Lockdown letters

 We did a lot of work this Friday, and not much else.

I don't really know why this is happening but we do seem to be spending a lot of time at the kitchen table, either doing worksheets or doing our learning, and I'm not sure how happy this is making any of us.

It may partly be due to having spent six months at home with the kitchen becoming our classroom. Or maybe because Gil seems to really like writing and drawing so we are a little influenced by his enthusiasm. Or also because we aren't able to go to a lot of the exciting and enriching places we usually have access to; we can't even go to the library!

But we also need to remember why we flexischool in the first place. We started because for a long time, Ferdy was very unhappy at school. But we also started because we feel quite strongly that learning through outdoor play, enrichment and study, through experience and through real life lessons, is really vital. And, despite our love of them, we seem to have strayed away a little from learning through stories. Stories are the still the most important thing in Ferdy's life (he loves books more than he loves his parents); our most successful flexi days have revolved around a story like learning about rainforests and chocolate with Michael Morpurgo's 'Running Wild', following Fred the Frog's adventures at Biddulph Grange Gardens, experiencing Victorian England through A Christmas Carol and even addressing climate change though Dr Seuss's The Lorax. 

This Friday, both boys elected to write letters; Ferdy to his Granny in Dorset, and Gil to his cousin Ade in Essex.

They also wrote the envelopes, stamped and posted them, which was kind of fun, Gil also wants us to learn about stamps so there might well be a part 2 to letter writing. Ferdy is not really enjoying writing at the moment though, so, whilst Gil was completing worksheet #124, Ferdy did some column addition.

    

In lockdown (when I had time), we did quite a few of these. Ferdy really likes combining maths with other things and rewarding his result with a letter that answers his question is a really good incentive to get his sums right. He sometimes just wants to get things done quickly (so he can read his Beano) and doesn't really mind if they are right or wrong, but because he gets a letter for his correct sum, he is motivated to go back over his results to check when he can't find the corresponding number. I'd do lots more of these if they didn't take me over an hour to do! 

Gil's learning about the lovely Owl Babies story at school this week so, after finding out a bit about Tawny Owls, we did eventually manage to get out to search for owls.

We found a bird to play in, a Barn Owl with a mouse, and a Tawny Owl sound to listen to. But perhaps the real highlight of the day was watching up close a family of squirrels stashing nuts and racing nimbly up and down trees. 

We may not have museums or theatres or libraries but we still have stories and nature, so my note to self is let's embrace what we do have a bit more.

Gil's letter to Ade