Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

I hope 2013 is a wonderful year for everyone, much love xxxx

Christmas Day

We have had a lovely Christmas !!

We had my mum visit us for a few days, and my dad, my sister and her partner Andi came for Christmas day. Hannah was awake until 4am waiting for Santa she was so excited, Dean cooked a lovely dinner and it all went really well!! We had some yummy food which was a gift from my friend Carole who wanted to do something to help after learning that Dean had lost his job. It was the best gift as we had some really lovely, special Christmas treats as well which really helped to make it a special day.

I didn't take many pictures as I was too busy enjoying myself, but here are the few I did take!

Santa's Been!

So many presents!



Even more presents!

My Dad

Hannah and my mum having Christmas hugs!

Pre Christmas Fun

It's Christmas Eve and we are finally ready for Christmas tomorrow!

Hannah has been busy this week, she has been to her Home Education Group Christmas Party

Party Girls! Melissa, Lucy and Hannah.

Musical Statues

More musical Statues!

Duck, Duck, Goose.

Parachute Games

Cat and Mouse

Caught you!!

She has made a gingerbread house with Dean

And has helped to decorate the tree and arrange the gifts ready for the morning.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmas At Gunwharf Quays

We finally did some Christmas shopping this week, better late than never!! We went to Gunwharf Quays so that Hannah could see the beautiful Christmas tree they have every year, she wasn't disappointed!

The Tree!

Little bit excited!

All lit up! Spinnaker Tower in the rain.

Bad Times

This blog is supposed to be all about homeschooling Hannah, and usually it is. But this last month has been hard, so hard that i've really had very little to post about on the homeschooling front.

It started last month when my stepmum committed suicide. My almost 80 year old dad was left alone 300 miles from my sister and I and in not so good health. We went to Wales, packed him up and brought him home. He was, and still is, devastated. The shock of his bereavement caused him to have all kinds of physical problems, and his arthritis meant he couldn't manage the stairs at my sisters house where he was staying. He ended up in the hospital where he is now. During all of this we moved house and Hannah came down with a really nasty virus. The new house is lovely, but it was just an added stress that I could have done without under the circumstances.  We are desperately trying to sort out some sheltered accomodation for my dad and are hoping to move him to a rehabilitation unit this week, I feel terrible that we don't have a room for him with us but our new house is just too small.

I didn't really think things could get much worse right now, but apparently i was wrong, because today my husband became unemployed, it has been hanging over us for 10 days now so finally getting the news was almost a relief............

and that is the last few weeks here in a nutshell - but, tomorrow is a new day and i'm going to make it good for Hannah!

A Frosty Move!!

We moved house on Saturday!! It is lovely to be out of the city at last with a little garden full of wildlife and a quiet airy street.

Not many pictures as I've been pretty busy - moving house is soooo hectic - but here are a few of Hannah enjoying her new surroundings!

Playing on the icy pond!



Cheeky face through the french doors!!

Playing on the frosty green opposite our house!

This little Bungalow in the middle is our new home!

School, Sewing and Felting

Here is a little bit of what Hannah has been doing over the last few days,

Her Journal,

Her Spelling and Math Books

A sewing project - she has learnt to hand sew a basic running stitch and wanted to practise by making her Sylvanian Families a bed matress and pillows.

And finally, some needle felted Christmas tree decorations, a tree, a star and an almost finished heart so far!!

Pilgrims Lapbook

Hannah has been working on a lapbook this week. As we are packing to move next weekend it is a nice thing for her to keep herself busy with and learn a little at the same time!

She chose Pilgrims after reading about Thanksgiving.

So far she seems to be really enjoying it!!

Packing would be so much quicker if......................

............... someone wasn't living in my boxes!!

Hannah's box house

And her box car!

A Little Bit Of Written Work

This week we've been trying to get back to normal following our visit to Wales to lay my step mum to rest and pack up my dad's house (he has moved down to Hampshire to be with my sister and me). As we are also packing to move house ourselves it hasn't been very normal, but Hannah has managed to do some school work nevertheless.

She worked on her Language Arts book,

Her Math book,

and read a Bible story and painted a picture to go with it on Thursday.

On Friday we joined our friends for History group, where the children learned about another famous Victorian - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They heard all about his life and work, and, as he is most famous for writing the Sherlock Holmes detective story, they all had a go at being detectives!!

They did secret message writing using lemon juice and vinegar and an iron!

Finger printing,

and disguises!

These are Hannah's finger prints,

and you can just make out her secret message which is a labelled picture of herself and her friend (also Hannah).

 Afterwards they all received certificates which they were very pleased with!

Well Done Everyone :-)

Pottery Class

Today Hannah has been to a home schoolers pottery workshop! She learned how to make 'pinch pots' and made two tealight holders.

She loved working with the clay, and is really looking forward to getting her pots back so that she can paint and glaze them!

All the pots the children made waiting to be fired.