Sunday 25 January 2015

Pizza Express

We had the opportunity to go on an educational visit to Pizza Express with a group of home educators. It was wonderful. After the initial confusion of why there were so many 'teachers' and none of the children were the same age, the staff really did a fantastic job. It was well pitched, very informative and at the end the children got their free pizza! There was history, geography and science all thrown in there. All in all, it was a fantastic visit. 



Saturday 17 January 2015

Making Friends

It's said that, new friends are silver but old friends are gold. I have always found it easy to make friends. I'm outgoing and chatty and I'd like to think friendly. I love talking to new people and getting to know about them. People are hugely inspiring! Some live such complex and fascinating lives, some live painful and challenging lives, some are busy, some are happy, some are sadly not. Knowing other people can inspire me to make changes within my own life, not to be like someone else, but instead to improve myself and to grow. I love hearing of people overcoming trials, or miraculously, overcoming themselves. 

I have had the enormous privilege of getting to know lots of new people since we moved house. I've walked into two ready made families really. Home ed and church and both have caused me to meet some fascinating, wonderful and inspiring people. I'm grateful for these two groups of people who I feel privileged to call friends, often before we've even met. 

I feel strongly that social media has changed the way we make and communicate with friends. Some of my newest and yet most treasured friends are people I have never met and yet I feel such a bond and kinship with it's as if we've known each other a lifetime. Social media has given me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world who share the same values, beliefs and trials with me. People who have offered support and wisdom in a way that friends I actually know in person may not have been able to do. 

It's a common misconception that home educated children don't have many friends or find it more difficult to make friends. It's true that they don't see their friends as regularly. They don't have those intense, personal relationships that schooled children have. George 1, like me, has made many friends online through the medium of Minecraft. One of his best friends lives in New York and our families have become connected via Skype. We attend camps, activities and group visits both locally and nationally. The children have friends in York, Dorset, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Wales (to name but a few). Good friends whom they are excited to spend time with each time we meet. I have also struck up some amazing relationships with the parents of these children. Friendships that will see us through the joys and challenges of home educating our children. 

I feel extremely blessed to have two of the most incredible women I know amongst my list of friends. I have never known a life without them as we have been friends since birth. We've grown up together, grown apart and grown close again. I rarely see either of them and yet I feel a bond of sisterhood with them that will continue into the eternities. 

I also incredibly lucky to have my best friend married to me for time and all eternity. A relationship that provides love, comfort, support, joy and deep deep friendship. At the centre of our marriage is an even greater friend, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

How grateful I am for all the wonderful people in my life that I have the privilege to call my friends. Many have been only for a season, some have stood the test of time, all have in some way influenced me for good, shared their wisdom, time and love with me and that's what it's all about. 

Saturday 10 January 2015

World War 1

This week we've done a spontaneous mini project on the First World War. We went on a visit to the Bovington Tank Museum which was absolutely brilliant. One of the best museums we've been to in a long time and well worth a visit if you're nearby. 

Then today we built a trench out of Plaster of Paris. It's been a fantastic experience to look at pictures of the trenches and how they were built and then build our own and play with the toy soldiers. George 2nd has been particularly interested in the topic, although all of them have enjoyed delving a little deeper into the war. 


Friday 9 January 2015

Mould

We chose an experiment from a science kit that we got for Christmas. It's a mould growing test. The children chose a place each to swab then grew the bacteria in a gelatine solution. We've all learned something. The children need to wash their hands more and it would be better to keep food in the toilet than the fridge!