This morning daddy took X and A ice skating while mummy waited in for the sofa to be delivered with F. Both X and A did very well at ice skating. X had a fall but eventually got back up and carried on, which is a huge step for him. A was enjoying being pulled in a sledge by daddy.

They didnt stay till the end of the ice skating session (which is send specific, hence the sledges etc) as it became too busy for them to have any room to skate around.

While they were gone the new sofa had been delivered. Only thing was our old one was still in the room too, oops!

Daddy carried the old sofa out to the garden which of course was the best toy ever for X and A. As the sofa was a corner unit it came out in two pieces so they had a piece each to make their own den/castle/fort.

They then decided to make a den in the boot of our car (while the back seats were down) with the cushions from the sofa.

What a fun afternoon they were having until daddy and grandad needed to put the old sofa base in the car to take it to the tip. As it wouldnt fit they needed to take the metal legs off it. Not missing an opportunity to teach X and A some life skills daddy shouted them across. A had little interest but X got stuck in unscrewing the legs.

We were happy with our new sofa. It gives us enough space now when people come to visit.

Once the old sofa had been taken to the tip we all enjoyed the sunshine in the garden.

X and A were playing lovely together. There were some neighbours children playing in the coutyard but X and A were too busy playing their own game to join in (it was nice that the other children asked them though). They did however enjoying the interactions with the other children. There was one boy pulling faces at them each time they went out which they found hilarious.

X then found his water gun out. He started by squirting our car but A soon egged him on to squirt her. Needless to say she was soaking wet, she loved it. After A was soaked they moved back in to the garden from the courtyard where X proceeded to soak the fake grass and the slide (which A then slid down).

We ended our lovely day with an ice cream, yum!

Today we went to ikea to get a new desk for our home education journey. Previously we have been using our dining table (which didnt get used for much else before that). However as time has gone on mummy and daddy realised that it would be good for X and A to have their own designated space, a place where they can take ownership of their own belongings and resources. Hence the trip to ikea!

Eric also came along for the trip.

We tried out living rooms and X and A decided they want new beds next time!

X and A are really good helpers now that they know their numbers as they can look for aisle numbers and location numbers. We got all our bits for the desk then mummy wanted to look in bargain corner……. Oops!

We ended up with a new corner sofa too, eek! Its being delivered tomorrow….maybe tomorrow we will learn about shape and space as mummy and daddy didnt measure to see if it fits!!! (watch this space).

We managed to get the desk home ok. Then it took mummy and daddy quite a long time to put it together as the draws alone had 30 pieces each set!

Mummy and daddy both put blood and sweat in to building them (literally as we both cut our fingers!).

During the build time X and A created their own worlds using the cardboard boxes. They had stairs and slides for charcters to go up and down.

F didnt miss out on all the fun and decided to have a feast on cardboard.

Before playing a spot of bowls.

X and A then moved on to making creations with knex.

By the time they were done so was the desk. Which they eagerly got to work on drawing away. X even filled his draws with pens, pencils and his workbooks already!

Today we went to a friends butterfly theamed birthday party.

A played a pizza balance game with two of the children.

Then A and F played pass the parcel.

Everyone got to unwrap a layer and win a prize. A won some stickers but a boy next to her won a bracelet so he gave her that too.

A and X enjoyed the party food. Even F had a few crisps.

After the party we came home and had lots of playtime. Mummy and A had fun building a farm in her bedroom. A decided that on her farm she would have an elephant too!

When we had had enough of playing A asked daddy to make a cheesecake with her. Daddy found a baked cheesecake recipe online the previous day and we had bought the ingredients ready for it. A was super excited for this (as she is with all baking) as she gets to try what she makes at the end!

The recipe daddy and A used was :

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2869/new-york-cheesecake

A did all the steps. Crushing the biscuits, melting the butter in a pan (under supervision) and using a hand blender to whisk up all the sour cream. It felt like it took forever in the oven!

When it came out we tried some. Mummy, daddy and A werent sure on it warm. After it being in the fridge it was more like a cheeecake texture and was lovely and creamy.

This morning X and A made mummy and daddy smoothies.

First they decided what fruit or vegetable (kale) they wanted to put in it.

Then we discussed how we were going to make the smoothies and how to be safe when using the blender (turned out it was too noisy for either of them so mummy had to do it).

We then discussed how fruit goes ‘off’ and isnt edible at this point (theres always one strawberry like this in our packets when we buy them!).

Then then cut up their fruit using brilliant knife skills.

X learned how to peel an orange and he tried it as well (this is a huge deal for X as he has sensory issues when it comes to food). X would previously not touch or handle fruit. What an achievement!

A used the apple corer on hers.

Ready for the blender.

X was brave and wanted to be in the room when mummy did the blender but that soon changed. The nutri ninja is amazing for blending everything up (it even crushes ice) but it is very noisy!

A’s came out a milky light pink colour. She said it smelt nice and fresh. When she tasted it she said it was lovely. Mummy also liked it, it was very sweet.

X’s came out a much deeper pink/red colour. We discussed why this may have happened and how food can be used as a natural dye especially berries.

The colour difference.

After dinner we decided to use our national trust cards and go to a local national trust property.

We have had a card now for two years. We mainly get one so we can go to open green spaces where dogs have to be on leads as we have two very fearful children after being attacked by a dog two years ago.

Someone else came with us on our trip – flat eric. Some people may recognise him from the levis advert back in the 90s. He was mummys festival mascot. Now X and A seem to have adopted him as a sixth family member and even dressed him in some of F’s baby clothes!

This property has an old laundry room which X and A enjoy.

Even F had a go!

This time there was lots more irons out which X and A found really interesting. Daddy explained how they were used and we discussed what they were made of and why they we so heavy etc.

There was also a storybook trail around the main house but we didnt do that today as with the weather being nice we wanted to be outside.

However we made a stopover in the model train area first.

There was a really nice and friendly man there today who explained that one man alone had built the whole model in his loft, it took him 35 years! He used a torch to light up interesting areas and asked X and A to find a missing cow and squirrel.

Its great they have put in a few more areas for the children now.

Eric really enjoyed himself. X enjoyed posing him for photographs.

We also enjoyed exploring the woodland areas.

There were lots of beautiful snowdrops.

F enjoyed feeling them. She even tried to eat one!

Back at home X had some time to draw and A made some shortbread with mummy.

She weighs it all out and knows what she needs to do. This time A decided to draw smiley faces on them all. We all enjoyed eating them, yum!

This morning F was loving being down on the floor with A and X. She thought she was part of their game! She bum shuffled a little bit.

X and A played lovely imaginative games all morning before getting ready for A to try horseriding for the first time.

A went along with her cousin. They had to get their hats on first before going over to the arena. When we got there we had to watch the last lesson finish.

When it was A and her cousins time to go in they were both guided to horses and saddled up. A’s horse was called Tink.

It was then that A began to cry. The trainer asked mummy if she wanted her to come off and mummy said no. Now that may sound harsh but mummy knew she would be ok once she got used to it (just as she did with football and rock climbing). Within the first few steps she had stopped crying and was enjoying trotting around.

The trainer had the girls standing up in their stirrups, letting go of the reigns and folding their arms, putting one arm in the air and stopping the horse.

After the session the trainer came over and said how well A had done especially after she had been so upset at the start.

On the night it was time for A’s weekly football training. As always she enjoyed herself and didnt want it to end. Although this week she was tired on the way home as she had been up at 5am with excitement about horseriding.

Also today mummy was excited to get a delivery of felt for our sewing projects (fellow crafters will understand). Mummy ordered it from a website called wish. Some people dont like to use it but mummy got a bargain with this felt.

A lot of people who home educate dont have holidays when schools do, and lets face it why would you? If you can have a cheaper holiday in term time, why not. However mummy works in a school so we have no option. We also still like the structure of having set holiday times (so we get time off together from school work to just chill out).

Anyway on saturday daddy dug out all our dr seuss books and read them all to X and A. X was particularly fond of theres a wocket in my pocket and has read it himself about fifteen times (wow school work even in the holidays). A liked mr brown can moo, which she also began to read to herself.

Then X picked up a general knowledge book that we hadn’t had out in quite some time and daddy had to read through that too. It is a really interesting book! Did you know hot water is heavier than cold water? Or that a babies fingerprints are formed depending on what they touch when in the womb? Wow!

X enjoyed showing this book to his grandad when he came round.

On the afternoon X and A played out on the trampoline as the weather was lovely.

Later on A played a game with daddy where you cant use your thumb when making or drawing an object. A really enjoyed this game.

Sunday – X and A played the no thumbs game then helped sand down a door frame ready for mummy and nannie to gloss.

X and A then went outside with a box of giant chalks and drew some assault courses for each other. They were very good. You had to stop in one circle and use stones to throw in to another circle. X even had some sums in his for A where she had to share four stones in to two circles or count eight stones in to another circle. Mummy was very impressed. X even made mummy her own where she also had sums to do and then had to take off her glasses and walk down a wonky line.

On the evening daddy ended up reading the cat in the hat and the magic finger.

Throughout both days X and A continued to use every scrap of paper they can find to draw, they love drawing.

This is the holidays for us but both X and A have been learning. Learning is a lifelong journey.

Some home educators choose to do unschooling which i suppose our weekend sounds like.

I can see why, its a very relaxed and fun way of learning. X needs more structure though so no good for us.

Today we went to forest school.

X and A are now so confident and comfortable there that they just go off and explore (within distance of mummy being able to see them). Although X was a little unsure at first as we had moved along to a new camp spot to shelter from the wind.

The teacher discussed the John Muir award the we are doing with the group then we all had to go off to do activities to achive the award.

X and A decided to explore the forest and collect 10 different items each that they found along the way. They could be different textures, different colours or just different objects.

A found this fairly easy and went and found hers straight away.

She found a wild garlic bulb laying on top of the ground. We could smell it was wild garlic! She was pretty pleased with this and decided to take it home to see if she can grow it in a plant pot.

X on the other hand struggled slightly as he felt he wasnt finding many different items or of different colour. He got there in the end though.

Daddy and F joined us after this. F loves trees. She especially loved feeling the bark.

A then toasted her own sweet waffle on the campfire which she ate.

The next part of the award we aimed to achieve was to conserve. So X and A went and got some woodchip to place around the fire and on the walkways so as to conserve it for other people.

So today was valentines day. A has been super excited about this all week. She really wanted to buy mummy and daddy gifts and for us ti get her something as we all live each other.

Mummy and daddy both made her cards and did this little surprise for her. She loved it. She thought daddys card was the best as it said all the things he loves her more than.

Today was the day our our trip to a local city where there is a museum with winter gardens.

We have been a few times before but this was a home ed trip led by one of the museum curators.

We learnt about the rainforest and how the plants in the rainforest have different leaves depending on purpose. We got to hold, feel and look at a cacao pod and a sea bean pod.

A and X did observational drawings of them.

The museum curator then guided eveyone down to the winter gardens where we were to observe leaves, look at their shape, colour and texture and sketch the ones we liked.

X and A both really enjoyed this. A was off looking and sketching straight away. X took a little longer to ger started as he couldnt decide on which leaf to sketch but once he was away he filled four a4 sheets with sketches. The detail they managed to get down was really good.

F really enjoyed herself too, getting involved with everything.

The curator gave them about 30minutes to sketch then it was back to the room. X and A were told to pick one of the leaf sketches amd blow it up on to a3 paper then use colour to make it more abstract.

A chose to do a rainbow design.

While X chose to do a repeated pattern design and a sunshine as it was a cactus from the desert.

They both concentrated really well and took pride in their final pieces.

Once finished the curator came over and showed us some leaves someone had made using batik, hand stitching and machine stitching. Mummy especially found this interesting as she has an unopened batik kit at home that we could use to make our own!

Getting in some counting practice with valentines day i spy and pen control.

X didnt want valentines work os he had a chinese new year i spy instead.

Also today their cousin came round for a play. She played a lovely game with both A and X.

This morning we tried out some of our new playdoh starters. Practicing our days of the week and how to spell them.

On the back of the days of the week sheets there are challenges for them to do. All this use of playdoh helps with gross motor skills, hand eye coordination and pen grip. But more importantly creativity and imagination!

Today was also our lego club at the local library.

F was awake for the first time for the whole session so she enjoyed playing with friends and chewing mega blocks!

X found it difficult today when his model kept breaking apart but again he made an amazing model. He is really coming on with his building skills.

A built for half of the time then came and sat with F and played with her. A’s creation was amazing too.

X mainly creates imaginary creatures or charcters that he has seen in video games where as A creates more from real life. She is going to try horseriding next week hence the horses and we have just done about chinese new year hence the lantern.

Later on at home we were doing our maths work when X had to do quarter turns to find an answer. He was struggling with the concept so daddy had him up with a chalk pen writing on the floor. Needless to say X picked up the idea within seconds and had good fun with the concept after that.

After discussing quarter turns daddy also reminded X of halves and quarters written as fractions. Mummy really liked this active way of learning and would have liked to have learnt maths this way too!

Then X learnt some new life skills, tidy up time!