Telling the Time

Mum, can we have breakfast now? No dear it is half past 5 in the morning.

Mum, is it not time for tea yet? No dear it is only 2pm and we only had lunch an hour ago.

Mum, when is Daddy coming back from work? At half past 4. But when is that?

Sometimes I feel like I am Mr Wolf and all I hear is What time is it Mr Wolf? Except very rarely do I get to say it's dinner time and I think it is frowned upon if I gobble the children up. I have tried on a few occasions to teach Mr Social to tell the time but with little success. We got him an easy to read watch that is red on one side and blue on the other with numbers for the hours and separate numbers for minutes.

Although he loves it and thinks he looks real smart wearing it, he doesn't really want to tell the time for himself.

So then I tried printing out a large clock with hands that can be moved so that he could fiddle about with it and learn through play. 

Again it sparked his interest for a while. I even laminated it so I could write minute numbers around the edge and mark the sides clearly with past and to. Once again interest lagged and as I pulled out my clock yesterday to recap time with Mr Social I was met with a blank face as he struggled to grasp the concept of quarter past and quarter to and getting muddled with hour and minute hands.

Back to the drawing board I went on search of something different to help us out and renew his interest in telling the time. I was on the lookout for something quite specific and was resigned to having to create it myself when I remembered a resource website that offered free printables called twinkl. Twinkl is a great resource and I have used their free printables on a number of occasions now. They also offer a subscription based membership and lots more resources become available to you. On this occasion I was looking for a game. I have always had great success with game based activities and I found a lovely time bingo game which I printed and laminated and which we have gone on to play for most of the morning. 

By the end of the morning Mr Social was confidently picking out quarter past and quarter to once again. I will of course revisit this game frequently at the moment to reinforce the lessons. Once again I find myself being thankful for the plentiful free resources that are now available over the internet and pleased to be able to share them with you.

Sick days

With my new notice board at the ready I was all prepared to be planned out and efficient. We had a number of exciting things lined up ready to brighten up our routine including a day spent with family relatives and a very cute baby nephew. On a Sunday evening I filled in the planner board and listed the tasks and lessons for the week ahead and on the Monday morning I was looking after a sick child that turned into a sick child and a sick mother, which then passed on to another child and then back to the mother. For 2 weeks now I have been dealing with a particularly nasty strain of a stomach virus and Mr Faithful is now suffering with it.

So what does your household look like when your children or Mum and Dad are sick?

1. Books

When energy is low a blanket and a pile of books to look through and read are a comfort to the suffering.

Favourite books at the moment include The BFG by Roald Dahl, Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne, Five Children and It by E Nesbitt as well as the vast amount of picture books from the library and our bookshelf, too many to mention.

2. Audio Books

When reading books yourself is too much hard work then audio books provide a welcome relief. My android phone supports an app called Overdrive which allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks instantly by downloading them on to your media device and streaming them for instant use. We also have our own small selection including The House at Pooh Corner...a family favourite.

3. Construction Toys

I am not talking about building enormous models but Lego or Meccano keeps little boys happy as simple models can be built without too much moving and Mummy can sit with them and help them out.

4. DVDs

I normally have a restriction on screen time and normally reserve it for tea time when food preparation requires my complete attention and little boys are fractious and tired. However on sick days I lift the restriction and bring down some of our DVDs. Charlotte's Web, Jungle Book, Wallace and Gromit, Cars, and Postman Pat have been the choice DVDs this last week.

5. Sleep

Although I do not often get the chance to get some sleep during the day when ill I do encourage my children to do so, and they don't need much encouragement to sleep when truly ill. Whether it is on the sofa or in their beds I will cover them with a blanket and let them sleep for as long as and as often as they need.

6. Imagination

I have recently started making up my own stories and have enjoyed telling my boys tales of Little Timmy Mouse who goes on lots of adventures and we have enjoyed cuddles whilst making up the next adventure for the little mouse.

7. Love and Cuddles

You can't beat cuddles with mummy. When one of my boys are ill I only do what is necessary in the house and spend as much time as I can loving my poorly child. I often get on top of the house chores when the poorly child is sleeping to give me that time with the children. It makes them feel so special and loved knowing that Mummy and brothers are there to cheer them up.

I hope that we are coming to the end of this sickness so we can get back to our usual activities. 

Alphabet Activity

It's time for Mr Cheeky to get to grips with his alphabet. He probably knows about half of it and can do the sounds for s, a, t, p, i and n thanks to Jolly Phonics. The problem is Mr Cheeky is quite a different learner to his older brother Mr Social who picked up the alphabet in a matter of a few sessions. I saw problem...maybe that's the wrong terminology. We all know that children learn differently and that there is no one mould to suit all and that is what I am learning with my boys. Mr Social is gifted with his literacy, he loves books and he learned his alphabet quickly and had a thirst for learning to read. I was curious to see what he would be graded as a reader if he was following some kind of graded system and he was very excited to take some reading tests (which for him meant just more opportunities to read which he loves) and I discovered that his reading ability fell between an age of 7 1/2 to 9 1/2. (The range in age comes from the fact that the reading level tests focused on different things). He turns 6 at the end of the month so I am thrilled that the one thing I was nervous about teaching has gone well and he is quite fluent now.

Mr Social learned his alphabet and sounds mainly through the Jolly Phonics reading scheme. It involved work sheets and I supplemented with other activities like playdough letters, alphabet magnets, letter bingo and other such fun crafts. We also have bananagrams which is great for teaching letters and we play a few modified versions of the game depending on what I am wanting to teach.

Mr Cheeky on the other hand does not want to focus his attention on worksheets or if he does it is for very short bursts. And he often resists my attempts to turn everyday play activities into alphabet learning opportunities. But I did find a happy marriage this morning of two things he loves doing...jigsaws and running. Slightly odd combination as they do not normally go hand in hand but I did get a sustained period of alphabet learning from him. Mr Cheeky has always loved puzzles, he is of a more logical nature and his grasp of logic and numeracy is very good. For his last birthday he received a lovely Dr Seuss alphabet jigsaw and he happily pieced it together this morning. Noticing that he could do with running off a bit of energy I challenged him to run into the kitchen and bring me one letter of the alphabet off the fridge at a time and match it up with the matching letter on the jigsaw. Well a challenge is enough to get this boy moving and off he whizzed and came skidding back with his first letter. I asked him to name the letter before he placed it and if he couldn't name it then he was allowed to place the letter in the LeapFrog letter machine to hear it's name and the sound it makes. This kept him occupied until he had completed about half of the alphabet. I was pleased with his attempt and let him finish as I didn't want to dissuade him from returning to another alphabet task tomorrow. So that was my impromptu alphabet activity of the day.

My very own notice board for planning the home

I have had a busy week on the computer but it wasn't blogging that was occupying my time but designing a notice board. For a while now I have wanted to make a board that was easy to use and for everyone to look at so we all would know what we needed to achieve that week and although I have not quite finished here is what I have got so far.

I am quite pleased with how it has turned out so far. I purchased a cork notice board for a mere £2 a while ago and whilst painting Mr Smiley's bedroom I used some of the yellow paint to paint the wooden edge to the board. Once done I had cut a selection of patterned papers to decorate the background and found a selection of pushpins to add to it. And for 4 months there it stood waiting for me to do something with it. Well I finally bit the bullet this weekend and designed a few items to go on.

This idea for a reward chart I got from pinterest. Each morning they boys (represented by the red and blue button) start on great job, behaviour above what I ask for gets them up to amazing and poor behaviour sees them move down. If they hit consequence then on top of our usual discipline they will lose a privilege but if they end up on amazing at the end of the day they gain a privilege. Mr Social was very concerned to hit warning yesterday that he promptly looked at my chore chart and went and did the vacuuming not only downstairs but upstairs as well.

I have been planning meals weekly for some time now but it made sense to make these plans public. Firstly I may now avoid the question of "What's for tea?" which causes my shoulders to sag sometimes as it is a constant reminder that my jobs are never done (I have been lacking motivation in the kitchen recently and I hope that this will help give me a boost again too). Secondly, I hope to inspire my family to go in the kitchen and help create these meals too as a chaotic 1 yr old is currently hampering my efforts in the kitchen (he does love my cupboards and drawers).

The main body of the board is our school plan. There are eight spaces for each day and I have included only Monday to Friday as the weekend is our family time. Now we all know what the plan is for each day and the hope is to have instructions for each topic for the day to be left next to the notice board so that I may encourage some independent working if they feel inclined to do so. I feel this may become of more use as they get older as only Mr Social is able to read yet. As soon as the list for the day has been achieved then we can either go out or have free playtime. The work I set is definitely able to be completed within a morning.

The to do list...I could have a lot of things listed here but only chose a few things that the boys would be able to help with so in the event they wanted to they could do a task for me. They are expected already to keep their bedroom tidy, clear toys away, clear table after meals and help with the dishwasher so these things didn't end up on the list.

Memory verse corner...we are using the Charlotte Mason approach to scripture verse learning and the current verse we are attempting to commit to memory goes on the board.

And finally I added 2 verses from the bible that I really like and also need reminding a lot.

I hope to add a section for the date and some more verses but for now we have a useable notice board.

Spring Walks

Although the weather has taken a turn for the worse in recent days with 70mph winds being recorded I am still excited to see that Spring is here. New life is blossoming around us and there are some beautiful flowers coming to life in our garden with an array of colours. Vegetables and flowers are growing on our windowsills and greenhouse and buds are showing on our fruit trees.

Before these mighty winds came we had been enjoying exploring our local parks on our bikes. We have been looking at different textures in nature. This tree bark was particularly fetching...rough and cracked, worn by time but mesmerising.

The boys then obviously had to have a go at climbing the very same tree and both managed it with ease and plenty of enjoyment. This is now their favourite tree in the park.

Whilst the boys were climbing I was marvelling at creation and the beautiful green grass. This may be beginning to be an obsession of mine. I remember my husband taking me to a football match at a premier league football stadium and on entering the ground I proclaimed quite loudly...wow that grass is green! A football fan I am not and maybe this was not the most sensible thing to say amidst a lot of very serious football fans. But it was true. The grass in the stadium was wonderfully green and since then I have been comparing grass colours. The local park this springtime is producing some lovely colours (I know I am odd).

What a lovely walk...so much to see and do. We were also treated to a show from a squirrel who was intent on throwing the new leaves from the trees at us (well it was dropping them to the ground but the boys thought it was throwing leaves at them).

Piano for Children ... 1st lesson

Musically gifted I am not. I may be able to just about hold a note and I did teach myself how to read music and can just about get by but it's not where my strengths lie. I was not blessed when I was younger to have music lessons or parents who could pass on their knowledge of music or an instrument to me. I did however have a keyboard, probably from the age of 11 and I still have one now. My boys love it when I do dust off this ancient relic and allow them to play on it.

I have spent time contemplating whether to try and offer some kind of musical training for my boys. However I have not been able to decide whether this is because I feel like I missed out when I was younger and it's my desire to play an instrument or whether it would be good for the boys. I have always tried to make decisions that would be for my children's benefit rather than making decisions based on what I would like.

Mr Faithful had piano and saxophone lessons when he was younger but again he didn't continue in his studies to a level where he might have felt confident teaching the boys.

But looking back both me and Mr Faithful had a little go and made use of the opportunities afforded us when we were growing up so I decided today to teach some basic music skills to the boys, starting with Mr Social. I had every intention of teaching the same things to Mr Cheeky, but he is a wilful child and when he sets his mind against something it is hard to stir him to do otherwise and today he did not want to be instructed. So I showed Mr Social how you have high notes and low notes on a piano and which hand you normally play them with. Then I showed him that the notes have names and following some advice that I had come across on the internet we began trying to show Mr Social a way to remember the notes. C for cat, D for dog, E for elephant, F for frog, G for giraffe, A for ant and B for bear. We had a good deal of fun then playing the different notes in different combinations and finding high Cs and low Cs and the same for the other notes. It was very relaxed and no doubt we will have to revisit this lesson numerous times but Mr Social enjoyed it and went on to make up his own tunes at which point Mr Cheeky joined in and danced and wiggled his little bottom.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

...how does your garden grow.

Today was a gardening day. I have always been eager to get my children involved in the garden, in helping to plant flowers, care for them and see the beauty as they grow and the same too with the vegetables and then we would also have the fun of harvesting them and eating them. The days are becoming just a little bit warmer now and we took advantage of a dry day to continue with our plans for the garden.

Boots on and coats on and out we all went to the garden armed with our trowels and stopped by our temporary green house. We filled up some trays with compost and transplanted the flowers that we had started off on our windowsills into the larger trays to give them some more growing space. We ended up with lovely rows of sweet peas, dahlias and morning glory. Again we filled 2 more trays but this time it was for the vegetables. We transplanted the growing courgettes and planted some carrots, parsnips, spinach, lettuce and spring onions. We then checked on the bottom 2 layers of the greenhouse where lie a medley of pots and trays filled with soil and a variety of seeds. You see we started growing some vegetables and flowers a few weeks back but then we were hit with super strong winds that unfortunately toppled our green house and all that was within. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of the soil and seeds that had spilled over the ground that we had lovingly planted and now lovingly picked up. I re-potted the seeds of which some had started to germinate and decided to see if I could identify any of the plants when they had grown some more. So today I examined the remains of the carnage to find that we had a variety of leaves breaking through the surface of the compost. I was able to pick out the spring onions, distinctly tall and thin, and I located a few parsnips as they had broken through with some of the seed still attached. As for the rest it remains to be seen. I wonder if we will end up with carrots in our flowerbed and dahlias in our vegetable patch! It was a good opportunity to show the boys how to examine plants from their leaves and their different textures and styles.

On from the green house we stopped round the corner, the designated corner for our potato growing efforts. We filled up bags with compost and planted our chitted potatoes and covered them with a little more compost. We also added a chitted potato to a clear plastic bottle with some compost with the hope that we can see how the potato grows under the soil. Our seed potatoes came from here. It is a project that aims to get primary school children involved in food production and thy send you out a kit with the seed potatoes, growing bags, stickers and activity sheets. It is free and all you need to do is register and registration for 2016 is open. Once registered then next year just before you need to start chitting you will receive in the post a box containing everything you need bar the compost. We did this project 2 years ago and only missed last year because we were moving house.

Our next gardening project will be to prepare the vegetable patch for planting. All being well we will get round to that at the end of the week. The fresh air and a chance to play in the dirt appeals strongly with my lively children and their are plenty of learning opportunities to go along side.