A short holiday/educational trip - part two.

Lyme Regis has many, many, many fossils.  On Wednesday evening, we persuaded the girls away from the small sandy (imported from France we later learned) beach to have a bit of a fossil hunt on our own.  We didn't find very much, mostly imprints of ammonites, but it was still fun.

On Thursday, A, K & M went to The Fossil Workshop with the previous evening's finds, where they confirmed our suspicions of what they were, and they also went to the beach.  In the afternoon we went for a walk, having found a National Trust leaflet with a few circular walks among the information in the cottage.  It was very hot and really rather steep in places, but the (optional extra to the circular walk) climb to the top of Golden Cap was definitely worth it for the views.  Nana didn't join us for the extra bit, but the trig point was handy to rest the camera on and use the timer for a family photo of the four of us.

On top of Golden Cap.

There was some moaning from M, who has the shortest legs, but the very good ice-creams we got in Seatown helped.

Friday was the much anticipated fossil walk.  It was really good!  The two main leaders, Chris and Paddy, very clearly know their stuff and shared their knowledge and enthusiasm really well.  There were a number of brief talks at various points on the way to the beach, about what to look for and where, as well as information about the landscape both in terms of the geology and otherwise.  There was an old rubbish tip on the top of the cliff, as well as the cemetery, both of which having provided things other than fossils to be found on the beach below.  The weather was terrible, for fossil collecting that is, as it was dry and calm, although fortunately given the lack of shade it wasn't too hot.

We worked our way along the beach and were told what we were most likely to find in the different areas and it was impossible to not find something to see and of course collect.  The experts found lots, which they gave to the children and indeed adults.

Best find of the walk (by Chris).

What to look for - ammonite end on.

K's crinoid tentacle section find, along with others in a big rock.
(Correction - K tells me it's a 'stem' not a tentacle, although they were animals)

Fossilised tree trunk - it went right through the rock to the other side.

Chris talking, while Paddy split some nodules in the hope of finding fossils.

We have brought quite a few things home with us....

Our haul!

Fossilised wood on the right, with oyster shells to the left.

Coprolite aka poo!

M's haul of belemnites.

Tiny mineralised ammonites.

More ammonites.

Cretaceous sponge.

After returning back to the cottage for a rest and a cuppa, we went for another round of mini-golf, before having pizza and a final visit to the beach.

Saturday morning we finished packing before heading into the town, to return to The Fossil Workshop, where they cleaned up one of the ammonites from the fossil walk (which they will do for free if it was found on one of their walks).

Arnioceras ammonite - before clean up...

...and after.

Then it was time to head home after a lovely short break.  We have talked about returning already, possibly to do another fossil walk at a better time of year when the weather is 'better' i.e. worse!

A short holiday/educational trip - part one.

Let's face it, when you spent a few days somewhere interesting, even if the primary reason for the trip is a holiday, there will be learning!

After our trip to Dorset last September for the wedding of a friend of mine from school, A's mum aka Nana mentioned that she'd really like to visit the Jurassic coast.  We were all keen on the idea with the result that we have just returned from a trip to Lyme Regis for a few days.  We were there for four nights and three full days and we packed a lot in!

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, having stopped for a picnic lunch and a Devon cream tea en route at a place recommended by a colleague of A's, which was very good!  The cottage we were staying in was lovely; spacious, clean, light and airy, with fantastic views from two of the three bedrooms.

View from the main bedroom.

We headed down the ridiculously steep hill towards the Cobb and beach and explored the town and made some plans for the next few days.  K & M were very happy with the beach and we agreed that we would return for a while at least every day.

On Wednesday we headed to the town museum to book places on a fossil walk, which we did for the Friday.  The fossil walk included entrance to the museum, so we spent a couple of hours in there while we were there.  Lyme Regis has a very rich and varied history, from the pre-historical Jurrasic coast, a Parliamentarian stronghold during the Civil War, to being a pigeon post centre during the Second World War, as well as being the setting for numerous works of fiction, most famously The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles and Jane Austen's Persuasion.

K & M although they did look at other parts of the museum spent most of their time in the section about Lyme's most famous resident, Mary Anning and the fossils.

Fossils!

Sketch of an Icthyosaur Skull.

The text says:  Icthyosaur Skull drawn with Fossilised Belemnite Ink.  Mary Anning discovered the belemnites had fossilised ink sacs - as modern squid do.  She, with her friend and fellow scientist Elizabeth Philpot, ground the fossil ink sacs to make sepia ink.  Elizabeth drew this picture of an icthyosaur skull with the fossil ink.

M, K & Nana.

A Lego Icthyosaurus!

After heading back up the hill to the cottage for some lunch, we followed a sign to Dinosaurland.  We weren't entirely sure what to expect, but what we found wasn't it!  It was an "old-fashioned" museum, no whistle and bell interactional things, but lots to look at and read about and very definitely worth a visit.  There were plenty of fossils, as you'd expect, but also a modern natural history section and also what they called a time gallery, with scenes from geological periods through to the Cretaceous. 

Some interesting things that we learned (that's the adults as well as the girls!):

Tides - they are affected by the sun (around 30%) as well as the moon (70%).  It is when the moon and sun are alined that the biggest difference between high and low tides occurs and these Spring tides get their name from the old Norse for swell.  When the sun and moon are out of line and work against each other and the difference between high and low tides is the smallest, or Neap tides from the old Norse for scarcity.

We also learned that tides work around points, where there is no difference between high and low tides, at the centre of these points is a rotating whirlpool called an amphidrome.  This phenomenon was proven to exist by Captain Hewitt of HMS Fairy, who anchored his ship at the appropriate spot and found no tidal variation.

There is also a relatively small display about Darwin, although no mention of Wallace (we had an interesting conversation about this with the owner later), which also talked about Stephen Jay Gould and his development of the theory of evolution with the idea of punctuated equilibrium, which suggests that evolution occurs in fits and starts when changes in the environment give cause for that change.  This is something that I really want to find out more about!

Something that was interesting as regards evolution was that there was a very conscious decision to emphasise that evolution is not a question of a process of improvement resulting in man, but rather a one of change to best fit with a changing environment.

The girls really liked this limerick!

Some beautiful ammonites.

The girls really enjoyed finding the answers to the quiz sheet that they were given to do too.

Later we had a ice-creams and a round of mini-golf followed by fish n chips for tea.

Since returning home, I have had a look at Dinosaurland's website and really like their philosophy for many reasons, but particularly this, admittedly rather lengthy, part:

We do not have any so called interactive or hands on displays. People come to see the fossils, not animations or games. If they want to see animations or play games, they can go to a theme park or play on their computer.

We do not believe in dumbing down for our visitors. People are interested in science and knowledge and are able to understand complex issues which are presented clearly and without jargon. We fully expect our younger visitors to know that the Iapetus Ocean separated Scotland and England 400 million years ago. Encouragingly, most of them have no problem getting this as an answer on our quiz for children aged 5 and older.

There is a strong trend in the public museums to reduce the number of specimens on display and to have flashy displays with big pictures, animations, special lighting and cabinets. This is of course vastly expensive and needs overpaid specialists to come in and do it for them. There seems to be a culture that how it is displayed is more important than what is displayed. It seems to be that image is more important than substance.

There is the idea that people and particularly young children, need things to be simplified and made more glitzy to be interesting. We would argue that the specimens are exciting enough as it is. There is also the idea that young children need to be able to run around or they will not be interested. It is our experience that children know the difference between a playground and a museum if you give them the chance.

One of the great delights of being at the museum every day is seeing the reaction of the children as they open the door to go in and are confronted by a wall of ammonites ranging in size from a penny to a wheel. The usual reaction is ‘Wow!’ and the children appreciate the specimens rather than the way they are displayed. 

I mentioned a conversation at the end of our visit, when I asked about the decision not to mention Wallace in the section about Darwin.  Owner and palaeontologist, Steve Davies, gave an interesting and convincing answer, talking about Darwin's years of research and study along with the actual theory of evolution, as opposed to Wallace who, while he independently came up with a similar idea, did not put in the years of research to go along with it as Darwin did.   He did take agree that perhaps a mention of Wallace as the trigger for Darwin's eventual publication of his work might be a good idea though.  We also spoke about the name of the museum giving perhaps a misleading impression, something that he and his wife have discussed at length apparently.  Whatever it's called, this museum really is well worth a visit.

Meeting Michael Morpurgo

We were very fortunate today to be able to go to an event that was part of Derby Book Festival, to 'meet' Michael Morpurgo.  A friend, J had spotted this event for Derby schools and had got in touch to ask if home educators could go.  She had received a positive response, along with 6 tickets and we were very lucky to be able to go along with her and her daughter Mi.  Since that made 5 of us, I asked my friend C if her daughter G would like to come too, since I was fairly sure she'd be interested and happy to come with us without her mum.  All four girls were the 'right' age for the event too, which was for school years 5 & 6 (9 to 11 year olds).

G, M & K in the foyer beforehand.

Michael Morpurgo was a very engaging, interesting speaker.  He talked generally about how he goes about writing his books and where he gets his ideas from.  He recommended 'telling' stories rather than 'writing' them to avoid getting overwhelmed by the blank page.  He then spoke about three books of his in particular and where the inspiration for them had come from, in one case talking to someone at a boring drinks party!  He read a short extract from one of his books, Listen to the Moon, after explaining that it was inspired by a medal that his wife had found as a child when she was isolated with chicken pox.  The medal commemorating the sinking of the Lusitania turned up again decades later, when he was inspired by it and other things he'd read about to write the book, as he also explains here.

Michael Morpurgo!

After reading the extract, he then took questions from the audience.  There were a lot of children there, six children from each of the junior schools in Derby, as well as us, so clearly not everyone was going to get to ask their question, but he did his best to answer as many as possible.  Some of the questions were quite predictable and to be honest had already been answered in the course of his talk, but there was one in particular that stuck out for me and from his response, I think for Michael Morpurgo too.  The question was asked with tongue in cheek, but after acknowledging this, it was answered very much seriously: How do you feel about your fame and fortune?  He responded briefly about the nature of fame in today's society and also about how he feels it's much better to come to it later in life when you are better prepared, having experienced normal life first, to deal with it.  He also mentioned that while having money isn't bad things to aspire to, it's also very important to realise that having money separates you from people, which isn't a good thing.

A final thing to note, he very much encouraged the children to read his books, firstly encouraging them to borrow them from libraries, because they are free, and if you are going to buy them, wait for the paperback. So all in all, a massive thumbs up for Mr Michael Morpurgo and thank you J for the chance to 'meet' him!

After we parted ways with J and Mi, we headed back for lunch and play (for the girls along with L, G's sister) and chatting for C and me and had a generally lovely afternoon!

Something a bit different - some me time in Norway!

I've been a bit rubbish at keeping up with blog lately, but definitely have something to write about that I want to have a record of, although it's nothing to do with home ed.

Although I have been away on my own overnight before, I'd never left the girls for longer than one night and never been in a different country from them!  Last summer I had to decide whether I wanted to go with my choir to Trondheim (our choirmaster lived there for six years, hence the connection).  I wasn't really sure for various reasons, but decided it was too good an opportunity to let pass me by, so signed up for it.  As well as being ambivalent about leaving K & M for 5 days, I was also unsure about spending so much time with people who I really don't know very well at all.  Choir is once a week (and I quite often miss it when A is away with work) for a couple of hours, most of which we are, as you'd expect, singing.  Many of those going on the trip are good friends with at least one or two other members outside of the choir and I don't know anyone else well at all.  I'm also considerably younger than the vast majority of the other members and therefore at a different stage in life, most of them have grown up children and many even grandchildren.  Finally, while I like people, I'm really not keen on them en masse!  As an introvert, spending time with a large group of people I don't really know is not generally top of my list of things to do.

In short, it was fantastic and I had been worrying for nothing.  Everybody was lovely, inclusive when we had free time but in no way pushy, so I could hole up in my hotel room to recharge when necessary.

On Wednesday 27th June, we met in the library carpark to go by coach to Manchester airport and on the way we were treated to pain au chocolat and bucks fizz, which was a nice surprise.  All went smoothly with the flights, first to Oslo and then on to Trondheim. 

Snow on the mountains between Oslo & Trondheim.

We were met at the airport by two of the members of the choir who were our hosts and taken to Hell!

It's the name of a place nearby.

We were then dropped at our hotel and left to settle in and then we went out in various groups to find somewhere for our evening meal. 

Thursday, we were taken for a sight-seeing tour around the town in a couple of coaches, getting off in a number of places to have a look around, hear about the history of the town (Trondheim used to the capital of Norway, so there's quite a lot to hear!) and in a couple of the places have a sing.

A view down over the city.

We also stopped for a very good lunch in a place down near the shore of the fjord.

The fjord - it's a big one!

We had a couple of hours back at the hotel, before being picked up again and taken to the venue of the concert that we were taking part in along with three Norwegian choirs, two of which are lead by choirmaster B, who is a good friend of our choirmaster, S, and who comes to do a workshop in Nottingham with us each year.  Before the concert, we were treated to a meal of 'sod' which is a traditional Norwegian mutton broth with meatballs and vegetables in, which was very good.

The concert went very well, and the fact that we had learned a song in Norwegian, one particular to Trondheim too, went down so well that some of the audience were moved to tears!  As well as the four individual choirs doing their own thing, we also all performed a couple of songs together, one Norwegian (but with the equivalent of tra-la-la instead of words) and Lean On Me.  It was quite an experience singing together with that many people.  I haven't got any photos of this, but you can have a look the public album on the choir's Facebook page here.  This one is a slightly blurry one of our choir and this one is just after we'd all sung together.

Friday we had most of free to explore ourselves and I spent most of it with two lovely ladies.  We went to a museum situated in the bishops palace grounds, which was the Armoury and Museum of the Resistance.  It was fascinating to find out about the Second World War from a perspective you don't usually hear about.  We then went to the National Museum of Decorative Arts, which had a wide variety of things to look at.

After a couple of hours recharging, our host choir came to meet us at the hotel and we walked through the town to the Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge) that we sing about in the Norwegian song we learned.  On the bridge we sang that and a few other songs, before going for a drink (and more singing) in a pub and then moving on to another pub for a meal, more drinking and more singing!

Saturday we sang at various places around the town, in a church, on the stage in the market square and in the main pedestrian shopping area.

My view in the shopping area.

After a pause for lunch, we regrouped outside the cathedral, where we went in for a short service when the organ was being played.  It's the biggest organ in Europe, recently renovated, and has 9600 pipes.  I am not generally a fan of organ music, but two out of the three pieces that were played were absolutely beautiful.  The first was a solo and the second with a chorister with the most amazing treble voice.  The third piece was more what I would expect of organ music, loud and crashy to the point that for me it just became noise.  I did later have a fascinating conversation with another member of the choir, who has synesthesia, about it though.  She sees colours when she hears music and for her, what for me is noise, is very clearly defined.

We also got to sing in the cathedral, which was apparently a great honour, I'm pretty sure it was a case of 'not what you know...'

The last evening was the party, which was great fun.  As well as some great food, there was, unsurprisingly, more singing.  Both choirs sang as well as some smaller groups from within the choirs.  When we sat down at the tables, we were asked to mix up with the Norwegians and I ended up on a table with B, the Norwegian choirmaster, among others.  He is such a lovely bloke, the twinkliest person, I've ever met and an absolutely brilliant conductor.

We headed back to the hotel at about 11 o'clock, with the sun just setting, although it didn't really get properly dark at all, which was a very strange experience.

View from the coach at 11.05pm.

Sunday it was an early start, with the coaches leaving the hotel to take us to the airport at 7 o'clock.  We arrived at the airport just in time for a fire alarm, then in Oslo were asked if anyone would like to wait for the next flight, as the flight was overbooked (none of our party took the airline up on the offer).  We arrived back home around 4pm, all rather tired, but very happy after a fantastic trip.  Oh and I spread the word about home education during it, as naturally it's something that comes up in conversation when you chat to people.

I arrived home to an empty house, as A and the girls had gone to Leicester for a korfball tournament, but was leapt upon with hugs the minute they got back.  As expected, they'd survived perfectly well without me!