My Needlework Box

Shiny thimble,
Sharp needle,
Patterned material.

My needlework box.

Silver needle-threader,
Long tape measure.

My needlework box.

Colourful ribbons,
Interesting buttons,
Thin cottons.

My needlework box.

My Needlework Box, A's poem, 22nd June 2009

Sailing Boat

When we visited Devon recently, we put together this simple wooden jigsaw puzzle of a sailing boat from the toybox at Granny R's house.

Sailing Boat, vintage wooden jigsaw puzzle

I love the design of this puzzle, especially the use of colour: the predominant summer blue sky contrasted with the deep slice of Cornish blue sea; the starchy white sails, and the small red tug boat behind.

Made with Love

We've been home educating for about four months now. Lots of people have helped us - other home educators we've met or spoken to on the phone, and all the home ed children of course.

Made with Love, iced sponge cakes by I

So here's a plate of cakes, made with love by I to say thank you!

Wimbledon

Wimbledon day three. A quiet day at home. We measured up our small sitting room and worked out how to plot the dimensions on graph paper, using one small square to represent 5cm. We also made a list of how we use estimates of short lengths in everyday life. At the hairdressers: "how much shall I take off?"; following instructions: "take a piece of ribbon approximately 10cm long", and so on. A walk round the village with the dog, an attempt at recall training in the park, interspersed with conversation about this year's BB, which I've hardly watched at all, and then back, armed with a large bag of popcorn from the local shop, for another afternoon watching the tennis.

Samebarn

It's always interesting to see what turns up in the post. Today a Norwegian postcard arrived showing three Samebarn children.

Samebarn, Norway, postcard

The postcard was sent by Granny R who wrote: "The children are dressed in their national costume which they make themselves. This is the land of the midnight sun so the sun shines all day and all night".

As I know nothing very much at all about Norway, I now feel inclined to have a look in the atlas and online etc to see what I can find out. The costumes look beautiful, and the baby's cradle is especially stunning.

Inspiration

I love this little collage made by I several years ago, after she had looked through a book about the artist Sonia Delaunay and was thinking about how artists find inspiration. I especially like the slightly irregular shape, and the way two pieces of card are layered together, with the overlap line still showing through the colours.

Dear M+D by I, 11cm x 12.5cm, paper collage on card

The First Day

Visited the dentist first thing this morning. Then onto The Lincoln Piano Centre. After about eighteen months of piano lessons it's about time we moved on from our tiny keyboard. We had great fun looking around and playing on all the different pianos. Very excited because in the workshop is a small piano that looks like it has our name on it. We had a look at the undone structure, with all the strings and pads and other bits and pieces.

Then a trip to buy sewing stuff - fabrics, needle threaders, pins, bias tape etc for our learning-to-sew project. Back home for a snack lunch, followed by dog-training, bread-making, poetry, piano practice, music theory, estimating short lengths (maths project)... and a wonderful hour amidst all this activity watching Laura Robson play on The First Day at Wimbledon. We're really sorry she lost, but such an inspiration to us all at just fifteen years old.

Some people will do anything to get out of school...

Little Book of Happy Stuff

At Tipton St John we saw friends, swapped stories and joined in activities at the School Fair.
A even managed an impromptu after-school drama class.






Notebook: little book of happy stuff

We looked around the village to see how the river bank had changed. We sat in the play park and watched the swings and slides, and heard how the earlier floods had changed the routines of the village for several days.

A exchanged gifts with her best friend Thea and returned very happy with her new notebook (one of very many!) into which she began writing without delay.

Devon

AJHJ was busy with his Devon research projects, so we visited friends. First stop, a visit to Granny R and Grandad D just outside Exeter, with A and I taking lots of flower photographs in the garden.


A Rose in Granny R's Garden, photograph by A

Treenenee

"How do you spell it?" I asked A when she announced the name of her new imaginary friend. "t - r - e - e - n - e - n - e - e", she replied. Then, "she's invisible and she lives in a hole underground... you can't see her, but she's always watching things and she makes furniture out of mud". A combination perhaps of reading The Borrowers, going to pottery classes and our puppy Bethan digging large holes in the garden?

Treenenee is the latest in a succession of imaginary friends that A has described over the years. The first friend was her 'brother'. He was nameless but clearly identifiable as he had so many pet cats. A was very informative about his daily routines and games, and, most importantly, her brother didn't go to school I'm reliably informed that he's got a job now - as a dentist.

To me, the most amusing of the friends so far is Charlotte Milly. After numerous epic adventures in which Charlotte Milly managed to get away with the most outstanding tricks, A discovered that Charlotte Milly is not called Charlotte Milly after all. Her real name is Charlotte Molly!

Jumble Sales

You either love them or hate them... Jumble Sales... and I love, love, love them! When I was a child I looked forward to visiting my Great Auntie Renie and my late Great Uncle Tom as they always had some new jumble sale 'treasures' to show.





How to Live with a Neurotic Dog by Stephen Baker, Muller, 1961

Today's finds from our local jumble sale include a 1940's dress, some 1970's fabric, a 1950's doll's cot, and a copy of How to Live with a Neurotic Dog by Stephen Baker, published in 1961, and illustrated in typically 1960's style by Peter Gurney. We shall have fun looking through this whilst continuing to train our puppy.

Friendship

A made this ceramic Friendship heart for her friend Thea who lives in Devon. Tomorrow we shall wrap it up in layers of tissue paper. Then it will be ready to travel with us on the journey...




Friendship heart by A, glazed clay, 18cm x 18cm

Castles

A fun little book full of questions about castles - architecture, lifestyle, culture and customs.





Why are Castles castle-shaped?
by Philip Ardagh, Faber, 2002

Lincoln Castle

Yesterday was a very sunny day. We spent the morning with with friends from the Home Education Lincoln Meeting (HELM) in the grounds of Lincoln Castle.

Part of the Lincoln Castle by A, 21cm x 14.5cm, pencil

Topics of discussion on the way to the meeting: 1) How would you prepare for a radio interview in which you wanted to promote home education? 2) How does the shell of an egg form?

Topics of discussion on the way home: 1) Are we all in agreement that the Robin Hood outfit in the Lincoln Castle shop would be just right if it was made to fit an adult? 2) When we visit Lincoln Castle again can we walk all around the wall and then make a painting of The Bath House?

Free Swimming Initiative

Thanks to the government's Free Swimming Initiative, we've taken our first trip to the local swiming pool since starting home education.

http://www.communityleisureservices.org.uk/

We had great fun in the small pool with parents, grandparents, babies and toddlers splashing about and then moved across to the big pool for a while. So we were 'big fish in a small pond' and 'small fish in a big pond'. The girls enjoy the whole ritual of the swimming pool - preparing the swimming bags, the £1 coins for the lockers, swimming goggles and floating woggles, and (most importantly) the chocolate bar reward at the end!