten this place up !


she screamed yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! I LOVE HOME ED!!

hehe!! - I painted the stone next to it blue and made a sign for her farm - rain called us in so we'll finish up soon - was a lovely day !!!

Banana Icecream - dairy free!

In our house we have a few intolerances over the past year we've had to re evaluate what we eat - it's been a journey a mostly fun one the main one is that D is cow dairy intolerant,this meant the whole house went dairy free whilst my biggest bug bear HAS to be people telling me how sad it is he can't have ice cream or chocolate etc I have to admit that I miss icecream as I'm breastfeeding him I don't risk it - not to mention without travelling far and wide ice cream has some pretty horrifying ingredients!

So, I turned to my vegan friends - I have had many a very yummy recipe from them and now my ice cream craving was hard I was sent "banana icecream"
I sceptically tried it.....
you need:
around one large banana per portion

chop into discs and freeze for at least 2 hours ( I hear the longer they are in for the better) - I have tried it with overnight freezing and 5 hour freezing all worked well

freeze flat on trays - put into blender and whizz - in short bursts 30 seconds and stir and so on
you may need just a teaspoon of water if it goes to soup status you overwhizzed it pop back into freezer
you can keep this is the freezer when it's been whizzed it takes about 10 mins to get soft enough to eat.

I got a load of bananas on their sell by on Sunday so we sliced them up 5 trays worth good job we have a chest freezer!
this led us to talk about what different people eat like vegans vegetarians pescatarians etc and religions that don't allow certain things to be consumed.

Just another manic Monday.......

ooohh a ohhhh ...

we've hit a little slump in some ways M seems happy to just do shorts bursts of things she is the sort of child who needs continual prompting - ie the garden she needs reminding to water it sometimes it's been hard to remember that, we were talking about it last night things at school have a start and an end things at home are mostly continual,so I am making a concerted effort to keep the interest alive in things like the garden - she hoed it yesterday and marvelled at the flowers growing,as there's been so much rain they've done well.
I've wanted to do yoga with her for some time we've done a few moves they are mostly ante natal moves that I know so I got a video of a little session once she relaxed a bit she seemed to enjoy it - the big problem of having a toddler to join in home ed is there is no peace time! D was busy drawing so I hoped he'd carry on he came and joined us which was sweet until he decided "words are boring" and started to attempt to entertain us himself! - next time yoga without a boisterous 3 year old!

Decoupage - a child led activity

Decoupage - this has been such a hit - and can be adapted for every age group
we had a ton of coffee drums and one rainy day.........

watered down PVA glue and old catalogues the kids literally tore strips out of the Tesco extra catalogue and painted the glue on the strips and away they went both kids enjoyed it so much M's was obviously more detailed and she was cutting shapes and patterns for hers D just enjoyed piling it on - certainly something I'd repeat - I'm saving these things for the winter time really and getting out when it's sunny and doing the garden and enjoying the few rays we do get!

I'm quite pleased today M had a friend she made at gymnastics over - a lovely little girl she's going over on Wednesday - her mother is an artist!! wheee!!
as they aren't from the UK we are swapping skills I will help with English - and she will do art!
This week it's been odd and quiet I've been overwhelmed with work - times like this I can't help but fret a little and there was once a time when it would fall apart and be a very tense time.
This week has been tense but all my own doing - I sat and had a chat with M about my commitments this week and the fact that I didn't have tons of spare time - she asked to play more on her games and do some learning in the evening instead which worked out well for me as well.
We have been reading "Cookie" by Jacqueline Wilson we finished it last night a fab read! I 'm not sure who wanted to read it more me or her!
Not sure what's next on the agenda but my reading to her is certainly helping her break out of her reading shell.

Fairy Doors - Salt dough

Today we really haven't done a great deal just basic pottering really it's been one of those annoying rain one minute sun the next days that good old Blighty is infamous for on days like this I like to do stuff - one of my favourite blogs has been "make today magical" she has many many cool ideas and this was one of them
Salt dough can be used is many many ways fairy doors pretend food robots numbers you name it I have no doubt a child could craft it out of salt dough!!


Mix together 4 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of salt and 2 cups of water. This makes enough for approximately 4 fairy doors, so make less if you don’t want that many. We used our leftover dough for play dough sits in the fridge well


so we kneaded the dough and made fairy doors - we just used cheap "value" flour
we baked in the oven at about 180 for 15 mins - realistically we should have left it a little longer they were still soft ish
we made doors and a "3" for Daniel's birthday and I made a little "thing" and stabbed out happy birthday that blew up a little so I made it into a balloon
with a skewer in the end


we painted with poster paints - these aren't waterproof so just inside models!
overall they all enjoyed playing with the dough both when wet and when I made plate sized discs to paint


these were for later on - sometimes we all need back up activities and these little paint pots come in things like model paint things he enjoyed it and it gave me 10 minutes to tidy up whilst he created his thing - he painted front and back!


I let M use the metallic paints and she glittered hers too!

a great easy to make throw together activity!

Tuesdays.........

I promised a real account of home ed,I found that most blogs were American, or a bit too fairy tale like or both.
Whilst I could take the basic principles on board I found myself wondering what happened when you had a new born cluster feeding a toddler who was having a mummy day a busy day with work,you're tired not to mention grumpy and have a child who wants to "do something"
When we first started if a day hadn't gone to plan then we'd have lots of strops and sulks I searched for advice but found it hard to get through to people that I couldn't just up and go out for a walk - people's favourite advice is go out more ! or buy .....
so what did we do? - worked through the sulks mostly and chatted lots about wants needs desires hopes and dreams of everyone - for me homeschooling was about re involving M being out all day every day I wonder if she felt a little left out these days she and D get along as well as most siblings but at first they both found each other oppressive and for a while we had to relocate to another room if I needed to do listening type work. I'm so thrilled though to see them playing together and being respectful of each other on the whole.
They love playing "buses" and "trains" they found my old train tickets and got bags and use the stairs as a platform and run round the house in different areas getting on buses and trains ( the sofa) it's hilarious to watch !
we do go out but we can't manage all day every day so, a while back I asked the local gymnastic teacher if she had space to do a specific home ed class a drop in type thing with no age restriction - she agreed and was thrilled with the response - we go every Tuesday she's doing well and earning BAGA awards.
So,Tuesdays we don't do a great deal.....
we go to the shops and buy any bits we need and have a raid of the charity shops for books mainly I can never quite believe the brilliant books we have got for 10p,50p
encyclopaedias who wants to be a millionaire junior body books how things work type books M prefers to read and do
Money is tight - that's no bad thing it's enjoyable mostly I feel it makes us appreciate things more we've had some GREAT things like craft gear to play and experiment with glass painting kits and knitting needles old clocks - to take apart and see the mechanisms
Clothes to play with - M wants to be a fashion designer so, she likes to cut up old clothes and make shapes and sew them onto her own clothes - I'm always impressed by her creativity ....
Then we come home on the bus we sometimes read a book together if it's quiet ish
other times we just natter or try to stop the baby leaping out of the wrap... whilst old ladies smile and say how cute it is!
we get home unpack have a late lunch - sometimes we pretend we are "ladies who lunch" as we gaze out to the garden
Then M plays on the laptop or plays in the garden if we've got something cool - like the ELC rocket launcher ( that is BRILLIANT!!) and we got hula hoops a few weeks back, I realised the other day we don't possess any electronic toys....
as they play I catch up with some work and Mark cooks dinner
what was I saying? .............

VOLACANO!

Possibly the most rewarding thing you and your kids will ever do in the kitchen!

you will need:

A large bowl
some small hands to mix together
850g of plain flour
320g of salt(don't worry – nobody will be eating it)
480ml of water
and 4 tablespoons of cooking oil
mix until smooth but not sloppy (you can vary the amount of water to obtain the right consistency). Place an empty half-litre drinks bottle -
we used a glass jar with a hole in the lid

in a large oven dish and mould your mixture around it to form the volcano's cone. Unscrew the cap and pour in warm water almost to the top. Add a splash of red food colouring ( we used paint and water didn't have any colouring)

six drops of washing-up liquid and two tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda.


get the camera ready! and gently start to pour vinegar into the bottle. Your family's volcano will erupt with a satisfyingly realistic flow of bright red carbon dioxide foam 'lava'.

hummmmmmmmm this was a question I asked over and over - I confess I was tiny bit aghast at umm whatever works answers or I dunno we just do but now I have nearly joined that camp - think camping on the edges of unschooling I guess - no doubt that will change.
We do things like - paint a pair of "boring" wellies or paint jeans - M has said for years she wants to be a fashion designer so I will encourage that she has brilliant ideas she draws beautiful sketches of ideas for clothes - I keep them all in a folder she has chosen the ones she likes the most to go in a display folder.she's drawn logos for her shop and designed the window.

She likes to read but is a little hard to motivate to read more than the Felicity Wishes series that's fine I don't like to push a child to read we all like what we like and I really feel a child must get their own feel for books of their choice - she wants to read some books but doesn't feel ready to read them independently,so I read them aloud to her a couple of chapters most nights at the moment we are reading Jacqueline Wilson's diary it's HILARIOUS! it started with the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe I had always adored that book as a kid but she didn't feel able to manage it so I suggested I read it to her - I read it to her whilst the baby had his milk
I will do individual posts on experiments and things that have gone down really well
today we are making a mosaic on our front path - we had the pleasure of smashing old cups up with a hammer and polyfillering to the stones.. I hope it works!I'm SO thrilled she is at the stage where she can wait another day to do things - my big concern was that she just couldn't carry things on so everything we did had to be short and sweet we've gently moved into do ing things that take a little longer to help her trust that it will be done the following day.
~I find that kids "these days" never have to do any prep work so they have no idea that things take time to get ready then the staff put everything away in break time ..
We have done over the garden we have the privilege of having a huge garden ( I swear we're we're not mega rich!) - it was overgrown so we got out there and began clearing it patch by patch - looking rather respectful out there now we set aside a bit just for M to plant things of her choice sunflowers carrots and some pretty candy tuft flowers.She's done all the work from clearing it to the daily chat to say hello and help them grow.We ourselves have planted lots of vegetables and herbs - a dream fulfilled homeschooling has not just been for the kids it's transformed us as people we started stretching out a little having to be around more in the day and be a little more structured we've made time for lots of stuff that we'd put off before.
We've done lots of experiments that I will post individually we've sat and sketched
I've shown her how to iron - sounds daft but reading another blog made me think if we aren't educating our boys and girls on how to run a home and show them what it takes and VALUE it they never will either.
She's cooked we eat from scratch every day - a curry , bolognaise chicken goujons raw ketchup gluten free cake... plus more besidesShe really enjoys dressing up her mannequin and she loves to use playdough so we made salt dough D likes painting and just being in the garden so more often than not when it's warm he is just trundling about in the garden and we will sit to one side and do some reading or drawing or just sitting C is now walking 10 months old and trundling about - tends to leave me a little ragged !! he likes the garden he pushes balls around and chases them
some days we do little spelling tests - but these days she doesn't feel a need for them some days we play number games with balls ( the ball pit ones )
and we've used those for division - pretending they are giant peas and doing sums like I have a giant mum and a giant dad and baby giant and 12 peas how many do they each get? - she was always a little overwhelmed with division but breaking it up into things like this make her giggle and not afraid to get it wrong- she did have a real problem with getting it wrong some days it'd send her spiralling into tears.

Daniel likes to draw - the pair of them are very good at drawing so, some days when we feel a little bleaugh we tend to just sit together and draw - these are "peoples"

We often do things together - we carved pumpkins at Halloween together

and made Christmas wreaths and our own baubles.

On the advice of a friend I keep a personal journal that's hand written - partly in case we are asked for a visit from the LEA - although it's not compulsory
I think we would accept a visit if it were requested and meet in the library or somewhere neutral.
I'll cross that bridge if it happens when it happens.
Then I started writing it for the children,so they could look back and remember what we'd done together everyday I try get a few words down, I often just sit and observe I don't feel a need to butt in I'll help if they need it or make suggestions about a possibly better way but try and listen to their ideas and let them try it out even if I know it won't work I feel it's important they learn hands on WHY it won't work.
I also feel it's important to know how to do household things - like how things go together how to use a hammer how to iron how to load the washing machine how to do basic things whether they are boys or girls.
I'm often asked how the kids will learn to write if we never "make" them - I think things are misinterpreted a lot I don't make them - as in I'm not sat here demanding they write it's more ok let's do a book review it might meet a groan so I'll gee it up and we'll do it - or we'll do choices of things I'm willing to do today - I typed out various activities like reading book reviews free crafts experiments and then I'll lay out what we are able to do - or even sometimes if I'm tired things I'm willing to do
then she can choose from what is available - I find people think child led means they are running riot and parents exhaustedly running behind them - that is very different that is permissive and is doing no favours to any child it's creating a falsehood - you can give structure and boundaries and have them make choices from what is available just like "real life" you can only choose from what is available you can't do or have things that aren't there......

But! .. I'm not patient enough

I'm not a very organised person really - I know people must think I am to manage everything the truth is I'm usually hanging round the kitchen at 6:30 saying shit! what's for dinner .. or better still my best laid plans about planning what we are doing every evening only happen at 10 am as I'm fumbling about thinking up something cool.. must work on that!
In the morning the kids have free time they have breakfast and watch a film or play whilst we get on with some work sort out the house and what not - get lunch ready and then "lessons" as it were are after lunch
When we started with M the decision was lingering for ages she was unhappy at school we'd changed schools and she was still having some difficulty - we explored the options but the thing was that our disappointment in the curriculum was a big issue it just seemed so half baked the whole ideals gone - in one breath I had teachers flapping and calling home because she'd forgotten her swim hat and being flabbergasted when I said that perhaps as this was as they said the "umpteenth" time and she has sworn to me it was in the bag and assured me she didn't need me to check that,perhaps she needed to learn that no hat no swimming ....
and in the next shrugging about homework she hadn't done.
Various things bugged me - most of which people think I'm bonkers for but what it boils down to is the lack of structure and lack of respect for any other train of thought.
We had decided not to send the boys to school seeing how they were run and knowing certainly D who prefers to work things out alone and likes to know why to his full satisfaction - even at 2 years old we could see school would be a hard place for him.
We broached the idea with M at 8 years old she had to have some input into it - at first it was a flat out no - then out of the blue one day as we walked to school she said I don't want to go! we sat on the kerbside and discussed why then I shrugged and said ok let's go home I rang school and got a flea in my ear about giving into a child's whims and thanked them kindly and put the phone down we sat at home and did some experiments with float or sink we had good fun she said she wanted to give it a whirl - we took 2 weeks out one week of half term and one week of school time.
Those two weeks were great - I'm ashamed to say I felt like I didn't really know my own daughter,I thought I knew things but I didn't really...
She went back to school after that time whilst we decided what to do - I didn't know if I really could I always said oh no! I don't have the patience or nah! I'm so rubbish at maths ...
She was back at school a week and old issues resurfaced she was over emotional falling out with friends I'd not long given birth to C and obviously I was tired and busy I couldn't see how this would work out a meeting with the school ironically made my mind up...
I went over to chat to the head I wanted to break us in gently and hoped we could flexi school for a month or so.
So I sat there let him talk we chatted and he began what I call "the talk" the one where the person in authority starts smiling and playing along letting you into a place of safety before they shoot down ideas and tell you why they won't work..
So he started asking me how I'd do PE with her or how I'd do day trips I sat there and started giggling I couldn't stop! and saying to me that she only wanted to be at home because of the tiny baby and he was sure this would stop soon and a various other random number of thoughts - I found myself thinking why does it have to be for a reason other than she wasn't happy there? why did it have to be all or nothing ?
would it be SO awful if she homeschooled just for a bit and went back to school?
what is WRONG with trying something then deciding to do something else?

I now know he was lying when he said he didn't know what homeschooling was but I shan't harp on at that - I was annoyed but I understand that he felt he couldn't encourage it.
It was a good school - just not right for my children.
He vetoed flexi schooling and gave 1001 reasons why it would not "work" and the mere thought was absurd!
Just listening to him made me realise yes! I CAN do this.
I have found school incredibly permissive and incredibly fake the staff seem to make fake situations - nothing can ever "go wrong" for the children whilst that's nice now - what about when they are 18 and don't get a job? or a uni place? or even the mundane things like Tesco have run out of favourite cake? if they never experience something not happening and someone in charge smiling reassuring and letting know it is ok rather than faking it or telling them to get over it how WILL they cope "In the real world" ?
what will they do when someone isn't there covering up the reality of life - that every so often things don't work out that it's sad and it's ok to cry or have a strop and then come back to it and resolve the problem - that happens EVERY DAY in adult life we wake up late or we burn the toast or we spill jam on our shirt or we forget to do a nappy load or we twist our ankle running out the door (because we woke up late AND spilt jam) we don't bring a coat and it pours with rain and so on we curse swear and try and sort it out - these little things have happened to everyone in some way,but I wonder when we see adults who get in a tizz over these things if they were never allowed to feel the small sadnesses and safely "get over them"

So,there we were a homeschooling family .. I was scared I did have 100000000 questions and I had no clear direction first couple of weeks it was great but soon I had run out of ideas and M was getting bored and sulky the house was in disarray and I was in tears my beautiful ideas had gone done and past every idea I had she vetoed either muttering it was BOOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIIIING or too HAAAAAARD - I sought advice and immeadiatly told she needed deschooling ( a period of time to sit and chill and "get over school" ) people didn't understand that she didn't want to get over school she wanted to do stuff just not stuff I had thought up ,when I explained this I was told to get her outside with nature.
I'm all for that I love being outdoors but in November with a 3 month old baby and a 2 year old in tow it's not quite as easy as that - I took her out we went mud tramping but again the resistance wall came up the insisting that it wasn't learning how could it be?!
So I did what I didn't want to do I realised that my misty eyed ideas of going out and seeing the Heritage Centre or counting cars doing tally charts and going to find insects was REALLY really not cutting the mustard ....
I got workbooks - I came under a lot of fire on some HE forums but she was gagging to "work" so we set up a scheduled routine after lunch every day we'd sit with the books she'd do her work and feel sated - I shan't lie I disliked it this was SO not what I had in mind!
After a few weeks she was back to square one finding it all very boring so I suggested we try my ideas and meet halfway - so we went out counted cars had a giggle came home made them into various charts and what not it was all fitting into place.
We've had some not so great days but as I learn to relax and not worry so much. If a day goes by where nothing much is going on she is too - when we started if I'd get a little too busy with either work or the two younger kids she'd be very upset (understandably) these days I do trade offs if I can see the day is going to be madly busy I trade her one of the holiday days - we relax a little in the school holidays.
We've come a long way she used to fret about working whereas these days she's far more relaxed we can paint all day and she loves it.
When we started I will say I was terrified of a local authority visit and when the form rolled in I filled it in sent it off and haven't heard a thing since!
These days it all pretty much rolls with it I'll post more about our activities specifically.
Certainly I feel we've all come a long way I feel like I know her now as a whole little person she's far more relaxed and is becoming very independent making choices about things and showing a great aptitude for languages.
I do still worry from time to time but overall we're in a good place with it all taking one day at a time............