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!!

sat was an outside day anyway, though SB snuck off to computer game. lets think [ie look at the mess, and like an archaeologist, go for a lower level!] ah yes, both girls did some more of their artwork for the village fair - a frog for BB and a green man for SB. both have boomwhackered, and SB made up a trio for her chris and me to play, whcih was fun! SB did some making things with an idea wooden set. [like first mecchano i guess].

Outside i planted out some artichokes, and read to BB some more bee related books and we looked to see what bees we could find in the garden. SB read a french book [her choice]. both the looked to press some more flowers, and just generally had a lazy playing sort of day. [ah, and as mentioned in the post below, i did some reading!]

chris cooked me a lovely tea of mushrooms in a cream sauce pasta, utterly delicious, but the quorn thing has passed on to wild mushrooms, and i had stomach cramps then all evening! we did watch the human journey - which i am enjoying. think we might get walking with cavemen for the girls to watch [but don't think they will be reading the clan of the cave bear any day quite yet!]

sun saw us go to the RSPB for a nature walk with the manor borns. chris and marcus both cycled there, and arrived a smidge before us dreadful car drivers [though set off somewhat significantly ahead, and without us, there would have been less picnic!] we picnicked - and ogled the roast dinner on the table next to us - before setting out. it was a scorching day, so we were well suncreamed, and took the favourite walk - has to involve the quarry - so BB was mostly happy. i thought she did really well. all the girls charmed the volunteers before we left as well [always a good thing - especially since sb lost her clipboard somewhere half way round!!] we found lots of good places to put our memorial benches - view good, shade better!

Back to the manor for a lovely evening. i think the heat had got the the girls, so they got an earlier bedtime than they expected - suprising michelle, who rode out the storm by sequestering herself in the bathroom!! obviously, none of ours stayed in the room they started, but that was fine, and the new bed arrangements in the spare room are v comfortable - thanks to SOTP

ooh! end of the weekend reached. not so hard!! [may have to add]

SO i have had the bliss of part time working this week, and i really like it! hmm, to whether i will ever manage to negotiate it for a full time thing, and then how the money would stretch, but hey, one thing at a time!

i got up late, after having listened to sb playing her recorder. when i got down, she was doing some Junior Science Book 1 [we are still on chapter one, as it is an as and when thing! we plan to skip 2 and go onto 3 in the hopes that it ties in with our june holiday], and she happilly wrote through that. BB meanwhile got out her Get Set for the Code - Book B, and in her own way chose what she wanted to do! we then read some books together, whilst SB did some handwriting Italic Handwriting Series Book D

then total mayhem as my amazon order for me arrived. i decided to treat myself to an escape route, so have bought The Clan of the Cave Bear + The Valley of Horses (Earth’s Children series) on jax and merry’s recommendations, and these Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt) Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt) cos they looked interesting!
I didn’t forget the girls entirely, i bought SB this The Roman Mysteries Treasury as she really has been loving the roman mysteries, BB this French is Fun with Serge, the Cheeky Monkey! (Salut Serge) oh, and i also bought these!!Boomwhacker - Pentatonic Set Although I agree with Gina more = better, SB often makes up her tunes in various modal styles, and thought the pentatonic might keep this musical awareness going.

SO BB bashed away with the boomwhackers, sounding surprisingly gamelan or chinese and SB stuck her nose in the flavia gemina book!! i did some work emails. following a melt when BB got rather too enthusiastic with the boomwhackers [Gina, exactly how robust are they] she retired to watch the french is fun DVD and SB did some maths. I read loads of fairy stories, then lunchtime [late!]

Afternoon for SB and I was a long game of Puerto Rico. you can’t really play it properly with 2, but it is OK for an child and adult scenario [or even 2 children] money much easier to come by! BB wandered off into the garden with chris, and then came back for some ivor the engine.

it being sunny, we then all decamped into the garden, bb had some flower seeds she wanted to scatter across the veg patch, i had cucurbits and beans to get out, and SB was keen to help. so that was what we did this pm. not got all the beans out, as had to spend some time untangling them from each other!

girls settled down to playing and chalking [ie making shapes out of hunks of chalk just like at the sustainability. and i read Honey in a Hive (Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science: Stage 2) while they worked. we had dinner out in the garden, bathtime [obviously indoors!] and SB had more of Black Ships Before Troy - The Story of the Iliad

A quick yesterday summary:
SB and Maddy had a great time playing together, lots of games where got out and played, and SB loved it. BB also pottered along, either with them or with chris, quite happy. BB had a gym taster session, and was really ecstatic about that. unfortunately M’s ear started to hurt and she went home before i got in from work, and so missed the astronomy night. we, however, all looked at the moon again, and some of the stars, seeing if we could find galaxies [no - must look more at the map next time!!]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!]

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! ] 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!!

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]

[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!!

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

we unwound in the morning, watching downloads, then playing castle games. SB had a total usborne lift the flap fest. the see inside science, the earth, the brain and maths. She is quite keen to have more of them, so if and when i do another book order [some time from now, as we are on the stony side at the mo] i might consider the acquisition of the under ground one. and also perhaps the usborne crusader reading book [i can always think of lots of books - will perhaps get chris to go to the big library and see if any there. there should be really?

together we did SOTW as she wanted to get to the battle of hastings - having read all about william the conqueror on hols. however, we did also go to richard lion heart's castle at les andeleys, so she is muddling the 2 up a bit. we looked at our map book at the vikings.

we went outside and all picked veg - lots of apples are ready, a second crop of raspberries, loads of tomatoes [particularly the ilidi], runner and french beans, some courgettes and spouting brocolli. lots of running about, bb loves eating the ilidi yellow mini toms [they are gorgeous]

back in to play more games with the castle. practice makes perfect, and we played altogether quite happily whilst chris sorted photos of the holidays. the girls then had a bath, whilst i did some catching up with the internet. SB and BB back down, and we watched how things work, and then bb fell asleep and SB and i made some more of her viking brooches - painting and fimo beads. we have refound her science book, and so we stuck in the chromatography.

SHe has also done alot of reading of the arthurian legends, so whilst watching tea, we watched the new merlin from bbc1. now obviously i have a HUGE E-N-O-R-M-O-U-S problem with the basic plot premise, i will let you find that out elsewhere!! but actually, it is an enjoyable romp. i think it is even less true to the basic premise than the tudors is. but i guess the tudors is supposed to be history, and this is a myth, so… i am going to try and forget about the actual plot premise, and enjoy the series, as i think it is going to be v enjoyable. SB and BB quite transfixed.

SB then looked at our usbourne picture french dictionary [after me telling Katy that we weren't doing french reading - of course SB LOVES reading] so we did the a’s and b’s [she complained that only the english words were always a's and b's ] SO we did it together with my pronunciation and thinking of sentences to put it in.

SB did singapore maths - must buy the 3 series - whilst BB did starfall and i hemmed the Gi thingy for judo - so at least now she can walk without flappy arms and legs!

And then we had breakfast

OK, it was a late breakfast at 11! BB had already had breakfast earlier and SB and I had brunch. SB did violin whilst I still hemmed, and we are being inventive at the moment, with the majority of the time she is finding sounds, or making up tunes for me or playing scales - she likes scales. At this time an amazon bookseller order arrived from way back - one of the 3rd grade detective books, which she loves, so she tucked herself on the sofa and had finished it within 1/2 an hour. hmm! We also had a parcel from the manor borns, so SB moved onto melrose and croc, [most impressed with inscription from Clo] and BB spent most of the rest of the day in lizard related activities - very enthusiastic! [chris went shopping for gas canisters - so that was his day - rofl!]. SB made up some choc angel delight on her own - though BB sahred the task of eating it.

The girls are really in to playing with the castle and stuff at the moment, i was in charge of dragons, SB had romans and courtiers, and BB assorted lizards and dinodoors [as you do] and they had tea parties, swimming parties and hama bead diving competitions [i need to get out the hoover]. I in the end drifted away [i think I did VERY well to carry on for that long] and SB fancied knitting - so she brought back some yellow moon first cross stitch kits, she did the flower [well, at least she started it and did the centre]. BB played with the kit, but didn’t actually DO any.

They then did some convoluted liz game, I went out into the veg patch and picked loads of greenbeans, toms, brocolli and courgettes. they came out and did whizzing about the garden with lizards, but when i went in to cook the curry for tea they came in too. SB hama beaded, BB did liz dives into hama beads games, and i read them a book about remainder of one.

SB has gone off to Judo [first time since broken foot so fingers crossed] and BB watching the ways things work. I am pondering cars and how much i can stretch too.

edited to add: when SB came back, with free choice to watch whatever she wanted, and BB asleep, she chose Muzzy german level 2. and then we discussed protons and dark matter She has been a happy bean all day.

also, any recommendations on good balanced books - pref story related and good for 8 year old who has good vocab skills - about the crusades?