2014 So Far...

There's been a bit of Tot-Schooling going on;

Chip really likes his new 'Zimbbos' game, but equally just enjoys stacking the elephants!

And knocking them down!

He also rather loves playing on the Hudl tablet that we got for the younger boys to share, but Flash sites don't work on it, so he still pinches my phone sometimes (which is old enough to still do Flashy things!)

We've done some science...

Investigating Static Electricity

And today, I didn't take any pictures, but we were looking at which materials conduct electricity and which insulate it.

Today was also Art day.

We finished off these pieces, based around the work of GUSTAVE KLIMT, that we began last week. This was possibly one of the most stretching pieces of art we have done so far. It doesn't look difficult, but it definitely required some thinking outside of the box ~ something my children are not so great at doing!
  Their first inclination was to use the shapes as objects, so a single rectangle would represent a persons body, rather than a build up of shapes doing so. Eventually though, they clicked into the idea and this is the result ~ they are all pretty pleased with these :D

Top to bottom, left to right...

Stitch's (there are birds, a sun, a sky, a man, a tree ~ so I guess it's a 'Field scene'!), Lilo's 'Beach scene', DD's 'Man on a Bridge' (or a rocket), Minnie's 'Abstract Order', TP's 'Music Man'

While we were busy doing that Taz was working on his Airfix helicopter that he received for Christmas. He's worked on it for a lot of hours already ~ there are SOOOO many tiny bits ~ but he's making progress :D

One of the girls' popular pass-times at the moment is making these;

on this 'Rainbow Loom'. 

I'd seen them about on the internet a fair bit, and I managed to bag one for a tenner just after Christmas. I don't think the big two girls have really put it down much since! A great little purchase, mainly to say thank-you for all their help over Christmas, but I'll be needing more elastics and closing clips VERY soon!

Aside from school, we've seen some stunning sunrises;

and had some spontaneous visitors (of whom I failed to take pictures), when The Manor Borns paid us a visit en-route to Liverpool to collect a guitar for C. It was lovely to have them stay over and to catch up a bit, especially after our total failure at doing so in London before Christmas (when our family's sick-bug destroyed our plans for the day). All four girls disappeared upstairs and for most of the evening we did not see them at all ~ although the giggling was plentiful enough! Minnie cannot wait to have C come and stay again ~ they really had a chance to get to know each I think, and they got on well :D

Ok ~ so I think at last I am up to date. Lets see if I can keep it that way shall we!!

December...

...It's hard to believe it is already the middle of January and I haven't blogged since Lilo's birthday ~ that's Chip's 3rd Birthday and the whole of Christmas missed!

December was not as smooth and exciting as I usually like it to be. We had things planned that just didn't happen for one reason or another. One of those was a day-trip to London. Minnie was meant to be meeting up with some other H'Ed children and having a day at the Opera, seeing Carmen. I was taking her, along with Taz, TP & Minnie, and we were going to make a day of it ~ visit Harrods, Hamley's, maybe Selfridges, pick up Minnie and go to see the lights in Oxford and Regents St, buy chestnuts from the street sellers and maybe see the Christmas markets in Hyde Park ~ we were all really looking forward to it... BUT the night before we were going I was very sick :( I would have forced myself to go (though in hindsight that would have been stupid), but Minnie was also sick in the morning and so was Joel! So, that was that, no London outing this Christmas :( I rang Qjump from my sick-bed and managed to get the majority of the train fare refunded (THANKFULLY), so had hoped to possibly make the trip between Christmas and New Year, but by then the money was gone again and the time was never really available either ... maybe next year then!

Minnie took a couple of days to pick up after the bug, and gradually everyone but Bugs and TP came down with it in one form or another. Not all were sick, but all definitely had dodgy tummies! Some got over it in a blink, a couple had it twice (!) and I just took forever to feel right again. Every time I ate anything I felt immediately sick, so was having to eat little and not to often. It was not until about New Year that I felt properly well again. 

  Not being well for 2 out of 4 weeks of December, just threw everything for me. I had a shed-load of photography work to do: I had done a charity shoot in November that I still needed to finish editing, but I also did an engagement shoot in November, for which I then had various things to do that were new to me and took more time than an average editing batch. However, I enjoyed the challenge and my customers were chuffed with the outcomes :D. 
  Aside from that, of course, I had to make sure all the family gifts were bought and delivered here in time, which involved more than a few hours on Amazon and other sites! Blogging really just fell to the bottom of my priority list :(

So, in some way, I shall try to attempt to get this blog up to date and, for those of you so inclined to view, I've included slideshows!!

Chip's Birthday...
  ...was a lovely relaxed day; opening presents in the morning, all of which he loved and then going bowling in the afternoon. To begin with, at the alley, he decided it was his party...and he'd refuse to join in if he wanted! We didn't make a fuss though and, thankfully, before very long he was really having fun :D He's a funny little man! You can never be 100% certain that he is going to be game for anything ~ even the things you know he usually enjoys. Anyway, on this occasion it all ended happily with no massive tantrums (phew). 
  After bowling we took a trip to Tesco to pick-a-pizza each. Some of us had customised pizza made, and the children were fascinated by watching the shrink-wrap go on! 
  It seemed funny to think back to the days when I was 17, doing my 'A' Levels and that was exactly my job ~ to make pizza (in Asda) for the morning's shelf stock 3 nights a week, and 'to-order' for the customers on a Saturday. I remember the job with mixed feelings, but it paid my rent!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Christmas Day...
  ...was wonderful this year. It was a bit of a frugal year, but despite that I think all the children got what they asked for (they were encouraged to ask for less), or at least almost everything they received they were really pleased with. 
  The day began around 7.30am. The children had been up a bit already, but not ridiculously long, and had opened their stocking gifts, then mingled amongst themselves sharing their excitement. Eventually I called them in to 'show us' what they had ~ and they all piled in to our room with their goodies :D I think that may be one of my favourite parts of Christmas Day!
  After breakfast, it was time to set off for church. It's only a short service on Christmas day, and often a quiet one, but this year the church was full :D The children love showing everyone their new toys ~ as do some of the adults!! DD especially stole the show this year, with his flying, Tarzan-calling, sock monkey.
  When we got home, we opened a game ~ this year it was 'Dobble' - as I knew it would be quick to learn and keep them all entertained for a while. Together with 'Pixit', which Lilo had opened in the morning, that worked really well while my wonderful husband put the dinner together.
  This year Minnie was very much part of the team, helping set the table up ready for the feast. I love this part of Christmas too ~ there is something very lovely about having a pretty table. I'd do it more often, but it's simply not practical: candles and small children (or boisterous 6 year-olds) are not the safest combination, but I'm happy to take the risk just once a year! 
  Once the feast was eaten ~ and no-one had room for ANY pudding! ~ we did a quick tidy up before settling down to the business of opening the rest of the present mountain! At this point Chip was crashed out (he did that last year too ~ I think the excitement exhausts him!) so we made a relatively calm and collected start to it all. By the time he woke up the rest of the children were nearing the end of theirs, so he became the centre of attention for a while, which was nice for him :D
  Then of course, it was time to eat again! No-one was VERY hungry, but we all forced a little food down and even some pudding this time! I think it was eventually about 10pm before the children started heading up to bed, but it was an altogether LOVELY day, with lots of fun and laughter along the way.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Boxing Day;
  It's fast becoming a family tradition to have all of Paul's family here on Boxing Day. We have the room and his two sisters only have to travel from Birmingham, so it's not too far either. Usually Paul's parents are staying with one of us 'northerners' too, so it's easy enough for them to join in, and this year Paul's brother, David, was also up for Christmas with his son (B). So cumulatively there were 23 of us here on Boxing Day! We all love being together and the children just have a ball. The only dampener on the day was the fact that both Gareth (b-i-l) and myself were feeling pretty icky. I had not fully recovered from the stomach bug I'd had almost 2 weeks prior (and having eaten so much the day before was suffering for it) and Gareth was also suffering from the same bug I think. Neither of us ate much (although there was plenty on offer) and both of us moped a bit in separate corners most of the day, but we enjoyed watching the day pass by, with lots of laughter and yet more gift sharing :D. 
  Around 7pm Paul's sisters were beginning to think about going home, when cousin 'T' came running into the room with his hand over his mouth and proceeded to spew violently - everywhere, quite a few times ~ right threw my lounge and all the way through the kitchen, to the downstairs loo ~ leaving quite a trail behind him!! Poor Gareth (his Dad), was the first on hand and it was all he could do not to add to the mess! SO, after that, once T had been lent some fresh PJ's, all the visitors grabbed their stuff and left rather promptly! Nothing like a dramatic end to a visit ;-)

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

New Year...
   ...we asked a bunch of friends over to have a bit of a party. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see the year in with more than just family this year.  All the children were allowed to stay up and all but Chip made it to midnight! He flaked out about 11.30pm!  Once midnight had passed the smaller chids were sent upstairs, but it was a while before people left and the bigger chids went up. By the time everyone left I think it was about 1.30am, but I was too awake to go to bed, so I sat and chilled on my phone for about another hour just to wind down!
  On NY's Day we asked another family over to play games. They had been unable to make it for the party, but they are a family who LOVE games like we do, so having them over was great. They brought their new games too ('Jungle Speed' and 'Kabeleo') and we played an eclectic mix of fast and fun, and more thoughtful games ALL AFTERNOON! I think we'd have played all evening too, but we were all getting a bit tired by about 8pm ~ and I didn't take a SINGLE picture!! Definitely one to do again though :D

So, that was Christmas... next blog will be life since then!!

Lilo Hits Double Figures!

How is it possible that I now have 5 children in double figures?!?!

Last Wednesday Lilo turned 10!

10!

Did you hear me?

I can't quite believe that my baby girl is 10!!!!

It only seems like a blink since I was praying she would be born

and boy was she keeping me waiting ~ 3 weeks late!!

(2 months)

Seems she was chilled about being born ~ lazy even ~ and she is possibly still one of my lazier children, but also one of my most easy come-easy going.

(1 yr)

She fits in to whatever we're doing, and seldom fusses about anything;

She plays for hours in her own company (and that of her imaginary folks)

but is equally at home in a hub-bub of happenings and a crowd of people.

She is a loyal friend and is very sweet natured.

My dizzy little blondie ~ I love you VERY much!! :D

Oh ~ and just for fun... here's one of Chip enjoying some birthday cake!

Mondrian & Not very much else..!

First things first ~ our Arty blog bit...

Last week's study was Pete Mondrian ~ he did paint an eclectic mix of styles, but is arguably most famous for his blocks of colour, so that's what we went with (and, of course, it's the easiest to do too!)

So here's this week's offerings - which look rather fabulous all collaged together!...

Above, as you read; Minnie, Lilo, TP, Taz, Stitch, DD

Below is mine.

Tot-School ... (just a snippet) involved playing with the 'moonsand'. We haven't had this out for a LONG while as it is SO messy, but Chip thoroughly enjoyed playing with it and did so for a very long time ~ so I guess it was worth it! :D

MInnie has spent a good deal of the last two weeks making these ~ entirely by hand ~ for sale at church, to raise money for our Youth Mission Fund. If they sell well, she is considering setting up an Etsy shop...

Just Another Home-Ed Blog....

ART

Our weekly art project ast week was 'Pop-Art' ~ Andy Warhol to be precise.
  

This was SUPER easy...

Just print out multiple grey-scale copies of the same photo on the same sheet of paper and use whatever paint you choose to paint over.

Some of the children used poster paint

some used gouache

and I think maybe some used watercolours.

They all worked, but gave different effects.

Fun, easy, quick and with interesting results!

TOT-SCHOOL

SENIOR SCIENCE

Joel had to put some food sources in some jars, block out the light (hence the tin foil) and collect some local pond-water!

Leave for a week and then take a sample of each (hold your nose!!)...

...and study the 'bugs' under a microscope!

We all enjoyed discovering what was under there, but I'd really love to be able to afford a better microscope ~ this one may look good, but it's not as good as it looks. It has a USB (hook it up to the PC) lens, but that was totally hopeless (as it has no means of adjusting focus!), and it simply will not allow you close enough to focus at higher magnifications. Shame. The most we managed to magnify at was 64x, but that was good enough to see a few different kinds of bacteria.

Of course there's all the 'other' stuff happening all the time that I don't take pictures of (because my kids get fed up of the camera in their faces!)...

Stitch has completed the second terms worth of work for his Yr2 maths ~ he just 'gets' it, which is such a blessing. I tell him what is required for the set page and he just does it. I barely have to teach him anything thus far. He has deduced his own strategies and naturally works from what he knows to calculate what he doesn't. He understands the principles of four basic operations and confidently works with money problems. He understands all 'shape and measure' concepts like symmetry, mass and distance, and can even estimate fairly accurately. 

Stitch is also chomping at the bit to get going with some 'real writing', but much as I don't stop him, I still am choosing not to give him much work that requires actually writing. This is because his pencil control is still quite poor and, not only is it difficult to read what he writes, but I believe his hand would tire far quicker than his brain would ~ which might lead to some frustration and or 'abrupt' work! For now he's doing a little handwriting every day to help his graphia skills (which are slowly improving at last), and he writes stories on Reading Eggs (typing not writing). He often listens in on All About Spelling and expresses regret that he stopped doing it, because now he'd like to be! Much as I can see it might be worth it some ways for him, I would struggle to know where to 'place' him now. The beginning would be FAR FAR too easy for him, but he would need some more of the foundational concepts to be able to jump in and work with DD & Lilo. I actually don't think he NEEDS AAS, because he is such a natural learner (for the things he chooses to learn), but I do think I will need to get something to stretch him more - very soon! Education City, Explode the Code and Reading Eggs (the Comprehension Levels) just aren't cutting it for him anymore.

Today was the very first time he has expressed that he would like to go to school ~ because he'd like to have more friends. Funny how my children always see school as a means to 'getting more' friends, and yet, in reality sometimes those friendships that might be formed in school would not always be wanted by us as parents, or helpful to the children themselves ~ and even less seldom do they seem to last beyond 'school' itself. I have a feeling Stitch would be popular enough (he's funny, and naughty!), but would struggle even more than he does at home, to focus on any given tasks. He would struggle with having less of his work available to him in computer format (he really does love to work on screens) and he would struggle to work for a full day! Yesterday, he managed to string his work out well into the afternoon and it was then a futile exercise to get him to into gear. Maths, his usually favourite and best subject, had got pushed to the end of the day by him, and suddenly it was a REAL struggle! He learnt his lesson, got Maths out of the way bright and early today, stuck to his 'schedule' and was finished everything by lunchtime! This really is the way he works best ~ race through and go and play!! I'm not sure a classroom could accommodate his need to do that and he would most certainly be held back in that environment. It's not happening. We chatted. He knows it's not. But we do need to try and find 'something' for him to be involved in - with other little boys especially (he's a real boy's boy iykwim) ~ now that he's dropped out of gym. I'm wondering about Beavers, but I'm just not sure it's his cup-of-tea, or that we have the time... I'll keep thinking...

I've STILL not done anything about calling the college re Taz ~ MUST DO THAT!!! Even managed to miss the last two open evenings due to excessive business on my husbands part! There is one more this month I think ~ must try to get to it!

H'Ed aside now (sort-of)...

Christmas is just around the corner, but not before we celebrate two more birthdays of the year! The minibus just needed an expensive repair, and was due a service, so we've had that done too, as we knew it really needed an oil change and a new tyre (or maybe two). SO, that leaves us PRETTY strapped this year. I think I might just have to get 'making'.... I should follow my oldest daughter's example ~ she has already finished making gifts for ALL her friends (and she's not short of them) and ALL her family - each something personal to them. She is amazing and SOOOO into Christmas :D So much so, that now she is setting about making more things that she can sell at church for our 'Care & Compassion Fund'.  She's considering it a practice run, as we are considering setting her up an Etsy shop as a means of earning herself some extra pocket money. She is my least ambitious child ~ outside of 'have a family and keep house' she has absolutely NO long-term thoughts for the future! With this in mind we figure a little bit of entrepreneurial training now might be a wise investment of time! That way she can maybe be a SAH,WAH Mum someday :D

That'll do ~ signing off now!

 

Creativity Catch Up Post...

The final couple of Romero Britto pieces from this postt

Click the pig to see the before ~ this is Taz's

 & DD's

And one more Picasso head...

Last week's work was based on Paul Klee's art. 
There's only 4 pieces as DD & Lilo were away staying with cousins for the week. 

TP & Minnie

Taz & Stitch

The art has been great,

 but there's also been a lot of Knex creativity going on here too, particularly over half term...

DD seems to have really got the hang of it now, 

and made these with very little, or no, help from anyone else.

Stitch made this (and a few other models I failed to photograph), 

so he's getting it too :D

It's funny how Knex has always been very popular here ~ 

perhaps it's the 'real' representation that they can achieve. 

Chip also likes to get involved in creativity, but sometimes I give him his very own 'messy play' ~ this particular day it was blue 'snow' (shaving foam and corn-flour). It was a very interesting substance to mess with ~ one second solid enough to make snowballs with, and seconds later stretching and oozing and liquidy again! Great fun!! :D

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