Lovely educational stuff!

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Today we have rediscovered these lovely Usborne activity cards.  I think Monkey has done some of the word puzzles on his own recently, but it is the first time in a while that we have done them together.  Owl and I did three of the Maths puzzles together (learning about co-ordinates, identifying even numbers up to 3 digits, and understanding probability.)  Then Monkey and I did two word puzzles ( a castle word search, and matching pairs of words with opposite meanings) and one space-themed Maths puzzle which involved addition and subtraction.

There is a great variety of themes and topics, and they range from fairly easy to very challenging.  Sometimes we have used them to reinforce particular topics, but it’s also fun to choose some at random as we did today.  Usborne has lots of similar sets, including Grammar and Punctuation cards which we didn’t get to today, but the boys were both keen to do some of them as well, so maybe we’ll fit that in tomorrow.  Anything that makes them excited about Grammar and Punctuation is good for me!

50 things

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This afternoon I took the children to meet some friends at a local National Trust property.  We collected our “50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4” scrapbooks, and set off into the park. After a picnic lunch, we walked along the river looking for somewhere to try and catch a fish.  We saw plenty of ducks and geese, but no fish.  Tiddler discovered what happens if you grab a nettle, but luckily he also found out that crushing dock leaves in the same hand makes it feel better (or at least it was a nice distraction!)

We managed a few activities on the list – all the children looked inside a tree with a big hole in it (and found lots of spiders’ webs), and balanced on a fallen tree.  Owl hunted for bugs, and found an ant and several woodlice.  We didn’t manage to get a bird to eat bird seed from our hands, and although the children had fun fishing, all they caught was mud and leaves.   When they had had enough of that, we took them to the play area where they enjoyed the zip wire and lots of things to climb on.

On our way out, we collected stickers for our scrapbooks and planted some seeds, before setting off home.  It was a lovely afternoon out, and I’m sure we’ll be back there soon.  We are also feeling inspired to do as many of the 50 things as possible, so we will be planning some more outdoor activities and making good use of our National Trust membership.

Checklist

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I’ve been thinking about lists and how they reflect priorities.  I suspect I’m not alone in having lots of to do lists on the go (some make it to paper, and some are just in my head!), and my mood at the end of each day is often related to how much or little of these have been ticked off.

Today, for example… a low score on domestic tasks.  Mainly just clearing up in the kitchen, and a bit of tidying up which was partially undone by Tiddler.  Suburban dad has done better on his list of DIY tasks.  He has been putting up shelves all over the place, which should help us in the war against clutter.  Of course, his success is partly the reason why I’ve done so little, as I was mainly keeping the children busy and out of his way.

Then there are the lists of regular and occasional activities to be fitted in – Saturdays are full of those – and there is quite a sense of accomplishment in looking back over the day and seeing how much we have done.  Today has included Dramabuds, Football, a Christian Aid coffee morning, a church fair, Choir, Ballet and other bits and pieces such as making hair appointments for the children, browsing in a charity shop, and for me a lot of walking between the various activities (over two hours, but a lot of it was at Rabbit’s walking pace so not as impressive as it sounds!)

In all the busy-ness of life, it is easy to forget that there are things that are more important even than all the worthwhile things above.  Maybe I need a new checklist…

  • Have I played with my children today?
  • Have I read to them, listened to them read or looked at a book with them?
  • Have I listened – really listened – to what they have to say?
  • Have I looked in to their eyes and given them my full attention?
  • Have I told them I love them? praised them? said that I enjoyed something we did together?

Today, I think I have done just about all of them, but not necessarily each thing on the list with each child.  It’s challenging with four, but not impossible.  So today, all in all, has been a good day… but I think I can do better.  I think I need to judge the success of each day less on the other lists and more on this one.

Monkey’s milkshake recipe

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This is Monkey’s version of the milkshake recipe which I posted about a few days ago.  He has written several copies, which I keep finding around the house.  I think he has probably copied it from the book, but he at least he is getting lots of writing practice.  I wondered whether to suggest making some different milkshakes and writing recipes for each one, but maybe I shouldn’t interfere as the whole thing was his idea in the first place.  It has led to lots of reading, writing and interesting discussions so far, so I might wait and see what he comes up with next.

Latin and French

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Owl has been learning Latin for a while now using the excellent Minimus series, and Grandpa has also been giving him extra lessons which I think have been very thorough as we have long lists of vocabulary to learn.  Owl has been making flashcards of some of the words (the picture shows just a few of them) and has been doing quite well at remembering them.  It’s been good for me too – my Latin needs a little revision!

While Owl was making his cards, I gave Monkey the eeBoo French flashcards (which I posted about a couple of days ago) to look at.  He was really inspired by them and asked if he could make some of his own.  I cut up some card for him and then left him to it.  He worked very hard on them and I love them!  I think this will be an ongoing project.

Home Ed on the move

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One of the things I love most about the Home Ed lifestyle is that you can take your classroom anywhere.  This is especially useful for us when Suburban Dad is away overnight for work.  The children really miss him and daily life is just that little bit harder for me, so our favourite thing to do when Daddy is away is to go and stay with Granny.  Having lots of extra attention from Granny makes the absence of Daddy more tolerable for the kids;  I also enjoy the company and the change of scene (it helps that my mum lives in a very beautiful rural location!)

Another benefit is that without the regular activities we fill up our week with at home, the big ones certainly get a lot more concentrated learning done, while the little ones are having a wonderful time playing with Granny.  I am not saying it doesn’t work at home – it just works differently. For me it is a good balance to have a fairly busy schedule most of the time, with lots of opportunities for socialising and shared learning, but to get away from it all occasionally and enjoy having more time to develop the boys’ learning and also relax and have fun together.

I really like being able to cover more subjects in one day without having to rush from one to the next.  In two days, we have done Maths, Reading, Spelling, Story Writing, Science, Geography, History, Latin, French and violin practice.  The children have also had plenty of free time for drawing and making things, playing with lego and trains, board games and puzzles, listening to stories, playing in the garden (Grandmother’s footsteps, stuck in the mud, blowing bubbles…) and probably loads of other things I’ve forgotten.

Today we have come home, and it’s good to be back.  We had a great afternoon at our small local Home Ed group, with lots of outdoor play and some brilliant Science activities (making sherbet which was very successful, and using lemons as batteries which is a work in progress!)  The big boys then went to Beavers before returning home tired but happy.

So thanks to mum for a lovely relaxing couple of days, to our good friends who hosted the group this afternoon and to the Beavers leaders who work hard every week, without much thanks I suspect.  Hmm, perhaps I need to go and thank all these people, in case they are not reading this.  It’s good to write all this down – it makes me realise how lucky we are.

Beautiful and useful

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I love these French flash cards by eeBoo because they are beautifully illustrated and look and feel like really good quality, as does the sturdy cardboard box in which they are stored.  There are 56 cards – eight words in each of seven categories.  They are: vehicles, colours, clothing, market, room, animals and nature.  Both the English and the French sides of the card feature the name of the category, the word, a picture and a sentence containing the word.  The set also includes suggested games and activities, and a pronunciation guide.
To some British people, it may be seen as a downside that eeBoo is an American company (based in New York) and therefore American English is used, with spellings such as “colors”, and a number of examples of different vocabulary usage.  On the other hand you could take the view that this would lead to some interesting discussions with your children about regional variation in the English language!  I find it fascinating anyway – some examples include: airplane/aeroplane; pants/trousers; sweater/jumper; truck/lorry.  Interestingly on the card for “l’automne”, the word is translated as “fall” but the sentence “En automne les feuilles sont belles” is translated as “In autumn the leaves are beautiful.”

American usage aside, what I love about these cards is that, among so many educational resources for children, they stand out because they are both beautiful and useful.

Science and milkshakes

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Today Monkey decided he wanted to learn about how bees make honey, so we read together quite a lot of the information about it from The Usborne Pocket Scientist – the Blue Book.  There’s more to read, but so far we have found out about different types of bees, the anatomy of a honeybee, beehives and beekeepers, pollination, how bees make honey and different kinds of honey.

After reading the book, Monkey wanted to try out one of the suggested activities which was making honey milkshake.  So he and Owl and Rabbit made it together and it was a great success.  Even Tiddler sliced his own banana.  It’s a nice simple activity, suitable for all ages – with or without the scientific learning about honey!

Honey milkshake

Blend together a cupful of milk, a scoop of ice-cream and two teaspoons of honey.  Pour into a glass and top with banana slices (though as Owl pointed out, the banana slices sink so it’s not exactly a topping.  Leads neatly on to the next science lesson…)

Thanks to Usborne Books for the idea.  Obviously it’s a pretty simple “recipe” and there could be endless variations.  Anyway, it was a fun activity to go with the topic, and I’m sure we will be making it again soon.  Whether our hands-on learning will go as far as keeping bees in the back garden, I don’t know.  I think the idea appeals to Suburban Dad but I’m not so sure!

Funny

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If Tiddler could write and I asked him to blog his favourite bedtime story, this would be it.  He can’t just yet (home ed kids may be advanced, but he has only just turned two) so I’ll have to do it for him.

Tiddler was given this book as a birthday present by his Godparents and he loved it so much that it has been essential bedtime reading ever since, and sometimes before his afternoon nap too.  His word for bunny is “funny” which can be a little confusing.  If you forget to read him the book at bedtime, he can be seen with his best cross face on shouting “Funny! Funny!” in a tone of voice which implies that forgetting his book is anything but.

The book has appealing illustrations and simple rhyming text, both of which are somewhat upstaged by the star of the show, a wonderfully soft and very cute bunny rabbit puppet, which toddlers will love to cuddle as they listen to the soothing story.

Ballet is fun for boys

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Ever since my two biggest boys were small, I have wanted to give them, among other learning opportunities, the chance to try ballet.  I’m not sure why it felt so important, but it has long since troubled me that we steer our children down narrow paths according to gender, with little room for diversity.  The polarisation of girls and boys, pinks and blues, seems summed up by our choice (many of us) to send our sons to football on a Saturday and our daughters to ballet.  I really don’t mind if my boys decide they love football best and my little girl chooses ballet, but what kind of a choice is it if they don’t get to try out both?

Having held this opinion for the best part of 8 years did not, however, lead to any swift and decisive action on my part.  When Owl was about 2 I vaguely enquired about some ballet lessons I saw advertised, but the time and location weren’t convenient and nothing came of it.  When he was 5 he started football, and nearly two years later Monkey joined him in the same class.  Some months ago, we discovered another football class nearby that takes children from age 3 up so Rabbit was able to join.  She has nearly always been the only girl there but it hasn’t bothered her.  She has a lot of fun and thinks that wearing football kit is cool (an accolade she only ever awards to boy clothes.  “Girl clothes aren’t cool mummy, they are pretty.”  I haven’t managed to persuade her that the two needn’t be mutually exclusive!)  So far so good, but still no ballet…

Then earlier this year I found out about a free trial ballet lesson at a dance school very near us, aimed at children aged 3 to 6.  I signed Monkey and Rabbit up for it and established that it was okay for Owl to join in for the trial although he is too old for the classes.  We went along and it was an excellent lesson.  Even Tiddler joined in and all four children loved it.  I signed the two eligible children up for a term of lessons on Saturday afternoons ( 3 hours after football so plenty of time for getting changed and cleaned up!)  Owl was disappointed that he couldn’t join in but he goes to choir at the same time so at least he has something else fun to do.  I also told him I would try to find out about ballet classes for his age, although so far I haven’t succeeded (cue overload of parental guilt…)

Still, I was really happy that two of the children were able to try ballet.  So, we went along for the first lesson, which was okay but Monkey was upset that he was the only boy, and even Rabbit felt left out as all the other children were dressed in pretty pink ballerina outfits.  A quick flurry of bidding on ebay soon sorted that one out, but that only added to Monkey’s sense of isolation.  He started to protest about going to the lessons, but I asked him to keep trying, reminding him how much he had enjoyed the trial.  I’m sure some would say I shouldn’t have pushed him but my parenting instinct was telling me to keep it going if possible.  It was hard though, hearing him tell me that “Ballet is for girls” and watching him get upset about going.

A few weeks in I was beginning to think that we should give it up after all, but we talked about how real ballets have men in them and they have special clothes and shoes for dancing and Monkey started to get interested.  Another ebay session later and he now has black ballet shoes which arrived today.  I don’t know if they have magical properties, or if it is coincidence, but this afternoon when I asked him to get ready for ballet he handed me a note, said brusquely “Read. This. Information!” and ran out of the room.  This is the note.

It was a priceless parenting moment!  So if you are a parent of boys and wondering if they should have a go at ballet (or your girls want to do football), I hope this post will encourage you that it is worth a try.

Postscript:  this morning Rabbit and Tiddler went to a trial session of Dramabuds and they both enjoyed it.  So for the rest of this term they will doing that on a Saturday morning, which means no more football for Rabbit.  I think that’s okay, but I hope she will rejoin the boys next term, which might mean taking her to a midweek drama lesson if she wants to continue.   And that will lead to more childcare headaches… it is so much more difficult to do activities in the week unless they are suitable for all four children, but there are only so many things one can cram into a Saturday.

Just one more thing: should it worry me that Rabbit was only interested in ballet clothes if they were pink?  Perhaps that’s for another post…