Category Archives: Outings

Stargazing Live

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Stargazing 2 Stargazing 3

This post is written by Owl.

On Saturday 12th January, we went to Oxford.  We had lunch in Cafe Rouge, and then we went to Stargazing Live in the Physics Department of Oxford University.  When we went in, we were given a card with a picture and some information on it, and there were 19 cards to collect at the different sections of the exhibition.  Then we went to the Hands-On room and daddy pointed out a robot which was on a wooden table with a galaxy projected onto it.  When I looked more closely, I realised it was a Lego Mindstorms robot, controlled by a computer.  I had to use the arrow keys to move the robot over the galaxy, and when it was in the right position it projected a star into one of the holes in the raised edge of the table.  Next we tried an activity where you had to move coins around on a piece of paper, and they showed up on a computer screen which was divided into two parts.  On one half you could see your coins, and on the other half a picture of a galaxy based on the position of the coins.

Then we went to the Science cafe to build a virtual Lego universe, which was our favourite activity last year.  You use different coloured bricks to represent quarks.  Yellow bricks are up quarks and red bricks are down quarks.  I put some red and yellow bricks together to make neutrons and protons.  Then I put two neutrons and two protons together in a square shape to make Helium 4.  Monkey and I built towers which were stacks of Helium 4.

The Lego activity took quite a long time and the little ones were getting restless, so we took a break.  We went down to the Astro Crafts room and made spectrometers out of cereal boxes and CDs, and a model of a planetarium which showed the distance of each planet from the sun.  After that, we returned to the Science cafe to finish the Lego towers.  We also watched a demonstration of how to make a meteor, and I crushed some dry ice (made from Carbon Dioxide) with a hammer.  We ended the afternoon with some sandwiches, chocolate cake and juice for supper, before setting off on the journey home.

A day at the Observatory

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Yesterday the boys and I went to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich with another Home Education group.  Rabbit had a Dramabuds lesson in the afternoon so she stayed at home with Supergirl for the day.  I decided to drive there, as the route by public transport was a bit complicated and not that appealing on a cold, wet day in November.  The drive wasn’t a lot of fun either, and I did get a bit lost, but I found my way there eventually (it took an hour and twenty minutes) and I was quite proud of my achievement.

It was good to meet up with some other home educators, and the children enjoyed each others’ company.  I found, as always, that it is considerably easier to have one child fewer than the usual number, though it is very hard to work out why.  Perhaps I should borrow other people’s children from time to time, so that when I give them back it will seem easy having just four!  Maybe I’ll borrow these ones – they are no trouble.  Anyway, I digress…

We started off with a “moon-walking session” aimed mainly at the younger children, but the lady who was running it was extremely good at dealing with the wide age range (about 1 to 9 years, I think.)  She started off with a presentation about the planets, and shared a few key interesting facts about each one.  She also handled it very well when Owl, Monkey and a couple of the other children kept putting their hands up to add more facts of their own, and was very patient.  We sang some songs (five little aliens, and similar) which kept the little ones entertained, then pretended to be in a rocket flying to the moon, getting out and walking on the moon and then flying back home.   It was a really good mix of interesting information, imparted in a very simple way, and active learning.  My personal highlight was probably when the lady said (after the millionth interruption) “I love having Home Ed groups, you’re all so intelligent, you know everything!”

After that, we ate our packed lunches and had some free time to look around the exhibitions, and go to the shop.  Then we had another session in the planetarium.  I thought that Monkey and Tiddler might be afraid of the dark, but they were fine and they loved it.  All three boys wanted to see it all over again, so I think we’ll have to go back with Rabbit and daddy sometime.  We had a final quick look at the exhibitions, and they didn’t want to leave, but we had to.  The journey home was better because I took an alternative route and didn’t get lost, but it was dark before we got back and the traffic was heavy so I was glad to get home.  I asked the boys if they wanted to draw or write anything about the day, and Owl wasn’t in the mood, but Monkey made this model of a space shuttle.

Owl’s sleepover in London

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This post is written by Owl about his trip to London last week.

Granny came to collect me and we went on four trains.  We arrived at Bethnal Green station and walked to the museum.  It was very windy outside and we were nearly blown over.  In the museum, there were two puppet theatres and I did a puppet show.  There were also some very big dolls’ houses.  Some were built in cupboards, and were so big that they were mainly used for display.  It would have been hard to play with them as they were so high up.

When we went out it was not so windy.  We got the train back to Stratford and went to the Lego shop.  I thought the Lego shop would be outside on its own but it was actually inside the shopping centre.  It was a long walk to the Lego shop.  When we got there, it was quite impressive.  There were computers, a pick-a-brick section and an area where you could build your own minifigures.  I built three minifigures and we bought them.  We also bought a small box of pick-a-brick.  (Pick-a-brick is where you buy your own selection of Lego bricks.  It also has a bigger range of bricks on the computer.)

We bought pizza in M&S and went home to the flat for supper with Grandpa.  I found it hard to sleep but I did in the end.  In the morning, we listened to Grandpa’s CD of a Roman poem, “Horatius held the bridge.”  Then Grandpa went to work.  Later, Granny and I went to the Museum of Transport.  We saw lots of old carts and trains.  There was also a trail where you had to find 13 posts with stampers on them and stamp the card you were given.  There was a map on the back showing the locations of the posts.  Then we went home on the train, by a different route.

Legoland on a weekday

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Last week, our day out to London for the Select Committee hearing interfered with our plans to go to Legoland with a group of home educators.  We were sorry to miss the chance to go with them, but fortunately we were able to go this Tuesday instead, having managed to buy tickets on Ebay for under £40 for all of us.

When we arrived we took the Hill Train down to the main park, and headed straight to Fire Academy.  The big boys had wanted to do this last year, but they would have had to wait for an hour, whereas this time there was only a short queue.  Owl then had a turn in the driving school, which he really enjoyed.  After that they all played in the Duplo playground, and we ate our packed lunch there.  It is a lovely play area for little ones and interesting enough to satisfy older siblings too.

After a walk through Miniland, our next stop was Build and Test, which they loved the first time we went to Legoland three years ago.  Last year it was closed and the children were very disappointed, so there was much relief all round when it was open this time.  It has three adjoining rooms with activities suitable for different ages, and we spent a long time in there.  In one room there is big Lego of two types.  One I think is called Quatro, and we have some of it at home.  The other type is the really big soft Lego bricks that are big enough to build a house that the children can go in.  We love it and Legoland is one of only three places we have come across it.  Another room contains ramps and you can make cars and then test them, learning about friction, and working out why some designs work better than others.  The third room has earthquake tables where you can build a structure and test how strong it is.

                 

Rabbit’s big Lego creations

While the others continued to play in Build and Test, Owl and I went to the Discovery centre next door, where you can build Lego education kits, including some with lights and motors.  After a while the others joined us there, and by the time they had finished, they had made the cool car, the puppet show, and two carousels, one with small Lego and one with Duplo.  It was lovely to be there when it was so quiet.  There was plenty of space to build the kits and time to ask for help.

The Cool Cars kit (made by Owl)

Duplo carousel (made by Rabbit; Tiddler had a go as well)

Small Lego carousel (made by Monkey)

Next, Suburban dad took Rabbit and Tiddler on the Sky Rider (cars on an aerial track) and then I took Tiddler back to Miniland, where we spent a very long time watching trains.  I had almost forgotten how easy it is to entertain two year old boys with trains – we could have spent all day there.    Monkey and Rabbit went on the Sky Rider twice while Owl watched a 4D film – Lego Racers, and then all three of them (and daddy) watched another one, the Lego City one which they particularly wanted to see.

We all met up again in the Duplo playground, and played for a while, then bought an ice cream to eat on the way to the Atlantis submarine voyage.  This was one of the rides Owl wanted to do this time having read about it since our last visit.  I wasn’t that keen, as I don’t like confined spaces, but I did it and it really was quite good.  The submarine goes through an aquarium with sharks, rays and a variety of sea creatures, as well as some Lego models of fish which the children loved.  Afterwards, some of them (especially Rabbit) had fun sticking their hands in a tank to touch shrimp and hermit crabs.

Suburban Dad took Owl and Rabbit on a boat ride in the Boating school, and then we went back to the driving school again, as Monkey was now feeling confident enough to have a go, and Owl wanted to go back for more.  Rabbit had several goes on the smaller cars for “Learner drivers”, enjoying the chance to keep going on again as there were no queues.  Monkey had also been unsure about the boats, but finally decided he would like to go on one with daddy and Tiddler, while Owl and Rabbit carried on driving their cars.  That kept them happily occupied until 5pm when the rides closed, and we took the Hill Train back up to the top.  We had supper in the restaurant, had the inevitable visit to the shop and set off home with four very tired and very happy children.

We made a little detour on the way back, to visit friends who live near Legoland, and to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday with them.  They also have a four year old boy, and the children had a lovely time playing together, and eating birthday cake, while the adults enjoyed the chance to catch up, albeit briefly.

It was a lovely day, and we really felt lucky to be making the most of one of the many benefits of home education – the chance to visit attractions when they are quiet.  One of the staff told us that two weeks ago, they had their fourth busiest day ever, with 23,500 visitors, whereas on the day we went there were just 3000 visitors.  The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, but not hot, and it really is a lovely place, especially without the crowds.  I know the weather is a matter of luck, but on the whole I think there isn’t a much better time to visit Legoland than on a weekday in September, and I hope we will be able to do the same next year.

Friday round up – 10th August 2012

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Saturday and Sunday

We spent the weekend at my parents’ house, which is always good but was even better as my brother was there for the middle weekend of his fortnight in the UK (he lives in Australia.)  We had seen him on Monday evening last week, but it was good to spend some more time together, and the children had lots of fun with him.  We enjoyed the peace and quiet of a weekend in the countryside and away from our to-do lists after such a busy and disrupted few weeks.  There was a Latin lesson, a lot of playing with Lego and reading stories, an afternoon playing out on the green with a friend who lives in the village and plenty of watching the Olympics.

Monday

Back to reality and living in our house while the kitchen work was being finished… It had already taken three weeks and seemed like it would go on forever, but the end was in sight.  It was hard work being in the house with the children, so we went out as much as we could.  On Monday I took them to the pub, which Suburban Dad found rather amusing.  Every Monday in the summer holidays they have children’s craft mornings, and it was a great place to hang out.  The younger three played in the sandpit while Owl read a book from cover to cover, giving me time to have a peaceful cup of coffee, then they all had a go at some of the crafts once the crowds around the tables had diminished.  We had lunch there (having no kitchen is expensive) and then walked back via the park, stopping for a while in the playground, then getting soaked in a downpour on the way home.

Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday we had lunch at the deli across the road (we love it) and then walked to the library and spent a long time there reading while Tiddler slept in the buggy.  On Wednesday we went to the local church cafe for lunch (cheaper) and filled in time at the charity shop buying books, then sat outside the Art Gallery with the owner and her son reading the books in the sunshine.  When we went home half way through the afternoon the work was finished, which was a big relief.  We did some work on our Olympic project which we haven’t really been able to do much of with all the disruption, and Owl in particular was very interested.

Thursday

We all thoroughly enjoyed the first normal day in our own house for a month, and after a quiet morning doing our Olympic project (me and Owl) and playing (the others) we had a good time with our friends who came over for lunch and stayed till after supper (always a pleasure with their three well-behaved helpful children!)  I loved cooking on my new induction hob (thank you John Lewis sale) and found the new layout of the kitchen such an improvement that it was a positive pleasure to let Monkey come in and help me to make pudding (his own creation, called Yummy Delight – I believe there’s a blog post to follow…)  It was never fun cooking in there before, but now I am going to train up the young chefs till I’m out of a job.

Friday

I spent the day at the Rosemary Conley Roadshow in Essex, which was a lot of fun, and the children had a wonderful day at the beach with daddy.  When they collected me, I was impressed at how sandy and muddy, lolly-juice-sticky and happy they were.  The bag of rice cakes and fruit I had sent with them was untouched, and the lolly they were finishing and dripping all over the car was their third one – definitely a daddy day.  We arrived home in time to order a delicious Thai meal for supper and share it with my mum, dad and brother who had come down for the evening (my brother is leaving on Sunday.)  It was lovely to be able to sit out in the garden at the end of a beautiful sunny day, and good to relax after such a busy week.

Owl goes to London

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This is a guest post by Owl.

Two weeks ago I went to London with Granny.  We went on a Southern train and then on an Overground train.  We got off at London Bridge station and walked to Granny and Grandpa’s flat.  We had supper there and then Grandpa came home from work.  I went to bed and read “Secret Seven Fireworks” and then I went to sleep.  When I woke up I had breakfast and then we went out into London.  We took a bus to Trafalgar Square and went into the National Gallery.

We saw lots of paintings, including Monkey’s favourite one, “The Archers.”  My favourite was “The Cornfield” by John Constable.  We also looked at “Bathers at Asnieres” by Georges Seurat.  Granny told me about Pointillism which is using dots of different colours which merge together when you look at them from far away.  This painting was not painted with this technique, but later Seurat added dots of colour to some parts of the picture, including orange and blue dots to the boy’s hat.  I also like “The Umbrellas” by Renoir.  I like its detail and the little girl with the hoop (like Rabbit.)

I also liked “The Skiff (La Yole)” by Renoir, and we looked at the brush strokes and how the artist created the effect of the water.  After we left the gallery, we went on the train to Granny and Grandpa’s house.  When we got there Granny and I drew a picture together using pastels.  It is a picture of a boat on the water, and in the distance is the riverbank and a big hill.  We showed the reflections on the water by doing the colours faintly, using several different colours and making the strokes go sideways.  It was fun going on a trip and doing a picture with Granny.

What is your favourite picture?  Share it here!

More pond dipping…can’t get enough of it

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Today we went pond dipping again, this time as part of a larger group of home educators.  It was a 40 minute journey which I found quite stressful as I was tired after a sleepless night, but it was a very successful day and well worth the effort.  To call it pond dipping is an understatement, as it was not a pond but a large lake in a beautiful park which I would love to explore more of in the future – especially when I am not on my own with all four children!  I was a little on edge to start with as I arrived to find the buggy was not in fact in the back of the car, and after Tiddler’s interpretation of pond dipping last time being “dip yourself in the pond” I would have preferred not to have him on the loose all the time.  However, he was very sensible this time and did pretty much what he was told, so he had a good opportunity to catch a few “wiggly fings” (as he joyfully shouted at regular intervals!)

The other three enjoyed having a lot of independence as I couldn’t leave Tiddler for a second, and they all caught some interesting creatures.  At the very last minute, Owl caught a dragonfly nymph skin which is causing great excitement as he has been allowed to bring it home.  I’m not sure I can remember everything but among other things we found water boatmen, leeches, bloodworms, pond snails, water scorpions, newt tadpoles, water hog lice, water spiders, some tiny fish, and larvae of various insects (mosquito and mayfly among others.)  We also saw some damselflies and heard a very noisy marsh frog

We were able to examine our finds more closely back in the classroom, and we looked at a couple of tiny ones using a video microscope which was a wonderful experience.  The children were amazed to see so much detail on the screen and then to look at the creatures themselves which were just tiny dots you could barely see.  We looked at a ramshorn snail and a water flea, and could see their hearts beating.  Then we looked at the dragonfly nymph skin and could even see tiny creatures crawling over its eye.

After the session finished we had our lunch in the outdoor picnic area and the children played for a while, and then we headed back to the carpark, seeing some rabbits on the way.  It started to rain just as we were leaving, and the journey back took much longer than it should as I got lost, mainly because I was so tired.  I feel thoroughly exhausted now but also that good feeling of having learnt stuff, had lots of fresh air and a successful day out with the children.

 

Dragonfly nymph skin

Model village – a wet day out

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On Saturday we went to Bekonscot Model village.  It rained a lot and the little ones got thoroughly soaked very quickly, but that didn’t spoil their fun!  The model village is amazing and very well maintained.  It is the world’s oldest model village, first opened in 1929. The detail was incredible, and you could visit hundreds of times and still find something new every time.  I loved the shops with their tiny loaves of bread, cakes, shoes, flowers and many more besides.  The trains were a big hit with the children, especially Tiddler, and there was so much to see that they were entranced for a very long time.  They also enjoyed a ride on the miniature railway, playing in the playground and eating lunch in the cafe.  While sheltering from the rain, they made a dragonfly at the RSPB stand.  It involved pipe cleaners, beads and pre-cut wings – a nice simple craft idea which we might try at our home education group.  We have lots of little ones so I am always on the lookout for easy crafts which are also appealing to the older ones.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable family day out and I’m sure we’ll be visiting again.

Ecology Centre visit

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On Wednesday afternoon we went to the local Ecology Centre with our Home Ed group.  Owl was in London with Granny and Grandpa, so I only had the younger three children with me.  However many children you have, it always feels a little easier with one less person to organise to get out of the house, although there were moments when I could have done with my biggest helper.  Anyway, we gathered an assortment of fishing nets, buckets, pond life and butterfly identification books, raincoats… and suncream as an afterthought.  We also took our butterflies as we had decided to show them to the group before releasing them in the grounds of the Ecology Centre, which is a perfect butterfly habitat.

We took about 25 minutes to walk there and we met up with the others at the pond.  All the children were very keen to start fishing, and were generally good about sharing nets and were being quite sensible.  To begin with Tiddler was in his buggy, but of course that didn’t last as he was determined to get out and join in.  So I let him, and the consequence was that within 5 minutes, he had fallen in the pond!  Luckily I was holding on to the handle on the back of his Little Life backpack (highly recommended) so I was able to haul him out straight away.  No harm done, but even though he had been in the water for barely a second he was of course thoroughly soaked from head to toe (vest, nappy, trousers, socks and boots completely unusable for the rest of the afternoon) and covered in pond weed.  He was a little bewildered but not too upset.  Now, if this had happened to my first baby, I would of course have had an enormous change bag full of alternative outfits, but he is my fourth.  So he was carrying his own spare nappies in the aforementioned backpack, and that was it.  Luckily the nappies hadn’t got wet, and the sun came out so we made do with a quick clean up, an application of suncream which I hadn’t expected to need and a clean dry nappy.  He ran around very happily in the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon, although his feet did get a bit scratched.

The children had a lovely time fishing, exploring and bug hunting.  We had some amazing close encounters with pond skaters, sticklebacks, pond snails, a leech, newts, frogs, toads, a slow worm, a moorhen and chick, dragonflies and damselflies… and we released our butterflies, who were not at all in a hurry to leave us, so we got a really close look at them. My highlight of the afternoon was watching one of the butterflies sipping nectar from clover, seeing the proboscis uncurled so close up was amazing. I have to admit that the sight of Tiddler covered in pond weed came a close second (bad mummy!)

Light at the end of the tunnel

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Another couple of weeks have flown by, and I haven’t had a moment to stop and reflect on anything.  We have been having a lot of fun but life has been very complicated, and I can only sustain this pace for a while before the cracks begin to show.  June has been an incredibly busy month, even more so than usual.  I’m glad to have arrived at the beginning of July which means the end is in sight, though for the next week or two there’s still quite a bit going on.

On the Saturday before last, we had our church summer fair which was great fun, and as usual we came away with a lot of “bargains”, in particular some very good children’s books.  The best finds were Katie and the Dinosaurs (about the Natural History Museum) and a really interesting book about chess which Owl is very into at the moment.  It must be time for another clear out of our enormous book collection though, or there soon won’t be room to move in this house.

On the Sunday I went on a Beavers trip with Owl and Monkey to a fun day at a Scout activity centre.  There were so many activities to choose from, including archery, zip wire, climbing “spider mountain”, go-karts, simulators, Meccano building and circus skills.  It was a long day and quite hard work but a lot of fun and all the children had a great time.

On Tuesday I took all four children (by myself!!) to the Natural History Museum.  They enjoyed going on the train and the bus, and they loved the Museum.  In the morning we spent quite a long time in the Creepy Crawlies gallery, and then looked at the Fossils as well.  We had lunch with two other home educating families, which was good fun. I always enjoy meeting people, and the children had a great time playing with their new friends.  We then spent quite a long time in the Wildlife Garden, before the inevitable visit to the shop (more new books!) and then we set off home.  I felt quite a sense of accomplishment at managing the trip on my own and I feel like a world of possibilities has opened up.

On Wednesday we had a meeting of our Home Ed group, at the home of a family who live on a smallholding.  The children had fun digging in the mud, and they also made leaf prints in clay.  Afterwards I helped out at the Beavers sports day, and Owl and Monkey had a great time and tired themselves out completely.  On Thursday I spent a very enjoyable morning at Rabbit’s Preschool.  It was really good to spend some time with her, and she loved it.  She has decided not to do the extra year at Preschool (which would be her Reception year) so she will be finishing next week.  It feels a bit strange to be leaving as it has been part of the routine for so long, but I’m sure it’s the right decision for Rabbit.  She is very excited about joining in with the boys and being home educated.  I asked her what she wanted to learn, and she said “Arts and Crafts and making caterpillars with pompoms.”  I think I can manage that!

This Saturday we had yet another celebration of Owl’s birthday.  We decided we couldn’t take all of his friends bowling at once at the beginning of the month, so we went again with a second lot.  His birthday has therefore lasted a whole month, and he had three birthday cakes – I hope we haven’t set a precedent.  After bowling, we went to a “Jubilympics” event at another local church which was good fun, and quite relaxed which enabled the children to wind down after the excitement of the morning.

Yesterday Owl sang in his choir concert which took place in a garden.  The afternoon started with the audience under umbrellas, but the sun came out just in time and it all went without a hitch.  Owl sang beautifully and came away with a big smile on his face.  Those are the highlights of the last couple of weeks, and there have been all the usual work and other activities going on as well.  As a result I am exhausted, but also happy and proud of my lovely children!  I do have one or two other things to report (regarding caterpillars turning into butterflies, and doing Maths with Smarties!) but I think they each deserve a separate blog post.  I’m going to stop now before I think of anything else – I think this post is long enough.