Gums in winter

I love the grey and orange hues on these gum trees.

And because I'm studying colour theory in my Design course at the moment, here is the colour palette to go with it! :)

Day out in the sunshine

Loving these sunny winter's days.

Sunset at the lookout

Art on a sunny winter's day

School work

One of the questions we are asked quite frequently is about where the children do their studies in the house. They do have desks, but there's an awful lot of this too:

Especially now that it's winter - they're drawn to wherever the sun shines in. Or where the dog is... or the trampoline... or the hammock... or where there's a pile of blankets... You get the picture.

Another question is "does the government give you resources?" Nope. We collect resources for the year based on a variety of things: mainly what the children are interested in, what's next for a curriculum we have already use for a subject, and a little of what is expected of them in school. Today my eldest decided to try out an online SAT practice test to see what it was like... just out of curiosity... as you do!(?)

Some people are curious as to how we make sure we are covering all the subjects that they would do in school. To be honest I don't really care what they are covering in school. I have a look at the national curriculum once a year to see "how we are going", and there is rarely anything there that we haven't covered already just by following the child's interests. Occasionally there's something, and I try to find a fun resource for it, but my children can generally spot it from a mile away and it's the least successful part of our studies. Lets face it, as adults we follow our own interests and learn best that way - it's no different with children.

Intergalactic design...

Every now and then I discover the children with paper spread across the floor - designing different planets and the creatures that might live there... I hope they don't grow out of it too soon! :)

May happenings

First of all, a Happy Birthday to my now-teenage-daughter! Delightful as usual, and celebrating with her cousins today.

Don has been rediscovering his old Lego trains set. Children even more excited than he was!

There's been lots of craft happening, as usual! I have been teaching the children to crochet, so there's been another explosion of soft toy numbers as a result! This photo is an example of some of the friendship bracelets littlest chicken has been whipping up.

And there's been a few frosts to remind us that winter is near.