A Quiet Week

It's been a quiet week, with plenty of going-out-to-town activities, which has effectively meant that not much work has been done on paper, apart from some more worksheets on using vowels and the two times table. In other words, it's been a time of consolidation rather than new projects.

Around the start of the week, we listened again to Peter and the Wolf; this time the kids played along using various percussion instruments, trying to match the 'mood' of the music and, of course, the story itself.

That entailed the kids using shakers, maracas, tambourines, a small African drum, and even a kazoo at one point, believe it or not. M. is rather good on the kazoo, having got the idea of it instantly. By contrast, D. is perplexed by it - as am I! I have promised to buy them a xylophone later this month - even the smallest ones are rather expensive! - which I'm hoping will lend depth and increased versatility to their music sessions. A worthwhile investment, I feel though, since all three children seem to enjoy making music and are taking better care of the instruments than I had thought possible, always returning them to the music box after our sessions and being careful not to drop or damage them.

After listening to the music, they drew some more pictures to accompany the story. This is D.'s wonderfully atmospheric take on Peter and the Wolf, the title being an unprompted addition to the picture. You can see here how his handwriting skills are developing!



We also tried more meals using wholemeal pasta and wholegrain rice this week. Jamie Oliver eat your heart out! To be honest, I was rather annoyed by the headteacher at the boys' prospective school when, in response to me saying we couldn't afford to pay for school meals for both of them - very expensive for two at once! - she recommended I try to find the money from somewhere, as 'it might be the only healthy meal they get all day'. Cheeky so-and-so!

Of course, the boys didn't go to school in the end, and so have missed out on these 'healthy' school meals. Luckily for them, I do actually insist on fresh vegetables at every meal. This is wholemeal pasta shapes with a fresh tomato and mushroom sauce, garnished with parsley from the pot outside the back door and followed by end-of-season apples just picked from our own trees. You don't get much fresher than that ...



We'll be having our 'half-term break' soon, but will return in about ten days or a fortnight with some more posts about our home school activities.