A Ladybird Discovery

Hannah and her friend Hermionie were really excited to spot a ladybird laying eggs on the tree on the green opposite our house.

Hermionie's dad took this great picture for Hannah

Hannah looked it up in her British Wildlife Detectives Handbook and online and learned that the ladybird eggs would hatch into larva within a week. They will stay a larva for 10 -15 days before going into a pupal stage and then becoming an adult. The entire life cycle of the ladybird only lasts between 4 and 7 weeks!

Hannah has checked on the eggs every day and has discovered lots and lots of clumps of eggs all over the tree!

Every day Hannah checks on the eggs and comes running back across the green to tell me what she has seen!

Of course the discovery had to go into her nature journal as well!

Book Group - Charlie And The Chocolate factory

This week we ran book group outside under the shade of the trees at adventure group.
The book the children had chosen for this month was Charlie And The Chocolate factory by Roald Dahl and it was a unanimous success, they loved it!!

The children all chatted really excitedly about the story, the characters, what they thought about different chapters and why they thought Charlie was the right person to win the Chocolate Factory.

One of my friends took this great picture of  the children chatting about the book! That's me in the middle, and Hannah in the pink ball cap and stripy shirt

Of course you can't have Charlie And The Chocolate factory without these! So we shared a big box while we talked!

The Weekend

On Saturday Hannah and I went to see The Kings Youth Theatre's production of 'Oliver, The Musical' at the Kings Theatre in Southsea. Hannah's friend Coral and Coral's grandma came with us and the girls really enjoyed the show.

On Sunday we were ready for a quiet day after a really busy week, so we stayed at home. Hannah read 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl, ready for book group tomorrow, she watched the American Girl movie 'Saige' that daddy had recorded for her and played a lot in her pool - it was hot, 27c / 80 F and the pool was very welcome!

Marwell Zoo Trip

Yesterday we spent the day with some of our homeschooling friends at Marwell Zoo.

We spent the day exploring all the areas that we don't usually get to see (we normally spend too long socializing in the play areas and run out of time!!).

It was lovely! Hot and sunny, lots of flowers out in the gardens and I managed to capture the Gibbons on video!

Meerkat

Okapi

At the wild flower garden

Marwell House

In the herb and vegetable gardens

Finally, the 'singing' gibbons!!

All About Bees

Today Hannah has been back to WILD group. We haven't been since we moved house as it is a long way to travel on a weekly basis, but today was a special day. The Bee Man had been invited to come and give a talk to the children and bring some of his bees with him.

Hannah was really keen to go as she is very interested in bees, and she wasn't disappointed!

It was such a great day. The bee keeper was really knowledgeable and so friendly, Hannah learned a lot more about bees, and really enjoyed tasting all the honey at the end of the session!

A Quick Catch-Up

Wow, the last week just flew by and I didn't get any blogging done!! So, here is a quick catch-up so I'm all up to date!

 Hannah has been helping out in the garden! We have two apples trees laden with fruit, peas, tomatoes and lots and lots of loganberries ripening in the sun.

We spent a day at the beach with our homeschool group, it was hot!! So hot that all the kids ended up in the sea and had a great time! We came home with half the beach in a bag as Hannah collected every single shell and pebble she saw!

There has been A LOT of pool play! This is Hannah and her friend Finn having fun on Monday, they spent all afternoon splashing around.

Yesterday we had Singing Spanish at Adventure Group. The lady leading it was really fun and friendly and the session looked like a lot of fun. Unfortunately Hannah was not too sure about it all, she really wants to learn Spanish but felt uncomfortable with the singing / dancing style of the session - she also found it hard that there were very few English words spoken as virtually the whole session was in Spanish. Ideas for building her confidence with this would be much appreciated if anyone has any?

Also this week Hannah has started a Nature Journal,

and is continuing to adore her piano lessons. She is picking it up really quickly and is so enthusiastic and practicing really hard. Her teacher definitely brings out the best in her.

Field Trip - Northney Farm

This week we have been on a field trip to Northney Farm on Hayling Island. We have been to the farm a couple of times before and it is a really nice little dairy and arable farm who make their own ice cream on site.
The farmer took us on a tractor and trailer ride around his fields to tell us about all the different crops they are growing, took us around the farm to meet all the animals, showed us the milking sheds and explained the milking process to the children, told us all about how they make their ice creams, and gave everyone free ice cream to try!!