Category Archives: pre reading

a not-so-typical home ed day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

back to school

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

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

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

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

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

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

latin in the wild

today, for a change we did latin and science at an outdoor venue. was rather a good idea [not mine!] though i was a bit stressed as got stuck in an enormous traffic standstill, that seemed to have no cause when we got to the front. not quite as bad as katy, who had key problems. got there and met up with ‘the gang’ and the children played for ages in the play area v happily. then after being tempted with snack did classical studies with katy, acting out the trojan horse and one of the many greek dolphin myths. we had lunch – michelle had brought the pasta out with us, and v well received. and then we did science. i thought we should do something easy to get us thinking chemicals, so we thought of the ones we knew – hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and some of the ‘mixes’ H2O and CO2 and then discussed with piccies what makes up an atom and then a molecule. we made H2O and then ethane with sweets and cocktail sticks before talking a bit about solids, making some more molecules with molemod for the older ones, and face painting molecules for those that wished it. we began thinking of ‘valency’ [i know we are not supposed to use that word!!] this seems to be a good website btw.

the children put on a show of the greek dramas for us, and then we said good bye to those going to baby music, and the rest of us looked round the animal shelter part of it, oohing and ahing at the animals we liked [sb partic fond of the dog idea, and bb of guinea pigs] and more playing in the park with adults chatting. v grounding experience for mums like me needing a bit of grounding!

BB fell asleep near instantly being put in the car, and stayed asleep for a bit [which is why she is snuggled in my ‘whiskey hole’ [leg curl space for cat to snuggle in] at the moment as i type!! SB is reading. SB did the customary brownies and judo and then we had chips with a side order of daleks! we need to fix our conservatory and the chap came today with a quote. it is on the steep side. so to recover from one astronomical thing we went out and looked at some more with our telescope.

so tonight we looked at craters on the moon – even bb was impressed, a previous night she had been disappointed at the small size of saturn. she remained disappointed at the small size of saturn tonight, but it was so clear that the rest of us saw one of saturn’s moons!! so we were all v excited.

other than that, as a backwards catchup from me, we have done bits of recordering, piano playing and verbal/non verbal reasoning. SB has moved onto chapter 2 of her Junior English Book 1, but was distracted on looking up lotus flowers and read a book about nefret working for Cleopatra: Discover the World of Cleopatra Through the Diary of Her Handmaiden, Nefret and then about Captain Cook (Famous Lives) because the book was nearbye!

we have fimo-ed me some owls, bb a fish brooch and sb some beads for little nanny’s birthday, and also done some painting, seed tending and lots of games outside. we have also played a lot of games of Bohnanza and Castle Keep

good news that my mammogram normal. less good that my working hours seem to always increase rather than decrease. may help us pay for conservatory though!!

A too much out-y week.

For a couple of years, the first Monday of the month has been a HE sports session, with sessions for younger and older kids, with the cut off age around 7-8. But the older session didn’t really get enough support anymore, so that has been dropped (just as SB has started doing them…..) . The re-jigged session now has Streetdance for older ones, followed by a younger ones sports session.

So it was off to that Monday morning. SB enjoyed the Streedance, BB enjoyed the sports, so that was good. SB has taken some stuf in her bag to potetially do after Streetdance, but mostly played outside the hall with some of the other kids, who she doesn’t really know so well as they ahve tending to do things aimed at the older kids. Not quite the normal attendees, so we didn’t have our usual playmates for a post sports park trip. I’d brought the bikes, so we went to the playground (busy as sunny and warm and the last day of school holidays by the looks of it for some kids) and then they cycled around the park paths. Where we discovered a little stream lake bit with some rather over fed ducks and geese who weren’t very interested some peanut butter sandwich leftovers.

Home, where SB did something of a booky nature (probably one of the VR or NVR books) before it was time to get ready and go out to Ballet. I managed to do passable pig tails in her hair.

Jax sent a fortuitous email that reminded me we were supposed to be going out on a trip the following day  ;-)

Tuesday

Was  a HE trip to Ecotech, which was advertised across multiple East Anglian groups and so popular they there is a second one this week.  It was a fair drive for us, but managed to get out pretty much on time (which was generous in terms of travel time). Combined with  quicker journey than expected we even had enough time to pick up a few bits in the next door supermarket before joining the group.

After an intro, we split up, out group did an activity building model wind turbines first.

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It was fun, though for an activity that they must run loads of times I felt it was not as well run as it could have been. Maybe he was a bit unsure of dealling with such an age range of children.

We tested and modified  our various versions. The kids got to choose how they arranged the blades, Our first one didn’t work at all. I was an even pattern, though not with them eqully spread.

 

 
After a bit of reorganising and it worked:

THere was also a bit of fiddling about with the angle of attack of the blades with one of the other turbines. Bottom line was that the number of blades didn’t seem to make a lot of difference.

After this we had lunch (we had packed lunch, but the cafe seemed fine a reasonably priced)

After lunch we headed out side. Those seven and older could go up the inside of the turbine tower – 305 steps (the only one the public can go up it seems).

Yup, up there 

SB went up, BB wanted me too stay, even though there were plenty of people she knew staying down, so I didn’t.

So whilst SB was up the tower, we pottered around the bottom, looked around the organic veg garden, where the kids all got Rhurbarb leaves, BB’s lasted about 10 mins before she had mangled it too much. Waved at those up in the tower, a sat in the shade in the Willow den.

Friends :-)PullEcotech Wind Turbine, SwaffhamRun away.Waves :-)IMG_9399 

They finished up with a session on recycling, but we had to head off to get back.

We made it nicely in time. BB has started doing a Little Dribblers football skills course at the sports centre, which she was very excited about (after years of traipsing around after SB she is pleased to be doing her own things now.. Once the instructor realised that she didn’t really have much idea what she was doing, and wasn’t very good at listening to what she was supposed to do she was fine. It’s a 4-8 yo class, so a couple were they same age I’d guess as her, though a bit more skilled football wise :-) She felt a little left out as they all their football kit, so that has been rectified via Ebay for next week. I do find it a bit of a shame that all these things get so gender differentiated so early. There was only one other girl there, probably 7-8 and obviously been playing football a bit. Can’t believe there aren’t more young girls who would like to have a go if offered. 

Anyway, SB was pleased as she finally got to go and have something from the sports centre cafe, which BB has been doing whilst SB has her swiming lesson. SB watched a bit of BB, and then did some Getty and Dubay handwriting practice.  Then me and BB waited whilst SB did her swimming. 

Got home to find H already home (unusual for a Tuesday) and glad that dinner just needed warming up to be ready.

Thursday.

Was back to Tots and Nots which haven’t attended for a while due to the possibility of Chicken pox and needing to be careful becuase of family gatherings before and at Easter.SB did a long piano practice before we left, which made us a bit late.  SB made a fold out thing showing how the Union Jack is made from the different flags for each country, BB made a shield and sword which she then used to run around chasing people with :roll: Both got to do some recorder lesson with Gina, SB did a little piano, then we had lunch there before heading off to another new thing.

A new ‘multisports’ session started up earlier in the year, the replace one that ran before for 8′s and up, seeing as the older sports has stopped on Monday, SB wanted to try this. Shame that it is right the other side of town, so we had to drive 20 mins to get there. SB enjoyed the session, played a bit of hockey, did some basketball skills, though we had to leave just as they were to start a game, to head off to another town for SB’s Gym class. (of course it’s back the way we had come…) 

Friday

Was planning on not going anywhere, but realised we had something to take back to the Red Cross. Which sadly has temporarily moved from a 10 minute drive to a 30 minute drive.  SB did some of her verbal reasoning book, and some music practice before we went out. We headed via a Citylink depot to pick up some Amazon parcels. Then over to the Red Cross. Since we were out and SB had been complaining of needing new trainers we went shoe shop hunting. Had feet measured in Clarks, of course in typical fashion they only had hardly any she liked in her size (one in fact, and that was one with the funny bit in the heel with a toy in which she doesn’t like). The sales assitant also seemed to have a problem accepting that she didn’t want anything too girly – most had too much pink or purple, or where excessivley ‘boy-ey’ red and black, shiney silver etc which she doesn’t like either. Can’t help thinking that a they need to arrange to have a better system – there have been a number of times we’ve not bought shoes there just becuase the available selection was so limited. Though I do see you can now order shoes on thre website to try on in store.

However, BB was pleased as she got some ‘Croc’ type foam Doodles there which she really loves.

Headed off home stopping in another town, where we found some reduced price trainers in Millets for SB, and some Sandals in the cheapy shoe shop, didn’t find any suitable Crocs though.

Home where they sat and read various books from the Amazon Order before dinner.

 

We’ve had  a few car conversations on the way to various places. SB heard and advert for the National Lottery, so we had a discussion about how that worked, why you were unlikley to win the jaclpot and what she would spend £6 million on. An expensive trampoline and a dog apparently to start with.  Also somehow got onto what happens to all the male chicks and chickens that aren’t needed.

the gloriously sunny weekend

well, i got up gloriously early and was up and at’em. thing is, i am not sure i can remember much of yesterday!

ermm, i know SB did some piano practice! oh, and i made some ‘stone age’ tabards out of fake fur material for the girls – yay, the sewing machine worked!! umm. oh yes, we sowed lots of seeds – sweetcorn native american [for its blue and yellow colouring] squash festival, pumpkin mars and a golden courgette. also climbing bean cobra and runner beans lady di and sunset. pea misty. so that was quite a lot of things!! we read some french, as haven’t done much there for ages Les Amis De Berthe and built on that with a bit of conversation and description. also looked at some stone age books Prehistoric Peoples (Exploring History) and i think just generally played in the sun. OOOH I remember!! we went easter egg hunting at ‘the big house’ [which is v lovely!] BB cycled there and back as she is ace now at cycling. she can also get herself going now. she was enjoying skidding on the gravel there, and did come off, unfortunately. the other thing we did was bribe the girls 1p for every dandelion flower they picked. this is chris’s idea to cut down on the seeds floating about. i think 10p per plant with some root might have been a better bet. this has cost us about a fiver so far!! SB did some VR [has finished the NVR book]

anyway, so to today. another fabulously warm day!! we started with porridge – always a good start, and then went out to play, filling up the bird seed feeders, and immediately getting a rush of birds. then BB wanted to paint her dinosaur volcano – the dinodorium that she hasn’t done for ages, so excavated that, and SB did some painting by numbers. Striking the HE iron as it has been quite cool for a while :blush: i read some The Story Of the World – the Middle Ages V 2 . this was about marco polo, and both SB and BB were quite enthusiastic about it, so i read around with marco polo and The Picture History of Great Explorers . both v happy. we did a bit more french with Space Postman/Le Facteur Spatial (I Can Read French) , and then put up the play tent, and chris got out his spacepacker, so a fair bit of tenting and general play went on. i finished my book Postmortem (Dr Kay Scarpetta) . actually will recommend this one The Other Queen , that i read whilst away, and also this one Henry: Virtuous Prince, but i left this one The Wise Woman in the travelodge as disliked intensly – and gave me nightmares and an unsettled feeling which is no good if there is no husband to cuddle!! [i think the amazon reviewers are in agreement!]

Anyway, it being a clear evening, we finished off the evening looking at the stars – and in particular saturn through the telescope. BB was decidedly underwhelmed by the size of it!! that is 4 year olds for you!! prior to that BB and i did jigsaws whilst SB read Your Head (See Inside), and See Inside: The World of Dinosaurs (Usborne Flap Books) [obviously one of BB's books!!]

‘nother day, ‘nother ‘postrophe-ed blog post!

i think the girls went out to the local town market, and to get SB some new ballet shoes for most of the day! in typical SB style, she seems to have come back from ballet with 2 shoes of diff sizes :roll: , and last week, no-one else seemed to have the wrong size?? [how does she do it??] so new shoes in order! also a new gym leotard, because her lovely rainbow one seems to have totally vanished :roll: and :roll: again!!

ermmm, when i got home, SB had just got her recorder out to practice, and asked if we could duet, so i thought that was a fab idea, and we played the first piece a couple of times, and then moved onto the second. rather fab this! [no, i haven't got over the violin, just making the best!] I might even stop trying to play the notes on the treble as they are played on the descant one day soon! She then did some galore park english [yes we still are on chapter one!] and chris has decided she did it at the rough speed of 1 word a minute. I think he was being generous!!

SB off to ballet [it took 15 mins to go upstairs and bring down bag -:roll: !!] and BB was being massively waily. compounded by me i :blush: to add. i couldn’t quite grasp what she wanted to do with boxes to make a stage, and in trying to find out, she wailed that much she had to admit she had forgotten [to more wails]. we compromised on reading some stories, cuddling and then making crystals. she is rubbing her eyes a lot at the moment [and actually temporarily stopped fimo-ing because of it] so insisted we were only using salt and sugar, but we could dye them, so we will see how succesful they are. we were all cheered up then, and played silly games until tea. Chris drew taking a ‘not tired’ BB to bed.

SB and I started by playing buckaroo, and then went on to ticket to ride – nordic countries – which did delay bedtime by an hour whilst we enjoyed playing! i love playing games with SB, and this eve time is v precious to me. Def a good game!!

Not according to plan, but fabulous anyway

hmm, daddybean does appear to have stopped blogging doesn’t he. this is a bit of a home-ed blog disaster, as he does most of the home-ed! This blog is brought to you with Grieg’s holberg suite as background music, in vain effort to block out singularly awful pub band next door!

thurs: hmm, not tots and nots due to a poxy chickens breakout at a terrible time for us, but yes to dual gym. [peers at BK] ‘Reading, discussing, Dsing, Oggly Googlies, VR and NVR. SB now showing BB about different hardnesses of pencils’ ‘They are turning the water off for a bit (water co digging hole in the road) kids excited about idea and filling up all sorts of things :-)’ ‘BB: “I could get my poo and roll it into sausages with my hands”. Me: “Don’t you think that sounds a bit yucky”?’ [ermmm, lets gloss quickly over that one! :lol: ] When I got home, read books and played games with BB [don't wake dad and who's who] whilst snuggling SB and she did some maths, then chatted about animal crossing, oh and we watched dr who i think. Chris and I started the latest series of BSG [holberg 2]

Fri:they played monopoly [also cribbed from BK] not cribbed from BK [unfortunately] was that SB’s glasses were ready, so they went and picked them up and spent the rest of the day and early evening at his parents. my phone was dead, so a text never reached me, so i spent the earlyy evening wondering where all my family were, and the later evening saying goodbye to a work colleague with a really appalling meal! [there was a single choice for veggies – starter = roasted pepper and tomato with some rocket, main = roasted pepper, tomato and rocket tart!! and TBH, it might as well have been tipped out of a jar [prob was actually as a bit watery]. but i got to sit next to some interesting people and have interesting conversations.

SO to today
, I wasn’t allowed up initially as craft things going on – i think this may be related to mother’s day if lucky. so i had a bit of a lie in and finished Imperium , which i have really enjoyed [ although as reading The Dolphins of Laurentum: Roman Mysteries 5 (The Roman Mysteries) to SB at the moment, i have felt a bit over-romaned at times!!]. [small break to get to part 3 of holberg suite! – now, where was I??]

oh yes, i got up and went to see what was happening. SB ds-ing animal crossing, then did piano practice with me. BB and i then read a variety of stories, and SB and i looked at minimus chapter 3. A short break as BB insisted on getting the paddling pool out as it was sunny, and was surprise at how cold that was!! however, both girls did have a whale [wail] of a time and came in freezing. i sorted out some seeds for sowing. i am feeling time pressed this year, so we are going for some easy things that we def like, rather than trying to do loads. then lunch for the girls [too close to brekkie for me!]

both girls declared keen to do some science [we had been going to the science festival again this weekend, but somehow inertia and a desire by me for a simple day at home kept us here. BB was enthusiastic to do the ‘bean thing’ so we have 3 jars of broad beans, a control, a fridge and an airing cupboard to compare. SB got out a kitchen science kit she got for Xmas and was happy to see a volcano in there. BB found the other volcano and we were away. [holberg 4] we decided to colour green, and SB’s does a massive shoot up. obviously a tighter fit and smaller hole so more pressure [and far more mess] = way more fun!! With shaking them, could make BB’s do it, and SB’s even more dramatic – may add video clip. so we are all out of vinegar, and will need to buy bicarb in suma quantities!! After we had washed and cleaned up i set out to do a slow explosion [tho actually not entirely sure it will explode!] we put sugar, yeast and warm water into bottles with balloons on the top. SB actually guessed the right gas [well, i guess we had just released it in far more dramatic manner!!], and we have been checking back on it. balloons inflating, not sure will pop!!

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more playing outside in the paddling pool until a small contretemps saw SB retire to the top of the climbing frame with the non-verbal reasoning book [half way through already] and BB into the playhouse. i got ingredients for seed sowing, so both girls joined me on the grass – bB first for a bit, then SB for much longer, and brief return of BB.

    edited to add, due to the lack of life in my gardening blog, i am going to stick this here for now, we sowed chilli peppers, tomato illidi [a huge success last year] and gardeners delight, pea misty, sunflowers [must buy some more seeds] and dwarf french bean gold tepee.

we looked at the birds guzzling on the birdfeeders – more and more. must be mouths to feed. in to tidy playroom [v poor grace!] I read The Rock Factory: A Story About Rocks and Stones (Science Works) [holberg 5 – though pub band having a break], they helped chris peal potatoes and I remembered a small parcel so SB opened it. We had a go at the first duet in Descant and Treble Recorder Duets which we were evenly matched for as i was on treble, so finally coming to grips with what the notes actually are. She just had a few counting issues, but even the low D noticeably better, and we both decided that it had def been fun.

SO finally to tea infront of Dr who, and much enjoyed scribbling one. BB off to bed with chris, and SB and i looked at the doctor who website, and she played some games on it. SB and I played connect 4 – which she is getting rather good at. Usual bedtime roman mystery read from me, and she is currentyl reading Ordinary Jack – The Bagthorpes 1 and enjoying it. [a far cry playing holberg, and band restarted]

productive home ed day

When i got in from work today, SB was desperate to tell me all she had done, and she had worked hard! She has finished her theory book, Theory Made Easy for Little Children Lv2 , so i have bought her a new one, My First Theory Book . She has also finished her spelling book, but think i will encourage a bit more of GP and dictionary use! But if she really fancies another spelling workbook, i think we can float the boat out a bit, as it is an area she isn’t so certain on. SHe has done her piano and recorder practice and some handwriting. Also, she read a french colour book, Colours/Les Couleurs (Bilingual First Books) , to BB. that girl deserves a gold star!! SHe hama-ed beside me, and we did some chapter 1 and 2 revision of Minimus Pupil’s Book: Starting out in Latin, as she is variable in her recall :roll: but i have to say, when i read our french book, Berthe Fait Une Pizza , she was excellent, so I do think that french, at the mo, is working for us, even if inefficient, and i wish i knew more words!!

Sb went off to ballet, and BB snuggled up and we decided she was right royally dirty! so a bath was in order. After that we snuggled up to a variety of not-mummy’s-thing type videos! on SB’s return she happily ds-ed away with animal crossing. she has wiped her old town as too weedy!

i am happily flickring last week at the moment, but have a fair amount of paperworky things to remember to do!

definitely awake!

we have had a busy and productive day here chez haricot. i had today off work – yippee!! and having worked the weekend, decided to use it well – ie stay at home. really i should have gone into town and done some fairly urgent banking stuff, but don’t know where the forms are :roll:

SO we thought we would start with a bit of normals. SB keen to show me she had moved onto the next piano piece [i am trying to play this v cool - cf violin!] and she has played it v nicely. BB was a tad jealous, so brought me her maffs to do – so we did that, and SB went onto Junior English Book 1 [we are doing this in tiny bites so on 1.5! but we are at least considering things]. I suggested that for the galore park, that although i am unbothered by her spelling elsewhere, she might want to use the dictionary to spell things for this [cue wails as couldn't find circus]. bb and i did jigsaws and then a marble run and sb did some maths – see we have been productive! then we had lunch :lol:

both girls wanted to do some science, but ‘on their own’ and bb chose to investigate magnets and sb an eino burglar alarm that she has done before. after this they fancied craft. BB chose air drying clay and initially made more fossils. SB looked at a Middle Ages Activity Book (Crafty History)
and chose to play 3 mens merrels. we decided it was a fun game, so she has made a board and counters out of air drying clay too. then they have both spent ages sticking jewels into air drying clay as middle ages treasures!!

Now BB is watching magic school bus and SB is at ballet. plan to make some scones when chris comes back with cheese. actually chris been gone a while – might have forgotten and gone into hayloft. hayloft currently has a dead animal aroma [something of a concern] so he is investigating!

edited to complete! we made cheese scones – yummy – as planning to visit science museum wed unless things go pear shaped! BB did a short nice recorder practice and then a v long hideous one, so banned to the stairs!! SB grumpilly did 5 mins recorder practice, and then decided to make up music for me to copy, and then made up some more etc etc so did about 40 mins in the end!! i love the fact she is so unthinkingly confident about making it up, and also often modal rather than modern tonal. much reading – she is working through the roald dahl books she happily got for her birthday.

BB was particularly spectacularly ‘not tired’ at tea tonight and after screaming and shrieking in the pantry for about 10 minutes while we all pretended she didn’t exist, came back and let me feed her before falling asleep at the table – so not tired! tho she woke up and pretended she had been pretending and was again not tired, so we got the whole rigmarole 2ce!

quick catch up

very quick actually, am going to see whether i can do one of these fabulous 10 min blogs, the craze of which is sweeping the early years blogring in that typical blog meme way!! [23:10]

so thurs is chris’s day, so will be swift for me to write! nots and tots, both girls told me lots about recordering – and rather fabulously they have both practiced every day since!! BB is somewhat challenged to keep all her tiny fingers over the holes, and i am somewhat challenged by 10 mins of b’s and a’s, but hey! SB working on her low d at the mo, and just enjoys playing through book 1 – long may it last. actually, she has also done piano every day too. sb made sausage rolls, she def prefers them with linda mccartney sausages [good as much quicker to make!] i think she also did some french.
thurs also gym for both girls – i believe all costumes present and correct! and i did something with them when i got home ? read stories?? and then panicked about my friday!

Fri, i think was a sorting at home day, sb doing lots of reading, both music practices and some maths, and then lots of playing with polydrons and geomags. bB has done lots of fimo-ing. merry left us a fimo booklet thingy, and BB is gradually making them all – i think this is a sales technique! we watched dr who, and BB impressed us by knowing it was going to have the Ood in it! SB has enjoyed reading The Battle for Radio: Marconi’s Story (Science Stories) and Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude and Antarctic Adventure: Exploring the Frozen Continent (DK Eyewitness Readers: Level 4)
My friday wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and i will leave it as that on the blog.

Today I have been working. SB spent AGES doing some maths, and has again piano-ed and recordered. A fair bit of sylvanians playing and reading also. BB and I have fimo-ed [again!] read a lot together [ including this series Duckling (DK Watch Me Grow)] and recordered [more a's and b's] SB wrote BB a recorder piece in a’s and b’s – lovely of her. we read some french alltogether, did a fair bit of playing and reading altogether. watched the second ood thing, read some SOTW [ages since we did that, are reading about gengis khan] and SB currently in bed listing to our island story vol 2. [23:28 - but interruptions from chris - also blogging same days - and SB - can't sleep as windy]