A bright but cold day greeted us this morning and one of those days that whereever you are you can hear the sea. Lots of white horses galloping up the shore and I will have to settle for them in place of snow.
In home school we watched the Richard III documentary on 4OD. It was an interesting lesson in empathy. Philippa Langley from the Richard III Society was seen to be driving the quest to find the king's grave. From the start I could feel the tension between her and the university of Leicester Archaeology team members. Philippa was emotionally connected to the process from start to finish and I listened to the boys discussing this between them. They clearly didn't get this emotional response on any level and I was surprised. They seemed happy to entertain the idea that Richard III was not the tyrant king he was portrayed to be but they seemed less happy about Philippa's emtotional involvement. Some way through the programme we paused to discuss this and their reasons were fascinating. Both George and Max felt that there was no place for this type of emotional response in, what is, a scientific process. They felt that she cluttered the process with her emotions. I put forward another view. I suggested that if there weren't people like Philippa out there pushing for this sort of work to be undertaken we might never uncover such wonderfully important finds. The evidence presented from the university team suggested that they had lots of doubts over the potential success of this quest. Philippa, on the other hand, had no doubts and that this might have been the only reason Richard III's grave was ultimately discovered.
I am not at all sure I was very convincing in my argument and the boys continued to view Philippa with some irritation. These sorts of discussions don't just occur in history lessons and they are so important in home school. The children have so much time to make responses and build theories and I think these skills will live with them their whole lives. We never wanted a home school that put the parents as the ones who held all the knowledge and skills. It has been important from the start to learn with the children and that has probably been the greatest gift home school has given our family.
School over and out to the tunnel. Can I just say that it was freezing out there! I am continuing to split myself between the duties of potting on the herbs and sowing seeds for this year. The new growth already apparent on those herbs, lucky enough to be potted on already, motivates me to carry on. To my complete surprise my rosemary plants are showing some balls. They are actually making an effort to growth. Of course they struggle to compete with my lavender and thyme which are both right at the top of the class.
I sowed flower seeds today because I am quite determined to do more with flowers this year. So into their compost trays went the following -
Cosmos - sensation mixed
Livingstone daisy
Nasturtium - tall
Sunflower - Dwarf sunspot
I always feel rather guilty when I sow my nasturtiums because they are often my sacrifice crop. The slugs will eat them before my vegetables. Clearly not last year when the little buggers ate the lot.
I hope that some of you are growing some flowers this year because the more we grow in this country the less we have to fly in. I am now warm again and can feel my toes but I will be out there again tomorrow because those herbs won't pot on themselves. My gift of kindness today was to my lovely Lottie. Read about it on the 'gifts of kindness page'.
Until tomorrow. xx
Picture is of the last of the promroses sitting up to attention ready to be wrapped and sold. xx
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