What a beautiful day on the island. The winds are up a bit but the sun is shining
so all is well with the world. After a
busy few weeks I have taken today to relax a bit and spend some time with
friends. These things are necessary for
the soul.
The boys carried on with their design for their wildlife
park and rescue centre but were hit with a bit of a blow this morning. Apparently another organisation has put in a
planning application for a similar enterprise so the planners have asked both
parties so write a letter outlining what is unique about their plans. Role play has been used in education time and
time again and we bring it in often to home school. The boys just smile and set about the
task.
Perhaps the best example of this was quite a few years back
following a two month study of World War 2.
We decided to do an immersion week where we went into role for the
entire week. The children played the
parts of city children being evacuated to the countryside. I began as the billeting officer and
pretended to take a request from a lady for children to join a farm. The problem was she could only take three and
there are four of them. From that second
the children all huddled together desperately trying to stay together. Eventually the famer’s wife was persuaded to
take all four and they joined their new home.
Pete was at work but with strict instructions to go into role as he came
home and was introduced to his new charges.
Their new home was very different with lots of chores to do. We spent the whole week in role including
building a bomb shelter in the garage.
On a regular basis the air raid siren would sound and we had to get into
the shelter as quickly as possible. On
every occasion our collie dog was in first!
Towards the end of the week we sounded the siren in the
middle of the night. We had thought that
Harry would be first out closely followed by the other boys but we weren’t
convinced Molly would go for this. The
siren sounded and the first door open was Molly’s as she came charging out of
her bedroom heading for the garage.
George and Max were close behind and then, finally, Harry! We did laugh.
We then spent the next hour in the shelter singing songs trying to keep
everyone awake. The next morning Max had
no memory of it! Immersion teaching at
its best, me thinks!
We ended the week with a VE party and I remember talking to
Harry. He said that he was happy the
week was over because he had found the rationing really challenging. But he was also sad that it was over and that
it was the end of our studies of the Second World War. He wondered if people felt a bit of sadness
back in the day and I remember thinking how successful this project had been to
provoke such a reaction. It remains the
very best thing we ever did in home school and will live with us all
forever.
Lunch, today, was at Coast in the village with my lovely
friend Angie. A bit of a working lunch
as we are joining forces on a couple of larger events on the island over the
next few months. Angie makes the most
beautiful things, especially her cushions and you can see her work on her
facebook page, Sugar and Spice. Lots of
planning, a fair amount of giggling and some eating later and we have the start
of something. Lots more to share on this
in due course.
Once I got into planning mode poor Mark, one of the owners
of Coast, was dragged into it as we set the date for the Butterfly Supper. Coast will be hosting it and the date has
been set of the 10th September.
We have a really good fun evening planned and a final chance to raise
money for the Butterfly Tree charity. I am
keeping most of it a secret until the night but if you are local you so don’t
want to miss this night. Tickets will be
£25.00 and that will include a welcome drink, a buffet supper and
entertainment. I am giggling as I write
because I know more than you guys! £5.00
from every ticket will go to the Butterfly Tree and that will buy one mosquito net
that will save several lives. There will
also be a raffle with a difference. Some
of the prizes will be bespoke and I will say more on that after I have begged a
few people for some help.
I can now start working on the design for the tickets and
decorations for the venue. This promises
to be a very special night indeed. I
will announce here when tickets are available but I would recommend early
purchase because there will only be 40 available. On this night we will come together and do so
much that is good that, I am sure, the experience will stay with us all for a
very long time. I will have to put my
thinking cap on for how we shall mark the end of the campaign with our virtual
supporters…….watch this space. On the subject of the Butterfly Tree I saw the finished film yesterday evening from the opening tea party. Mollie has been busy on this while trying to finish her school career. I want to watch it again over the weekend so that I can give it some context but look out for link soon. It is a story that shares some very powerful and thought provoking messages.
We are reaching frenzy time on Hazelbank with all the bird
song. Baby birds calling for their
parents and young birds fledging. The
soundscape is truly amazing and I feel blessed to be able to sit in my studio
and hear it. What a lovely time of year.
I have a very dear friend visiting next week and she is an animal
communicator and healer so we shall be off round the island in search of
wildlife to stop and stare at.
I like a good Friday and this has been a good Friday. I have already received some incredibly
positive feedback from people studying my Meditation through Writing course and
I wasn’t expecting that so soon. I am
excited about where that work is going to take me over the coming months. A walk back home after lunch allowed me
to do a walk with meditation……here we go again…….I really need to stop
thinking. If you have time watch the little VT from Youtube.
Until tomorrow. xx
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