Weekend Catch Up.

Those pesky tubes that run around my eyes and connect to my ears, are experiencing congestion and ickiness.  Friday was the day of copious painkillers until sweet relief descended, followed later by the sweet relief of cider and smokey whiskey.

Life in the co-op does make down days much easier.  There's plenty of other adults who can ensure Rye is fed and looked after, and of course, there's 8 other children he can play with - tho that does mean when his friends are away he mooches around and seems to think lack of play mates means 24/7 access to a screen... er no!

Screen time is pretty relaxed; mornings Rye can use a screen for learning time, and I usually reward him with leisure screen time afterwards, and he usually has the option of screen time on an evening after dinner - though he does often choose to play with his friends.  Screen time is a tad weather dependent - after all this is the British Isles!  So when the sun out, the rule is "no screens" - well, at least not until after dinnertime.  We also have movie / favourite shows screenings on the projector several times a week - a movie, Saturday it was Jurassic Park, and through the week a documentary, Dr Who and in his leisure time, Rye often watches Clone Wars on the Ipad; the current favourite.

Learning time is relaxed at the weekend, Saturday I showed Rye Nessy - after finally managing to log in - seriously don't ask, I'm feel a bit dim at the moment - it's taken me weeks to get in!  Anyhoos, Rye loves Nessy and finds it hilarious.  And I think the boy has finally cracked single phonemes.  He had a spelling test, and the phonic three letter words he spelled correctly, and had he remembered which letters made up "ch" he would have spelled "lunch" correctly too (he forgot the "c").  Really proud of him - he's working really hard.

Rye spent a good hour on Nessy, really proud of his progress.  Definitely need to work on diagraphs, it will improve his phonological fluency massively; and also rhyming words - he still struggles with this a lot.  Perhaps I'll dig out some old nursery rhyming books - ooh and Dr Suess and read those with him for a bit.  By the way, check out PopArt Home Education facebook page for fantastic discounts on Nessy, Maths Whizz, Literacy Planet, and much more. (UK only)

Sunday, is lazy-bum day.
It's one of those days when the "sun shines no screen" rules is relaxed.  Rye woke me to ask if he could go on the laptop and play Nessy.  One hand chuffed to bits he's enjoying it so much, on the other very grumpy he woke me at an ungodly hour on a SUNDAY!    Kids!
He also watched Dinotrucks.

Once screen was away, the moochiness started - I'm bored was mouthed, primarily because the other kids in the house  are away.  I am rather proud that phrase did not pass his lips until he was about 6 years old - it was a concept he had no idea about.

Naturally, when there are friends on tap, he can quite often be found playing on his own in his room!

Anyway, he decided he wanted to do experiments; so teabag rocket it is then.  Oddly, when I set fire to the tea bag it worked, but not when Rye did, and we had a panic when the bag fell over burning, so he blew it...argh!  Thankfully, tea bags burn out very quickly, so there's just a wee mark on my rug.  Then bugger me, he tried again, and blew the match out, blowing the tea bag on the floor again!  At that point I filled up the long necked lighter with butane and let him use that instead.  He wasn't setting light to the tea bag right at the top, so it burned unevenly and didn't woosh.

 How it works?
Well, its because the hot air raises and as the tea bag burns it creates a thermal, or convention current under the bag, and once the bag has burned to ashes, it wooshes up into the air (if burned evenly).

Afterwards, crafting.  Rye decided he wanted to make spirals.  Why? I wondered and he said because spirals are "awesome".  Very true.

 

  After the spiral has dried, we'll cut it out and he can hang it as a mobile in his room.  Oh, and the other day he drew a portrait of us both.  I love my colourful dreads!

I'm joining in This Homeschooling Life, its where Home Educators/Schoolers share what they have been up to for the past month.  Why not join in too :-)

Well, Finally!

We have waited for snow ALL week, watching eagerly forecasts and each night Rye has wished for snow.
As snow wasn't forthcoming initially, Rye requested snowman biscuits.  Rye loves using the Kenwood, as you can see, it's been a while since I last baked with it and used the wrong attachment...oooops.    Still job done and the biscuits, which were eaten super fast, were a hit.

One of Rye's presents from his Grandad was a rocket launcher - after nearly destroying my lounge and poor plants, I banned it, which necessitated freezingly cold trips to the park:

 He had great fun; and cor it really can get pretty high!

Brrrrrr, took my a while to convince Rye it was time to go back home!

A book I was waiting for before Yule, finally arrived :-)  Love, love this book; absolutely beautiful lacey leaves and flowers.  A day or so later another book I've been waiting for arrived too;

Margaret Hubert is a very talented lady and a Master freeformer; looking through the book, there are some really lovely clothe items; I wouldn't necessarily make them, but it does sure give me plenty of ideas for my own projects.
And back to the snow theme, I thought I better knock up Rye another pair of mittens:

There's been lots of watching Little Bear, a saccharine sweet cartoon which Rye seems to adore and is asking to watch a LOT!   I told Rye while I don't mind him watching netflix, I would like to punctuate the mindless crap with some more educational programmes.  So I put on David Attenborough's Africa.  WOW.  Rye was sulking a bit, so he watched some begrudgingly; I however, was spell bound!

I am also in the middle, so to speak, of a 100 day juice feast.  Day 13 now; 100 days of juices and "joup"  (juice ingredients blended in the vitamix until warmed and thick - basically a soup).  Although today I ate my juice ingredients, and a sweet mincemeat muffin may have slipped into my mouth.    Ooops must be super good tomorrow as Monday is weigh in day!

Anyhoos.  Yesterday I was sulking; all over facebook my friends were posting lovely photos of deep snow; and blumming Folkestone stayed stubbornly snowfree. 

Then about 7pmish last night it started to snow; it was still snowing when I went to bed at 11.30pm.  Small flakes; but snow nonetheless.   And woohoo we woke to this:

About 3 cm, just enough for snow fun and sledding.

Snow covered trampolining with mindee.  She is the little girl I use to mind before; these days she comes on a Friday all day and Saturday morning.

The kids had a great time sledding.  I froze.  The wind was bitterly cold!

He did ever so well pulling C back.  I was surprised just how far he managed to do it!  Then once home hot chocolate, beans on toast followed by muffins; and then goodbye to C until Friday. 

Rye snuggled down and watched... yes, Little bear, and I cocooned myself under blankets trying to warm up and fell asleep!  

Well, better go, Rye wants to read the Penguin book again and then it's his bedtime; and oooh I think an audio book and crochet is in order :-) 

And tomorrow the snow anticipation begins all over again; as we are suppose to get quite a bit more......

This is why

I now call Folkestone home;

 Playing on the pebbled beach where the stone circle is.

 The groyn, and on the hillside, pretty beach sheds, newly painted.

Looking out over the English channel, we could see France on the horizon.

 Searching for hagstones, and indeed,, just filling the bucket with stones to bring home... and impressively he carried the bucket all by himself - I refused.

 Walking along a windswept coastal path.  We had planned to go rockpooling, but it was very windy indeed and the sea was rather rough, so we decided not risk children being washed off the rocks into the sea.

 Strange creatures... we assume some sort of sea louse?  We'll look it up in a minute.

 And the fabulous coastal park.  Seriously, this park is fantastic; there's large climbing frames, slides, sandpits, sensory areas, zip wires, sunken pirate ship (above) not to mention fabulous trees for climbing, a steep hillside to give parents' heart attacks as children climb up and slide down.... just a fabulous place, love it.

All that play is darn thirsty work!  (And yes he conned me into buying him a chocolate icecream, evidenced by his dirty face!)

Transfixed by the "Planet Dinosaur" on iplayer.

And it's not just the coast or  the parks, it's the people.  Our local home ed group contains a lovely bunch of people; with whom good friendships have been formed.   Folkestone is definitely "home".  I've always thought of Yorkshire as "home"; even though I've not lived in Yorkshire for over 15 years, and for many of those years longed to move back "home".   

It is good to feel settled, to feel I'm "home"; I rather suspect its a big part of why I am so happy these days, and, of course, my son is incredibly happy too.

Yes this is a very good place to live.

And other stuff.

 One thing being laptopless for so long has made me realise, just how much time I was spending online and denying Rye a lot of me.  I'd like to say the past 3 months has made up for it  bit, but quite a lot of that time has been spent ill.  I got a monster flu that floored me, literally.  I couldn't stand up without feeling like I was going to throw up and fall over.   And the lack of energy, my goodness. It took me about 6 weeks to recovery; add in we caught another little sniffle too; although compared to the flu it was a minor inconvience. This was either a particuarly nasty strain of flu, or I've never had it before... goodness I was ill.  Thankfully, Rye didn't really seem to catch it.  He had cold symptoms and he did suffer from lack of energy but he didn't seem as ill as I had been.

  Anyway, here is Rye completing on his own, a very difficult jigsaw.  Took him ever such a long time, but he did it.  Very proud because this really is a difficult puzzle; and just the patience and perservence alone!

Yoga has become a regular fixture these days.  Rye has really become very enamoured with Circle Time and practising a few yoga poses.  Here, he is having a go at some others from the pretzel cards.  Again, I was very impressed at his observational skills and being able to copy fairly accurately the pose on the card.

Aren't the flowers beautiful.  I've never been one for cut flowers really.  But after all the drearyiness of illness and winter feeling very long and neverending, I needed to feel a hint of spring.  And the jug I found in a charity shop for £1.50.  Bargain. 

Yum, my own flakey pastry.  This was very delicious and very fattening lol.  which is why I don't often make flakey pastry... even the lovely quick processor method!

Rye has spent many a day building train tracks, more and more complex.. and I've spent many a time tripping over the damn things.  lol.  I love his imagination and engineering feats..but oh, there are times when I wished for a bigger house.

Ahhhh, taking advantage of a few sunny days to tidy the garden and create this little corner with some logs.  I haven't actually done anything more since.  This is going to be our faery/offering corner.  I plan to plant some flowers, have to be in pots nestled inbetween the logs because there are huge fir trees on the other side of the fence leeching the goodness from the soil.  I plan to make some decorations for some of the branches too... and there are some clay cut outs Rye did a while back that need painting.  I'll need varnish them too I think, otherwise I expect the first hint of rain and the clay will melt into nothing.

Oooh, more charity shop finds.  the ride on was £4.50.  A pair of crocs for a couple of quid, t'shirt for Rye, and a Carafe for me - although to date I've forgotten to buy coffee for it, lol.  And the bowl it's sitting in, is actually what I'm now using for the children to wash their hands in.  Its a bit of a faff to have them lining up in the kitchen to wash their hands after garden play and before mealtimes.  So I thought I would introduce the Waldorfy way of handwashing - i.e. warm slightly suddy water with some lavender in it.  Hmmm lovely.  And it makes handwashing into in a little fun ritual that the kids enjoy and it's just one of those little reconnections we have throughout the day.

We've had lots of pj days here.  And fallen back on old games to entertain - here there's a balloon tided to the washing line- lots of fun was had (and some squealing when Rye kept holding the balloon out of my mindee's reach.. the tinker!)

I can't quite remember now.. but I think it was something to do with the gnome falling off the blocks and being squished.  Where do they get these ideas?  lol  He doesn't watch dvds that really show violence, bob the builder, post man pat, bagpuss, thomas the tank engine..those are the sort of things he watches!

Quiet time.  Every couple of days he would flag and need a quiet day to recover, this was one of them.  And all the illness has led me to relax my grip around the TV too.  I still don't like it on during the day, unless we are ill; but I no longer mind if Rye gets up and watches TV in the morning (or rather puts a dvd on), and I don't really mind if he asks to watch a bit on an evening after I finish "work".  I've found he's regulating himself really.  Plus I have being firm that if play is happening then the TV goes off, I cannot abide background TV, and Rye is now turning it off when he decides he wants to play... and as the painting from the previous post shows... putting on a dvd is no longer his immediate choice when getting up before me! 

Ahhh dressing up.  Hehehehe, pity I can't show you mindee too.  She looked ever so cute in a golden play silk.  They were of course playing pirates, oh and super heroes too, if memory serves.

Ooooh my goodness, now that pizza was seriously good.  Yes ok, its a pineapple pizza, but I actually do not mind pineapple at all, and the children adored it.  I used my new Pampered Chef pizza stone, which, on reading the instructions, I was very skeptical about.  Unlike most stones this one is not preheated - it specifically states not to do so.  However, the pizza base it baked it was delicious, cooked through, soft, no soggy middle, with just the right hint of crispness around the edges - yum yum.  The wet dough bread cooked on it is delicious too.  Pampered Chef stuff is rather expensive, but I confess I am very impressed with the stoneware, and very tempted to purchase a few more pieces.

Rye insisted I took this photo, although I can't quite remember why exactly.  Bless, his poor face.  He's been snotty for about a month now and keeps smearing it across his cheeks, which then become red and chapped....oooh and look at his hair, long hair, so cute - sigh.

Ahhh one of our first proper trips out after the flu!  Knackered I was afterwards..but oooh it did do us all a world of good to get out in the fresh air.... even if it was really darn cold too!

Rye is showing mindee how to use the punch balloons.

And showing off a little with his two handed punching.

The beanbag makes a fine ladder to reach the top shelves and claim those noisy instruments that make this mama cringe.

Hmmm looking what else he can find - cheeky monkey.

Oooh, our season table.  I pruned back the broom a little and decided to add some of the branches to our season table... don't they look gorgeous!  Sadly they are now starting to droop.... mind they have lasted well- what a good ten or so days

Early morning play in the sand pit.  Sunshine, blessed sunshine!

And toys out in the garden - first time this year.  Lovely.

The weather this week has been lovely, and warm too; although the wind has held a hint of iciness in the shade.  The tree house, as can be seen, is back downstairs and is a wonderful toy for the garden; I'm looking forward to having the toys out more, (with the added benefit my lounge stays tidy!  lol)

;

Coastal park.  Twice in one week.  A friend, a month or so back asked me if I'd be interested in starting a Folkestone HE group with her, I jumped at the offer.  Wow, its a success too; we have five families that meet regularly with another 2 or 3 that join us when they can;  I think in all there's about 17 kids if everyone gets together.  Friday afternoons are our official meeting day at the moment, but often if anyone goes to a park during on another day, there's a shout out and folks pop along if free... hence the coastal park twice in one week.  I have also become friends with another home edding family and we've been spending quite a bit of time together, which is so lovely for Rye too, and he's now starting to talk about his "friends" :-)  My friend, I also crochets, so we get together a fair bit to natter, watch the kids play and crochet. 

I would have always said that I'm a bit of a loner and I prefer my own company mostly.  But I think its because I've rarely found other people I click with, and with I its easy to be friends, plus the other families in the group are really friendly and feel like friends, rather than just other families we meet with once a week or so for the kids to play.  So, yes we've been social butterflies for a few weeks.  Although this week we have had two home days, as I felt Rye was becoming a little overwhelmed with our sudden busy weeks - he actually uttered words I never thought I'd hear from..."I want to stay home."  Shocked beyond belief..but also a realisation that actually he is a boy that does also enjoy time to play by himself, lost in his own world, as much as he enjoys being out and playing with and alongside others.

I feel so blessed, the HE group is working well, we've just planned our meetings for the next month or so and it includes crafting sessions, egg hunt, sand castle competition, maypole dancing... I mean oh my gawd, how wonderful!  Does mean I'm quite busy with it all too; but you know what, its lovely to be part of a community and to know the effort is worth it.

Ahhhh our first visit to the coastal park this week.  Walking down the zigzag path...oooh my knees felt it.

And half way down there is a shrine/memorial to the people in Japan.  I can't really put into words why, but this really touched me.

And oooh, look at that view.  I miss the north I do, I miss the moors and the open open spaces - Folkestone is a bit on top of each other......but I can forgive all that when I'm met with such wonderful views.  Ok rye may not get the same freedoms I had as a child growing up in the wilds.... but I can't imagine he will moan too much when Folkestone has so much to offer kids!  I have to say I really do love it here.  I feel seduced sometimes by other places......but this is my home now and I do feel very settled, and I think it is very telling, that in all the places I have lived, I've never had as many friends, or as many connections as I do now.  This is surely where I'm meant to be.