Author Archives: HHaricot

Last week was a getting back into gear week. Both girls are using conquer maths at the moment a bit. Mostly for BB, as she likes learning on a computer [doing anything on a computer] so thought we would trial it instead of singapore maths.SB we hope will continue with singapore maths. however hasn’t done any for ages it turns out, as has lost her protractor! [if she had only said!!!!] sigh. lots of activities. Monday SB has ballet and gym, they are working for grade 5 ballet and her bronze gym. from next week she will start fornightly clarinet lessons on monday as well. tuesday is pottery day [i think alt weeks, but sb thinks weekly now] both love this, and this time they were making witch pots [or something] which they then shaped. tues eve is also swimming for both. weds is wodensmeet – more later, then judo for both. thurs pm is multisports for both and then in the eve cubs for BB and guides for SB. BB has only just started to go to cubs – breath holding moment for dh and I as in the past she has been so reluctant to start and get going to new things [cf judo!] but she is happy and enjoying it. We have agreed she can give up gym, which used to be on a thurs, on a one club in, one club out deal – not that she had to give it up! friday is ‘wild place’ – a kind of forest school idea i think. since they meet crossover groups of friends on tues, weds, thurs and fri, i can’t think of this as being unsociable, let alone unsocialised! It does however making settling down to do some bookish stuff more difficult, as there needs to be mooch time, fiddling about time, reading book or kindle time, wasting time on the internet, finding stuff time etc etc

Anyway back to wednesday and wodensmeet.

Merry and girls there as well this time, so BB particularly happy as she loves J and misses her when she isn’t there and comes alive when she is . they did most things together, and were particularly cute when they were playing penguins in the snow, and having snow eggs they needed to pass between each others waddling feet – awwww.

for the science this week we looked at a couple more food related experiments – the benedicts test and the biuret test. since merry has the delectable bene, i think we will all remember that benedicts tests for sweetness . we used the biology experiments website for the tests, made up our own benedict solution, and used powdered eggwhite instead of albumin. the children had all had a chance to look at a variety of websites eg s-cool and bbc bitesize as well as chapters in their [different] biology books so they had some background and wider interest in things. I was v impressed at what they knew, and also remembered from the starch experiments. the first group of 5 did the glucose and protein test, but also did an additional sugars test, to see if benedicts worked on all sugars, using fructose [fruit juice] dissolved sugar and the glucose – it doesn’t work for sucrose. the second group did an additional protein test -chees [we didn't have any meat] and it did work for that. The reactions were a hit because they are obvious, pretty colours and clearly work. also the doing the experiments are interesting. I love science .

Of course, science wasn’t the only thing going on there was drawing of trees and snowflakes, SB and E did some recorder together, SB some music theory, having remembered a board game, ‘survive’ was played. lots of adult crochet going on! but mostly there was lots of play and snow play since it was Ams last visit as going to school – we will miss her liveliness!!

But my iphone ran out of charge, so no more pics!

we have been drifting a bit in organised home ed since dec, and TBH we are not anywhere near as organised or formal as the ticklists might have you believe. They are a bit aspirational, there is no negative consequence or anything for failure to ‘achieve’ . However, having done well and achieved the aspirational does have a positive – something from ‘the book box’ which is a selection of book people books, some ‘stocking fillers’ also in BB’s case, and lots of well dones.

for BB, this is just to guide really, we hope to do something reading and something mathsy most days and ‘something else’ and mostly she gets on with whatever she fancies and is pretty autonomous. SHe likes the idea of a ticksheet and doing 4 things a day, and she liked the idea of having different boxes to choose from, so we will see…

SB is part her choice, and part the fact that she needs to gear up as she wants to go to university, so will therefore need to get some qualifications along the way. this means contemplating getting us organised enough that some gcse’s will happen. Unfortnuately for SB, she has 2 expert procrastinators for parents. Only the pressures and organisation of school and then uni got us where we are, and left to our own devices we would prob both be dreamers and wished we had done x-ers. so hoping that the ticksheet will get SB going into reg doing something and help her to where she wants to be. Ideally she should do 7 things a day [eek! i imagine some spillage to weekend] and ideally 5 of these should be from the bolded group, and she can choose 2 out to the unbolded – tho TBH, think this is going to be v aspiational rather than actual . i think we still have some fiddling to do to get it to work for her. [SB made me add days of week to top, and don't think that works! - having said that to her, she says she is going to bob around - so why it needed days i don't know! (maybe because BB's had?)] so it is a ‘work in progress’ . Anyway, we worked on it together, and she thinks it is reasonable and is quite happy with it. we try to ensure she actually likes the resources we use, and actually is happy looking and learning those things [hence no latin as tho i would like to do it, she isn't keen at the mo]

welcome comments as always and thinking i should say that sb usually goes for a 20-25 things as an average – so definitely aspirational… – and that others do lots of their home ed at museums, in groups, and in many other inspirational ways, but due to our split age group and rural locale and general not v good at going a distance, we tend to do socialising and arts and crafts or sports in groups. [many strokes for different folks and all that]

i am a very fussy human. I have a remarkably narrow temperature window for happiness. currently i am sitting at TOO COLD! and it is snowing again! the snow does look beautiful, and the kids have got lots of enjoyment out of it – today BB played ice penguins wth her friend J very happily. But i only like snow to look at, not to drive through, get up early in the morning into a freezing car. and most partic, have to have duvet on whilst on sofa as well as a jumper and a fleece and still have cold hands and nose. brrr brrr brrr. i need a tiny warm cottage that i can afford to heat and big roaring fire.

hmm, moan over!

We got 3 new games for christmas – woohoo!! Having put some pics up a number of people have asked what they were like, so i have decided to write a blog post about them for other games made families [I do have to say at this point, that I have nothing to declare! My DH bought me one of the games, and my BIL bought us one and my SB the other, so all fully paid for! however, the links are amazon affiliates and would earn pennies if you bought through them]

These are 3 very different games. I like having different kinds of games – some are fairly fast, some cooperative, some easy on the brain. SOme take a long time, have in depth strategies, and some are pretty back stabbing!

Survive regularly takes less than an hour. It is fairly quick to set up, it is easy to get the hang of the rules, perfectly suited for mixed age and gaming ability. It is a definite back stabber of a game! it takes 4 players, but if you have peepl in other games you can use them to be extra players [sort of] . the plan is to place your people on the island of atlantis in such a way that you can get most of them to escape successfully to any of the 4 corner islands. what stops you? well, island tiles are taken away every turn so the island sinks. if you are standing on that tile, you end up in the water. sharing the water are sharks, whales and sea monsters [more as the game goes on] all ready to tip you out of boats and eat you. its a game to giggle over and although some strategising is helpful, ganging up on the most astute player by the others will make strategising to no avail! we all really enjoy this game. It is a good game for people who rarely play board games too as it doesn’t look intimidating or difficult, and everyone likes making the shark eat someone else!

7 wonders is a game that requires a bit more strategy and thought. played happily by my 11 year old, and it looks more complicated and although has minimal rules to learn, there is a lot of what is best to do itis! don’t let it put you off. if you enjoy playing games, and fancy something different, this is an excellent choice. there is no cental board, you each have a wonder to build and then have to choose cards to ‘build’ things to create points [either directly, or by increasing science or military might]. i like that 7 can play too. it is more complex, and strategising to do. however it is pretty quick, taking under an hour each time we have played, and not a long set up time either. options in your strategy to backstab and derail others strategies.

stone age possibly the most complex of the games due to number of strands tho perhaps les strategic decisions to make than 7 wonders, definitely the longest game. this is more of a tradiotional boardgame – choose what taks you want to do, put ppl on the tasks, a bit of luck as to whether it works etc. v enjoyable game to play. definitely one thats length means you want your beer/diet coke and nibbles on hand! less backstabbing possible, possible for those less strategically minded to do well without constantly asking you what you think is best just needs longer concentration, and therefore best for those that know they like playing games.

do i have a favourite?? well, it depends on the situation which I will choose but think they are 3 very good games.

I am determined to be on schedule for blogging, so that i can concentrate on all that other paperwork that is waiting for me [tax return, appraisal, etc etc!!] so last week was centerparcs week, eagerly awaited, our 6th one we loved it and were duly shattered at the end. what do i love about it?? being with my family, and did love the family only swim we did when everyone else too shattered being with friends – shrieking down the rapids and giggling giggling giggling with our kids, all the lecielrouge family and the older making it up kids is fantastic. just wish we had got jax down too – next time tim, you need to nab the babies! it is great blimping and bumping along with swift porpoise like kids all laughing and chattering . i loved chillaxing in the lagoon with friends – tho really miss the salt pool .

i loved the snow made it really magical. our crazy loon kids still played on the park!

i loved games with friends and family – have christened 7 wonders now, tho haven’t worked out strategies yet . i loved it even more that wayne won the first game despite having gone to bed and having the moves discussed and done for him

I loved that BB and small had a really good friendship this time, as BB can be a bit left out as the big kids get bigger but also that all the kids seemed to have a really great time, and SB loved making the birthday cake for big too i loved sharing time and dinner with le ciel rouge – who aren’t in the blog pics not due to lack of importance, but because they have an exchange daughter currently so i am being careful

i loved that this time having deposited dh in starbucks, the end of hols spend some money was v v straightforward with both girls enabling an earlier get to pancake house. BB so shattered she fell asleep after eating hers!

less keen on forgetting bb’s swim bag last day – she had her costume on tho, so dh detailed to go back to chalet. I did fall over on ice once – the ppl behind said i was v graceful – think they may be being kind I miss the salt pool and dh felt that the new ride would be far too scary for me so i didn’t do it tho he and SB were great fans!

so there you go, a quick blog post about a fab holiday

my SB loves me she loves me because when she is coldy and hacking a cough and in need of tlc I give her love-in-a-cup. Otherwise known as honey ginger and lemon drink. v simple 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger and pour over boiled water. Add 2 tablespoons of honey [if you are SB!] and freshly squeezed lemon. One happy SB . for adults, feel free to add a dispersible aspirin, or a measure of brandy [not both!]

OK, so route 51 doesn’t sound quite as swish as route 66 but we did have a lovely cycle down it. It was jolly cold, and we were an hour later than planned so that my migraine tabs would at least kick in a bit [which they did, a bit!] and we met up with the manor borns in the carpark by danish camp before cycling to bedford along said route 51

it was jolly cold! and there was mud about, but not much as it was a good surface for most of the route. we did a couple of geocaches on the way, finally moving on the geobug that lecielrouge took over a year ago ad then didn’t log! felt much better when that was moved on

we got v quickly to the park, the kids played a bit on the slide wire there and cycled round the lake whilst i had another tablet! we cycled back in time for tea and cake at the danish camp which was delish

Back to the manor borns for a delish meal, playing munchkin booty and chatting. v convivial and lovely thankyou:)

honestly, i must do better at paperwork! i have a tax return to do, 2 massive paperwork forms for work, and i am behind on the blog! honestly, should do more living at arms length rather than directly!! so this will be a backdated catchup

SB again did holiday orchestra, jazz with clarinet, intermediate strings with violin and folk. she was unfortunately v v coldy, so did struggle a bit, but loved it. she really wants to do an orchestral/band experience regularly now. obviously, i suggested she would enjoy this years ago, but some ppl like to take time to get there themselves… so now we shall consider our options there. unfortunately it might mean messing up the weekend – something i have been long relucant to do! she didn’t enjoy folk so much, and was v disappointed, as she loves folk songs etc. hopefully since it was the first time they have done folk, that it might improve. she also would have prefered she thinks the samba band! She had 2 sleepovers in this time, both that she enjoyed very much thankyou Morag and Katy. she loved quilling, and had a fab time at ceilidh, even if shoes fell apart!!! BB was unwell and miserable at home. I was working all that weekend tho, so not so jolly! she did do some crafting. We did send dh off to see SB in concert, hoping I wouldn’t be called into work, and luckilly i wasn’t

the next week we attempted to restart home ed in a meaningful way. hmmm, i guess you need to warm up to these things… However, we did have a fab wodensmeet.

There was a bit of sewing to start with, practicing different stitches [tho bb doesn't sew currently...] then I did science, divvied into 2 groups. I found this fab website for biology experiments, and I plan to work my way through them this year for wodensmeet, finishing in december. [or if the kids scream enough!!] we started with starches. we saw whether iodine reacted with a glucose solution, albumin solution or starch solution with a tap water control, and then we took a starch solution and diluted it by factor of 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 to see whether iodine would still test positive for starch. Next time planning to test for sugars, proteins and fats

Zoe had a blowing paint around messy craft we were going for a more sunset/dark and moody version of this. We all enjoyed making them too . I am looking forward to zoeart

And in a fit of bravery Em did some role playing for the girls [as well as clarinet for SB] , fuzzy heroes. mostly setting up characters etc and taking through one adventure. SB was happy enough, BB will give it another go – she was getting tired!

so a lovely start to the year

between christmas and new year we did a fair bit of chilling, crafting and play8ng board games[oh and i went to work!] and decided some new years resolutions.
1. chill out more
2. tidy up more
3. exercise more
4. reinvigourate home ed
5 eat less

yep, these are a bit repetitive but still to be worked at . I was looking to see if I had written them last year, but I hadn’t. What i did write was a very private wibble wondering how i was going to face the year, and it is nice to have done so. much helped by my lovely dh, gorgeous kids and fabulous friends and family, so thankyou.

ANyway, crafting, playing, loving and living we got from christmas to new year, saying goodbye as family went home, and then after the chillx weekend, hello to friends. In between SB also got to try out her new sewing machine and made a couple of cushions

New years eve was a bit hastily thrown together as we had saved the date for something that didnt happen, and then never got around to arranging anything else, but luckilly Zoe and Barbara were free to take us up on a games and tea kind of evening we did have mulled wine too, and assorted other drinks and a spanking dinner of jacket pots and bits and pieces. we played the after eight game – of placing it on your forehead and seeing if you can jiggle into your mouth – lol! as well as a num,ber of board games – i lost every one! the children all played some games too. zoe brought f her temporary german daughter – she must think we are all v odd!! especially since we had some more indoor fireworks. oe and family went home at some point after midnight. we tried another game and managed a 3.30 bedtime [including kids - argh!] and so a late wake up, pain auz raisin brekkie, and so a somewhat later pancake meal – 4pm! with more game playing involved . perfick

my parents arrived the weekend before, so the final preparations started BB and I made a Mary Berry Buche de Noel together. Quite a challenging recipe! but it did work very well and we were proud of it. It got eaten Christmas eve . SB made bundles to little nanny’s specification with my mum. The hallway was decorated and nativity got ready :). On christmas eve everyone else arrived – BIL with my newphew M, niece E and his dad A. My inlaws also, so 12 for Xmas – an easy number to fit round the dining table and the festivities commenced.

Sadnesses – that Vivien not there to be with us, and i always miss little nanny x x x
difficulties – BB sleep! she was dreadful! just far too wound up, so 2am christmas eve[day] snuggled into submission and worried that father christmas hadn’t given her anything [aw bless] but she said she knew i would make it ok if that happend [more aww!]. and in fact bb sleep thereon! oh and migraine for me – ah bah!
joys – many christmas is a time for me that i enjoy the day we are in, love the children and their pleasure, see beyond to when they are no longer so young and enthusiastic, and even further perhaps when they bring children of their own, and also to the past, raised glasses with my grandparents and their siblings. christmas past, present and future all collide happily. the stresses of prechristmas fizzle away, and just left with the love and happiness.

we got the balance of presents right i think – def not too much, but no disappointments we opened in 2 stages, a post breakfast from the children and parent age and then we had nibbles and champagne and checking xmas dinner on course, then grandparents and their generation . it worked really well, we got to see [mostly] what the children had, and also make sure they were packed nicely into a box! SB highlights were kindle from us, and sewing machine from my parents [john lewis mini one in pruple and turquoise] and BB loved her mp3 player, mechano from us and garage from chris’s parents, lego from my parents. But all loved all their presents. I loved my board game from BIL, owl cushion from niece and nephew and the words on the candle holder frm sb nearly made me cry. i thought all my presents beautifully chosen. everyone seemed very happy

we did institue a screen ban for xmas day and boxing day with things to watch on iplayer saved! [i know, mean!] but that meant lots of laughter and fun from children playing together. M making his mecchano with BB beside, E with her sylvanians, sb playing games. we did play lots of games adults and children which mixes the family groupings making us one big family. BIL dad A certainly enjoyed being here, with all the noised and muddle and inclusiveness

All food was delish and worked, apart from the kids option of toffee pudding, which had perhaps been lanquishing on the back of a shelf! tables groaned!! leftover sprout and carrot pakoras went down a treat the following day! we did have indoor fireworks to less enthusiasm from the older males!

A lovely time with a lovely family