Outside Inspiration!

I've just finished reading Hana's Suitcase.As I closed the book I realised the bath water had gone cold and my skin was decidedly crinkled. I'd obviously been there far longer than intended!
It's about the search by the curator of a Holocaust museum in Tokyo  for the owner of a small brown suitcase.A sort of Ann Frank and a true story which was both moving and thought provoking, an ideal book for anyone 10 and above (including adults) to learn a little more about the persecution of the Jews in World War 2 without being too graphic

I love the way my son and I learn history- it sort of 'falls together as and when we find a new book , film or piece of literature or go somewhere which links the period together without us having to learn dates or chronology- that happens incidentally.

Whilst I was reading Hana's Suitcase my son was reading about Warcraft in an Usborne book I'd found in a charity shop today. As with many Autistic children he has a 'special interest'- history, Military history in particular. When he started home educating at the age of 8 I realised it wasn't long before he had covered the GCSE syllabus! Another of his interests is geography - he can tell you where most places are in the world if you hand him an atlas!They refer to this as a 'spiky profile' - my son excels as some subjects but struggles with others- his pet hate is maths. 

Apart from scouring the charity shops for books and home education resources today, my daughter and I visited our local community garden where we found these lovely scarecrows

and a silver tree with leaves made out of foil! Definitely something to brighten up a bare tree in winter and something we might try next year.

There was a woodland walk as well and we caught this little chap on camera.

and walked under the willow arch!

Lots of lovely inspirational ideas for us to try at home. I bought a pot of home grown borage too so am going in the garden now to plant it!

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