Observation.

I've been noticing recently that Nathan needs a lot more stimulation than to just play with toys now. I'm not talking mathematical equations, he just needs more. I know people say that kids are like sponges but it truly amazes me just how he picks things up.

A week ago I started to do some basic number recognition with him. He has a book called Billy The Bear which is one of his favourites at the moment. It has magnetic animals and also the numbers 1-10 to put on each page. All I started to do was show him the numbers and tell him what they were. I'd then ask him for the number and he'd pass it to me to be placed on the page. There were a few he wasn't sure of and I didn't push him with them at all but when my bargain Lacing Numbers turned up (that I got on eBay for £3) I thought I'd give him a go with them and he knew all but number 9. The only reason he struggled with that is because it's exactly the same as the number 6. I couldn't believe how well he'd done after just 3 days. He was also away lacing the tiny fiddly holes after a couple of attempts! I've since spoken to  his Montessori Pre-school Directress and she had a look at what he's been learning there and they haven't even started on numbers yet so everything he's learnt is from me!

Since then we've started playing a game with his big alphabet puzzle where I say the phonetic sound and he passes me the piece of the puzzle. He really enjoys this and it's a great way for him to learn the sounds rather than the letter. Any learning that we're doing I'm trying to find ways to make fun as he seems to lap it up a lot easier-plus he's not even 3 yet!

Ethan bless him is teething heavily at the moment and is extremely grumpy, he's teething for longer before cutting the tooth as well so this week on recommendation I introduced the teething granules and I also brought a baltic amber necklace which arrived yesterday. Hopefully these things help as it's hard to see my normally happy baby so sad. Watch this space.

Generally we've had a great week. Today sees the scaffolding go up for the start of our extension which will start on the 25th so this coming week I'll be deciding what I need to take and then pack for my 2 weeks at the Haven park in Hastings!

How's your week been so far? What fun tips do you have to stimulate your little ones and keep them interested?

Until next time.

Lisa x

Lesson learnt....

Since making the decision to home school the boys I've been looking at our local "home ed" groups to see what activities there are and what local meet ups etc are available. Although I won't go over the top trying to incorporate "social time" into our day, trips out with other children and families will be fun for everyone.

I was invited along to one on the 1st June. It was just a meet up at a park local to me. I decided to take Nathan along and leave Ethan at home so off we went. I was full of apprehension and excitement at meeting people that were already well in the thrust of home schooling their children and Nathan, well he was really excited to be going to the park! We went to the main park first and it was heaving! There were tonnes of families there, all different age groups and I was completely at a loss as to who were just at the park or who was there for the meet up. I decided to have a walk round as there were also some horses, a paddling pool and a soft play area to explore. Nathan is besotted with animals and spent an awful long time just talking to them.

We then got close to the paddling pool where somebody had forgotten to close the gate to it. Nathan did no more than turn to look at me and make a dash to the water. Yep he went in full clothed, shoes and all! I hadn't taken a change of clothes as I knew I wouldn't be staying that long and it wasn't a sunny day so I didn't think the paddling pool would be involved in our trip! I decided it was best to just let him play in there as otherwise it was a trip back home and he was having so much fun I didn't want to spoil it.

I then found out the people I was due to meet were in the soft play section. Ooops. After about half an hour Nathan was getting cold so I had to entice him back to the car where luckily I had a spare pair of pants and then I had to get a very sad little boy back home to warm up.

I didn't get to meet the people I was supposed to meet but I did learn a valuable lesson that I should of remembered when I was a cub scout (yes really I was!) Always be prepared!

What a lovely morning. I'm sitting here at this crazy early hour (05:30) not because my children have woken me but because the birds have decided to sing. I'm not complaining, I love that the weather has finally turned. The boys are loving being in the garden endlessly playing and having fun. It makes me wonder what we did in the winter months.

As you can imagine I've been reading, and reading and reading some more. I'm finding out so much information and there are so many amazing websites around. If you're stuck for things to do with your little ones I found this website on Tuesday and you select your childs age and they list activities accordingly, there are hundreds of things there to do and the bonus is that it's free. It really does make it easier to be able to select the age too.

I've tried Treasure Baskets with Ethan this week. I'm not sure I've introduced them at the right point of the day as there always seems to be something going on to distract him so he doesn't get the proper time. I'm going to schedule this a bit better, maybe I'll read to Nathan whilst he's rifling through. I'm also going to add more things to it so there's plenty of texture, size and weight for him to explore.

Our eldest Nathan actually goes to a Montessori Pre School, he has done since October when we took him to show him around and he was completely taken with the environment.  I'll keep him there for a few sessions a week and will also be incorporating the Montessori method in and around our home as I just love how it is completely open to the child. This was the reason that we signed Nathan up, it's just amazing to see how it works. There are some phenomenal Montessori blogs out there and so many that I have yet found the time to read but my favourites so far are Counting Coconuts, Chasing Cheerios and My Montessori Moments. I'm still struggling with what can be introduced at this age but I'm getting there.

I'll leave you with some pictures of our recent trip to the duck pond. Nathan loves going and Ethan looked happier than the last time we went!

The perk of going so early!

A gorgeous sight.

Our gorgeous baby who grows before my eyes!

My highlight. The baby Signets.

Nathan chatting to the ducks

 I hope you have enjoyed my latest ramblings and thank you in advance for reading. All comments are gratefully received :-)

Have a great day.

Lisa x

A Sad Realisation.

I opened the curtains to our baby boys bedroom this morning and was greeted with a beautiful smile and a great big raspberry blown in my face. I felt the most intense wave of love wash through me and just grip my heart. Moments like these I cherish. 

As the weather has finally warmed up I have seasonally changed Ethans wardrobe over now so that he is in the summer clothes. He's 10 months but is getting snug in 12-18 month clothing, he's a big boy and so is his brother. Nathan will be 3 in August. He's in 4-5 yrs clothing. Anyway I digress. What hit me as I bagged up the next lot of clothing to go into the loft was the stark, sad realisation that the boys are growing up so so fast. Too fast. I suppose I'm seeing this more with Ethan as I'm physically bagging clothes up and moving him onto the next lot.

There are days that I plod along through, not necessarily taking my life for granted but maybe not appreciating quite what I have. I don't give myself credit for the job that I'm doing in bringing the boys up. It sinks in when they learn a new skill or when I have a conversation with Nathan just as I did this morning and he started to talk to me about bees. He went on to tell me that bees collect pollen to make us honey but that he shouldn't touch them. Amazing. Well to me it is anyway. I've started to notice the little things. The way that Nathan now interacts with Ethan as he is moving a bit more so is more interesting to his big brother. Nathan now knows if he sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Old MacDonald had a farm Ethan will dance. It's just so cute.

When I have told people that we will be Home Educating our family, the biggest response is "god I'd hate to be around my kids all day' Well, I'm one of those people that loves to be around them all day. I love seeing them learn new things, new words, new movements. I can't wait to help them become the men they will be come.

Today I discovered this blog here which is just fantastic. It follows one family's journey through their Home Ed experience so for a newbie like me it is very interesting reading. It's also great to see how they have overcome any difficult situations. It'll definitely be added to my regular list of reading material.

Since I've been researching and reading up on all things Home Ed my crafting has taken a bit of a back seat but I seem to of found a better balance now and feel a lot happier. I tend to get all consumed and bogged down with things trying to absorb everything in a day. I've realised I don't need to do that. I have plenty of time. Nathan guides me everyday on his interests and I know Ethan will too. I will use my natural instinct to follow their lead and then be the best mummy I can be.

I appreciate you reading and would love for you to leave me any comments that you may have.

Lisa xx

Amazing....

Well, I can only say that I am completely overwhelmed with the positive support that I have been receiving via this blog and also Twitter, I honestly can't thank you all enough! It's certainly encouraging to know that I'm not going to get lynched lol.

I've been trawling through the forums, internet search engines and other home ed blogs recently and there really are some wonderful inspirational posts to be found. I am quite disturbed though on how peoples comments can start a witch hunt on a personal individual blog. I've actually found this extremely daunting and hope I'm never on the receiving end!

I've been busy finding local support networks and have a social gathering arranged on the 1st June where I will meet other Home Schooling families. The difficulty at the moment is that my two are so young there are very few people that are starting to think about it at this stage. That said, I have been told that as soon as they get to 'school age' there is far more awareness.

I'm also trying to look at everything I do in a different light and to see how I can make everyday excursions and activities into an educational but fun experience. It's all a learning curve but I'm really glad that we decided to look into it now so that it can be a slow process rather than feeling like I've been thrown in at the deep end.

I'd be really keen to hear of any suggestions, websites or tips on introducing new experiences. My next post will be a lot sooner and I have some great pictures to share too.

Until then, have a great day and thanks for taking the time to read!

Until next time........... xx

A New Beginning...

Wow, I've decided to just do it and start a mummy blog! Another one I hear you sigh.....Well that may be the case but this is just for me, just for my family. I'm hoping in years to come we'll be able to look over this and use it for what it is intended. Just a log of our life and events. In the meantime I'm hoping to be able to provide some laughter and happiness to any of you lovely people that decide to take the time to read and comment on my posts.

A bit about myself, well I'm 31 and happily married to my husband Kenny. We live with our two boys in a house we love on the sunny coast of Worthing in West Sussex. We're literally a 5 minute walk from the seafront and live opposite a nice big park. Perfect for burning off all that toddler energy! We're also pretty much decided that we will go against the grain and home school our children.

We started looking into home schooling a little while ago and I've now become all consumed with reading and absorbing everything that I can about it. That's what I'm like, I'll surround myself with as many books and articles as I can and then try to soak it all up. The reason for us going down this route really is of personal choice, our class sizes here are set to be close to 40 children, a teacher will barely have time to spend any one to one time with our boys, they might not like to be forced to learn the same things, at the same rate and at the same time as every other person around them. I'm still reading a lot about it but I'm finding all of the blogs out there really interesting and useful. Any positive advise or links will be greatly received!

In my spare time I love to cook and do all things crafty, I also have a blog for this passion over on Wordpress. www.lisarye.wordpress.com is you fancy checking that out!

I'm not a writer so you will find that these posts will be more ramblings but hey I'm only trying to be The Best Mummy I Can Be......

Thanks for reading and I wish you a fabulous day.