Busy week

Lots to talk about this week and Friday hasn't even happened yet. We have been busy every day. It's great getting back to 'normal' life and seeing the kids flourish once again in their little worlds. What is nice is that as we are now living so centrally, in Milton Keynes, we simply aren't driving everywhere like mad like we were before. We are doing just as much with literally extra hours every day to kick back and recharge a bit. We were sorely lacking the recharge aspect in our old house, feeling like every spare minute was full of things-to-do!

So Monday was lovely. The kids spent a lot of time playing together around the house which is on three floors. Their bedroom is next to the lounge and they usually trip about between rooms doing their own things. Miles in particular has really been getting stuck into his toys. It's been a pleasure to watch him exploring his toys and working out how they operate. One memory I have this week (though no photo) was watching him with his Playmobil fire engine, he turned it over a few times and then he realised that a little dial made the ladders open (to get longer) and close. Then he did that a few times and moved on to exploring other things. So much learning is going on all the time, it's great to be able to see some of it taking place without adults (me or anyone else) butting in and altering the beautiful process.

We started Monday off with drawing. A friend pointed out on Sunday that Caden always loved it (very true) and I simply hadn't got our resources in gear to make this easy for them. So we got out the felt tips, the paper and they were let loose. Many masterpieces were created. Miles has a new love of drawing too.

We went to our beloved Woodcraft Folk group on Tuesday and Caden did some excellent work identifying birds for which he received a certificate. He was so proud of it and loved the exercise. Great bit of writing practice (with help) too. 

Megan, Arthur, Caden and Miles playing together. They have been friends since they were babies and have such a special bond. 

Caden and Arthur have now reached an age where they (mostly) play nicely together and here they are playing ninjas! Miles obviously has his sword. 

Sharing a joke!

The boys cycled to Leticia's on Wednesday for our play and movie afternoon! 

Miles loves the pedal fire engine!

Me and Miles having a cuddle!

The boys (and Arthur behind them) playing with new toys! Working it all out. 

Caden really loved this keyboard, his expression is one of concentration as he bangs out a choon! 

I read to the boys quite a bit on this day! They all chose books. They all sat and listened really well. Arthur was particularly enthusiastic about his books. We really enjoyed this time. Miles and baby Alex joined us soon after this was taken. 

There is a small cupboard/attic type room behind a door in Leticia's bedroom that she cleared out and made really dark. Then the kids got little 'bath lights' which are waterproof small plastic LEDs. They all sang Bob the Builder and had a toddler 'disco' in there. They were there for a long time and kept going back in for more. Kids love dens, what can I say! 

Miles giving us a bit of acoustic!

This was as movie night was about to start. Shrek 2, lamb and broccoli, popcorn and a fleece blanket was the order of the evening!

Thursday morning I was up early to take Miles to his pre-school. Complete with his lunch today for a longer stint. I did some training and Caden played Bad Piggies. He has got very good at this. He can solve the engineering problems on it that I now struggle with! It's very clever! Then Megan woke up after my and Kirsten's workout and they invented Lego 'things'. 

In the afternoon we visited our friends on a houseboat. The kids ran off to the playground (we could see them through the window) and had a great time playing there and in the coppices. 

Miles is a bit young to play out yet so he stayed on the boat with his k-nex sword!

Caden and Autumn spent some time snuggled under the duvet with a tablet watching a movie (Shrek again I think)

Then we went to MK to meet my friend Alison and her two boys for a good old play at the soft play area and a nice tea together! They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They really had a great week. 

I feel I should report on the week's academic progress.  A little reading this week but mostly maths. We got through all of the rest of the reception maths year. Finished fractions and money. Tomorrow we start on year one. He is working at the top (platinum) level on all areas pretty much so I am entirely confident there are no gaps in his reception maths knowledge. I hope we can get through year one within a few months and then year two by the end of this year as long as he is finding it straight forward and enjoying it. It would be nice to forget about the academic side of things for the Summer again in favour of enjoying the sunshine and outdoors together!

Woodcraft Folk

We had a bit more illness in the house last week but nothing more than a day of high temperatures from Caden. He recovered after a couple of nights and a day of rest. 

Caden has been watching loads of the Lego Ninjago series recently on Netflix. He loves the stories and he and Miles like to be ninjas and fight each other (of course) and they also have made up their own dance to the theme tune which they do each episode. It is very sweet watching them enjoy it so much. 

We started a new group this week which seems to work very well for us, called Woodcraft Folk. It's a national group which has been established for nearly 100 years. It is based around democracy, nature and the environment and social responsibility.  MK Woodcraft is run by some mothers I met at other groups when the boys were much younger, so it's good to see familiar faces. Caden and Miles are in about the middle of the age range there. The set up is fairly laid back so there is no problem with them having a 'mad moment' and running around a bit. There is a reading corner with topical books and natural toys. The topic last week was birds, in lieu of the RSPB bird-watch weekend. We read books about birds and looked at their pictures. The activities included the circle time to start, where the older children mostly talked about their 'news'; then crafty tables where we made a variety of different bird-feeders; games involving lots of running around - big hit!! and the closing circle where the children say goodbye.  Both boys were tired after 1.5 hours of the club but both really enjoyed it and we are all looking forward to the next one and working towards badges. Here they are in their woodcraft folk T Shirts. 

Here are some photos of them making the bird feeders, playing the traffic-light game and helping to tidy the chairs at the end. 

This is the bird feeder hung off our balcony bars. You can just see it hanging down behind the reflection. The top four balls are made from lard and seeds and the bottom disc made from gelatine and seeds. 

We did some play-doh modelling. They always love to smoosh all the colours together. I gave up trying to keep them separated a long time ago. We opened a few new pots and they made some animals for me. Here is a giraffe that Caden made. 

Miles couldn't get enough of berries this week. He ate a 400g punnet of blueberries to himself and a packet of blackberries too. It's a shame they are out of season but we are lucky to be able to get them still. 

We saw friends this week as usual. We have a new weekly event of movie night on a Wednesday at 5pm with Arthur. We always have our 'tribe' friends round for playtime on a Wednesday afternoon anyway. We make raw juices with the kids and get all the toys out. They love to play pirate ships on the bunk-beds and role-play/dressing up happens without fail every week. They watched The Muppets movie and all had a picnic on the floor. They really loved it! 

Friday we went up to Ikea and although this was the day Caden had his high temperature he rested with me on my lap while I had a coffee and Miles went in for a play into Smaland with Freddie, Betsey and Meg.  They really love going into the little creche there, it's a real treat-hour for them. It was too cold for the playground sadly. 

Academically, we did more reading... The Twits by Roald Dahl is now half-way through and Caden isn't sure what to make of it. He loves the jokes but I think he is a bit scared of how wicked and horrid Mr and Mrs Twit are. We'll finish it this coming week, it's only short. We did pretty well on the maths.... Caden completed his subtraction section and did fine on the questions at the end. 

We visited other friends too in Newport Pagnell. More play-doh there and lots of role playing, being knights, riding on horses and kicking balloons around. Plenty of socialising and free play with friends (boys and girls) of all ages this week. 

We attempted a parkour lesson on Sunday. Caden really wasn't having it though. It is frustrating because I know for a fact he will love this if he gives it a go and gets into it. I am putting it down to him being ill recently and we will give it another go in 2 weeks. It is difficult separating your need as a parent for your kids to get involved in certain groups that mean something to you (my need) and the actual things they are interested in (his need). Caden is quite introverted and I struggle with his need for 'alone time', feeling that I am not parenting well enough if he has been alone for (in my opinion) too long. Often he just prefers to be alone or with me and Miles. He rarely enjoys being in large groups or gets very worn out with them quickly - probably why he struggled at pre-school. He is very reticent starting up in new groups and with new people, quite shy of them and needs space to adjust to new environments. Often by the time he has warmed up, the class or event is finishing.  There is room in the world for people like him of course, I just have to be mindful of it when faced with new classes that he refuses point blank to do. Trying not to be annoyed with him for not doing the group (hard for me). 

We made jam tarts this week for a friend's birthday party (that we couldn't attend in the end due to Caden's high temperature). The boys love baking. Their new passion is rolling pastry and cutting it into shapes. I think lots of biscuit making will be taking place soon once we finish the ones in the cupboard.

Another thing the boys are doing together this week is den making. In their bedroom, taking apart the duvet and covers and draping it across the top bunk. They love taking their soft toys, extra pillows and the new furby toy in there to play! 

Miles went to pre-school two days mid-week for about 2 hours a time. He was absolutely fine as I thought he would be.  He seemed very happy the last time especially, I watched him happily playing with the sand and running about. He seemed really happy and comfortable there. I hope to increase him by an hour a week until he is happily at 10 hours a week. I am looking forward to a regular time each week to work with Caden on projects without distraction. 

Illness week!

This week mainly saw us all recovering from illness and me using the down time to study, while the kids were too poorly to leave the house.  Caden had serious pneumonia this time last year and I remember taking him out for a walk in the cold before he came down with it, when he had a nasty cough. This time when he had a nasty cough we stayed in and got warm. They didn't go to their Dad's on the Monday night as usual and I missed my running club so they could stay at home and recover. The nights were pretty bad for them with stridor when they breathed in after coughing and some wheezing, but with the humidifier on and not going out they steadily got better.

We all got cabin fever though and by the end of the week we were desperate to get outside.

While we were indoors we did watch a lot of films while we were poorly. We rested and tried to eat healthily. Caden and Miles re-discovered some old checkout and money toys and Caden decided to create a shop. He wrote out labels for Euros (because the money is in Euros for some reason) which gave us the opportunity to talk a little bit about foreign currencies. His labels were put against some toys he chose to sell. He then organised his money from large to small denominations and arranged them so he could find the notes easily. Everyone bought items from him and he gave change to us as well.

Caden did quite a bit of reading to me while we were stuck in. We had to take Miles to pre school for his taster session on one of the days so we wrapped up warm and I got the 'My brother's famous bottom book' for Caden to read me a chapter. Alas it has fallen out of favour this week, apparently he doesn't like it anymore. So he went off to choose another and came back with Ted Hughes' 'The Iron Man' (I feel much happier if he reads a Ted Hughes book to me). So whilst little Miles was having his 45 minute first session at pre-school, Caden and I sat on a bench outside Kingston Tesco and he read me three pages of The Iron Man. It was so nice to sit there together without being distracted by Miles and just read together. It was also nice to see people around us enjoying the scene of us reading together on the bench. I think people do appreciate seeing close and happy relationships between parents and children and it was nice to be a part of that. 

Miles did well at pre-school. He did cry when I left him of course and it was hard for me to walk out. I knew it wasn't for long though and I know also that he is a sociable, confident and capable little boy. I am confident in Miles' ability to cope and relate well to the other children and adults. When I went to collect him, he was a little red-faced from crying but was 'making dinner' with plastic food and pretending to eat broccoli (actually his favourite veg. in real life too) and he was defending his little corner from the other kids, asserting himself when a little girl went to take 'his' chair. Nicely though! He was very cuddly and kissed me dozens of times when I picked him up which was lovely. He seemed fine afterwards and the staff didn't seem concerned about his reaction that day so I feel confident in sending him back. The plan is to increase Miles' hours by half an hour a week (he is going only on Tuesday and Thursday mornings) and be able to spend that time one on one with Caden doing academic work. I am hopeful about this arrangement.... 

At the end of the week we attempted a cycle out. It was really freezing cold but we got the bikes and drove to the free car park at Willen Lake. There was an ominous looking black cloud in the rear-view mirror as we drove there! Miles refused to wear his coat. (Three year olds!!) They cycled across the bridge and we realised Willen Lake water was so high it had flooded the path so we couldn't actually cycle around it. The kids were so excited to see the flood though and we cycled down to the edge of it just as the rain started to come. It was sooo cold! Brrr! We turned around and went home straight away, especially with Miles' lack of coat situation. At least we managed to get out of the house though for fresh air and we felt we had earned our 'sit-down' in the warmth at home together that little bit more when we got back indoors. 

Back to the home school!

Happy New Year!

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.