Thursday Beach Day

We finished all of our school work by early afternoon and decided to take a trip to the beach.  It was one of those rare days of sunshine and blue skies, a real autumn treat.

My health has nose dived again and I am really struggling on all corners.  I suppose that is one good thing about writing a blog, all we ever tend to show is the "highlight reel!"  These pictures portray a sunny day at the beach and for one fleeting moment all is right with the world :-)

Making And Using A Balance Scale

We have been sharing and following along with Eva and Flora for our home school journey.  Both girls have been working on a unit study based around farming and harvesting.  We have also been using some of the practical activities from the " Pioneer Sampler" book and Pip had great fun with this week's practical task:

 Dad making the initial hole with a bradawl.

 Pip using the old DSLR whilst I am using the Pen-F

 Cutting the strings.

 Pip widening the holes.

 Running a first test using pennies on one side and sugar on the other.

 Calculating the weights. 

 1oz = 8 pennies and so 4oz = 32 pennies.

 32 Pennies.

 Weighing the oats

 Well Balanced.

 After we had weighed the oats we also measured the sugar.  The oats and dried prunes were placed in a mixing bowl.  And the honey, sugar and butter were placed in a saucepan and heated until melted.  The wet ingredients were added to the dry and the mixture was baked in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

 Chopping the prunes.

The finished afternoon treat minus two pieces which were packaged and sent on to a neighbour who is recovering from knee surgery.

It has been a very tiring week with all the extra college travelling and so I am grateful when the weekend rolls around! 

 

First Day At College :: Home School On The Hoof

It has been eight years since Benedict stepped inside an educational establishment and so yesterday was a pretty momentous day.  He was both nervous and excited which I reckon was the best way to be.  The day was pretty full on with enrolment and finding his way around the campus. 

 Needless to say, his blood sugars were whacky and he ran consistently low all day and had two hypos.  The last hypo occurred just as I was waiting to collect him and by this point he was looking not well at all.  He was very glad to be home and although he enjoyed his day, there were times when he felt overwhelmed with all the hustle and bustle.  I am sure things will settle down though given time.  He has English and Maths tomorrow, so I'm hoping he has a good day.

 Just before setting off.

After having dropped Benedict off, Pip, Dave and I travelled the short distance to Barton Grange for a well deserved beverage and second breakfast :-)

 We sent this picture to Uncle Bryan ( who we were visiting later), Aunty Maureen loved butterflies and we knew this would make him smile.

 Retro stand in the cook wear shop.

A pizza tray :-)

Dave and I have fond memories of our visits to Paris, but could not justify spending £20.00 each on an Emma Bridgewater mug ... it was tempting though!  

 And it is that time of year when disappointingly, BG sets to work on the Christmas displays, big thumbs down :-(

Our next stop was a trip to Garstang library followed by a visit to Uncle Bryan.  It was very much a case of, have homeschool will travel.  Pip completed all her tasks, including her main lesson work, English, Maths and German.  Thanks to Eva we have some German resources and Pip did a really great job with lesson one.

After lunch it was time for a walk, so we followed a trail that we used to do with Aunty Maureen.  It was usually a post lunch, "push the kids in the push chair to get them off to sleep walk!"  I don't think Pip remembers the walk, but I reckon Ben would have remembered had he been with us.

 Every time we see a butterfly, we always say that Aunty Maureen is with us :-)

 A chance to talk about our farming main lesson work!

 Well deserved puddle jumping!  Not the best of shots, because I had forgotten my camera, but at least the iphone caught the moment.

Today has been a catch up day and I must admit I am glad that I did not have the drive to college today!  Thankfully Shein has offered to collect Ben tomorrow afternoon which is a great help.  Taking Ben to college and returning home is a 30 mile round trip which takes just under an hour.  

Sunday Surprise!

Grand-baby Number Two, affectionately known as "Nutkin" is growing nicely in Sara's tum!  This image is from the twelve week scan taken earlier in the week.

Sara and Tom also celebrate their third wedding anniversary today :-)

Needless to say we are over the moon with the news and once the Christmas knitting is complete, I will be casting on for this wee one! 

A Birthday Celebration For Our Lady

It was Our Lady's birthday yesterday and we were all so pleased to finally attend mass.  It has been several months since we last made church due to the down-turn in my health, but so far I have stabilised this week, so all is good :-)  The mass was also offered for our daughter Emma, as we remembered the anniversary of her final profession four years ago:

 Oldest and youngest, who have only met twice!  Once when Pip was too small to remember at her christening and then here at the wedding.  Pip misses Em and sends her emails and the odd letter when she can.  

The kids helped set a nice table for Our Lady and we even lit the birthday ring in her honour:

 Salad, crackers and crisps followed by a hot chocolate and twirl flake bar :-)

After lunch Pip finished her study on wheat and decorated the front cover of her book:

 One farmer singing our harvest song and scattering the wheat from his satchel.

A really good first week back at school.

Wheat Sheets

Thanks to Eva we have had several links emailed to us this week!  Our home school day consisted of morning work only as we were scheduled to meet with friends in the afternoon.  Despite this we still achieved a decent amount of work, it is surprising what you can do when you start work at 8am :-)

The following sheets were printed via this link 

Pip read from this sheet and we talked about some of the descriptive words used and the differences in spellings between American and British English.  The word 'dormant' sparked a mini rabbit trail of, "What native animals hibernate in the British Isles?"

The hedgehog and dormouse are the only two animals that hibernate fully during the winter months.

Flora has also been busy with her lessons and she was lucky enough to actually spot the 'Harvest Moon.'  

It's Fri-Yay tomorrow and I think an end of the school-week treat is in order! It will be interesting to see how next week unfolds :-) 

Shine On Harvest Moon

I already had a rough plan in mind but thanks to Eva we added to it and  a rabbit trail began this morning! 

 September's full moon is known as the harvest moon or corn moon because of it occurring at a time when crops could be harvested by the light of the full moon.  One source said that it will peak at 8:06 am tomorrow the 6th.  However, According to the Farmer's Almanac, the "Harvest Moon" actually describes whatever full moon arrives nearest to the fall equinox, or the time of year when crops are traditionally harvested. Most years, that is the full moon of September, but this year is an exception. October's full moon which is known as the Hunter Moon or the Blood Moon will rise 13 days after the equinox, putting it three days closer than September's full moon.

The different names for the moon.

 We are following the stories from this book as well as re-reading the "The Little House" stories by Laura Ingalls-Wilder.

 Pip copied the relevant passage from the book to accompany her drawings.

Continuing with the moon theme, Eva shared a link to this page which enables you to keep a phases of the moon journal for a month. As a treat break we also watched this film as a reward for all our efforts.  The insert below is a trailer for the film:

 "Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese!"  

After lunch Pip worked with Dave on her maths problems followed by our handicraft time, learning to knit the purl stitch.  We are using a really great book that teaches the different stitches and shaping technigues in a gradual progress.  As a result you are incorporating the previous skills into the next project:

We finished today's lessons with a history story about Boudicca followed by some free time on the computer playing a Roblox game.  The free time for both Pip and me (knitting) were well deserved :-)

Ben was also busy with his own projects in addition to making all the meals today:

Tomato, carrot, lentil and ginger soup for lunch.

Lamb casserole, with finely shredded and steamed cabbage for tea.

The kitchen was left spotless both during and after each meal prep, which was much appreciated. 

Another good day, thank you God xx 

Waldorf Grade Three :: Farming Block ~ Wheat

We are joining with Eva and Flora and the Live Ed, Grade Three Waldorf Curriculum.  For those of you not familiar with the Waldorf setting, children aged 8-9 years are in grade three as opposed to grade four in a regular school programme.  Pip therefore will be following grade three for her main lesson work and grade four for all her other subjects, English, maths, science and humanities.

Eva has been  extremely helpful in sharing what blocks she will be teaching and when, so this means that Pip and I can join in from across the pond :-)  Today's first lesson was all about wheat.  We lit the candle and sang our harvest song 'We plough the fields and scatter.' 

   We then read the story of wheat from the curriculum book, followed by the 'harvesting story' in the Pioneer Sampler book.

  By then it was time to  watch three programmes relating to wheat, one using industrial processing and the other a more simplified model:

Watching the programmes inspired us to make our own Harvest Bread and for the first time ever we successfully plaited a gluten free loaf!

 Pip had fun being involved in all aspects of the bread making.   From finding the ingredients, to weighing and measuring but I think her most favourite by far, was kneading :-)

  Ben had made spiced carrot soup for lunch and the bread was enjoyed with butter and a cup of tea as a 'dessert.'  I had forgotten that I react badly to home made bread ( which will explain why I very rarely make it!) probably because of the amount of yeast used and so consequently my insides have been grumbling along all day.  At least now I know how to treat the problems and that by sticking to the paleo plus diet any gut flare ups are short lived. 

After lunch, whilst Ben washed the pots and tidied the kitchen, Pip mowed the lawns.  It was then time for maths and our last lesson of the day which involved our Patchwork Prayer book.  And would you believe it, the prompt for the day was bread!