Small successes

Hi there!
My 3 small successes this week are:
1.) I've finally called it a day on the Kumon classes. While I think both children have benefited from them, it's a relief to all of us to be rid of it, for now anyway. Hubby and I agonised a bit over this decision (well, I did the agonising - he is more than happy not to be spending £140 per month on this!) but we finally agreed to let it go. We are going to have this Bank Holiday weekend completely free of study and just enjoy family stuff.

2.) My next little success would be coming to a decision on what to do for Honor's 9th birthday next week. We were originally going to hire the village hall and have a disco, but our big girl didn't seem all that enthusiastic about it. Then I suddenly thought 'what about a Little House on the Prairie inspired party?' So now I'll be busy planning that. Activities will include things like candle or soap making, some simple cookery and maybe, even, a spelling bee!

3.) Finally, well, I'm just going to go for the flower arrangement I made from the blossom from the garden. I posted the pictures yesterday. Simple, but lovely.

I'm off now to read some other entries on the Faith and Family website as I have just a little time left before baby wakes up.

How does your garden grow?

It has been a fairly sticky day, weather-wise and so we (the babe and I) have spent a lot of today outside. I cut this jug of flowers, quince and apple blossom, from the garden. Aren't they gorgeous? Hope certainly seems to think so!

Here is a new batch of the stinging nettle tonic I am making for the tomatoes.

I planted these tomato plants in the greenhouse today and fed them the tonic I made earlier. Just as Alys Fowler explained on the 'Edible Garden', it did smell very pooey!

And these are some of my hanging baskets. I planted them up at the beginning of April from small plug plants. They have come on quite a lot in just a couple of weeks.

This is our only chicken. Her two friends died recently, but this one is still laying big, white eggs daily. She does seem lonely, though. We intend to get a few more hens next month. Just hope they will get on together.

And these planters belong to Honor-May and Henry. A few months back they sowed som veg seeds in trays and they are now happpily growing outside. They have radishes, swiss chard, beetroot and sweet peas. They also sowed some tomato seeds which are now plants growing in the greenhouse.

Flaming April!

Just a quick post here to comment on the lovely warm weather we've enjoyed over the last few days. We got out the paddling pool. Hope dived in before I got the chance to take off all her clothes!

Day at the zoo.

One of my 'Mummy' friends, otherwise known as LTG, had a free ticket to the zoo and so chose us to share it with her. It was such a lovely day out. Warm sunshine and no noisy crowds. Hope and Summer (LTG's 4 yr old daughter) were a pleasure to take out and obviously enjoyed looking at the elephants, tigers and gorillas at Howlett's Zoo, Canterbury.

Best of all, though, was playing with the woodchip!

We had to get back home in time to pick the older children up from school. I had invited some of their friends over to play so they came with their Mummy. We made ourselves comfortable down at the bottom of the garden. The kids mainly played hide and seek in the field while we, Mummys, chatted over a cup of tea. This particular Mum is currently studying for an MA in Early years so we had talked quite a lot about childhood and education. She seemed pretty interested in the Waldorf method and so I thought she might be interested in some of the links from my blog. There is another blog that I have been looking at recently called 'Childhood Magic'. This one is written by a waldorf inspired homeschooling mother living in California. Her photos are stunning and the playroom she has set up for her children is well worth a look.

http://childhoodmagic.blogspot.com/

Unplugged?

I've just been reading 'Unplug your Kids' (see sidebar for link). Well I wasn't aware but it is 'screen free week'. I think things like this are a good idea. The mere thought of living without a TV would send most people into a panic. But it is possible. Some people do . I remember our German teacher at school telling us that he didn't have one. He was kind of forced to repeat this statement a few times before it actually assimilated into our disbelieving teenage brains! And this was in the Eighties! Imagine that nowadays. I have noticed sometimes, certain people raise an eyebrow when they come to our house to find that we don't have Sky. Neither do we have a Wii or Nintendo. That's our choice for now. These things, in my opinion, have their place and are no doubt enjoyable. (It's a bit of a pain that I have to wait until 'Lost' comes out on dvd!). But I do not think they have a place in our homes at the moment. I prefer not to do without the telly altogether, also. There are particular things our family enjoy watching, and have a positive, helpful effect. After all, this blog is named after our favourite TV programme. Yes, of course we could read the books. Actually, we have done. But the TV programme I think, is even better. Probably down to the absolutely brilliant actors and warm direction of Michael Landon. There are some really gorgeous gardening and cookery programmes that I enjoy watching together with my eldest daughter and Hubby.

However, the point of this post is not to defend my tv habits, but draw attention to the 'Unplugged' cause. It certainly doesn't hurt to think about tv viewing every now and then and try limiting it in favour of finding alternative entertainment. Of course, for kids this can be quite challenging and harder work for parents trying to get a bit of peace maybe?

Anyway, it is worth a read and a ponder.

I'm including the link to a post to the 'Mommy, I'm bored box' post which I've found helpful.

http://http://unplugyourkids.com/2008/04/15/the-mommy-im-bored-box/

Sunday.

A lovely, warm day. I won't bother with writing tonight. Just let the pictures do the talking.
(Except, perhaps, to explain that in this picture I am cutting Henry's hair!).

This morning, we girlies, had the house to ourselves while the boys went out to do boys' stuff, like going to the dump.

I wanted some time to help Honor with her maths. Yes, she does already do quite a bit at home and with Kumon, but I rarely get time to properly tutor her without distraction. So Hubby and I agreed that I would do this on a Saturday morning. Today it went very well. To start with we had our little baby boo there but eventually she went for her morning nap and then it was just the two of us.

The first picture shows her doing her 'maths mat challenge'. It is a Montessori style activity. Today she has some cards with a sum on. She has to solve the sum but also find two of the cups (on the tray) that contain two numbers that make the same answer. This is to develop her mental arithmetic.

We then worked on place value in her workbooks, followed by her Kumon. I enjoyed it and I think if we can keep this up, her confidence will really improve.

She goes back to school on Monday. At the end of last term we attended parents evening. Her teacher said that she'd keep us informed about what maths topics are being studied in class so that we can support her at home. I hope she remembers. I'm thinking I may send Honor in with a little contact book so that her teacher can just quickly jot down ie: 'shape, this week'.

I hope that's not too pushy!

It was also so lovely watching the two sisters playing together, or Honor really taking care of her little sister. Most of the time, Henry and Honor are off playing together. They don't ignore their baby sister and I don't think I've seen them lose their tempers with her. It's just that without Henry, Honor could really pay attention to little Hope. And I could see how much little Hope appreciated it.

Just look at that cuddle. Ahhhhhhhhhh.