Tuscan dream

We've just returned from ten days in the beautiful Italian region of Tuscany (the middle western area).
It's funny but I feel a little guilty raving about what a wonderful time we had and even admitting to having been. It was an extravagance that I don't usually have. I haven't been abroad for about three years since my little trip to France for lunch. I have long been promising the children a trip somewhere warm, somewhere beautiful and a new cultural experience. So this year they held me to my promise.

As always, I arranged our adventure myself. There is so much cash to be saved by cutting out the middle man and it really isn't that difficult to do. For five of us to fly to Tuscany and the rent of our lovely rural farm house, it only cost £750, (£150 each)! I thought that was a really good deal.
My secret? It's the sites Wimdu and Trip adviser. A good friend of mine recommended Wimdu to me a couple of years back. She uses it to find accommodation mainly when she's travelling alone. Basically, Wimdu consists of folk who let out their homes or holiday lets or even rooms within their homes; to travellers. If you are a single person, it makes complete sense to stay in the home of a family so that you have a point of contact, you can ask them for advice about the best places to visit, someone is always looking out for you and you get to experience the culture first hand. It's a win win situation.

Our little Tuscan farm house was solely let as a holiday retreat. It was set just a mile or so outside the little village of Riparbella and overlooked olive groves and fields of vines. I became totally emerged in the atmosphere of the early rising folk who set to work tending their crops. The temperature reached 36 degrees in the middle of the day, I cannot imagine having to engage in physical activities in such extreme heat!

We hired a little Corsa; as we were in a rural location. Again if you book well in advance this isn't an expensive thing to do and it is great having freedom to come and go as you please. Having said that, it might be another adventure altogether negotiating the public transport system!

Riparbella was really conveniently located for visiting many local sites. Driving wasn't a problem once you got used to the road system. The only downside to travelling were the windy roads. There are main roads but not to all places, many of the roads were really very wiggly, consisting of several hair pin bends; this means that it takes much longer to get anywhere as you have to stay in a low gear and really concentrate!

Tuscany is soo beautiful! Think, red brick buildings, terracotta pots and bright coloured geraniums....arrr!! I found myself snapping away with my camera frequently, trying to capture all the loveliness so that I could savour it to devour at another time.
Let me share some of those gorgeous views with you......

Quaint little cobbled streets

Beautiful red brick buildings 

Stunning views

Small boy catches crabs

Street sellers eating a living

Incredible architecture in Florence

Glorious 'White Sands'

Den building in our garden

Fishing in hidden pools.......

Bryn's birthday treat!

Hidden alleyways......I loved the terracotta, shutters and laundry hanging to dry over the streets below.

Don't mind if I do!

The Duomo in Sienna

Inside the Duomo

:-)

Imagining a spot of sailing.....

Washed up on the sand

Loving those geraniums...

Feeling the water washing over my toes.....

Arrrrrr....bliss!!

A little walk in the park

After four months of pretty hit and miss walk training the big day of the 2015 London Moonwalk finally arrived. Yes, four months of pain, sweat and enduring the winging of my tag along children climaxed with one big night of fun!
The excitement had been brewing all week and the realisation of the fact that I would have to walk a very long and enduring 26.2 miles after a regular jam packed day of activity. You see, you train for the walking but you don't train to do it when you are ready for bed at a time when you are most exhausted.
I had planned to grab a quick hour long power nap between one and two on Saturday lunchtime, but like a child with a new toy, the excitement was so immense that there was no way that was going to happen!

At 7pm after dropping the children with a very good friend, my lovely friend Kat and I took the train into London and had to walk a good two miles to join the long queue into Moonwalk City. I didn't really want to waste any energy but part from hailing a cab, walking was really the only option; besides we thought of it as a warm up!

Kat had even remembered to polish her halo!

The queue was long but pretty well organised, see the large pink 'nipple tent' in the distance.

Clowning.....

Lol!!!

Once in the tent the smell of food wafted under our noses. The Moonwalk crew have thought things through really well and have a tasty hot carb filled meal waiting for you when you arrive. On this occasion it was actually only a little over an hour between eating and walking. Probably not ideal but it didn't take long for things to work their way through and the energy to be absorbed and transferred.

Waiting and preparing to go.....

On the start line.

The initial start was somewhat of a bundle. Everyone was desperate to get out there and do what we had turned out to do. We found ourselves walking half a minute faster than we had trained, that wasn't going to be sustainable......we pushed ourselves to get into a steady pace and pretty much managed to keep it up.

I was rather thinking of the whole event as one large nighttime sightseeing walking tour and it was just that. I imagined sharing some wonderful photos of the glorious sights with you but that was not to be. I was totally focused on walking.....I was on a mission. I took two photos near to the river....here's one!!

I gave up after that.......

Looking back everything is a blur....I passed amazing historic sights without even realising it......
We were so far ahead this year that even the many volunteers out helping hadn't woken up to their duties at the point we passed, they were there and some of them cheered us on but many just blended in.
There were many moments when it didn't feel like we were doing a marathon walk at all. Walking out in front meant that you left the atmosphere behind - most bazaar.

Our first mission was to reach Tower Bridge before it raised. Apparently it has only raised once before in the 19 year history of Moonwalks and Saturday night it was to raise twice! Luckily we made it. The wait even though it would have been brief, would have meant we would have lost time and cooled down. Not good.
The 18 mile mark is the hardest; although this time round it didn't feel too bad. From previous experience this is the time to lessen pain with the aid of pain killers. They help the inflammation caused by the exertion but also mask a little of the pain and help to give you a second wind. That second wind never ceases to amaze me...it's always rather funny! At the moment that most are flagging, you suddenly perk up and step into overdrive and zoom.....it's like a scene from Turbo!
Being out in front meant we didn't have to contend with masses of walkers that were slower than us. That was until the 22 mile mark where the Half Moon walkers joined us to finish the stroll. They silenced as we passed them, (I sense in awe of the fact that we had walked twice the distance they had in the same time), we passed on encouraging comments in our stride :-)

We cruised in along the home straight and across the finishing line in 6 hours and 6 minutes, knocking 4 minutes off my personal best :-) and we finished in the top 40 :-) :-)  :-)
That's determination for you.............No, not the competitive streak at all!!!!

So 4.36 am....what are we to do in London at that time of night??

Breakfast!

A huge thank you to all of those who sponsored me and offered kind words of support and encouragement :-)

Day after: Sore bottom and thighs rather tight whilst tackling stairs but feet feeling jolly fine and not a blister in sight :-)!

All just a walk in the park....

The Boy

                                   'Boy'

 
It has a funny sort of ring to it that word!

I was looking at my Small Boy today and marvelling at the wonder of him. One average seven year old boy, one bundle of mischief wrapped in a covering of innocence.

Everyday I am confronted with new challenges with regards to my boy. But his charm and cheeky nature shine through and make the challenges....memorable, bearable. Mostly!

Sticks......they seem to be all over the house

Today was just an average sort of day in the life of one Small Boy, another everyday adventure waiting to uncurl. 

The morning started with the usual session of 'aggravation of sisters', that happens most mornings and can last anything from one little teeny incident to the entire day. During this period the house is filled with the sound of screeching and complaining.....'Muuuum'.....grrrrr!

Lunch presented the usual.....'Muuuum, Fenton has tipped half the bottle of ketchup on his plate!' Hmmmm......

An after lunch walk along the canal was an enjoyable experience. The Boy is totally in his comfort zone when in the big wide world surrounded by nature. He shares a love of wildlife with the rest of us and a fascination of fishing like his father. He always insists on creeping up on unsuspecting fishermen and insisting on finding out the state of the catch for the day. 
The ducks sat happily on the bank sunning themselves in the afternoon sunshine, but only for a short while. We watched sympathetically as the poor birds jumped in fear of their lives, plunging into the chilled water below and shaking their tails in a state of discontent at the sudden awakening.
The boy cannot help himself!

Stopping off at the local shop on the way home. The Boy very happily trundled off by himself to buy bread and sugar whilst we waited in the car. He isn't phased by the need for independence, and is more than capable of locating the goods and going through the motions of paying for the items as needed. I wonder in hindsight whether he lay down on the shop floor and looked under the shelving units. He's always on lookout for money and frequently finds quite a bit. (Much to my embarrassment).

Racking up at a friends house on the way home for a brief visit, The Boy, fiddles and searches out all the gadgety things. 'Can I have a look in your camper van?, can I take this truck home, where's the loo'.....we set off for home with a number of large batteries for his electric scooter.........the list goes on!

Mess!

Old fuse board, partially dismantled and abandoned.....

Attempts at making a Go-Cart

Upon arriving home, The Boy happily tinkered with his new/second hand scooter, changing the batteries and forming a pile of those that were flat. I stood back and looked at my front garden; which increasingly seems to be resembling a 'scrap yard'. Items outgrown and further bits of treasure/junk discarded randomly.
'Stig of the dump' sprung to mind. He'd like that story, would he relate more to Stig or Barney?

A leisurely walk this evening brought out further excitement in the the life of the Boy. A family stroll down to the lake, (which is just five minutes from our house). A month or so back, the excitement centred around the mating of the toads. Concern was expressed for the females who often had up to ten males squashing them at one time. Of course the Boy rescued several back then from suffocation and doom. Tonight the excitement was more focused towards the large number of tadpoles swimming around and then.......a dead fish. 'Noooooo, Noooooo.......Yes', the fish (identified as a perch) was hooked out and wrapped up in his coat ready for the journey home. I expressed my disgust and offence being vegetarian at the nasty nature of this act. 'You must understand that I do not eat meat and it is important for me to learn about these things. Besides, I want to dissect it and then watch it decompose so that I can add the bones to my collection!' Ewwww yuck!!!

Arrrr (sigh.......)



  

9 years of home education

Easter marks the ninth anniversary of our home ed journey. I can't believe it, nine whole years of educational freedom :-)

My official journey began when my eldest daughter Miss P was five. She had completed two terms of full time primary education at the sweet little village primary school in our parish. Unofficially our journey began when she was just nine months old and I furthered my study into the Montessori method for children aged 6-12 years. Having already trained to teach Montessori in the nursery years, learning about the primary (or elementary as it is known) enlightened me to a very special and more natural method of educating the child. It was to be an enlightenment that would shape the future education for all of my children.

The parish primary school was lovely and friendly and I do not doubt that it delivered a great education. Certainly the time Miss P spent there she enjoyed tremendously. But what spoilt it for me were the limitations of the National Curriculum which most schools tend to opt to sign in to. There are reasons of course. It is supposed to provide the child with a very 'rounded' education, a little knowledge about many different curriculum areas. What is doesn't take into account and what really mattered to me, were the actual interests of the child. The Montessori method on the other hand, recognises that not all children learn at the same rate and that they all have very different educational needs and interests and we all know that we learn best when something is of interest to us.

So after two terms of my beautiful daughter enduring institutional based education I removed her in order to educate her 'otherwise'.

Removing my child from what is considered 'the norm' and going against the grain of what all my friends were doing was daunting to say the least. Luckily I had developed a thirst for researching home education and had found a few local contacts and activities happening locally, so there was an element of support out there. My family thought I was mad!!!

The first few months were a learning curve as I tried to establish a method and break away from the idea of 'school'. It's a tough habit to break when it's all you've really known, but it is possible. Initially we did 'school' at home. I made an effort to make sure we covered all the topics on the National Curriculum and we worked to the hours of a typical school day. It didn't take me long to realise that you can actually achieve all the work outcomes of a school day in just an hour when you're working on a one to one basis. So we suddenly had vast amounts of wonderful free time to spend playing freely - it's been idyllic!
Everyone who home educates does things differently and even within a single family, what works one year doesn't always work the next. Even the needs of individual children are different. So it's a constant game of trial and error; swap and change.

Back in those early days I didn't know where our journey would take us. I told people it was a short term measure, perhaps just the Primary years, but we've had so much fun that it's continued into the secondary years too! :-)
Miss P will be sitting her first iGCSE exam in a week.............

When people learn that you home educate they look on in pity.....'Oh poor darling, I guess you don't have any friends'. WRONG!! We all have amazing friends. There is a fantastic community of people worldwide that now home educate and the numbers are growing rapidly. It is a very real option. With regards to friends, we have many many friends. Socialising is not a problem at all. Our children go to clubs, visit museums, volunteer in local shops and organisations and much more besides. They mix with people of all ages all of the time. When you think about it, in school children are all grouped according to age. In the outside world that doesn't ever really happen.
We also have a huge amount of fun and enjoy the time that we have together. As we're not following any strick guidelines and have a huge amount of freedom to do what we want, we do just that! Bliss!!