We've had a run of being busy over the last few weeks, with trips and groups and visits going on. All good things, can't think of any that have been a waste of time, but am glad to now be reaching calmer waters where not every day is booked up for a while.
Monday was MMs. Really missed Eira, especially on the bus afterwards as it was the no.2 and went past her stop. K brought in the last batch of salt dough that Eira made, which she had cooked for 9 hours to make it hard, in star and circle shapes with holes for threading. The children all decorated them with paint and glitter and threaded them for decorations to remember Eira by.
Tuesday was London, we caught the early train with C and co. and went to 'Musical Squares' at the RI, which was all about sound. The tone of it was decidedly 'old school' in that the guy used slightly inappropriate cartoons and references now and then, which annoyed me rather. Best bit was the wave machine with red LEDs on, which made me want to make one.
Then we had a bit of picnicky lunch in Green Park, before heading to the Natural History Museum, which we all enjoyed a lot. A happy train trip home too, so a very successful day all round.
Wednesday Freya went to Forest School in the morning, then her friend L came back with her for the afternoon. They were both a bit restless and roaming now and then - I've got a bad cold and was keen to encourage them to be settled and non-requiring! They made me 2 versions of a cup of tea and a snack, one more on the Masterchef side and the other tending more towards I'm a Celebrity (though not involving anything crawly, maybe a particularly rough episode of Come Dine With Me would be more like it).
Yesterday we went to a Romans day, which was excellent. I did just about manage to make a peplos style Roman dress for Freya, which she wore with good grace all morning and removed at lunchtime, so that was pretty successful by my standards. The day was organized so well - 6 different aspects of Roman life were presented by actors in full costume with plenty of props, for 20 minutes each session, with plenty of opportunities for audience participation and questions and chat. The timetable sensibly included two 20-minute play breaks as well as lunch. The 20 minutes for each session looked short to me on the schedule we were given but when we were there, they used the time so well, and it was 20 minutes of complete engagement as opposed to the sort of session you sometimes get that is 45 minutes but a lot of it is faffing or waiting or losing focus.
Very very good! The aspects covered were: music, military, food, bathing, clothing, medicine. The actors and actresses were in character all day and all did a great job I thought. Freya seemed to enjoy it a lot and joined in quite a few of the participatory bits. She did a bit of marching around a testudo, helped her friend as an assistant slave, removing the emperor's shoes and backing away from him, led her slaves around in a rich person's tunic and did a bit of massage as the Frictores.
In the play breaks the children enjoyed the indoor and outdoor play equipment and I enjoyed a hot drink and some nattering time with several local home-ed people I don't see that often, as well as C, who I have spent half the week with but we still seem to find plenty to chat about!
3 comments:
Roman day sounds really good. Where did you do it?
Like the sound of roman day. I like things that take up a good chunk of the day. Not so good when I spend more time travelling to places and home again than actually there.
It was at the Museum of Kent Life near Maidstone, Allie - Nancy on SEHE is organizing an Egyptian one and a Victorian one, coming up soon too. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was.
Agree Michelle, too much travelling time can leave you not even able to remember what you did when you were there.
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