It’s Election Day for the Mayor of London and my daughters’ school is closed as it is being used as a polling station. I’d just like to take a moment to say how ridiculous it is to close a whole school – for a whole day – when to be frank a marquee in the car park would have worked perfectly well for ‘hoardes’ of people coming to vote during school hours.
I was therefore rather determined to have a productive and educational day with my girls who opted to stay at home rather than be out and about in London soaking up then Election Day atmosphere.
So first off some ‘outdoor play’ with a spot of gardening. Our heritage Seed Pantry tomato seeds are doing very well and as Amy is a huge fan of carrots, we rummaged our tin in search of seeds. She chose this beginners pack and pretty much followed the instructions all by herself.
Forgotten Carrot Seeds
Planting carrot seedlings
Once that was done, we did some ‘spellings’ and ‘maths’ with our fruit and vegetable inventory before heading to the market. On the way we covered off ‘modern languages’ as I taught them the French and German words for what we needed to buy and Amber taught us the Spanish ones she knew.
Back home again, we ticked off ‘reading time’ as we took to the recipe books and our stack of Delicious magazines to choose what we’d be having for dinner over the next few days. A little ‘handwriting’ practice as we drew up the menus.
Menu planning in our neatest handwriting
They went off to do some ‘creative play’ while I made lunch from some mushy carrots we’d found while doing our inventory earlier – Carrot and Coriander Tarts. A nice alternative to quiche and perfect with some steamed purple sprouting broccoli or asparagus.
Carrot and Coriander Tart
Because we’d had such a productive morning, we decided to dedicate some time to Polly Pockets. There may have been a little family snooze in there somewhere too – perhaps not quite part of the educational curriculum but certainly what impromptu days off are for!
Polly Pockets!
And of course some ‘home economics with these Carrot Cupcakes at teatime.
Simple Carrot Cupcake
So that was our extra-curricular day off. I loved it! Wish there was another election next week!