Beauty's Glance

Homeschooling – Why on earth?

May 31, 2012 · Filed under Children, Family, Learning

We have been homeschooling for nearly three years now. LissaLou went to nursery in the UK for 6 months and Ecole Maternelle in Guadeloupe for a year but the others have not attended any school.

People often ask why we homeschool, and I often reply how long have you got? Sometimes a very simple answer is all that is wanted, and I would hate to bore people with too many details! If that’s you, probably best stopping here! However, there are times when people are interested in the journey that brought us here, so this post is just for them!

It began with lots of reading about homeschooling in blogs and books, hearing about it from my sister with many homeschooled friends in the US, and then one of my closest friends choosing to educate her son this way. However, I have to admit that although I thought it sounded like a marvellous idea and completely in line with my philosophy of life (the major influence of children being their parents, the importance of the family as a unit, the too early rush into school for little children, the lack of individual attention and development in classes of 30…) my reaction was, I could never have the patience to do that! I couldn’t spend all day with my children, they would drive me mad!

My other reaction was related to being someone who doesn’t really like standing out from the crowd. In my younger years things like putting God first, being a model student, liking reading, working hard and enjoying classical music all made me something of an oddity in my inner London state school. As I grew, things like being in a mixed culture relationship, going grey early, choosing not to buy a house and being interested in healthy living only added to the mix. Why on earth would I choose to do yet another thing so obviously strange and different as homeschooling?!

Then came our year in Guadeloupe. At the age of 4, LissaLou was at school from 8am till 4.30pm. So long! Thankfully I was able to collect her for the two hour lunch break, otherwise I felt that I hardly saw her. I also felt slightly frustrated that she seemed to spend her days colouring in pictures. Meanwhile, CassCass was either having a wonderful time with her Papa running loose on his father’s piece of land in the countryside, helping him grow fruit and veg, or reading lots with me and playing with JoJo at home.

During our year there, the island ground to a halt with six weeks of strikes. No school, no anything in actual fact. But that’s another story! It was actually really delightful to have LissaLou at home with us, and we were able to do all sorts of interesting things as part of our “school” at home. Thus the seeds were planted, and I realised that not only could I do a reasonable job of teaching my children, I could spend even spend the whole day with them! That is, after all, exactly what I had been doing since they were born!

And so it all began to fall into place as we prepared for our return to the UK. We didn’t know for a long time where we would be returning to, let alone which school we should apply for. Beginning to homeschool therefore didn’t seem such a strange thing given our exceptional circumstances (schools in our borough are hugely over-subscribed and several people told me I probably wouldn’t get them a place quickly anyway!) and it gave us time to try it out and decide if it worked for us. “I’m just taking it year by year” was my favourite phrase then! Three year later, I can say it has definitely been working well for us!

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The Bees are Here!

May 25, 2012 · Filed under Creatures, Nature

Wednesday night our kind friend brought this box down from Norfolk, full of six frames of bees buzzing noisily. Apparently we are in luck as this is a very good ‘nuc’ of bees, normally there are only five frames.

Can you see them all at their blocked doorway, raring to go? Bertie opened this up the following morning and they spent the day hanging around the box and getting a grip on their new neighbourhood.

I have to say it was slightly daunting seeing them all over that corner of the garden and we avoided that section all day, but now that they are feeling a bit more settled, they come out of the box and had straight off to wherever their mission leads them next, and are not really hovering outside the box. Phew!

Tomorrow Bertie will don his suit and take his smoker for the first time to transfer them into their new home…

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North of the Border

May 24, 2012 · Filed under Children, Family, Trips

One of the delightful aspects of homeschooling is that we can hit the road whenever we feel like, taking advantage of those quiet periods whilst everyone else is at school. Including one’s own husband! So we don’t actually take advantage of that advantage very often at all. However, over flew our Canadian relatives to Edinburgh last month and I decided to head up by train with the three kids for a long weekend to see them. Not to mention the various other friends who managed to avoid going south after we graduated from St Andrews. And I love Scotland, so I am always pleased to get a chance to visit the dear Motherland!

The idea of travelling with the three kids was slightly unnerving, and the reality proved to be quite long and arduous, especially as we had a 90 minute journey to Kings Cross (arriving on the platform 7 minutes before our train left was cutting it slightly fine, even for me!) then another hour by bus on arrival in Edinburgh. However, Mum kindly accompanied us and her company and iPad provided great entertainment.

A few highlights of the trip – the beautiful city of Edinburgh was in disarray as they install a tramline, closing the beautiful Princes Street to traffic and leaving us dazed and confused about how to get anywhere. Hang on, that’s pretty normal for me… Anyway, when we discovered the shocking fact that KIDS PAY on their buses, and that if you don’t have the exact change the meanies will keep the rest, it became surprisingly attractive to take a taxi. LissaLou has long dreamed of such luxury and we all appreciated it! In the meantime, you might want to delay visiting for another two years or else definitely take lots of change and a map!

We visited the Museum of Scotland with my uncle and aunt, it has free entry except for certain displays. It is a beautiful building, with a huge atrium and apparently fantastic views from the roof, so my sister and uncle assure me. We really enjoyed the stuffed animal section, and the children particularly enjoyed the computer bits as usual. The highlight was a weighing scale which let you walk on and work out how heavy an animal you were. This could be the way to go, as surely saying “I weigh a panda” is nicer than giving the actual figure?! Our aim was to get to the Blue Whale and it took us four, my sister, my aunt, and finally my uncle to get us up there! I would have loved to see the section on Scotland but that will wait for another trip.

Seeing the hills and the sea as we travelled between Edinburgh and our accommodation was so pleasant, and the fact that we had sunshine whilst it was raining on our unfortunate southern relations made it all the more enjoyable! Have a look at Mum’s blog for some beautiful hill photos.

The kids were very taken with the Scottish “funny money”, and I had never realised how many different versions of the same note there were. I learnt that every bank produces their own note – amazing! I always try and spend it (not hard!)before returning as some shopkeepers can be iffy about accepting it (yes it is legal tender in England!).

And how lovely to be met back at Kings Cross by my kind Dad, before being picked up by Bertie. Having spent five hours in the train with those children my patience was definitely wearing thin! No iPad on the return meant they had to return to pen and paper (I even gave them some schoolwork to do!) which wasn’t such a popular move!

All in all a really great trip, full of lovely moments and stimulating conversation, making the effort to get there and back very worthwhile.

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Name That Story!

May 24, 2012 · Filed under Children, Food, Learning

This post is also in honour of the highly imaginative Girls’ Brigade leaders who come up with idea after idea for fun and interesting crafts each week! I loved this one, made with pressed out bread, and cunningly shaped icing!

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Another New Park (For Me)

May 23, 2012 · Filed under Children, Creatures, My Home Town, Nature

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In the midst of the recent torrents of rain and cold that marked April, we decided to ignore the weather and go over to a park next to Bertie’s former preferred golf course, Fairlop Waters. It is always nice to see where your husband spends his time, and I was surprised to see what a lovely place it was, with the park and golf course not even separated by a fence, as it all borders a couple of small lakes.

Within minutes of our arrival, the heavens opened and down came hail of all things, but we courageously continued and were rewarded for our perseverance with a bit of sunshine and even a rainbow at the end. On drawing their favourite part of the visit, that was LissaLou’s choice.

The area was so peaceful and there was plenty of nature to see: swallows and swifts darting around, ducks and swans bobbing along, and then a glimpse of a heron on the far side of the lake, gone by the time we made it round. We headed off the beaten track and discovered a smaller, even more beautiful lake, and in order to walk all the way around we had to squeeze through a hole in the fence into a rapeseed field. It is always good to see the kids enjoying the outdoors, and they certainly did on this occasion.

We then discovered the play areas – huge boulders for climbing, discarded wood made into various activities and the strangest of all – giant mole hills! Whoever had that idea? I was glad we only found them at the end of our walk, or we probably would not have got any further and would have missed all the best bits!

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A Future Langer?

May 23, 2012 · Filed under Children

Despite still being Bertie’s favourite golfer, I didn’t feel right setting JoJo up as a future Tiger Woods, so I asked Bertie who he would like his son to emulate, and he suggested Bernhard Langer – so there you have it!

Now that JoJo is that bit older, Bertie was able to take him and another friend to the golf course, and amazingly his little legs kept up with all 18 holes! He even managed some attempts at playing, interspersed with feeding balls and clubs to the ducks and running around like a crazy thing!

And judging by this picture, if he doesn’t make it as a Langer, he could always have a shot at being a caddie – though I do hope that is not the ball he is nibbling at…

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Awaiting the New Family Members…

May 22, 2012 · Filed under Creatures, Nature

The excitement is mounting in our house…Any ideas what is coming? No, not an extra terrestial alien from Dr Who!

Yes, it is indeed a bee hive, awaiting its residents due tomorrow!

This has been Bertie’s pet project over the past months, since a kind cheque from HMRC meant we had the funds to invest in all the needed equipment. He has been reading bee stuff, doing a bee keeping course, researching for hours on end the best low priced equipment and quite simply talking bees bees bees! It is always an inspirational thing to see a person with a new passion!

Last week the hive actually arrived and Bertie has been painstakingly putting it all together, not quite as easy as the Ikea flatpacks he is used to! Tomorrow, a kind friend is bringing us our nuc of bees all the way from Norfolk (well priced and not at all aggressive – sounds great, but I am awfully glad that we are not the ones transporting them!) and they will sit for a few days on the new site before being transferred into their new home. We are particularly glad to see all the sunshine forecast, should get them out and about as they start growing their colony.

If, like me, you have absolutely no idea about all this bee stuff, here is a quick tour around the hive. These are the two supers, which is where we will put the frames that they will make honey on. Umm, lovely! See the yellow bit at the bottom? That is the queen excluder, so she can get on with her job of laying lots of babies and not be tempted to go exploring and forget her duties…

And here is where she will lay all those babies – the brood box.

This is one of the many frames where all those little bee babies will be!

And here is our bee hive in its new location! It is hidden away as much as possible, in a sunny draught-free spot at the back of the garden. Bertie is hoping to put up a fence to encourage them all to fly up rather than out. Well done to him for all his hard work!!

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Leicester in the Rain

May 22, 2012 · Filed under Children, Creatures, Learning, Nature, Trips

A bonus of not going on holiday, aside from spending less (!) is that we had lots of time to catch up with lots of wonderful friends during the holidays. A neighbour kindly hensat for us, allowing a quick trip to Leicester to stay with my oldest friend (we met at the tender age of 6 in the school playground). The kids had great fun together and as ever we marvelled at how her little girl had grown since our last visit a year ago. The rain put a dampner on excursions but they did introduce us to the New Walk Museum, a very pleasant place to spend a wet afternoon.

It had a dinosaur etc section, where the kids were all captivated by the computer monitors rather than the bones (sigh). Then we moved onto the stuffed animals section, with very cool tunnels for the children to crawl around in, before finishing off in the history section – here are my three little Romans wearing a very heavy replica of a helmet found in the local area. I wonder if JoJo thought that the grim expression made him look more…Roman?

It just so happened there was a visit from the resident Madagascan cockroaches, which the children watched in fascination, whilst I could not overcome my revulsion. Ugh! But I was most impressed at LissaLou following her friend’s example and allowing one to crawl over her hand. Now we know who will be dealing with the ravets in Guadeloupe this summer…!

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Tuesday’s Choice: The Lion and the Unicorn by Shirley Hughes

May 22, 2012 · Filed under Books, History

The Lion and the Unicorn

You just can’t go wrong with Shirley Hughes, and we were delighted to pick this one up in our local charity shop recently. It is one of her longer stories, still with the same wonderful illustrations that enhance the story and make it a delight for younger and older children.

This would make a great book for those studying the Second World War. Lenny Levi’s dad is away fighting and his London neighbourhood is increasingly at risk from bombing, so he is sent with three girls to a big house in the country. There, he has to face many challenges in addition to being far from his family and not even knowing if they are safe. He is subjected to meanness and bullying from one of the other evacuees and the village school children, leading to bedwetting. His fears also take over, as he imagines lions in the night, prowling and waiting to devour him. His Jewish roots add to his sense of loneliness and alienation, and the only support comes from the kind maid and some brief encounters with the son of the house, who shares how he himself has had to face his fears in war and since, having “left his leg on a beach in France”.

Things come to a head at the end, when help comes from very unexpected quarters, and then a fresh new start ends the book happily. A really good read for us all.

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Easter

May 21, 2012 · Filed under Books, Children, Food, Learning

I know, I know, I am running a little behind here… but I figured it was still worth recording what we did as who knows, it may give someone some ideas in the years to come? Or at least remind me what we got up to!

I always find Easter a bit tricky. There is so much to do at Christmas – books, activities galore. Then you get to Easter, and it really is mostly eggs and bunnies, which is all very well, but so far from the point. Last year we were at the seaside during the Easter holidays so we didn’t plan many activities, but knowing we would be home most the holidays this time, I made a list of all possible things to do, and we did nearly all of them. Still have the ingredients for a simnel cake waiting in the cupboard though!

Easter Books – we don’t have many so I invested in a couple. I can’t work out how to insert a picture of the book so if you can advise on that, please do!

The Tale of Three Trees - a lovely book about three trees with high ambitions to be great that they find being fulfilled in very different ways than they had dreamed. The kids read this one over and over to themselves.

The Story of the Easter Robin - this was a really nice read, though the robin doesn’t look like any I have seen! A little girl watches a robin lay its eggs and fears for their safe arrival, whilst learning about Easter from her Grandma.

The Easter Story (Usborne) – I got this for JoJo with its easier vocab. Perhaps he will be reading it himself next year?!

Easter, The Everlasting Story - great for the girls as a more detailed account with very vivid pictures.

Eggs – we managed to avoid buying (or even receiving) any this year and instead made our own. LissaLou and I made a great team as I made holes in eggs with a needle and block and she mastered the art of blowing out the yolk. After a good wash and heating them in the oven, we filled them with a mixture of dark, milk and white chocolate, then left them in the fridge. Delicious!

Easter Party – I had thought of doing this last year, so was pleased to actually manage it this year. We invited a group of mostly girls round and had a range of activities. They made chocolate nests with shredded wheat and chocolate, topping them with eggs and a cute little chick. They also decorated easter eggs pictures with crushed and dyed egg shells – pretty but messy! We had an easter egg hunt and finally read the Easter story together before acting it out, using the various costumes from our nativity play. All all in all, a good time was had by all – and we were most relieved that the rain held off!

Finally, Messy Church on Easter Saturday. For those unfamiliar with the idea, it is basically a family friendly time of singing, bible story, craft and food. The story time involved us writing something we were sorry for on a piece of paper and then putting it at the foot of the cross. We then went over to the bucket representing God’s heart, and received our own personal promise from it.

The craft this time was a very cool Easter garden – they had gone to a lot of effort and produced many seed trays filled with turf. Our job was to paint a yoghurt pot a grainy grey, colour in the main characters and stick them onto lolly sticks, and make a cross with some more sticks. We did a family one and it looked very effective – Bertie took it into church as a visual aid the next day.

Have a look at the photos of these events below – finishing up with their smiling chocolatey faces on Easter morning!

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