We have just had Jacqueline’s 14th Birthday Party. We went to the West Midlands Safari Park and had an absolutely brilliant day.

Jacqueline’s friends were from several different groups, including Home Education, Guides, Drama and her cousins. It was really lovely to see how well everyone got along. Most people did not know each other at the beginning of the day, yet by the end of the day everyone had made new friends.

The Safari Park is home to a terrific collection of animals, including some very rare white lions.

After a tour of the safari park, we had lunch and then Jacqueline was the star of the sea-lion show and got as kiss from a sea-lion!

The children spent the afternoon on the rides in the theme park. When we got  home, we set up the chocolate fountain and that seemed to be greatly appreciated by all.

It was a terrific day with a lovely bunch of kids!

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun, home education by Amanda
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We went to Creswell Crags in Derbyshire, which is a valley that dates back to the Ice Age. It has Limestone cliffs, which originally were the cliffs on a shallow sea.

Our ancestors apparently used ot walk from what is now France to Creswell Crags each Spring and then spent the Summer there.

It is a really fascinating site. They have found bones of Hyenas, Bears and Woolly Mammoths in the caves.

There is some very fascinating rock art, which appears to date from at least 12,000 – 15,000 years ago. The drawings are carvings, rather than coloured, so this is the reason why they were unnoticed until 2003.

There is a very interesting exhibition there, as well as plenty of walks thorugh the valley.

It was a great day out.

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun by Amanda
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We had another excursion to Blackwell Court. This time, the children went on the zip wire, which is supposed to be one of the longest in Europe.  They had a great time. It was just a shame there was not time to have more attempts at it.

Next month is Grass Sledging.

Apparently the sledge things have wheels on them, so that should be interesting to watch.

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun by Amanda
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Today,  we went with Stephanie went to see “How to Train Your Dragon” at the cinema. It is a really good film. Jacqueline went to see “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang” with a home-educated friend – all at half price, courtesy of Orange Wednesdays!

As a home educator you can receive free film resources from www.filmeducation.org .There are lots of ideas on using various films to cover different areas of your curriculum.

We downloaded some activities on Nanny McPhee and also had a disc with other activities on Dragon Training and Vikings sent to us.

You can also get free tickets to films which are shown to school children during the film festival later in the year. You do have to book as soon as you can for those because the places go quickly.  There are films geared towards all age groups.

Whilst on the subject of free tickets, a lot of theatres offer free tickets to y9oung people under 24, on selected performances. This is supported by the Arts council and is designed to encourage young people to go to the theatre.  It is called ” A Night Less Ordinary” and You can find vmore information from the website – http://www.anightlessordinary.org.uk/

This is open to all.

Stephanie is going to see  the show “Wicked” again in London in a couple of weeks. We are looking forward to the open air theatre season starting again soon, with our favourites, Heartbreak Productions and Illyria having a good line up for this summer.

With abundant blessings.

Amanda Goldston

Tags: drama, fun by Amanda
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The Pottery classes seem to have now expanded into other Arts as well. At the last pottery class, Jacqueline made a mug, which I am looking forward to seeing and to testing out the firmness of it, as I drink my tea out of it!

She recently did some glass painting and the result was absolutley stunning!

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun by Amanda
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We had another terrific day at Blackwell Court. The latest activity was Archery and I was very impressed!

Both Stephanie and Jacqueline scored a Bullseye and both of them managed to get their arrows in virtually the same hole on the board. Overall Stephanie came top of the group with 22 points and Jacqueline was joint 2nd with 18 points.

They have done archery previously when they have been on PGL holidays, so it was not totally new to them.

The next activity is the zip-wire, which is apparently one of the longest in Europe, so that should be FUN!

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun by Amanda
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We have finally finished Jacqueline’s Baden Powell Challenge, which is the highest award that a Girl Guide can obtain.

All that is left is an adventure weekend, which Jacqueline will do over the next couple of months.

We have covered all sorts of things with this badge, including World Issues, different Cultures, Recycling, Fair Trade, learning about Independent Living and Water Safety, Cooking all sorts of things including a full family meal, running a Ready Steady Cook Night with the Guides, going to a Nature Reserve and creating a campfire songbook using ICT skills.

Last week at Guides, we had a challenge night and one of the challenges was to build the tallest free-standing tower out of dry spaghetti and jelly babies- it is not as easy as it looks! There were some incredibly creative inventions.

Over time we have worked our way through a good number of the Guide badges, as they offer a huge range of interesting subjects to explore and present in numerous different ways.

Jacqueline has done all of it herself and in her own style.  Some things we have explored in much more depth than others as a particular topic has really caught her imagination, but then I suppose that is the joy of home education.

Well done, Jacqueline.  We are really proud of you!

Amanda Goldston

Tags: fun, guides by Amanda
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Last week it started to snow, just as Jacqueline got home from making her Christmas wreath, so everything was dropped on the table and Jacqueline, Stephanie, Dom (Stephanie’s boyfriend) and George (Rottweiler) were straight out into the garden for a fairly serious snow-ball fight!

Of course, both Stephanie and Jacqueline ended up on top of the trampoline as a serious amount of snow had gathered up there!

The dog thought it was wonderful fun, although he was not very keen on being dried before he came in the house!

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun, home education by Amanda
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Jacqueline made a really beautiful Christmas wreath to hang over the front door. This was actually the last of the pottery classes before Christmas and the pottery teacher had brought in another lady to show the children how to make the Christmas wreath.

Jacqueline’s is really beautiful and is now proudly hanging over our front door. I have to say, I was a bit dubious about hanging it up, however it has survived both rain and snow so far!

She has made some really lovely things this term.

We are looking into her doing the Arts Award next term. I am really so glad we have found people who appreciate creativity for its own sake and can make Art fun!

Amanda Goldston

Tags: children, fun by Amanda
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What on earth are Smores, you may be wondering?

These are a very delicious recipe that came through Girl Guides. Apparently they had originally come from some Guides from the USA ad I have to say they are delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 Digestive Biscuits
• 2 Marshmallows
• 2 large chocolate buttons

Put the marshmallows on a skewer or a cocktail stick and melt them. This was originally done over a camp fire, although we found tea lights to be equally effective.

When they are all goo-ey, spread them on the digestive biscuits.

Then melt the chocolate buttons.  You might be able to get the button onto the skewer or the cocktail stick without breaking it.

When the Chocolate Buttons start to melt, put them on top of the marshmallows and sandwich the two biscuits together. Eat and enjoy!

The reason they are called Smores is because Everyone tends to want “some more”, so smores!

Tags: cooking, fun, home education by Amanda
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