Hollingworth Lake

It’s been a week or 2 since I last posted here. Other than attending meet ups at Horse Carrs and Rochdale Firestation we haven’t been up to much. We did have a lovely day out on Thursday 26th March at Hollingworth Lake. Myself, my mum and Conner met up with Samantha, Luie and Dylan outside The Beach pub restaurant. We spent around two hours there having lunch and chatting. The adults chatted and the boys mostly made their fun happen on the outside play area. After a couple of hours we took a walk to the Arcades and the boys had fun and I think us adults were even more addicted to the 2p Russian roulette machine and winning tickets. Me and Conner collected over 100 prize tickets and then put them into the ticket eating machine and Conner choose a plastic animal set and 3 lollypops as his prize. After the Arcades we took a lovely stroll around part of the lake. The water was very dark blue and the views were pretty. The boys noticed a variety of ducks come up to the waters edge so they all went closer to investigate. After abit more walking we reached the visitors centre but the information and gallery part was closed so we just went and sat in the pretty little cafe and all had drinks and more conversation. The day finished off with taking the boys to the play area opposite the visitors centre. Yesterday I went to the Horse Carrs meet up. I was half an hour late and left half an hour early. Conner still had a good 1 and a half hours there playing with friends and even more so fussing over Winter and Amy the two babies and Ellie the toddler. I wasn’t really in the mood that day to go out as Conner had been moody and annoying that morning and he hadn’t had much more than a few spoonfuls of dinner also the fluctuating weather put me right off. I decided to butter some scones and while it had stopped raining I would make a quick dash to Horse Carrs and risk it and luckily the weather didn’t change for us. We was also lucky in that we got a lift home from Rose to avoid the weather that started up wet and windy and hail stoning again.

Today has been a positive day. We stayed at home and Conner was very cooperative, kind and loving. As well as doing some reading and writing about the world’s Oceans prior to that he surprised us by doing a piece of writing from his own thoughts and he wrote a page of A4 with one line spaces between each senrance. He wrote some beautiful words about his family asking for occasional help to spell a few words. I am glad we have had a relaxing day at home today as tomorrow we are off out all day. We are going to visit the All in one Garden centre in the morning and then have some picnic lunch snacks outside on the benches near the play area.  After lunch we will hop on the bus to go to an appointment we have booked for a Super kids session with the organisation Enlightening based at True Serenity Holistic health centre at Blue Pitt Mill in Castleton Rochdale. We will see Linzi and Jo there who we have met before at Relax kids sessions and also met Linzi at the funded Willy and the wobbly house Chatterbooks project. Saturday we hope to visit Mischief Makers as it’s been a while since we had a play centre visit.

Conner also created a lake and waterfall in Minecraft.

I created a swimming pool in Minecraft but was much more impressed with Conners lake and waterfall.

I attempted a new slow cooker dish called Ginger Peach Chicken which the family enjoyed.

(Thursday 19th March 2015) Conner woke up at 6.30 and watched a cartoons. Conner watched animal families: Protection with TV presenter at 07.05 am. It started off talking about crabs with shells and how they come out of their shells when they get bigger and have to find a bigger shell. Animals protect themselves in different ways. It showed two boys protecting their heads with helmets as they go bike riding and then goes on to talk about how animals have different ways to protect themselves such as shells and spikes etc.  have spikes called quills. Conner said that  a person might want to stroke the porcupine and that the animal might feel threatened and like the person might hurt it so it may release it’s quills to protect itself and hurt it’s predator or who it feels threatened by.

The TV presenter talks about pole cats which she observes in a animal park in the summer.  Mother Polecat and her kit (babies) are being filmed. Mother loses her kits and she can smell them but not hear them.  At last she finds them. They leap and interact playfully. Very playful creatures. One kit has enough and goes to rest in the nesting box while the others continue to play. 10 minute show. very short.

Conner then watched Igam Mogam and said I’m watching this as I know it’s your favorite cartoon mummy. I actually just love the theme tune but have to admit I love the theme song for Peter Rabbit more. Conner read a book with his nanny and then did some writing with me about Devon. We talked about it being an English County where daddy spent his early childhood. We talked about how daddies beloved doggy one day bite into a snake to stop it from biting daddy as when daddy was a young boy playing in the garden in was prodding a snake with a stick and the dog barked loudly and jumped towards the snake and bite it dead to save young boy daddy from being attacked.

(Friday 20th March 2015)

We got picked up at 9.15 am by Claire and we went to the new Rochdale Fire Station building on Halifax Road. Driving on the way up there we saw the Eclipse just poking through a cloud. I didn’t get around to taking a photo although I have seen many lovely Eclipse photos in my Facebook newsfeed. Once at the Fire station me and Claire laid objects we brought with us on the table. Nic and her three children were already present and sat in the room. Claire had brought craft items with her and paper plates for the children to make Eclipse art and craft pieces but all Conner was interested in was physical playing and running around. Abit later on Sam came along with her boys Luie and Dylan. The boys did a mixture of things from minecraft, Lego, chasing and tig games etc. We left the building around 12 noon and we went into Rochdale town centre.

Conner with George, Ellie and Amy playing with Lego.

Some items I brought from home. Bendaroos, juggling balls, Spiderman mask and Puppets.

Crafts brought in by Claire to make paper plate sparkly Eclipses.

Lego

Bucket of Lego

Geoboards made by Claires husband. Wood and nails and the use of elastic bands and loom bands.

Eclipse crafts some of the boys did.

Cutie pie Ellie aka Fireman Sam.

Me and Conner met up with Wayne Conners daddy and we went to Wynsors and bought Conner some shoes. I had a look and try on also but nothing felt like a comfortable fit for me. We went and got a few food items from Marks and Spencers then went to The Regal Moon for lunch. The rest of the day was chilled at home and Conner played board games with his grandad.

Oil in the mud

This week is national science week. So we decided that we would get the recently purchased science kit out and have a nosey. However Conner wanted to play shops with his plastic till toys and then Monopoly hotels first so we did that after breakfast before proceeding onto the science stuff.

The previous night I wrote out some information on soil and water in the environment and got Conner to read it out in which he did really well including some very large complex words for a six year old.

We decided to get soil samples from outside. The booklet that came with the science kit has several different experiences for both water and soil.  We decided to add cooking oil to one sample of soil and then use oil testing paper to detect the oil in the soil.  We also used a square of oil detecting paper on the soil sample with no oil present. We noted the differences between the two testing strips and the sample of soil with no oil remained light blue whilst the sample of soil with oil turned dark blue.

Just before lunch Conner had quite the meltdown and not sure what brought that on but he managed to calm down after lunch. He then spent some time outdoors doing litter picking with his nanny. He definately likes doing outdoor heavy work.

Once Conners daddy was home from work he took Conner for a walk up to his parents house to see his grandparents and uncle. They spent a good hour there then came home. Conner chilled watching some film and then had a shower and some dinner.  After dinner he has some more screen time watching cartoons

Birds, Bugs and Beastlies. (Crafts and Nature)

Isn’t it wonderful how much beauty and species live within nature and our outdoor environment? Today (Thursday 19th Feb 2015) was a day that started off with a quick visit in town to a few shops then off to Touchstones were numerous craft tables were set up. We arrived around 11.15 am and Conner managed to complete about 4 crafting activities before we had lunch and went on the nature welly hunt. The crafting activities completed included a bird, two fishes and an apple bird feeder. There was way many more crafting activities to do but I knew Conner would get distracted and just want to run around and play tig soon as his friends Luie and Dylan arrived. The children got told off a few times for being loud and running around. Oh dear reminded me of being back inside a school classroom, however I did understand their annoyance and concern for everyone’s safety. The day was very well organised and come 1.15 pm after staying nice and dry in Touchstones and away from the heavy rain suddenly just in time for the very last Welly hunt at 1.15 am the skies brighten up and the rain went away in hiding. We met at the front of Touchstones and we was all given clipboards which had a laminated map of the park with our starting point and welly hiding spot clues mapped out visually and there was also a paper form for us to right the clue number and the name of the item that was shown in the laminated image next to the welly. There was also one letter within each word spelt out in bold text which we had to enter in the last box column. Each spot had a dark blue welly, a number card, a photo card and a description card for you to read up educational information on whatever plant or creature was featured in each image. Altogether there was 8 welly hunt spots. After completing the welly hunt we looked at the letters in the last column going down which said ROCHDALE. That was the hidden word found within the welly clues.

The calm after the storm (relaxed week after busy fun week)

This week we have had a more laid back quiet week either at home or staying close to home as possible.  For me this has been a welcoming relief after the busy active previous week we encountered. Last week felt rushed yet fun loving. Monday involved me having a visit from Anne Marie our local elective home education consultant whilst my mother took her grandson to his usual PE session. Conner has a blast at the physical fun and games session at Rochdale Leisure Centre and even Joanne who runs the sessions has said how much of a difference she has noticed in him since 12 months ago when he first started his home education journey. Conner and his grandmother Anita came home about 10 to 15 mins before Anne Marie left and because mummy Dolan had a good opportunity to chat to and show Anne Marie Conners educational and lifestyle portfolios This left a good ten mins for Conner to give Anne Marie a really good talking to do. Of course Conner was in his element talking about all his video games and showing her what workbooks he had done amongst other things.  Tuesday was one of my favorite sessions Chatterbooks which we started attending in November 2014. Over the weeks the children have read a story called: “Willy and the Wobbly house”  the children have discussed the story and done question and answer sessions as well as drawn the characters and made puppets. The children have been role playing and are currently preparing for their performance on Friday 13th March. It was a home eduxating mother Nadia who told me about Chatterbooks during one of the PE sessions and she had oragnised this to go ahead with two ladies who work for Rochdale Council Gemma and Vicki and also the kids also do fun and relaxing stuff with Linzi who works for an organisation called Enlightening. Wednesday morning Conner did reading with his nanny Anita whilst my hairdresser came round to refreshen up my hair. After lunch we got picked up by Claire who lives local to us as she was taking her two sons Luke and Josh to Wacky Warehouse, a play centre in Rawtenstall that’s above a restaurant called Old Cobblers. It was a Fayre and Square branded restaurant and it reminded me very much of our local family favorite restaurant in our home town The Harvester. It was simular in deco style and atmosphere. We also meet two new families at Wacky Warehouse. A mother called Rose and her son Rowan and another mum called Claudia and her two children who’s names I have forgotten. So many children. So many names to remember. What I enjoyed the most about the visit to Wacky Warehouse was not just observing the children having fun but for me I loved the drive through Rossendale and it’s beautiful countryside and it made me feel like I was in Emmerdale Farm.  Thursday was another busy and active day for the children. We got 3 different buses to Stamford Park located in Staylebridge just past Ashton. The journey from Rochdale to Ashton was nearly an hour and I find buses over 30 mins quite draining and boring. I much prefer train journeys as there is usually much more interesting scenery to see. We met Nic and her three children on the bus. Nic has three children aged 3 and under. Once at the park we met another mum and her baby daughter called Winter. The children mixed well together and was happy to run off doing their own thing while the adults sat down on the benches. Later on Winters mum brought a cute mini pink tent out which all the children and two babies managed to cram themselves in. Soon after we were joined by Michelle and her daughter and grandchildren as well as Sam and her two boys Luie and Dylan. After all the outdoor fun the children had it came to a point where the cold was becoming to the stage where the adults were craving a hot drink and people were peckish so we visited the lovely cafe. At the cafe Conner, Dylan and Luie seemed very interested in the glass cabinet full of Celebration cakes all nicely decorated. Think us mums were slightly nervous that the glass cabinet would end up on its sparkly shine butt cracked up into hundreds or thousand of pieces. We had to encourage the boys to love away. After the cafe visit and warm up we decided to go back outside and we went for a walk around the Dingle area. We passed water and rocks and the walk was pretty and the boys were fiesty with their stick fights. Fridays day was a day at home. We had been invited to a play centre but felt in need of a day at home. Saturday was Valentines day and we went for a family meal at you guessed it The Harvester. Myself and the husband Wayne went out the previous weekend to do the adult only night out we went to the cinema to see Jupiter Asending and had food at Frankie and Bennies. This week so far we have stayed home and focused on more formal learning mainly reading and writing.  Conner has shown alot of interest in jigsaws and board games the last few days. This morning Conner showed huge enthusiasm in helping his nanny Anita clear up leaves and branches in the garden before settling to do anything more formal. Tomorrow is a day we are looking forward to as we will be venturing out the home but not too far. We are packing some butties etc and attending the Wildlife River-tastic! The free Family Fun Day between 11am-2pm. We will get to find out more about the bugs, beasties and birds that inhabit the local River Roch. Touchstones will offer lots of free arts and crafts drop-in activities for the family to enjoy together. The Wildlife Safari walks will last around 40 mins and they take place at three different times.  11.15 am, 12.15 noon and  1.15 pm. This week has been half term for the Schoolies and that has meant no PE or Chatterbooks session this week which I am really looking forward to getting back to next week. How has your February been so far? 

Friday 28th March 2014

Today Conner enjoyed completing some Dot-to-dot pictures! He also wrote the name of the completed object. He played board games and completed a jigsaw.

Conner also did a write up on the lungs as well as labelling a diagram on the lungs.

Conner also read a page of a book.

Conner then spent time on the playstation as well as watching The Mask.

 

 

Thursday 27th March 2014

Today Conner hand wrote a Recipe for Mud Pie coffee play-doh. Conner wrote words relating to sea creatures. Conner also read a book. Then he spent time on the playstation.

Wednesday 26 th March 2014

Today we made homemade mud pie coffee play-doh. Conner had tons of fun mixing the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. After the play-doh was formed we had lots of fun sharing the play-doh between us and using our hands to manipulate the play-doh into various shapes. Conner also filled in 3 pages of the reading, writing and sums booklet. 

Tuesday 25th March 2014

Conner engaged in building and measuring skills, as he built towers out of lego bricks and then he used a ruler to take measurements. We talked about the ruler and Conner counted the inches on one side and the cm on the other side. We asked Conner if he could build a tower taller than himself. We talked about how we need the base of the construction to be bigger so it can support the tower. Conner easily identified the colours and shapes of the bricks.

Conner spent some time playing with toys of his choice. Conner then did some reading.

PE Time

PE session at Rochdale Leisure centre. Conner is developing well during these sessions learning skills such as observation, turn taking, patience, team work.