Baby it's cold outside!

My lovely log fire

Brrrr.... its cold, wet and windy.  I love this weather when I am tucked up next to the fire, but am not so keen when I need to go outside (which is proving tricky when you need to try and toilet train a puppy!).  I feel our home education for December is going to be focused around two main activities: Christmas Crafts in the morning and XMAS 24 (the Christmas Movie channel) by the fire in the afternoon.  These combined with our mince pie tasting challenge sounds like a good all round curriculum.

Last week I hosted a Sewing Workshop; we made Christmas Hearts with all the children having the chance to use the sewing machine.  I also took time to help a home-ed mum clean up and oil her old machine, followed by a quick tutorial on using it.  Since the workshop, Lily has got the sewing bug and has made some beautiful hearts to hang on our tree;  we also picked up some lovely fabric and will be making some Christmas Bunting (details to be posted later).  The local library had some lovely books on different craft ideas and we found one aimed for quite young children but with beautiful (simple) ideas to make . Over the next few weeks we are going to make some of the projects and I have also downloaded a calendar of ideas from the brilliant Nature Detectives website; we will keep you posted on our different projects.

Busy at the workshop

It's in the detail

Finished hearts

Last year we did some lovely Christmas activities including a Victorian Servants Christmas Workshop,  a day trip to London to see the lights and a visit to Richmond Theatre to see Cinderella in panto.  This year will be a lot more low key; not working for 6 months has meant a lot less money and the puppy also prevents full days out.  We don't mind having less money (mostly) as it means we are becoming more resourceful and creative, and personally I think there is something really lovely about home made gifts and decorations.  We feel more appreciative of what we do have, and afternoons snuggled together with hot chocolates, a board game and home-made laughter are just as enjoyable.

We started of the countdown to Christmas with a festive Carrot cake made by Lily......

angela x