Screw the Plan

The timetable at the end of last week was a joke.

The lure of a website offering room and home design was too strong. Over the last few days the boys have spent hours designing and building. K has decided he wants to be an architect. One half of me is beating itself up for failure to teach conjunctions - the other is applauding itself for the spontaneous pursuit of an activity which is the pinnacle of the home ed freedom-to-learn philosophy.

Home.By.Me was the best site I found for flexibility and cost as you're allowed 3 free projects once registered. There's a Google login option and no limit to the size of each project so the boys have set up three 'worlds' and each one is focussed on a different type of building. You've got 2D and 3D views to play with.

So far the boys have created a mansion, flat, dream bedroom, cafe, pub, dorms, storage facilities, offices, playrooms...

For 3D spatial awareness this is a superb bit of kit and there are lots of ways to use this software to link to other curriculum areas - we might try some of these over the next few weeks :

• Design a room on a fixed budget (research costs of items, spreadsheets & budgeting)
• Recreate a room in our house on HomeByMe (maths skills - measurements)
• How much paint / carpet do we need? (maths skills - working out area, rounding up)
• Build a house/room only using items from <period in history> (history)
• Design a house with tessellating rooms (maths)
• Decorate a room using primary colours / complementary colours / etc (art & design)
• Build a house of size X which can house at least X people with basics only (current affairs, displacement, ethics)
• Design a maze (logic, maths)

Link : https://home.by.me/en/

Rockpools

We packed our buckets and crab nets and headed to the Jurassic coast for an adventure at Kimmeridge Bay.

For a mere £5 you can enjoy the lovely toll road to the beach and once you're there you can spend the day happily mooching around the rocks.

There are plenty of impressive ammonite fossils to be seen at low tide and some great rock pools. We didn't find any mermaids purses, dinosaur bones or spider crabs but we weren't disappointed as we saw edible crabs, snails, shrimp and some amazing seaweed. We found a spider crab shell and a crab claw which was a highlight for the boys - especially investigating how the claw worked.

The staff at the marine centre were fab, giving us plenty of tips and lending us some spades. Once W is more confident in the water I'd love to go back to do the snorkel trail.

A proper British seaside day : cold sea, grey skies. We left drenched and happy.

 

Everything Zen ..

... I don't think so.

The 11+ (sorry Transfer Test) created a pretty stressful couple of months (understatement). As an antidote I had the idea of making mini zen gardens. I was giddy with optimism and self-congratulation at this easy, quick, genius idea. Clever me.

A quick search on google images only served to reinforce the fact that this was the best idea I'd had all week.

Problem 1 was locating suitable frames. I spent an unhappy 20 minutes crawling around in a spidery loft, banging my head (in frustration and also on the rafters) until I found a pair of matching frames. Unfortunately they had our wedding pictures in but I was too fed up to keep hunting so now I'm looking at my younger self, in a big white dress, stuck on the fridge. If I could go back and give advice to 20-something-newly-wed-fridge-girl it would be : don't even think about making a mini zen garden when you're 36. Oh - and spend less time on, or in, the fridge.

Problem 2 was finding sand. And gravel. And shiny beads. I didn't know Buddhists could be this demanding. Sheds were searched, craft drawers emptied and in the end, in despair, I tipped a load of sand out from the candle arrangement on the coffee table. Phew.

Problem 3 - tools. The loft, sheds and craft drawers are full to bursting with everything, literally everything, except for mini zen garden tools. Luckily, we foraged some sticks from the garden and set to making mini rakes with a glue gun and some swearing.

We're 2 hours in and I'm still waiting for a serene feeling of deep inner peace to descend.

Finally, with frames, sand, gravel, beads, candles, stones and custom-made mini stick tools all in play we were ready for some serious relaxation.

Re-designing was fun, it was like an etch-a-sketch.

Not enough fun to eclipse problem 4 though.... there is sand EVERYWHERE.

I spent the next hour hoovering. I think zen is overrated. I'll stick with gin.

Much Ado

Continuing our Shakespeare theme we decided to re-try the Globe with seats this time, thanks to a half price offer on tickets for 946 (Morpurgo's The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips). Although it's not Shakespeare it had the same cast so it all felt warm, fuzzy and familiar as we sat in the upper echelons with the snazzy cardboard visors to help shade the sun.

It didn't have the charm of the yard but there were fewer tired legs and we had a clear view of all the action with no pillars to peek round.

My preference would still be the yard : at £5 a ticket it's exceptional value for exceptional theatre, but perhaps only for age 10+ and it's worth getting there early to secure a spot front and centre of the stage for the best experience. It's a balance - getting there early means standing for up to an hour longer but in return you'll get a better view.

My other tip is at the interval (if you haven't been organised enough to take nibbles) - keep hold of your ticket and nip out to Costa which is right behind the rear theatre entrance for cheaper snacks and shorter queues than the Globe refreshment stands.

Given we'd had a side view of A Midsummer Night's Dream and W struggled with standing for so long I was completely delighted to find that the final show at the Globe will be broadcast live by the BBC tomorrow. To watch the same actors perform the play again it from the comfort of our own sofa will be fabulous and the kids loved the story. What's not to love about a naughty fairy and a man called Bottom with an ass for a head?!

Link here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/h2vwgfPvGVLTZ95BWL6Yxf/riotous-and-celebratory-a-midsummer-night-s-dream-live-streamed-in-a-world-first

Midsummer is a modern adaption by Emma Rice with traditional language but a visual focus on costume, colour and a re-imagining of conventional Shakespearean theatre. Helena is re-cast as Helenas; Hermia wears Cath Kidston pyjamas.

It's a fantastic contrast to Much Ado About Nothing which we saw last week at Clivedon Manor. Performed by a classic all-male troupe, Much Ado was performed outside (in the pouring rain in our case!) for an authentic experience. 

K is the perfect age to grasp Shakespeare's presentation of the strengths and weaknesses of human nature when it comes to love, betrayal and trickery. W is a little young to follow the dialogue but if there's a sprinkling of slapstick and a lemon sherbet he'll happily sit back and absorb the atmosphere and laugh at the physical comedy, even if the kissing bits are 'weird'. 

We've done Much Ado, Twelfth Night and Midsummer so we've covered enough of the comedies - the boys feel the same as they've asked to see one of Shakespeare's "fighty" ones. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to prep them for Hamlet... maybe next summer.

Summer Days

The summer has gone in a flash and it's not-back-to-school time! The weather was on board with the transition to autumn and threw some wind, rain and leaves at us for the first day back.

It's been easier this time - I haven't blubbed watching other kids walk to school which I count as progress. A combination of getting into my stride, increasing confidence and knowing it might be our last year of this EHE adventure has improved my resilience.

I can't lie, it's still hard. As friends tell me of coffee dates, back-to-work plans, new teachers and clean houses my heart sinks, picturing the pile of dirty dishes, papers everywhere, floors in desperate need of a hoover and the hours of planning and resource printing that my Sunday holds.

But there are advantages : there's no abrupt change of schedule, the money saved on uniform can be directed to more entertaining activities and all of our favourite haunts are suddenly quiet again after the chaos of the summer. Knowing we can have our pick of adventures in term time meant we had a nature-filled, Famous Five-esque summer and it was fantastic.

Best of all - seeing friends. Term time weekdays will seem very quiet after the fun of the summer.

Impact

Take one visit to the Tate Modern last week.

Add 2 boys with nothing to do at 8am.

Leave for 30 minutes.

We saw Piet Modrian at the Tate and discovered that one of his works sold for $50.6m. We've had a lot of fun thinking about what we could buy with that amount of money!

Countdown

Our friends have nearly finished school and our timetable is about to change. It's a challenge to adjust in holiday time - we want to see friends and go on adventures but we also want to keep some momentum and structure as it's one of the balancing factors of EHE. We do so many extra-curricular activities in term time that keeping a loose lesson structure through the holidays helps keep the kids feeling like they know what's coming next.

We've got over a year under our belts and have one more year to go before K heads to secondary and W will likely head back to school too as he doesn't want to taught at home alone. It feels significant and momentous - we're over half way through this EHE adventure and I'm reflecting on what we've accomplished so far.

The boys folders are bursting with work. Their progress has been excellent and they've learnt so much. I'm exhausted. They've created beautiful things that they're really proud of. The house is a mess. It's been a philosophical awakening of epic proportions. We understand each other better than ever. We've done things we never dreamed of and visited incredible places. Our spontaneity has translated into tangible success - we can be packed and leave for a night away in less than 20 mins if the mood takes us. The boys brought us cups of tea in bed this morning, just because. Life is good. Nothing seems impossible.

Now the clock is ticking, counting down to the next stage of their educational journey back in the mainstream, and I've got the carpe diem vibe in spades.

One year to go and it's going to be an incredible 12 months.

Varying Sentence Length

A simple, powerful demonstration of how varying sentence length improves writing and speaking. A lovely example for auditory learners - google for images of this quote for a visual version with sentences colour coded by length.


“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. 

Now listen. 

I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

― Gary Provost

The Joy of Trees

Things to do with your tree :

• Hug it
• Climb it
• Spot shapes in the bark
• Catch leaves
• Hide in it
• Use broken branches as swords/magic wands/den building materials
• Dangle from it
• Hide behind it
• Paint it with mud
• Marvel at it
• Identify it
• Take a bark rubbing from the trunk
• See what's living in it

We just love trees.

Abstract

Matisse's work appeals to my two. W loves colour and minimalism. K loves detail and technical balance. I wanted the boys to create an abstract piece of art and I was curious to see what they'd come up with without guidance from me and while sitting next to each other.

W takes his lead from K in many things but when it comes to art he sets his own path and isn't influenced by his big brother. We spent some time researching Matisse and getting inspired by some of his later cutout work. Shape and colour are the joy of Matisse - he also knew Picasso and they were both friends and rivals. K was drawn to 'Bees' and W to 'The Parakeet and the Mermaid'.

Art is best interpreted by the viewer, so I cordially present :
K's piece : "Static" inspired by technology and a badly tuned TV.
W's piece : "Abstract"inspired by woodland and a strawberry mousse for lunch.

Both available for general sale, signed and authenticity assured, for £5m each from the Fridge Gallery at my place.

Thoroughly inspired, we headed off to The Tate a few days later. We stuck to the abstract gallery as there was enough there to keep us busy. Highlights were Dali and Picasso but the whole experience was cool and unpretentious and the variety of artwork was diverse and engaging. We'll be back to explore other areas. It was fun to chat about what art is and how things are valued by how much people want them. 

The Tate sits right by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre so we watched a Midsummer Night's Dream from the Yard. It's cheap but standing for 4 hours was tough going on little (and big) legs. We'd pre-read the play and the boys kept up with the story but we were hampered by visibility and missed a lot of the physical jokes because of a pillar in our line of sight. We'll return when the boys are a bit taller or save up to pay for seats!

Then we ate crisps, stalked pigeons on the lawn and chased bubbles on the edge of the Thames - just in case we were getting a bit up ourselves. 

Finally a cheeky Picasso from W - with a small diversion into genetics! He drew me and S, then cut the faces and swapped parts so each face is half mum, half dad. K is on the right, W on the left!

Art imitating life.

Feels like Summer

The sun came out so a day at the beach was in order.

We'd been to a swimming pool that morning which turned out to be exclusively flumes - an awesome, extraordinary thing which I didn't know existed. Half the slides were outdoors and although the sun was out it was more for appearance than for temperature - it felt like a quintessentially British thing to be in nothing but swimming things, soaking wet, stood outdoors queuing for a slide in a brisk north easterly breeze ... and still call it fun.

We had a great time but were sorry there was no regular pool for a splash about. Lucky we were by the coast and nature kindly provided the largest, chilliest pool we could ask for - it even had a wave machine.

Despite the beautiful weather and calm seas we were alone on the beach except for the lifeguards so we enjoyed the exclusivity on this stunning bit of coastline. We collected shells, buried ourselves in the sand and had a swim which I'll call refreshing, but I suspect in other circles would be better described as fricking freezing, or borderline insane.

Brush and Ride

We popped in to the stables next door to the campsite we were staying for a night. The guys there managed to squeeze us in and I was so grateful as we had an incredible morning.

The boys were camping-tired which is a special sort of tired which involves being happy and grumpy at the same time. Too tired to manage polite conversation or help with the washing up but still able to shimmy up a tree or race around a campsite at the sight of a dragon fly.

The boys have sat on a horse once before but they don't remember it so to all intents and purposes this was their first horsey experience. Rather than just sit on and go, they had to brush and prepare the horse and then tack up, giving them a chance to get to know their new friend.

Our instructor Sue was boundlessly enthusiastic and explained the differences between classic and Western riding, how to brush and tack up the horse, where to stand, which bits to avoid, how to clean hooves and how to speak to the horse. Preparation complete they mounted Honey and Tilly and off we went.

It was an excellent lesson. They walked, steered, did challenges, trotted and went from zero to looking basically competent in under an hour. Physical co-ordination isn't W's strong suit but with patient instruction he got the hang of the controls on this new vehicle, mastering acceleration, steering and even braking (eventually). They both loved it and are looking forward to another lesson next time we're in the area.

What was the best bit? I ask as we drive away.

K's horse stopped for a massive wee and W's had gas. Cue uncontrolled giggling.

You can lead a horse to water ...

Village Fete

We love a village fete. Bumbling around with change in our pockets, buying overpriced ice cream and tickets for tombolas that are filled to bursting with things we either donated ourselves or that we just don't need.

I won a wine soaked Body Shop gift box. Oh, cruel tombola! I could smell the wine and the box was saturated with it - but the only bottle in my win was rose-scented body wash. I'm just saying it's not as good as wine.

Hook a duck, tractor rides and decorate a biscuit were fun but the highlight by a mile was the petting zoo. Amid my mutterings of 'we didn't have a petting zoo in my day' I ushered the small ones in for what turned out to be the most fantastic 45 minutes of their week and probably the best value £2 I've spent in ages.

K&W held ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits, chicks, geese, baby mice and fed a baby goat from a bottle.

The team running it were fabulous : competent, confident and with a sense of humour completely undiminished by 4 hours of small children wandering around their pen. They plonked furry and feathered beasts onto children's heads, laps and hands - giving them no time to be nervous or refuse. The highlight for me was a quote from a small boy who was sat next to us. As a rabbit appeared on his lap he looked faintly unimpressed as he turned to his mum and asked :

"What does it do?"

Mum looked briefly flustered before replying :
"It doesn't do anything - it's a rabbit."

Okay, this was no Xbox but we had a great time.

Parklife

We have amazing parks around where we live. From skate parks in Marlow, Princes Risborough and Missenden, to woodland ones at NT Waddesdon and Hughenden to the local public parks at West Wycombe, Naphill, Speen, Booker, Ellesborough and beyond - we are spoilt for choice.

No agenda here - it's just a fantastic way to spend a break time or wind down after school. Councils get a hard time but I can't fault our free public parks and green spaces and we make the most of these fantastic places.

Who doesn't love a bit of balancing, swinging, sliding, hanging and climbing...?

The Complex Verb Universe

Verbs don't sit into nice little boxes. There are rules and exceptions around everything from tense to first/third person, plurals to perfect form.

I could go into excruciating detail to teach the boys but I'd have to learn it all myself first (yawn), they would be disengaged (yawn again) and the impact on their written and spoken grammar would be minimal. So what's the point of learning forms, tenses and grammatical tools?

In a nutshell it's to make sure that what you say conveys what you mean in the most elegant way possible. It's also great to be able to alienate friends and family by correcting a grammatical faux pas :
"I think you mean whom, not who."
I think you're off my Christmas card list.

Demonstrating an understanding of grammatical constructs through fluent, interesting and clear sentences is important. Being able to define and explain grammar is not.

Today we looked at three useful verb types that help us with meaning, with a little help from the Mr Men and Little Miss books.

Imperative verbs are provided by Little Miss Bossy. They tell you what to do which is brilliant for instructions, recipes and warning signs. We used a recipe book to brainstorm imperative verbs.

Modal verbs belong to the auxiliary (helping) family of verbs, which support a main verb. Modal verbs indicate certainty, possibility or a lack thereof and so they are supplied by Mr Jelly who is often unsure. They can help indicate the necessity or likelihood : should, won't, can, must. They're useful in debates, requests and nagging small children to brush their teeth properly : You MUST brush your teeth or they WILL fall out.

Powerful verbs are excellent for story telling and helping the reader or listener to imagine a situation; provided by Little Miss Magic as they add that special something to a story. They're used all the time in fiction but also pop up regularly for emotive and dramatic reasons in news reports.

Powerful verbs also provide a useful link to synonyms : I ran down the road.
Sprinkle the magic to hint at context and deepen meaning :
I bolted down the road / I flew down the road / I raced down the road / I sprinted down the road / I bounded down the road.

I don't know any adults who can confidently explain the entire verby universe - maybe it's just not a topic that comes up much at parties. I'm not expecting the boys to; by far the most important thing is that their correct use becomes natural.

The best way to achieve that is to speak well, use rich vocabulary and read often and aloud. For good grammar you need an ear for the right sound.

Flying High

Through the wonder of Tesco vouchers we were able to go to Airkix for a Father's Day treat and experience indoor skydiving.

K & S were beyond excited but this represented another epic challenge for W (with helmet, suit, goggles and ear plugs to contend with) and no small challenge for me who dislikes heights and gets a cold sweat in any situation in which I have to relinquish physical control.

To cut a long, fantastic day short - it was brilliant. I was first up (typical!) and with W wavering I didn't have time to do anything except set a good example and throw myself in there to the depressing sound of them turning up the wind a few notches to keep me airborne.

Despite steaming up his goggles with tears and having no ability to reassure him other than hand signals as the wind tunnel was so loud, W got over his fears, went for it and loved it. We were beyond proud.

Every time K walks into a new social situation with his head high and every time W takes on a new physical challenge I glow with pride. Out of everything we wanted to achieve with home ed that is the headline for our family : we want to grab the amazing opportunities life offers.

The Making of Us

What a resource -
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/the-making-of-me-and-you

This BBC link is a springboard to some fabulous human body work. The possibilities are endless but we've spent a couple of hours on some unstructured exploration:

Weight, convert between imperial / metric
Finding out height, team work required!
Big numbers - what's a trillion, what's an octillian
Imagining 2000L using water bottles
Microbes - how many and what are they up to?
How much our organs weigh & does your soul weigh anything?
Percentages - how much of you is water
Elements, which interesting things have you got in your body

There is No Hurry

Rivers know this : there is no hurry.

We shall get there some day.

Winnie the Pooh, A.A.Milne

A morning spent in the river with sunshine, dogs & wellies full of water. Happy days.