Summer Pastimes!

 This is Leprechaun,and this is Socks.....

My daughter has been looking after them whilst a friend is away. So far this summer she has looked after three cats, six chickens. two dogs, a rabbit and looked after various dogs at the kennels where she works! She said she would quite like to train guide dogs when she is older!

In fact that's the whole point of experience of the real world.It's preparing her for the world of work whatever she decides to do!

Animals and nature play a huge part in our home education journey. I took this photo whilst walking the dogs the other morning.Having a camera with me reminds me to record the small things I see, the things I would miss if I drove past in the car or was too busy to stop and look.

A visit to Grange over sands the other day led me into a community orchard! It had been planted for the enjoyment of the residents and there was an information board about the different types of apple.Just enough to wet your appetite and find out more at home!

Apple orchards in the Autumn sunshine are beautiful places (although you do have to beware the odd apple as it falls from the tree). It's lovely to watch the peacock and red admiral butterflies as they feast on the rotting fruit or to watch the hens staggering drunkenly round their Coop!

We've had such a beautiful summer. Lots of time spent in the garden, by the sea and on the lake with a few lake district walks thrown in for good measure! It will be interesting to see what the next academic year has in store!

Conversations round the tea table

Today's discussion turned round whether people appreciated something less when there was a lot of it ! Quite a deep philosphical discussion for thirty minutes around the tea table!

I'm not quite sure where these questions come from but again and again they do! They have just become part and parcel of our everyday life and it's interesting to watch the dynamics as each member of the family gives their pennyworth. Each opinion is valid and valued and the children are encouraged to think about and appreciate each others point of view. Unstructured learning has certainly given our autistic son a freedom to ask questions and argue in a way which his schooled brother and sister would feel more inhibited to do because of structure within the curriculum and lack of time within the school day!

It has been a day of learning in different ways.I have been given a wormery, something I have wanted for a while.We have a large garden and are up to four compost bins now although the quality of compost is often too bulky to serve well when planting up plants in flower pots. Wormeries are supposed to create finer compost and I can keep it within reach of the kitchen door rather than walk up the garden on rainy days.I already had worms in the lids of my existing bins so they have gone in together with the peelings left over from our roast dinner today.

My eldest spent the night in a barn in the Lickle Valley,he and his friend emerged out of the mist this morning, soaking wet' having slept on the floor of the barn with a group of friend with whom they had celebrated a seventeenth birthday party last night. The barn was in the middle of no-where, half a mile from the nearest human habitation and it brought back memories of a birthday party I'd been to in the snow thirty years ago at roughly the same age when we walked along country lanes in the snow on a clear starry night as there was too much snow to access the village by car. I used to pick wild daffodils in the Lickle valley as a child. There was an honesty box at the field gate. I wonder if it is still there?

My daughter practised drama for the village holiday bible club next week. She is helping and is looking forward playing with the little ones. It is all helping to build up her portfolio of experience for later when she's looking for a job!

*Lickle valley walk

A Lakeland Country Fayre

Summer is the time for Country Fayres and agricultural shows and, in this neck of the woods. we have them in abundance. It's a chance for the farming community to meet up and for local communities to enter into the competitive spirit with their crafts and cake making,not forgetting their talented pets!

At John Ruskin school in Coniston for the first time, the pupils have the opportunity to take a land based science GCSE, concentrating on farming and good management of natural ressources.

My daughter has already ordered her John Deere overalls and is excited at the prospect of lambing and attending the Westmorland County show in September.

This year we have had the most fantastic weather.Agricultural shows are so weather dependent and,as I'd never been to Coniston Country fayre before, I decided that the location, on the shores of Coniston water ,seemed an idyllic way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The fayre was held in the grounds of Coniston Hall and as we entered we passed a row of vintage tractors which had been lovingly restored.

The three bears were having their picnic.

and the little red fox was apparently waiting for Chicken Licken.

Country Fayres are a great way for the locals to exhibit their skills and we watched as a chap carved owls with a chain saw.

Not quite as delicate as the carved walking sticks on display but just as creative! There were hounds to judge and fell races up Coniston Old Man in the searing temperatures.

I was just thankful to be sitting in the shade enjoying a picnic and watching the boats as they passed up and down the lake!

And of course it wouldn't be Coniston without a mention of Arthur Ransome and Swallows and Amazons

I learned that he started his Career as a journalist during the First World war and vowed to continue with my book Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk.

And it wouldn't be a Lakeland Country Fayre without some Cumberland Wrestling! The little chap on the right drew the short straw when he was chosen to wrestle with a boy twice his size! Better luck next year!

The power of Flowers!

One of my favourite trips is to visit our local community garden at Ford Park for inspiration and imaginative ideas. The garden is situated at the foot of Hoad Hill is Ulverston and is open every day .Volunteers work on the garden and excess vegetable and plants are sold to the public,

As we strolled round the garden a few days ago there were laminated poems about plants by Maggie Norton and as well as a pink lady scarecrow there was a floral bicycle propped up against the wall!

We walked through a willow arch,having studied the structure for a future project.

But the highlight was the butterfly garden- a swathe of wild flowers and bushes grown randomly to attract the butterflies!

A small girl was sitting with her daddy whilst he identified a moth too her and showed her some caterpillars underneath a ragwort plant

She took a few home in a jar in the hopes that she could watch them turn into Chrysalis and butterflies. Meanwhile I caught this moth on camera! I have a friend called Poppy who I'm sure will identify it for me!

Pre history in Anglesey

Time and time again it's forced home to me just how much we learn when we are out and about with the children.Holidays are a prime example as we all have time to stop and ponder, even those in the family who go to work or mainstream school. If only the politicians could see what we've been learning perhaps they would change their minds about taking holidays during term time. It's what you do with your time that matters.Perhaps if they changed their requirements and  requested a blog or scrap book of what each child learned during their holidays they might see things differently!

We have just spent a few days in Anglesey with my sister and her husband. It's our fourth visit now but each stay adds a layer to our knowledge about the Island and it's history.

I'm beginning to observe that my son with Aspergers, who is almost fourteen, reverts to 'normal' routine when he is surrounded by the family. He sleeps at night, joins in family meals and eats everything put before him and, once settled in,  he will happily participate in family discussions.

 His ear defenders have been off the whole time,despite fighter jets setting off from RAF Valley every morning and thundering over the house then back for tea.In fact he is fascinated by them and was delighted with a MASSIVE enclyclopedia about fighter planes which he bought for a pound at the weekly car boot sale at Valley.

We haven't yet visited The Electric Mountain so we set off up the welsh valleys to the visitor's centre. It was a drizzly day and the tours were booked up so we browsed the exhibits instead and learned about the huge power station deep inside the mountain.

The mountain was also home to the Welsh slate industry and there was a picture of the miners removing slate from the quarry face

The children also had a go at the science experiments in the Visitor's centre and discussed how they worked.

We discovered that just along the coast from where we were staying ,at Cable Bay there was a prehistoric burial mound which was built around the time of the Egyptian pyramids .

We all walked over to see it on a lovely summer evening and learned that Anglesey is home to many prehistoric remains.

At South Stacks at the west of the island beyond Holy head were the remains of hut circles and an iron age fort. The heather and gorse was in full bloom and the ground along the coast was a carpet of colour!

We visited the RSPB centre and studied a guillemot on its nest. Birds were scarce on the cliffs as most had hatched their chicks but we were able to see guillemots and herring gulls .In fact only a couple of weeks ago my sister had been lucky enough to see some porpoises!

It was lovely to see my Autistic son enjoying himself and using the binoculars,although he won't let me take his picture so I had to be somewhat sneaky to get this!

We didn't see any puffins unfortunately but I did manage to snap this one!

We walked up the hill towards Holy head mountain. Out to see we could see the ferries sailing from Holy head to Ireland!

We learned too that the rock is made up of sandstone and mud which was lifted from the sea bed!

And we saw an idea for an insect hotel which we will have to try in the future.