More sewing and insects

Niamh made this pouch for Eden, but I thought that it would be put to much better use to be used as a pouch for their UNO card set. (BTW Belinda I think we got the inspiration from a pouch that Rachel made a while ago).

We have been looking at insects this week and when I picked some lettuce from the garden today I found a dead ladybird, so everyone had a good look at it under the microscope's magnifying glass.
The ladybird puppets that were made this week. Ciara also made one but was not available for the photo, she had gone with daddy to visit the neighbours.
Niamh's caterpillar.
We have thoroughly enjoyed a link that Grant sent us of exquisite macro insect photography, I can sincerely say I have never seen insects like this in my life:

Amazing Insect Photography

Jude enjoying the Roman puzzle book. One of the things I appreciate most about home educating is the cross children education that takes place, so even though I haven't formally done the Romans with Jude he has picked up so much from his sisters. 3 for the price of 2 :D

A love for writing

From the moment that Eden learnt to write, she has written stories. Her first real book was when she was 5 (The Magic Horse) and she hasn't stopped since. A good portion of her spare time is spent writing stories about all sorts of things, most of them have horses and cats and dragons in, but she does explore many other subjects too. I suppose it is her love for books that also gives her the enthusiasm to write, as we walked into the library today she took a deep breath, glanced sweepingly around the library and declared "Mummy, I love books so much". Learning how to type has now opened a new avenue for her book writing, and she can wile away many hours just typing away. She is creating a series about a family of dragons which we all find entertaining, and Jude asks for her illustrated books as if they had came straight off the library shelf.

She plans to illustrate the stories too, these ones were done on the computer.

These are her hand written ones, this horse one is a particular favourite of her brother.
This is a series that she has created about a Bakery called The Cooking Parlour. Each character has their own personality, and she has created uniforms for all the staff working there.
The series goes on.
This is a colouring in version, she adds so much detail to each book.
And a new story about a cat to find an excuse to use the typewriter, there are many more mistakes on this one as she was not able to go back and erase her mistakes.
She also creates worksheets and activity books for Niamh and Jude, which she sells to them.
Well, she seems quite decided that she wants to be a writer/illustrator one day and says that is what she will study for when she is older.

Cauliflower's fluffy and cabbages green

We have been watching our vegetable garden grow over the last few weeks, and this song that we used to sing at Eden's music group when she was one, two and three came back to me. All the children have enjoyed learning the words and singing it too, and then we even found it on youtube. Very sweet song, and catchy too.

Cauliflowers Fluffy and cabbages green
Strawberries are sweeter than any I've seen
Beetroots purple and onions white
All grow steadily day and night

The apples are ripe and the plums are red
The broadbeans are sleeping in their blankety bed

Blackberries are juicy and rhubarbs sour
Marrows fattening hour by hour
Gooseberries hairy and lettuces fat
Radishes round and runner beans flat

The apples are ripe and the plums are red
The broadbeans are sleeping in their blankety bed

Orangey carrots and turnips cream
Reddening tomatoes that used to be green
Brown potatoes in little heaps
Down in the darkness where the celery sleeps

The apples are ripe and the plums are red
The broadbeans are sleeping in their blankety bed, Yea!

Watercolour, insects and maths

Eden's friend gave her watercolours and a canvas for her birthday. She surprised us all by painting this country scene.
Jude and Ciara have started a theme on insects. No child should go through childhood without making a splodge butterfly.


And then Niamh kicked off the next craft by making a caterpillar with a cork for printing - finished pic to follow.
Ciara wanted a go too, nice control Ciara!
Jude doing an exercise with a scale/balance. I am trying my best not to slow Jude down in his appetite for more advanced maths, but at the same time I don't want him to miss out on the fun things the girls got to do at this age too.
Eden has zoomed through her Gamma, and learnt the multiplication tables as if they were a hidden sense I never knew about, I was seriously amazed at how quickly she picked them up - perhaps it is because this curriculum lays it out in such a sensible way. She chose a bar of dark chocolate as her reward, and is now zooming through Delta which is division - the way that multiplication was taught in gamma has made the progression to division really seamless - great for her enthusiasm. I think I have picked up a mantra that I heard another hs mum use - in my house you are NOT allowed to NOT enjoy maths!!

Touch typing, reading and senses!

Eden has been begging to learn how to type like me(touch typing) for a long time, so when we saw this package on special in a pc shop we snapped it up. She is picking it up really quickly, it follows the technique that I used to learn touch typing way back when I was 14, but the software has games too which is great to apply what she has learnt in a fun way.
Jude's reading is coming along nicely, and he like his sisters will be seen throughout the day pouring through books, with him deciphering all the new words. I love love love been a part of this process, and then standing back and watching him put it all together himself. We also play reading games along the way which Jude loves - below is a version of snakes and ladders but each different game follows a new phonics lesson, he learns the rule so quickly this way.
I have always been one to buy lots of books, in fact a month never goes by without some new books been bought. Sometimes it is overwhelming to have so many books in the house, but most of the time it is lovely to see the children pick up a book and suddenly show an interest in something they never have before. Jude picked up an Usborne body book 2 weeks ago, and suddenly wants to know everything happening on each page. We are currently doing the senses, and he wanted to try this fun experiment that you see below.
An ear experiment to show why we have two ears :D - both ears are needed to locate a source of sound. Jude had to close one ear and his eyes so that he could not see where the music was coming from, he spun around.
And then had to point where the music was coming from, his direction was completely wrong which shows that he needs both ears listening. Of course the girls just had to try this out for themselves too.

Jude had fun making this bouncy ball from crystals, a really nice pattern

I think one of the things the children enjoy the most when painting, if not as much as the painting itself is making new colours and experimenting with different colours. Here Jude is trying to make brown for the drum he is painting.

Learning about the Victorians

We have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Victorians, but as is the case with learning from home, we have learned so much more than we ever imagined.

Eden loves drawing so I have let her draw a lot of what we have been learning, she is really her happiest when she can do this.
A street scene in Victorian times.
Pip in the graveyard - A scene from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.
Florence Nightingale was a nurse in the Victorian Times who nursed soldiers in the Crimean war in Turkey.

The Victorians

After our Victorian Day out, the children were so enthusiastic about studying the Victorians and so far we are all enjoying it thoroughly.
We watched this DVD about Queen Victoria in her early years.
Charles Dickens was a Victorian author and many of his books give a great insight into what it was like living in the Victorian times. Eden is reading this Classic Starts version.
And I found this easier one to read to Jude and Ciara.
We also have the story on audio cd for the car. It's a great story which we have all enjoyed so far.

The children all love this humorous history series of books, this was a good one for showing the conditions inside a Victorian factory.


This is also another history series which the girls love reading, they have enjoyed reading these two about the Victorians.