Category Archives: early maths skills

no-tent saturday

Posted on May 17, 2008 by | Leave a comment

not such a good camping weekend, also not such a good weekend to try and show someone one of the tents – that I had as a teen with my parents. lots of happy memories tied in that tent. we have passed it on anyway, and I hope it is still in working order [and that the new owners do take a digiphoto of the tent step by step as they unfold it so it can be back in order]

I was at work for the morning, but got back in time to have some playing time with the deependers. the children all seemed happy playing together [well, mostly] haven’t found l’s trousers though. wonder if they are playing sardines somewhere!

we did – at BB’s request some ‘speriments. i was trying out the beginning of electricity. though both wanted to do it, they didn’t want to do it together as it were, and i guess i am not being the model of patience at the moment, but we got there, had fun – particularly with static in balloons! i think i might start to have to do lesson plans!

We moved onto violin practice with SB, her in charge of how long, and she enjoyed – got to hovis advert! lots of cuddling, did a bit of french [things in the house!] and girls watched some magic school bus. BB to bed and SB and I read the isle of immeter [in the sir cumference series, which she really enjoys]

watching heros and listening to beat of talent free band at pub across the way [with sundry woos and wails!!] . thanks for hugs.

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, early maths skills, General, language, music, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

must reclaim my wednesdays!!

Posted on May 7, 2008 by | Leave a comment

SB loves the drama group, but she leaves by 9.30 and returns at 12.30. at 15.20 she goes to rainbows and returns at 17.00, at 18.20 she goes to judo and returns at 19.40. ie, I get to see v little of her on my day free, and I MISS HER! especially today when crappy with migraine, and the heat really hit me just as she was about. we played castle keep and did violin practice, but that was about it. bleurgh. at bedtime we have nearly finished the orchard book of arthur and the round table [a good book, but it couldn't really follow on to michael morpurgo's fab gawain and seem fab]

BB and I have had plenty of time together, and BB is also a delight more often than a tantrum throwing stroppy 3 year old! today we sowed loads of seeds together, watered and potted on [some things might not survive!], she then chose to play with pattern blocks with me for ages [and i had to be careful to only do the allowed bits!] and then we made towers and walls with the wooden bricks. being still dirty from the seeds, we had a bath.
She started getting a bit, well, 3 so we went outside for a run, and read a book all about tigers. i made lunch in time for SB’s return home, but i think the outside bit was the last straw for the migraine i was desperately pretending wasn;t there, so i had to lie down for a bit – grr – in a cool room. cue much wailing and jumping on me to see if better yet. however, chris got out paddling pool and as the temp in the shade became more bearable, i sat out and we narrated stories for each other – BB mostly being a crocodile!

sorted tea and BB then watched a MSB and to bed, SB returned and watched MSB and to bed, and chris has gone out. SB not settling v well, as not used to daddy out.

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, early maths skills, gardening, General, music, Out and About, pre reading, socialisation

aargh, bb awake only 90 mins after SB to bed

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Leave a comment

hmm, i am trying to back flickr, blog, think about important meeting tomorrow at work etc etc, and multitasking is not compatible with BB awake. gorgeous though she is.

Anyway, we all got up, CHris to SB to drama, unfortunately he was running late and they went to the wrong venue. it is far enough away that there was much sighing! she got to half of it anyway.

meanwhile BB and I were having a much more satisfactory time. we started off playing silly games – hide and seek frog etc, then did some seed sowing. BB quite keen to do more experiments with seeds, so we have put some different ones to chit and we will see which one germinates first. [more details on gardening blog] after we had done that we did some ‘match and sort’ with singapore 1a. she enjoys this as v easy!! [though she did say she wanted to do SB's book...] and we read one of the very starter french books on colours again.

Still desperately keen to do ‘speriments, i got out an air book, so we saw how we could blow air on each other [degenerated a bit!] and then [b******, FORGOT ABOUT THE LINK THING AND JUST PUBLISHED. THIS IS WHERE I LAST SAVED!] i impressed myself with making some really good aeroplanes.

lunch and SB home. she wanted me to show her her piano hands afterwards, so we did a piano practce, then a violin. BB joined in the violin practice – always tricky! Both girls did afrench book with me on clothes and then ordered crystal experiments, so we set them up – very brave of me to handle chemicals with BB! SB read all the safety warnings v carefully. she remembered that we had hung the rock from string before, and wanted to repeat that, so we did.

Rainbows for SB – feels that there is no time for me in her current wed timetable, so will have to change that. A surprise visit by chris parents, so i made tea and dinner at the same time [grin] and got them to read [and i won't link this time!] Katie and the dinosaurs and Digging up dinosaurs. we then read a red nose reader together before she wanted to bake pink cupcakes with smarty eyes. so we did. SB returned in time for the lickings, and we said goodbye to grandparents.

Bath, tea, BB bed, SB playing in garden, me potting up seedlings. SB bed. Apprentice, apprentice you’re fired and BB awake. playing drawing birds and dinosaurs with BB and looking at flickr pics of her as a baby. the end!!

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Cooking, Dance/drama, early maths skills, General, language, music, Out and About, pre reading, science, socialisation

today [quickly]

Posted on April 21, 2008 by | Leave a comment

chris had minor op this am – all well

his parents came and supervised. SB quickly rattled off maths, handwriting and piano. lots of games then with nana and grandad.

when i came home she got out a fossil find kit we had picked up from a museum, and enjoyed doing that. BB separated sand and iron filings using a magnet [maganet] and v much enjoyed that. she suprised me by using the word evaporated correctly. she also used her maganet [maginfying glass this time!] to look at plastic spider in more detail. SB off to ballet, BB and i read books and played games, and then stuc straws together to make panpipes. SB off to swimming [where her stroke has gone back to 'unusual'!] came home to find nina and neurons in progress.

At SB request, box books have swapped from explorers to science books with experiments in.

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, early maths skills, General, history, literacy, music, noises and sounds, numeracy, pre reading, SB-PE, science, Stringbean's HE, writing

wondrous weekend

Posted on April 21, 2008 by | 1 comment

its the musical monday thing, it makes me feel all alliterative!

we did have a wonderful weekend though, as we went and stayed with the manor borns, went to st georges day at wrest park on the sat and geocaching and bird walk on the sun. i would link, but blog being awkward on those kind of things! so thanks to our host family
so, st georges day [actually don't even dare a bold!]. we were eonly 30 mins behind schedule, and although later than the manorborns, we were still one of the first arrivals. and no surprise because it was COLD. I felt v sorry for re-enactors and EH, as they must have made a massive loss. we still had fun though. SB and Chloe were actors in all 3 performances from rosie bottom and the variously named male actor [will ilink to their company eventually!]. they were excellent as usual, and the children all had great fun. SB giggled her way being lots of diff roles, and Chloe was a v proud horatio. I think they were the best bit of the day! Though actually the fire jugglers were great. SB had some fun dancing with some re-enactors, and also messing about with pikes etc. We watched some displays, and did some sheltering from cold and wet in the orangery. EH did a roaring trade in gloves and hats, and sold out! BB not so enthusiastic, so we spent quite a bit of time playing races around the rather beautiful gardens. kept me nice and warm anyway!

went back for dinner, cheffed in style by marcus. the girls played loads of games, and mostly kept themselves happy. following their bedtime, we played carcasonne with river, and really enjoyed that until 2!

so we were all rather subdued the next day! but did geocache walk – and found it! so our faith in marcus’s gadget using is undimmed. we then were going to do a customary walk around bird place, but decided to make it a bit shorter, like parental tempers! [i improved after flapjack]. lovely walk though, bluebells nearly out, lots of discussion on growing things etc, lots of bird sounds and some nice photos. we also eventually figured how to do that one game 2 ds thing [shame they have such hopeless parents, we did twitter, but none of the obvious experts twittered back, and we eventually had to be resourceful!]
home our separate ways, so we collapsed into a little chef as thought girls would keel over, and met the deependers having a similar thought following their warmer version of st georges day. car games there and back were in french – shouting out colours of cars!

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, early maths skills, General, history, language, literacy, Out and About, pre reading, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

judo joy

Posted on April 16, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Well, we overslept today as BB was having great highjinx wrt sleeping! i had migraine due to a hectic and long day at work yesterday.  but somehow we got up and out and were only an hour late to the deependers! luckilly they waited for SB for latin, unfortunately, i had not got any science ready, as thought this was a drama week. but will get all the bits ready, and will have them in a box for the next time!! SB and BB both in a weird mood, and really didn’t play or integrate much [giving me a flare up of social isolation fears!!]

katy and i did get some relaxed chatting, and i enjoyed playing the kids accordian. i realised our akismet has been overeager again in trapping people! email me if your comments have disappeared.

ermm, got home and there was a parcel with a sleeping bag for me and BB, and we enjoyed trying them out, and a few bits and pieces. the tent is STILL up in the garden, hope it comes down eventually! [its been up a week!] keeps raining. Looking forward to camping on the bank hols.

SB off to rainbows, which she enjoyed, as always, and BB did some science experiments with me – making things froth and bubble!! When SB got home we had a surprise visit from my BIL, who had gone for a site meeting at a village not far away. Makes a change from site visits in China I get! So had a chat about how things were going. Nice to see him.

Sb then went off to Judo for the first time. SHe really loved it, came back glowing about how fab it was, and how she dropped someone, demonstrating how she had to stand etc. She also won a game because she was very good at wriggling free, and was full of how impressed the boys were. obviously an immediate confidence boost for her. I am so glad I suggested it, and persuaded her to still go – as she has been most uncertain.

SHe’s gone to bed reading magic school bus books. we had a chat on the way back from Katy’s about this and that, and she wants to do a bit more language, poss ‘cos the others in that group are quite ahead with language. And we have also agreed to prioritise music practice more. I had better tell chris that then!!

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, early maths skills, General, history, language, literacy, SB-PE, science, socialisation

a ‘post camp’ day

Posted on April 6, 2008 by | 5 comments

rainbows camps obviously take a lot more getting over than home-ed camps! even if they last only one night!! SO SB been perk free. i have been reading the worst witch too her, as she initially wouldn’t read it as it was too scary. she has decided that after all it isn’t scary, but quite funny. she is mildred and i am maud! So when ever i do another amazon order [i am booked out now!!] then i may buy some more, buy hoping a few might be found in the library. At least we now have a range of books which she likes to read [animal ark, magic school bus, dk 4 readers, rainbow fairies, horrid henry] that she is happy with for this stage of reading. the next stage i have lots of them still from my childhood!

SB and I played chess twice. i really am no good at it, but chris has bought her a book, which she has been reading on and off all day, so she may beat me shortly. we are relaxed on the no touching rule, and i tend to say ‘did you check all my pieces’ fairly frequently. the book suggests games to get the hang of all the pieces, but SB just wants to dive straight in. fair enough!

BB and i made YET MORE fimo numberjacks!! hopefully she wont break these ones quite so quickly. we also glued the airdrying clay coil pots back together again!! We rang my mum and all sang happy birthday down the phone. she was quite overcome, as my dad had arranged a surprise gathering of neighbours to wish her happy birthday. amazing! she liked the digital photoframe, though hasn’t worked out how to use it. [giggle, that'll give my dad something to do!!]

we all bundled out into the garden as it was gloriously sunny [no snow for us!] though the wind was bitter, and we wrapped up well. we fed the fruit bushes and planted the blueberries into their pots. no sign of the broadbeans and the carrots out in the veg bed. fingers crossed that they will come up!

A bit of wailing and BB-ing, so i came in and read stories to them both, and there was some magic tree housing whilst I cooked ken hom for tea – yummy. As an aside, why aren’t all tins stackable?? chris has been hoping that i will see the pantry like merry’s old sotck room, and enjoy putting away the huge sainsbury’s shop [it wasn't enjoyable!] and it really annoyed me that not all tins are stackable! its nicely sorted out now though!

SB turned down chess for who’s who for our evening games session. chris is now reading her peter pan as her bedtime story

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, early maths skills, gardening, General, geography, history, science, Stringbean's HE

latin, science and haircuts

Posted on April 2, 2008 by | Leave a comment

we got up in good time, and then looked likely to get there on time, however at the last moment, BB threw sugar all over SB, so a shower in order, and… we were late! luckilly, our hostess is v accommodating. latin commenced, SB said on the way home that we need to remember to do more at home. since katy had had a chat about possibly accelerating the older few, i might see if sb can do the pace they may set as she seems keen. at least i have bought another copy of minimus. we did science on magnets, i tried to have a mixture of more complex for the bigger ones, and easy for the littlies, but BB was really not in the mood to let me continue on. however, we struggled on, and think it went ok, i might try electromagnets next time.

so then some yummy soup and general play and chit chat with adults. so very nice. SB had a number of accidents :roll: and BB perked up :smile: . Dressing up went particularly well. bB then totally lost it, we were about an hour later than i thought [body clock not adapted ] and in the end swept mine out when i should have helped a bit with tidying, as thought more prolonged BB howls might be less welcome than the tidying up would have been welcome. BB fell asleep on the way home [and has therefore taken for ever to get to bed tonight] and SB also had an early night due to the wailies once we got home.

we had an ebay parcel when we got home, so i thought it might perk bB up, but no, it didn’t work! aaarghhhhhhh. anyway, the seller will replace the pen.

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, early maths skills, General, history, language, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

a blog filled day

Posted on April 1, 2008 by | Leave a comment

we are awaiting the ending of an ebay auction which we would have liked to have won. we have placed a max which is low, but reasonable, but is obviously lower than the reserve. i hate reserve auctions. i refuse to ‘bid up’ to see where the reserve is. And I think in this case it was obviously at something unrealistic, as we are nowhere near our max bid yet. grumble grumble moan moan!!

we had a playdate today with rainbows friend [RR for short]. she was obviously in a bit of a weird mood from the start, dropped off by her mum early in a tearing hurry [our girls stilll in pj's!] (Note From Chris: Early here was 10.20 :-) )they started playing ok, but after a bit our girls keen to go outside and enjoy sun, couldn’t understand why RR not so keen. but apparently she had watched a film on volcanoes. we prob live in one of the least likely areas for a surprise volcano in the world! it was oK if she wore S’s clothes though, and I went out too. fair enough, i sowed some seeds and interacted in minimalistic reassuring fashion. [a tsunami would be much more of a worry really]. SHe’s a lovely girl really though, just caught on an ‘unusual’ day – and no more off planet than SB can be. However, she did graze herself on slide, so i carried her in and settled her in front of magic school bus, and upset mine by insisting they watch it with her. pizza decorate yourself for lunch perked things up, and then after lunch i did an ad hoc weaving with scoobido fish dreamcatcher thing – which sort of went ok, BB and RR both gave up, and i finished theirs, but they tod me which colours and when to put pony beads on. SB did hers beautifully, but with a fair tension on it, so it is more of a tube fish!

BB showed RR her magnets, and a long discussion about magnets ensued, and a bit of iron detectiving. am planning to do some magnet stuff tomorrow. wish i had sorted out stuff to make an electromagnet, maybe next time. the older ones prob know it all already. hmmm

they went off and played happily for a bit, then a something or other, and I ended up hugging RR and chris SB whilst watching magic tree house and eating apricot scones [lovely] . so peace and happiness returned, chris and sb walked her home, and played for a bit there, as she was much happier back on home turf [obviously being about 200m away, no risk of volcanoes!]

BB and I did other bits and pieces together during the day. she was still wailing about lost dinodoors [if anyone goes to magna, or anywhere else that sells them, could we pay you for a 50p stretchy lizard?] so we made some about of fimo – a t -rex and 2 babies, that could also be eaten! we then went on to make the yummy apricot scones. mmmmm. We read alot of books together, and did some counting and guessing starts of words, and lots of singing. we also made a fish out of airdrying clay, whcih she insisted had a sad mouth [like prunella scales in that supermarket advert!]
Chris picked up BB from the floor at some point in the afternoon, and she really hurt her arm. not a dramatic pick up or anything, but she was really tearful, and held it as if broken. i checked all over and it seemed fine, so calpoled. after an hour of no mvt i decided we should go to have it xrayed, and she wailed and stormed she wasn’t going, and suddenly it was fine to push me away with it etc. yep, it isn’t broken!

anyway, relaxed bed time. chris has started on peter pan with SB, and we played battleships for our evening game.

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Butterbean's HE, Cooking, daubing and making, early maths skills, General, geography, noises and sounds, pre reading, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

bored blogging

Posted on March 31, 2008 by | 1 comment

though will no doubt get back into the flow. SB did some maths and handwriting first thing, watched magic school bus and raven, bB wailed about her lost dinodoors [she has only had them 2 seconds!], did a bit of earlybird maths and watched the same things. was going to do some music practice, but my parents arrived after my mothers hosp appt. chatted, sb played games, bb wailed about lost dinodoors, and wanting to paint her volcano.

so we started to paint her volcano, and SB started to do some brainbox electronics. 5 mins later, bb wailing as wants to do the electronics – do you see a pattern? anyway, i negotiated a settlement and we did lots of the whirring one until the batteries ran out, then a wild run about outside. read about the rainforest to BB. most of the rest of the day was spent outside, but we did do some messing about with a science kit on magnets and compasses. have left it out to have a bit more of a look at tomorrow. SB has changed all her box books to ones about explorers, and a couple of the new books.

we did actually have a lot of fun running about in the garden, and rescued the day really. BB and SB ‘helped’ chris by making manure cupcastles :roll: but ots of swinging, dipping feet into v green pond water etc. We refilled the bird feeders, and played games.

I took SB to swimming – her new speedo goggles far better [thanks all], and also i can see a v definite improvement in her stroke, she doesn’t appear to be drowning half so often.

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, early maths skills, General, geography, literacy, numeracy, SB-PE, science, Stringbean's HE, writing