Sunshine and smiles 23.4.15

We have certainly been making the most of the beautiful sunshine of late, spending lots of time outside. 

There has been a wave of birthday parties for Barnaby which have involved cinemas, burgers, lots of running around and cake. For me it's meant being resident taxi driver - not that I mind. Although it comes to something when you can't plan in a social life because your Sons is so packed!!

Seems I have some sewing to do...

Up a tree!

Sunday saw the first of Barnabys Adventure Days with Beavers over at the Scout hut in Cranham. By all accounts he had a super day doing 'obstable' courses, archery, climbing trees and toasting marshmallows with all the boys. I am really pleased they have done this as it gives him chance to go and do 'boy stuff' (for the want of a better description) without me having to facilitate it. As Barnaby only sees his Dad every couple of weeks at the most, he has no male role model in his life. It's a tough thing for single Mums of boys because 'being a boy' is not really something we can teach them. Hence why I am so keen for him to continue Beavers. 

He's thrilled with his bronze award

 He came home from Cranham wondering how to magically be 13 overnight so he could be a scout, make use of their dorm room and lounge and own a mobile phone! Tuesday was another lovely night at Beavers because he got (a little late) his one year service badge, and bronze badge among others. He was super chuffed and I'm really glad he's still loving going. 

Tuesday was also sports club which resumed after Easter, although due to some confusion only 4 other kids turned up but they had a brilliant time, got stuck in, and he lost hockey 12-11. 

Education wise at home we have been :

• tending to the plants that we potted last Wednesday and writing his garden diary
• Starting our project which commenced on Earth Day (separate post coming up) which is covering maths, ICT, reading, writing, geography... etc etc etc
• Revisiting the 4 times tables
• Looking at the eruption of Vesuvius that wiped out Pompeii
• Working out angles and trajectory - we found a brilliant game online by accident. Sort of like Angry Birds but much more basic. The aim was to fire a cannon and make the ball land in the water. Each level got harder but was great for discussing maths terms; more than/less than/decrease/increase etc. Turns out Barnaby was really good at it and despite being given 10 attempts at each level, only needed an average of two. After all the high tech games on his tablet you'd have thought it wouldn't be enough to catch their attention but he was gripped for ages!
• Measurements - give a boy a tape measure and he's happy for HOURS. He's getting to grips with the differences between 3cm and 3m. He spent half a day measuring the fence, the decking, the patio, the summerhouse, the drive, the car, the rug..... and the cats, when they stayed still long enough!
• Learning about the general election and our political system
• Learning about St George who has kindly facilitated Maths, Art and English/Literacy without Barnaby even realising!

I have been busy looking at resources we can use at home and am going to blog on where I have found some of the items I have been using which might be useful for others to help with their kids.

Other than that life is just life, ticking over. He's getting good at putting the washing on, did a great job helping with the jet washing of the driveway and cleaning out the car. He's going to bed brilliantly which has always been a bit of a 'thing' with him - seems to have been a permanent pain in the arse about it but the last 2 months have just got better and better and he'll wander off and tuck himself in with a kitten and the radio blaring far too loudly. Seems to help him to settle though so not complaining.

Getting his workspace organised
all by himself!

Learning in the Summerhouse at his desk is really working for him. He loves sitting there at his desk feeling important and role playing games with me about working in an office. I've noticed when he's really knuckling down to work he insists on having the music on quite loud. I think this is his way of being able to concentrate on the tasks.   

We went back to school for the first time on Tuesday - having seen his teacher on her lunch break a few days before, it triggered a few 'what are they doing at school now' type questions  -  and I wondered if it would unsettle him or if he'd feel sad about not being with his school friends every day but apart from the nerves he felt going into the playground briefly he really wasn't bothered about it. I did tell him he'd been offered a place at the local juniors but he didn't want to take it so that was that. 

He's getting much better at telling the time so that practice is paying off. 

Answers on a postcard....

Oh, and Minecraft for his Xbox arrived today so I am absolutely baffled and perplexed by it so I think it's my turn to do some learning next! Minecraft appears to be huge in the Home Ed world for education purposes, I guess I'm about to see why! 

Daddys turn to look after Barnaby this weekend - that last one before his crazy work season kicks in until September so hopefully they will have lots of fun over the next few days!