Mother's Day 'Week' Deals

Don't forget to go over to Currclick to get your freebies for Mother's Day, meant to post this on Monday but we've been a bit busy so had to get it in here first so that I didn't forget ;o)

There seems to be a glut of good programs on at the moment so lots of our time has being spent watching the tv. A few we are watching are The Story of Science , Blitz Street, Modern Masters and The Edible Garden.
We are enjoying all of them but consequently not getting much academic work done, although we have started reading Animal Farm by George Orwell.

We've also been busy going to Dr's appt, Dentist appt, Hospital appt, so all in all we've had a fully packed week so far... roll on Saturday so I can have a rest :o)

New Greenhouse (well, new to me)

Well, we've had a really good week with hubby being off work. We took a break from academic work purely because non was getting done ;o) instead we worked in the garden, mainly weeding , but the exciting part is that we've been putting up my first ever greenhouse!

After deciding to take the gardening more seriously this year and try to produce more than the few potatoes and peas, which never make it to the table anyway, we would take the plunge and get a greenhouse to start us off with seedlings etc. The only trouble was that they all cost rather more than we had put aside for it :o( so my ever ingenius hubby set about trawling ebay for cheaper second hand ones; they would have had to been really cheap for us to afford one, but alas there was none.

I was down stricken for a while, my dreams of becoming a gardner in tatters when someone offered us their old greenhouse. Their dad had passed away three years before and their mum now felt ready to move on, so we dismantled it, transported it back to our garden and now it is standing in place and at this very moment in time getting some new glass put in; I am sooo excited! I've been out and bought Tomato seeds and have themn planted and growing on my windowsill ready to go in the moment I get the okay.

I've got to say I'm not a jigsaw person at the best of times so a big thank you goes to my hubby for doing this huge 3 dimensional one :o)
Picture will follow soon.

Digilapbook Finished!

My son has been updating a program he made to allow us to make digilapbooks without it being too technical ;o) I think he's done a great job but then again I'm biased, but here's the link for you to take a look and see what you think. He charges a nominal fee to help cover the cost of hosting as he's moved to a larger host now, I suppose that's the downside of it being used :o)

Here's my daughter's latest digilapbook on dogs. She bought a book from a local charity shop and worked through that. She really enjoyed using the program and found it easy to use. I think she was being used as a guinea pig for my son :o)

My hubby has a one week holiday from work so we are working in the garden putting up a new greenhouse therefore there's not much academic work getting done so once again the work boxes haven't really come into their own yet but I'm sure they will eventually.

Industrial Revolution Lapbook

Below are the photographs of my daughter's lapbook which she completed a few months ago. It is by Hands of a Child. I can't remember the grade level of this particular one but I think it was for the older children as it had lots of detailed information in it and ended up being a huge lapbook. It took quite a while to finish it and if you look at the photographs you can see that my daughter's handwriting changes over time :o)

The front cover has lots of pictures which were in the lapbook print out available to use, so my daughter chose the best ones to decorate the cover and back of the lapbook.

St George's Day!

Happy St. George's Day!

Information on the Saint here also about home rule . Lots of interesting facts and a fabulous dragon here, here , here and lots of activities here . I was hoping to do a lapbook on St George seen as he is our saint but I just don't have any energy at the moment, maybe we can do something post St Georges Day :o)

Hope you have a fabulous day :o)

Back to Normality!

The Easter break has finished, friends back to school and our bugs have almost gone now so it was back to a bit of routine for us today. Whilst I was ill, I had plenty of time to think about our schooling life and if I'm ill again or if anything should happen to me, then my hubby just wouldn't know what we were doing or where to start so I've spent the last few days downloading stuff so that it can all be laid out for him to follow and then everything should run smoothly :o)

I don't really like timetables and plans etc as I feel so restricted/constricted by them... at least not written down ones, but my children are both of an age now where they do need some structure in their life so I've planned it all out and filed it away so that my hubby knows just what to do the next time I'm ill, so no more missed school days for the children :o)

I've also started work boxes. We will read the same books on the same days so they will always remain in the boxes, I will just update the lapbook folds/notebooking sheets as needed. Hopefully everyone will know what they should be doing each day and the home will run smoothly :o)

All this said we didn't actually do everything in 'Mondays' box but I think working on the whole person is just as important as academic work, so what didn't get started today will get started next Monday because by then we will be well and truly into the swing of things.

Digital Lapbook Designer

I'm very excited at the minute.

My son has nearly finished updating the digi lapbook program and we are testing it out for him.

Using her research from an earlier project, my youngest has made a digi lapbook about Beatrix Potter and I have to say I am very impressed. I don't know who to be more proud of, my daughter for using it and creating a fantastic piece of work or my son for creating the actual program?

Here's the link for you to have a sneak-preview of what the new program can do because I simply can't wait to show you :o) The new version also has a scroll bar at the side giving you more space to use, I think this is my favourite bit :o)

http://www.digilapbook.co.uk/index.asp?d=UFB5XP7SF6

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