Scrabble Spelling, Scintillating Stone Age and a Scottish Shoogle!

It has been a bit busier than usual in the home school classroom, largely due to me actually having the time to plan some lessons!!  We had fun using the scrabble tiles as a way of reinforcing our weekly spellings; Pip definitely responded to the kinesthetic and visual form of learning.

You can just see Poppy 'on guard' at the front room window! 

 No paparazzi, it's a Monday morning and I'm already on my third mug of coffee!

I found an old Grade 6 Oak Meadow curriculum that we had begun using with Ben many moons ago and decided to put it to good use with Pip.  The overall theme is Ancient History and so we begin with the Stone Age.

This morning we watched a really interesting Youtube video about cave art and the cave in question was situated in Cantabria, Northen Spain, not far from Em.  We were also challenged to take a nature walk and try and find as many edible plants as possible.  We walked down Stone Lane which is a five minute walk from our house and enjoyed the fresh air and blue skies even though it was a very cold and blustery day.  The only edible plants that we could identify was nettle and dandelion, although we suspect that one of the flowers might be a wild garlic?

 Hand knitted rabbits

BBC Bitesize have also started online lessons this week and we joined in with the English lessons and even I learned about Modal verbs!! We also watched the daily science show courtesy of the Glasgow Science Centre and our subject for the day was Newton's Laws of motion:

 The chap fronting the experiments was fab and when one of them went hilariously wrong he said, " I'll just give it a wee shoogle!"  Pip, Ben and I were howling with laughter at this point but at the same time my memory was jogged.

When Mary Grace was born she was struggling due to swallowing amniotic fluid and whilst the staff were busy with Kathryn a Scottish midwife handed her to me and said, " C'mon Grandma you need to give her a wee shoogle!"  Meaning have her upright and jiggle her a little so that she can bring up the fluid.  It was lovely to hear that word and have that precious memory come flooding back.

Yesterday and today have been very similar in our rhythm, of main lessons in the morning and practical activities and a walk/ football in the afternoon:

Ben has been busy again in the kitchen and last night cooked a really delicious chicken and vegetable curry with home made onion bhajis:

We are half way through the week and on the home straight for the weekend.  When Em and Kath were small and Dave worked away during the week Wednesday was my favourite day; I'd made it through the week and only two days untill Daddy was home :-)  

Happy Hump Day!

That Went Quickly

This week has positively flown by, we've roughly kept up with some form of school work even though it has still been the Easter holidays.  I had to laugh when I saw an Instagram video post of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge talking about the importance of mental health during this time (that wasn't the funny bit)  At the end of the interview they were asked, "so how are you all coping?" and that was when they had admitted they hadn't told the kids it was the Easter holidays and that homeschooling was 'interesting' :-)

Building the raised bed

 Ben finishing the raised bed with the advice of Dave in positioning of the drill holes.

From the kitchen

  Easy Banana Muffins

70 grammes unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly

190g flour

50g xylitol/sugar

2 level tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 ripe bananas mashed with a fork

2 eggs

1/2 tspn vanilla extract

130g grated/ finely chopped chocolate

Heat oven 160C and grease muffin tin or use paper liners

Whisk flour, xylitol, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

In another bowl whisk melted butter, mashed banana, egg and vanilla until blended.

Add banana mix to the dry bowl then use fork to combine.  Do not over mix.  Stir in the chocolate and fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.

These muffins were totally yummy and we will definitely be baking them again.

 Butternut, chilli and peanut butter soup served with vegetable and sausage tartlets.

 Sausage and Veggie Tartlets

454g sausagemeat

1 Courgette grated

1 Carrot grated

1 Onion finely chopped

320g weight in puff or flaky pastry

Flour to dust

Preheat the oven to 200C

Place sausagemeat, courgette, carrot and onion into a bowl.  Mix well to combine.

Roll out the pastry and cut into rounds and place in a shallow muffin tea and then add small amounts of the sausage and veg mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.  These are great served hot or cold.

Everyone tucking in to our Saturday night supper :-)

What Do People Do All Day?

This is a title from one of our favourite Richard Scarry books and it charts the activities of all sorts of folk through the course of their day, from mummy goat right down to Lowly worm :-)  So here is our family day as seen on the WhatsApp group:

 My sister in law Heather has been painting her mud room and adding decorative handmade touches such as cushions for the bench, cheery storage  baskets and smartening up the boot stand.  At the weekend she also finished the Easter wreath and made a cover for the top of the hallway radiator that was looking a bit shabby.  I think she is living her best lockdown life at the moment ;-)

(For some reason I hit a live record button on my phone, LOL)

I opened San's barber shop for business and had two very patient customers waiting on the doorstep.  Patience was the operative word as it took me over an hour and half to cut their hair, it was a case of watch the Youtube video, pause and hopefully remember the steps involved, LOL.  In all I think I did a pretty reasonable job and who knows by the time this lockdown is over I might be fairly proficient!

I wasn't the only one in the family running a hairdressing service, even Ollie had a haircut from either his mum or dad.

Kathryn spent the day decluttering and cleaning her kitchen cupboards,

So that's us a real family effort of keeping busy and positive during these rather strange days.

Happy Easter

Hallelujah, He Is Risen!

Thanks to the wonders of technology we joined in with the Triduum services from Maundy Thursday through to the Easter Vigil.  Here are some photos from the past few days:

 Our cherry tree in the front garden, Dave has been tracking its progress with a daily photo, I will have to make a montage and share later in the week.

 Home made lemon meringue pie, by golly it is long drawn out process!  Make the pastry bake it 'blind' then make the custard from scratch (separate the egg yolks, grate and juice two lemons, dissolve sugar in water, mix stir and heat) pour the custard on the cooked case, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, top the pie and bake on a low heat for 40 minutes.  It was totally worth the effort :-)

Doorstep delivery ~ a lovely friend dropped off some items that were missing from our online shop and here I am wiping everything down with a bleach solution.  To the right of me is our veg box delivery from Bradshaws.

A birthday room awaiting the birthday girl in the morning ...

... and here she is, seven years old, how did that happen?!!

Dave's mum challenged the family Whatsapp group to a virtual Easter bonnet parade.  Mary was off the bat with her rabbit crown and the rest of us finished our efforts either late last night or last minute this morning :-)

My lovely but very weary Mum wearing her crown, she had been up most of the night in terrible pain (currently awaiting a hip replacement that has obviously been pushed back).  It was a real family effort, my Dad made the crown, my nephew Craig aged 24 did the lettering and Mum added the artistic touch with the colouring.

In the absence of her usual Easter branches Mum niftily utilised all her Easter decorations that had been made over the years and three summer hats to complete this ensemble, genius idea!

And here I am wearing my attempt, thanks to the wonders of Pinterest, a home school craft cupboard and a friend sharing on FB how she had fixed her daffodil conundrum!

Here is the hat also doubling as our Easter table centrepiece.

 Thanks to Ben we had a delicious Lamb casserole, creamy mashed potato and broccoli.

 Our lovely church family at St T's dropped off this goody bag of treats, the card was drawn by the Vicars wife, Sara.  She is a really accomplished artist and author.

The crochet window yarn bombing continues, happy flower number one is complete and number two is currently a work in progress.  Hope the decorations in the window provide some cheer to passers by.

I hope and pray that you have encountered some moments of joy in your day xx

Snippets

It's been a tiring few days and I wonder where the time goes!  We are keeping well and safe and very grateful for the support from St Thomas church in Garstang and other folk that have been checking in to make sure we are OK.  I hope and pray that some of the changes that have been made during this difficult time will continue once the lockdown is over and that chronically sick and disabled people will no longer be sidelined.  If companies can provide flexible home working for all at this time then why not for those of us disenfranchised on a daily basis?  If online classes are free since schools are closed then keep that offer available for home school families once we return to 'normal.' Many churches are streaming their services online and it is quite special to be joining in with folk all around the country, this too in my opinion needs to be remain once this is all over.  Just some random ramblings from a tired mum :-)

Here are some pictures from the past few days:

 Pip playing snakes and ladders with Beth via Whatsapp, she moved Beth's piece and likewise Beth moved hers.  They also each had a Harry Potter quiz book and so asked each other questions and kept score.

Pip and I colouring the images for 'The Spies and Espionage' lap book.  We are keeping up with maths, spellings and reading interspersed with 'fun school' activities during the Easter break.

Guest appearances from Ollie and Mary both in separate places in the county:

#staysafe #stayhome

All The Good Things

Dave's wrist has healed and he is back to using the tri walker (aka Wheelie Bin) around the home, yay!

The raised beds arrived today and a painting job is in order before they are constructed.

When it became apparent that our whirly gig washing airer was not going to fit onto the back lawn (due to the previous owners tipping rubble onto the lawn from the demolished garage and then layering geo textile and lawn over the top) Ben found a brand new washing line in Dave's workshop; I now have two fully functioning lines!  Since moving in just under two years ago I have been making do with the small camping airer.  Who would have thought such joy could be found in a washing line :-)

The home school classroom has been pretty productive this week: Ben has completed all of his online college work, Pip hit all of her maths, English, art and music targets and they both enjoyed working together on outdoor projects.

Dave and Pip spent an afternoon planting seeds, they are currently in situ under the radiator in the dining room.

Pip and I finally tried our first Joe Wicks PE work out and that guy has you working up a sweat and increasing your heart rate.  I love the fact that the work outs can be done in a relatively small space and require no special equipment.

I finished my rainbow coloured bunting and I'm now working on an amigurumi weather mobile.  It is the first time I have worked in 3D crochet and I'm really pleased with the result thus far.

Our friend from St T's church dropped off a much appreciated bag of fresh vegetables from the church food bank, Ben made a really yummy soup with some of the contents.

So thankful for both a Sainsburys and Bradshaws food deliveries this week. 

Once again most of our meals this week have been courtesy of top chef Ben and he really excelled himself this evening with home made gluten free fish and chips.  The battered fish was light and not too greasy and the spicy salt, pepper and chilli chips were utterly yummy.  The only thing missing was tartare sauce!

 This pattern was from the Attic 24 website and is the 'baby bunting' pattern.

 Fish, chips, onion rings, garden peas and a slice of lemon.

Tucking in complete with funny faces :-)

Thank you for stopping by, I hope your week has had moments of joy interspersed with the crazy.  #staysafe #stayhome