September Home Ed Fun
September was a busy month in home ed land! We gathered at Fyne Court for our Not Back to School ‘Tree Party’ Picnic and had lots of fun playing under the trees. Emma made some of her lovely fairy doors behind which she hid little pots of honey the kids had to hunt for – this is becoming a not back to school tradition! We made some pine cone woodland friends and the trees were adorned with furry woodland friends and really cute woodland theme decorations which Pippa picked up from Lidl. We had a Woodland Trust tree party pack with stickers, masks, a bugs and biscuits game and a variety of nature trails and did a collection for them. Those guys are working hard to preserve our woodlands and forests – something very close to us home edders’ hearts. We sent a press release to the local newspaper and bingo we got a lovely piece in there – great PR for home ed.
Kelly decided to put on a weekly meet up for families at YMCA on Friday mornings which has proved really popular. The more energetic can play basketball and footie or table footie and ping pong, the smalls have their duplo and Kelly always has a cool art table and drinks.
This month has also seen Jen Dinham start her fab first aid courses for kids. Lots of the kids now know how to put people in the recovery position and deliver initial first aid in an emergency – if you get an injury, nosebleed or have a heart attack in their presence you’ll be in good hands! She has lots more fun courses up her sleeve – we can’t wait.
Young chefs were in action again at Venetia Cameron-Rose’s lovely Cookability kitchen this month cooking up some lush spring rolls and pad Thai inspired by Venetia’s travels in the Far East earlier this year.
Young scientists also got back together after the summer under Chemical Cress’s tutelage – we’ve made circuits with conductive paint and thread (very cool) and then the kids designed and made their own robots with vibrating motors.
On the art front our art class has been making Pop Art, beautiful ballet dancers inspired by Edgar Degas, fruity delights in the style of Emma Dibben and latterly, autumn trees inspired by David Hockney,– the kids had to hug and commune with the giant and very ancient London Plane at Weir Lodge to get in the zone before beginning their artistry.
Horsey View Farm Alternative Learning Centre opened its doors this month too – run by Claire Ridewood it offers hands on learning and fun for kids of all ages. She has a farm club and pony club running on alternate mornings and is also offering cool craft workshops. Kids have been painting the chicken coops and making a play area for the goats and lots more. At the end of the month Horsey View held an apple day. Such a great new resource!
Our fun day this month was called Dinosaur ROAR. We made balloon dinosaurs, fabulous dino silhouette paintings, 3-D dino biscuits and salt dough fossils.
One of the kids brought some of her fossil collection for us to see and we hunted for dino hatching eggs in the garden (laid by Carodon apparently). We had a dinosaur swamp and a dinosaur fossil dig. Rupert the T-Rex loved playing with the little dinos and if you arrived without a dino get-up you could make yourself a cool headpiece or get your face painted dino-style and, of course, get on the computer to discover your dinosaur name! The kids aced the trail questions as usual – one day I’ll stump them!
