"It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project."

 

These gloomy grey skies recently, make it really difficult to get motivated to get out and do stuff. It's wet and cold and would be so much easier to take the literal sense of Home-schooling and stay at home where it's warm and there is a steady flow of coffee and warm milk if needed. Sadly that doesn't fit into how we want Opeie to be educated so we've been going out as much as we can, braving the damp, bleak daytimes.  Over Christmas I watched a Youtube video made by a 13-year-old girl who was home schooled talking about her experience and how she felt it had benefited her. It was an awesome video and she was a very intelligent and well-spoken girl which was great to see as even now I still have my 'Is this really the best thing for Opeie?' moments.

One of the things that really stuck out for me was that there had been no structure to her home education by her parents and that she was left to her own devices as she got older. Her parent's roles were to simply keep her motivated and help with the things that she enjoyed doing. She also said that most of her home education was project based, projects that she chose herself and if she enjoyed them she continued with it and if not she moved on, giving her the flexibility to really get stuck into the things that interested her.

I loved this way of educating as it made me think of a project I did at school (a long, long time ago). I was probably around 8 and we started a project on dinosaurs, I remember thinking Wow! and I was hanging off every word the teacher was saying, it was fascinating, but... within a couple of weeks the project was over and we really hadn't covered much. I don't ever want Opeie to feel like that about something he is learning and both Mrs M and I will always do our best to get both of the boys the best resources that we can to things they are interested in.

So... projects! Opeie loves going to museums, I couldn't even tell you how many we have been to as there have been so many. We had a little chat and have decided to start a history project, which of course gives us the opportunity to go to even more museums and find out lots of interesting things about the past. On Seth's recommendation, Opeie has been watching horrible histories which he loves and it has been great for breaking into our project.

Today we decided to go to our first museum of the project which was the RAF Cosford Air museum. We've visited many times, but not in the last 2 years so it was clear that Opeie would take a lot more in now and ask lots more questions. I love the museum mainly because of the planes, so visually it is a great place to spend a couple of hours. If I'm honest I had not really taken the time to read much of the facts and information that is available during previous visits as Opeie was so young and excited just looking around, so this was a completely different kind of visit for me too.

As we walked about looking at the planes we talked about World War II and what it was all about. We talked about what life must have been like back then, compared to how different things are now and it was interesting listening to Opeie, really concerned about 'why people can't just be nice to each other'. At 5 he didn't really understand some of the things I was talking about and reading to him but what is great about museums like this is that between all the information available, there are lots of child-friendly things to do to break it up and make it more of an experience. We got to climb into a cockpit and play with all the buttons and switches, learn about altitude and how to measure wind speeds, fly a model plane and do some experiments around air pressure. One of Opeies favourite things there was learning about how ball bearings work.

We only stayed at the museum for 2 hours but as with all museum visits it was fascinating to see how much information was actually picked up, we talked about what we had seen all the way home and when we got home we printed out our pictures and Opeie wrote about it in his history project book. Today was a home education day at its best and this hands-on active learning is what really sticks with Opeie. I think it's going to be a busy few months making the most of the museums that interest us.

Super baby Vs the deactivated rockets

As much as I love cleaning the house and doing the washing, after dropping the boss off at work and Seth off at school I had a good think about what me and mini me could do for an hour or two to keep us out of the house (and out of trouble). I wanted to do something inexpensive as we're saving at the moment so after weighing up our options I asked Opeie if he fancied having a look at some planes, he excitedly said 'yes'.

Cosford RAF museum isn't far from where we live and all you have to pay is parking. I've been before and although it really isn't my cup of tea I thought it might be something a little different and something Opeie might enjoy. To start with though Opeie had other ideas and on the drive there he decided to get some shut eye. It worked out well though because by the time we arrived it wasn't open for another 40 minutes.

He woke up soon after opening and we headed in, I wasn't sure how he would react to seeing the big planes but he seemed excited at the thought and as soon as we walked through the doors he was hooked. The first thing he spotted was a cardboard cut out that he said was "silly". Just past there were the doors to the outside, He loved the large planes that were out there.

After looking at the planes out side we headed to the cold war exhibition and nothing could have prepared me for the level of excitement that was brewing. Opeie at the moment loves rockets, if its a similar shape to a rocket, then its a rocket, if hes running fast hes a rocket, when hes shouting out 'super baby' with his arms out, he's a rocket. I really cant remember why it all started but rockets are definitely flavour of the month. So when we walked in to a room full of missiles Opeie was in his element and wasn't afraid to make it vocal.

This little rocket is apparently called 'baby rocket'

We walked around for quite some time and the little rocket enthusiast was really taking it all in. Opeie was in one of his clingy moods but selfishly from a smitten dads point of view i like days like this. Lots of kisses and hugs for me (I'm so greedy) and a boy that doesn't want to let go of me, whats not to like?

Opeie was really having a great day and it was putting a huge smile on my face.

After going round this exhibit twice (i think Opeie was worried he may have missed something), we headed over to the next hangar. When we stepped outside the weather was beautiful and made the afternoon so much nicer. I'm really glad the weather is finally starting to perk up it makes me want to get out more and be doing things.

There was plenty more planes to look at in this hangar but Opeie had clearly got a taste for rockets and wanted to turn around and head back to look at them. I love that he has got to that age where he is in to everything. It makes days out so much more fun and its great how now he can really get involved with me and Seth when were playing, this though is probably making Mrs M's craving for a little girl harder as her little baby is becoming one of the lads.

Coming somewhere like this when i was younger wouldn't have been my idea of fun and as i said at the start of the post it isn't usually my cup of tea but having my excitable little boy with me made all the difference. We were only there for 2 hours but i had a great time and its left Opeie with an even stronger need for rockets