Day 95 - Not Trapped Indoors All Day With Home Education.

The weather today has been bracing to say the least. The wind has been howling, the rain has been falling steadily and the temperature has dropped. This did not prevent us from getting outside and having a jolly good walk though. I am a firm believer that children need daily exercise and I have always tried to ensure that my boys get at least one hours activity every day in order to stay fit and healthy. Today we walked to and from music centre which is a journey of about four miles. We didn't moan because we all enjoyed it even in the rain. 

After breakfast Theo sat at his desk and completed a Maths problem solving exercise. He enjoyed the task because it was a little challenging. Theo received a selection of fabulous books from our visitor at the weekend. He read several pages of '50 Amazing Things Kids Need To Know About Mathematics' by Anne Rooney. It is a really interesting book and Theo was excited by a number of the ideas contained in it. 

Tristan sat with me and talked about the animals he had seen at the park visit last week. He used some farm animal stencils to create a picture. 

Theo wrote another chapter of his 'short' story about being stranded on a desert island. 

We got on our waterproof clothing and headed off to the music centre. The walk took us by his old school and he was eager to comment about the prison like appearance of the fences surrounding the building. We chatted all the way there about all sorts of topics. Tristan brought up 'acid' as a subject because he had heard someone mention that lemons are acidic. We discussed acids and alkalis and I think that we might try an experiment tomorrow based on this topic. 

Theo had a great violin lesson and has been given lots to learn and practice for next week. Tristan and I waited for him and played various games together. 

We walked back home although Tristan decided to climb into the pram and fell asleep for twenty minutes. We visited the shop to pick up some items for dinner and Theo correctly estimated the cost. The man at the check out was very impressed with the accuracy of his estimation. 

Tristan woke up just before we arrived home and walked the final part of the journey holding his brothers hand. 

At home we all got changed into dry clothes and had hot drinks. We read together for a little while. The boys played together in their room whilst I made dinner. 

One of their friends arrived just as I was about to put out the food. I postponed dinner so that they could play together for fifteen minutes. Their friend told us that he had been stuck indoors all day because it had been 'wet play'. This means that if it is raining the children are kept in their classrooms during break times. Their friend told them how rubbish it had been. It is alarming to me that many children do not get the opportunity for exercise during the day at all as they are driven to and from school and are often prevented from exercise during the school day because of the weather. It is not  surprising that some children find concentrating in class so difficult if they are constantly sat in the same place without the chance to let off steam. In Finland where the weather is certainly not that clement the children are outside pretty much everyday and I see no reason why that shouldn't be the case here. I am glad that I am home educating my children and can ensure that they are able to exercise daily.

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the dental surgery which will hopefully be fine. We will also have to try to sort out the children's book shelves as the new books have no place to live at the moment.

Prudence Clarke

17.09.2013