Pony Riding and Poo Picking!!

This morning Hannah and her friend Melissa went out for a pony ride together. The ride was Melissa's birthday present to Hannah and both girls had a lovely time!

Hannah and Millie the pony

Off they go!

Back again after a really fun ride.

On the way home Melissa's mum wanted to stop to get some manure from a nearby stable for her allotment. When we got there we discovered it was a 'pick your own' and the manure was still in the field!

Luckily for us Hannah and Melissa thought this was a great thing to do and leapt into action filling 4 sacks to the brim!! I love having a county girl !!

Hannah said she considers the poo picking part of her birthday present because it was so much fun - so, if anyone needs a field cleared Hannah is your girl!!

Work and Play

This week Hannah has been interested in doing some more of her workbook based on The Boxcar Children, and she also worked through some of her Math book. She learned about graphs and charts, worked out orders and prices from a menu and practised converting Dollars to Pounds and vise versa. This was very important as she was buying herself a present from the USA with her birthday money!!

We have also been to home education group meetings at Portsmouth, where I ran a book group, and Paulsgrove where we celebrated the birthday of one of Hannah's friends and had fun in the sun!

The book group went really well. We had 8 children age 7 - 10 who had all read The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, and my plan was to lead them in a discussion of the book for half an hour to see what they thought of it. In actual fact they were all so excited about the book that they talked non stop for an hour and I could hardly get a word in!! Then the children chose the book for next month which is going to be Charlie And The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

Building a sand and water construction - it conveniently finished in a pool at the bottom of the slide!!

They are up there somewhere!!

There's nothing like a frozen juice on a hot day!

Little Woodham - 17th Century Village

Today we have been to Little Woodham in Gosport to see what life was like in the 17th Century. It was a really interesting day. The village is staffed by volunteers in period costume who keep in character as much as possible and really represent life in a 17th century village.

We spoke to an innkeeper who was cooking pottage (chicken and vegetable stew) over an open fire, the sawyer who was preparing timber, and a really interesting cottager who told me all about stick weaving! I'm now desperate to give it a try!

This is a village hovel, where we were told the poorer visitors would have slept had they not been wealthy enough to afford a bed at the Inn

Hannah inside the basket makers one roomed cottage.

A Village Scene

The seamstress' cottage with period garments on display.

17th Century doll.

 

In the sleeping area.

Cottage gardens.

Supper!

The loom and some of the beautiful cloths that had been made on it.

A bed at the Inn

A poster on the wall of the Inn,

Bit of housework anyone???

Mistress Eve the Innkeeper

Someone is hoping for a bowl of pottage!!

The Village Potter

Some of his wares. 

Inside the potters cottage

I think this is the best costume we saw - he looks awesome!

This is the sawyers cottage where we met his wife Mistress Hannah, who taught us all about stick weaving.

Mistress Hannah

21st Century Hannah in 17th Century Hannah's cottage!!

Some of her stick weaving.

Learning to weave with 4 sticks.

A 15 stick scarf in the making!

Sawyers at work.

Time for a chat and some interesting facts about life in the village.

 

Little Woodham is a really great place to visit, the people are so knowledgeable and friendly you can't help but be drawn into their world, it's an amazing place!

Wildlife Watching - Springwatch Webcams.

This morning Hannah discovered these webcams on the Springwatch website. She has been watching all morning, fascinated by the heron fishing for eels, the parent birds feeding a nest of bluetits and a jackdaw nest among other things! What a great natural learning resource!

Odds and Ends From A Quiet Week!

After a really busy few weeks this week has been a blissfully quiet one! It has been the schools half term holiday this week so we have stayed close to home and avoided the over crowded parks and play areas.

Hannah has been doing lots of art and craft. She has done clay modelling, painting with acrylics on canvas and today, at history group she made a replica lighthouse (we were studying Grace Darling ).

Hannah's lighthouse

Painting

The canvas Hannah painted for her bedroom.

She has been baking and has made cookies and cupcakes.

She has played outside in her pool a lot (even though it's been pretty cold this week),

and she has worked on her math brainteaser puzzles and continued with her study of The Boxcar Children.

Today, after history, we met up with our friends on The Common where the children flew kits and had a picnic before going to the (much too busy) splash park and playground...................... so, actually, it hasn't been all that quiet a week after all!!