Well my day started at about 4am due to a very hot little girl in my bed, M had a nasty temperature and decided to not go back to sleep with one demand after another including a request for a midnight feast! We agreed a cup of milk was fine but I can't stand crumbs in the bed!
Once normal morning time had come around the temperature seemed to have gone but we opted for a day in just to make sure she was back to her normal self.
H continued on with the house build and C spent some time of easimaths. M on reading eggs. Expecting them to do too much during the half term though is a no go area as they can't wait to get out and build dens with their freinds :-)
So the rest of the day was spent with myself and M cleaning out the shed. While I sorted, she rode scooters and bikes around the garden and tried to skateboard out the gate a few times!
A quick visit from nanny and grandad in the evening and that was pretty much our day.
Tuesday 18 February 2014
Monday 17 February 2014
Valentines
Trying to catch up as I haven't blogged since Thursday.
I like to take pictures when we are doing activities as it helps to jog my memory when I do get around to writing everything down. It reminded me that Friday was valentines day, myself and M made a little love heart cushion on the sewing machine. She picked the fabric and helped to stuff it :-)
The weekend was spent doing weekend things. For me that was a lot of sewing and for the kids lots of dad time. They went up the park and rode scooters, played toys and went shopping. I had a bit of peace in between them all going in and out of the door for a change.
Today was the first day of the dreaded half term. I only dislike it as all routine goes out the window and feel we can't go anywhere without hoards of other children being there. We are used to very quiet museums and parks and once you get used to that you don't appreciate all the chaos that half term brings!
I also don't get much sense out of the boys as all they are interested in is going out to play.
After getting them to spend the morning in and starting their Teifoc kit they went off out for a few hours to the park with friends.
Myself and M went for a scooter ride.
They spent a lot of the rest of the day building k-nex models and had a couple of friends in. I had managed to get myself a nice big box on a facebook selling page. The kids had played with some a while ago and I had been meaning to get some. It came with motors so they have mostly been building moving contraptions while M went for a more delicate butterfly.
I like to take pictures when we are doing activities as it helps to jog my memory when I do get around to writing everything down. It reminded me that Friday was valentines day, myself and M made a little love heart cushion on the sewing machine. She picked the fabric and helped to stuff it :-)
The weekend was spent doing weekend things. For me that was a lot of sewing and for the kids lots of dad time. They went up the park and rode scooters, played toys and went shopping. I had a bit of peace in between them all going in and out of the door for a change.
Today was the first day of the dreaded half term. I only dislike it as all routine goes out the window and feel we can't go anywhere without hoards of other children being there. We are used to very quiet museums and parks and once you get used to that you don't appreciate all the chaos that half term brings!
I also don't get much sense out of the boys as all they are interested in is going out to play.
After getting them to spend the morning in and starting their Teifoc kit they went off out for a few hours to the park with friends.
Myself and M went for a scooter ride.
They spent a lot of the rest of the day building k-nex models and had a couple of friends in. I had managed to get myself a nice big box on a facebook selling page. The kids had played with some a while ago and I had been meaning to get some. It came with motors so they have mostly been building moving contraptions while M went for a more delicate butterfly.
Friday 14 February 2014
Strike!
Our morning started off with breakfast, late again, followed with some English, comparing and contrasting for H while C did some story writing. M played reading eggs.
A very light lunch and then off to go bowling with the home ed group. We have been meaning to try and go a little more often but things like to get in the way! Was worth the effort though and M won by one point, I think if she hadn't though a melt down might have occurred. For some reason she seemed quite tired this afternoon and therefore a little moody.
Back home for a short chill out time before C had goalie training. While he was busy we headed down to the beach. Very very cold but we did find some interesting things.
No idea what this is
Fish & Chips for dinner and time for bed.
A very light lunch and then off to go bowling with the home ed group. We have been meaning to try and go a little more often but things like to get in the way! Was worth the effort though and M won by one point, I think if she hadn't though a melt down might have occurred. For some reason she seemed quite tired this afternoon and therefore a little moody.
Back home for a short chill out time before C had goalie training. While he was busy we headed down to the beach. Very very cold but we did find some interesting things.
No idea what this is
Fish & Chips for dinner and time for bed.
Thursday 13 February 2014
Rain, Rain go away!
We spent Wednesday snuggled up in the house while the storm raged outside.
M had found all the sort toy turtles in the house and had come down to breakfast with them all which gave us the idea to learn about turtles.
We printed off some worksheets on different species and spent the morning looking at the anatomy and colouring in turtles.
Some of the day was spent watching the winter Olympics and trying to get our heads around the scoring in the woman's curling.
Plenty of Ipad time, some of it educational!
Lots of conversations on the weather too, especially as at one point the back door just blew open of it's own accord. Cue lots of screaming and laughter.
That's about it!
M had found all the sort toy turtles in the house and had come down to breakfast with them all which gave us the idea to learn about turtles.
We printed off some worksheets on different species and spent the morning looking at the anatomy and colouring in turtles.
Some of the day was spent watching the winter Olympics and trying to get our heads around the scoring in the woman's curling.
Plenty of Ipad time, some of it educational!
Lots of conversations on the weather too, especially as at one point the back door just blew open of it's own accord. Cue lots of screaming and laughter.
That's about it!
Staunton
I've been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast lately as I suspect a lot of others have been too! Any sort of break in the weather needs to be utilised well as it doesn't seem to last long.
Having a pretty good idea that it was going to be a nice afternoon I decided on getting the work done in the morning and heading off to Staunton http://www3.hants.gov.uk/staunton for the afternoon to make use of what is left on our Culture all pass http://www3.hants.gov.uk/culture-all/passport.htm
I really haven't got as much use out of it as I would have liked this year and still unsure whether to renew it or not at the end of the month. I think we have managed 3 trips to Staunton, a trip to Manor Farm, Basing House and Hillier Gardens . Counting it up it has saved us £20 so it was just about worth it but not sure we would have gone if it wasn't for the pass. If I make the effort we might get in one more trip before it runs out.
We started the day with some maths first, then packed out picnic and headed out the door.
We had a lovely afternoon looking at the butterflies and farm animals.
We had the play area to ourselves where the kids played hide and seek.
We explored further down the the site to where we haven't been before and discovered a little educational hut where we spent some time doing worksheets on birds and looking at the displays of skulls etc
Made it through the maze and found a robin on the way.
In the evening C started his programming course http://www.youthdigital.com/mod-design-1.html which will teach Java and he'll end up with a mod for his Minecraft account by the end of it. Bought as part of a homeschool co-op which is great as otherwise it would have been around £200 each! We paid around £80 each which is still pricey but I hope worth it.
Having a pretty good idea that it was going to be a nice afternoon I decided on getting the work done in the morning and heading off to Staunton http://www3.hants.gov.uk/staunton for the afternoon to make use of what is left on our Culture all pass http://www3.hants.gov.uk/culture-all/passport.htm
I really haven't got as much use out of it as I would have liked this year and still unsure whether to renew it or not at the end of the month. I think we have managed 3 trips to Staunton, a trip to Manor Farm, Basing House and Hillier Gardens . Counting it up it has saved us £20 so it was just about worth it but not sure we would have gone if it wasn't for the pass. If I make the effort we might get in one more trip before it runs out.
We started the day with some maths first, then packed out picnic and headed out the door.
We had a lovely afternoon looking at the butterflies and farm animals.
We had the play area to ourselves where the kids played hide and seek.
We explored further down the the site to where we haven't been before and discovered a little educational hut where we spent some time doing worksheets on birds and looking at the displays of skulls etc
Made it through the maze and found a robin on the way.
In the evening C started his programming course http://www.youthdigital.com/mod-design-1.html which will teach Java and he'll end up with a mod for his Minecraft account by the end of it. Bought as part of a homeschool co-op which is great as otherwise it would have been around £200 each! We paid around £80 each which is still pricey but I hope worth it.
Monday 10 February 2014
Winter Olympics
Home ed groups theme today was of course the winter Olympics.
We started off in a very chilly room (appropriate) having a circle time chat about where Sochi was on the map, what sort of sports were/are taking place and everyone contributing bits to the conversation about what they had seen of the Olympics so far.
They then went on to a challenge that involved making their own bob-sleighs out of Lego and testing them down a ramp to see which one worked the best. They were split into four teams and had to come up with one final design each. The girls seemed to find the teamwork element a little difficult at first but they did well to work through any issues.
C's team seemed to work really well and quickly established that the bob-sleigh ran faster without it's wheels!
Next up and still working in teams, they had to blow a Malteser using a straw through a slalom.
Slalom over, they moved onto building their teamwork skills again by working together on some home made skis. To actually move forward they had to all lift their legs at the same time, it was very funny to watch!
There was also a curling game too but I didn't get a picture of that one!
To finish up a few invented their own way of using the skis and the rest sat and did some Winter Olympic word searches.
The afternoon was spent playing shops at home and M helped me prepare dinner later on while the boys went out for a game of football with friends. She's actually mastered cracking eggs! Hopefully there's not too much shell in our pie as she had to have a few practice goes.
Sunday 9 February 2014
Another week, another blog post
There's been another big gap in my postings, mainly down to the fact that I thought I had got over my cold, turned out it was just waiting to come back with vengeance!
I'm glad to report it has finally jogged on though!
It did mean however that after Monday's busy day we had another few days stuck indoors. I don't think we would have ventured far anyway what with the awful weather lately.
We still managed to get through some Maths, English, Science and Geography courtesy of CGP in amongst computer games, toys and tv! I would have a guess that those things don't sound all that educational to most people but I would argue that they all have their own place in moderation.
The computer game most in use tends to be Minecraft which covers a huge variety of educational topics http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_in_education
The toys we tend to favour are construction toys such as lego and basic bricks, role play toys such as cookers, food, tills and costumes and toys and kits that spark the imagination.
The TV programmes we watch together are usually documentaries, films or subjects of interest, H is currently watching Top Gear.
Saying all that though there are obviously certain parts of the day where they will watch what I would call "rubbish" and play daft, time wasting games that perhaps I would rather they didn't. We are all guilty of wasting time on things though, even as adults. I like to do my time wasting on the computer. Really though who says it time wasted and not well spent? We all need to just do nothing sometimes! Everything in moderation.
Back to the week in question, we got to Thursday and finally made the effort to get down to the home ed Ice-Skating session. We literally live within walking distance of the rink but never seem to get down there for one reason or another.
We were glad we managed it though and it is considerably cheaper than the normal rate, probably the only way for me to justify going often. We will try to make it more regularly from now on.
Friday involved the arrival of our new bed and the afternoon was spent with help from M putting it together. The boys despite saying they wanted to help at first, decided that they weren't that fussed!
H did get to a couple of sessions of Jujitsu too this week.
C managed football training during the week but Saturdays match was postponed again due to flooded pitches. After a bit of a panic with major traffic issues M made it to gym on time after which we came home to get ready for Nanny's Birthday party.
Sunday was a chill out day after a very late night last night, early night needed ready for home ed group tomorrow.
I'm glad to report it has finally jogged on though!
It did mean however that after Monday's busy day we had another few days stuck indoors. I don't think we would have ventured far anyway what with the awful weather lately.
We still managed to get through some Maths, English, Science and Geography courtesy of CGP in amongst computer games, toys and tv! I would have a guess that those things don't sound all that educational to most people but I would argue that they all have their own place in moderation.
The computer game most in use tends to be Minecraft which covers a huge variety of educational topics http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_in_education
The toys we tend to favour are construction toys such as lego and basic bricks, role play toys such as cookers, food, tills and costumes and toys and kits that spark the imagination.
The TV programmes we watch together are usually documentaries, films or subjects of interest, H is currently watching Top Gear.
Saying all that though there are obviously certain parts of the day where they will watch what I would call "rubbish" and play daft, time wasting games that perhaps I would rather they didn't. We are all guilty of wasting time on things though, even as adults. I like to do my time wasting on the computer. Really though who says it time wasted and not well spent? We all need to just do nothing sometimes! Everything in moderation.
Back to the week in question, we got to Thursday and finally made the effort to get down to the home ed Ice-Skating session. We literally live within walking distance of the rink but never seem to get down there for one reason or another.
We were glad we managed it though and it is considerably cheaper than the normal rate, probably the only way for me to justify going often. We will try to make it more regularly from now on.
Friday involved the arrival of our new bed and the afternoon was spent with help from M putting it together. The boys despite saying they wanted to help at first, decided that they weren't that fussed!
H did get to a couple of sessions of Jujitsu too this week.
C managed football training during the week but Saturdays match was postponed again due to flooded pitches. After a bit of a panic with major traffic issues M made it to gym on time after which we came home to get ready for Nanny's Birthday party.
Sunday was a chill out day after a very late night last night, early night needed ready for home ed group tomorrow.
Monday 3 February 2014
Late start
Our day pretty much didn't start until 10.30, that was when we had breakfast! Ahh the luxury of not having to get up for the school run, Can't say I miss it, although I'm not all that keen on the late starts too often and we seem to have had a few lately. It messes up the meal plans for the day a tad.
Work for the morning consisted of C doing his maths via the computer (RMeasimaths) M joined in a little. Love it when they learn together, C was getting her to count the coloured squares while he was answering questions on area.
In between 'helping' C, M spent lots of time back and fore between her maths and reading apps, she plays them for fun without me even prompting so suits me just fine.
She also spent a few minutes writing letters in her Letterland book but didn't seem that fussed today.
H is making his way through the last few pages of a CGP maths book which is actually KS1 but want him to make sure he knows everything in that one before carrying on with his KS2 one. I found it out when having a clear out and thought I had better check he knows it all. He's been flying though it though so don't think it was necessary.
A few pages in their human body sticker books and then onto minecraft homeschool which even I enjoyed. They had to watch a video on Talhoffers Medieval Combat Manual which was fascinating http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAAFczOyLVo They then did a quiz on it which will be marked and determine if they get to go to the server party as it's the last week of the course.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the woods where we met up with home ed friends for some den building, badger tracking, football and getting very muddy. The wind was very cold but we still managed a couple of hours out of the house.
Work for the morning consisted of C doing his maths via the computer (RMeasimaths) M joined in a little. Love it when they learn together, C was getting her to count the coloured squares while he was answering questions on area.
In between 'helping' C, M spent lots of time back and fore between her maths and reading apps, she plays them for fun without me even prompting so suits me just fine.
She also spent a few minutes writing letters in her Letterland book but didn't seem that fussed today.
H is making his way through the last few pages of a CGP maths book which is actually KS1 but want him to make sure he knows everything in that one before carrying on with his KS2 one. I found it out when having a clear out and thought I had better check he knows it all. He's been flying though it though so don't think it was necessary.
A few pages in their human body sticker books and then onto minecraft homeschool which even I enjoyed. They had to watch a video on Talhoffers Medieval Combat Manual which was fascinating http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAAFczOyLVo They then did a quiz on it which will be marked and determine if they get to go to the server party as it's the last week of the course.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the woods where we met up with home ed friends for some den building, badger tracking, football and getting very muddy. The wind was very cold but we still managed a couple of hours out of the house.
Home for a quick lunch/dinner at 4pm, see what I mean about getting up so late! We left the house not long after to see Nanny and Grandad as it was my mother in laws birthday. Back home to watch Cars 2 and then they are going to bed on time so we can have a better timed day tomorrow.
Illness and Pj's
That was just me.
Been absent from the blog as not really felt up to it or that we had achieved much for the last few days to write about. I came down with the most rotten cold!
It was a challenge just to get through the days. We have spent a large amount of time on the sofa watching documentaries. Dan Snows Locomotion, showing the history of the railways. C has always loved trains, not so much in the last few years but he had a big obsession when he was younger which lasted a long time. He knows a lot more than the average person about the mechanics of a steam train! He really enjoyed watching it and H managed to sit through it too. M quietly played and cuddled up.
We love Dan Snow in our house so gave 'The history of the winter Olympics' a watch but didn't find it very interesting at all. First one of his programmes we haven't enjoyed.
We've had lots of construction toys out, films, books and learning apps, we managed a work book or two. The kids were taken to their clubs by dad so they at least got to leave the house and been around their friends houses.
Started to feel better Saturday evening so the kids went to stay with Nanny & Grandad for a few hours while me and the hubby got a rare evening out with friends thanks to a last minute invite.
Sunday was spent having lunch out with a play at the park and generally chilling out and planning our holiday to Munich.
Glad to be feeling better and looking forward to a more productive week.
To further add I did find some photos on my phone of what we did for Chinese New Year.
Been absent from the blog as not really felt up to it or that we had achieved much for the last few days to write about. I came down with the most rotten cold!
It was a challenge just to get through the days. We have spent a large amount of time on the sofa watching documentaries. Dan Snows Locomotion, showing the history of the railways. C has always loved trains, not so much in the last few years but he had a big obsession when he was younger which lasted a long time. He knows a lot more than the average person about the mechanics of a steam train! He really enjoyed watching it and H managed to sit through it too. M quietly played and cuddled up.
We love Dan Snow in our house so gave 'The history of the winter Olympics' a watch but didn't find it very interesting at all. First one of his programmes we haven't enjoyed.
We've had lots of construction toys out, films, books and learning apps, we managed a work book or two. The kids were taken to their clubs by dad so they at least got to leave the house and been around their friends houses.
Started to feel better Saturday evening so the kids went to stay with Nanny & Grandad for a few hours while me and the hubby got a rare evening out with friends thanks to a last minute invite.
Sunday was spent having lunch out with a play at the park and generally chilling out and planning our holiday to Munich.
Glad to be feeling better and looking forward to a more productive week.
To further add I did find some photos on my phone of what we did for Chinese New Year.
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