Springing into May

May started with some cousin fun, more pond dipping, lots of construction and drawing and lovely sunny days! Yay!

The three of us went on a fab Home Ed Foray, a foraging trip organised by a home ed mum with Melissa from Truffle and Mushroom Hunter, see her Facebook page here. We all (at least 30 of us) had a great time wandering along the old railway line at West Grinstead, foraging. 

  Initial we were briefed on the importance of not just picking anything and that there are lots of poisonous plants out there alongside the edible ones. After that we were off searching and talking about certain plants along the way such as Jack in the Hedge, Lords & Ladies (poisonous), Bluebells (poisonous) and King Alfred's Cake Fungus (used as charcoal). The children were then set a task to find sorrel in a field to add to our wild feast when we finished. It has a really unusual but refreshing taste. At the edge of the field was Hemlock, a relation to the carrot family and is highly poisonous (ingesting just 50g can kill!!)

Next we were set searching for St George's mushrooms along the banks of the old railway line and we discovered a huge ring of them. Here the children, and adults helped to cut some of the mushrooms for our feast.

Along the way Melissa explained the importance of thinking about where you pick your produce, away from areas that have had pesticides sprayed on, pee areas and along some of the old railway line where the old ash would have been thrown.
After a two hour walk in the glorious sunshine we arrived back at the start next to the old railway platform at West Grinstead and Melissa proceeded to retrieve lots of foraging goodies, a stove and cooking things and prepared a delicious wild feast with help of the children. It included a wild salad
(with wild garlic leaves/flowers and primrose flowers), wild garlic pesto, wild garlic pesto soup, homemade bread and the mushrooms we had foraged, delicious!! Willow ate the bread but couldn't be persuaded to try the soup.

We have been doing lots of bike rides, including some downhill lessons from daddy, enjoyed the bluebells, investigated a cut down tree and found out about sap, planted pansies, had lots of outdoor fun, added to the crystal collection, sewing with nanny and got a sticker for gymnastics for going backwards over the bar (check out how pleased she is with herself!).

Another great art, then drama workshop at Rackham.

For the last couple of months we have been involved in a matchbox swap group; the organiser comes up with a theme and gives you a partner to swap with and then you fill a large matchbox with as much activities and info as you can about the chosen subject. Our first subject was medicine and we chose to do herbal medicine, we posted off our matchbox and unfortunately didn't get one back. Then the organiser's daughter very kindly sent us one, so we reciprocated and gave her one back. She opened it in front of us and it was lovely to see how pleased she was with it. Willow worked hard on it and made a small lavender pillow using the sewing machine.

This month's theme is The Romans and we went on a Matchbox Swap organised trip to Bignor Roman Villa. The setting is beautiful, nestled below the South Downs, the weather was perfect and the day thoroughly enjoyable. First off the children got to dress as different Romans and then were told what their position and role was in society.  Willow was dressed as a slave. We then had a tour around the villa, the lady was great and made it fun and enjoyable for the kids. We then had a lovely lunch in the grounds, the kids had sometime to run around. After lunch their was a couple of workshops where the children ground corn with Quern Stones, drew in wax tablets, looked at Roman numerals and letters and translated their names. All in all it was a great day out and I would definitely recommend it.

To round up the beginning of May we have a new addition to the family, Star the bunny.

Enjoy the sunshine x G x

Hot off the Press - Willow's first published work

Treasure Digging

by Willow, age 5

Treasure Digging,

Down in the ground, in the road.

Through thick mud, hard stone,

Drilling, whole body shaking like jelly,

Down in the ground, in the road.

Spade gruffing, crashing into hard rock,

Hands scratching, scraping, searching for jewels,

Down in the ground, in the road.

Suddenly a sparkle, glittering in the dark,

Gems, soft and smooth,

Treasure of all sizes,

Down in the ground, in the road.

Hedgehog

by Willow, age 5

The hedgehog is brown as an owl,

And as little as a mouse.

He is sleepy as a pillow, soft and feathery.

He moves quickly like a sly fox.

He goes to hide in the bumpity leaves,

That are yellow and red like a flower.

The hedgehog crunches through the leaves,

Snuffling under them, hunting for food,

Tiredly searching for somewhere to sleep.

Suddenly he finds a soft spot in a bush.

He snuggles up in a ball and soon he is fast asleep,

Softly snoring to himself.

Butterfly

by Willow, age 5

Swish, swish,

Swish, swish,

Flap the colourful, silky wings.

Happily nibbling the sweet, sticky pollen,

From the tickly, honey scented flowers.

Rose petals dance to the music of the wind.

A bird swoops smoothly through the trees,

And the butterfly lands on it's rock-like nose.

These beautiful poems and the others from the group are now available to buy in digital and paperback form here

A Week in France, a day at Chatham and much more........

So I haven't done very well at posting regularly.....  so again have lots to post!! One day I will master it...in the future.... sometime....

We have spent a week as a family in our home in France, it has been amazing having our own space, just the three of us, learning, working on the house (well garden this time), eating good food, and generally chilling, enjoying the calm and dreaming (as always).

We bought our home last February with the intention of living out there; which Willow and I did for almost a year but it was very hard, Ham never made it to live because of money and our initially plans didn't work. But I think although it didn't work it has made us stronger as a family (it was decidedly rocky at times), it has sent us down a different path, with new ideas, new opportunities and our new life as home edders and it has given us a whole host of new friends with similar ideals.

Anyways back to what we have been doing..........

As soon as we arrived at our home in France (literally the first few minutes),Willow was outside, digging, playing, enjoying... and that is pretty much where we all stayed for most of the week, outside.. Willow has assisted and learnt about bike maintenance/building, weeding, bouncing on the trampoline, how plants grow, plant names, biking skills (she did some amazing cycling on and off road). She has done some fab art work - experimenting with pattern and colour, lots of puzzles, did I mention bouncing!, number work using this fab book by Dorling Kindersley,

......., exploring, cooking and baking, looking after a stray cat (lots of patience involved), how not to fall off a van roof when washing it, reading numbers in shops, how to put on reusable nappies and asking hundreds and hundreds of questions, sometimes whilst bouncing!!! and the list goes on.................. breathe......................oh and it was even warm enough for a water fight.

                                           

                                            

It was sad to leave, but needs must. We stopped at Cite Europe on the way back and Willow learnt a few life lessons about how overwhelming toy shops are and how unfortunately having so/too much choice to chose a little treat is done on purpose by lovely!!! marketing peeps. After much deliberating, two Big shops and a few tears, she chose a really cool Playmobil set of a mummy and newborn baby on a maternity ward and came away with a long list of all the other things she would like.

We arrived back and straight away had our Creative Writing finishing party, since January we have been going weekly to a creative writing session run by a lovely home ed mum. Willow has loved it and the children have really bonded over the time whilst learning about how to put poems together and different techniques you can use whilst doing so. They have created an amazing anthology of poems that is being made into a book as we speak. Willow was really sad when she realised we wouldn't be going next week. After my initial doubts that she was too young and not really reading yet (compared to the others who are at least a couple of years older), she has had a great time and learnt a lot, they take in more than you can possibly imagine! I will write Willow's poems in a separate post by themselves.

Before heading to France we spent a day at Chatham, Ham was suppose to be working, but not enough people turned up, bonus for us as we then spent the day altogether. He was based at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, the buildings on site are full of history and have plaques outside them explaining what they were for. We didn't visit any of the actually museum exhibits on site as they wouldn't be interesting enough for Willow yet, but I have been told they are amazing. Just wandering around the site showed us enough history. We headed instead to Fort Amherst a 5-10 minute walk away from the dockyards.

 It dates back to the 18th Century when it was built in response to an attack by the Dutch on the River Medway and the Dockyards. Around the visitor centre you can explore above grounds for free and see canons, old shots, ramparts and other parts of the fort. There is also a handy play area outside the visitor's centre which Willow loved. We paid to go on a tunnel tour, it was definitely worth it, they are quite spectacular, the construction and the layout are something else. The tour guide walked us through the tunnels explaining how they were used during The Second World War and how they were used for shelter, storage and defence during Napoleonic times. We were the only ones and the guide did shorten his spiel for Willow's sake, she still found it a little long and I think she was worrying about being in the tunnels. She did find bits interesting, but probably would have preferred a few more hands on things. She took somethings on board including the flags outside, the patterns I noticed appeared in some of her art work in France. All in all it is definitely worth a visit and I believe they have different events on including candle lit tours, reenactments and even do ghost tours and weddings.

Much more coming up.................

We attended a fab 5th birthday party for a home ed friend, making things, dancing and pass the parcel.

We have purchased 'just a few' new games this month including battleships, Monopoly Junior, a Disney Fairy Game called Magical Flower Garden Game (I have to say it is very good, really well thought out, unique and great for little girl's imaginations), Junior Othello and a game called Triominos- deluxe ( the tiles can be used for lots of other fun learning and games). (I love charity shops). We have enjoyed them and countless puzzles.

Willow has created amazing structures with K'nex, including park equipment, a buggy/car with handles they we took around the block and tested on different surfaces (without any prompting from me) and a boat marina.

                                          

 She has made an elaborate dog kennel, drawn outside using watercolour pencils and a water pen, had fun at gymnastics and started at a new club called Upstage involving musical theatre, singing and dancing. They are currently doing Matilda, Willow loves it.

After announcing she didn't get enough post I suggested she wrote to people to ask about things and then she might get some replies. So a letter went to Auntie Hannah about London and its buildings and another to Great-Grandma about her adventures in the War. She plans to write a few more as well.

We have been learning about life-cycles by observing my mum's pond life (it is filled with hundreds of tadpoles) and the sunflower seeds Willow planted as they grow.

We have learnt about the layers of the Earth and what is under the ground, we created a plasticine model and then cut out a wedge to investigate the different layers.

I wanted to add at this point that most of the things we do and look into are because Willow has expressed interest in them or ask questions relating to them, I then look into different things we can do to learn about the different subjects further. Her mind is very problem solving based at the moment and wanting to know how things work and do the things they do.

We had a trip to Guildford to pick up some home ed stuff and some furniture from some good friends. Beforehand we had a little wander around the town including a yummy ice lolly, a trip to one of my favourite shops Paperchase, found a new shop Anthropologie and some rather cool tiles! We then had some delicious dinner at Wagamamas, before Willow built a skeleton on a moon floor, looked at some cool Lego and had a mini crash course in Dr Who, The Lord of The Rings and Wall*E.

We attended another fab Home Ed Art Session at Rackham.

We visited Blackberry Farm in East Sussex with my sister and nephew and had a great time feeding baby lambs and kid goats, looking at pigs, chickens, Highland Cows (my favourite!), donkeys, sheep and lots of other animals. We got to hold baby bunnies and guinea pigs. The children had fun playing in an almost empty play area with a sandpit, bouncy air pillows, trampolines, big slides, an obstacle course and an indoor soft play for wet days. We had a tractor ride around the whole farm and a yummy ice cream from the shop.

Willow's favourite thing by far was the horse riding, as you can see by her face in the photographs. Unfortunately you have to be four and up to ride so my nephew got a little upset that he couldn't ride.

In summary it is a great place to visit and good value for money. I would say it is mainly aimed at children 9 and under, but would suit animal lovers. They also have a Pony Club and Young Farmers club that run in 5 week courses on the weekends. 

To end this exceedingly long post here are a few more of my favourite pics from this month that haven't made the write up.

Apologies for the length, but I hope you have enjoyed the read.

Lots of Love x G x