Inspired by the fun we recently had at Centerparcs, this week I’ve been attempting to strike a balance between stimulating new experiences and the comfort of our normal home routine.

On Monday we went to our weekly London home education group, where we were this week joined by a menagerie of snakes, spiders and rodents.

Then, yesterday, we recreated a few of my favourite elements of Centerparcs with a morning walk in Bracknell Forest and then a proper, (my) hair-wet, session at the local swimming pool in the afternoon.  Usually I do 15 minutes with the children after their swimming lessons, sporting a bright yellow silicone hat to save the need for a subsequent hair-wash.  A hair-wet swim is so much more fun than the bobbing-on-the-surface version, especially as C and J spend most of their time underwater.  I even did some lengths of front crawl and breast stroke when the children joined their classes – my upper body felt satisfyingly “exercised” when I woke this morning!

After such an active start to the week I was tempted to stay at home today, but Wednesday is our best day for field-trips and we’d been intending to visit the Milestones living history museum in Basingstoke for some time so, fuelled by my new intentions, off we went.  We had a great day; Milestones had something for each of us.  C revelled in dressing up in an array of Victorian and Edwardian costumes (actually I quite enjoyed that too!). The exhibits showing how real people lived fascinated me – the tiny “workman’s cottage” complete with Victorian washing tub (“copper”), mangle, and outside privy,  and the shops filled with ordinary objects so evocative of their times.  J, meanwhile, was thrilled to be given sole use of an “Opus Click”, a small audio-visual gadget which kept him utterly captivated hunting for exhibit numbers and solemnly listening to the accompanying commentaries as C and I ooh-ed and ah-ed and played dressing up.

Tomorrow, a relaxing day at home.