Cotswold Wildlife Park

We had a great day at the wildlife park recently. The weather held out for us and we were able to spend virtually the entire day there, without being rained on! Which is always a bonus.

All the kids loved it, especially the huge python they have there now, and the Bat house.
Added to the fact that it is off season so the place was quiet, it made for an excellent day.

The wolves, however were not playing ball, and although I managed to get a quick snap of one of them sleeping, they aren't the best pictures I was hoping for.

Still, it gave us ample material to work with once we came home. We have started making some spirit masks (textiles), have looked into endangered species and forest maintenance and environmental changes throughout the 20th century.

Also we are looking at sustainability and how our everyday habits; food shopping spending etc, affect this. And how illegal trade effects the whole of the planet.

All from a day at the zoo. Amazing isn't it. :)

Summer solstice at the Rollright Stone Circle.

This solstice we decided to visit a few neolithic sites, including some of the more local ancient burial grounds and such like, which also included the Rollright Stone Circle. Legend has it that a witch felt it necessary to turn the King and his knights into stone for reasons which by modern day standards seem a little over the top.

Anyway, I enjoyed taking Ethan there before the start of the true Solstice celebrations started.

Despite the quite obvious pagan overtones to this trip, there was also much learned about our history and the landscape in general. 

Loz

our visit to clearwell caves

I thought it best that i got around to actually posting these to mark the occasion.

A great day had by all.


Loz

A well needed catch up.

Well..it's been ages since I made an update, mostly because we have been so busy in one way or another I simply haven't had the time to sit in front of a computer for any great length of time.
Here is a quick run down of the things we have been doing, the places we have been and what we have planned (so far) for the summer. :)

We have been working on magnetism, and have been making homemade compasses and then testing them in the field - so to speak. Ethan then devised a map, using his cork compass, and plotted directions with the additional use of map co-ordinates.

We then gave this to several others to see if they could follow them...with the promise of a surprise for the winner. We ended up with 8 excited victims (volunteers) who donned their walking boots and backpacks (it would appear that Ethan is well known for his love of all things elaborate, so many came with the idea of being Ray Mears for the day) and waved them goodbye as they set off in a northerly direction. 

It was a complete success and although it took the group a couple of hours, they came back full of smiles!! A BBQ in the garden followed with much fizzy pop and chicken wings. 

We had a trip to several places to try and learn a little about the myth and lore of Britain. I believe it so rich that it is a shame not for it to be taught in schools. These days, kids are only interested in what makes a sound, or how expensive it is, or how fast it goes, or if they can smoke it..or if it is illegal and therefore worth a giggle.
Needless to say, I am not of that ilk and steer my kids towards more old fashioned pursuits.

My 3 year old simply loves churches and architecture in general (the bigger the better) so visiting broadwell tower was an instant hit, as too was Sudley Castle>>>>

I also thought it might be worth bringing to Ethan's attention the many barrows and burial grounds we have dotted around the Cotswold's, so we visited the Rollright Stones, Hetty Peglar's Tump,  



We also had a visit to puzzle wood, which Ethan simply loved because an episode of Doctor Who was filmed there. It also gave me the ideal opportunity to bring the legend of King Arthur into the mix, as the television program Merlin was also filmed there, so that tied in quite nicely.

This Saturday, Ethan is attending the K'nex Robotics national finals!!! Which he is absolutely thrilled at. He is so proud of himself, and although those who don't really understand the point of Home education will look on it as nothing more than a fun day playing with k'nex, I can assure you the level of mathematics and design which had to be used to actually make the robot, would leave most of them in the dark anyway.

Funny really..no one would dream to nay say those who go onto Robot Wars on the TV, because most of them have university degrees in engineering etc..but a 13 year old who is supposed to be sitting in a classroom 'what could he possibly be learning from that?'

We just laugh at that level of ignorance.

Anyway. Right now, I am taking up precious Maths Whizz time for Ethan, so I had better vacate the computer desk...he is doing so well at this now, when he started he had a maths age of 12.7 which is exactly where any school would have been happy for him to be, but he felt he was behind, so we opted for the intensive monthly plan, which for £19.99 a month really is exceptional value.

He recently had another evaluation, and now has a maths age of 14.6 !!! which he is chuffed to bits about, and proves that he is equal to if not slightly ahead of where he would be if sat behind that same desk, in a dusty old school.

Loz

Religious Education

Now here's a fun one!!!

Back in the dark and shadowy days when Ethan attended school, he always complained about having to do RE (Religious Education), he could never quite understand why he had to learn about it, attend church and celebrate various mainly christian occasions.

When we first discussed HE together, I was not surprised that one of his questions was 'will I still have to do RE?'.
Nor was I surprised at his reaction when I told him 'not quite in the same way as you do at school.'

Now, don't get me wrong, I do understand and appreciate that it is important for everyone to have a good working knowledge of how all the mainstream religions operate, their histories and respective festivals and celebrations. Not only to increase Ethans' individual general knowledge of such things but also to instill in him a healthy respect for worldwide cultural diversity.

However, we are not a religious family. My husband is an atheist, none of my children have been baptised, and I have my own personal views when it comes to religion. So, for instance, how on earth does one even start trying to explain something like this...?

Now, the purist christians among you will no doubt see this entire post as absolute heresy. And quite possibly you are correct in one way, but I am a woman of facts. I know things and do on occasion feel the need to impart what I know to others. Where my sons education is concerned, I do not feel the need to impart to him something which may be acceptable, but could also be deemed completely inaccurate.

I am no scholar on the subject, and so only feel comfortable passing on the facts of what I know to be true; annual dates and festivals and the appropriate reasons behind them etc. Also, I am not here to indoctrinate or force beliefs upon my children, there will be plenty of time for them to make up their own minds about that in the future.

So for now, we are concentrating on the very basics of everything.

The different names, different celebrations etc. Which I have no doubt will eventually lead straight onto different world wars. Funny that!

Loz

Stars, sentences and Master Chief?

Knowing what to do next, is always proving itself to be a bit of a challenge to me. I am by no means an autonomous educator, simply allowing Ethan to direct himself, because if I did adopt that stance he would simply direct himself towards his bedroom, switch on the xbox and direct himself around the virtual world of Halo. Not an education as far as I am concerned. So to some extent, I have to plan out his education.

I try not to swamp him with textbooks and the like, because I think that is one step too far, and to be honest, is too much of a strain on me to keep up. However, I do try to make sure there is enough for him to chose from in various subjects which I believe is going to be beneficial to him.

Recently we did some English work.

He loves to write stories and create storyboards, but his approach is often haphazard and not always easy to read, so we worked on that for a while. Structure and presentation - basic stuff really, and probably way behind what he would be doing at school, but things which I think have been neglected thus far.

Schools seem intent on moving on from one thing to the next at a pace which not only on the outside but also very much on the underside, is too fast for anyone to possibly keep up with. Consequently, things are missed. Ethan had problems at primary, mainly behavioural in the beginning, but this obviously had a knock on effect with his academic progress. But the school pushed on and and applied the praise where it was needed most - usually at any piece of work which was actually 'worked' on and completed. The finished article was never foremost in their minds. Simply getting it done, was all that mattered.
As a result of this, Ethan pays very little attention to his spelling and presentation, and punctuation is very much an after thought.

Sentence structure came as a complete surprise to him, and the concept of paragraphs was met with equal astonishment.

So, anyway, now that we have worked on such things, he can produce a piece of written work which actually reads sensibly and coherently.

Whilst I appreciate all the work the primary school put in to making Ethan partially what he is today, I do wish they had worked a little harder on the finer points of his education, rather than simply wanting him to be able to sit down for five minutes and scrawl out a piece of work,which they then told him was perfect...when it quite clearly wasn't.

Ethan himself now realises that quite a large portion of what he should have been doing was missing from his education. This actually caused him some upset, and at one point I was close to having him shut down completely on me because of it.
I think the term 'all best intentions' comes into play here. A little less patting on the back, and a little more cracking the whip (so to speak) might have produced a more rounded education as a whole I think.

Anyway, we muddle on and tackle things head on with gusto.
As you may be able to tell from the change of appearance, we are moving onto subjects pertaining to the universe and such like. It's a full moon at the moment so we'll start with that, studying it's path etc. Trusty binoculars at the ready, graph paper and star charts at hand, and into the unknown we go!

(seriously, planetary studies are an absolute favourite of ours so neither of us can wait to get stuck in).


Loz

Picture added to K'nex post

Just a quickie to let you know that I have now added a picture of the marvellous 'Spike', which was the robot created by Ethan and his team, on the K'nex workshop.
I think you'll agree, it's a brilliant example of what a fighting machine should really look like. :)


Loz

design change.

As you may also notice (hard not to really) Ethan requested that the design of the blog be changed on a more regular basis, according to either what project we are working on for example, or what is happening in current affairs, or in our family (trips, holidays etc).

I think it's a great idea, and so, since we've just been working with robots, Ethan opted for the Matrix look!!

I think it's great, and who says that we have to stick to just one design all the time. The blog itself evolves, so why shouldn't it's design.

I guess it's another display of how a child's mind is constantly in motion. We as adults should learn how from that. A stagnated mind is a useless one. However, musings like that - which are particular to myself - belong in another separate blog, not this one.
Perhaps one day I shall create one.  But this one, is for the kids. So I am quite happy for them to spread their creative wings where design is concerned.

We hope you like the new look.  Not sure how long it will last for, but then I suppose it also encourages people to come back more often to see what the place looks like from one day to the next :P


Loz.

K'nex workshop

Yesterday Ethan attended a K'nex workshop in Oxford to learn about the mechanics of robotics. He had a short lecture on the engineering of it all, then a con-flab with his other team mates, and then finally had a battle with all the robots which had been made!
The winner took a trophy
But Ethan and his team...came..... SECOND!!!  WOO HOO!!!!! I am so proud of him.


And to top it all, whilst the winners got a trophy, all the models were taken apart except for 1st and 2nd place, which will be kept and displayed! So 'Spike' - as they named it - will live on to be admired by others for some time to come. 

Sadly, although Ethan managed to take some pictures on his phone, we have lost the USB lead so can't upload any pictures of the robot they made, however I do have a link to another blog where there are some pictures. I'll ask for permission to post it first then I'll add it here >>>> (eyes peeled) >>>> (many thanks N for allowing me to use the picture below from your blog)

Above is a picture of the rather fantastic 'Spike'. The robot which Ethan and his team built.

Once again, well done Ethan for working so well in the team, and obviously with the materials you were given. 

A future Robot Wars champion me thinks. :P !!! 

Loz

Wedding faux pas ?

Eeek...I've just realised something. Whilst we dutifully had the royal wedding on, and happening in the background, neither of the older boys were in the slightest bit interested, and obviously the younger two really didn't have a clue either.

We of course filled in the older two about who they were and what they stood for blah blah blah a long time ago, but it was Ethan who summed up Friday to a tea as far as I am concerned. He said - and I quote - "So what? It's just another celebrity wedding which wont be given a second thought until she comes out with a press release in about 6 months time declaring that she is preggers. Personally, I don't see the point in dragging yet another life through the media mud."

And with that he sauntered off into the village to buy an ice-cream.

Perhaps the rest of modern youth will think differently, but the beauty about Ethan is that he doesn't care what others think. He allows others to have their own opinion as long as they allow him his.
And as a parent to such a wise head on young shoulders, I am very happy to support that ethos of his.

(And just for the record...I thought the dress was OK, but her bouquet was lame and the inclusion of sweet williams was sickly)


Loz

Fore warning of mass experimental fun!!!

Indeed I have taken note of the excellent suggestions for experiments which we can do at home which people have kindly provided, and so thought it wise to fore-warn people of their impending arrival on these pages within the next few days.

Tomorrow is Galileo day (so the patio had better watch out)
Tuesday is Archimedes day (so the bathroom floor had better watch out)
Wednesday is Leonardo Da Vinci flying machines day (so the sky had better watch out)
Thursday is Thomas Edison day (so the fuse box had better watch out)

If anyone has any further suggestions which they would like to add to the mix, feel free to comment and Ethan and I will see what we can muster by way of an experiment.


Loz

Baths, guns and Brum...?

Here are the boys enjoying an afternoon with a really cheap but involving construction kit which Daniel found. He loves his guns, not because he's aggressive or planning a crime-career in a hoddy on the streets, but he just loves making them. He is forever creating them out of paper and card, and spends hours scouring through You Tube watching videos which other people have posted of themselves making them.

However, this was proving slightly more complicated as it involved screws, spanners and screwdrivers, and neither of the boys particularly like those, but they made great progress and got it done in the end.

As a side note, I took Laurence off to the Motor Museum to meet Brum, and to gawp (literally) at the thousands of cars and vehicles on display in the toy section. We then spent a ridiculous amount of time browsing the shelves for something to take home with us.

He eventually plumped for a quad-bike.



It's daft really, considering that we have been here for nearly a year now, it was our first visit to the museum. I guess it doesn't always pay to have things right on your doorstep. I have managed to find time to visit places miles away, but not the one place which is a ten minute walk away :P

Ethan and I have been working hard on science, and forces. The many experiments which we can do to aid this are countless and too many to list here. But needless to say that we have been having fun with density, buoyancy and pressure in particular  (anything which requires the use of drawing pins and mindless pushing and pulling and dangling of objects until they come crashing down is always going to be fun) :)

Also, because of this, we have begun to explore some of the old mathematicians like Louis Pascal, Isaac Newton and Archimedes.
Updates to come. And also a possible reenactment of perhaps the most famous bath ever taken....Eureka!!!!

Loz