Friday 6 May 2011

may day and general fun










We try and celebrate quite a few festivals and seasonal celebrations throughout the year in our house. It helps us keep in rhythm with seasons and is good fun. So on May Day we read about the history of the day and some related poems and songs in our 'Festivals, Family and Food' book and made a may pole which we decorated with a few ribbons and some crepe paper. Then we danced around it singing a may day song which the boys both loved, they giggled their heads off. We also had a little barbeque in the garden and both boys enjoyed helping daddy turn the food over and move it from the barbeque to the plates. Arthur gets so much enjoyment from helping with things mummy and daddy do, hes just as happy helping me peg the washing out or chop up the vegetables for dinner as he is to play with toys.
We havent been doing a lot this week, im very tired all the time at the moment and our car is on the blink so we've been taking it even slower than usual.
We have started going swimming again, and i didnt realise how much the boys have missed it until they were in the water again having a lovely time. They are both confident in the water, Hayden loves going under and diving in etc and arties happy to float around with mummy and splash about in his armbands.
Today we have been at home and Hayden has done his Nina and the Neurons magazine from cover to cover and really enjoyed it. His pencil control is getting a lot better and his forming of letters is really good. He can write quite a few letters from memory now and all of his name without being shown the letters which isnt bad seeing as ive never pushed it and just helped him do it when he has the interest to. We read lots of stories today cuddled up in bed, Artie is getting so much better at sitting for stories now and getting engrossed in them. I havent read to him as much as i did with Hayd at his age but he is just as interested and has as big a love of books as his brother.
Hayden finally used the magic giant bubble wand he had for his birthday from my friend Mathilde. He loved making up the bubble juice and making huge bubble tunnels and artie was enthralled watching and popped quite a few. Recently we made our own bubble wands using toilet roll tubes to blow through, and also ones made from string and straws which were great fun and he wanted to use those again today too.
Looking forward to a relaxed lazy weekend to end our lazy week, hopefully involving messy baking fun, stories and lots and lots of cuddles.

Sunday 1 May 2011

Well hello there blog






Its been 6 months since my last post! I'm ashamed to say i had completely forgotten about the blog, been too wrapped up in our chaotic, exciting, never dull homeschooling journey. But ive decided its time i got my sluggish bum into gear and actually started keeping a record of our home-ed life, as the more im edging towards unschooling the more i feel the need to keep at least some record of what weve been doing and discovering if only to show family and friends who are concerned that he may not actually be learning anything! Also, i fear that when we eventually have a visit from the LEA they will want some evidence of learning too. Of course its very hard to quantify what Hayden has been learning as we don't do any formal work and instead learn through being, imitation and doing. We visit woods and park and museums and animal farms. We learn about nature by being out in it, we learn about history from museums and conversations with each other and everyone around us, we learn about science by doing home experiments and through everyday things. We learn social and emotional skills by being with other feral, free range home ed children of various ages. We learn important life skills like cooking, gardening, cleaning, sewing etc by doing them together and by myself modelling them around the children. Hayden knows his numbers, letters etc and can do quite advanced maths just from life and im not worried if he knows these things as well as his schooled peers as for now they arent what's important to us. There are plenty of years ahead for these, for now we are enjoying life and all its magic and wonder while he's still at an age where the world holds no bounds and is continuously exciting and fresh. I say we as our journey is one for all of us, myself, the boys and Luke. I am rediscovering whats really important to me, simple, blissful living in and around nature learning simple joyful things and enjoying my time with my boys. I have included some photos of different things we've been doing and experiencing in the last 6 months sice my last post. I dont use the camera as often as i should, mainly because im enjoying the moments while im in them but will be taking my little camera everywhere with me now so as not to miss the beautiful moments that are so many and so few.