Monday, 31 October 2016

October 2016

On Saturday 1st October, Sarah went to her Music School as usual. 

And on Sunday 2nd, Duncan Hughes drove to our house to start Matthew's dyslexia assessment. 
Matthew did very well and Duncan was fantastic with him.

On Tuesday 4th, we drove to Taunton, where the children attended a First Aid Workshop.
They took part in lots of hands on activities to learn how to help in all kinds of emergencies.
They worked alongside other home educated children in role play situations.












Afterwards, we went to a friend's house, where the children had their lunch and then used conductive play dough to make a variety of electrical circuits.

They also enjoyed several fun games of chess.

On Wednesday 5th, they went to their usual Science and Art Classes in Taunton.
We always pick up Matthew's friend on these occasions to take him to Science too:

In Science they learnt about DNA and genetics. Sarah really engaged in this activity.

Here are some photos taken by Caroline during this activity:










In Art, they looked at pieces of work by abstract painter Clare Wardman and talked about the abstract painters' response to their work. The children produced their own fantastic pieces of abstract art.



Afterwards, the children enjoyed games in the garden, playing on the trampoline, hide and seek, various forms of tag, table tennis and collecting eggs.

After Sarah's cornet lesson on the 7th, we all went to the dentist in Dulverton, where the children also love playing basket ball in the park and Matthew enjoys riding his bike, which we can fit in the car.



The following week, the children enjoyed another horse riding session and we had lunch by the River Parrett, in Langport.




 It was great fun to visit the library there




and find out about the source and mouth of the River Parret. 
The children's Grandma lives on the edge of Bridgwater, so it was interesting to find out about the reach of the Parret. 

Later, we visited Uncle John in Taunton, where we ate pizza before Sarah's tennis lesson at Blackbrook.



On Thursday 13th, the children enjoyed their drama session again, before Matthew had his first one to one swimming lesson at the new Pool in Blackbrook.



After Sarah's Music School on Saturday 15th, we went to stay with Grandad in Bristol.

On Sunday 16th, we went swimming at the Pool in Portishead.

On the Monday 17th October, we joined the Home Ed Science Group at @Bristol. Sarah and Matthew enjoyed analysing evidence to solve a crime in the lab with the other children. They also explored their favourite hands on Science exhibits there.



On Tuesday 18th, they went horse riding again, followed by a trip to the park on bikes.
Later still that day, Sarah had another tennis lesson.

The next day,19th was Science and Art:

In Science, the children carried out some psychological tricks and quirks to try and trick their brains and senses. They also used scientific method to conduct an experiment and find out which parts of their bodies are the most sensitive.











In Art, the children looked at Japanese artist and writer Yayoi Kusama. They produced some inspired pieces of their own.



Thursday 20th was drama and swimming

On Friday 21st, the children spent a quiet day at Grandma's, where they both enjoyed riding their bikes.

On Sunday 23rd, We went for a walk on North Hill in Minehead. Paul and Matthew decided to walk back to Minehead, while Sarah and I drove down to meet them on the sea front.




On Tuesday 25th, we met our friends in Porlock Park. It was great to see them again. We had so much to catch up on.



On Thursday 27th, the children went to drama and Matthew had his swimming lesson. He did so well. He swam several lengths, which requires great determination, as Matthew most likely has dyspraxia too.

The drama teacher was also very proud of him because he had learnt all his lines. He is animated about acting.

On Friday 28th, Sarah went to hear Alison Balsom play the trumpet at The All Saints Church in Dulverton. This was part of the Two Moors Music Festival and was a fantastic experience for her. She drew some beautiful sketches of Musical instruments, which Alison asked to see after the concert, when Sarah got to meet her.

Two Moors Festival: Alison-Balsom-and-Tom-Poster

Alisom Balsom Legende

On Sunday 30th, we went for a long walk with daddy along the river in Dulverton. The children gathered loads of chestnuts, which we have roasted in the Rayburn. (The children have enjoyed scooping out the soft flesh with a spoon). 
We ended up in the park, where we all played basket ball and football. It was invigorating.
As we often do on a Sunday, we went home to enjoy a roast dinner together.



On Monday 31st, we met our friends at Pile's Mill Orchard to pick some apples. The children enjoyed scrambling high amongst the branches to reach the biggest and rosiest apples.


We will be pressing them next week to make into juice. 

As we drove back over Dunkery Beacon, Sarah in particular, enjoyed looking at the sea of clouds below us. It was an amazing sight.

We had to go back to take our guinea pig to the vet in Dulverton.



The children were amazing as we had to wait for ages to get to see the vet. But they chatted away confidently to a lady in the waiting room, who had brought her dog Pepper along to see the vet.

At the weekend, we got an old fashioned bureau from Freecycle - the sort with cubbyholes and little secret drawers in it. We said Matthew could have it and he was very excited to choose how to fill it. He has also spent time writing at the desk.

On Sunday night, We heard Matthew reading loudly from a Horrid Henry Book he had in his room. It was a break through. The next day we went on line and ordered some more Horrid Henry Early Readers from the Library. He has enjoyed having stories read to him, including 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit', by Judith Kerr, The Hank Zipzer books and Secret Seven / Famous Five. He watches these on youtube as well as The Swallows and Amazon series.

Friday, 30 September 2016

September 2016


During the first week of September, we visited Yorkshire and discovered the hydroelectric plant on the River Wharfe, in Grassington.





"In 1909, Grassington received its first electricity from a hydroelectric plant at Linton Falls, which continued to run until 1948. Plans to revive the plant through an English Heritage project, using two Archimedean screw turbines to produce 510,000 kilowatt hours per year came to fruition a while ago.The plant, now operational, sits on the River Wharfe just below the town." 

We also enjoyed walking along part of the Leeds to Liverpool canal, as it passed through Skipton:

Leeds - Liverpool Canal

On the way home from Yorkshire, we stopped off at Abraham Heights, to explore, amongst other things, the caves there. 




Here we developed a keen interest in minerals. 

We collected some pieces of limestone and bought some other mineral samples from the shop.

Image result for rock shop abraham heights

Since then, Matthew and I have cracked open several rocks in the River Barle at Landacre Bridge on Exmoor.
This is a great site for studying erosion and deposition.



On Wednesday 7th September, the children had their first Science Class of the term, where they learnt how to make circuits using conductive paint and conductive thread.






In Art, the children found out about Pop Art and created an Andy Warhole inspired piece of Art Work.





While Sarah was at Music School on the 17th, Matthew went to his friend's house to pick apples, He had also enjoyed climbing the apple trees to reach the apples in his Grandad's garden with Aunty Fiona earlier in the week. 


Matthew and his friend made crumble together.

Later we all went to Art to Art with Sarah's friend to paint some china. Everyone was very creative. Sarah painted a cup and a coaster to go with the tea pot she got for her birthday. 




Afterwards we enjoyed a meal at The Harvester.



The lovely waitress was interested to see that Sarah was reading a Horrible History book and told her that she learnt most of her history from these books. She told us she was studying Zoology in Bristol. 

The next day we took Matthew, Sarah and their cousin to Landacre Bridge, where they enjoyed gliding along the river on surf boards. This was when Matthew and I discovered all sorts of minerals and enjoyed cracking open the rocks to find them.



They also made a Library at home using Sarah's new Library set.

On Monday 19th, we went to visit our friends in Porlock, as they had made a birthday cake for Sarah.

On Wednesday 21st September, we went to Taunton for the children's Science and Art Classes, where they also have immense fun playing in the garden with their friends.
In Science, they had fun with electronics and made some little robots.





In Art, the children looked at the art work of Emma Dibben and created their own still-life of cut fruit.




We sometimes go to Wellsprings Park or Priorswood Park afterwards too with some friends, which the children really enjoy.

Sarah went to her Music School on Saturday 24th September, after which, she met up again with her friend in a coffee shop



to look at the china they had painted the previous week and which was now ready. They were both very pleased with the results.

The following day, our friends from Porlock came over to our house for Sunday roast. It was great fun. The children played together, totally absorbed in their games.

On Tuesday 27th, we drove to Wrantage, near Taunton for another horse riding lesson with a small group of home educated children. Sarah and Matthew really enjoy these sessions, which are really well run.

We then joined the home ed group at Caroline's house for their Dinosaur themed topic day.
The most exciting part for Sarah and Matthew, was playing all sorts of team games with their friends in the garden towards the end.

On Wednesday 28th, we went to visit Lanacre Barn Art Studio, where the children were given a mini Master Class by the Artist, Jo Minoprio. Sarah and Matthew both chose a favourite painting to 'copy' and she showed them the various techniques she had used to create these paintings. They took home their art work along with a postcard of their chosen works. It was an amazing experience.

Jo Minoprio Art

The next day on the 29th September, the children went to their drama class in Oake, where they are going to act in a production of Pater Pan. Matthew has the part of John, with 20 lines and Sarah is a pirate, as well as a stage hand. They got to choose their own parts and Matthew has already learnt his lines.

After drama, Matthew's friend came to stay the night at our house and we took Sarah to stay with her friend in Porlock. Matthew and his friend had a chocolate / fruit fondue. At bedtime, they also enjoyed sharing the jokes in Sarah's Aquila Magazines,



as well as reading Flat Stanley.



On Friday, they took their snacks into the woods and played on the go cart, before making American pancakes.
We met his mum in Minehead and I picked Sarah up from a Youth Group later.

In addition to these activities, the children have continued to work their way through the brilliant Conquer Maths programme. Sarah has written some amazing poems and Matthew has dictated some imaginative stories for his blog.
Sarah has also chosen to make her observations into news stories and has created a ten page newspaper with illustrations.

They have both enjoyed cooking (They made some chocolate crackle cakes independently on Sunday) and enjoyed riding their bikes up and down the farm track, as well as at the park and at Grandma's.

Sarah has devoured lots and lots of books and is currently reading The Lady Jane Grace Mysteries, based in Tudor Times.
She has invented her own code language for pleasure and to share with their cousins.
Matthew was particularly excited about this idea and rang up the cousins to tell them about this.

Sarah can't wait for us to replace our camera, so that she can get back to taking photos, which she loves to do.