Hogwarts week 2

 Today marks week 2 (day) at Hogwarts for my son.

We didnt have any arguments over work today, he just got on with his "pre-sorted" tasks that he picked last week. He was sorted into Gryffindor for this week, meaning that any points earnt for tasks go to there.

His lessons for today were as follows:

Weeping werewolf (care of magical creatures), this invovled lemons, washing up liquid and bicarbonate of soda. The ingredients cause a reaction.

Tarantallegra (spells) this involved him using just dance on the wii to make his legs move!

Describe snape (potions) he had part of the story and then he had to use bits from it to describe snape.

Bean in a bag (herbology) this involved putting runner beans into a zip lock bag with wet tissue to make it grow. he needs to log what it does daily.

Butterbeer fudge (cooking) this didnt quite work as it didnt set so we had to re-boil it and then add some cornflour to set it. BUT it did taste really nice!

cloud in a jar (divination) this involved hot water in a jar with ice on the lid and then adding hairspray to see the cloud form.

as well as the above he had 5mins to find words in the giant wordsearch (A3 in size), he could do some tasks from the OWLS book, he had to fill out his time table and write his daily prophet newspaper.

He has been sorted into his house for next week (Gryffindor again) and he has picked his 6 lessons.

WELCOME TO HOGWARTS

Today (5th September 2023) was the start of our Hogwarts adventures. Sadly my son dint get to go on the train from half hr away as we couldn't get him there, but there will be other weeks this can happen. He had yesterday picked his house of Ravenclaw, there will be various ways of sorting him. (see separate post).

The day started with him receiving his "welcome to Hogwarts" pack (powerpoint) which had information on how things are going to work (1 day Muggle = 1week at Hogwarts), the colour-coding i have done for each lesson, house points, lesson rules etc. Once he had read so far in his welcome back there was a slide that read:

"As you know you have been given a place at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Upon arriving at the school you are presented with a scroll with your name on. You open it and read the following:

Dear Mr Watson, 

before you can fully enter Hogwarts you need to find your missing trunk. To do so you need to work through the clues, keep hold of anything you find as they will be needed. Good Luck.

Outside in the "toy shed" you will find an assortment of wand blanks, one of these is your new wand. Remember the wand chooses you not you it, so you will need to close your eyes and feel the best one. Also with the wand blanks is further instructions.

Professor Dumbledore

THIS was the start of his treasure hunt (see separate entry) around my house. He followed the clues and gathered items to make his ID cards, wand permit, an experiment to do today, some chocolate coins, some books he needs and eventually his trunk.

He sat and typed up all of the rules onto word document for each lesson and printed them for their folders, which he also sorted. 

He made his ID cards (for each house), his wand permit, care of magical creatures permit, library card etc. He wasn't able to finish his wand as the glue gun hadnt been delivered. He made his Quills using feathers we had collected whilst on walks (a swans and a seagulls). He sat and made a start on on plant fact files. He asked if he could do a fact file for our pets linked to the beast classifications. He did his experiment.

A year at "HOGWARTS"

 A year at "HOGWARTS" 

Yes you have read the title correctly, we are having a year at "HOGWARTS". No we are not moving into the warner bros studio, nor has my son got a place in the musical. However, as he is Home educated this is our plan for set 2023! 

For Info - Hogwarts = HG and Harry Potter = HP

Lets back up a bit as it's been ages since I posted on this blog, well during covid I think! (no that was my family tree one, never mind!)

In October 2021 my youngest son was removed from school due to ongoing bullying and the fact the school couldn't (or wouldn't) protect him and keep him safe. When he fought back against a gang of 6 lads he was the one who was suspended for 2 weeks for fighting. When we went in to school for a return to school meeting the safeguarding officer (SGO) was really arsey with us. He didn't know why we were so upset over this as it was his 1st punishment and incident. Errr no it's not! He argued i presented him with 2 A4 pages of "incidents" including dates the school had taken him to hospital with suspected broken ribs from being kicked. SGO was shocked and didn't know anything about them all. He went and spoke to a teacher who said "well they are boys being boys you didn't need to know". THAT comment was the final straw and I decided I was removing my son and going to Home educate him.

So, we move back forward. Since being home ed, my son has done various things. As part of this years work he is doing the Pagan wheel of the year and this was meant to be ended (nearly) with a visit to the Witchcraft museum in Cornwall and the History of Witchcraft. My son then said "well you have said about doing Harry Potter theme at some point, can we do it at the same time as the History of Witches?" Well yes we can, i will work on it.

I started looking for ideas and things to do and came across a blog of a lady who home educates in USA and she had done "a year at Hogwarts" and this is where my thoughts went!!! She had done it every day and all lessons were linked to it. Sadly there wasn't much on here blog except this was what they were doing. I know for a fact that my son will be bored doing it every day for a year as he gets bored of long topics after 5 weeks. So I spoke to him, and he has agreed that he will do 1 day a week at "Hogwarts". 

Let's do some maths - there are 39weeks in a school term (approx), so that's 39 days of work. If we do 4 lessons a day that's 156 lessons I need. BUT some HG lessons and activities I've found are fairly quick and less than 30minutes to do, this means a very short day of learning. Back to numbers if I add in 1 more lesson I need 195 in total or if I go to 6 I need 234! OMG! This is going to be mad. My middle son then said, maybe you need a bank of extra bits as well "just incase" something goes wrong or you can't do the planned activity then you have a back up. (Thanks son! start thinking of extras then!) So it looks like I need about 275 different things. (Ideas on a postcard please!)

My son has stated he wants dropping off at the train station 2 or 3 from home by his Dad, with his suitcase, an owl in a cage (toy), and him in wizard robes. He then plans on travelling like it to the local station where I am to meet him, dressed as a WITCH, and we then proceed to get a taxi or bus home so that he can start his HG experience! This is also to be reversed on the last day of each term. He also wants a sign outside on the wall above the post box saying "welcome to Hogwarts" and it's to stay for the year. (My neighbours and postman are going to think I've totally lost the plot! LOL!)

I started planning. I wrote down possible subjects - we have 7 main, a general HG and maths. I then started hunting the internet and saving websites with ideas, activities etc. I grabbed all of our science instructions from kits and a few science experiment books and started making notes - this for potions, that for spells and such. From here I have made (well started) a powerpoint for each subject. So I can start adding the activities to them. This is going to take me a few weeks.

A few things I am 100% certain on:

1. I think I have totally lost the plot on agreeing to this (and actually doing it).
2. My neighbours and postman are going to think I've gone mad, my friends probably will as well but most know I will do anything for my kids.
3. I am 99.9% certain I am going to be fed up of seeing HP/HG decorations and items around my house before my son is.
4. I am going to sell the "work pack" afterwards that I am making as it will help so many others.
5. We are going to change "house" every week, with a new sorting hat ceremony. This means that we can work with a house points system and see which house wins at the end of the year. (Son won't be able to "fix it" for his favourite as it will be done via a quiz, a dice, a spinning wheel online and picking paper from a cauldron throughout the year.
6. Lessons are going to be picked out of a cauldron at the end of the each week ready for the next week, so I have time to get the equipment together, especially as some tasks I am looking at require fresh foods etc.
7. IF I manage to pull it off I think I could end up with 6 weeks to plan another big theme for September 2024. BUT saying that, if son decides he wants another big thing and says soon after we start etc I will have time.
8. I think my printer is going to leave home crying due to the amount I will need to print, thankfully I'm on a pay as use ink programme and they send me replacements.
9. My middle son thinks I'm crazy for even considering doing this and has said he's NOT dressing up or being involved - he will be!

Watch this space for more updates on our "Year at Hogwarts". I think it will work out really well when it comes to it.

September 29th 2015 - Wizard Wand

September 29th Wizard Wand

Lil man has 2 outfits for halloween this year - his monster for school and a lovely blue wizard outfit (that I made better by adding star ribbon to).  The only thing the outfit was missing was a wand.  I had saved this pin to my Harry Potter party board ready for next year as I planned to make them for the party.

Well this has been the trial run of it - lil man wanted a blue wand with silver bits on the handle!  I didn't have any chopsticks like the pin says BUT I did have a huge hedge in the garden that has been cut down!  This emans I have loads of branches so we went out and found 1 that he liked.  We cut all the sticky out bits off, pealed the bark off it and allowed to dry for a few days.

Yesterday I started to make patterns on the handle end with  UHU glue as I couldn't find my hot glue sticks (I think they will work better and dry quicker), I did 3 layers in total building up  on the layer below so it was raised.  Again the wand was left to dry over night.  And today (after a trip to town to get the right colour blue sparkly nail varnish for it) I started to cover the wand in nail varnish.  It had to have 2 coats as 1 went patchy and wasn't as dark as me or lil wanted.  Once the blue was dry I had to go on a hunt for a thin paint brush, this was a task in itself as the kitten had knocked the tub of brushes off the windowsill and then batted them around as toys - I found 1 near the dvd shelves and cut some of the bristles so it was smaller still.  I then used a silver sparkle nail varnish to go over the raised glue on the handle, this took 2 coats as well so it was really bright and shiny. 

Lil man is really pleased with his 1-of-a-kind wand that goes with his outfit.  I just hope it still fits him for Harry Potter next year.  This was really easy to do and I will be doing 1 for all the kids for next year and maybe the adults (may not use my hedge but bamboo skewers or similar) and if  I have enough time I will make and extra load and attach a small bag of sweets to for the trick or treaters.

March 30th 2015 - Harry Potter Halloween Planing

March 30th 2015 - Harry Potter Halloween Planing

Today is the end of the first 3months of the 365 challenge, i'm impressed to have made it this far, there has been a few problems and I have had to pin new things to match what I have done on a few days, but we are here 1/4 of the way through the year.

For today there isn't 1 pin but a whole new board of pins linked to a Harry Potter Halloween Party for next year, 2016.  Yep that's right i'm planning Halloween 2016 already and we still have 8months until this years party - but that's not really my problem as it's being held at a friends house, although I am helping with decorations and such for it.

Me and hubby were talking about how we need to beat what we did with last year party and the spider theme - we had spider nests and webbing everywhere, hundreds of spiders all over the place and  it too us over a week to put it all up as we were stretching the webs and then layering it with another thinly spread bit in the opposite direction.  It did look really cool especially wit the disco and uv lights on.  I started looking on the net and the halloween forum for ideas and there was 3 possibles - Harry Potter, graveyard or scary carnival, but as the youngest will only be 5 and the next two up be 7 we decided the scary carnival can wait until they bit bigger and we only have a few graveyard bits that I picked up in the sale, we need to buy more!

So we decided to make a plan for the party - the plan is that everyone dresses up as a character from Harry Potter or comes as a Witch/Wizard.  This can be as easy or as hard as you like - Witch/Wizard costumes are widely available and so are proper Harry Potter ones, you can also get iron and stitch on patches that can be added to cheaper outfits.  There is no other rules, and if the adults want to dress as one of the kids at Hogwarts they can!

Hubby already has long blue wizard robes and a long white beard so he will be going as Dumbledore.  I always have my hair  dyed a bright red but will do it purple and I am going as Tonks - the punk Witch.  My eldest son has straight blonde hair and a major attitude, along with being gobby and opinionated so he is going as Draco Malfoy.  My middle son has dark brown curly hair and wears glasses, so he is going to go as Harry Potter.  My lil son is still really small despite his age, so I said about him going as Dobby the house elf but hubby says no he needs be a Wizard, we're just not sure which one or if going as "a Wizard".   He also has Wizard robes in blue that he is going to wear this year, but it wont take much to get a Ravenclaw badge and tie for him to wear next year so its not qute the same.   I have messaged our friends that will definately be here and 2/3 have replied so far saying it sounds a good idea so I will be going ahead with it.  Nearer the date next year when the kids decide which friends they want to invite I will let them all no about the theme so the parents can get Witch/Wizards as well.

My mind has gone into over-drive of the possibilities we can do to the house etc, and although this will be a party a think it is going to end up very big and a thing in its own right.   The internet is going to be a great help for ideas and printables as so many people have already held Harry Potter parties over the years.   Although my house isn't huge I do have space to do things if I move few things around.  Plus I have the garden but there is no guarantee that the weather will behave!

I plan to re-use the spiders and webs etc from last year, with a trail of spiders stuck to  my floor, across my bedroom door and into the bathroom where the big spider will be as Arragog!  The toilet is going to be re-named Moaning Myrtle's bathroom (as I can't put it as girls bathroom cos it will confuse the boys) and im going to have a picture of Myrtle on the toilet lid, I am going to try and find some quotes from her as well to put in there - if I can find a way to do it I will have her talking from the films on repeat playing somehow - this still needs to worked on as to how we can do it. 

I need a platform 9 3/4 sign and a brick wall making - my house is made from concrete so I don't have brick walls, so this will be done via a white shower curtain or bed sheet and a sponge with brown and red paint to give the brick effect.  I plan for this to go over the lounge doorway so everyone goes through platform 9 3/4 to get into lounge.  And hopefully on the other side of it a picture of the fat lady that is over griffindor house.

I have a BIG idea of making a Professor Trelawney from a stuffed painters suit, hippy clothes (charity shop), wig, big glasses and sat at a table with crystal ball, set of rune stones and few other pieces.  This can be used as a photo station as well.

The other BIG thing I will be doing is turning the cupboard under my stairs into Harry's bedroom, complete with airbed and blanket, dressing gown and slippers, a pile of books, a dim light and a few other things!   This will be available for everyone to go into (carefully) for a photo that I will print out and they can all take home at end of night.

I have also had the idea of making a giant basilisk and fixing it around the ceiling of the lounge and up the stairs, just not 100% sure on how to make it - im thinking ladies tights stuffed with ? so it's light weight, just need to play around to make it look effective and like a snake not stuffed tights!  There is a bigger problem here though and that is HOW I fix it to my ceiling as I have horrid polystyrene tiles on it and I can't afford to take them down and get ceiling artexed.  I thought about somehow turning the ceiling black and added small fairy lights to it like the stars in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but not sure on how to do it or to fix it up.  So again it''s a possibility that I have time to play with and see where it goes.


There is also loads of other things as possible decorations on my list but i'm not declaring them just yet as I want some of it to be a supprise for  the actual party but i'm sure it will be really good by the time Halloween 2016 gets here - I have 20months to get it sorted - that's a long time and gives me leverage to buy bits cheaply as and when I see them! Ebay has loads of jewellery type bits and other things from 1p, sent from China but as i'm not in a rush it doesn't matter.

I have started to compile a list of possible foods, or foods we can name as Harry Potter foods, possible games we can play and ideas for party bags - including Harry Potter magic frogs - i've found a template for the boxes and frog cards to go them.  I plan to label sweets as though they are from Honeydukes and hope to get some "tricks" like they have in Zonkos joke shop, all for as cheap as possoble.

I am really excited about this and I plan to make it a night to be remembered by all!