In which we throw a Harry Potter party

I got a few "oh, you're *such* a good mum," comments about this party....but honestly, I have been waiting for *years* for her to be interested enough in Harry Potter for me to be able to do this one!

It took a lot of planning and most of it was great fun. I can't remember the order we did things in the preparation so I'll include the stages of prep at each stage of the party.

First, the children arrived in the reception area (we had a hired hall) and visited Ollivander's to chose a wand.
We made wands by rolling sheets of A4 paper very thin, across a strip of double-sided tape diagonally across it and the last part glued. We then sealed the ends with a glue gun and also used the glue gun to decorate with ridges and patterns.

We painted them in a variety of woody shades. Apologies for the sideways posting of the photo!

I painted a large piece of cardboard brown, then when dry, painted "Ollivander's, Makers of Fine Wands since 382BC" on it in gold. This was displayed in "Diagon Alley" and when the children arrived, those who didn't bring their own wands came to choose one.

Phoebe chosing her wand...or her wand choosing her

Next they headed to Kings Cross where, between Platforms 9 and 10, they found the way to Platform 9 3/4
This was achieved through painted "9" and "10" signs stuck either side of the doorway into the main hall and a sheet, spray painted red and bricks drawn on with black marker pen, pinned across it.

Adam making his way to Platform 9 3/4

We cut up the middle so that children could run through as though passing through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4. On the other side, they found a screened off narrow corridor with a picture of the Hogwarts Express (I'm afraid ingenuity and resources ran out when it came to making an *actual* train)

Mia and Maisie catch the train

To recreate the train experience though, my lovely mum agreed to be the elderly witch who passes along the corridor saying "anything from the trolley" and each child took sweets from the trolley as they passed.

Zara buys some sweets from the trolley witch

Once arrived at Hogwarts, the new first years were led to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. I made the Sorting Hat by covering a Halloween witch's hat in papier mache, painted brown. This created a double layered hat in which a walkie talkie could be hidden.

I created a list with all the children's names on in alphabetical order and wrote a script assigning them to one of the four houses. Some of them I knew had clothing specific to one house, eg Hannah and her three cousins went to Harry Potter World at Disneyland last year and each have house t-shirts and a few others had said they were coming in costume. so I arranged them first, then the remaining children were drawn at random to fill in the remaining spaces in each house. I then wrote a script for Afzaul who stayed hidden outside the room and spoke through the other walkie talkie, doing his best Leslie Phillips impression.

Zain being sorted into Slytherin

 

 

 

Lucia sorted into Ravenclaw

Once the children were sorted into their houses, it was time for Defence Against The Dark Arts. This formed our traditional ice breaker game as Hannah's friends are from so many different groups that we always do something to help people get to know each other. On this occasion I "taught" them several different spells: Expelliarmus, Tarantallegra, Rictusempra and Petrificus Totalis. We stood in a circle and first we introduced ourselves and said how we knew Hannah. We then called out the name of someone and cast a spell at them. The recipient had to respond appropriately by dropping their wand, dancing, wriggling as if being tickled or standing totally still! They then took the next turn at casting!

Kezia, Laila and Maisie try to decide who to curse, while Zain looks on

Jago casts a spell

Next on the timetable was Potions. I'm not really physically right for the part of Professor Snape (more a Professor Sprout), but I do a good line in menacing and nasty and I learnt and delivered most of the "to betwitch the mind and ensnare the senses" speech. I have a thing about Snape, so that was fun!

Working in house teams the children had two potions to make. First was Oozing Ointment...otherwise known as oobleck, which is a non-Newtonian fluid made from cornflour and water. The instructions were as follows:

Oozing Ointment

1.     Take 6 spoonfuls of Sopophurus (Powdered Parrot Droppings)

2.     Add 4 spoonfuls of Elixir of Life

3.     Add 5 drops of grindylow blood (green)

4.     Stir clockwise until thoroughly combined

5.     Test by holding in your hands

First to finish in a creditable manner were Hufflepuff, who received 20 points, followed by Gryffindor, who got no points purely for being Gryffindor (something Hannah is still grouching about from time to time....but what did she expect? I was being Professor Snape!!!) Ravenclaw's went totally wrong so they got nothing and Slytherin were last but got 50 points, naturally!

Slytherin House make Oozing Ointment

 

Gryffindor successfully making the same potion but getting no points because Professor Snape ain't nice!

Next they made Breath of the Volcano, which  went like this:

Breath of the Volcano

1.     Put 4 drops of  hobbleberry juice (orange) into your cauldron

2.     Pour in a sufficient quantity of Firewater

3.     Call Professor Snape who will add the Lubantuum (Wizarding crystal)

Firewater was, in fact, hot water and Lubantuum was dry ice which produced some delightfully steaming cauldrons! 

You can just about see the Volcano Breath here!

Sadly there are no photos of the next part of the day, which was Quidditch. It was originally planned to be in the garden outside, but it rained so was quickly rearranged for inside. One player on each team was designated seeker whose job was to look for the Snitch, carefully hidden by me somewhere in the hall, while 2 Chasers attempted to get a large ball through a hoop hanging on the wall and Beaters threw small balls at the other players, who had to stand still for a count of 5 if hit. I referred, while commentary was provided by my nephew Zain, who was recovering from surgery and therefore not able to play. After matches between Gryffindor and Slytherin (won by Slytherin, thanks to the substitute Adam, playing in his brother's place) and then Ravenclaw v Hufflepuff (won by Hufflepuff...also starring Adam now playing for his own team), everyone was exhausted and it was time for the feast.

At the very end, everyone was sent home with a Honeydukes bag containing a chocolate frog (actually Freddos...well, they're frogs made of chocolate and at 20p, a hell of a lot cheaper than trade-marked Chocolate Frogs) and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (a mixture of real Bertie Bott's from the Harry Potter Studio Tour shop and cheapo jelly beans). 

I don't think she can ever have a birthday party again because how will I top that???

In which we make cookie maps of Ancient Egypt

Initially this was proposed as part of a flurry of interest in Egypt, but somehow never happened. On Monday, however, we had two friends here and I was a  little concerned about the dynamic between three of them so thought it would be well to have a project to focus on in case it was awkward.

So the girls made cookie maps of Ancient Egypt.

First they made a double quantity of a basic cookie dough and baked it in flat, rectangular trays.

When the cookies had cooled,  they used a variety of coloured icing and sweets to create a map of Ancient Egypt.

Getting started

Drawing in The Nile

Adding the Mediterranean and the Red Sea

The valley of the Nile is lush and green but there must have been a flood as all the towns are *in* the river.  There are, however, some lovely Toblerone pyramids :)

Towns have made it back on to the banks and some places have been labelled

Final verdict: Egypt was a little over-cooked but still very tasty!

In which I have a moment of stress about spelling

It's no good. I've been laid back and not stressed about Hannah's spelling, but now she is of an age that her still-phonetic spelling makes her look illiterate and I hate that! I find it embarrassing that my supposedly intelligent child writes like a 5 year old.The irony is that when we had our one and only visit from the LA and I told her my own educational background (degree in English from Cambridge) she said, "oh well you're qualified to teach her English. Apparently not!

And then on top of that I feel guilty for being embarrassed by her. I worry that the mainstream community will judge home education by her inability to remember spellings because she writes things that are seen by people (family and friends), but they don't see the enthusiasm for her biology studies where she is working well ahead of her schooled peers. I worry that home educators will judge me for being stressed about it. Arrrghhh!

We've just had my niece here for 2 days. She goes to school and also does Kumon and started her 11+ tutoring while still in Year 3. There is no way I want that life for Hannah. I love her freedom to learn what she wants and to play for hours and break off in the middle of some work to climb a tree or bounce on the trampoline or make herself a snack! Rationally, I know that when she feels the need to spell properly, she will learn it. But as someone who is passionate about words and language.....and a bit of a pedant about proper usage, I am REALLY struggling with this!

In which we go out painting

Hannah said a week or so  ago that she thought she wasn't get enough fresh air, so we are making a conscious effort to get out more. Today we went to the woods to do some watercolour painting.

This was the view from where we set up

 

Just getting started

In progress

Finished painting

In which Hannah is a reporter for Sky

Sort of...!

She and her best friend were booked into a workshop at the Sky Skills studio, where the children get the opportnity to research, write, direct, produce and film their own current affairs report. In preparation for this, all attendees were given the chance to choose a topic from the long list of options, things like animal rights (Hannah's first choice), the idea of "celebrity" in our culture, natural disasters, global warming etc. In the end the topic chosen was not anywhere on her list of choices, The World of Money.

We were given some questions to research including finding out what GDP was and how much pocket money children in our family got and what proportion of that they saved and what they spent. We came to the conclusion her oldest cousin is quite odd. He is 18 and earns £100 a month as a tennis coach and claims he saves £95 of that! On the day, children were allocated roles to play in one of four groups. In studio 1, they shot the  introductory segment, studio 2, where Hannah was, filmed an indepth report, studio 3 interviewed an eyewitness and studio 4 interviewed an expert.

Hannah was initially given the role of scriptwriter which panicked her completely  as writing is not something she enjoys, but in the event, another child in their group didn't turn up so they all wrote the script together and Hannah became the reporter. I've yet to see the finished film, but apparently it was good. One of the Sky Skills staff came up to Hannah afterwards and told her that she and the actual Sky presenter who had worked with them thought she was really good. She does, I must say, have a definite stage presence and a love of an audience!

Meanwhile, best friend's mum and I went to Syon Park and had coffee....it's a hard life!

In which we have tea at The Ritz

It is my mum's birthday. She's been a huge support to me through some tough years and has always been 100% behind me on the home edding thing. She thinks it is by far the best option for Hannah, looks after her if I need to do something without her in tow, supports us financially by paying for many of the activities that give Hannah such a rich and exciting life. So, as things have started to turn a corner now, I wanted to do something really special for her and booked afternoon tea at The Ritz.

We travelled there by taxi from the suburb where we live because Mum is not the most mobile and finds the Underground hard work. We were ridiculously early so went to another cafe across the road to have a quick drink then arrived at The Ritz at about 1.20 for our "tea" which was actually lunch as we were booked at 1.30. We left our coats in the cloakroom (no raffle ticket style numbers here, but engraved discs with elegant blue tassles) and then waited to be shown to our table.

I was a little anxious about having ordered different options for each of us as Hannah is vegetarian and my mum has coeliac disease, but it was perfectly slick and smooth (as it is out to be for such a top hotel). We ordered our different teas...out table got very overcrowded as we each had a separate plate and teapot. Hannah ordered lemon verbena.

I chose Darjeeling First Flush. It was described on the extensive menu as the "champagne" of teas and it was delicious. I'm not normally a tea drinker but I devoured the whole pot.

Then the cake stand was brought to the table, with small, dainty cakes and two layers of sandwiches. Hannah's came on a separate plate. I was a little  worried that there would be nothing H would eat because she is not a big fan of sandwiches and doesn't eat most of the options that are generally on offer to vegetarians in public places, but hers was hummous, cheese and chutney, tomato salad, egg mayo and cream cheese, cucumber and dill. She does like hummous so ate those first and, despite not liking cream cheese she enjoyed those. The rest not so much, but then she never eats a huge amount and four finger sandwiches was quite a bit by her standards.

Mum really enjoyed being able to eat sandwiches in a public place as, although awareness of coeliac and gluten intolerance is growing and a wider range of  products is available, eating out can still be a challenge.

Then we hit the cake. There were scones with cream and jam, then little cakes. Mum got her own selection which included scones, macaroons, a rich chocolate cake and a ginger sponge.

Waiters  frequently offered more sandwiches or cake, which we declined as there was more than enough to constitute a proper meal. We also got a delicious caramel desert and again, the fact that Mum needed her own version was taken into account

We were comfortably over-fed and and very tired when we finished....funny how exhausting eating huge amounts of food can be! Mum said it was her best birthday present ever so well worth  it!

In which the elastic ties which bind us get a little stretchier!

I've been meaning to blog for a while about the nature of independence in a child. In common with many (most?) parents who come at parenting from an attached/gentle/responsive standpoint and many (most?) home educators, I've heard all the accusations of "you make her clingy!" "you have to let her go sometime!" and so on and on.

She was a very high need baby and so very slow to outgrow those needs. She chose to wean from the breast shortly after we took her out of school at five and a half. I had known this about her from very early on. I think she was about six months when I first commented that I'd still be feeding her when she went to school. If I really want to shock someone now, I  quite enjoy telling them that I breast fed her till she left school. Sometimes I tell them that happened when she was only five! She still likes to co-sleep and because she is petite, I was still able to carry her in a sling till she was about 6 (on rare occasions...sometimes she just really needed to be close while I needed to do something else).

More supportive people told me that if you meet a need it goes away and I firmly believe that, but at times it felt as though her pit of need was bottomless. I didn't see the "more independent" child that research suggests will be the outcome of a babyhood and toddlerhood of having your needs met by a responsive parent. Not for a long while. But no matter. I took as the foundation of  my parenting principles the idea that I would be *here* and that she could go and come back and go just as far as she could manage. I have no doubt that one day that will be to the four corners of the globe, I hope so. I certainly learnt a lot and created some wonderful memories in my travelling years. It's just that for a very long time the ties only stretched a tiny little bit.

The irony is the same people who complained about me holding her all the time and not making her "tough it out" when she really couldn't cope with the amount of separation school entailed are probably the same people who have fits and criticise me as a slack parent (which is why you really just have to be the parent you feel is right for you and your child..because you cannot bloody win!) now that she is 10 and *desperate* to prove her competence out in the world. I let her because all the time she has been glued to my side  like a limpet she's been learning the skills she needs for independence. I know her well enough to know that she is both cautious and sensible, but also where she needs a bit of reminding. We talk through situations that might arise and how to handle them, but ultimately you only get those skills by doing.

So the big things this week were her birthday treat and an accidental bus journey. Her birthday treat was to go to a lovely cafe at the top of our road (well, just across the main road, but there's a crossing) and buy milkshakes for herself and two friends. We know the cafe staff and they know her so I wasn't too worried (and it's holiday time so I don't have to worry yet about her being picked up by truancy officers). I gave her enough money to buy the shakes and a portion of fries to share and the use of my old phone so she could ring if she needed to and off they went. She did ring about 5 times but I think it was more about the excitement of being able to than needing to. She ordered, worked out how much it would cost and rang me to confirm her decision to leave the change as a tip. She did well. Later I could hear a relative muttering about how awful it was that I let her. I'm sure quite a few of them have their knickers in a twist over it, but tough. I love seeing her confidence and competence increase.

The accidental bus ride came about this morning when we were going to meet my mum. H has been *dying* to go on a bus on her own for a while now and I've not been sure how I feel about that one yet....but we got on a bus today and I didn't have enough on my oyster card, or any cash  on me. We were late to meet my mum so I told H to stay on and meet Ducky (long story, but what she calls her grandmother). I then walked up, ringing Mum on the way to let her know to look out for solo Hannah. I got there about 10 mins later and found them together. Mission accomplished.

So yes, there's some teally stretching going on there and yet, she still wants to sit on my lap half the day!

In which we make a different use of a Maths Brainbox game

We love Brainbox games. We've had various of them over the years and really enjoyed them, so when a home edding friend on Facebook was selling the Maths one, we jumped at the chance to get it. But it's a very different experience to playing the others we have (The World and English Kings and Queens), where even the observational things *mostly* also impart useful information, crops grown in a country, the kind of clothing worn in a historical era, designs of flags, etc, but on the maths one, the questions seem to be entirely observation and the answers do not demonstrate or add to knowledge of the maths in any way. How does it matter what colour the sum is or which sum is shown with carrots or bananas?? We played it once then gave up.

Today I had an idea of how to use it differently and we started picking cards at random to see whether the maths on it was something Hannah already knew how to do. So far we've covered Venn diagrams. We looked at the card, talked about the example shown on it, discussed vocabulary, then made our own example using different sets of Hannah's friends. We then looked at perimeters and watched a Khan Academy video about properties of a circle. This introduced Hannah to the concept of Pi. ("is it Pi or Pie, Mummy??") It took a while and will need to be revisited at some point, but for now I *think* she got it. Lastly, I questioned whether she did actually know all the highlighted functions on a calculator and she read the labels. I pointed out that I meant did she know how to do them, not could she read it? Mostly, she could do them, except for square roots. So I explained that and she wrote a few examples in her book.

She's now preparing for a sleepover with her cousin and making more wands for the Harry Potter party.

In which I borrow some extra children to help prep Hannah's party

We're always up for a party, Hannah and I, but this year we are going to town on her birthday party. In part it's because she's 10, which feels significant. It's got a 0 at the end...first number in  double figures and all that. A decade of life, a decade of being a mother for me. Yes, this one felt like a big deal. Also, as a rabid Harry Potter fan myself, I am so happy she is finally reading and loving the books. So could she have a Harry Potter party?? Of course.

It needs more planning than our usual "pitch a tent in the woods" style party. We're going to have the children arrive and visit Ollivanders where they will chose a wand. We are making the wands today, which is why I thought it would be fun to invite some of Hannah's friends over to help.  P and E arrived about 11 and we headed out to the woods first to collect twigs for making broomsticks for Quidditch. Not entirely sure how Quidditch is going to work exactly, but will involve hula hoops on sticks for goals, a quaffle for scoring, bludgers which have the effect of stopping you for 5 seconds when they hit you and a tiny golden snitch which will be hidden in the area somewhere!

Wand-making started after lunch. We are using these instructions to make them. Some of them didn;t turn out too well....and I can't get the glue gun to work properly and we ran out of other glue and had to go to Morrisons to buy more, but the kids had fun anyway!

We're also going to have a  Defence Against the Dark Arts ice-breaker. We always do something along those lines because the nature of Hannah's social life means that none  of her friends know more than 3 or 4 of the others. Well, except Lucia because she has been to so many parties, does some of the same activities and often comes to family events so possibly she knows everyone! This DADA ice-breaker is going to consist of introducing yourself then casting a hex or jinx at someone else in the circle, calling their name to make it clear who is being hexed. The person hexed has to perform an appropriate action and then hex someone else.

Then Potions class with one or two things to mix up and some strange ingredients in jars.

After Quidditch, we'll finish with the End of Term Feast. Then I will go home and collapse.