February 2018: Climbing, Cats and Snow at last!

The first big snow here for 6 years!

Looking back over the last month it's hard to think of anything but the UK 'Snowmageddon' !!! - people from cold countries must think us Brits are hilarious! The last time we had 'proper' snow where we live, Owen was only a few months old, so this was his first real experience of the chilly white stuff and he LOVED it!

I love you snow!

Pre-snowpocalypse we'd had a fairly laid back month and a lot of at home time (it had been sodding freezing). I must admit to having days where I worry that we are not doing enough 'learning' but then remind myself that everything is a learning experience and happiness and good mental health are more important than good grades. He is still only 6 after all and it seems I'm the one who is needing the time to 'unschool' my way of thinking not him! 

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I was reading a worrying article researching children's mental health, did you know that:
1 in 5 children have mental health problems
There has been a 43% increase in ADHD
A 37% increase in teen depression
A 100% increase in the suicide rate of kids 10-14 years old?

There is very thought provoking blog post here with parenting tips that I wanted to share: What are we doing to our children?

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Lots more slime has been made and maybe my talk of the science behind it and how polymers work is sinking in! Here is our never fail recipe:

Stretchy Slime

250ml PVA glue
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Poster paint or food colouring
1 tbsp eyewash (it must contain boric acid and sodium borate to work)

Mix the first 3 ingredients together, then add the eyewash, once it gets stringy and comes away from the edges of the bowl squish it together with your hands.

We use Optrex eyewash and kid's poster paint (just a squirt and it works way better than food colouring), glitter is great added too. While the slime is still fresh and super stretchy, try blowing it up with a straw - it looks amazing!

Another cool experiment was a 'Tornado in a bottle', even if it did end up leaking all over the kitchen!

Thanks to Eco Kids Planet magazine for how to do it.

Pancakes were of course made for Shrove Tuesday, with help from Owen. As usual, even though I seemed to cook a few hundred of them, with three sons around these quickly disappeared and I only had a mere 1 to eat.

nom, nom, nom...

We learned a lot about cats in February, not just because we have a cat 'Wompa' (named after the creature from Hoth in Star Wars) though also known by 'Mr Bitey' and 'Azog the pale defiler'. We paid a home ed. group visit to the Cat's Protection League and a guided tour of the facility, saw behind the scenes, learnt kitty facts and history and of course got to see a LOT of cats! The people there do a really wonderful and admirable job.

Owen decided our cat would like a house, so designed and built a rather impressive two story home, worthy of Grand Designs - I only helped with the cutting. Wompa loves it (thank goodness), on the negative side I now have an enormous bloody box in my front room that I can't throw out and no cellotape left!

Another crafty discovery has been chalk pens, they have really encouraged Owen to write and draw more as it probably feels like graffiti to him! In fact the whole family has taken to drawing on the windows, here's Owen using them to practice his letter writing and in the background is some window 'art'!

For the spring we want to try some nature topics and plant growing. Before the snow we planned out a mini pond project that we can observe through the year, using an old plastic box from the garage. Once the freeze is over we will add a couple of small pond plants to oxygenate the water and wait for the wildlife to hopefully arrive!

Pond project

Making fire & toasting marshmallows with his big brother

We took a very atmospheric walk on Dartmoor, a small home ed. group met for a scramble over Hookney Tor. We managed despite thick fog to make it to Grimspound, an impressive Bronze Age settlement with the remains of 24 stone roundhouses, all within a massive boundary wall. I plan to go back on a clear day as the views are probably amazing.

In a Grimspound roundhouse

Owen with his 19 year old brother on foggy Hookney Tor

A first for us was indoor climbing, we were quite nervous at first but really enjoyed it. We went to Exeter's Clip'n'Climb at the Quay, even I had a go too (I discovered I'm fine at going up but lousy at coming down again!). We went for a bracing, icy walk along the Quayside afterwards and rewarded ourselves with chips and pulled pork in Samuel Jones.

That's about it for February, when the snow has gone we hope to get out on more walks and adventures. Plans for a few Dartmoor walks, an Aquarium trip and a RHS garden visit are booked, as is Owen's first guitar lesson!

Take the path less travelled - be happy... xx


January's Blog

December's Blog