TBH, at the moment I can’t believe socialisation is thought of as an issue in HE. I guess whe all SB’s friends go to school it may be less manic.
Description of events
This morning we madly tidied the house as Chris’s Aunt and Uncle droppng in. SBis getting quite good at tidying up and helping, so thats def [domestic science] covered! We did some more writing her name on the thankyou letters,[writing] and then made her friend B a birthday card. [art] [B is the one on the right in the picture a few posts down, one of SB's best friends]. She drew a very creditable person, and I was impressed at how much better she is getting at representing people.
When the doorbell went, I thought it was the rellies, 2 hours early, but instead it was a friend popping by with her 2 little stars. I think I have blogged them before? Anyway, S1 slightly younger than SB, and S2 approaching 2. They get on v well, though there was a bit of a fracas over the pushchair for the dollies, and i had to do a rapid removal of felt tips!! A cup of tea and a chat and they went back to Wakefield. Got a nice photo of the 4 kids though.
Rellies arrived bang on time [while Chris blogging in fact, and I thought he was changing BB's nappy!!]. A nice natter and some late presents for the girls. SB much taken with the usbourne princess activities. We enjoyed parsnip and apple soup with crusty rolls together. Chris and SB had to leave precipitously due to B’s party. [socialisation] BB and I entertained guests till departure. I had hoped to have a bit of free-ish time, but read an article in Thurs Guardian which made me howl, so woke up BB for a cuddle!
SB returned with the obligatory party bag, and it contained a dice game. We played it together till bitter end, each having 2 counters. She didn’t try to cheat on the throws, didn’t mind going backwards, and didn’t mind that I won. She counts so well, that it was only when I read in the nursery prospectus that the early learning goal is to count to 10 that I thought anything of it. [numeracy,board games]. Anyway, this is the first time that we have played a board game as equals, so gets huge bit on blog!!
SB and I had a look at the DK world explorer, and she did seem to enjoy that one, particularly the games. She now happily says her north south east west from a get your boat to the treasure one. [geography, IT] That also works so science one only is duff. Actually she must have enjoyed it as she went back to it after her bath cos I hadn’t shut it down.
Other than that we have done a fair bit of playing, tickling etc. Not such a whiney day either. After bath, Chris gave her 2 tops to put on, so she insisted on putting a leg in each arm, and pulling up over bot [she has got small bot] When she then got the bottoms, she decided they could go on her head to keep the pretend rabbit ears warm lol!
BB is improving on the sitting front, and can sit on a squishy cushion for a bit without listing over! obviously aided by big bot and big nappies. She thinks this is hilarious! Still loving her play gym. At 17 weeks she is starting to show interest in the food we are eating – to no avail though, I intend introducing solids as near 6 months as poss!
todays summary – well, i actually felt a bit pressured by all the stuff to fit in, and would rather it wasn’t another birthday party day tomorrow! its quite late on, and the far side of Leeds, so SB will no doubt fall asleep in car on route home, and then be up half the night. Oh, I am being ungracious. It is nice for her to have such a social whirl, as she really is a v sociable girl, and thats one of the things I am desperately keen to maintain.
Renewable energy etc
my other bit of thinking has been around how to make this listed building as energy efficient as poss, and todays guardian magazine had a bit on that kind of thing. Firstly insulate roof to the hilt. chris doesn’t get on well with fibreglass, so we have been thinking of alternatives, and wool here gets a mention. Other optins are flax, or blown cellulose[treated newspaper]. SOme of the windows are secondary glazed, and some not, so it would be worth looking into that as well. I’ve also always fancied a wind generator or solar voltaic cells. Dunster of the BedZed project has a website with lowcost [relatively] products, we have alway fancied the self build, but couldn’t face it with new job, new baby etc – I know, cowardly!!. I think when we have a bit of money again, we might have a bit of a chat to the listed buildings inspector about what we could get away with! it is a shame that we can’t convert the conservatory into a full house height one though, cos I’ve always wanted one of those.
And don’t forget that those early learning goals apply to yr R as well. I was quite surprised when Pip started school to find lots of kids can’t count to five (Titch can) and have had no exposure to reading and this is fine. So counting, reading children at four are leaping ahead.
and we have eco self-build hankerings but it’s very much on the back burner. Sim’s folks have an ‘annex’ which is very beautiful and has geothermal underfloor heating- I really recommend it, it’s a very ambient sort of heat and lots of hot water.
You’ve warn me out. I struggle to cope with more than one event a day – lol. When are you moving? Can’t wait to see the beans again.
Karen xx
Not sure when we will move yet, ‘Mid-April’ has been mooted as a possible time, but we await exchange of contracts
Hi… just a quicky – how old is your SB? My son (5 and a half) has just got the DK World Explorer software, but i think it’s a little beyond him at the mo (save for the treasure hunt and the airport games)
Great blog, by the way – I *must* get one set up for our HE..
Cheers
j
She’s 4, and yes, it is beyond her at the moment for self directed looking.
The games are OK though, and we looked up a bit on Italy, as going there. However, its quite nice for us to flip through using the sticker book section, as she quite likes stickers IRL and so we see some animals etc – it was bears last time, and it takes you back to the map and forwards. I don’t want to sell this as Education with a capital, but it is education, as she is getting used to usng the IT medium to find things, how information can be accessed, as well as remembering what are fairly useless facts on their own, but what lights her little spark on the day.
At the moment, really our education is that of life, and trying to gradually incorporate the skillls that will help her self directed learning in the future – sne phonics/reading, literature, maths, writing, painting/art and then access knowledge, rather than on a ‘learning topic’ basis.
Long answer, but I think that answers your background q of why are we using something so over her head!!!!
Do blog! then we can all read, enjoy and get some ideas