Jesus following, natural living, Somerset homeschooling mum to Acey. Here is our blog to share with family and friends and anyone else who might be interested, about our home ed journey.


John 13:34 - ''A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.''

Monday 29 April 2013

One subject sparking interest in another subject

So how did we go from learning about Noah's ark...



To doing a science experiment about things absorbing water..



.....and back to this again?



Well, that's just what happens with homeschooling - one minute you're doing one thing, and then that sparks an interest in something else, and the wonderful thing is, you can stop what you're doing, explore the thing that has awakened your curiosity, and then that may lead on to something else....and so on...

So we were reading the story of Noah's ark in our bible study lesson today, and it said that Noah built his ark out of wood - (we thought it must have taken ALOT of trees to cut down and a lot of hard work)! It then went on to say that he would have used tar to waterproof the ark. 'But why would you need to waterproof it, Mum?'
'Because wood would absorb all of the water from the flood'
'What does absorb mean?'

And so out came the sponge and we abandoned Noah's ark for the bathroom sink for a while.... Just one small example of how  home schooled kids can so easily study their interests in depth when they want to! It's such a natural way of learning! 

We came back to the ark after and had a bit of a play. The rest of the day was spent in the sunshine playing with friends!

Thursday 25 April 2013

My favorite thing about homeschooling...

My favorite thing about homeschooling is that learning is done outside of the classroom :)




Studying bugs...





Sharing cookies



Sawing logs...




Toasting marshmallows...
   


Peeing on straw...



Tending the fire...


Using an old fashioned drill


Swinging from branches...


Bliss  ;)

Friday 19 April 2013

Woodwork...in the...woods


Hammering nails...




Sawing logs...


Finding dens...




Making catapults....




Forest school was cancelled this week so we went to Fyne court with friends instead and did some wood work of our own :o)

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Wet on wet watercolors

Today, after having some friends over to play we did some fun watercolor painting. This is the painting technique used in Waldorf Steiner schools, and it's my favorite way to teach painting, as it's so playful, calming and fun to set up!


We use Stockmar watercolors, and a good quality watercolor paper. We only work in the three primary colors - red, yellow and blue - as this is a good way to get used to children mixing colors and discovering that you can make any color of the rainbow - therefore these are the only colors we really need to begin with! 

Painting is something Acey really looks forward to, so the anticipation when setting the paints up is almost as much of a joyful experience as the actual painting itself! Diluting the paints in water in individual small glass jars, with a bigger jar filled with water to clean the brush in. Soaking the paper in the sink, laying it carefully on the surface and dabbing the paper with a sponge so it's just the right dampness. And then it's finally time to begin!

Sometimes we just experiment with one or two colors, sometimes you could paint how you're feeling on that day...or like today sometimes I will recite a poem or sing a song and Acey will paint along to it. Today's poem was about a little dandelion in the spring sunshine. Sometimes the whole page is covered with color, other times there will be a few painted pictures on the page. It's a really nice calming activity, and something fun for grown ups to join in with too! 


Acey says; ''Mama, can we do painting every day''
and I say...
''yes Ok''

Monday 8 April 2013

Free range home ed group

Monday is home ed group day - today we made willow dream catchers, butterflies, played with k-nex and had a nice relaxing circle time with some lavender oil in the oil burner to calm us all down after an exciting play!







Get in touch with us if you'd like to come along 

tauntonfreerangekids@yahoo.co.uk

or 

Friday 5 April 2013

Explosions

Today Acey's friend Matthew came over and we did this cool science experiment with vinegar, bicarb and red food coloring!


It was so explosive that we had to go out and do some digging on our allotment to cool off! Phew!


Thursday 4 April 2013

Springtime lambies and clay pots

Today we went to visit some home ed friends who let us feed their sweet little lambies..The picture perfect scene of free range children running around with the lambies at their heels in the glorious spring sunshine was somewhat crushed by the fact that it...snowed!! But it was still a lovely experience nevertheless....




and we made clay pots :)




Now it's time to catch up on handwriting workbook before supper....



Wednesday 3 April 2013

Digital animation

Today has mostly been about digital animation....



....and a bit of maths and seed planting :)