Sunday, 30 September 2012
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Shocked by a Tidy(ish) House
After Rachel's kind & encouraging comment on my blog post the other day, it got me thinking about our routine - because some people are really helped by routine, and I am definitely one of them! Call me a control-freak, but I don't like the feeling of chaos that comes from not having any sense of order. I'm not obsessive about it - I just like to have a loose structure to our days/ weeks, that is loose enough to be flexible (eg we don't do everything the same every day) but structured enough for us to have an idea of where each day is going. The boys appear to like it too, but whether that is because Mummy is more chilled within a structure or because they actually prefer it themselves, I'm not sure... probably a bit of both.
We have put two main things in place since the summer break...
The first one was to do with my feeling like the housework (or lack of getting it done) was out of control: a really messy house makes me feel more stressed, not least because it adds to my unwritten list of 'things to do' that I carry around subconsciously in my head. Once I've written it all down it usually helps me to see what I need to do, but at times I have procrastinated on writing the list down because of the irrational fear that it could turn out to be worse on paper than in my head! Anyway, one purchase of a Fly Lady book later (actually I still haven't read it, as it took a couple of days to arrive, by which time I was already in the zone for a good sort-out & getting to grips with a routine, and had made a start! *raises eyes at self*), and two car boot sales later, the house is looking less cluttered, although we still have more boxes of "junk-that-needs-sorting" than I would like. It is generally maintainable though, as long as we keep on top of it - and that is the first change we put in place. Every morning (though we can be flexible if we need to get up & go out quickly) we make sure any left over laundry from the day before is put away, and we make beds & quickly tidy bedrooms of any toys played with first thing. Once downstairs Eldest empties the dishwasher while Middle and Youngest help me with the next load of laundry (and there is always a load of laundry) that needs doing, before we all have breakfast. After breakfast we clear the kichen, and then we are free to have fun. At the end of the day we clear the kitchen again after tea and make sure the lounge is tidy before we go upstairs. The boys also tidy their rooms again if necessary before bed (Middle and Youngest can only do this with me present, coaching them). I know it all sounds oh-so-obvious written down, but this has really changed things for me! It's the keeping on top of it that stops it building into unbearable pressure. And if it sounds too uptight to the laid-back ones among you, maybe it is, although I have to say I don't feel anywhere near as uptight as I did when the house was a tip! And don't get me wrong, we don't live in perfect neatness: I do have children - three boys in fact - so neatness doesn't get a look in! But it is liveable-in mess; I no longer feel like an e-coli outbreak is imminent!
The second thing that we put in place was a rule. I try to avoid too many rules (although some are necessary - eg 'no hitting your brother with a weapon') - but this was one that we trialed and turned out to make such a huge difference that we're sticking with it. It's the "No TV or computers before lunch" rule - for me as well as them, when it comes to my laptop. It really has been hugely helpful. The boys know that in the mornings they have my full presence, and they can focus on the more productive stuff that they want to explore/ learn about (eg creating, making, painting, baking, experimenting, reading, playing etc)... and the afternoon is free for more passive stuff such as screen time, if they want it (they don't always), such as watching TV programmes they have recorded (usually science quizzes or wildlife documentaries), and even playing on Wii games (with a time limit). The only exception is that they are allowed to switch on the family computer for MathsWhizz/ Reading Eggs - one hour max. each during the mornings. And it has really helped me to know that my morning is my time to indulge in focusing on the boys and having fun learning with them - and the afternoon is generally freer to blog/ do some online planning or research/ do the odd housework job etc while being aware of what the boys are up to but not so 'involved'.
Not only have these two changes helped me to be calmer, an unexpected result (obvious if you think about it) was that we've been able to achieve more. That wasn't the goal: I was just trying to get to grips with everything that needed doing, but I'm so happy about the result that I thought I would share it here. I'm sure even a couple of 'small' changes like these really aren't for everyone - but the subject of messy houses comes up so often on HE forums, I though it was worth sharing, and asking the question, is there a small change would make our lives more manageable? For people who do need a little routine, it doesn't have to take a massive shift in the way we 'do' HE, just one or two changes.
PS Disclaimer: I have not arrived, my house is not immaculate, I do not have the answers or a program that everyone should follow. It just doesn't feel at the moment like we're about to drown in chaos, and if I can encourage even one person in that, I'l be happy :)
PPS As I commented to someone the other day, if your youngest child is less than three, it is my personal opinion that you may as well give up on trying to stay on top of the tidying - they are just miniature whirlwinds who generate mess effortlessly but need full-on attention every minute they're awake. If you have an energetic toddler, it may be as well to give yourself permission to completely ignore the mess for another couple of years. Clean the nasty germ-zones once they're in bed, but stuff the rest! At least, that's the advice I wish someone had given to me!
We have put two main things in place since the summer break...
The first one was to do with my feeling like the housework (or lack of getting it done) was out of control: a really messy house makes me feel more stressed, not least because it adds to my unwritten list of 'things to do' that I carry around subconsciously in my head. Once I've written it all down it usually helps me to see what I need to do, but at times I have procrastinated on writing the list down because of the irrational fear that it could turn out to be worse on paper than in my head! Anyway, one purchase of a Fly Lady book later (actually I still haven't read it, as it took a couple of days to arrive, by which time I was already in the zone for a good sort-out & getting to grips with a routine, and had made a start! *raises eyes at self*), and two car boot sales later, the house is looking less cluttered, although we still have more boxes of "junk-that-needs-sorting" than I would like. It is generally maintainable though, as long as we keep on top of it - and that is the first change we put in place. Every morning (though we can be flexible if we need to get up & go out quickly) we make sure any left over laundry from the day before is put away, and we make beds & quickly tidy bedrooms of any toys played with first thing. Once downstairs Eldest empties the dishwasher while Middle and Youngest help me with the next load of laundry (and there is always a load of laundry) that needs doing, before we all have breakfast. After breakfast we clear the kichen, and then we are free to have fun. At the end of the day we clear the kitchen again after tea and make sure the lounge is tidy before we go upstairs. The boys also tidy their rooms again if necessary before bed (Middle and Youngest can only do this with me present, coaching them). I know it all sounds oh-so-obvious written down, but this has really changed things for me! It's the keeping on top of it that stops it building into unbearable pressure. And if it sounds too uptight to the laid-back ones among you, maybe it is, although I have to say I don't feel anywhere near as uptight as I did when the house was a tip! And don't get me wrong, we don't live in perfect neatness: I do have children - three boys in fact - so neatness doesn't get a look in! But it is liveable-in mess; I no longer feel like an e-coli outbreak is imminent!
The second thing that we put in place was a rule. I try to avoid too many rules (although some are necessary - eg 'no hitting your brother with a weapon') - but this was one that we trialed and turned out to make such a huge difference that we're sticking with it. It's the "No TV or computers before lunch" rule - for me as well as them, when it comes to my laptop. It really has been hugely helpful. The boys know that in the mornings they have my full presence, and they can focus on the more productive stuff that they want to explore/ learn about (eg creating, making, painting, baking, experimenting, reading, playing etc)... and the afternoon is free for more passive stuff such as screen time, if they want it (they don't always), such as watching TV programmes they have recorded (usually science quizzes or wildlife documentaries), and even playing on Wii games (with a time limit). The only exception is that they are allowed to switch on the family computer for MathsWhizz/ Reading Eggs - one hour max. each during the mornings. And it has really helped me to know that my morning is my time to indulge in focusing on the boys and having fun learning with them - and the afternoon is generally freer to blog/ do some online planning or research/ do the odd housework job etc while being aware of what the boys are up to but not so 'involved'.
Not only have these two changes helped me to be calmer, an unexpected result (obvious if you think about it) was that we've been able to achieve more. That wasn't the goal: I was just trying to get to grips with everything that needed doing, but I'm so happy about the result that I thought I would share it here. I'm sure even a couple of 'small' changes like these really aren't for everyone - but the subject of messy houses comes up so often on HE forums, I though it was worth sharing, and asking the question, is there a small change would make our lives more manageable? For people who do need a little routine, it doesn't have to take a massive shift in the way we 'do' HE, just one or two changes.
PS Disclaimer: I have not arrived, my house is not immaculate, I do not have the answers or a program that everyone should follow. It just doesn't feel at the moment like we're about to drown in chaos, and if I can encourage even one person in that, I'l be happy :)
PPS As I commented to someone the other day, if your youngest child is less than three, it is my personal opinion that you may as well give up on trying to stay on top of the tidying - they are just miniature whirlwinds who generate mess effortlessly but need full-on attention every minute they're awake. If you have an energetic toddler, it may be as well to give yourself permission to completely ignore the mess for another couple of years. Clean the nasty germ-zones once they're in bed, but stuff the rest! At least, that's the advice I wish someone had given to me!
Thursday, 27 September 2012
All Learning Together
A friend of mine and I were talking the other day about how we both learned to bake when we were children, and how that love of baking progressed naturally into cooking. So I was really pleased when my boys decided that they wanted to make their own pizza for tea! In fact we made it for lunch today because I thought if I'd left it until 4 o'clock to start cooking, they'd be tired & a bit less happy to share, take turns etc. The recipe - from the Usborne Cookbook for Boys was for one large pizza, but it was much easier for the boys to make their own smaller individual ones and each add their own topping. I doubled the amount of dough, as it looked like they were going to be too small, but then happily, each pizza turned out so big that there was enough left over for teatime later - yum :)
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In fact, most of the day's learning was done together today, not just the baking... Most days I'm a bit like a pinball, bouncing happily from one child to another, one activity to another, with the odd activity done together, but I really enjoyed all the playing & learning together today! This morning we made a game of Body Bingo, downloaded from one of my favourite websites for HE resources, Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop. First we coloured in the pictures of the various body parts - helping Youngest where needed - then we cut them up and stuck them onto our individual bingo-boards, which we also coloured in so that they were all different. (one of those sentences you never think you will hear yourself say: "have you all thrown away the body parts that you don't need any more?"). Then the sheets were laminated - having put all that effort into making them, we really didn't want them to get ruined straight away! We didn't have enough counters to play there and then, but as the boys were really keen I decided that we could play with chocolate buttons instead (the boys were very happy with that plan!). The clue questions provided came in three levels, level one being easier and level three being harder, but we stuck mostly to level one as that was a good balance between Eldest and Middle's ability. We let Youngest guess first (gave him clues), then Middle, then Eldest - but regardless of who got the right answer, everyone got a chocolate button if they had the appropriate body part on their card. It was just a lovely activity, and we all learned plenty while playing it. Our favourite bit was when I asked them the name of the tube that goes from our mouth to our stomach, and an over-excited Eldest shouted out "ooh, ooh, I know... asparagus! (instead of oesophagus)", and I totally had a fit of the giggles. The boys were delighted to see Mummy so tickled, and we all ended up laughing for ages - happy times :)
Our other main activities for the day were building funny people out of a new playdough set that Youngest was given for his birthday (see below) - practicing their sharing and negotiation skills. And later we planted some spring bulbs in the garden - there was a bare bit of border next to a fence that always looks a bit miserable, and I fancied seeing some colour there in the spring, so we planted a mixture of snowdrops, tulips and narcissi. Eldest was mildly interested, but preferred to play on Reading Eggspress, where he's found a quest game that he really likes (the only part of the day where the boys ended up doing different things). Youngest started digging very enthusiastically, but did get tired, then he found the watering can and spent the remaining time hopping about exictedly waiting for me to say he could water the planted bulbs. Middle turned out to be very keen, and enjoyed talking to me about the bulbs, which ones would grow first, how deep to plant them etc - he may well have inherited the green-fingered gene from my side of the family (which seems to have skipped a generation when it came to myself). Anyway, just knowing that the bulbs are under the ground there has made that bare stip of soil already seem brighter and more cheerful to Middle and me - we're looking forward to seeing the first shoots emerge next year! Oh, and the bulbs were most thoroughly watered by Youngest when I finally gave him the go-ahead :)
Finally we had a spot of collaborative story-telling - the boys usually love taking it in turns to make up stories anyway, and they were keen to use our tape recorder to record themselves telling it, particularly enjoying hearing their voices replayed afterwards and laughing hard at their own contributions. Story transcribed below, but beware, it is very clearly a boyish story ;)
Once upon a time there was a sheep called Mary who lived in a sheep-house. It ran into a giant bullfrog, and the giant bullfrog ate him and got covered in mucus, and started to feel rather sick, so he went home to tell his Mummy that he had tummy-ache, and his Mummy said "what have you been eating?", and the giant bullfrog said "I ate a sheep". Mummy said "you will have to go to hospital and eat some cookies to make you better. Then the bullfrog ate one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-nine sheep. Because he forgot to eat the cookies he puked all the sheep back up again and then the sheep died. Then the bullfrog ate the Eiffel tower, and because the Eiffel tower was so big, the bullfrog changed shape and got shaped into the Eiffel tower, so he had a very pointy head and four legs that stuck out at the bottom. Then he just died, but then he came back alive again and found one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine humongous bullfrogs, and one of them ate him, then another then another then another - and so on. Then the biggest one exploded from eating too many frogs and the world was covered in frog guts. The End.
I love the way the story ends up being about something completely different to the opening sentence - and I wonder if they ate too much pizza at lunchtime? Hmmmm...
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two of our pizzas...
In fact, most of the day's learning was done together today, not just the baking... Most days I'm a bit like a pinball, bouncing happily from one child to another, one activity to another, with the odd activity done together, but I really enjoyed all the playing & learning together today! This morning we made a game of Body Bingo, downloaded from one of my favourite websites for HE resources, Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop. First we coloured in the pictures of the various body parts - helping Youngest where needed - then we cut them up and stuck them onto our individual bingo-boards, which we also coloured in so that they were all different. (one of those sentences you never think you will hear yourself say: "have you all thrown away the body parts that you don't need any more?"). Then the sheets were laminated - having put all that effort into making them, we really didn't want them to get ruined straight away! We didn't have enough counters to play there and then, but as the boys were really keen I decided that we could play with chocolate buttons instead (the boys were very happy with that plan!). The clue questions provided came in three levels, level one being easier and level three being harder, but we stuck mostly to level one as that was a good balance between Eldest and Middle's ability. We let Youngest guess first (gave him clues), then Middle, then Eldest - but regardless of who got the right answer, everyone got a chocolate button if they had the appropriate body part on their card. It was just a lovely activity, and we all learned plenty while playing it. Our favourite bit was when I asked them the name of the tube that goes from our mouth to our stomach, and an over-excited Eldest shouted out "ooh, ooh, I know... asparagus! (instead of oesophagus)", and I totally had a fit of the giggles. The boys were delighted to see Mummy so tickled, and we all ended up laughing for ages - happy times :)
Our other main activities for the day were building funny people out of a new playdough set that Youngest was given for his birthday (see below) - practicing their sharing and negotiation skills. And later we planted some spring bulbs in the garden - there was a bare bit of border next to a fence that always looks a bit miserable, and I fancied seeing some colour there in the spring, so we planted a mixture of snowdrops, tulips and narcissi. Eldest was mildly interested, but preferred to play on Reading Eggspress, where he's found a quest game that he really likes (the only part of the day where the boys ended up doing different things). Youngest started digging very enthusiastically, but did get tired, then he found the watering can and spent the remaining time hopping about exictedly waiting for me to say he could water the planted bulbs. Middle turned out to be very keen, and enjoyed talking to me about the bulbs, which ones would grow first, how deep to plant them etc - he may well have inherited the green-fingered gene from my side of the family (which seems to have skipped a generation when it came to myself). Anyway, just knowing that the bulbs are under the ground there has made that bare stip of soil already seem brighter and more cheerful to Middle and me - we're looking forward to seeing the first shoots emerge next year! Oh, and the bulbs were most thoroughly watered by Youngest when I finally gave him the go-ahead :)
Finally we had a spot of collaborative story-telling - the boys usually love taking it in turns to make up stories anyway, and they were keen to use our tape recorder to record themselves telling it, particularly enjoying hearing their voices replayed afterwards and laughing hard at their own contributions. Story transcribed below, but beware, it is very clearly a boyish story ;)
Once upon a time there was a sheep called Mary who lived in a sheep-house. It ran into a giant bullfrog, and the giant bullfrog ate him and got covered in mucus, and started to feel rather sick, so he went home to tell his Mummy that he had tummy-ache, and his Mummy said "what have you been eating?", and the giant bullfrog said "I ate a sheep". Mummy said "you will have to go to hospital and eat some cookies to make you better. Then the bullfrog ate one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-nine sheep. Because he forgot to eat the cookies he puked all the sheep back up again and then the sheep died. Then the bullfrog ate the Eiffel tower, and because the Eiffel tower was so big, the bullfrog changed shape and got shaped into the Eiffel tower, so he had a very pointy head and four legs that stuck out at the bottom. Then he just died, but then he came back alive again and found one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine humongous bullfrogs, and one of them ate him, then another then another then another - and so on. Then the biggest one exploded from eating too many frogs and the world was covered in frog guts. The End.
I love the way the story ends up being about something completely different to the opening sentence - and I wonder if they ate too much pizza at lunchtime? Hmmmm...
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Growth Spurts
Phew, am I grateful for a calm day at home :)
Yesterday was a really lovely day (Youngest's 4th birthday, for those of you who don't know) - nothing too mad was planned, but that didn't stop all three boys being in a permanent state of hyper-excitedness :) We had a lovely time at craft club, sharing out the coconut mice we made on Monday, plus making blackboards, playing with friends, designing and constructing castles (as well as random flying things - I love how just letting them loose with card, scissors & tape never fails to inspires their imagination to create things beyond the given task!). Youngest did the blackboard but wasn't interested in the castle - was a bit too hyped up to concentrate on anything for that long... he did paint a couple of pictures and made some cars out of lego though (we usually take a big box of lego along to share with anyone who's finished early or is waiting for paint to dry etc). Middle thoroughly enjoyed the construction process as usual, and just kept cutting, sticking & creating until he realised what he was making... it turned out to be a "dust-catcher" for Youngest's birthday (!), ie a frame of card with stickytape stretched across the square opening - they had lots of fun seeing what would stick to it. Eldest made a great fort to use with his little army toy set, and a "flying stick", and then came in to the other room where he ended up reading a book to a friend's little girl - it was a very sweet moment. After that we came home for lunch then went to see family for more presents. What an excited little boy! Much playing with presents after that, and then (evenutally) bedtime. Youngest actually slept through until the early hours of the morning, he was so tired (he usually wakes at around 10pm).
All the boys were up early again this morning though - so not tired enough for a lay-in! Fortunately as I have said, we had nothing much planned (we rarely do). Eldest and Middle spent some time on MathsWhizz, but Youngest is still avoiding Reading Eggs - he has hit a 'game' that is quite a stretch for him (he can do it but really has to concentrate) - his learning is just moving up to the next level of understanding, that's all, and if we were in school I would feel obliged to coach him through this stage, but as we're at home, I'm not bothering - I figure I'll let him have his break and come back to it when he feels ready to tackle it, by which point the learning should hopefully have consolidated in his subconscience. For me, it's the same as when children have phyical growth spurts: they don't grow at one consistent rate; they plateau for a while and then suddenly gain an increased appetite and seem to grow several inches over a week). So is it with their learning: they can plateau and appear to be not learning very much or growing in ability, and then seemingly out of nowhere their interest/ desire to learn greatly increases and they 'suddenly' grasp what they've struggled with before. It's all down to natural readiness. It's a theory I'm confident in and have seen played out enough times before, so I'm enjoying having the freedom at home to let him back off and not worry.
Also today Eldest spent a long time designing and creating a set of about twenty 'Top Trumps' cards of weird creatures of his own invention. To some it looks like 'just playing' until you stop and realise how much went into it - D&T (making a game), drawing (the illustrations), ordering facts, Maths (working out different quantities to give for each factor) etc.
Not bad, for a couple of hours' playing (and to think I used to have concerns about his ability to concentrate...!) Meanwhile, Middle and Youngest had a lovely long time also playing with one of Youngest's new birthday toys - a Playmobil set. Role play is just great for expanding vocabulary, stimulating the imagination, working out the world around them and how we fit into it etc. In fact it involves multiple skills: physical, cognitive, imaginative, creative, emotional and social. I know I'm at risk of sounding like I'm trying to justify their playing - but it doesn't really need justifying (or shouldn't). I was just thinking again about the value of play - it's something I try to focus on every now and then as I think it's vital to give children the space to learn through play, but the structure-loving part of me (my teacher-head) sometimes needs reminding!
The rest of the day was spent largely on practising sorting skills and learning about hygiene - ie tidying up! They all helped with the housework - dishwasher, laundry etc, and then they got to work on their bedrooms. Middle and Youngest still need help focusing on what they are doing, so I tend to stay with them and ask them which set of toys the are going to put away next. They did quite well today - they're definitely learning! Eldest is fine on his own anyway - he doesn't usually need my help, although I thought it was very sweet that Middle went to help him so they could both play on the Wii together afterwards (Bribery/ motivation, who cares? It worked!) I even got to do a much-needed major laundry sort! All of the boys seem to have had a physical growth-spurt over the summer (they often do), so I've been going through all the clothes they have grown out of & sorting them into three piles: a charity rag-bin pile; a pile of Youngest's too-small clothes to give to a friend with a son younger than my lot, and a pile of Eldest's & Middle's too-small clothes to put by for my younger two to grow into. That third pile was then sorted by size into boxes & put in the garage for next year. Phew - not my favourite job, but very satisfying to have done :)
All of that has just made me think (thinking is good!). The evidence of physical growth-spurts was easy for me to see: it was a mountain of out-grown clothes dumped in my bedroom (now nicely sorted - yay!). The evidence of growth-spurts in a child's learning is maybe not so evident to a Home Ed rookie like me, but I am fully confident that I will see it. I think this blog will help - already as I look back over old posts I can see how one or more of us have grown and moved on. Also I am keeping loose records of the boys' "work" (for want of a much better term), so I can now see for example that Youngest has started to properly read, in the sense of seeing a word and sounding out the letter-sounds until he recognises what the word says. Middle can now tell the time, among other things, and Eldest's ability to concentrate has greatly expanded, since he's been given the space to follow his own interests and choose what he wants to concentrate on.
So it's been a good day again. Very different from last week where we had lots of activities going on al the time - but still positive, still growing, still happy... just as we like it!
Yesterday was a really lovely day (Youngest's 4th birthday, for those of you who don't know) - nothing too mad was planned, but that didn't stop all three boys being in a permanent state of hyper-excitedness :) We had a lovely time at craft club, sharing out the coconut mice we made on Monday, plus making blackboards, playing with friends, designing and constructing castles (as well as random flying things - I love how just letting them loose with card, scissors & tape never fails to inspires their imagination to create things beyond the given task!). Youngest did the blackboard but wasn't interested in the castle - was a bit too hyped up to concentrate on anything for that long... he did paint a couple of pictures and made some cars out of lego though (we usually take a big box of lego along to share with anyone who's finished early or is waiting for paint to dry etc). Middle thoroughly enjoyed the construction process as usual, and just kept cutting, sticking & creating until he realised what he was making... it turned out to be a "dust-catcher" for Youngest's birthday (!), ie a frame of card with stickytape stretched across the square opening - they had lots of fun seeing what would stick to it. Eldest made a great fort to use with his little army toy set, and a "flying stick", and then came in to the other room where he ended up reading a book to a friend's little girl - it was a very sweet moment. After that we came home for lunch then went to see family for more presents. What an excited little boy! Much playing with presents after that, and then (evenutally) bedtime. Youngest actually slept through until the early hours of the morning, he was so tired (he usually wakes at around 10pm).
All the boys were up early again this morning though - so not tired enough for a lay-in! Fortunately as I have said, we had nothing much planned (we rarely do). Eldest and Middle spent some time on MathsWhizz, but Youngest is still avoiding Reading Eggs - he has hit a 'game' that is quite a stretch for him (he can do it but really has to concentrate) - his learning is just moving up to the next level of understanding, that's all, and if we were in school I would feel obliged to coach him through this stage, but as we're at home, I'm not bothering - I figure I'll let him have his break and come back to it when he feels ready to tackle it, by which point the learning should hopefully have consolidated in his subconscience. For me, it's the same as when children have phyical growth spurts: they don't grow at one consistent rate; they plateau for a while and then suddenly gain an increased appetite and seem to grow several inches over a week). So is it with their learning: they can plateau and appear to be not learning very much or growing in ability, and then seemingly out of nowhere their interest/ desire to learn greatly increases and they 'suddenly' grasp what they've struggled with before. It's all down to natural readiness. It's a theory I'm confident in and have seen played out enough times before, so I'm enjoying having the freedom at home to let him back off and not worry.
Also today Eldest spent a long time designing and creating a set of about twenty 'Top Trumps' cards of weird creatures of his own invention. To some it looks like 'just playing' until you stop and realise how much went into it - D&T (making a game), drawing (the illustrations), ordering facts, Maths (working out different quantities to give for each factor) etc.
Eldest's "Imaginary Creatures" Top Trumps
Not bad, for a couple of hours' playing (and to think I used to have concerns about his ability to concentrate...!) Meanwhile, Middle and Youngest had a lovely long time also playing with one of Youngest's new birthday toys - a Playmobil set. Role play is just great for expanding vocabulary, stimulating the imagination, working out the world around them and how we fit into it etc. In fact it involves multiple skills: physical, cognitive, imaginative, creative, emotional and social. I know I'm at risk of sounding like I'm trying to justify their playing - but it doesn't really need justifying (or shouldn't). I was just thinking again about the value of play - it's something I try to focus on every now and then as I think it's vital to give children the space to learn through play, but the structure-loving part of me (my teacher-head) sometimes needs reminding!
The rest of the day was spent largely on practising sorting skills and learning about hygiene - ie tidying up! They all helped with the housework - dishwasher, laundry etc, and then they got to work on their bedrooms. Middle and Youngest still need help focusing on what they are doing, so I tend to stay with them and ask them which set of toys the are going to put away next. They did quite well today - they're definitely learning! Eldest is fine on his own anyway - he doesn't usually need my help, although I thought it was very sweet that Middle went to help him so they could both play on the Wii together afterwards (Bribery/ motivation, who cares? It worked!) I even got to do a much-needed major laundry sort! All of the boys seem to have had a physical growth-spurt over the summer (they often do), so I've been going through all the clothes they have grown out of & sorting them into three piles: a charity rag-bin pile; a pile of Youngest's too-small clothes to give to a friend with a son younger than my lot, and a pile of Eldest's & Middle's too-small clothes to put by for my younger two to grow into. That third pile was then sorted by size into boxes & put in the garage for next year. Phew - not my favourite job, but very satisfying to have done :)
All of that has just made me think (thinking is good!). The evidence of physical growth-spurts was easy for me to see: it was a mountain of out-grown clothes dumped in my bedroom (now nicely sorted - yay!). The evidence of growth-spurts in a child's learning is maybe not so evident to a Home Ed rookie like me, but I am fully confident that I will see it. I think this blog will help - already as I look back over old posts I can see how one or more of us have grown and moved on. Also I am keeping loose records of the boys' "work" (for want of a much better term), so I can now see for example that Youngest has started to properly read, in the sense of seeing a word and sounding out the letter-sounds until he recognises what the word says. Middle can now tell the time, among other things, and Eldest's ability to concentrate has greatly expanded, since he's been given the space to follow his own interests and choose what he wants to concentrate on.
So it's been a good day again. Very different from last week where we had lots of activities going on al the time - but still positive, still growing, still happy... just as we like it!
Monday, 24 September 2012
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...
.JPG)
.JPG)
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"
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!
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...
.JPG)
.JPG)
"Tree of Life" by Eldest "Tree of Life" by Middle
(he added lots of colourful birds) (he added Christmas lights,
(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)
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!
Friday, 21 September 2012
Fresh Air and Friendship
Lovely day today - it was really nice to get out of the house - we went on a group trip to the RSPB Rye Meads reserve. I was a bit concerned about the boys, whether they'd be able to 'behave' within the group. It's not that they're naughty, but they're not the quietest of boys. I love that they are full of life and enthusiasm, but it does bother me slightly in scenarios where their behaviour may be judged as out of control. Anyway, they were fine (it helped that our fabulous lodger came with us & provided a welcome second pair of eyes/ hands etc)... and we did have a really lovely time, identifying lots of birds, bugs and other things, stretching our legs and generally enjoying the fresh air. Youngest and Eldest were very keen to talk to the helpful man who showed us around - no shyness there!
We had a picnic while we were there, including some yummy flapjacks (see below) made first thing this morning by Youngest with help from Mummy...
.JPG)
After lunch we came home to spend some time with a friend who is looking at Home Education for her children. It was a lovely afternoon too - all of today's socialising kind of making up for the rest of the week's reclusiveness! My boys played really nicely with her two young daughters (who are younger than any of mine) - the girls took a particular shine to Eldest and he was really good with them, letting them sit on him, hug him, climb on him etc. My friend was pretty amazed that her two were so relaxed and not-clingy, especially as she'd been told that as they were too clingy she should send them to nursery! (weird logic or what: "if you have insecure children you should remove yourself from them so they can get over it"! How do people buy into this kind of advice?). It was also really encouraging to see Middle (who six months ago had become quite introvert and lacking in social confidence) just leaning up against my friend (who I don't think he'd ever properly met before) and showing her his game - utterly relaxed and confident that she would accept him... it really blessed this Mummy's heart.
heron enjoying the view at Rye Meads
We had a picnic while we were there, including some yummy flapjacks (see below) made first thing this morning by Youngest with help from Mummy...
.JPG)
After lunch we came home to spend some time with a friend who is looking at Home Education for her children. It was a lovely afternoon too - all of today's socialising kind of making up for the rest of the week's reclusiveness! My boys played really nicely with her two young daughters (who are younger than any of mine) - the girls took a particular shine to Eldest and he was really good with them, letting them sit on him, hug him, climb on him etc. My friend was pretty amazed that her two were so relaxed and not-clingy, especially as she'd been told that as they were too clingy she should send them to nursery! (weird logic or what: "if you have insecure children you should remove yourself from them so they can get over it"! How do people buy into this kind of advice?). It was also really encouraging to see Middle (who six months ago had become quite introvert and lacking in social confidence) just leaning up against my friend (who I don't think he'd ever properly met before) and showing her his game - utterly relaxed and confident that she would accept him... it really blessed this Mummy's heart.
That was pretty much it for today's activities, other than Youngest also having time on Reading Eggs, Middle spending some time drawing, and Eldest taking his diary everywhere with us to keep writing in it - you can tell he was snatching time to fill in brief updates, but there is still a little bit more included below for his growing fanbase! Busy weekend ahead, so I'll be back when I get the chance - meanwhile, I'll leave you with Eldest's version of today's highlights...
September 21st 2012
8:24am
Thinking about the pos. and neg. things about the colourful slugs.
1. p. they'd look great
2. n. they would have no camouflage
3. n. Birds could see them easily
4. p. wait, then so can I
5. p. Everyone would like them more
6. n. they'd probably show off
10.17am
Going to Rye Meads now
1.21pm
Finished at Rye Meads
I saw...
adult coot
adult moorhen
juvenile moorhen
juvenile shoveler
juvenile tufted duck
juvenile little grebe
adult heron
adult swan
adult gadwall
mystery duck
adult cormorant
juvenile cormorant
adult greater spotted woodpecker
5 newts
10 different plants
16 different pond insects
WOW
1.45pm
Kestrel flew right next to my window
WOW
5.30pm
the girls came round at 1.58pm AND CLIMBED ON ME!
Thursday, 20 September 2012
The Problem with Blogging
Bolstered by some lovely comments on my blog lately, I thought I'd post a light-hearted little pseudo-rant... the other bloggers among you may relate ;) You see, one of the problems with blogging (there are a few) is that people you don't know form a mental image of you. I guess how good an image it is depends on how good a blogger you are. It is so hard to get the balance... share your questions, and people could either value your honesty or think you are a clueless moron who needs lots of advice; share your weaknesses and failures, and people could either relate to you or think you're a basket-case; share your opinions and people could either find you inspiring or arrogant, or worse, think you have all the answers & feel a failure in comparison. The truth is, we're all made up of all the above - so the risk is always there: in your mind I could be a clueless but arrogant basket-case or an honest relatable inspiration...? I know which I'd like to be, and I also know which I have more of than I'd care to admit.
Let's just say that some of my life (usually where my fabulous children are concerned) is inspiring; some of it is confusing (but that's OK; I'm enjoying the journey to finding out some answers), and some of it involves making and recovering from idiotic mistakes (not so happy about those, but hey - if it helps people not to feel stupid in comparison, at least it's not all bad). If you can handle that, so can I ;)
Why did I write all of that? I don't know really - perhaps it was something to do with a webpage I happened upon where a Blogger-with-a-capital-B was bemoaning the fact that there were people out there who have the audacity to blog without having any blogging qualifications (oh the horror) !!! Did you know there are courses on how to write a "proper" blog? You can now take a degree in blogging!!! Here was me thinking I'd just write a little self-indulgent journal of our journey into Home Education, and share it with people kind enough to be interested. I don't have advertising on here - but that's not to say I won't one day if it my lil blog ever got big enough to generate proper revenue (after all, HE'ors aren't paid to educate our children - and money is kind of useful) - it's just not why I do it. So this is my tiny little stand on behalf of all those who dare to write blogs without being "qualified", just for the fun of it - and on behalf of those oh-so-discerning and valued people who like reading what we write ;)
So anyway, on to today's little diary entry (it has to be a quick one)...
The boys spent AGES on Reading Eggs & MathsWhizz today. I got to sit with them while they were doing their various curricula, which they love - I can't always be with them when they're doing their online learning, but they do like it when I can - plus I get to see how much progress they're making, so I try to do it as often as I can :) While not on the computer, there was LOTS of trampolining and bicycle riding today - I'm grateful for the weather, which may have turned colder and distinctly autumnal, but is still dry enough for them to play outside :) We also had some time with a craft activity: one of the things I was looking forward to about Autumn was all the lovely Christmas crafts we could make - and today was our first one, inspired by a lovely Home Edder I've met through a group on Facebook. It couldn't be simpler really - put a layer of pony beads into metal cookie cutters (Christmas-shaped, of course!), and bake them in the oven for 10mins. Result: lovely decorations to hang on the tree! Caution though - there are two things to watch: firstly, keep the kitchen well ventilated - the baking plastic absolutely pongs! Secondly, use a skewer or similar to make a decent hole (for hanging thread) soon after they come out of the oven - I did try to make a little hole but it was too tiny and closed up, then I left it too late to make it any bigger :( Still - I'm sure we'll be making more, so lesson learned. They still look fab :)
And to finish, Eldest has also been keeping up with his diary throughout the day, and since it was well received in yesterday's post, I'm including a bit more here... not the whole lot though - he wrote so much! Who knows, if he keeps it up it may turn into his own blog!
September 20, 2012
6:51am
Yes it's 6:51am and I'm writing already, "amazing"! Watching birds in my garden, they've got lots of colours. Why couldn't God have given the colours to slugs instead?
...waaaaaaaaaiting...
I'm waiting for (Middle) and (Youngest) to wake up. I'm going to NOT WRITE until they wake up!.....
6:59am
NOT GOING TO YET.....
7:05am
OK will write something, "blah". There, done. Now where was I? Oh yeah.....
7:09am
Nope.....
7:23am
(Youngest) awake so I'll play with him now
8:47am
Finished breakfast and dishwasher. Mum asked me to take my Calvin and Hobbes books upstairs... I'll think about slugs while I do it...
10:37am
Finished biking. (Middle) on computer still. Wondering what it would be like to be a slug.
Let's just say that some of my life (usually where my fabulous children are concerned) is inspiring; some of it is confusing (but that's OK; I'm enjoying the journey to finding out some answers), and some of it involves making and recovering from idiotic mistakes (not so happy about those, but hey - if it helps people not to feel stupid in comparison, at least it's not all bad). If you can handle that, so can I ;)
Why did I write all of that? I don't know really - perhaps it was something to do with a webpage I happened upon where a Blogger-with-a-capital-B was bemoaning the fact that there were people out there who have the audacity to blog without having any blogging qualifications (oh the horror) !!! Did you know there are courses on how to write a "proper" blog? You can now take a degree in blogging!!! Here was me thinking I'd just write a little self-indulgent journal of our journey into Home Education, and share it with people kind enough to be interested. I don't have advertising on here - but that's not to say I won't one day if it my lil blog ever got big enough to generate proper revenue (after all, HE'ors aren't paid to educate our children - and money is kind of useful) - it's just not why I do it. So this is my tiny little stand on behalf of all those who dare to write blogs without being "qualified", just for the fun of it - and on behalf of those oh-so-discerning and valued people who like reading what we write ;)
So anyway, on to today's little diary entry (it has to be a quick one)...
The boys spent AGES on Reading Eggs & MathsWhizz today. I got to sit with them while they were doing their various curricula, which they love - I can't always be with them when they're doing their online learning, but they do like it when I can - plus I get to see how much progress they're making, so I try to do it as often as I can :) While not on the computer, there was LOTS of trampolining and bicycle riding today - I'm grateful for the weather, which may have turned colder and distinctly autumnal, but is still dry enough for them to play outside :) We also had some time with a craft activity: one of the things I was looking forward to about Autumn was all the lovely Christmas crafts we could make - and today was our first one, inspired by a lovely Home Edder I've met through a group on Facebook. It couldn't be simpler really - put a layer of pony beads into metal cookie cutters (Christmas-shaped, of course!), and bake them in the oven for 10mins. Result: lovely decorations to hang on the tree! Caution though - there are two things to watch: firstly, keep the kitchen well ventilated - the baking plastic absolutely pongs! Secondly, use a skewer or similar to make a decent hole (for hanging thread) soon after they come out of the oven - I did try to make a little hole but it was too tiny and closed up, then I left it too late to make it any bigger :( Still - I'm sure we'll be making more, so lesson learned. They still look fab :)
Eldest's tree and Middle's angel used glow-in-the-dark pony beads; Youngest's candy cane and Mummy's star used glitter pony beads.
the finished result - pretty!
And to finish, Eldest has also been keeping up with his diary throughout the day, and since it was well received in yesterday's post, I'm including a bit more here... not the whole lot though - he wrote so much! Who knows, if he keeps it up it may turn into his own blog!
September 20, 2012
6:51am
Yes it's 6:51am and I'm writing already, "amazing"! Watching birds in my garden, they've got lots of colours. Why couldn't God have given the colours to slugs instead?
...waaaaaaaaaiting...
I'm waiting for (Middle) and (Youngest) to wake up. I'm going to NOT WRITE until they wake up!.....
6:59am
NOT GOING TO YET.....
7:05am
OK will write something, "blah". There, done. Now where was I? Oh yeah.....
7:09am
Nope.....
7:23am
(Youngest) awake so I'll play with him now
8:47am
Finished breakfast and dishwasher. Mum asked me to take my Calvin and Hobbes books upstairs... I'll think about slugs while I do it...
10:37am
Finished biking. (Middle) on computer still. Wondering what it would be like to be a slug.
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