‘I want to stay and learn some more’ were Stringbean’s words when we had to leave the ‘dome’ where they had and audio/visual show at the end of Dynamic Earth, seemed an appropiate comment for an allegedly Home Ed blog.
Anyway, she did seem to enjoy herself there, it is very good, but in the way of these things does feel that it lacks a bit of substance. Maybe you need to view it more as a ‘show’ than a museum type place. Fair enough I guess, but it seems a shame that more concrete info couldn’t have been included somehow.
Helen has posted a few comments on the Muddlepuddle Winter Camp at Melrose, so here are some snippets/impressions of mine.
It was a great week – children had much ‘running free’ and endless playing, parents (moslty) had some time for relaxing, chatting, eating, staying up late, and even a bit of discussion on HE, some even spent sometime with their offspring.
- A car park half full of people carriers can mean only one thing….
- We were one of the later ones to arrive on the Sunday, there was a wonderful sense of chaos when we entered the hostel – would we ever make sense of this?
- Stringbean was a bit bemused/overwhelmed at first I think by the number of children, and the amount of space to run around in and play, and as some of the children already knew each other, she seemed a bit of a loss as to how to fit in at first, but after a couple of days she?d settled into it all and became one of the ever present fairy/princess gangs running wild around the hostel, in particular she really seemed to hit it off with Jax?s Big (though they did make rather a mess of Jax?s room ? sorry?.). It was good to see her playing so well, and a learning experience for us as we realised we?d never been in a situation where she had been away from us for so much time and we didn?t know were she was.
- The food ? all seemed to work pretty well, Helen managed to cook various pots of curry that seemed to go down well, and there was plenty for lunch the next day. And thanks to all the other cooks as well, esp. Ros and co for the pancakes.
- The dressing up ? esp. numerous small girls running around as fairies or Princesses ? I hardly recognised Maddy out of her P&P dress 
and I forgotten which small boy it was who kept popping in a tiger or leopard suit. Quite a few knights were running around as well, ?not with real swords? though, as I was often informed.
- Cup cake decorating ? a bit of an impromptu activity as we had been meant to do them at home, but various others enjoyed joining in as well ? a bigger batch will be made for the next time.
- Making Chinese dragons ? SB was very upset when she thought she had missed out on this ? luckily she hadn?t
- Resources, it was good to be able to look at lots of various books and resources people had brought with them. Esp. I felt that we were maybe ?underbooked? ? didn?t come home with too big a list??
- Being part of ?big gang ? at Dynamic Earth was fun.
- Swimming, we also did the Galashiels tour before finding the pool. As Helen mentioned, SB tried drowning herself :-(. She wouldn?t normally go and get in big pool without us, but she saw a slide and probably assumed it was shallow like the pool she normally goes to, while I was deciding where to put the towels, she was down the slide, and I turned round to see the top of her head bobbing in the water ? she did quite a good job of using her arms and legs to keep herself from just sinking really?. She was unfazed by the experience and enjoyed the swimming. It was also Butterbeans first swim, and she also enjoyed it ? all her fat meant she seemed to be very good at floating
- Tea and cake, there was so much lovely baking people had brought, it was hard to have enough cups of tea to try them all. A particular favourite of mine, was Ros? Cinnamon swirl thing.
- Late nights – sharing a glass of wine and chewing the cud once most of the kids were in bed was a nice way to end the day. Doing it while staying up to 2 in the morning was enjoyable, though probably not sensible.
- A bit of quiet. Getting back before most of the others (for some reason) from dynamic earth meant we could enjoy the hostel in ?quiet mode? for little while.
- The Gruffalo?s Child ? bought the book half price from Waterstone?s earlier, brought it out for Melrose. SB loves it, as did various others given by the number of times it kept disappearing Highly recommended for any that enjoyed ?The Gruffalo? (is there a child that doesn?t?).
- Meeting all these people in real life ? esp. as some people, like Alison and Nic I?ve ?known? online for some years now in various places. It was good to put faces to names (and then try to remember who had which blog) Though sometimes I felt a little disappointed that people weren?t like how I expected them to be A few more real world friendships have probably been made here.
- Apologies ? I hope those with less amenable youngsters weren?t too put out by Butterbeans eat/cuddle/sleep relaxed approach to life. After Stringbean we are really appreciating it.
- Admiration ? for Barbara, Merry and anyone else coping with a number of small children on their own there, but it was good to see all the help given by all and sundry, and how happy the kids were (with a few exceptions….) to accept so many other adults. And yes Merry, Amelie is cutie IMO
- Mucking in. It all seemed to work, the food got cooked, it was kept clean, the kids were looked after, ?stuff? happened, people made allowances for various peoples abilities/time etc. without fuss ? we are obviously all such lovely people :-).
It was a great time, hope to see everyone, and some new faces in the future.
