play date

On Friday, Jasmin and I went to meet one of the mums from home ed and her children.  It was lovely to spend time to get to know each other.

In the morning, the girls went into the attic and played on hammocks and swings which Jasmin thought were just amazing, a very special space to be able to play in.

After lunch we had a lovely walk in the sunshine through the parks and gathered leaves to make headbands.  The parks were fantastic, with different structures, and mosaics.  They also had trees to climb (A big bonus). Carol is so lucky to have these parks on her door step.  

We headed off to Heeley Farm where the girls had an ice pop, and then went to the play area.
After a break, we walked through to the plant area, which is just lovely.  This is where they grow the food for the cafe. We met one of the gardener's who spent time talking to the girls explaining about which plants and flowers they were allowed to eat and pick. The girls then picked seeds to take home and plant in the garden.


Jasmin then had a very bubbly bath to finish off a very special day, thank you Carol! xxx

Science

On Wednesday, Jasmin and I went on a home ed trip to Whirlow Farm. The children looked into soil and its particles.

The children were split into two groups, one group went off to the woodland and Jasmin's group went off to the badger set. The children looked at soil. They found out how the soil smelt, felt, and looked at the colour.  They also collected a soil sample from the different areas.

Back in the classroom, the children answered questions regarding what they had found in the soil.  Both soil samples were very different.

First, they tested to see if there was air in soil.  This was done by placing soil into milk bottle tops and holding it down into water and counting any air bubbles in the water. The woodland soil had air bubbles but the soil from around the badger set didn't have any.

An experiment was then set up to see how absorbent each soil sample was.  The groups did an identical experiment putting soil into a can and then pouring water (300mls) on top of the soil.  The woodland sample absorbed 150mls of the water but the badger soil didn't absorb any water at all.

They answered questions on why this was the case and concluded that the soil from the badger set was more sandy than the woodland soil.

The children then made their own soil, by rubbing together two rocks, this made a very fine chalk, putting in some very small pebbles and rubbing in clay, leaves and compost.  Then they made a paper plant pot and planted a bean to take home.

Outside, Wil had set up a similar experiment to recap on what the children had learnt about, this time they got to feel the soil at all the different stages of the experiment.

The session was really hands on and very well  put together.

After lunch, we went around the farm and looked at all the different animals and plants and heard about the different stages of the animals life before they go to market or another farm.  Jasmin found this part a bit distressing as she doesn't eat meat or fish.

Blackberry Cordial xx

Yesterday Jasmin and I went blackberry picking with her cousin Charlie. We found a magical spot with loads and loads of blackberries, which was lucky as Jasmin wanted to make cordial with them.

Lots of recipes used alcohol in them but we managed to find one which was alcohol free and it is truly delicious.

We used
1.5k blackberries
half the juice of a lemon
400g sugar
1 litre of water.

After washing the blackberries, we put them in the pan to slowly come to the boil, stirring all the time.  We kept squashing the berries with a wooden spoon to get as much juice out of the berries as we could.
We then needed to strain the berries and return the juice to the pan and add the sugar and lemon and slowly bring back to the boil, stirring all the time and reduce to simmer until all the sugar has gone, roughly 15mins in total.
We restrained and put in a sterilised bottle.
It tastes lovely...

50 things to do before you are 11 3/4

I have just signed Jasmin up on the National Trust Site. The 50 things to do before you are 11 3/4
look good fun and are lots of things which we love to do.  We have already started signing off quite a few.

Here is the link

Events for families

What will you find exploring nature

© NTPL/©National Trust Images/John Millar

Have a wild time this summer

The summer holidays are one of the best times of the year for getting the kids up off the sofa, jumping into the great outdoors and having heaps of fun discovering new places.

To keep the kids entertained throughout, we're encouraging children to complete our ‘50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4’ wild-time challenge and see if they can try and tick off more than 25 things on the list during the six weeks of summer (Monday 22 July - Sunday 1 September).

Sign up for free at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/50things and download the brand new ‘wild-time challenge pack’, crammed with a six week adventure planner, activity sheet and plenty of top tips to help boost kids’ outdoor experiences this summer.

Plus, if families log each adventure they complete online, not only will they collect exciting rewards along the way, but if you tick off 25, you will also receive a free family visit pass and be in with a chance to win the top prize of directing and starring in your very own nature film.

The Week Which Flew By

I really can't believe it is Friday already.  What a week!!

On Monday we met up with friends (Lucy and Annie)and went to the Climbing Works, (mini works) and had our first experience of bouldering.  

Bouldering is free climbing without the use of ropes.  You follow a bouldering route using a colour coded path without hopefully falling off.  The paths are changed regularly and there are various routes to take depending on ability. 

Jasmin loved it, and had an additional bonus of meeting Evan and Autumn there which was a complete surprise...We will def go again.  

When we came home we played word games summing up our thoughts on  Bouldering

Brave

Open

Unexpected

Life

Drive

Energy

Roam

Investigate

Navigate

Great

Tuesday was fab, skating as usual in the morning followed by craft group afternoon.   

We made air hardening clay and shaped the clay into Christmas Decorations. I can't believe we are thinking about Christmas already.  Last year Jasmin was in school and didn't break up until the 22nd December and we had no time to really talk about Christmas or make crafts so am making up for it this year!!

Hopefully the clay will harden without cracking and we can paint it next week.  

She then went off to K-Motion which is just lovely with her friends.

Wednesday morning we had piano, followed by making bread and soup for lunch. 

We then met up with friends (Genna, Caleb and Arlo)  at Graves Park.  It is ages since we have been there and it was just lovely to meet up with friends. The children loved the animals.  Jasmin made a collection of  leaves and acorns.  (we are hoping to make acorn owls when my felt comes as part of our animals of the night project). Caleb had collected some acorns from his tree in his garden which was so kind.  Jasmin and Caleb had a fab time playing in the park afterwards.

Thursday is one of Jasmin's favourite days of the week, it is gymnastics.  She counts down every day until its time to go again.  The gymnastics group is really small, and the children really get to cover a lot in the session. From floor work, beams, bars and vaults.  It is lovely to watch the children progress and gain confidence each week.  

We came home and made biscuits afterwards for a treatxx

Friday:  Skating was fab this morning, Jasmin loved skating around with Miriam and Jemima.  It was lovely for me to catch up with all the mums too.  

Finally we posted off our postcard to Russia and looked on the map to see its destination.  Jasmin asked at the post office how long it would take for the postcard to reach Russia and was told 3 to 4 days.  We can't wait to receive a card back.

Looking forward to snuggling on the settee with some books with Jasmin this afternoon.  A perfect end to a perfect week.

xxxx

.

Park Trip and Ice Cream Tasting.

Today we have had a very full on day and it has been just fab.

It started with a piano lesson. It is lovely to hear Jasmin playing and to watch her grow in her confidence. We are using an egg timer with her and it is really making a difference with her focus too.

We then logged on to Reading Eggs for the first time, and Jasmin really enjoyed this.

Ice skating followed this, thank goodness we are not always this busy...

After lunch we met our home-ed friends to have a walk to Forge Dam and a play in the park.
Jasmin and Caleb collected all sorts of things along the way and enjoyed looking at the toadstools.  It was a good job Genna and I both had dog bags with us for their collections!!!

The park was really quiet and luckily the rain held off enough for a good play.   After a while, the children thought ice creams seemed a good idea so we headed into the cafe.   Jasmin and Caleb were given the opportunity to taste a new flavour ice cream to help the ladies at the cafe decide if they wanted to sell it or not.  It certainly got the thumbs up from Jasmin.  Bubblegum flavour and it makes your tongue go blue!!

After feeding the ducks, it was a walk back to the car, splashing in the puddles and paddling in the streams.

A lovely day xxx

 

Animals of the night

HEDGEHOG WATCH

One evening on holiday, Dave and I were very lucky to see a hedgehog come up close to the patio windows.  It must have been 5 years since I have seen a hedgehog and I love to watch them.

The next evening Jasmin put out some milk and bread, snuggled on the settee and waited and waited for ages, unfortunately the hedgehog didn’t appear. She was very sad.

We explained to Jasmin that sometimes animals pass by one day and not the next day.  Also when animal watching it takes lots and lots of patience.  However, the bread and milk had gone by the morning!!!

The next evening we promised she could stay awake all night if necessary, so a saucer of milk, with bread was put out.  Jasmin went on night watch duty with the obligatory keep you awake snacks and luckily the hedgehog appeared.  It was lovely to watch.  Jasmin managed to sit by the window and watch whilst it ate and drank.  It was such a lovely thing to do.

We are now researching animals of the night.