Thursday we finished of the finding out bit about Saxons.  Interesting discussions about artefacts and how having a picture is harder than having an artefact.  We did have some good linking processes to say what an object might show.  We found out about Saxon kings, did a quiz, a timeline and had some interesting conversations about the Bayeux Tapestry and how it was sen by Saxons not Normans.

After this there was some playing, I worked on a painting, the boys did some screen playing and Ben did some drawing of ATC’s.

Friday we didn’t get done what we had planned, partly due to late get up and mainly due to moving round the living room and tidying rooms.  We decided to too the little bits we had left over the weekend or next week.  All in all a good week.

 

Wednesday Whoopsie….

We all overslept this morning….well…we slept in as the getting up time was self imposed! We roused ourself and did a little bit on Saxon place names then I cooked breakfast whilst we were making up our imaginary landscapes with Saxon place names.  After hot chocolate, noodles, scrambled egg and boiled egg and toast combos we were ready for a quick bit of gods and religion.

The boys found the similarities between some Christian celebrations and pagan festivals quite  interesting and loved playing the game where we used what we had found out to ID which god or goddess was stuck to our head…..cries of more were heard!

We grabbed some crisps and drinks and watched a few video clips from horrible histories and some other bits we found then found out some more about crime, justice and punishments in Saxon times.  We worked out the weregild that would be awarded for some different injuries and compared modern and Saxon punishments-led to an interesting few thoughts about what a real punishment was for a ‘crime’ and why the Saxons chose certain punishments.

We didn’t get to the nature journal or the 10 minute tasks but that’s OK-we still did have a lot of fun :0)

Maps, Minecraft and Midday Rising!

Midday and T is up-I chose not to re-wake him as the stuff today is fairly simple and he was obviously tired.  A bit of jigging about of things and B and Ot worked on Anglo Saxons this morning. Did their maps; filled in the missing words and both enjoyed making their Anglo Saxon Villages……Ot chose to make his in Minecraft-it was ace and I was really impressed with the extra little details he’d added into his labels.  B did his as a paper map and then aged it-which he was really pleased with.  We worked on the labels together and how to spell the words.  B has done some lovely handwriting today.  Everyone has just had dinner (popcorn chicken wraps) and are watching a little bit of battle bots before we embark on this afternoon’s adventure.

Did a guided meditation with Elliot and Ben who really enjoyed it-next time I think we will go up to my room where post people and dogs cannot disturb us.  It was a meditation to relax, let go of fears, worries and then to help find a word and symbol for us this year as well as to energise and feel positive. Afterwards, there was lovely discussion with Elliot and Ben; some of Elliot’s comments led to quite a deep conversation about what he felt was important to him this year.  Both of them enjoyed sketching out images from their mediation including maps (Elliot mapped how he felt at different points which was really interesting too), keys, doors they saw and their symbol and words.

We followed this up with a brisk walk with the dogs (managing to be moving for 1hr+).  There was ball throwing and stick battles then back home for some screens and cooking tea!  I have managed to watch the warm up videos for lifebook 2017 which is an art course I am doing this year so hoping to get that underway soon.  Amazingly I actually have tea nearly ready, toad in the hole with roast potatoes and maple/mustard glazed carrots and parsnips!

2017

Wowzers!  A new year, with a heap of new possibilities.  I am going to try and blog more this year (not hard to do really….once I’ve done this post I think I will have blogged more than last year!).  Currently sat on the sofa with Sherlock (our border collie not Benedict…..although they both could be shortened to BC…) having just squeezed through the plan for the week (we start back on our structured things tomorrow when Daddy goes back to work).

This week we are going to ‘do’ Anglo Saxons….well we’re going to have a quick whizz through the main bits as they’ve been hanging around for ages and we are all ready to move on. Given the big gaps we’re kind of going back to the beginning for a re-cap.  We had been using the CPG books-they are fab in that you read, do and then you’re done but…..not all that inspiring really so we will use the info book alongside some twinkl resources for Anglo Saxons but add in our own activities.

Themed weeks have worked in the past and are a nice way to get back into the swing of things really.

I have a rough timetable for our first week-I timetable it out to make sure it’s reasonable in terms of the amount we’re doing, to make sure to fit in dog walks and also because Ot likes to know the order and time things are happening. We have a screen-bargo until 3pm unless it is for a task we’re doing and no online chat/gaming until after 3pm.

We’re starting off with thinking about our word of the year, kind of the work to guide and inspire us;  the plan is to brainstorm lots of positive words, use thesaurus etc and then see if there is one that resonates with us.  We are also taking part in a HE art swap on FB and sending illustrated words to other families at the end of Jan so we will be choosing some words for those too.  I am hoping that we get to illustrating our own word or one of the words for the swap this week but will come back to them next week too.  I like this idea better than resolutions and I’m planing to have all of our words displayed where we will see them a lot.

Our Anglo Saxons  is broken down into chunks which generally have a powerpoint or video to watch and some kind of task.  I’ve used twinkl power points for speed and some of their sheets but put in some more interesting tasks.

Invaders:  Look at how the Anglo Saxons got here, watch horrible histories (Hengist and Horsa  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j7JFIMfu4o).  There is a quick missing word passage that we may do and a map of the different Anglo Saxon Kingdoms.  Then we can have an explore of: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zq2m6sg .

Viliage Life: read through the presentation and  use http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/saxon_trades.html to find out about some different jobs.  we may create a written advert for an Anglo Saxon job or we may not.   After we’ve been out to walk the dogs and clear our heads, we’ll come back and finish off the  second part of the powerpoint which is about a typical village-this is our main task and we will create it using lego, blocks, paper….whatever with labels.  we may add the people that do the jobs too.  We will use the BBC site to help, and have an explore on http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/saxons.html too.

Wednesday is  a peek into place names (there are aha moments to be found here as we live close to lots of places that have their names rooted in Anglo Saxon times).  We will more than likely make up an imaginary map complete with place names in the style of Saxons. Gods link in nicely with place names as we can find out about the names of the days of the week-we’ll have a bit of fun with a posit game (a bit like head bandz game) where they will have the name of a god or goddess on their head (which they don’t know) and have to figure out who it is using yes or no questions. Crime and punishment will be calculating weregild and no doubt some interesting discussions on which punishments were ‘fair’.  We will settle down with some snacks and watch Beowulf and we have a beautiful book to look at too.

Thursday Morning is a bit of history detecting, looking at artefacts and what they can tell us.  We may listen to History of the world 100 objects.  We will have an investigate here Staffordshire hoard as we saw the hoard  during the summer.  We will have a look at the CPG book too.  Then it’s a look at Anglo Saxon Kings, a quick timeline activity and hopefully time to explore any other things which have popped up that are of interest before we bring it all together in the Afternoon.

By the time we get to Thursday Afternoon we should have enough info, ideas and interests to create our own adobe voice presentation-Anglo Saxons in a minute or near enough-This is the part where we priorities what we’ve found out, by their historical importance and those things of interest to us.

 

 

In amongst that we will also be starting to do ’10 minute tasks’.  These are things that really benefit from little and often-hence 10 minutes every day.

These are our 10 minute tasks this week:

1. MFL
2.  maths facts-various apps for X tables (T); B and O prodigy maths
3.  Nessy (B)/ Typing (O&R) 
4. sewing/sketching
5. musical instrument (1:1 lesson session once per week other days independent practice  B-Ukele/recorder; O-Piano; T-Piano)
6. Computing-various apps/online…..tynker; code combat

There are a couple of things I’m still waiting on log in details for so slightly adapted this week (also we only have 2 days worth of 10 minute tasks this week).

Our nature study is going to be starting our nature notebooks and looking at winter skies.  I’ve found some possible watercolour tutorials to link in with this.  The simple landscape is a good one to start with.

On Friday we will be setting our personal Academic goals……but phrased as I want to do more….I want to do less…… I want to practice…… trying to make sure we build in lots of success;  making our bucket lists and setting up the boys with their own blog-in which they will write every Friday morning……and that is our week…….as with any plan it is uber flexible and it’s going to be interesting to see how it changes and what our week really looks like!

 

 

 

 

 

Getting into the swing of things….

Yes we are, the morning has gone well.  Looking at what makes a good game led onto using purple mash 2diy and 2diy 3d with gamesbeing made and now in various states of completion.  Handwriting was challenging for Ot and TIg-mainly because they talked more than they wrote :0).  B compelted another Reading Eggs lesson and now has just 7 to do before he has totally completed the final map on Reading eggs.  
An epic dog walk including climbing 20ft up a tree (B), falling knee deep in stinky water (me) Scooting like loonies through mud (Aunty E & B) and crazy mad racing around (Sherlock).  Lots of fun!

January Begins….

Ahhhhhhh, the holiday’s are over and it’s back to work for Poppa and for us.  A little bit of structure in the morning and whatever takes our fancy in the afternoon is our plan and today has gone well.  Everyone enjoyed finding out about game genres and playing and identifying them as well as making a quick leaflet.  Bit of handwriting and reading comprehension (more challenging for Tig and Ot) quick bit of maths and a diy.org activity and now everyone is pursuing their own interests.  Some walking with dinos watching and Pokemon playing currently. 

Let there be fun in the valley for us!

A great day out, after a slow start at Sandwell Valley and Dartmouth park.  We picked up my sister E and finally met her new kitten Percy-mega cute!  We deceided to head out to Sandwell Valley as it’s not far and there was something for everyone.  We played on the equipment at Dartmouth park, Ot and Tig enjoyed demonstrating their prowess with the gym machines.  Ate a little lunch then walked up to the smaller play area on the hill with a sandpit where we swung, spun and dug for a while.

 After that it was time to walk the dog!  We headed around the sculpture trail in Sandwell Valley then over to the Priory and Priory woods.  Tig was really good at recognising Hawthorn, and Elder as well as B and Tig noticing Willow, everyone spotted oak and holly and I showed B Ash.  Sherlock managed to dive into an algae covered pond so is very stinky and needs a bath!!!  Everyone was tired out by the time we got back to the car but still managed to find the energy to collect some conkers and have a sneaky cheeseburger or McFlurry from Mcdonalds.

We dropped E of home 

and then headed back to veg out with soem screens-we are all feeling a little tired after this week *yawn*

Climb every mountain…..

…yesterday felt a bit like that, like it was a mountain to climb.  New place to drive to, new activity to do, new people to meet, new skills to learn (and be tested on)….a whole heap of new which for the boys was exciting but for me was a bit of an axiety mountain.  One which, with the help of friends, we managed to climb and plant our flag on.  We all had a fab day climbing; I learned how to belay and Tig has decided that next time we go, he’d like to have a go to! B loved climbing and ringin the bell and Ot enjoyed climbing to the top of the wall.  B and Ot also enjoyed having a go at bouldering.

Ot and Tig had the second part of their gym induction, focusing on weights.  Ot found the listenening and not talking at the instructor more challenging-perhaps because I didn’t remind, perhaps because he was more relaxed, perhaps tired or perhaps just because that’s one of the challenges he faces.  Despite this, he enjoyed it and is looking forwards to going again.

A tiring day

Today we headed out to swimming straight after breakfast and had na hour and a half of fun in the pool.  There was front crawl, back crawl, surface diving to collect treasure form the bottom, racing, trick playing and splash wars.  We had great fun together and emerged a little tired at about 11.  We headed home to collect the dog for a walk, we were slightly delayed by the need to get a new tyre fitted on my car.

After the mobile tyre man came and we’d had some dinner, we headed out along the canal to walk the dog and enjoy the beautiful day.  We spotted various trees and had a go at some more photography (if we fancied).  Ot scooted about and B and I walked most of the way together.  We saw roach swimming and feeding as well as geese, ducks and coots/morehens.  We headed back a little sooner than usual because Tig and Ot had their first gym induction at 4.

Once we were back home we did a quick bit of maths; Ot worked on his Chance in conquor maths, getting a silver certificate and B worked on mathseeds and reading eggs.  Once this was done, everyone enjoyed a 30 minute screen break before getting into the car and heading out once more to the leisure centre for the boys gym induction at 4 and B’s gymnastics class at 5.

Tig and Ot enjoyed their induction, the chap who did it said they were really good and worked hard.  The found out how to use the rowing machines, exercise bikes, cross trainers and treadmills.  They’re booked in for the weights induction at 7-8 onThursday, after which they can goto the sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  B enjoyed his gym class, doing well with the balance bar, jumping on the trampet and forward roll/back bend activity.  he also improved working on his handstand and enjoyed the simple bit of bar work.  He was very pleased to see his friends and we headed out to KFC after with a couple of them to celebrate getting to the first ‘red’ coloured week on our sticker chart for gym.

Everyone enjoyed KFC, although we did get a little rowdy!  After that, we headed home and everyone pitched in to collect and fold washing, empty dishwashers, put away toys and do dad’s chees and onion sandwich.  We finally flopped down in our chairs and chilled on screens for a while.  

I read hte first chapter of the original Swiss Family Robinson; B fell asleep and TIg and Ot eitehr really enjoyed it or were to tired to speak or move!  Everyone headed upto bed and fell asleep in super quick time!

Photographer to scientist and back again!

This morning, it was beautiful so we decided to head out to chase water, to the pretend beach, which is one of the boys’ favourite places.  I took along a selection of dinosaurs and plastic animals, my pentax camera and iphone so we could have a go at the diy.org photographer badge if the mood took us.
We did lot of ball throwing, paddling and sand smushing whilst creating some innovative scenes for the various animals.  They had a go at landscape pictures.

These are some of the fantasy scenes the boys created and took pictures of….

We made a colaborative piece of land art

Talked to a lovely lady with her dogs, Seumus and Ruben;  played with a very cute 145 week old labrador called Maggie and even had a quick climb and a play on the park!

After lunch and a brief foray into anthill on the pads we had a bit of free time, mainly screens but games not online.  After that we had a go at dissections, of the virtual kind!  Everyone used froguts, an app on the iPad, which was especially good for B as there was audio fr everything so he wasn’t waiting for help with reading tricky parts.  Tig and Ot worked through a disection based unit on fish from emind and B had a go at an online Salmon dissection .  (biologist diy.org patch)

Froguts was everyone’s favourite because it was a ‘proper’ dissection;  the fish however could lead to a real life dissection as we can use the fish afterwards (cat treats if it’s very mangled).  The boys then worked with me to draw a diagram of the fish, their choice of internal or external view and added labels.  We did a diagram of a mushroom last week and I notices that they hadn’t got the simple line part of the idea and were struggling with label placement so this was a great opportunity to have a go.  Also, internal diagrams go towards yet anotehr patch :0D.

After tea, everyone gets ready for bed and can then have their internet based time, on Minecraft, Roblox, Youdtube etc and do their own thing.