Sunday 31 May 2015

Silent Sunday


Tuesday 26 May 2015

Bank Holiday Monday

I spent the morning working on a new project and trying to organise another qualification course for The Girl and some of her friends.
Boykin was mostly playing Minecraft and the Girl mostly slept, recovering from her Duke of Edinburgh expedition.
In the afternoon , we got out for a walk with our neighbours. The sky was grey and it kept threatening to rain but it felt so good to be outside...

...swinging on ropes...

...climbing trees...

...walking in woods...

...and making flower garland crowns :)

How did you spend your Bank Holiday Monday?

Saturday 23 May 2015

What we've been up to...

We've been really busy. Too busy to blog really. And too busy for very much maths, much to Boykin's delight ;)

So far this month, we have been to our monthly table top games group session where they enjoyed playing Diavolo , Knock Your Blocks Off and Snake Oil amongst others.

We also had our monthly themed session which was about physics. They really enjoyed learning about Newton's Laws and doing the experiments that involved spinning eggs, dropping marbles and playing with a skateboard. I also used the opportunity to test the science activity from the new Picture Book Explorers ~ The Little Ships.  (Use this link to get a 20% discount until 4th June.) It went down a treat and engaged all the kids from ages 3 to 15. Woohoo!


They're both still enjoying the study group that they attend, both doing two classes each, unfortunately for me, not at the same time.
They've been to the new local swimming pool which has slides and better family changing rooms.
The Girl has continued working on her patchwork quilt at the sewing classes we attend together; I made a cushion cover :) And I'm quite chuffed because on the very last session Boykin joined in and made a pincushion. Consequently, we're all going back to beginners again so that The Girl can finish her quilt and Boykin can make something else. It's great when they discover a new craft that they enjoy :)

Boykin has also recently been enjoying building and playing with remote control cars outside. His main indoor activity is making Minecraft videos so that he can have a Youtube channel when he's old enough. Look out Dan TDM ;)


The Girl has started volunteering at a not-so-local Montessori school one morning a week as part of her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh, and she's off this weekend on her expedition. Here's praying that they get good weather and don't get lost!

They're both working towards the Explore Arts Award with the library service who set up a CILIP shadowing scheme for our book group concentrating on the Kate Greenaway Medal. The group is from aged 5 to 15 and they all seem to be enjoying it. I'm very impressed with the way it's being run and will be incorporating some of the ideas into our own book readings at home. I'm also very impressed with the things my children come out with when discussing the books. Our litereature heavy approach has really paid off :)

We've been to the theatre to see "I Believe in Unicorns" which was sad but hopeful, and "Bromance" which was funny and breathtaking.



I finally finished reading The River Singers to them and they've both read piles of books to themselves. Boykin has just discovered the joy of Roald Dahl.
On the film front, he's had me watching every version of The War of The Worlds that he could find on Netflix, which has lead to lots of interesting discussions. I'm thinking Day of the Triffids next as a good scary sci-fi story....

Oh, and they went to a dry slope skiing centre for their cousin's birthday :)


What has your family been up to?