Counterpane

James is continuing to enjoy his Garden of Verse. He asked me to read him 3 tonight and then wanted to have more - I did not realise how much he would enjoy poems. I am so glad we have been introducing this to him gently every night. Today we covered a little boy who was sick and who imagined a city on his bed with all his toys, with him as the giant. I asked James what a counterpane was and he did not know. I then realised - did I know? I said a duvet but later had to check - it turned out to be a quilt or bed spread so I was nearly right. This is SO good for stretching MY vocabulary.

Flower Pots

I saw these on the web the other day and they are just too cute - I may have to do these for Hannah's Birthday! They would also be great for the Carrot Seed. I think my lovely friend Becky showed me a picture of these but I cannot remember where so it's great to now have a link. I love how she used real Carnations.

http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2012/03/easy-flower-pot-cupcakes.html#comment-form

Twinkly Diamond

So does Hannah know what a diamond is (as re: last FB post) ? Yes! She made a beautiful one today with her hands and fingers and sang Twinkle Twinkle - why do I put out things that are just not her?

Life is the School

I found this artwork recently and thought it was just for this blog!

I also realised you can get it as a bumper sticker. Mmmmmm.......

Useful Resources

I have been finding a few resources that have been helpful for FB and I wanted somewhere to record them for future use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFKzriYtEt8  If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OId535urADE The Three Tenors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TuvTsQfwOg Spanish 1-10
http://www.wegivebooks.org/books Great books to read online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djz82FBYiug Jolly Phonics

FB 29 - Day 7 Continued

So today we spent some time doing a few extra bits off Day 7 as yesterday was spent mostly outdoors :-) Saying that today was also spent mostly outdoors! The children today wanted to take their umbrellas to school - I am not sure why but why not? On the way up James discovered he could hang his umbrella on a tree - "Look Mummy it's like a hook!" He did this again and again - he loved it. WE then made up a little story about pretending to live outdoors and hanging our coat on the trees when we finished school James would then sleep in the grit bin and have fire flies provide the light! I said I think James would be great at making furniture out of nature.

When we got home we got the chalks out and played outside. She loved this. It was also her first time to draw hair on a little face (I drew the circle). She also then drew a flower - with a green chalk she kept saying this is the stalk and drew about 3! I think in part she just loved being outside and enjoying the fresh air and being allowed to draw on the floor :-). I did bring the colours out and the stickers with the plan to put stickers on the lines of the diamond - but Hannah was not interested. She did some colouring and her only little thing and then said I've drawn a diamond - it was not quite right but in her mind it was. She knows what a diamond is - so I am not sure why I provided this activity - maybe for review or to reinforce.

We finished our morning with some more scooter practice - there is a big improvement in her confidence and pushing. I think she just loves being on James big boy scooter. Ironically today she spotted two bugs while we were outside and named them both - "fly away bumble bee" and ladybirds (one which was not moving so she proclaimed as dead - I then helped it to move a bit and she said "oh it was sleeping!") It showed me that it is important to point out things gently and not expect her to react in the moment but to watch for that knowledge to make its way out spontaneously.

On our way back to the house Hannah asked to go to the stream.In we went and once again we had a lovely time. I so love the noise of the water - it seems to SO calm me. This is the view of the stream looking away from the house.

Our play was all going well until this happened!

So that ended our morning out - it was then a strip down and a warm towel and a cuddle and some lunch :-) Another lovely morning of gentle natural Hannah led learning.

Learning Letter Sounds

I have not as yet intentionally taught Hannah letter sounds but she seems to be picking them up by osmosis. At the dinner table the other day we were playing a game where we think of a letter and a word beginning with that letter and everyone has to guess. This is really easy for James now but it was interesting to hear Hannah join in. These were her unprompted answers:

• k - kite
• oo - cuckoo
• m - mummy
• d - daddy
• j - james

She was also watching Praise Baby and saw the letter B and said "like bib" and then when the C came on she said C for cat. Today when for FB it was Y for yoghurt. So I put a Y magnet out and said can you guess what we are having for pudding and she said yoghurt! I am not sure whether to look at letters in an intentional way or simply let this very natural learning continue.

Musical Tree

When Hannah was looking at a tree the other day - she said "What's this?" I told her it was bark  - she then looked at it and said "like the computer music" - she was thinking of the Classical CD of Bach that we have and we listen to through the computer!

We were driving home somewhere later in the day and looking out of the car she said "Look at that broken up car!" meaning a broken down car. How sweet!

FB 29 - Day 7

Well today did not really happen (at least for FB directly). It was a beautiful day and for some reason I was simply sad and tired (hormones perhaps?). I so wanted to enjoy the warm sunshine on my back but it was just hard. I am sure that most Mums have these days but I felt bad about having no motivation to do FB. In the end after school we walked for a long time doing our same route (:-)) The idea was to take the magnifying glass and look for micro beasts. Hannah was NOT interested. In fact everything I pointed out she glanced at and moved on! This is probably an important thing to learn - education of intimacies is about the child discovering for themselves with their own eyes. I can point out things but I must not expect a response - the child may love it or not be that interested.

The things she did enjoy though were where her heart was. Since reading We're going on a Bear Hunt Hannah loves grass. She points it out and says look grass - long wavy grass, swishy swashy! She also tried to climb her rock (sheer face) and this time she went a little way up and said "it's not slippy, the rain has stopped" - top marks for observations! I showed her some woodlouse and flowers but she wanted to look at her hand :-). It did make me realise that we could do with a better magnifying glass - it does not really make things bigger plus I needed to show her how to use it - she was putting it right to her eye and seeing double! She did find a dandelion and gave it a good look, then sniffed it and gave herself a yellow moustache :-) She carried this nearly all the way home until she sat on it at snack time.

At the waterfall she picked a stick and tried to throw it down the waterfall. She must have tried 6 times. I was itching to help but realised it was a great opportunity to develop perseverance. Even though it never went in she was ok and it showed me that I want her to have the pleasure of the outcome (the stick in the water) without realising that the trying is SUCH an important part of the process. It was great seeing her try and reach it each time as she had to get under the rails and get it. What a great opportunity to develop spatial awareness.

We headed home and it had at that point been an hour and a half that we had been outside. I was tired -I think in part it is my lack of stamina! We had some time inside and it gave me an opportunity to read some of Charlotte Mason's teaching on pre-schools and she recommended 4-6 hours outside! I am not sure if we will ever manage that with the English weather but we then went out again and went and played in the stream. The stream has a bar across for some reason - Hannah said we can't go under it we have to go over it. She then had a wonderful time splashing in the "deep" area and we played houses up and down the steps (upstairs/downstairs) next to the stream. So lots more learning - I just need to get fitter especially when she then wanted to do roller skates AND scooter play!

Little Movers

After school Daddy kindly  gave Mummy a few moments and took the children outside. It was such a blessing to see them both have such fun. James has become incredibly confident on his bike and is now completely independent.. Hannah is learning to use the scooter and becoming more confident every day. Well done my little movers! Well done Daddy for taking them out!

Rainbow - Nature Walk Week 12

On our morning school walk there was a shower and the children walked up with their umbrellas. they looked really cute although James is not keen on having his photo taken!

My Wonderful Children in the Rain

As we walked along we then saw a rainbow!

Rainbow on our Morning School Walk

I asked James when there was a rainbow in the Bible and he was able to say Noah. I asked him what it meant and he said it was that God has promised never to flood the earth again. A wonderful little moment to remind James of the Word.

FB 29 - Day 6

Hannah is still really enjoying painting. She discovered a Thomas activity in the cupboard which uses water to reveal a picture. She gets them all out and paints each one of them until they are completed. So today we started with water painting with me doing a couple - it is quite calming, especially when listening to Beethoven!

Hannah then watched the Leap Frog Letter Factory. I do like this DVD - it really seems to make letter learning fun and both Hannah and James seemed to have learned a lot of their letters with it. Then it was "real" painting time. The manual then suggested to paint a brown bear - Hannah was not interested although she did encourage me to do it! She then went painting happy - hands, elbows, mixing etc. She was delighted to discover that red and white mixed to make her favourite colour pink! I asked her what her painting was and she did not really answer - it was simply painting. I then was given certain colours to paint with and ended up painting a green bear - it made me think of the Artist who painted a blue horse.

Hannah watched the Three Tenors while waiting for lunch. She said they were not singing and I being in the kitchen said they do but one at a time. It was not until a few minutes when I went back later that I realised it had frozen! She loves this little Utube video. It is a Christmas one and the Three tenors and being a little silly! She then helped with lunch. She likes getting things out and choosing what she wants. She chose some strawberries and said we needed to wash them. I gave her the sieve and asked her  to put them in - she spontaneously starting counting - not one to one but as though she knew what she was doing. A great way to practice counting. She also did the same with the toy eggs and a pink egg box I found!

We went on a spider web hunt on our nature walk and found one which we touched and talked about how sticky it was and how gentle we have to be when we touched it. There were no flies so we will have to come back another day. I tried to take a photo but it was a bit tricky!

There was a spider web here, so fine it is not possible to see, a photo by emmajroy on Flickr.

We are gradually learning the Spanish numbers as we watch Utube every day - I think I am beginning to learn the accent. As I learn them I think I will use the UTube less and start to use manipulatives.

I do not have Little Bear yet but it has been ordered - I have ordered it with a CD so we can listen to it in the car. I am So excited. Instead we read The Artist who painted the Blue Horse, Baby Talk, If you a Mouse a Cookie and Pointed Hatted Princesses. When Hannah reads this she puts her fingers on the words and reads from memory. She must be watching James and I as we practice reading!

Reading Delight

Hannah was watching television this morning. She then ran to me in the kitchen and said "Can I read books?" She had seen her favourite book - the Treasury Book with Give a Mouse a Cookie and George and wanted to read that above TV. What a precious moment - of course I stopped what I was doing and snuggled on the sofa with my beautiful little daughter.

Windy?

On the way to school Hannah asked to take off her coat. Earlier on the walk it had been really windy with quite a wind chill factor so I said "No it's windy". Hannah then looked around and said "But Mummy there is not wind, the trees are not moving."I cannot beat her logic as the wind had died down and we were in a sheltered spot!

Nature Walk Week 12

We seem to be doing the same route each nature walk at the moment which is lovely as we get to see changes each week as Spring is on it's way. I think next week I may though take her the "Quiet Way Home" - more of that next week :-)

I decided to take my camera this week and although I only took a few pictures - it was a bit of a distraction so I will only take it on occasions. Once I am behing the camera I am not able to see Hannah and being so close to the road - makes it a little stressful (no pavements). I also feel a little like I am looking for the next picture rather than observing and listening.

Our walk took us past a grass verge - Hannah said "Oh look grass" and then wanted to walk on it and feel it underfoot. I am SO forgetful that this is all new to her. This led to a drainpipe and Hannah told me she could hear a drip drip. I pointed out some bubbles and I sang Insy Winsy Spider. As we approached the waterfall there is a large slate of rock that James likes to climb. Hannah went over and attempted to climb and then said "Oh it's slippy!". We walked a little further and Hannah picked a stick in preparation for the waterfall. She knows what to do now! She is so much better at following the stick now and seeing if it floats or gets stuck. As we walked down the gill we looked back at the waterfall and Hannah said "there is a big one and a little one (there is also a little waterfall)"

Hannah standing in front of the Waterfall

What a cutie! Hannah then wanted to go to the Double Chestnut area. So off we went. Hannah wanted to go along the wall. It was SO slippy - although I was holding her she nearly fell a few times! I asked her why she thought it was so slippy and she said because it had been raining. When we got there we played Hide and Seek and then sat down and read Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathon Emmett - it was s special to read a book outdoors. I would love to do more of this.

We walked further down the hill and met Lola the dog and Barry the owner. He is very kind and allows Hannah to give the dog biscuits when she shakes a paw! I think the children have adopted the dog as their surrogate pet! We stopped by the low wall area and Hannah threw in a large stick. We had as look at the waterfall upstream which was beautiful and then walked home.

Looking upstream towards the waterfall, Lindale

Little moments of Learning

Today has been a day of little moments of learning and Mummy realising what my children know! Today hannah started playing with the nature basket and picked up a snail shell. James asked if you could hear the sea in the shell. I explained this was a snail shell and told him I could not hear the sea in it. He then starts rummaging in the basket and founds a sea shell and said "Mummy I can hear the sea - it's like when you have a power nap (when I nap and sleep I have white noise :-))! The play then moves onto other things including cuddling under blankets. Hannah turns to me and says "Where is the smooth stone?" She had found one stone on the floor from the nature basket but it felt rough to her and so was looking for the smooth one - I did not even realise she knew the difference.

In Bible time we have started reading from the Toddler Bible. I was not sure how to approach Bible time and the Lord placed it on my heart to start SIMPLE. So we snuggled on the sofa and read about Creation. I asked the children some questions to check comprehension. When I putted to a page with clouds and the ocean on I asked Hannah what God made that day (pointing to the picture) - she beautifully said "the clouds and the ocean!" She had been listening depsite her wriggling. It was then time to pray - James then asked to do the See and Know Prayer Song - we used to do this when he was little so it was really sweet to hear him requesting it.

We have borrowed a book called The Blue Horse by Eric Carle. It is a wonderful book showing that anybody can be an artist. A polar bear does not have to be white when painting. Hannah though loves things to be just right and giggled all the way through - she loved the pink rabbit and was so sweet and adamant when we got to the polar bear page and said "the polar bear is meant to be white" with lots of giggles.  We love this book and it would make a great go-along book for I am an Artist.

When we walked to school - where SO much learning happens, the sun was high in the sky and created beautiful shadows. Every so often the shadows disappeared  - the children asked where they had gone. I explained the sun needed to be behind us and sometimes it was hidden by buildings and trees. It was fun to find our shadows and for them to "hide" again. A little while later James said 'my shadow has gone', in response Hannah said "the is not there so the shadow has gone" and she looked behind her. The shadows provide such fun - we move our bodies in different ways and trying to step on each others shadows.

On the way back home we went through a little footpath that is overgrown and we played "We are going on a bear hunt and Hannah loved saying "swishy swashy". I love it when books come to life in the outdoors! Such sweet memories are created.

Hannah has a graze on her elbow at the moment and when she looks at it - she says my x-ray is sore. I think she means because she can see blood she can see inside her body. I know I should have but I didn't want to correct her!