Bishop's palace trip

Last week, after tennis we decided to take a trip  to Bishop's palace in Wells (England's smallest city), as we have been doing a lot of reading about medieval castles. It was a great medieval place to visit, with a moat, drawbridge, a gatehouse with holes in the roof where they would have poured boiling oil on their enemies, the bishop's chapel, stained glass windows, coats of arms, embroidery, battlements, arrow holes - everything we have been learning about castles!

 

Afterwards, we sat outside the beautiful Wells Cathedral, and bumped into a lovely homeschooling family that we know. The children spent about an hour running around on the green together. Home ed kids are never, ever short of friends to play with. Running around freely in an historic place, with all the time in the world is such a great way to socialise - and much more connected to the real world than attending the same classroom full of children the same age as you day in day out! :) We LOVE home ed!!!

Not back to school...

So! This is the week we have been waiting for all summer, the week that the schools go back, and we have everywhere to ourselves again.... Bliss! We do miss our school friends though, but we will make an effort to get together with them out of school hours. Everyone has been posting pictures of their children on Facebook, with their uniforms and lunchboxes getting ready to start the new school year, and it is cute. I love seeing them all. Some of Acey's friends are going into Secondary school, which is kinda scary!

To celebrate NOT going back to school, the Taunton home ed group went for a picnic at the beautiful Fyne Court. There were so many other homeschoolers there, and it was really nice to catch up with friends, and have fun running around in the woods. It did make me feel blessed that they get to run and play freely, and I couldn't help thinking of  (and feeling just a bit sorry for) the school children who were sat in a classroom. With home education, there is so much freedom, to run around, get muddy, climb trees, and to express who they really are without peer pressure.

On Wednesday, art history class started back up again. It is nice to get back into the routine of all the different groups that we go to. After the art lesson, the children love to run around with the chickens and play on the trampoline.

The rest of the week was a bit of a write off, as Acey came down with a stomach bug and then I started feeling iffy too. So instead of doing too much structured learning, Acey laid on the sofa watching Horrible Histories and playing Prodigy maths while I had a long sleep. (some Minecraft videos might have been involved too) And then we decided that fresh air would do us good, so we went with Dave to the woods. It was what we all needed, we picked berries, went for a refreshing walk and played on a tree swing. We also saw a man with a quiver of arrows on his back, which was rather fitting as we have been reading Robin Hood, although slightly un-nerving too!  We had so much fun that we spent two days in a row there. I think woodland walks must become more of a regular thing. Nature is an excellent classroom, after all!

Happy September, thanks for reading!

A party in the mosque, recitations and Monday maths

Acey and Rio had a Monday math lesson with their lovely maths teacher who is also a home educator. She is such a fab, fun teacher :)

Our friend Hannah turned eight, so we went to her birthday party in the mosque. So much lovely food and friends!

We did some catching up with friends who go to school, while it is still the summer holidays, and playing in the park with Dylan, who comes to our house some Thursdays while his mum goes to work.

Acey did a piece of handwriting I was really proud of. It was only a sentence, from his daily copywork book but writing joined up is something he struggled with for a long time, and this was so neat. So neat that I treated him to a jam doughnut! :) Sometimes it is good to celebrate the small achievements.

 

This week I have also been clearing out the bookcases, using the Konmari method. We had SOOO many books, it is taking a long time. I thought it would be difficult to part with books, as I love them. We have bookcases instead of a television! But actually it feels freeing to pass them on, as we weren't likely to read them again and now we have wayyy more space on the shelves. Infact, I treated myself to a new Ikea Billy bookcase as the old one had so many books on it that it buckled under the weight and the shelves were all wonky ;)

 

Whilst sorting through the books I came across this lovely old book of recitations for children, which belonged to my mum when she was a child, living in Australia. I have decided that Acey can read a daily recitation from it during our ''morning time'' routine...

 

 

Dinosaurs and ammonites

We are still enjoying studying dinosaurs/fossils, and have discovered some great videos for children on our new favourite website. You can have a look at them here: https://answersingenesis.org/kids/videos/

I have learned a lot that I didn't know myself, and have gained a better understanding of how dinosaurs fit into the bible. We have learned that fossils could have been formed during the great flood, that the biblical name for dinosaurs is 'behemoth' and which are described in detail in the book of Job.... and about how in the garden of Eden, dinos would have lived alongside man. Maybe if you are reading this, and you are not a believer in the Bible, this sounds very bizarre, but we find it fascinating. Check out answers in genesis with an open mind to hear a different theory to the secular viewpoint, if you are interested.

On Friday after tennis class, (and after Acey insisted 15 minutes in the adjoining park with his sweet new friend) we took a trip to Charmouth beach in Dorset to have a look in their fossil centre, and to hunt for fossils on the beach. Acey found the fossils and dinosaur bones fascinating, especially the plesiosaur (did I spell that right) hanging from the ceiling. He also did some brass rubbings of an ammonite and a fossilised fish. We then went and hunted for fossils (in amongst all of the holiday makers) - we managed to find a couple of ammonites, one which Dave carefully dug out of a rock. It was a lovely sunny day, but so many people on the beach. In a couple of weeks time the schools will go back, and there will be less people everywhere - the beaches, libraries, museums, parks, shops etc will be our quiet places once again! As someone who isn't a ''people person'' I can't wait!!

Also this week after horse riding we went to back to our friend's new house, in the middle of nowhere. (Dulverton). We had lunch in their beautiful garden, and then after a play with lego, Sarah and Matthew showed Acey the woods near their house. Acey said he had a lovely time being allowed the freedom to go to the woods on their own (I was terrified, of course but pretended not to be)! The found a secret hide out, no grown ups allowed, and have decided they will form a little club, secret seven style.

And Acey and his friend Dylan managed to get involved in a free game of rounders at our local park.

Not back to school...

Saw this, and couldn't not share it.

 

 

Summer months...

Summer months leave little time for blogging, but here are some things we have been learning lately.
We went on a biblical fossil hunt at Kilve beach, organised by a home schooling mum. We learned some really interesting things, and found some ammonites. A lot of the information was from a geologist who is involved with Answers in Genesis. We followed on this theme at home, by watching a video from Mystery Science (a really cool science curriculum, check it out), and we are reading a very interesting book about Dinosaurs and the bible. We also took some of the rocks home from Kilve and painted them. Apparently, this is a fire spirit!

 

We have been to some fun science classes, where they learned about muscles and one where they did some cool 'dangerous' experiments!

 

 

Strawberry/raspberry/redcurrant picking...

 

 

....And allotmenting, all with the help of our friend Rio!

 

A day trip to Puxton Park with Acey, Rio and Dylan..

 

 

 An interesting, fun Olympic themed home ed day at the lovely Caroline's house where we learned about the Olympics, where it originated etc, and what sports they hold. Acey found it fascinating that they have a Paralympics too. He made 'Hera's honey cupcakes', did an Olympic questionnaire and some Olympic ring art... 

 

 

Fun in Great Wood with the Bridgwater home ed group...

 

 

Tennis lessons every Friday with their wonderful coach, Mr Drew...

 

 

And we had a lovely long sunny week in Cornwall, spending lots of time on the beach, and pedal boating at Helston Boating pool...

 

 

 

Oh, and Acey turned TEN!! We love Summer, and don't want it to end!



Oceans and Grandad's birthday!

On Monday, we read about foxes, so Acey decided he would like to draw one!

 

 

He also drew one of his Lego heroes - a great way to get away with playing with Lego, using it as an art project ;)

 

 

On Tuesday we had our lovely home ed group. The Taunton home ed group meets once a month at a fellow home educator's home, (the lovely Caroline who bravely opens her home up for all kinds of home ed activities) and there is a different theme each time. We have done a chocolate theme, a chicken theme, toilets, native Americans, Earth day and lots more. The children usually have a questionnaire to fill in about the theme as well as related craft activities, and a massive garden full of chickens and a trampoline to play in. This time it was an Ocean themed day, as one of the home educating mums in our group is going to be doing an awesome challenge, swimming seven of the world's channels in a year. She has already been the first woman to swim from Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly! We are lucky to have someone inspirational in our group. You can check out her website and follow what she is doing here: http://www.bethfrench.co.uk/

We learned about oceans, and made a shiny fish out of a CD and some sparkly sticky gems

 

 

And a seaside themed cupcake

 

 

 

 

 On Wednesday, we revisited the fab home ed art exhibition with Acey's dad, and showed him Acey's work. He was impressed.

 

 

 

On Thursday we went to another home ed group, which also meets once a month in a local village hall. It's lovely to see children of all ages playing nicely together.

 

 

 On Friday, we went to Bristol to visit Grandad as it was his birthday! He showed us around his church, and then we went for a lovely meal. It was a very nice day, and great that we didn't have to miss his birthday because it was a school day! How I love home ed.