early maths skills

i don’t often work from home, but had a vast amount of paperworky/journally/knowledge stuff to do, and as long as i am avail to go back in, it is a possibility to do [v occasionally!] today was one of those occasions, partly cos have had severe heartburn all day, and easier at home where can drink milk and gaviscon , and partly cos had bb whilst sb taken to orthodontist. i was v v productive. far more, actually, than would have been at work as i would have been distracted into doing other stuff.

The girls also pretty productive with their HE. BB doing some maths about shapes – easy peasy! and then explode the code 1 – not quite so easy, but getting easier. SB did some music theory, recorder and galore park english 2 [the latter def not at all so easy!] . we did a secret craft [ ] in that it is going to be partly a present for daddy, and partly a present for her friends. SHe and BB both did it, and are v happy with their results That took a while, and we had to keep daddy occupied elsewhere, so sent him out for rabbit supplies, but he forgot the food!!

I went back to working, BB watched some sinbad and SB finished her english with one of those acrostic poems, which she quite liked. SB went to ballet, BB played in the garden, and then came in a mooched. SHe was bored, she needed me to think of something – piano, music theory, fimo, hama beads, wet felting, dry felting, sewing a felt heart, beaded bracelet, painting, bean experiments, electronics set, card game. nope all boring, and i was grumpy at this point that thought of LOTS of things to no avail. however, found a golden crown from the castle party years ago, so BB v happily decorated with stick on jewels!!

When SB returned from ballet we tidied up, and then looked at real science for kids chemistry chapter 5 with both girls, and then story of the world 1 with the Medes and Persians. We had a jolly good chat about how Cyrus’ grandad would have been better keeping him at home, and raising him with love! had an early chippery tea watching ray mears in the northern territories of canada in the path of Dr Rae, v interesting that!!

SB and the orthodontist – well, she needs removeable braces now, and will prob need fixed then. She has a grade 5 [worst] problem so def on the nhs. I think we are going to find braces traumatic!!! BB has her filling tomorrow, think that will be traumatic too.

Poor BB has had a gulpy sobby bedtime, as the little silvered resin piggybank i bought on sat is already desilvering, and she loves him v much, but is v unhappy the silver going. cuddles, songs and chatting haven’t entirely resolved this, but we have agreed you can carry on loving something even if not as silvery as it was – bless.

oh, and we caught 1 mouse in the trap, and released quite a long long way away

Ok, so i just did some emails and admin type stuff, as due to phased return, the actual ‘first day’ is tomorrow. but i did open a number of the emails without that cartoon palpitation business going on, and managed to sort out a bit a long term reduction in my job plan. This is a 2 edged sword, in that although it gives me what i need – more time to do the things at work i need to do, so less bringing it home, less stress – it also gives me a far bigger pay decrease than the proportion of time change, and when there is all this public sector/pension stuff going on, it might turn out to be far too big to afford. However, if it keeps me sane…

The girls played dollies all morning [while the cat's away...] and all the giggling and laughter is a tonic in itself dreadful weather tho. In fact i am actually now too hot, as i have overdone the layers thing. [3 jumper layers, thick socks and slippers and the sofa 'comfort duvet' ]. I have to admit that a whip was cracked and SB did some of her gruesome grammar book – sighing when we got to nouns, she has never really recovered from our abortive try at first language lessons for the well trained mind. we never got beyond the 6 billion chapters about nouns She did some music theory with me – on harmonic minors, that actually did take far longer than i thought :blush: and consolidated the last chapter of minimus . I meant to do Story of the world to get us up to date for the next historyetc, but completely forgot.

BB wanted to read yesterdays 2 books again, so we did that and played the bean game, and then she did a bit of subtraction in MPH 1a and did some more of her dolphin window mosaic. SB also did a piano prac. BB and i baked a chocolate cake, and I made the mixture for some fruit scones. BB then wanted a reprise of Settlers of Catan, so we played that together.

When SB came back from ballet she cut out and baked the scones, and then played Puerto Rico with me. Neither of these games work so well for 2 adult players, as 3 + players, but settlers with bb is a ‘friendly’ consultative approach, and actually with SB also at puerto rico, i am much more about the game being fun and encouraging some thought about strategy rather than proving I can beat a 9 year old so again friendly and me not going for the jugular, and having 2 goes per ’round’ tends to make this work well as well, partic if you only get the bonus with the first thing you choose to do in the round… We do love playing boardgames in this house.

BB, meanwhile, was being an excellent street musician with a cardboard tube wiggling and singing. She is a great little performer at home, just has no intention of letting anyone outside home see but she has a great ear for rhythm and perfect pitching, so we shall see.

Now, having blogged, I plan to flickr, shower and have an early night in preparation for tomorrow

well, we got up earlier today, after an exceptionally late night. SB just didn’t settle at all, and so was a very tired bean when she got up. awww . anyway, bit more of a discussion on 5 a days and what counted, how big etc over brekkie, then a look at part of the first chapter of real science for kids level 2. SHe did understand it, and we talked around it, but then got a bit worried that if she didn’t she would have to change science group, as she loves her science group. ((SB)) so i reassured her that currently the groups weren’t changing, but that if she found the level 2 difficult, then we would read the level 1 version. And i think though the group BB is in will be doing the level 1 version for labwork, that i will be reading the pre-k explanation to her beforehand, and think the various families may want to bob between the different levels, as more important to get understanding than be pushed ahead. [such an advantage to have a flip book!]

We then got down to a sturdy morning of home ed in my lovely conservatory. Hmm, i think i have forgotten to mention how much i love my conservatory .

SB did some galore park science, history and english, and then some clarinet prac. BB did some maths – with some serious argument over whether nothing/zero existed, whether you were allowed to put it in sums etc, and she remains unconvinced over its validity. giggle! She read a 1a magic key story – again with a grumble over the word the [obv that shouldn't exist either!] and i read to her the next story in the chaucers canterbury tales, the one with the bottoms, so she particularly loved that we also finished painting her spider puppet, and later strung it together, tho as we had lost instructions, don’t know that it is quite right… Both did a bit of colouring as well.

we played with rabbits again – making sure we get enough rabbit love in before the bigger babies leave for their new homes.

after a nice lunch in our LOVELY conservatory we did some baking. SB wanted to use up left over rice crispies and marshmallows, so we went to do that, but we didn’t have enough marshmallows… and BB then wanted to make choc rice crispie cakes, but we didn’t have enough rice crispies or any choc… so we went to the shops and then made the cakes, and now have more marshmallows and rice crispies than wen we started 1 we also made some fruity snow from the galore park science book. SB really is quite an accomplished baker and cook, really good at following instructions and tweaking things so they work. it was a fun bake

SB and i also got in a piano prac before she went out for swimming. trudging is getting sort of a glimmer of hope about it, and the other 2 pieces are ok and should pass already, but time will make them better. so we started with arpeggios. she isn’t certain she will ever play them but we will see. we all did some ds-ing together with animal crossing and also mario bros games. we ate a chippery tea [totally ruining the 5 a day thing!] watching the primates episode of life.

now i must try and get things a bit organised for historyetc tomorrow.

predominantly for my big girl, who finally managed to completely get up at lunch time, having been happily wrapped in her duvet reading a book since 10am, when i had woken her up – giggle, i can’t imagine who she takes after! It was supposed to be a mega catch up home ed day for all our lazy days this week! ah well, we have enjoyed each others company a lot this week, even if we have neither been ‘productive’ or gone out much! i am going to declare it a companionship week

BB, obviously, had been up, and was watching dvd’s on lizards and amphibians. she really loves them, and has asked for a bracelet like mine, but with lizard and frog charms for xmas [they are having something small from us, as getting 1/4 each of trampoline for birthday and xmas]. I don’t know of many small children who have remained as determinedly fixated on lizards/dinosaurs/amphibians for so long. pretty much since she could speak. she then went off to play a complicated game with her lizards and frogs. SB also fancies a charms bracelet, but wants quite an individualised one, so have handed over some likes from other bracelets, and we will see what happens [fingers crossed!]

We did do some home ed today – since this is a home ed blog, this is something of a relief. SB did some maths, science workbook, galore park english and non verbal reasoning – ooh that sounds like quite a lot! SHe still didn’t write the english in sentences tho, will have to remind her again next time! BB and i did some reading practice together, and a tinsy bit of maths. we all did story of the world 1 chapter 6, just need to do chapter 7 before wed . no piano got done, as we had made the mistake of lighting the fire in the front room, and that was sooooo nice and warm…

I spent a while on the phone today as uncle D has got a v bad knee infection where he had a knee replacement, so had a surgical debridement today, and has 2 weeks in hospital wth iv ants before they decide, presumably, whether to take out his replacement he is feeling rottenly unwell with it. I have got a pavlovian response to the phone ringing of my heart dropping to my feet, and it just isn’t pleasant.

i also painted a tiny square of glass to more or less match with the others to go in our window. very proud of it, as tho not identical, pretty much fits, and if i am lucky, will stay in the house even if we end up moving on. I played stork’s nest with BB and SB [i lost!] and a complicated game of blokus crossed with ludo frogs with BB [i lost!].

chris bodged a temporary extension onto the rabbit hutch, as the 4 big babies quite big and need a teenager pad he has also put all the panes of glass back into window, so i guess paintng next .

the rabbits are adorable, and it is hard to part with the older babies, but glad to know what good homes they are going to. flopsy is def most the amenable rabs of them all. will be perfect for aprillia to cuddle . fudge just soooo fluffy, so t-bird can have a good cuddle too . lupin has a bit of character, and is happy to be cuddled and also happy to pootle about doing her own thing. Biscuit is a bit shyer than the others, but does sit beautifully for a cuddle once persuaded to not hide. they all v much adore dandelion leaves, and have been handled and loved on a more than once daily basis, and have no bad habits! even more or less litter trained… awww. the baby rabs are quite a mixed bunch. they are now findng their way around the hutch, tho i have made it so they can’t get into the run yet. the white stripe baby [currently called Gerd due to her statuesque build] is 2ce as big as the other babies, and the fawn one is quite a bit smaller [attracting some of my worry, tho she seems quite healthy]

we finished the day with a snuggle watching jem do some explosions, and searched on ebay, and found all the ingredients required to do at home – hmmm!!! well, only the earlier explosives. it was quite clear watching the prog that the later explosives not such a good idea…

we decided we were all needing one. SB was very definite about it, so stayed in bed reading until lunchtime! BB mostly watched cbbc, and i chased off a migraine and started sorting pics to catch up with so can get to centreparc pics! [our london pics going up right now]. however, having labelled the london set visiting london, it sits right with all the visiting little nanny sets. i miss little nanny hugely still, and can’t quite stop feeling that she is overdue a visit. SO i have looked at the sets, had a quiet weep at what we lose, but reminding myself that her life was lived to the full and filled with love and laughter as well as heartache and loss. I also plan to live similarly in length and in love!

Anyway, after lunch i suggested we should do a craft or science kit to get us moving a bit, and SB chose a science museum kit about flight, and made the helicopter [which we couldn't get to fly] and an aeroplane. BB also made an aeroplane and made a light circuit with her first electronics tool kit box – which she has loved for a long time! We then went head to head with cooking mama [banal game i can't see the point of, but they love!]. SB then did some recorder practice of her new grade 1 piece, and then we played it together on the piano. She very much enjoyed that, so played a new grade 1 clarinet piece too. this hurt her lip as she has a small ulcer, so i suggested we should defer clarinet prac till it healed! SB and i played ticket to ride whilst BB played a supplementary game on how well she thought each of us was playing. ALthough i won the train game [not by much] SB won BB’s game playing trophy! BB also did some earlibird 2a maths.

A bit more tv watching before tea, then book reading [absolute zero] and bed. both girls still awake at mighnight tho. sigh.

I think he will! blog, that is, as there was another fab trip out this week to a waterworks, and also various other bits and pieces.

me, i have been migrainous and grumpy. really not sleeping properly! AMongst all the exciting trips HE goes on, lots of maths, fair bit of science, music, reading etc etc. actually, i am going to digress. i think i read somewhere that penny whatsit of dcsf independent schools said one of the advantages of us being forcibly registered was that we may avail ourselves of school trips.

1. what, with schools?? no thankyou
2. we already do ‘school trips’, but without schools, without crocodiles, in small groups with plenty of adults getting loads more value.
3. does anyone at the dcsf actually have any idea about home education ‘for real’?

back again from minor rantlet!

anyway, back from work earlier today, and caught SB doing her galore park science, which was fun. we got out various rocks – prev birthday presents, picked up etc and did the compare and contrast thing, which was kinda similar to our identify the chemical previously. she got really into it! maths, clarinet, english also happily done.

As blog readers will know, in the summer SB chose to revisit the idea of timetables so she knew what there was, we minimised and ameliorated the unmanageable, and had a list of about 50 things for her to choose 20 from a week – most of the 15-20 mins, or as long as she fancied. [this includes all her favourite things such as reading books, watching fact dvd, art, craft, baking, yoga , maths, english, science, music practice and french, plus whatever! ]this has been going really well. so well, that she wanted some rewards thrown on top! my nephew gets a mars bar for doing something well at school in the week. we hummed and ha-ed, and decided doing 30 things was our mars bar equivalent. she has done this every week for the last month. [why do i feel slightly soiled by this bribery? it was def not initiated by us - effectively it is 'normals' rather than school at home?]

today, bb finally cottoned on to the fact that she was being done out of a sweet!! massively massive tantrum, and with calming her down, but not making light of the work sb has put in to ‘achieve’ hers. so i thought 5 ‘things’ for a chupa chup, and 10 for an equivalent sweet [50p] to sb. cue massive more wials that she couldn’t do 10 and she needed a big sweet. [cue parent v tightly holding onto temper, as feeling cornered in the wrong place on the wrong foot]. Anyway, she now has a list too, where 5 is almost guarenteed, and 10 with the minimum of effort. so both got a sweet.

now, this is working really well for sb, in the way she can see a spread of what there is, chooses what she fancies, according to mood, time avail etc, and actually although i have asked for 3 music practices and maths a week is otherwise entirely hers to sort out and organise, and there are no ‘penalties’ for not doing the 3 i suggested – i only pointed out it lets her move forward, and she has noticed that if she does or more, she gets on more easily. no box other than above is stipulated as more valuable for her learning, and that above is only done so in a rational way. so her gluing window is equally valued to french for example. And I am really proud of the way SB looks, chooses, gets on with things and enjoys her home ed. But i guess today, with bb’s outburst, i wondered what juggernaut was on the loose! going to make sure sb is the only foot on the accelerator, and that i make sure occasionally that a brake is suggested! I really don’t want her to be confined by lists and expectation! but i guess, it is things she loves, we have always done them. hmmm.

BB had such a major strop, actually, that she didn’t go to football, too busy drumming on the floor with hands and feet. this too will pass, i am sure. But she did do some piano, read a few words and did some before the code with me, determined to get her 50p of sweets.

SB and I played games, hugged and then she finished her mecchano radio controlled car, which she is v v proud of. [thats on the list as 'making things']

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!

we have had a v busy day today, and i took a day off work to do it! we had a locally organised trip to the nene valley railway – not quite so close! We were going on a mail train, where we would stamp our own letters, pop them in the mailbags, onto the train, then see how mailbags were picked up and dropped off at speed, and then sort the mail. [oh, involving a train ride]. It was absolutely fabulous. we all enjoyed it, although both girls were suffering from tiredness with tired wingy wobbles from BB and tired no-one understands me from SB with tired unsympathetic parents but still… i loved meeting loads of group people i haven’t seen for ages – waves!! there were loads of spouses, some never seen before [by me, obviously other people had seen them before!] i was fascinated by the bag pick up thingy, and enjoyed the convivial atmosphere of the whole trip really. absolutely fab!! the weather even was with us, a lovely warm lunchtime picnic!

we returned home for a quick turnaround, SB did some galore park english [3.4] piano and a bit of science reading, whilst BB made herself sums in her books and used toes and fingers to answer them – bless [like 10+4] she didn’t want to use her real book obviously! then whilst SB went to ballet, myself and BB played oodles of traintracking. i love the way her trains are either chuggering or truckling round the lines – v cute!

And after tea we were out to the michaelmas fair. also fantastic. there was probably the most terrifying ride in fairgrounds in the world – called extreme. a big NO from me!! SB and chris did loads, bB did a few really baby ones, and instead one things hooking nemos and penguins! we spent more money that planned, as the fair was quite big, and through the town centre, making it more interesting and exciting!

SB has nearly finished her sugar and spice book and am wondering what to get next? a working towards grade one??

chris and the girls had a busy end of week whilst i was away on a lovely course at Madingley Hall in cambridge. v fab!! I got to start an new book there, which i am REALLY enjoying.

on thurs they went into town and had a bit of a shop. SB is on the lanky side, so has great difficulty in finding trousers that stay up without having to bunch lots of material up either with with elastic or belts. so they popped in to next, and a small fortune later she is really happy! BB had boot heaven at clarke’s, but SB not so fortunate, as with an E fitting there seems to be no shoes for her. the specialist shop in town seems to have closed down, so a bit more of a search is in order i remember this from my childhood! They then went onto a home ed friend for a playdate before rushing back for gym.

friday. ah yes, a home ed visit to a local orchard. a yearly event where the rather long suffering owner drives round the home ed rabble on a wagon hitched to the tractor!! i have been before, and it is excellent. he is v informative, the children get to try different apples, including new varieties and old trusted, and also see the sorting bit. he makes juices as well. SB came back with armfuls. BB had her footie lesson later on and then both happy to see me we have found the yoga dvd, and both girls rather cutely did it. SB and i both had a giggle reading the bagthorpe saga – our bedtime story. SB has decided she is rather good at doing trances – i v much agree, having seen her trance for over 30 mins doing one maths sum!!

Saturday. we started with the quest seekers presentation at the library. a bit weirdly it started by a speech about how hard reading was and why most children don’t choose to do it – this may be true, but seemed an odd start to the thing. and anyway, mine love reading, and i imagine a fair number of the other questseekers do too!! BB won the questseeker raffle and got a little ball game thingy, and in the book sale i bought SB 3 of the Spiderwick Chronicles for 30p each – a bargain! also persuaded someone else to buy Azincourt, which i really enjoyed. we posted some postcrossing postcards on the way home and put up our world map with the received ones.

SB has done a fair bit of piano practice over the last 2 weeks, so we had a ‘lesson’ together, and she is really moving forward. i am hoping that the speed of progress when she practices might persuade some more practice!! we did some recorder duetting as well, which we both like. whilst sb did some other home ed stuff – maths and music theory – bb and i played with her farm animals. i think i might neeed to practice at this, as i am less and less fond of playing with things! SB got out a tescos elecetric fan kit, which she put together quite happily – bit like this one Ein-o’s Box Kit Electric Motor Electric Science. we then had a lovely time making cards for chloes birthday party.

Merry having rung, we realised to take an alternate road work free route!! and arrived second at the pool venue, in time to give a very pregnant Jax a hug! and for Big and SB to exuberantly greet each other, before all those staying at the manor arrived too. i loved the pool, a great depth baby pool for bb to manically swim in. as an aside, her swimming is really coming on – although it is still more drowning with style, the backstroke is particularly good! scarily, she actually dived in twice – eek! luckilly bellyflopping rather than smashing head on the ground. i got to chat to the babs a bit! the bigger girls were being crazy in the bigger pool, though SB, big and E were mostly playing with the floats rather than the long floaty obstacle course.

lovely time, i love swimming!! [though i actually didn't get to do much, mostly kept an eye on crazy bb!!] party tea at the venue and lots of the blogring were in attendence! said hello again to michelle’s friend B, who i have met before and like v much! [she should blog you know!!] the cake cutting was a crazy moment!! back to the manor and wine and chat and relaxing until suddenly it was midnight, and we drove home to the sound of kids snoring!

sunday [btw having to blog with left hand only bb asleep on me and sb snuggled up also, watching jungle book - hard!!] anyway, i had planned to go to west stow for a reenactment weekend, but i had an unsettled night with lots of v unsettling themed dreams so had a lie in to recover – as did SB from having a late night. bb was up early tho. so i was a bit put out to have ‘ruined’ the day, but recovered! i discussed with the girls what fun things they wanted to do, and SB wanted to make the viking flatbread that was in the young archaeologists magazine. could i find it anywhere??? nope!! luckilly google to the rescue. the recipe galled for buttermilk tho… so we have made our own butter and topped up the amount of buttermillk with the first ‘washing’. we did do some of the butter in a jamjar for authenticity!! but the rest we did in the food processor, and is now in the freezer! SB then made the dough for the viking shardbread. we made one batch with honey, and the other with herbs, tried some each, but froze the rest to take to history group next friday and hopefully rewarmed there!! tasted delicious!! BB did some painting and stamping happily whilst we did this.

SB and i played bohnanza and landlock, she played castle keep with chris. i played an extremely long game of farm animals with BB. SB and i got the solar panels that we won on ebay to power a knex motor tried out, and thought what we might try and build – but didn’t! instead BB did some fimo-ing – piggies – and SB hama-ed some witches hats and we are all out of black. i seem to be constantly ordering from bead merrily!! think i might save up the order though!! i used some left out and hardening hama to make eyballs, teeth and worms beads for a scary halloween necklace! [having grumped at bb for starting something months ago and then doing no more so the fimo was dodgy!! Although our present to chloe had sparked some interest from SB, we didn’t actually get round to doing watercolour painting. nor the piano, maths and ballet practice we had planned. oh well!!

hoping for an early bedtime for the girls, but have, unfortunately, woken bb up, so not sure when she might fall asleep again! but an early out tomorrow.

today i have had another sofa day. am feeling better, but has we should have gone on hols this eve and pushed it back to thurs, didn’t want to push my luck!!

the girls have mostly played with baby dolls today. bb devastated cos she can’t find her baby sling, so rustled up one with a fleece scarf. sb adapted my hugababy. would like to say this was accomplished with out wails,tears and gnashing of teeth… but compromises made, peace restored and game continued on and off for most of day. at some point the girls might realise we never interfere or interupt a good game…

in between this lovely sibling play were peppered some HE moments. BB did some real and unreal maths, SB did some galore park english and science [bitesize] and piano practice.

Both girls at swimming lesson now.

edited to add – found babysling in airing cupboard, so today v happy

various internet friends, and my DH, have suggested that overdoing it may have slowed down my recovery!! humph! so i have tried *really* hard to do nothing today and totally hated it.

i did nothing whilst the girls played a long, convoluted game of sylvanians mostly beautifully together [i heart sylvanians] , i did nothing whilst SB did her maths next to me on the sofa, and bb tried to make up the same maths to do in her little writing pad, ‘i have 2 bananas and 11 peaches so that will come to 15 pounds – rofl!’ – she didn’t want to do her real maths as she was too busy adding for 5 pages!!

i still did nothing whilst sb did her piano practice – v hard that! but she has finally finished bach’s air. i did nothing whilst they did more sylvanians, and i did nothing whilst sb did music theory.

finally i thought i was allowed to do something!! and watched with them the aztec and the egyptian what the ancients did for you. woohoo to doing something! the girls have really loved this. i followed it up with reading 2 chapters of the gladiator of capua and 1 of story of the world [joan of arc] to SB – and am being resolutely defiant!

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

well, swine flu wasn’t the only thing that happened whilst i went to work SB went to holiday orchestra – i dropped her off to the deependers who kindly took her in and out, and then let her play at their house all afternoon. she LOVED it. apparently she gave it 28/30 to Katy, but 30/30 to me. she said her recorder part a bit too easy as only 3 notes, but that was fine for her first go. musical games her fav thing, followed by singing. excellent!

i went to pick her up post tamiflu collection, and she refused to come home – having too much fun. so i had a cup of tea and admired katy’s fence. BB unfortunately missed her gym taster. on coming home SB had a french nintendo game waiting. not sure how good it is [given the v cheap price!] but she had a go, and was annoyed she had to spell.

BB had had a fairly unremarkable day at home with chris. they did a bit of math, looking at a space resource – vaguely – and she then bimbled about.

i note that i almost certainly bought at the right time – rofl at the used price! good pack tho

i have just finished a v weepy phone call with my mum. i still miss little nanny like a raw wound. today was a little nanny day, as some of the inheritance money has arrived, so i bought things for the girls with it. i bought some sylvanian things, knowing they love them, and that my nanny loved to watch the play with the little itty bitty toys and the imaginative games that they make up. the girls knew they were ‘from’ little nanny, but that i had bought them. so they spent a lot of time playing with them, and i spent time thanking my nanny for all the love she spent on her family and wishing for one last hug. if i try hard i can still feel her hug and her cheek against mine. i think i am feeling emotionally a bit raw at the moment with ongoing issues as well. where is the chocolate!!

lets rewind and start the day. we got up, messed about and then piled BB in the car to watch her swimming lesson. i was WELL impressed! she behaved well, tried hard and has so obviously improved and is at the just about swimming stage! they were doing front crawl today, initially with a board float [bb had to have an especially small one for her arms to reach the end] then with noodles for arms and legs, and then with nothing! she did at least 6 wild kicks before having to stand. and she was putting her face in the water to go further. i am SO proud!! she did a creditable face down star float for a few seconds too. go BB makes it even better that she can carry on with swimming lessons next term. they are at the same time as SB’s.

so back home to find that SB had been working hard as well. she had done a bit of galore park Junior English Book 1. i have to say she is not that keen on this, as the only thing she really wants to do with english is read. but we are asking her to do little tiny chunks every so often [if poss 1ce a week!!] and so today she wrote a poem about wizards wee but she enjoyed it, it rhymed and scanned so we are all happy. she also did a section on vertebrates in the galore park Junior Science Book 1 – not such a prob! so she was congratulated!

BB took exception to this, so we did some singapore earlibird 2a, which is suddenly seeming to easy for her! SB read 2 science story books

and

then we had lunch

and then we played sylvanians for pretty much the whole afternoon. i played too, as i felt left out, and stroking monsterrabs wasn’t the same. did pick kilos of runner beans which i have just remembered i was going to blanch and freeze never mind! i ran a fossil museum and tea house for people to visit, so there was quite a bit of looking at fossils in this game [reminds me to purchase some liquid resin - hmm, looked at ebay and don't understand what i am after - anybody used? its a craft resin i want to tip into a mould to look like amber?]

at 5-ish, the decision was to do craft and science, bb got some fingerpainting kit out, and sb a chemistry set i got cheaply from ebay [john lewis chem set, and i really rate it!!] we started with the does it dissolve or not for some chemicals, and bb also wanted a turn, so she got to dissolve salt, sugar and pepper!! sb then went on to separate out copper sulphate and pepper [we have done something v similar at latinetc at merry's with sugar and sand] and we are now seeing if we can recrystalise the copper sulphate. loads more experiments to do though.

dinner out in the garden. i put bb to bed , falling asleep myself, and was awoken by sb wanting me to play recorder duets. so we did. i think that was a fairly full on day, and i am now exhausted of all desire to interact.

obviously i was at work today. bb had another swimming lesson, and was told if she kept messing about she would have to sit on the side. she apparently behaved after that. they were learning breast stroke. chris thinks she might be the youngest there, so i’ll give her some leeway! good news is that she is booked into regular swimming, and at the same time as SB! fab

they did some maths today each, apparently quite a bit. bB particularly proud of that! also SB did some recorder practice. Playing with monsterrabs happened, and also a library visit. following library visit was book reading.

my day at work slightly stressed by waiting for the outcome of my sisters appointment. it wasn’t as good as we would have liked, but also not as bad as we feared, so we are being positive. when i got home i implemented the engaged mummy plan, which involved doing some before the code with bB and then reading

with SB – her choice. this may not sound v interesting, but i like reading so that’s good, and it is a very structured activity, so ideal to a stressed mummy. after dinner whilst bB off to bed, SB and i played castle keep and rummy. finished the day reading some more of our roman mystery

BB again had swimming, and was doing backstroke happily [with buoyancy aids]. Chris took SB to GP as cough doesn’t seem to be improving at all. only a nuisance when she laughs or lies flat, but last night i found a stethoscope and listened, and heard a number of creps! SO has antibiotics. she is well though, so ‘pneumonia’ conjures up a bit more of an alarmist position, so i am going to call it a chest infection…

Anyway, this didn’t stop her doing things, and when i got home from work she was finishing some maths and had done piano practice. BB did some maths with me, and we all went outside. monsterrabs was petted and made a fuss of, i read about the black death from SoTW2, and we all declared interesting. think i have some other books around this to pull out for SB. also read the first chapter from

which seems to have a bit of crossover with our island story with some of the alfred the great bits, and SB loved it. and we also did read together the first few pages of Handa’s Hen, a bilingual french book from little linguist [link in sidebar to fabulous language resource shop!!] and have added morning, afternoon, evening and night to our vocab. the one prob with these french books is the past historic tense they are written in! this is as we are really after learning vocab for conversation!, but as we are not in the position of declining verbs or anything, when we look at the french, i tend to pick out nouns and then transfer the verb to present tense as we would us it to talk so that hopefully the girls get used to the stem meaning something. BB is doing some decoding of cvc words at present, but as yet refuses to remember all the alphabet, so a bit hit and miss!!

much playing on the swings and in the garden whilst this going on, honestly SB is well!!

i don’t really feel that i have been normal for quite a while now, and i am probably still not normal. i am still grieving for little nanny, and worrying for my sister. but have made a clear decision that life just must go on as normally as poss for the family, as i feel i wobbled a bit too much last year, with far less justification. so having had a number of exciting weekends and exciting weeks, we have settled this week to trying to be a bit more ‘normal’ and actually get some HE done!! I know, we have had lots of fab experiences which are all educational and have loved them all, but wanted to touch a reality base!

SO, chris has been tidying – well, it seems a bit like the firth of forth bridge really! BB has moved onto the next maths book – singapore earlibird 2A and is v happy with herself, and SB also moved onto the next one – singapore 3B, which seems a bit revisiony at the moment – no bad thing considering what slowcoaches at maths we have been!! She has also been doing some piano and recorder practice, and is v proud to play one of the pieces in Recorder from the Beginning: Tune Book 3. As always she is reading, and has also done a small section in each of Junior English Book 1 and Junior Science Book 1. today we have also done a bit of french, reading this book from a fab series Jill and the Beanstalk and

I read these whilst the girls were hama beading to make cards for their cousin’s 9th birthday. also – at SB’s request, some story of the world. we rather liked the imagery of mehmed’s boats in the taking of constantinople. it appears we have come to the end of the middle ages, and not really done much english based since the battle of hastings! luckilly we have other books… BB and i did some more french – spotting the picture for the word from a 1000 words book, and also some lego, whilst SB and chris shopped.

so there, a normal, boring but oh so lovely day! full of conversation, cuddles and time. now i am flickring – aaargh!! oh, and we are harvesting potatoes and beans and courgette/marrows!

i had a compassionate leave day again today. work are being rather excellent and i am head in sanding about how much chaos this will cause. i will only have taken 4 days in the end for 2 deaths, so i guess i am not being too bad. but i am finding it hard not to grump and growl quickly. i have no tolerance, and am being crap unpredictable mum. aargh. i could at least use this time to be good mum.

anyhoo, i had a lie in/peace to reflect whilst chris and girls went to the library. bb did the craft thing making suns, and loads of new books. on return i was ready to interact. so we cuddled, bb watched her new vid, sb and i did some french and piano practice. after lunch they both got out their brainbox kits. sb ecstatic to make a mw radio and listen to tennis. also made a microphone. out to bb’s footie. her coach is v gentle with her. however after about 1/3 of lesson she was too hot and bothered and came out. sb did some nvr and read about alexander graham bell -one of her favs. the she taught bb to play duck duck goose, involving her shrieking ‘goose me bb, goose me’!!! giggle . another soon to be ex-homeducator was there. she home-edded for a temp purpose and it clearly was ace for her daughter, so congrats in order. she did point out there seemed to be huge amounts of fluff and waffle in the taster days! sb swimming – she is v good at backstroke. back home to icecream, ken hom and bed!

well, i have finally faced up to the reality that chris is the home-educator, and i am just a facilitator [which does make me sad] BUT i do have wed and the weekend. so I am still going to blog my day, but perhaps he will do a more portico style week overview – well he might, if he blogs again!!

anyway, we start with the girls already up, SB is trying to log in to cbbc, and bb is watching charlie and lola.

at 10-ish BB is beavering away at english type things – her book B of before the code, Book A of Getty and Dubay handwriting, and some maths – using manipulatives to think about adding up. After this, i leave her dancing to the radio whilst i do piano with SB.

SB has a slower start, and is doing Bond verbal reasoning, which she finds difficult as she doesn’t seem to grasp spelling. SO she gets the dictionary out, and looks up all the possible words for the add a letter thing. all the others she does quickly and easily, but not this one. At least – i think – it gets her to think about spelling. we are going to have to work on it i think. eventually finishing, she and i go and do some piano practice – which she loves.

As it is lovely and sunny, and the garden is looking desperate, we decide it is a gardening day. Chris finishes off the veg bed with rotovating [we haven't done that before], SB decides to rescue some aquilegias from the strawberry patch, and i am itching to plant out some of the seedlings.

of course I don’t do that, I paint BB’s face!

SB also does some handwriting, and whilst we have lunch I read some french to them, as i think it has been quite a while since we last did any french :blush:

More playing and potting on, and i do manage to get some plants out. SB helps by planting out peas whilst i do sweetcorn and dwarf beans. BB is chasing ‘minibeasts’ = ants ‘antistons’ [aka woodlice] and slugs mostly with a mini magnifying glass.

A sudden rush to shower SB and she is presentable for brownies, which is immediately followed by Judo. BB and I potter in the garden, sowing sunflowers and potting up the tomatoes, pressing some flowers, before giving everything a jolly good water. a snuggle with hairy maclary follows, and then a bath.

bed time stories of Black Ships before troy for SB. BB collapses with winnie the witch. the apprentice for chris and me. thus ends our day!!

we went for a school taster session today for both our girls. they both did really well. obviously we stayed with them. they did some alphabet, copywork and money with a bit of history thrown in. they had some games as well. they looked particularly cute in the school uniform [which was compulsary]. the teacher also seemed v pleased with how each of them listened, behaved and applied themselves to the work. i was rather impressed by BB’s copywork as she hasn’t done any of that before!

but i am getting a bit ahead of myself. in the morning we went to michelle’s to say hello, gossip, drink tea and have lunch – not necessarily in that order. BB was v excited as she loves playing at their house – thinks it is v exciting! SB and C played labyrinth, and BB geomagged and basically kept herself interested. she was being mostly a sweetie today. As part of her brownie promise thingy, SB helped to tidy up after lunch. i am hoping to instill some domestic servitude into them before it is too late, and we are no longer allowed to do it!

in the afternoon we went to hitchin school museum for our taster session. ably led there by michelle with chloe leaning out of the back at precarious angles [ ] and were the first!! to arrive. so we got to look round the museum bit in piece and quiet, have the undivided attention of lots of ladies of a certain age dressed quasi victorian [as it was a victorian event].

Then the rest arrived and the event started, we were split into 2 groups and got to do the classroom bit first – which i have to say i think is a bonus! SB was so sweet, putting her arms around BB to make sure that they were put together, and generally being loving, adorable and an ace big sister. as it was, they split the mummies up and then asked the children to follow, and realised they had small families on one side, and large on the other, so re-divvied!! we all enjoyed the classroom, we had only a couple of unruly children! and we and the ‘teacher’ managed to ignore quite well for the majority as they were only unruly in that little child way. BB had 2 small melts – all sorted with a huggle. one for when she dipped her fingers in the ink… and the other when she struggled to write 1/3d on her slate, having written everything else v nicely. she did improve again, and as sand writing was next, she thought that was fab!! i thought the lady teacher had excellent teaching and class control skills, and i alternated between being the clever child [d for denarius] and then the dunce [not knowing queen victorias birthday!] so had to sit in the corner with dunce hat on! chris got caned though [SB initially worried, but we told her it would be an act, so she thought it was fab after all]

we went into joseph lancasters monitorial room next, and sb listened keenly [i know this, because she discussed it at bedtime!] and bb didn’t wriggle too much, and there was an interactive bit, a worksheet bit and a crawl through a pretend horizantal chimney bit [v much enjoyed!!] and we finished with SB spending her money to buy a slate, and BB bought a sticky springy lizard [a surprise as she had been much taken with the pop guns!] .

home for SB brownies and judo run, BB having a snuggle, a book read and then my little pony video [groan] and then tea infront of dr who.