Anya Quad Biking

Center Parcs Longleat - High Rope Challenge

Centre Parcs Longleat - Segways

Swimming - Keeping Fit

Owen attends swimming at Bromley Leisure centre every week.  Swimming works practically all of the muscles in the body (if you do a variety of strokes). Swimming can develop a swimmer's general strength, cardiovascular fitness and endurance.  Regular swimming builds endurance, muscle strength and cardio-vascular fitness.

Unschooled Learning at Go Ape May 2014

Go Ape is a great place for kids (over the age of 10) to learn about safety, heights and climbing equipment through an unschooled environment.  The instructors provide about 15 minutes hands on training and then the kids are allowed to experience the equipment and take responsibility for their own safety as long as a adult is watching and no more than one climb away.

HESFES Home Education Festival

St John Ambulance - Essential First Aid

Liberating Language

The way we use language can liberate parenting. The right kind of language can build self esteem, inspire confidence and encourage responsibility. I discovered that by modifying my language to deal with mishaps, 'misbehaviour' (a word I despise) and feelings resulted in dramatic changes in the reactions from my children. Here are some examples from Liberated Parents, Liberated Children:

 "the milk spilled, we need a sponge" instead of "now look what you did"

 "walls are not for writing on. Paper is for writing on" instead of "bad boy! No more crayons for you"

 "a scratch can hurt" instead of "stop crying. It's only a scratch"

 " I see a purple house, a red sun and a stripy sky" instead of "that painting is beautiful, you're a great artist". Praise is wonderful but where can a child go from 'beautiful' and 'great'. Words that evaluate hinder a child.

Self Esteem - Who Are You?

A poem is a good way to discover who you are.  We used the following resource from Kid's Health to write a poem:

Just fill in the blanks on the one below, and you will have done it. Poetry does not have to rhyme you know, but see if you can make a pattern with the beats.

1	(Name) [Beats ]	Sa - rah 1 1 [2]
2	(adjectives - describing words) [Beats]	brown haired, friend-ly, chee-ky, small 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 [7]
3	(Brother/sister of) [Beats]	no-one 1 1 [2]
4	[Beats]	[7]

Line 4 will have 7 beats - and so you go on.
You can have a pattern of three lines or four, or however many you like, so long as there is a pattern.

<><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </> <><><><><><> </><><><><><><> </>

Name	......................
4 adjectives (describing words)	......................
Brother/sister of	......................
Who loves	......................
Who feels	......................
Who finds happiness in	......................
Who needs	......................
Who gives	......................
Who fears	......................
Who would like to see	......................
Who enjoys	......................
Who likes to	......................
Who lives	......................
Who would like to be	......................

Here's Owen's poem:

Building Self Esteem - Things To Look Forward To

Recently, we have been engaging in a number of activities focusing on building self esteem.   Today, we have compiled a list of things to look forward to.  We plan to update the lists each week.

Self Portraits

Owen's Self Portrait

Anya's Self Portrait

Building Self Esteem Using Photography

Photographs have the ability to capture an emotion in just a moment. A photograph also has the ability to capture a moment that someone might not be aware of, showing his or her true personality. Owen and I have created a display of a selection of photos taken in environments that best express Owen’s personality including favorite places, favorite activities, his friends and his pets.

Identifying Low Self Esteem

Owen has been having some problems getting on with one of the girls at one of our home education groups.  He tends to tease her and calls her names and swears at her.  It’s not one side as this child is aggressive too and has hurt Anya with no provocation.  However, I am concerned that Owen’s behaviour is verging on bullying.  Owen was bullied a great deal at school and he is starting to recognise that calling people names often gets him attention from the other kids.  I have identified that Owen has quite low self esteem.   I found the following very useful from The Womens & Childrens Health Centre in indentifying Owen’s low self esteem.

How To Identify Low Self Esteem

·        Feeling unhappy

·        Feeling that you are not as good as others

·        Having no confidence in yourself

·        Feeling hopeless about the future

·        Seeing bad things in the world around you

·        Feeling like a victim

·        Feeling miserable

·        Feeling tired most of the time

·        Lounging around and not doing anything

·        Putting yourself down even when you are given a compliment

·        Seeing the worst side of everything

·        Having no respect for yourself.

The site also looks at how peoples self confidence can get so low and suggest the following possible reasons:

·        Telling yourself how bad, stupid ugly you are

·        Disliking yourself

·        Hanging around by yourself or with people that tease you

·        Not keeping clean and tidy

·        Taking the blame for everything and not standing up for yourself

·        Thinking of a mistake as something that only happens to you

·        Believing that you can’t change anything

·        Thinking that no one likes you

·        Brooding about all the bad things that have happened in your life.

·        Not doing anything good or that you may enjoy

·        Listening to and believing people that say bad things about you.

I was horrified when I read this as it also accurately describes Owen.  The same article looks at what High Self Esteem looks like too.  Hardly any of the description of high self esteem matched Owen.