Spring has sprung!

You know it's getting warmer when the fish come up to the top to sunbathe :o)

Above are tender buds on my clematis; I'm really pleased because I thought it had died and turned into a twig ;o) I am now looking forward to some lovely flowers in the not too distant future.

These lovely purple pansy's were planted from seed last year and should only have lasted one year but we left some in the ground to see what would happen and hey presto! they've flowered beautifully.

Photographs showing the different colours of daffodils we have in the garden.

I can't remember what this flower is called but again it was supposed to last one year but you can just make out a little red flower coming up.

Rhubarb just beginning to grow again after a dormant winter. The leaves are flourishing and getting bigger daily.

These bright yellow flowers are by the side of the pond and are gorgeous but I can't remember their names.

This is Molly, devouring a bone in the sunshine.

This is Domino, our latest addition to the rabbits. He was rescued because his owners couldn't manage him anymore; their other rabbits kept fighting with him but he is lovely and very playful.

This is the head of Pip, a very nervous guinea pig that we are looking after because the shelter is having building work done.

This is Percy, another shelter guinea pig, making a run for it when the camera came out.

All photographs taken by my youngest daughter, who I think did really well, especially capturing the animals.

Easter Lapbook

We've had a really rubbish Easter! We have been taking it in turns to be ill so very little got done around the house and all the academic learning just went out the window but that's life I suppose, we even had to cancel Easter meal due to illness!
My youngest did manage to complete a few activities during Holy week before becoming ill herself. She set to with water colours and painted this fabulous pic of an Easter egg for the front cover of her lapbook, I just love the colours.

All the printables are from hands of a child. They are doing 5dollar lapbooks now for super members so it's well worth joining up. I really don't know where I printed this game from but we enjoyed playing it, again I think she did a lovely job with the colours.

The chocolate rabbits and lollies all came from these packs bought for a few pounds from Asda. Unfortunately the lollies were eaten before I had a chance to photograph any.

I meant to post this link up before Easter but, well with one thing and another, I forgot all about it, but once again they were eaten before piccies could be taken ;o)

Victory!!!!

Here is the press release issued by Education Otherwise about our recent Victory, obviously we, as a family are all delighted by this and feel we can now take a breather until the next onslaught begins because I feel sure that there will be one, just not sure when.

Thank you to everyone who signed petitions and wrote letters to their MPs and did all the really hard work that has won us this Victory.

Right no more political jargon, well just want to say that we have a new 'coming of age' voter in our house this year and he feels very strongly about it all so he won't be voting for Labour, I guess they've well and truly lost his vote.

Digital Lapbook Designer

Here's the link to my son's programme he made a while ago to help design your own digital lapbook. He's in the process of updating it as he has learned alot of new things that he can put on it to make it even better, so please take a look and let us know what you think:

www.digilapbook.co.nr

Thank you

My oldest daughter

It has being pointed out to me that I don't blog about my oldest daughter much, so here it is the first post of April, a whole post dedicated to my oldest daughter...

We all have a flu bug kindly passed on from my oldest daughter, also some of us are getting a chest infection again kindly passed on by my oldest daughter. So you see, we do think about her alot, even though I don't post about her much (particularly at the moment when most of us are ill and can't be bothered to do anything and she is out and about having fun at work and the cinema).

And if you're reading this: Of course we all love you tons and tons really, just wish you weren't so generous with your bugs ;o)

World War Two

Above is the decorated cover. My daughter used a variety of 'cigarette' cards with WW2 images on them which we bought as part of a pack from one of the many museum's we visited. This turned into a very long unit of study as we read many books, spoke to grandparents about their experiences and visited lots of museums some of which had live re-enactments of various stages of the war. We listened to music from the time period using a cd which came with this book; it even had an air raid warning on it!

Below is the pack which we bought, it has a ration book, identity card and various other things in it which my daughter loves. This led onto a discussion about having identity cards today - mixed feelings here about that topic!

We finished up the whole project with a WW2 meal. Some of the recipes were found in this book.

Unfortunately the camera quality isn't fantastic as this was before she got her new one.
My daughter cooked the whole meal herself and did a good job too. She was very tired afterwards though ;o)

I haven't taken a picture of the menu but you can just about make out Toad in the Hole, Woolton Pie (vegetables with mash on the top) and at the far end of the table is Jelly, Syrup Loaf, and Honey Cakes and a variety of vegetables for those who didn't eat the sausages. Also a dish of M&M's because the soldiers ate them in the trenches because they didn't melt in their hands.

Books we read included:

The Diary of Anne Frank, Carrie's War,
The Blitz, The Singing Tree , Letters from Rifka,

Number the Stars, The Endless Steppe, When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit,

The Dragonfly Pool , Life on the Home Front

We obtained the free teaching pack from Royal British Legion last November, it is available every year, so sign up and get it, it's full of great information specifically aimed at children.

Lots of information here, here and here; also had fun here.

St Patrick's Day

We decided to do this on the spur of the moment and I think it actually turned out pretty well.
The lapbook printouts are from here and the notebooking pages were also free from here

My daughter made a booklet and threaded it together using braided wool. She designed the main logo herself but unfortunately due to my camera work you can't quite make out the leprechaun's hat, or the gold coin or the shillegagh :o(

First page has relevant info on about St Patrick and where he came from and that all business' except restaurants in Ireland are closed for the big day, something which my children think is totally unfair because nothing like that happens here for our saints day :o(

Next page has Ireland's flag on it and info about the country and what the Irish do to celebrate the saint.

Last page has more info on Ireland in a lapbook flap and the 'shillelagh' tradition and the 'pinch' tradition and various legends on St Patrick that my daughter particularly liked.