It's funny how even though we are not a part of the school institution, we still are affected by it's rhythms. We still avoid 9am and 3-4pm on the roads like the plague where possible, because of the horrid traffic. We also totally had a 'Summer Holiday' this year and did no formal education (although they actually learned loads of course) and kicked back a bit. It was great! Now the school year has started again, classes in the home educating community have started up and we feel like we have gone back to 'school' in a way. It's bizarre really, you would think that choosing to opt out of that aspect of society would give you freedom from it but we still have some school-like constraints on our life!
That being said we are more relaxed this year than last. I no longer have the daily stress of thinking about whether I actually had made a terrible decision. A friend of mine said that when she chose to home-educate it felt like 'walking off a big cliff', I concur. I actually had to hold onto the kitchen worktops for a minute after I pressed send on the 'thanks but no thanks' email to the LA. The worry stayed for months. It's not here now though I am very pleased to say. After a year of seeing our happy boys progress (academically)so beautifully and develop socially in unexpected and lovely ways, plus seeing them have freedom and being allowed to just be kids, I have very few thoughts about applying for a mainstream school at all. It feels like a great privilege to spend my days with them and it feels right. Doing a degree as well and recently joining the gym and starting cross fit (I love the weight lifting haha) means I really feel like I have plenty of 'me-time' and my life feels more complete than I can ever remember it feeling.
We had a huge movie Summer. In among all the walks, bike rides (Caden learned to ride a bike this Summer), visits to the Splash Park, day trips to various museums, camping trips etc etc, we watched loads of movies together. Miles is nearly 3 now and will sit and enjoy a movie with the whole family. So we now have a movie night (and eat what they like - within reason) on a Friday night (plus other movies in the week when it seems right) and they have loved it. (Me too - I have totally de-cluttered the entire house, including the garage and loft!!!! (I need to put lots of exclamation marks here) !!!!! ) I can really tell how organised we are compared to how we were. It feels good! I like chucking stuff out that we don't need, I couldn't be a hoarder, it definitely clutters up the mind! So the movies and the spending time together has been good.
We went to Mead farm a few times recently. They have a new 'Sky Walk' which of course the boys love! Miles was so happy that he could actually join in this time. They have little toddler sized harnesses and the parents walk around with their kids. Miles is seeing everything with little-boy eyes now instead of baby/toddler levels of understanding. It is like a new experience for him. He understands more, can join in more and as a result loves it more. Shaggy's playworld is brilliant for them both now because they can both be left to tear the place up without me having to also go around the play frame with them. So I can study for that hour.... It all adds up ;)
Here are a couple of pictures of the kids helping me with dinner - Caden washing a pepper and Miles making a hat out of a red cabbage leaf! :)
We had an amazing visit to the London Transport Museum last week. It was excellent. We arrived early so we went into a posh cafe in Covent Garden. Caden and Miles went to the cake counter, a glass thing full of tempting treats and were very happy to be able to choose one of whatever they wanted. Caden chose carrot cake (his fave) but Miles saw the pavlova and his eyes were huge! He pointed at it and was very quiet for about ten minutes after it arrived, until it was all finished! He loved it! This is the moment it arrived. He didnt know what to do with it so he tried to pick it up with two hands and eat it whole. He really loved the experience! Caden was completely unfazed, the presentation of the cake didn't have the same effect on him, he was just so happy with his carrot cake! Nice! :)
So the amazing London Transport Museum... The kids really got into the idea of going back in time in the lift to the first exhibit, going back 200 years to 'the olden days'. There were really old trains, a really beautifully made model of people building the London Underground tunnels complete with little telescopes at child's eye height that they could look through at specific parts of the model. Caden talked about this to his Dad a lot when he got home. They loved looking at the old buses and getting on the trains. We noticed the Ladies Only carriage and learned about how people travelled on carriages pulled by people (the small one person carriage) and horses in those times. You really got a sense of the weight the animals had to pull and how hard life was for the children and workers in that time. We talked about how one man's feel swelled up every day because he was stood on them for 12 hours a day and about how a small boy swept the roads so much that he would get through a broom a week! Hard work and mostly understood by Caden. Miles just liked running around and being a part of everything.
Not the Ladies only carriage ;)
Old fashioned buses. They were even allowed upstairs on this one!
The London underground construction model!
Allowed to drive this bus!
We are doing lots of weekly things now to get a little bit of routine into our lives. Swimming group on Mondays, Latin and Trampolining on alternating Tuesdays, Beetroot club on Wednesdays (more about that on another post), Thursdays is our at-home day and Fridays is day trip day! We have sooo many exciting day trips lined up! I'll blog about them all as they happen.
Swimming is going well. Caden has a shark's fin float which is a huge blue shark fin you strap to the chest. It supports his weight in the water enough to be able to float as long as he works for it. So he is building up his swimming muscles by paddling lots with the legs. He has worked out how to float on his back and paddle around with it and of course the pool is really quiet so we have lots of space to paddle around. It's great. We love the weekly swim! Miles is getting more water confident too. He learned how to make himself spin around in his rubber ring today all by himself.
Latin was a nice surprise, we weren't sure what to expect. Caden was terrified. I was surprised at how much his introversion affected his ability to mingle into a brand new group. I am glad I was there to see it, I can appreciate more now how hard it is for him. He found it incredibly difficult and hid behind me, hitting me if his name was called out to say something. But... he stuck it out (because I stayed there, he would have run off given half the chance) and by the end of the hour he was really starting to relax and answer questions well. It was nice to see him getting more confident. We have homework for this lesson though and I am glad it is fortnightly. Trampolining is the same old joy of joys for Caden. Miles and I get a whole hour to read books and go to the park alone together while he does this. Its nice for us to have that time.
We tried forest school. Caden loved the first session but the second (5 hours long) he cried because he wasn't with me and the leaders decided he is still too young for this (interesting when compared to all the same age children who cry for their parents when at school but are told it is a phase that will pass, or worse still that they are putting it on). Caden asked if he could finish the class too so of course he can as he isn't enjoying it. We are going to try for a younger kids group from April and hopefully that will work well as it will be geared up for his age and I will actually stay for the session too. Forest school as a concept works very well for Caden, he loves being outdoors, knows lots about his environment and gets a lot out of nature based activities so I really hope we can pull off a little kids forest school next year.
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