October: Finding Our Rhythm Again

We've begun to find our feet again or at least I finally have and feel a lot more focused and ordered about home ed etc. We don't usually take a big break over the summer but this year we had to and it feels good to be running at normal pace again. 

Gabe is really enjoying history and started the year with a mini Romans project so we headed over to the Rockbourne roman villa just in time as it happened to be their last day of the season.

We moved into a new caravan which is a little bigger than the last which has us all sighing with relief. 

And we went to a new teens group which happened to have a few young siblings the perfect age for Ayla and a helper so they could make cookies for everyone.

Playing with autumn leaves.

The young two and I started a Studio Ghibli four week art course as everyone in the house loves the movies, and we began with soot sprites.  

Good old Baker Ross for some quick and easy halloween crafts to buy me work time. 

Feeding the ducks while waiting for Rainbows to start. 

A pause on the way home when we saw the fog creeping in and making the forest magical. 

They've been watching and talking about Peter Pan a lot and we randomly found this cardboard ship to build and decorate, which lead to a great day of pirates and lost boys. 

Pumpkin carving and pie making at Embers. 

Ayla's Kiwi crate this month was carnival themed and she made a bunch of games, this hook the duck being her favourite. 

Teaching Ayla crayon resist art with spider webs. 

Getting ready for her Rainbows Halloween party with Orion's help. 

And straight from there to discounted seats in the gods to watch the Northern Ballet's production of Little Mermaid which all four loved. 

Inspired by his biology work this week we created some eye pictures. 

And made black pompom soot sprites. 

Class two of the Ghibli course was of course Totoro and we drew three different types which naturally lead to rewatching the film.  

Orion took part in the National Boys In Dance day and was named a finalist in there search for this year's ambassador. 

We finally managed to watch a solar eclipse. It was only partial but the clouds cleared and we used coloured lens to be able to see the 'bite out of the apple' so clearly. 

Another halloween themed art project, to make a layered spooky cauldron picture with cottonwool wisps of smoke.

There's nothing like the forest at this time of year. 

The first weeks of January

It feels like forever ago that the calendar pages turned and a new year began but in reality, it's only been a little over two weeks. Our goals for the year are to keep up with ourselves and to make time for slow days as much as possible. While I think we all know and accept there won't be many of those, we'll appreciate them all the more when we get them. 

 

Ayla began her year at a birthday party for one of her best friends from Rainbows.

And then the car selfies restarted as the smalls and I went back to our waiting in the car antics.

The dawns and dusks have been spectacular driving across the forest. 

And rainy days called for a large cardboard train to decorate and play in.

As usual, the kiwi crates are eagerly awaited, and in this one, Ayla made a moon complete with craters and learnt about meteors, and Gabe made a robot and learnt how to program it. 

Then the illness struck. We all came down with a horrible d & v bug and were confined to bed feeling truly awful. Didn't stop the Sleeping Queens though. 

Part one of our 'drawing the sky' art project for the week using watercolours. 

A glimpse of teen Ayla. 

And Tom's birthday.

A science experiment to use sodium polyacrylate to make fake snow which they loved and natural now want in large quantities. 

As Gabe returned to all of his project work, he was tasked with creating a map of the garden and testing the soil for moist, ph and sunlight levels to prepare for spring planting.

Part two of the 'drawing the sky', this time with acrylic and sponges to think about using different textures to create different types of clouds. 

Cold night mean marshmallows, fires and big siblings. 

And then the best part of living where we do... the cold crisp sunny day which call you to the beach.