Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Tom!

Today was (Cameron's teddy and long time friend) Super Baby Tom's birthday! Cameron has had him since he was 18 months but properly befriended him around the time he came out of school and they've been inseparable ever since.
Last year we had a party to celebrate his "first" birthday" which Cameron put loads of effort into. This year was no exception and for the last 6 weeks or so Cameron has been plotting and planning and telling anyone who would listen about it all.
We saved some decorations that Cameron made last year and put them up again today.

This morning we baked a cake- usually Cameron gives me an elaborate brief of what he wants it to look like but this time he wanted to make it himself so we kept it simple - chocolate sponge with vanilla icing and white and milk chocolate stars.

As you can see he did an excellent job!

When Grandma and Grandad arrived we woke Tom up by shouting "surprise" in unison and then proceeded to open presents. Cameron had made him a card (where he'd drawn Tom as a jack in the box),

a 12 page comic, a cardboard mobile phone, a mini cardboard TV and Wii complete with mini cardboard controller and nunchuck! He'd made the wrapping paper himself in a rainbow design. He designed a Super Baby Tom Wii video game - he made the box and wrote a blurb of information on the back about the game features - it was really detailed and his use of language was really great - "Join Super Baby Tom, Bark and Tubey on an exciting adventure to save the world and defeat Evil Guy and his army of mummies. " Then later on "Discover the characters super powers as you battle the mummies. Switch between who you want to be. And finally come face to face with Evil Guy in the final battle". He made a disc for the game using a compass (one of his new favourite tools) and drew a design on that too.

He spent some of his pocket money last week on some fluffy green material at the fabric shop to make a new bed for Tom.

He'd also made a packet for "Frostoman's Extra Icey Ice-creams" complete with cardboard ice-creams for Grandad (AKA Frostoman) to give to Tom.
There were other Hooby guests too who had gifts such as a flying saucer (frizbee).

We sang Happy Birthday and Cameron helped Tom blow out the candles.
After tea and cake we played "pin the cape on Tom" that Cameron had made.

Everything went as per Cameron's expectations, it was a lovely afternoon.

The Goldilocks of Hats

It's taken 4 attempts (two too big, one too small, hence the title) but I have finally finished knitting Cameron's hat and scarf for Autumn/Winter and it's juuuussst right!
I had to use some navy wool (Cameron picked out) for the hat because the original wool I had used with the scarf was sold out after my hat attempt #3 - oops!
Anyway, we're very happy with it.
I had assumed Cameron would be too "cool" to wear a Mama made hat this year but he was certain that that wasn't the case (much to my delight, I'll admit!).

He liked the style of the hat from last year because it doesn't blow off when it gets blustery. We decided not to have a heavy pom pom on it this year though as that didn't work as well last time, and to make the gnome bit at the top a bit shorter.
It's based on the gnome hat from The Children's Year but adapted for Cameron's size and the reasons above. I also changed the ribbing around the face because I used chunky wool.
I think it's the nicest thing I've knitted, so far, and it has the Cameron seal off approval which is the one that matters the most.
I apologise for the bad photos, after finally finishing this hat at 8.30pm there was no way I wasn't going to take pictures and blog about it hehe!

The best kind of kid logic

"Argh, I'm dizzy! Quick! Hugs are the only way to preserve my sanity."

Apple-Honey Challah

Yesterday we made Apple-Honey Challah that I found in the September issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine (no link to the recipe because it hasn't been posted online yet). The recipe turned out a bit salty for our tastes but we had fun making it anyway and the birds lapped up the rest of what we didn't want to eat so nothing was wasted.

We found this interesting page on challah shapes and traditions via a Flickr search for pictures.

Lovely Weekend

Cameron and I had a particularly lovely weekend.
Saturday was one of those "lazy" days where we planned nothing but achieved a lot. Cameron was working on some comics, doing a lot of reading, reading and playing on the computer - particularly looking up Dennis the Menace and Doctor Who things and playing Super Baby Tom games.
We stayed up late on Saturday night, watching a film together which was nice.


On Sunday morning we went to the park and Cameron had a great time running up and down a hill, over and over again. We found some small but formed conkers and acorns on the ground and spotted many more growing on the trees. On the way home we had fun kicking leaves,which are already falling, and talked some more about what we like about Autumn.



After lunch we made hot drinks and read the first 4 chapters of the first Narnia book - The Magicians Nephew - in preparation for a mini curriculum someone recommended to us that we've decided to do in the Autumn, on two of the later Narnia books. I haven't ever read this first book in the series so I'm enjoying it for the first time too.
In the evening I finished knitting Cameron's scarf for Autumn/Winter - more on that to come when I stop messing up the matching hat!

Attention Beano Fans!

Cameron is very excited about this new series!

Beano Day Rituals

Back in April Cameron spent his birthday money on a subscription to the Beano and it is still a huge hit.
The comic usually arrives a good 4 days before it's out in the shops which makes Cameron feel very special and each day when the postman arrives he's chomping at the bit to find out if it's Beano day or not.
When the comic finally arrives there are little rituals Cameron has in place for enjoying reading it and trying out whatever plastic tat toy they've put on the front. Over the summer he's been migrating out to the little back yard and setting up a little comfy place for him and his teddy friends. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world at that moment - the Beano has arrived and Cameron gets completely lost in Beano town as he drinks in every last word.




Later on in the day he will come to me with random questions, usually about a turn of phrase he hasn't heard of before or something. Perhaps the next day he will start playing pranks and "dodges" on me that he's read about in the comic - it really keeps me on my toes sometimes!
Over the rest of the week Cameron will tell me some of the little stories or will have picked up a little saying that he repeats over and over again.
Definitely money well spent!

101 Things #44

Make some home made beauty products

I bought the ingredients for this months ago on eBay and put them in a cupboard and forgot about them!
For this project I decided to make lip balm. I don't use many products - but I had awful eczema as a child and was particularly teased about having it around my mouth - cracked and sore lips were one of the worst parts. I have my eczema pretty much under control now, I believe the biggest cause was stress during my childhood. The whole experience has left me with a bit of an obsession with lip balm though - I prefer to have my lips moisturised at all times as the dry skin feeling is associated with bad memories for me.
As I go through so much lip balm, I thought this should be the thing for me to try and make with as simple ingredients as possible - ones I can pronounce, know what they are and where they came from.
It was really easy to make, although fiddly to get into the pots before it set. It was mostly a case of melting and stirring but at as low a heat as possible so as not to damage the cocoa butter.



Ingredients:
Cosmetic grade beeswax
Shea butter
Cocoa butter
Sweet almond oil
Essential oil




I now have about 9 months worth of lip balm at a much cheaper price than the store bought variety with simple ingredients and as a bonus my house smells like The Body Shop!

Wednesday

(No, I couldn't think of a better title!)
Cameron is slowly moving away from the structured routine he chose for himself at the start of the summer. He has progressed in so many areas, particularly his maths. He hasn't stopped the curriculum work altogether but has slowed down and making time to include other things.
He's doing lots of role play type games. Here he is working in his Camix shop.

Lots of interest in cooking again too - making gingerbread shapes

This morning we went to the library and Cameron got his medal for completing the reading challenge. After that we went for a walk in the woods - which we haven't done for a long time, (spending more time at the allotment instead). Cameron took a bag to collect things to make into a potion later on.

We have started our annual run up to Autumn where we talk about all the things we're looking forward to - much later than last year so perhaps we are doing better at staying in the moment. Top of Cameron's list was the schoolies going back to school which was when we realised that we haven't been hiding ourselves away this summer as we usually do in the school holidays. We are quite proud of ourselves about that because at the start of our journey we would hold ourselves prisoner almost!

Another Tuesday Trip With Grandad

Grandad took us out again for the afternoon today. We went to this 17th century manor house.
Cameron was given some sheets of things to spot around the manor house by a very chatty tour guide. There were no photos allowed inside the house itself.
Cameron was hoping to see a ghost after we found this wikipedia page, this morning, mentioning that Most Haunted had been filmed there a few times - he was quite disappointed that he didn't see any. Some of the upcoming version of Wuthering Heights was also filmed there last year - we heard a bit about the filming process from one of the tour guides upstairs.
As we finished our tour of the house the dinner bell rang to signal the start of a little play being staged outside.

There was a lovely little park that sparked Cameron's interest more than anything else.


He was a bit of a misery going round the manor house in all honesty - I guess you can't win them all!

The gardens were lovely. I particularly enjoyed the herb garden which was labelled with lots of information about what the different plants would have been used for.
On the way back to the car park we found this little grass maze which Cameron had a go at.

Feudal Archery

Last week we visited this castle for a Feudal Archery event.

We invited Cameron's friend D and his Mum along for the afternoon too.
There was a little medieval camp set up in the grounds which was very interesting.

We got to talk to some rein actors about lots of different things such as food preparation, crafts and archery.

The boys went off by themselves to explore the castle, I think they really enjoyed the freedom to wander off by themselves.
I really enjoyed seeing the domestic areas of the castle - the various kitchens etc.
There was an archery display on the lawn a bit later on which was great.


The boys had ice-cream and the Mums drank tea and we all had a potter around the gift shop (what is it about gift shops that makes you think you need to buy everything?!) before heading off home again.
Cameron hit his limit for keeping up social skills about half way though the visit. I think we've discovered that we're better at this kind of thing if we're on our own rather than in a group, albeit a small one today, and socialising separately from events/activities.

The castle is quite small and lovely but I think it's better value for money on the days where they offer an event like this.

I was mostly impressed by the beautiful courtyard - I think that's a feature lacking in modern property design!

A Visit to Bradford

Yesterday we popped over to Bradford. We went primarily to see another film at the IMAX - this time Deep Sea 3D. The film was great, a bit shorter than the others we've seen but very interesting and we learnt a lot about ecosystems and food chains.
After the film we had a look around at the museum. The great thing about a big museum like this is that you can visit several times and see something new each time. Each visit takes on a different theme and this time Cameron chose the Experience TV section. He was particularly into the directors room and seeing all the different controls and screens.


After the museum we headed out to towards the city centre and discovered this at Centenary Square. The Darwin sand sculpture was amazing.




There was a man doing performance art - the living statue trick. He was doing very well, people kept going up and touching and shoving him and he didn't break character.
While we were in Bradford we did a bit of shopping. We picked up some winter pyjamas and coats and Cameron got a new football.

Taking the leap - looking back

Recently, whilst sorting through our bits and pieces of things we've saved from our home education journey, I found a diary I kept during the first month or so after deregistering Cameron from school. Cameron had returned to school after the Christmas period (because I had wimped out of my plan to deregister him), just a few weeks later he came out at crisis point and I wanted to keep a diary of everything (I thought would be deemed) educational so that that when the local authorities made enquiries I'd be prepared.
You can almost feel the desperation and fear in my writing as I recorded every conversation and activity, and even analysing Cameron's choices for what to do in his "free" time - talk about sucking the fun out of everything!

Rediscovering this diary has got me thinking about how much more scary it must be to take that leap of faith and deregister your child(ren) in the current circumstances where there is often more bad press than good and home education has been (wrongly) linked to high profile abuse cases. I wonder if I'd have been brave enough had all of this been going on back then and if I'd have managed to convince my family it was a good decision and gain their support.

I get a lot of emails through this blog from people who are thinking about home educating and I do my best to tell them about our experiences. When I was dithering over the decision myself I phoned a few people local to me from a home educators contact list. I remember asking them questions like "what does a typical day look like for you?" and being utterly frustrated to hear answers such as "well... there is no such thing as a typical day". If only I'd discovered home ed blog rings back then perhaps I'd have had more of an idea of how others approach it.
I thought I'd share a few exerts from the diary.

29th January 2007 (day after deregistration)
Cameron woke naturally instead of being forced out of bed!!
45 mins continuing patterns and number sequences from a worksheet and then improvised both symmetrical and repeating patterns using Doctor Who characters (instead of drawing round wooden shapes like they do at school) - had to explain these even though the school had covered it. Planned a picnic together, discussing nutrition. Cameron initiated a compromise independently. Train - journey observations. Visit and discussions included a church, canal, birds, bridge, waterfall, park, tram railway, exercise, squirrels, stream, glen, picnic (where a dog tried to steal Cameron's sandwich), countryside centre, cafe for drink, play park, road safety, famous statue, spring flowers, mill, orientation, reading train timetable, return journey - interaction with conductor, supermarket visit.
Drew map of day and events, coloured and labelled it. 45 minutes improvisation to music using percussion instruments.
1 hour free play - chose to draw from imagination.
Discussion of food groups during tea prep. Completed today's diary for "learn the time" work book. Short visit from old school friend (peer socialisation). 1 hour TV time. 30 mins play in bath using a variety of containers (volume estimation discussion).
2 chapters of charlie and the chocolate factory.
Main observation of the day was that Cam was eager - no lethargy, lots of curiosity.

I carried on nervously micromanaging and recording every little detail for about a week, although we did a lot of fun experiments and things too. This is my diary entry for an activity Cameron still remembers and talks about fondly...

Wednesday 31st January 2007
...Bread making experiment! We made a bread dough recipe and then flavoured the dough portions using - pesto, tomato & garlic puree, chocolate, marmite. Cameron really got into the activity. He requires a lot of reassurance at the moment - clearly feels under pressure to get things right after criticisms at school.
Lunch - bread taste test.
Write up of bread making including pictures and marks out of ten. Cameron asked if he could make a cook book with all the recipes he makes!!...

Then, just over a week from leaving school - words that still bring a tear to my eye when I read them:

Wednesday 7th February 2007
... Saw Cameron relax today, for first time in ages. He was walking along and SINGING, JIGGING & MAKING UP OWN SONGS!!!

It seemed that Cameron singing and dancing in a naturally joyful way was the sign I was looking for to take a deep breath and relax myself as this is the entire diary entry for the next day:

Thursday 8th February 2007
SNOW!!!! (makes concentration hard!).

I'm not really sure what my point is with sharing this today. I guess I want to show that (probably) everyone is afraid and antsy and finds it hard to deschool. I think the little parts of the diary that I've shared show how much easier it got for me in little more than a week. Making the decision and fighting the doubters was one of the most stressful things I've ever done, but it didn't last forever.
Of course there were many more "breakthroughs" for Cameron and I put that down to me being more relaxed and giving him the freedom to find his own path and be his own person - something that wouldn't have happened had I had to coerce him with a 12 month plan and ever looming visits. I don't really post about the political stuff, I'm not very good at it.
I believe that the decision to home educate is never taken lightly, but I truly hope that children continue to have the right to that freedom and that this ridiculous review and recommendations are not putting people off.
As September is on the horizon and I know that many parents will be dithering over their own choices about educational provision, I just wanted to say that choosing to home educate was the best decision we (ultimately, I) ever made. I got back my child and my child got back his childhood.

Happy Little Hand Pies

Today I made some happy little hand pies inspired by a recipe in 501 Bento Box Lunches: 500 Unique Recipes for Brilliant Bento for "Bridies" (described in the book as Scottish meat pies).

I made a vegetarian version using what I happened to have in the cupboard and fridge - yellow split peas, carrots, garlic, onions, mushrooms cooked in vegetable stock and flavoured it with a good dollop of marmite.

They can be savoury or sweet, are delicious hot or cold and you can freeze them before baking which makes it a good recipe to do in bulk.

Cameron was very impressed, he thought they were very cute and I'm inclined to agree - although I think I'd pay more attention to detail next time, I'm not good with the fiddly stuff. I might make them larger too so the veg mixture to pastry ratio was slightly more healthy!

When I saw the one that had leaked the gravy mixture out of it's mouth I thought that berry pies would be an awesome idea for halloween treats - you could manipulate them to leak purple juice in quite a gory way!

An Afternoon with Grandad

Today Grandad took us up to the crematorium to see Grandad Dog's grave for the first time. We took some flowers and cleaned up a bit. It was very emotional but something I definitely needed to do. I'm not sure Cameron really took it in but we can always go back whenever he is ready.

We popped in to a park and Cameron had a great time on the roundabout with some other children. The park was really busy and the paddling pool was filled with water but Cameron didn't fancy getting wet.

Next we went up into the hills and had a bit of a walk.

We saw some donkeys, some of them babies which we got to see feeding from their mothers.

Cameron really enjoyed being up on the windy hilltops. He relished in having a good shout over the valley and climbing on the big rocks.



It was a really nice afternoon.

Blackcurrant Ice-cream

We picked our first proper food from the allotment today - blackcurrants!

With them we made ice-cream using a really simple recipe from Festivals, Family & Food. It's a fabulous colour isn't it? Very few ingredients and not really at all fiddly to make - perfect.

Give a boy a pot of...

...goo and see his wonderful creativity and imagination shine :o/

What's turning out to be a typical Summer week...

It was Ben 10 and Ben 10 Alien Force weekend on cartoon network last weekend so Cameron decided to save all his telly time up for the week so he could see everything he wanted at the weekend. He caught a lot of episodes he hadn't seen before and it has sparked a new interest in action figure play. Doctor Who action figures are being used as the baddies!

Cameron's interest in the Shidonni World website has continued so we paid for a months worth of Shidonni Pro which gives him more privileges and options. He has sent one of his characters on an exchange to Israel which has been very interesting. He's also racking up a lot of awards for various missions etc.

Cameron is continuing with the library summer reading scheme and particularly enjoying Geronimo Stilton books. 1 more to go to get the medal. When he reached the 4th book he received a voucher for a free DVD rental and he chose the first season of the Simpsons which he's really been enjoying.

We went to our most local HE group on Friday and had a pretty OK time. It was some one's birthday so there was a treasure hunt and games that I didn't quite get the gist of - something about murder in the dark - there was a lot of screaming anyway! The weather was nice for once so there was plenty of opportunity for playing in the park but D, Cameron's best friend, wasn't there so Cameron was a bit disappointed.

The maths work has been going really well. Cameron is coming on leaps and bounds and is way more confident about how to work things out by himself. We've also been doing some science. Learning about solids and liquids this week we did a few experiments about how things dissolve and how to speed up the process etc. We had a race with coffee powder added to hot/cold water to see which one dissolved fastest. I remembered seeing an experiment on someone else's blog ages ago about doing this with lollies so we had a go at that - Cameron was very clever and got dibs on the lolly in the cold water because he knew that one would be bigger than the one in hot!