Work - is it still happening?

When I started out blogging a few years ago, I set out to record our home education achievements.  I guess all that we do could be classed as achievements, but I rarely talk about the work side of things these days.  Well, just to reassure myself that it is still happening, albeit in a somewhat random fashion, I thought I’d write a few words about it.

I’m delighted that Hermione is now reading for pleasure every day and not just when she ‘has to’.  I feel that’s a huge break through.  I worried she’d never have the love of reading that I have.  I gain so much pleasure and knowledge from reading and want my children to share in that too.  So, hurrah, it’s finally happening!

She’s steaming ahead with her maths, still using predominantly the Conquer Maths programme.  She wrapped up what would have been the end of this academic years work a few weeks ago, and is now pressing on with what, in the system, she would be starting in September.

   

English is still coming along nicely, and like her maths, she’s working ahead of the level that would be expected were she in the system.  We still use Galore Park for the vast majority of our English work. 

Everything else is covered in a much more random fashion with the help of other Galore Park books, Brain Pop, First News, study units from places such as Curclick and more.

The end is in sight for the Bronze Arts Award.  I think she has till September to have that submitted for moderation but I think it will be wrapped up well before then.  It’s been an interesting journey and I think she’s gained much more from it than I originally envisaged.  All being well I hope she can get cracking with the Silver Arts Award hot on the heels of the Bronze.  Currently the Arts Awards qualifications carry points which can be counted when applying for college and university admissions.  That system is going to change within the next year or two but those who have already earned the points will be able to keep them, so, the pressure’s on!

On the IT front, the Arts Award has been the stimulus we needed to really get to grips with Prezi, the new online presentation programme which is set to take over from PowerPoint.   It’s a great way to present text, pictures, video clips and more.  Hermione used it to present the Neo Classical Architecture aspect of her project – complete with a hilarious tongue in cheek video clip her and a friend made about it.  I never thought I would see a panda and a dragon discussing the finer points of Neoclassicism, but I have now!

French has come to an end; we concluded the efforts and returns weren’t in keeping.  I know that languages are highly valued these days and I’m aware that many colleges expect one language GCSE as part of entry requirements.  We’ve talked about it and we’re interested in exploring sign language – just as soon as we have a moment to spare.  I know it’s not the same, but then home educated children aren’t the same; that’s the point in a way.  If someone wanders into Asda and can only speak French, there is a fair chance that someone will be able to come forward and assist.  Were someone to wander into Asda and could only communicate with sign language, I’m not so sure there would be so many folks able to help out.  I think it’s a good skill to have and we really must make time to look further into it.

I still have a tutor helping me out three hours a week, although I’m not sure how long we will have her as she’s a university student in a gap year.  I’ll be sad to see her go.  I didn’t envisage using a tutor at the outset, but, I’ve come to accept there’s a limit to how thinly I can spread myself and sometimes it really helps to have someone to ease the load.  It sometimes pains me to bring in someone else to do what I can do myself, but there are only so many hours in a day.

Well, what about Miles?  He’s ever so busy, doing more work type stuff all the time.  Literacy can be heavy going, but he finds maths to be a breeze.  He’s zooming ahead with the Conquer Maths programme and loves BrainPop.  

He’s spent hours of late playing Monopoly, so much so that I can take no more and have decided it’s about time he learned to play Chess.  I think he has the patience and determination to master it but last night I decided to Google for tips about teaching children to play.  I discovered a game called No Stress Chess which helps children to learn the moves.  It’s a chess game with a deck of cards which each have a chess move on them.  You take a card from the top of the pack and you have to move the piece which is on the card, and, it shows you the pattern in which that piece can move.  Obviously the outcome of the game is determined by chance, but in the meantime newbies can learn what each piece does. 

I could go on but I think I’ll stop there.  I think I just needed to satisfy myself that there still is something to say on the subject!

It’s been a hair raising week with sickness (to include hurly behaviour in the midst of a sleepover, guests being evacuated from sickness zone at what felt like crack of dawn), hospitals and much other dross.  When the rest of the country was watching the water levels on the roads rise, as we had the worst storms and flash floods in years, I came round in a wet recovery room to find nurses frantically trying to stem the creep of flood water from slipping under the operating theatre door with incontinence bed pads!

Here’s to a light and airy week, free from the feeling of trudging through treacle!  I'm off to bed now with The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

    

Fabric Fusion

I've been experimenting fusing different fabrics with bondaweb.  I say fabric, but I've used lace, feathers, sweet wrappers, flowers and lots of other things too.

I decided to firm this piece up by machine stitching round the outside first then stitching round a 'window' which I cut open and stitched back with beads.

Still lots of granny squaring going on!

Anther fusion with window as above, using dried flowers.

To fuse the fabrics I placed a piece of sheeting on the bottom, followed by a piece of bondaweb, followed by scraps (any bits you want to put in) then either sheer fabric or netting.  It's fun and almost instantaneous, which I like.  My patience for big craft projects is limited.

Up the Patch

Well, there's another week gone by!  It's been a busy one and I feel I've lots to tell, but for today I'm just going to talk about our patch up the garden where the beasties hang out.

Alfie continues to spend too much time hanging out indoors.  Good job he's cute and only very rarely snacks on laptop cables.

The ducklings are not quite three weeks old yet but are huge in comparison to their size at birth.  They are probably more than ten times their birth weight now, if not much more.  It's remarkable.

They are starting to feather and their backs look as though they will be well feathered within another week.  Ping, one of the yellow ducklings has what looks like black roots!  He's going to be a black duck.  I say 'he' as I'm quite convinced he's a daddy.  He has a curled up tail and roams around with his mouth open making low level noise - not quite a quack, just more of a drone.

By comparison, Duchess' yellow fluff appears to be being replaced with white feathers.  What a flock of ragamuffins!

They have been loose in the garden now, but only when we can keep an eye.  I don't trust the hens with babies, they're like velociraptors.

A rare sight to see one separate from the other two; it was just a brief moment.

They have gone from being tiny little things in the bathroom sick, to only just being able to get into a washing up bowl.  I expected them to grow quickly but they have surpassed my expectations.

So, what else has been happening in the patch?  Up until this week I felt rather smug when other poultry fanciers moaned about their battle with Red Mite.  I felt particularly smug when our vet said his hens hadn't been clear for four years.  Well, that satisfied smirk has been well and truly wiped off my face this week.  We have Red Mite!

Red Mite live in the cracks and crannies of the hen house, coming out onto the birds to feed at night.  They're tiny things, not quite the size of a pinhead and they suck hen's blood.  They pose no risk in terms of affecting egg safety in anyway whatsoever, however, they can, if the infestation is bad, make the hens anemic and unwell.

Thankfully I think we have spotted it early on.  There are no signs of anemia or other issues in the hens, however, I noticed a tiny one or two on my arm when I had been working in the coups the other day.  Because I was suspicious we dismantled perches and other parts of the housing to have a thorough search.  Our fears were confirmed.  It wasn't mega, but they were there.

The trouble is they are very hard to eradicate and one of the main reasons I keep my own birds is because I want to know what goes into our eggs.  I want to avoid chemical solutions at all costs. Firstly we tried an ozone generator in the housing.  After an hour or so the tiny crawly things were scarcely moving, but we weren't convinced they were dead - most likely because the ozone couldn't reach necessary concentrations as there are so many ventilation holes.

Since our favored easy solution had failed it was time to bring in the big guns.  We nigh on dismantled the whole structure and blow torched every nook and cranny.  I felt so irrationally affronted by their presence that I almost set the (wood) houses on fire, such was my enthusiasm with the blow torch.  If you've never used a blow torch before I can recommend it.  It's very therapeutic.

So, there you have it, the ups and downs of this week in the patch.  Here's hoping this week sees those beautiful little ducklings continue to grow while the Red Mite remain totally and utterly frazzled.

Happy Days

 Oh, where do the days go?

I'm pleased to say we've been busy pottering in pretty gardens...

..making pizzas...hmmmmm  yummmmm.....

..and feeling the luuuurve.

I've become the proud owner of this delightful little sheep, hand felted by a lady I know in person, which somehow makes it even more special.  It was a gift from nana; a special gift which i will need to think of carefully before placing her anywhere.  She's not a toy, she wouldn't stand up to rough handling, yet she's so tactile.

Lazy mooches through woodlands scattered with sheep.

Spotting glittery snail trails.  Oh, that's not all I spotted that afternoon either!  I saw a badger, a real, live badger, scuttling along in the tall grass.  I'd never seen a live badger before.

The babies have become ever so rascally...

...and big!  Here's Duchess at eight days old, next to a sizeable duck egg.  Quite remarkable.

Yes, I am talking about you Duchess!

I found a spot for the organza brooch I made.  I've revamped another lightshade.  I'm loving it on here.  It's ever so pretty when the light is both on and off.

Time to round up dirty children from the garden and usher them into the bath.  xx

Organza brooches, textile clouds and stuff

 We went to our Arts Award textile session this morning.  I find the time there really relaxing and rather indulgent; oh the joys of getting crafty during the day when the text books and vacuum cleaner could be calling.

As well as progressing our textile landscapes we also experimented with organza and a heat gun.

This is a collection of colors and textures that I think will sit ever so nicely on my upstairs landing dresser.  Somewhere pretty for my lampshade butterflies to look out on!

This is a brooch; or 'could' be a brooch.  The truth is it's probably not very 'me' in terms of jewelry but I just know I'll spot somewhere within the house where it would look lovely.  It has a brooch clip at the back so I could attach it to a curtain, blind or the likes.

Pretty, sweetpea inspired colours.

Do you like the clouds I added to my landscape today? I made them from a jay cloth and cotton wool.  I wound them round a cocktail stick, smothered with pva glue and left them to dry.  Easy peasy!

Miles is romping along with his history read aloud with Nana.  They're up to the third volume in Story of the World and his knowledge of history is certainly now more wide ranging than mine.

When I Lived In Modern Times

I bought this book last week when it was drastically reduced on Kindle Daily Deal.  An interesting insight into a period and place I know very little about.

Lampshade Makeover

Earlier in the week when I was waiting by the phone for hospital test results, (which thankfully were fine), I fixated upon the frivolous.  It's a common coping strategy round  here!

I decided that I could no longer live with such a naff and uninspiring lampshade on the upstairs landing dresser.  It was plastic-like and although we live in a  smoke free home, it looked like it had spent a good ten years living alongside someone who smoked thirty woodbines a day!  It wasn't cream and it wasn't beige; it was just downright awful.

Anyway, here it is now, having been wrapped in some mulberry paper with glittered butterflies which I picked up in the Paperchase sale, knowing it would come in very useful one day.  I cut it to size and attached it with watered down PVA glue - no posh modge podge stuff here.

It's not perfect and wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny, but it's bright and cheery.  If crafting had to be perfect and precise I'd never craft.