Weather and Gardening

Back in November I made a note of everything we did in a day. I love using this blog as a record, looking back at old posts to remember those moments that are small and seemingly insignificant but nonetheless special in their own right. Last week I did it again.

On this particular day I was first to wake, that is not always the case, sometimes Cameron is up long before me and has had his breakfast and is sitting doing something when I come downstairs. I do like my mornings when I am up first it helps me get the day going although, because I know that this is not always the case, I usually organise myself the night before.  I like to spend that time tidying, putting the washing on and making myself a pot of tea.  I potter without distractions making myself ready for when the children come down.  Alice appeared first with an armful of soft toys, some of which go everywhere with her.  Whilst I cooked the pancakes we have for breakfast she played with a playmobil figure she has named Emily, she too was cooking pancakes in her kitchen.  Whilst we were eating them we talked about Penguins and do they only lay one egg and why, the sound the washing machine was making, which to her was like being on a train, and whether I had seen her on the hanging bar at gymnastics she had been too tall to hang from it!  At some point Cameron came down and got himself his breakfast and joined us at the table.  We talked about our plans for the day and what time we were going to do what, this conversation was interrupted by a phone call from one of Cameron's friends in the village it was somewhat fortuitous as he was asking if Cameron wanted to go out for a walk in the afternoon, we adapted our plans accordingly.

Cameron always likes to spend an hour on the computer after his breakfast, I have tried hard to change this but I have had to make peace with the fact that that is the way our days look at the moment.  Alice is much more of a take it or leave it with screens, on this particular morning she also spend time on our tablet at the same time, but that was the only morning in that week that she did.  Whilst they were busy I hung the washing outside, watered the new herb plants I recently bought and sewed the finally seam on a present.

After half an hour Alice was ready for something else.  We played a game of dominoes with a set of cards that I made years ago for Cameron. They are used to play a whole set of games, dominoes being one of them, to provide experience of mathematical relations, likeness and difference.  When Cameron's time was up we had a game of ludo with two dice, multiplying the two numbers thrown to give the amount to move your counter this has been a great way to learn the tables up to six, I have ordered some ten sided dice to help with learning the rest.

We have never observed or celebrated at Easter in our house,  now that I have the framework of an Advent project I wanted to do the same for Easter.  In the weeks leading up to Lent I spent time drawing together stories, books, craft ideas, poems and songs, as Easter coincided with the dawning of Spring this year some of what I chose fitted with that too.  On this particular day we read The Angel and the Dove and sang two songs from Spring.

Last year we spent time doing projects together this worked well for most of the year, as the year drew on I realised that their needs were changing and they would benefit more from working on their own individual projects.  They both wanted to work towards Scouting badges for their first project of the year.  Cameron has been learning about the weather and Alice, gardening.  On this particular morning Cameron read about synoptic charts and drew one for his lap book, whilst Alice drew a tree depicting the changes of the seasons.  Whilst they were both hard at work I sat writing too.  I am enjoying this time we have a few mornings a week, I can write letters and blog posts both things that I have struggled to find the time for in the past.  I think it is important that I model this behaviour in front of them, showing them that the hard work they put in now will have a use later in life.

It may sound like it was a morning full of hard work but it ended with some play time whilst I got dinner ready.  Keepy uppy with a balloon and an elaborate game with toy cars that started yesterday.  Whilst we ate lunch we listened to Mali a Putumayo CD which doesn't seem to be available anymore.  To bring our meal and the morning to a close we read a story from this book and a poem from Spring.

Cameron went off for the afternoon with this friend.  They were taking a walk round the village to find suitable sites for filming.  He and his friend have spent some time over the past few weeks writing a script together, a Roman and Celt based story.   Alice and I decided to make some Flower Fairies together she made a daisy and I a Violet, I am not convinced mine came out that well but it is very sweet all the same.   We put them both on our seasonal table along with the crocus fairy that she made a few months ago.  We store all our seasonal table bits in a couple of shoe boxes which are getting very full, Alice went through them both and found a lot peg people that shouldn't have been in there.  She had great fun playing with them all and has continued to for the rest of the week.  We sat and read a chapter book together on the sofa by which time Cameron had returned from a successful walk.  They played more car games, playmobil and lego whilst I cooked tea.

Having eaten and cleared up, we spent the evening watching a programme from this series.  Programmes like this always make me wish that I was born into that world.  The day closed with a chapter from our current bedtime book and some reading for me, a marvellous book that kept me up late for a few nights!

It is interesting to look back over the previous posts to note the changes.  The biggest is that I am doing more and more preparation.  This comes in fits and bursts at the moment, a setting up period which requires a lot of time followed by my weekly planning to fit all that preparation into our rhythm.  Cameron is nearing the end of his weather project and wants to learn more about our village next.  Alice is really keen to learn to read, she has expressed an interest before but the methods I have used in the past have not been right for her.  She learns very differently to Cameron so I have to rewrite everything I have used for him.  She is nearly seven and I feel she is ready to learn her letters now, but if she isn't then I hope that what I have spent time putting together will be right for her some day.  I will be back in six months time, I wonder what we will be doing then?