Strawberries and ice cream

It's seems the sunshine may have a similar affect on my son as it does on plants. This morning Oscar put on a t-shirt that fitted perfectly well a couple of weeks ago and now it's too small. So we had a look through his wardrobe, put a half his clothes in a pile for yet another trip to the charity shop then it was off to town to find a few new bits. Having done a bit of shopping we went to the park for a picnic with some friends from our home ed group. It was a lovely day and Oscar devoured his strawberries at a truly impressive rate.

Yes that is a whole strawberry going in in one go!

He seemed to enjoy it though.

Then it was over to the play area where the parents chatted and the children lazed on the big swing before tucking into some ice creams

I can't think of a much better way to spend a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

Swimming lessons.

Oscar started his day making this mosaic picture whilst watching his French video again (his request). I found the mosaic toy at a boot sale last summer and dug it out when we first started home ed because it's really pretty fiddly and is very good for helping to improve fine motor skills. At the time Oscar struggled to do it unless I was sat next to him handing the the pieces. Today I explained to him about fine motor skills and how they will help him with his handwriting and got this out again. Oscar chose the house picture and was very proud when he completed it all by himself.

Then it was off to the barbers for a haircut, today they were empty and Oscar was brilliant, sitting very still and doing exactly what the hairdresser asked and now he can actually see where he is going.

After lunch Oscar spent some time on education city, today he did some science and French.

Then it was time for Oscar do go to his first ever swimming lesson. Oscar hasn't been swimming since he was very young because at the time he hated it and has always made a real fuss about water and getting wet. Over the last few months this has improved slightly and we feel that swimming is an essential skill. We haven't talked too much about the lessons but Oscar has two friends going with him (only one toady as the other is unwell) so he was really looking forward to going. So much so that he ran all the way there.

Once there the boys started to look a little anxious but they were both brilliant.

My friend and I were amazed to see our 'not very keen on water' boys putting their noses and their chins in the water. Then blowing bubbles before paddling the width of the pool with the help of a float and a teacher.

When the lesson had finished the boys were very excited and can't wait to go back next week.

A proud day

 I have decided to ignore handwriting for a while as Oscar gets so incredibly frustrated with it. Instead we are just going to find lots of things do do that work on his fine motor skills.

So today started with colouring.

Oscar loves language and playing with words and has been asking to learn French and Spanish. I'm not really up for paying for a language tutor right now but we have a couple of posters with colours and numbers in English, French and Spanish and I found this French children's video for sale at the library for 50p so while he was colouring he watched the video, he really enjoyed it and has been saying bonjour to people all afternoon.

When Oscars video had finished went out and took some donations to the charity shop and to get Oscar a hair cut. When we got to the barbers I discovered that lots of the schools have an inset day today and there were 7 other little boys waiting to get their hair cut and only one person doing the cutting so no hair cut for Oscar today.

After lunch Oscar had his first go on the mathletics website and loved it. He worked on his measuring skills, telling time, shape, order, and size.

Then it was off to Taekwondo where Oscar was awarded with his new belt and a certificate. He was also given a new patch for his uniform as his new rank means that he will be leaving the tiger cubs class and moving into the juniors.

Oscar was very proud to receive his green belt and the academy always make a big fuss about presentations with a buffet afterwards so the kids get to have a real celebration in acknowledgement of all their hard work in progressing to the next rank.

Now that Oscar is a green belt he is able to start sparing so today I bought him the protective pads he will need for that. When we got home Oscar enjoyed trying them on a posing in them.

I know that lots f people will be horrified that I send my 5 year old son off to lessons where he gets to learn how to hit people effectively and is actually encouraged to fight and I was sceptical about it at first but Taekwondo has been a really good thing for Oscar.

The first thing Oscar learnt were the tenets of Taekwondo.

Honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self control, courage and community.

These seem to me to be pretty good principles for life and they are the basis of everything he learns.

Taekwondo has also helped improve Oscars co ordination and concentration, he understands that what he learns is only to be used whilst at his lessons. He has gained confidence and as far as home ed goes he has really learnt and understands the importance of perseverance. Oscar loves his lessons and always tries his best, he has alot of respect for his instructors and is always very proud and excited when he learns something new.

So as much as I dislike the idea of Oscar sparing for us the benefits are worth it.

Our week

This week we have been enjoying the sunshine.

We have a great park near us that has chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits and two goats.

Oscar loves all the animals but particularly enjoys feeding the goats.

We went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Oscar has been to the theatre a few times but this was his first big show.

He loved it.

We have spent lots of time in the garden.

Looking at bugs in this special bug box with a magnifying glass on the front that slides up and down.

There was lots of climbing

and sliding.

Swinging

and laughing.

Being a monkey, complete with sound effects.

Fishing

and digging.

He was very excited to find lots of blossom on our fruit trees.

We also made a wormery in this special tank so that Oscar can observe what the worms get up to over the next couple of weeks.

And we made ice lollies.

Oscar also went to his taekwondo lessons as usual this week and tested today. He did really well and will be receiving his green belt at the presentation ceremony on Monday.

We have had lots of fun this week and have talked about what we will be doing at home school next week.

Oscar has enjoyed have some time to do what he wants over Easter but is now looking forward to getting back into a routine next week and taking a look at some new online maths games I have found.

Dressing up and ice cream.

This afternoon Oscar and I went to visit our friends Susie and Hannah. While Susie and I put the world to rights over a nice cup of tea Oscar and Hannah giggled alot, dressed up and ate ice cream.

We both had a really nice time (Oscar has asked if we can go to Hannahs house again tomorrow). 

Thank you Susie and Hannah x

Having fun.

Last week Oscar spent most of his time running my cousin Lauren ragged. Oscar adores her and as she doesn't live near us we have to make the most of it when her and her mum come to visit. Oscar loves spending time with Lauren, I think this is mostly because she showers him with attention, plays all the games he wants to play when he wants to play them and laughs at all his jokes.

Oscar had a particularly good time when we went out for lunch.

In home ed land there are no lunch box police but that's ok, somehow Oscar still manages to work out what he does and doesn't like and he likes fruit.

Smiley faces.

And silly faces.

A quiet week

We haven't been up to much over the last week because Oscar hasn't been very well. But we did finish reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we made our own Chocolate Factory.

Oscar was given this for his Birthday and we had to push out all the pieces and follow the instructions to make this. We think it's brilliant and are rather proud of ourselves. I am going to have to ask my friend where she got it from to see if there are other similar things we can make.

We spent alot of time on the sofa watching films including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Oscar decided the book is better than the film.

We turned some daffodils blue.

we tried this a few weeks ago and for some reason it didn't work but these turned out ok.

We made it to our homeschool group on Wednesday where Oscar made an Easter basket and some Easter decorations and enjoyed an egg and spoon race.

Oscar had a friend round for tea one evening and they spent ages playing with Oscar's crane and his Thomas trains. And of course on Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt and Oscar spent the rest of the day setting up egg hunts for his dad and I.

Oscar is feeling alot better now so hopefully this week will be more active and we are both looking forward to my Aunt and cousin visiting a few days.