Thursdays doings

  DD has been more awake and alert today so I wanted to try and get back on track with our home school this week. We coloured in the letter B using green pens, pencils and crayons and the finished it off by sticking on green things we found in the craft box. It kept her attention for about half an hour which really impressed me seeing as she is still suffering. She seems to have picked up B and Green very well. It now has pride of place on our learning wall next to the letter A from last week.

 During DD's afternoon nap I whipped up our dinner ready for this evening. We are having a nice Shepard's pie with some mince I found hiding in the freezer. I've added a tins of baked beans with sausages, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a handful of porridge oats. I also added a handful of sliced frozen mushrooms from the freezer stash.

 I was feeling a little bit creative with the mash potato so I added a few drops of green food colouring so it keeps in with our theme. This huge dish will feed us all for two main meals with some veggies. I'm looking forward to OH coming home so I can pop in the oven to warm through and then devour..Om nom nom
x x x

Bits and pieces

  I finished this little ladybird a few minutes ago. DD has become a bit obsessed with ladybirds lately and spot them everywhere we go. When I spotted a free knitting pattern for one online I just had to make it up for her. I knitted all the pieces during her nap yesterday and sewed it up during todays.

 What do you think of this cupboard? OH spotted it in a local charity shop for just £55. Its really heavy and sturdy and just perfect for DD and bumps bedroom. Plenty of storage for all their clothes and bedding with some to spare!!

 It fits just perfectly behind their door so it doesn't take up any playing room! He has such a great eye for things like this. I love it, though I am tempted to decorate each of the drawer fronts and make it really jazzy.

 

 And finally I've added a page to this blog to keep all DD homeschooling stuff together. Please have a looksie if you want, I'm hoping it will grow and cover all her lessons on the course we are trying.
x x x

Busy afternoon

 Yesterday afternoon we had glorious weather, and it really soaked into my skin and got me moving! First off was DD's lesson for the day which was the letter A. We also referenced yesterdays lesson which was squares by decorating the letter A with squares I cut out from scrap paper. I was really impressed with DD's attention span today as we sat down for a good 20 minutes to complete these two projects without complaints or wandering off. We are only on day 3 of trying this scheme and already I feel she is gaining from it. Our reward for making the pictures above was a malted milk biscuit each, because the weeks theme is cows and they have little cows stamped on them. Tomorrows lesson is the number one which she will be starting with Daddy while I am at my knitting group.

 While DD was having her afternoon nap I also hooked out the patchwork quilt I started working on forever ago and made another 2 stars to add to it. It was lovely to just sit in the open window and sew. I'm hoping to work on this project a little more over the summer and possibly end up with a new quilt for winter, but we shall see how it goes.

And finally I completed another task on my spring clean/before baby to do list and blitzed a bookshelf. I've bagged up 4 carrier bags full of books that I've either read, tried to read and hated or just lost interest in. They will mostly be destined for the charity shop but some I've registered for Book crossing.

After all that I am going to relax with a cup of tea and watch DD have a tea party with her stuffed animals
x x x

Sunday Outings and Monday's plans.

 Yesterday we visited my parents for the afternoon and we all ended up going to a local restaurant that had recently opened. I would love to say it was a nice meal out but it really wasn't. Two of our meals had be sent back because they were wrong and the whole place was sweltering hot. I certainly won't be returning in the near future :(
 DD enjoyed spending most the time blowing bubbles in her chocolate milk so she was happy.

Our plans for today are to start DD on some basic homeschooling using this scheme here. We still haven't decided anything long term but have agreed that she is ready to start learning now. So today we will be introducing the first weeks theme which is cows with some colouring, rhymes and stories on the bovine theme.
 I have already sorted out her craft box which has been on my list of things to do forever!!! Thanks to a horrible bout of heartburn this morning I was the first one up and able to get it organised in peace. I'm even £9 richer as I found some T***o voucher I didn't even know I had. As well as a Sun bonnet sue embroidery patch to do and an unopened pack of hair slides that I can crochet more hearts and flowers for.
 This afternoon is certainly going to be craft based with two new projects to get on with, my blanket is on a back burner as I'm waiting for some matching white wool to arrive at the local wool shop/
 Hope you all have a lovely Monday



x x x

The great debate

 There is a debate raging at the frugal handmade home at the moment. DD is fast approaching the time to start preschool, she is next on the waiting list to start before Christmas.I have always said that my children would be home schooled. I feel it is a better, safer and with better results. Some of this comes from my personal experiences of attending school which was quite honestly the worst experience of my life and something I still feel I carry issues from. But am I allowing my own fears and phobias to be passed onto my DD by not sending her to main stream education?
 My OH feels that she should be in school but we should keep a careful eye on her education and pick up
the slack in any areas  we feel she isn't getting enough support in. If it is a subject we cannot teach ourselves (languages for example) we will make sacrifices and hire tutors for extra lessons at home.
 It is a subject we talk about a lot at the moment and we tend to go in circles after a while. Our agreement at the moment is that DD will be attending pre school and we will observe carefully how she gets on. As it is easier to remove her from school than it is to enter her into it later.
 Our biggest concern if she is home schooled would be her social development. We would combat this by enrolling her in various groups and activity's such as swimming and learning a martial arts (OH has always said he wants his children able to defend themselves). She already shows an interest in singing and dancing so a drama/choir group could also be an option. We are also lucky to live in an area that has a fantastic homeschooling network where children can meet up for day trips and lessons (often they hire a local science lab area for a day and preform experiments). So I feel this will combat some of her social life and development.

 Do any of my readers home educate their children or have experience of trying it? How do you tackle the social aspects of home learning? Are there any areas you struggle with?

x x x