this should be a short set of links, but we all adore greek myths and legends, so have got rather a number of different lovely books of different styles. Some for younger children, some for older/all ages, some cartoon and some read aloud. love them all Will also link at the bottom to other books we have enjoyed reading in this ‘greek phase’ of our historyetc/story of the world. I hope you enjoy the Greek myths and legends as much as we do
Older readers/read aloud
We love read alouds, and these have beautiful illustrations, and are also well written and captivate both my 6 and 10 year old. I think the Penelope Lively and Rosemary Sutcliffe books are particularly gorgeous though, and recommend them highly.
Mixed/younger age groups
We love Marcia Wiliams cartoon books, and have quite a collection of them now :blush: We had the 2 usborne books for years, and they have also been very well read.
Loosely Based Around books [older]
we don’t have the percy jackson books as yet, though did enjoy the film. the terry deary fire thief books though are excellent.
Other Media
Please add your must reads to this list as well in the comments box I love amazon window shopping
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I am trying to do lots on this holiday at home, so that it seems that i have really made the most of my time off. [tho perhaps should have pencilled in more bed time!] This does mean that if I blog the next day, I may have forgotten what we did!!! We had meant to go to a NT property, but the day was v miserable and awful! so we decided to do some home ed in the morning and go shopping with christmas vouchers in the afternoon. This is pretty much what we did – though not sure exactly what! SB and I did make a cake for DH whilst he was out picking up BB’s glasses. SHe is very happy with them, in mr bump styling. She is long sighted, so they magnify her eyes. SHe looks gorgeous, but v different! We tested it out by reading some more level 2 books . SB def did some maths on turning decimals into fractions and vice versa.
After lunch we went out to the city to waterstones and wh smiths to spend vouchers. SMiths first, where bb made herself v happy buying 2 lego things, which were on buy one, buy second half price and a winnie the witch in space book. SB bought the missing two harry potters and 2 enid blytons. We then went to waterstones, where BB v quickly bought herself an animal sticker book, the latest astrosaurs book, and the latest winnie book rather than picture book ‘for when she can read’ . SB took aages longer and in the end bought 3 jacqueline wilsons, a enid blyton audiobook, hmmm not quite sure what the other 3 were! would have to check [sometimes i can't bear to look at amazon price!! however, this was xmas tokens, and the girls love doing it person, as adds excitement to whole deal]
We had a restorative cafe stop before heading for the twilight at museums event [dropping baggage in the car on the way ] It is a good thing we had a restorative cup of tea, because allthough we arrived within 10 mins of starting, the queue was just over 30 mins! AND it was drizzling progressing to light rain. BB in particular was NOT iMPRESSED! Unfortunately, although we started at the dinosaur museum for her, this turned out to be a BAD PLAN as on entering she moaned that she had been there before, seen everything before, and it wasn’t that dark! not an auspicious start. we others happy tho, so she had to drag her feet around! I did like the lighting effects, but think that perhaps a something different – trail or craft or something – would perhaps have been nice.
We then moved on to queue for the zoology, after 20mins we met lecielrouge coming out, and had a jolly chat before they headed off to join the dinosaur queue. soon after, we were told the queue was prob an hour, and there was no queue for the bijou science museum around the corner. We decamped since both BB and DH had lost their will to live with queuing. [it had at least stopped raining!] . I loved it. Not been there before. txt to lecielrouge saw them abandoning their queue to join us, and the fishes also arrived, so a merry party children much happier as there was a sheet to go and find out things. BB happier as not been there before, and played with the zootrope and various other visual effects. Z and I completely failed to use a slide rule cylinder :blush: and we all got our happy back
SO much so that when we saw only a tiny queue on the way back to the car at the zoology, we decided to go there. it was still 20 mins tho! and so only 10 mins actually in, and they switched lights on after 5, oh well!! Kids happy making an angler fish head band, and actually queuing with friends .
so actually, what had seemed like a v stressed and over sold evening whilst queueing for zoology ended up being fun and happy and also the cause of BB’s griping became clear in the car – she was just desperate to make her new lego!! A chippery tea and late bedtime. I fell asleep on the sofa, woke up at 1am, plodded upstairs to hear SB switch off her light and pretend to be asleep!! naughty naughty! I think she couldn’t wait to read new books
as SB says all the time . today was a day spent at home with girls, doing presents, home ed, chatting, playing cuddling etc etc. I was feeling a bit blue today. miss my sis, needed really to have a more going somewhere holiday to focus my gaze externally etc, etc. But threw myself into doing stuff with girls. We did some fab home ed in my lovely conservatory and BB successfully read ‘the’ a few more times – we are classing this as a MAJOR achievement .
SB getting happier at doing her junior galore park [on book 2] which also bodes well [yes, i know for her school year she should be book 3, but orig she hated writing, so have been gently gently introducing ] she did some music theory also, but her fav bit of home ed today was her choice of fact book.
which she got for xmas but only just explored [she has been reading back to back canadian girl stories i think!] and surprised me with just how much she knows about this already. we do lots of talking, lots of reading but negligible testing, so it is always a relief when you see how knowledgeable she is. BB peering over her shoulder at one point selected a spiral galaxy to be the milky way because it was the ‘right shape’. SHe also did some of her dk project book, which she still loves, currently minerals, cleaned the rabbit hutch and did a great piano prac with me. Also finished [more or less as we need the printer to work proplerly to actually finish] P amd M’s birthday presents and also M-I-L’s.
BB started with piano prac, having heard me do some [yes, we must tune piano] and i must make sure to encourage this regularly as she remembered all what we had done and was ready to move onto a new note. She had the great reading breakthrough as above and we read why do spiders… She also did a lot of drawing with her watercolour pencils in her sketch book, and played a complicated weighing game with cuisinaire rods and a balance as well as making a birthday presnet for M-I-L.
DH excavated the room of doom, M-I-L the hallway, and as well as home edding and reading to girls [oh, we did 2 chapters of story of the world after swimming lessons] I sowed some more seeds, as blogged, caught a v disgruntled snowy rabbit [lol] and ‘found’ things . F-I-L seems to be better pain wise but a long way off mobilisation, predicting at least a week more in hospital.
tomorrow hoping for a going out day
some other books semi factual semi historical that SB enjoying that others of similar might
we are going to Canada to visit relatives in the summer – woohoo!! SO we are learning a bit about Canada before we go. Last summer, whilst my sister was dying, I was at a conference in Toronto. [yes, that is one of those things that i would like to be able to edit] There I bought a couple of books of a large series. Now I have a wishlist of potential other ones!!
SO, ones we have
The fact books I am considering…
when we are there, will hopefully borrow some wildlife spotter books from family as well
Fictionalised History books i am considering
And for BB
All of these would possibly be easier to decide yes or no about if i could see them in the flesh tho. Fairly certain i would like the exploration one, so might buy a couple and then see if the others in the big waterstones in london to look at first! Particularly keen if anyone has any good ideas for fictionalised history – ie life in the times, but not necess ‘real people’
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I wondered what to do a quickie resources post on, and decided for art . Partly on the basis that I think my schooling and upbringing has left me with zero confidence in practical art myself, so i have bought a lot of books and partly because Kirsty reminded me of Harmony Art Mom, one of the 2 non UK home ed blogs I have on my RSS feed. SO here is a small selection of the books we have used a lot and found valuable
Beautiful art appreciation books for children
I think nothing beats going to a variety of art galleries and installations, because there you can see how big and impressive or small and detailed the various pics are. Historic houses – like Burghley that we went to recently as well, as SB was v keen to focus on the art and wants to go back. But it is also nice to pour over pictures, get ideas and inspiration from them, as SB has often done, with matisse, van gogh recently.
Artist Story Books
I have to confess to a complete love of the Anholt Stories about artists, as well as the Katie books. They can be read purely as stories or jump off to new and different directions. We have quite a few different ‘story’ books which are particularly good for BB now. The book people did some good deals on them a while back, so often in libraries.
How To… Art Books
Feeling terribly useless at art, I have compensated with books well, i had no idea how to use oil paints or watercolour pencils for example when the girls asked! SO some of these are ideas books from Usborne – owned by myself or friends! S0me are suggested by harmony art mom as well – thankyou.
SO go and enjoy painting, splodging and sketching, no excuses ALso please link fav’s in comments.
BB got a new top today, a hoody with dinosaurs on the front. She does really adore dinosaurs, and it made me think of all the dinosaur resources we have, and decided to do a resource post! I realise from twitter that it is non-fiction day today, so really should have done this a bit earlier, never mind! [in my head friday is the resource post day!] So, where shall i start! Well, since it is non-fiction day, I guess that is where i should start
So I have started with assorted fact books, all of which BB likes, and all have a slightly different angle on them. The dk book is very vivid, with lots of imagery, facts and BB particularly likes it because she won it! SHe can’t read yet, but she has memorised many of the dinosaurs, and their diets, ferocity, size and postulated behaviour, and the pictures in this book allow her to jump in her imagination, and she does sometimes let me read too! The usborne book is also v fab, with some overlap with the DK book, but is far more geographical, placing the dinosaurs both in the pangaea gondwanaland etc of jurassic/triassic but also the modern continents where they are found, leading us on imaginary dinosaur hunts. We have particularly taken note of the fossils in england section! Again a beautifully designed and illustrated book for your dinosaur mad child! [and lots of facts for the older child too!] the dinosaurium book i am not so fond of, tho BB is. This is because it has those little books in the middle that get lost round the house, and it seems to be too bitty for me! Clever tho! We do like the final book though, with the 3d pop out and dinosaur sounds
we also like some of the stories about fossilisation and dinosaur finding . The monster stones book is ideally pitched at BB, with a very cartoon/graphic approach that she appreciates, often making her own story to go with it. The various Mary Anning books are lovely, and we enjoyed visiting Charmouth too. the next book is a little bit more gritty about dinosaur hunters and their rivalry. The last book is again ideally suited to KS1 learning, and is part of a much wider and great series of books, and takes you through the process of finding and piecing together a fossil. great
Dinosaurs books in story form – particularly astrosaurs as well as colouring and games books are also important to BB, and she has enjoyed all the books here. The colouring one does keep her pretty quiet as well! She also subscribes to the magazine dinomite for regular dinosaur updates
And she has loved these DVD’s too.
Thus ends my quick round up of dinosaur resources, tho it has to be said, we have quite a few more, these are our favourites!
This is one of my, hopefully monthly, resource update blogs!
We have 2 main strands to our history provision in our home ed. The first is the planned chronological approach to history, with Story of the World as our main text. The second is the ad hoc watching or reading something or visiting somewhere that then fires the imagination and we look into it.
Story of the World
I have very much liked using this as a chronology backbone to history. We are now working our way through book 3 with SB [9]. SB snuggles up and listens as i read the stories to her, and we often but not always supplement this by looking at other books we have for more details for that chapter, particularly if it grabs our fancy. She rates Story of the World as one of her favourite things, and I tend to think that that is a great recommendation for a history core book! It is written in an easy read aloud style, with short chapters, further subdivided, making a chapter per read pretty easy. What we then do depends on our level of interest, for example, after reading about Louis XIV we then looked at pictures of Versailles and thought of French chateaux we have been to and their different architecture, but you could springboard to all sorts of different options. This is our ‘first read through’ of the book, in Classical Education terms.
I imagine there are lots of ways of using this book, and certainly a quick google search brings lots of options! we are prob going for a fairly common approach! we started when she was 5 – a fairly common start time! we have done less of the activities than i planned tho! The History of the World is divided into 4 main sections, with a core text and activity book.this series is ‘designed’ to learning spiral around, and read 3 times in total in the classical way, but doing slightly differently on each turn, as the child is correspondingly 4 years older.
my youngest is 5 already, and so we have started reading book 1 to her, SB often reads at least one part of the chapter and does more of the narration answers with the activities, and actually working it with one older and one younger child is going really well, as they are both enjoying it. We read story books and look at other reference books to go along with it for both children, according to their interest and the focus of the other books. SB is also working at the corresponding chapters of galore park junior history, to add additional material in on this second run through. We are still snuggled together, and it is a great family centric approach.
one of the other parts of the activity books are suggested crafts, and we have set up a home educators group to come together and have fun doing 3-4 chapters worth of crafts and discussions. This is in its infancy, but working really well, with some whole group activities as well as separate. We have also done some cooking in the period, and clothes design, and hope perhaps to have the opportunity for the older children to recreate some of the fiddly technology crafts. [this is quite a mixed age group]. History 1 prehistoric, first writings, early Egypt History 2 Egypt of the Pharoahs, Sumer, Assyrians, Babylonians
I think I am quite excited! [again a good thing to be for a home educator!] We are hoping to tie in more visits – grimes graves, stonehenge, british museum, various roman bits and pieces whilst we go through the books as well!
As a side note, we are an agnostic/atheist family using this book, and know of many other christian, agnostic and atheist families using it, but there are some subtle ‘christian overtones’ in places – most noticeable with the use of some old testament stories and in the crusader bit, and although we haven’t got to book 4, this is a world history with not a uk nor europe-centric approach but an american one. We therefore spend additional time going sidewards to explore some things from more angles – ie when we looked at the crusaders, we found Crusaders (Usborne Young Reading: Series Three) had a different base viewpoint and discussed a little bit why this might be so. We also step aside sometimes to look at British specific interesting history. I don’t think there is a core text perfectly suited for all families, and i am quite happy, since this is a read aloud, to sometimes read it differently phrased, or have the alternate viewpoint ready as required . I am not sure that this series would work so well with significantly different base points though.
Where the Whim takes us
We have a lot of books in our house, and the library has a lot of books. We watch interesting programmes on DVD and TV, and we visit interesting places. Some, but not all of these spark a desire to read more, and so we then aim to provide the facilities for reading more . Here are some of the books we have used when we looked at Vikings in more detail as an example:
TBH, although i had nightmares about it for the last few nights, i had hoped to be back at work and getting going again, however difficult. i had an occ health appointment, and i did a few of the objective tests, and she recommended not. slightly too anxious to be reliable on good decisions, and as she said, as soon as i start, the job takes no prisoners. i imagine the managers are going to be ecstatic so have 2 more weeks then a short phased return. hmmm. so, with that, and then the visit to gp for sicknote and then the emailing and phoning ppl that i had said last week i would be returning… we were nearly at lunchtime
SB, bless her, spent the morning in bed with a hurty head and tummy [reading avidly, so head can't be THAT hurty!] . she is so imprecise that it is difficult to work out why things hurt, but they seemed to get better when i got home… SHe finished reading the magicians nephew and is most of the way thro the lion, the witch and the wardrobe anyway. She snuggled up to me and did grammar before going to her bikeability session with chris. She really enjoyed this, and told me all the accidents other people had had, what they did, in that breathless it was great fun speech, and she has new boots
I love having snuggles anyway After her bikeability, she snuggled up with her galore park science too
Whilst SB off for her bikeability in the afternoon, BB and i did some bunny care – the little bunnies do look all cute and little and it is amazing how much less food is eaten, and correspondingly how much less poop there is . BB is such a cutie pie, and so adoring of the rabbits. We then did piano practice. BB has a current like of getting the metronome going and then making a funky rhythm with her 3 note repertoire. i love it must surreptitiously iphone vid it sometime [she usually stops!] and then she will sometimes do a bit of jibbedy f, but its up to her. She has a fairly natural musician flow, so i am working on just encouraging her to play, whatever, with the option of looking at new notes etc if she wants. it is really lovely to do together we then snuggled in the conservatory to read a fact book - i wonder why the sea is salty – together, and then we did some fimo. BB was making a fimo rabbit for her secret santa, but liked it so much, she is keeping it… this is not a surprise, she has kept the last 2 birthday presents she has made too
SB coming back and snuggling with me persuaded BB to do something on her own, and so she played falconer to her peregrin falcon cuddly, and that was v cute to watch. i do love watching the imaginative games . we finished the day with tea in front of horrible histories, each girl choosing a box book for getting the required number of ticks – bb v happy with a dinosaur maze book, and SB with the georgian horrible histories – the box set seems partic cheap currently
And i have watched a grand designs in falmouth – fab house! and then looked at videos of sis. But it was also a day of all those weird home ed conversations where lots of things flow on, and yet when you come to blog, you just can’t remember any of them!
i have loved doing the science bit of latinetc. doing crazy fun experiments and seeing happiness and laughter on the faces of the children there, as well as talking, discussing and enjoying science really has given me a buzz.
Latinetc orig started in oct 2007 had had a freeform starting point. The families were slightly different, we didn’t do science each time, and children way way smaller! We did taste testing then!
the families changed slightly, and as the children got older, we grouped them, and made it a bit more formal, but we have covered such a lot! I am grouping the flickr set here, mostly for my benefit!
Chemistry
acids and alkali 2007,1
acids and alkali – 2007, 2
starch and spies – 2009
atoms and molecules – 2009
volcano experiments – 2009
polymers 1 – 2009
separating – 2009
more polymers – 2009
acid base 2 – 2009
working out the substance – 2009
making invisible inks – 2009
reduction reactions with copper sulphate – 2009
chemical flames – 2009
chromatography – 2009
crystal structure – 2009
microscope crystals – 2009
co2 – 2010
acids plus alkali – metal salts 2010
density – sugar rainbow solutions 2010
cornstarch gloop polymers 2010
acids and metals and testing for hydrogen – redox 2010
yeah, i think that is a good list to be proud of! i have a few more ideas planned, but talking to group and then firming up, it is felt that perhaps having a going away and thinking about it, and perhaps formailising experiment write up may be helpful for some. SO having chatted a lot and discussed with other friends, we are going to do it slightly differently. i think i have used up lots of my top-of-head ideas, so we are going to be trying out real science 4 kids. level 2 chemistry for older group, and level 1 for younger. this has the advantage of being internet accessible, for a trying and not buying option unless sure is working for us. and also the interesting ‘cog’ add ons. not sure whether the levels quite right, as we are a bit age diverse, but can see… I am hoping they will have had the reading bit done at home, i can check with the questions, and then we do the lab work, and if i can find other speriments to fit i will, to keep the sessions fun and practical. If it doesn’t work for the group, we can think again.
for my occupational therapy today started, as always, with BB hurling hersel on me, squiggling, squirming, and thoroughly waking me up! SB came in with book to snuggle and continue to read – horrible histories Barmy British Empire, which she has now nearly finished. Downstairs to have breakfast, and then to check on rabbits. snuggling, holding bigger babies and the adults – snowy much happier to be held, Skittles not so, but had to be checked as ok – so far so good! little babies still there, and the pink ones looking like they might be spotty. I don’t think this new litter can beat the old for diversity and adorableness tho!!
Having done that, SB and I did a piano prac, we have decided to be brave and enter grade 1 piano, and now – a few collywobbles later! we had better do it. She did well, and concentrated nicely, so think that the 2 pieces we are currently learning should be ok! She then wanted to make something for friend chloe, currently in france! so we got our made by me sewing book out and the felt and embroidery thread – hooray to having had forethought to buy stuff to go with book!! SB made a lovely bag which she embroidered sequins onto, and BB a cute easter design cushion. she fell in love with that so much that she has decided to keep it after all so BB! she wore her leaving present to C whilst she made it – another present she couldn’t part with. there is a theme here! this took quite some time, with a break in the middle to eat pizza crumpets for lunch – yummy!!
so we then enjoyed the sun outside, fed rabbits, cuddled babies, played on swing [well I didn't do that!] SB did some galore park science, but as getting close to gym, she is going to collect seeds and look at them under the microscope tomorrow. she has taken with her to gym her journal – as it is months since she has written in it, and she is going to start from now and write about baby bunnies [aargh! think she forgot to take pen !!!! ] as she has an hour whilst BB does her class, and she also took a french workbook, so we will see if she did any of that! and another box book – on prehistoric people, which looks like the thing she will be doing!
edited to add – daddy had a pen, so wrote about the baby rabbits in the journal book, and did some of l’art de lire workbook and a schofield and simms science workbook i had forgotten! but not the prehistoric book! now reading me a story in french – emilie n’a pas sommeil which we bought in france last year.
they will get home after 7, and we have macaroni cheese for tea, prob with some more david attenborough! so the day goes!! Had a lovely phone call from dad have been having lots more calls than texts than the otherway round, and he was really supportive of me being off work, whereas i thought he would be disappointed in me. I should have remembered he loves me and has best interests at heart <3
I think every so often I am going to post the core resource books we use. These are the workbooky or series books that we have found suits our childrens style, that they are happy to use. This is not the sum total of our home ed, or even, particularly, the majority. Just the bits that others new to home ed can grasp as a possible resource series that may suit them. September being nearly over, there are always a few parents out there who are wondering what their other options might be! I would heartily recommend home education. For a bigger look at what we use, what we do and our style, up there near the picture is a row of links to our Mission Statements and some other kinda key thoughts splurged on the computer! And also if you look at our pages down the side, you can see some of the more as it happens thoughts!
We don’t spend the majority of our day at the kitchen table with nose in workbooks, but we do snuggle up and do the above on a regular basis as a core progression through! SUpplemented with reading/visiting/playing/crafting/experimenting and all the other stuff that makes home ed such fun. But I’m also not saying that this is ‘chore’ work, it is just another facet! And hopefully those new to home ed nosing around blogs can look at this list and get some ideas! Anyone else care to blog there core and most used resources?
aimed for SB really. Any favourites out there?? was wondering what these were like.
it doesn’t need to be really simple for littlies, but also not complex teen stuff, so thought these may do? Apparently Big and SB talked a bit about changes of growing older, and she has been asking me questions. Although always happy to just do questions, thought she might appreciate a book as well?
edited to add: I bought the first and thrid of the above in the end. I haven’t read them, but skimmed through and both seemed comprehensive. SB obviously did have a desire to read them, as she read the first as a bedtime book, and the third first thing in the morning. her verdict – both are good, she prefered the first one. she feels the first one better for her age and a bit younger, andthe third book ok for her age, but better for those a little bit older as far more detail.
Since we went to the tate modern in jan, and admired some of matisse, SB and I had thought we could have a thought about looking at making art ‘in the style of…’ starting with Matisse this year. Art is not my strongest point [ ] but I do enjoy it. SO we planned that for today. before we began, however, some tidying was in order. We all hate tidying, it is true, so it was well past midday before the room was enough tidy to move on! then as the kitchen wasn’t, we had to do other things first!
SB and I did a great recorder practice, the scales [though not arpeggios] and the 3 exam pieces. gradually coming together. mostly notes and rhythms right, so now to work on phrasing and dynamics! BB and I also did a recorder practice together, and SB did some french.
BB started with her own craft project, which she tells me daddy musn’t know anything about, and SB and I looked at a few matisse pictures and she said she knew what she had in mind and didn’t need to see any more, thankyou very much! BB also had a clear plan, so they got on with that whilst i read
The Pasteur book fits nicely with the science i plan to do later in the week as well. SB and BB both liked these books, and periodically stopped cutting/glueing/sticking to peer at the pictures and have a snuggle. The we moved onto story of the world and queen elizabeth 1. i corrected the succession order from henry VIII story, and then we enjoyed reading it, and then a bit about francis drake and sir walter raleigh from these books
BB’s has gone up on the wall, but SB’s has rather a lot of glue on it, so should be placed on the wall tomorrow! Having covered the kitchen table in Matisse style art, we ate our stirfry watching Dr Who in the living room before off to bed!!
on friday, i had booked the day off work thinking that we would be doing a ww2 evacuation day, but it was cancelled. we decided to make the most of it though, and do an overnighter to london! we had a number of possibilities and a definite. the definite was tower of london, as we have a palaces pass currently, and possibles thrown open included the globe theatre, tate modern, museum of london, imperial war museum, something found on a leaflet… and bookshops! bookshops were picked out as the girls each have a lot of book tokens to spend!
so we started at the tower, we were a bit worried, as the day started off v bleakly rainy at our end, but london just dismal rather than overtly wet – so v happy!! SB picked up a ‘thing to do’ so off to the treasury [has it always been called the jewel house?] to do the sheet. SB loves doing sheets, and this one has a sense of humour. we looked for the frog for ages before sb read on and said it was a joke !! BB lost patience before SB had finished, so some dividing and conquering, but think the sheets are good, mostly info and v little writing! SOme serious lagging later and we went to the restaurant for lunch – that set us back a bob or 2! the weather was too cold and wet to picnic out in any kind of fashion unless truly masochistic – and although chris and i alone may have been, the addition of BB warrants gentler treatment! [SB is pretty much game!] After that we went into the Henry VIII armour exhibition and hands on area – which was really good and SB spent a long time looking, and even BB made a fairly impressive coverage. The annoyance for me was the no photography rule. grr! finally, we went for a walk along the ramparts, and really liked all the info and background noises placed along them. i did wonder if there was a leaflet for that actually. We were chased out by warders for it being closing time. so we did only do that one thing!!
mooched back to the travelodge, with BB falling asleep on the tube, a rest, re-invigoration and out for a meal at a nearbye italian where they made a fuss over the girls being lovely – and they were. the travelodge is directly over the circle line, and initially BB insisted on looking out of the window at every rumble, but the game eventually palled…
next day up and to brekkie, when surprised by BB shouting there is k-! and there she was!! on breakfast TV, so we cheered her on defending her educational choices. SB had chosen the globe theatre, and by a slightly devious route we got there. loads of the tube was closed, either whole lines or stations, so we had to do some extra thinking! we decided to get to st pauls and then walk across the millenium bridge. we checked on a map our bearings, and BB made other tourists laugh by saying she now knew where the toilets were – she knows the important signs! [aside - though not the letter p however hard we try, she insists it is an r or a t - although she can recognise those]. we meandered around st pauls garden, had a look at the fireman memorial and ambled our way to the globe, just in time, as it started absolutely chucking it down.
we loved the globe! we started with a look around the top information exhibition. thought it was nicely done, could be read at a number of levels – pics for bb, skim read for sb, bit more for chris and i had we had the chance! then a break in the middle of more display items and then on how built. we then had a 40 min guided tour of the globe, and although abslutely teeming it with rain, the guide was excellent, and so were our children. so much so, that i bought them home ed books in shop at end [well, they are still on a no museum money as spent 4 museums as one at hampton court - currently £1 a museum, but with poss of slight extra if needed, so usually better saved up!] I chose 2, and agreed to SB’s choice off 2 as well. [what a moment of weakness!]
SB’s choices:
my choices [a bb and an sb book]:
[I will not look at cheaper-by-far prices on amazon!!]
and we read them whilst having lunch there, which was good, as SB’s had a printing error, and it was easy enough to exchange! we went back and did the musical uppersection and then the ground floor of the exhibition, discussing printing presses with a demonstrator – SB is fairly happy with discussing printing presses, she has seen quite a few in action as well as having it on the inventors story cd! then we popped next door to the tate modern – the printer recommending the black box, so we went in it. not quite dark enough as lots of ppl held their mobiles out to see [headdesk!!] and then we peaked at a couple of the galleries SB and i had a chat about what she could see, what she liked, if she thought there was an emotion there, and how might the art have been created, but BB becoming tired, so we had a restorative cake before moving to a bookshop.
i am going to gloss over finding the bookshop, suffice it to say that chris and i had different ideas of where to go, i agreed to choose chris’s idea, and we both regretted it, and the girls did a fair bit of extra walking before we ended up at the known fabulous waterstones by picadilly… SB chose nearly all famous 5 books [£40 worth!] and BB was dissuaded from buying all dr who story books – mainly because she can’t read, they have no pics and she doesn’t want them read to her, just turns pages, so we found a variety of doctor who alternatives, and she then picked 2 fairy based books she was also happy with. we had passed a buffet chinese on shaftesbury avenue earlier, so made steps back there, stuffed our faces, staggered back – well, we were going to get a bus at girls request, but by the time had walked to leicester square, decided to tube it! BB sang a v cute and jolly looking for a bus song, complete with looking actions. just made the train, easy journey home and there you go, a lovely 2 days in london!
today was a latinetc day, always enjoyable for all of us. we were still late, because somehow our kids don’t get out of the house, and my poor sleeping is making me just want to curl up in bed unless matter transported! We started with SB doing some music theory, which apparently she struggled to do there, but at home raced through the sheet, so as gina says, prob due to arriving half way thro. BB similarly shy in french, doing opposites, but got going, and for the rest of the morning toddling about quite happily!
I like being in the kitchen with michelle, though think she may have been a bit more dubious about our proximity as we were looking at bacteria! i reassured everyone that they were actually dead! fixed on a microscope slide in fact, and we had a peer at some, but my microscope not really powered quite highly enough. we did a fun bacteria division game with peas and paper ‘cells’ obviously these were intracellular bacteria! and that was enjoyed. then i got out the petri dishes and swabs and we all thought of somewhere that might harbour bacteria, swabbed and plated it. now, with any luck, the petri dishes are in airing cupboards gently warming! the plan is to look every day and draw what you see. we may, or may not, have the older group try and make a microscope slide depending on how well it goes! unfortunately, it used up way more agar than i imagined! so i have had to buy lots more, and am waiting for it before we do part 2 – grow bugs and then put in something we think is bacteriocidal – what do you think? teatree, lavender, breast milk, alcohol gel, soap?? oh and an antibiotic and see if we can kill them! so we will dissect a fish next time instead. we had lots of discussions about bacteria, and it is always great to see what info kids already have and can pull together, we had a bit of evolution, yoghurt making, pasteurisation, ‘good and bad’ bacteria…
latin and music also happened, tho not clarinet – will happen 2moro. we came home, and sb did the clarinet and theory sheet whilst BB got going with painting a plaster of paris frame she had made. she really paints v carefully, and acrylic paints are so much better for this!! just as SB was about to get a kit to finish out, we had the deependers arrive after baby music, so supplied tea and refreshments. M very taken by that maze ball thing we all have! J,K and SB played bohnanza for a bit, and L and BB played together v happily. apparently the frame is prob for L, but don’t get too excited, as BB often keeps the things she makes for others…
Other things this week – SB had and really enjoyed her first golf lesson. she has done loads of maths on angles. BB done lots of crafting and finally starting to learn some letters!! chris put up the new bookcases, so looks fab in hallway, and currently he has started on room of doom! work been stressful as always, but have some time off coming up – woohoo!! oh, and it snowed – somehow that is no longer newsworthy, and i have hardly mentioned this prolonged cold snap in the blog, but it hasn’t really affected us, not like so many others!
I apologise to all Kits out there, not Kits were maimed in the process of the day!
I was a bit blurgy with some droopy virus and am having problems with both insomnia and recurring nigtmares, not altogether sure that it isn’t the nightmares that are causing the insomnia. last night the cats bought it v unpleasantly. Anyhoo…
Girls started with watching some nature prog on the tv, then SB did piano with me – her new upgrade book, thanks sarah, and recorder. BB also did a bit of piano. Bit more ds-ing – mostly cooking mama – and then we got out the kits pile! SB has finished her egg cups and horses, and BB her dinosaur. SHe then started her zebra kit, though sand one unfinished, as she told me she was just going to pour sand over all of it. seemed like a waste – these kids foil me at every turn!!
Whilst they did their kits, i read some SoTW – Council of Trent, and we then had a discussion about all the pathways christionity has taken, and if we were to be anything, we would be on the protestant side and the more minimalist the better – quakers have always struck me as quite a good idea, but dad a methodist, and chris’s parents baptists [tho not so keen on that myself] and i have had friens of ‘all persuasions’ and they all now get on – as there were bits about catholics and protestants killing each other! We also read a nice book about a viking family [which i will link to when i get home]
I felt interacted out, so we then watched some walking with dinosaurs whilst chris sorted out the pipe leak in the garage – aargh!! luckilly nothing ruined, but a nuisance none the less, and v cold for poor chris. BB and SB both did some maths as well.
SB has her first golf lesson tomorrow, so hoping that goes OK!
before we get to today, i thought i would just like to say i went out to a restaurant both monday and tuesday! monday with chris, as girls at nanna’s so we made the most of the evening by going out to a local turkish, which was delish! tuesday was work night out at a chinese-malaysian – mucho yummy! had mock peking duck for the first time and liked it [have always steered a bit clear of the mock things!] must take chris there, it was near where the deependers live so would recommend it, tho a bit on the pricy side! mind you, the non veggies all had lobster as one of the courses, so i am guessing if i had been with chris it might have been half that price!
and so to wed, thought would raise christmas cheer with the science, and thinking hard for a good end of year finale, decided on crystal structure! went really well. we looked at crystals with SB’s rather fab microscope
now, this has mixed reviews, so anyone considering one, i think digital with usb port is a fab thing, it works quickly and easily and the laptop we run it on is our oldest one. the x200 doesn’t have enough light, so i agree there, but if you see one of these going cheap, snap it up, as far more fun than something you have to look down eyepieces for! all the children were v interested in it, from the v youngest, and it was quite some time before BB declared boredom! tho i notice that when they moved to slides, she was still watching!
we discussed crystals, how they form, and that if i had a powerful enough microscope [they don't do toy electron microscopes yet!] we could have seen the actual crystalline structure – which we discussed! then, whilst gina did music theory we them, i prepared my ace card – we made the crystalline structures out of maltesers held with royal icing. great fun! enjoyeed thoroughly by all, and hoping that they might remember some of them [i said them till blue in face!] simple cube, face centered cube, body centred cube, hexagonal close packed. and here are some examples!
actually it was a busy session and v much enjoyed by all. Gina also did bells with the big’uns and clarinet with the SB. Merry continued with sewing samplers with everyone – remarkably patient with all the needle traumas! BB also remarkably patient with hers. katy did latin christmas carols [well, latin translations!] and french and also boiled sweetie window biscuits. All went down really well, lots of happy laughing kids learning lots.
we were not only first to arrive [as hadn't seen any morning emails!] but also first to leave, as BB wanted to go to the rainbows christmas party. she didn’t join in any game, but when we ate, a girl sat with us, and they got on well, as she was really outgoing and friendly. not sure if bb will ever go to rainbows again, but she was much happier having had this interaction. i think she is just much younger than the others – prob directly due to home educating as we don’t push the outward facing thing.
SB had brownies party afterwards, which apparently didn’t have enough games. we watched doctor who, a crazy long bath was had, and the day was done.
i think sometimes this blog is a catalogue of things that we didn’t quite get to do. not a very positive and uplifting thing! so i am going to positive spin the fact that i had such a migraine that i couldn’t drive to what looked like a fab art and craft experience for the girls into a positive opportunity for home learning! [though still, i hate being bound by migraine].
Anyway, I was up, BB was happily playing with happy street [they've been playing with it all week since it was about to be consigned to loft!] and SB was still asleep. chris roused her, and she did music theory whilst i cut out tissue paper circles for a craft in homage to harmony art mum. Luckilly, when i was thinking of doing this, i accounted from the differences in artistic temperament between her own offspring [guessed and hinted at on her blog] and my two! SO we had much smaller areas to fill, no particular design/plan/ rules, just a desire to stick something at the end on the window that might liven it up through the winter. So we did it, BB just did one, and returned to happy street. SB did 3 and i did one. we decided to string them together and hang off the window, and decided that we liked them, and SB has plans to vary it a bit. it was a bit fiddley, even massively simplified, to get the 2 bits of plastic to stick nicely. If i was going to be a bit more expensive about it, i think using laminating pouches would give a much neater look!
oh yes, before craft, SB had a second ever clarinet practice. I think chris is going to blog their fantastic trip yesterday, but also her part-christmas-present-early of a new clarinet arriving yesterday has heralded the sound of a very novice clarinetist. yesterday, sans migraine, i was enthusiastic. somewhat less so today, so suggested playing it to chris in the kitchen…
Erm, and a bit more ermmming!! well anyway, at some point we did some french – acombination of walking through the jungle with The Usborne First Thousand Words in French. they make a lovely combo, with a lovely story book with few words, but then all the names of the animals in the other one, so we can look and see if we want.
i was going to say we did some story of the world, but we did that yesterday, christopher columbus, magellan, amerigo vespucci. both girls were gripped with the idea they didn’t know the rest of the world and just sailing straight from spain, so we followed it on the globe, imagining we didn’t know what was there. SB and BB both did a bit of maths, we snuggled, I sowed on brownie badges, dozed a bit, repepped with medication etc etc. i didn’t move much from the sofa! played games with both girls, rummy, snap, monopoly. oh, i did piano prac with SB too, and she did some recorder.
Chris’s parents arrived after their hospital appointment, so we had a nice chat, SB and BB played snap etc with them whilst i rehydrate them and then nanna got suckered into an enormously long game of monopoly. chris’s dad has a few further tests to get through…
then it was mad ferring around – BB had rainbows, then SB brownies followed by Judo. BB got out the gears, and had fun with those, then the funblox, and finally fell asleep in my arms watching ice age.
i think i am going to call it a day, but think i rescued a lovely family home day from a disappointment day.
oh! edited to add – and how could i forget! major fuss today, as sb insisted she wanted to try some fake ham, as apparently she had it at nursery and liked it [?], so she did, and nearly gagged. chris, bB and i didn’t even try! but she also hurt/jiggled a wobbly tooth eating it, and later this evening it fell out. so she is 10 down!
This is the next mission statement for SB, to last jan 2010 to 2012 [oh my goodness!!] when she will be just short of 11th birthday. But an initial immediate disclaimer!
THIS IS NOT A YEARLY [OR 2 YEARLY PLAN] THAT WE WILL LOOK TO ACHIEVE, TO TICK OFF ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST 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. I ANTICIPATE SHE WILL CHANGE HER MIND, 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 RESPONSIBLE IN THE MOST.
I guess, this is going to be a slight change in pace for our mission statement. We are moving 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 for when secondary school age. We absolutely reserve the right though to change this mission statement dependent on SB’s preferences as this 2 year period passes.
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.
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 is most noticeable in the area of english language, grammar and spelling. At present we don’t write or record many of the things we do, because of the dislike and difficulty writing. I think that we gradually should start to encourage a record, be it lap book, mostly drawings or photos and a few words of some of the experiments/trips out and about, and ‘topics’ should we do them. This isn’t something that will come naturally, so we will consider how this might work for us – perhaps a learning journal?
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. We hope that she will now begin determine the shape that the fabric of her education will take. Certainly, when we find the right resource for her – like currently the dk project books – she is capable of prolonged focused study and discussion. 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.
So we will remain child led rather than completely autonomous. 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 . The actual minutiae will not be programmed, and will be child interest led. Although I have rough idea of what we may get through as such in the next 2 years, it isn’t ‘must do or else’, and often I will stillskip bits : more a guide to where i see us being. SB has a wide ranging thirst at the moment, and 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 gradually be encouraging some structure – for her to find her own best patterns within it, but that she develops a balance that suits between pure play, enjoyed, enriching learning and the targeted ‘hard slog’ learning.
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 unlikely to submitted to the LA
the Nitty Gritty
literacy:
to read herself a wide a varied amount of literature, encouraging her to try new genres and authors, and to stretch her imagination. to still read aloud to her a variety of stories, again across different genres and writing styles.
to start to discuss the mechanics of style and writing in the books, stories, poetry etc we come across. not much to start with -don’t want to impede the reading explosion! but to start thinking about why she liked bits, what the story is about, what interests are sparked from it, and perhaps the use of language. This might be aided by a book club or group?
SB is also doing a small amount regularly of the galore park english, being on book 1 at the moment, and we would perhaps like to have finished this and be nearing the end of book 2 perhaps if all goes well. this is one of her areas of struggle though, so just doing a tiny bit regularly is the aim. If we find something she prefers to do to this, we will swap!
writing:
SB has stated an interest in writing more legibly, and was gradually working through getty and dubay. this has stopped for a while, but we have discussed it and plan to carry on with this. i hope to add some story writing or copywork activitities if she fancies it.to start her on the path to writing her own stories – encouraging the use of grammer and spelling! Writing could perhaps also be encouraged in a learning journal for experiments and trips out and about.
drama:
we don’t do any drama at the moment, which i think is a bit of a shame. I am hopeful that we can look at some opportunities in the next 2 years. i would also like to start visiting the theatre more again, now BB is older.
maths:
singapore maths we are halfway through 3b at the moment, and hoping to move through a year of singapore with each calendar year, so perhaps starting 6a. it just depends really! SB loves this series, has no interest, she says, in trying anything else.
To add a bit of sparkle and interest, we will try and do some maths experimentation from our DK book.
we have quite a few maths story books that we all enjoy.
A friend is contemplating primary maths challenge, and maybe we will consider that next year.
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, and will finish that and commence the third. We will hope to do more of the activities as well – perhaps a bit of parental pre-planning! alongside this we have lots of great usborne books, other good books and good piccies in DK eyewitness
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 is currently really enjoying a DK mediaeval project book, which suggests this might be a place to start. certainly we are near enough a few castles!
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
we may start to introduce timelines, and see where this gets us .
Historical re-enactments and visits should add some external WOW to learning, and we will try and make the most of opportunities.
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 9-10 book, as opposed to the 8-9 for verbal. the problems with spelling and grammar hinder the verbal reasoning. ALthough this may sound dull and dry, she really enjoys them, like her mum there!
We play lots of board games as well.
science:
this is a multipronged pronged event. We read a fair number of easy access science books – such as those by jaquie 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! may have to kit out a lab one day!
SB is also doing a small amount regularly of the galore park science book, being on book 1 at the moment, and we would perhaps like to have finished this and be nearing the end of book 2 if not on book 3, depending on whether she continues to like this series. At the moment she is also racing through schofield and simms science workbooks for key stage 2 after picking one up casually!
We are aiming to do regular experiments at home, and have a number of kits and resources. i am hoping to encourage at least a small write up in a learning journal. We are also part of a fortnightly meeting where we do more science experiments with a bit of a theme.
We 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.
We have joined the astronomy group, but need to go more regularly and hopefully hiring one of their telescopes again, as we all learned a lot last time and really enjoyed it.
Geography:
will still be predominantly history and holiday based, but perhaps something such as geocaching may take SB’s interest if we do it more regularly, and also working out cycling routes? it also gets covered alot as part of other things.
Actually, since writing that, we have started postcrossing, and all the excitement of writing and sending, then receiving postcards and plotting them on our map is proving quite thrilling at the mo.
languages:
we have good resources for french, and we are trying to regularly use french for a small conversation, and also to read some toddler french books and base words around this. we have enjoyed doing this, and some words are retained. I am not sure this is the most efficient or best way of learning french, but we are are least learning some and enjoying it.
I am trying to supplement this with dvd/video/cd’s and may, hopefully, have some french sessions with a friend on perhaps a fortnightly basis,
we have for the last 2 years had a short camping holiday in france, and plan to continue this. i am not sure about sending SB on an en famille camp, but may host.
We perhaps need to work a bit more regularly at latin. this is done on a fortnightly basis, but possibly a look in between times would be useful!
music :-
piano is probably SB’s favourite, and we will encourage regular practice recorder is also practiced, and am hoping SB can attend a local venue regularly enough for Gina to continue teaching
i have some first duet books to add a bit of a difference with our playing, and hope to regularly write group music for SB and friends to a level they are comfortable with.
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…
At some point, we may possibly add a bit of composer study, should SB show inclination or interest.
for the out and about WOW factor, SB has really enjoyed holiday orchestra, doing singing, musical games and recorder, and is v keen to do again. there are a number of events nearly locally that she can participate in.
i also want us to start going out to more concerts. BB is def not interested, and i think for sb too they would still have to be short, but she did enjoy the LSO
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, gym, swimming and judo on a weekly basis
She also goes to a variety of HE group sports as and when they happen.
she still like to at least try horse riding, and see if she enjoys it.
more ad hoc are yoga and dance videos [which i should do too!!], and perhaps finding someone to get her started with in line skating. half term and holiday leisure centre taster events also popular
IT:
surprisingly, this is an area which we are not using much at the moment. SB prefers reading and playing to IT. our computers did break, which was prob v unhelpful, and we have not got back into using them. perhaps a few new and interesting cdroms will kickstart.
Arts and crafts:
we do a fair amount of art and crafting, using fimo and hama beads, kits and paints in a freestyle way
I would like to add in some art appreciation, look at different artists and styles, and ‘have a go’ now SB is getting more confident in painting
SB periodically is interested in tuesday sketch, so I might encourage this as well
Domestic Science!!:
slight rofl at title, but a fair bit of baking and cooking, gardening, some tidying and laying the table. SHe is interested in sewing and knitting too, 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.
personal development
we will think about supporting her through the hormones and body changes to come, taking advice from people that have been there before! getting good books, and hopefully building on the groundwork of loving family and good friends to give her confidence in who she is.
Socialising:
regular attendance at not quite local groups, local clubs [ie rainbows], national camps and making sure we have a steady stream of houseguests.
family is also very important, and maintaining close family ties and bonds.
trips and outings:
i think we should be a bit more proactive now BB more amenable to going out and about to places for experiential learning opportunities. this would add a bit of sparkle and pizazz to the whole thing, add external excitement for looking at some things, and generally be fun for all.
practicalities:
we have lots of resources and opportunities, i think in the next 2 years we parents have to hone our presentation skills, storage solutions etc, so that they are all readily accessible for SB to find . i think we need a ruthless look at groups that work or not for SB, and keep an eye on the opportunities to play and socialise.
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, but i think we really must try.
obviously we do a lot of ed by conversation and seeing where that goes – sometimes quite tricky, so the other thing is to make sure that we are available , enthusiastic partners in the educational process.
this is a boring bare bones thought. chris needs to look, add and ponder. it is harder to really look at this in any more detail, as SB really will become more and more the driving force for her education, depending on her interest. I think for me, it is enough to know that i think we have resources and information and enthusiasm to back her up, but also to at this stage continue to encourage and lead and offer where necessary. by 9, i would hope that for the most part she will be autonomous and enthused about continuing to learn and find out. That we will have facilitated her spending ages on minutiae, and whipping through huge subjects in nano seconds where less interesting to her.
actually feeling sorry for girls, espec bb. its not much fun when your parents are lying on sofa doing the most minimal of caring and nurturing. in fact, bb has been, on the whole. v loving – coming to stroke my arm etc. the persistent raspberries on my belly less humorous, as she follows this with telling me off for not saying pardon me sb today also trying to be good, but with an older childs knowledge that if they cunningly stay out of the way and quiet, they wont be asked to do anything.
TBH, i think i am worsening rather than improving, and v fed up at that. chris, luckilly, is improving, though seal like cough awful. in fact he was well enough to do a quick forage for food. and some plaster of paris, but i ended up too unwell to use it. mind you, i did try and call him back because i had keeled over to find he had left mobile at home
so what did happen? well sb piled into her mediaeval project book for over an hour – guess that is approval!! she has decided she wants to do the ancient egyptian one next as has really enjoyed working on this one.
BB and i made another fimo duck/goose so that she has the ‘full set’ like on the page! and SB also did some more hama.
bb desperately wanted to do yesterdays colour mixer experiment by herself, so did that, and then made some crystals. we have an ex ebay part used no instructions smithsonian crystal set, and started that. sb wants to make the geode though, and not sure how to put the outside bit on – has anyone out there got a similar type set with instructions for that?? HELP?? we are nominating an old saucepan as a crystal pan for dissolving anyway.
so, both girls then had to play, because i staggered indoors with home grown corn on the cob, popped it in the water and collapsed. it is lovely native american style corn on the cob, and bb still wont eat it! 1 hour i managed of being up. hopeless. chris returned and i napped whilst sb did some maths.
i awoke in time for tea and we watched what the ancients did for us – rome – which was fascinating for all. sb did a piano practice, and has gone to bed clutching a number of box book of the Jacqui bailey
sort to read as she loves those.
time to nap again.
edited to add – i thought i had lost this blog post with a server crash, phew to autosave!! and have looked and other peoples outings to framlingham and to rockingham with jealousy, though know we wouldn’t make it to car without me needing to go to bed! will have to remember for next year
this should be a short set of links, but we all adore greek myths and legends, so have got rather a number of different lovely books of different styles. Some for younger children, some for older/all ages, some cartoon and some read aloud. love them all 
Will also link at the bottom to other books we have enjoyed reading in this ‘greek phase’ of our historyetc/story of the world. I hope you enjoy the Greek myths and legends as much as we do 
and partly because 
had a different base viewpoint and discussed a little bit why this might be so. We also step aside sometimes to look at British specific interesting history. I don’t think there is a core text perfectly suited for all families, and i am quite happy, since this is a read aloud, to sometimes read it differently phrased, or have the alternate viewpoint ready as required 
i imagine the managers are going to be ecstatic 
so BB! she wore her leaving present to C whilst she made it – another present she couldn’t part with. there is a theme here! this took quite some time, with a break in the middle to eat pizza crumpets for lunch – yummy!!
. they make a lovely combo, with a lovely story book with few words, but then all the names of the animals in the other one, so we can look and see if we want.
mind you, i did try and call him back because i had keeled over to find he had left mobile at home 
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