What a few months we have been having!!!

I can't believe the time has flown and here we are near the end of the kids first school year! What a year that has been! There has been so much happening, I got a job that I hated, school reports, Christmas, rugby, Youth Theater performance, I volunteered, Rugby tour, I got a job and soon it will be summer! Already I am planning loads of things for the kids and me to be doing - nature study, lapbooks, geocaching, spending days at the beach, going on walks, relaxing and enjoying the time again. However Eldest K and Middle A will be wanting to spend time with their mates as children at 13 and 11 love to do! So looks like it will be just Littles H, me and hubby doing all the exciting things together.

Life has definitely been filled with lots of ups and lots of downs over the last ten months since I last posted! A bit of a roller coaster ride you could say. But it has been needed and although I am not totally sure I am happy with the children's decision about returning to school, I am happy with their progress academically. Eldest K had such a glowing report academically it was like reading about another child! She has settled in and works fantastically hard, in fact her worst subject (Mathematics) has seen her move up two sets! Shock and amazement that Eldest K now LOVES maths!!! It was the bane of our home ed existence! Her art has always been her passion and she is now more open to try different techniques. The results have been spectacular - Manga is her current obsession. 

Middle A has gone from strength to strength, I managed to give him the belief in himself and that is more evident now at school and he is the most improved pupil of his year! He even has managed to make friends, he is looking forward to starting secondary school in September!

Littlest H has had more a bumpy ride to the start of her school year. She was the shocker as I had more issues with her than I thought possible. She was just used to doing her own thing in her own time and the shock of school routine and structure had her in a tizz for a bit. All sorted now and she is doing well too.

As for me, well the short and narrow is I am now a Teaching Assistant - one on one support for a Year 5 boy, just covering maternity leave - till end of October. Then we will have to see what to do then!

The hens are doing great now and laying fantastic! Your own eggs are so much tastier and scrummier - that is agreed by us all! The garden has been neglected but my apple, pear, plum and damson trees are all coming along nicely. The rhubarb was great this year and my gooseberries are nearly ready to pick. The polytunnel has tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, peas, mangetout, cauliflower, pak choi, beetroot, green beans and cabbage - all doing brilliantly! So we are still managing a little self sufficiently, but more effort is needed in this area - a task for me to tackle this winter - more planning needed.

And to conclude a few pics from the year!

   

  

Back to School Part ONE!

Well the day has finally arrived and boy did the summer fly by! Not that there was actually much of a summer!?

Two started school day, Middle A and Littlest H! The home educated journey has definitely been put on hold!

End of July Update

Well here I am on our anniversary - married for 11 years! - instead of having a fun time with hubby! Why? Because due to the kids activities (well Middle A's) and no chance of a babysitter we are doing nothing exciting! Hubby is cooking me a nice meal later! So I forgive him.

Okay, life as a home educator is now coming to a close! All the kids will be starting school in September! Eldest K has already went back so she will start September as a Year 8. Overall I am not sure if she loves school just yet, she has said she is bored some days with some lessons, but then her maths class she says she loves (she hated maths with a passion!). It is probably more a social thing for her as that has the area for the last four and a bit years that has been a thorn for her. There was never enough home ed things going on near us, so I had to travel, then that became an issue. She struggled to make friends and there where limited girls her age - and if she did they lived too far away. So for her school just means you get to be with your friends all day every day!

Middle A will be going back for the last year of Primary school, a different one to the one he came out of. A smaller school and a small class too. He has had a couple of afternoons to try and was upset that he had to wait till September. But we will wait and see how things progress once Middle A has gone through his "honeymoon" period.

Littlest H thought you had to be 12 before you went to school, so when I said no she could go in September, she was all delighted. She has had a try at preschool (one I know and loved -Middle A adored the Aunties!) and got about 12 sessions in, she loved it a lot. Littlest H also did the induction to school and that was a hit! Even though I didn't get to take her, hubby said that she was fine and thoroughly enjoyed it all!

So I feel a little like a fraud now on the home educated blog rings, so will have to look into removing them when I remember! I think I will carry on with the blog, might need to tweet the profile a little!

As for me and how I feel, well I am gutted really. This was not what I wanted nor expected but it is what hubby and the kids want so I am outnumbered. Fingers crossed it all goes more smoothly than my worse nightmare.

And thanks for coming along and listening to our journey!!

Well school is a hit!

Eldest K loves it!!!! She is not so interested in the learning more about the socialising and hanging out with her mates! But she is doing her school work and her homework, so can't complain too much! On a personal note I am gutted really deep down as it has been such a hit! I had hoped in the back of my mind that maybe it wouldn't be for her. Even though I want the best for her and most importantly for her to be happy, I am still struggling with it all emotionally! I will survive!

She seems to have settled in really well, which has been assisted that most of her Youth Theatre group go to the school, so she is mixing with older years easily and just having a great time! She did have a friend for a sleepover from her year this weekend, so she definitely seems to have settled in well.

So all my worries and woes where for nothing really as far as my concerns for her and how she would cope! Instead I should have worried about myself more!

On another personal note my sponsorship for the Race for Life is going well!!! I am so surprised and chuffed that people will sponsor me! But so happy that my initial target might actually get met!!! Does that mean I should increase it??? Thanks for those that have been generous, and you can click on my link at the top of my blog if you feel inclined to part with your money!!!

I have been successful on freecycle to get a hen house! So we might be getting a new home for our chickens! Oh and there is a hen coming with the house too! Am all excited but will have to wait till Saturday to collect it!!!

Middle A is having a bad time of it and refusing everything! "No" is his favourite word at the moment, which is keeping me on my toes and biting my tongue a lot!

We have had a major reshuffle in the house, which meant that our bedroom moved downstairs into the living room, the living room moved into the school room and the school room moved to the office (now called hobby room) and the hallway and the kids bedrooms too! The reason for all this was to give all the kids their own rooms! Started it on Friday and I am still trying to sort it all out! What a mess!!!! Only room not affected was the kitchen!

So that concludes the update for now! Thanks for listening to my moan!

Quick Update

I have been so bad yet again and not been updating my blog! Life here has been hectic, we have had an unexpected lodger which has upset the momentum of the house. But our good deal of helping a friend in need had been paid!!! Middle A has lost his room, and this has caused a lot of upheaval. I even felt like I was farming the kids out to ensure I only ever had a max of two children in at one time! Thanks to those understanding and have the unexpected house guest thrown at them! We still have the lodger but am hoping that this weekend will see life returning to normal family life!

I have decided to do Race for life and I have the links added to my blog! This is for my Nannie who fought and won and for my Grandad who fought very bravely but lost. I decided this as I have also embarked on my own weight lost and the walk would help me and others at the same time! I have lost 2 stone since February.

My last piece of update is that Eldest K has decided to return to school and will in fact start on Monday. It was her decision, took me a while to act on it! But she is all excited and set for Monday - apart from the mammoth shopping trip for uniform etc and then labelling it all!!! Wish me luck!

Bird Study Week One!

As it was such a lovely day we continued our nature study and this time we did Bird Study! Again, using the Barb's Handbook of Nature Study blog as inspiration and to show us the way. We did about Robins! We researched a bit about them first, with various books we have and the internet too. The kids found some interesting facts about the British Robin:

• they are resident in UK, but some females can migrate
• they nest in anything available - bicycle handlebars, machinery anything!
• they eat worms, spiders, bugs, seeds and fruit
• they are very friendly (we also know this from personal experience!)
• the female will leave the male in the winter times and have her own territory
• they can lay 2 - 3 clutches of eggs during breeding season and each clutch will have 5-6 eggs!

The most interesting fact for the kids was the way the female just left the male at winter! So we did our research, off we went into the garden (where we know we have robins!) Could we find one? No of course! We did hear a lot of birds singing, all different songs, mow we just need to find out the songs of the birds to see if we can find them.

We did have swallows flying and diving, quite a spectacular sight!

So there I was armed with the camera but no pics this time! I will search my photos, as I am sure I have one of a robin sitting outside my widow where my computer is. Quite a few birds like to stop by.

This was taken in February this year!

We topped up the bird feeders, discussing and identifying the seeds that where in it. They always love feeding the birds so completing this nature study was just another step in our exploration of nature!

After coming inside we spent some time on our nature journals and here they are!

This is Eldest K's effort, all her own work, so I am very proud of her as she only had one spelling mistake!

This is Middle A's, now it did take a bit of encouragement but this is a wonderful result which makes me so happy that he managed to achieve!

Littlest H of course decided red and brown are just not enough colour for a robin!

Well you can guess who's the last one is!!

Looking forward to next weeks bird study!

101 Things To Do This Summer

I know it is ages away yet!!! But just to get some planning in, here is something I came across on one of my endless groups! I know some aren't applicable to the UK, but hey there is more than enough options! Quite a few I would want to put on my to do list for the summer, or even just anytime for some of the options!

1. Make a scrapbook of everything you do this summer - The Basics of Scrapbooking http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/beginners.html
2. Have a picnic -Planning a Picnic http://www.the-picnic-site.com/
3. Learn how to play soccer - How to Play Soccer http://www.ehow.com/PrintArticle.html?id=
4. Visit another country - Lonely Planet Destination Guides www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations
5. Go to a ballgame - Major League Baseball Team Schedules
6. Get a job (parent permission)
7. Become a photographer - BetterPhoto for Kids and Teens www.betterphoto.com/photography-for-kids.asp
8. Make dinner for your family - Do-It-Yourself Dinner Party Project (PDF)http://www.reynoldskitchens.com/ReynoldsKitchens/KitchenConnection/special/dinner_party/DinnerParty.pdf
9. Compare a book to a movie - Compare and Contrast Essay (PDF) http://www.csudh.edu/CLASS/services/studyskills/english/webpageworksheets/comparecontrastessay.htm
10. Write a poem - 30 Days of <http://www.msrogers.com/English2/poetry/30_days_of_poetry.htm>
11. Learn about fireworks - How Stuff Works: Fireworks
12. Bake some cookies - Science of Cookies cookies.htm<http://www.bakingandbakingscience.com/cookies.htm>
13. Take a boat ride - Boat Safe Kids! <http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/index.htm>
14. Sketch a picture of your house from the outside - Perspective Drawing<http://www.artyfactory.com/perspective_drawing/perspective_1.htm>
15. Go to camp
16. Visit a farm
17. Take a walk and record the sounds - Listening to Nature <http://www.museumca.org/naturalsounds/>
18. Embrace Other Cultures - Culture Quest <http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/cquest/>
19. Keep a journal of what you do during the Summer - Keepsake Diary <http://kids-indoor-activities.suite101.com/article.cfm/keep_a_summer_journal>
20. Cut up an old greeting card picture and make a puzzle(parent help) - How to make your own jigsaw puzzle <http://tn.essortment.com/howtomakeyour_rgzx.htm>
21. Start a band - Make Music! <http://www.mustcreate.org/kid_home/kids3_1.shtml>
22. Learn how to make a movie - Digital Movie Making for kids <http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/intro_video/making_of_movie.html>
23. Blow up balloons, put notes inside and hand them out to friends - Message in a Balloon <http://www.nmhct.nhs.uk/pharmacy/nmha-activities.html>
24. Go backpacking - The Beginning Backpack <http://www.backpacking.net/beginner.html>
25. Learn how to oil paint - Free Art Lessons <http://www.interactiveartschool.com/free-art-lessons.html>
26. 26Create a web site - Lissa Explains HTML for Kids <http://www.lissaexplains.com/>
27. Go camping
28. Learn how to use Microsoft Office - Free Tutorials for Microsoft Office <http://www.baycongroup.com/tutorials.htm>
29. Help an elderly person with house or yard work(parent permission) - 20 Great Reasons to Volunteer <http://www.volunteermatch.org/volunteers/resources/tipstricks.jsp>
30. Visit the zoo
31. Learn a foreign language - Free Online Language Courses <http://www.word2word.com/coursead.html>
32. Make an obstacle course in your back yard - How To Set Up An Obstacle Course <http://www.ehow.com/how_3113_set-obstacle-course.html>
33. Make a treasure hunt - The Ultimate Treasure Hunt <http://www.allthatstuff.net/treasurehunt.htm>
34. View and learn about Modern Art - Destination Modern Art <http://www.moma.org/destination/>
35. Learn about the Animals that live on our planet - A Library of the World's Animals <http://www.learnanimals.com/>
36. Recycle bottles and donate the money to a local charity - The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide <http://www.obviously.com/recycle/>
37. Explore the Universe - A Learning Center for Young Astronomers <http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html>
38. Build a tree house - The Tree House Guide <http://www.thetreehouseguide.com/>
39. Create a new world - World Building <http://teenwriting.about.com/library/weekly/aa071602a.htm>
40. Set up a lemonade stand - Lemonade Stand Game <http://www.coolmath-games.com/lemonade/>
41. Learn how to make ethnic food - Ethnic Recipes <http://www.bhg.com/recipes/food-slide-shows/ethnic-food/>
42. Attend a concert
43. Have family game nights - What Game Should We Play? <http://www.hasbro.com/familygamenight/pl/page.games/dn/default.cfm>
44. Learn about science - Latest Science News <http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/>
45. Make a collage from magazine words and pictures - Collage <http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/do/collage.html>
46. Create a terrarium - How to Make a Terrarium <http://www.ehow.com/how_9374_make-terrarium.html>
47. Learn how to help the environmentEnvironmental Kids Club <http://www.epa.gov/kids/index.htm>
48. Discover new games to play - Nature Games <http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/nature-games.page-1.html>
49. Go to a museum - Find a museum in your area
50. Make a fire plan - Home Fire Safety <http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/flash.shtm>
51. Make up bubble solution and have a contest - Casey Carle's "Secret" Bubble Solutions <http://www.bubblemania.com/faq/solution.html>
52. Find a pen-pal (parent permission) - Pen Pal Directories <http://www.stonesoup.com/main2/penpal.html>
53. Plant something - Gardens for Beginners <http://www.geocities.com/mastergardener2k/>
54. Learn about Plants and our Environment - Think Quest <http://library.thinkquest.org/3715/>
55. Host a yard sale - How to Plan a Yard Sale <http://www.ehow.com/how_137461_yard-garage-sale.html>
56. Build a sandcastle - Sandcastle Tools <http://www.sandcastlecentral.com/toolpages/>
57. Donate some of the toys and clothes you no longer use - How To Donate Toys <http://www.ehow.com/how_10124_donate-toys-children.html>
58. Research your family tree - Tree Genealogy Information <http://genealogy.about.com/cs/free_genealogy/a/free_sites.htm>
59. Fly a kite - Professor Kite and the Secret of Kites <http://www.gombergkites.com/howgen.html>
60. Invent your own board game - Design Your Own Board Game <http://la.essortment.com/boardgamedesig_rxcu.htm>
61. Make your own comic book - Comic Creator <http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/>
62. Create a book cover for your writing projects - Book Cover Creator <http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/bookcover/>
63. Act in a play - So You Want to Put On a Play? <http://www.writewords.org.uk/articles/theatre1.asp>
64. Learn to Cook Introductory Cooking Lesson <http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-cooking-lessons-cit-intro.html>
65. Make a bird feeder - Easy birdfeeders for young children <http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-easy-bird-feeders.html>
66. Organize a bike safety clinic - Bicycle Safety Command Center <http://www.state.il.us/kids/isp/bikes/>
67. Spend time with your grandparents- 10 Great Activities <http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson136.shtml>
68. Learn how the Internet works - Learn the Net <http://www.learnthenet.com/english/section/intbas.html>
69. Dig for fossils - Dinosaur Dig <http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/fossils/>
70. Write a song - Notes on Songwriting <http://www.robinfrederick.com/write.html>
71. Tie-dye some t-shirts - How to Tie-Dye <http://iaia.essortment.com/tiedyedyefa_rmel.htm>
72. Make your own banana split Yum!<http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/recipesforkids/ht/bananasplit.htm>
73. Create a themed dinner - Theme Dinner Ideas <http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/theme-dinner-ideas.html>
74. Tour the World - Google Earth Style <http://earth.google.com/tour.html>
75. Throw a pajama party - Make it a success <http://www.ehow.com/how_2047629_plan-pajama-party.html>
76. Learn some new outdoor games - Games Kids Play <http://www.gameskidsplay.net/>
77. Make something from recyclables - Crafts from Recycled Products <http://www.makingfriends.com/recycle.htm>
78. See a movie with a friend - In the theatre or on DVD
79. Make homemade ice cream - Kitchen Theater Science in a Scoop <http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmag/bk_issue/1996/julaug/dept4.htm>
80. Build a time capsule For the entire family <http://www.ehow.com/how_6637_make-family-time.html>
81. Get a magazine subscription (parent permission)
82. Organize a scavenger hunt - Outdoor Scavenger Hunts <http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/camping/kids/scavengerhunt.htm>
83. Go swimming - Video Clips of the Swimming Strokes <http://wellness.lattc.cc.ca.us/real/strokes.html>
84. Paint a portrait of your best friend - Draw Your Friend <http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/sparkers/friend_portrait/portrait_friend.html>
85. Start a collection - How to Start a Collection <http://www.ehow.com/how_10563_start-collection.html>
86. Write a fairy tale - Fractured Fairy Tales <http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/fairytales/>
87. Travel in time - Odyssey Online <http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/MidElem_Home.html>
88. Stargaze and track the moon phases - Moon information <http://www.moonconnection.com/>
89. Learn how to sew - Learn to Sew <http://cyberseams.com/>
90. Visit a National Park
91. Rent a video of a ballet - Easy to Read Profiles of the Histories of Ballets <http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/historyofballet/>
92. Roast marshmallows - How to Roast a Marshmallow <http://www.ehow.com/how_1164_roast-marshmallow.html>
93. Watch the birds - Tips on Getting Started with Bird Watching <http://www.birdwatching.com/tips/kids_birding.html>
94. Arrange a bouquet of flowers - Learn how to make a beautiful display <http://interiordec.about.com/library/weekly/aa021403b2.htm>
95. Learn to blog (parents' permission)How-to <http://learn2blog.pitas.com/>
96. Re-decorate your room - Decorating Gallery <http://www.hgtv.com/topics/bedrooms/index.html>
97. Learn to play chess - Chess is Fun <http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/chess/chess.html>
98. Adopt a pet (parent permission)
99. Keep your brain going - Brain Teasers <http://www.brainconnection.com/teasers/>
100. Teach someone to use email - How eMail Works <http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/20how.htm>
101. Create your own holiday - A Month With No Holidays? Make Up Your Own! <http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson018.shtml>