Science with water

Bird feeders

Found lots of different birds in the garden today so we decided to raid the pantry and make some bird treats.
We used lard.. sultanas...digestive biscuits...sunflower seeds...and coconuts.
We never opened a coconut before so Jellybop found a You Tube video telling us how to...with a   a hammer and a screwdriver!

Day One... trying to do a little blogging every day for the rest of this month...

Today the kids wanted to bake and as we're trying to be child led in our learning, we baked! Jellybop chose to bake a Victoria Sandwich cake from the awesome Mary Berry's Fast Cakes book. She wanted to bake little cakes as well so doubled the mixture.  The little cakes were so huge that there was only enough mixture left for one layer of sponge for the Victoria, oops.  It will be great with custard!
Legoboy picked meringues.  We've never made them by whisking the whites and sugar in a bowl over a pan of hot water. But they turned out fine!

After the washing up was done they decided to do a bit of drawing and made morphed together Moshi Monster pictures

The afternoon was PE, they fished out the Wii and played Wii Sports and Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games for two hours without falling out with each other.

Verdict...good day!

Modelling Clay Activity

After some pretty tricky Maths on Education City this afternoon and a Film Review of Dolphin Tale 2 the kids decided to play modelling clay, this first photo is Daddy and Mummy by Jellybop.
The second photo is Uncle Steve without his beard, by Legoboy!  It will be added later when there is more charge in my phone battery!

Crafty Time

We got some new Hama Beads yesterday, so we decided to try our hand at them.
A quick look on Pinterest and we were off!
Two Minions, a multi-coloured star and two birdies to brighten up the winter garden :)
One is already on his way to a branch...

Floating and Sinking

We made lolly stick rafts today and tested which things floated and which things sank.......

Glueing Eyes On Tomatoes!

Yes that's what we're up to this afternoon Legoboy decided he'd like to do a bit of animation.  I'm thinking Lego...

No it's a la Ooglies!!

We have just glued googly eyes onto some baby plum tomatoes...

so that they can be cherries and now Legoboy is busy converting my hand mixer into a "cherry copter"

This one is called "Tim the Stapler"

And finally for today...

"Kevin the Kitchen towel"

Such adventures afoot!!

More Button Art

Button Art

   By Jellybop x

Back To School-Not!

Well while pretty much everyone was "Back To School" on Tuesday/Wednesday this week we had a far different week!

On Monday we met up with a few other HE families in Lancashire, it was a bit of a juice guzzling trip in our Jeep, but we had a fab time comparing notes on what we "do" to Home Ed.

The kids were ranging from 10 months to teenagers.  They played keyboard, squeezed into the trampoline, snacked, pogo stick-ed and generally "socialised"!

 

On Tuesday I tried (mistakenly) to give our day a little more structure oops, note to self, "we're deschooling!!!!!".

So after a go at Reading Eggs and Math Seeds...

I got out a couple of worksheets/workbooks, huge refusal!!

So we relaxed and I backed down a little..

In the afternoon we did a couple of experiments- sodium bicarbonate and vinegar volcano and raisins bobbing in lemonade (thanks Aunty Jacky for the kit <3 )

On Wednesday we went on the Door To Door Ministry as part of our activities as Jehovah's Witnesses, we enjoy this as it help us to understand about other people and their beliefs, and help to encourage the children's social skills.

Thursday passed in a blur but on Friday we went to a fairly local HE Not Back To School picnic at Wolseley Bridge Nature Reserve

http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/wolseley-centre

Weather was lovely and we met up with other new and established Home Edders

Bye for now!

No! We haven't been away on holiday!!

Well we've been so crazy busy these last few weeks, guess who has forgotten about blogging :(

So let's just take a look at the last weeks adventures...

This was taken at Fordhall Organic Farm, Market Drayton, Shropshire.  

By the year 2000 this well established organic farm was under serious threat from big business and bulldozers.  Now it    

is England's first community owned farm with one farmer Ben, and no fewer than 8,000 landlords, a number that is increasing all the time!

We had a fantastic morning out!

Jellybop and Legoboy joined in the restoration of a Cobb pig using clay, water and straw, all squished together by wellied feet! 

Jellybop met up with a lovely friend who we haven't seen for ages and got seriously muddy!

Legoboy enjoyed climbing on the tractor and seeing the Gloucester Old Spots too.

To be honest there were so many fab things going on it would take forever to tell.  Suffice it to say this won't be our last visit.

Yesterday we were back in Shropshire visiting family.  We ventured down to the River Tern for a spot of impromptu 'fishing'. 

Using a milk carton with the top ⅓ cut off and garden twine for a handle, the children hurled their fish catchers into the water.  

They found a water boatman, but then dinner was calling, so we headed back.

Finally today was declared a Pyjama Day.. I expected the kids not to do much after a really hectic week, but in true Jellybop fashion, a stall was set up in the living room to 'sell' dvd's that no-one wanted any longer.  It wasn't long before our budding Business people had a table on the drive with a sign saying "Yard Sale"

They played for four hours, setting up their stall, requesting 'stock' for the stall from willing grandparents, deciding on marketing tactics and customer incentives.

At the end of the day they had earned £4.34 to donate to the RSPCA.

They plan on trying again tomorrow too.

Daddy is off work next week and more adventures are afoot...

I Got A Surprise Today by Jellybop

A couple of weeks ago I decided to enter a cbbc show.  I had to fill in a 5 page form with writing!

I answered lots of questions and today I got a phone call from a person called Holly at CBBC and she said if I don't get contacted by the end of October I won't be on the show but if I do hear from her soon... I will be on the show!

I can't wait!!!!

Relax! Just relax!

Okay so I've hit a hiccup!  Been a little tense to say the least.  This hot weather, Grrrrr, bedtimes for the kids seem to be non-existent :(

After sharing my displeasure on a couple of HE Facegroup groups, I decided I had to relax!  So what if Jellybop only wants to watch TV or hang out at Nana and Grandads!?  Legoboy has always been able to entertain himself so I guess it's a matter of time for Jellybop.  Today was payday of sorts, so we went out for McDonalds breakfast then food shopping. In the supermarket they had this cardboard thingy

So we had to have a photoshoot!

Then we spotted some rainy day purchases...

One wasn't quite saved for a rainy day, we've watched Lego Movie twice today!

I also spotted these Berol pens and was sorely tempted, £10 is that a bargain?  

Might go back for them!

We did head off to 

http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure/leisure-facilities/dimensions/

A lovely swimming place, no place for lane swimmers but awesome for kids!

Off to get a good nights sleep soon, thanks for reading!

Day One of Home Ed Days

Today was our first official HE day!
We started of with the FREE Lego story starter Kit, and Jellybop and Legoboy made three scenes from the kit and then video'd the results with a commentary,  not bad for before 9.30am.
Before lunch Jellybop played Chequers on the tablet and Legoboy played Super Mario Flash 2 on the iMac...Retro gaming, Daddy will be proud!

After lunch we headed out for a local National Trust beauty spot, Downs Bank.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/downs-banks/

Jellybop had flip-flops on so she was drawn to the water like a magnet, Legoboy had to think for a split second before he waded in in his 'good' trainers!

They went across the tiny stepping stones and gazed into the stream for fishes.  They found one and this is what it looked like when they finally snapped it...

No I can't see it either :)

Tree climbing..

And making 'hiking sticks'

Jellybop overcome her fear of dogs today too!

all in all a great first day :)

Hello Everyone!