Silent Sunday 29th September 2013
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Saturday Snippets 28th September
{enjoying} the lovely weather
{attending} three Macmillan fundraising events in two days
{admiring} our wooden kitchen worktops which have been sanded and oiled by Suburban Dad – they look as good as new, which obviously means I don’t actually want to use them!
{eating} picnic meals on a blanket in the playroom because everything that was on the kitchen worktops has been moved to the dining room table
{cleaning} the kitchen cupboards and reorganising them – I am working my way through them and finding it very satisfying!
{watching} Strictly Come Dancing with the big boys
{loving} Tiddler’s new sheep pyjamas, which I bought months ago from Kyna Boutique and saved for the Autumn.
{snapshots} Tiddler is not well and has been needing lots of extra cuddles in the last few days. Rabbit went on a farm visit with Rainbows today and had a lovely time. While we were watching Strictly this evening, Monkey entertained me with the funniest dancing I have seen in a long time. Owl has been building Lego models on the themes of Maths and Science.
Maths with Lego Education and Twinkl
For this month’s education carnival, Jax has asked for posts about favourite educational resources. That is such a huge topic that it’s hard to narrow it down. There are so many resources that I love and use regularly. Online, there is Twinkl for printable activities, Reading Eggs and other interactive learning programmes, and some great free sites such as Maths is Fun, BBC Bitesize and NASA kids to name but a random few. Then there are books – fiction and non-fiction. We have thousands of them, and I wouldn’t know where to start in picking our favourites. Even if I could, that would definitely be a blog post of its own – or several. We also have some good text books (Galore Park) that we use as a focal point for certain subjects, and a variety of workbooks which can be useful, though I wouldn’t recommend getting too hung up on them. There is also a whole world of resources outside the home – museums, parks, National Trust properties, castles, beaches, woods, farms, libraries, sports clubs, home education groups and in our local area an ecology centre and lavender fields.
So I thought about all that for a while, then I started thinking about the subject-specific learning resources we have at home. Our house is overflowing with art and craft materials and kits. We have Mr Maker-style doodle drawers for paint, brushes, pots, collage materials, recyclable materials for models and so on. Then we have several large boxes of Hama beads (Maxi and Midi) – we get ours from Craft Merrily. We have Science kits, magnifying glasses, a microscope, bulbs, wires and buzzers, torches and magnets. Then there are magnetic letters, letter tiles, flash cards, and games like Banangrams and Scrabble. Maths is the subject for which we probably have the most specific resources. We have magnetic numbers, number tiles, number templates, Maths card games and board games, Multilink cubes, base 10 materials, Cuisenaire rods, number fans, fraction magnets, counters, dominoes and dice. It was really hard to choose what to write about, so I used the random selection method of picking the most recent photographs of educational resources in use – and here they are.
This is a Lego Education set (which we found on eBay) of number tiles, operation tiles and blank tiles and two white base boards. They are also compatible with our two large Duplo base boards as well, which is very useful with four children. We have used coloured stickers on the blank tiles so they can be used for matching and sorting activities.
Last week we got the set out for the first time in a while, and I gave it to the children without any instructions just to see what they would come up with. I really enjoyed seeing the variety of ideas they had. Owl and Monkey made lots of sums, using the four operations and the less than and more than symbols, then combined some of them to make a number crossword. Owl then ordered the tiles from 0-9, started at 0 again and repeated the sequence over several times, and then observed the patterns of numbers reading down the columns. Meanwhile Rabbit made a few sums but spent most of her time using the tiles with the coloured stickers on. She sorted them by colour and then by number, and then matched the number tiles 1-6 to the corresponding sets. She also used them to make pictures (a robot made out of a box, and an aeroplane!)
All of that was without any input from me, apart from explaining the less than and more than symbols to Monkey. The next time we use them, I might add in a few suggestions of my own but I wanted to see what they came up with first. These are some of my ideas:
- Print off some Number Digit Cards from twinkl and use them as target numbers for the children to make sums using the letter tiles.
- Use Duplo bricks and build towers, then place the number tile on top, or next to it, corresponding to how many bricks have been used.
- Also with Duplo bricks, make towers of two colours (e.g. three red and seven green) and then use the tiles to write the sum (3+7=10) to practise number bonds.
- Give the children a selection of number tiles to order, then follow up with a Number Ordering activity from twinkl.
- Sort small objects (Hama beads, Lego bricks, Multilink Cubes, counters) into sets to match each number.
- Use the tiles (and possibly bricks as well) to make bar charts.
- Leave the boards lying around with some sums on and see who chooses to answer them!
Any more ideas welcome 🙂
Silent Sunday 22nd September 2013
Saturday Snippets 21st September 2013
{failing} to write this post before midnight, so this week the Snippets are brought to you by Sunday
{feeling} very tired and a little bit ill, but very relieved that a niggling health worry turned out to be nothing serious after all; and also very grateful to good friends who have helped me in many different ways this week
{recovering} from a very busy day which involved hair appointments, taking Rabbit to a birthday party, lunch at the Garden Centre with the boys and Granny, shopping for shoes and other assorted things and supper at Granny’s house
{realising} that I am too tired to write much else, though I’m sure I would have more to say if only I could engage my brain
{snapshots} Owl loved watching the woodturning demonstration at the Garden Centre, and has decided that he would like to learn to do it too. Monkey has impressed me with his determination to save up ten pounds for a Lego Chima set which he bought today. Rabbit decided to go as a king to her friend’s party – I like her style! Tiddler has started Pre-School this week and would like everyone to know that he is a Very Big Boy – except when he is tired and wants to be carried. In which case, “I not big, I a little boy now!”
I’m linking up with Jax again. You can read her Snippets here.
A Wonderful Holiday in Wales
It has been exactly three weeks now since we went on holiday to Wales – yes, it has taken me that long to sort through all the photos for this blog post! We went with Granny and Grandpa (my parents) and stayed at St Brides Castle in Pembrokeshire. After a long journey, we arrived late in the afternoon and the children couldn’t wait to get out of the car and explore.
Saturday
The first stop was the play area, and then the little ones ran down to look at the sea – the view was amazing!
After playing outside for a while, we went to check out the indoor facilities – there was a games room, a library, a mini gym and a swimming pool with sauna and steam room. We were too tired for swimming on the first evening, but we made use of the pool eight times in the following six days!
Sunday
We spent Sunday morning in the games room and swimming pool, and then in the afternoon Monkey, Tiddler and I walked down to the small beach nearby with Granny, while Rabbit and Owl stayed with Daddy and played tennis.
The tide was high so the beach was small, but it had some great rock pools to investigate. I think I was more excited about that than the boys, though they did enjoy it.
It was very rocky but there was just enough sand to make some sandcastles.
I really enjoyed watching the boys work together. Monkey was frustrated at first with Tiddler’s attempts to “help” but once he managed to explain what he wanted him to do they were a very good team.
At the end of the afternoon, we took the big three swimming again, while Granny looked after Tiddler. After supper, we went to the games room for a little while, and returned just as the sun was setting.
Monday
Monday was a quiet day. In the morning we spent quite a long time in the games room, playing table tennis, pool and board games, and then Daddy and Granny took the children swimming. In the afternoon we did some food shopping with Monkey and Tiddler, while Owl and Rabbit went to the little beach with Granny. We were back in the games room again in the evening, but managed to get the children to bed just in time for Mummy and Daddy to fit in a game of Scrabble – look at that, not a laptop in sight! There’s something to be said for having a very poor Internet connection when you are on holiday.
Tuesday
Tuesday was our castle day. We always like to visit a castle while we are on holiday if we can, and as we were in Wales we were spoilt for choice. After much consideration, we settled on Pembroke Castle and we were not disappointed. In the morning we got everything ready for our outing, while Granny and Grandpa looked after the children. We arrived at the castle at lunchtime, and had a picnic on the grass outside before going in.
We had a brilliant time exploring the castle and admiring the views. It was a bit scary seeing the children so close to the edge, but they were very sensible.
We enjoyed looking at the exhibitions too, with waxwork models showing scenes from castle life at different times in history.
We also spent some time relaxing in the sunshine in the central area where there is lots of space to play…
… and read your Horrible Histories magazine too!
After taking a break, we continued looking round the castle as there was so much more to discover.
Next we went down some steep steps into a huge cavern where people took shelter in the Iron Age – they were the first humans to dwell on the site. (That was another of our National Trust 50 things: number 29 – explore a cave.)
Back above ground, we had another quick walk round to discover some parts of the castle we had missed earlier, but we all wished we could have stayed for longer.
We went back to look at some parts of the exhibition we hadn’t seen before, and Owl was pleased to find a room dedicated to the history of the Pembroke Yeomanry, including their part in the First and Second World Wars.
We finished up in the room in which Henry VII was born, and then left via the shop where we bought some really good books and a stick of rock each for the children. Rabbit in particular loved this treat and has been asking when she can have a “sticker rock” again ever since!
After a brilliant day out, we went back to the holiday house for supper, a late swim and a very late bedtime.
Wednesday
Wednesday was our big beach day, and luckily it was also the warmest day of the holiday. We dithered a bit about where to go, then decided on Broad Haven beach – and it was perfect.
After a picnic on the grass at the top, we went down on to the beach. I had fun making a sandcastle with the children – in previous years I’ve been the one feeding the baby or chasing the very small toddler, so it was nice to be able to join in with them this time. I was quite pleased with our efforts, but Daddy was not impressed. Our castle didn’t have a mound so it wasn’t historically accurate enough for him. It did, however, have the benefit of not taking too long to make, which suited the rest of us!
While Daddy set about the long task of making a perfect replica of Pembroke Castle in sand (with a little help from the team on and off), there was plenty of time for channeling water into the moat of the first sandcastle, random digging, playing football and paddling.
Tiddler enjoyed getting as messy as he possibly could, and even Monkey (who normally prefers to keep clean) soon got stuck in.
Owl and Rabbit were the most confident in the water, but after a while Tiddler and Rabbit joined in too. They had a brilliant time splashing and playing, and were all very excited when they “caught” a (dead) crab!
It was such a wonderful combination of joyful children and a beautiful beach in the late afternoon sunshine that I took rather a lot of photos…
…and then I took a few more! You can just about see that Monkey and Rabbit were holding hands as they ran in and out of the waves 🙂
We stayed for longer than we had planned because it was just so perfect.
Meanwhile, Daddy finished reconstructing Pembroke Castle to his satisfaction. Eventually we managed to get the children to leave by promising to take them to a cafe. We had some really excellent ice creams, and also ordered fish and chips which we took back to our holiday house for supper. We ended the day with another very late swim.
Thursday
On Thursday we swam in the morning, and then spent the afternoon at the little beach with Granny and Grandpa.
It was low tide this time, so there were even more rock pools to explore.
This time I wasn’t the only one who got excited about it, as Rabbit was just as keen on exploring the rock pools as I was!
On the walk back up, we had a wonderful time flying our Butlins kite. Owl chose it when we were at Minehead for Spring Harvest last year and it is much better than any of the other kites we have had (and we’ve had a few!)
In the evening we went to the restaurant which was just outside our holiday house. It was a very nice meal, though it took quite a long time to arrive – so that was another late night. I quite enjoyed the lazy mornings as the children all woke up late every day, though it hasn’t been easy to get back to a normal schedule since then. We have just about managed it now, but thank goodness for the flexibility of home education, because it has taken us a while!
Friday
On the last full day of our holiday we decided to stay on site to make the most of the excellent facilities. In the morning we all went swimming together, then Daddy, Grandpa and I tried out the pitch and putt while Owl went to the games room with Granny. We joined them there and then said goodbye to Granny and Grandpa who were leaving that day, as they had arrived the day before us. We spent the rest of the morning playing pool, table tennis and Junior Monopoly.
In the afternoon we played bowls on the pitch which was right outside our holiday house.
Then we played quoits, and Owl took a photo of me just to prove I’d been there!
We went back inside – to the games room again – and Owl stopped on the way to play the piano.
We went outside again to play croquet in the late afternoon sunshine on the lawn with a beautiful sea view – perfect!
After another quick play in the games room we had some supper and then finished the evening with a very late and very long swimming session. We had the pool to ourselves for most of it, and it was lovely. And by the end of the evening, Monkey and Rabbit had both learnt to swim without armbands. Owl had also completed his self-imposed challenge of swimming ten lengths alternating front and back stroke, and Tiddler was totally confident about swimming on his own with armbands. This was definitely one of the holiday highlights for me – a very proud Mummy moment!
Saturday
In the morning we had to pack up and leave our holiday house. The children were very helpful, and pushed several trolley loads of luggage to the car – as well as riding their beloved Trunkis of course.
We weren’t in a hurry to leave, so we played tennis and then visited the play area, and of course the games room one last time.
We finally set off when it was nearing lunch time because we wanted to get some of the driving out of the way before stopping. After lunch we visited some friends that we met at Spring Harvest last year, and then set off for Granny’s house. As we were leaving Wales there was a perfect double rainbow which seemed to sum up what had been a truly wonderful holiday.
DC Super Friends Magazine
Yesterday was a busy day. The little two went to a new home education sports group with their friends from 3 Kids and a Gluestick, and then on to a birthday party. Meanwhile I took the big boys to their first French lesson at another local home education group. We met up with the others back at the party and spent some time with them, before heading home at the end of the afternoon tired but happy after a successful day. I was just calculating how quickly I could produce supper when we got home, and wondering how to occupy the children in the mean time, when we arrived back to find our new DC Super Friends magazine waiting for us. This was a perfect diversion while I got the supper ready, though I have to say that the children were so excited, and overtired, that there was a bit of a scuffle about who could look at it first!
The magazine is aimed at pre-school boys aged 2-5, so it was obviously very suitable for Tiddler, but I knew that all the others would like it just as much – and they do. Rabbit loves it and lots of the activities are just right for her – girls like Superheroes too! And the older boys love anything to do with Superheroes, so they were happy as well.
The first thing they wanted to do, of course, was to play with the toys so that is what they did before supper. We have had many magazine toys over the years, some much better than others, but these “cool communicators” are just about right. Pretty simple but fun, brightly coloured and appealing, and didn’t break before they came out of the packaging (that has happened on a number of occasions with other magazines.) The superhero pictures that slide into the slots on the front can be reversed, and the children really liked this feature.
The magazine contains colouring and activity pages, a story and some things to cut out and make. While the children were eating their supper, I read the story to them, and straight afterwards Owl read the whole magazine from cover to cover. He would have liked to do some of the activities but he said he would wait and see what the others wanted to do first. I am sure they will want his help when it comes to making the batman mask and batmobile, because he is very good at making things.
It didn’t take the children long to notice that there is a competition to win a Batcave Playset and Figurines, so I am sure we will be entering that!
Rabbit spent some time working on spot the difference, code-breaking and matching activities, which she did with very little help. Next, Monkey looked at the pictures drawn by other children on the last page and drew his own picture of Superman. The children are often to be found drawing superheroes, so they are planning to send some of their pictures in to the magazine.
Finally, when they should have been going to bed, Rabbit and Tiddler spent a long time working together on the story page, sharing so nicely that they were allowed to stay up late. One activity involved drawing circles which was great practice for Tiddler, and then Rabbit took over when it came to the writing. They then managed to work on the same colouring picture and complete it without fighting – I was very impressed.
That’s all there was time for last night, but the children are planning to make the mask and batmobile later this afternoon, and will probably finish the rest of the activities too. Then they will be looking out for the next issue, and I am sure we will be getting it because it is so nice to find a magazine that appeals to all of them – I am not keen on buying four magazines at once!
DC Super Friends magazine went on sale yesterday (19th September 2013) and is available from supermarkets and newsagents or on subscription. Titan Magazines kindly sent us a free copy to review.
Silent Sunday 15th September 2013
Saturday Snippets 14th September 2013
{learning} about Nelson
{watching} the Railway Children
{picking} brambles
{playing} Monopoly
{returning} home after two weeks away
{trying} to face up to the realities of term-time and get organised
{wishing} we were still on holiday
{wondering} why my children are still awake at 11.30pm – Tiddler has just come in and said “I should be asleep by now but I want a cuddle!” And then he said, “Mummy, you should be asleep by now…” That would be nice 🙂
{snapshots}
The big three have been writing books this week. Owl’s is about Nelson, Monkey’s is a Lego Minifigure Activity Book and Rabbit’s is a story called “The Giant’s Pants.” Owl said “I’m making a book but it’s just a prototype. When I’ve written it I’m going to do it on the computer, then get it published, then put some copies in the British Library – well, at least one.”
Owl is still reading as many books as we can find about the World Wars. Monkey read a whole chapter book (a Horrid Henry Early Reader) to me and Rabbit yesterday. Rabbit is making good progress with learning to read, and is more confident about blending sounds now. Tiddler is very keen to learn too – he can recognise lots of letters and loves to follow the text with his finger when I am reading to him.
Claremont Landscape Garden and Garsons PYO Farm
I’m still behind on blogging about what we’ve been up to, as always, and I’ll get round to telling you about our wonderful holiday in Wales eventually, but first I want to share a lovely afternoon we had with our friends from 3 Kids and a Gluestick about two weeks ago. After a morning at the swimming pool, we set off to meet them at Claremont Landscape Garden.
We met up with our friends and had a picnic by the lake. The children had a lovely time, though we had to work quite hard to stop them feeding their lunch to the ducks!
After lunch, they rolled down a really big hill – this is one of their favourite things on the National Trust #50things list so I think they will be doing it at every opportunity from now on.
We weren’t there for very long, but there was time to play in the dirt, watch the ducks – and a heron – and go for a short walk round the lake.
The children climbed trees, the dads chatted (and carried stuff) and the mums took photographs! After finishing our walk, we left Claremont and drove for five minutes to our next stop, Garsons Pick Your Own Farm.
First we picked carrots, beetroot, onions and cabbages.
Then we managed to find just enough brambles that were ripe enough to pick.
Next we picked some sweetcorn which was an interesting learning experience. We were very glad to have our friends with us to prevent us from picking and buying unripe sweetcorn. It wasn’t as easy as the sign made it sound!
And finally we picked enough strawberries to eat some that night and make the rest into jam. Daddy made the jam the next day, and it is delicious. We’ve been meaning to go to both Claremont and Garsons for a long time, and we had such a good time that I’m sure we’ll be going back again very soon.