April showers - come back sunshine!

This week has involved Jacob's birthday party, going to The Living Light church, Library, playing with Eve and Rhys and Ethan another home educating family from around the corner, Learning about recycling and renewable energy and making windchimes at home ed group,  a spinning birdie in a cage experiment, going to a fun wildlife park for a friend's birthday and surprising Grandad and Nanny on the way home and going for a walk at Fyne Court and The Spinney at Kingston St Mary....Oh, and lots and lots of rain and wintery weather! Where is the sunshine?!

                                                     Eve and Acey with their den they built at Jacob's party

We focused on Earth day at home ed group, and talked about different types of energy and why some are more sustainable than others, and played a little recycling game, and made these lovely windchimes out of old nuts and bolts and shells and pebbles and clay plant pots.

We did a little birdy in a cage experiment to see how our brain can trick our eyes. We cut out a circle of card, and drew a bird on one side and a cage on the other, and tied some string either side, and span it around really fast to make it look like the bird was in the cage.

We also made some paper origami claws!!

On Friday we went to Avon Valley Mouth adventure park with Hayden and Artie. It was lots of fun, Acey especially liked the Go Karts!

And seeing as we were passing Bristol on the way home, we decided to surprise Grandad and turn up on his doorstep! He was very pleased!

On Saturday we went to Fyne Court and then decided to go to The Spinney at Kingston which is a very lovely place. We gathered lots of wild flowers, and discovered new ones to go in our wild flower book we are making, and some to decorate our spring table with too. :)

We really hope the lovely spring sunshine comes back soon!!!

Easter.

Poorly over Easter....can you believe it?! :(  

No Easter crafts, no Easter story, just lying in bed with tissues, eucalyptus oil, vicks vapour rub, hot water bottle and grapes. How miserable!!! (we did have chocolate though and managed to drag ourselves to mum's for the day)!

...and I suppose we managed a bit of half-hearted egg dying using natural dyes (spur of the moment easter morning thing, so it didn't work that well)

Acey's dad came to visit too...

For two weeks, due to being ill we have done NOTHING homeschooly what so ever, even when Acey felt better, I was still DYING! I feel bad, but then kind of let myself off, when I remember it's the holidays and children are off school anyway!

A few other things we have been up to recently....

Acey made a shaddow show, by painting a black landscape on some white paper, cutting some crocodile puppets out of cardboard, and attatching a straw to hold them with, and then shining a light behind the paper in the dark, to create a shaddow effect...we got the idea from a book which a friend reccomended called '50 science things to make and do' which is really good! It was lots of fun.

Three little boys went pond dipping...you can only see two of them in this picture. No bugs or pond insects were found at all when we got there...only two swans, and nets got broken but they still had fun paddling in the beautiful lake.

We went on an otter hunt at Neroche Forest with Jacob. It was a special event, walking around the woods, musical instruments and singing songs, and a story....being it daytime we didn't see any real otters....

...but we did see SOME otters, even if they weren't exactly..real...;)

and we foraged for lots of delicious wild garlic to have for tea.

I sent of for a pack of free educational recourses from the british heart foundation...I didn't realise quite how much would arrive! It was fantastic - we got lots of educational story books, playing cards, healthy eating sheets, childrens' recipes, educational DVDs, and best of all - cardboard bodily organs. After talking about it and learning about it a bit, I was quite impressed that Acey layed it all out himself in the correct order! was highly impressed with this pack!

And going for lots of runs and making badger masks with our lovely friend David, and playing with Eve and Rhys and Ethan around the corner. And making easter nest cakes and having an egg hunt at home ed group!

Can't wait to start learning and having fun again next week now all of the illness has (almost) gone!

Spring table, Noahs ark and getting wet in the stream :)

I knew when Spring was come

Not by the murmorous hum

Of bees in the willow trees,

Or frills

Of daffodils,

Or the scent of the breeze;

But because there were whips and tops

By the jar of lollipops

in the two little village shops...

Spring is here, spring is here, spring is here at lasssssst!!!! It feels good to have finally made a start on our spring table! We were beginning to think it would never come!
This week has involved:

A very windy walk in the woods with our lovely friend David :)

Making daffodils at home ed group out of tissue paper and staws, and having lots of fun in the playpark afterwards!

A bonkers trip to town with our lovely friends Annabelle and fairy godson Sam and Jacob, who is also being homeschooled now :) very fun!

We have been learning all about Noah's ark recently, and after Acey drew a really fantastic picture of Noah's ark with solar panels on the roof and everything, it reminded me that my dad had promised to take us to Noah's Ark zoo farm in Bristol, so on Wednesday that is what we did! Great fun was had feeding the animals, although I think Acey was more interested in the play area! *sigh*

 (faveourite)!

And back to Grandad's and Nanna Jeans' for supper before getting the train home again...

On Friday we spent the day at Hestercombe Gardens, which is just up the road with Hayden and Artie and their mummy Lauren...

We fed the naughty greedy swan who nearly nipped Arties wellies off, and had adventures in the stream, saw lots of bees buzzing around which was very exciting, and welcomed the sight of the beautiful spring flowers everywhere!

Primroses - my favourite :)

We love Spring!



What was that about socialisation?

Last week we saw friends almost every day! It was a rather busy week which involved a picnic by a beautiful lake with our friend David, meeting a friends new baby girl in the coffee shop, making books for world book day at home ed group, playing in the magic twisty trees at Fyne court... a nice long sunny country walk in the nearby fields with friends and some chalk street art ;) playing with home ed friends Alex, Ben and Daniel in the park and a trip to the museum with Hayden and Artie! Wow!

We even had a newt come to visit ;)

If anyone ever again asks the question ''what about socialisation'' I will direct them to this blog I think!



A quiet week, with a little pink cake added...

This week has been a quiet one, due to being a bit under the weather. We haven't been to our home ed group for about a month!! Different diversions seem to keep cropping up each week, but we miss it and are determined to go back asap! We also started a really nice new home ed group in Glastonbury called Glow Education a couple of weeks back with some friends - so far that is the only session we've managed to get to!!

On Sunday we craved yet more sea, and so our friend David took us to Dunster. It was freezing! Acey cried and didn't want to make sandcastles. He sat on my lap and moaned, which is so unlike him even when it's cold! Something not right there...

The next day poor Acey was sick. It was because he hadn't eaten much the day before, but that was probably because he'd been feeling a little under the weather. I too have had a touch of tonsilitis so I should have known! We had a restful couple of days and were both fine.

A few weeks ago my friend Christina said ''can you make me a pink cake again this year and can we have a little party for my birthday?'' Well how could I refuse? Christina is one of my oldest and bestest friends. We lived opposite eachother when we were little, and have lots of fun memories. Whenever we don't see eachother for ages, we always get reunited somehow or another! And she had a bad week previously after crashing her car - so of course we could have a little birthday tea pink cake!!

The rest of the week has been a quiet one. Winter seemed be dragging this week and the SAD really kicked in!! I am (I was politely informed a while back) a typical pulsatilla patient,  and yes it is true, I really am - http://www.herbs2000.com/homeopathy/pulsatilla.htm and well, since taking the remedy it has helped but sometimes I still need that little something to cheer me up and kick my butt out of that 'feeling sorry for self' mode...so I bought some little daffydillys at the greengrocer's...

Still, spring seems to be on it's way. The sun was shining today and we are going to a nice lake tomorrow if it's still nice! Snowdrops and daffodils and crocuses are slowly and finally blooming and tomorrow I'm ordering some new silks for our spring table....I think we might learn about magnets next week!