Pittville Play
The day began with the words, "The dog's done a poo! (pause) There are two poos! (pause) There's a wee! Mummy get up!!!" Thankfully things improved as the day went on!
It's interesting how Jenson's morning routine has changed in just a few weeks. For the first seven to ten days he would wake up and get stuck straight into craft. By the time I got up there were at least three or four creations and he would continue engrossed in that activity for pretty much the rest of the day. It was fun but exhausting! At the time he was showing serious anger issues and was wound up as tight as a spring after having just finished school for half term. His explosions of creativity paralleled his explosions of anger. His craft obsession acted as a great outlet.
A week on and I can see a real change in him. It's really only been since the start of this week but his creative outpourings have been replaced with creative role play and his anger outbursts have been replaced with a sense of calm. And so this morning at 7.30am we were playing schools, (oh the irony!) Somewhere along the way Jenson took on the part of local vicar, Rev Nick Davies. It was hilarious to watch him scoot around the house on his skateboard between school, (the living room) and Church, (the den in his bedroom). I couldn't imagine the real Rev using this mode of transport!
Jenson rang the bell, (shouting ding dong) which was the signal for me to come and sit in his den with him and Wren and listen to a Bible story. It was about Paul who was on a pirate ship with a sore foot, (modern day Bible story eat your heart out!) You couldn't make this stuff up! The story soon turned into a film about Paul and soon after I pulled out an old book that my own Grandma had given me when I was their age: Bible Stories for Children. I suggested a couple of stories they might want to listen to and we settled on the Great Flood. This was so fantastic. It wasn't even 8am. It was a million miles away from what we used to do at that time in the morning. I next suggested a story to do with God to which Wren shouted, "I don't like God!" And that put an end to that. She went and fetched a book that was more to her liking: What The Ladybird Heard, and so we sat in their den and they listened intently as I read.
Role play soon turned into teachers which turned into doggies. The orange juice they had been lapping out of bowls on the floor then got used to make ice lollies which turned into a brief lesson about how ice is made. I looked at the time and it was still only 8.45am. I'm amazed at how quickly and easily one activity is able to lead into another without really very much effort and it's all driven by the kids.
After Jenson helped Wren to get dressed, they checked the post. Their Nature Detective packs had arrived from the Woodlands Trust. What good timing after my attempts yesterday to encourage Jenson's interest in all things leaf! We headed out to meet our Home Ed group at Pittville Park at 10am and didn't leave until 3pm. It was a fantastic day spent outdoors in the fresh air under the Autumn sunshine. It's days like today that makes me know I made the right decision. Jenson doesn't need to be cooped up inside a classroom, not yet at least. Watching him and his sister today, it's clear he needs to run around and express himself how he sees fit. Surely that's what all kids need? He's a far happier person for it.