Romans, copious coding, seeing friends

Another beautiful day weather wise , so we travelled to Wroxeter to visit the Roman City.

We walked around the ruins and looked at the information in the visitors centre first. We were all horrified at the horse laming tactics used but as Sam pointed out..'they only had horses, it's not like they could puncture the enemies tyres'...still makes me shudder at the thought though.

Building materials and tools.

It's hard to imagine that what we can see today, is only a very small part of the original city..it's was huge.

We loved the reconstructed Villa, it was made using traditional tools and methods for a Channel 4 programme..although  I have found it on the channels site, it's sadly not available to watch at the moment.

Sam inspects the bath.

Parts of the walls are left exposed, so you can compare the methods used.

What's in here then?

They were worried about the fake meat bless them.

But chopping your brothers head off is nothing to be squeamish about ..apparently.

We loved the hanging with all the animals too.

A quick rest before spending your denarius in the gift shop.

Afterwards we popped in to see my parents and played in their garden. Owen enjoyed using his Roman catapult to fire at targets his grandad had set up for him.

Sam enjoyed chats and the shade.

When we got home the boys played outside in their bikes and with the Roman catapult.

Sam did more coding this morning. Whilst he was working away , Owen and I did some artwork.

He is pointing to his favourite one.

Blokey made us a pin board out of a charity shop frame, so Owen was keen to get some of his creations on there and gurn for the camera.

Next we spent quite a bit of time sorting through Owens room. We managed to clear all his broken and no longer needed toys, he was really great about letting them go. He had decided he couldn't find the stuff he did want because there was 'just too much of everything everywhere'. We also managed to tidy his clothes and sort out which ones no longer fitted him. We can give those to a friend, which makes it easier for Owen to part with some old favourites.He then helped Sam sort somethings whilst I organised the resource cupboard and activity basket.

The boys then decided they wanted to go for a walk, 'to inspect how the building works are progressing'. So we had a little pootle round the estate in the sunshine. Sam walked ( OK ran back and forth) with me , whilst Owen rode his bike.

Unless there is something specific they want help with. We tend to have free play in the afternoons on Tuesday because they have their Jujitsu class in the evening. This evening they had to take their Jo staffs and nunchucks to practice ..their Sensi has nerves of steel.

Rather a tricky start today and a few squabbles to deal with. Once everyone was calm Sam carried on with his coding lessons, he really seems to have an aptitude for it and afterwards went into the files on the server we host and managed to add some plugins. We are still trying to figure out how to add Java script to our Bukkit files so he can use the mods he's coded,...no luck so far but I am hoping Blokey may be able to help.

Owen completed another lesson too, then wanted to read his Horrible Histories book about the Romans.

Later we went out to meet up with some of our other home ed friends, afterwards we  ordered pizza for tea.

The Great British Bee Count started today, so I installed the app and we headed out across the fields to bee spot. We managed a few but it was less than we hoped. There are 43 days left, so we will keep our eyes peeled and we logged the types we had managed to see. I reminded Sam and Owen that we had planted wild flower seeds and that was one of the suggestions from the website.

We also spent time in the garden making a bee hotel.

https://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/bee-bee-info-pack-46760.pdf

We spent the morning cutting up bamboo, running the edges smooth with sand paper and hollowing the sticks out with a skewer.

Gathering what we needed.

Cutting the plastic bottle ends off.

The boys found it particularly satisfying if they could get the skewer all the way through the sticks.

Making sure the ends were smooth,as our instruction pack informs us that Bees avoid sharp sticks. The boys were very keen to get this just right.

Finding a sheltered but warm place to hang our B&B

..which made it very hard for me to photograph!

In the afternoon we attended swimming lessons, which after 13 weeks the boys are still really enjoying.

I even managed to sit in the cafe and watch though the window for a while without them panicking. Afterwards they both managed in the changing rooms and showers with minimal stress...minimal by our standards anyway. Sam had noticed each cubicle door had a black dot drawn on it. This really threw him for a while.

The next day I was feeling fragile but had chores to catch up on. The boys and I went to the shops to buy some food to cook outside. Back home they worked together making videos and playing games with each other and some local friends, who were also online. In the afternoon we took some wood we had collected in March, which was now lovely dry kindling and built a fire in our outside oven/grill. The children managed to light the oven using their steels and cotton wool pads. Then we cooked some tofu and aubergine, which was for another meal. When knew Blokey was on his way home, we started to cook our evening meal outside with the food we had bought in the morning. We collected some home grown salad from the garden and the boys played a bit of footie whilst we waited for their Dad to get back from work. We were really happy that Blokey had managed to find a patio set for the garden, as we have been looking at them for a while. The children and I had seen them in Aldi but it was too big for us to carry, so Blokey had stopped off on his way home and bought one for us.

The boys were happy to test it out.

The next day we decided to travel over to Manchester and visit friends ..I was still feeling fragile and the  rain was pelting down. It was great to see our everyone and their new addition to the family.  

They have slightly older boys, so Sarah had very kindly sorted out some clothes the children might like. They liked pretty much everything on offer, so we drove home with a large bag  of clothes. As it was getting late, in the way back we stopped off for charcoal grilled kebabs, chicken for Sam, lamb for Blokey, beef for Owen and veggie for myself. He children decided , yes they definitely liked kebabs! 

The following morning all of us were up bright and early to go swimming. Since taking Owen to lessons he has become much happier about visiting the local baths. His confidence is growing , so I will continue to book another 10 lessons at the swimming centre with Rob. It can sometimes be tricky getting Owen to stay at the public pool for more than 20 mins but today he was raring to get there and amazed Blokey by enthusiastically swimming a very presentable length of front crawl. I love watching Sam swim, his technique is so smooth and he is a pleasure to watch as he flies through the water.

Owen and I played with the diving toys I have bought and he is getting better and better, testing himself by throwing the weights deeper and further away until he was in the deepest part of the pool. Bless him he didn't want to leave! Blokey was really impressed at seeing such a difference in both boys and the fact that Owen had gained so much more confidence in his abilities was lovely to see.

After getting supplies from the pet shop, we collected some eggs from the farm and headed home for lunch which the boys enjoyed outside in the sunshine. Blokey fixed Sam's bike ( again) , I caught up with some paperwork, planted seedlings in the raised beds and baked bread. 

Sunshine, science, reading, Tynkering, Red Squirrels ( or not) and the sea side.

Today we looked at extinction. We started by watching this Science Club:

Then we talked about whether we would save the Panda or the bees and the pros and cons of the decision. 

We also discussed ways of redirecting meteors if they were heading to earth and whether cloning animals or meat products was a good thing or not. This brought about a further discussion on The impact of the meat industry on the planet as a whole.

Heavy topics of conversation folks!

I had been telling Owen about an image I had seen of a dandelion seed head burning in multicolour. 

We tried a few ourselves but the results were disappointing ...fun though. So we looked up if there was a specific way of doing it.

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2013/07/26/do-dandelions-burn-in-colors.htm

We decided it was fun to try anyway.

The boys tried their hand at Minecraft mod programming. It was a bit tricky to start with but we got set up on a private server and accessed the Tynker Hub. The first mod Owen tried to do didn't work and we faffed around for a bit trying to sort it out. He tried and easier one and that worked brilliantly.

Sam was still working through the Turing lessons but took a break to try the mods coding. He managed two successful ones and set up his server really quickly.

The boys then joined forces and build a TNT cannon. Both had to fiddle about, problem solving issues as they went and although their cannons were made using different materials , they both worked brilliantly.

We then went out to the library, where Owen took out his height in books. Sam has started the skullduggery series , so he only wanted a couple of science reference books. Just as well, it was a joint effort getting Owens haul back to the car!Whilst I was cooking lunch Sam dashed back upstairs to have a go at more coding.

After a quick tea of crackers and sandwiches the boys headed out to their jujitsu class.

The children did a great deal of Minecraft mod coding using Tynker. There were rainbow sheep, pools of gold and copious amounts of fireworks and things that exploded and morphed. They enjoyed changing the coding lessons to customise the mods.

I showed them the Java script tab, which gives you the true layout of their coding, as it would be written in to the game. They recognised it as layout we typed into the server we host. 'But for mods mum'.

Next I put a selection of materials together so we could look at load bearing structures and general engineering concepts etc. They had quite a lot of fun with this. As the boys are visual, kinetic learners, I showed them this website to get them started. Once they each had one under their belts , they had many more ideas of their own.

http://frugalfun4boys.com/2015/06/11/4-engineering-challenges-kids/

Here are a few I managed to photograph.

It was so lovely and sunny when we got up this morning, so I suggested a Nature Scavenger Hunt. Owen looked for a worksheet online over breakfast. Both boys were really up for it ( always a bonus when Owen can struggle to leave the house). Whilst I was printing out sheets, Owen and Sam did a wordsearch.

Off we went with our clipboard lol.

These are the items they decided to find:

Animal tracks:

Wild flowers

Weeds..lots of laughs blowing dandelion clocks.

A feather..wood pigeon ( also on our list) .

Running water..which we then had to paddle in...

An animal den..we think badger.

Flying insects..lots of these today. Ladybirds, midges and a Mayfly all spotted.

Sam trying to 'Ninja' the flies

Sam's favourite tree...we used it to tick off green leaves and bark from our list.

Checking Sam's position on 'butter' .

Owen: it's just a trick of the light Sam ...

Let's put the flower in your hat...

And a stop at the park for a play before walking back home a different route.

We couldn't find any newts or frogs today but we saw a helicopter, which the boys said made it slightly less disappointing...I wrote it on their sheets .

Time for lunch and a some quiet time before swimming lessons...which went...Erm...swimmingly!

Another lovely day and as it was Blokeys rota day off a trip to the seaside was decided upon. We wanted to take the children to the woods at Formby. They skirt a shore line of dunes and are the home of red squirrels, so off we went.

We wandered as quietly as possible through the 'squirrel walk' .

But sadly we didn't see any red squirrels at all ...very disappointing!

We did however see...

Lots of dens built in the woods.

This one was a bit damp smelling, hence his worried face.

A funny shaped stump that we thought looked like a bear:

Snails and lots of wild flowers.

We read information about the local area.

Admired the sculpture

And walked through the dunes towards the beach..on our way we found this rather beautiful moth.

And commented on how hard going it is to walk through sand dunes.

Once in the beach we found many treasures...a sea urchin shell, empty crab shells, razor clams, mussels and worm casts and holes.

We had a paddle in the sea, which was warmer than we expected.

Then we played in the sand with sticks and silly messages.

Apparently he's completely stuck....with his sticks of destiny.

Great laughs making up ..ahem..new names for Dad.

We started to head back as Owen was getting very tired and hungry. On the way home we stopped off for a much enjoyed meal , then arrived back at the homestead, tired but very happy.

The next day Owen and Sam are immersed in all things Minecraft, Owen mainly working on live streaming. I go out and meet a friend for coffee and have a stroll around the farmers market for a while. 

There's are some beurocratic things going on that are getting me down and I go for a walk after lunch. 

On returning home I work through paperwork trying to figure out how to find a way forward. 

We all sleep in late, I have had a very disturbed night and wake in a lot of pain again. We decide that sitting at home worrying won't help and plan and afternoon out in the sunshine. The boys are quite resistant initially but once there the start to enjoy themselves. We climb to the by top of the Roaches and admire the vista.

We find cave like formations.

Do some parkour.

Sing at the very top

And look across the valley for miles and miles.

On the way down the boys talk excitedly about how awesome it's been and we decide to stop off at Tittesworth Reservoir to skim stones and have a play in the park.

We spot some creatures whilst we are there too.

Back home we build a fire in the wood stove and all have very healthy appetites after the climbing and fresh air...so they demolish lots of food before bedtime.