World Book Day :: Harris Museum :: Lent Challenges

World Book Day

I gleefully thought we could dispense with World Book Day once home schooling, how wrong I was!  The notion itself is a very honourable one; provide a £1.00 book token for every child with the chance to purchase from a selection of books for said value.  As a result you are encouraging children to read who might otherwise not have access to the luxury of owning a book or being able to attend the local library.  In reality World Book Day on the whole, has become an opportunity for mass consumerism and another round of cheap Chinese imports, with definitely no opportunity for those in the 'sweat shops' being paid a fare wage.

This morning AJ wore her WBD outfit and I was promptly declared a bad mother for not having organised a costume!  Youngest girl is very hormonal at the moment as her body has advanced way beyond her emotional well being, so we all ride the hormonal roller coaster together!  Even though she didn't really want to hear what I had to say it was an opportunity to talk about consumerism, marketing ploys, plastic in clothes and wrappings and fare trade.  To make amends for the oversight we took both girls to Waterstones to choose a book each from the buy one get the other half price stand:

 The one on the top is Pip's the bottom AJ's

Harris Museum

We have visited here before but this time we had a thorough look around.  There was plenty to see but unfortunately I could not find the time traveller quiz for the kids, so they were all over the place with their wanderings!  

 The Fashion Monster is quite apt don't you think given my earlier rant in the day!

 An impressive head :-)

 This brought back many happy memories for me.  I loved my Sindy doll, she looked just like this one but with blonde hair and my mum spent hours knitting her a wardrobe of clothes.  When Emma and Kathryn were given their first Sindy doll out came the needles once more.  

Looking at her now is quite telling, she doesn't have super long exaggerated legs and a nipped in waist.  Neither is she wearing a face full of make-up and sporting a push up bra!  Thankfully their are companies challenging the sexploitation of girls and hitting back with dolls that any girl would be proud to own.

  

Lent Challenges

Today's 40 acts was to step away from the screen and 'look up not down.'  I do connect with other folk online but I am very good about monitoring my time.  I use Instagram to link in with; home school friends, green parent mums, the crafting community and family.  Twitter is a recent addition and largely came about as a throw back from my previous online job, it is here that I connect with the disability and Christian community.  In fact there was a big debate on Twitter regarding some folk giving up social media for lent and the consequences of that for those who are housebound.  As a result of this the matter was discussed further on a local radio network.

In our trip out this afternoon we observed how many items are wrapped in unecessary packaging and even managed to share our plastic challenge to the chap in Waterstones who offered us a 5p carrier bag!  He readily admitted to having way too many plastic bags as a result of forgetting to carry one with him when out and about.  I pointed out that he could stash one in his pocket or purchase one of the literary cloth bags sold by Waterstones instead :-)

Reducing plastic really does require planning ahead.  I knew that the girls would be hungry and thirsty mid afternoon so I needed to ensure that they had drinks and snacks.  Dave and I had a pot of tea in the cafe at the Harris Museum, served with proper tea cups and saucers.  We used the last of our pasta this evening for tea so from here on in, it is boxed lasagne all the way!

 Our subscription the Radio Times is due to end but I will be emailing them and asking them to consider changing their packaging.  I think there is a place not too far from here where we can purchase nuts from a wholesale bin.  The Sweet Freedom syrup is really good low GI porridge topping for the kids.  However it is easy enough to switch to honey or regular syrup instead.

The toilet tissue packaging can be recycled so that is better than land fill.  However there is a company called, " Who gives a crap!" and their toilet tissue comes in paper packaging, so I will look into the feasibility of buying from them.

  The supplements container is a non negotiable as they are inportant for my health.  I managed to buy a paper sack of potatoes but alas it contained a plastic handle!  I bet with some forethought a reinforced cardboard handle would suffice. 

Buying plastic free also incurs extra costs.  The Pilgrim Cheddar was bought before the challenge began and a 500 gram block on offer cost £2.50.  To buy that same weight in a paper packaging from Booths, cost twice as much.  Although I guess it could be argued that is the real cost of the item and not the knock-down version!  The same applies for the Tuna, four cans wrapped in plastic is cheaper than four cans individually.*

This plastic less journey really is an interesting one :-)  

*DH note:- Have a look into what externalities are.

 

Home School Days

 Harry Potter Book Night

Just over a week ago the girls attended the Harry Potter night at our local library.  They had a brilliant time and the librarians had worked really hard to make the evening fun and informative.  Upon arriving they had an encounter with the 'sorting hat', Pip was in Ravenclaw and AJ in Gryffindor, which is in fact Pip's favourite house!  Next their first task was to make a 'Marauders Map' and then using this as the backdrop they had to answer the challenges on the Welcome to Hogwarts sheet.  The two hours flew by!

 

In the Plant World Cafe the following day wating for Ben to finish college.  Pip has now finished 'Philosopher's Stone' and currently working her way through, 'The Chamber of Secrets.'  I have recently discovered a whole slew of lesson plans pertaining to the first book and so we are using these as part of our English curriculum for the next few weeks.

Chinese New Year

The Harris Museum

We had a trip into the local city south of us so that Dave could undertake some bus training; not for him to drive the bus, but to prove to the inspector that he could manoeuvre his mobility scooter safely onto the vehicle.  Needless to say he passed.  Whilst we were in the vicinity we popped into the local museum and enjoyed a visit to one of the new exhibits.  There was so much to see and do and since we were running short of time, we promised ourselves a return visit soon:

Valentine's Crafts

I have had another organised week and enjoyed putting together these craft activities for the kids.  The faith based crafts were from " Look To Him And Be Radiant" and can be found on my side bar.  I used a simple shortbread recipe to make the gluten free hearts and we used the last of the Christmas Coins melted down for the topping!  The girls had a whole heap of fun and the results are lovely:

 Pip's bag and associated goodies are on the left and AJ's on the right.

   

We are officially on mid-term break for this next week but I'm hoping we can squeeze in a return trip to the Harris Museum and we will still be keeping up with reading, spellings and time tables.  I might even manage to be ahead of the game and plan our lessons for the next few weeks, which is infinitely preferable to 'whinging it!'