Little Bears Family Pages
Welcome to the
Summer House
(or Sue's Sunbed)
We have just returned from just under a week's camping from 13-18 May with HES Fes (the Home Educators' Seaside Festival) at Monkton Wylde in Dorset, organised primarily by Andy of the Choice in Education website. - Thanks Andy!
Our Tales from HES Fes
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at HES Fes - we thankfully (for our borrowed tent's sake if no other reason) managed to perfectly time our arrival and departure (slightly early in both cases) to avoid a major downpour on the first day and a gale on the last! It was certainly a major feat of organisation to put together a camp, including on-site catering, portaloo toilets and showers - although these left something to be desired!!! I'm told that around 150 families (around 500 people) camped with a further number visiting for the day, which made it the largest gathering of home educators outside the US!
Tommy wasn't really ready to join in any of the activities, as he's only 3 and a half and can't sit still for a moment, but he really really loved the trampoline and had a fair go at joining in with the bigger children's football games. He also liked putting sticks on the campfire. We heard some lovely music going on in the main marquee some nights, but alas Tommy decided to keep to his in-bed-by-8 o'clock-routine the whole week (it must have been all that fresh sea air and activity that knocked him out, because he certainly doesn't normally agree to such early bed-times!)
Unfortunately our tale has some woe in it, as we came back with (uugghh, wait for it,) head-lice - probably from all that rolling about in the grass! Our thanks to everyone on the UK Home Ed e-mail list who sent messages of encouragement (from the sheer volume of responses, we gather it's just part and parcel of childhood!) and all the remedy advice, which included:- nit-comb from Boots (£2.25), electronic nit-comb from Argos (around £20), thick conditioner, tea-tree oil, vinegar. Actually what we used was a Boots comb through thickly conditioned hair and, since Tommy wasn't keen on that method, I just clipped his hair really short! Hopefully, it's worked. (If you hear screams of uugghh coming from this part of the world, you'll know it hasn't...!)
All that aside, however, we're looking forward to going back to HES Fes 2000, if it should be on again. Hopefully by that time Tommy will be more up for joining in, and we might even get to some of the evening events...
Our little dog Pixie
I hope to paste in some more photos from HES Fes, and of the family in Grandma's garden during the summer. (Our garden consists of just a very poorly kept lawn - especially since our mower blew up..., but Grandma's garden is a truly wonderful place, with beautiful flower borders and a rockery! She really does have a summer house, where many a barbeque has been saved on a rainy day! She also has some lovely apple and cherry trees from which we sometimes hang a hammock! - Very popular with the kiddies, not to mention the dog!)
We also like to go to Cornwall on our summer holidays, although we often go elsewhere, but one of our all-time favourite places remains as "Crackington Haven". I'll be searching for some info & links, and hope to paste some photos in.
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© Sharon
Mortemore
04 July, 1999