Yo Sushi!

We had a lovely morning at Yo Sushi! along with other home educating families, many of which I rarely see so it was good to catch up

I would have loved to have had a go too but this was one for the girls, though us adults did consider trying to organise a grown ups sushi session Saying that its definitely something we can do at home. They were shown how to roll sushi and it was all delicious The girls had a brilliant time

There were first serves some miso soup which they found a bit salty.

Window Poetry, Pastels and Henna

Today we did some Window Poetry We each stood looking out of a different window. We divided a sheet of A4 paper into 6, a bit like a window, and using the following prompts created a poem

What do you see straight ahead of you?
What is on the left?
Something is different today – what is it? It needn’t be of great significance.
Write any line that follows on here, but include the word ‘sometimes’ or the word ‘always’.
What else can you see? A detail. In these lines,perhaps suggest the time of day or the time of year.

This is what the girls came up with

Loved doing this

I came across this fabulous eye sketch on Pinterest a while ago and so today we had a go at creating our own using pastels which are a bit messy but I love the shading effects you can get with them. I think we all had fun doing it anyway

Poppy and F got themselves some more henna whilst in London and so there has been lots of henna doodling

A day in London and other things

An early start on Saturday as we caught the train to London. The only plan we had was that we were going to visit Camden as F’s English book is based on Camden Town. Whilst on the train we decided to head to Portabello Road first, none of us had visited here before. We arrived quite early and the market was still being set up but we managed to have a browse, Skye bought herself a lovely leather look jacket for £5 but shortly after decided she didn’t really like it so sold it onto Poppy who looks gorgeous in it

From Portabello we went to Camden Town, we had a good look around, Skye bought herself a hoodie, F bought a few gifts to take back for friends and P bought a birthday present for a friend. The girls had veggie hot dogs to keep them going and we popped into Knightsbridge before going to Hyde Park where we sat in the sunshine, had a coffee and people watched Think this was my favourite part of the day!

Next stop was Leicester Square and Covent Garden where after lots of traipsing around found a Prezzo for dinner which was yummy Then we had a mad dash for the train home and only just made it!

Exhausting!!

Other things….

I spent a lovely morning with a lovely friend who I haven’t seen for probably 10 years! Her son and Skye used to go to the same Montessori school and we finally managed to catch up. Really looking forward to spending more time together

Poppy and F went into town with a friend I am still so amazed by Poppy’s growing confidence!

Skye has been busy doodling and sketching and has been inspired by an artist on Camden Market and has produced these amazing (but gory) sketches

Poetry with Jackie Kay

Last week there was a posting on our local HE group about a fantastic opportunity for 14-18 year olds to work with the wonderful and acclaimed poet Jackie Kay. With the content that they generate, an artist will then work with their words and the permanent collection at Kettle’s Yard to create art installations and four evening workshops will transform their words further. The project ends with the young people’s work being put on in the house, and joining Jackie Kay in an evening of poetry reading.

Skye was very nervous about attending and at one point said she didn’t think she wanted to go, even though she absolutely loves poetry and creative writing. I was very proud of her, she put her worries and nerves behind her and went along and had the most fantastic morning She was one of only three 14 year olds to attend the first of two workshops this week, which for a free event is a pretty poor turnout but she really enjoyed working in a small group. They had a tour of the house and I was amazed how much information she retained, telling us stories behind some of the art and statues residing there. I can’t remember when I last heard her talk so enthusiastically about something!

I am amazed at her growing confidence, I would never have gone along to this sort of thing at her age, not without friends in tow. She is really happy that she didn’t talk herself out of going and is looking forward to the next session

Artetc – we’re back!

I had been looking back through some old blog posts and realised how much I missed our Artetc days so after a quick text to Merry we arranged to start back again so on Monday Artetc was revived Unfortunately we could only go for a the morning as Wayne had an interview/informal meeting for a job with the NHS at a local hospital, only a temporary contract and part time hours but its work

It was strange that there were only two of Merry’s girls and Bene (two are at school) so was quieter than we are used to We got them started on creating their own star sign, preferably mythological, but not necessary

Merry has recently opened a new online craft shop full of gorgeous fabric, buttons, ribbons, wool and other delights, so it would be rude to come up with a project and not include some of them The girls made some very cute hanging valentine hearts and pom pom decorations.

Looking forward to the next one now!

Now I have mastered crocheting granny squares and even managed to teach Poppy and F, I really want to make a blanket and fortunately Merry had a stock of wool for me to choose from

The girls have worked really well this week, and even completed all the ‘important’ stuff on their tick sheets Poppy and F have also cooked and/or baked 2 or 3 times this week, we’ve had macaroni and cheese, spinach and ricotta cannelloni and some chocolate muffins

Skye is really enjoying Explorers and they have been busy planning an expedition along the Welsh coast for a weekend in the summer! She is very excited At Scouts Poppy and F are planning building a robot amongst other things

Dance is going well, Poppy loves their dance teacher, its a run by a husband and wife and the husband has so far done all the teaching, he’s Italian and very funny apparently I think they are currently preparing for a show, the dance moves look quite complex but they seem to be doing ok I just hope F is still here when they perform!

WedEd – Food science with pretty colours ;)

A full house for WedEd for the first time in ages!

Inspired by some poetry we have been doing this week, Skye chose to gather everyone for a creative writing session She explained that a Tanka poem consists of 5 lines, lines one and three have 5 syllables and lines two, four and five consist of 7 syllables. She read out some examples and then asked them to create their own. They all seemed to enjoy it and came up with some very imaginative poems!

Helen did food science, they prepared themselves for the lesson by reading s-cool and bbc bitesize as well as chapter 4 of their Biology for You book. Although I am not particularly sciency, I do love Helen for bringing pretty colours into my kitchen

There was also some art keeping it topical they drew these lovely wintry trees

Gaming

and even time for playing in the snow

After everyone had gone home, Wayne took the girls to my Mums as F wanted a fringe cutting in and that’s definitely not a job for me! Mixed feelings about it at first but she is happy with it now

An eventful week

Lots has happened this week to make life difficult! On their way to try out a local multi-sports session, the car broke down so Wayne and the girls were stranded on the motorway. Whilst I tried to sort our getting breakdown recovery the police came to their rescue. They managed to drive the car to a garage, it appears that it may have been dirt in the fuel tank or something. However, before Wayne could leave, the police informed him that the car had no insurance!! It did and it was a bit of a long faff trying to find emails etc as I was at work. All ok in the end, but because the car was new to us it takes a while to appear on the database. An added problem was that the registration number had been entered incorrectly Thankfully all was sorted and although they didn’t make it to multi-sports the car seems to be working ok.

The girls have been working really hard this week.  Tick sheets are still working really well, we have re-jigged a little and they have a sensible amount to get done each day.  F is  adapting well to home ed,  I think she enjoys the freedom of choosing what she wants to work on each day.

Creative writing;

They have been doing some sewing and made some lovely book covers we found on Pinterest.

Poppy and F started Scouts, I didn’t think they would like it but they did Poppy was doubly happy as she got to see one of her best friends she had at school and is in the same patrol as her  They went to their dance class again and both loved it phew! I was a bit worried that F wouldn’t want to go again if she didn’t enjoy it this week.

Skye was invested as an Explorer

She has been customising some shorts by bleaching them.

She also coloured her hair…..turquoise!  Looks good though

And I finally learned how to crochet granny squares, so far I have made 8 like this

My sister and family came over yesterday for a surprise birthday dinner for my Mum and Dad and parked their car round the corner so as not to spoil the surprise. This morning woke up to floods They waded to their car to discover it had water in the foot wells Wayne, my dad, my sister, her partner and I went out, over our knees in icy cold dirty water to push the car to higher ground, then had to scoop out all the water. Absolutely freezing, water up to our thighs!!! Thankfully it starts ok. Really did not expect that amount of flooding! At 4am it was clear!

Despite the flooding, we had a really lovely weekend I can’t believe my Mum is going to be 60!! She looks fab