'Preserving' old skills

Today Ethan wanted to do some more cooking, so I decided to introduce something completely different. Jams and preserves. Starting with Ethans' personal favourite, Lemon Curd. 




Squeezing the lemons

 



Mixing the eggs











melting the butter and sugar






Add the eggs, then keep on mixing until thickened





Ethan with his finished lemon curd, ideal on hot toast in the morning.


Yummy!!



Jitterbug and jive workshop

Yesterday was the Jitterbug and Jive WW11 workshop at the Banbury Museum, which Ethan went to and absolutely had a ball!!
Sadly, because of prior arrangements I couldn't go with him, so very kindly another HE mum offered to take him.
I did give him my camera just in case he was able to snap a few pics off, but other than a nice one of the canal outside, he didn't manage to get any of the actual workshop.

A nice shot of the narrow boats on the canal.

Banbury Canal

All in all, he had a brilliant day, and after only a short lesson at home the pair of us managed to have a go at what he had learned, I was impressed at how well he remembered each move. Hopefully next time, I'll be able to tag along too.


Loz x

Monday night cooking

Tonight was Ethan's turn to cook, so he decided to rustle up something with chicken and pasta.
He was clever about it, using the same methods he knows for more traditional pasta dishes using pork.




Ethan decides to use Tagliatelle Pasta for a change.



Bubbling away !



Taking care to separate each strand.

 





Slicing the Mozzarella to add to the dish



Making sure the mozzarella is evenly distributed.



The finished result, complete with a boiled egg and extra sauce. Yummy!!!

It was absolutely delicious, creamy, garlicy tomatoey yummyness. Well Done Ethan. Monday nights are the new a la Ethan night for dinner now. I wonder what he'll think up next?


Loz x




Writing Creatively.

Having had the Christmas period to do some thinking about what we are going to be doing this year, I have come to the conclusion about a few things.
initially, it was my plan to work autonomously with Ethan, and for a while, this worked out pretty well. He found things along the way that he wanted to learn more about, and we came up with some interesting projects and plans from the things that took his interest on the hoof.
However, I also found with this method that things were happening randomly, with no apparent order to them, and Ethan was swapping from one track of thought to the next without really paying any attention to anything along the way. 
Now, I understand that for some HEers this is exactly what they are aiming for, and for them this method works well - and don't get me wrong, I can see the benefits of it. no restraints, no patterns to follow, no particular route to follow etc etc...just taking things as they present themselves and allowing what happens to happen.
But after giving it serious consideration, and a fair crack of the whip, I realise that for Ethan it lacked too much structure. And Ethan thrives on structure.
Therefore, I will be adopting a more organized framework for his education at home from now on.

Today, Daniel wasn't feeling very well - probably caught the lurgy from Laurence - so he stayed home and had a taste of what Ethan goes through. Here I set them both out some creative writing exercises. The pair of them have been blessed with brilliant imaginations, however, they lack the ability to get those ideas down onto paper effectively, so we worked on the basic principles today, and got the imaginative juices flowing with some short stories.

I think Daniel was surprised at just how much Ethan is expected to do in a day.

Although we only ever concentrate on one subject at a time (whether that is for a day or even a week at a time) I don't think it was quite what he expected.

He hears about what we have planned, the places we expect to visit, and the projects we hope to do, and I think he presumes HE is all about having fun and doing fun things day in and day out. 

I hope that after today he realises that real work does take place, and that pens and paper still very much have their uses. 

Loz x



They call her the wanderer....

Our cat, missing for the past 7 months, turned up at our backdoor last night !! (this is obviously not a picture of her at our current backdoor...)

Now, Annie, is 9 years old, so has been there, done it and seen it all. She has always been prone to taking herself off for a stroll which ends up lasting for a lot longer than she originally planned (the longest being 9 weeks). However, when we moved earlier in the year, we kept her inside for the recommended 2 weeks, then gently introduced her to the rest of the house and the garden. Now, where we live now is far more urban than where Annie has spent the rest of her life, so there are more cars and more traffic in general. this was a concern of mine, but for the first couple of days she seemed to like the garden, and spent time sleeping on top of our hedge - which pretty much explains what Annie is like :P

Then, one evening, she jumped on top of the shed, and disappeared into the alleyway which runs along the back of our house, and wasn't seen again until last night....7 months later!
Now, where she has been is of course a mystery. And considering all the awful weather we have recently had, just how she managed to survive is something I would pay to know about.
She was hungry, but otherwise unscathed for her adventures. Full of worms - which tells me her diet has pretty much consisted of birds and mice (hunting was never a problem for Annie) and her ears are badly flea bitten, but looking at her today, you wouldn't know that for more than half a year, she has been missing. In fact, Laurence had completely forgotten who she was and just called her puddy-cat when he saw her this morning. And even though we reminded him of who she was...he drew a complete blank, which is sad, but I am sure it wont take long for her to become part of the furniture again.

So, where ever she has been, and whatever she has seen, we are glad that she is back and in one piece. We are certain that whatever happened, she never once lost sight of where she belonged and where she wanted to get back to, because after 7 months, if she had found another family that were happy to feed and fuss her, surely she wouldn't have bothered to find her way back to a house she was pretty much unfamiliar with? Who knows, but needless to say, we are over the moon that she did. 


Loz x

Education overload!

Over the past 10 years I have intermittently been studying with the Open University. I stress that I have not been doing so because of any career goal in mind, but more for personal achievement, which is why I decided to go for the Open degree route, as opposed to the Honours route. Sometimes, it is hard explaining to people that the Open University degree is equal to that of any other brick uni, and can on occasion be even more highly regarded by employers because of the dedication it takes to complete a distance degree. But there are always some that fail to understand this, thinking that if you have not actually attended a brick university the resulting degree is not a real one (or something equally ridiculous). 
Anyway, my next course starts in March, and this time I have decided to go for science, which both Ethan and I enjoy. I have decided to opt for one of their easy taster courses thinking it might be an ideal opportunity to allow Ethan to have a look as well. After all, when he is 16 he too will be eligible to take an OU course and there are so many to choose from. He has shown alot of interest in their Arts and Humanities courses and since at the moment he has no interest in working towards GCSE's or A levels, the OU seems to be the perfect solution.

Personally speaking, I cant talk more highly about the OU. Their support system works exceptionally well, the course materials are clear and concise and there is always someone on the end of a phone to help you should you need it, and you don't particularly want to wait for a reply to an email (I am the eternal techno-phobe).

It would be interesting to find out if any other HE families have used the OU, or at least what their thoughts are on it.


Loz x

Happy New Year !!

To everyone who has taken the time to read my blog, I would like to wish you all a very Happy and healthy New Year.

We have lots of things planned for this year, as Ethan and I see it as the true start of Home Ed.
Here is a quick run down of what we have planned: 

1) Visit to Banbury museum for their WW11, jitterbug and jive workshop in January.
2) Visit to Wessex Flour Mill in February.
3) Visit to Batsford Arboretum in March.
4) Visit to Woodchester Mansion in March
5) Visit to Clearwell caves in March
6) Visit to the Dean Heritage Centre sometime in March/April
7) Visit to Lydney Park Spring Gardens in April/May
8) Visit to Chedworth Roman Villa in May
9) Visit to Hailes Abbey in May
10) Visit to Berkeley Castle In June.

(check out my 'places of interest' page for a more indepth over view of some of the above places).

These are just a few of the things we have planned, along the way there will be plenty of local things going on which we hope to attend and of course, lots of sports, meeting up with other HE families, and thinking up some new and exciting projects along the way. To be honest, it's a really exciting time, because we aren't restricted by anything. We have talked about the above activities, but we aren't tied to them. If we change our minds, or think of something else, we can just go for it. That is the true beauty of Home Schooling, taking things as they present themselves and learning from it for pleasure, not just because it is relevant in some small way to some completely irrelevant test to be taken some other time in the future.

So, here is to a new year. All of us are excited about it, it is the first in our new home with a new member of the family to share it with. I just hope the weather is kind to us and allows for plenty of outside fun!!

Loz x