Welcome to the HEC blog

(Submissions by both child and adult members)

Feb/March 2011

The children have been practising in earnest for this year's South Somerset Music Spectacular as well as continuing to get to grips with the play.  From designs drawn by the children, the costume department is producing some absolutely fabulous costumes for the production - a big thank you to them.  It has also been a hive of activity down in the craft room with prop making, where paper mache is in abundance.

It hasn't all been about the shows though this term; there has still been lots of hockey and other sports played outside.  Whilst inside we have seen felt-making, photography, making juggling balls and learning how to juggle.  And with spring, sprung we have launched our tallest sunflower competition with a seed planting session.

We have even managed to fit in a couple of excursions -  we took a boat trip down the river Exe hoping to do a bit of bird watching, plus we had a visit to London for a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament and The Jewel Tower.

Dec 2010/Jan 2011

The rehearsals for our Alice in Wonderland play got well and truly underway during this winter term.  We also saw the creation of our costume department, who produced two wonderful dresses for our 'big Alice' and 'little Alice'.  On the run up to Christmas there was lots of Christmas crafts taking place, producing paper chains and decorations for our party.  We had another really fun Christmas party again this year, with our children (and a few adults) showing us that HEC really has got talent!

The new year brought us together again for some more great activities.  We have had another robotics challenge - Sumo, bridge building, science explored water displacement and there has been lots of yummy baking and pasta making.

With the help of some funding we have been able to offer a film and media project to some of our older children.  They have used the project to work alongside the play and create a film back-drop for the production.  The children have had the opportunity to explore photography as well as film and try there hand at 'on location' filming and green-screen techniques.

Sept/Oct/Nov 2010

During the last six weeks HEC has been very busy, with many activities and visitors. Amongst other things, the children have tried their hands at green woodworking and printing, cooking and science.  There were activities and displays for the autumn equinox and 'The Gallant Walloper' was the winning machine in the Robotics tug of war challenge.

David Laws (LibDem MP for Yeovil) paid us a visit and was very obliging by letting two of the children take his fingerprint for closer analysis under the microscope.
We were lucky enough to have Arthur Davis from the Crewkerne and District Astronomy Society come along to HEC to talk to the children, with time for a bit of Q and A.
The children also had the opportunity to take part in the OPAL Biodiversity survey, with the afternoon led by an expert from the Field Studies Council.

Week ending 10th Sept 2010

The first week back at HEC after the long summer break is always special, when friends old and new get together again.  Everyone is full of enthusiasm antisipating what may lie ahead for the coming year.
Off to a flying start, the first session started with an energetic game of hockey.  During the week children did Chinese painting, music, dance, table tennis and science experiments.  The older children started their media project and our little ones played and did craft.
Robotics is taking a different format this year with a series of team challenges, this being the first:

Sept 7th 2010

HEC organised a 'Not Back to School' picnic at Charmouth.  Despite a dodgy weather forecast, around a dozen families attended what actually turned out to be a beautiful day at the seaside.  It was a lovely get together after the long summer break, with an opportunity to take an end of summer dip in the sea.
A lot of fun was had later in the afternoon with a big game of beach rounders.

June/July 2010

HEC was buzzing with excitement as the children auditioned for the up and coming HEC adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.  With HEC now having around 60 children attending there was a lot of competition for the principle roles.  All the children worked tremendously hard on their characterisations giving the casting panel a very difficult job.  With the parts now cast, children can start to think about costumes, sets, scripts...
This term also had some of the older children getting creative with the Garage Band software on the computer, whilst our younger members made parachutes from scrap.
Our storeroom was temporarily turned into a dark room to develop the childrens pictures from the photography sessions and we had a table top sale in the yard to help raise some funds for resources.

April/May 2010

The craft room was very busy this term with paper making and various fabric printing enterprises.  Children also exercised their green fingers, making a variety of miniture gardens and terrariums.  As well as the much favoured rounders and unihoc sessions, children have also been working on their gym and dancing skills.
Politics what also hot on the agenda at HEC, with big discussions on paliamentary procedures, parties and policies, culminating with children having the chance to vote - a very interesting exercise!
HEC went along to this year's Fossil festival at Lyme Regis, celebrating the International year of Biodiversity.

Feb/March 2010

After only a few weeks of rehearsals HEC took to the stage for their debut performance at the 21st South Somerset Music Spectacular.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were true ambassadors for home education.
The Spring term also included many other activities such as sewing, life drawing, science, robotics, drama, French to name but a few.  Plus HEC returned to the field for another season of rounders.

February 2010

Photo montage for Feb, including robotics, music, pancakes, Imbolc and fun:

Week ending 29th Jan 2010

The children really enjoyed getting to grips with polymers this week in science - they broke down polystyrene into 'gooey' chains and made some silly putty out of glue!
This week's debating topic:  "It is better to be a follower than a leader"

Week ending 22nd Jan 2010

HEC was back in full swing this week, jam packed with some great activities:

The robotics team built an interactive guitar game unit.
Animation and movie making got underway
The music group decided on their entry for the Somerset Music Spectacular in March
FETA (Fundraising Events Team Awsome!) planned their first event.
Science talked about and built models of elements.
We looked at languages and greetings from around the world, with some interactive games thrown in.
Many fantastic pieces seemed to be coming out of the art & craft room.
And hockey was as always ever present.
This week's debating topic:   "Junk food should be banned"


January 2010

What with the Christmas holidays and many people being snowed in, families did not get a chance to see each other much over the last few weeks.  Therefore the first week back to HEC did not see many scheduled activities going on, members were far too busy catching up with the important social side of HEC.
The start of the New Year did manage however, to see the formation of a new debating club at HEC.  The first motion and outcome as follows:

TELEVISION DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD

AGAINST: Why do you think TV doesn’t cause harm?

--There are educational programmes
--Aggression could be down to personality
--Get ideas from TV – can inspire
--Educational programmes can help/ feed imagination
--TV O.K. in moderation
--TV can be good for lone elderly people-provides entertainment
--TV can inform, educate and entertain
--Can select good programmes

FOR: Why do you think TV causes harm?

--Too many adverts – TV can influence spending habits
--Narrows your thinking
--Numbs your mind
--If exposed to violence – act out violence
--You could use your imagination more without TV
--Could be doing more constructive activities
--Can be addictive – don’t have to think
--Certain programmes encourage aggression
--Distracting
--Another thing that separates families
--Not always a family activity
--Effect eye- sight
--Electronic baby sitter

The group voted in favour of the motion.

The Romans came to town!
HEC was visited by The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter for a Roman workshop.  The museum kindly brought displays and artifacts for the children to look at and handle.  Children wore costumes and adornments that they had made at previous HEC sessions and had the chance to role play all day in our Celtic encampment.  The children also received instruction on Roman army drilling.  The day ended with the 'big battle' outside on the field.  Everyone, adults and children alike had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

September 2009

HEC turns out to support the riders of The Tour of Britain as they pass through the town.

Summer term 2009 - HEC Olympics

3 legged egg & spoon                                 Obstacle race                                  Javelin throwing

Relay race                                          Winners!!                                                         Sack race

Spring term 2009 - Apologies to the blog readers for not keeping up with the blog this term - We'll blame the play!

I'll try and give you a summary - After having to cancel HEC for a week due to the snow, the children were excited at seeing each other again and even more excited that there was still plenty of snow to play in.

The main focus of this term was obviously the play, which dominated the sessions. Some of our usual activities were put on hold as there was simply not enough time in between rehearsals and set making to fit them in. 

We did of course keep up with our sport – one of the most popular activities at HEC. Hockey ran as usual, plenty of Basketball and football was also played and we had a multi-sports coach come into HEC once a week.

HEC had decided to use the play as an opportunity to help raise money for the Tulsi Trust; a registered charity that is aiding, organising and fundraising for an Indian jungle health and education project. We invited a member of the Tulsi Trust to come and talk to the group and had an ‘Indian day’ with music, Henna painting, Sari tying and a communal Indian lunch.

It was a great term, the play was a fantastic success with both performances being played to a packed audience and we managed to raise £160 for the Tulsi Trust.

Week ending 6th February 2009 - HEC cancelled all this week due to snowy weather.

Week ending 30th January 2009

Lots of work was done for the play, including mask making, out-sized bugs for the set, vines and flower making and of course rehearsals and singing.
In the outside space, as well as the usual hockey and football games, we had a small game of cricket (with our new set) and a game of ‘bat and moth’.
Science was fun, with a blood vessel made from two lines of chairs and lots of children ‘flowing’ round as red blood cells, platelets, germs (introduced by a very large splinter) and antibodies.   With the children, we also demonstrated what goes on if you choose to have vaccinations and also what happens if you get a blood clot (such as in a stroke) or furred-up arteries.
Chess club also got well and truly underway this week.

Week ending 23rd January 2009 (continued)

On Friday we celebrated Chinese New Year by eating Chinese food, making paper lanterns, writing in Chinese with Chinese ink and dancing round the building inside a Chinese Dragon and banging pots and pans and other loud things!  We also played hockey and in Science we made a human heart by holding hands and making the shape of the heart and doing the actions of what the heart actually does.  And we did Jungle Yoga and practiced the songs for the play we're doing - Jungle Book!

Week ending 23rd January 2009

We started back again last Wednesday, 14 Jan, and there's so much going on that I'll just list some of our activities - hockey; music technology; Jungle Book read-through, rehearsals, parents' meetings about costumes; making a dragon head for Chinese New Year, and hearing all about Chinese New Year including a story about why the rat (year) comes first, then the ox, and finishing with the pig, and seeing some fire crackers; learning/practising French; country dancing; a fun adventure course.  At last week's Show and Tell, one family brought in an amazing model they had made of a stone age cave complete with people, food, weapons, fire, tools, cave drawings, down to the tiniest carrot.  A new subject we're doing is Child Development where some of the older children observe how young children aged 0 - 7 learn, like through reading or physical activity or playing games.  Oh yes and we've got some new basketball nets.  I wish that I could go all day both days every week, but I've got two little dogs that can't go all day without us.

Week ending 12th December 2008

Last week was the end of term at HEC and I’m going to miss everyone but boy did it go out with a bang!!!
We had a great party and started with some circus skills.  An entertainer came in with a tight rope ( a low one ) and stilts, it took me a while to get the hang of them but everyone else were naturals there was spinning plates and unicycles.  Then we decorated the hall with paper chains we made and decorated the Christmas tree and set up tables with long strips of paper as cloths that we had painted, we all then sat down, the mums made yummy food for us all to share and we read out our cracker jokes ..... oh yes we did....... Then one of the mums did some fun party games with us.  The parents made up a Christmas carol ( the 12 days of HEC) and performed it with props .....it was really brilliant, some more of the mums sang a hymn and one of the dads brought in his guitar.   We played a great match of hockey.  We finished our great day with a disco.... we all were on the dance floor showing off our best moves........
What a day it was !!! I’d like to thank everyone for helping out and making it such a fantastic party for us all!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

Week ending 5^th December 2008

Today some of us had a meeting about the show we're doing next March, Jungle Book.  Instead of painting scenery that gets used once, we're going to do lots of recycling.
So all of us please start thinking up and making, over the long Christmas break, things for dressing the set.  It's going to be VERY full and colourful and jungle-y - long twining vines and brightly-coloured bugs and flowers, stuff like that.  If everyone made some leaves - big, about 30 cm or so long - and bugs and whatever you can dream up out of, say, paper or cardboard or even material, for the start of next term on 14 Jan, we'd already by halfway there.

We also discussed themes related to Jungle Book so that there'll be something going on for everyone.  Ideas included Indian cooking, Indian dancing, henna body decoration, how to wear a sari, and lots more.  We hope for a visit from a member's contact who runs a school project in India, and that project is also our choice of charity for a proportion of any proceeds from sale of tickets and refreshments.
While the meeting was going on, the video of our last production, Peter Pan, was showing in the Lounge.

There was a hilarious game of hockey, won three to two by the yellows, though this writer would mention that the excellent deciding goal was scored by the Dad who was referee in charge...  (Joke)

The science session was about density - an object displacing water and how you can therefore measure its volume, and how you work out the object's density (how much matter in a space) if you know its volume and its weight.  We had Christmas crafts going on in the activity room, Christmas sewing - one particular snowman merits special mention! - in the hall, and the usual activities for the little ones including a circle of singing with actions which provided some lovely background music.  At the end, one of the Mums cooked up some white craft dough which many of us shaped - stars, trees, snowmen, but the odd dinosaur too - and left to harden for decorating next week.

Dough recipe as follows:  1 cup corn flour, 2 cups bicarbonate of soda, 1¼ cups of water, cook, stirring, then turn out and knead.  Cover with damp cloth; hardens when exposed to air after a while.

Week ending 21st November 2008

Today I had lots of fun, when we arrived some of the parents were doing the set planning of our play jungle book and came up with some great ideas.  The little members of HEC were making playdoh shapes in the activity room.  In science we had a very challenging task today we had to make a chair, that someone could sit on, out of news paper and masking tape!!!!!  We came up with a 3 legged stool.  On the first and second try the chair gave way when one us of sat on it, so we put in reinforcements and made it stronger on the third time we succeeded!!  Many of the members were also busy making puppet spoons in the hall.  After lunch we did drama and were split into 3 groups my group ( the older ones ) did emotion today, we acted out a scene in a hospital waiting room.   The smaller ones were singing and playing instruments in circle time.  There was music technology in the lounge where we are all making our own CDs. We finished off the day with a great match of hockey we had to be very careful as the boys had made castle forts and dens in the playground.  We played around them and the game finished with a tie.......( I think ).   I’m very much looking forward to Friday.

Week ending 14th November 2008 (continued)

Today was another great day at HEC and started with some arts and craft in the activity room.  We also had beads, string and wire in the lounge where everyone got stuck in making bracelets and necklaces, and one of the mums brought in a doll making kit.  And followed on with a exciting match of hockey and reds won six three.  Just before lunch we had country dancing with another one of the many talented mums at HEC.  After lunch we had show and tell one family had been to see hamlet staring David Tennant, other children showed us things they had made earlier.  An Aikido coach came in and showed us some martial arts with a jo stick and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it he also taught us some Japanese words.  I had lots of fun today.

Blog Archives

October 2008

September 2008

Summer 2008