We’ve been working our way through more Roald Dahl chapter books these past few months, including ‘The Witches’, ‘James and the Giant Peach’ and ‘George’s Marvelous Medicine’… and having a blast I must say. This weekend as we were midway through ‘George’s Marvelous Medicine’, we had a little intermission to bring the book to life by concocting up our own version of the marvelous medicine. Materials and equipment Water Food colouring Containers, cups, bowls Assortment of kitchen utensils (spoons, whisks, pipettes, syringes) Nathan and Grace spent close to an hour mixing, pouring, stirring the coloured waters together to make their ‘medicine’ mixture. And then came the magic bit--I set out some bicarbonate soda and vinegar and instructed the children how to mix them into their medicine to create a marvelous fizzy effect. Afterwards the insisted on bottling up a sample of their marvelous to keep.  But it was purely for research purposes. I would definitely NOT want to ventur...

I just had to take a bit of time to record my feeling of immense pride at this moment. For this little guy. This week at school, the music teacher had planned a ‘Performance Week’ where each child was free to prepare a song or dance or play a musical instrument in class. “To give them an opportunity to perform in front of an encouraging audience” , as she put it. And Nathan apparently took the spotlight that day. I spoke to the music teacher afterwards to get the lowdown… “He did very well! He was the little superstar of that day!” she told me. “Oh, I’m sure every child performing was a little superstar in their own right”, I said modestly. “True, true… but I have to say, he was definitely a cut above the rest. Most kids at this age just go up and play something they made up on the spot just for fun. But I can see that Nathan put a lot of effort and preparation into his performance”, she assured me. Nathan’s proud recount of the experience with a beaming face… “I played re...