"A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world."

When we started the home ed back up at the start of the month, I had every intention of having a museum week but sadly something happened and it completely threw me. So last week we decided it was time to start making up for that and decided to visit Derby Museum and Art Gallery. I love a museum that grabs your attention straight away and the Natural history section of the museum was pretty much all we needed for a perfect afternoon of visual education.

We can pretty much rate a museum on the amount of beetles we find there and this one did not let us down. Opeie loves Coleoptera displays where he can see his beloved beetles up close. 

After having a look around we fluttered our eyelashes at the front desk and asked whether they would mind us painting while we were there. We've gone ahead and painted without asking in places before and people can be really funny. They were more than happy to let us get arty so we found a nice spot to get set up and let our creative juices flow. Museums and Art galleries are usually quiet but this place was so peaceful. We were both fully relaxed as we painted in perfect surroundings.

It's afternoons like this that really reinforce the decision to home-ed. learning visually in a relaxed environment and at a Childs pace is what education should be. Opeie can take what he wants from a visit like this and the both of us probably came away learning something completely different from each other. It's always important to end a day of learning on a high and it was all smiles as we left Derby. Time to plan our next museum trip.

“People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.”

Making the decision to homeschool Opeie wasn't something we just dived into without thinking a lot about it. There was a huge build up to taking the plunge and many things that were steering us in that direction. Both Mrs M and I have very strong views on how we wanted Opeie's learning to be during his formative years. In my opinion (and I know I'm not the only one) there is far to much pressure put on children at an early age and I strongly believe that the education system in this country is failing these amazing little minds.  Home Education gives us so much freedom to adventure and it is this kind of organic learning that is the reason why we have a 5-year-old who is always happy and excited about learning.

The last few weeks have been exceptionally fun as we have visited a few museums that we've not been to before. It's been a while since I have been to Walsall but while I was online looking for interesting places to visit around the Midlands, the new Art Gallery popped up. As it is only 40 minutes drive from ours, we loaded the Micro Scooters into the car and set out on an arty adventure.

When we're out investigating places we don't know well, the scooters are a must. They are great for manoeuvring around quickly and if we do happen to get lost a distance from the car then it takes the strain off of those little legs if he's been walking around the museums etc. The great thing about visiting art museums is listening to Opeie's opinions on each piece. I've got to admit that the two exhibitions that were on (as some of the floors were closed) were really not my cup of tea at all, apart from some of the Idris Khan pieces. The gallery was somewhere different to visit though and even if you have a negative opinion about certain art or you simply just don't understand what is going on, it sparks conversation or debate which is great for learning.

While walking around the gallery we passed a window and noticed some graffiti covered walls out back. So after looking at the exhibitions, we headed outside for more Micro Scooter adventuring. Graffiti is definitely an art form that interests Opeie more and I can see why. The vibrant eye catching colours in places that you don't expect them is really fun. We had tried some graffiti at home on slabs a while back during an 'Art week' and I think it is something we will be looking into again very soon.

Opeie was really excited to see a Pokémon piece on a wall as we scooted by and couldn't wait to get a picture with Gyarados to show Seth when he got home.

Our scooting adventure then hit the streets and we continued looking for things of interest, all the while Opeie was asking question after question, it was the sort of effortless home schooling day that I love. We passed a war memorial while scooting along the street and Opeie stopped and asked if the statue was of the same person who is in St Peter's Gardens in Wolverhampton as they wore the same uniform and hat. It was great that he had remembered the memorial so we checked online and it turns out that both Douglas Morris Henry HARRIS A.B., R.N.V.R. and John Henry Carless VC sadly lost their lives in 1917. I was genuinely impressed that Opeie had paid that much attention to both memorials.

As much as I loved visiting the art gallery, sometimes we get so much more out of investigating a city on our scooters. Home education opens up doors that state schooling can not offer and in my opinion being outdoors and learning from experiences for some children is so much more productive and natural. If I had had this style of learning from a young age I think I would have been a lot more focused and motivated. Like many children, school never interested me, I didn't feel inspired by my teachers and that was something that I feel hindered me at the start of my adult life. Things are definitely different these days though and Opeie's home schooling is opening my eyes to many things I never thought I'd be interested in myself.

Scooters and Home education go hand in hand and I can't wait for our next adventure.

"We all have a dinosaur deep within us just trying to get out."

 Mrs M had some work on in London and as always me and Opeie used it as the perfect chance to go adventuring. To Opeie, London means dinosaurs and new books (seems to have become a tradition everytime we go), so a trip to the museum of Natural History was definitely on the cards at some point over the weekend. We had mommy all to ourselves on the Saturday and we tried to make the most of it, especially as the sun was out (it was a little nippy though).

We attempted to go to the science museum on Saturday morning but as we had arrived later than expected the night before our visit didn't go to plan. After a few tired tears, Opeie perched himself on his favourite spot and fell fast asleep. We had a 25 minute walk to get to where we were having lunch and although trying to keep Opeie balanced without waking him up was a pain, it was lovely walking around London chatting with Mrs M.

We seem to end up in London a fair bit these days because of Mrs M's work and as i said we have started a tradition of new books whenever we visit (saying that though we seem to buy books wherever we go). Opeie has books from each visit and we always right cute notes inside the cover 'we read this sitting outside the Tate...' etc. Hopefully it will be something nice to have when he's older and possibly have for his own children.

While we were walking along the Thames Opeie spotted a gold Shaun the sheep outside the Tate Modern and got really excited. As we dipped in and out of the tube stations we spotted Shaun about a fair bit which started a two day 'Spot Shaun' game.

On the Sunday Mrs M had to go off and do some work networking which left me and my miniature counterpart to continue our adventuring together. Opeie was desperate to see some Dinosaurs and he always finds the huge selection of rocks entertaining. Id love to say its because he finds them interesting but instead he laughs out loud and says "there's another rock!... and there's another rock!!

FOX!!!

I find London exhausting, especially when a chunk of the visit is spent with a four year old on my shoulders. He may have been up there and off his feet but i know that Opeie feels the same. So after lunch we decided to make our way back home. We love visiting London but after a couple of days there I've had my fill. Give me quiet and green Shropshire any day.

It was nice to know that while Mrs M was off working hard she was still thinking about us and continued the 'Spot Shaun' game, Baaaaaa!

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

Yesterday was one of the rare days where me and Opeie didn't need to be anywhere to pick the troops up in the afternoon. Seth was off to his friend Williams for tea and Mrs M had a business meeting so we took full advantage and drove to Wolverhampton. I fancied pottering around some new charity shops and Opeie wanted to go to the art gallery so we wrapped up warm and ventured out.

We mooched through the charity shops when we got there and I found a few books I'm going to use for a craft idea we're going to be starting soon, then we made our way towards the gallery. We went a few months back to see the Ron Mueck exhibition and I was hoping there was something interesting on. Opeie made a bee line for his favourite spot as soon as we got there and sat down ready to create.

Opeie loves the 'build your own magnetic sculpture' and anything that you can look through or listen to. He's very enthusiastic and wants to give everything a try and he loves investigating.

The Ron Mueck exhibition had been replaced by a photography exhibition which wasn't really my thing but it was great seeing all the old fashioned cameras and old photos. Opeie started blowing a raspberry everytime I got the camera out which was funny.

Opeie was soon off and eager to look for some more headphones.

Once he had managed to listen to every hearing device he could find he wanted to dress up. Even though the boys have tried on the clothes many many times they still get as excited (I'd love to be in their shoes for the day)

We had planned to have lunch at the cafe there but the staff in there were so rude that we decided to leave. Sadly when you mention gluton, dairy free in some places they seem to panic. The woman in the cafe offered us a plain potato? And then bluntly said 'we can't help you'. So we headed over to Costa Coffee for a drink, Mrs M had filled my bag up with things for Opeie so he was sorted. We sat upstairs in the coffee shop and had an hour of people watching while we read the books we had bought.

I love just hanging out with Opeie, he is the best company and  really makes me laugh. After a while he started to look tired so we made our way back to the car and set off for home. A lovely few hours spent with one of my three favourite people.