The boys who have plenty of time

We read a beautiful book this week called Ocean Meets Sky, about a boy who goes to seek a place his grandfather has told him about and experiences a magical and dreamlike journey to find where the ocean meets the sky.

As well as this, our current chapter book is The Phantom Tollbooth where a boy named Milo ventures into a strange land in which everything is unexpected and not as it seems..

Most of our adventures recently have had to take place in our heads and at home, and it is such books that are inspiring and feeding our desire to discover new things and characters and words and places.

We have, however, been able to get out a bit more in the last few weeks and, although it is a bit tricky to find adventures as everywhere is rather crowded (and covered in litter) and everyone else is outside too, we found a stunning stretch of ancient woodland to explore called Hawksmoor. We had to drive for a while to get there, but Michael Rosen's Jelly Boots Smelly Boots audiobook was just the right length.

We've also managed a swim in a lake, to scoot around a lake, and to run up some hills.

On a day where we couldn't go out, we looked upwards and found dragon shapes in the clouds, learnt some of the very complicated names for clouds and we attempted to draw them.

The story of the Phantom Tollbooth begins when Milo, a bored and discontented little boy who is stuck in the monotony of life, finds a package in his bedroom addressed to, 'Milo, who has plenty of time'. In many ways, we have had plenty of time in the last few months; time not taken up by school, or swimming lessons, or meals out, or weekends away, or people visiting, or visiting relatives, or planning holidays, or going on holidays, and we are having to find ways to utilise this time in creative ways.

Sometimes this is hard especially when it rains and we don't have the motivation to do any work. It is hard when we wonder when this is going to end, and what life will be like when we can get back to normal and how on earth it's going to be possible to live, learn and work in an environment where many of our human instincts like hugging, and sitting closely, and high fiving, and comforting, and picking our noses, will be curbed.

But, having so much time is also great: Ferdy and Gil have made up so many different games, and each room in the house has become a gateway into another world or story (although I am less happy that our bedroom is where the game 'The Knights of Wonder' seems to have to take place). I applaud them for their lack of boredom and ability to create endless elaborate adventures from a combination of imagination, Marvel films and Mr Gum books.