Monthly Archives: October 2010

photos

Posted on October 21, 2010 by | 5 comments

i have put up the photos of vivien’s funeral on flickr. Such a hard set to put up. Just cannot stop crying. How can it be that my sister is dead. in the end I still couldn’t actually look at the pictures, so they are tagged with everyone there. i also decided to use my vivien tag again, as it was all about her, how much we loved her and how much we miss her. We all spent the service sobbing, and at the wake, deliberately celebrated being a family and friends and her life. So if we look happy, smiling and laughing, they are all bought with much effort. And in part to rebalance after such an emotionally devastating experience. It doesn’t mean we loved her less.

I can’t yet look at the pictures, but they are done.

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Posted in vivien

historyetc – egypt, joseph and sumer

Posted on October 20, 2010 by | 18 comments

today was always going to be a busy day, and having an unsettled night didn’t put me at the best. FWIW hump day yesterday was for me, it is my lowest day i think. trying not to have a blog of sadness tho, as I am still overwhelmingly grieving but carrying on. but despite poor sleep, jumped out of bed as actually day too interesting not to put ‘get on with it’ head on.

first was Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. my girls have always been read greek myths and legends, and SB has had quite a passion for them in the past, and we have bacchus in the garden, so they ‘got’ a lot of the greek stuff. me, i loved it. yeah, it was a bit teen smolder at times, but a fun romp with some good effects. bit scary in places, SB said it was a bit scary, but she was hugging L who was quite scared, and that made her better :) BB found eating another choc button made her not so scared. hmmmm, chip and block springs to mind! lecielrouge had arrived first, and we had a backrow viewing. I would def recommend the film as a PG, with it actually having some pretty scary moments. the deependers also there, as well as some other home ed friends, so quite a crowd. :) it was a fab start to the day :)

we were then slightly late back to home for historyetc, and poor G and family getting cold on drive :blush: . had decided that we would be brisk at moving on, so had planned to do a full size joseph coat first with ‘peep head’ like seaside things, so cut up fabric squares, and Z drew an outline. the children then did some pretty fab gluing on of shapes. unfortunately BB put hers wrong, and wouldn’t try again, so i left Z in charge of glue happy children, and with S and G we made a pyramid out of sugar cubes, and equanimity was restored :) . pasta still not being quite ready, i lay out G’s pharoah masks crafts on <3 conservatory <3 table. and a number of children got going with those, some did the colour in egyptian gods on the coffee table, some did more sugar pyramids, and SB and E got completely messy gluing sand onto card to make a Giza diorama :)

P1070564 P1070569

we had a break for pasta, and the wolves were definitely ravening :lol: prob due to lack of snack time, having been in the cinema :) lovely rice crispy cakes for afters as well. then, back to it! fimo scarab beetles, amulets etc in the conservatory, card pyramids in the sitting room and more pharoah mask painting in the conservatory. K did some Sumerian rules in the kitchen whilst SB and L made the most ENORMOUS sugar pyramid, and then she made some honey cake – which was yummy – mostly with bB and J i think. I think pretty much every child did most of the crafts, which was good.

We also had a stab at making a handprint tree. not sure about final effect – we need G and M to be grass as well, and a handprint of C at least to come from france, or maybe she and R could do 2 to make a quadrant as a sun?? we are thinking we might get these made into business cards as official home educators cards. perhaps using the moo free offer – we need a motto in latin and some idea of blurb to put on them? i have put the pics up there to be fiddled with by merry, as she said she would, to get best effect, and if K can do a motto we are away!

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All of us then got photographed being Joseph :lol: i LOVED that! and then much rabbit adoration took place we all agreed how v tiny hamster is, tho the twin black otters are not much bigger. and Gerda is enormous :) . At the end of the day tho, we had to say goodbye to shadow/biscuit, who has now gone to live with her new family :cry: I am sure she will be v happy. :lol: at myself tho, when merry said she had never put 2 girl rabs together, i nearly said ours had settled in OK but obv one a boy!! some adult chatting. I have really enjoyed both historyetc sessions, and hope not just be thinking how well they work, with the children getting chance to play, chat and have fun whilst doing something relevant :)

BB had swimming, SB only had judo, as brownies cancelled, but we did practice the broken cords for her piano exam, and they were much better :) then we snuggled in front of a DVD as she felt shattered – bless, so do I! i plan to watch apprentice, and do a bit of flickring, as need to get todays photos up before Z starts nagging ;)

photoset on flickr

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, General, history, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

tuesday is my hump day!

Posted on October 19, 2010 by | 2 comments

well, we got up earlier today, after an exceptionally late night. SB just didn’t settle at all, and so was a very tired bean when she got up. awww . anyway, bit more of a discussion on 5 a days and what counted, how big etc over brekkie, then a look at part of the first chapter of real science for kids level 2. SHe did understand it, and we talked around it, but then got a bit worried that if she didn’t she would have to change science group, as she loves her science group. ((SB)) so i reassured her that currently the groups weren’t changing, but that if she found the level 2 difficult, then we would read the level 1 version. And i think though the group BB is in will be doing the level 1 version for labwork, that i will be reading the pre-k explanation to her beforehand, and think the various families may want to bob between the different levels, as more important to get understanding than be pushed ahead. [such an advantage to have a flip book!]

We then got down to a sturdy morning of home ed in my lovely conservatory. Hmm, i think i have forgotten to mention how much i love my conservatory :) .

SB did some galore park science, history and english, and then some clarinet prac. BB did some maths – with some serious argument over whether nothing/zero existed, whether you were allowed to put it in sums etc, and she remains unconvinced over its validity. giggle! She read a 1a magic key story – again with a grumble over the word the [obv that shouldn't exist either!] and i read to her the next story in the chaucers canterbury tales, the one with the bottoms, so she particularly loved that ;) we also finished painting her spider puppet, and later strung it together, tho as we had lost instructions, don’t know that it is quite right… Both did a bit of colouring as well.

we played with rabbits again – making sure we get enough rabbit love in before the bigger babies leave for their new homes. :)

after a nice lunch in our LOVELY conservatory we did some baking. SB wanted to use up left over rice crispies and marshmallows, so we went to do that, but we didn’t have enough marshmallows… and BB then wanted to make choc rice crispie cakes, but we didn’t have enough rice crispies or any choc… so we went to the shops and then made the cakes, and now have more marshmallows and rice crispies than wen we started 1 :roll: we also made some fruity snow from the galore park science book. SB really is quite an accomplished baker and cook, really good at following instructions and tweaking things so they work. it was a fun bake :)

SB and i also got in a piano prac before she went out for swimming. trudging is getting sort of a glimmer of hope about it, and the other 2 pieces are ok and should pass already, but time will make them better. so we started with arpeggios. she isn’t certain she will ever play them :( but we will see. we all did some ds-ing together with animal crossing and also mario bros games. we ate a chippery tea [totally ruining the 5 a day thing!] watching the primates episode of life.

now i must try and get things a bit organised for historyetc tomorrow.

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, Cooking, daubing and making, early maths skills, history, literacy, music, pre reading, SB-PE, science, Stringbean's HE, writing

gotta get movin’ !

Posted on October 18, 2010 by | 2 comments

hmm, the plan had been to do 3 bits of HE in the morning and then fun craft this aft as my last week off work. however, due to feeling somewhat fragile from the w/e i had a sleep in, so BB watched dvds and SB stayed in bed reading famous 5 till rousted at 11! some riot act read, and actually the home ed she then did was v good, but v long, and she had golf in the aft, which i hadn’t remembered, so no crafting :( . we plan to do better tomorrow as baking in the afternoon, but she and daddy have been reminded! laying in bed reading books all v well, but…

so, she did some more of the galore park geography, and was working out distances and place references all v happily, after a bit of extra encouragement and help. but must have taken an hour. maths took way over an hour, due to distractability etc! but was done really thoroughly. golf lesson was doing a half swing to develop her swing – which she needs to practice. SHe had snack and then ballet lesson. After that we did a piano prac together. pretty much nailed song of erin, gavotte getting there, and stomping needs a fair bit more work. scales, well the majors ok, so now going to do arpeggios and chromatic and then minors last.

BB and I did some music theory [little children book 2] and explode the code. she just can’t get her head round ‘the’ and has a hissy fit each time the word comes up! we painted some more of her kit spider, played with the bunnies and she played with various reptiles :) we also did a v short piano. She then had a VERY long bath! i read her some of the comic canterbury tales, which she v much enjoyed.

the bunnies themselves are all adorable. the big ones are so cuddly, will be sad to see them go :( and the littlies are old enough now for a tiny bit of a pet :) gerda is so much bigger, and hamster def the smallest :) BB loved picking them up. the big buns all love dandelions, and also eat the burgess rabbit food [for those picking up rabs this week] and have been acclimatised to all sorts of veg.

Anyway, lovely eve, nice dinner – which chris emphasised was at table rather than dvd, so we had a discussion about Newton, man and measurement and oranges and apples. Sb is now recording our 5 a day. we all did rather well today, lets see if we carry on :) . we did watch part of a DVD about fish before bedtime, and SB decided to read a fact book or 2 in bed – she took up a rubbish one and a horrible egyptian one anyway, as that will take her to 6 :) . we are back to another roman mystery now at bed time – sirens of surrentum, and it opened with a kiss, to SB’s disgust!

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, daubing and making, General, geography, music, noises and sounds, numeracy, pre reading, Stringbean's HE

Changing science at latinetc

Posted on October 18, 2010 by | 4 comments

i have loved doing the science bit of latinetc. doing crazy fun experiments and seeing happiness and laughter on the faces of the children there, as well as talking, discussing and enjoying science really has given me a buzz.
Latinetc orig started in oct 2007 had had a freeform starting point. The families were slightly different, we didn’t do science each time, and children way way smaller! We did taste testing then!

the families changed slightly, and as the children got older, we grouped them, and made it a bit more formal, but we have covered such a lot! I am grouping the flickr set here, mostly for my benefit!

Chemistry

acids and alkali 2007,1
acids and alkali – 2007, 2
starch and spies – 2009
atoms and molecules – 2009
volcano experiments – 2009
polymers 1 – 2009
separating – 2009
more polymers – 2009
acid base 2 – 2009
working out the substance – 2009
making invisible inks – 2009
reduction reactions with copper sulphate – 2009
chemical flames – 2009
chromatography – 2009
crystal structure – 2009
microscope crystals – 2009
co2 – 2010
acids plus alkali – metal salts 2010
density – sugar rainbow solutions 2010
cornstarch gloop polymers 2010
acids and metals and testing for hydrogen – redox 2010

biology

senses – taste 2007
heart – measuring and dissection 20082008
heart – anatomy and circulation 2008
lungs – physiology 2009
lungs – anatomy 2009
CPR and bones – 2009
fossils – 2009
anatomy craft – 2009
DNA – 2009
microbiology 1 – 2010
microbiology 2 2010
fish dissection – 2010
microbiology 3 – 2010
roots and shoots microscope – 2010
microbiology 4 – 2010
chlorophyll – 2010
choice chambers – 2010
pond dipping – 2010

physics

floating and sinking 2008
cartesian divers 2008
magnets 2008
electricity – circuits etc 2008
energy – 2008
forces – 2008
forces 2 – 2008
forces 3 – 2008
forces 4 – 2008
optics – 2009 fieldtrip
heat/fire – 2009
waves 1 – 2010
waves 2 – 2010
optics – 2010 [no photos!]

yeah, i think that is a good list to be proud of! i have a few more ideas planned, but talking to group and then firming up, it is felt that perhaps having a going away and thinking about it, and perhaps formailising experiment write up may be helpful for some. SO having chatted a lot and discussed with other friends, we are going to do it slightly differently. i think i have used up lots of my top-of-head ideas, so we are going to be trying out real science 4 kids. level 2 chemistry for older group, and level 1 for younger. this has the advantage of being internet accessible, for a trying and not buying option unless sure is working for us. and also the interesting ‘cog’ add ons. not sure whether the levels quite right, as we are a bit age diverse, but can see… I am hoping they will have had the reading bit done at home, i can check with the questions, and then we do the lab work, and if i can find other speriments to fit i will, to keep the sessions fun and practical. If it doesn’t work for the group, we can think again.

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Posted in Books, Butterbean's HE, General, investigating, online resources, science, Stringbean's HE

Concerts and Continuity

Posted on October 17, 2010 by | 1 comment

we went down to my parents for the weekend. They have been much worried about me, and I think they are reassured that all will be OK given some time and a better break! We went for the 25th anniversary concert of an orchestra mum and I were founder members of, and viv joined a bit later. I had a lovely time playing before with them, including the first mvt of beeethovens violin concerto :) and even after i left, returned for a number of concerts, including
the 10th and the 20th reunion concerts, both with mum and sister. Mum and I [and viv as offer made in July] were asked if we would like to play this time. we said no, tho i sort of wish we had said yes, tho on the other hand the tchaik 1 is total nightmare – and that was the only bt we thought we would be playing, but as it turned out those returners played the whole concert, including mendelsohn violin [ooh] and butterworth banks of green willow [aah]. Anyway, mum, dad and I took SB with us, and enjoyed the whole concert, and SB was really good at not jiffling and looking interested, even tho tchaik 1 on the turgid side! but what reduced us to tears was the dedication of the green willow – a strings heavy piece – to my dear sister vivien. :cry: Still SAK as i write this. I think all 3 of us had tears dripping down through the whole piece, beautiful that it is.

Once we had recovered – in the lovely Mendelssohn, we could enjoy the rest of the concert. it was fab meeting people again, some who we had seen recently at viv’s funeral, but some others that i went to music centre, or were taught by. And also one of mum’s school friends there too. After the concert, all old members were invited ‘backstage’ to enjoy some champagne to toast the longevity of the orchestra and hug previous friends and desk partners :) and too our total shock, mum and i got flowers as founder members!! SB found all this chatting bit quite boring. luckilly i took ds for her :) .

we got home late to find BB still awake, so i sang her to sleep – aw like doing that :) and SB went to sleep fairly instantly too.

next day chatting and playing games with my parents. SB caught up her 25 on this weeks ticksheet by doing 2 piano pracs, verbal reasoning and spelling book – good girl!! [actually took her to 28]. Dad set up a measuring and finding game in the garden which they both enjoyed. SB was a bt tierd and fragile with wailing at every knock, and BB had a right roayl strop, so i told her off for being ungrateful and greedy :smile: oh well!! lovely lunch from mum.

We then took a too boisterous BB and a slightly droopy SB on a geocache walk with my mum, a lovely walk across fields near where they live. i remember doing this walk loads as a child, and then courting chris I think we went too as a short cut to a nice pub. Rather more hideous memories of it being the cross country route of middle school! Actually the middle school maintain this geocache, and we found it easily, exchanged tat, and put in the daddybean TB. As we walked back, we walked past the scout hut, and the road to it has been named after a friend and neighbour who died suddenly in 50′s – another tearful moment. SO feeling quite a memory lane weekend, and wish that you could sometimes just pop back in time, just to relive and feel the moments, not necessarily to change.

straightforward drive home, and my fav [i think, tho this does change!] overture played on classic fm. i will leave you wth that at end! girls in bed, but not asleep. rabbits all safe, and chrs and i cold, so heating on from 2moro!

part one

part 2

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Posted in language, music, music to love, Out and About, vivien, writing

duvet day!

Posted on October 15, 2010 by | 2 comments

predominantly for my big girl, who finally managed to completely get up at lunch time, having been happily wrapped in her duvet reading a book since 10am, when i had woken her up – giggle, i can’t imagine who she takes after! :lol: It was supposed to be a mega catch up home ed day for all our lazy days this week! ah well, we have enjoyed each others company a lot this week, even if we have neither been ‘productive’ or gone out much! i am going to declare it a companionship week :)

BB, obviously, had been up, and was watching dvd’s on lizards and amphibians. she really loves them, and has asked for a bracelet like mine, but with lizard and frog charms for xmas [they are having something small from us, as getting 1/4 each of trampoline for birthday and xmas]. I don’t know of many small children who have remained as determinedly fixated on lizards/dinosaurs/amphibians for so long. pretty much since she could speak. she then went off to play a complicated game with her lizards and frogs. SB also fancies a charms bracelet, but wants quite an individualised one, so have handed over some likes from other bracelets, and we will see what happens [fingers crossed!]

We did do some home ed today – since this is a home ed blog, this is something of a relief. SB did some maths, science workbook, galore park english and non verbal reasoning – ooh that sounds like quite a lot! SHe still didn’t write the english in sentences tho, will have to remind her again next time! BB and i did some reading practice together, and a tinsy bit of maths. we all did story of the world 1 chapter 6, just need to do chapter 7 before wed :) . no piano got done, as we had made the mistake of lighting the fire in the front room, and that was sooooo nice and warm…

I spent a while on the phone today as uncle D has got a v bad knee infection where he had a knee replacement, so had a surgical debridement today, and has 2 weeks in hospital wth iv ants before they decide, presumably, whether to take out his replacement :( he is feeling rottenly unwell with it. I have got a pavlovian response to the phone ringing of my heart dropping to my feet, and it just isn’t pleasant.

i also painted a tiny square of glass to more or less match with the others to go in our window. very proud of it, as tho not identical, pretty much fits, and if i am lucky, will stay in the house even if we end up moving on. :) I played stork’s nest with BB and SB [i lost!] and a complicated game of blokus crossed with ludo frogs with BB [i lost!]. :lol:

chris bodged a temporary extension onto the rabbit hutch, as the 4 big babies quite big and need a teenager pad :) he has also put all the panes of glass back into window, so i guess paintng next :) .

the rabbits are adorable, and it is hard to part with the older babies, but glad to know what good homes they are going to. flopsy is def most the amenable rabs of them all. will be perfect for aprillia to cuddle :) . fudge just soooo fluffy, so t-bird can have a good cuddle too ;) . lupin has a bit of character, and is happy to be cuddled and also happy to pootle about doing her own thing. Biscuit is a bit shyer than the others, but does sit beautifully for a cuddle once persuaded to not hide. they all v much adore dandelion leaves, and have been handled and loved on a more than once daily basis, and have no bad habits! even more or less litter trained… awww. the baby rabs are quite a mixed bunch. they are now findng their way around the hutch, tho i have made it so they can’t get into the run yet. the white stripe baby [currently called Gerd due to her statuesque build] is 2ce as big as the other babies, and the fawn one is quite a bit smaller [attracting some of my worry, tho she seems quite healthy]

we finished the day with a snuggle watching jem do some explosions, and searched on ebay, and found all the ingredients required to do at home – hmmm!!! well, only the earlier explosives. it was quite clear watching the prog that the later explosives not such a good idea…

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, early maths skills, General, history, literacy, numeracy, pre reading, science, Stringbean's HE, writing

Royal Institution

Posted on October 15, 2010 by | Leave a comment

I am glad to see that they have changed their minds, and are now having a parity price structure with school educated chldren. though it is optimised for school children – not sure what that means?? dumbed down? ANyway, thankyou. the pricing structure is being reviewed, however, and probably will move in a upwards direction

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Posted in General

sitting and chatting!

Posted on October 14, 2010 by | 6 comments

we had an unexpected visit from The Babs today, which was lovely, and 2/3 of her offspring, who looked at rabbits, played on the wii etc for the morning. did mean another slow HE day – and since ‘come out’ about ticklists! SB did do some galore park junior science 2 and some singapore maths 4A, and BB did some explode the code 1 and some singapore maths 1a.

B and i had a lovely chat, wishing we could change the world and the financial crisis still to come. As families with wages dependent on public sector it is a bit daunting anyway, let alone all the other bits and pieces to come. trying to be philosophical about things! we discussed further home ed things, including the real science for kids series. i dunno! think it might be nice to use the real science 4 kids level 1 for the younger group and maybe try level 2 for the older group whilst in this year of flux? do the other latinetc want to consider this? and maybe the babs or kirsty could send me the link to look at bits of it online [again!] :)

the kids then dd some home ed whilst i cleaned out skittles cage, he had a runabout and the big babies went in his run for a bt. then took BB to gym. she really is a tiny dot there and has so much fun :) and then we went to deependers for handmade pizza and pudding. a lovely evening, and enjoyed the tour of the solar power as well :) [sb also had gym and left new leotard there on second outing - luckilly found!]

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Posted in General

explosive experiments

Posted on October 13, 2010 by | 5 comments

we were somewhat depleted today for science with various children off doing other things, but it was still fun :) latinetc i think has been a v successful part of our home ed partnership learning/socialisation and a lot of effort and energy has been invested in keeping it succesful. so today i thought i had better be a bit more inventive in science than i have been recently.

SO we did acids and metals, following a reasonable lengthy and didactic safety spiel from me to put fear of god in the correct places! We added HCl to a variety of metals and discussed their relative reactivity, what the chemical equation was, what gas might be produced and how we can test for it. The aluminium was a woweee reaction, proper mad scientist strong reaction with plenty of H2 tested with a lit match, and we definitely heard a pop sound. The iron was a reasonable reaction, but reminded me a bit of those sludge indoor fireworks you used to be able to get. The copper didn’t do anything [as it shouldn't] . we discussed the reactions being exothermic, and did a bit of writing. The experiment was drawn from this book :

[note to self, need to buy more disposable gloves and also fine top pan scales and test tube tongs!]

Science not the only thing, i heard SB do her clarinet, K did latin with them and there was also enough time for some craft with Z and a general runabout. time for the grownups to have tea and chat too :) . the children ran off to the field to play. BB was particularly ecstatic to have R to play with :) an unexpected joy for her.

we returned home in time to move BB to swimming, sb to brownies and then SB to judo fter tea with the reptiles david attenborough. we need to find another dvd series now :)

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Posted in General