Author Archives: HHaricot

and SB has 4 gcse this year, BB doesn’t like going out much [we are going to have to work on that!] and I have non bloggable worries to worry about! so am being rather less than grgarious. I actually think i should do something about that, but I havent as yet.

so i will just blog about weds4ed, which was lovely, as B brought her daughter R and frenchE with her, and since they are schooled we dont get to see them so much. we had a great day. the sun was out, k did a discussion on andy goldsworthy and his art. it reminded me of DH and i in northumberland after we had seen an andy goldsworthy exhibition – must have been at the yorkshire sculpture park – and we were imitating this. The kids did a wonderful job of recreating some ideas in the garden.

B did maths with the ones working towards gcse maths. SB is really enjoying doing maths with B, and also has already looked at the videos linked.

science was a biology recap, but i realsied as i was doing it htat perhaps i need to go back further in time with the recap! we were looking at seeds, storage of energy as starch and then conversion into sugars when germinated. the experiment didnt work with the big kids [doing the gcse] but perfectly with the younger ones. sigh! however, we did talk about a lot of concpets, so hopefully the talking, especially about why things might not work, will be useful

bean seeds: sprouted sugar; sprouted starch; unsprouted sugar; unsprouted starch

rice grains: sprouted starch; sprouted sugar; unsprouted starch; unsprouted sugar

we all know i love multicoloured experiments pretty cool hey!

we finished the day with some minecrafters, some [including me and k] on the wii doing winter olympics [we were a bit hopeless!] and SB and J did some of a biol paper together – i think it is more fun doing some of these things together. J corrects SB’s appalling spelling as they go!

lovely day

This week has been difficult. we have had some dreadful news about the health of someone i love very much. Although not blogging about it per se, it is taking up 70% of my head space at any one time. This probably is the main reason for such an in week when i wasnt at work. i was retreating into my comfort zone. It is hard going keeping going at work, and I am trying not to collapse at home.

However, the girls and DH are, as always, a lovely tonic. . SB started something new – how she has time for new things i never know! She is going to cadets band, which she really enjoyed. to do this, she swapped judo to monday, which is a 1.5 hour session including seniors, so pretty hard work. She loved it!

 BB has been getting going with minecraft youtube and vlogs. this week she unwrapped and built a minecraft lego set all recorded, which she needs to do some post production on before uploading. She is hoping to get going on this so that she can make more interesting things. I think this area of the market on youtube fairy well cornered! but good to start somewhere.

This weekend we celebrated valentines day, with SB making a valentines pudding, DH bringing me toast in bed and BB making me a card. SB also got a valentines card, but she has hidden that one away

we girls have done some home ed, but also played loads of games together. SB and I love games, and she beat me twice in alchemists, tho i beat her in african ticket to ride. BB is also getting more gamey, and enjoyed winning survive!

Today we started some art wrok, tho had to leave to dry, so not sure when we will complete! SB and I are doing watercolour with sharpie [probably] or ink – [less likely]! and BB thought about it, but us dioung her own artwork of oil on canvas.

A hibernating week, so high on the doing works stuff. Have marked the first geog paper for sb and she came in the b range quite comfortably. However, need to concentrate on classical civ as controlled assessment in fortnight and then grade 4 piano at end of month. Not sure when French speaking. We had a panicky moment over the exam centre, but no communication was a worry. Apparently they were being ofstedded. Won’t feel comfortable till paid and all confirmed, tho have now an alternate venue.
Bb has got the hang of independently working and so at least that moving on. Division proving tricky as she is being reluctant to appreciate times tables! She’s done a fair bit of you tube videos and has a Lego vlog to upload.

i love home educating. i hope that the girls in the future looking back will also love that they have been home educated. we haven’t coerced them, failed to make school arrangements or denied them school, but instead have had an organic but questioning journey which they are part of the controlling team. It isn’t all about home. it is often about what to go to! and unfortunately for me, i don’t do enough of it, and DH gets the privilege. But here are some snaps from our at home wednesday.

There is so much about life we can’t determine, and the future is [often quite thankfully] fairly opaque. SO seizing the opportunity to make the most of our time together is always a good feeling.

Someone wants to make sure she knows which games are hers for when she leaves him ( sob re home leaving!)

the last of little nanny’s siblings has died after an illness in hospital. we knew her as wah ha phyllis, because of her huge, all encompassing laugh. She had a great sense of humour and could see the silly side of things very easily. life was tough, she fell pregnant during the war and was encouraged to marry the father, who perhaps wasnt the best person to be married too. after their only child tony died, she faced the social disapproval of divorce and then had a gentleman friend. but i remember her for her laughter and generosity of spirit, and her great knitting.

so above, are all the siblings bar reggie, left to right, arthur, ethel [little nanny], barbara [harry's wife] , hilda, harry, peggy, phyllis, then dad and mum.

the last of an era for us has passed.

and slightly broken me!! I have felt under the weather for a while really. nothing major just not sleeping, no energy and all wrung out!

however, we had a fab weekend at mum and dad’s and all went out bowling and had lunch on the saturday, and played games etc at other times. the bowling was fun and went well. dad and the 4 kids had one lane, and us remaining adults the other lane. Mum and i went to a surprisingly good start, but our usual form reasserted itself, and thereafter we were rubbish but laughed a lot whilst we did it. the kids and grandad had a great laugh too. they were the slowest costas in the world mind you! I was wonderful to have such a joyful day. my photos were fairly rubbish

we went for a meal at zizzis and enjoyed pizza. BB and E had the kids menu so got to have an icecream. Have to say how much I love my girls, SB for keeping things on an even keel, and BB for managing to return herself from the brink when things went badly wrong for her [2ce] so that we all had a fab time. [I don't know who those crazy 2 are in that last pic!]

when I unload th pics from tha camera rather than my dodgy phone, I might have some better ones to put up!

Was a more outward facing week including a weekend away. It does show! But there you go

this week was more of an out week – reflecting what is covered in the tick sheets! monday was the dentist, and BB has done ok at teeth cleaning, though sb still could do better. A french lesson as well. BB and i finished our epic game of agricola – sh prefers it spread over 2 sittings! tuesday a worky bookish day.

Tues evening SB had her passing out parade at air cadets. She has moved from Jflight to A flight – woot woot! I would have loved to ahve been there, but unfortunately I was working till nearly 10, and called back in the night . DH and BB watched tho, and took some photos and were very proud of her.

Weds was weds4ed. Having started with such a terrible night and a consequent migraine, I listened in to thebabs leading gcse maths about straight lines, chatted with em whilst K did some art poems with the others. BB did a wonderful mood poem/photo. After lunch I got my act together, and talked about the period table, history, how it works in families. a wander to atomic numbers and atomic mass [the mass vs weight thing!] and then to the nitty gritty of electrons, protons and neutrons and how that works to fit into the families, how they react and calculating everything! [ie NACl but H2O from looking at the outer shell of electrons. We also discussed that the shell idea was a bit outmoded now, and we could consider there being a mixture of shells and petals for levels 2 and 3, and this was extension work for them to look at. And then whilst we were talking, we made some elements. handily made out of stuff home educators have – hama beads, copper wire and a hot glue gun

some playing minecraft by those that like it. and a great recorder/musical ensemble by those that don’t [or even if they do, get a lot out of playing ensemble music together ] and lots of parental chatting. Both girls did judo together. from next week SB will be alternating judo with marching band on a weds, and will therefore do judo alternate mondays too. our lives seem to be busying up. Another thing under consideration is skating on a thurs fortnightly…

thursday was multisports and maybe something else, as i think they were out most of the day, and friday was conservation. the numbers at conservation are dropping to the small side, so not sure how much longer that will carry on for. As DH said, whilst BB enjoys it, he is happy to run it.

home ed is a very flexible thing, and so far this year we have had a week off [end of xmas/new year/holiday orch] 2 weeks work and then a week off [including me this time! for centerparcs] so 50:50 on the working and not working balance. so this one was another good worky worky week for both girls, and hence on the boring side for blogging!

after centerparcs we spent some of the weekend at nanna french’s [and i got my finger xrayed at the nearby walk-in centre] and otherwise chilled and played games. the week, as I said, was mostly worky in nature. we did play games of various sorts with both girls, snuggled and watched some good tv programes [dh and i enjoying wolf hall]. have been writing an en famille application, this time for 3 months only. SB has done hers, and i love that she is proud of beating barbara in a game!

i was working the weekend, but sb has gone on an independent shopping trip into town by bus, meeting a friend there and then getting the train back to her house for a sleepover. how independent is that . BB loved the tiny amount od snow we had, and made a snowman in minature.