Been Missing You

No this is not a post about Blogger being down all day!  Beccy set off this morning, looking lovely in a new outfit and with a flower in her hair, to meet old University friends for a hen night.  It started early for a hen night and we are all hoping that she will be back again this time tomorrow!  

Jemima feels these things deeply and I'm glad I noticed that she had quietly taken herself off.  Sure enough she was in her bedroom sobbing but trying her best to find solace with her favourite playmobil.

We managed a trip out to Wentworth Castle Gardens and we have eaten and even done a little tidying.  But the day has felt a bit long and empty.

We all had a lump in our throat when Imogen realised she had laid the table for six and had to take a setting back to the kitchen. 

4 kids, 2 guinea pigs and a Daddy are waiting for the sun to come out again and for their family to be complete and happy once more.

But just in case you read this from someone's mobile internet device: Don't worry Beccy, we are fine, have a great time and see you tomorrow!

Beautiful Belle

It wasn't long ago that we couldn't stay in all day. Just a few months ago staying in would have made it a really long day: Tantrums and tears and too much Nutella! Yesterday it got to 3.20pm and the kids were still all happy and busy. This time it was me who needed to get out of the house. Geoff wasn't going to be home until 9pm, so I needed a trip out. Off we went to Wigfield farm. When we arrived the farmer said very matter of fact "Some pigs are been born over there". It took me a while to clock what he had said then I quickly gathered up the children and we experienced 70 minutes of magic and amazement.


Belle had already given birth to two piglets and we watched a further six blood covered, wobbly legged but perfect piglets appear. We had some heart stopping moments. Belle decided to change position during labour and almost squashed one of her babies. Another little piglet just couldn't find the milk. First it was sniffing and pawing round her back, next around her face. The farmer who was watching with me said, "I don't think it's going to make it - it's getting cold." We were all rooting for the little cold wandering piglet. And there, with the farm already long closed, we had to leave Belle with eight piglets and still in labour.

Playdough Genetics

Out came the playdough, feathers, wobbly eyes and coloured matchsticks.

A host of colourful decorated monsters appeared on the table.

I then came up with the idea: Choose two monsters and make them a baby (based on how the parents look). A great discussion began. We chatted about what the baby would look like if a two-eyed monster bred with a one-eyed monster. One of the suggestions was a three-eyed baby, so that lead nicely onto the fact that humans don't produce babies with four eyes. We chatted about the possible combinations for the monsters.

Meet the parents,
One-eyed blue dad and colourful feathery mum ...

... and their new baby.
Can you see it has dad's shape and single eye but mum's colourful feathers?

A family shot.
Mum does have two eyes but seems a bit bashful about being photographed!

Dandelion juice and Amber Nectar

After lots of encouraging comments on my dandelion posts (here and here),
Me and the children wanted to make some dandelion juice.
I wanted the children to investigate the dandelions before we made the juice.
I had no lesson plan, but anyway I prefer to have open ended learning,
where the sky is the limit!
We went and picked a pile of dandelions, put them on the table, sat back and admired them and let the talking and investigating begin.

Reuben chose to do a pollen print, dabbing the dandelion straight on to paper.

The older two chose to slice a dandelion in two and look at the flower parts.

Out came the microscope for a closer look.

We had a go at drawing some dandelions.
First we talked about what would be the best media to represent the petals.
The girls chose wax crayons. One of my best charity shop finds is a large set of crayola colouring pencils and wax crayons. In the box set of crayola crayons they have a 'dandelion yellow' crayon.
I love it when the children are drawing and they ask for an exact shade:
"Can you pass me the coronation pink?"

On to making the juice.
We didn't follow a recipe but had got ideas from the internet.

First collect the petals.

Place in a large pan with water and sugar ( I guessed amounts).
Simmer for about two hours, and then leave to cool.

Sieve to remove the petals.

We saved sieved dandelion petals, spread it flat and let it dry.
We've cut some shapes from it, hopefully start of a natural mobile.

And enjoy! I love this photo of Jemima, "Mmm not sure!"

Our best description of Dandelion juice would be a cross between carrot and honey.

And here are the girls drinking nectar. Do your children do this?
I only know of one other family that do this, and they introduced my girls to it.
So I would love to hear of any other nectar drinking children!

Good Morning Garden

by Geoff and Rosanna

Most mornings Rosanna gets me up at about 6.30 am

and before I even get a chance for a cup of tea

she is organising my shoes and her coat ready for a trip up the garden.

As we climb up the steps we find that everything is covered in gold!

We fill up the chicken feeder

which hangs up in the polytunnel overnight to avoid attracting rats.

Then we say 'morning' to the hens.

Sometimes we go into the run for a bit

and Rosie points to the hens in turn

for me to pick them up so she can give them a stroke.

We check for any early eggs then go round and check the vegetables.

Maybe cut a few sticks of rhubarb for yet another delicious crumble.

Is the new grape vine making any progress?

I've been advised not to let it fruit this year so it spreads more quickly

but I'm not sure if I can resist leaving a few.

Runner beans ready to plant out but why are the top leaves on the tomatoes curling up?

A peep over into the field to see if the horses are about:

Hmm maybe I'll pop over later and collect some fresh horse manure

to speed up the compost heaps.

There isn't usually time to play

but Daddy has to make a quick check of the water butts system:

Rain please so I can set up all the syphons!

and admire his handiwork on the gate as we head back to make the porridge.

Not much manure left to shift but plenty of reclaimed bricks for future projects.

Kites, Bumble Bees & mud

At last the holidays have finished! After all the bank holidays, festivals and celebrations it was so nice to get back to normal life. Today was our monthly Home Ed meeting at the local nature reserve. Due to budget cuts we weren't sure whether it was going to continue. Luckily it will continue, but sadly not with our current ranger. Chris is brilliant, she knows EVERYTHING there is to know about nature and the monthly nature activities she plans are brilliant.

The morning session was to survey different areas of water looking for signs of pollution. A special net was laid on the bottom of the stream. Further upstream the bottom was gently aggitiated to disturb the creatures that live there.

The contents of the net analysed.

We were sent to look in a clean area of water: if the water is clean it will have high oxygen levels and therefore contain creatures such as Mayfly nymphs and Caddis fly larvae. That is exactly what we found!

If the river is midly polluted it will have medium oxygen levels. Here you'll find creatures such as Dragonfly nymphs, shrimps and diving beetles. We did!

If the water is dirty and polluted, the oxygen levels will be low and the only things you'll expect to find are wormy things!

WOW, TAKE A LOOK AT THIS:

A WATER SCORPION!

AND A CRAYFISH

We had an expert with us, which was very helpful!

Oh oh Mud, we can't go over it...

..

we can't go under it...

we'd better go through it!!

The kids had so much FUN, getting stuck, falling over, making squelchy noises.

On the way back for lunch, look what we found -a bumble bee nest. I've never seen one before. The bees looked so sweet huddled up together. Even so I was not getting any closer for a better photo!!

After lunch was kite making. They are so simple to make: a kite shape cut out of a black bag, a couple of sticks, string and all held in place with gaffer tape.

Rosie-anna having some acrobatic fun! Today was her first outing to a group wearing pants. She decided to potty train herself at 19 months. She's doing a really good job of it too!

Welcome to the Home education kite flying festival.

It was a lovely sight to see the children running free, enjoying the sunshine and flying their home made kites.

Mima getting in a tangle.

Rosie going off for a snack - I found her eating dandelions.

Immy spent ages flying her kite ...

... until the field was empty.