There has been renewed interest in the Home Ed Minecraft server this week. It's been rejigged and the new format really suits Owen's skill set. This enabled him to make two new friends and enjoy some collaborative work. It was lovely to see him working happily and getting along so well.
The weather has been great again so we hopped on our bikes and went for a ride. The children were having trouble adjusting to their new shoes but some Frisby and bubble therapy at the park helped overcome their anxiety.
Back home Owen designed some Minecraft outfits for his new friends and Sam worked on Scribblenauts. Later on the children had a great time at their jujitsu class.
Quite a bit of free play is happening and the children are getting more and more competent with their PC skills. We took another look at Winky Think and the boys enjoyed progressing through the levels. Owen decided he wanted to make Sam and his dinner so I helped him to organise that.
Our new BBQ arrived, so we made the most of the great weather and ate outside when Blokey got home.
Both boys decided they wanted to watch Horrible Histories , so spent some time looking at that. We looked at a new server based in the U.S. That their new Minecrafting buddies had told the children about, so I helped the boys register their details.
We went to see the SpongeBob movie and they laughed like drains all the way through.
The next day involved a lot of reading, more Winky Think and Scribblenauts and a new game called Pizza Fraction Bingo. The children were a little hesitant at first, due to the fact that the word 'Fraction' was on the box. However I showed them how it was played and we spent over an hour giggling and playing with it. 'Just one more game Mum!' ...so it was a hit. It still makes me sad that anything they construe as remotely ' learning based ' fills them with such anxiety, even when they are very capable and more confident these days.
Owen went off to read some more of his library book, so Sam and I played the Wildcraft game...we successfully made it back to Grandmas house with our huckleberries before night fall.
Then more Winky Think and MORE Pizza Fraction bingo. Owen chose some activities from his book. One involved each person making a face, then adding another expression on until someone got the sequence wrong...very funny.
The other involved designing and drawing robots.
After lunch, As it was such a lovely day, we took ourselves outside and played 'what's the time Mr Wolf', before setting up our hand drawn Robot army for battle in the shade of the washing line. The boys then began to devise a more and more elaborate game with their drawings.
The rules were fairly fluid but resembled Top Trumps. Basically, you pitched your Robots against each other creating , as the whim took you and depending on what was drawn, super powers to beat your opponent.
Suitable super powers mentioned were many and varied but some of our particular favourites were:
Robot Dad....who gave you 'the frowning of a lifetime'
Stink Bot...who's 'fetid breath killed at 100 paces'
Psychic Bot...this one proved to be quite indestructible, as he could make his opposition do anything he wanted...including blowing themselves up, or doing his general bidding.
I have probably forgotten many, I was laughing that much at Sam and Owen's antics.
Off to the Wildwood today...lets gloss over the extra trip around Stafford town centre because I got in the wrong lane...I didn't panic..nothing to see here.
The children ( and I ) had fun catching up with friends and the exercise equipment was a big hit again. The weather stayed fine for us and we all had a great time . I do love our friends.
As the weather was a bit hit and miss we decided to go to Enginuity in Telford.
http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-attractions/enginuity/
It took a big of persuading to get Owen out of the house but once there he loved it. We all agreed it was absolutely brilliant and the children had a great time. We decided to buy the Ironbridge Museums yearly pass, in order to have access to all the attractions in the area throughout the year. The staff are so very helpful and friendly. Whilst there we had a look round the Iron Museum which was next door. I am sure the boys were more interested in this part due to all the Minecraft related references such as smelting, forges, anvils and all the ore samples to look at. Although the the statue of Abraham Derby creeped Sam out considerably.
The next day involved swimming, Horrible Histories, Minecraft, cycling and lots and lots of jobs for the adults to do.
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