Author Archives: HHaricot

aarrgh, and outrageous – found via Gill’s blog

Posted on February 18, 2009 | 13 comments

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RW77.pdf

ELECTIVE HOME EDUCATION

Research and Advice Commissioned by the Department for
Education and Skills

6.10 It is suggest that the legislation should ensure that:

a) a standardised national system of registration be implemented by each
local education authority in terms of assessment criteria;
monitoring/inspection visits; and the time sequence related to these events
b) the wishes of children are established and taken into account in the
assessment process.
d) a clear curriculum entitlement is defined which is broad and balanced.
e) all children to be registered (irrespective of whether they have ever been
registered with a school), and that all children registered under EHE are seen
initially and in the teaching and learning situation on a regular basis defined in
law and a standard format for post visit reports and their distribution
f) all children registered under EHE are assessed on a regular basis in
relation to expectations of educational progress.
g) that a timetable be established and defined in relation to the procedures
incumbent on local authorities pursuant to assessment judgements of the
provision being unsuitable.
h) parents and secondary aged children have the right of appeal at any
decision by the appropriate authorities in regard to an application and
continuance of elected home education.

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Posted in political

That was then, this is now

Posted on February 16, 2009 | 9 comments

hmm, have delayed writing this blog post to see if would be uplifting a cheerful! sorry. i feel a bit worse than a ham sandwich – and that is a pretty bad thing for a vegetarian

yesterday my mum and dad brought little nanny to visit. it was lovely to see them, but she has got noticeably frailer in the last month since i saw her. the lump over her breast and collarbone is clearly the start of a fungating cancer, though she doesn’t really want to admit this, or consider any treatment options. i have suggested to her she needs to as it will only get worse. not sure if she will. just had to have a short break there. anyway, the girls were delightful and played games and entertained. I love my Nanny. i guess though, what I am wishing for her, above all else is to maintain the dignity she has always had.

after they left, we finished off the day with doctor who and time team, feeling rather subdued.

today i haven’t felt much better TBH, and realising we had let a few home-ed things slip through our fingers hasn’t helped self esteem much. we could do a lot better really. we neither go out loads, or do ‘normals’ or projects and stuff, and well, blah!

But today, SB has done a lot, and it hasn’t made me feel any more competent! She did some galore park english – we are working through one tiny section at a time, as she really isn’t keen on writing, but is wanting to get better. she wrote a lot, and although the spelling is highly imaginative, she is getting the idea. She spent ages beading – i have a bracelet and some presents have been made, and also playing with Barbies. The birds have been fed again. She also did piano practice. Together we have done some conversational french, and a quick look at chapter 1 and 2 minimus vocab – as she said on the way home from melrose then only latin word she knew was fatigata! Also, whilst she was painting a picture of soap for sketch tuesday, i read something from SotW on the Jewish diaspora – but i don’t really think she listens when she crafts, as she has a ferocious concentration face!

BB has done a bit of her before the code, read with me a level one oxford reading tree – she read mum and dad, and i did the rest, we looked at the piccies and letters etc. SHe has also painted, sang songs, played with her paper castle, and periodically screeched!!

ho hum

9 Comments

Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, history, language, music, pre reading, Stringbean's HE, writing

and back again

Posted on February 15, 2009 | 2 comments

sad to leave Melrose, especially as next year it will be closed for refurb, so maybe not the opportunity to go again. our journey there and back have been made much better with the acquisition of a few audio CD’s that we all enjoyed a lot [well, BB was mostly asleep, so it is not tested on her!]. We learnt a lot, they’re not in depth, but enjoyable, with background, yarns and the important stuff!! i would highly recommend!!

go, on!! they’re worth it!! 2 CDs in each etc etc. SB loved the scientists one best, then the inventor one. it is amazing how many were home educated!!

We stopped off at the angel of the north to start with as migraine needed a break. it is rather a fabulous art piece, and SB in particular loved it. we had a long chat about how to commission art.
we then stopped at scotch corner as a lunch break. I often grumble about it being called scotch corner, its not as if it is anywhere near scotland. no doubt there is a reason, and i could probably google it! SB and I missed kirsty and family, whilst chris and bB didn’t.

luckilly :roll: we got to meet later on, so SB didn’t feel left out. as we got near wetherby the car started to wobble alarmingly. chris thought it might be a puncture and kicked the tyre on the hard shoulder, and then we wobbled all the way to wetherby services. having brightkited, we had loads of messages of support and assistance – thanks guys. kirsty rolled in and provided chocolate and moral support, and chris eventually decided a weight thingy was declared missing from a wheel, and the wheel changed and we set off – thankfully wobble free!!

SO we arrived far later than planned to SOTP for feeding, playing, chatting and book swapping. as well as a discussion on evolution resources – listed below. some of which are overtly and some perhaps covertly anti-creationist rather than ignoring it. [i think we all know i favour evolution :wink: ]
the next day lots of play, particularly sweet with J and BB. and SB, C and M put on a show. I was impressed with SB’s modal tune, which she reprised later. As always C sang beautifully, but M also has a voice to be proud of.

Finally we set off home, and got in at 11. unfortunately BB has got her times all wrong, and was then awake! but never mind. we had a fab week, and lovely to visit friends on the there and back again.

2 Comments

Posted in Books, General, music, Out and About, science, socialisation

Melrose 2009

Posted on February 15, 2009 | 14 comments

well, where do you start? it was utterly fabulous. I have always been greatful to mrs muddlepuddle for starting out the melrose early years winter camp. this year was no exception. and we had snow!

we arrived just in the nick of time to put the pasta sauce on for the starving hordes, and well received! we met and gret [meeted and greeted?] new faces, old faces and firm friends, made from the very first muddlepuddle camp we ever attended 4 years ago [did i mention i was greatful?] then we got down to business, children playing elswhere and parents chatting, wine timing and playing games. the kids might call this ‘the snowy melrose’ but for us adults, it might well be ‘the games melrose’.

snow: oK, i am not going to do a blow by blow account – quite! we all had fun in the snow. the sledges [i got more off as it came to under a tenner for 2!] i bought at the last minute – and nearly sent back :roll: due to colour arguments – were well worth the pennies, and were used a lot every day by our kids and others – was pleased how well the sharing thing worked. the portico also brought sledges – rather cool silicon mat type thingies. so yes, snow was a key part of the melrose experience this year.

Gaming, was a v adult part of the experience! i really REALLY enjoyed stone age and Pandemic, and would be happy to play those lots. others played carcassonne and mission 44 and blokus, but i settled for those 2! lots of the adults got involved, and what with those stitching beside giving helpful commentary, it was all v sociable.

communal food was all delish. thanks to all the other makers. luckilly i didn’t over cater on the cooking front quite so outrageously. things to remember for next time 3kg rice is plenty. 5kg potatoes, 4 tins peas, 12 tins toms, 3 caulis, 1 tube garlic paste, 1 bag red lentils, 1 bag split yellow peas or channa, 10 onions, 1 tube tom paste, 1 spice pot bombay spices, 1 spice pot korma. only need 1 large yoghurt pot! with 1 little bag mint leaves and 1 cucumber.

crafts/activities. three cheers for nattyandplusone [avoiding google hits there!!] for providing felting and a computer gaming workshop. both my 2 got a lot out of them. i particularly loved the care and effort and significant attention bb put into her dinodoor scene [shh, its a secret present for daddybean], and they both worked hard on their ideas and looks for the computer game. finally they, courtesy of bead merrily, fimo-ed for ages, particularly BB as SB was off playing and practicing for the show at the end of the week. i also fimo-ed some aliens, and did a special one to one workshop with Jpie on fimo snowmen.I also did an ad hoc activity, and prepared skye boat song for the instruments available. in the end it was done when none of the guitarrists, or my children, where present. oh well! however, fran did a fab job with the sightreading of a lovelty cello part, various adults held the tune, and various children played d and e at mostly the right time. we heard e’s glock for the first time too.

music: i got to play the violin some more with em. always a joy. we snuck off and remained hidden for a fair while until required to be parents again! next time, if fran there, may simplify the continuo and see if she is interested…

escaping the hostel. well, we didn’t do dynamic earth this year, and though i planned to visit jedburgh and mary queen of scots house, a migraine put paid to that. and somehow – prob due to the snow, we didn’t swim in galashiels either. However, chris, SB and the manor borns walked up to a trig point, and then scudded down on their bottoms in the snow! i had an amble around Melrose with merry and 2 of her girls, and that was about it for us as i failed to persuade SB to walk to trimontium.

playing: well, the girls appeared to do a lot of that. Seemed to be mostly very smooth as well with little flouncing and bouncing – always good. BB also packed in some TV watching. There was a cabaret at the end put on by the kids and compered excellently by gwenny – nice to see the portico holding on to their traditional roles :lol: SB did a fab gym routine and also a leaping lunatics dance, and finally a bit of recordering. after some rather good clowning act moments – including heckling by small – BB also did some recordering. lovely acts from all in it i thought.

challenging moments: well, i thought i had better before BB was outed too!! ‘i’m not tired’ wail shriek and full tantrum. lovely! I saw you all giggle, particularly Marcus! to say that BB was challenged and challenging whenever she didn’t get what she wanted from her parents is an understatement. Luckilly no more than 25% of the time – :roll: but am wondering what she was doing when out of our view…

So there was melrose. do you wish you had gone? you would have enjoyed it!!

14 Comments

Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, General, music, noises and sounds, Out and About, SB-PE, socialisation, Stringbean, Stringbean's HE

the way there

Posted on February 15, 2009 | 3 comments

i really don’t like blogging in such retrospect!! but here goes. we were out only a little bit late, but the whole world seemed to be going to tesco and the shell petrol station, and this added a fair bit onto our journey time! But we got to The Babs street, but it was still absolutely covered with snow, and a steep incline, and we so nearly got there before slipping back!

Anyway, we got there, and got gaming straight away! i think we might have played pandemic first, and then a beany game with the kids, a bit of children playing, lovely dinner and more pandemic and bean game then powergrid. i do love playing games, and although did a wild game plan, nearly won!! we only stayed up until 2.30!!

next day and we didn’t get up v early, well, BB had kept me up half the night, and on normal getting up time i had shoved her across to chris and had an hour of 2 more sleep. but eventually we got up, dressed, had a pancake brunch and set off for Melrose.

SO, thanks to The Babs and family for a lovely night stop.

the journey up to Melrose was v straightforward, with snow only when we crossed the border, and entertained by multiple brightkites all the way up. Very happy to arrive.

3 Comments

Posted in Out and About, socialisation

Evolution / charles darwin books

Posted on February 15, 2009 | Leave a comment



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Posted in Books, General

Making their own Music

Posted on February 5, 2009 | 2 comments


IMG_6300, originally uploaded by Scrumbledelicious.

2 Comments

Posted in General

lost it!

Posted on February 5, 2009 | 2 comments

first for today = coming off the road in the snow. actually think due to farmer muck as well. but still scary even if was slow and not ending in the obligatory ditch! so came home to try again at lunchtime, when should be a bit melted. :roll: at self

2 Comments

Posted in General

raising the dead

Posted on February 5, 2009 | 2 comments

well, that was the home ed lesson for today. quite a good one really!

it was a latinetc today, without the puddlegirls though. SO we had combined latin and games were played there, and the littlies did winter french – drawing pictures and then discussing what you could see in french. both language sessions were enjoyed by my respective daughters!

for the science bit today, I had loan of a resuscibaby from c’s badgers. so we did that. the younger group were v attentive to how to do it, and all had 2 goes each at remembering – the most vital bit for them being call for help! i wouldn’t really want to be in the position of them or no-one [but research shows really only 11+ or 13+ have the strength to actually do cpr on an adult], but I think learning about it, and coming back to it every so often is important. The older group were WAY more dramatic. for a minute I thought I was Merry asking them to act out a scene from casualty!! once I had persuaded a toning down of drama, we got on with it, and each of them successfully did cpr at least once, and practiced finding landmarks on each other – though we did A LOT of discussion on how you can’t actually do it for real on someone unless they need it! We did all the safety, calling for help, defibrillators and associated stuff. SO I think that was worth doing, and they did it well – all be it with ‘style’!

the other half of the science session was starting on bones. [thanks again sarah!] and we drew our own hand bones using an xray to model. we named and chatted about the different bones, and how we got our hand mvts. They decided not to label in chalk, so here are websites with the ‘real names’, so they can be labelled at home. Next time we are going to do the bone in vinegar thing, so will need LOTS of vinegar/ jam jars and chicken legs…

of course, a friend currently residing in the states had to go for a bit of one-upmanship, and their hE involved looking at strawberry DNA! luckilly she put out the ‘recipe’

1. Pulverize strawberries down to goo in a blender.
2. Mix 25ml strawberry goo with 50ml of water.
3. Add a pinch of salt.
4. Centrifuge for 60 seconds.
5. Strain out solids.
6. Add 15ml of liquid soap.
7. Centrifuge for 60 seconds.
8. In a test tube, mix 50-50 goo-you-have-made and ice cold isopropyl alcohol.
9. Gently mix (tip it back and forth a few times) and allow to separate. Broken cell bits are at the bottom, DNA is in the cloud at the top.
10. Pipe off a little of the top cloud. Put a drop or two on a glass slide.
11. View under microscope. DNA!

They used a kid’s science kit centrifuge [gulp!], and it didn’t seem to be going all that fast.

and now I am on the hunt for a cheap centrifuge!! This site also interesting! hmmm. It feels all exciting doesn’t it!

hermmm, well where was I before sundry flights of fancy??? Ah yes, after lunch, SB and chloe were keen to do some music, with G, but got started all on their own, and were being so fabbly autonomous with an EE mark :lol: that we left them to it. the were using the colour coded bells, and using felt tips, writing music for them [felt tip corresponding to bell!] we were v impressed!! Unfortunately we were all haring off, so i don’t think they realised quite how impressed we were!

home, SB did some piano practice, and drew some traffic signs for the next harmony arts assignment, and then did some sewing. BB watched some mona the vampire and then did some sewing also. SB had brownies – and we saw her make the promise, and she seems much happier in brownies than she ever did in rainbows, so that seems good. [maybe she is just a happier girl] she had judo, and a new boy is apparently a bit too rough, but the sensei seemed to have it in order. SO there we are!

in the rest of the week, apart from thinking about the future of HE in this country and getting depressed, political and activated, the kids have played – in snow, a lot with sindy/barbie and sylvanians. SB has done some maths and piano and is really loving reading her encyclopaedia of knowledge and coming up with odd facts all over the place. i have worked silly hours – must do something about that! Chris has baked cakes for Melrose.

2 Comments

Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, General, investigating, language, literacy, little languages, music, numeracy, online resources, Out and About, SB-PE, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

DCSF : I have a response from my MP

Posted on February 4, 2009 | 1 comment

It is typed, but i think it is still v similar to others from the conservative party! But at least positive. [actually so much similar to others that I cut and pasted it from another response and then changed the odd difference!]

Thankyou for your email of 26th jan concerning the governments consultation into home education. You raise some interesting points

I find it incredible that the government needs to hold yet another consultation on the issue of home education. This is the third consultation in less than 4 years; with the latest guidelines having only been issued in 2007

I have a number of concerns about this latest consultation, most notably that the DFCSF is trying to imply that home education is being used as a cover for child abuse. I find this deeply offensive to those parents who often have to make a very difficult decision about withdrawing theri child from school. I also find it inconceivable that the Department has not provided and evidence for linking home education and child abuse, other than saying it is yet “another unknown”.

I believe it is essential that every child in this country recieves a first-class education and one that is suitable for their needs; to achieve that, parents should have the right to choose the education system that best serves theri child and homeschooling should be included in that choice. Parents who make that choice should be entitled to the same presumption of innocence that school going children’s parents receive, unless evidence dictates otherwise.

I agree that there needs to be an urgent re-assessment of the way that child protection systems operate, but I do not feelthat this should be addressed through victimising those who educate their children at home. The pathetically short consultation period is also unacceptable.

You also raise some valid points about the length and appropriateness of the consultation process. Accordingly, I have written to Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and I will write to you again when I receive a reply

Thankyou again for contacting me

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Posted in political