Weekly Roundup

There's not a lot of Home in our Home Ed at the moment. So many outings and classes I'm clocking up miles on the car. It feels like a typical HE week - the plan lies in tatters but we headed off on some interesting tangents.

It started tough - the back to school facebook photo frenzy causing ripples of self-doubt, a major not-back-to-school wobble wondering if I'd planned enough and whether I had all my resources in place.

Worries unfounded; it's been a productive, eye-opening week. Here's how it looked.

Monday
30 mins of maths.

K then focussed on averages and did some online games while W did 'ou' spellings from his literacy book.

Learnt about cloud types and names with some great Twinkl resources and MET office printouts.

Walked the dog - climbed trees, threw sticks and cloud spotted.

Tuesday
30 mins of maths.
K did prepositions and pronouns while W did apostrophes. Backed up with some Bitesize games.
2 hour specialist parkour class for K while W did Explore Learning.
Sums challenge (quick fire multiplication and division to colour the blocks to reveal a Minecraft picture)

Wednesday
30 mins of maths.

Outing to Crocodile World. We did a school class on habitats; the lovely expert also let the kids hold a python and stroke a baby alligator. Absorbed loads of info on crocodiles, alligators and caiman and met a massive tortoise.

Thursday
Outward bound day (1 of 2) - archery, climbing, canoeing.
Major wins: meeting some fabulous HE families with kids the same age, I learnt a lot from them. W having a serious wobble about climbing but with a little encouragement from the instructor he pulled it together and kept going. K making a new friend in the first 2 minutes of arriving. Awesome.
After canoeing the instructors let the boys jump into the lake from the jetty. Next week is caving, sailing and bushcraft - we can't wait.

Friday
Making a movie with stills and audio in Movie Maker.
Sending an email with an attachment to Daddy - basic email etiquette, proof reading.
30 mins of maths.
Writing a postcard to Ralf in Germany (from Post Crossing) - remembering captial letters and full stops.
Handwriting improvement - workbook, getting those js to sit right!
Introduction to chess.
Confidence class with a behaviour consultant.
K headed to free running to practice back flips while W had some Daddy time.
Rounded out the week snuggled on the sofa for a family movie.

Back in the Game

We saved the week!

Friday was a big pile of awesomeness topped with a cherry of brilliance.

We managed (despite a few internet issues from the preceding rubbish-week) to do our maths first thing and then the boys made their own lunch - that's home ec right there - and we headed out for a swim. Sorry, PE. Which happened to be swimming. Conveniently it's the same pool where K used to have his school lessons so how's that for continuity?

After that we had a bit of a lunch break and then hit literacy with a big Shakespeare-shaped stick. I would say BOOM but I think that's implied.

We read the charmingly accessible Marcia William's version of Twelfth Night. Not to miss an opportunity for a bit of cutting out, we picked out the main characters, made some cute little red hearts and visually tried to keep track of the bard's star-crossed, cross-dressing, love-struck chaos.

W (very much a web-thinker) grasped the story better than K (logical-steps thinker) which is no great surprise but I was chuffed to bits that they both kept up as Shakespeare wrote some great plays but it's probably fair to say that the under 10s weren't his target audience.

There's an outdoor production at a local stately home next Saturday and I'm hoping our bit of background work will make the live production a blast while we picnic on the lawns. Idyllic.*

O, had I but followed the arts! (Twelfth Night 1.3.94)


*Success on Saturday is by no means guaranteed. We have read a very short kids' version of Twelfth Night. The weather may or may not be wet and/or cold and/or windy. The play is authentic - so the boys won't understand most of what is said. It's 2 hours long (see previous note about wet, cold and windy). I'm still willing to give it a go but I am taking a lorry-load of sweets and I'm not promising the boys won't end up playing Angry Birds on my phone.

The Vortex of Flex

I was 100% committed to the plan. I had weekly and daily timetables and I was going to be strict every day. I said we would be regular, routine - like All Bran. It's not nice but it's good for you.

And then boom. Just like that we've gone a bit Coco Pops. The kids think it's great having it every day but it was really only ever meant to be a Sunday cereal.

I've been sucked into the Vortex of Flex(ibility). So powerful it's a proper noun.

Being British it's traditional to blame the weather and I do like tradition. This week was just gorgeous - Mediterranean gorgeous - it's a rare thing to be able to get your washing done and dried so fast you feel like you've literally stolen time from the Gods. So satisfying.

Washing done (in record time), back to the timetable :
Option 1: Stick with the plan. Learn about longitude and latitude.
Option 2: To hell with the plan. Swim at the lido.

I'm weak I know but the water looked so inviting*.

*the lying water. It was flipping freezing even though the air temp was 28 degrees. "Fine once you get in". Pah. I spent the morning with my feet dangling in while K & W splashed about.

Not content with the morning skive swimming lesson we topped it off with a walk down the river, chilled and happy as we spotted fish and dragonflies, K pointed out how the ducks had dinosaur feet and W collected swan feathers.

A typical EHE conflict. On one hand I feel guilty that we didn't stick to the plan, on the other hand we improved our swimming (OK OK, I just improved my paddling), got a lovely big dose of nature and fresh air and took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself.

Oh - and I got a teeny tiny hint of a tan.

So good, it can't be wrong.