Sparkly snow pictures

We made some sparkly snow pictures today that we had seen on Mister Maker recently. We watched the clip on YouTube while we prepared the materials.

We mixed flour with silver glitter.

We glued over the templates I had cut out and sieved the flour mixture over, to leave a sparkly snowscene.

We had a good play in the real snow too with the sledge. Peter was very unhappy about his freezing fingers though after around half an hour. We were hoping to go back out later to make a snowman but most of the snow was starting to melt so we will have to wait for some more!

A perfect day.... and a new music class

I think it may have been an almost perfect day, so I thought I had better document it quick! Harry and Peter have been bickering a lot this week, probably missing the attention of having daddy at home and I think they enjoyed having us both back today.

Harry went to his first pre-instrumental music class at The Sage Gateshead today and really enjoyed it. He got involved straight away and joined in with everything. It was nice to see two other home educating families there too. The children will learn basics such as higher/lower, faster/slower, louder/quieter through songs and movement and do some singing. I think this will be a very valuable course whether or not he goes on to learn an instrument straight away.

At home, Harry has been a great help in the kitchen. He prepared vegetables for a pizza sauce on his own (I make pizza sauce by roasting a big tray of various vegetables and blending them with passata) and stretched the dough to fit the trays. We made cakes, which he decorated with some winter embellishments. 

Peter had fun in the kitchen too, playing in the sink with water and various pots for over half an hour! Harry used to do this lots at around age 2, but Peter doesn't often get the chance, so he really enjoys it when he does.

We played Slug in a Jug when Peter was having a nap. It is a memory game from the brilliant Orchard Toys using rhyming word cards. If you find a rhyming pair you have to make a rhyming sentence using the words. Harry came up with some great ones, even when he had a chain of four rhyming words to use in the same sentence.

We played in the garden, finding the bulbs that are shooting through and buds on the trees (although it remains to be seen if they will be squashed by snow soon!). Peter practised on the small scooter and Harry hit some balls with his tennis racquet and threw some at a home made shy. I think Harry is really hoping for some snow tonight so he can have a pull on the sledge tomorrow!

A New Coat for Anna

Amazon.co.uk
A fresh and moving story of a mother's dedication to acquire a coat for her daughter in post-World War II hard times. Anna's mother decides to trade the few valuables she has left for wool and for the services of a spinner, a weaver, and a tailor. Lobel's pictures do a tremendous job of evoking the period. Insightful and informative, this may make children consider how precious the ordinary can become in times of turmoil.

This book ends at Christmastime and I had really wanted to row it before Christmas but we just couldn't fit it in! I used a curriculum pack for the first time, bought from the helpful Currclick site, which contained several prepared worksheets ready to use which was helpful.

Harry managed to narrate the story to me this time without complaining! This was his narration:

Anna needed a new coat. They gave people things to get what they needed. First the farmer, then the spinner, then the weaver and then the tailor made the coat. They didn't have any money so they had to trade things.

He said his favourite part was when Anna got her new coat, but that he would have chosen a stripy one!

We also looked more at the order of the story. Harry matched pictures to the correct order they happened and also then wrote the number word (helped by some posters we are using at the moment to reinforce this). He also matched the items traded to the correct person.

We thought about the seasons when reading the book. Harry thought of something from the story that happened in each season and we wrote it down - shearing the sheep in spring, ripe cherries in summer, harvesting lingonberries in autumn and Christmas in winter. He also told me something else he knows about each season - daffodils in spring, beach in summer, falling leaves in autumn and snow in winter.

We also thought about Europe as the book was set at the end of WWII - we identified it on a world map and have been remembering every day that it is our continent. Harry got a great jigsaw puzzle of Europe for Christmas which tied in well so we have done a few times this week. It has pieces shaped very accurately like the countries so you can see the relative size. We were talking today about which countries are the biggest and we discussed that there are different ways to measure size of a country, such as GDP, land area and population. 

Harry has done quite a lot of writing this week and has actually enjoyed it and asked for more! First he traced some of the words from the book before writing them himself. I also used some word cards to show him a word which I then covered up and he wrote the word. He did really well at this, saying the word aloud to himself a couple of times to remember the sounds/letters. 

I found a book about wool at the library so we also read this a couple of times and we did some interesting painting using yarn. I liked this idea  I had seen about yarn print blocks. We wrapped yarn around a few objects to make our own printing stamps and then used them for painting. Harry was really patient at painting the stamps and then took care to print so that he got a clean mark. They also had fun with the yarn dipped in paint and then put on the paper and I think Peter just liked the feel of the wet bundles as he gathered up all of Harry's as soon it was done and kept it at his side of the table!

Junk modelling fun

We have had a good couple of days doing some simple, fun things. We visited Seven Stories with friends yesterday and did some junk modelling in the craft area. Harry made a car with a bendy aerial (and silver lights for the front/red for the back) and a bullet train. I think we will have to get our 'making box' out soon and see what arrangement of boxes and bottles we can come up with - it is always a well received activity!

Both boys have been very tired today - I think the return to normal life after Christmas is catching up with them (Harry also had gymnastics yesterday afternoon!). So we missed our planned trip to Durham to play with the other home ed families at the church hall and went to a bookshop to buy a new book each with a Christmas gift voucher from their Great Aunt and Uncle. Peter loved a Spot the Dog book with flaps and Harry chose The Lighthouse Keeper's Friend, which has big text for him to try and read. 

We stopped at the Civic Centre gardens to feed the ducks on the way back. They were very hungry - I think they would have eaten a whole loaf if we had it. I must remember to put some bird food the garden soon. 

Home education - our first day back

I have been willing time to slow down in the run up to today after having such a lovely relaxed Christmas period but here it is, the start of our first full week and, actually, we have had a lovely day! Today has been quite typical for a day we spend around home and this is what we got up to.

I thought it would be good to start with a new Five in a Row book today, as we always get on well with them and Harry enjoys the activities. We are rowing A New Coat for Anna - reading it every day and doing a different activity based on the themes of the book - I will blog all of the activities we have done at the end of the week in one post.

Then we made some bunting for the playroom. I am not sure what has prompted it but Harry has been asking all weekend. He cut out triangles of coloured paper and we all helped to decorate them. Harry and I strung them up when Peter was having a nap and they have brightened up the playroom a great deal.

We have done a lot of reading today, as we always do when we spend a lot of time at home. Harry is enjoying reading to me at the moment and he read his Oxford Reading Tree book and (with help) Each Peach Pear Plum and parts of See Inside How Things Work.

Harry built a marble run that worked very well and they both played with the new 'proper' lego a lot. Peter seems to be very interested in the small lego men! During this playtime I took my chance to hang washing, prepare tea, vacuum and make flapjack. 

Harry prepared a bowl of different fruits for us all to share as a snack and brought lots of cushions for us to sit on.

We also walked to the supermarket for some shopping. Peter can get there pretty easily on foot now (although it took over an hour) and I am trying again this year to have a no-car day every week. It is quite difficult to do this with the variety of activities we take part in but we should be able to manage it almost every week. I find it forces us to slow down in pace if we are not using the car and, of course, it is healthier all round!

Ready for 2013

We have had a really lovely Christmas, marred only by Harry and Stuart mostly being ill, but they still enjoyed it. We did lots of travelling and saw family in Harrogate and Lancaster, which was great and the boys loved it. My mum made us a great Christmas dinner and it was very nice not to be doing the cooking!

We have also had a few days at home playing with all the new Christmas additions and generally slowing down and being quite lazy, which has also been great after a busy December. I am feeling almost ready to spring back into action!

I have cleaned the craft shelves and put away in the loft any seasonal craft items I won't need until Spring so they are not cluttering the shelves (must remember to get them out again!). The Christmas tree is gone, together with Christmas themed books put away. We had a trip to Ikea for some new toy tubs and I have made labels for the front so we can attempt to keep order in the playroom.

I have filed all the work we have done this year and prepared some winter themed work for January/February. We are still going to be concentrating a lot on reading and maths, with a bit more writing, as Harry has been very keen to write over Christmas and has been writing notes for people and parts of thank you cards.

I feel really excited about the New Year, things are getting much better at home now that Peter is approaching 2 and can join in and get on himself more (and finally sleeping better!). We are hoping to do some longer trips and will be spending lots of time outdoors once the weather shows a glimmer of improvement! Happy New Year!!

Advent activity 24 - Christmas eve basket

I made a Christmas eve basket for the first time last year and it was very popular so I will do this every year now. This was the basket that was put under the Christmas tree while the boys were having a rest in bed after lunch. 

I included:

New Christmas books
A Christmas DVD that we watched that afternoon
Stockings ready to hang at bedtime
Chocolate to eat with our DVD
Reindeer food we had made earlier in the month to sprinkle in the garden
A Christmas candle
New pyjamas for the boys to wear to bed
A copy of The Night Before Christmas to read at bedtime