Autumn Equinox 2024

Sunday 22nd September 2024

Our equinox started with a lovely lazy Sunday morning. The Cub was first up, and was happy to bring some books to bed and laid "reading" beside me for ages. Once Bear was up too, they took to playing on the floor next to my bed, so Daddy and I got a little lie-in! 

After checking and rechecking the weather forecast in the hopes of the rain clearing up, and chatting with our partners in crime, we decided to just go with it, and head out on our planned adventure anyway... so, all of a sudden, we had somewhere to be and not a whole lot of time to get ourselves ready. I did it though... picnic packed and everything!

We opened our Autumn box from the Adventure Gang while sorting everything out so that Bear could wear his new t-shirt, and although it was a little big, we let The Cub wear the t-shirt from last year's autumn box. 

They looked adorable in them :)

We met our besties at Wentworth Woodhouse and got the kids all togged up in their suits and wellies ready to go... there was exploring to be done. As per usual, we couldn't keep up with them at first, checking out everything there was to see, picking up sticks and acorns, looking at the statues and flower gardens... until we came across a little picnic area. 

Before the picnic commenced, we had a go at Scavenger Hunt Bingo, (not the same one, but similar, as ours is an old Aldi purchase) though there were no bingo rules as such, just an opportunity for the kids to explore with purpose - looking for leaves, rocks, feathers and more. Then we settled down for some lunch, and having had almost an hour of dry weather, we were treat to the rain starting!

And it never stopped again!

We followed the trail through the Forest of Bewilderment, spending a long time playing in their sound forest. The kids loved the instruments, and even the Daddies had a go. Bear's Daddy is very musical anyway, so he was in his element, and incredibly frustrated that nothing was actually tuned up, but even A's Daddy got involved - they're all big kids really!

There was a small building area, a willow walk, some willow statues, a mud kitchen, lots of puddles to jump in, and nestled amongst them, a chill-out cabin that we took advantage of during the heaviest of rainfall and settled in to read Hello Autumn. A beautiful book from the Little Seasons series and one of my favourites - the whole series that is.

After a walk around past the tower and to check out the magnificent view, we headed back through the woods with a scavenger hunt, looking for autumnal things such as colourful leaves, conkers, acorns and other bits and bobs. Their sheets were soaked by the time we finished, but I think we found most things on the list, and enjoyed the search.

Our adventure ended with some silliness on the lawn behind the house in the rain, no one really caring that we were all drenched and probably not going to dry out any time soon. Not one of the four kids had, at any point, complained about the fact that it was raining. Little P, the tiniest of us was on the hunt for the perfect puddle, The Cub was happy splashing in puddles and checking out all the sights, A barely even kept her coat on the whole time despite the rain, and Bear never even batted an eye other than to keep putting his hood up and down. True outdoorsy kids through and through!

Despite the rain trying to put a dampener on our adventures, pun totally intended, we had an amazing day, and don't for a minute regret going out and braving the weather. Thanks for coming out with us guys, it wouldn't have been the same without you!

We finished off our day with stew back home and the smell of pumpkin spice throughout the whole house after putting the little fox wax melt on from their subscription box.

What did you do with the equinox? Did you brave the weather to get outdoors?

Mama Bear x

Pond Study

As well as our tree study, which I posted about previously, I decided to add a pond study this year too as Bear has shown an interest in frogs and tadpoles recently.

So, as another study and set of journal pages, we are going to do a seasonal pond study.

We headed out in the last week of August to a couple of different places to check out potential ponds, one being more of a lake, one being a fishing pond so not very accessible and finally, the one we've chosen, being perfect. Only small, and no guarantee of frogs, but accessible and perfect for the boys to investigate all year round.

We took some bits with us when checking it out and Bear had me catch a pond skater for him to look at, and then promptly decide it was too icky and not want to be anywhere near the bug jar. It wasn't an easy bug to catch I can tell you, but as soon as I'd thrown the little bugger back did The Cub decide he wanted a closer look so I had to do it all over again!

He was much happier to look, and two little boys passing by were more than excited to take a look too! My hard work was appreciated, even if Bear didn't want to get close enough to take a proper look.

They had the other bits and bobs out of their explorer's bags, taking a look at the water, using Bear's handheld mini microscope to look at the leaves that were falling from the trees, and their magnifying glasses to look closely at some sticks that had fallen in, and a lily pad that I'd noticed was floating near the edge instead of rooted in the middle with the others.

We had a chat about how we weren't going to harm the pond and the things living in it, but because this one was already detached, I would catch it in his net for him to have a closer look at.

With our decision made, we will be heading back there at some point mid Autumn to see what it looks like and what's living in it and then record our findings in his nature journal, a great way to encourage Bear's creativity and get some writing practice in.

Till next time,

Mama Bear

Harvest Moon - September 2024

Bear is just a little in love with the moon, so, I've added it to our nature journal plans this year! Over winter last year, we paid attention to the full moons and Bear could name you several of them from our learning, but as soon as the days got longer and he wasn't seeing the dark, or the moon, we kind of stopped learning about them... This year, we are going to do a moon page in our journals each month.

Although the Harvest Moon was last night, it didn't work for us, so I let Bear stay up late tonight, and after his brother had gone to bed, we got all bundled up in our dressing gowns and went outside to look for the moon that I'd been tracking on my app all night so that we knew where to look... Was it there... of course it wasn't!

There was some disappointment at first, but then he saw a bright star in the same direction and told me that he thought it was a planet... honestly, I'm pretty sure it was probably just a star, but, it was sitting in the right place according to the sky map, to have been Saturn, so he was happy to have seen a planet!

We sat under a blanket and talked about the name of the moon and where it comes from, and he drank his milk and ate his biscuit while I drank my hot chocolate, and then, on good authority from Daddy and Nannie, who could see the moon from where they were, we waited it out, and were rewarded with it peeking out from above the trees exactly where we'd expected it to be - the excitement was real.

There was a very annoyingly placed streetlight almost directly at the side of it, which made the view a little less amazing, but Bear didn't care in the slightest and has gone to bed a very happy little boy, all excited about doing his journal page over the next few days... So, I have some photos to print, and we will do some writing, and put some stickers in when we next have a free afternoon, which I think is early next week as we have a busy few days coming up.

Did you see the Supermoon or Eclipse last night? I'd have loved to but was totally sleeping by the time they would have been visible.

Mama Bear x

July Focus Title

The Boy and the Octopus by Caryl Lewis

A magical tale of finding your voice and becoming yourself.

Stanley loves his octopus toy, and dreams of the magical way its skin changes colour; how it hides itself when something scary comes along. In fact, sometimes Stanley wants to be like his octopus and disappear.

But Stanley learns how to share his feelings in more than words, and to face difficulties through the power of self-expression and creativity.

A lyrical and emotional story about overcoming bullies and being proud to be seen.

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

The Boy and the Octopus was Books are My Bag's indie children's book of the month for July, and one that had already caught my eye in the bookshop, so it was a no-brainer for me... 

I left it in the story basket with our two Jellycat Octopuses Inky and Storm, and the boys were straight in the following day, asking if we could read it!

We read the story together, and the boys played with the octopuses, which ended in lots of fun and giggles when I showed them that they could hold on to their arms with their tentacles. It sparked numerous questions and conversations about octopuses, which moved onto other sea creatures, mainly sharks! 

We also discussed the topic of feelings, fear, being yourself, confiding in others, particularly grown ups, and the many ways in which you can express yourself or make your feelings known - all topics that are covered in the beautiful story and even more stunning illustrations.

This book was definitely much more of a hit than June's book, and has been picked up multiple times to read, by Bear alone, as well as The Cub occasionally too. 

One of the highlights was coming into the living room to find Bear on the sofa looking through the book. He told me all about his favourite part where the octopus can change colour to hide.

We didn't get around to the book review for this before we went away for our summer holiday in August, and then we've done very little in the form of sit down learning over the rest of summer so it's only just got done.

Bear and I reread the story and talked about it and then he gave me his three star rating because "it was good but not one of his favourites"... his words. I loved it! He struggled a little with the summary and I prompted with several questions, but he was quick to tell me his favourite part!

I am going to go about our focus title a little differently this year, still choosing a different picture book each month, but using it differently.  I want to use it to support other topics of interest, and Bear's phonics and literacy skills. More on that to come...

This month's book is Leaves by Stephen Hogtun which fits perfectly with the autumnal changes going on around us.

Stick with me for more on our plans,

Mama Bear x

A Tree Study: Sycamore

At the beginning of the last academic year, Bear and I chose a tree near our house to do a nature study on over the course of the seasons to see how it changed throughout the year. The choice was easy as this big sycamore tree that we have to walk past pretty much anywhere we go is Bear's favourite!

During Autumn, we went to check it out and talked about what the tree looked like, using as many descriptive words as we could. We collected some leaves and enjoyed crunching through them and playing in them and throwing the helicopter seeds up in the air with The Cub while on our way home one day.

Once back home we did some leaf rubbings and put our findings into Bear's new nature journal. Writing the words he had used to describe the tree and some autumnal stickers that we'd bought a few days before.

As the months went on we watched the tree change and lose all of it's leaves for Winter and then stopped again one day to talk about it one day when we'd had snow. Going through the same questions and looking at the way the tree had changed. I'd purposely waited for snow and frost before we went to do our observations as I wanted his descriptive words to include the typical wintry words.

Again, we completed a nature journal page and Bear even did some drawings to go with it as we'd had some snow and been making snowmen in the back garden.

You get the gist now, we did the same thing in Spring and then again in the Summer and it was lovely to see Bear noticing the changes as the year went on instead of being prompted on them. He was so excited to see the new helicopter seeds begin to grow and still hunts for fallen sticks from the branches every time we walk by. The Cub walks by too now instead of being in his pram so has joined in the hunt for the best stick!

This year I decided that we should change tree so that Bear can see how different trees go through different changes, so we went out for a walk around the neighbourhood in the week before the start of September to find something new and settled on one of the big horse chestnut trees. We will be doing the same study this year, and comparing it to the sycamore tree too for comparisons.

I can't wait to see how Bear's thoughts have developed since last year and look forward to our journal pages!

I will keep you updated throughout the year on our findings.

Mama Bear x

First day of Foundation Stage 2

Straight in on a Monday morning, I do like a good reset and September is a great time for it. Being able to jump right in on Monday morning was epic too - it felt like a perfect fresh start, and we had an ace day!

I set up a morning basket for Bear with some new goodies in ready for when he woke up, and he was so excited when I directed him there. I'd picked up this wipe clean learn to draw book in Aldi several weeks ago, initially, to put away as a Christmas/Birthday present, but it was perfect for this too. It has kept him occupied both yesterday and today at multiple times during the day. He loves to draw vehicles, so this was a great way to broaden his talent in a practical way.

There was also a new picture book, and a new chapter book with a new bookmark, and a new fidget style toy. All of which went down well!

He loved my choice of new chapter book, Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue, and after insisting that we read the first chapter after breakfast, wanted to dress up as Kitty for the day.

Last year, I set up going on a rainbow hunt for our first day as Bear absolutely loves anything rainbow related. When we discussed our first day last week, I mentioned doing something similar, but he was only interested in doing the same again, so, a tradition was born!

I set up a rainbow invitation to play for them both, including some stories, which we read a couple of during the morning while still in our pyjamas, then we played some colour games, searching for things to match all the different colours, and then playing hide and seek with the rainbow peg dolls.

While The Cub napped, we completed our Not Back to School questionnaire and made paper plate versions of ourselves, similar to how we made wooden spoons last year.  Bear loves crafting, and when I got the paper and scissors out to make our hair he was in his element - I really need to do more simple activities for him to practice his skills!

We set up a mirror to look in so that Bear could copy his features, and I made one along side him so that I could model the places for everything, but he was left to his own design as I am very much for his crafts/art being his own and not overly led/corrected.

When he was finished he propped it up in front of the mirror so that he was sat looking at it and exclaimed that he didn't need a mirror anymore as he could see himself fine now.

After lunch, we headed out on our Rainbow Hunt - taking Bear's camera so that he could take photos for his nature journal page, and we took The Cub's little wooden camera which he used to copy his brother and take photos too!

They went out with their cat ears and giraffe ears headbands on, because, why not?! We picked up Nannie, and headed for the park, checking the blackberry bushes for wild snacks along the way as there is still tons of fruit left on them.

It was a miserable kind of afternoon with a lot of drizzle, which meant we had the park to ourselves, and two little wet bums from going down the slide and on the other playground equipment by the time we were finished.

We headed home for a snuggly afternoon on the sofa, watching a movie together, then after we'd had some tea, headed out into the garden as the weather was much nicer, and spent half an hour trying to learn how to skip! Bear showed a lot of patience with trying, something he generally doesn't have a lot of at the moment, and The Cub was just adorable jumping up and down and waving his arms around with the skipping rope clutched in his hands!

 

After a bath and clean jammies, we headed to bed to read some more of his new chapter book and then both boys were fast asleep before 8pm, which is pretty unheard of, Bear is normally awake until closer to 9pm, but a busy and exciting day had him all worn out... and he slept till almost 9am this morning too!!

How was your first day of Home Ed this year?

Mama Bear x