Our Tribe

Our Tribe

Wednesday 30 November 2016

This is the way

At Home Day. They are becoming quite the thing.

Bean, 9: watched Pokemon Advanced; rough and tumbled with Pumpkin; emptied out under the bunk beds in search of long forgotten toys; played with the farm set; played chess and triominoes with Pumpkin; had a bath with Pumpkin; played on the wii; and more.

Pumpkin, 7: played Temple Run; designed his own Skylanders; played scribblenaughts with me all day; played on the wii; made more lego mini figure Skylanders; played chess and triominoes; plyed Skylanders with me on the wii; said he wanted to go out for a bike ride but didn't want to get dressed; admired my cake; and more.

Plum, 4: asked me to put her mattress up on her top bunk bed and then spent most of the day setting it up with pillows and toys; playing with her roys on her top bunk; watching on her tablet on the top bunk; jumping of the top bunk with Pippin; but did not sleep in the top bunk as she had planned; she played picnics on the kitchen floor; watched Alvin and The Chipmunks; and coloured her hair with hqir chalks and then had a bath to wash it out; and more.

Pippin, 2: played with the Happy Street people; watched Bing and Topsy and Tim; buttered her own toast; put on her own clothes that she had chosen; read books and books and books and books; had a bath; played with Plum; did actions rhymes with Bean (row the boat, fishy in the water, this is the way the lady rides;) and more.






Tuesday 29 November 2016

People are more important

Monday. Plum, 4, went to Little Verse with SGG and SGS. Whilst she was out i played chess with both Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7. Pumpkin made his own Skylanders using lego mini figures. Pippin, 2, vacuumed with me and went back to bed for a nap about 11.30am.

Bean and me played on the wii in the afternoon. He chose Skylanders. We played together for about an hour whilst the others played happily together in my bedroom. He also cut out biscuits and then decorated them using tubes of writing icing. He mostly made faces onto the star shped biscuits. He spent most of the day watching Pokemon Advanced on his new tablet.

Pumpkin has been making his own Skylanders on his tablet (for Imaginators) as well as lego mini figures. He has also played through Lego: The Lord of The Rings on his tablet over the last few days too. This afternoon we played Mario Kart on the wii together and in the evening he played board games with Plum and daddy.

Plum got the cars and car mat out this morning and continued to play with them when she was at home. She put cars on all the road to create a huge trafic jam. She played cbeebies games on her tablet and instigated the hour long game of mummies with Pumpkin and Pippin in the afternoon. She also initiated the idea of making biscuits and cut out and decorated her own star biscuits. She had wanted heart ones but we have lost the heart shaped cutter. We sand twinkle twinkle whilst we were cutting them out and she taught me Dingle Dangle Scarecrow.

Pippin, 2, has enjoyed watching Bing and Tospy and Tim today. She has been busy playing cars with Plum and cuddled up on the sofa to read books with Pumpkin. She has cut out biscuits and played mummies with Plum as well as hoovering with me and drawing tiny squiggles very carefully.

People are more important than things. Proverbs 27

Monday 28 November 2016

Catch Up

Friday: Bean was exhausted after his mammoth cake making and decorating yesterday so he stayed home all day. Pumpkin stayed home too. I took the Plum and Pippin to the play park for an hour in the afternoon. It was crisp and fresh and cold.

Saturday: The smalls had a day with daddy and went to the library and Pokemon hunting.

Sunday: is Church day in our house. Pumpkin, 7, was especially tired but we all made it out in the morning. The Bean, 9, and Pumpkin played upstairs afterwards with R, 7, under a set of tables. Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, played with K, 10, and then played upstairs with T, 8, and daddy for a while. Pippin slept when we got home. We had lunch and the Big3 watched tv and played and creating things with pipe cleaners. Plum used paper and scissors too which evolved into a drawing session and then me selotaping pipecleaners, that had been shaped and curled, onto paper.

The animals came in for a play whilst their hutches were being cleaned out and then we went swimming together. Bean was swimming a little on holiday and has lost none of his confidence but needs more regular time in a pool. We even went outside into the cold and dark. The boys enjoyed the slide and the girls enjoyed the toddler pool with it's toys and activity boards and fountains and bubbles.

Back home the smalls put on a film, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit. Plum and Pippin played dollies together.

Friday 25 November 2016

Ginger Cat Cake

Another At home Day. This time planned. Bean, 9, had a wedding cake to make in the style of a stripy ginger cat.

Pumpkin, 7, enjoyed not having to share the computer and watched all day. He watched Skylander walkthroughs and Skylander cartoons, he watched DanTDM and Stampy, he watched The Simpsons and probablt other things that I missed.

Plum, 4, also spent most of the day watching on her tablet. After Pippin had a very long afternoon nap, they played together. They each had a dolly and a buggy and they kept putting on coats and shoes so that they could 'go out.'

Bean spent 9 1/2 hours baking and decorating cakes, with food and drink breaks included. It took 2 hours purely to mix and bake the bottom cake. This one on the top was a chocolate cake recipe that grandma gave us. We covered it with a thin layer of marzipan and then had to leave it until last before we covered it with foundant icing and put strips on it. For the following layer we made a Victoria Sponge. We mixed and cooked two layers but he decided only to use one. This was covered with butter icing and orange foundant and then cut out pieces to create the facial features. Next we made a batch of vanilla cupcakes. We used four of these for paws and covered them with orange foundant and decorated them with claws. Bean used a fifth one to make a mouse. The tail is a long roll of orange foundant.

We have used Pinterest to get design ideas for the face and recipe books and people knowledge to get different recipes to try. I have been baking a cake a day this week to try different flavours and sizes and strength and successfulness. Today Bean used YouTube to watch tutorials on how to shape and ice cakes. Daddy went out shopping to find a board to place it on. He couldn't find a cake board big enough so bought a large pizza board instead.

We will all be eating the left over cupcakes and one layer of Victoria Sponge.

Thursday 24 November 2016

Changing plans

We had plans to meet friends today at fisher's Farm, a reschedule from last week when we had to leave early because Pumpkin had hurt himself. Before we left Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7,  played on the wii and Bean made some more crayons and bagged them up ready to sell. Plum, 4, woke up earlier than usual and spent the morning curled up on the sofa watching Ben and Holly, and Max and Ruby.

Our frinds didn't make it to Fisher's farm as planned as they got a flat tyre so we stayed and played, just us. We spent 45 minutes on the slides before i got them all ready for the animal show and turned up an hour early. The boys stayed outside on the go kartd whilst i took the girls back indoors so Plum could resume playing with a girl she has befriended. We were there half an hour before we wnt back outside for the carousel ride. Plum and Pippin rode the merry go round, Bean and Pumpkin went into the trees and then to the taboggan. When it finished we went and fetched the boys so we could go and meet the animals. Today was baby guinea pigs, baby rabbits and the tortoise. Pippin is not keen on the tortoise. We then al played in the tree houses together before coming home.

Back home we watched The Thundermans and then the boys played on the wii, whilst Plum Pippin and me played lego together in the same room.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Home is where the Heart is

Another Home Day. You can tell that the seasons are changing as we are at home again. It wasn't the plan. We had planned to meet our Christian Home Ed friends for a play but several couldn't make it last minute so those of us left decided to meet in the park instead. Despite talking it through with the smalls and checking the weather together and arranging to play pokemon when it came to leaving, the suggestion of a rain coat meant that Pumpkin did jot want to go out. Bean was happy to stay. Pippin was tired. That left a disappointed Plum. I put Pippin to bed, Bean and Pumpkin went and continued to play on the wii. I scoped up Plum for cupcake making which she had been asking to do since Sunday.

Bean, 9, has been watching more Thundermans today, played mario kart and wii games (bowling and tennis) with me and played lego star wars and lego pirates of the caeribean with Pumpkin. He choose Cars for a film this evevning.

Pumpkin, 7, and I played Chess together this morning. It was interesting to see how he thinks things through (he is very articulate with his thinking process.) He has been playing a lot on chess on my phone recently and it is visible how much it has helped him learn the game. He has caught up with Dan TDM today and found some more episodes of The Simpsons. He has played ont he wii with Bean. They got stuck at one point and came and got a tablet so they could find a walkthrough on YouTube.

Plum, 4, has been playing mummys again with Pippin. The doll's house has been out and the kitchen set. She has been setting up the magnetic letter for me to read to her, puttin random strings of letters together, and then putting them in coloured groups, and finally making a rainbow with them. We made and decorated cupcakes and sat cuddled on the sofa watching Cars.


Tuesday 22 November 2016

The art of Busyness

Lego tastic times are here again. Bean, 9, spent Sunday afternoon creating a war scene with mini figures. I was on minfigure finding duty. Today he completed the scene and recorded a story using his creation. I think the whole process has taken 3-4 hours.

Bean has also been working on Scratch, which is a computer coding programme. We spent 1 1/2 hours on it together this morning and he has spent another half an hour this afternoon. He is creating a gladiator fight scene complete with arena. He and Pumpkin, 7, have also been playing fighting games with the toy guns. They also played games together on the wii, boxing and bowling today. We did load and begin to watch the film Herbie but it lasted 20 minutes before we moved on to the next thing. He ended his day watching more of the Thundermans today.

Pumpkin and Pippin, 2, played together this morning. They played pretend sleeping, and chase, and throwing and rolling a ball to each other. He won all the games on the wii with Bean and heped Bean to build and record his lego scene.

Plum, 4, went to Little Verse this morning and then enjoyed crafting and creating with our friends who came to play this afternoon. She made a garden in a shoe box and then began making the sun with our friend by taping yoghurt pots to her hoola hoop. After this she went and listened to her Frozen cd whilst playing lego and then doll's house and dressing up with Pippin.

All the smalls played in our bedroom by creating a huge pile of bedding on our bed and then jumping onto it from the top bunk.

We ended the day with a very successful Roast Pork dinner. The smalls all had more and left almost none for daddy.

Sunday 20 November 2016

Pokemon hunting

Pumpkin, 7, is improving. he hasn't asked for pain killers today but is using only the tiger balm. He still can't move his neck freely but has increased movement. He won't sit on his hopper and has said he doesn't want to go swimming.

After much negotiation and discussion opted for a drive around Pokemon hunt incorporating a stop at the cake shop in Crawley to buy coloured icing for Bean's up and coming commissioned cake. We drove around in the rain for two hours collecting Pokeballs and and catching Pokemon. Pippin, 2, slept.

Back home we watched Monster Inc and then Hoodwinked together. Pumpkin had a salt bath to help relax his neck.

Tales of the Unexpected

We had a play date planned at Fisher's Farm today. Plum, 4, was going to meet her friend M. We headed straight to the slides, it was freezing ourside and it had been quite difficult for Bean, 9, and Pumpin, 7, to agree to coming out. I played with theidea of them staying at home but it would have been at least 3 hours which would have been the longest i have left them, plus Fisher's Farm is the furthest i would have gone and the phone reception there is terrible, in conclusion, i decided against it. We agreed to stay indoors and everyone took tablets as they have wifi. They ran off and played as soon as we got there. We had been there about half an hour before Pumpkin executed one of his usual moves and landed badly on his neck. He was in a lot of pain and couldn't move it without causing more pain. I gave him painkillers and we sat and ate food. All the while he was screaming. Bean came over and sat with us, playing games on my phone. Our friends had arrived but we decided that it would be best to go home. On the way we stopped and bought Tiger Balm. Pumpkin sat all afternoon, stock still, on the sofa.

Back home Pippin, 2, slept. Plum played face painting and painted herself a pirate and me some flowers. Bean and Pumpkin took the Potersmore quizes to discover what house they are in (Hufflepuff,) what their patronus is (bean was an hare, pumpkin was an otter) and what type of wand they would have (mine is hazel  10 1/4 inch, unicorn hair core, unyeilding)

Bean and i also read the first chapter of the coding book that his friend bought for him.

We ended the day with dinner and a film, Bean had a bath, Pumpkin had more painkillers and tiger balm before bed.

Friday 18 November 2016

At Home Day

An At Home Day today, in which Bean said "i'm glad we had a lazy day, i needed a rest." It's his third At Home Day this week!

Bean, 9, mostly watchedokemon thsi morning and we played mario kart and lego: star wars together on the wii this afternoon.

Pumpkin, 7, played games on his tablet this morning and then watched DanTDM and Stampy this afternoon. mostly he was watching Skylanders playthroughs, he has asked for trap team for Christmas so is getting ready to play.

Plum, 4, played mummy's with Pippin, 2, most of the morning. She played with us on the wii in the afternoon. Bean was amazingly helpful and showed her how to use the controllers and what the buttons did and took her to a place in the game where she could create her own avatar. It was a beautiful few hours of play.

The day ended with A Bug's Life. Plum falling asleep during the movie circa 7pm.

Thursday 17 November 2016

We're going to bowl

Today's adventures took us bowling. We met FA#1 , we played arcade games, bowled and ate at Frankoe and Benny's.

Bowling went well. All four smalls had a turn.
Bean, 9, didn't use the ramp and, dispite being a bit hap hazard, scored well. We examined th3 score board intently and he worked out how the computer was recording each turn and adding cummulative scores.
Pumpkin, 7, was keen not to use the ramp but wasn't as successful as he wanted and he was struggling with not hving a score the same as Bean. He used the ramp for a few turns and it did improve his score but not enough to catch up with Bean. He found it frustrating.
Plum, 4, had a great time. FA#1 helped her bowl. She used the ramp to start with and then took a few goes bowling herself. She had a great time and realy enjoyed hersef.
Pippin, 2, won.

The restaurant was a success too. FA#1 played endlessly with the girls and i had had the foresight to take restaurant entertainment! We had colouring and top trumps and snap cards and i had packed an electeonic device each. Mostly the girls coloured and played snap, the boys did the puzzle book that the restaurant provided and played top trumps.

On our journey there Pumpkin spent the majority of the timelooking at and commenting on the beautiful and varying colours of the leaves. Bean was asking about how people predict the weather and we discussed measuring and recording the weather and how it is done. We talked about weather patterns and seasons and cloud formations and the position of the earth.

Back home the boys watched The Simpsons and Pumpkin has started watching DanTDM again and the frog man. The girls continued the game of mummy's and babies that they had began in the morning, reinacting a day over and over again, using the cupboard under the stairs as home, the kitchen set as the kitchen and the sofa as a bed.

We celebrated my birthday with cake and presents when daddy got home.

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Even more Tangled

Today we had a visit from Grandma and Pops. The children all came up with ideas of things they wanted to do with them. Bean, 9, had a game of monopoly with Pops at the ready, Pumpkin, 7, got out Zombie dice and Plum, 4, had playdough with grandma in mind. What actually happened was the children played with their gifts from China and ate Chinese sweets. Bean did get to play monopoly with Pops (Pops won) Pumpkin gave Grandma a crash course in Pokemon, Plum played board games with grandma and made Grandma and Pops a card. Pippin, 2, sat with Pops and watched on the ipad with him.

The day was also filled with films. The Simpsons Movie and Over the Hedge because Grandma and Pops like them (because they own them too) and Tangled. The boys played on the wii and Pippin drew more pictures. gr

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Tangled (again)

Monday.

Bean, 9, is keen to watch prison break films however we don't own any so we settled for heist movie instead and watched Oceons 11. He is also constantly asking about coding but we are struggling with how to carve time for him to do this so that we can help him and the others are not distracting. Today he also reminded me that we haven't been swimming for a while, he would like to be keeper for a day at Drusillas, when are we going to Harry Potter World, can we go to LegoLand next year? He's definitely a boy with a plan (or two!) We also downloaded Carcasonne today and played it several times.

Pumpkin, 7, had a playdate today. Our friends A and J came to our house to play. Pumpkin and A played Terreria together, build battle on minecraft (their own version multiplayer LAN) and discussed and compared Pokemon. They also played Skylanders on the wii and Bean introduced A to his home made Skylanders role playing game.

Plum, 4, still isn't well. I think she has had this cough for over six weeks now. She is finding it draining and irritating and she is tired. However, she still musters the energy for the things that she loves and so this morning she went out with SGG and SGS to Little Verse. Predictably she crashed on the sofa when she got home, snuggled under a duvet and watched on her tablet for a couple of ours with pizza and apple juice.
When Plum had rested and refuelled she played with her friend J. They played at being dogs together and then playdough and cafes. Plum fell asleep on the sofa after our friends went home.

Pippin, 2, has spent time drawing today and cutting up grapes into small pieces, watching Bing and Topsy and Tim. She managed to stay awake until about 4pm when our friends had left and then she fell asleep on the sofa.

Bean put Tangled on again and Pumpkin asked for his hairbrush and spent the whole film brushing out his knots. Bean and Plum both had a bath tonight and we were all in bed by 10pm dispite the girls late afternoon nap.


Monday 14 November 2016

Tangled

Sunday is Church day in our family. We all went this morning. It was Rememberance Sunday and a discussion about the road being closed for a parade led to us talking about Rememberance Day and the parade and service and Bean was keen to go. It wasn't possible today so we will put it in the diary for next year.

In the afternoon I took Bean, 9, to town to sp3nd the remainder of the money we had given him for his own food choices. We went to three toy shops and added a few things to his Christmas list, he found things he thought the others would like, and finally settled on a lego set and a film, Tangled, that we could all watch together.

We spent the afternoon watching A.N.T Farm and Plum fell asleep on the sofa. Plum, 4, is still unwell. She is full of cold, can't hear much and is tired of coughing. Dispite a two hour sleep in the afternoon she was in bed by 9.30.

We ate dinner, the girls bathed, and then we sat and watched Tangled together.

Sunday 13 November 2016

Questions Questions: What about socialising?

Inspired by two ladies that I met this week, both with babies, and considering home ed, and also by the influx of new home edders into our little community, I have decided to answer here some of the most common questions that we get asked regarding home education. Lots of home ed blogs have done this before but you can never have too much of a good thing!

Let's start with the most pressing of them all...

What about socialising? I hope anyone who regularly reads our posts recognises that we are a very social bunch. There is regularly meeting with other home ed families and spending time with our family and friends, along with entering the world on a daily basis, saying 'hi' to our neighbours, the postman and the guy in the local (craft) shop, in addition to visiting museums and chewing the ear off the expert- asking question after question, or requesting a book from the librarian. Seriously, i hope you get the picture, for us being sociable and socialising encompass so much more than spending six hours a day with a group of our peers that we happened to be thrown in with. 
The major difference, from my point of view, is not about how or even if we socialise but who we socialise with. We seem to be a society insistent on separating our children from their parents from as young as possible, instead of nuturing the most basic of our human relationships and making these secure and building our circle of emotional attachments with others from inside the family to outside. Family is important and building those relationships firmly is important and then our smalls begin to explore relationships with others around them that they meet on a regular basis, our community. For my smalls they do this at their own pace, they choose who they reach out to, and they choose when to recline and relax in the familiar. 
Let's not forget that we get to spend more of our time in the real world which reflects...the real world! We talk to our peers, we play with children from 0-99, we discuss castles and engineering and pets and lego with those who are interested in castles and engineering and pets and lego and it doesn't matter if they are 3 or 93.
And lastly, we observe others social skills, not from our peers (who are at a similar social, or unsocial, stage as us) but from those who have gone before us and have learnt social formalities and socialisation. This is not to say that the smalls are perfect, for they are just small, but i'm convinced that their ability to operate in the real world will be greatly improved by the fact that they were never removed from the real world.

Do you follow a curriculum? No.
By law you are required to provide an education, how you do this is entirely up to you. It is possible to follow a curriculum if that is the path you choose but we choose not to. We are autonomous in our approach to learning. The smalls choose what they learn, how they learn and when they learn. We flow seamlessly from comic strips to angry birds to board games to quick fire math to hide and seek. Life flows. Learning flows. And mostly with me just joining in or seeking an answer to a question or a place we can find out more about it.  My role is not to teach them directly but to facilitate their learning. We encourage, support, discuss, discover and play together. And, in truth, they are learning all the time. Learning cannot be confined to six hours a day within the same four walls for three terms a year. Children are not lazy and will not spend hours a day doing nothing, they are natural learners and the world is their oyster. Learning is not separated from the rest of our life or timetabled. It is life. 

But what about reading and writing and maths? Reading, writing and maths are part of our everyday lives. If this wasn't true then they wouldn't be so important in our educational system. I once saw a poster that gave ten pointers on how to help your child become a reader. All ten points said 'read together.' And that is what we do. Everyday we read books and signs and letters and messages and magazines and food labels and packaging and instructions. I answer questions about rhyming words and letters and words and logos and we play games and tell jokes and sing songs and read to each other. We support them on their reading journey. 
The same path is taken with writing (and maths.) The smalls type and doodle and write. They play with combinations of letters that they have put together and ask us to read them to them, they write cards and letters to friends, dictate emails to various people and companies to ask them questions, we leave messages on the fridge to each other and make posters to put on the walls, they tell stories into the voice recorder and we type it out and turn it into a book. But it is always important to remember that this is not a path set by me or a curriculum, it is always the smalls that zre doing these things as part of their play, as part of their everyday doingness, we are just there to help when they need it and there to demonstrate writing in our own lives. 
Maths has been an eye-opener for me. Truely, how do you learn maths without sitting down and teaching it? It's that statement they make, 'mummy, if i get one more for Pumpkin then I will have six.' or, 'Can i have half of that cake?' 'What time are we going to the park?' And then the response, 'And what if we needed one for Plum and daddy too, how many would we have then?' 'Come and show me where to cut the cake,' 'How long have we got before we leave?' The opportunities are endless. We play board games and minecraft and rearrange our furniture, we race each other and count our pennies and measure our height, we cook together and pour our own drinks and count how many sausages we need to cook for dinner, and sometimes, just for fun, we count the peas on our plate!

Do you have to take tests and exams? No
It can be quite shocking to hear that answer. How can you possibly know that they are learning? Mostly people are concerned with, is my child working at a similar level to their peers?, when they ask this question. The truth is that it really doesn't matter. The things that the smalls are interested in and are happy doing now are the things that we will investigate further together. We love space and robots and castles and feathers and butterflies and a whole range of other topics that aren't on any test. 
It's not always about the facts learned and the information gained. We seek mostly to encourage their naturally inquisitive nature and utilise resources to find out more about their interests. That's hard to find on a test paper. We place before them things that are interesting and fascinating and unusual, we indulge together in the everyday and we observe what makes the smalls tick, the things that interest them and the things they return to again and again and we do more of those things in different forms - books, making, clubs, museums, experts. The main thing is, that when you spend your days, each day every day, you see the learning taking place, the excitement, the questions, the retelling, the processing, the play, and there are days or even strings of days where it looks like maybe nothing has been learnt but then we take off again. (Actually, realistically, they are always learning but sometimes we just don't see what it is.)
We don't even test them in small ways, we don't ask them to put numbers in order with the fridge magnets to see if they can, we don't ask them to read it when they have asked us to because we think they should or they can, I don't ask them to tell me all the things that they have learnt from a session or a book today. But these things do happen, in there own time, the smalls do tell daddy about their day when they arrive home, one of them will order fridge magnets for fun and they read stories to each other. The evidence is there, there is no need for testing, just living, learning, play and observing.

What about GCSE's? Not even GCSEs if you don't want to. It is possible but not necessary or compulsory. People think it's impossible to get work without qualifications or just plain risky and it is true that some professions require certain qualifications for you to be able to do them (a friend once asked me, 'what if he wants to become a brain surgeon?' a little puzzled I answered, 'then he'll become a brain surgeon', As if home educated children wouldn't possibly have the same opportunities as schooled children.) 


There are many more questions that we are asked, some serious considerations, some quite ridiculous, as with all things in life. There are people with views and opinions and general curiosity and interest. i might find time another day to write down some more, i might not. Time is precious and my time mostly belongs to being with Bean, Pumpkin, Plum and Pippin. 

Saturday 12 November 2016

Whitespace

We were all up early with lots of whitespace (no plans) for the morning and a playdate arranged for the afternoon. Just because there are no plans, doesn't equate to doing nothing. It is actually incredibly difficult to do nothing. It is often during the times of whitespace that we discover what sparks our interest and we can use these ideas to organise or plan other things that might also interest us.

Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, continued watching A.N.T Farm and then went and spent 4 hours playing on the wii working through the next episode of Lego: Pirates of the Carribean.

Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, and me painted our nails. Plum painted her own fingernails and Pippins. We then sat and read several books together, some of them multiple times. We then face painted the dollies and finally each other. Plum face painted an excellent tiger onto her dolly. Pippin painted her dolly and herself blue, Plum said she was a blueberry. I painted a cat onto Plum's face, a yellow and green cat. Plum was showing signs of flagging after this and although we had rearranged our playdate from a nerf war in a park to indoor at their house, Plum was now saying she wanted to stay at home. She choose a film to watch (Shark Tale) and we snuggled on the sofa together. i rearranged our play date for the third time.

I went and spoke to the boys about not going to our friend's house and Bean immediately suggested that they could go their without me (this has never happened or been an option before, Bean has always wanted me to stay (except for the one camping weekend he chose to go on)) Pumpkin wasn't keen on this idea but i have logged it in my mind for another day.

Our friends arrived with a coding book for Bean and nerf guns. Pippin was asleep so nerf wars were off the agenda for a while. They played on the wii and introduced their friend, O, to bopit. He loved it so much that he asked Pumpkin if he could borrow it so Pumpkin has agreed to a loan and O took it home with him.
We played Hullabaloo together, followed by Cranium, and a nerf war before O went home.

The big three then drew each other treasure maps and hid chocolate gold coins and pieces of map around the house for each other to find. The day ended with pizza and finishing the film Plum had started and baths for all of them, stories for Pippin and Bean.

Friday 11 November 2016

Taking it easy

Still not feeling great but being thanful that we can rest when we need to and get up and play when we can, that we can wear the clothes that make us feel cosy and warm and stop doing what we're doing as soon as we need to.

We went to Fisher's Farm today. It was our planned trip out today but it was a great choice as we had several children feeling under the weather and energy levels differing at different times between the children. We began inside on the slides, which Pippin is loving. Plum went down the bumpy slide on her own today which is the first time in months that she has done this. We raced together again and again.  After about an hour we were in the soft play area and Plum came and curled up with me, we put on her tablet and headphones and she watched iplayer for a while. After half an hour the carousel ride opened so we went outside to ride. Bean and Pumpkin went around the Tree Top Squirrel Scramble, they all rode on the carousel together and then Plum and Pippin had a turn together on the horse. It started to rain a little after this so we went to the barn to see the animals and do the animal handling. Today was rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoise and a pooing chicken. Whilst we were in the barn the temperature dropped significantly and the heavens opened. Plum announced she wanted to go home now so we all left. We saw a double full rainbow as we left.

At home Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, played on the wii together. The completed an entire level today on their lego: pirates of the carrinean, Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, both slept. Plum spent the remainder of the day in a duvet on the sofa. Bean introduced us all to The A.N.T Farm so we watched a few hours of that together.

The girls both had a bath and stories and the boy's had stories together. All in bed by 9.30 (including mummy.)

Thursday 10 November 2016

Unwell

Today was ourcarless day. Pumpkin, Plum and Pippin are all down with a cough and cold. We stayed at home all day. The morning was taken up with games that involved sweets and giant American sized marshmallows. I hid sweets in piles of flour and the children had to get them out without using their hands. Pumpkin opted for his mouth, Bean and Plum used their elbows, Pippin used her hands. I hid sweets in plastic eggs around the house that they worked together to find and then we transported marshmallows across the room together using our elbows as pincers.

Bean, 9, watched more Pokemon episodes and held a Pokemon battle with Pumpkin and played PokemonGo for most of the day. He played on the wii for a while in the afternoon.

Pumpkin, 7, did all things Pokemon too. He also made some giant chocolate chip cookies and watched the Junior Bake Off.

Plum, 4, lay on the sofa wrapped in a duvet all day. She put Frozen on at one point but fell asleep whilst it was on. She watched a few things on her tablet when she woke but mostly dozed on and off until she fell again and daddy carried her up to bed.

It sounds like it's been a quiet day however the boys struggle with the lack of space to be energetic in and there has been a lot of Pokemon battling which has occupied the whole house energetically and noisily.

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Pikachu

I think the boys would say this day was one of the best ever, we caught three Pikachu today. We went down to Littlehampton, which we love because of the beach anyway, but specifically went today because friend had said it was a good place for Pokemon hunting. And it was. We caught lots of new Pokemon and there were pokestops in abundance. Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, had a great time and were really pleased. We will definitely be going again sometime soon.

It was, however, freezing. Plum, 4, refused to wear soacks although did gradually add gloves, hat and coat to her outfit. Pippin, 2, cried the entire time that we were outside on the seafront and she was wrapped up warm.

We snuggled up watching Scooby Doo movie 2 when we got home and journeyed out again for a McDonald's for dinner. We popped to the cornershop on the way out and went to try and find our friends who had broken down nearby to deliver supplies whilst they waited for rescue however we didn't find them. It worked out okay though as when we arrived home I discovered that i had forgotten our front door key. So we ate through the supplies I had bought, watched youtube on my phone using wifi from the house and sat in the car and waited 25 minutes for daddy to arrive home.

We cooked sausages for supper, the girls bathed and the boys watched Pokemon, Pumpkin and Plum played Othello with daddy and everyone was asleep by 10pm.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Making friends

Monday is a lovely day for us. We were watching an episode of the Simpson's this evening and they were grumbling about Monday and Pumpkin was asking why they didn't like Monday. Monday is just another day for us another day except i find it made al the more straight forward by the regularity of Plum going to Little Verse with SSG and SGG. And this afternoon we had Lego Club.

Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, watched the final disc of The Return of the King whilst Plum was out this morning. They also began a 102 piece puzzle together.
Whilst at lego club they began rolling the giant lego wheels together to see who could get their's the furthest. As others arrived, they joined in too. Bean wrote up a competition chart, with rounds on it, to show who vs who, and who progresses to the next round. Pumpkin made three trophies using the lego for first, second, and third place. Six of them played this game repeatedly for an hour. After this they played several rounds of Build Battle together before two hours was over and we had to clear away. Pumpkin struggled after an hour of not coming first in the wheel competition but the moment was rescued with some time in and wet willies.
On the way home we drove via more than 10 pokestops to collect as many pokeballs as we could ready for our big pokemon hunt planned for later this week. Pumpkin hatched a magmar and leveled up.

Plum, 4, went to Little Verse and then spent the remainder of the day singing all the songs to me and Pippin. She joined in the wheel tornament and Build Battle at Lego Club. She watched iplayer when we got home and played Othello with daddy and Bean, followed by bath and bed.

Pippin, 2, has been under the weather all day. She went back to bed for a nap at 10.30 and then sat in the buggy for most of Lego Club this afternoon, dozing on and off. She managed to eat some dinner before she took herself up to bed.


Monday 7 November 2016

Just as you are

One thing i love about Home educating and particularly Unschooling is that our children are free to be themselves and not have to circum to peer pressures or fit into boxes or pass unnecessary exams. We can follow their interests, celebrate their personalities and truely embrace the person that God has created them to be.

Today was church day. Bean, 9, took his crayons with him to show and sell. He had four bags with him and by the end of the day they were all gone.

This afternoon Pumpkin, 7, went for the bike ride he passed on yesterday. Daddy took Bean and Plum with him too. They went to the play park on the new estate.

Plum, 4, had a lovely conversation this morning with SGG. I really love it when adults take the time to converse with the children like they are important (which they are.) I just stood next to anna incase she needed help explaining something but she didn't, i was surplus. Plum was tired most of the day. Except for her bike ride she sat and watched and played on her tablet. She was asking for a bath (codeword: bed) by 6.30pm. I bathed the girls and we read a few stories snuggled in bed. We curled up to sleep. The girls simultaneously sat up and vomited. The funny picture in my head was daddy with only one bowl not sure which girl to put it in front of as they were both coughing together and him undecidedly swapping between the two.

The boys watched Pokemon and The Simpsons whilst i helped the girls to bed, daddy was out (but home in time to help clear up the illness!)

All the smalls were in bed by 9pm. Unheard off.

Sunday 6 November 2016

Money, money, money

With daddy being home, there was quite a lot going on today.

I took Bean, 9, into town to buy some presentation bags for his crayons he has made. He packaged them up when he got home We also needed to collect the books that he ordered from the library and he had £20 to spend in the supermarket (as promised a few weeks ago.) We also went shopping for items for our Samaritans Purse boxes. Bean only spent half of the money and bought: monster munch crisps; skips; four chocolate doughnuts; a cake each from the bakery counter; a bag of chocolate coins; He purposefuly bought multipacks and made sure that there was enough for all the smalls to have too.

Pumpkin, 7, had been planning all week to go on a bike ride with daddy. Plum wanted to go to. When it came to it he said he was not feeling well and wanted to stay home. He hadn't moved from the sofa all morning Two very unusual things for him. So, he didn't go on a bike ride and suggested that tomorrow would be a good idea. Pumpkin spent most of the day watching Pokemon until after the medicine kicked in and then he perked up a little and played with Bean.

Plum, 4, went out on the tag along with daddy for the first time and absolutely loved it. They went to the play park together.

Bean, Plum, and Pippin put together their Christmas boxes.
We ended the day with sparklers and stories and Pumpkin falling asleep on the sofa.

Neither of the girls have slept well. They are full of cold and coughing and not breathing well.

Saturday 5 November 2016

Who put the colours in the rainbow?

Crayon making continued in earnest today. Bean, 9, tries out different shapes and moulds, some that he made himself and others he found in the baking cupboard. We now have hearts and puzzle pieces and semi spheres and sticks

We all went out to Fisher's Far, for the afternoon. ot was wet so we spent most of our time indoors (about two hours) but it was also really busy. It must still be half term somewhere. There were a lot more children than usual to contend with and the noise was deafening but all the smalls did really well to last so long. We eventuallu braved the wet weather and moved across to the outdoor cafe and had the place to ourselves so we teamed up and shot cannon balls at each other until we saw the carousel was open. Pippin, 2, took her first ride on it today. We had the whole ride to ourselves. This was folowed by seeing the animals in the barn. The goats are a favourite now with Pumpkin, 7. We were just in time for the animals handling so we spent 15 minutes strocking rabbits, huinea pigs and a tortoise. The smals all spent their pocket money in the shop and then we came home to get warm and dry. A change of clothes for everyone and a film (Madagascar 2)

The smalls ended the day with a sleepover in the living room.

Friday 4 November 2016

True Colours

Mostly we have been melting things in the oven today but we also tried out the loca HE Youth club and watched msny more Pokemon episodes as well as painting and making various things with the recycling.

Bean, 9, began the day by melting Sapce Stickies in the oven. i mentioned that i had read that you can melt crayons and he immediatly went and found some to try. It works really well and is really quick. Bean managed to set the oven and put the tray in and out of it. By the afternoon when he was on his second round of crayons he was all set up and doing it on his own. Bean has decided that he would like to sell them and is going to make more tomorrow into different shapes.

Pumpkin, 7, had a great day. He was inspired by Bean's money making ideas and has painted a plastic bottle from the recycling ready to make into an areoplane. We then went to the Youth Club for the first time. i was hoping that it would be a place for the boys to be with friends as well as providing something for the girls. And it hit the mark perfectly. Pumpkin played on the wii all afternoon but there was also two playstations and an xbox too. Pumpkin has asked at least ten times if we can go everytime that it's on.

Whilst Pumpkin was rummaging through the recycling box, Bean and Plum, 4,  also raided it and painted and made their own models. At the Youth Club Plum painted a fireworks picture using washing up brushes and straws. She also had a turn on the concoles, played at the pool table and got out the happyland shoe. There were several children there that she knew as well so she had a very sociable time.

Pippin, 2,  painted some pictures onto paper at home and happily pottled about at the Youth Club.

There were hairwashes tonight and a lot of stories for the girls and Bean. I finished knitting a Christmas present.

Thursday 3 November 2016

Reconnected

After several days of being apart we nustled together at home today. We played Terreria together and minecraft and hullabaloo. We watched Bing and Pokemon and played 'Halloween' with the bath toys.

Bean, 9, initiated a Harry Potter game that involved us casting spells on each other. He also made up a ball game where we got points for throwing the ball into different baskets. He also played the dirty end of a telescope trick on Plum and drew chicken pox all over Pippin.

Pumpkin, 7, declared hullabaloo the best game ever. It' s been a great way to get physical in the house without fear of them causing damage to themselves. He has also been working on his Pokemon Camp app and explaining to me how each Pokemon evolves and what into.

We tried on a lot of new clothes today for Plum, 4, but they were mostly all too big. We did find a few Hello Kitty items though so they were keepers although they are slightly big. We have planned a shopping trip to buy some long sleeved tops for her.

We ended the day with baths for three of them. Bean read Pippin some stories whilst i played with Plum in the bath. The smalls were all in bed by 9.45pm. The clock change means that daddy and i have a little time together!