Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Willie's snowman (well, daddy made it) prior to having it's nose stolen by Sophie!!! We must have the only vegetarian dog in the world! When I'm cooking dinner she actually sits and begs for the carrot ends, and if you cut cucumber for sandwiches she drools for a slice!! Bizarre.

On the Sophie front, I watched a DVD called The Dog Listener and it just gave me a reminder of how important it is for me to be the Alpha female. She didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, but I did need the reminder that Sophie's behaviour is typical of a dog who has seen a gap in the leadership team and taken it upon herself to be in charge. So maybe we might try a few of the things suggested before we give up completely. It also made me think about the need for me to be in charge of the house too. I have been feeling a little like the chief cook and bottle washer for a time now and maybe that adds to the dog problem. I am certrain it is all worse during these winter months and that once the sun is out I will feel better and more in control. Don't get me wrong, the boys and Rob are great and all help out with things generally but maybe that in itself is making my position feel a little threatened? Like they could actually get along quite well without me. I'm sure they would all do the clothes washing eventually when their trousers started getting up and walking off by themselves!!!! Yes, I have 4 boys, and it does get that bad!!!

Time for some changes at home I think. Not sure I feel good about rehoming Sophie, it certainly causes me to become upset when we talk about it. We all love her so.

Off to nurse my sore throat and earache by watching Alan Titchmarsh's Nature of Britain. Trouble is, it just makes me want to travel. Survival Family on Tour. Hmmmmm.

Reading, animals and Benny Hill.....

A few piccies from the last month...

Ginger hanging hearts decorated with tubes of icing...a belated christmas present from Han...thank you!!! They were lovely and the boys all enjoyed having a go. These are Tom and Jonathan's ones. I was a little tardy in picking up the camera so David had already munched his!!
David and I have been looking into World War II these last few weeks. It started with a flicker of interest last November following Remembrance Day, and then we watched 'The 1940's House' on DVD. It is a Channel 4 programme from 2000 where a family lives for 2 months in a house decorated and fitted out as it would have been in 1939. They experience the clothes, the food, wash day, rationning, the black out and air raids (only pretend of course!!!). So here he is modelling the gas mask we made (coloured as it would've been for a toddler...we felt it was more interesting!!)

We also made a label that the children all had to wear like a luggage label, tied through their button hole, and a clothing coupon book. He has been really getting into it and so a trip is tentatively planned to the Imperial War Museum in London. A trip on the train...but it seems so expensive!!! We have also been looking at old money, of which we have a few (of the lesser coins) and we even had an old penny with Queen Victoria on it from 1898!!!! Unbelievable that it is over a hundred years old. Oh yes, and he has been wanting to wear the clothes too. The blue shirt from a charity shop, coupled with some old (dare I say it?) school trousers and a pudding basin haircut, with a tank top on the way knitted by granny. He really does look the part!!!

I got the boys making pom poms the other day too! This bright red one is David's and Tom, made a lovely pink one that he has been wearing around his neck like a necklace and calling it his bling!!! Such confidence...he even wore it to Explorers!!!! This from the boy who wouldn't wear a coat to school because noone else did!!! Hurrah for HE!!!!

We've been making a little progress on the reading front too. Its quite amazing that when I read Harry Potter or Spiderwick aloud, he can correct my pronunciation mistakes or tell me what comes next, yet he cannot read the words for himself. But progress is being made and he has started asking so many questions again....what does this mean, what does that do, why did he say that, etc etc I am just so grateful for audio books to satisfy the boys love of books. I just cannot read to him as much as he would like to listen!

I still sometimes feel that I am not doing enough for him, but with 4 boys at home, one not quite 3 going on 6, it is impossible to have the energy or oomph to do all the things that I would like. It is the reading that I worry about the most. He has a real love for books, both fiction and non fiction and what a world would open up to him if only he could read!! So we are trying to concentrate on that at the moment, but I am struggling to find the key. *sigh*

But then you only have to listen to the news or look at the local school kids (not all of them obviously) to know why you don't send your children to school.

We have had quite a fair amount of stress in our house this last little while too, with the horse being a big part of it, closely followed by the dog. The pony was being fed haylage by the lady we share the field with, which is like rocket fuel for a pony like Bob. We tried talking to her, we tried ignoring it, but it all came to a head a couple of weeks ago when Bob was just so hyper that Jonathan just couldn't get on him. He was rearing up and all sorts and Rob just couildn't control him. A very frightening experience for all concerned, but basically it is down to feeding issues not the pony. So we have moved him to a field nearer to us, sharing with 3 other ponies which is great but it is on a 'try it for a few months and see' arrangement. But at least he is not being over fed now and will perhaps lose a bit of weight...with Spring fast approaching, laminitis is a very real threat to him, and we just cannot afford to have him go down with that and be unrideable in the process. Ugh. If only that woman knew what she has done.

So one stress dealt with, we hope, and one to go. Sophie has herself become a little unmanageable but we had put it down to her being a bitch and being in season. But things just don't seem to be settling down. I mean she isn't a lost cause, she would certainly be trainable for the right person, but I don't think that person is me. Or should I say, us? As a family we are quite noisy and the boys are, or well, can be, quite boisterous. When we go out to the woods or wherever, they tend to go off an do their thing, and quite frequently we are in several groups, which she as a shepherding dog doesn't like. She wants to have everyone in check, in the right place and can be quite protective of us. It is just in her nature, but I mean, do we look like we need protecting? She is fine with people as a rule, but other dogs can be quite a problem and it is making us all uneasy and worry about what we are doing, where we are going and to some extent it is stopping us from doing things that we would normally be doing.

So we have got to the point that we feel we are not the right owners for the dog. It is very hard, because I love my Sophie to bits, as do we all, and she is fantastic at home. No chewing, no seperation anxiety (yes, dogs get it aswell), she is great with the chickens and the children. She is a fabulous guard dog as she looks and sounds the part, but we want a dog that we can take out with us and be a part of it all. Not one that we worry if we see a dog approaching. As I type this, she is sleeping on the rug in front of the fire and is just the most perfect dog in the world, but she needs a firm hand and, as I already have my hands full, I think that the firm hand will have to be somebody elses. I hate making decisions. I hate being beaten. I am useless at giving up and admitting defeat. But I think this time I will have to.

Spring is fast approaching and the season table is changing from this

to something a little more green looking.

I have been making snowdrop fairies from felt, and a sun from clay. Photo's to follow soon.

I have also been knitting socks. Well, it started from an idea Jonathan had about making rabbit skin slippers, following on from his rabbit skin knife case that he made. The fur is so soft that he fancied the idea of rabbit skin pants!!!!! But I suggested slippers....boring old me! So I started knitting an upper so that he could make the soles for them, and then I thought I 'd have a go at socks. A very simple pattern from a book called The Children's Year that can be adapted for any size of foot quite easily! I'm not totally sure about socks for inside shoes but they would certainly keep feet warm in the house, or in bed, or for little people being carried or in pushchairs.

Speaking of keeping warm in the house, our bedroom is so cold at the moment with the freezing temperatures as we all enjoy the beautiful wintry weather, that we have had to sleep in the living room on a mattress. Our room is above the kitchen which is an extension, and was built with no heating in it and has three walls exposed to the elements...so the 2 rooms are absolutely freezing. The kitchen is bearable during the day, as the oven is on at least on for some of it for bread and cakes. Thats another thing...how come a huge batch of bread and scones still only last one day?!!!! Thats the trouble with having 4 boys I guess.

Anyway back to our fffffrrrrreeeeeeeezing cold bedroom. I swear that is as cold in there as it is outside, just without the wind chill factor!!! We have an electric oil filled radiator but it would need to be on full blast all night and as we are in a bit of a financial state at the mo, and I begrudge giving Eon any more money than I have to, we have decided to camp out in the living room next to our lovely open fire which burns free logs. Not exactly a normal thing for people to do is it, but then, we are NOT normal!!!

This is Jonathan helping Will eat his tea up, having already cleared his own plate. I wonder why?Aaaaah, now I see. He's looking forward to eating his peppermint creams he made earlier!!! What he doesn't know is that he still has to get through a bowl of semolina!!! He he!!
The boys have been loving the snow...although we have only had a few inches, they really have made the best of what we have had. So, a quick video for a giggle just so you know its not all bad... Make sure you have a large audience and the volume is up!!! It is a real classic.

A month? Is that all? So much has been going on!!

We made lots of christmas gifts early on which was probably a good thing as things started to spiral out of control an we lost the impetus.
We had a lovely visit from HE friends that recently moved to Wales. We are really missing them and it was great to see them, however briefly.
We have had 3 birthdays before christmas...the car exploded as we came back from bowling on Jonathan's birthday, following a week of blue smoke and major oil use. We had to evacuate as the engine revved itself up on full throttle while stationary and wouldn't turn off so there was smoke everywhere in the close and it stank!!!! So the poor Discovery is sitting outside the house feeling very sorry for itself and we are now runnng around in the 110 that Tom and Rob managed to get through the MOT on the second attempt.....no, third!!!
Rob's birthday was fairly civilised with a family dinner at home and present giving before watching a movie. Tom wanted to go Off Roading on his birthday, but rather than spend £80 on a course for him miles away, we went off on a route that he devised around the green lanes locally. We did quite a few miles that day, Will actually fell asleep at some point along the way and missed the excitement as we bumped into the Hunt! The car came back covered in slightly more mud than usual! Tom had a CB aerial for his birthday to go with the old CB someone had given him...we now have a mic and speaker in the car, so even if you are sat right at the back you can still hear Rob's commentary as we travel around!!! Tom wired in the CD player too so we could actually listen to music in the old bus!!! Well done Tom!!
We all had the lurgy at some point either before, during or after christmas..in fact some were lucky enough to suffer all 3!!! Consequently it hasn't been the greatest of festive seasons and although there have been some high points, it has generally been very subdued with no one eating a great deal...except chocolate of course!!!
Granny and Uncle George came to stay for a few days, when the lurgy was probably at its peak so they took a Northamptonshire strain of the virus back to Cornwall, leaving some of their cornish germs behind. How thoughtful!!
Father Christmas visited us bringing all manner of presents. Tom got his welding helmet so that he can use both hands for the matter in hand, Jonathan got a lockable cash box...hmm is he trying to tell us something? and David got some Spiderwick Chronicles books that has inspired him to have a go at making his own. He has spent a lot of time drawing his own pictures, which is a first for him. A confidence that has been sparked I think by Jared, the boy in the story, who is also 8, having a go at drawing his own faeries and trolls too. They are realistic drawings for an 8 year old boy and so David has been pleased with his own efforts, when usually he feels upset and disappointed that they don't look how he had imagined them to. I may post some pictures when it is finished, if he will allow me to.
I was given the most beautiful hand crafted present by our HE friends in Wales...A beautiful salt dough wall plaque with a cockerel (just like my own!) on it. Fabulous colours and design by their eldest daughter...by far the best present I received. It is just gorgeous.
We brought our Quails in to the house before christmas and they started laying eggs again...one a day for the last 8 days I believe!! Poor things were obviously not happy outside.
Boxing day we were taken out for dinner by Rob's dad and his wife...all the boys ordered their own meals and puddings, even William!!!
We also listened to David Jason's reading of a Christmas Carol on BBC iPlayer... I thought that I had been clever and downloaded it on to the computer so that we could listen to it another time but it didn't seem to work when I tried a few days later. :-(
Sophie has been in season which is a bit of a nightmare really. Messy and difficult when you want to go out for a walk. We hop to get her spayed as soon as we can in the New Year....we hope that this will calm a few of her recent annoying habits.
We have a booked a place for the HE camp in Wales in May and are really looking forward to taking the 110 loaded up with all our gear for the event!! This year we hope will be more of the original Survival Family expeditions...camping trips and days out. It has been rather difficult, since the arrival of Will but we are determined to get back to our roots this year!! I bought us all a few Ray Mears DVDs for christmas and are looking forward to rewatching those series very soon!
And here we are already in to 2009. I am planning a year of seasonal celebrations with Pagan influences as this is where I believe that we belong. It is something that we do quite naturally really, but with the complexities that Will has brought into our lives, I hope to actually consciously make an effort to bring them to the foreground this year as a way of keeping me on track!!
( I think that last bit made sense...maybe!)
So here is to 2009....let it be a year full of inner peace and happiness with less downs and more ups than 2008.
Happy New Year to you all xx

An HE moment.

I just had to share this with you all....
William, as some of you know has been using a potty/toilet for a long time now, but it only dawned on me this morning *embarrassed squirm* that even using the toilet is a Home Educating moment. Now please excuse me for the wording here...it is entirely his own and has to do with the way he categorises his animals/toys/food/drinks etc
It was pretty early this morning..about 7 I think, and he was sitting on the toilet doing a poo. He made a straining face and as he heard the noise below he said 'big poo' and this was closely followed by another noise and he said, 'baby poo'. I realised at that moment how amazing that is for a 2 and a half year old to know the size of the poo by the noise it makes as it hits the water below!!! He has been doing it for a long time but the whole science facts had escaped me until now!!!
And with that thought, I shall leave you in peace ;-)

Just a couple of videos of the family pony!!!!

These were taken in Wales...Bob in his small paddock next to the caravan we were staying in, wound up by the wild horses on the hills!! These are the lesser rated versions!!!

Oh and a photo of a gorgeous quiche I made with David back in the summer.

A much needed list of what we've been doing.....

I've had a turbulent few weeks and now it seems that the dust may just have settled enough for me to look back at the last few months and remember what we HAVE been doing.
It will be a bit of a jumble and there may not be any photos tonight ( they are all the boys computer and will get Tom to load them up another day, so please check back) but I feel that as this blog is supposed to be about our learning journey and not just me whinging on about things, it needs to be done, and quick!!!!
So in no particular order...
Robs new job is only 3 days a week and although initially after the sharp intake of breath and the 'How will we manage financially?' questions, we decided that it was just what we needed and we will survive, we always do and if we don't, whats the worst that can happen? Lose the house and either live in a boat or run to Wales...or both!!!
There are or have been a couple of perks already....left over bits of wood from the carpentry side of the business.....ideal for little boxes that Jonathan loves to make (and another use which I will gloat about later)and 6 free pheasants, already plucked but not gutted. So who do you think gutted those? Rob? Me? NO!!! Jonathan. Not only did he gut them but he gave a friend of ours a demonstration. Impressed? We all were!
Tom has been learning to weld...not on a course or being instructed by a proffesional, but by just getting a welder and having a go!! It started with watching our neighbour weld the horse box for the trip to Wales and having a go then. But at home, he just bought a welding manual from Ebay and was given an Arc welder ( I have no idea if that is spelt correctly)which he and Jonathan experimented with. Then we realised we needed to get a MIG welder...so much better apparently so off Rob and I drove to Peterborough to pick up the outcome of a bidding war on Ebay. They both were getting so good that instead of asking our neighbour to weld the bulkhead of the 110, Tom has actually done it himself!!! With Rob standing by on fire watch!!! The test will be when it goes for its MOT hopefully next week.


Here he is in action!

Tom has also made a snorkel for the 110...yes I am fully aware that this is not an amphibious vehicle, but apparently for off roading in any kind of worth while way, it is the only thing to stop the engine from cutting out in deep puddles!!!! EEEEEK! How deep are we going!!!! He has been very ingenious and used all recycled parts so far, and has even posted it on a forum for offroading, WITH pictures. Items used...
damaged drain pipe piece salvaged from the local village shop!
margarine tub!!!
baked bean tin!!!
I will stop there, for fear of you all either thinking I'm crazy or pulling your leg..like I said pictures to follow. ..... David has been particularly difficult in an emotional roller coaster kind of way...I don't think he coped very well with the change of Wales, talk of moving there, Rob's redundancy and then the change of routine at home with Rob doing a 3 day week. Yes, a 3 day week. Sounds positively lazy doesn't it but I can assure you that he now works twice as hard, because to live on that kind of money we have to be inventive when it comes to food, fuel and entertainment!
David has settled down a bit now and we have just made our first ever LAPBOOK!!! We have talked about doing one for ages but it never seemed to come together, for one reason or another, but we have now done it!!! It is about Knights, so no surprise there, and is basically free resources printed from this website although I have hopes of including some of our own ideas next time and then increasing them gradually. But for now, a good start, a success, David is pleased with it and he really enjoyed doing it and wants to do more! So I think I have cracked it!!!
So back to the frugal living side of things. We have only been burning wood on the fire, the heating hasn't been on hardly at all, and even then it was dual purpose because I had loads of washing to dry. The wood itself has all been free...starter wood from pallets and twigs from the branches we have regularly hauled home from the local woodlands, some 6 miles away. NO we didn't walk, although I had you going for a minute then, didn't I?!! The branches were all strapped to the roof of the car and a few wedged in the boot between the boys!!
We have also looked at Vegetarian cooking as this is obviously a cheaper option. Well, it is when you only buy free range and/or organic meat and we have tried quite a few recipes from a library book...fantastic book...just not that happy about having to take it back in 3 weeks, as I'm on my last renewal :-(
We've always made a fair few of our christmas cards but this year it will definitely be all of them...you have been warned! but a friend of mine has inspired me to make my christmas gifts again this year. It is something that I have done or should I say periodically do, but with a few of her magnificent ideas from here, I am so enthusiastic this year!! Also been re-reading some Green parent magazines and found some ideas there too...
But my best 'make' so far has been these....
Stamps for painting. I started one day with a landrover for Willie, and then I bought some wooden christmas shapes for decorations and made some out of those too. Left over lino from the dining room, off cuts of wood from Rob's job and a bit of careful cutting and sticking with the glue gun, and hey presto!! I am so ridiculously proud of myself!
I have also been to a pottery class!!! Its great, I love it and now would desperately love a wheel so that I can do it at home with the boys and get good enough to make bowls etc for at home. Anyone got one lying around in there garage from a dim and distant craft phase? No, I know it isn't likely but no harm in mentionning it!! This one is made without the potters wheel and was just experimental, my other ones are still to be glazed and fired!
Jonathan has joined in on the idea of making presents and is making special boxes...I won't give too much away here. They take a little more thought and working out to get them right but I am sure he will have enough made by christmas for the chosen recipients!
Aaah yes, and David has just started to make lego and Knex from the instructions, BY HIMSELF. This is something that he has never really done before...always too worried about getting it wrong and not being able to find the right bits, but we have turned a corner! Lego adventure cars and Knex motorbikes are the beginning! I still have yet to teach him to be more tolerant of Willie wanting to play lego too, but that seems like an insurmountable task right now.
And William... he has the most enormous vocabulary, fantastic memory for detail, excellent at puzzles, loves books and duplo, lego and animals, and has been sporting the most unlikely winter garment these last few weeks...TIGHTS!!!! He loves them. They keep him warm, they don't slip off his feet or get wrinkled in his boots and he can wear his shorts with them so that with his wellies all his legs are covered but with nothing dragging in the mud. FANTASTIC Of course the most masuline ones I could find were plain red, red with blue spots and blue with white spots, but our favourites were a 4 pack of stripy orange, cream and brown, pale blue and then 2 pairs with flowers from NEXT. Some people might be frowning right about now, but he likes them and we don't care!!
William also loves playdough and painting...he likes to choose the colour of the playdough I make and then touch it when it is still really hot and feel it cool down. The stamps have been a real hit with him...he sits and carefully covers the shape in paint and then presses down on the paper, sometimes too hard and it skids making the picture blurry, but he likes it. We also did some leaf painting which he enjoyed.
We have a new winter hen house too...room for them to be inside when the weather is really fowl ...hehe nudge nudge. Just need to rig up the light now for them. We are missing our eggs!
I have also managed to plant some garlic, onions (red and white), broad beans and peas in the veg patch. The garlic is brilliant...about 4 inches high already some of them and the peas and beans are just showing through. The onions are a little slower on the uptake but I think that may be due to the extra layer of compost they had on them. I have also planted some mushrooms in the old landy tyres, but I need to build a frame over them to keep them warmish(16 deg, I think) but airy...I'm not too sure that they will come to much, if anything.Next lot are going in the shed or the loft!!
So here I think I will end it, although I am sure there is so much more. This is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak! There are also so many things that we would like to do but just don't get around to ....there are not enough hours in the day.
Don't forget to check back for the pics!!!



And I was thinking of replacing the original blog photo with this one but not sure whether to or not...what do you think?

New look for the blog page...

So what do you think?
I'm feeling a little quiet and thoughtful at the moment. Reflecting upon this last year...yes I realise its not New Years Eve or anything but it has been a year of much change and development. A mix of good and bad but I need to look at my blog to remember the good as the bad is all too prominant.
So a quieter, more toned down look to the blog page. Although that doesn't really reflect our life as a family!!! Ever busy and full of projects and things to do.
Its funny that when we started the Home Education journey it was more for David than anyone else, but it seems that the others have benefitted so much more. It is over David that I have my worrying days and my bad patches. The doubting days and the 'Why am I doing this?' days.
So in an effort to regroup and recharge my batteries and to look at things in a calmer, more laid back way, I have decided to start here. Funny how the vibrant colour of my blog and the Chicken Out campaign banner with its sound effects were preventing me from blogging. I have missed it. I almost started to write a journal instead!!! But a text from a friend asking me how we all were, made me remember how many people use this as a way of keeping up with our antics!!
I can't begin to catch up with the last few months now but I hope that writing this will spur me on to blog regularly once again. I realise how important it is to me to look back at all the things we HAVE done, so that I don't just sit and think about all the things I HAVEN'T got round to doing.
And how can it possibly be only 6 weeks to Christmas?!!! 3 birthdays to make and bake for before then. And I had so many plans for craft activities...best get a move on, eh!!!