Happy New Year!

 Hello folks,

Sorry for being MIA for the last few months, life seemed to run away with us for a while there and then December hit and things got really crazy! It’s been a fair while since I last posted, so, here’s a catch up on everything we’ve been up to!

Kid corner

Bear (Age 5)

School/Learning: Bear is on an amazing reading adventure! He is flying through the stages of reading and now reads everything he passes, and still loves books, including non-fiction, which he devours and then recites the facts to everyone who will listen. We used reading scheme books from the library and Bear has quickly jumped the colour bands and is currently reading comfortably at a Purple level which is a level 8 in the scheme we use.

He has a major interest in science as he loves to know how things work, and we started off a small science unit study on his body, working our way through an Usborne book that shows us the different parts of the body and how it works. We have done some experiments and activities and used several other books in coordination that have given us lots of new knowledge.

Maths is probably Bear’s least favourite thing to do at the minute, however, not because he can't do it. On the contrary, anything I seem to put in front of him he picks up relatively quickly, and we often find ourselves with maths queries when he discovers something new. The problem is that I've struggled to find a way of teaching math that hasn’t included a workbook of some format, which is probably Bear’s least favourite way to learn.

Hobbies/Interest: LEGO, always LEGO! Bear is construction mad, and builds spaceships, cars, you name it. Recently, he actually designed a spaceship on paper, complete with labels and multiple view points. He named it The Black Reaper and told us that he plans to build it for real when he grows up, but for now has built it with LEGO so that we could see it for real! He's also gotten really into games this last month or so, enjoying playing with family members - the favourite right now is Hero Slam.

Fun Fact: Bear has decided recently that he would like to be an astronaut when he grows up after learning all about Neil Armstrong in our Whimsy & Bug subscription box a couple of months ago, and wants to design and build the rockets. 

The Cub (Age 3)

School/Learning: The Cub is loving learning right now and can now recognise his numbers from 1-10 and loves picking them out in places. He also has sight recognition of a dozen letters and regularly points out the starting letters of many family names whenever he spots them.

He regularly sits down with Bear and I when we do our sit down learning, and loves to be included, especially if there is some sort of equipment incolved, however, there is currently no pressure for him. He has some wipe-clean activity books, some colouring pages and a few activities to work on his letters and numbers that are for him if he chooses to join us, but if he chooses to go and play while Bear and I sit down, that’s okay too right now.

Hobbies/Interests: We are loving jigsaw puzzles and board games at the moment and will always choose to sit down and play a game over his toys. We have been attending Games Night at the bookshop these last few months and he thinks it’s amazing. He loves dinosaurs, and is quite taken with Gigantosaurus and the four little dinos at the moment. We are slowly accrueing the books, as well at the World of Dinosaur Roar series which are fantastic stories and full of fun facts about each type of dinosaur! I regularly find The Cub with a book, just chilling and looking at the pictures.

Fun fact: At just over three years old, we finished our breastfeeding journey and at three years and three months, we are taking a shot at potty training, which he seems to have picked up in just a couple of days... Fingers crossed!

Our Learning

Whimsy & Bug

This subscription is genuinely epic! It is engaging, fun, full of activities, stories, crafts and video clips, plus it is cross-curricular which means when we dive into here each month we cover lost of differnt subjects and topics! It is a monthly box, which up until December we kept up with, now we are a month behind and need to catch up!

The Bear Can Read

I actually decided to cancel out The Bear Can Read subscription recently as I felt that it was getting very repetetive for Bear and that meant he wasn't enjoying it anymore. I'd already tried bumping him up a level or two, but even so, he was flying through the activities but also not wanting to do them when offered, so for now, we have moved on from here and will see what the future holds for our literacy path.

Other plans

We started our pond study back in the autumn, having found a new pond to look at, however, we didn't get around to choosing a tree and getting a study done. We decided to use the tree at the bottom of our garden and have just started late and done our winter study first, so we can watch it come full cycle as it begins to grow in the spring.

Groups and Outings

I am hoping to keep our Forest Tots date with friends, get to the farm more regularly, whether the Little Farmer Group, or their Home Education day and make more of an effort to get out somewhere 'educational' each month. We already have several home ed trips booked in with our local community which the boys are more than excited for, but I want to make use of local museums etc too now that they are both finding intrigue in new things.

Family Highlights & Adventures

Here are some of our memorable moments <3

Adventures: We started collecting Trig Points after an accidental find when we were out for The Cub’s birthday and the boys and I have now bagged four, including the original one, plus we bagged one as a family on New Year's Day out in Withernsea.

Night's Out: The boys and I joined Daddy at the pub for the Sunday Acoustical Jam Night on a weekly basis up until recently and we absolutely love it. The boys love making requests for Daddy to sing, the favourites being Living on a Prayer from The Cub and Misfits from Bear. They also love helping out and have become official roadies for the band when setting up and even mic checking some days by singing nursery rhymes.

Our favourite read: The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and illustrated by Chris Mould which they absolutely loved and I regularly find Bear rereading/checking out the amazing illustrations.

The big news: We moved house! What we were thinking moving house at the beginning of December, I will never know, but it was so worth it. We’ve upsized from a bungalow to a three-bedroomed house, and we are settling in nicely now with much more room and a lovely garden which we enjoyed in the snow this weekend!

Looking ahead: upcoming fun

We have lots of fun adventures planned for next year, some trig points to find, including climbing some mountains to find the ones on top! There are already trips to the Wildlife Park planned, a new farm to explore, birthday parties to paln plan and attend, Games Nights to enjoy, and a music festival in the summer to look forward to.

The Jester and I are also getting married this year, so we have that to plan and look forward to. We have some great ideas, I just have to work out how to put them all into a plan and get moving!

I think that about sums us up for now, I promise to try and stay on top of the posting a little better this year... until then, Happy New Year :)

Mama Bear x