"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

All last week Seth had been watching videos on YouTube of how to make DIY hockey goalie pads. We are forever looking on eBay for some because in this country they are a nightmare to get hold of and when they do pop up they are really expensive. With Seth's recent video viewing, it was inevitable that this weekend he would be wanting me to make some. So after talking to a friend in the library early in the week, I was told about 'Scrappies' a shop in Church Stratton that sells bits and bobs for craft ideas. I was hooked by the thought of a shop dedicated to that so as soon as I got home that day I checked out their website. Their website header says 'supporting creative arts and children's education'. That sold it for me.

The following day after a fun (but freezing) afternoon at Stiperstones we decided to detour home slightly to check out Scrappies in hope that we'd find the things that we would need for Seth's pads. I needed foam and something strong and water resistant to wrap the pads in. The store was a lot smaller than I was expecting but it was packed full of all sorts of random things and the staff in there were so friendly. I quickly found some large pieces of foam and a roll of yellow plastic that looked like the kind of material gym mats are covered with so that was perfect. I also had a yoga mat in the loft that I had brought home from a Netflix event a while back so apart from Duck tape (which I picked up on the way home) I had everything I needed for Seth's big hockey idea.

I had an idea of what I wanted to do and like most of our creative ventures I tried not to over think it and just get stuck in. So we cut the foam and the yoga mat to the correct shape for Seth's legs and glue gunned the layers together. The plan was to stitch the yellow plastic material around the foam but it wasn't doable with Mrs M's sewing machine so we had to improvise. Mrs M had a large can of spray adhesive for carpets so I took the foam and material out side and I wrapped the pads. For extra support, I used the yellow duck tape to seal the edges. I was so excited when I saw the yellow material in 'Scrappies' as our team, when we are playing hockey in the street is 'The Bees'. So with some black Duck tape, we also gave our bright yellow pads some black bee stripes and they looked great. I also took Seth's plain white hockey mask and with the yellow and black Duck tape and a stanley knife, gave it a makeover, fit for any hockey playing bee.

The part that was concerning me from the start, was how we were going to attach them to Seth's legs. Seth set about rummaging through the house looking for anything strap like that we could use, but there was no joy. So we jumped in the car and headed to Hobbycraft and found some thick black elastic to use. I still had no idea how we were going to attach it though. As we were walking back through the door though it came to me. We cut 4 slits in the pads and threaded the elastic through the front and then tied them around his legs, job done! I will get round to adding clasps on the back at some point but for now they are awesome.

All that was left to do was play and the boys were loving their new pads. Seth was blocking most of my shots which meant he was brimming with confidence, talking about wanting to become a professional hockey goalie. The goals that the boys are using were also made by us, we used heavy duty Wilkinsons bags with bees on to hold the netting to the pipes, we're very resourceful.

The pads were a touch too big for Opeie's little legs (even though I think they look great on him), so as there were some leftover materials I made him a smaller pair. He wanted his Bee pads to say 'HONEY' though, these boys of mine are too cute!

Seth has now asked if I can make a blocker and catcher! A hockey dads job is never done.

Game On!

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."

As I watched Opeie doing his work today, sprawled across the kitchen surface, I chuckled to myself thinking maybe a classroom environment with chairs would be more comfortable? Obviously, I don't actually think that. This world of home education has been amazing for so many reasons, one being having the flexibility to learn wherever he chooses. Maybe learning Symmetry on kitchen work-tops boosts productivity? who am I to question Opeies practices.

Today was one of those awesome, effortless home-schooling days, we had planned to visit a place called Venus Pools which is a great place for bird watching. We were going to take paints and canvases and make an artistic day of it. During Seth's school drop off though, the sky was thick with fog, it was freezing and poor Opeie was looking a bit peaky and dark around the eyes (we've all been a little under the weather lately). So we decided to head back home into the warm and curl up on the sofa reading books. After a few books, we made our way to this custom kitchen top chaise Lounge and as I cleaned the kitchen and prepped lunch, Opeie learned about symmetrical patterns and then we covered a few pages of number bonds and times tables.

The great thing about the way we learn at home is that to break up any academic work we are doing there is no end to the amount of creative things we can do in between. A lot of them being general tasks around the house that need doing, which aside from being creative also teach great life lessons. As much as we want Opeie to be a well educated and creative grown up we also want him to reach his adult years knowing how to do things that will benefit him, like being able to cook and look after himself. Today's fun task was prepping tea for when Seth came home so that we had plenty of time to be doing something fun together. Seth's tea time request was pizza, so It was Opeie's and My job to make the dough.

The remainder of our afternoon we talked about all the things that we want to do during our home-schooling fun and Opeie informed me that we wanted us to have some singing time which I thought was an amazing idea as he sings to himself all day long, making up the lyrics that he doesn't know to his favourite country songs, so I'll be printing out lyrics for us to learn as part of this learning adventure. This self-guided motivation is exactly what we want for Opeie and we'll embrace all of his ideas if we can.

And then it was time to put on our jerseys and grab our sticks for hockey time, the perfect end to a perfect day of home education.

"Puck the halls with lots of Slapshots Fa la la la la la la la la "

'Dad can we have something hockey related to go on top of our tree this year?' was roughly what was said when the boys had finished decorating the Christmas tree in their bedroom this year. Every year it has been tradition for the boys to choose random toys to be our festive showpieces, but with hockey becoming such a big part of their lives this year it was inevitable that they would want their new love up high above the branches. There are so many cool Christmas related items available in the US and Canada and I'm kicking myself that we didn't realise that Hockey was going to be so big while we were away so we could have snapped some things up.
 

Sadly over here in the UK it is difficult to get many of these items and with import tax, extended delivery time and high costs, I just couldn't warrant splashing out this close to Christmas. So.... we did what we do best in our house and decided to make our own hockey-themed tree topper. Opeie is a big Chicago Blackhawks fan, partly because he loves the Jersey but also because he's a big Waynes World fan (I know what an awesome kid). So the Chicago Blackhawks were the starting point for our Christmas craft session. 

It's great crafting with the boys because they come up with the best ideas, like having a goalie mask and a Waynes World cap for the head piece. I threw in the idea for the wings and Opeie's last minute hockey stick idea while eating a frozen banana and being inspired by the stick,  meant our team creation ended up looking pretty great I think.

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take!"

Since being in the states the boys have gone hockey crazy. I'm not really sure what started it off but quite early into the holiday Seth had made it clear that we wanted to use his holiday money to buy some hockey sticks which I thought was a great idea as it was another thing that we could do together, awesome father/son bonding. There was a brief moment when we picked up the sticks and goal at the club house where we were staying and thought 'how are we going to get those in our case but as the blades were detachable we managed to make everything fit.

Since we got back we've played hockey in the street every day and have also purchased the Nhl channel to watch the games, which has been great. The boys though, were eager to go to a game. We're really lucky where we are as we are close to our local ice rink and a few days after we arrived back from Florida our local team, the Telford Tigers, had their first game of the season so we took the boys to watch.

The game was awesome and we beat Manchester Phoenix 4:1 which was a great result for the boys first game. The atmosphere was great and despite not being a big sports fan myself, I really enjoyed the fast pace of the game. Since then we've been to a game every week and it has been something great to do as a family.

Since going to the games, hockey has pretty much dominated all of our outdoor play while at home. I bought extra blades and picked up some wood to make handles so that the boys can play with their friends and we can all play as a family. It's great that the boys have got into something that we can all play together and living At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac has been perfect for our games.

I don't think this new love of hockey is going anywhere and I'm glad. I've never been in to football so being able to go in to the street for an hour and take shots at each other has been great for me and the boys and having friends on the street that are also interested in joining in makes all the difference to them. I'm just waiting now for that inevitable "Dad! can we ask santa for some roller blades for Christmas?".