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We’ve ended up in Coventry for appointments the last couple of weeks, so we decided to pop into the city centre for lunch, as Kris had taken the other two for a look around the Cathedral ruins whilst I was at an appointment with Milo, they were desperate to show us around, so back we went, the kids loved running and jumping around the ruins, and there’s lots of information posts around for them to read.
After this we walked into the city centre, there’s lots currently going on around the West Midlands with the Commonwealth games being held in Birmingham, we stopped to watch some dancing by a dance academy, there were games the kids could join in with, but as everyone was absolutely ravenous we opted to find food first and come back. Costa was the first place we came across, and who doesn’t need a coffee! Just outside Costa in the upper precinct there are floor fountains, it wasn’t all that warm, but if there’s water spurting out of the floor my kids just have to run through! Well I say run through, they were jumping, twirling, seeing what happened if they stood on the holes, I think they spent about 40 minutes in there. By the time they came out they were drenched! But they’d had lots of fun and honestly it’s just water isn’t it, as a side note I have now decided to sort out a bag to keep in the car with a spare towel and spare clothes for these spontaneous jumping in water moments, as the kids were now freezing we had to make an emergency dash to Primark to grab some dry clothes. The reactions of the sales assistants suggests this happens a LOT! lol So if you plan on visiting take spare clothes.
We had another appointment this week for Milo, Kris went and brought us lunch for when we came out, so Milo asked if we could eat it in the Cathedral, we sat and enjoyed some sushi whilst admiring the views and people watching. After Milo ran around climbing on all the brick ruins around the inside, we had a conversation with a lady who was walking around advising people on the Cathedral as part of the Commonwealth, he told her some of the facts he’d learnt about the Cathedral being bombed, and she suggested we go and look around the small museum.
The museum is situated towards the back of the ruins and only has step access, so isn’t at all accessible for wheelchairs, mobility impaired or pushchairs, which is annoying when we come with a wheelchair user who cannot access this space.
It doesn’t take long to look around, as you walk in you can sit at old school desks to watch a short film, or you can continue walking through.
Milo loved looking around, we found an old Singer sewing machine, which Milo was happily shouting about the fact we have one similar at home, I spoke to him about how it worked with the treadle and how that is similar to the foot pedal on mine. He then seen a record player with some vinyl and declared, “Hey mom, take a picture of me with a music disk!” So here he is with the “music disk” *rolls eyes* we have a record player at home, these kids with their unlimited ability to stream music!
We discussed gas masks and how they look very scary he said he wouldn’t like to wear one (me either!), he then spotted a rotary telephone and wanted me to take a photo of him phoning his brother, I was actually amazed that he knew how to use it to be honest, as we don’t even have a standard house phone at home. 
We could hear a siren as we entered the bunker section, I explained that it’s an air raid siren and it would have been the sound to alert everyone that they needed to get into the bunkers quickly, he said it sounded scary, and he wouldn’t have liked it. As we walked around I was pointing out things that his Nan, (my Mum) had or grew up with which he found fascinating and decided that we should bring Nanny with us next time we come.
He was surprised to see a very old version of Monopoly as we’ve recently being playing it, he was fascinated at how different it looks.
He really enjoyed looking around as did I, on the way out there is a guest book for you to leave a comment, your names and where you’re from, I asked him what we should put and he responded with, “Awesome with really interesting facts!” They also have several tap to donate machines throughout the museum, asking for £3, or whatever you choose, which given the amount of things in there to see it’s more than worth a £3 donation and definitely worth keeping this piece of history alive.
Milo’s already requested we need to go again so he can show the others around as well as Nanny.
In home ed all this, the conversations, the hands on tactile experience is what counts. We discuss things as we are in front of it, this can then be extended later or over the next few days / weeks by researching further. We keep dipping in and out of both World War I and World War II as things come up. Milo after watching and learning about Titanic became obsessed with the RMS Carpathia which from further research he learned sank during WWI after being torpedoed. As we follow a more child led approach we take things further or come back to things as and when rather than go all in and it becomes overwhelming or they’re just not ready for the information.
Nicci x
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