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.

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!

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!

FB Month 29 - Day 5

We continue to sing the ABC song lots - Hannah especially loves to sing this to her heart's content. I decided that as Hannah now sings this beautifully we would do something different - so as we walked up to school this morning I said that when I said a particular letter I would chase them! This meant that they had to listen really carefully. James got this straight away. He then asked to have a go and being the little boy who loves to be chased he said A. I think we will play this again. I also put on the Jolly Phonics Utube which sings a tune to all the phonics sounds - she loved this. I need to try and remember the tunes!

Hannah listened to the Three Tenors today on Utube while I did the washing up. I t was SO funny because I started tuning into what she was doing and she was singing along in a kind of opera voice! I must try and get a video of this is she does it again.

We have meant to be learning to count to 5 in Spanish but I have neglected this - I think I do not trust my pronunciation! I managed to find a Utube that showed how to same the numbers in a child way so i will think we wil use this in future until I and Hannah have learned them. Today's tune was Jimmy Crack Corn and it has really made me laugh how much she has sung this - she LOVES it. I am not sure of the words but I don't think she gets them - I think she just loves the tune :-)

Untitled, a photo by emmajroy on Flickr.

For colouring time the guide said to draw a Q and P - once again Hannah was not interested but she did like to colour  over it with a highlighter. I loved the way Hannah naturally then led the table time. She decided she wanted to use the glue - so I cut up the pieces and she then stuck them on. She would say "I need a white or I need a pink" and then do glue circles. To check that they were stuck she would lift the paper! After this I drew some faces on the white ones and we chatted about the the different faces and what they looked like - sad, happy, angry etc. Hannah had a go at cutting herself but still finds this difficult. In our reading we had read Harold and Purple Crayon (twice at Hannah's request). I had some purple coloring pens ready for her to draw a picture but she chose not to.

While we were doing this we listened to the Blues. Hannah then decided she wanted to be a ballerina and dance. Thankfully I was able to record this because it was the sweetest and funniest thing ever!

In the evening I put out some bowls of different foods - crisps, sweets, tomatoes and an orange. We then had a chat about what was healthy and what was not healthy. Daddy then pretended to be My Unhealthy and Mummy pretended to be Mrs Healthy and Hannah had to choose who to give each bowl to. This was too hard but it was fun seeing Daddy pretending to be unhealthy with sore teeth, a fat tummy and feeling sad and tired.

Daddy being Mr Unhealthy!, a photo by emmajroy on Flickr.

Going with the Flow

Hannah helped me to make bread today - a learning curve for both of us which I hope to do much more often. Hopefully we will both become proficient in gluten free bread making! Afterward she had a wonderful time "washing up". I began thinking we have not really done Flowering Baby this morning and then I listened to what she was saying. She picked up a tomato plastic container which I was going to wash and said "Oh the water is going down - Oh it has holes in it!" I think that was her science lesson for the day! She then said - this is plastic. I have no idea where she learned that. She then sang her own version of Pop Goes the Weasel several times :-) As she was finishing she said "It's OK Mummy James is at school and he is OK, he is happy and is not crying." Can she read my mind!!!!!

I tried encouraging her with yellow play dough as per FB but very quickly she went on to ask for pink play dough and made little pies in pots for very both of us! I did not try and make rectangles. I do not think that Hannah likes to learn this way. She seems to absorb and then by herself she will see something and make a connection. For example today we played with her numbers puzzle. I put the pieces in a bag and she pulled one out and put it in. She loved this. She was determined to find the zero! She was delighted when she got it. In the evening when I read her Bible book she saw a man and she said "his face looks like a zero!" Going back to the colours - I am not sure which ones she knows - I think she knows a lot, if you ask her she will not say always but then spontaneously she will see something and correctly identify the colour. We were meant to spot something blue today so I did on the walk up to school - that is her kind of play "Who is the first to find a blue door?"

I did find a straw and Hannah loved this - I have never seen her drink so much water! She also worked out on her own that she could make bubbles - she thought this was very funny. She then said "Look it loks like a tongue and it bends". We spent some time looking at the mirror and she was intrigued by this - especially by the magnifying side. We had a little chat about the face parts but this was review for her. I tried to chat about teeth but she is not ready for dental hygiene yet! She did however work out that she coud open her yoghurt independently with her teeth!

I was meant to show Hannah an O and P today but she was SO not interested which is fine. She is very very interested in the dot paints and I think for her Birthday I may get the full colours. Painting in fact I think is her favourite activity! that and dressing up :-)

Count in 2's

Another idea from Flowering Baby is to count in 2's - I was not sure how to make this fun until I thought of making a rhyme and a game. I sing 2,4,6,8,10, You can't catch me and put me in the pen. I am the farmer and they are the piglets and I have to chase them. I am not sure if they are learning to count in 2's but we are having FUN!

Update (09.03.12): Hannah helped to sing today and managed 4,6,8 - she loves this game and said to me today when she caught me that I was a very naughty little piglet!

Classical Kids

For Flowering Baby it is encouraged that I expose Hannah to different classical music. This was fine for Wee Sing as we had that on the background as we played but for the others it has been more difficult. I think it is maybe because we hav little of that type of music. So we got Classical Kids of Bach. It has been a big hit - more so with James but even Hannah recognised one piece which was on Little Einsteins. The main thing is that it explains about the composer as well as having a good representation of the music of the composer. I have learnt SO much and only learned it once or twice. I think it is really well done and would consider the others in the series.

Update (09.03.12) I decided to put Classical Kids on while the che children were having breakfast as otherwise they just end up mega silly. Hannah recognised the music again in Little Einsteins and I said to her - that's Bachs' music, can you say Bach? James then piped up and said it's not Bach its Yohann Sebastien Bach. He has DEFINITELY been listening! He then brought his Lego down and played with it for ages listening to the CD, it also repeated. He then did a puzzle. I am not sure but I am wondering if it calmed him as well. Whatever - he seems to really like it!

Pop Goes the Weasel

For Flowering Baby this month we are singing Pop Goes the Weasel. It struck me that I did not know the words and also I did not understand what it meant! So I thought I would do a little research. It seems it dates back to the 1700's. The verse is derived from Cockney Rhyming slang. The Cockney's were suspicious of strangers and dislike of the police (and still are). Cockney's developed a language of their own based roughly on rhyming slang. It was difficult to understand and often the second noun was dropped. Apples and Pears means stairs but was abbreviated to just apples e.g. watch your step on the apples. To Pop means to pawn i.e. sell. Weasel and stout means coat. It was traditional for even poor people to have a suit for Sundays. When times were hard they would sell their coat on Monday and but it back before Sunday!

Up and down the city road, in and out of the eagle refers to The Eagle Tavern which is located in Hackney, London. It was an old pub that became a Music Hall in 1825. It was purchased by the Salvation Army in 1833. It was then demolished and became a pub in 1901