July Lapbooks

OK yes I am feeling a bit guilty - it's half way through August already, and this is the first blog post for this month!  I've finally got around to taking photos of the lapbooks that the boys finished in July - sharing here for anyone who's interested...

Youngest finished his first.  His chosen subject was 'Owls'.  We did a lot of it together as he is not really writing yet - so I drew dotted lines for him to draw over, and when a bit more text was required, he dictated to me and I typed.  He loved the cutting and sticking, and created the whole lapbook really very quickly (he would have finished sooner had I not been needed by his brothers as well).  Downloads were courtesy of Homeschool Share's 'Owl Babies' resource ('Five Little Owls' poem with illustration and 'What do Owls Eat?')

Middle's was next.  He had chosen to do his lapbook on the Solar System.  I love the way he seriously considers his chosen subject and then comes up with something apparently completely random!  As usual, he wanted lots of printed out downloads - from Enchanted Learning ('Our Solar System' booklet),  Superteacherworsheets.com ('Planet Riddles'), and Homeschool Share (all the rest).  A slight drawback was that their material was a little outdated in places, with Pluto was still included as a planet - but it didn't cause any real problems, I just explained to Middle that Pluto had been downgraded since the resources were designed.  He put a lot of work into this one - but the information was pretty easy to find as Homeschool Share included some information sheets along with their printable templates, so it was a nice little project for him...

Finally, to Eldest.  Having had an experience in June where he hand-fed Humboldt penguins, he liked my suggestion that he do a lapbook on penguins.  Bless him, he did a really good job too!  Up until now his lapbooks have all been on wider subjects - usually on whole habitats containing several living things to write briefly about.  This time he did considerably more research on a more specific subject (single group of creatures).  I showed him how to do a spider diagram while he roughly planned his lapbook - and gave him lots of tips on how to most easily research the different types of penguins, and where they came from (he seemed to want to group them according to geographical location, which made sense).  The four-page chapter on all the different types of penguin took him the most time, but I am so proud of the way he persevered and finished with a good attitude - that's as valuable a lesson as anything he learned about penguins, in my opinion!  It may not be a traditional lapbook with all the flaps and interactive bits, but it's a really nice project book that he is rightly proud of...

The Benefits of 'Sleeping On It'

If you read yesterday's entry, Going with the (slow) Flow, you may remember that Middle got stuck while working on a Volcano acrostic.  Of course the beauty of Home Ed is that there was no pressure for him to have to complete it there and then, so rather than let him get frustrated and down on himself, I suggested he leave it until another day.  Well, it wasn't a long wait: he finished it today - I asked if he'd like to get the dictionary out this morning to see if we could find words beginning with the letters concerned, that might give him ideas. It worked a treat - it was so lovely seeing him light up with self-belief again, at being able to do something he had previously found to be difficult, just because sometimes all you need is to sleep on it.
It has been well documented that the brain has an amazing ability to continue working on problems while you rest over night - and it certainly proved to be the case for Middle.  The same thing that was so discouraging for him yesterday became an opportunity to triumph and feel good about himself the very next day.  It made me think about the school days: he would quite often get discouraged because he couldn't do something in time, or if he had the chance to come back to unfinished work, it could be up to a week later when inspiration had faded again.  I know when I was planning lessons that it was often frustrating to me to know that if the children didn't reach a certain target by the end of the lesson, it could be another week before they had chance to pick it up again - and a week can be too long, in terms of momentum.  So for Middle to be able to leave a tricky problem just for a day was ideal: no pressure to finish it immediately, but coming back to it with a rested and fresh mind soon enough to remember where he left off.
I know I'm a super-proud Mummy regardless, but I do think his finished article is just lovely!

Under the Sea...

My brain is still whirring on how to home educate three different boys with different skills, passions and styles of learning - so hopefully there will be more on that when I've found something approaching a solution! Meanwhile, knowing how much it helps me to write down what we have done in a day, here goes today's 'doings'...

First of all we watched Curious Cat on how electricity gets to our homes, and how sewage is treated.  Then Eldest got his brothers to sit down & watch a documentary on the Barrier Reef - going into more detail than CBBC's 'Barney's Barrier Reef' (which we also watched later). I loved ths way he asked them questions to get them involved... if he's learned that from copying my example, I 'll be happy.  At one point the boys argued about who got which blanket to snuggle under, and we talked about them finding peaceful solutions (not expecting me to intervene all the time)...  this is becoming a theme at the moment!

Following the programme, Eldest and Middle decided to do some Barrier Reef art of their own making.  Free reign of the craft box was permitted, with the usual rule that they tidy up after themselves!  Youngest was enthused by the craft box contents, and had a merry old time exploring and creating.  No set plan - he was just enjoying himself.

Eldest's "Manta Ray from Above"

(he put a lot of thought into how to get the right effect of the waves over the  top of the ray).

 

Eldest's "Black-tipped Reef Shark"

Middle's "Undersea World" 

(using sellotape and glitter to get his under-water effect)

... and another little pictoral note for Mummy from Middle, showing both of us and a love heart

Youngest's arty creation

 

Then they all wrote some sea-themed poems (Youngest dictated - as did Middle, who wasn't in the mood for writing today - he still shies away from written 'work', although he loves leaving me little "I love you" messages).  Poems included at the end...

Middle found some leftover party balloons and played with static electricity making his hair stick up, sticking it to the wall, and then using it to move water like this...  it was quite tricky getting the right strength flow of water, but we did see it work in the end...

We've also been watching birds in our garden & hoping they all come back on Saturday morning when we do the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch.  This morning we had ten long-tailed tits and a female greater spotted woodpecker, among many others.  I also took some photos of the prints in the snow to see if we could work out what they belonged to... it's not as easy as you'd think!  We did see some nice wing prints though...

 

 mystery prints (the big trainer prints are mine, for scale - I'm guessing the first ones may be squirrels...)

 we think these are blackbird footprints...

 can you see the wing prints on the right?

Oh, and I've discovered Pinterest.  I joined a few weeks ago, and am really getting the hang of it now.  I love having a one-stop place I can go to to stash all the ideas I find online, neatly grouped, and easy to find again... perfect for Home Ed!  My back hasn't been feeling good this week (especially today), so I've been spending a lot of time sitting still - and Pinterest is making me feel better about not being so active as usual, as I can track down ideas for future HE projects and store them somewhere where I know I can find them all again - it's great :)  In fact, the static electricity/ water experiment above was one that I had pinned earlier this week, so it's working already - hooray!

That's it for now - I'll leave you with the boys' poems while I go & top up the hot water bottle for my back ;)

Sharks - by Eldest
The goblin shark
lives in the dark
The mako shark is fast,
It moves with a blast
The great white
Likes a big fight
The whale shark
is bigger than a park
The sleeping shark is blind
Like most sharks it has a tail on its behind

Sea Poem - by Middle
I like it underwater because there's not any thunder.
It is pretty and peaceful.
There are beautiful fish all different colours and shapes, like the silvery sunfish and the spotty clown triggerfish
The jellyfish come in all sizes, some small and some big.
They are see-through and pinkish.
I like the beautiful coral that makes lots of beautiful fish come towards it. 
It makes me feel calm and joyful

Under The Sea - by Youngest
I would love to be under the sea
but not the sea with sharks in it.
I want to go in the sea
but not with piranhas in it
I want to be underwater in the sea
Just with lovely fish that don't eat us - that's all.

Gentle Pace = Time to Focus

I'm really enjoying getting back into the gentle swing of things.  Christmas and the New Year was even more chaotic than usual, with an increase in parties, plus a few family members needing surgery/ medical tests etc - oh, and we went to the local pantomime, which the boys loved, but then we lost Youngest after (it was late, and his tiredness combined with pantomime-induced excitement sent him even loopier than his normal energetic state.  He didn't want the experience to end, and the only way he found to protest at our leaving was to do a runner.  At least ten minutes of searching later, and he was eventually found outside the theatre!  You know, I really value his zest for life and unquenchable determination - they are such great qualities to have - but sometimes he makes me look with admiration (and sympathy) not at the great explorers and adventurers of history, but rather their mothers, who must have wondered at times if their unstoppable youngsters would ever make it to adulthood!

Anyway, I digress.  He was returned to us (still in full-on stroppy mode), we got the boys home and into bed as quickly as possible - and then sat and stared at inane TV while our adrenaline levels returned to normal!  Since then, things have calmed considerably.  The family members undergoing surgery and tests are all doing well, and I am really grateful for the slightly manic cleaning that I did right at the start of the year.  My house is clean and tidy (apart from the obligatory room-whose-door-must-remain-shut-at-all-times-to-hide-the-accumulated-junk) - and as I blogged in early September, it makes a HUGE difference to me.  We are back in our lovely routine of getting up; making sure bedrooms are tidy before going downstairs; having breakfast (without the TV going on first), and then having the day stretching ahead of us, full of possibilities, with only a few daily chores that we all share.  I can't really explain how peaceful it makes things for me, but I just knew from the beginning of last term that if this term was to get off to a good start, we would need a tidy house.  As soon as it gets beyond a certain level of mess, I seem doomed to spend my time endlessly trying to catch up on tidying and never actually getting to focus on the boys.

Anyway, so that is I've been doing: focusing on the boys.  Other than a mercifully successful (and therefore short) shopping trip this morning (Middle and Youngest have both suddenly and strangely ran out of socks), we have been at home, enjoying hanging out together.  Often this involves learning academically: such as my having one-on-one time with both Middle and Youngest at different parts of today, showing Youngest how to form letters, and helping Middle to make a start with cursive letters, and Eldest showing me part of a grasshopper leg and bicarbonate of soda (his favourite experimental material) through his new microscope (fab Christmas present).  There was also time spent learning valuable life skills: such as when wanting to negotiate for the game any one of them wants to play, they are (slowly) learning that gentle persuasion and kind words are more effective than shouting and dictating... also that working together makes a team more likely to conquer a certain difficult level on a computer game than getting frustrated and shouting if one's brother doesn't do what he "should"! (imagine that!).

Oh, and I received a parcel in the post that I'm very excited about... it's a nesting box with a built-in webcam!  We can put it up in our garden, hope for some bluetits (or similar) to move in - and then ideally via my laptop screen, watch them raise a family...!  We loved the nest cams that we followed last year - but how much more exciting to have our 'own' birds to follow!  I can't wait to get it up outside...

Questions, Food, and Mini-Blogger

Regular readers will know that we've been looking on and off at the topic of the Human Body, using games, online quizzes, TV programmes, books - and just lots of the boys' own natural questions.  Take this question from Eldest the other day (after seeing a trailer for a TV programme showing a live birth): "why does it hurt ladies to have babies?"  I love questions like that: they always throw the subconscious prude in me slightly and I have to gather myself to give a sensible answer that doesn't overload the asker with too much information, but does give them the information they want at a level they can understand without glossing over "the embarrassing bits".  Anyway, Eldest (and his brothers who were listening) got an impromptu chat over the kitchen table (why do they always ask these kind of questions while we're eating?) - we talked about contractions, with all the boys tensing their muscles for a long time to see who could do it the longest, and whether it hurt - we covered the size of the hole that babies come out of versus the size of a babies head, and and of course we had the inevitable comparisons with "the biggest poo I ever did".  I guess boys are fixated with showing off poo sizes because they don't get to boast about baby weights in the same way new mothers do!

All of this Human Body stuff has led nicely on to further learning too - the boys have been taking an interest in which foods are good for which parts of their bodies (especially the ones that help them grow big muscles!)  I have been concerned for quite a while about the food that they eat (or don't eat: Youngest in particular has a total aversion to fruit & vegetables), so I jumped on their curiosity as an opportunity to do something about it.  I think everyone must be aware of the government's "five-a-day" campaign for healthy eating - as you know, I intensely dislike governmental interference on a personal level (and actually, healthy living requires much more than five fruit or veg a day because modern farming methods have left the soil so depleted of nutrients that we don't get the same goodness from - say - a carrot, as we would have done fifty years ago) - and I have an allergy to shoulds (as in 'should eat five a day'!).  Anyway despite my loathing for all things 'nanny-state',  I have really been wanting to find a way for the boys to be aware of the dietary choices they make, so I started looking for a good resource or two to help us.  Having posted a request for recommendations on Facebook, a friend quickly passed this link to me: Nourish Interactive, with Chef Solus.  It's American, but I haven't found any vocabulary issues as yet - and the free printables are great; there are loads of them!  So we've used it as the basis for our own "My Plate" project.

Alongside all the learning we've been doing about food groups etc, we drew around some plates and made our own big plates, all different colours and border designs.  Next we drew up large sheets for each of the five main food groups (named and colour-coded a la Chef Solus), and found lots of clip art of different foods that we laminated and cut out to allocate to each food group.

The rest is simple: when we eat something, it gets moved from the food group onto our 'plates' - the idea being that at the end of their evening meal, the boys (and Hubby and I) will be able to see how balanced their meals were over the day.  Creating it all has taken us a week, on and off... we just need to use it now!  We started on it this morning, and quickly realised we need extras of cereal, and a variety of meats - among other things that I expect we'll discover as we go along - but hopefully it will prove useful!

 

Of course, that's not all we've been doing - there have been some lovely pictures made, books read, games played, online curricula completed, hedgehogs putting on weight, visits to friends, and diary written in.  I've run out of time though, - so I'll leave you with a bit from Eldest.  I'm just so pleased that he's kept his diary up, and made it something to treasure...

 

23rd November 2012

7.23am

Going to J's house in Devon today!

12.58pm

look a..................................

hawk!

my first wild hawk I've ever seen in my life!

5.58pm

I'm in J's house and playing nerf guns!

 

24th November 2012

8.01am

I like it here.

3.34pm

Went to some place where Mummy and I bought J an early Christmas present

 

25th November 2012

3.15pm

Did the longest walk I've ever done in the rain with no waterproof trousers!..............

the HOUSE

the house... why am I hugging the house?

5:01pm

going home

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

oh well.

 

27th November 2012

9.25am

Woodpecker in the garden!

27 days until Christmas!

Wild Tales on in 7 mnutes!

cool!

super!

epic!

happy me

 

12.23

I just saw my first goldfinch WOW

Grandma and Auntie A just got here

 

12.59

Just went to get a filling now I'm numb.  I like being numb.

 

Hedgehog Fever

With two rescued hoglets in our downstairs loo, it is not really surprising that hedgehogs are creeping into much of our learning at the moment.  Particularly (but not exclusively) when it comes to craft!  This week Eldest worked patiently on making a pompom hedgehog (fiddly things, pompoms!) while Middle and Youngest did a potato printing of hedgehogs and owls, adapted from a project in this book.  As I was helping them all to do different projects I didn't get to join in myself this time.  This made a noticeable difference in that I couldn't demonstrate what I meant to the younger two, which made it significantly harder for them to understand what I was trying to explain (eg when saying to Youngest to put the potato down and lift straight up again, he interpreted that to mean dragging the potato down the page and back - a totally reasonable interpretation but one which had the opposite of the desired effect).  Lesson for Mummy: explaining something is okay but is just a one-dimensional way of teaching (auditory only) & open to confusion.  By using demonstrations as well you include a second dimension (visual) which provides a better foundation for letting the learner have a go, adding a third dimension (kinesthetic) - all of which together give a much more stable learning experience.  Anyway, I think the finished works of art were really sweet...

 Pompom hedgehog by Eldest

 Middle's "Night-time"

 



Youngest's "Night-time"

Middle and Youngest also made some cute hedgehog collages - Middle's were obviously getting into the festive mode!  (nb you can tell what season is fast approaching by the amount of glitter liberally scattered about this house)...

 "Hedgehog" by Youngest

 



"Mummy and Baby Christmas Hedgehogs" by Middle

Of course the boys aren't the only learners here - having sent the hedgehog poo to be tested (a learning experience in itself) & having received the results, I have been to the vets to learn how to remove ticks, apply topical treatment and give sub-cutaneous injections! (Note to anyone considering caring for juvenile hedgehogs: it's not as straightforward as you might think!)  Eldest came for the 'lessons' with me, but Youngest had been too excited by the vets' waiting room & just wanted to play at being puppies with Middle, so the younger two went to Grandmas.  Hedgehog Midge was looking a bit poorly yesterday & possibly feverish, so I was quite concerned when I went to bed last night.  I even woke up thinking about him - I think I've also got more than a touch of hedgehog fever!  Anyway, he has put weight on again today and I have hedgie anti-biotics on order to collect tomorrow, so hopefully he'll see improvement soon.  My next project is to see if I can sex them.  I believe Midge to be male and Squidge to be female, based on nothing other than Midge having a whopping appetite and being a bit more aggressive, whereas Squidge has a prettier face and is feisty in a less butch way.  I'll be fascinated to see if my gender stereotyping bears any reflection on the true state of things.  However until they uncurl in my hands I won't know, so it could take a while!

In other news, we have written and posted our polite letter to the LA, declining their visits and including our Educational Philosophy, as blogged about in Feeling Prickly.  I'm relieved to have that done, and am hoping to hear nothing more.  I think we'll still go out next Weds though (their proposed date to visit), just in case...

This week (other than the hog fever) has been quite nice and calm.  Craft club on Tuesday saw all three boys making a hanging mobile each.  The proposed theme was insects or undersea creatures, which is usually Eldest's favourite subject, but this time he decided he wanted a mobile of something else... no prizes for guessing, but suffice it to say they're spiky & live in our downstairs loo!  Anyway, I've mostly regained my equilibrium, and feel like I am getting to grips again with this Home Education lark.  We've got into MathsWhizz and Reading Eggs again, are playing games together, investigating together etc - as well as giving them space to do their own thing where they want to.  I'm sure the boys haven't suffered for not having had my full attention these last few weeks: they have studied, played, learned etc on their own, which is a good thing.  However I do take my role as facilitator seriously, and I like it best when I can focus properly on it, rather than being distracted from it with too much busy-ness.  Autonomous learning is all well and good, but I think it's better if it's a conscious choice rather than a side-effect of a preoccupied parent.

Speaking of autonomy, I made the 'mistake' of suggesting an activity to the boys today.  It wasn't really a bad thing - they all agreed quickly enough, and we got some nice results - but I was kicking myself for having forgotten that I was trying to avoid suggestions because I want the boys to be able to think for themselves and find their own inspiration rather than relying on me.  Anyway like I said it wasn't a bad thing, and I haven't suggested anything for ages, so I've stopped kicking myself now.  I asked if they'd like to write some poems.   I wrote one too (remembering my earlier lesson about demonstrating), and they were all keen, although Eldest ran out of interest very quickly, and Middle's poem turned almost immediately into a story which he dictated to me (he got totally discouraged by the time it was taking to write a few words, so Mummy helped!).  I will leave you with our finished pieces of writing.  If you can't spot the theme I suggest you go and lie down in a darkened room somewhere... or should that be me...?

Our Hedgehogs - by Youngest
We have some hedgehogs named Midge and Squidge.
They are a bit little and like their food.
Midge and Squidge like doing poos.
They don't hit; they're friendly hedgehogs.

Our Hedgehogs - by Eldest
We've got some hedgehogs
They stink like a dog
One's called Midge
Another's called Squidge
They're a bit tiny
But not whiney
They're very happy
Even without a nappy

Hedgehogs - by Mummy
Spikey, pokey, pointy, prickly,
Snuffly nose that feels so tickly.
Two little eyes, all black and beady,
Four little legs, surprisingly speedy.
Nestled in leaves, they sleep through the cold,
(curled in a ball, they're not easy to hold!)
Some think they're gorgeous; some think they're pests -
but we love our little hedgehog guests.

Hedgehog Adventure - by Middle
Once there were three hedgehogs who were friends for ever.  One night they went on a walk to the park and they saw some people who were going to see fireworks.  They wanted to know what fireworks meant, and the people were very gentle and kind and they knew all about hedgehogs so the people told the hedgehogs what fireworks meant and the hedgehogs wanted to see the fireworks with them.  Then they went to the festival to see the fireworks.  They saw loads of different coloured ones.  The hedgehogs loved the pretty ones but they didn't like the noise.  Then it was getting to daytime and they needed to go back home to sleep. Then the people said goodbye.  The hedgehogs went back home and their mother said, "where have you been?"  The hedgehogs explained all about their adventure to the festival and the fireworks, then their Mum tucked them into bed and kissed them goodnight.  The End.

More from Mini-blogger

Eldest (aka Mini-blogger) has been busy lately, so here are some more excerpts from his diary...

18th Oct 2012
7:23pm
Another normal day
GIVE ME EXCITEMENT!
/sigh/ Bored, bored and more bored /sigh/
......
I'll play... well I don't know what it's called I'll just play it
"OKAY Rocket 5 you're clear for lift-off"
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... blast off
ckhchhkkckhckhcck
"Hey what's that button do?"...
"Don't tou-beeep-ch that.
That was the self-destruct button"...
"Oh no"
boom boom kapow

19th Oct
8:05am
I'm beyond bored.  I'm beyored.
Gooey-flooey-mooey
That's me right now
"Phlpht" "chohct" "blemse"

8:54am
I know I'll make a secret code
a - 1          b - 2
c - 4          d - 6
e - 8          f - 10
g - 12         h - 14
i - 16         j - 18
k - 20         l - 22
m - 24         n - 26
o - 28         p - 30
q - 32         r - 34
s - 36         t - 38
u - 40         v - 42
w - 44         x - 46
y - 48         z - 50

CODE
16 - 26/8/8/6 - 8/46/4/16/38/8/24/8/26/38

2:49pm
shhhh.  Don't tell (Middle)
16'/24 - 30/22/1/48/16/26/12 - 30/34/8/6/1/38/28/34!
so shhhhhhhhh!
he he he.

As well as his diary, Eldest has spent a long time going through his photos, playing about with effects, and making his first very own photobook.  Initially he wasn't very discerning about which were his best photos: he liked all of them, even the blurry ones! I can understand his attachment, but I said I would only pay £5 for the smallest size photobook (which has twenty pages) - if he wanted more pages or a bigger size to fit more photos in, he would have to pay the rest.  That helped him to be more selective over the photos he chose!!  A few included here...

 

 

 

I have asked him if he'd like to have his own blog (for diary and photos etc) but he's still not convinced, so I'll just do the edited highlights here for a bit longer - for his fans, and also because it's really boosting his confidence to be told that people like reading what he's written (and to hear Mummy giggling at the funny bits).

Meanwhile, I've been reading A Funny Kind of Education - and finished it today (didn't want to put it down).  As I quickly discovered the other day when I started reading it in Normal Service to be Resumed Shortly, it was a lovely, humorous, moving & encouraging read.  I do recommend it, especially for people just starting out or considering Home Ed - but more experienced HEors will identify and enjoy it too, I'm sure!  The thing with being generously and warmly welcomed into someone's home like that is you really don't want to stop reading, so I'm really grateful for Ross's blog here, where we get to read about her girls' continuing success :)

Early on in her book, Ross mentions that she sent off for the BBC schedule of educational programmes, which prompted me to do the internet equivalent, and look up their TV programmes online.  I disovered that primary programmes are aired on BBC2 at 5am, so I've been through the next week setting our planner to record.  Not that we'll get time to watch any programmes before the week after, but I like having things lined up for when the boys ask to watch TV, to save me from the seemingly endless froth that is Spongebob Squarepants...

Anyway, it's really late now, so that's it for now.  I'll be back when I stop to catch breath in my busy week coming up!

Normal Service to be Resumed Shortly

Hooray for time off!  My brain is starting to return to normal again - we've had a lovely week just enjoying being together, with no pressure - I guess it was a sort of half-term, in that we had got to a point of needing a break.  It kind of felt a little naughty, as the schools here aren't on half-term for another week and a half - but then, the boys were gearing up their 'learning' before the schools went back in September, so it's not really surprising that we were a bit tired sooner.  And anyway, one of the many things that I love about HE is that we can just take a break whenever we need to, rather than dragging our feet for weeks until we get scheduled time off :)

So anyway, if you've been following, you'll know I've been thinking about restrictions, suggestions, structure etc, and I think I've decided on the 'tweaks' that I started suspecting we needed a week ago in Not-so-helpful Suggestions. 

Firstly, we had been running a "no-screen-time until after lunch" rule, which kind of bit me on the bum as it seemed to generate a desire for screen-time AS SOON AS allowed.  I'm going to tweak that so that although Mummy will still have no laptop time before lunch (otherwise blogging/ facebook/ photobooks would leech all my time with the boys), the boys are free to watch TV/ go on the PC whenever they like.  After all, it really wasn't an issue when they were deschooling: they watched less then than they do now.  The thing I do have an issue with is the games consoles.  A chat with my wise friend helped me to realise that PC time is actually OK - pretty much the whole time they are on it, they are learning something valuable.  Games consoles however seem to shut down their ability to think creatively.  They're OK for encouraging teamwork occasionally (depending on the game), but on the whole they seem pretty mind-numbing.  So I'm not going to ban them or place set restrictions specifically - but I am hoping to just try to distract the boys away from playng on them if they are mentioned - with the aim that maybe we'll save them for weekends/ holidays... we'll see how it goes, anyway.

Secondly, I was concerned that by making suggestions so frequently, the boys were depending on me for ideas instead of thinking creatively for themselves, and finding their own inspiration.  Where I had viewed suggestions as just a verbal kind of strewing, it turns out that actually they carry more weight than books/ resources just left hanging about, as the boys perceive that I want them to do the things I'm suggesting.  And it's true, I do - although usually just because it looks like fun, and we do usually have fun - but by relying on my suggestions every day they were making noticeably less effort to discover their own interests.  It's not the worst thing in the world in terms of Home Education, but it's just not what I want for them.  So I think I'm going to restrict myself.  Some kind of schedule really does help me, albeit a very gentle, flexible one - so I think I'm going to limit my suggestions to my favourite days, Mondays, and see how it goes.  Tuesday - Friday it will be all about the boys finding/ developing their own ideas, but that still leaves me with a day when I get to suggest things that I've seen that I think they'd like that they otherwise wouldn't have thought of.  I'm not totally convinced about this, but we'll give it a go and see what we learn :)

Thirdly I was thinking about structure: the small amount of online curriculum that I ask of them.  I never get into a fight about it with them - if they really resist, I don't push it - but I do ask them to do an hour each of Reading Eggs & MathsWhizz per week, and I still feel that for us, that is about right.  I've been reading comments from people who home educate in a much-more structured way, and I have to say, it does appeal to my routine-loving teacher-head; I'm just not convinced that the boys would go for it...  actually, I'm convinced one of them would really struggle - so we're going to keep it light and do the minimum that I am happy with, leaving them the rest of the time to be as "autonomous" as they like (as long as that doesn't involve games consoles!!!)

So that's where we're at now - hooray for wobbles that cause me to step back and reboot :)  Tomorrow we have our regular '360 soft play' HE group trip, which is always lovely, and then next week is going to be really busy with Legoland (hooray for them letting Home Educators visit at school prices!), visiting best friends, HE coffee morning & Usborne book sale, barbers visit and non-school photos - so all of the above is on hold until the following week anyway, but I feel better for having had the chance to sort my brain out!

Also, today I received my copy of A Funny Kind of Education by Ross Mountney.  Ross wrote the first book I ever read on HE, Learning without School, when we were first serously considering Home Education early this year.  It was absolutely the best book I could have read at the time - answered all of our practical questions and encouraged me that we could do it.  Ross's experience as well as her practical, humorous, non-judgemental style makes her one of my favourite Home Ed authors (she has a brilliant blog too: here), so I'm really looking forward to reading this new book, a more personal account of her HE journey with her own family.  Actually *whispers* I read a few chapters earlier when the boys were occupied with other things - I couldn't resist - and I can already see that it's going to be a fun and encouraging read.  Having met Ross online since reading her first book, I know she is such a lovely person that she often reads other HE blogs and offers encouragement, so I'm fairly sure she'll be reading this, blushing away (Hi Ross, *cheeky grin*) - but this isn't flattery: I honestly and strongly recommend her books!

Finally, mini-blogger's fans will be pleased to know he has written some more in his diary (so much for my concerns in September that he wasn't interested in writing) - so I'll leave you in his entertaining little hands...

13th October
11:02am
played predator with (Middle).  I was
     1st - snowleopard
     2nd - octopus
     3rd - lion. 
     Yep, (Middle) was the prey and would not survive in the wild.

17th October
8:08am 
at the 14th, 15th and 16th I didn't feel writey!  Feel a bit writey now.

7:05pm 
normal day.  I did
two days ago - waking up, eating, sleeping
one day ago - waking up, eating, sleeping
today - waking up, eating, sleeping
tomorrow - waking up, eating, sleeping
Where's entertainment when you NEED IT!

7:26pm
calmed down
Bored, have a cold, and MESSY room.  "BOOOO!"
I'm so annoyed that my room is a mess, I'm reduced to a puddle.

7:41pm
froze to normal shape, no longer puddle

18th October
9:12am
at night, hedgehog in garden - amazing
morning, woodpecker in woods - amazing
5 min ago, tidy up - not amazing
VERY WRITEY ME

Mini-blogger

I wasn't going to blog today, mainly because we've been busy & I'm still recovering from yesterday.  But my ten-year-old had other ideas, and presented me with his diary on his way to bed, asking me to put it in my blog.  So here I am, on behalf of my mini-blogger - just popping in to share his joy...

9th October

8:10am
played Star Wars Lego with (Youngest)
Got dressed
Stink-bombed (Middle).  Fun FUN and more fun...  well getting dressed isn't fun.

6:47pm
Created recipe for (Eldest)-cake.  It is very chocolatey, yum yum.Now I need to tidy up.  COME ON NOW.  This Diary should be called the TIDY UP DIARY! "sigh"

I think that is such a fab little blog entry I'm going to leave it at that!  But for those who have been kind enough to ask: yes, I am feeling better than yesterday.  Not fully there, but much, much better!  Thank you for caring :)

Mildly Manic Monday

Hooray for Pyjama Days - especially on days like today... there's nothing better than being snuggled up all cosy indoors while the trees outside are blowing in the wind and the rain is beating against the windows :)

Mondays are usually our lazy days, although today was a bit more manic than normal for a pyjama day - excitement levels are rapidly rising in anticipation of Youngest's birthday tomorrow!  Fortunately he was happy to sit and play on the CBeebies website - he's having a break from Reading Eggs (I know; I was stunned!).  Anyway, he sat and played, oblivious to the card-making and gift-wrapping going on in the next room.  However, I'm going to have to bake the cake on my own for once after he's in bed, as I think it's a bit much to try to do that without him noticing!

So other than the birthday preparations, we had a nice arty day today.  Pyjama Days seem to lend themselves to arty projects: the slow pace of the day working well with needing to leave paint/ glue to dry, cleaning up etc.  Today we used paint & oil pastels, inspired by Klimt's "Tree of Life" thanks to a lesson plan from the gorgeous Deep Space Sparkle website.  I do find the website owner, Patty's lesson plans inspiring, but we don't worry too much about replicating them - I am NOT an art teacher, so I'm not au fait with advanced techniques etc - we just use her lesson plans as springboards to give us ideas to start from.  For example, today my own piece of "art" was a pretty boring copy of what Patty had asked her class to do.  The boys however started off with the gold tree and black outline - and then decided to adapt as per their own ideas - and again were really pleased with the finished results...

  

"Tree of Life" by Eldest            "Tree of Life" by Middle
(he added lots of colourful birds)  (he added Christmas lights,

                                                   birds and cocoons)

 

  

"Tree of Life" by Youngest           "Tree of Life" by Mummy

(he just had fun with gold paint                                                     

 and swirly pastel patterns)                                                    

 

We also made some coconut mice from the Yummy Little Cookbook for Youngest's birthday celebrations - often the boys take it in turn to bake cakes as it doesn't always work for us all to do it together, but everyone joined in with the mice today, which was fun :)

Then there was plenty of train-track building, Reading Eggs (for Middle and Eggspress for Eldest), Youngest played with his wooden Alphabet Puzzle, Eldest read a Horrible Histories book - The Woeful Second World War, Middle and Youngest played "the buttocks game", aka Body snap with me, and of course, Eldest continued writing his diary, today adding a full-size picture of colourful slugs...

Sept 23 2012
Thinking about the slugs that already have colours, now let's see there's the
Banana slug
Sea slugs
The rest you find out later...
There now, mission one: find more slugs

7:48am
Middle and Youngest invaded my room.  I got them to play in their room.  Middle doesn't know any new coloured slugs.

8:13am
Finished playing explosive attack with Middle.  He kept on getting shot in the face and exploding himself and other stuff.

Sept 24 2012
6:42am
Just woke up...
woke up at 6:03 and couldnt go back to sleep.  Still no slugs.
11:47am
Just been on Reading Eggspress.  Almost lunchtime cause I'm HUNGRY, very hungry
12:58pm
looking up colourful slugs I found the
leopard slug
yellow slug
garden slug (has orange on the bottom)
field slug (sometimes pink)

And banana slug and sea slugs
Cool 6 slugs "WOW"

Eldest's Multi-Coloured Slugs

So today wasn't that manic at all really, just nicely busy with a hint of hyper owing to the very important day only one sleep away! (I may not have time to blog tomorrow - if not, see you Wednesday!)

PS Today I read another encouraging blog post from one of my favourite HE authors, with great advice for those taking first steps into Home Education, so I'm including the link here - enjoy!