Break Week

We headed to open up the caravan during March, and Daddy got time off to come with us as a short break away. It doesn't happen very often as he's a busy guy, but it was lovely to have him around for so long. It was during this few days away that I discovered another benefit of home education.

I packed up Bear's learning materials for the week to take with us, some letter and number practice, a new Spring book and some story promt ideas to continue with our theme of stories for the month. I had all the intentions of setting up his stuff at night so that we could do a little learning each morning, but after a fun-filled first afternoon there, I decided against it... And here lies the benefit of home education. Apart from the part where we'd gone away during term time, I was able to just leave all of Bear's materials in the box and enjoy the week away with Daddy. 

Without the education system deciding what weeks we get off, we could choose to just not do any formal learning during our week away, and when Daddy goes back to work after the Easter weekend, (when the schools are on Easter Break,) we can dive back into it at home. 

Instead of worrying about fitting in some formal learning, we enjoyed five days of sun and sea air. It was the perfect break for all of us, including having Nannie and Pops there too.

We walked into town every day, spent time just wandering and picking daisys in the sun. Both boys gravitated towards their Daddy, enjoying having him around, and it was amazing to see him relaxed and enjoying his time off rather than just counting down the weekend until he had to go back to work again. 

We spent a wonderful afternoon at The Deep in Hull. We have annual passes which have a couple of months left before they run out and we took Daddy with us this time. Bear absolutely loves the aquarium, he's a huge shark fan and he finds the entire place fascinating. This time around, The Cub was into it too. He was pointing at every fish we passed, and the look of wonder on his face was amazing :)

Of course, we made it to the beach, all be it, not for long as both bear cubs decided to get very wet in short space of time. The Cub was not phased by being damp... he stood in a tide pool and got wet feet and trousers, and carried on as normal. He isn't phased by much!

Bear, on the other hand, tripped, face-planted, then rolled and laid in the wet sand until someone picked him up. By the time Daddy made it back to him, he was absolutely soaking and Daddy had to carry him all the way back to the caravan. 

One of the highs of the days away was Bear's new hobby... He has a scooter and a bike at home and loves them both. He saw a guy on a skateboard at the local skate park at home not long ago and expressed an interest in having a skateboard. I told him that I would look into it in the summer when the weather was nicer and we would have more opportunities to practice, but we saw this adorable little board in the shop at the seaside and I couldn't resist. He took to it like a pro and in less than half an hour, was pretty stable on it, playing on a spare caravan pitch opposite our van. He spent ages out there and had to be coaxed in for tea. It was lovely to see and something that I will be encouraging now that we are back home again. 

Overall, it was an epic few days away and having Daddy in tow made it perfect. The added move of being able to just ditch the formal learning for the week was definitely a fantastic bonus and one that I have taken advantage of for the rest of the week and weekend while Daddy has been around.

I will be doing a full toy and learning materials reset on Monday evening ready to get back into the swing of things on Tuesday morning. I have lots of plans for our Spring theme and hoping to get out lots if this sunshine is going to stick around.

More on all of that in another post though :)

What have you been up to for the bank holiday weekend?

Momma Bear

Spring Equinox 2024

 Wednesday 20th March

We started off our equinox fun today by opening our spring box from The Adventure Gang by Moon Child. It arrived almost a week ago but I squirrelled it away so that we could open it this morning. 

The excitement was real... Bear was straight in for his new t-shirt, and it's beautiful! The Cub got pretty much everything out of the box, then decided to try taking a bite out of the wax melt - that did not end well.

Bear enjoyed playing with the play dough and loved it, making me feel guilty for not getting ours out more often because of the hassle it always causes.

While The Cub was napping before our adventure this afternoon, Bear and I worked our way through the sticker book all about spring. We talked about some of the things we could expect from this season and he got all excited about Easter and some of the activities that we are hoping to fit in.

After stickers, we read our way through multiple spring books. I changed all his winter books from the spring ones last night so they were all laid out for him this morning, and I think we worked our way through at least half of them before lunch!

Check out the list of books that I use on my book recommendations page.

Our adventure today was not what I had originally planned... I had a lovely day out with a picnic and games planned our at Wentworth Woodhouse, and we had invited some friends. But, the weather seemed to have other ideas and the forecast was rainy all day. As much as men and the boys go out in all weather, spending the whole day out in the rain was pushing it a little. So, we headed out somewhere more local for a walk in the rain, and to do our spring scavenger hunt.

I create one of these each equinox/solstice and Bear loves them. He loves a good scavenger hunt in general. This time around, The Cub got involved too which was just adorable, watching him wander around with his sheet and crayon. 

The rain affected a couple of the things on the list but we still found most of them with our walk around the lake. 

One of the moments for me today was seeing Toby find a daffodil on the floor and ask me if it was okay for him to have that one because it was already picked.

He then found one for his brother too. 

It was one of those moments where I knew that I was doing something right because he knew that he wasn't allowed to pick them!

One of the sweetest moments of the day though had to be this... watching them walking and playing together on the way to the park to play while we waited on our friends. They have a love/hate relationship at the moment with the stages that they're at, but every now and again these moments happen and I see their future. I hope that they're the best of friends like me and my sister. 

We got very soggy in the rain, but it didn't slow either of them down and they didn't care. Neither of them complained or wondered why we were out in the naffy weather, and they both enjoyed all the puddles. It wasn't the ideal day out, but we made it work and it got us a couple of hours of fresh air for the equinox. 

I have high hopes for the summer solstice after this!

What did you do to celebrate the first day of spring?

Momma Bear x

World Book Day 2024

Thursday 7th March 2024

One of my favourite days of the year - a day to celebrate books! Celebrated on the first Thursday of March every year, World Book Day is a day to celebrate books and a love of reading. A day to share stories with children, and encourage a love of everything books. Each year, authors get involved to write stories and £1 books are available from many major retailers. Book tokens are handed out in schools and nurseries, can be found in many magazines and even on the sides of Happy Meals, and can be exchanged in stores for one of the £1 books. Their aim is to ensure that all children can afford to own a book, encourage parents to bring children into book shops and to strengthen that love of books. Home Educators can apply for these book tokens too, however, I choose not to. I have always bought the boys one of the books each, and even before I had them, I often bought some of the books as I just love books :)

Image taken from the World Book Day website - no copyright intended

This year there were some great authors involved, and we had the usual plans to head to the bookshop to buy a book. We organised to meet some friends there for an informal story time, some activities and of course, cake in the cafe. 

Bear chose our costume theme this year when he decided that he wanted to go as Batman. While The Cub is too young to make his own choices, we dress up together. Last year Bear was Buzz Lightyear, so The Cub was of course, Woody, and Bear decided that I should be an alien. We looked good :) This year, The Cub was The Joker to Bear's Batman, and although I had no costumer per say, I did have a Harley Quinn t-shirt on, and I put my hair in pigtails. The perfect family dress up.

We headed to Waterstones in Doncaster, because that's where I work, and I had organised the activities. We met up with some home ed friends there, a princess, a spring baby, a lion, a king and Mavis from Hotel Transylvania. It was nice to meet a new friend too, another mum of a boy on the same journey as us. 

Whilst in store, we had a lovely time reading some books, including Nannie who joined us as a make-do Robin as we threw her costume together very last minute. I had organised a lovely poetry activity linked to one of Joseph Coelho's poems as he is the current Waterstones Children's Laureate, where the children drew what they could see through the window of their imagination after listening to the poem. I also did what I love doing best in store, even though I wasn't at work, and helped some of the children pick out new books! 

Image taken from BookTrust - no copyright intended

We chose our books after we'd exhausted all the activities and headed home, and of course, read our stories before bed. Bear chose Dinosaur Club on the Trail of a T-Rex, one of the early reader titles which is technically above his reading level, but as soon as I saw the titles I knew he'd choose that one. I'm happy for him to choose whichever he fancied and I will of course be reading it to him. The Cub had Elmer and the Patchwork Story which I chose, as I am a huge Elmer fan, and we cuddled in Bear's bed all together to read it. 

Once again, another epic day! 

What did you do this World Book Day, and did you dress up? 

Momma Bear x

February Focus Title

 Wolf and Bear by Kate Rolfe

A heartfelt story about a playful young wolf and her best friend, Bear.

The two best friends always play together, whether it’s paddling in the stream, skidding in the snow, or tumbling in the falling leaves. But sometimes Bear feels sad and wants to be alone . . .

Wolf and Bear is a beautiful tale of kindness and hope, exploring the topic of depression. Authentic and sensitively illustrated, this picture book gently introduces young children to a topic which can often be difficult to discuss.

*Description and image taken from waterstones.com - no copyright intended*

For February, I chose one of the shortlisted titles for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. Out of the six picture book titles shortlisted, Wolf and Bear would be my winner! It is an absolutely stunning book with a story about friendship and what it truly means to stand by someone in their darkest times, and is beautifully illustrated too. Bear and The Cub have both loved this book, and we have read it enough that by the end of the month, Bear could virtually read it to me. 

Another reason that I chose this book was that one of the main themes is Bear's mental health, which fit with Children's Mental Health Awareness week, and I used as a theme all month. It tied in perfectly and we were able to use it multiple times during other activities, discuss Bear and Wolf as characters and as friends, and think about how we could learn from their actions. 

For such a grown-up topic, Bear handled it fantastically and seemed to understand the idea of being there for someone even when they don't seem to want to play, which is how the situation is presented in the story.

Of course, there was a story basket, which is how I introduced the book this time. Both boys were involved in the first reading and they chose a character each and loved acting out the story. I included the rainbow silks to represent Wolf's howl, as it is illustrated this way, and I loved watching them run around with them and howl to show the song. 

There were multiple read-throughs over the course of the month, and each time Bear remembered a little more of the story and helped to read it, often having the characters at the ready for the next page, remembering what happened. It was regularly Bear's first choice if I asked is he wanted to choose a book to read, and it has since been taken to Nannie's because he wanted to read it with her too.

It truly is an exquisite book and I am so glad that Bear enjoyed it.

At the end of the month, Bear wrote his book review for the story. He practiced his cutting skills by cutting out the front cover image himself to stick on his review sheet, and gave the book five stars. When I asked him to summarise the book, he opened up the cover and basically read me the story! It was amazing, and something that I wish I had caught on video. He told me the story, turning the pages and reading it from cover to cover. I will point out here, that Bear cannot read! He has a fantastic memory and his recall is astounding. His retelling was him remembering the story from the times we had read it together, and in places, he was word for word. I couldn't fit it all in the box on the sheet and had to turn over. It wasn't technically a summary, but wow, I was so impressed!

When I asked what his favourtie part was, I was pretty sure I already knew the answer, and it is my favourtie part too. When Wolf sings, the illustration shows it as whisps of colour across the page - think 'the colours of the wind' from Pocahontas! And it is truly a breathtaking page. He chose that and decribed it to me as "When Wolf was singing her song" and then followed his words with a wolf howl!

For our March focus title, I chose a new title that seemed perfect! Wild Book Day by Karl Newson is an epic story about the characters of the books coming to life for the day. Its pages are full of magic and there is so much to see in its illustration. I thought it suited World Book Day on the 7th of March, so I plan to link in some activities based on the idea of storytelling during the month.

Have you read Wolf and Bear? Or any of the other Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlisted titles? I'd love to hear who would be your winner...

Mama Bear x

February Recap

Another month has flown by and we have done so much again, I didn't realise just how much until I started looking through the photos and deciding what to include here...

We have been so many places this month that I could barely fit them all into one image! We started the month off with Forest Tots as always, where we made bird feeders and made toast on the fire, which Bear tried with jam and loved. We finally made it to Home Ed Lego Club at Doncaster Library where Bear built an areoplane and The Cub investigated ALL the books. There were multiple birthdays to celebrate, including Bear's and his Pops', which included a trip to the pub for lunch, a birthday adventure to Pontefract Park, and a party. Valentine's Day saw the Love Nature event in Clifton Park where Bear hugged a tree for a whopping 13 minutes... because, why not?! We had our first trip of the year to the local skate park where Bear practiced his scooter skills and The Cub had a go on his trike. We visited the Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield and attended their Sensory Play session, went to Boston Park Farm for lambing week at Little Farmers and on a Home Ed organised trip to Wigfield Farm where we went for a tour around the farm and leanred all about the different animals and why they're there. Bear surprised the lady doing the tour by picking the highland cow out of the herd... he does love a good highland cow! We attended the Teddy Bear's Hospital at the Children's Hospital in Sheffield and we finished off the month by heading to Squirrel Wood to check out the new Home Ed Forest Friends playgroup where we got mega muddy and had a fab time with friends... all in all, a pretty busy month!

As for learning, I did a quick check of what Bear did and didn't know as far as his numbers and letters went, just before he turned 4 at the beginning of the month, and was pleasantly surprised with how much was sinking in :)

We have finally gotten a grip with the number 5! Despite being able to count to 10, Bear only recognised the numbers 1-4 and the number 5 was regulalry a 9 - we have repeatedly looked at the number 5 this month, in lots of different activities, by pointing them out when out of the house, and about a week ago, I am confident enough to say that Bear now recognises the number by sight. So, we will be adding the number 6 to the mix this month and see how we go.

As for his alphabet, he knew more than half of them by sight, both as capital and lowercase, though not the same set as he recognises many capitals from the beginnning of names. He can also match up the upper and lower cases for near enough every letter of the alphabet. We will be continuing what we're doing with the alphabet, using different resources to keep his interest. My make of the month was the I-Spy bottle with the letters in for him to search for and match up to the sheet stuck on. It was something that I saw on Instagram, though I didn't save the post so I can't link it. I recreated it with split lentils as that's what I had in the cupboard, and Bear has loved rolling it to reveal the letters inside. He's a huge fan of the wipe clean book, so I have dig out some others, again so that he doesn't get bored using the same thing all the time. 

Our other focus this month has been feelings and emotions off the back of Children's Mental Health Week at the start of the month. I carried the theme on throughout February and you can read all about what we got up to in the post I wrote a few days ago. We finally got around to doing our winter journal page, partly because I was waiting for snow so that I could photograph our tree with snow in to go alongside the beautiful bare branched photo I'd already taken of it. Plus, when the full moon came around, we used our Adventure Gang box to check out what the February moon is called, and then made clay moons and some space pictures. The subsciption box is definitely one that I would recommend and I am excited for the spring box that should be arriving any day now.

We haven't read many new books this month, but that isn't to say that we haven't read... Both boys love their books and we read daily. Out February focus book was Wolf and Bear by Kate Rolfe, a beautiful book both in words and illustrations. We used this alongside the emotions and feelings topic as it leant itself perfectly. I will be writing a seperate post for this as soon as we have written our book review over the next couple of days.

And, last but not least, our outside times were fantastic this month, despite me being conviced that I wasn't trying hard enough to get us out and about more. We added another 42 hours during February, bringing our total for the 1000 hours outside challenge to 76 hours outside so far in 2024. We have been outside every day, in all weather types, and I have both my parents, and Simon to thank for keeping that streak up, despite the rainy days that have plagued us.

What has your February looked like? I am always on the lookout for new ideas for places to visit, so drop me some comments for places that we should be checking out!

Momma Bear x