adventures in wonderland

first camp of the year

2010-05-30T02:07:00.008+01:00

We came back from Spain and headed straight out again for a weekend camp in the New Forest with a local home ed group. When packing up, we did wonder whether this was packing too much in, but we had a lovely time so were glad we went.

We camped under beautiful oak trees (which turned out to be a very good move, as the weather was sweltering) ....

Campsite activities included colouring & painting, and treasure hunts (Rob & Brodie are making a treasure map in this photo ....)

Following the clues .....

There were loads of caterpillars which kept zip-wiring down from the oak trees and were very entertaining! We think they were starting to spin their cocoons....

Off on a group walk through the forest to a stream for paddling .....

... stopping for tree trunk walking on the way ....

more wildlife ....

at the stream ......

We went to Exbury Gardens on the Sunday, as Brodie wanted to revisit the train there ...

The gardens are famous for (and packed with) azaleas & rhododendrons, and this is the perfect time to see them in bloom .....

The History Tree - this was a section of tree trunk, approximately 300 years old. It was marked with different events in British history and the history of the gardens....

Spain

2010-05-30T01:52:00.008+01:00

We had a very relaxed week in Spain. The photos just about sum it up - lots of swimming, beach trips & sleep! We did venture up into the hills an hour away from where we were staying one day, to visit our friends Richard & Marie who have restored an old 'finca' (house) there. We had a lovely day there, although as the photos show, it was a case of another day, another swimming pool for Tess. Tess & Brodie enjoyed themselves, and picked up a few words of Spanish - from the TV, from playing with a spanish boy who lived where we were staying and from talking to people in the cafes & shops.

Funfairs, history & sewing

2010-05-30T01:37:00.004+01:00

A trip to the funfair at Southsea ....

A snowflake that Tess made on her own out of cotton buds ....

A trip to a local education centre with our home ed group: Tess & Brodie's group looked at toys through time, including dressing up as children from past times and playing games that they would have played. Both Tess & Brodie really enjoyed this trip ..... Tess as a roman child ....

.... playing tiddlywinks .....

.... Tess as someone from the 1950s, looking at a Jack in the Box .....

..... hopscotch .....

... riding a wooden horse ....

.... space hoppers .......

.... and of course, a train .....

Tess & Rob made some scrummy scones when we had friends over for the afternoon .....

Team car wash ......

Tess did really well with a sewing kit we bought ......

volcanoes, product design & sushi

2010-05-29T23:46:00.014+01:00

Tess's Spinnaker Tower in lego .......

Brodie's lego train .....

Tess got a soap making set for Christmas which she uses at least once a fortnight to keep us clean ......

Brodie bought a dinosaur egg & volcano set ......

That was good, but we decided we could do better ..... so we experimented and made a series of bigger and better volcanoes .....

.... and then moved onto other vinegar & baking soda experiments ....

Tess really enjoyed working with foils to create these sparkly princesses ....

Reading & acting out The Wizard of Oz from our pop-up book ......

Swinging high .....

Joint effort on painting a box house ......

Making sushi .....

A visit to Alice in Wonderland adventure park ....

Cooking ...

Tess made these cards & envelopes as a birthday surprise for our friend Julia. Inside the wrapper were 2 paper gifts that Tess designed and made herself from paper. One was a holder for jewellery that Julia could 'take to parties in case she wanted to change jewellery while she was out for the evening'. The other was a triangular handbag that could double up as a fan (unfortunately she wrapped them before I could take some pics) ......

Tess & Brodie went on to design and make some other paper products : Brodie's intergalactic snowman .......

Tess's ducks ....

... and handbag .......

Sometimes we use a recipe, sometimes we don't - Tess made this chocolate cake by herself with no recipe ...... Heston Blumentall eat your heart out! ....

Brodie's was more of a creme brulee .......

One night after Brodie had gone to bed, Tess decided to set up a surprise birthday for him to wake up to. She made a card, complete with a Spot the Difference puzzle, and wrapped up loads of his favourite things to make a big pile of presents for him to unwrap. He was very surprised & delighted to discover it all in the morning ....

Tess & Brodie are enjoying playing swingball in the garden, and are getting quite good at it. They are also enjoying our weekly tennis sessions with our home ed group ......

Tess singing & dancing to one of her favourite songs ....

Watching people spinning wool at Titchfield Art Show .... (we also enjoyed looking at all the artwork by local artists on display) .....

Tess & Brodie decided to set up a stall at the end of the drive one day. They had colouring sheets & pens for people, and tried to entice passers by to visit our island paradise (the back garden with a paddling pool in it!). They used the tried & tested sales call of 'roll up, roll up .... come & see ....' but (happily for me!) were unable to persuade anyone into the garden. They did have a long chat with one lady who was passing, and I suspect they made her day! .....

Playing in the woods with friends ....

Just one of the very many dens that we build ......

Brodie with Postman Pat's cat Jess. Brodie is going through a big Postman Pat phase at the moment, and loves playing with his PP toys ....

We met up with a home ed group in Portsmouth and found that a new play area had opened, complete with water fountains ......

Some colouring Tess did .....

bees, experiments, trees & curly writing

2010-05-29T22:34:00.008+01:00

Tess decided to do a honey bee lapbook (mini project) that some other children in one of our home ed groups were working on .....

Growing cress .......

Brodie in the (very long) cardboard box (and one plastic box) train he made ..... hours and hours and hours of fun ......

Tess preparing a crystal growing kit .....

Painting Brodie's room .....

Finding out what happens when you hang twirlers over candles/hot air .....

Making vehicles from a construction set .....

Hunting for Easter eggs .....

..... and making Easter chocolates ......

Making some sort of concoction in the kitchen ( I forget if this was a cooking experiment or a science one ..... sometimes it's hard to tell the difference!) .....

Climbing trees and slides .......

Tess wrote this beautiful envelope for her friend Grace - she designed the writing all by herself, and also made made the foiled crown (and foiled princesses inside the envelope). We bumped into Grace in the village square on our way to deliver the envelope, and Grace was thoroughly delighted with the gift......

More cakes ......

eurodisney

2010-05-29T22:23:00.002+01:00

getting ready to leave the UK ....

on the Eurostar .....

Arriving at the Fairytale hotel ......

.... and Disneyland .....

Driving was popular......

.... but the Mad Hatter's giant tea-cups were the real winners .....

We avoided the real characters, but wooden ones were fine ....

... as were the green versions ........

....... and the giant lollipops were definitely popular ....

snow and baking

2010-05-29T22:12:00.003+01:00

Sharing home-made biscuits .....

Snow in Titchfield ......

Mr Frosty .....

Homemade, individually designed cakes : first, Brodie's .....

... and Tess's ......

A visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyards ....

the biggest catch-up

2010-05-29T21:40:00.007+01:00

It's been a while, but I'm back & ready to do a big catch-up with some of the great stuff we've done over recent months. I've got lots of photos, so am going to keep the words brief and let the pics speak for themselves.

We'll start with making some seasonal fayre (OK, not the current season!) .... Christmas treats and handprint reindeer at book group .....

With friends in the cafe after a home ed group session .....

Visiting Intech science centre near Winchester (Tess wore her specially designated 'science goggles') ......

Making & flying paper aeroplanes (the planes are based on real designs, from our paper aeroplane book) ........

Tess's 6th birthday party .......

The Peter Pan / Neverland birthday cake .....

Tess's cafe set up in the kitchen .......

..... with homemade cakes, from a special secret chef's recipe .....

brodie's birthday trip to the isle of wight

2009-11-13T18:24:00.002Z

For Brodie's 4th birthday, we grabbed Granny, piled into Sparkly Princess Cinderella and headed over to 'The Island' for a couple of days.

Brodie & Cinderella in pole position on the ferry on the journey out ......

We stopped off at Culver Down for lunch and had a stunning view across to the mainland, plus a very active airstrip in the valley below to entertain us while we ate ......

.... I entertained myself with different settings on my iphone camera ..... the fluffy clouds were just amazing ....

Then we headed over to Dinosaur Isle, the local dinosaur museum. Brodie got a bit scared, so we headed up to the activity room. Tess & Rob had a good look at the skeletons & models in the main museum before joining us so that the whole family could try on the dinosaur costumes .....

On the Sunday, we headed over to the IoW steam railway line and travelled in the poshest 3rd class carriage we've ever encountered ......

..... just coming into Smallbrook Junction ......

Then off to a model railway exhibition in Newport that we had been tipped off about .....

family holiday

2009-11-13T17:45:00.009Z

More catching up, though getting a bit out of order I fear .... here is the proof that we did more than just be ill on our recent train-themed northward-bound holiday .........

Two very excited children waiting to buy tickets at ThomasLand ......

It doesn't show in the photo, but here are two children running very fast into the park, doing high-kicks on the way .........

Checking out a selection of (mainly) Thomas themed rides ......

Day 2 .... York (and the good camera!) .....

by the river .....

cafe society .....

dancing to buskers with large leaves .....

... dancing down The Shambles .....

still dancing (possibly auditioning for The Floral Dance) ....

Brodie in race mode by the river .....

Day 3 ... The National Railway Museum in York .....

... one little boy in total awe as we walked into The Great Hall ....

... watching an engine on the turntable .....

... checking out the museum guide .....

... two very famous locos (well, one real, one replica - The Rocket is a copy) .....

... but old favourites die hard ......

Grandma & Tess on the Japanese Bullet Train ....

Brodie's new favourite locomotive - The Flying Scotsman - in the workshop, undergoing a full restoration .....

Exploring the museum .....

.... with Auntie Gill who lives near York and came to meet us at the museum .....

...checking out some locomotive designs ....

.... outside at the train playground and miniature railway ....

.... mastering the fireman's pole ....

halloween & brodie's birthday

2009-11-13T17:40:00.002Z

Brodie's monster mask that he made ......

Brodie's halloween pirate ......

... and Tess's scary fairy ......

Brodie's scooby doo haunted house birthday cake (Tess & Brodie helped to make Scooby & Shaggy from sugar paste) ......

a few recent things .....

2009-11-13T17:37:00.002Z

.... we've done ......

made chocolate rice krispie cakes .....

Tess chopping veggies for soup .....

science ......

a viking ship we made ......

budding film makers

2009-11-13T14:47:00.004Z

Following on from our visits to the cinema during National Schools Film Week a few weeks ago, today we made some short animation films using plasticine models .......

First, Brodie's football playing zebra ........

And Tess's slide-riding friend (Tess made all her models herself) .....

later that same day ......

2009-09-20T01:56:00.003+01:00

After rounding off the trip to the Ashcroft Centre with a trip to the playground and then dropping Susie & Hannah off at the train station, we headed for home.

Tess got the microscope out and she and Brodie looked at leaves, a feather, bread and hair....

The feather was the most successful item .....

Then we did a bit of classic music, dancing to The Beatles. We started with Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, which we had sung in assembly at Inwoods on Friday, and moved on through the collection (including many repeats of Yellow Submarine, as you can imagine!) ......

I attempted to organise our making things/recycling stocks into a temporary home to make it all more accessible for Tess & Brodie .......

But as quickly as I was sorting things into different drawers, they were pulling them out again and coming up with things to make with them ......

Finally, Brodie sat himself down and wrote/drew a story in his notebook, narrating to himself as he went .....

..... apparently it was about 4 people called Coolee, Bongee, Wongee and Boolee (I think!), who went camping .......

Not to be outdone, Tess raided the making things supplies again and made a scene and a story: 'The little girl had a grandma and a mummy. The little girl had a secret garden. The End' ......

ashcroft arts centre open day

2009-09-20T01:17:00.005+01:00

We spent a lovely day with our friends Susie & Hannah at an open day at the local Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham. The Centre puts on shows, films, exhibitions and classes/workshops across a variety of arts for both children and adults. Today, they were running free workshops in a few of their disciplines plus arts & crafts activities. As well as a fun day out, we thought it would be a good opportunity for Tess to try out some activity workshops to see if she would like to do any regular classes (in these or other fields).

Tess, Brodie & Hannah started with a street dance workshop. It was a little worrying how naturally they struck their 'street poses' and I'm not sure that they needed to learn the phrase 'whatever' at 3 and 5, but they thoroughly enjoyed the session! ......

Their second workshop was drama, and Tess amazed us all by being a very vocal participant in the class. Here she is practising a 4-line dialogue with Hannah .....

.... and performing it on stage !!!!! .........

Finishing off with a game of Grandmother's Footsteps ....

Tess & Brodie listening to a story about a dragon from Lyminster, near Arundel .....

Brodie getting painted as a dinosaur (the first time he has wanted to be face painted in a public session like this ) ......

... and the end result, complete with ferocious roar .....

Tess & Hannah with butterflies and flowers .....

.... but watch out girls, there's a dinosaur behind you!!!!!! ......

Tess & Hannah colouring in Rangoli designs (traditional Indian geometrical patterns, used to ward off evil spirits) ....

Tess's Rangoli pattern .....

Brodie made a finger puppet frog ....

Tess & Brodie with their finger puppet mice and Brodie's frog ....

Tess's penny monster - she had to draw around a penny and then add features, limbs etc to create an individual monster. Tess's monster was a very lucky monster, as it got a full landscape to live in! .....

this week at inwoods

2009-09-20T00:45:00.005+01:00

This week at Inwoods, Tess decorated a mug and did some artwork using chalks and paint. In cooking, she made some delicious bread, which she later devoured. In dance & movement, the group started to learn the cha cha cha, which Tess really enjoyed.

Tess allowing Brodie to taste a tiny (and I mean tiny!) morsel of the bread that she baked.....

In the morning, the whole school walks the three-quarters of a mile to Inwoods from the affiliated Brockwood Park school site. We had left the campervan at Brockwood Park during the day, and I was slightly dreading the walk back at the end of the day, with 2 tired children. However, we had a lovely time - Tess & Brodie stopped at every single blackberry bush and got their fill of vitamin C! .......

... and we collected some lovely golden leaves and a seed head to use as part of our Autumn display (we found the conkers at the Not Back to School picnic earlier in the week) ....

Tess is loving her day at Inwoods each week, but has not felt confident enough so far to spend time there without me being close by. If over the coming weeks, she doesn't feel that she can do that, then we will have to change our plan for her to spend Fridays there. This will be a shame as it's a lovely place and she does enjoy it. However, if she's not ready for it yet, then it would be better to stop and revisit the idea in a year or so.

sept art group

2009-09-20T00:31:00.002+01:00

This month at art group, we looked at Paul Klee's fish paintings and used these as inspiration for the group's artwork. The children firstly used oil pastels to draw their fish etc. Then they used watered down paint over the top to create an underwater feel, with the pastel drawings showing through.

Paul Klee's 'The Golden Fish' (1925)

Klee's 'Fish Magic' (1925)

Brodie's 'Very Large Shark that has Eaten All the People for Lunch' (2009) .....

Tess's 'Mummy & Baby Goldfish with Mummy & Baby Shark' (2009) ......

not back to school picnic

2009-09-19T23:49:00.003+01:00

Last Wednesday, home educating groups up and down the country held 'Not Back to School' picnics, to celebrate the start of the new school year and to draw attention to/object to the proposals currently being considered by government to substantially increase the monitoring of home educating families (see my 16 August post).

Interestingly, the consultation that resulted in these recent proposals was initiated because of concerns for the welfare and safety of home educated children; the review found no evidence that home education was being used as a cover for abuse or arranged marriage, which were the specific concerns, but still proceeded to make a long list of recommendations for significant monitoring of all home educating families. The government is now conducting a further consultation to see which of the recommendations to implement and to assess the implications of doing so; as part of this, the man (the wonderfully named Graham Badman) who led the first consultation is currently desperately trying to dig up further evidence from local authorities about 'vulnerable children who are home educated' because the initial consultation was based on 'a small sample', so they are trying to provide the government with 'more statistically rigorous information'. It doesn't exactly give one much faith in those setting the policies that they plough on with these heavy handed tactics regardless of lack of evidence and using statistically unreliable information.

Anyway, back to last Wednesday ...... We went along to a Not Back to School picnic in Southampton, organised by the SEEDS home educating group that we belong to. We haven't managed to get along to many SEEDS activities over the last year or more, so it was great to catch up with our friends from that group. Hopefully we will be able to get over to Southampton more often over the coming months. The Southampton picnic was very well organised, with a great turnout from SEEDS members. They had also arranged for the local MP and local paper to come along and find out more about home education and understand the concerns about the Badman report. And someone did a short video about the picnic too (see end of this post).

Ready to leave for the picnic - because of the press coverage, and to make a good visual impact, everyone was asked to wear brightly coloured t-shirts. Many people did t-shirts with slogans about home educating or the SEEDS group. We made some batik ones for Tess & Brodie to wear ........

Tess chose to do a heart ......

It may not show up too well here, but unsurprisingly, Brodie chose to do a train (we used a stencil for the outline) .....

Everybody at all of the picnics around the country blew bubbles as a unified symbol of the campaign (as this was something that had featured in a previous protest in Brighton that received quite a bit of media coverage) .......

Here is the video made at the Southampton picnic.

inwoods

2009-09-11T19:55:00.005+01:00

Tess had her 3rd day (including her trial day last term) at Inwoods Small School today. She is really enjoying going there, although is not yet ready to stay on her own (but Brodie and I really enjoy it there too, and the sun always seem to shine at Inwoods, so we're not complaining at the moment!!!!). It's a bit hard to do justice to the place with a camera phone and trying to avoid including other people's children, but these pics will give you an idea ......

Looking across to the Big Barn, where whole school activities, cooking and the older children's lessons & activities take place. [The school divides the children into 3 groups for lessons and activities, based roughly around age. The day starts with everyone meeting together for a sort of assembly, then there is usually an activity within the specific groups. Playtimes, lunches etc are all taken at the same time, and the children play across age ranges, rather than just sticking to their own groups. The group divisions are less important on Fridays, which are less structured than the rest of the week, but the younger children - up to about 7 - generally do several activities together in the Small Barn during the day]. Lunch & snacks are eaten at the tables under the gazebo........

The Small Barn, where the younger children's group activities take place ......

Looking from the back field area towards the house (this is accommodation for the main Brockwood School to which Inwoods is affiliated; Inwoods is based in the grounds of the house). The Small Barn is behind the building on the right, and in the distance, between the two buildings, you can see the huge oak tree that dominates the garden area between the Big Barn and the Small Barn. Underneath the oak tree, there is a wonderful area with log piles, made into a dragon, with a carved head, and stump stepping stones. Tess & Brodie spend most of the playtimes in this area, but just as I was about to take a photo of it, empty at the end of the day, some children came along and started playing on it, so I will have to try again next time ....

Looking the other way, towards the tree house ....

....... and ladder and swing (behind the tree, you can just see the edge of another area, a grassy field, which is used for sports and games, and which has a 'secret' pathway to another natural area at the far end) ......

The children made a clay bread oven a few years ago, and over the summer, the school has built a beautiful shelter for it, to make it easier to use and to provide a nice seating area. This is being finished at the moment, and also there has been quite a bit of other work in the garden over the summer (hence the pile of earth on the left hand side), including demolishing a building that was unusable, in order to ultimately build another classroom area for the school ......

Inside the Small Barn ......

One of the youngest group's activities today was to make paper. The children gathered different natural items from the school grounds to add colour and texture to their paper. As they collected items, they grouped them by colour .........

Tess's paper (top middle). She chose the white bowl, which included some clusters of tiny white flowers from a shrub and some small white flowers growing wild. The paper came out a creamy colour, with lots of flecks in it. It was very beautiful .....

The group is also doing cooking this term, and helped to make lunch. Today, they made cheesy bread snails! Last week, they made pizza, and Tess's was an adventurous mushroom & olive one! She really enjoys the cooking and has been paired with a different boy each week, so it has been useful for her to make new friends. Obviously she has yet to be brave enough to taste the fruits of her labour!

The group also did dance and movement. Brodie jumped up and joined in when they played a traffic lights game - as this involved running as fast as you can on the spot every time the leader called out 'green'!

victorian theatre

2009-09-09T20:30:00.005+01:00

Tess & I made a Victorian cardboard theatre today. We bought the kit when we went to the Weald & Downland museum a few weeks ago, and it is similar to sets that were very popular 150 years ago. Initially the kits were made as replicas of real shows and sold from the theatre where the show was on, but later on, they tended to use more classic stories and were popular as a general toy. The pieces are die cut into large sheets of card, and simply push out and are folded and interlinked to create quite a sophisticated and impressive mini theatre. Our set is for the story of Cinderella, and Tess, Brodie & I had lots of fun putting on shows all afternoon (though as I was the only one who could read the script, my voice is a little hoarse from putting on so many different voices!!)

Tess pushing out the pieces ....

All ready to assemble ......

Tess really enjoyed all the folding and slotting to put it together ....

... though we did have to keep stopping to play peek-a-boo at every stage .....

The finished theatre ......

The actors take to the stage .....

.... with help from the stage hands .......

quotes

2009-09-09T20:24:00.004+01:00

I've been meaning to post some of the great quotes that Tess & Brodie come up with for a while, but keep thinking that I should wait until I have a very comprehensive list. However, I can never remember them all when I want to, so I am going to post them up piecemeal for now.

Some of their general everyday words are better than the proper words ....

SHARK (sharp)

UPS WAY DOWN (upside down)

Tess was asked if she knew her full name recently, and turned to me to ask 'is it Tessie-Bear?' .... ahh, bless!

oh, more coming in, as I type ..... Brodie just came up to me and apologised for something he'd done earlier today. I thanked him and said 'but it was Tess's thing that you damaged, so you should really apologise to her'. To which, he replied, 'hmmmm, I don't know about that, I will have to decide'. He then adopted a thinking pose while he deliberated on the issue. Happily, after a short pause, he decided that he would and disappeared off to deliver the apology!

..... more to follow as I think of them! ......

mish-mash

2009-09-09T20:06:00.004+01:00

A few pics from recent trips and activities that didn't merit separate posts .....

Tess's picture of her camera. Drawn from memory - it is a very good likeness. Now if only we could work out where she's hidden it, she'd be able to use it too!! ......

Brodie & Tess had a great game of pictionary on their own one day ....

Building a city (Brodie's idea) ......

...... though he got a bit distracted by the transport system ....

..... leaving Tess to demolish all the low rise buildings and erect an enormous sky scraper! No doubt she'll have a long and illustrious career as a town planner ......

Hitting the workbooks - Tess is storming through a basic science book and Brodie was on numbers .......

Completing a word search puzzle ......

At a local paddling pool with some friends (choosing a day with a dodgy forecast was obviously a good plan, as we almost had the place to ourselves!!!) ......

A couple of pirates found in the audience of the Lazytown (TV programme) Pirate show at a local theatre .....

book group - the lorax

2009-09-09T19:46:00.002+01:00

This month's book for book group was The Lorax, by Dr Seuss. Packed with nonsensical words, the story has an environmental theme about not destroying the planet. Tess & Brodie really enjoyed the book and the group's activities.

At the group, imagining what the elusive 'Onceler' might look like (all that is seen in the book is his eyes and a pair of gloves) ....

Brodie's version.....

Tess's drawing .....

Truffula trees ...

Tess's dictionary of nonsense words ....

ladybird ladybird

2009-09-02T20:43:00.004+01:00

Strangely, not found on a nature ramble, but during a creative attack on the face paints (I think Brodie started out as a pirate, but changed part way through!!!). They are currently debating whether to sleep standing up rather than get it all washed off in the bath!! ........

camping by the uffington white horse

2009-09-01T23:54:00.009+01:00

We spent a thoroughly enjoyable - if rather damp and windy - bank holiday weekend camping with 2 other families from Titchfield. We stayed on a farm in a field underneath the Uffington White Horse hill, in Oxfordshire.

Looking down on our campsite, with Sparkly Princess Cinderella visible bottom centre in the picture .....

The children all enjoyed playing many games together over the weekend, including swingball ....

.... football .....

.... and kite flying, as well as boules, racing, badminton, cops & robbers, hide & seek etc. Brodie became particularly proficient at kite flying and spent quite a bit of the weekend nonchalantly wandering around the campsite with his kite in tow, like some well-trained puppy! (the kite is just visible top left in the first pic) .....

Tess & Grace converted Cinderella's roof space into an artists' gallery .....

We went to the local pub for a drink, and were treated to an aerobatics display by 2 biplanes, with wingwalkers on top (just about visible in the 2nd pic) .....

We went for some fairly long walks (for Tess & Brodie ...... ok, and for Carole & Rob, based on recent activity levels!!!). On Sunday, we did a loop through the countryside near the village of Lambourn, known for the number of racehorse stables nearby. Luckily by this time, Tess & Brodie had become firm friends with Ali and Murray and adopted one boy each to accompany them on the walk ......

Brodie also helped to up the pace, by challenging everyone in turn to a race .....

We timed the walk to end up back in the village in time for their annual carnival, which had plenty of horsey themes ......

On the Monday, we headed up the hill to find the White Horse ......

Brodie scaling the heights .....

Next to the White Horse (our camping field is just visible - the green patch just over the brow of the hill centre right of the picture, beneath the large brown field) ......

.... and the horse viewed from a distance (this was about the best angle we managed to get on it) ....

The younger children found the last part of the walk quite tiring, but found a sudden burst of energy when the camp was in sight .......

bunting

2009-09-01T23:32:00.004+01:00

We have made the bunting over several different sessions, and I have already posted about the first batch (the fabric crayons/drawings). However, as I'm doing a catch up, I thought it made most sense to group the rest of the bunting sessions into one post.

Here is Tess up to her elbows in dye, doing tie dye .......

Tess & Brodie painting with the fabric dyes ......

The cling-film wrapped tie-dye and painted flags, waiting for the dye to sink into the fabric .....

The tie-dye batch (done by Tess & Carole - it was quite hard to identify which flags were done by whom after they had been unrolled, but I think the top row were mine and the rest, Tess's) ....

The painted flags (Carole's 2 on the left, Brodie's at the bottom middle & top right, and Tess's at the top middle & bottom right...... I think!!!) .....

No pictures of the technique for the last 2 batches, but first up, African Paste Resist Dye (Carole's on the left, Tess's on the right - Brodie didn't want to do this or the batik). These flags were made by 'piping' flour and water paste onto the fabric, waiting for it to dry and then painting indigo dye (or multi-coloured dye for one of Tess's flags) onto the rest of the fabric ....

.... and the batik section : Carole's at the top, Tess's at the bottom; Brodie didn't want to do any on the day, but did choose a very complicated pirate ship to be included on 1 flag, top right (you may have to click to enlarge the pic to see it!). These were made by dripping melted wax onto the fabric, and then dipping the flag into dye, or painting the dye on, once the wax had set .......

And finally, the finished bunting in all its glory .......

what we're reading

2009-09-01T23:06:00.004+01:00

Here are some of the books we've been reading over the last 2 or 3 weeks. I was going to list them individually, but there's rather a lot, so I won't! Mostly, they speak for themselves (and a couple speak twice, where I have accidentally included them in more than 1 photo!!) ....

Obviously, we are getting through a lot of books as they are mostly fairly short and easy to read. Tess is choosing longer books at the library, but often we end up reading a few pages of each as she wants to read them all, rather than sticking with one to the end - so I've only included those that we are actually getting through in the images. The following book is the longest book we have read (and at 270 pages/52 chapters, it is certainly quite chunky!). We are nearly at the end of it, and have really enjoyed it.....

On a recent trip to the library, we were looking in the children's reference section, and Tess decided she wanted to learn more about Romans, so chose the following book on Julius Caesar ....

Tess & Brodie have also recently got into audio books, and we have been listening to these in the car and campervan. This is turning out to be a real bonus, as we're listening to some quite lengthy stories (Tom's Midnight Garden is nearly 4 hours long, and Dog Friday, which we listened to last month was a similar length!) and some great books, which would be beyond us if we were simply reading the books at home (saves my voice too!!). The only problem is that if we have an adult passenger in the front, they want to talk to me, but I'm trying to listen to the story too!!! Here are the ones we've been listening to this month ........

bursledon brickworks

2009-09-01T22:47:00.006+01:00

Rob took Tess & Brodie to a family fun day at Bursledon Brickworks which is just a few miles away from Titchfield. This steam driven brickworks was established in 1897 and at its height, produced 20 million bricks a year and provided employment for around 180 local people. The brickworks remained open until 1974, when the decline in the quality of the clay, problems with its extraction, increased labour & running costs and interruption caused by the construction of the M27 meant the works were no longer viable. In 1994, the brickworks were given listed status and sold to Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust and restoration began (and is ongoing).

The brickworks now offers a museum, family fun days and educational activities, as well as being home to the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Society.

Inside the brickworks museum .....

There were some matchstick models on display; they are hoping to get this oil rig into the Guinness Book of Records .....

Brodie of course enjoyed all the steam engines on display ....

..... and took a ride in this wagon .....

Tess & Brodie enjoying some craft activities on offer at the family day ....

Tess making a brick ......

Carving her name into the brick .......

the finished item (2nd from right, bottom row) .....

a card for Caroline

2009-09-01T22:43:00.003+01:00

Tess made a card for our friends Caroline & Lily, as Caroline's father/Lily's grandfather recently died.

As well as some beautiful flowers on the front ......

.... she also decided to draw a cartoon character, Tommy Zoom, on the inside (obviously a comforting character???!) .......

She drew him freehand and from memory, but he is a very good likeness for the real thing......

quest seekers reading challenge completed

2009-09-01T22:31:00.005+01:00

Having another catch-up session for the last couple of weeks ...... Tess & Brodie completed the Quest Seekers reading challenge run by the local library.

Brodie finished his 6 books with The World Came to My Place Today, about where food & other products come from ........

..... and The Worry Monster, about how not telling the truth can gnaw away at you ......

Tess's choice for her last 2 books were Buster, about a dog abandoned by its owners when he became too much trouble (Mummy just about managed to get to the end of the book through sobs to find that he was happily adopted by a nice new owner) .....

....... and Bluebeard's Cat, about a cat who is kidnapped by Captain Bluebeard .......

Both got a certificate and a medal for completing the Challenge .....

... though Brodie managed to leave his medal at the library, so we had to reclaim it on our next visit! .....

a trip to the past

2009-08-19T21:01:00.009+01:00

Today, we went to Weald & Downland open air museum, just north of Chichester. The museum has a collection of old buildings from the area, including Titchfield market hall (just visible in the middle background of the first photo). It's a lovely place and during the summer, they run Wonderful Wednesday activity days, where they put on lots of traditional crafts & activities for the children to try. I organised a trip for our home ed groups, so there was quite a bunch of us there today. Tess thoroughly enjoyed the activities and made lots of things; Brodie was less interested in making stuff today, but really enjoyed playing the traditional games, running around the grass maze and visiting the buildings.

(sorry that the photo quality isn't too good - my compact camera was struggling with the very bright sunshine today, plus I discovered that Brodie had changed the settings so that it over-exposed a lot anyway!!! Still, you'll get the idea!).

Taking a horse-drawn wagon ride with friends ...

Dancing around the maypole .....

Making 2 ply wool .....

Brodie in the grass maze ....

Trying out traditional games .....

Tess made this friendship bracelet with her friend Teyha ....

Tess & Teyha making tudor style scented bath bombs .......

Brodie in 17th century Poplar Cottage, from Sussex, where he saw a live sparrow nest in the rafters .....

...and looking at the seeds and beans being dried in the garden .....

Tess and Hannah making bread .....

Tess had her face painted as a princess .....

Making a corn dolly ......

Teamwork on the water pump ......

The day's treasure: clockwise from top left, friendship bracelet, scented bath bomb, corn dolly, bread dough (after 2nd kneading at home), Brodie's candle, Tess's candle, the 2 ply wool that Tess helped twist .....

a letter from senegal

2009-08-19T20:48:00.004+01:00

We received a lovely letter today from our other sponsored child, Theodor, who lives in Senegal. He was very enthusiastic and extremely keen for us to visit!!! He has broken his hand, so is being provided with medication by World Vision, the company that organises the sponsorship .........

home education videos

2009-08-16T19:22:00.002+01:00

Here are some interesting videos that have been made by the organisation Education Otherwise (one of the main charitable bodies which supports home educators) about home educating. These have been created in response to the recent consultation about monitoring home education, which was led by someone called Graham Badman. The government is now going through another (!) consultation to see which of the recommendations will be implemented.

Doctor Alan Thomas on informal learning

School is not compulsory

The concerns about the recommendations include that formal assessments of the standard of home education for a child will be made by people who do not understand or support non-schooling methods of education, that the review was based around home education as a possible cover for abuse or forced marriage and that there are some fairly strong powers of access to the home and to children (without parents present) being recommended as a result, even though the premise was found to be false.

More information about home education can be found on the Education Otherwise website and about the review on the organisation's campaign website, Freedom for Children to Grow:

Education Otherwise

Freedom for Children to Grow

a quiet day at home

2009-08-12T20:03:00.004+01:00

My new resolution is to post more frequently about our day to day activities as well as bigger trips and holidays, so here are some pics to show a few of the things we did on our home-based day today .......

We were excited to get a letter from one of our sponsored children, Silveria, who lives in Bolivia. It was a short note written on Silveria's behalf by her brother Vicente, thanking us for the colouring pens and book we had sent with our previous letter, and included a photo of her with these things (we are going to assume that she was happier to receive them than she looks!) ......

Brodie built a huge train track .....

Both Tess & Brodie had a play on the computer, including Education City (for some reason, they keep doing the number & colour games in German and Spanish, where the words are spoken and you have to click on the correct item, so Tess in particular is starting to recognise a few of these words) ....

Making fresh fruit smoothies ........

... and more importantly, drinking (and enjoying!) them ......

We started a slightly (but hopefully not too) ambitious project today to make bunting to hang around our tent when we go camping. I had a bit of a brainwave to combine two planned projects into one, and so we are going to use a variety of fabric dying techniques to decorate the individual flags (bunts??) instead of using normal coloured fabrics. Today, we mainly did the preparatory work of cutting out and sewing the flags. And Tess & Brodie decorated a few with some colourful fabric crayons. For the rest of the flags, we will be using dyes to try out tie dye, batik and African paste dying. We are camping with some friends over the bank holiday weekend, so it will be good if we can get the bunting finished by then.

Tess is getting quite adept with the sewing machine now, and was managing to sew the individual flags on her own .......

In training for future child labour (I can hope!) .....

Using the fabric crayons ......

Brodie proudly displaying his designs ......

....... which don't really show up at all in these photos, but seemed to comprise dismembered train and digger parts - he was obviously going for the Picasso approach to drawing today!!!! .....

Tess was a little more traditional, with a castle complete with duck pond, a cake (with a cherry on top) and a rainbow ....

portchester castle

2009-08-12T19:57:00.004+01:00

We spent a lovely day at Portchester Castle yesterday with our friends Chrissy, Teyha & Zeanne .....

quest seekers reading challenge

2009-08-11T10:39:00.002+01:00

Tess & Brodie have signed up for the Quest Seekers reading challenge being run by the local libraries during the summer holidays. They have to read or listen to 6 books over the summer, and get a poster & stickers as they complete each book plus a medal at the end of the challenge.

4 books completed .......

A couple of Tess's books - Dog Friday (audio book) and Scratch & the Ragged Reef (both rated as 'brilliant') ......

Unfortunately, Brodie insisted on using a smudgy pen, but hopefully you can just about make out where he has written 'snowed' - for Bob the Builder's Snowed Under story - also rated as 'brilliant' (the other book was One Pig went for a Drive in his Car) .......

introducing .......

2009-08-11T10:10:00.006+01:00

..... our new family member, the art wire! We've been intending to do this for sometime, to provide somewhere to display/keep artwork. And now it's here. And it's magnificent! It goes all the way round the learning room, so there's lots of room (although it seems to be filling up already!). So, from Tess & Brodie .... 'good job Daddy!'.

To celebrate, I thought I'd do a quick run down on some recent works. First up, rockets & astronauts - from Brodie ......

and Tess (complete with smiley face constellation) .......

Tess's drawing of 'when I'm 10' ......

Brodie did some stamping and made a telescope (and wrote 'A telescope by Brodie' across the top - the letters for his name are inside the squiggly shape, top right, but hopefully the rest can be made out) ......

We tried our hand at silk painting last week, and the pictures look great stuck on the window with the light shining through. This is Brodie's train (what else?!) .....

Tess's hearts ........

and my flower ........

This was Tess's original design for her silk painting - of a princess (note the high heels!) & her unicorn, but it is quite a small drawing and too detailed for it to work with the outlining & filling method that we were to use (the silver blur on the right is some of the silk outlining gutta that got spilt) ........

Rob, Tess & Brodie went to a children's art workshop run at an art gallery at Gunwharf Quays last month. The theme was rock stars, and they designed their own album covers (though whether even the slightly older children would know what an album of this size was is probably debatable !). Here is Tess's ..........

and Brodie's ........

A fairy that Tess made at the Inwoods (small school) summer open day .....

Tess's painting on a piece of terracotta of a sausage dog and a cat, done at a home ed art group last term ......

And Brodie's Santa's sleigh made at the same group (he's played with it a lot, so it's got a bit battered - it did originally have wooden skewers for the sleighs and could stand up on its own!) .......

Some colouring, by Tess .....

and Brodie .....

library display

2009-08-10T00:15:00.002+01:00

Our local home education group (FareGos) organised a display for a couple of weeks, in Fareham library, with the aim of giving a glimpse into home education. The display included some photos of Tess & Brodie on trips and doing activities, as well as some of Tess's artwork. Apparently the display has received a lot of interest................

festival fun

2009-08-09T23:10:00.008+01:00

The last weekend in July saw us head over to Lulworth Castle in Dorset in Sparkly Princess Cinderella (the campervan) for our first taste of a weekend festival ....... Camp Bestival. This festival has the usual mix of music & activities, but is particularly geared up for families, and 1 of its 3 fields was filled with activities aimed at children. The weather was good for the Friday and Saturday, with rain increasing as Sunday progressed (we left in a big downpour, but it wasn't too bad during the day while we were in the festival itself). Tess & Brodie 'loved every minute of it', so I expect we will be going back next year, so long as it doesn't clash with Rob needing to be in Weymouth.

Entering the festival ....

Rob & Brodie in the Children's Field ......

Trying their luck on the circus bikes (part of a whole raft of circus skills activities on offer - though this and hula hooping were the only ones tried by Tess & Brodie) ....

An earnest face .......

.... for the serious business of watching the headlining act, Mr Tumble (who made a surprise extra appearance on the Saturday, and I don't think I've ever seen such a frenzy amongst grown men and women - though mostly men! - to get on their mobiles and tell everyone that Mr Tumble was here!!!) .....

And back again on the Sunday, this time on the main stage ......

Heading for the end of the Children's Field, with the sea in the distance ....

The English National Ballet company were there, with their 'Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition' show. They put on free dance workshops on Saturday and Sunday, and performed a shortened version of the ballet on Sunday afternoon. Tess went to a workshop on the Saturday, and learned some of the ballet, jazz and Irish dancing moves from the show .......

She loved it so much that we went back for another session on the Sunday before watching the performance .......

Music & swings in the Children's Field .........

The number of people there was astonishing. There was a large field for campervans & motorhomes, a couple of fields where you could rent a tent that was already erected for you (my favourite was the field of tepees!), and acre upon acre of 'normal' camping. The overall effect was something like a refugee camp ...........

On the Sunday, there was a very large fancy dress parade, on the theme of Animal Magic. We didn't manage to get hold of a programme for the weekend, so were never quite sure what was happening when, but somehow, we managed to get prime spot to watch the fancy dress parade. Although we had to beat a hasty exit straight afterwards, when the ubiquitous Mr Tumble, who had judged the parade, appeared right next to us to sign autographs (Tess & Brodie never being the bravest when there is someone to meet or someone dressed up - and Mr T was both!) .......

Little princess ..............

Brodie making a castle in the cardboard castle making tent ......

Tess on the Peter Pan bouncy castle (photo courtesy of her brother) .....

And finally, the picture that summed up the festival for me .... a large green hairy monster walking hand-in-hand with a tiny fairy (with the portaloos in the distance!!!!) ........

beach art

2009-08-09T23:05:00.001+01:00

July's art group headed for the beach to make art from the things we could find.

Painting stones ..........

Tess's beach face picture ........

Brodie with his beach train ........