investigating

chris and i stayed up a bit too late with playing online agricola with the babs last night [i won - yay!] SB also had a late bedtime, having read a book she then got scared by, so had to have time to read a more comforting book, so was v tired today!

whe we got up, it was snowing - again! and quite hard, but a quick check suggested no snow at merry’s, so the science stuff was gathered and we set off. we were also the firsterers there!! actually, due to a number of circs we were 2 families down and one family up, and that worked pretty well! Did science in dribs and drabs, as it was basically setting it up and then watching what happens.

as we are on a ‘biology’ term, and roughly looking at microbiology, today we looked at yeasts. We have done a fair bit of discussion on and off about bodies, energy sources and then lungs, oxygen and carbon dioxide, so we did a bit of a recap. there was surprise that yeast might be ‘alive’ so this wasn’t a simple chemical reaction. that actually what was happening was the yeast would be using sugar to fuel the division into 2 [actually this is a bit of a simplification, as yeasts actually bud off rather than divide like bacteria] that they are single celled organisisms of funghi. we knew what it was used for, and i briefly touched on the krebbs cycle without naming and shaming it, saying effectively to make the energy, a gas was given off as a waste product. we had quite a talk about the various gas possibilities, but mostly settled on CO2, partly because this is something we breathe out as a waste, and partly because i had brought along some lime water to test for co2!! so we used my beautiful new erlenmeyer beakers and placed 5 spoons sugar, one heaped yeast and 250mls warm water and topped off with a balloon. soon enough this began to fill with ‘the gas’ and then each got a chance to mix ‘the gas’ with lime water - which rather fabulously went cloudy! and also to put a lit match into it - which v satisfactorily immed went out. so we learnt a bit about micro orgs, their needs, and waste products, and how to test for them. fab! this book suits this experiment pretty well, and we read it again earlier this week

I also did some of the sampler sewing - not as well as Merry! Kty did french, the children voluntarily did some music, and Zoe was pasta and tea maker - thanks! there was no snow at merry’s, tho it did snow on and off. we got back well in time for brownies - still snow here!

BB had her face painted and then decided she was tired [she fell asleep in the car on the way home whilst SB and I sang along to serge - above] and watched star wars whilst i snoozed.

SB was at brownies making valentines biscuits and then judo. this is the game of 2 halves, as this owl has a very brusque and brisk nature, and is just one of those busy women who perhaps SB isn’t so used to. so she asked to get changed in her toilet [it was at the big house for cooking] and j agreed, but whilst she was doing it, she was called for, and couldn’t hear so then got told off. then found someone else had taken her biscuits as they looked nicer, which she had made for me. SO loads of tears. Arrgh. I know she was prob stressed, but this isn’t the first time SB has cried. And yes Sb wears her heart on her sleeve and has no thickness of skin to speak of, but i do think that this being so a bit of compassion over the taken biscuits and actually, since sb had asked to change in the loo… oh well. we had a long discussion about different folks, and that j would prob be surprised that that exchange had made sb cry… btw Merry and katy, SB says she just isn’t used to shouty ppl as we and you don’t shout! Anyway, lots and lots of hugs on return, watching magic school bus inside ralphie episode, and to bed as a happy girl again.

today was for the girls a mostly sylvanianing day. they adore playing sylvanians! they tend to only start when SB has read her book for the day - she starts the day with a book and ends the day with the book. we are getting through loads!

i did want to do some science, as over a year ago won a very ancient kit on ebay about osmosis, and have been v keen to try it out!! today was the day! unlike newr kits, it has LOADS of actual science talk in it, explaining what you are doing, why, the scientific concepts etc - great! Anyway we had a thought about permeable and impermeable, and each selected a container of each and poured water into it. we saw we were right, but that some things were more permeable than others, and infact waxing a permeable thing [ie muffin cases] greatly reduced their initial permeability. We then looked at diffusion, to prove that the molecules moved around in the water [perpetual motion/ kinetic theory ] and that we don’t need to shake to mix up a solution we dropped a copper sulphate crystal into warm water and watched the water all gradually turn blue. Unfortunately we didn’t actually get to any of the osmosis experiments, as the girls were sylvanian needy again!!

other things done were some playdoughing, BB did more of her ’secret’ , SB and I did a long recorder practice and some aurals [aargh!], SB wrote into her journal. I sorted out the science shelves abit, and chris turned the room of doom into a place where you might nearly be persuaded to go. Oh, and we spent a long time doing the RSPB gardenwatch - better late than never!

We finished watching tales from the green valley - the Jacobean farm series.

As ppl might have read below, on monday chris bought fish from the fishmonger at the market. Today we dissected them at latinetc! i was really impressed, particularly by the younger [and more sensible group] at how carefully this was done in the main. i think the younger group were aided by being on 4 wanting to do it and 2 adults, to the older groups impatient 6! We started with looking at the beauty of the mackerel, the camouflage elements, and how we thought these might work, at the shape and dynamics of the fish - muscled and bullet shaped, likely to be a fast swimmer we thought. at the various external features - vent, protected eyes and gills, the various fins and the fabulous mouth. Then we started cutting!

we started with gills, talked about their purpose and investigated them - they are v beautiful! then we did our eviscerating slit - careful mostly not to eviscerated! amazingly we found the swim bladder, gonads, stomach and heart. may have found liver! def found lots of muscle and spine. and then after discussing those, they merrily set to on destruction! actually, that’s not entirely true, E did a beautiful dissection in the littlies, BB was a bit wilder! in the older group i think J and J did well to hang in their, being uncertain about dissection [and i have promised that will be the only one this term - so no eyeballs yet!] and the smell got to chloe. SB and maddy really enjoyed gutting etc their fishes…

other than that, they did music theory and latin and for the littlies french. we stayed and chatted whilst katy went to baby music, which was nice, i like the opportunity for a good natter. i listed to M and then J doiing their violin practises. we brought Maddy home with us, and she did brownies and judo v happily with SB, watched charlottes web with tea, and now all is finally quiet upstairs…

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.

today was a latinetc day, always enjoyable for all of us. we were still late, because somehow our kids don’t get out of the house, and my poor sleeping is making me just want to curl up in bed unless matter transported! We started with SB doing some music theory, which apparently she struggled to do there, but at home raced through the sheet, so as gina says, prob due to arriving half way thro. BB similarly shy in french, doing opposites, but got going, and for the rest of the morning toddling about quite happily!

I like being in the kitchen with michelle, though think she may have been a bit more dubious about our proximity as we were looking at bacteria! i reassured everyone that they were actually dead! fixed on a microscope slide in fact, and we had a peer at some, but my microscope not really powered quite highly enough. we did a fun bacteria division game with peas and paper ‘cells’ obviously these were intracellular bacteria! and that was enjoyed. then i got out the petri dishes and swabs and we all thought of somewhere that might harbour bacteria, swabbed and plated it. now, with any luck, the petri dishes are in airing cupboards gently warming! the plan is to look every day and draw what you see. we may, or may not, have the older group try and make a microscope slide depending on how well it goes! unfortunately, it used up way more agar than i imagined! so i have had to buy lots more, and am waiting for it before we do part 2 - grow bugs and then put in something we think is bacteriocidal - what do you think? teatree, lavender, breast milk, alcohol gel, soap?? oh and an antibiotic and see if we can kill them! so we will dissect a fish next time instead. we had lots of discussions about bacteria, and it is always great to see what info kids already have and can pull together, we had a bit of evolution, yoghurt making, pasteurisation, ‘good and bad’ bacteria…

latin and music also happened, tho not clarinet - will happen 2moro. we came home, and sb did the clarinet and theory sheet whilst BB got going with painting a plaster of paris frame she had made. she really paints v carefully, and acrylic paints are so much better for this!! just as SB was about to get a kit to finish out, we had the deependers arrive after baby music, so supplied tea and refreshments. M very taken by that maze ball thing we all have! J,K and SB played bohnanza for a bit, and L and BB played together v happily. apparently the frame is prob for L, but don’t get too excited, as BB often keeps the things she makes for others…

Other things this week - SB had and really enjoyed her first golf lesson. she has done loads of maths on angles. BB done lots of crafting and finally starting to learn some letters!! chris put up the new bookcases, so looks fab in hallway, and currently he has started on room of doom! work been stressful as always, but have some time off coming up - woohoo!! oh, and it snowed - somehow that is no longer newsworthy, and i have hardly mentioned this prolonged cold snap in the blog, but it hasn’t really affected us, not like so many others!

before we get to today, i thought i would just like to say i went out to a restaurant both monday and tuesday! monday with chris, as girls at nanna’s so we made the most of the evening by going out to a local turkish, which was delish! tuesday was work night out at a chinese-malaysian - mucho yummy! had mock peking duck for the first time and liked it [have always steered a bit clear of the mock things!] must take chris there, it was near where the deependers live so would recommend it, tho a bit on the pricy side! mind you, the non veggies all had lobster as one of the courses, so i am guessing if i had been with chris it might have been half that price!

and so to wed, thought would raise christmas cheer with the science, and thinking hard for a good end of year finale, decided on crystal structure! went really well. we looked at crystals with SB’s rather fab microscope

now, this has mixed reviews, so anyone considering one, i think digital with usb port is a fab thing, it works quickly and easily and the laptop we run it on is our oldest one. the x200 doesn’t have enough light, so i agree there, but if you see one of these going cheap, snap it up, as far more fun than something you have to look down eyepieces for! all the children were v interested in it, from the v youngest, and it was quite some time before BB declared boredom! tho i notice that when they moved to slides, she was still watching!

we discussed crystals, how they form, and that if i had a powerful enough microscope [they don't do toy electron microscopes yet!] we could have seen the actual crystalline structure - which we discussed! then, whilst gina did music theory we them, i prepared my ace card - we made the crystalline structures out of maltesers held with royal icing. great fun! enjoyeed thoroughly by all, and hoping that they might remember some of them [i said them till blue in face!] simple cube, face centered cube, body centred cube, hexagonal close packed. and here are some examples!

actually it was a busy session and v much enjoyed by all. Gina also did bells with the big’uns and clarinet with the SB. Merry continued with sewing samplers with everyone - remarkably patient with all the needle traumas! BB also remarkably patient with hers. katy did latin christmas carols [well, latin translations!] and french and also boiled sweetie window biscuits. All went down really well, lots of happy laughing kids learning lots.

we were not only first to arrive [as hadn't seen any morning emails!] but also first to leave, as BB wanted to go to the rainbows christmas party. she didn’t join in any game, but when we ate, a girl sat with us, and they got on well, as she was really outgoing and friendly. not sure if bb will ever go to rainbows again, but she was much happier having had this interaction. i think she is just much younger than the others - prob directly due to home educating as we don’t push the outward facing thing.

SB had brownies party afterwards, which apparently didn’t have enough games. we watched doctor who, a crazy long bath was had, and the day was done.

though unfortunately the steam wasn’t on!

we had a generally relaxing and pootling morning, having decided a 2 hour journey each way was just too far [i could say on eco warrior grounds, but actually we just didn't want the journey]. Sb did some non verbal reasoning, all the girls coloured, bb happy streeted and at lunchtime SB declared she wanted to go out after all, but something a bit sciency! google being our friend, we decided to go to to the cambridge museum of technology - which to be fair is mostly steam and printing!! As we drove out, we listened to a french cd whilst SB followed the activity book.

SB is also reading a few books in the car, today

and

BB meanwhile was also reading

SO thought that was a fair bit of reading! we had a bit of a stress finding the actual place, but did manage! we had a short while watching the rowers practice before we went in. It is one of those ’boutique’ museums - ie a bit haphazard and possibly not completely risk assessed!! great gisenormous steam engines [to quote BB] in the first hall, and we had a great look around. there was nobody to tell us not to touch, peer, squiggle around and generally interact - though it wasn’t a steaming day! we had lots and lots of round the houses discussions on various things. there was a printing room with a variety of old presses and sets, the girls did 2 diff kinds of printing, and then SB engaged one of the ladies into squirreling in all the various drawers to see what was in them, and generally had a grand time. in fact, i think we learnt far more about printing, as we monopolised willing voluntary workers!! A bit more wander round, But BB had had enough, so we wandered out [picking up some postcards for 5p for postcrossing!] and then wandered over the new bridge - which we thought was rather lovely.

Home, with SB reading about Aztecs

and bB about katie

and we consolidated at home a bit with ‘what the victorians did for you - steam engines’ [actually it was called something about speed, but all about steam!] followed by a slump with magic school bus!! We needed the roaring fire you see! whilst i put BB to bed, Chris and SB nearly finished her mecchano car, and then she did her consultation response. My Dad, lots of loving vibes, also did it -thanks.

chris is blogging thurs and fri - hopefully - as they were really great days! so i am going to make a start on today!

i got up really late as work has had my nose most definitely to the grindstone, and i had some sleep deprivation to catch up on! the girls were playing beautifully together, and although it is prob the KOD to blog it, they seem to have gone through their grumpy with each other patch and are enjoying each others company again. i *could* worry that this means SB is playing lots of ‘baby’ games with BB, but I like the games they play together, and i am not in a rush to push her game playing older!

We had some postcrossing cards arrive - woohoo!! so put them up on our display. this is gradually encouraging sb to remember continents, and what countries may be found where. OK, so we have not had any arrive from africa, antartica, australasia or asia, but we have sent one to taiwan and australia! SB has started writing more of them as well.

will start the day and perhaps rewrite as i recall! oh i think we started with SB doing recorder prac, and then duets with me as i had got a yamaha recorder treble to match hers. we love duetting. though gina says sb practiced stuff she has been able to do for ages rather than the new things! whilst we were doing this, BB got out a science kit - first electronics, and worked through the book making all the circuits [they are v simple, but i was still v proud as this includes putting batteries in!]
SB did some verbal reasoning and then galore park science - which had an experiment-recipe to make, so we got ingredients. SB fancied crafting before that though, and BB and chris went outside to mend her bike burst tyre from too much skidding!! SB made some dried flower pics which we laminated. unfortunately we seem to have destroyed the laminator when tried to laminate a sweetie wrapper pic. hopefullly chris will take apart and it will work again? we did a short piano practice, concetrating on rhythms.

we then made the rock cakes - these show sediment being laid down over time and creating dinosaur fossils. good fun to make and eat! might remember that idea for a group geology session one day!

so we collapsed infront of tv to cuddle and snuggle, and sb broke the video - it has been a breaking kind of day! so i read rome in cross section to her and bB and we looked for and spotted things and related them to the roman mysteries books. finally watched some mickey mouse dvd, had dinner and then it was bedtime.

my evening work, again, has been home ed politics. making sure i have done as much as i can, writing to mp, dscf, select committee, filling out consultations etc and asking others too.

please, if you haven’t

the petition

the review

and my sense told me to panic!! It was another latinetc wednesday, and i decided we would do spy writing [since i think all the children have destroyed their copies, they are on googledocs!]. so i bundled together a number of reasonably hazardous rather than outright dangerous chemicals, and set off! i turned out to be not so successful for the younger group, as the paper wasn’t starchy enough, but they enjoyed it anyway, and were remarkably dextrous at pipetting and measuring. [they didn't get to have really hazardous chemicals! citric acid, acetic acid and iodine!]

the older group was far more successful, mixing up chemical solutions, being v careful. they got some fabulous results, and are gradually being led into the ways of being a chemist! i haven’t done a great many chemical equations, because i am hoping that they get chemical safe yet interesting stuff skills first to build on! but do throw in the technical words and terms, and i think they are all starting to associate copper with blue, iodine and starch and we even precipitated out some iron today. so i think it is working! a bit out of my comfort zone though, exploring chemistry with the so young!! but they have all done so much ’safe’ chemistry, that a few chemicals seemed the logical next step! [see the chem 2 page in the sidebar]

SB as always loved music, and her and chloe put on a fab latin doctor play. actually 4 other children in pairs did too. BB loves her french and science, so at the moment it does run v successfully. SB had a wobble today though - it has been a while since she has been so easily wobbled, and it reminds me how far she has come in personal resource and strength in the last few years, and how proud of that i am. we had a hug, did some 1:1 chemistry, sorted out the issue, and happiness restored. phew! A bit of discussion going on about the latinetc group, to try and make it work well for all children, and what compromises and adjustments may make a globally better picture. i am always change resistant, but can see that a few tweaks here and there may benefit!! We listened to a max and maxin french story on the way home, to maximise the french!!

home and SB and BB were thrown into the bath and had their hair washed. they were showered after swimming last night, but somehow still looked really grubby all over!! SB did a bit of general home ed stuff, a bit of maths, a bit of preparation for her viking presentation on friday [wish i could be there, chris better blog!], some of her mecchano car and her DK mediaeval project book. We had another postcrossing card to send, so SB had a look at the various maps on our walls, and was struck by the few roads in the scottish isles… I like postcrossing for random map moments!

BB and i went to rainbows, she is loving it. she is by far the tiniest, and she wants someone to stay, which is ok for now. but she joined in readily and loved the guessing game and the bubble blowing. the rainbow leader is v good here, and her daughter also helping out was fun. BB got her rainbow top, so was v happy. passed SB and Chris coming up as we were going home for SB’s brownies and then judo.

BB and i watched toystory as we ate our dinner [spinach, potato and cauli curry, yummy] and when SB returned, she watched the egyptian what the ancients did for you.

now i am catching up with the select committee and home ed activism. i really never pegged myself as someone likely to be an activist!!

sorry about hopeless blogging. life is feeling v short on time, and blogging and reading others blogs is a casualty! wouldn’t be so bad if the man himself - whose blog this is remember! - did some catching up too!!

me - well, with the girls went and visited mum and dad for the weekend. always good to catch up, relax and be loved and spoiled!! though did have one of the most horrendous journeys down for roadworks, diversions and parkedness!! also saw my BIL and nephew and niece for sunday, which we all enjoyed. a flying visit from sis too. returned late on sunday. chris had a weekend of tidying, though i really wish it had been windowing. i am sure it is going to fall in one of these days.

monday girls did some shopping for ballet stuff and new cycling helmet for BB. SB had ballet, a bit of home ed type stuff done i think. tues is library day, and a visit to chris’s parents, with swimming then for both girls. i played some games in the evening, and we watched a rather boring fact dvd on ice age survivors.

so to today. latinetc! it seems ages since the last one, and i have really missed them! it looks like we might be making a few changes to structure and layout, a dynamic process! today i did science - as always - and slightly shorter sessions, which i think worked better. i had 4 mystery chemicals, and descriptions of properties of 4 chemicals, and we had to identify which was which. think it worked v well!! merry did some fab fimo craft - though sb did a beheaded version!! a latin refresher by katy. think sb has forgotten vast swathes! and some music from gina and our busy morning was busy! we were going to go to the park in the afternoon, but it got chilly, so merry and girls came back to ours, and there was fancy dress going on.

excitement for bb’s first rainbows! she thinks one of us will have to go until she is 7 we’ll see!! she loved it though. sb is currently in brownies, and getting more badges probably, then judo. we did a really good piano practice today as well.

the other thing we are doing is postcrossing towards some geography!! actually working currently, in that each of our sent postcards has been looked up on a map, and more excitement over the current 2 received.

it was an RI day today, meaning up bright and early to catch the train. today it all seemed to go smoothly, there was parking, there was time, and we remembered the croissants! and we shared a carriage with the puddles! so all v delightful. got wathc SB and maddy practice their french conversation on the tube - how home ed cute! as we got off the tube, there were the manor borns, as we walked along the pavement, there were the portico, and finally, already there were monster, teeny and parents! if we had tried to arrange to meet up so effortlessly it would have been doomed to failure!

A bit of playing in the basement, and some interminable queuing as they set up - noticing that the manorborns snuck the back way past all of this! and then in to fantastic pole position seats. i think the experimenters were a trifle concerned to see BB so close, but she was fab! we really enjoyed it. lots of things to think about - with plenty of bangs! we were advised not to try at home, though i loved the luminescent bits… yep, we loved it! Afterwards, bb and sb spent a while poring over the periodic tables outside before we picnicked in green park with friends.

we decided to walk to buckingham palace and wander about a bit, but after we had got there, bb was flagging, and TBH, she has been tired more quickly recently, so we wandered slowly back through green park and came home, meeting the puddles at finsbury park! bb fell asleep on train, and SB and Maddy read some usborne pocket science books, played treehouse and did some colouring - all v beautiful to watch! back in time for SB brownies and judo, and BB and i played hiss and watched shrek. on SB’s returned she watched a what the ancients… on early britons whilst i snoozed!

next week rI is magnets, with latinetc deferred - i think?

Sb has been v busy today, she has done her music theory, some of her schofield and simms book Animals and Plants (Understanding Science)
, read some box books - including where do babies come from, so all clued up there! she also did some piano practice and bond verbal reasoning. oh, and made up a story for her galore park english [we are currently doing a question a time - so 3.4 this time!]

In the afternoon she bought postcards for postcrossing - we have nabbed the idea from the babs as a gentle way to introduce some geography into our life! she also wrote one of the cards as the crossee is 9. and also did some sectret ’stuff’ which she has sent to cousin e as a birthday present. i think that took most of the afternoon before ballet.

together we read some french - a berthe and a lucy chat book [links in my books we read section], story of the world - isabella and ferdinand and i did some of her before the code c with BB.

BB also made some plaster of paris dinosaurs and other moulds whilst sb at ballet - lets see how they turn out! [hopefully they will turn out!] She watched the walking with beasts first one [her favourite] and also played with the science magnet kit.

tea early enough that bb could go to bed afterwards and sb and i had time to play ticket to ride. we drew! we both really enjoyed it, and need to get back into the games playing habit together. in our roman mystery, jonathan has survived being executed - as sb predicted!

getting a bit behind with blogging, as real life intervened! anyway, we had a fab weekend this weekend, having nipped up to sheffield to see some muddlepuddle friends there. i say nipped, but with all the fri eve traffic, and the roadworks, i did more plodding than nipping! the girls are now wired in with in flight entertainment for long solo flights, so that was fine. chris stayed at home to decrease his job list.

started off well, with despatching tired children to bed, and then playing caylus with my hosts. i obviously lost big style, i rarely, if ever, beat Team Sheffield! i really enjoyed it, so played 3 more times in the time we were there - never won though!

we did stay up until 3am, and as thurs had been a working night, i was somewhat tired, and unable to rouse the next morning, so we were rather later into sheffield than planned! we were off to weston park museum however, when we arrived, the children saw a helter skelter in the park, and it became apparent there was a free event on! so we watched a few acts, the children had a helter skelter ride, the older ones went up the climbing wall and the younger ones a bouncy slide thingy. panning for gold and badge making also happened, so it was 2 well spent hours later we went into the museum.

the museum was fab. thanks for taking us there. i stayed with the little 2, E and SB went round by themselves, so i missed seeing what they did, but SB was VERY enthusiastic, as was BB. i will get photos up in the usual place eventually! hoe via tescos where we bought tubs of icecream and suitable sprinkles and sauces to make children v happy. i cooked camp curry, then shipped children upstairs so we could game again!

Another late rise, pancakes with all the trimmings - yummy - and though we had debated a small farm open day, the kids were having a ball, and so… A1 lovely trip, thanks to my hosts. though the travelling back shew how badly people can drive when they put their minds to it…

i had managed to be mostly organised yesterday, sorting out an acid/bases science and picnic stuff, so setting off this morning ok. introduced myself to the temporary french child at the deependers, drank tea with katy, and eagerly awaited gina and her composing special occasion.

the children divvied themselves into groups with an adult, and i was with jjm combo, plus bb who was sulking because we hadn’t done the day in the right order with littlies science first. it was great fun, and loosely based around petroushka. i think we were probably more ‘loose’ than anticipated! all the children bar bb enjoyed it, and fran conducted the concert at the end. the children all had snack and watched petroushka on you tube, which they were all enjoying.

i hesitantly suggested if science was to happen, it should start, and they all raced at me like loons. i wanted to do it outside, but we had numerous too colds, so went into the deependers home ed kitchen. it was a bit of a squish doing all the kids science together, and reminded me why i wouldn’t want to be a class teacher, as lots of crowd control involved! i think it went really well though, and only had to be ’slightly’ shouty! we had a solution of acid [distilled vinegar] and we made a solution of base [bicarb and water] and i told them that these were dangerous chemicals, and we were going to practice being v careful - it is a good thing they weren’t, and actually, i think i need to be able to tell m in french things like dangerous chemical. i might print off some hazard signs! i had some red and blue litmus paper - which is more obviously pink and purple! and we worked out that they changed to ‘the other one’s colour’ to detect acid and bases. fab. so some went off to find some other fluids to test, and those remaining looked to see if turmeric really was an indicator too. it was supposed to go red, and not dramatically convincing, but i think it did! the children then all did a litmus blue and red, and chose which of the fluids to test. you would have thought that they might notice i don’t necessarily choose the loudest jumpy up and down one to have a go, but ask the quieter ones! [trying to remember so that all really get a first choice]. we found wine to be acidic, and also hand gel - good explanation from sb for that, and maybe milk to be alkaline.

the last bit didn’t work quite so well due to a lack in my number of eyes, ears and hands! basically each child was to put 10 drops of either acid or base in a well with the pipette [divided into 2 sides] and then swap the acid/base and put a specified number of drops in, hoping to then have solutions of different alkalinity/acidity. then drop a tiny bit of indicator paper in. having looked at the results, we didn’t exactly have a range, possibly because some of the young scientists didn’t count, splurged in etc. but on the whole, those starting with the acid were in the acid spectrum of pH paper, and those starting with the base were in the alkaline. and there was a bit of differentiation within them. maybe something to try in smaller groups/individuals.

quick pasta lunch and off to the not back to school picnic, as co-ordinated across the uk by ali - thankyou! we weren’t sure of the turnout, so hadn’t organised press, but in view of the bbc piece, may send something to local paper in case they have a gap! we actually had 10 families attend, which i thought was fantastic - thankyou all! and, a greater suprise, 4 of them were new, 3 had deregistered this term, and 1 new to the area. we are hoping to all see more of each other, and i realised what a good thing a relaxed intro like this is for newly deregged parents! a party to celebrate our childrens’ right to a uniquely tailored education, following their age, ability and aptitude, without having to norm reference within a class of 30. their right to learn in a way that suits them, makes the experience worth it, fun, informative and brings the family closer together. hip hooray for the ability to home ed, and a pantomine boo for dscf for trying to regulate it away.

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

grump and grump. i have found myself exceptionally challenged by vertical, noise, physical contact and sibling squabbles today. i even resorted to hiding under the sofa duvet. i am not well!!

bb has been desperate to play with sb, having missed her loads and her being out and about a lot of last week and then an impromptu sleepover. so could they do it?? absolutely no. both being miserable and waily, not agreeing to any compromise, so got sent out. came back and have been toddler playing - ie beside each other rather than with. so i have hama-ed with both girls, fimo-ed with bb, read to sb. sb read a bit of her mediaeval project book [a few posts below] and also wrote a letter to a magazine - spontaneous writing!! wonders will never cease. well done sb!

i tried a change of position and went outside. managed to do a science kit with both girls. typically sb was the one to spill her solution, but easily sorted. we liked the kit, though tbh easily replicated with food dye and ice cube tray for those wanting to save money! SB in particular loved doing it, and was a good way of teaching pipette control, and drop counting. covered both colour mixing, something on light and wavelengths, and then a bit on dilution. we did like the little tray though!! was a charity shop [at work] find though so ok! the correct response to this link is … HOW MUCH!!!

edited to add: if you do want to buy it, buy this one from a mate of mine, much cheaper!

i painted bb’s face as a tiger, chris messed about with our new camping acquisition - see below and i realised vertical was not my thing. so i slumped big style, and still haven’t left the horizantal. girls watched a fair bit of oceans dvd and then robinson crusoe.

aah thank goodness for pills, diet coke and the evening, i hope to watch eureka and wake up tomorrow with a bit more patience. sb has tried v hard to be patient and loving to me, as has bb. the both of them together is just over my limit, and it is so unfair to them. chris well on the mend

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.

today we did a lot of splashing in and out of the pool. even i went in. it wasn’t as hot as yesterday, but by the time i had hoed the veg patch, i really needed to cool down! oh, and SB cooked poached eggs for breakfast - fantastic.

last weekend apparently cousin m told sb that when he does really well, he gets a mars bar. she wanted to know what the home-ed equivalent was. hmm, we said, what do you think? so she has got the timetable idea out again, and if she does 2/3 of what is on there, she gets her mars bar. some of the splashing today has therefore been the tears when we pointed out we could see she had ticked off things she hadn’t done. claims that someone else had done that were discarded. also tears of ‘completing’ her english [section 3.1 of galore park] when i opened to find it wasn’t. it took an hour to complete it. we aren;t autonomous, but we are child led and normally we don’t have battles over what to do, and especially with wailing thrown in. but fibbing about it to me changes the goal posts. once she was done, she was all happiness and light, so it obviously wasn’t so traumatic after all.

things that sb did happily were: singapore maths - giggle at it suddenly becoming newsworthy!; music theory - having finally found again the My First Theory Book! listening to me read The Story Of the World - the Middle Ages V 2 (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Paperback)): Middle Ages v. 2 about the taking of constantinople and some french words about animals.

BB has also been busy HE wise. although i was tempted to ‘give them stuff to do’ and the read a book, i felt i owed it to us all to actually interact, so grabbed a science kit for BB, and she LOVED it. it is now her kit, as too simple for sb. it is a first electric kit, and she followed the pictures rather than the written instructions, with a bit of help, and made a circuit with a light, and then a motor, which whizzed cards on it and blended the colours - more excitement. but what was so fab was her total thrill and enjoyment that she COULD do it!

both girls made very glittery cards for my sisters birthday at the end of the week. am a bit stalled over what to do as a present. what do you get? hmmm. flip camera? digital photo frame? john lewis vouchers [snort!] just dunno. the cards, however, will give a lasting impression - certainly to the carpets! sb in particularly spent ages getting it just how she wanted.

we did lots of messing in the pool though. bb is being v adventurous in that not quite swimming way. sb learnt to swim by drowning under water and then standing to breathe, and i think this is bb’s technique too. she jets under water and then stands up, breathes, and does some more. she is booked into a 2 week intensive swimming course this summer [my word!] and might be able to swim after that! i love the fact that she went on that they would have to have her somewhere shallow as she had v short legs - so she does. SB is quite the water wild child, and having great fun twisting, rolling and cavorting in the water. i also got lots of cuddles. good!!

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!