Tag: wild child

Wild Child Session

Education / 1 month ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Today we attended a wild child session held in South Killingholme for Izzy. We recently deregistered Izzy from school due to bullying and unmet needs leading to Izzy’s behaviour escalating and her mental health suffering..

While home educating Eva we found forest school was a great way to learn new skills and socialise is a relaxed environment and I thought Izzy would really enjoy it especially as she loves nature and wildlife so much and our first session has proved it was a great choice.

Wild child

Wild child sessions are run by Emma who is lovely and really welcoming. Each session is £10, there’s hot chocolate, biscuits and crumpets for the adults and children attending and plenty of activities. Emma explained some of the activities they do and that they have a child led approach so children can decide what they want to do. Being Izzy’s first session she mostly spent the time exploring and getting herself used to the other children.

Everyone was really welcoming and the atmosphere was rather relaxed. Surprisingly I didn’t feel as anxious as I normally would, I quite enjoyed sitting around the fire, drinking hot chocolate, having a chat and encouraging Izzy to explore and try out some activities and next time I’ll definitely take my crochet hook with me!

There are lots of activities such as bushcrafting, den building, decorating bird boxes, observing the wildlife and so much more. There are so many skills the children can learn naturally through play and the structured activities.

Izzy decided to make a den to begin with (I did forget to take a photo) and she worked with several other children creating a small den, chatting away as they did so. It was nice to see her working out how to make the den stable.

Next Izzy decided she would like to decorate a bird box which she spent some time on, colouring a sky and flowers, several other children decided to join in and decorate their own bird boxes too. I could hear Izzy quite happily chatted away sharing facts about animals and insects with the other children.

Wild child - decorating bird boxes

They have a play area for the children and Izzy kept going back to the rope net, she’s previously been a bit anxious when she’s climbed on rope nets but today she spent a lot of time climbing and just sitting in the net quite happily.

It was so nice to see Izzy slowly relax and enjoy herself. She was quite sad and tearful when it was time to leave as she really wanted to stay so we will definitely be going to more sessions. Izzy is looking forward to meeting the German shepherd therapy dog that sometimes attends the sessions and wants to learn how to whittle next time too.

I know Izzy will struggle with a lot of the typical home ed groups/meet ups but wild child feels perfect for her and I’m so glad we discovered wild child sessions!

You Never Forget A Good Book

Rambles / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

It’s true that once you read a good book you never forget it. I’ve been a keen reader since I was quite young and people used to joke about the fact I would prefer to sit and read the Evening Echo (Our local paper at the time) at the age of 5 over a childrens book. I remember my mother had quite a few books on shelves around the house which is where I discovered a few of my favourite authors. I haven’t picked up a book in a while which I intend to do more of over the coming months so I thought I’d share with you some of my all time favourites!

You never forget a good book
The Misery front cover I read and the books currently on my shelf!

Stephen King’s Misery is a book I definitely read far too young but as I loved to scare myself silly with physchological horrors like this it’s a book I read several times growing up and is still my absolute favourite book of all time. I love the way Stephen King writes and how twisted & clever the storyline is. Whenever I fancy something a bit darker I go for a Stephen King books and I’ve read quite a few. I currently have a few on my bookshelf at the moment that I need to read, what’s your favourite?

As you can see my copy is quite worn!

This is a set of books rather than just one but I think most people will agree that C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia is an amazing set for children and adults. I still have the original box-set I had as a child, unfortunately they are quite sun-faded but I cant wait to start reading them to the girls! I always got so lost in these books that I would spend most of a school holiday re-reading the whole set just because.

 

On my bookshelf

Another one that is probably on most peoples lists is J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the rings Trilogy. I read this when I was about 11 and I remember being superglued to my bed for 5 days reading the entire book & then went on to read The Hobbit. I was gutted when I finally watched the films as they had just missed out far too much as usually happens when books are turned into films. I still have the same copy of Lord of the rings but lost The Hobbit years ago.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret garden us another classic I absolutely loved reading over and over again. I loved the idea of escaping to such beautiful gardens.

The only image of the front cover I remember reading as a child!

One book I fell in love with as a child has bugged me for years as I hadn’t been able to find it ANYWHERE! Seriously, I have searched & searched the internet & libraries and only just discovered I was right all along! It is called Wild Child  and I am pleased to share I finally know the Author’s name – Monica Furlong! (Thanks to Goodreads!) I remember being completely enchanted by this book and re-reading it several times.

In a remote Scottish village, nine-year-old Wise Child is taken in by Juniper, a healer and sorceress. Then Wise Child’s mother, Maeve, a black witch, reappears. In choosing between Maeve and Juniper, Wise Child discovers the extent of her supernatural powers—and her true loyalties.

Patricia cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series was another favourite throughout my teens, I began at the start with Post-mortem and read every book up to The Book of the dead which is still sat on my bookshelf waiting to be read!
I’m definitely going to start working through my book shelf again and then go on a hunt for some new ones, so help me out! Who’s your favourite author? What book’s would you recommend reading? What books are laying unread on your bookshelf?