Exam Week

Oh joy, exam week.
We've never done exam week before, and so far, I've got to say, it's not going down too well.
H couldn't remember a thing about the American Civil War, and thought the Russian Revolution had something to do with Alexander the Great!!
Boo's idea of telling about her favourite character from Bible consisted of 'I like Moses best because he led the people out of Israel.' Still at least she finished well within the time limit!
So now I have to devise some exam papers for languages, math, geography etc.
Lets hope things look up.....

'Snow Hole'

Sad and worried about being stuck in a hole
Never found or discovered.
Huddled in your hole,
Just a solid block of ice.
Peeping out into the cold, cold wind, white for miles around.
Lonely. A feeling of depression.
You may never see your family, or be in your home again.
Just a faint blob of red, from your hole.
Who will see THAT?
Down there, it's just a white blur, up there.
Miles up in the distance.
And then.
What's that?
A helicopter!
The noise is coming closer and closer.
'Help!' you mutter but that noise is no more than a whisper.
The noise is coming lower, down towards you.
There is still hope.
You may survive!
The next thing you remember is warmth.
Cosy warmth as gentle hands pass you a steaming bowl of soup.
You try to smile but are too cold.
So you drink it.


This is a poem by H. It was part of an assignment in English (Galore Park) about survival against the odds. I like it because it's the first time she's strayed from 'de da de de da de de da' rhyming poems.

As I was saying, on Amble Ramble ....

I have two daughters, one in Year 4 and one in Year 6. We have dabbled in Ambleside for years, but this is our first year of trying to do the 'whole thing' as it were.
We are just completing Term 1.
The major change I have made is with History - we have always done history together, and as a result, done lots of fun activities, and projects, connected with 'our period'. And that is what I'm missing.
I adapted Year 6 a bit, as being in the UK, I needed more time to do 20th Century, so basically we're doing the 1st World War era in term one, the Second World War era in Term 2, then back to the ancients in Term 3.

We finished last year with the English Civil War, so I had my older daughter read through the remainder of Our Island Story in the summer, so that she filled in some of the gaps.

So we have one currently doing WW1, and one doing George III and American Independence.
By a great stroke of good fortune, the American Museum in Britain had an exhibition about the Titanic, which was interesting for one, and at the same time, we could go and look at the exhibits around the time of the Declaration of Independence .. but that was just luck!

What I'm driving at is that I feel as if we are gaining less than we did in the days of our English Civil War Diaries (one was a Royalist and one was a Roundhead!) or our Roman bread and mosaic making ... but is it inevitable? Next year, older daughter, who is actually a year behind after a rotten start at school, will start HEO and her history will be Churchill's History of the English Speaking People, and I absolutely think that's the right way to go. In order to get younger daughter on the same period, I would have to go back to year 2, and she would miss so much, next year she will get to do the Victorians! How fabulous is that!

No, I've talked myself out of it. I'm going to have to soldier on with two eras at a time. Maybe I could think of themes .. we could look at housing, for example, or food ... and compare medieval with victorian?

What did we do today?

A glorious late autumn day, and we tackled the tricky stuff first - math and latin, and Boo's much dreaded 'Madam How and Lady Why'.
A nature walk was planned, but we decided to attack the garden
The girls had this bit for their major project last year - they did a considerable body of work - on growing food in a small space.

Next year, we'll be turning it into a herb garden, as part of our ongoing learning - we all want to study herbs and herbal medicine more, and produce more natural tonics and supplements for our animals. We also want to experiment with biodynamic methods.

Next we went to visit our convalescing goat, Poplin.



and checked on Christmas Dinner


Lynn wanted some straw, but we couldn't spare any .... {g}


But we did need some woodchip for our garden paths

took a distant shot of our house, while we were down there

and then mucked about with the camera in the garden


We continued with our gardening, and a nostalgically autumnal bonfire






We talked about St Edmunds Day and how we were supposed to plant our garlic on that day - but we've already planted it, so we did intend to plant some in a pot, but we didn't get round to that!
And finally, a little bantam chat.


Eventually, I'll get round to doing more about our 'lessons' and less about our experiential learning ... maybe.....

Before Advent

Before Advent comes, we are trying to finish off the main body of the term's academics. We are using Ambleside Online, H is doing Year 6, and Boo, Year 4.
Poets are done - though I have to say we haven't dwelt on H's long enough for my liking, Robert Frost is one of my all time favourites, and we shall be revisiting, at the very least, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, my very favourite, before December is out!
We haven't done as much as we should on either Botticelli or Bach, I fear.
Reading is pretty much up to date, H has a much altered reading list featuring the early years of the twentieth century, up to and including WW1.
Boo finished off her Civil War study with Children of the New Forest, and is now well into the Plague if you see what I mean.
I'm not enjoying the scramble to 'get done' but I will enjoy the Jesse Tree, Bartholmew's Passage, Gingerbread, and all the other Advent rituals coming up, so it's worth it!