Our Gruffalo Day! A Gruffalo Collage and Homemade Gruffalo Crumble

I love having themed days with the kids. They don't have to take too much planning (I only decided on our gruffalo day yesterday), but I find them a lot of fun and I'm sure the kids get a lot out of them. I mentioned before bedtime last night that today we'd have a gruffalo day, and it was lovely hearing the first thing Asher say on waking up this morning 'is it our gruffalo day?!' 

We started with reading the story over breakfast, and stayed at the table to do a quick pen-control worksheet from Twinkl. It was only Asher's second-ever attempt at something other than scribble, it was just last week that he got our wipe-clean alphabloks cards out of the cupboard to write on. Today I was really proud of his writing, just goes to show his fine motor control is there developing through other activities that he's interested in. Then it was time to get the scissors and paints out and start our collage. I love the kids' copying of the wood scene from the book. 

Asher's writing:

We played abit with our gruffalo toys and magnet book and sat down to watch the short film with a snack. Eden did a gruffalo doodle on my ipad. 

After a snack, Asher helped me make gruffalo crumble. It's nice to spend a bit of 1:1 time with him, explaining what we're doing a bit more slowly, he really understood what the ingredients that we were adding represented and said making the crumble was his favourite part of the day. We used carrots for orange eyes, kidney beans for purple prickles, spring onion for claws, potato for terrible teeth and peas for poisonous warts. It turned out to be really tasty! 

This afternoon we finished off our collage and stuck it up in pride of place to enjoy on our piano. 

The Great Outdoors Week 3: 5 hours

We started the week looking for signs of flower fairies, following the arrival of a new book which really captured the kids' imaginations! We had a cold wintry walk accompanied by Viking over the fields by our house, practising our observation skills. I love that Asher often finishes these walks proclaiming 'That was fun!' - long may his enthusiasm continue. Eden would happily spend longer out on these walks, which bodes well for the better weather. 

Mid-week saw the arrival of our first snow of the year. Sadly it didn't last longer than a day, but was enough to cause much excitement first thing in the morning and lots of outdoor time on Wednesday playing in the snow, and a walk tramping through the snow to the local pub for lunch. 

The week finished with time in the garden helping Daddy clear the hedge which has slowly been creeping out taking over our garden. Plans are underway to reclaim the space for spring. We've also had a scooter session at the park. Motivation has been quite low this week as Asher and I have both been fighting off colds/flu making me particularly very tired. The weather forecasts more snow later this coming week so fingers crossed for some more snowy pictures this time next week! 

Enjoying the Great Outdoors Week 2: 2 hours 15

After last week's great start, I thought this week would prove to be more of a challenge to get outside and I was right! Our normal home ed activities have restarted following the Christmas break and this week has made me realise that I need to be more creative, and organised, to fit outdoor time into our day, particularly with the shorter and colder days over winter. 

Monday, is our 'free' day - I like a slow start to the week, we potter at home, or out and about doing our own thing. The day was really sunny and I'd planned for us to go to Clent, some local hills, and do some stick activities. Unfortunately I was expecting a delivery, ironically a new pair of wellies for Asher, and it unfortunately didn't arrive until early afternoon, so we'd waited in for it. We still managed to fit a trip to the park in afterwards though, squeezing the visit in before Eden's opticians appointment. 

As I was really disappointed not to have made it to clent on Monday, on Tuesday first thing, as soon as it was light, we headed over there, and set up camp in the natural play space. The kids loved the early start, as did I! We made bird feeders, drank hot chocolate, squelched through amazing mud (Asher testing out his new wellies) and watched bugs scuttling along logs, they really captured Asher's attention, which was great to see. While there, we bumped into a tutor setting up a forest school activity for his pgce students. The activity looked intriguing (coloured wool hung on branches) and he took the time to explain to the kids what he was doing and asked them about the feeders they'd made for the birds. 

The early start on Tuesday had been such a success with the kids that we did it again on Thursday. This time taking our guide dog pup with us for a wet and muddy walk in the rain over Walton Hill, which is the adjacent hill right next to Clent, and always much quieter. I wasn't sure how the kids would like the cold and wet first thing in the morning, but they didn't complain once and again seemed to love the experience! 

Total time this week has been 2:15, much less than last! However the positive is that we've all discovered we like being outside first thing, whatever the weather, and the benefit of this is that we have the rest of the day ahead of us, not affecting our other home ed activities. Intending to be organised enough to keep this up in the coming week. 

Enjoying the Great Outdoors Week 1: 11.5 hours

I love Charlotte Mason's approach to education. One aspect is plenty of time spent outdoors in all weathers. I try and include some enjoyment in the fresh air everyday whenever I can. Some weeks more so than others depending on what else we have planned. Inspired by the families over at 1000hoursoutside, I thought it might be interesting this year to keep a record of how much time each week we spend on activities outside. This week Luke was off work so we did some extra visits which clocked up our total time spent outdoors. 

Last Sunday we visited Croome, a National Trust owned house and gardens. We took Viking, our guide dog pup, with us and enjoyed a sunny afternoon walking around the grounds. 

Monday we had family visiting us for the day for Christmas. It was a great opportunity for us to blow off the cobwebs and go for a family walk across the fields by our house. It was fab to watch the cousins enjoying each other's company having not seen each other since the summer. 

Tuesday was another sunny but cold day. We visited Warwick Castle with my folks, making use of our annual pass that we won recently in a competition. I especially enjoyed watching the kids playing with the ice in the pond in the peacock garden. 

Wednesday, New Years Eve, we took our scooters to the park, Luke and I now have our own too (to keep up with the kids - beats running after them) and they are sooooo much fun!

Thursday, New Years Day, Eden and I popped to the park with her new bike to get some cycling practice in - she recently learnt to cycle without her stabilisers. Later that day we enjoyed a visit to Hanbury Hall, another National Trust owned property. We had a very interesting tour of the house, learning the story of the families who owned it, and a hearty lunch in the restaurant before a walk around the gardens. 

Friday afternoon we took Viking for a walk across the fields nearby, then straight into the car with the scooters for a scoot and play at our local park. The kids played desert islands on the climbing frame there, Asher's idea. 

It's been cold but sunny and mostly dry week this week. Yesterday was the exception - it was very wet. Our enthusiasm for being outside was dampened too, so dashes between shops and front doors was enough activity for us! Luke being off work has given us a good excuse to get out and about this week, especially as our usual home ed activities haven't restarted yet after the Christmas break. But I'll try and keep up momentum next week. 

A busy Christmassy day of Home Ed

Today has been a loooong day. For some reason both the kids woke early, I'm not sure whether it was linked to Eden remembering we were decorating the Christmas tree today or if it was just coincidence. 

Last week we were given a very large cardboard box from a friend. Yesterday I had the idea of turning it into a santa's workshop role play area. I had to be very self controlled in waiting for the kids to go to bed before starting it as I was so excited about the idea, haha! It looked really great all set up and the kids thought it was brilliant when they came downstairs this morning - so much so they didn't even notice at first that the tree was up too and ready to be decorated! 

After breakfast Eden and I took Viking for a training session at Merry Hill shopping centre. His behaviour is quite challenging at home at the moment, fortunately he's still very well behaved when we go out. Eden had been a little reluctant coming along with me with the excitement at home, but being able to choose something to spend her pocket money on (now she's 5) was a big incentive. I was very proud of her choosing something herself, taking it to the till and speaking to the cashier, getting her money out of her purse and handing it over, receiving her change and remembering to say thank you. 

Back home, we all decorated the tree before lunch. I love that we have a few new decorations each year to add to the tree - they make for lovely memories looking back. 

This afternoon we'd booked to go ice skating at Webbs of Wychbold. Asher was very eager to get on the ice!! He'd been pretend 'ice skating' around merry hill earlier this week and was keen to try out the real thing. He was unphased when he tried running in his special double blade skates and fell flat on his face. That was before he even got on the ice! On the ice he was so keen to be like everyone else skating along. A little beyond his capabilities! He was doing so well until he fell very slowly, not landing heavily, but managed to get an ice burn on his face. That ended his ice skating session as he'd had enough! Eden's confidence grew through the session - by the end she was guiding herself around the outside along the wall, and enjoying going at a bit of a speed, for her and managing to stay upright. I love ice skating! I don't remember ever 'learning' or goin regularly growing up, but I must've just picked it up on a couple of occasions. And Luke... Let's just stay ice skating isn't his favourite thing. 

Once back home, we sat down to watch the BFG (childhood fave I wanted to introduce the children to)  with hot chocolates and cups of tea. 

Oh I nearly forgot to mention one more Christmassy thing today... I made a Christmas pudding in my slow cooker! It was in there for 9 hours. It looks great, wish I could taste it but that will have to wait until Christmas week! 

The Little Match Girl theatre production

Today we went to see The Little Match Girl at Birmingham hippodrome. It was a dance adaptation to the classic Hans Christian Anderson story. I loved the music, which was done entirely, and very cleverly, by just one musician. I wasn't sure how we'd get on with having Asher with us, he's only 2.5 and sitting still for any length of time is rarely on his agenda, plus all week we've been telling him to stop shouting, he's suddenly got very noisy! Not the ideal scenario for a theatre show. We thought feeding him might keep him quiet, so I'd brought along snacks that would take a while for him to munch through. But on sitting down we discovered we weren't allowed food in the theatre. It was a pleasant surprise that he sat through the whole thing, and was really quiet, putting his finger to his mouth and going 'shhh'. He was definitely quieter than the school children around us ;) It probably helped that he hadn't napped and was feeling tired. But mostly, he was really interested in the show, taking it all in. Right from the start the big moon lit up in the background caught his attention. I think the fact that the story was told through dance and music, not words, meant that he could 'keep up' and kept his interest, rather than him losing the plotline and becoming disinterested. I was very proud of him. Eden enjoyed it too, she was as good as gold as usual :) We didn't get around to it today, but tomorrow we'll read the original story together. 

Outdoors time

Much of our outdoors time over the last month has involved taking our 7 month old puppy on walks over the fields by our house. He has a lot of energy at the moment that needs burning off! The kids enjoy these walks too. I am missing some variety though.

Often I don't 'plan' our outdoors time specifically into our day, instead it just kind of happens. Today, we took the scooters to the park for an impromptu trip following dropping the car off at the garage. Then at lunch time Asher *really* wanted to go out in the garden, we ended up spending most of the afternoon out there. 

The weather may be changing, but I'm hoping that won't dampen mine or the kids' desire to get outside over the winter. 

Birthday fun in Birmingham

Yesterday was my birthday and we broke from our normal weekday routine being home in the morning, to catch the train into Birmingham. We love going to the city centre so I thought it would be a fun way to spend my birthday. 

Usually when we head into Birmingham we stop by Daddy's office to say hi, today we just waved at him at his window, which is on Victoria Square. The German Market opened last week, so on our way to the museum we walked through it looking at the decorations and enjoyed the festive spirit that has started there. 

Usually when we visit Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery we head straight to the top floor for the hands-on 'Birmingham History' exhibition, the kids love the interactive areas within it. Today I thought it would be a nice change to explore some of the galleries, we walked through a couple of rooms picking our favourite painting in each room. 

The kids were excited about seeing some 'real treasure' that had been found, so we visited the new Staffordshire Hoard exhibition, which was a little busy for us, filled with noisy school kids. Next time we'll time the visit for the afternoon. 

A conversation about mummification while walking through ancient Egypt, and a quick wander through the birmingham history exhibition at the kids' request, and it was time for us to make a move. 

Nest stop was the library - I wanted to go up to the secret garden to view the ice rink and big wheel that have been set up below. Unfortunately the secret garden was closed, but we did manage to still view it from the outdoor terrace on level 3 instead. 

Lunch beckoned and as a special treat we went for lunch at Jimmy Spices, a round-the-world all you can eat buffet. I was a little worried about taking the kids on my own, but we were seated near the serving area so they were in my sight while I was getting plates of food, and were well behaved, so I needn't have worried. We had a lovely chat to the lady on the table next to us about home education and she commented on how well behaved and happy the kids were (and what good eaters they were!) 

Back home, we had a quiet afternoon watching a movie together. It was a lovely birthday filled with fun with the kids. 

All Things Wild Nature Centre, Honeybourne

We had a great time today on our second visit to All Things Wild in Worcestershire. The centre has so much to do and see, and since our last visit in spring, they have added even more, with the addition of a new 2 level dinosaur barn, and a lovely indoor beach area for seaside play.

We started the day on the stamp trail, a short walk around the farm looking for the stamp boxes along the way. Eden was so excited about this as she'd remembered it from our last visit. We then headed over to the dinosaur field stopping by the go karts on the way.. 

Luke and I had a turn too and they were zippy, good fun! 

Before the dinosaur field we discovered another new addition - a helicopter to explore. Both kids took a turn pretending to be pilot! 

When we visited last in the spring I think Asher was a little too young to fully appreciate the dinosaurs here - this time he wouldn't stop talking about them all the way around the field, they really captured his attention. I'm looking forward to following up this new interest with some dinosaur books and activities at home over the next few days. Viking enjoyed the dinosaur field too! 

On our way around this field we completed another sheet we'd been given on arrival identifying and naming dinosaurs. One of them was particularly tricky to identify, and not wanting to admit defeat, Luke went back 3 times to try to find it (and was correct!) 

Perhaps the wrong time of year, but the kids were keen to do pond dipping, as they'd really enjoyed this on our last visit in the spring. 

We visited the new dinosaur barn, got close to the animals in animal encounters, played in the play area. Indoors, there's a craft room, a tractor ride on area, and 2 soft play areas, as well as more animals to see. 

All Things Wild is such a great value day out. The variety of activities on offer, from beaches to the ice age, dinosaurs to degus, cute fluffy rabbits to armadillos and bugs, active play to craft and puzzles, there is something to appeal to everyone. 

Week 11 of home education

Week 11 of home education and our days have flown by. We've naturally fallen into a loose routine that seems to work for us, of being home in the morning, then out and about in the afternoons. This works well for us, as since stopping nursery school runs Asher is far more settled in a pattern of a 2 hour nap at home in the morning - the timing of which is a little odd as he's 2.5 and sleeps through 11 hours at night, but he still asks to go back to bed at 10am after Mr Tumble has finished! During this time Eden does 20 minutes each of reading and maths. The rest of our morning time is spent playing, doing craft or baking, looking after the animals, writing, as Eden loves to write, or time spent outside in the garden. 

After lunch we'll go out somewhere. Sometimes if we're having a 'home' day we'll go for a walk over the fields by our house, taking our guide dog puppy Viking with us. The kids love these walks, seeing Viking leaping around freely as puppies do, and I love to watch them running along together, happy and free as children should be and enjoying nature around them. 

Other times in the afternoon we'll go to a home education group, or see friends or grandparents, go to a soft play centre, or visit the library, or take the bikes to the park. This year we have national trust and English heritage membership, so far we've been too busy to fit in using our pass as much as I would've liked to, but hopefully it will get more use over the winter. 

There are also special one-off events that we've been to over the past 11 weeks - we've been to the seaside for a short break, gone bowling, taken part in the National Harvest Service, been to the cinema as part of film fest and gone along to various organised home ed events, such as not back to school picnics and home ed days at local places of interest. There's so much to do, every day is varied and different. 

The kids have so much to learn from the world around them and the people they meet in the process. They are simply 'doing life' and we are all having an absolute blast in the process.