The Beasts of London

School was closed for polling this Thursday so we spread our flexi day over two days by doing our work on Thursday, and our activity on Friday. As it was polling day we decided to learn a bit about the election and what it means to vote, then both boys came with me to the polling station.

Ferdy later wrote his own manifesto.

...Help the animals and birds. I would go to Narnia and kill the baddies
and stop using plastic. I would read lots of books. I would make all
schools have flexi-schooling.

On Friday, we took the train to London and went the Beasts of London in the Museum of London, an interactive and immersive exhibition following the history of animals in London to how they live in the city today, narrated by the animals themselves. We met an eagle, lots of rats both during the plague and when they were being chased by dogs, we experienced what it must have been like in the circus through a sad elephant's tale and we heard the story of performing military horses whilst sitting on carousel horses.

Gil's favourite bit was chasing the pigeons which were projected on the wall and flew off when you ran towards them, and Ferdy's favourite bit was the conversation between a fox on the wall and a dog in his home and who had the nicest life (we concluded that the fox did). I was a still little too depressed about the general election (and the real beasts of London) to to have a favourite bit.

Luckily, we also went to see Michael Rosen in the atmospherically lamplit Old Vic on Saturday, who cheered us up immensely with his silly, irreverent and chair-falling-offly hilarious stories and poetry.

Bah! Humbug!

I have mixed feelings about Christmas. I feel a bit Scrooge-like about the amount of money people spend, and, particularly this year, the quantity of waste generated (dare I ask my family to wrap presents with recyclable tape rather than rendering the wrapping paper non recyclable with sellotape...? Am I brave enough to suggest looking for things second hand rather than going straight for brand new? Is it too grumpy of me to tell my children that polar bears may soon no longer exist if we carry on treating our world like this). However, I also love things like mulled wine (hic), mince pies, Lebkuchen, Christmas trees, and generally getting together with friends and family and having lots of fun/arguments..

This Friday, we went to see A Christmas Carol at the theatre.

Before we left, we learnt a little about one of the greatest storytellers ever, Charles Dickens. Ferdy has yet to discover his stories and I'm really excited for him as Dickens is truly a fave of mine. Because we've been learning something of the Kings and Queens of England (me included) this term, and because we put our tree up this week, we also learnt about the Queen who brought us the custom of decorating trees, Queen Victoria.

I told them a bit of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge on the way, which was lucky as I forgot my wallet and we had to drive all the way home to get it and subsequently missed the beginning of the play. We arrived just as Scrooge was declaring how 'every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own puddling'. A little how I felt at that moment...

The play, however was as rich and sumptuous as a Christmas pudding itself. It was dark and bleak and at times a little scary, and it was chirpy, heart-warming and fun. We laughed out loud, and we/I wept. The music, mainly Christmas carols played by the cast on a plethora of instruments, had us clapping and singing along. Both boys loved it even though the plot was a little complex for Gil who kept saying about everyone 'is 'im a ghost?'. Ferdy's new favourite character is Ebenezer Scrooge and he later wrote all about Charles Dickens.

As for me, well I came out feeling full to the brim with Christmas spirit, crooning carols and utterly in love with Christmas, Who cares about sellotape...?

God bless Us. Every one!

©Derby Theatre

Glorious Games Galore

It has rained all week this week but on Fridays we seem to often be blessed with good weather, so after attending Ferdy's Christingle service, we headed out to Sudbury Hall.

Sudbury Hall is one of our regular haunts and we can generally be found playing hide and seek in the playground, climbing trees in the grounds or scrambling up the chimney in the museum. But we don't often go to the hall itself (it's really borin' in there apparently). However, today an exhibition opened called Game On.

It was brill. You had to follow a trail around the house and in six of the rooms, there were over-sized board games to play.

We began downstairs in the Saloon with a walk on game of Dragons and Ladders. Ferdy won and Gil cried but luckily was quickly distracted by Scrabble in the Library in which we had to search out all the hidden letters and unscramble them to reveal a two-word name.

Upstairs we spent a long time in the Long Room: six tables were laid out with Lego with which we made animals and had to guess each other's creation (no one guessed mine was a tortoise). Then next door was Buzzwire which Gil excelled at. And on the same floor we played an exhilerating version of Cluedo where we had to work out, by reading witness statements, who had stolen the Lady Vernon's jewels.

In the Basement we Guess(ed) Who with the characters who used to live in the Hall, and finally there was a room full of even more board games to try out.

Despite some tears when games were lost, and a few cross words when we had to go around the house again searching for our toy rabbit and both the stamped gamecards which had been dropped, we had a lot of fun.

I think Ferdy may have been thinking about my indistinguishable lego tortoise when he wrote 'The terrifying torture of a tortoise', as an example of alliteration later.

Outlaw

Today was about taking from the rich, and giving to those in need. And no, I'm not talking about Labour's manifesto launch this week.

Running into Sherwood Forest away from Guy of Gisbourne

I'm talking about the Legend of Robin Hood.

We began by learning a little about the difference between myths and legends; primarily that myths have magic and monsters in them, and that legends are, at least partly, based upon reality. Having really enjoyed learning about Guy Fawkes at school, and also about Charles II's escape from the Roundheads, we also looked a bit at the historical figures who feature at the time of Robin Hood like Richard the Lionheart and his evil brother John.

On our way to Sherwood Forest, we listened to Outlaw, Michael Morpurgo's gripping re-telling of the legend of Robin Hood. Approaching Edwinstowe we reached a compelling bit in the tale where a pursued Robin Hood and his blind father, who he has rescued from the Sheriff of Nottingham, are fleeing over open fields and into the forest on horseback. I actually had to slow the car down and reassure myself and Ferdy and Gil that the Sheriff's men weren't really after us.

tl clockwise: Shooting arrows like Robin Hood; Major Oak; selecting arrows; balancing;
reading about Major Oak; hiding for an ambush

The woodland is much smaller than it would have been in the 12th century, but it still has many of the ancient oak trees, most famously the legendary 1,000 year old Major Oak. We learnt that these gorgeously gnarled hollow oak trees were often used as hiding places for Robin Hood and his mens' rations and sometimes themselves.

Of course we then had to play at being outlaws, ambushing the rich and giving money and food to the poor. We also had to select our arrows, practice hiding, collect firewood, forage for food and get married (Gil was Robin, Ferdy was Maid Marian).

Ready for an ambush

I did have to end the game which involved both boys jumping in front of unsuspecting dog walkers and (after a lengthy debate with each other about whether they were rich or poor - you can tell by their clothes apparently), demanding half their money.

Back at home I had written Ferdy some comprehension questions about the Legend of Robin Hood. What could be more succinct than his answer to the question about messages or morals we can take from the legend:

Sage words indeed. I know who I'm going to be voting for on December 12th.

Powerful nature

On grey days where the rain is monotonous, there is really only one thing for it: go to Derby Museum.

They currently have an exhibition on about Japanese woodcuts, so, following some column addition, we decided to learn a little bit about Japan.

I've realised that the best way to discover a new country with Ferdy (other than go to it) is to approach it via its animals and its folktales. So we learnt about Japanese macaques and flying squirrels, and read the story of the Monkey and the Crab and the Tale of the Nine Tailed Fox.

The museum is only about 1/8 of our new audiobook, Michel Morpurgo's Elephant in the Garden, away, and, as we seemed to be having an animal-ish day, we begun with some crafts (randomly making toilets for National Toilet Day) and studying more animals in the nature gallery.

Because the folktales part of the woodcuts exhibition was empty, both boys felt the need to run round and round shouting and playing chase, ignoring all pictures. Gradually though, as I (who had been ignoring my children) read out the prints' captions, they began to be interested. We read about enormous spiders, dancing goblins and ghostly warriors. We saw the spirits of giant frogs and one hundred night demons, and learnt the story the old woman of lone house who lured in travellers and murdered them in their sleep.

Looking at the giant frogs

After our immersion in the horrors of Japanese folk tales, it was off to the World Gallery for more stories and read a lovely book about a fragmented community who come together again through making stone soup.

Feeling hungry, we then went to the cafe for crisps and coffee and some unsuccessful origami. Sadly, I could not construct the desired Japanese macaque, in fact, I couldn't even make a simple origami bird. Ferdy didn't really mind though, I think he quite enjoys it when I'm a bit hopeless at something.

Our animal-ish day ended with writing some fun facts about animals, hot dogs (oh the irony) and a nature programme.

The house that saved a king

Ferdy came back from school this week really excited about the story of Guy Fawkes, and it struck me that, as a boy whose life is so enriched by stories, he may really enjoy learning about history.

It also linked quite nicely to one of the places on my list that we haven't been to yet, Moseley Old Hall, the house where King Charles II hid for a few days when fleeing the Parliamentarians, only some fifty years and two kings after Guy Fawkes's execution (one of the words Ferdy and Gil learnt today along with tortured, hanged, drawn and quartered..).

First we explored the grounds.

tl-br clockwise: mud kitchen; mapreading; treehouse; swinging; climbing; reading signs; hiding; more climbing; balancing

We followed the map to find and climb, what might be, the best treehouse. Ever.

We ran though the woods, balanced on logs, played Narnia, swung in the trees, insisted on walking around pulling a tree, cooked in the mud kitchen. And we hadn't even had our lunch yet.

Over lunch, I told them the story of Charles II (which I had looked up as, I am ashamed to say, I have rather a potted history of the kings and queens of England) and his escape, disguised as a huntsman over the fields to the Hall, where he was hidden in a priest hole whilst the catholic owners, Thomas and Alice Whitgreave fended off Oliver Cromwell's troops.

Both Ferdy and Gil were fascinated and off we went to find the priest hole, the bed Charles II rested in and the kitchen in which he ate.

tl-br clockwise: looking out to the knot garden; Gil/King Charles in the chapel;
eating at the table; holding a real gun and sword; wearing a (very heavy) Cavalier's helmet;
looking into the priest hole.

What I hadn't quite realised (but should have guessed, knowing my children as I do) was that we were going there to act out the story, scene by scene. Gil was Charles II, I was Alice Whitgreave and Ferdy was Oliver Cromwell's troops, and Thomas Whitgreave. Gil even insisted I wash Charles' bleeding feet. Luckily, there weren't many people at the house, and luckily it was a quiet game as we had to keep a tired and hungry Charles II hidden.

The game momentarily stopped for us to attend part of a guided tour led by the volunteers of the house, who were dressed in the attire of the time. Gil bravely asked one of the guides whether they still had King Charles' disguise and was very excited to hear that the volunteer was wearing a huntsman outfit similar to that which King Charles would have worn when on the run.

Ferdy thoroughly enjoyed it when Pancake (the guide, and yes, it was his name) requested that Ferdy be his assistant for some magic tricks. Pancake also thrillingly got out a REAL gun and two REAL swords for Ferdy and Gil to hold.

It was such a delightful day, I didn't even mind that our game carried on all the way home (our car was the horse and carriage taking Charles II to the boat and crossing to France).

For us, Moseley Old Hall is the house that brought a king to life.

Gil's depiction of Charles II (left) and Thomas Whitgreave.
Notice that Charles II is big because we learnt he was very
tall for his era.

The Day of the Dead

We don't shirk away from the topic of death in our house. In fact, it seems to enter most games being played and most discussions we have: 'When you die Mummy, I will be sad for a whole day'. All of us have varying theories on what happens after we die; that we come back as a selection of animals sometimes slugs (Gil) and that we become stars in the sky (Ferdy).

This Friday we decided to have a death day, partly due to the imminence of Halloween but also because we got sent a video by our friends who live in Mexico, of their shrine to all the people they had known in their lives. I really like the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, in which they honour their dead relatives and friends by creating shrines with photographs and their favourite food and drink.

We discussed how different countries celebrate Halloween, and then we also talked about the people/animals we know who have died. As of yet, Ferdy's only actual experience of death is when my Mum's dog Rory died but I also told them about my lovely Grandmother, Amma, who died about 15 years ago. We read a few books tackling the concept of death including Goodbye Mog, Michael Rosen's Sad Book about the death of his son, and Waiting for Wolf by Sandra Dieckmann which beautifully covers the stages of grief a fox goes through when his wolf friend dies.

Then we had to cheer ourselves up with Ferdy reading us some Halloween jokes, and by making Halloween gingerbread.

'What do you call a fat pumpkin?'
'A plumpkin!'

'What plant likes Halloween?'
'BamBOO!'

Two of Ferdy's favourite jokes which he wrote for his writing today.

Naturally a day about death is not a true day about death without mentioning Star Wars, so we did some brilliant Star Wars yoga.

And concluded with some Star Wars maths and singing Happy Death Day..