Category Archives: It’s life Jim

but not as we know it.

Planning early education with help from Baker Ross and Random House children’s books.

Posted on Tue May 8 2012 by Jax

I read Tigerboy a book the other day. It was the first time that I’d read him a book instead of having him on my knee while I read to Smallest. Given he’s 9 weeks old I’m definitely slacking We … Continue reading →

Posted in Doodling, drawing and decoration., It's where it is, Jonny had two apples, Soa, reeling, writhing, review | 7 Comments

Education courtesy of science kits and jigsaw puzzles.

Posted on Thu Mar 1 2012 by Jax

One of the plus points of being sent items for review is that very often I can work them into our educational plans. So it was great that we were offered a Wild Science Lip Balm Laboratory for Big to … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, Small steps, review, things that go bang | Leave a comment

Home education or domestic servitude?

Posted on Tue Feb 28 2012 by Jax

One of the reasons given by the labour government for their investigations into home education and proposed legislation about it was to protect children from domestic servitude. I wonder what they’d have thought about the two hour home economics lesson … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, Montessori minded, Small steps, Soa, won't cook, can't cook | 10 Comments

Book related rant – is Harry Potter really all that?

Posted on Fri Jan 6 2012 by Jax

I’ve just, courtesy of twitter, come across the latest words of wisdom from a politician on reading. The headline is All children should read Harry Potter books by 11, says minister The actual quote is “By the end of primary … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving, reeling, writhing | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Not quite a resolution…more of a challenge!

Posted on Tue Dec 27 2011 by Jax

but I want to spend more time crafting and creating. I want to challenge myself creatively. I want to design items and make them, write patterns and share them, learn new techniques and broaden my horizons. And I’ve chosen a … Continue reading →

Posted in Doodling, drawing and decoration., Making things, ufos | 15 Comments

Historyetc – Design your own Kingdom – one of the ways we home educate.

Posted on Wed Nov 16 2011 by Jax

We’re using Story of the World Book 2 with our history etc monthly meetup. The idea is that each family does the reading separately and then we come together once a month and each family brings one or two craft … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past | Tagged | 6 Comments

For today’s home education activity: punctuation resources.

Posted on Wed Aug 31 2011 by Jax

we shall mostly be studying punctuation. Skillswise on BBC have a good factsheet explaining commas And then I’ve found a KS2 Bitesize activity to explore what’s been learnt. [Edited to remove flash game but add in link to relevant place … Continue reading →

Posted in reeling, writhing | 2 Comments

Just to prove that we still home educate – chinese peg dolls.

Posted on Wed Jul 27 2011 by Jax

It’s history etc day hosted by Helen, with crafts supplied by Zoe and Katy, which mainly my children ignored and ran around with their friends in the sun. Apparently Smallest can climb the wrong way up quite a large slide … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Coming towards the end of our Kentwell time this year

Posted on Wed Jul 6 2011 by Jax

We’re well over halfway through our re-enactment time at Kentwell now. We have dressed as tudors, spoken as tudors, worked as tudors, eaten as tudors. We sleep, thankfully, as 21st century folk, although it must be said that there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Preparing for cybermummy

Posted on Fri Jun 24 2011 by Jax

Or maybe not… So far this morning I’ve turned linen into a shift, and now wool into a kirtle. Yes, that’s a kirtle. Bit like a pinafore dress. It’s not finished yet, but it’s a lot closer than it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past, Making things, review | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Nazca peg dolls for historyetc

Posted on Thu May 12 2011 by Jax

If you’ve never heard of Nazca culture, you probably aren’t working through The Story of the World the way we are. One of the things I love about home education is learning alongside the children, and history is a fairly … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past, Doodling, drawing and decoration., Making things | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Learning to read, take three.

Posted on Mon May 9 2011 by Jax

What with the whole home education thing, I’ve been very involved in the learning to read process for both of my older children. I think I’ve learnt something from that experience. Point 1 – there is no one way that … Continue reading →

Posted in It's where it is, Soa, carnival, how we do it, reeling, writhing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Barely tweeting, mainly living.

Posted on Sat May 7 2011 by Jax

Wake up. Feed Smallest milk before getting out of bed. Potter a bit, put kettle on, breakfast Smallest and snack myself, eventually saunter out for a run. Run 1.5 miles on just under 16 minutes. Home, shower, dress. Somewhere in … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past, Big, Getting to know you | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

A quick octopus craft.

Posted on Fri Apr 29 2011 by Jax

Trying to get my crafting mojo back atm, so I said I would try for something for RedTedArt Under the sea Get Crafty. In the end I took part in a purely supervisory role… What you will need for this … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, Making things, carnival | 7 Comments

Orchard Toys: Magic Cauldron game #review

Posted on Fri Apr 15 2011 by Jax

The lovely ppl at Orchard Toys sent me this Magic Cauldron Maths Game a couple of weeks back when I was bewailing basic maths skills on twitter. You see, we have a bit of a problem here. It’s a confidence … Continue reading →

Posted in Jonny had two apples, review | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Kentwell and 1553.

Posted on Sat Mar 19 2011 by Jax

Today I dragged the children out of bed just after 7, nearly three hours earlier than their preferred rising time in order to drag them 45 mins across country to an open day for potential re-enactors at Kentwell Hall. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past, Big, It's where it is, Small steps, Soa | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Ages and stages and a proud mummy moment.

Posted on Tue Feb 15 2011 by Jax

We had another of those days today. One of those milestones that creep up on you, that you don’t know will hit you til it does. Big went for her first fixed braces fitting, and suddenly she looks teen in … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, fainting in coils | 12 Comments

Jamie Oliver at home review and giveaway with the Sun Buzz magazine

Posted on Sat Feb 5 2011 by Jax

Now why oh why did I think that the Sun Buzz was out tomorrow? My bad Quick, stop reading and run to your local newsagents/ supermarket if they are still open, and grab your copy of the Sun Buzz to … Continue reading →

Posted in giveaway, review, won't cook, can't cook | 11 Comments

SATs all folks!

Posted on Sat Feb 5 2011 by Jax

I started yesterday with the best intentions to catch up on paperwork and blogging. We all know about best intentions Ah well, lots of other stuff was achieved instead. As part of my continuing (ongoing, proactive ) campaign to improve … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, Small steps, things that go bang | 4 Comments

Cake, cookies, Guides and fundraising.

Posted on Fri Feb 4 2011 by Jax

I confess that I wasn’t planning to join in with the Friday Club this week. I’m not much of a one for baking. I’m just not good at it. I follow instructions carefully, and at the end, get back something … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, won't cook, can't cook | Tagged | 11 Comments