I'm not usually a great fan of the snow, although the children seem to love it. After one day last week where they had the opportunity to sledge (no pictures as Daddy lost the camera), the most recent snow fall seemed to fall in just the right way so that the roads were clear but the woods and hills were still covered. So we had a gorgeous, sparkly walk on Horsell Common on Friday and then a magical crisp snowy walk around Pitch Hill, our usual Sunday circuit before taking Granny out to lunch.Only 24 hours later and the snow had all disappeared and apart from the odd bit of ice which was hanging on it was just wet and muddy. Back to normal then and back to the inevitable work of collecting a large amount of sticks. We love going to Horsell and are there most days, but, along with most home educators, we kind of begrudge the influx of school children into our space during the holidays. We had planned to go to London to meet up with some on line friends but again decided not to at the last minute as we couldn't face battling the crowds.
I know from a lot of the reading that I have done that play is incredibly important which is lucky as it is what my two older ones spend most of their time doing. They literally spend hours and hours engrossed in dressing up and role play. It is sometimes really hard to persuade them to stop to go out or even to eat and drink! It is a never-ending sequence of kings, queens, babies, travel, holidays, builders, all with running commentary and lots of negotiation. Most of the time I have absolutely no idea what they are doing. The picture below is an example!!!
Eloise is busy doing learning all of her own. She tries to join in with her older siblings but when that doesn't work she explores anything and everything that they have left lying around. Already I am enjoying the dynamic between the 3 of them and every day I am grateful that they are spending their days bonding with each other and learning together. It is wonderful to watch.
One of the main reasons we started home educating was that we felt that schools in this country do far too much too soon. Natalie really wouldn't have been ready to sit still for long periods of time. Even now she seems to be constantly on the move (even when she is doing writing, drawing or reading) and imaginative play is still what she is most drawn to.