rainbow town

Faith has been really into building big cardboard creations at the moment. Rainbow town is one of them, a 3D board game has popped up, as well as a 3 storey dolls house from a big box. Fun for free! 

Jo x 

Frost!

We don't really do snow that well so while most of blogland are posting fluffy white pictures, we are excited about our first frost. We woke up to a beautiful sparkling countryside and got straight out there just as the sun was coming up to melt it all.

Jo x 

week away

climbing trees...

...a steam train ride...

...after dark...

...and pre-dawn...

...a friendly squirrel...

...who doesn't mind being watched...

...a very friendly duck...

(We couldn't find this one in our duck book (doesn't everyone have a duck book...?), does anyone know wha kind it is?)

...and feeding the less friendly ones too.

We had such a lovely relaxed week. We only went half and hours drive away from home but it was enough to feel like a holiday. 

Jo x

toddler proof tree

I'm all for the stress free approach. The day to day throws up enough challenges without us creating our own, and I didn't fancy spending the holiday season 'rescuing' the tree! Enter the toddler proof tree...

... a branch really! I love that our 'tree' is decorated with a complete miss-match of homemade decorations.

Jo x 

meaningful work

Helping... Faith and Roghan love to help, in whatever ways they can. To feel that they are necessary and important, to feel that the things they are doing are important. I work hard to involve them and make sure they participate. From washing up, and sweeping, to carrying hay and even to helping me remember things, the more responsibilities they have the more responsible they become. Of course, sometimes carrying hay turns into being the hay monster but that's ok too!

Jo x 

he doesn't just pull things down...

...he builds too! Here is the long looked for evidence that Roghan is not just a puller down of towers, a ripper of pages and a tipper out of boxes. He is a creator also!

10 minutes later, and everything's back to normal though!

Jo x 

at our place

This week has been, walks in the park, loving the view, wanting to capture those tiny footprints, awe inspiring skies, wondering who gave a 1 yr old a glass mug....?, and the unpoppable balloon..!

Jo x 

cake!

Happy belated birthday sweet boy x 

kids with crafts

To us craft and creativity are very important, a big part of our days. A lot of our homeschooling is done through drawing, painting, modelling, photography, story writing etc, and I find that faith explores ideas so much more deeply when given a free creative space to work in. 

Last week we met up with a few other families and I brought along fabric, wool, ribbons, card, glue, sparkly bits, pens .... a recipe for chaos!

Brilliant chaos.... creative chaos.... the kind of mess that means great things are happening. I wouldn't have it any other way. Wool can be re-rolled, ribbons re-sorted, paint scrubbed, and children put in baths (clothes and all!), but that kind of creative abandon is hard to get back once squashed. 

Bring on the chaos!

Jo x 

form drawing

Form drawing is a big part of our week. We usually do it 1 - 3 times a week, we do form drawing first thing and it really settles us and brings faith into a frame of mind for some work. 

Recently Faith has been using the forms as inspiration and finding other shapes and pictures in them. We only began form drawing in September and the difference in concentration, pen control, evenness of line and things like that is enormous. I would highly recommend it.

Here's a good article on why to do form drawing and here's one on getting started. These are just 2 and there are many many more out there. 

I only have photos of the chalkboard but form drawing is so much more than this. We draw in the air, in sand, walk lines on the floor, make our bodies into shapes, spot shapes in nature when we're out walking, and lots more. The drawing part of form drawing is almost the least important, it's more about really getting a feel for shape, line and balance, the drawing is just the simplest to photograph!

Jo x