The VERY Hungry Caterpillar.....

 We have had a really busy couple of weeks doing LOTS of things! We have:

• Joined the Farnham Home Ed group
• Returned to Osterley for another visit (and birthday cream tea)
• Started Ice-Skating with a home-ed group on Friday afternoons
• Celebrated two birthdays (Ben & Noah's)
• Added to the vegetable plot in the garden
• Had several trips to the library
• Practised roller-skating skills
• Read
• Played
• Created Craft designs
• Introduced a new 'learning planner'
• Attended swimming lessons 
• Acquired a chicken coop (chickens to follow)
• Visited the V & A Museum for the Ball-gown Exhibition

and best of all.... studied our own 'Very Hungry Caterpillars!

We used a Insect Lore Butterfly Garden and sent off for our little caterpillar pot; 5 very little, very hungry caterpillars arrived and everyday we watched in amazement as they grew and grew and grew (just like the book!).  One morning we came down to find they were Pupae and last Friday we came down to find four beautiful butterflies - very exciting!!.  (Sadly, one little guy didn't make it.)

Little Caterpillar (yes the black thing in the window!)

A newly emerged caterpillar.....

Releasing the butterflies....

off they fly......

Exploring the outside

This one didn't make it....

We learnt so much and it was so interesting to see the transformation; pretty similar to the transformation I have seen in the children.....

When we first decided to home-ed, I read lots of books about autonomous learning, children led-learning and being a facilitator.  "Perfect!" I thought, sounds right up my street (less work the better); but I never felt we were getting 'there'.  If you read past blogs you will see (read) some of the journeys we have been on; many books talk about 'de-schooling', a period of transition where children have to become interested in LEARNING again.  When my children were little, the questions used to drive me mad, always asking about things, wanting to learn about how something works and so forth (hungry caterpillars?).  I hadn't realised until recently that they had stopped asking questions (pupae?); they were used to information being GIVEN to them, on a pre-set agenda, according to someone else's timetable.  After almost a year out of school, they have started asking questions again!!! They are starting to initiate their own time-table, and 'learning' has become far more organic.  And just like watching those butterflies - its really, really exciting!!  Even I have got the 'bug', and am reading 'Jane Eyre'... one of those 'dreaded' classics - purely for enjoyment.  Lily is teaching me piano and I am learning stuff that I had 'forgotten'.  

Phew..... I'm not sure how we used to fit school in!  

angela x

PS: its not all perfect... they still fight, argue, make mess and tire me out.  But its worth it!

Osterley Park and House

Last Friday saw a very rare day with it being me and just Lily; Noah was off to lego land with his uncle and cousin for a birthday treat.... leaving Lily and I with a day to ourselves!

We decided to visit Osterley House and Park, a National Trust Property near Isleworth.  If you know Isleworth at all, you would not normally expect to find something quite so beautiful in it's midst and Lily was quite doubtful as we headed across the A4........

We had a brilliant afternoon and there was so much to see and do.  You can borrow Ipod's for an interactive tour of the house, which brought the house and its history to life and helped us learn so much about the house and it's owners; we had interesting conversations about the class system, and would we be servants or ladies of the house? (servants sadly, much to Lily's disappointment!); we wondered what life would be like without running water and observed what a challenge that must have been; and we mused over the fashion of the period and enjoyed trying on some outfits.

Osterley House

Interactive Ipod

The Lady of the house!

   It is of course essential when visiting a national trust property to visit the cafe, so lunch was cream tea (yummy!).

Lunch!

A brilliant day out, covering history, sociology, geography, culture and food tech!

Angela x

Education Everywhere

It has been a while since I blogged and the last couple of months have been really tough; grieving for my mum has been harder than I anticipated.

Home eduction, had, I thought, fallen to the way-side; however, this period of adjustment has helped me to understand even more that learning happens all the time.  As one astute home-ed mum pointed out to me when I was worrying about the lack of 'doing', "your children have just learnt how grief affects someone and that it is OK to grieve - this lesson they would never have got at school."  So for this blog, I have decided to simply list some of the things we have been up to.  No 'lessons', no agenda, simply being......

Learnt to care for a dog (this is Stella, we dog sat for my brother)

Learnt to share, care and roller-skate!

.....or how to be pulled along by a dog!

How the Tudors dressed and danced

Climbed trees

Care for another dog (this is CoCo who we dog sat)

The joys of a pint by the river....

How to carry out a postnatal visit.

Visiting the skate park

Plant and label the vegetable patch

All of this learning without really planning, and not a workbook in sight!  At the end of each day, I have started to ask the children what they have 'learnt' today... and I am loving how this is so revealing.  Noah told me yesterday that he learnt to share, make new friends, plan his day, load the dishwasher....  Lily learnt to negotiate pricing and what she can get for her money, how to work the new sat nav and that she enjoys being at home.

I am really enjoying them being at home now and would feel really sad if they chose to go back to school.  I want to continue doing this for as long as they want to.... as hard as it is, as fed-up as I feel sometimes, I love that I know my children; that I have learnt how to be more patient than I thought possible; that there is so much to see and do; that I don't have to go out in the rain for the school run, that reading aloud is as interesting to me as to them; that cuddles are priceless; that I can do this!

angela xx