Hogwarts sorting hat

 Linked to our "year at Hogwarts" as part of home education we will be doing the sorting hat ritual every week so we can award house points and hopefully get a different house each week. I will add them as we do them.

I have come up with various ways of doing the sorting hat. We have a stool and a sorting hat (see left), the stool was an old wooden chair i cut the back off, picked up in local charity shop and the hat was bought off ebay few years ago.

Like in Harry Potter my son will sit on the stool with the hat on his head, he will be given "the task" for the week to be sorted and will ask the hat where he belongs, he will then do the required task and go into that house for the week.

1. The 1st sorting hat task was 4 Hogwarts envelopes (picked up in a charity shop), to which i added a printed "house info", each envelopes had 1 house in it. We didnt seal the envelopes as we can re-use this option to sort into houses during the year. I shuffled the envelopes and gave my son all 4, he picked the one he wanted and took out the house info.

(although only ravenclaw shown each house has one of these inside the envelope). All house info bits have been laminated so that they will keep throughout the year.

2. We used a dice and a pre-made chart. 1, 3, 5 and 6 give you a Hogwarts house, 2 says it likes your shampoo and thinks its in love, so you need roll again, 4 says yuk your hair is greasy i want to leave! roll again.

3. I had made an assortment of "bingo" type grids with words linked to each house, some of the words (in gold) are linked to mroe than 1 house, the other words are only on 1 house. He had to mark off which words described him and then i went back to my sheet and worked out which he had the most words for and that was his house. (i have 12 of these in total!)

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 part 2

 Earlier in the year i posted on here about "A year at Hogwarts". WELL, we are almost at the point of it happening! Only a few days to go until we "go to Hogwarts!"

No I didnt totally lose my mind, but came close, the printer is still here, although it has come close to being thrown away as keeps stopping and i hope everything is planned.

SO where did the inital idea end up?

We have the following subjects:

• Arithmancy (maths)
• Care of magical creatures (includes Dragons)
• Cookery
• Divination
• Defense against the dark arts
• General Hogwarts
• Herbology
• History of Magic
• Potions
• Spells
• Transfiguration

Each of these subjects has many different activities and lessons linked to them. This has happened due to countless hours of research and hunting on the net, finding and saving them all and then working out which subject they fit into. Powerpoints for all subjects with the lessons have all been made, worksheets have all been printed, i have spent an absolute fortune onthings that we need (and probably things that we dont), and i still have a list a mile long that i havent got yet. 

As per the orignal email all subjects have been given a colour and each lesson has been printed in the correct colour, laminated and then added to a cauldron so my son can pick out the 6 subjects he is going to do the following week. (There was originally 265 i think but this is now nearer 300! so we have plenty to do).

I had thought about getting a proper book made linked to spells and magical creatures but these were going to cost loads so i printed and stuck in exercise books instead and also did 1 linked to Dragons. I need to finish the spells.

I currently have piles of paperwork EVERYWHERE as i'm trying to sort it all into the different subjects as we have folders and dividers for them. I still have loads to print off as well.

I have boxes of harry potter/hogwarts decoroations down from the loft as we had them for HP party few years ago and we need them for this next year. once they go up they are staying up!

We are not sure HOW son is getting to the train station on tuesday as his Dad's car is off the road at the moment. So this could be a big change in his plans sadly.

As much as this has been hard work to sort out i am actually looking forward to it as is my son. And i think i will end up doing the same thing for next year so i am hunting new ideas already.

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.

new business venture

Hi all,

I want to tell you all about my brand new business venture that i have become involved with. 

For a while now i have been using products from a company called "oriflame", they are Sweedish. I will be honest i wasn't sure about trying them to start with as i have sensitive skin and react to most things, make-up, perfumes, bubble bath etc and i tend to stick with brands and products that i know i dont react to. 

I asked many questions about the products before i ordered as i wanted to make sure that i wouldn't react and if i did what did i do. I was assured that all products are natural and not tested on animals, the company research the best things to go in the products. So far i haven't reacted to any of the products i have used.

The person i was buying from suggested that i take the plunge and become a partner myself. I was a bit hesitant about doing it, i went along to an online information event and the guy who was doing it i sort of know - i worked for his parents 20years ago, and that kind of gave me the shove i needed to start.

 

Oriflame sells many products and has something for everyone - fragrances for him and her, products

that can be used by anyone - the spot stuff is great 

for teenagers and they do products upto anti-wrikle creams (i've not tried those). They sell suncream, bubble bath and shower gel, vitamins and minerals, make-up and accessories. There is a new catalogue every 4weeks, which have many offers inside (which change each month), and there are more products available online.                                                                                             My online store can be found here and my facebook group can be found here. I share posts and offers and stuff in the facenbook group and i am more than happy to answer questions relating to products or the company.

I'm really excited to be starting out on this journey and the best part of it is that it's work from home and i can sit in my pjs and post about the products and offers.

making a robot (that is wearable)

I had a food delivery sent to me by courier and it came in a huge box. I joked to my son that I could turn it into a giant turtle for him, he said no it could be a robot. Hence this post, we made a robot. I am adding how and what we did below. I don't have photos of every step we did, but it was very easy to do.

EQUIPMENT

1 large cardboard box, 1 smaller cardboard box, pieces of cardboard, duct tape in grey/silver, scissors, tin foil (or silver paper, or paint if you dont mind waiting), a tumble dryer pipe for arms, odds and ends as decoration/buttons, imagination

Tape the big box together securely but leave one end open. Work out where the head will go and cut out a circle. Cover the edge with duct tape so no sharp edges.

the kitten helps cut out the head!

Next you need to cut out some of the base (so child can get into the robot once it's all sealed). Don't go all the way to all sides as it will loose it's strength. As with the head go
round the base with duct tape so no sharp edges. Go over all parts of the box "that should open" with duct tape so it is fully sealed and more secure.

Once you have a head and base hole you can work out where the arm holes need to go, cut them out (make big enough to allow for clothing and more tape) and add duct tape over the edges. Tape the open side of the box together so you have a solid sealed box. You should have a box "outfit" your child can get into like the image right.

We then measured the distance between the top of the smaller box and sons head so we could work out where the eyes needed to go, instead of cutting circles we cut a rectangle right across the front (so he could see even if he turned his head slightly), as with base hole don't cut all the way across leave some on each side for strength. Cut a smaller rectangle for the mouth. Go over the edges of both with duct tape.

Next we fixed the smaller box to the top (over the head hole), we fixed it on with the top flaps open, so it had the whole open part as space. We cut lengths of the tumble dryer pipe to use as arms (this was an old one heading for the bin).

Our next move was to make the robot silver. We spray painted the tumble dryer pipes silver (as well as some of the patio and ourselves!) and left them to dry. We only did the outside. My son found some silver shiny wrapping paper with white stars all over it that he liked and wanted to use for the body. He wanted the head plain silver so we used tin foil. We covered the head first and secured it with more duct tape. Then we covered the body with the wrapping paper, i had to do it in bits due to the holes (and the bar code on box my son wanted to keep), I held the joins in place with normal selotape whilst i cut and sorted then secured with duct tape.

Once it was all covered i put duct tape around both ends of the tumble dryer pipe to cover the metal that had been snapped to break the tube, i then fixed them to the arm holes with more duct tape. Hopefully you have something that looks like our robot to the right.

We still need to add buttons and bits to our robot but this is the main construction complete.

HOWEVER, my robot making and craft skills didn't end here as my son decided that he wanted the robot to have a pet kitten, cue more boxes, tape and stuff. The pieces were collected (see below) and made into shapes, spray painted and duct taped together. this didnt take as long as the main robot did.

My son is very happy with his robot and robot cat and has decided to use them in his school homework and has written a story about them.

I hope that you have as much fun as we did.

*NOTE* i am not linked to the duct tape brand, nor am i being asked to promote them. the tape i use is from £1 shop or other cheap shops as it's just for crafts. We use loads in the things we make so i cant justify using expensive brands for it. I have also bought different colours from shops (like aldi) when they have had on offer.

More things to do at home on isolation with the kids

So things have been posted on FaceBook (FB) and ive saved them so i can share with others. Please do the same (in order to keep each and every mum sane during this time)

Many schools have sent out/home homework packs for children to do, but please remember they are just as scared (if not more so) than us adults are. My thoughts are yes do some of the work everyday BUT it's more important to be there for them, so play some board games, read a book together, get a notebook/diary and log down what you do (it's proof they weren't watching tv or on a pc for the next however many weeks.)

This was shared as a joke on FB and it did make me smile, I hope it does you as well. However, my sons Godmother said that after they have counted the rice they need to write one word on each grain of rice and then make stories. That made me laugh even more than the post did.




Before i start adding activities i will share a few websites that WILL be a godsend to all parents/guardians.

• Pinterest has hundreds (more like thousands) of things you can do, it is free to join and you can save all the things you like in one place, make different sections etc, you can find crafts, meals, school worksheets all sorts on there.
• Twinkl has loads of free worksheets and activities use code PARENTSTWINKLHELPS to get more free ones.
• Scouts UK has shared activities you can do at home (you could even make your own certificates and badges to award).
• This blog  has a list of loads of free worksheets and websites, ive not looked at them all but they may help someone.
• Quirky Momma on FB has shared many things including virtual museums  and places you can "visit" online.
• colouring pages can be found everywhere online if you dont have books at home, and this page on FB has shared loads for free - you just need to print them.
• glasgow science center is doing online science bits
• cre8tive resources has loads of free worksheets 

if you google "free school worksheets" there are pages upon pages that come up.

Now for the activities ive saved.

• Make your own monopoly board - use  local places etc, this would be best done on cardboard and use proper monoply money if you have the main set. There are blank templates online for monopoly boards.

• Make a RAINBOW and put in your window - the idea is for people to create rainbows for others to find when they are on a self-isolating walk, there are many groups popping up on FB linked to it, this one is linked to Whitehaven, Cumbria. I have also seen groups doing similar with hearts.
• my personal pinterest boards have hundreds of items saved type in "yummymummyamy" and you should find it.

• In summer 2014 i made an activity journal/book for my sons, yes it's mainly summer themed BUT i'm happy to share it and hopefully you can make use of it with your children. I didn't make the worksheets they were found all over the internet. 

There are also loads of websites offering free courses for adults to do, alison.com, skills network, futurelearn, and the open university have some

i hope this info helps someone.