Category Archives: Books

Arrr beee chur be durrp

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Daddybean | Leave a comment

And so says Butterbean, or some such thing anyway, endlessy throughout the day. I love toddler pre-speech (well more than the odd real word) babble, it seems so full of meaning for them – as they point and wave at something, or give you something and then chatter away. No doubt about when she want’s you to read a book as she plonks it on your lap and says ‘book’ repeatedly Her fave as the moment is Ten Little Ladybirds which she seems to BE endlessy dragging around, followed by That’s not my dinosaur . We were reading this earlier this morning and she was rather cutely getting my hand and putting it onto the textured bits to feel them

Monday we went to the monthly sports session for one of the Home Ed groups, which Stringbean seems to enjoy. It’s only an hour, and starts at 9.30, which given it’s a fair journey for us, means a prompt start, but just about made it in time. We never leave in hurry though, SB likes to have play afterwards with other children, and i’m happy to sit and drink tea and natter so it makes the journey sem more worthwile anyway. So by the time we got back home, stopping for a bit of shopping) and had lunch and BB had settled down for her nap it was well into the afternoon.

Can’t really remember what else we did then – SB did some of the old DK World Explorer CDROM we have ‘New Version two – fully updated for 1998…….’, She needs a bit of help with where the places she needs to look for are, so it is probbaly helping her learn the continents etc.

Sspent some time in the garden, SB investigated the pond with a net we found – she was trying to catch the ‘pond monster’,

but when Helen got home from work she came bearing gifts of a couple of water pistols, so we all had good fun trying them out in the garden in the sun.

Had the Panner that SB and Helen made for tea in a curry. It wasn’t quite firm enough to fry, as it just melted and started to stick tot he pan, but was nice pooped intot he curry at the end, though did start to fall part then. Probably need to be pressed with a lot more pressure to make it firmer.
Yesterday was an long one for all concerned, SB was awake, waking up Helen before 5 am, BB was awake again (after waking at 3 ish) at about 5.30, neither really went back to sleep and me and the girls were all up early. Not good start when you are going to have a long day and possibly night at work

Did mean i had two lots of washing on the line by about 8 though.

Library day/storytime today, so morning passed in breakfast, some reading of the library books some tidying up, watching a bit of the kiddies Springwatch on CBeebies. Off to the library – they both took Teddies there for soem reason, so both looked cute/funny carrying these teddies up the road, nice that BB is giood enough at walking places now that she can just trot along with us and doesn’t need a carry (to short a journey for the pushchair). Tried to get soem books out for Helen, but not sure how successful that was really, at the same time BB was going round pulling books of shelves (just such a handy height you know…) and re-arranging them. SB wanted to choose a couple of books, so not quite sure what she choose or on what criterion.

After that, lunch – including more Little Toe Radio Show, napping BB, some Explode the Code, some more of the World Explorer CD, I’d cooked loads of beans earlier, so made some up into a nice Bean Salad to go with dinner later. finally managed to get the playroom back into some sort of order, havng been a mess for days, read some of the library books, played out side for a bit, went to swimming lessons

(via a shop, got to the checkout and didn’t ahve my cards, so could only pay for little bit of what I’d got….. Very grumpy woman had to take all my stuff off and put in a trolley to put back on the shelves- yeah like I really wanted to waste my time getting a load of stuff and then not being able to buy it….)

- SB insisted that we watch the circuit trainers for bit afterwards – not sure why they are so interesting, home again, dinner finshed and eaten. I dozed off when putting each of the children to bed, and was dozing off again when H finally got home at about 10.30 :-(. so evening was a bit of right off.

So of course we went to bed at about 1am….

The Last Chapter

Posted on May 27, 2006 by Daddybean | 3 comments

No, not the end of the blog.

We’ve got the rather nice all-in-one edition of the Winnie The Pooh Stories and the poems etc. that was published a couple of years back, ours was a 10 quid job from the Book People, if you ever see it snap it up.

Anyway, on Tuesday read the last chapter? of The House at Pooh Corner to SB at bedtime. I know it’s daft, seeing as it’s only a story and it’s a toy bear. but it always brings a lump to my throat and a tear to the eye when I read it (For anyone who hasn’t read it, Christopher Robin is 6 and is going off to boarding school – I assume – and takes Pooh off to a special place to say goodbye, but he can’t bring himself to actually tell Pooh that he will be going away)

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Posted in Books, Daft Stuff

Ooops, forgot the title….

Posted on May 26, 2006 by Daddybean | 1 comment

Nice day, though as so often time seemed to disappear in the middle with things left undone.

Girls were up with Helen before she went to work, and by 8 am they ahd both had their breakfast, which is a bit unusal. SB often faffs about doing ‘stuff’ before getting round to eating Then she collected some thing together on the stairs and so I had to go shopping there and buy some things from them. A bit more random playing and then SB settled down to a bit of Education city, which we have yet another trial extension for. Seems to work well – she does it for a little bit, then forgets about it, then EC send us a trial extension sometime later and she has another go. She does seem to enjoy it. Seemed to be moslty doing Science stuff and getting it moslty right AFAICS.

BB pottered about, doing a bit of ‘drawing’, playing with the cooker and other toys.

so I sneaked off and had my breakfast in peace, which is also pretty unusal. And looked up a few Space things on the web for SB
Then we sat and read few books, and then i showed SB how to get some bread going in the breadmaker.

Though she did rather make a mess with the flour BB played with bowls and measuring spooions on the floor. A bit later on she sneaked up onto the table and was caught measuring out water using the spoons and cups

Some washing got hung out (BB helped by taking them out of the basket and dropping them…) i puled up soem of the 5 billion weeds that are gorwing madly in the blink of an eye in the garden, the girls finally got into soem clothes from their PJ’s some of the endless pile of clothes waiting to be put away was put away. SB played with Happy Street which seems to be living on her floor recently and wailed when BB (aka Godzilla) came along to join in – which basically means wrecking it most of the time. I do see SB’s point.

Some how it made itself to lunchtime, so we finfished off the sausage bake from the other day – BB managed to cover her face in it and then fell asleep in her high chair. Whilst BB slept me and SB looked and some photos and video clips from the Apollo program, and much conversation about going to the moon, the moon, why the rocket ‘comes apart’, all that sort of stuff. I do remember being absolutley fascinated by all this as a kid, as of course it was all happening then.

Made a rather delicious Asparagus (from the garden) flan for dinner,

SB did some Explode the Code (almost finished book 2 now) and helped roll out pastry
and then she (moslty herself) made some little jam turnovers with the scrap pastry. something I can rember doing with my mum as well.

and before you know it it’s time for ballet class (BB enjoyed chasing around the room with the ballet girls who were wating for their class to start), tidying up a bit, getting dinner ready, bed time stuff etc. SB finished off the day with a bit of Muzzy with Mum.

but I didn’t get to plant out any of the plants I wanted to plant out, nor to clear a bit of the veg bed area for more things to go out, everything is sooooo behind now

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Posted in Books, Butterbean, Cooking, history, IT, literacy, photos, science, Stringbean, Stringbean's HE, writing

quick catchup

Posted on May 13, 2006 by Daddybean | Leave a comment

Main computer has had a major wobbley, so have spent much fruitles time trying to sort that, as well as only (!) having one computer around for essential tasks like reading blogs. Also Helen has been in London for two days this week and not getting back until late-ish. so lack of blogs, lack of new photos on Flickr (we have them, but have to get the external drive and connect it to the laptop) – what’s the world coming too…..

That and? certain lack of blogging enthusiasm from me this week….

Main theme of the week has been enjoying the sun outside quite a lot, there has been Explode the Code happening most days, bits of Singapore maths, lots of reading. SB is reading soemthing to me most days now, she is gradually spotting more and more words straight off.

Anway, Tuesday was Library day, so went along to that, SB had found the book that I claimed last week that I had claimed not to have ever seen – so had to take that back and admit to incompetence. But ti’s a nice friendly volunteer run library and they are used to us…… Meant for under 5′s so Sb is much the biggest there now – older under 5′s must presumably be at playgroup or something. But she likes going, so we still go. I do the occasioanl session to keep in the good books

I picked up a book that SB has really enjoyed. Incredible Everything?? about have various things? (bridges, doughnuts, CD’s Beoing 777 for example) are made and work, lots of detailed drawings etc. SB loves things like this and every day me or Helen have sat down with here and looked at it. she likes you to tell here what is going on in each bit.

Much of ther afternoon was probably spent outside, a lot of librbary book reading went on. We finshed sorting out the bed for the strawberry pants.

SB finally learnt how to get herself swinging on the swing, went outside and realised she was whizzing back and forth. she was Soooo pleased with herselfshe spent most of the next hour swinging, Swimming lesson later on, home to dinner, and Mummy getting home just as we sat down to watch Wallace and Grommet – Curse of the Were Rabbit.

Wednesday we went to my parents for most of the day. SB played some games, read, did some tracing (very well) in a trace the picture book mum had bought. BB poddled about, and scared Nanna by climbing up piles of old paving stones, up on top of the wall. etc. (they are redoing the garden). They have Sat TV, so SB gets a treat of watching CBeebies in the middle of the day Lots of reading with Mum, looking at various books – she has been looking at some of the Picturepedia books as well – ‘Waht’s this, what’s that..’
Thursday ???? We planted out the stawberry plants, as in SB did two and then went of to play. BB randomly came up picked up plants and dropped then around the bed…, they seem happy enough though. Ballet lesson in afternoon, some time in the playground afterwards where SB found hitched up with another little girl, Sb kept trying to climb up everything, managed to whizz up the slide, then fell down it…. :-(. I tried to do a ‘A day in the life of BB’ series of piccies which will hopefully get posted.
Friday A day when we didn’t have to go anywhere at all which was nice. Should have gone to the shops probably though. SB and BB played for ages in the morning in SB’s bedroom with Happy Street, Cindy whatever, which gave me the chance to do interesting things like changing beds ‘unaided’.Can’t remeber much, but SB did some good reading from one of the Letts Active Readers (Ratman and the Big Cat or somesuch), we looked a lots of the Incredible Things book – wandered into a conversation about how people used to make things themselves or on a small scale and now things moslty get made in factories now.? did some basic stuff about Graphs from Singapore maths.? Did some stuff from the book, then did some of own – how many different coloured flowers etc. use the little plastic blocks (name? – forgot) to ake the graps which worked well. SB got the hang of it, and interpreting it/extracting info easily.

Sporty Monday

Posted on May 8, 2006 by Daddybean | 2 comments

A local HE group is having a monthly ‘sports’ session, we didn’t go last month as SB was ill but made it this time. Though a 9.30 start and a 40 min journey meant getting going in the morning. BB helped by getting me up before 6 am

Basically it is a ‘teacher’ doing various games etc. using balls, hoops, skittles etc. and lost of running about. SB enjoyed it, BB kept wanting to join in – running and chasing games are her favourites. Though SB also wanted to join in the older session (nominally 7yo, but some were younger i think) afterwards as well as she liked the look of the netball. Spent another hour afterwards while she played with various children and I drank tea, chatted etc. You know the score. Someone we’ve met a few times is moving from their house to buy a boat (with a ‘little bit of?? land attached’ ) sound that was interesting to chat about.

Their headed up your way Merry, so will likley appear at local stuff there.

Headed off eventually. Rain put paid to vague ideas I had of? bit of? walk somewhere. We headed of homewards, via a bit of shopping . Looking for? wholefood shop, since we don’t have? a decent one in the nearer towns (H&B is not a decent wholefood shop…. In fact it seems to be all pills and potions moslty nowadays). anyway, found a different one than the one I was looking for, so stocked up on a few things, and? nice bit of halva for an evening treat. SB entertained/or was enterntained, i’m not sure which, by the man up packing various boxes of stock as she peered at what he had and nattered away. I over heard her counting up in 2′s as well. It was a rather wholesome wholefood shop, which was rather nice, not haveing been in one sicne we moved house really. I took the oppurtunity to peruse the rack of green/right on publications that they had and was left feeling somewhat? unfaithful to? a former self as I was for? moment or two back? 15-20 years ago (that long), shopping in wholesome shops, persuing similar magazines. I used to be? a pretty strict vegan, among other things, which has gone by the way side, that former self did try to care about things, even? if as is the way of things it was naive at times. I’m not sure the current self really does care much any more.

Still raingin, som popped into a cafe, for a ‘pretty cheap, but shouldn’y have really’ lunch (but the plan of something sat on the grass was out due to rain), and Beans were getting hungry. SB wooed the counter staff buy asking for? a straw in the most polite-est way possible. Then via a chinese grocers for some noodles. Spent some time just persuing the various options as this was new experince for SB as opposed to the standard Sharwoods ones from the supermarket. she then just went around the shop going, what’s this what’s that at the various interesting things in jars and tins and packages. I resisted the urge to buy various interesting things.

Then home to playing, Mummy home from work time, and dinner.? Stir fry with the aforesaid noodles, we also had? a bit of Arame with it(it’s a dried Japanse seaweed in case you wondered). SB was intrigued when she relaised it was proper seawed, not the fried cabbage called seaweed that chinese retaurants do. She gamley tried some at dinner time as well. She professed not to like it – but it’s not really at it’s best eaten by itself, but she was munching in with vegetables a bit later, she just didn’t want to be seen liking it

Before bed we watched another epsiode of the DVD of the ‘Life of Mammals’ (it was meant to be half, but I dozed off…).? SB has really got into all these sort of things since she watched the recent Planet Earth series so we are working our way through various ones. Have watched some of the Blue Planet as well – from which she has remembered among othe things that the Blue Whale is the biggest animal that ever lived, and also that there are lots of recently discovered things deep in the ocean, also is very taken with the idea that there might be somethign even bigger lurking in the depths.

Then a quick ‘Thomas’? story (the originals – not the modern pap) for bedtime

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Posted in Books, Butterbean, Out and About, Ponderings, SB-PE, science, socialisation, Stringbean, Stringbean's HE

Enjoying more sun.

Posted on May 6, 2006 by Daddybean | 2 comments

Both girls were still alseep when Helen left for work, which is unsual, but it didn’t last for long. Butterbean was soon up and causing havoc. SB soon got up as well, but she stayed upstairs for? while playing with the Happy Street which has been out on her floor all week sicne the party last weekend.

When she came down the first thing she wanted to do was ice the carrot cake we made on tuesday.? So she produced yet another tastefully decorated cake…

She was going to do a rainbow cake at one point. Whilst this was all going on BB spent sometime standing on a chair playing witht he cutlery and reorganising the contents. Outside for a bit, to hang up some washing . BB likes to help with this now, it’s a shame that she driops half the things on the ground when giving them to me. But she doesn’t like it if she seems me takign the stuff, she shouts at me very loud (she does? alot of shouting at the moment – whenever she wants something, something is wrong etc., it’s all a bit tiresome TBH). Pottered around for? bit looking at things, then back indoors. Girls leggoed for? bit while I did something or other, tidied breakfast things, more washjing on etc. I expect.

Back outside again, sat and read for bit whilst we ate some fruit, girls ran about, played on swings etc.. Strawberry plants were delivered today and the bit of ground they are goign in needed a bit of sorting, so I got on with that, SB sat and did some of the Singapore Maths, Thinking Skills 1A book, moslty adding up up to 20. They had some problems where you had one number and the answer, and had to find the missing number. She was complaing about this, so I showed her? how to take away the number from the answer to get the missing number. BB moslty clambered about on her climbing frame.

Then lunch, after which BB fell asleep in her seat.

Me and SB went back outside, finshed doing the bed for the Strawberries, SB moslty played around the garden doing one game or another. She seems to be really just enjoying the warm weather and being able to be running about in it. Had a bit of a conversation about what a weed is,? why we sometimes grow ‘weeds’ and other times don’t want them.. By which time it was time to get up BB who was still asleep.

So sat and cuddled? sleepy baby, whilst reading somemore to SB, looking at some books again on space stuff. . Tiem to get dinner ready, whilst I was doing that, SB did some more Explode the Code. Made? a bit of? fuss at first then got into it, and then did loads, about 7 pages I think as she decided she wants to catch Sam up, who is on the next book (book 3). So she did that until dinner time.

Over dinner we listened to more Little Toe Radio Show, she is funy, such a visual 21st century child. She likes to listen to it with ‘patterns’ (visualisations from the player ) and sits thee staring at the computer screen wayching the pattern BB is so good at picking up on Helen’s voice. She was in the bath when Helen came home, but still heard here voice down stairs and started shouting and saying ‘Ma Ma’ and pointing She was very cute this evening mimicing Helen doing ‘Woo, Woo, Woo’ sounds with her hand over here mouth

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Posted in Books, Butterbean, Cooking, gardening, literacy, numeracy, photos, science, Stringbean, writing

Books by women meme from jax

Posted on April 21, 2006 by HHaricot | 4 comments

Just BOLD those you?ve read, ITALICIZE the ones you?ve been meaning to read and ??? the ones you have never heard of.

Alcott, Louisa May ? Little Women
Allende, Isabe l? The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya ? I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Atwood, Margaret ? Cat?s Eye
Austen, Jane ? Emma
Bambara, Toni Cade ? Salt Eaters ???
Barnes, Djuna ? Nightwood ???
de Beauvoir, Simone ? The Second Sex
Blume, Judy ? Are You There God? It?s Me Margaret
Burnett, Frances ? The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte ? Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily ? Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S. ? The Good Earth ???
Byatt, A.S. ? Possession
Cather, Willa ? My Antonia ???
Christie, Agatha ? Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros, Sandra ? The House on Mango Street ???
Clinton, Hillary Rodham ? Living History
Cooper, Anna Julia ? A Voice From the South ???
Danticat, Edwidge ? Breath, Eyes, Memory ???
Davis, Angela ? Women, Culture, and Politics ???
Desai, Anita ? Clear Light of Day
Dickinson, Emily ? Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois ? I Know What You Did Last Summer??
DuMaurier, Daphne ? Rebecca
Eliot, George ? Middlemarch
Emecheta, Buchi ? Second Class Citizen ???
Erdrich, Louise ? Tracks ???
Esquivel, Laura ? Like Water for Chocolate

Flagg, Fannie ? Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Friedan, Betty ? The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne ? Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins ? The Yellow Wallpaper ???
Gordimer, Nadine ? July?s People ???
Grafton, Sue ? S is for Silence??
Hamilton, Edith ? Mythology ???
Highsmith, Patricia ? The Talented Mr. Ripley
Hooks, Bell ? Bone Black ???
Hurston, Zora Neale ? Dust Tracks on the Road ???
Jacobs, Harriet ? Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ???
Jackson, Helen Hunt ? Ramona/??
Jackson, Shirley ? The Haunting of Hill House???

Jong, Erica – fear of flying???

Keene, Caroly – the nancy drew mysteries
Kidd, Sue Monk ? The Secret Life of Bees ???
Kincaid, Jamaica ? Lucy ???
Kingsolver, Barbara ? The Poisonwood Bible ???
Kingston, Maxine Hong ? The Woman Warrior ???
Larsen, Nella ? Passing???
L?Engle, Madeleine ? A Wrinkle in Time
Le Guin, Ursula K. ? The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper ? To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris ? The Golden Notebook
Lively, Penelope ? Moon Tiger
Lorde, Audre ? The Cancer Journals ???
Martin, Ann M. ? The Babysitters Club Series
McCullers, Carson ? The Member of the Wedding ???
McMillan, Terry ? Disappearing Acts ???
Markandaya, Kamala ? Nectar in a Sieve ???
Marshall, Paule ? Brown Girl, Brownstones ???
Mitchell, Margaret ? Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy ? Anne of Green Gables
Morgan, Joan ? When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost ???
Morrison, Toni ? Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu ? The Tale of Genji ???
Munro, Alice ? Lives of Girls and Women ???
Murdoch, Iris ? Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria ? Mama Day ???
Niffenegger, Audrey ? The Time Traveller?s Wife
Oates, Joyce Carol ? We Were the Mulvaneys ???
O?Connor, Flannery ? A Good Man is Hard to Find ???
Piercy, Marge ? Woman on the Edge of Time
Picoult, Jodi ? My Sister?s Keeper
Plath, Sylvia ? The Bell Jar
Porter, Katharine Anne ? Ship of Fools ???
Proulx, E. Annie ? The Shipping News
Rand, Ayn ? The Fountainhead ???
Ray, Rachel ? 365: No Repeats ???
Rhys, Jean ? Wide Sargasso Sea ???
Robinson, Marilynne ? Housekeeping ???
Rocha, Sharon ? For Laci ???
Sebold, Alice ? The Lovely Bones ???
Shelley, Mary ? Frankenstein
Smith, Betty ? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ???
Smith, Zadie ? White Teeth ???
Spark, Muriel ? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna ? Heidi
Strout, Elizabeth ? Amy and Isabelle ???
Steel, Danielle ? The House
Tan, Amy ? The Joy Luck Club
Tannen, Deborah ? You?re Wearing That ???
Ulrich, Laurel ? A Midwife?s Tale??
Urquhart, Jane ? Away ???
Walker, Alice ? The Temple of My Familiar ???
Welty, Eudora ? One Writer?s Beginnings ???
Wharton, Edith ? Age of Innocence
Wilder, Laura Ingalls ? Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary ? A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Woolf, Virginia ? A Room of One?s Own

as I said, got from JAX. Not usre why these particular books chosen, as can think of other great female authors – Sheri tpper, Julian May, and I don’t think necesaarily my favourite bokos by the author chosen. so maybe there should be an underline for read another book by that author!

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Posted in Books, General

Augmenting Reality

Posted on April 20, 2006 by Daddybean | 4 comments

Well, don’t we all feel like our reality could feel like augmenting sometimes? Seems a bit of posh term for it, but me and SB spent a fair while after lunch playing with this trial on BBC Jam which we came across yesterday.You need to sign up for it, and be accepeted to get the username and passoword. Though by the looks of it they are generic ones that everyone gets.

It is very much trial stuff at the moment, a bit crude and clunky, and the interactive bits sometimes don’t work that well, but it was enterntaining and you can imagine some good possibilities once it gets more refined.

Basically, what you have is simple story, that you read/listen to. Interspesed are little scenes where you use the printed materials to produce animated 3D characters on screen. You print out sheets of paper, with simple little block patterns printed on them. each one correpsonds to a specific charatcer/object , when put in front of the webcam, the software produces a 3D image on screen, by moving the printed image around, you can move the image on screen, rotate it etc. simple little actions/animations can be triggered etc.? Worth a play, other than bit of fiddling about to get the webcam to work with it, it worked fine, though it is little camera on stalk, pluged into the laptopo and could done with being mounted higher..

Other than that, we didn’t do much this morning really, moslty pottering around, waiting for Helen to go of to her conference for a couple of days. BB insisted on getting up at about 7.30 after I gave in, and then fell asleep again in her high chair about 9 grr! Did some reading with SB, a couple of Red nose Readers, some Cbeebies. SB and BB played soem chasing games together, BB kept wanting to unload the dishwasher. By bedtime I was glad once they were both settled – BB took a while as she slept a bit too long while we were augmented.

Relaxed with a beer and The Apprentice? Quite enjoyed this one, I loved the way Ruth just basically ignored the lads in her team and just went and got on with it. Poor old Tuan, just never had it in him, he was going to have to go, though I can’t see Syed making it – to inconsitent. i wonder who would ahve gone if it had been the other team, which it could easily have been it was so close.

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Posted in Books, Butterbean, IT, literacy, Stringbean, Stringbean's HE

Friday – Saturday

Posted on April 3, 2006 by Daddybean | Leave a comment

Friday was last nursey day, Helen has posted a nice piccie of SB with Vicky her keyworker below. Sums up her nursery experience for us really, she has enjoyed it, and it has been a positive experince for her. Both of her nurseries have been lovely relaxed places, with lovely caring staff. BB of course being Miss Laidback has seemed happy there as well. Thankyou to Kids Academy (dreadful name – so not what they were like)and silks Farm.She seemed ok about finishing, though I think she is worried about missing the playing time with other kids. she is really keen to start Rainbows etc. I had to wipe away the odd tear when I? picked them up. Silly I know, but I’m hopeless at this sort of thing. It’s that old end of something feeling, even though it’s exciting to be entering a new period.

Anyway, Helen wasn’t going to back until late, so just me and the girls for dinner and bedtime rituals etc. BB is? a little bit of a pain whne i haveto put her to bed becuase she still doesn’t really want to have bottles , so then just makes a big fuss for a while a lot of the time .

Saturday – Helen off to work, she was on call all weekend :-(? – what did we do?? can’t quite remember – would have no doubt played her 3D Snakes and Ladders since we seem to play that every morning. I do remember that I sat for soemtime with SB and read through an old Ladybird book about how aeroplanes work (aimed at much older children)- she doesn’t like to be fobbed of she likes you to explain things properly. So much talking about the diagrams – about the forces on aeroplanes, about how they move and are controlled etc. she’s remembered from a while back about the shape of the wing being important. This tiem the thing that seemed to stick in was about? lift and gravity. They did say at nursery that she was always coming out with odd facts about things.

We went into the local town for a bit of shopping – went round the farmers market? – did well not to by any nice looking cakes, preserves etc. just some nice organic veggies, failed to buy any sock for BB in woolies – losts of new born socks, lots of 2 yr old +, none in the middle – odd. SB didn’t find any toys she wanted to buy, nor books in the bookshop with her remaining money – which given all the pink dolly tat in Woolies surprised me.

Went into the cafe for some lunch, hadn’t intended to , but it was too late and we still ahd to pop into the supermarket – lunched (cafe man gave her two little crispy cakes for free so she was pleased by that),supermarketed – Waitrose so they have good little trolleys for kids to use , which is actually useful? when you’ve? sleeping child in a buggy as well.. She is quite sensible with it now as well.

Time we got home SB was flaggin a bit, she’s no been entirley well, with a sore throat and a ‘funny tummy’ – sat and cuddled read for a bit Then we went and paid a visit to the ‘home dad’ as was – A&C and their new(ish – 4 weeks almost) baby. Spent a nice time there for a bit, but SB had a bit of a wobbly when we had to leave, as usual SB didn’t want to leave – then got all upset becuase they weregoign out for a walk and we weren’t. Obviously all to much for her, as when we got home she was just crying and saying she wanted, mummy, so we sat and cuddled on the sofa until she came home.

Had? a bad night? – she couldn’t seem to stay alseep by herself for more than 15 minutes, and wanted Helen all the times, so not a good night.

Breathing in the Sky

Posted on March 31, 2006 by Daddybean | 7 comments

Nursery day today, so kids have been there moslty. Last day tomorrow.

It was Stringbean’s last Ballet clss of the term, turned up there a found that it was a session for parents to sit in on while they should us the sort of things they ahd been doing, so much dancing and skipping around by cute little girls in ballet outfits Also cute was Butterbean who did her ‘wobbly dance’ to the piano. I relaised afterwards that we had missed the last lesson last term – so it probably is a regular end of term thing. Helen will be disappointed to have missed it. And of course no piccies as I didn’t realise it was happening

That’s it really, SB made a goodbye/thankyou card for the staff in her room at nursery – She did some good conifer treees on it – apprently it was a christmas tree shop.? The sun was also setting she informed me so there wasn’t much sky below it.

On the topic of sky, yesterday I think it was she started talking about the sky and said that ‘we breathe in the sky’ – which I thought was an interesting way to put it. I did introduce the idea of the atmosphere being all around us and mentioned about the sky looking blue. But realised that it’s a rather intangible concept – ‘sky’ as more of a visual effect than a thing.

Had a little chat over dinner about things she might like to learn a bit about now that she will have finished nursery and we will have more time at home. She said that she wants to learn some more about space and said she wants to learn from the ‘picture books about things’ – which I assume meant the Picturepeadia and alll the other nice DK books we have. So we will see where that takes us.

Other than that Helen is away tonight, she has gone up to soem conference or training thing or something – in Leeds as it happens. so won’t be back until tomorrow night. So a bit late getting both kiddies to sleep – but me and SB had nice snuggle and read for her bedtime stories – a rather nicely illustrated book by Nick butterworth/Mick Inkpen as it happens retelling some of the parables Jesus tells in the bible. She did complain a few times, that the story of the Good Samaritan said the chap was bleeding where he got hit, but none of the pictures showed the blood! Followed by a lift the flap book of the nativity story (I think it’s the same one) – she’ll be wanting to go to church next

I’ve whiled away much of the rest of the time, fiddling about and wandering around some new blogs starting from the 13th Carnival of Homeschooling over on Why Homeschool

This amused me , among other posts. I liked the album thing here – I liked her time line idea as well. There is a good debunking of anti home education critiscisms over on the Bonny Glen and talk of the idea of tidal homeschooling struck a cord.

One of the above is hosted on Homeschoolblogger and I’m wondering if I should be linking to it or supporting the boycott, but I’m generally dubious about the effectiveness of boycotts. Though it seems here that this is boycott as a form of publicity tool to highlight the issue, rather than to ‘bring down’ HSB

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Posted in Blogging, Books, Butterbean, Dance/drama, Stringbean's HE

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