Fun and learning

Our days always seem to be busy, despite the fact that I'm at home most of the time! Homeschooling certainly takes up a fair bit of time, but is lots of fun too and the children enjoy learning, which is always good!

I'm hoping to start a new maths program, called "Math-U-See" which uses manipulatives and has short DVD lessons, as well as worksheets, etc. I've bought some of the materials already and the children seem to really like it. It's only Abigail I'm "officially" homeschooling this year but Benjamin is soaking up stuff ALL the time while I'm teaching her. :-) It's amazing how he's actually hearing and taking in what I'm reading to Abigail, whilst it looks like he's totally lost in a book or catalogue (Argos, Lego, The Book People, etc). This morning I was reading a chapter from "The Mystery of History" about the Zhou dynasty and it didn't look like he was listening at all, but when I asked him what dynasty we learned about a few weeks ago, he quickly piped up with "the Shang dynasty" and also answered questions about the lesson I was currently reading.


This photo above was taken today. I had been doing maths with Abigail while Benjamin was making patterns & designs with the blocks when he suddenly came over and told me he wanted to write "87" on my board! After writing the number, he took his board and put 8 x 10s and 7 unit blocks to show me he know what the number was he had written! :-)


Clement's current obsession: jigsaws! Sometimes it seems like he does them all day long - when he gets up in the morning, when he's meant to be at the table for a meal, and when it's time to go to bed! :-) He did this one this morning - a 54 piece puzzle which he nearly did all by himself!


This photo is probably about a month old, so Deborah already looks a bit different - but I thought I should upload the photos I had on my camera. She's *always* climbing something - I fear she's going to be worse than her brothers! :-O


She *does* love her dollies - they get lots of cuddles and she's very motherly to them, which is precious!

Car in one hand and baby in the other - best of both worlds!


My beautiful little girl! :-)


She loves books - but also likes to eat them, which isn't so good! Her favourite thing to find is a small Psalm book and she immediately starts singing too!


Benjamin and his wooden model fork lift, which he made mostly by himself.


Some "Viking ships" the children made a few weeks ago - ignore their funny faces! ;-) We're not studying the Vikings yet, but they got a book from the library about them and wanted to make some boats.


As I said, *always* climbing - and a pencil in her mouth too!


Playing ball together


Abigail and a small bowl she made out of play doh.


Giving her baby a cuddle


Having a chat with dolly


Playing football around Deborah!


My biggest girl who looks all grown up! Hard to believe she'll be 6 next month.


In early September we went to Glasgow to see Leah and Caleb and their girls. It was great to see them again and very exciting to have Leah in Scotland again - even if it's on a temporary basis. The kids had lots of fun together. I love these photos I got of Deborah and Brooklyn walking around a chair together.


Deborah is taking a good look at her!


"Coming to get you!" :-)


My beautiful niece Brooklyn, the day before her 1st birthday.


Deborah, Shona, and Clement having fun in the Phil & Teds push chair.


Caleb and Brooklyn and her birthday cake


Dangerous climbing - up the back of one of the high "tripp trapp" style chairs!! (I do have a hold on her clothes here, btw.) Thankfully I've not found her there again, tho she does attempt to get in the chairs.


Learning about money and counting with a pretend shop!


Having fun with flags - bargain clearance item in Tesco, left over from the Royal wedding! lol


"This is the way we eat our breakfast..." much to mummy's horror! I just *cannot* get this little girl to sit still. The harness keeps her from falling in the floor (so far!) but is useless for keeping her on her bottom, so we can't leave her for 2 seconds. Perhaps we need a different high chair, though she'd probably get out of anything!


Found the boys like this the other night - reading books together! So cute! :-)


You never know where you'll get put when you have a big sister! We found Clement sitting in Abigail's window with *some* of her teddy bears.


My delightful daughter (even if she *is* full of mischief!) wearing a lovely dress made by a friend in South Africa. The lady is a wahm (work at home mum) who started up a business called BabiWabi and makes some really lovely dresses - excellent quality and very nice fabric.

Highland Folk Museum & picnic at manse

I'm trying to catch up with sorting photos & my blog, so afraid that means a blog full of photos! And since these are from over a month ago, it's time I put them up here.

We organised a "field trip" to the Highland Folk Museum at the beginning of the new "school" year with a few other homeschooling families (our pastor & family and a couple of families from our homeschool group). It was a rather wet day but was lovely to spend time with good friends and visit an interesting museum! :-)


The children really enjoyed the playground!


Lots of things to climb on


Then we headed off to walk round the museum, which is 1 mile long and is an 80 acre living history site. It's a fantastic place for a day out with plenty to see and interesting for all ages.



A hen with tiny chicks


Colouring some pictures


more colouring


looking round some of the farm buildings


Farm site again


By the railway line and train station


It seems kids always want to climb! :-)


In the one-room school house - trying out quills and ink and slates


Abigial practicing on a slate


Heading across the forest with friends


Benjamin & Abigail running through the trees


next to a pond


Our favourite part of the museum: the 1700s township, with very authentic houses! Dirt floors, real peat fires, and no windows! The smoke inside was awful - can't think it could be very healthy to live in a house like this! lol Clement wouldn't go inside at all, as he's got hypersensitive sense of smell and couldn't cope with the smoke!


Benjamin trying out a broom


Leathermaking - was very interesting to get a demonstration of the man's work, though again, Clement didn't like the smell of the leather and ran off! lol


The children loved the wheel barrow


Abigail in front of a house


Playing together


Deborah relaxing and enjoying the back seat of the Phil & Teds pushchair :-)


The mill wheel


Clement riding on a purple tartan cat!


The church at the museum

We did get fairly wet before lunch, but thankfully it dried up later in the afternoon and we had a really nice time.

Then 2 days after the above outing, we had a Saturday afternoon church picnic (bbq) at the manse! The day was dry, though they were organised and had a tent (marqee) which was a very good idea and a nice shelter from the wind too! We had a lovely time there with lots of church friends and the kids really enjoyed the afternoon too.

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The tent


My boys had *lots* of fun with their wagon!


Abigail attempting a sack race for the first time! :)


someone else in a sack!




Abigail getting a bit of help while in her sack! lol


The much loved wagon again




Deborah loves being outside and really enjoyed crawling around the grass


Clement looking a bit sleepy here...


and after we got home, we found him asleep like this! He obviously really was tired. :-)