Friendship and encouragement

These have been a good couple of days.

My friend, Ellen, sent  me the starter for Herman the German friendship cake. This is a sour dough cake and amazingly, is currently happily bubbling in my kitchen. It has sparked some discussion about from where the yeast appears and spontaneous generation, or rather lack of spontaneous generation.
The idea is that the cake matures and is fed over 10 days. At day 9, the mixture is divided into 4. One portion is cooked and the others can be given to friends as a starter for another round of the cake.

Herman covered in his bowl

The bubbling mixture

If I manage not to kill Herman in the next 8 days, then I shall be looking around for volunteers to take some starter. This is a fascinating cake and might get me working on sourdough bread again.

Today, we went to a Christian home educators' sports day. There were almost 90 children. This was such an encouragement. Sometimes, it is possible to feel quite alone as a home educator. Objectively, there are loads of us, home educators, but sometimes, it seems that almost everyone else has children in school. What does it matter to me that other believers have different guidance,for their children? Nothing but still it was a real encouragement to talk to other Christian home educators and especially those who are further on in the home education journey.

The weather-well, fine for the races then the showers began. I can't say it bothered the children who were busy playing with friends, old and new.

A year of Five in a Row.

Five in a Row is a "book a week" curriculum designed for children aged 4-8. The idea is that a picture book is read each day for five days and that activities are done around the book. There are four Five in a Row manuals, although my understanding is that volume 4 is a little more advanced. The manuals give guidance and ideas so that each book can be used in different subject areas. We have been using Five in a Row, volumes 1-3, for over a year now.

So what have we found? Five in a Row is a happy curriculum and both I and the children have enjoyed the books and activities.

The story of Ping illustrated by us.

Mr Exuberance, currently 40 months, has been officially too young for the programme but has loved the books and has certainly gained, particularly in terms of vocabulary. He wouldn't have been able to do many of the activities suggested in the  manuals and we have tended to do the easier activities for Miss Belle, aged 5 and 1/2 or use other simpler ideas.

Counting activity from The story of Ping

The major positives have been

• exposure to books, previously, unknown to us. Virginia Lee Burton's books, Katie and the big snow and Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel have been a particularly popular finds.
• being able to use the books in an order convenient for us. This meant that we could read the Bee Tree when we had a swarm of bees and Madeline and Mirette on the high wire to fit in with a trip to Paris.
• books covering issues that we might not otherwise have considered. Follow the drinking gourd looks at slavery and All those secrets of the world  tackles separation and war.
• increased vocabulary
• a fresh book, each week which, generally, the children hadn't seen previously.

Seeing plane very like that in The Glorious Flight

Some books worked better than others. This was partly a feature of the age of the children. In retrospect, it might have been better to have used Before Five in a Row which is for children aged 2-4. For anyone else using Five in a Row with young children, the books that worked especially well were

• Little Nino's Pizzeria
• Make way for the ducklings
• How to make an apple pie and see the world
• A new coat for Anna
• Mirette on the high wire
• Harold and the purple crayon
• The story of Ping
• Lentil
• The glorious flight

I found that weeks that were less successful were when either the book didn't appeal to the children, for some reason, or where we had less time to do activities around the book. We didn't keep slavishly to the manuals and there are plenty of additional ideas on the internet. We only spent a week on each book which meant that we did nothing like all the possible activities. 

Acting out Peter Rabbit

Next year, we are not planning to use Five in a Row. The main reason for this is that there are not enough books, in print, which we haven't used. I would certainly recommend Five in a Row and am very glad that we have used this.

 We do plan to read a book of the week, next year.  I'm looking for book suggestions-any thoughts?

Thinking about teeth

In view of an upcoming dentist visit, we decided to have a look at teeth.

First, we counted and yes, Miss Belle has three more teeth than her brother who is two years younger.

Then we talked about the sorts of drinks that might or might not be good for teeth. Using egg shell as a surrogate for teeth, we put pieces of egg shell into jars of milk, water and coco cola (the proper stuff-none of this diet or zero stuff). We hope to see what will happen over the next few days.

We made models of the three different types of teeth

• incisors, at the front, for biting
• pointy canines for tearing
• large flat molars for chewing

We used pieces of egg carton as jaw and glued on foil shapes for each type of tooth. In case of doubt, from the left, molar, incisor and canine.

At bedtime, after the tooth cleaning, the children used disclosing tablets to see how effective their cleaning had been. I must say, disclosing tablets are quite messy with little ones. I did double check the packet to see if there was a label saying "not for use under x years" but no. From experience now, I don't really think they are suitable for under fives although using them with a five year old worked. 

The good side effect has been the increased interest in tooth brushing; hope it lasts!

June inspiration

Here in England, we have half term holiday, this week. This is a week later than usual because of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations but there are still several weeks to go before the summer break.

I'm looking forward to a new geography project, in this second half of term. My work has been made much easier by an incredibly useful and detailed Geography Travel post by Debbie at Our cup of tea. Debbie has posted the work that she has done with her children on various places and has added additional links. So far, she has posted on Canada, Iran, Venezuela, Haiti, Peru and there is more to come. Definitely, something to look at if you are planning to do a country unit study.


Over half term, we have taken part in the RSPB Nature count. This is a simple survey and involves counting the numbers and types of birds in the garden, or in a park, over an hour. The data can be entered on-line and there are an additional few questions about other types of wildlife seen, in the garden, but not necessarily in the hour. This is a great survey for different age groups. We had all three generations involved. The survey can be entered until the end of the week.

There is a fascinating challenge over at Keeper of the Home-The eat from the freezer and pantry challenge. The idea is to make an inventory of everything in the cupboards and freezer and save by living off this. I made an inventory and found that there was loads of apple, not a surprise and some seeds but not loads, or any, forgotten vegetables.

The inventory has been good, in that we have had some seedy bread which seems to be very popular. We had a bacon and spilt pea soup to use up some left overs of both and a greengage crumble. We continue to eat apples but, probably as a comment on our plenty in this part of the globe, it is difficult to use up more than one or two containers a week. Today, we had an apple cake which was well received but I think that I have overdone the apple crumble theme.

I didn't really count the jams and marmalades. These are eaten at a steady rate-it would be good to have enough marmalade to last until next January and this year may be the closest yet.

Altogether, we probably saved the grand total of about £10 from the challenge although much more from using the freezer through the year. Perhaps, the most useful lesson for me, was to freeze/preserve more of a variety of fruit and vegetables. Having prolific apples trees it is tempting to fill the freezer with apples but there is a real risk of apple fatigue!

Finally, a review of one of my most loved books: Crushed yet conquoring by Deborah Alcock. I have a lovely old copy, found in a second hand bookshop but it has been reprinted and is worth reading. Head over to the review to read more!

Weary mothers

This educational year has been good, in many ways. There have been two "official learners" and they have both made progress but for me, a recurring theme has been tiredness.

I don't, for a moment, think I'm the only one or that my load is heavier than anyone else's. Yes, objectively, I am busy: home educating two of school age and with another under school age, two older children who are  taking exams, a husband who works most waking hours and being a carer plus trying to keep up with a big garden and a house for all of us. But other people are equally busy or more so. Many people are home educating with more children than I have. Others have poor health or children with long term illness.

So how should we view tiredness? I'm not talking about tiredness from medical conditions but the tiredness from volume.

When I looked at the Bible, I realised that there were injunctions to avoid idleness but not tiredness. The Lord Jesus was tired during His life on earth. There are many encouraging texts, particularly, the one that has become almost my motto, over the last three years:

My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians   12v9

On a day to day level, I've found tiredness hard to manage. Perhaps, partly because of my professional background. I was a junior doctor in the days before hours' limitation. A weekend on call meant arriving at work before 9am on Friday and not leaving the building until well gone 5pm on Monday. I never had a weekend with no sleep at all but theoretically that could have happened. Certainly, there were many weekends with very little sleep-I was far too tired to count the hours. In many ways, this experience was useful. I learned that nothing dreadful happens with an hour or two less sleep. Yes, being very sleep deprived did lead to consequences. I used to walk home from the underground station, after a weekend on call, and more than once investigated black bags on the ground to see if they were tramps needing resuscitation.  There was also the awful "Everyone is against me" feeling from prolonged sleep deprivation.

As a result of this experience, it becomes hard to know when being tired is too tired. When does stopping mean that I'm pandering to myself and neglecting my family and when is it necessary for the well being, not only of myself but of my family? There is certainly enough work around here that I could work 24/7 and probably a bit more and still not be quite on top of everything.

I've fought with this one. My conclusions are hard battled and I'm not sure that I always keep to them.

• The Lord's Day is a day of rest from secular work; that includes non-essential housework and home education preparation. 
• Time reading God's Word and praying has to come before other, non-emergency, tasks. 
• My husband is much more aware of when over-tiredness is affecting my mood. He is right when he says I have to stop.
• A happy house is more important than a tidy house. Usually though, I'm choosing between clean and happy which is more difficult!
• Having the children occupied quietly after lunch gives a few minutes to catch up and even read.
• I can't do everything and in particular, I can't do everything that I see other people doing. Their circumstances may well be different. 
• Pray.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

1 Corinthians 10 v13

Flat Stanley goes to the Jubilee

Miss Belle was keen to see something of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Tuesday didn't seem a good day to take young children into central London. Exciting as the Diamond Jubilee is, we were sad that the Pageant was on Sunday, the Lord's Day, when we celebrate the King of the whole earth. So Saturday, was a good day to take Flat Stanley to see something of the excitement. We knew the Queen wouldn't be at home as she  was due to visit the races but Buckingham Palace wasn't planning to move.

What we hadn't realised was that although Buckingham Palace hadn't moved, it had a large temporary stadium built in front of it for the concert this evening.

We walked through St James' Park and saw this plant crown-impressive.

Flat Stanley waved flags at the ducks.

He had another go at seeing Buckingham Palace, through a gap in the temporary fences

and went to the playground.

On the way back, we saw a horse drawn carriage, maybe practising for the procession on Tuesday?

Flat Stanley had a little look at one of the many shops full of soveneirs.

Soon, we will say "Goodbye" to our temporary guest and send Flat Stanley onto his next family. We hope that he has enjoyed seeing the Diamond Jubilee preparations.

Barbara Hepworth

Not so long ago, a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth was stolen from a South London park. My children had seen this sculpture and couldn't understand why it had been taken. This lead to  discussions about scrap metal thieves. Recently, I found The life and work on Barbara Hepworth from the Heinemann first library. This seemed an ideal time to find out more about Barbara Hepworth's work.

Barbara Hepworth was a famous sculpture of the twentieth century. She was inspired by the natural world but after the 1920s, her sculptures were abstract.  There are collections of her work in St Ives and Wakefield as well as sculptures in cities around the UK as well as a large number of sculptures in the US, Canada and the Netherlands.

Having read the book, we decided to go to see one of the sculptures, in another London park, Battersea Park. We found it quickly. It was easily identifiable with a fence around it and notices to say that there were CCTV cameras. This sculpture is known as Single Form and is a smaller version, of that of the same name, outside the United Nations building.

Barbara Hepworth's preferred media were wood, stone and bronze. I chickened out of trying these with the children and ordered air drying clay. The children were very pleased about this as they really wanted to make pots. It seemed mean to insist on abstract sculptures so they made pots.

Having done pots, Miss Belle was keen to have a go at a model in the style of Hepworth.

At a different angle

Barbara Hepworth moved to St Ives, Cornwall in the Second World War. She lived there until her death in 1975.
Cornwall is famous for its cream teas so we decided to finish off by making scones and having a cream tea, well actually dessert, for the end of the half term. Of course, the scones had to be served with strawberry jam and cream.

This is linked to Kids get arty