languages

i was thinking that we might be in yorkshire, but a number of events changed our plans somewhat, and we will be wending our way up on mon. not least is the total exhaustion i feel at the moment, and a couple of chilled days with the family seems to be a good plan.

hmm, thinking back to thurs and fri - obviously chris days as i got back from work v late both days. the normal things i think, the nots and tots group thurs, with crafting and recordering, but too late for frenching. then some gym for each in the pm. i think SB did some spelling and maths and maybe a piano, but not entirely sure! BB has done quite a bit of geomagging, and also making long neck dinodoors from the maize packing fillers in one of the boxes we had. friday they waited in interminably for my phone, and unfortunately meant a missed visit to a monks event, which sounded great. the phone came and had the back of it missing anyway! of course, when it arrived, chris nearly instantly found my old phone! after a great deal of fussing about - and i have complained via email re customer service - i now have a working phone - my old one on the old number. other than that, i think the whole day was spent tidying up, and it does look better for it, and the room of doom is a room of gloom instead as it just needs a bit of cleaning, but chris has organised most of it!

and so today . the big thing, i guess is SB’s grading for judo. it is her first ever grading, and she enjoyed it. i hadn’t realised you got to sit in, so BB and i stayed at home and chris took her. he snapped a couple of photos. After the grading they did a bit of shopping - including wellies and some christmas card making supplies - and had a treat lunch out to celebrate SB’s new white and red belt. it does seem to be enormously long ? adult size?

i have had insomnia most of the week, with a standard to sleep time of 5-ish and a get up of 7-ish. so am feeling in desperate need of sleep. i am also quite considerably grumpy - so another reason to try and get some sleep before being sociable! anyway, i was wondering how i would survive the morning with BB as i just didn’t have enough energy to power a biowatch. luckilly BB had some ideas! we made cuisinaire rod patterns, read books and then sorted out my 2 sewing boxes, which BB had great fun in dong, and is now the proud owner of the sewing box i was given when a child, and the pin/needle holder book i made whilst at infants school! following this BB chose to make happy maize pictures, and we have now run out of happy maize.

she then was v keen to do baking, so we did that, and made pink sugar sprinkles cupcakes, which were then iced with various greens. hmm! anyway, loads to take with me to yorkshire. we had a more boring lunch and i did a short violin practice which she danced to, before we read more books together all snuggled up. At this point chris and SB came home and mayhem ensued!

SO with a few card supplies, and the brass rubbings we did a while ago, we made a start on making cards, and between us have made 12 - so not bad! then a bit of grumpyness tidying up, followed by a bit more work on the secret santa things from the girls, as both decided they needed more paint. and actually they both look better for it. i think SB’s really is fab [even with one upside down zebra] and BB added some detailing to hers, which elevated it from looking like a paint accident to a design! SB did a piano practice with me, and had a go at a christmas carol she thought would be too difficult in a different book. SHe was very impressed she could play it [we 3 kings] so that was good. then she is making fudge [rather than tablet, which i prefer] and it is currently in the fridge. So more tidying and then bathtime, and i red meg et mog les oeufs de meg [or something similar!] which is Meg’s Eggs (Picture Puffin)
book in french from the little linguist shop that was fab at delivery times etc and comes recommended! and also hurry up molly, this subterfuge makes me seem interactive, yet doing something easy [reading] educating [french] and ensuring that for once the majority of the bath water stayed in the bath rather than cause further damage to dining room ceiling. fab!
dinner and the bedtime. i think i shall hope for sleep tonight. i feel i should be able to sleep for centuries! SB also at somepoint today fitted in some music theory.

as you can imagine, after yesterday, my black dog on the shoulder seems to have turned into a clydesdale horse! so i decided to be as computer free and child available as possible, with my facilitator hat on. it has actually meant we have had a v productive yet fun day, but i am totally bushwhacked from being so engaged! in reality, i think disappearing off to an alternate reality with a book might help my weariness, but not my heartache.

having fallen asleep [wayhay for actually sleeping] playing civ 4 last night - a go at alternate reality, but actually i prefered the earlier civs - i was woken up by bouncing children at 9.30. managed to keep them bouncing in a mole game, rather than having to get up straight away! On coming downstairs, SB and i started with piano practice together. now she isn’t playing the violin [and i v much miss that] we are making a concerted effort to practice the piano daily. this is already paying off! bB was a bit grumpy that i was doing piano practice with SB, so once she had got going on it i played the most dificult game of hangman with BB. she was in charge of the hang, and the only letter of the alphabet in her 17 letter word was 1 m! so i lost.

BB then leappadded, and chose the phonics series. being BB she chose number 7 rather than actually look at some of the letters of the alphabet! she is def going to learn to read her own way. she wants the dinosaur leappad book that sb has but never looks at. SB meanwhile was doing maths. they have got to thousands - woohoo and all! so she raced through that, as having grasped hundreds, tens and units, thousands is really just more of the same. SB then insisted on more ballet practice whilst BB said she was doing her ‘writing practice’ - ie squiggles on a white board! SB settled into some spelling - she enjoys these wizard whimstaff, and BB and i did a bit of piano fun. I then did some violin practice [faint!] as have strings. boy am i rusty!! i think i now have finger strain - rofl!! WHilst i was doing that, bB was quite happily following instructions on the brainbox primary electronics kit to make a ‘whizzer’ with only a little bit of support from SB.

After lunch it was baking time. SB chose a recipe of chocolate marzipan biscuits - something nice and complicated! and through the afternoon did it pretty much on her own. BB and i opted for the simpler peanut butter cookies. SImpler in recipe, but obviously complicated by BB’s desire to lick things all the time [so i have a series of spoons that are single use licking spoons to keep the biscuits edible!] and her sometimes idiosyncratic weighing and measuring

SB’s mixture had to rest for a while in the middle, so we all read one of my french books from the little linguist - berthe makes a pizza - which we loved. [here it is on amazon] and SB did a recorder practice. the new outerwear from muddypuddles arrived, so SB now has some camo trousers, my pink girl really has vanished! BB got a free glove puppet, so equally happy.

SB finished her biscuits whilst bb and i had a romp and read a book together, then we all had tea before SB went out to Judo. BB off to bed, and SB watched some nina and the neurons when she got back.

SO there you go, a busy day in our household! flickr pics of the day

oh, and any advice on trampolines. still humming and hawing. jumpking ovalpod oval vs bazoongi deluxe 12 foot with funring [ouch for more money, but ? its worth it?]

And she did. SB was happy with the dancing exam, though she had done everything as well as she could. so we were all properly appreciative and cooked her ken hom for tea. i am really happy, as it looked for a while a bit shaky, and although i’m not bothered about her passing the exam, or doing really well, i am bothered about her being dejected, upset or put off if she fails. SO the week of 30 mins ballet practice a day appears to have paid off, and both BB and i are also much better at the steps! for her, she knew it was going to be fine, when the teacher watched her pas de basques and cifras and was happy with them. phew!! SO she had her first grade 3 lesson this pm with the others [though we obviously don't know the outcome of the exam]

in the morning i think she had done piano practice, ballet practice and book reading, and when i got home, after a blow by blow ballet re-enactment, we also did a quick piano review, and then BB and i did piano practice. bB was v keen to do ‘home ed’ with me, so we did a couple of pages of earlibird 1B and before the code 1. [before the code 1 does annoy me a bit, as it has k for kitten - but of course it looks like a cat! and also on a pick of a boy playing football and kicking a ball, bb was supposed to choose the letter k for kick. she chose f for football, so i was happy with that, but the 3 choices were k,f and b!]

All 3 of us sat in a huddle and read out book of opposites in french, and the SB came up with a game of me saying the french word, and her finding something that suited it ‘leger’ ‘grand’ ‘pousser’ etc. SO we had fun doing that. She still remembers her a droit and a gauche from saturday, and sunday we did french converstions in the car - including de quelle couleur est les arbres etc etc. so i am feeling french virtuous!

when SB went for ballet and brownies, bB requested fimo. She had an idea in mind [she does tend to the bossy...] and she wanted to make a christmas tree shaped christmas tree decoration, like SB made in the past. we didn’t have an exact match fimo green but she did settle eventually on one of the 3 [!] other fimo greens, and we each made a tree. she didn’t want a hole through it, so we will have to stick string on the back somehow. Then, sorting through our cookie cutter collection, she did a gingerbread boy, and i did a gingerbread girl, and we ‘branded’ them in mary and joseph wear. I think BB’s joseph might be more of the technicolour dreamcoat variety… i am always impressed by the care and detail that BB puts into crafts and arts. she spent some time getting it how she wanted to, and looking at mine and deciding what she liked in it, and doing something similar with hers.

fimo cooking, we read a couple of big picture books together, and then a red red nose reader for her to show me she can read [still keen on a ds] unfortunately, although she was convincing with the 3 big pigs, she forgot it was a wolf not a fox…

SB came back from ballet and brownies, and read some of this book Cracking Up: The Story of Erosion (Science Works): The Story of Erosion (Science Works)
, which she said was good, and now both are in bed.

Unfortunately my strings haven’t arrived yet. so i haven’t done any violin prac, and i have just realised i need to blog yesterday, and do some fiddling with time stamps! AND do a musical monday post - all go here!!

we woke up to snow, and were really hopeful that our monthly RSPB walk would be snowy, but then it rained and was just v cold! Whilst michelle and i did half empty glass brightkites, marcus was much more positive. and you know, he was right! apart from some setting out rain it was fine, and sunny in parts! by the end, my toes were a bit on the cold side though! BB had a walking crisis, but managed in the end!

i am getting ahead, we fitted in HE on the sly! we did a v short piano practice - for each girl, and did some french conversation for at least 30 mins in the car and french games. And, when we were at M and M’s SB did ballet practice.

AHA! i did nearly forget to blog that bB and SB had a delightful conversation about greenhouse gases in the car. currently, when sb grows up she is going to be a research scientist and sort out the problem with greenhouse gases. mms says bb, because they are naughty - yes says sb and does a bit of greenhouse gas talk and melting things. mm says bb, so it is good it has snowed because that sucks up the greenhouse gases, eerrrr, well not quite! v cute together anyway. bb is going to be a dinodoor bone finder btw! later bb decided the problem with greenhouse gases were that they were smelly! err, well, i guess some of them!

So we had a lovely fresh walk, with some coffee to warm up on the way. SB and C climbed trees - something they are rather keen on! well, one tree in particular, and then ran about a bit before going back to the car.

we went to M and M’s house for dinner, chat, world righting and the kids played well together, and lots of games. very nice evening, thanks v much!

now i just need to get flickring!!

and its being a bit resistant to shaking off. i am reasonably confident i can pinpoint the problem, but would like it to move off a bit.
anyway, to today. i find in a black dog kind of day, a bit of organised activity and lots of book cuddling helps, so thats what we went for.
Anyway, SB had agreed to a last violin practice for piccies and video ‘to see where she had got’ and she still appears to enjoy doing it when she’s doing it! but is absolutely definite that the only string instrument she wants to play is the piano.

so there we go. we played christmas carols, she then decided to move on in the book and play the spiccato section. we then had a jolly christmas carol concert with me on the violin and she and BB on bells/tambourines and singing. SO there, i don’t understand, and I hope one day she doesn’t turn around and wished she had gone ahead, but she is clear for now she doesn’t want to play.

We then moved into ballet practice. I don’t know how good they need to be, but if the teacher thought the others in the class would pass, then i think SB might now as well. SHe has really worked hard at it. the videoing has been the best thing, and i am from now on always going to sneakilly video the term before the exam!

we went off to do some arts and crafts, which will feature in Helmsley secret santas, but it is only kiddie to kiddie! [nic, we changed slightly who we are doing between us to save WW6091] SB confused herself with starting the painting with the glass upside down, and then said it was ok, because she meant the zebra to be standing on its head…

and they only have 3 legs because the other one is hidden behind one of the other legs, oK?? such is life on the savannah.

whilst the black outer was drying, we then all snuggled up and i read various story books and some french books to the girls. i made a dreadful mistake of suggesting we could have soup in mugs with straws watching raven in the playroom [as there was drying painting stuff all over the table] the rug paid for that with BB’s tomato soup! i was going to do some violin prac, but am temporarily a string less [and g string ] so am having to wait until wed - em, i am a little rusty!!

SB then did her arm drawing for sketch tuesday. i think it might be supposed to be real life ish, but ours isn’t! it is a multiarmed rainbow bug. BB did her glass painting - v carefully - and i finished what my secret santa thingy is! chris is the only one so far not to do it. SB was using watercolour pencils, and had a go at washing them over - which did work until she had had enough.

He, however, was busy elsewhere, and has bought an xmas tree [for the village lights on the outside of our house] and has also put a shelf up in the room of doom cupboard. our new years resolution is that it should become the room of resources instead!

SB and BB both did piano practice with me. BB was insistant to do it properly as well. so she has started gbdf and ace. SB does also play the piano nicely and sight read some new music today.

we finished with dinner infront of tv as well [sounds a bit scandalous, 2 meals infront of the tv] and although we were going to watch Harry Potter, SB decided on wizard of oz instead! both girls storied and bedded, and i have spent some of my christmas money on games! contemplating shelving.

oh, and i have wasted tme making an amazon astore.

well, its monday here, preparing for sketch tuesday there.

SO today i went to work, and found that for some unknown reason clinic was cancelled, so i decided to agree to a day off [well, sort of, because i am doing tonight!]. ANyway, i came home and surprised the family and we did a whirlwind of catching up with HE! infact, we did so much so that i am lost for starting points!! Well, i think we started with reading BORN WITH A BANG: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story (Sharing Nature With Children Book), having recommended it on the EYHE forum. And yes, it is totally fab, and it does have fab illustrations. we had a read of the scientific bits at the back. SB is developing an enquiring mind, as she wanted to know how people knew that was true, so we discussed physics and maths experiments that pointed to the likelihood, and rediscussed the particle accelerator at CERN, in particular the hadron collider. we then looked into a book about the sun and black holes, Space, Stars, Planets, and Spacecraft (See & Explore)
, and we both got quickly lost with considering string theory - well, it is a bit to advanced, but she liked the idea that it was called a string, and TBH we didn’t do much more than a brief skid across the surface of an idea [i am not sure i could go particularly deep in it!]

SB did a fab violin practice. She practiced slurring, and then saw how many notes she could slur and string cross, so in fact most of the violin practice was having fun with this new skill! the practice was more than double our usual because of it!

in this time BB was happily jigsawing away, with me giving her the odd hand, but after the violin practice was sure it was her HE time!! SO SB settled herself with singapore 2B [last few pages] and BB did earlibird 1B, and then did some before the code whilst SB did Magical Skills: Ages 7-8: Spelling: Ages 7-8 (Magic Skills)
. She is really enjoying this series, so we might buy her the odd one or two more on other subjects! bB then did some pattern blocks and playing with little things making stories, whilst i read SOTW to SB on the subject of knights.

And then we had lunch very late!

After lunch we thought we would do some art, BB was v keen to make a rocket, and SB to do sketch tuesday [though a bit late!]. SO SB and i first investigated watercolour washes. [i must buy some more nice watercolours for us to do this properly!] and then over the arctic colour she hummed and hawed deciding which icy creature she wanted, initially thinking plankton, and working her way up to penguins. it meant she read a fair bit of Polar Wildlife (Usborne World Wildlife)whilst her wash dried! She did 2 versions of her drawing, and we emailed her favourite version off to be added [hopefully] to the group! We did a short bit of french altogether Bonne Nuit a Tous: Goodnight Everyone (I Can Read French) showing that SB does actually know more vocab than i thought she might!!

Gah, can’t get flickr pics to come here! will try again

BB meanwhile was doing some fab painting of her own, of a v colourful house, and then multicoloured butterfly prints. finally we made and painted her rocket whilst SB was at ballet [see below!] and then BB watched some 6 zoo lane whilst SB was at brownies, and we read books together, snuggled and tickled. oh, and she did a recorder practice - a couple of a’s and b’s!!

tea was curry in front of saturday’s merlin. A nice and full day i think! Keeping it so full, gave less chance for post weekend fallout day! 2 more chapters of pirates of pompeii to go!

oh, and woohoo to Barack Obama being the next president of the USA. It feels a v positive moment and I really hope that it turns out to be at least some of the wonderful that the moment promises!!

i got up and went into work before meeting chris and the girls at latinetc. i was there before him by some considerable time!! but all 4 families were there and i took the biguns off for water resistance and uplift thoughts - sorry gina for not having upgraded the section in the sidebar page on forces = will do it! it was, predictably, messy! All children appeared to enjoy it, and hopefully learnt something. snack time, and then i did it, but differently for the middle ones. even MORE messy! still enjoyed though. photos in usual place! the bigger ones got to do some latin as well. A nice lunch and then we all piled out in different directions. michelle and I going north for a birthday party.

we have teasingly said that BB one of muddlepuddle triplets, the others being Shannon on going against the flow [happy birthday for 3rd] and Josie on HE the puddle girls, whose birthday it was today [BB's due date, but i won't hold that grudge forever, well, maybe i might!!]. So we went to Josies house for a bonfire night birthday party and all had a lovely time. SB elected to stay there rather than go to judo [slightly naughty, and appropriately reprimanded for lack of commitment ]they pretty much all got on like a house on fire for the whole session. we adults had a good natter [well apart from Max, who did a good job of making party tea and enabling fran to sort out the birthday cake].

Max also did some wizardry with fireworks, and all the girls found them brill, though Ams and BB snuck indoors in wuss mode [they were v gentle fireworks! though one was a bit more bangy than the others] also toasted marshmellows and roasted chestnuts. yumm. Fran played a beautiful happy birthday on the cello too.

an easy drive home. as we were driving up, the other side of the carriageway was closed and some workmen appeared to be digging something off the road. on the drive home, all but one lane was closed, and road repairs were being done.

so, lovely day. chris has done something electricky in the loft and cellar while we have been out.

and the mincemeat is being made.

AArgh to christmas coming. why do i get so behind with christmas thoughts! pressies to get etc etc. its at our house again this year, we were going to have a break, but i’m working boxing day, so no point going to my parents to come back late on xmas day!

ANyway, I digress - well, i don’t really digress, as i haven’t started. I just am not feeling bloggable. I want the blog to just write itself, i like a record of what we do to look back on. i am barely using the camera either. obviously something is not quite right!

SB is more cheery these days [ or else i have got used to her wails and abrupt emotional changes/fragility] she is more stroppy as well. perhaps this is an age and growth thing. i do love having my mostly happier girl back again. She is talking ten to the dozen again, it is often like being in a wind tunnel! [and yes, I do know pressure of speech is a psychiatric term!] SHe tells me her ideas, what she has done, how tshe thinks the world works, and is alive again. phew. I am sure we are not out of the doldrums completely [as her wail about not going to the shop to buy a magazine shows, she is v quick to be desolate], but i no longer have her tell me she doesn’t see the point of being alive. BB is a squirmy armful of self confidence, bounciness, determination and joy. she is grasping the world around her and making it work her way! i love how she has such a clear way of describing things, and using her older sisters vocab to strengthen the emphasis on what she wants to say, and also the gestures and facial expressions! nearly 4! how time flies.

SO this weekend i have been working, but not too busily. The girls have done a fair bit of playing and also HE stuff. we are castle reading in our history at the mo - always a fun thing to play and recreate! SB is doing lots of spelling practice and maths - she hopes to finish her 2B book in time for when the MPAH 3A arrives [she prefers the MP as opposed to the primary maths which i prefer!]. She has also done music theory and 2 violin practices with me. BB is really grasping sounding out words as they are said. she doesn’t know the alphabet and scanty letters, but is good on the sounds and joining them together. we have done a fair bit of the before the code book 1, and today when we were going to do it together she told me she could do her home ed stuff by herself, and did!

thurs was a divali day at nots and tots, which they enjoyed. SB mostly played with L and E, and BB mostly did the crafts. they went on to a fun playdate afterwards, which both were v keen to tell me how much they had enjoyed it. So that was good.

fri was already blogged by chris - SB was v scary i think. she had been desperate to buy the mask, and I agreed as long as she made the costume to go with it out of an old sheet - she had the idea to bespatter it with blood. Was so excited to have the costume and rarred at lots of people in it, and was most impressed with the squeeze the heart thing. BB got fed up with her costume, so we tore the eye holes so that she could poke her whole head through, and then she was a much happier little ghost.

SB got this book from the library.The Magician of Samarkand
i would strongly recommend it [as would SB] and we will look for more books by that author. it is one of our favourites on junior jackanory, and the book itself is written beautifully. we love!!

we have done some french reading and conversation. following a recommendation on another blog, i purchased some more french resources, and we are doing the l’art de dire. I like it. i guess this bit could easily be made up and done with someone confident in french - which I am not! and there may be cheaper alternatives [luckilly i bought before all the currency turmoils through canadian relatives!] but actually i think it is deceptively simple, in that initially i wondered what i had spent my money on [ i bought the lire ones at the same time, and they are more obviously a good buy for that kind of thing] but as i use it to formalise our conversation, both SB and BB seem to be getting on well, and I have more confidence to extrapolate and experiment. you know, by the time i have finsihed home edding, i might be able to speak french! i did suggest to deepend Katy that she could prob write a home-ed conversational french package and have a market ready! I think she may be lacking in time though!! we are still using a various books and reading lots in french.

today we started making mincemeat using Delia Smith’s Christmas
. it worked well last year, and smells gorgeous! unfortunately with the nutmeg grating, there was a small amount of SB grating… never mind!!

what else? ermm, both girls have done lots of playing. BB loves her little things to play with, so will no doubt love her sylvanians - though still tempted by those rather glorious anamalz for her birthday! am thinking what to get other children for presents as well, and yes, christmas is coming!! [i think that may be where this blog started!]

ermmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

yesterday chris did some windowing - wahay!! and his parents came over, there was a bit of home ed stuff [sb maths, handwriting, spelling, piano and a castle box book, bb b4 the code and earlibird maths] and baking.

today was science and latin group, but we did french instead of latin. we nearly got to the deep end in time, but traffic and road works were against us, gina was later though. for science we made anti grav devices. this was fiddlier than expected, but worked more or less!! we learnt a gravity magic trick as well and discussed failures and bodges - aka the melting of the hadron collider. in between the science and french, the children made tickets and membership cards for a show that they put on at the end - a musical variety act i think! also at the end katy shew them doodle art, which the def enjoyed.

SB and BB had done lots of baking the prev day, which turned into a nice end of session treat for everyone, and i have to say that i thought her choc and orange cake was rather successful. She pretty much made it on her own, so looks like a baker -vgreat!!

back home we chilled with merlin and robin hood [maid marian has died!!!!] and then sb and i played games whilst bb took a long time to fall asleep.

well, i am trying hard not to be, but i really do think migraines are a blight on my life. in the last 7 days, only in 2have in not had a migraine - but i had a sort of lurky head. these were obviously the days at work! So instead of the planned outing to little nanny - who i really do have to see - i felt crap at home. so i went to the doctor, who was a new one, asked me if i had tried simpler analgesics. i explained that i had had migraines since 12, yes i did know the triggers, the initial for this one was prob gloss paint, and the yesterday i worked from 8am to 8pm without a drop of food or drink. and yes, if i had a hip flask i could have slurped something, but i was doing 2 jobs in 1 time slot for the whole day, and thought i had done well to survive it. she suggested i saw occy health!!!! and then said my migraines might be due to high BP [i have had them since 12!!!] i told her i knew my BP ok, but i guess i am at the age to measure it for a QAF point, so she did, and was surprised to find it so low. hurrumph. at my look of raised eyebrows she rapidly qualified, tried to teach me to suck eggs and suggested amitryptiline might help [antidepressant - bad one - but also chronic pain med, you have to take it every day] i politely told her that i preferred the treatment to be less bad than the thing it aimed to treat, and could i have MY REPEAT PRESCRIPTION since i was here as 5 days migraine used up ALL the tablets i was given. AT LEAST I persuaded her to give me 6 more tablets- like blood from stones!! grrrr. feel a bit better now.

Ah yes, rantlet over. yesterday chris took the girls to the library for book exchanging and crafts, and then went round to another HE family in the village, where they looked at the chickens with desire, BB scootered and nearly rode C-J’s stabiliser free pedal bike - garden not long enough to really get going. BB is too small for the bike that SB had as a present from BB at her birth [she is significantly shorter! - still in 2-3 clothes], so we are contemplating getting her a bike for birthday or xmas - it seems birthday a better timing! SB has done maths and spelling- she likes the 6-7 whimstaff book both yesterday and today. She also swam.

SO to today [minus wittering on about migraines] the girls were self sorting for most of the morning, lego-ing, colouring and reading. SB is reading some really REALLY scary books called goosebumps. they are a bit too scary for me, but if she can read these, i think she is ready for harry potter!! i have to say that I have a 0 tolerance for horror - it is a genre i just can’t do in book or film, so i am quite surprised by SB! She did more spelling and maths, and BB did some before the code with me, as chris had found it, and we read lots of red nose readers together as well. i was slightly more perked and did piano practice with SB, which she did beautifully [couldn't quite face the violin!] can’t find our minimus AGAIN! i am not buying a third one though, as am sure it will turn up.

luckilly, what did turn up after lunch was our fimo order. I really should have ordered more than one black though. didn’t think of spiders!! Anyway, we all spent most of the afternoon twiddling fimo into pumpkins and pumpkin snowmen [BB!]. We did a bit of french conversation as well, but mostly chattered and followed the flow of conversation. the girls lead it all over the place - i need a computer implant into my head though scifi like, so that i can google in real time! i have often forgotten what i should be googling for when back near a puter.

SB had a brownies trip roller skating, and took along her roller blades. chris says the practice has really improved her previous straight leg look. and then judo - where they have started throws. bb and i read books, cut her fringe and went to bed.

and it is the end of my week of annual leave. how time flies. the problem with being on annual leave and home educating for a week is that it reminds me how much i enjoy it and how i would rather be at home doing the edding than working. but that bed is long made i guess, and a time of financial turbulence is definitely not the time to rock the boat.

anyway, pounding headache or not, i didn’t want to spoil the last weekend, so saturday i was contemplating doing a recreation of the bayeux tapestry [for fun] and decided to see if the deependers fancied it. they did, so came over. however, they played beautifully, and whenever i suggested paints [all-be-it a bit half heartedly due to the pounding of my head] no-one took up the offer. SB was keen to go to the church to see her picture, and persuaded the others to want to go too, so we walked round to the church and looked at all the pictures. SB was the last to notice a first prize sign on hers - woohoo!!! So we were all proud, and she go a how to draw animals crayola book, that she was v keen on. BB rather more grudging in her praise, as would have liked to have won, and got a book, but i thought she took it remarkably well, for a 3!!

snack and playing and then teaching J and K how to play rummy, which seemed to go well. then suggested SB get her violin out for K to have a go with, and a mini violin try out my most of the children. TBH it didn’t hurt my head half as much as one of BB’s dreadful fake miaowing piano toy did!! I am sorry for getting the deependers here under false pretences, and not doing the bayeux tapestry though. must do it another time.

we did chat about moving into art techniques for the children, and seeing what they make of it in an experimental way. one reason i think SB may have won is that her picture is entirely non-generic. she has not be told or instructed what or how to paint. so if we were going to do this, i think a how to investigate and use a medium might be a fun way to go. i have been tempted by elle into something along the lines of a sketch tuesday…

hey, I have remembered more of the week than i thought i would!! and i still haven’t done tax return - thanks for advice joyce. i have used a tax person before, and so am claiming already for enough! but it was doing this minimal bit of extra. and i have left it a bit last minute too. bugger!! I am also not convinced i am going to go back to work on monday relaxed and refreshed, but hey ho!

so, dad was doing some final touch up bits, and i was chivvying him to instead play with the girls. we did usual home ed things in the morning. a book order for BB’s birthday had arrived [and squirreled away] but in it was an usborne dictionary/thesaurus for SB, and she very much enjoyed looking for words in it, and asking us for words to find - kept her busy for ages. i think this and the spelling books are being so enthusiastically greeted at the moment, that she is obviously ready to begin this next phase! her reading is way ahead, and she was reading beautifully a barefoot mother and daughter story book to mum. she tries to put in the phrasing and voicing as well. maths by both, and we read some box books on castles, and she read also a book on forces. [i will at some point go back and link all books!] as well as countless library books. a final piano with mum. BB was playing wild games with her animals, and is v set on sylvanian family things for birthday - more little bits!! but she loves little bits.

we all went outside, and a prolonged play of football and then golf practice with grandad. sb enjoyed the golf instruction, and grandad was impressed with bb’s ball skills. i was glad they all did some playing together! it all fell apart a bit with the wails then and we went in and snuggled reading books [always a good fallback] and room tidying before playing games of ludo etc altogether. mum was amazed SB didn’t have a club to go to, and we finished off with a good home made chinese - thanks DH!

i had a migraine all day - presumably through gloss paint grrr. [and still have today]. i really really hate having migraines.

hmm!! nearly forgot, that SB and BB took their entries to the local painting comp to the church in the evening, and were v impressed with the grown up entries. SB decided that she wouldn’t be likely to win a prize, but both girls persuaded that having their work displayed in the church with all these others was rather fantastic anyway

we are racing through the blogging aren’t we! mind you, i am prob forgetting great chunks of it, and may go back and add!!we were having a lovely time, v happy to have my parents here. dad working hard in toilet [poor man] chris up a ladder priming the window with linseed, mum playing with kids and measuring for curtains. so today [as in wed] mum was in charge of morning HE whilst chris and i went to homebase to buy paint for dad to use. mum did ok with HE, sb did her maths and spelling, and a violin with mum. chris and i did not so well, after a lot of humming and hawing, we chose a lovely colour, but worried it would look dark, so did the paintmixing thing to get a lighter version. rather than a khaki green but lighter, it is, well, white wth hint of blue. not sure how that happened at all. oh well. we can get used to most things!

girls did lots of painting in the afternoon for the painting exhibition in the church. i had got some textured wall paper for them to play with as well, and i cut out some basic shapes to get them started. they both made v different pictures. SB organised the sahpes to make a village of house with qarage, flats and a windmill. BB used the textured pieces as sand, and then had dinosaurs running about at the seaside. SB decided she didn’t want to use her village as the entry, and did a very freestyle picture, building up layers of blue, anding with her tipping the palette upside down on it. she was rather disappointed the paint spread out, and it wasn’t fully dry on fri evening, but she was v happy with it.

we then went through 2 art books looking at the different styles used, and discussing which she would like to try out. she then went on to do some more fantastic contraptions - which she is rather fond of, and BB watched some night garden. Mum near enough finished the curtains, and dad did the first coat of paint!

judo for SB - always a busy lass!!

whilst dad started with the diy - thanks dad! decorating our downstairs loo, and chris got sorted to do some windowing, mum said she fancied going to ely. again the girls raced through home ed stuff, violin prac with mum, maths, handwriting, and wizard whimstaff spelling books that i had got and SB loves and is racing through. Also some french story and conversation, and reading of a castle book.

so off to ely, and the girls got strict instructions on how to behave in a cathedral. so we were totally shocked to open the door and find 800 screaming primary schoolers!!! at least it was free entry. they were having a day on the victorian restoration - which was interesting. SB had a bit of a wobble [well, it was a wobbly day for her] because the children had worksheets and she didn’t - and they were the most boring worksheets imaginable!! oh well, on walking around, whilst the kids had their lunch break and were like wild animals chasing around, we noticed all the brass rubbings out and about, so the girls spent a happy 30 mins brass rubbing, whilst mum looked about more. we went and had lunch at pizza express and wandered about, including cromwells house.

home in time to take SB swimming - she is getting really good, particularly at backstroke.

my parents arrived on monday, much anticipated and looked forward too! due to their likely early arrival we were up, and the girls v eager to see them! lots of cuddles and getting settled in. SB and BB showed the maths they had done, and SB did a piano practice with mum. Actually, all week they have been keen to do a lot of the HE ‘normals’ which i hope reassures my parents a bit!

in the afternoon we went to a local tour of an apple orchard with the owner. it was delightful. we were near the front of the tractor, so SB, mum and i plied him with questions between stops, and he told us the history of farm and family, planting and varietal changes, beekeeping etc etc and was charming. SB took a lot in, and both girls and adults enjoyed sampling the fruit!! he has planted lots of apricots, and is hoping potentially for a small crop next year…

back by skin of teeth to ballet and then brownies - what a busy day!!

but i hate doing the buggers, can’t use their website - i used it when first set up, forgot password, and somehow can’t be re-entered… and i have never filled out the self emplyed bit before, and it has all sorts of questions i can’t answer! i earnt about £1500 self employed over a year, and spent about £800. but the form has all sorts of weird bits in it!!

so i’ll blog instead. got up late, girls watching monsters inc, had shower [took ages to brush hair], did violin practice with SB - haven’t practiced for ages so lots of wails and gnashing of teeth there. read some books with BB, then lunch, and both girls did some maths and SB handwriting whilst BB did some french story with me. SB then did french conversation. i realsied what she actually got upset with on wed [or so she says] is that she couldn’t spell to write car experiment on the paper and thought j and chloe would laugh at her. no idea why, and chloe had j spell experiment for her. i will print it next time though. She does have entirely dire spelling though, and absolutely no way of working it out. since her reading is so fab, i am a bit of a loss as to why she can’t spell car… but we will make an effort to do diolch words spellings, as we let them slide a bit. i’m not overwhelmed by the fact her spelling is so bad if it doesn’t bother her, but if its going to make her wail and be miserable, then she has to learn!!

lots of running abour wildy, playing with kids k’nex and bb doing counting buddy blocks with the maths manipulatives and they wanted to go out roller skating. we got about 20 m and had to return for a wee stop but the next attempt far more successful. beautiful day for it too, and the churchyard has lots of slopy pavements to practice on. also a bit of gravestone investigation as well. should have taken the camera, as the light on the church was gorgeous, oh well! its not as if we don’t have a few photos tucked away!

returned when girls worn out, snuggled and read books - including a bit of SOTW as we have slipped a bit in it - it only takes a few seconds, but somehow… and a quickie recorder practice as well. watched a quite dire spanish lyrical video - bought ages and ages ago. but girls liked it, so i face booked!! yummy tea, and then bedtime. i am enjoying the pirates of pompeii reading to sb at the mo, and she read me some arthur in return.

PS, i am bolding again. i really miss it when i don’t do it!

oh, and BB bought me flowers

we are having a run of dreadful nights with the girls, and its not doing their mood much good either. cue exaggerated behaviours from us all! And having negligible sleep, i also had a migraine - grrr. luckilly i caught it so early that by mid morning the meds were in full working order.

wed group at deependers we were slightly late due to migraine, but not bad, and the big’uns got started with their latin, and the middlies with science. they were wild but happy making cars race about. snacks and then middlies french and big’uns science. i was really pleased with how the science went today. they had so much fun making a force meter that TBH it took up most of the session. they were v good at doing it, and appeard to have much fun! then we looked at making an experiment up to look at friction, and rather than using a slope, they decided to blow the cars - and we measured how far they went on sandpaper, carpet and table. next time we will make our antigravity devices and have fun with slopes.

lunch came just in time, as SB was emotionally flagging, and remained a bit up and down for the session. she had baked cookies all by herself for the meeting, and they had all been eaten up. Some french was looked at, and then free play before coming home [all wailing!] i decided some r and r was required, so BB chose german muzzy after i veto-ed mr men, and then toy story 2 after tea whilst SB and judo - which she still loves. she now has her head in a book and soon bedtime for her, as i think todays upsets related to disturbed nights.

busy day tomorrow. beans have group, then BB has a gym session, the after short gap, sb has a gym session. BB is ecstatic at having gym again after this break. we decided whilst singing loudly all the way home in the car that we need to do more family fun swimming, and SB would like to try perhaps the odd horseriding - something i think chris has been planning to organise.

BB is being a doggie a lot of the time at the moment. she is often either a dalmation called spotty, or a little red dog called… clifford!!

we obviously weren’t too dreadful guests, as we went back to the second messy party at the deependers yesterday. i was at work in the morning, and being called in the afternoon, but luckilly didn’t have to go in. a bonus babs and family were there too, lovely to see them again as well! also some local HE. this time the messy stuff was in the tent [lucky as the day started off v rainy, but it did improve] babs had got some geli baff - weird stuff. i couldn’t get at all messy in case needed to troubleshoot at work. SB got messy eno0ugh for the both of us, in fact she prob was The Most Messy! thats my girl!! certainly was great fun, and nice to have opportunities to sit and chat while children have fun.

[btw chris's thunder is blogging about team read, there are some photos on flickr. girls will be in newspaper etc]

Home and i finally finished fantastic contraptions - woohoo!! read more pirates of pompeii to the girls.

today i was knackered as called at night. but came back from work in tieme to say a quick hello to sb before her ballet and brownies. BB and i read books, leappadded, looked at a dog book and a dinosaur book [her favourite things!!] before picking more sweetcorn, beans and broccoli from the garden for tea. [have offered spare broccoli seeds to Nic...] we have rousted about and snuggled under duvet with the clangers. sb should be back soon, and we must do a quick bit of latin and i need to sort and resource session 2 on forces[a page in sidebar] for wed.

chris might add the things he has done with girls to his blog post - if we are lucky!!

the totally grr bit of today and :rant: was that some old chap was in a dizz whilst parking car at work and forgot to put his handbrake on - rolled back into my back bumper, all bent and scraped. havce only had the car for 11 daYS However, it being NCP, the people there had seen it, and couldn’t move his car so bollarde etc, and put warnings on his and mine and did an incident form. he went and fessed up [though otherwise i would still have had numberplate] so will get chris to chase up tomorrow. still sobbing!!

he says he might tomorrow! so i won’t steal his thunder!!

whilst not at work for a short patch, the girls were keen to ‘do’ things. my mum had brought up some 70’s craft books i had got one xmas [from aunty doris and uncle ralph, i know this, because the tag is still sellotaped inside] and BB chose to make tissue paper flowers with me, which we enjoyed lots, though i actually did most of it! one thing i like in this book is there is a making paper bag masks bit, and the illustrated page of kids wearing them has a toddler running away wailing!! SB wanted to do science, so she did the volcano thing, and got through half a bottle of sarsons! we need to source cheap vinegar!!

also today, after measuring the temp in the kitchen at 13, the heating went on. sb and i went round the whole house measuring the temp in each room - highest 15. def cold! we had a chat about what might make rooms colder - number of outside walls, windows without double glazing etc. once the heating has got going, we will remeasure.

bB and i played no-rules draughts [i lost due to non understanding of the rules, and penalties of my pieces being randomly removed] SB read LOADS of books [including a horrid henry joke book, and we had to listen to them - groan!!]. we picked our own sweetcorn for tea, and also raspberries, blackberries and apples.

i did lots of reading. we read our emilie books [en francais] - 3 of them, and then i read loads of the goblin and ghoul stories too. SB escaped SOTW and Latin, and also music practice - though i did some piano practice.

they had toasted marshmellows on open fire for pudding - though SB burnt tongue and finger despite many warnings to be careful. bless her, she is most accident prone.

And i worked - sigh

edited to add - i forgot to add that i mended one of bb’s stretchy dinodoors with copydex and then sutures. seems to be holding firm at present, and not leaking any more little rubber balls! successful surgery

yep, thanks v much! need to work out what some of the buttons do, obviously.

had an early finish from work, which was much needed after a dreadful night sleep! SB had a nightmare and came in to chat at 3am!!

she obviously got a lie in, which i didn’t. but she was probably more productive, doing maths, handwriting and a maths experiment in the morning. when i got home she did a really lovely violin practice, and she is getting to have a really comfortable looking posture.

we were then going to do a science kit. i suggested trying out one of the young scientist club ones from the egg booklet sarah sent up with steve [thanks v much sarah - i will def use the ideas in them for the science group and am v v greatful!], but she decided to do a build a robot kit we have, got it all out and then had a strop and put it away again. fair enough. she still wanted to do science, and bb now also desperate, so she went to get an enviroment kit, and got it all out, realised some of it has to be done outside, had a strop, put it away. then got a much used physics kit out and… had a strop because half the pieces must be scattered round the house, and she couldn’t do any of the experiments she wanted to - sigh! however, she found a game and was quite happy sorting it out. then she did lots of building with our fun blox sets. BB and i did a pompom craft, as she was in a fever to do something!

we finished the afternoon with a slump infront of muzzy. i def think its improving my german comprehension anyway!!

our camera seems to have disapparated. we can’t find it anywhere. chris said he took a photo with it this morning, i am fairly convinced that i saw it beside the cooker when i came in from work. but there is no sign of it anywhere at all. humph!! SB won’t let me borrow hers either.