Our new home educating year began this week. I always liked to keep a log of what Caden and Miles get up to in their lives. This helps me see what progress they are making and lets their family and friends check in and find out what they have been up to.
This week we have seen lots of friends, had loads of free play, made models and avoided the freezing and rainy weather outside as much as possible.
Caden wanted to invent a time machine. This is how he did it. He got a clock (you can see the kids shape clock in the middle of the footrest) some dinosaurs and put them in a circle around it. Then he packed his Bee Bag (next to Megan on the left) with apples and things he would need in the past. Then Megan and Arthur (left) and Miles and Caden got into a chair each and they all counted down from 10. Caden was genuinely dissappointed to find he was still in the same living room as before.
We met a new family to the home ed. scene at Ikea and they played with the boys both inside with the toys and outside in the playground. They had a great time. It was good to meet new people.
We visited Jo and her children in Aylesbury. Caden and Freddie had a bit of a wrestle. Freddie likes to wind Caden up a little and laugh as Caden tries to attack him. Betsey was on form with a space rocket that she had been making, Caden got into it with her and they closed the lid. Meg and Miles had a crazy few minutes where they ran in circles laughing and making lots of noise. The boys had a great time there as usual, we walked down the canal to get there too.
Then they discovered Betsey's new toy. Furby! Caden fell in love.....
I dont usually do this but he loved Furby so much that I thought I would get him one, I imagined they would play with it loads and loads.
I found them reduced from £60 (!!!!) to £45 (still !!!!!!) and reluctantly bought him one thinking thats it for the day trips this month though. Luckily (?) we are all ill so we are stuck indoors anyway but he left his Furby at his Dads. I think now that we are a single parent family and the boys stay at their Dad's weekly for a night or two, I have to expect that some toys wont make it back each week. Still, it's slightly galling!
We did some modelling this week. We made a 3D T Rex! It was a pretty poor design as the slots were too wide so it kept falling apart (Grafix - avoid) but it was pretty cool to put together and they enjoyed watching how it was done and helping me get the right numbers of pieces to put together.
We also got back into a bit of the academic stuff. I am recapping Caden's reception maths, some of it is painfully easy but I want to make sure we havent got any gaps in knowledge before we recap Year 1. Then I will feel confident moving up to the next year. Though I know he can do it, I want to be thorough, it will be easier for him in the long run. So we flew though a bit of telling the time analogue/digital and the calendar.
We also got back on it with our reading. Since their Dad and I separated in September I haven't done a lot of formal work with the boys, it has been too difficult, we had a house move and a lot of stuff to sort out. Instead of sitting and reading as we had done before I would ask Caden to read signs and notices when we were outside, he seemed to do just fine that way. He also had begun to read a page of the bedtime story each night to me as well. We are now back to full on reading. He isn't reading a classic this time but he is reading something by Jeremy Strong called My Brothers Famous Bottom. He loves it. He can read the words, there are a few he doesn't know so its challenging which is great. The thing he used to struggle with was following the story but he is getting the hang of this now slowly and as its a children's comedy, its fun to see him 'get' the jokes and have a giggle about them as we go. Quite rewarding for us both.
We also assembled some little wooden toys they got for Christmas. Caden a plane and Miles a train. We learned about dowels and making sure things are put together in the way the photo says and then we wood glued the models and the boys painted them. They loved it. Then it was stickers on the models too. A real hit! This is Caden's completed plane.
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