Author Archives: HHaricot

missed out earlier were that the girls are trying out a new group learning to love trees. they learnt about the beech tree, had some crafts, looked at the tree and have a scrap book to add things too. both girl really enjoyed it, and then placed lots of info in their scrap books, particularly SB. All the ‘after school’ activities have restarted, judo, gym and swimming for both, dance and guides for SB. BB thinks DH has sorted beavers and football for her – i am not so sure! The girls have started a new ‘home ed’ term. SB with enthusiasm, BB less so. I am putting the nag into top gear tho, because BB is getting v close to being able to read well enough to read a ‘normal’ book. I think she will be a much happier and easier girl to home educate when she can read more fluently [think of all those books we have!]

they also went back to ‘the wild place’ which is a forest thing [but not forest school] and did quite a bit of clearing, pruning and hacking from the look of things, and then wild cooked lunch. they really enjoy this with the local HE group, and the meeting up with their friends.

Sat we could have gone to the RSPB bat walk, but SB’s village friend came past and wondered if she wanted to go to the fair together, so we said yes. it is a tiny affair, and was near empty! but they all enjoyed it. I enjoyed chatting with G’s mum so all happy . SB went on the lunatic upside down twirly thing! crazy girl!!

unfortunately pottery on tues was cancelled as S unwell hope she gets better soon. she is a fab potter and made our kentwell mugs.

ANyway, this week was a WedEd and always nice to get back into the flow and meeting up with friends again. We started the day with some monochromatic painting, which does look really effective.

Having finished first BB did some handwriting practice extremely reluctantly [but it is part of my 'you will read' plan] and I set the microscope up to start looking at various things the kids chose to show up. We have a digital blue which is fab at x10 and x60 but not at x200 because not really enough light. We are hopefully getting a new-to-us microscope via friends. em had brought one that went into tv at 200, which worked pressed against hand or windowpane.

then we had lunch the older girls read a french story out loud then we made flakey pastry apple and blackcurrent pie

SB and E did some recorder playing – I have now ordered the Time book 2 for SB to play similar pieces, and SB did some clarinet with Em [we are waiting dh to sort out the clarinet lessons]

After our apple pie mid afternoon snack [which was yummy, o and bb made themselves a jam tart each] we made our petri dishes and are hoping for a good crop of bacteria!

When DH adds the arts award photos from this friday I will add those to the mix. they made sculptures this week. AM hoping that SB writes things up so that she can apply for the award by xmas

This is the next mission statement for SB, to last sept 2012 to 2013 somewhat late i know, and only 1 year rather than the normal 2, but as this is her first ‘secondary ed’ year, it feels a bit more erm ‘big’!

But an initial immediate disclaimer!

THIS IS NOT A YEARLY PLAN THAT WE WILL LOOK TO ACHIEVE, TO TICK OFF COMPLETION OF ELEMENTS OR SUBMIT TO ANY LICENSING AUTHORITY! IT IS AN AIDE MEMOIRE TO ME ON WHAT WE MAY CHOOSE TO USE FOR THE THINGS SB WISHES TO COVER AT THE MOMENT, THINGS SHE CURRENTLY ENJOYS. IT IS ALSO HERE TO SHARE WITH OTHER EDUCATORS IN THIS PATH LESS WELL TRODDEN. I ANTICIPATE SB MAY CHANGE HER MIND ON WHAT BOOKS RESOURCES SUIT HER, AND WE WILL CHANGE OUR PLAN! I DO NOT *VALUE* ANY SPECIFIC NUGGET OF INFORMATION INPARTED OR ABSORBED MORE THAN ANY OTHER. I PLAN OUR EDUCATION TO BE SITUATIONAL AND RESPONSIVE IN THE MOST.

[though having said that, it isn't quite entirely the whole picture/truth, as I do value progression in maths and literacy skills as essential building tools for everything else. also if someone form the local authority nicely asked us one day for an optional non-mandatory educational philosophy, this may well form the structure of it]

we have, I think, delivered more or less on our basic mission statement for SB. She has, i believe, gained a basic warp and weft tapestry of knowledge that now we should start to embroider with extension of the things that she loves. Not that we have tested her knowledge in anyway, and it is possible that she retains no knowledge of anything. She reads fluently, enjoys and progresses with maths, has a wide enjoyment of learning, including history, science and biographies. We have started out the path to music, with some hitches along the way, and SB is developing a clear idea of music styles she enjoys, including jazz. We have also started out with languages. We have had a lot of fun, done a lot of playing, visiting, messing about and forming bonds with other home educators who have become her friends and peers.

This is going to be a continuation of the change in pace for our mission statement. We are continuing the move out of our first period of home ed, and into the second, consolidating and expanding phase. This is where we hopefully make sure she has a solid ground start, and then gradually work on accelerating the learning/doing pace vs the fiddle faddle space. We absolutely reserve the right though to change this mission statement dependent on SB’s preferences, but are hoping to use this year to springboard where to go next.

The future is not clear, if we do IGCSE, they all need doing by 2016 as after that the new exams come in, and who knows how easy they will be to access as home educators.[edited to add - apparently igcse should still be available as not a state school exam] however, these aren’t our only options, there are ou courses, other equivalents for some subjects [arts award, associated board music exams] and the international baccalaureate. In my day to day job, I see people who have come into my profession the ‘direct’ route – gcse, a-level, degree, and those that have come round to it later, not necessarily with gcse, a levels that you would expect, but obv still the degree – often a previous one, some job for a while and then the change. it reminds me that education and life are flexible. that the direct route may have some surface appeal for the obviousness and straightness of the path, but that there is always a choice to change your path, acquire previously ignored skills/exams/ knowledge if you want to later. I hope to educate SB to have choices, but also to know that if at some crossroads she isn’t where she wanted to be, she can go back and take a different route, even if the journey is longer.

there are many educational philosophy strands mooted about, structured, child led, autonomous. I no longer really know where to put us. We are educating how it seems to suit us and SB as a unit, not in relation to how anyone else choses to home educate. Much of the education is done not by the books that follow, but by choosing good literature that cover historical periods, well written and interesting or good biographies with explanations on scientists, explorers, and well written ‘fact books’ that i strew in the home ed room, and on a shelf in the loo [which are always read]. It is also done by visiting museums, re-enactments, science faires, or watching fact DVD’s and general discussion. Some weeks/ months we may do far less ‘bookwork’ as the education we are providing at that point may be more outward, with visits and groups, or or inward, with fact books, good literature, DVD and conversation. The ‘curriculum books’ are just one of the strands, but perhaps the most easily demonstratable strand of the education we seek to provide.

of these more workbook resources, I see it continuing that there are activities we try and accomplish on a regular basis, be this daily, weekly, fortnightly or what seems reasonable . some activities and learning will now be more ‘timetabled’, but much of it will be child interest led – and even the timetabled such as maths and english are things we agree on, and science is for her a joy to do, so both timetabled and child interest led. Although I have rough idea of what we may get through it isn’t ‘must do or else’, and often I will still skip bits : more a guide to where i see us being. SB still has a wide ranging thirst in learning, and I want to keep and promote that so it seems unreasonable to fix her attention on something she truly deems boring when there are many other things to catch her spark. but i think we will continue to encourage structure – for her to find her own best patterns within it hopefully rather than parent led, that she develops a balance that suits between pure play, enjoyed, enriching learning and the odd bits of targeted ‘hard slog’ learning where necessary to get to the next bit.

We need to encourage her to see the need to strengthen the areas of weakness, so that learning is not prone to unravel unexpectedly in the future. Since this is is something she doesn’t enjoy so much, we need to find and agree levels that will incrementally lead to improvement, but don’t make it an unbearable chore, scaffolding and encouraging. this wass most noticeable in the area of english language, grammar and spelling, but in the last 2 years she has moved on with this, and enjoys writing both stories and is gaining a love of writing poetry also. spelling is somewhat arbitrary, but we are moving on with this too. Areas to concentrate on are languages, which we don’t currently do quite the right thing to keep the momentum going, and also learning now how to answer the question – this is most noticeably a struggle to her in the history book. I believe this is something that is a real life skill, not just an examination one – how extract relevant information and then to impart the knowledge in the format that the receiver expects to hear it.

In progressing forward, we hope that SB will more and more choose what to concentrate on, and what are the resources she likes to use and how. Certainly quite a number of the books we use now are by her choice, and she has determined to continue with some and we have changed others. We hope that she will now begin to actively organise her home education – a big ask really yet i think, so obviously nudging and joint ‘goal setting’ [terrible phrase] so that she can see why we are suggesting some things and some ways, and that we can see why she is suggesting some things and some ways. This is a period of emotional growth and change as well, and our home ed will aim to support personal development too.

One of the problems of home educating and blogging is seeing the best of other peoples home ed, and contrasting it with your areas of weakness or vacillation. we have more structured friends, whose children appear to be romping ahead in all areas very happily, we have more autonomous friends whose children appear to be having more fun, creating a very individual identity, we have friends who extrovertly educate, going to lots of workshops, events and just knocking my socks off with the wow factor, and those that lapbook and project and those whose children are driven by special interests… We can’t be all these different people, but will try and use their expertise and influence to perhaps balance our home ed, being a check to whether we can do anything better than we are.

The other, bigger now, problem of home educating a secondary age child is that so many of my peers in this have sent their children to school. It is a valid choice, and I’m not knocking it! However, it does make the path less trodden, slightly lonelier, and with less previously promoted options to explore. I have loved using resources others have tried and tested, and this does seem a bit of a stride into the unknown. Just like we were supported by the early years home ed ring, i would much appreciate a secondary ed home ed blog ring. However, blogging is falling out of fashion – even i do it less – due to the pernicious fb and microblogging sites – bah!

I think the other key issue, which runs as a theme throughout, is that as parents we need to be tidier, keeping resources tidy and accessible – we can be helped and enabled by SB.

As before, i will do a nitty gritty consideration of curriculum , and am putting in links to some of the resources. Again, i reiterate that this is a rough draft planning of possible goals, but i do not tie myself or SB down to achieving them, and we may change our minds completely over course. it is a rough working for us to see what might be. It is just one strand of our home ed provision.

the Nitty Gritty

english literacy and english language:

She loves to read a wide a varied amount of literature, and we are encouraging her to try new genres and authors, and to stretch her imagination. we still read aloud to her a variety of stories, again across different genres and writing styles.

we are discussing the mechanics of style and writing in the books, stories, poetry etc we come across. This is done both by informal discussion of things she has read, in our WedEd group where Merry is working with them in poetry, possibly an online bookgroup with friends.

Resources: SB is regularly using galore park english, being on book 2 of so you really want to learn english having completed the junior english books and syrwtl book 1 . She has found she has enjoyed this, and has grasped what they are asking quite well. Currently she does sometimes ‘go off at a tangent’ in her answers. Particularly in the story or longer writing work. However, as our aim currently is to just develop her skills and she is enjoying this, the odd suggestion of how things could be done differently and occassionally mind mapping answers together rather than writing out should get us to the expected answer style hopefully without squashing her enjoyment or individuality. We have some additional ‘quick’ resources to supplement grammar and spelling that she can do in about 10 mins bitesize portions – which makes them quite popular

I am just so pleased and proud of her with how much work she has done and how much she has come on since the 2010 mission statement. [i class this as a success!]

writing:

SB has continued with her desire to write more legibly, and is gradually working through getty and dubay books. There has been a noticeable improvement. Nether of her parents have neat hadnwriting, possibly because we are not firmly ‘handed’. She has written some holiday journals – most lengthy being the holiday to canada, and has a book she writes stories in, and may be a diary [i am not allowed to look!] Also with some her of her groups currently, writing is quite an element afterwards – for example the tree group. This is a smaller ‘issue’ for her now, and is really a moving on stage rather than one of those gritting teeth to get better. We are considering the junior ‘NaNoWriMo’ this year.

drama:

we don’t do any drama at the moment, which i think is a bit of a shame. However SB is thinking of auditioning for a local junior stage group. I would also like to start visiting the theatre more again, now BB is older. SB has enjoyed reading plays, and watching cartoon versions of shakespear, and I think would be keen to broaden her experience.

maths:

singapore maths we are halfway through 5b of the my pals are here series at the moment, and hoping to move through a year of singapore with each calendar year, so perhaps starting 6b. we were slightly behind where I had hoped we might be, but I think this is in part due to her really getting going with the English it just depends really! SB loves this series, has no interest, she says, in trying anything else as her main book. In the last 2 years she has taken part in the primary maths challenge, and got a bronze medal the first year and a silver medal the second and she is quite happy with that. She did mathletics for a while, and then lost interest. Currently she thinks she might like to restart that.

History:

we haven’t completed the second story of the world as a reader, although we had planned too. We are still enjoying it, however, but are going directly onto the third. We are doing more of the activities as well – a bit of parental pre-planning and the still ongoing historyetc! group. This has worked very well for 2 years, and we went through book 1 really well, and are flagging about in book 2, due to changing needs of children etc. I am hoping that we can reinvigorate things a bit this year.
alongside this we have lots of great usborne books, other good factual books and good piccies in DK eyewitness She has enjoyed our island story on cd as an english overview.

As a more focussed history, she is also more slowly working through the galore park history books. she completed the 3 junior history books in 1 1/2 years, particularly as they appeared to fix well with book 1 of story of the world sol mostly ran parallel. The so you really want to learn history is a step more, and we are taking this more slowly, as although she loved the junior books, she finds this harder going, so we are doing it in more bite size pieces. this means our books are not at all in synch any more! it is a shame as the junior series really worked well as a more indepth look alongside story of the world. However, the syrwtl series is completely anglocentric, so the schemes are diverging. There is a lot more thought and writing to it, so going slow is fine.

I would like us to consider pulling out a few things to do larger topic work on, as we did the vikings, mixing crafts, history, visiting, dvd’s etc. SB enjoyed and completed all the DK project books, and I would recommend them.

Also readers set in different time periods, and myths and legends seem to go down well. we can use this to spark interest and discuss as and when she fancies. She has really enjoyed the my story and other diary series, like many children she has read every horrible history she can get her hands on as well!

Historical re-enactments and visits have added some external WOW to learning, and we will try and make the most of opportunities. We have visited west stowe for a number of anglo saxon recreations, ‘the battle of hastings’ and also re-enacted ourselves at Kentwell Hall in their great tudor reenactment. SB loved this, so we will do this again

critical thinking:

We are working our way through the bond verbal and non verbal reasoning books, which SB enjoys – particularly the non verbal, where she is working on the 11 book, as opposed to the 9-10 for verbal. the problems with spelling and grammar have hindered the verbal reasoning but she is catching up. ALthough this may sound dull and dry, she really enjoys them, like her mum there! She also enjoys sudoko, and is just starting hanji

We play lots of board games as well.

science:

this is a multipronged pronged event. We have read in the last 2 years a fair number of easy access science books – such as those by jacqui bailey and meredith hooper. the magic school bus chapter books and programmes are a hit, and contain solid wodges of info in easily accessible formats. i think as she loves them, this is definitely something to encourage. Science is a no brainer subject for us, she loves it, we love it and great enjoyment had fiddling and learning! she still enjoys these, and we are encouraging her to read them aloud to BB

SB is also doing the galore park science book regularly, completing syrwtl book 1 at the moment, which she is finding rather easy, so we are racing through the end.she has also completed all the schofield and simms science workbooks for key stage 2 and the letts for key stage 3 after picking one up casually, as these are easy to take about. We have covered the real science for kids physics level one and chemistry level 1 courses and are contemplating the biology and or astronomy alongside as part of our WedEd group activity. These work really well with a multi ability group, as the bookwork is done at home to their level [there is a pre-k level also] and then group experiments and discussion. I have sometimes changed or developed the experiments to make more fun, but there are some brilliant ideas in there, and a significant amount of detail. SB also writes hers up well in the lab book.

We are aiming to continue to do regular experiments at home, and have a number of kits and resources.

We did try to go to a number of RI events in the year, as well as the local science festival to add some external WOW to this area, and should see what catches our interest this year. We have also been to the big bang show in the last 2 years, which both girls loved.

We have joined the astronomy group, but need to go more regularly. BB got a telescope for christmas, and we should get that out more as well. It is possible that we will consider doing the biology igcse early to make sure that we are ok with home ed in secondary age, and more specifically to reassure my family, who are dubious at best. Not that she would get perhaps her best mark then, so something to think about next year.

We have also learned about the history of science, through reading anout scientists, naxos cd’s and interesting dvd’s

Geography:

has been predominantly history and holiday based, but geocaching has taken SB’s interest . Our journey last year through the rockies in Canada called for lots of map reading and a fair bit of geology. I don’t think SB thought of this as geography though We did try galore park geography, and she wasn’t ery keen on it about 2 years ago, however, she has recently said she would like to try it again. She has also been using the book le ciel rouge use, which is easier to grab hold of and use, and is half way through. Geography doesn’t really appeal hugely to her though [which is a shae, i quite like it]. Currently we are thinking it might be a ‘sacrificial igcse that we do sumer 2014 just to see if we can do this whole home ed secondary thing – subject is straightforward with no huge writing component, nor mature discussion required, in which case we ay well do the cie igcse as there is somewhere local to sit it

I have also bought some geology resources.

languages:

we have good resources for french, and have had good and bad times in utilising this. i think this is an area we should consider a tutor in before going forward with an igcse. Currently, I a encouraging SB to read some of the stories, either with friends also learning french, or to BB. also she is slowly going through galore park french – which she makes a bit heavy weather of – and also doing skoldo french. we have some french cd’s also. we hope to go to france next year for a holiday, which should add some ooph to learning the language again

SB has expressed an interest in learning italian too. this does worry me a bit as i think we are not making huge headway in french. However, just in case it is the one for her, we have some cd’s and also some written resouces. I speak no italian at all, so feel v disadvantaged! however, maybe we will do some learning together!

We perhaps need to work a bit more regularly at latin. for a while we did this fortnightly, and learnt minimus 1 and started on 2. If we decide to carry on, i would be keen to do the cambridge latin course with dear caecilius [but cannot relive childhood thro kids!]

religious studies

this is a bit of a new one for us, but having always discussed various world religions through their stories and festivals, and culture of some countries where it is interrelated, as well as through conflicts in history, it seemed the time was right to actually make it something for itself. SB is keen to read the bible and look at the subject, I think Kentwell and making rosaries and learning the paternoster etc inspired her abit. Keeping it simple for now with. I chose a revision guide for now, hoping that it will be a bit more of a bite sized key points – we haven’t started yet as need to get a king james bible.

music :-

piano is probably SB’s favourite, and we will encourage regular practice, she is currently moving from grade 2-3 upgrade music to start on the grade 3 pieces, having passed grade 2 last spring. I have bought a jazz piano abrsm book, but am not quite sure i know what to do myself currently! gina says there is a course i can go on, so might do that!i have some first duet books to add a bit of a difference with our playing, and we have really enjoyed them. hoping to take grade 3 next year – perhaps!

clarinet is a close second, and sometimes joint equal. SHe passed her grade 3 this summer and did very well in her pieces. We are currently ‘in between’ teachers as DH sorts the nitty gritty, so she has the grade 4 pieces and some fun music to play to keep up the nice tone that she is developing.

recorder is also practiced, and recently she has enjoyed duetting with E in ours weds group, and is planning to learn some of the kentwell recorder music , and also the grade 4 recorder pieces so she and e can play them together. she needs to do some scales practice! hoping perhaps to take grade 4 next year if fits in.

viola is a fun add on, with no exams planned, but trying to move forward on infrequent practice, mostly because she likes doing both an orchestra and a wind band at holiday orchestra. I am hoping to encourage enough praactice so she is grade 2-3 equivalent standard by next summer as i think soon she will be too old to do both the wind and beginners string! However, this is her 4th intrument, and a heavy year potentially in other music exams, so practice ay be sporadic .ideally, if she continues to wish to continue, i might suggest one exam if we get to a grade 5 standard in the future.

music theory is something SB enjoys, and is taking grade 4 this ter – fingers crossed! I like doing the exams, as they are no onward stress exams, gets her used to ‘exam conditions’ and ‘doing your best’ etc

we will also do lots of singing, and listen to a wide range of music – i don’t think we have enough background music on in the house, and since we have so much… Oh, and did i say she wants to learn the viol and the rauchspfiefe for Kentwell?

At some point, we may possibly add a bit of composer study, should SB show inclination or interest.

for the out and about, SB has really enjoyed holiday orchestra, and is v keen to do again. there are a number of events nearly locally that she can participate in. we also want us to start going out to more concerts, and SB has been looking at ones locally for us to go together – I a looking forward to that.

PE:

is covered well at the moment, and we will continue to encourage a core sports practice and trying out all sorts of new ideas.

current activities are: ballet – she passed her grade 4 royal ballet, gymnastics [level 1 working for bronze], swimming and judo [orange/black] on a weekly basis

She also goes to a HE group sports on a monthly basis and recently achieved her level 2 RYA sailing qualification.

she would still like to at least try horse riding, and see if she enjoys it, and since visiting canada last year, ice skating – tho that is some way away. we need to reorganise golf lessons, as she was very uch enjoying those.

more ad hoc are yoga and dance videos [which i should do too!!], and various exercise programmes on the wii. we try and go cycling and walking [including geocaching]

IT:

surprisingly, this is an area which we are not using much at the moment. SB prefers reading and playing to IT.Having an online place where she can chat to friends tho seems to be popular. We need to look at perhaps some programming [suggestions?] and she has also enjoyed animation – having had a year of different modalities with Em at WedEd.

Arts and crafts:

we do a fair amount of art and crafting, using fimo and hama beads, kits and a variety of paints in a freestyle way. SB goes to an arts award group, and is currently working towards her bronze arts award which we hope will be written up by december. Also at WedEd we often start with an art or craft – painting, sketching, sewing using artists or techniques as the springboard.We have had a look more formally at different artists and styles, and ‘had a go’ now SB is getting more confident in painting, using many different media.

I would like to add in some art appreciation and visiting art galleries.

Domestic Science!!:

slight rofl at title, but a fair bit of baking and cooking . She came top of all classes at the village show one year in the baking section, and has just continued from there and is quite a reliably good baker. We are suggesting this year she cook one meal a week [with help as required] and she is quite excited by this. She has a good grasp of the basics of nutrition and making sure meals are well balanced.

SHe is also interested in sewing and hopes for a sewing machine, so it is just about making sure the basics are available and accessible for her to do when the mood strikes, or re-introducing if there has been a gap. It is possible that at WedEd some costuming may be a welcome option

She has her own veg patch, which this year wasn’t quite so succesful, but hopefully will be productive next year

personal development

This is about supporting her through the hormones and body changes occurring. SHe has read many good books, and hopefully building on the groundwork of loving family and good friends to give her confidence in who she is and confidence to talk to us about any issues.
It is also about behaviour, role modelling, peer support and managing friendships and younger siblings

Socialising:

regular attendance at not quite local groups, local clubs [ie guides, ballet, judo], national camps and making sure we have a steady stream of houseguests. currently monthly groups are the trees group and a pottery group through the HE list, fortnightly arts award, forest school and multisports through the local list, WedEd fortnightly [friends group] and historyetc monthly [friends group] such that she meets long term local friends with in the home ed community sometimes 2-3 times weekly.

family is also very important, and maintaining close family ties and bonds. Since the last reprt, very sadly my nan and my sister have both died, which has had a profound impact. Both with the awareness that parents are mortal, but also in an increased contact with my nephew and niece who stay more regularly in school holidays. others have had serious health scares. We have met up with distant relatives and plan to maximise family groupings and events, to reassure SB that she is part of a much wider and loving family network.

trips and outings:

we are being a bit more proactive now BB more amenable to going out and about to places for experiential learning opportunities. mostly when both parents available, but this year I think she has managed so well visits more recently to the olympics that single parent trips are probably likely to increase.

practicalities:

we have lots of resources and opportunities, i think in the next year we parents have to hone our presentation skills, storage solutions etc, so that they are all readily accessible for SB to find .

we need to formally review her work more often so as to hone the question answering skills and make sure that she has ‘got’ the idea/subject.

we need to review with her more option what she is enjoying, what she is regularly doing, and what she might be struggling with.

A tick sheet with the subjects and resources does help us see some of that, but isn’t a substitute for sitting with her, encouraging her, scaffolding her learning and helping her see beyond the horizon.

This subject list isn’t exhaustive! we have woodworking, k’nex, lego, meccano all available if she wishes [she tends not to] and all sorts of one off books to perhaps start an interest.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

If we actually did achieve what i have listed above, i would be a very happy bunny! The devil is in the implementation! life gets in the way etc etc.

ANy resources you think are brill, we should look at? books/online etc? or advice about igcse etc

[petitsharicots is a participant in the the amazon Europe s.a.r.l. associates programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk]

‘term’ is starting here very late indeed. There wasn’t much point getting ‘worky’ before we had had our summer holiday – second week of sept. And, TBH, we haven’t been v worky since kentwell – 1st week of july. not that it has been a learning free zone. BB has read regularly and is far more confident, reading many books to her self, and currently reading ORT and songbirds level 7. she also seems to have grasped HTU after a huge struggle [well, more or less!] SB has kept busy doing bits of this and that too.

I digress, we went to Devon, the only area in the south that had lots of rain, and we camped! Having said that, I had a fab holiday.we were in our big tent, and actually worked out how to successfully put up the tarp as well so it could act as a porch – woohoo . we had a fab time! there was a vaguely heated swimming pool [only opened if sunny at 10am] and we then went to the beach at westward ho! [which i hadn't believed existed] and the girls boogie boarded, and dh and i got cold!

we went cycling along the tarka trail, stopping at orchard yarde cafe – the perfect cafe/campsite/bunkhouse arrangement. yummy samosas too the trail was uphill – gentle but persistantly- pretty much all the way there, and there was a fair bit of rain – mostly light. the trail tho is an old railwy line, so a fair bit of tree cover and quite sheltered on the whole, and there were some geocaches. cycling back was MUCH easier

another beach day, this time chosen because it was the picture on the map cover – lovely beach. this time i nearly swam [waist high] whilst girls had fab time boogie boarding. bb really got the hang of it . finished with a cream tea at local national trust – i only saw the savoury version after i ordered tho. we spent some while watching farmer feed the sheep.

the next day looked like it might be sunny, and there were showers and sunny moments forecast. it wasn’t exactly accurate . we walked wistman’s wood in the pelting rain to the cheerful noise of bb disagreeing with the need to wear her raincoat. the accompanying sound track back was more diabolical however the wood was good, and the girls jumped over the rocks in the woods.

after making it back to the car we went to darmeet and had lunch in a place usually reservered – i imagine – for 70+ on a coach tour. i did check the date on my phone, and no alternate times appeared, so just an anachronism anyway tea for me and toastie, and chips for bb – which reset her and then – miracles! the promised good weather appeared at about 4 for us to paddle and mess about by the clapper bridge there. and find a geocache

Beautiful end to the day. DH then decided to do some drive by caching on the way home, which the girls didn’t really encourage but one of them was really really boggy, and SB slipped over in the worst of it… lovely day and late home.

the next day, starting sunny, began with a bit of messing about in the swimming pool. DH didn’t go in at all, and the girls fairly briefly only.

but after lunch we went to the maritime museum, which is one of those great little uk museums manned by volunteers in a house we all enjoyed it, and it was v interesting. good to find sheets as well at different levels.

afterwards we wandered around the village/seatown and then had another cafe stop:) and bought some honeycomb for sb, who has been desperate to have some more since she first had some at the deependers.

final full day was a geocaching day around northam burrows nature reserve. we found them all, hopped about in the sand dunes, took the long path around some horses and the girls scrambled down to the beach at a couple of points. weather was fantastic and we all had a great time.

we finished with chips at westwood ho watching the sun go down – brilliant day with my lovely family

the last day we hurriedly took down our tent so that we could watch the tour of britain go past [without wiggins] we cheered all the marshalls etc past and the cyclists whizzed past in a few seconds – at least they got a resounding cheer .

we went home via haytor. the weather was GLORIOUS!! the girls did lots of scrambling, and SB was rather keen on climbing

Fabulous holiday

As august ended and september began, we had 2 paralympic days with my mum I have to say, when i booked them a year ago they were consolation prizes for not getting in the velodrome, aqatic centre or olympic arena with the main olympics. I am still wishing i had just paid more or tried for more tickets originally for the olympics, but hey ho! However, by the time we got near to going, I was ashamed with my original rationale, and excited to be going to the paralympics rather than having them as a commiseration prize. I have loved the olympics and paralympics vastly more than I had anticipated – indeed initially went to both ‘for the children’! i loved the perpetual summer feel of halycon days, the good temperedness, happy mood and the olympic park was a fantastic venue and i loved meeting up with mum somewhere and having fun together. I must make sure that some of my wednesdays are spent in london meeting her at a museum or art gallery and ‘doing lunch’ in the future.

ANyway, back to the paralympics, we trooped in for the early morning start, got that ‘buzz’ as we got to the stratford gate sign – after a minor panic when i set of alarms – migraine tablet in foil packaging in my pocket – won’t do that again!! Had the irresistable urge to ‘bolt’ – ell, some of us obliged Met up with mum by the Orbit and blue umbrellas and had some more breakfast before walking to the aquatics centre. There were lots [and lots!] of stairs to climb as we were v near the top. I can see why the ‘poor’ seats were no good for diving, as you would only have seen as ppl hit the water. However, we got a good enough view of pool, and were near a v big screen [which bb elected to watch] and saw loads of the big names in heats. It was v moving to see people with such limited mobility out of the water swimming so well, and loads of cheering. One thing about the olympics and paralympics is that everyone is cheering everyone. A real celebration of sport and achievement. the other moving thing was a v elderly lady being helped up by prob grandchildren as my age taking her time and finally viewing the swimming from on high – felt she deserved a cheer to for indomnitability!

After the swimming session ended we had our packed lunch and watched more action on the big screen in the park for a chilled afternoon. the weather was glorious, and we found a bit that was dappled shade so I was happy perfect

the following week we were back to see the athletics. there was a bit of trepidation, as we were 20 rows higher and how many stairs would this equate too? however, similar start of perfect weather day. pain au chocolate and brioche on the tube, met mum by the orbit [bb had some of her lunch!] and a lazy wander to the olympic arena. when we got in, expecting to climb about 6 million flights of stairs! I obviously got the sympathetic venue person, who directed us to the lift . Mum was v happy however, since the venue is ‘buried’ i think there are less stairs than aquatics anyway. we wandered around the verandah taking pics of the view and then settled into our seats. mum and i thought them perfect. we were v central, had a perfect view of the medal podium, the day was glorious, but we were shaded. We cheered and clapped until we were hoarse and our hands hurt. even BB didn’t fall asleep! we sang god save the queen for david weir, and the russian national anthem and watched a variety of track and field including partialy sighted relay – where we could only cheer at the end. Utterly loved it. It was really hard walking out to know this was the last event we were going to.

we came out and had a packed lunch on a table and bench for a change by the eating venues, and umbrella [well, we did buy tea ] right near the megastore. BB suddenly realised there was a shop [kerching] and so we went in, with mum giving them shopping money, and we did too. SB v quickly sorted herself out with writing set and notebook with DH, but I had the more onerous task of enabling BB to make a choice on the mascots that wouldn’t beat her budget. SOme negotiation and deliberation later [it did take quite a while!] and she settled on a union jack mandeville and orange wenlock [i perfered the gold ones!] . we did tease her, and for a while she thought they were wendeville and manlock – naughty mummy! . she was v v happy with her purchase and remained so. my phone ran out of charge – so no more pics of the day. we had a lovely drink at a table and soaked in the atmosphere before finally making her way home. i wish now we had stayed until late eve, but it was a horrendously busy working week, and i had worked the weekend, and I wasn’t sure that i would be able to make it to the end of the week if we had a late night. sense prevailed over sensibility.

I miss the olympics, and had a huge feeling of the party is over. someho just being in the park was a fantastic feeling. the olympics and paralympics may well have cost more than the country had to spend, and i will pay in taxes and wage cuts for that etc etc, but TBH, it was brill. If we are going to doom and gloom for years in recession, at least there has been a bright light for a bit

following on from our party weekend was a busy week. The girls had a 4 day sailing course, at a local gravel lakes, and were joined by a home ed friend – should have had her brother too, but he broke his finger just before it started . I got to have a lovely chat with M, their mother. I don’t see her often enough really! [jealous of not being the home educator still i guess] SB was repeating her level 2 [she had swine flu last time] and BB was doing her level 1. They both loved it, and both passed, and are v keen to arrange more sailing – which we haven’t done yet but should! I was lucky to see them sailing on the weds pm. SB clearly had a lot of mastery of the boat and was making it look v easy. BB was also looking v much at home, despite being such a little dot! unfortunately near the end, the heavens opened in bucketfulls, so BB came in frozen – don’t blame her for coming in! ALl of them had a hot choc from the cafe.

we had R for a sleepover on weds night too, which added to then fun. She seemed to cope quite well!

Also on the weds, but in the morning, we made half of WedEd, which was a bit more of a laidback holiday affair

we mostly decorated jars with fimo – and v beautiful they were too :). lots of chatting and catching up as well. I do enjoy WedEd. I was supposed to do some microscoping, but realised had left laptop at home, and it is a digital blue microscope – doh! we do need a better one now tho, that will go to at least x400. sb was v unique with her take on the brief, mixing the fimo to get what i think are quite north african colours and covering her small pot. BB did a tortoise one, but was clearly not happy with it, and made me finish it. however, when she saw my tiny one with the leaves and tiny flowers she had a ‘second wind’ and was v happy to complete another one, which she was happy with. we left after lunch to dive off to sailing – as above!

Also during the week BB and DH were v busy making a tortoise home! reading the comments below you will see that fab Helen offered us a tortoise that was otherwise going back to the pet shop, so we were ecstatic to become the proud owners of the then named tortie! since the handover was the next week they were busy making a good tortoise home.

Friday i was picked up from work and we raced up to Yorkshire to see our friends at SOTP and be ready for their party in the field. As we got there so late, we only pitched tent the next day. Always lovely there, i tend to call it the last homely house, as it has a feel of rivendell about it . They also have THE BEST coffe machine we were the only ones staying friday, so had a very chilled evening chatting to our hosts. BB and J are such great mates they are v fun to watch together! the next day we also baked and made party food, and were excited by all our friends arriving. DH also put up the tent to get a good pitch . The weather was unfortunately iffy over the weekend but the company was decidedly not so we chatedd, ate well, giggled and laughed and some games were played [including for the kids pass the parcel and an olympics] and for the energetic, some geocaching was in order. I nearly went, but BB didn’t want to, and actually since she went on to need a quiet hug in the tent, it all worked out well that i didn’t go. As always, v sad to leave on the Monday after such a fabulous time with friends. I loved quirkle too. Thankyou again to the hosts

allthought it is always disappointing to go back to work after a weekend away, at least it was for only 1 day! and on that day DH,SB and BB met ‘wednesday helen’ to do the great tortie pick up. they came back v excited, and BB tells me he is now called alfie ‘he’ is a horsefield tortoise, so the sex is unknown for now. Anyway, he has happily settled in, and BB is besotted

and the following day we drove to ‘sunny hunny’ [which was rather a misnomer!] to visit mum and dad who had rented a caravan for M and E to share with them a holiday. uncle robert [who was married to aunty peggy] also joined us for most of the day – in his late 80′s and still looking good. M and E have had a good summer this year, with a week with us, a week with their dad in minorca [which they loved] and a week in hunstanton with mum and dad. they needed a good summer. I cam see m moving on and getting on with life currently, but e still has a lost air about her. . anyway, we had lots of fun, and all the kids went swimming for a bit, got to spend some money etc etc and then come home v late!

Summer carries on, and actually some sunny days! girls have been busy in this time. We had signed them in cor a weeks athletics camp [pm only] at local sports centre, which they v much enjoyed, finishing with a pretend olympics. I watched them on the weds try out relay, high jump and long jump. coaches v positive too all, did suspect mine not always trying…

At the weekend my aunt and uncle visited us on the way down to see their first grandchild we had a lovely time, and cheered on the athletics in the olympics on our new telly. BB also did lots of fimoing. she is absolutely desperate to have a pet tortoise, so decided she couldn’t bear to wait, so made some out of fimo.

on the sunday we stayed up far to late watching the closing ceremony, which we thought was disappointing really. shame when everything else had been fab!

the girls visited their grandparents on tues with DH [so no pics!]

weds was historyetc, which we all enjoyed. we are at the end of tudor, with some canadian exploration by french and english – so children used watercolours to depict scenes in canada which they woudl show back in their hoem countries. We also had the spanish armada – some writing, picture sorting and decoding for the queen’s speech with kfish and jax. cooking with zoe – paella and patatas bravas for the spanish themed lunch. also with zoe, making clay salamandars. gold ones were found on the spanish galleons to ward off the peril of fire. they possibly should have concentrated more on drowning risks…

Big stayed with us from history until our summer party on saturday, when the rest of her family and lots of friends and family joined us to celebrate knowing each other the party is a v chilled affair, possibly this year more tea drunk than wine – to the outrage of some of the men! but there was plenty of wine and beer to drink… the sun shone v v brightly, so tarp and gazebo loads of scrumptious food brought to share – thankyou, and generally great company. In such sunny weather the paddling pool was a blessing and much used. many kept their mythical creatures costume on for only a short while – particularly the abominable snowman [a great choice to wear a padded sleeping bag on such a swealtering day ] . we were troll – DH [costume made by BB, well done!] SB water nymph, BB fire fiend, me green woman[goddess/tree spirit etc] .

i didn’t manage to get pics of all the costumes, but we had fairies, handmaidens of artemis, leprechaun, flying pig, goose that did indeed lay a golden egg , some vampires, a man who got around to jobs death, unicorn and siren. a few more possibly too… I loved seeing our friends from far and wide, grateful they would come all this way for a party and wonderful hearing happy laughter and fun from all the kids. I always think they are pretty perfect days thankyou everyone. Anyway more pictures of a happy day [scream if i need to remove!]

All good things come to an end, some were daytrippers and some stayed overnight for pancakes the next day [there was a time slippage!!] and then curry for lunch [more time slippage] but finally house empty. always feels v v empty after a party. nice chilled day tho chatting in the garden with good friends. thankyou.

I am very happy for my cousin and wife and their beautiful baby girl, who was born Saturday 4th August, welcome to the family little one

we have been having a great summer here [despite contrary weather!]

highlights so far:
nephew and niece coming to stay – lots of crafting, baking and some science experiments. we went to see ice age 4, and decided we were a herd I am ellie, dh is Manny, SB is peaches [scary!] BB and M are the possums ;), E is the white tiger and her dad is diego. none of us thought we would be sid! we really enjoyed the film. DH arranged for us to go camping v close to home, so that i could commute to work – lol from a tent! – and on the weds [my day off] we hired canoes, it was utterly fab. that one day felt like a whole holiday . we also had a surprise birthday tea for M on his last night loved having them, and fairly sure they loved being here

the following weekend went down to mum and dad’s. we watched the opening ceremony alltogether, the girls allowed to stay up [tho they did fall asleep] it was fantastic we could really feel the olympic excitement rising. we watched some olympics the next day and then had a walk along the thames. decided we really should have tried to get rowing tickets too!

following week we got a bit olympics mad and after the telly blew up, we now have a big flat screen!! [stopped me buying a viol anyway]. have loved the olympic vibe! we applied for loads of tickets in the first round and failed, so in second round applied for basketball as it was in the olympic park. basketball was on friday, so all week we were winding up to going!

weds, as a bit of a last minute thing, we arranged to meet Jax at Wicken fen. had a great time, Big and SB loved spending time together, being nearly teens, BB missed small but jax and i had a good natter – always nice, and the kids needed minimal intervention, all being happy .

and then friday was olympics – let us just say wow! it was brill, atmosphere electric, the getting in and amenities olympic park were fab. it was all easy and just wonderful. look at bb’s beaming face. everyone had a beaming face :)we watched basket ball and had a picnic and heard the woahs and oohs from olympic stadium over jess ennis and her high jump – it was on the park monitor screen anyway . a wander around and then went home late afternoon. we were pooped! as had to get up at 4.30!! what a fab day

the rest of the weekend were were shattered so did crafts and science kits. bb was v v happy to make an electronic radio – with v little help from me. and it worked SB did some electronics and then animation. we watched olympics in background

Time doesn’t stop still, even though we rewound it to go to Kentwell! coming back both dh and i had lurgies [ho different] from which we are still recovering [too much rain, dampness and smoke doesn't help] so the beginning of the week the kids got to stay in bed late, lego/read as they wished

weds was our wednesday meet. depleted somewhat as em also suffering from post-Kentwell lurgy, and Merry left early. we planned crafts in the morning, and science in the afternoon, so when we set out we started with a make your own rubbing pic – the girls built up a picture from cardboard on a base sheet and then rubbed over the top. following on from that we did a felt craft of a naive style pic – eminently suited to felting

BB didn’t fancy felting – she is not a sewing fan currently, so read me very nicely and easily a level 5 songbirds book. SHe is really ‘getting’ reading now, and I can feel the steady increase in pace of learning, which is fab as she has always loved books.

After a bit of craziness for lunch and a visit to the park, we did science as one group [as only 4] which talked about conservation of energy and transferring energy between types. They all got this, and happily set too designing their own experiments to show different types of energy being used and conservation… it all involved fire

The in a non raining moment they went out [well, also except S who was sewing madly being caught by the muse ] and helped each other turn those designs into reality with much laughter and enjoyment.

We have now finished the physics real science for kids, so i will sit and think what to do next, whether the biol, or move onto something that is more mix and match. [parents, let me know preference!]

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so we had a lovely time, the girls then did some french, played just dance on the wii, ate pizza and we returned for judo. Thurs was multisports in the day with the local home ed group and then a judo comp – BB decided not to – and SB won gold medal for her class woohoo SB the second good piece of news, as we had heard she had passed her grade 3 clarinet. Fri should have been arts award, but DH car broken what with mine having MOT and service on weds, and the family car needing a fix it has been a v expensive car week and the fridge is broken

This week I have been in alot at work, so not enjoyed as much of the girls company as i would like, so we did remedial crafting today [tho i had hoped to make bath bombs and soap balls we did tile painting at their request]

Also played board games together and had snuggling moments

Also this week I took an especial time out to remember the joy and blessing of having had my lovely sister Vivien, the family members that have left us, and those that remain to us. My parents have returned from hols to Canada – great and in a fortnight my nephew and niece come to visit. Blessings indeed.