Making Friends

It's said that, new friends are silver but old friends are gold. I have always found it easy to make friends. I'm outgoing and chatty and I'd like to think friendly. I love talking to new people and getting to know about them. People are hugely inspiring! Some live such complex and fascinating lives, some live painful and challenging lives, some are busy, some are happy, some are sadly not. Knowing other people can inspire me to make changes within my own life, not to be like someone else, but instead to improve myself and to grow. I love hearing of people overcoming trials, or miraculously, overcoming themselves. 

I have had the enormous privilege of getting to know lots of new people since we moved house. I've walked into two ready made families really. Home ed and church and both have caused me to meet some fascinating, wonderful and inspiring people. I'm grateful for these two groups of people who I feel privileged to call friends, often before we've even met. 

I feel strongly that social media has changed the way we make and communicate with friends. Some of my newest and yet most treasured friends are people I have never met and yet I feel such a bond and kinship with it's as if we've known each other a lifetime. Social media has given me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world who share the same values, beliefs and trials with me. People who have offered support and wisdom in a way that friends I actually know in person may not have been able to do. 

It's a common misconception that home educated children don't have many friends or find it more difficult to make friends. It's true that they don't see their friends as regularly. They don't have those intense, personal relationships that schooled children have. George 1, like me, has made many friends online through the medium of Minecraft. One of his best friends lives in New York and our families have become connected via Skype. We attend camps, activities and group visits both locally and nationally. The children have friends in York, Dorset, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Wales (to name but a few). Good friends whom they are excited to spend time with each time we meet. I have also struck up some amazing relationships with the parents of these children. Friendships that will see us through the joys and challenges of home educating our children. 

I feel extremely blessed to have two of the most incredible women I know amongst my list of friends. I have never known a life without them as we have been friends since birth. We've grown up together, grown apart and grown close again. I rarely see either of them and yet I feel a bond of sisterhood with them that will continue into the eternities. 

I also incredibly lucky to have my best friend married to me for time and all eternity. A relationship that provides love, comfort, support, joy and deep deep friendship. At the centre of our marriage is an even greater friend, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

How grateful I am for all the wonderful people in my life that I have the privilege to call my friends. Many have been only for a season, some have stood the test of time, all have in some way influenced me for good, shared their wisdom, time and love with me and that's what it's all about. 

World War 1

This week we've done a spontaneous mini project on the First World War. We went on a visit to the Bovington Tank Museum which was absolutely brilliant. One of the best museums we've been to in a long time and well worth a visit if you're nearby. 

Then today we built a trench out of Plaster of Paris. It's been a fantastic experience to look at pictures of the trenches and how they were built and then build our own and play with the toy soldiers. George 2nd has been particularly interested in the topic, although all of them have enjoyed delving a little deeper into the war. 

Mould

We chose an experiment from a science kit that we got for Christmas. It's a mould growing test. The children chose a place each to swab then grew the bacteria in a gelatine solution. We've all learned something. The children need to wash their hands more and it would be better to keep food in the toilet than the fridge! 

Healing

This is a different type of post to my usual ones. It's deeply personal and a bit out of my comfort zone if I'm honest. 

We've made some huge decisions as a family recently and people have asked why. I'm going to start the story almost two years ago. 

January 2013, just after Georgiana's first birthday. I had suffered what is still to date the worst cold/flu I've ever had. A few days later my vision in my left eye started to blur and then fade. Everything was sort of whitewashed. I was scared. In fact, I was more than scared. It was an emotion that there are no words to describe. After many trips to ophthalmology at the local hospital, I ended up with an MRI scan and a referral to neurology. That led on to a diagnosis of MS (Multiple Sclerosis)

Wow, it hit me like a train. On the one had I was devastated, on the other relieved that it wasn't more serious. I read and read and read some more. I read amazing stories of hope and defiance and stories of increasing disability and loss of life. In May I had a second relapse. That time I went numb down my right side. I could feel touch as light as a feather but if I pinched myself I couldn't feel it. It was odd and unsettling and confirmed the diagnosis. 

It also made me realise that I can still achieve so much. I also made me determined to live life and every dream to the fullest. My new mantra quickly became "if I can I will"

We then made the decision to start a business. There were some incredible high points and dreams came true, however sadly, it didn't go the way we planned and we decided to close up. It was an amazing experience but closing was difficult and painful, especially for DadaSmu who was the owner and manager of the whole business. I'm very glad we did it, even though it didn't quite go according to plan. 

So, here we are. Almost two years on from when the story began, we're in a period of healing. We're living by the sea finally. A dream we've had for a while. The sea in incredibly cleansing. I've always felt as though you can pour your troubles into the sea and they will go out with the tide. I love the power that the sea has. I'm fascinated by it and now I can see it from my bed, from my kitchen and my living room. It changes whilst I walk from room to room and it's always beautiful. 

Having a new baby has also been incredibly healing. He's brought a light to our family that broke through all the darkness of the previous years. He's happy beyond belief and he loves me unconditionally. I appreciate every moment I spend with him, even the odd long night. 

On the day we moved in I got a letter from my neurologist with the results from my most recent MRI scan. It showed that I have had no disease progression in the last 18 months and the lesion I had on my brain has healed. Right back at the start, I had no idea where MS would take me. I still have no idea but I now have hope, determination and faith that regardless of where it takes me, I will be able to live my dreams, complete my mission here on earth and most importantly be happy. 

I love my life. I don't know where I'm going to be or how well I'll be in a few years but right now, today, IF I CAN, I WILL!

Too much news for one post

Why is it already November? What has happened to April, May, June, July, August, September and October? That's a lot of months and so much has happened it's unbelievable.

In April George 4th was born. I think that's the most important and wonderful thing that's happened this year. How incredible it is to have 5 beautiful, happy children to raise. I often wonder why I'm the mother of 4 boys. What an incredible responsibility to love, nurture and teach 4 sons of God to discover who they are. Then my little daughter. What a privilege to have her developing right before my eyes. 

We're still home educating. George 3rd wanted to give school a go a while back. He went into Reception class but he decided he didn't want to stay after a few weeks. It was a great thing to see my almost 5 year old using his ability to choose his future. Choices and consequences are something we've been focussing on a lot lately. 

The next huge thing that has happened is that we've relocated - to the sea! We now have a beautiful sea view which is hugely distracting when I'm trying to unpack boxes. We already feel at home here and we're enjoying discovering new people and places. We're meeting an incredible array of new and wonderful people both in the church and home ed worlds. 

Today we went for a discovery walk at a local disused quarry. Whilst there we were able to talk about the geology of the rocks, how quarrying has changed over the past 200 years, local history, weather and the all important topic of whether flat rocks or round rocks make the biggest splashes in puddles. It served to remind me that education happens whenever and wherever we are. 

We've been busy

Just sometimes I decide to record a fraction of what we do in a week to post. I helps me to remember that we actually do a lot all of the time but I rarely record it. So here's a snippet of this weeks productivity in photos. 

Lots and lots of Lego creativity

Making pizzas with paper plates to cut up into fractions

Some painting and creating

And plenty of Minecraft. 

George 1 has also been working on a fascinating lapbook project about Norse Mythology. With the second Thor film available to view we decided to make something of it and found out more about him. I realised that I knew nothing of our northern neighbours and we've found out things that have helped to explain more about not only Thor, but also the How to Train Your Dragon series. We especially enjoyed looking at the similarities between the creation and end of the world myths and our own Christian beliefs. 

This has all taken place in amongst Parkour training, forest school, German practise, friend play dates, a trip to the beach and getting organised for a mini holiday and a new baby! I don't always give us enough credit for how busy we are and it's important for me to remember just how much we're achieving on a daily basis even when it doesn't feel like it. 

Simon Says and other games

One of things I've learned since home educating is just how many learning opportunities there are in every day games. 

Take the simple Simon Says game for example. We often play it to get a bit of rainy day exercise in. It's a fantastic way to channel pent up energy in 3 boisterous boys! Whilst playing I'll drop in maths equations, science questions, compass directions, spellings, anything I can think of. The children love it and will answer questions that they would otherwise think of as a test and refuse to engage with. 

Yesterday we went on a car journey for an hour. In the car we played a game (it must have a name but I don't know what it is) where I would say something like, "I am huge, I'm made of gas, I emit heat, you can't survive on earth without me, the earth spins around me....." and they had to guess what I was. It was fantastic. We described buildings, cities, plants, animals, people, the list was endless and so much fun. 

Another game we've played is story telling. I'll start a story then the next person makes up the next section etc. It's a fantastic way to build story telling skills, use imagination and pass the time on a long car journey. Along with the number plate sentence builder game of course!

We play board games a lot too. They love the '80s Game of Knowledge. One of the questions is 'how many tv channels are there in the UK?' The answer is 4!! It's a very old game but they love it and we can incorporate a bit of history too. They're always amazed by the fact that we only had 4 channels! 

I don't play games with them enough and I need to work on that. I know the value to their education is immense and it takes virtually no time or effort - especially in the car.