You've gotta love stamp collecting!

Thanks to Isobel's new found passion for stamp collecting and a very kind gift of some WHSmith vouchers, the kids have the stamp collecting bug!  Yesterday afternoon, as lunch was finished, they settled down to swap stamps and work out where they fitted in their albums.  I think a lot of my knowledge of Geography comes from a childhood passion for stamp collecting.  A huge amount of it popped back into my head as the children asked me where stamps should be placed in the albums.  This is good for someone who can't remember why she has climbed the stairs, the minute she gets to the top!!

The kids had all their geography books out, but they don't help with all the older names.  They had to delve into Encyclopedias and other reference books as well.  I watched as they shared the knowledge they had gained and helped each other along.  For instance, as you start collecting, you might make a page for Germany.  Then one of the children would realise that there are two different types of stamps for Germany.  You come across the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and a discussion develops about what happened.   We talk about the war and the division of the country;  that there was a physical wall in Berlin and that Germany was reunified in October 1990.

Now I had all sorts of activities planned for them to do, but I just left them too it and got on with the housework.  I love that about homeschooling.  We can just be so flexible and go with the flow! (and I occasionally get housework done!)