I’ve booked a couple of craft workshops at Making Space – really it is too far away (a 50 minute drive on a good clear run, could be 2 hours on a bad day) but the prices are good, they come highly recommended on the local HE list and I’m always up for travelling for interesting possibilities so I booked Medieval Copper Jewellry today, Dragon Puppet Making for Thursday and one for sometime in August in the summer holidays.
Ady had been to drop the payment off and told me it was nice and easy to find so armed with his satnav and a half an hour buffer in journey time we set off at 830am which is far earlier than any of us are good at. Interestingly we managed to be breakfasted, dressed, snack and drink packed, chickens dealt with and the kitchen dealt with from last night within half an hour of my alarm going off though. We’d have never managed that with Ady home. We saw a funny tea towel at the weekend in a garden centre showing how men make a cup of tea with a bloke hanging around waiting for a kettle to boil and how women make a cup of tea with her getting loads of washing on, feeding the cat, writing some cheques and getting something out of the freezer for dinner while the kettle boiled. That is very much the case with Ady and I – he spends more time up and busy than me but I suspect I equal him in terms of productivity thanks to either innate laziness / fantastic time management.
There was no traffic at all thanks to school holidays so we had a nice clear run and were driving round the block three times to find the place a good 25 minutes before we needed to be there. I paid for parking, went to the toilet and we leisurely walked across to the building, arriving at the same time as Zoe, the woman running the workshop.
I went in to look around and settle Davies and Scarlett and was asked if I wanted to stay. I’d planned to go and walk round the shops but both the kids were keen for me to stay so I did. The other attendees were three teenage girls, brothers who I suspected were the children of a localish new to home ed person I’ve nearly crossed paths with a few times but missed actually meeting despite us being friends on facebook and chatting online. A girl who also attends HE book club and a couple of other children I didn’t know and may or may not be HE.
The workshop was good although slightly above Davies and Scarlett. It was delivered in a fairly low key way and the emphasis on medieval styling quickly got lost as the kids all had their own plans in mind. There was some really good stuff turned out by the various children though. Davies made a bangle and encorporated his initials into it, he made a pendant for me and then really warmed up at the end when he made a star enclosing a bit of rose quartz which was lovely. Scarlett made a ring, a bracelet and various pendants but really came into her own at the end when they were hammering and texturing pieces. I decided if I was there I’d made something and made a couple of pendants. I quite like the creativity but suspect wire working isn’t for me, far too hurty on the fingers 😆
I introduced myself when the supsected mother of HE kids came to collect them and was right so had a quick chat with her, thanked the women running the workshop and we left. I’d been a bit fed up with both Davies and Scarlett for being a bit feeble about coming up with idea / executing them without a lot of support from me but when Davies fell asleep on the way home and I started to come down with whatever they have I realised both their feebleness and my intolerance were more likely a result of illness rather than the workshop. Nevertheless I suspect copper jewellry making is not for us but I’m glad we had a go and I love the resource that is Making Space. I suspect Dragon Puppets will be far more Davies and Scarlett’s thing and know there is a smaller class group for that session too. I’m planning on not staying for that and will see if that helps too.
We called into Hobbycraft on the way home, simply as we were passing by the door. The children have both been after making a soft toy so I showed them the ready cut kits and they chose one of the very small ones each – Davies a snail and Scarlett a guinea pig. I much prefer making up designs as I go along but thought for very amateur sewers like them these kits might be better – I remember having a white cat kit when I was about Davies’ age.
Home for a late lunch and I began to slump rather and would have prefered to have been left alone to drink my tea. But I assisted with threading needles and reading directions for the kits, they both made really good starts with them. They were also both very enthusiastic about the workshop this morning which is so similar to previous experiences where I have thought they’ve got nothing out of something only to realise later that they did get loads out of it but internalised and processed it rather than being obvious at the time.
I helped and encouraged and then made their tea. Ady came home along with an organ he’d picked up (we decided as getting my parents piano over here is less than straightforward but Davies is interested in playing about on it we’d pick up a cheap organ to see if the novelty wears off or interest grows) which was an instant hit. Davies says he wants to learn more and I have a couple of keyboard books around to share with him aswell as Dad here tomorrow morning who is grade 8 on the piano but has not played since he achieved that as a youngish child. He said last week he had a twinge of regret for not keeping it up and I am secretly hoping Davies might persuade him to play a little. I remember him playing ‘Green Door’ for me when I was young and in my ‘I love Shakin Stevens’ phase but my Mum has never heard him play.
I read some Humphrey and am now feeling quite rough. Thankfully although we have something happening every morning this week we are quite free every afternoon so pm slumping is on the cards all week.