SB and I did a great recorder practice, the scales [though not arpeggios] and the 3 exam pieces. gradually coming together. mostly notes and rhythms right, so now to work on phrasing and dynamics! BB and I also did a recorder practice together, and SB did some french.

BB started with her own craft project, which she tells me daddy musn’t know anything about, and SB and I looked at a few matisse pictures and she said she knew what she had in mind and didn’t need to see any more, thankyou very much! BB also had a clear plan, so they got on with that whilst i read

The Pasteur book fits nicely with the science i plan to do later in the week as well. SB and BB both liked these books, and periodically stopped cutting/glueing/sticking to peer at the pictures and have a snuggle. The we moved onto story of the world and queen elizabeth 1. i corrected the succession order from henry VIII story, and then we enjoyed reading it, and then a bit about francis drake and sir walter raleigh from these books

BB’s has gone up on the wall, but SB’s has rather a lot of glue on it, so should be placed on the wall tomorrow! Having covered the kitchen table in Matisse style art, we ate our stirfry watching Dr Who in the living room before off to bed!!

so we started at the tower, we were a bit worried, as the day started off v bleakly rainy at our end, but london just dismal rather than overtly wet - so v happy!! SB picked up a ‘thing to do’ so off to the treasury [has it always been called the jewel house?] to do the sheet. SB loves doing sheets, and this one has a sense of humour. we looked for the frog for ages before sb read on and said it was a joke !! BB lost patience before SB had finished, so some dividing and conquering, but think the sheets are good, mostly info and v little writing! SOme serious lagging later and we went to the restaurant for lunch - that set us back a bob or 2! the weather was too cold and wet to picnic out in any kind of fashion unless truly masochistic - and although chris and i alone may have been, the addition of BB warrants gentler treatment! [SB is pretty much game!] After that we went into the Henry VIII armour exhibition and hands on area - which was really good and SB spent a long time looking, and even BB made a fairly impressive coverage. The annoyance for me was the no photography rule. grr! finally, we went for a walk along the ramparts, and really liked all the info and background noises placed along them. i did wonder if there was a leaflet for that actually. We were chased out by warders for it being closing time. so we did only do that one thing!!

mooched back to the travelodge, with BB falling asleep on the tube, a rest, re-invigoration and out for a meal at a nearbye italian where they made a fuss over the girls being lovely - and they were. the travelodge is directly over the circle line, and initially BB insisted on looking out of the window at every rumble, but the game eventually palled…

next day up and to brekkie, when surprised by BB shouting there is k-! and there she was!! on breakfast TV, so we cheered her on defending her educational choices. SB had chosen the globe theatre, and by a slightly devious route we got there. loads of the tube was closed, either whole lines or stations, so we had to do some extra thinking! we decided to get to st pauls and then walk across the millenium bridge. we checked on a map our bearings, and BB made other tourists laugh by saying she now knew where the toilets were - she knows the important signs! [aside - though not the letter p however hard we try, she insists it is an r or a t - although she can recognise those]. we meandered around st pauls garden, had a look at the fireman memorial and ambled our way to the globe, just in time, as it started absolutely chucking it down.

we loved the globe! we started with a look around the top information exhibition. thought it was nicely done, could be read at a number of levels - pics for bb, skim read for sb, bit more for chris and i had we had the chance! then a break in the middle of more display items and then on how built. we then had a 40 min guided tour of the globe, and although abslutely teeming it with rain, the guide was excellent, and so were our children. so much so, that i bought them home ed books in shop at end [well, they are still on a no museum money as spent 4 museums as one at hampton court - currently £1 a museum, but with poss of slight extra if needed, so usually better saved up!] I chose 2, and agreed to SB’s choice off 2 as well. [what a moment of weakness!]
SB’s choices:

my choices [a bb and an sb book]:

[I will not look at cheaper-by-far prices on amazon!!]

and we read them whilst having lunch there, which was good, as SB’s had a printing error, and it was easy enough to exchange! we went back and did the musical uppersection and then the ground floor of the exhibition, discussing printing presses with a demonstrator - SB is fairly happy with discussing printing presses, she has seen quite a few in action as well as having it on the inventors story cd! then we popped next door to the tate modern - the printer recommending the black box, so we went in it. not quite dark enough as lots of ppl held their mobiles out to see [headdesk!!] and then we peaked at a couple of the galleries SB and i had a chat about what she could see, what she liked, if she thought there was an emotion there, and how might the art have been created, but BB becoming tired, so we had a restorative cake before moving to a bookshop.

i am going to gloss over finding the bookshop, suffice it to say that chris and i had different ideas of where to go, i agreed to choose chris’s idea, and we both regretted it, and the girls did a fair bit of extra walking before we ended up at the known fabulous waterstones by picadilly… SB chose nearly all famous 5 books [£40 worth!] and BB was dissuaded from buying all dr who story books - mainly because she can’t read, they have no pics and she doesn’t want them read to her, just turns pages, so we found a variety of doctor who alternatives, and she then picked 2 fairy based books she was also happy with. we had passed a buffet chinese on shaftesbury avenue earlier, so made steps back there, stuffed our faces, staggered back - well, we were going to get a bus at girls request, but by the time had walked to leicester square, decided to tube it! BB sang a v cute and jolly looking for a bus song, complete with looking actions. just made the train, easy journey home and there you go, a lovely 2 days in london!

I was a bit blurgy with some droopy virus and am having problems with both insomnia and recurring nigtmares, not altogether sure that it isn’t the nightmares that are causing the insomnia. last night the cats bought it v unpleasantly. Anyhoo…

Girls started with watching some nature prog on the tv, then SB did piano with me - her new upgrade book, thanks sarah, and recorder. BB also did a bit of piano. Bit more ds-ing - mostly cooking mama - and then we got out the kits pile! SB has finished her egg cups and horses, and BB her dinosaur. SHe then started her zebra kit, though sand one unfinished, as she told me she was just going to pour sand over all of it. seemed like a waste - these kids foil me at every turn!!

Whilst they did their kits, i read some SoTW - Council of Trent, and we then had a discussion about all the pathways christionity has taken, and if we were to be anything, we would be on the protestant side and the more minimalist the better - quakers have always struck me as quite a good idea, but dad a methodist, and chris’s parents baptists [tho not so keen on that myself] and i have had friens of ‘all persuasions’ and they all now get on - as there were bits about catholics and protestants killing each other! We also read a nice book about a viking family [which i will link to when i get home]

I felt interacted out, so we then watched some walking with dinosaurs whilst chris sorted out the pipe leak in the garage - aargh!! luckilly nothing ruined, but a nuisance none the less, and v cold for poor chris. BB and SB both did some maths as well.

SB has her first golf lesson tomorrow, so hoping that goes OK!

Decided her on the Normans.  Originally there was some idea  about SB and BB re-enacting the battle of Hastings, which might have been entertaining …. But BB decided she didn’t want to do it. So then SB decided to build a model of  a Motte and Bailey castle. Would probably have been better to have had this idea a bit sooner.

Spent much of Tuesday morning looking at Motte and Bailey castles in books and websites . And settled on a model of a small wooden one as might have been built early after the invasion.

So something like this was the idea:

Made a base from two sheets of cardboard PVA-ed together:

Started with a circle, cut out increasingly larger ones, stuck them down to make the base of the mound.

That was mostly it for  Tuesday, IIRC the was some music practice and we had swimming lessons. Had meant to do some more afterwards, but it didn’t happen.

No time on Wednesday, so it meant we had to do the rest on Thursday. The plan had been to use paper mache to finish the mound etc.  But no time for that to dry. So I suggested using car body filler as that sets quickly.

So we marked out and cut more cardboard to make the land around the Motte and SB stuck it down.

Then I mixed up some filler, and SB applied it.  Sticking a few stones in for extra effect.

Had some lunch and then it was dry for painting.

Which was done in time for a break and a snack before Gym class. (we went early as we had to go to the pet shop so SB could by her present for BB

So that just left the castle wall and buildings to do Luckily, soon after us getting home H arrived home as well, so we had a joint effort. H made the building shells for SB to paint and roof.

I got on with making palisade  fences  etc. (SB had a go, but she dislikes getting hot melt glue on her fingers).

Having a break for dinner and Dr Who in the middle. It was about 10.30 pm when me and SB finished off by painting the palisade fences.

And we had a castle

The kitchen was a disaster zone (cardboard, glue, hay,paint, dinner preps etc.), but the castle was looking cool H managed to make some fairy cakes to take to the group as it was BB’s birthday

On Friday H woke BB up to give her a present of a DS game before she went to work. BB woke up said that you and fell back to sleep for another 20 minutes We tootled off to the HE session. We had a retelling of a couple of Robin Hood tales,  The Black Death, SB’s castle, Structure of Feudal Society, and a bit about Stokesay Castle. Which were all very good. SB did a good presentation, about her castle, remembering to say most of the things she had wanted to say. Everyone was very impressed with the model.

When we got home, SB gave BB her present -  a dog collar and lead. The collar goes round the waist by the way. B was very pleased (she likes playing being a doggy games) So they went around play doggy games until H came home and BB finally got to have the rest of her presents.

Though we had had given her rather more help than intended because of time factors , she did a lot herself with just a bit of help. Along with history, some model making techniques, there was a good chance to investigate the appropriate use of different adhesives

PVA, a good strong bons, good for larger areas or where you can wait, but not much ‘grab’. UHU type glue - good grab, pretty quick drying. Hot melt, good for where you want things stuck firm quickly. But mind the fingers

It was a fun project, but a bit more time would have been better. I think SB was impressed with how much you can get done when you need to.

Dinner, more Dr Who and Birthday (bought)  cake finished off the day.

Anyway, I was up, BB was happily playing with happy street [they've been playing with it all week since it was about to be consigned to loft!] and SB was still asleep. chris roused her, and she did music theory whilst i cut out tissue paper circles for a craft in homage to harmony art mum. Luckilly, when i was thinking of doing this, i accounted from the differences in artistic temperament between her own offspring [guessed and hinted at on her blog] and my two! SO we had much smaller areas to fill, no particular design/plan/ rules, just a desire to stick something at the end on the window that might liven it up through the winter. So we did it, BB just did one, and returned to happy street. SB did 3 and i did one. we decided to string them together and hang off the window, and decided that we liked them, and SB has plans to vary it a bit. it was a bit fiddley, even massively simplified, to get the 2 bits of plastic to stick nicely. If i was going to be a bit more expensive about it, i think using laminating pouches would give a much neater look!

oh yes, before craft, SB had a second ever clarinet practice. I think chris is going to blog their fantastic trip yesterday, but also her part-christmas-present-early of a new clarinet arriving yesterday has heralded the sound of a very novice clarinetist. yesterday, sans migraine, i was enthusiastic. somewhat less so today, so suggested playing it to chris in the kitchen…

Erm, and a bit more ermmming!! well anyway, at some point we did some french - acombination of walking through the jungle with The Usborne First Thousand Words in French. they make a lovely combo, with a lovely story book with few words, but then all the names of the animals in the other one, so we can look and see if we want.

i was going to say we did some story of the world, but we did that yesterday, christopher columbus, magellan, amerigo vespucci. both girls were gripped with the idea they didn’t know the rest of the world and just sailing straight from spain, so we followed it on the globe, imagining we didn’t know what was there. SB and BB both did a bit of maths, we snuggled, I sowed on brownie badges, dozed a bit, repepped with medication etc etc. i didn’t move much from the sofa! played games with both girls, rummy, snap, monopoly. oh, i did piano prac with SB too, and she did some recorder.

Chris’s parents arrived after their hospital appointment, so we had a nice chat, SB and BB played snap etc with them whilst i rehydrate them and then nanna got suckered into an enormously long game of monopoly. chris’s dad has a few further tests to get through…

then it was mad ferring around - BB had rainbows, then SB brownies followed by Judo. BB got out the gears, and had fun with those, then the funblox, and finally fell asleep in my arms watching ice age.

i think i am going to call it a day, but think i rescued a lovely family home day from a disappointment day.

oh! edited to add - and how could i forget! major fuss today, as sb insisted she wanted to try some fake ham, as apparently she had it at nursery and liked it [?], so she did, and nearly gagged. chris, bB and i didn’t even try! but she also hurt/jiggled a wobbly tooth eating it, and later this evening it fell out. so she is 10 down!

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

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

and

BB meanwhile was also reading

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

Home, with SB reading about Aztecs

and bB about katie

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

Went straight onto gym via Pets a Home for cat food and Monster nibbles. Had the traditional ‘whats the best deal on catfood this time ‘  activity since they always seem to have a couple of  brands or another on a BOGOF or somesuch. This time, one of ou preferred brands was on a BOGOF that menat that buying multiple small packets was cheaper than buying a big sack. So me and SB pondered those for a bit.

Then we looked at fish, ahhh-ed over hamsters and other small furry things, found suitable treats/nibbles for Monster, put BB off from trying to buy uneccessary rabbit tat. Off to drop SB at gym and then me and SB headed off into town for a little bit of shopping (went into Millets for boot laces, BB came out with a fluffy fleece jacket….)  Sainsburys and then to the playground.

They are extending the gym, and the upstairs viewing balcony is mostly closed off. So me and BB have stopped staying at gym and watching SB as there isn’t much space. But it will soon be too dark to be going to the park and things so not sure what we will do if they haven’t reopened it soon.

Home for a boring dinner of pasta (not organised enough in the mornign to have anything else) and me and SB sat and sorted out final things for her presentation - some photos for a slideshow and questions for a quiz she wanted to do.

Viking and Saxon History

Another HE group, in another town. They have been doing monthly history session, where any kids that want to present something on the theme of the session. They started earlier in the year, but last month was the first one we got to and this was the first one that we have presented at. SB was inspired by a Making Viking Bread’ article in the latest issue of the Young Archgeologists Club magazine, so we used that as the focus. Though we couldn’t find the magazine last weeend and had to look up a recipe on the web.

H made the bread and butter with the girls last weekend. So we took that.  We took photos which SB wanted to display whilst she talked about how she made the bread.

She did very well at explaining what she did I thought, thought had to be reminded to speak up enough so people could hear. After that her and BB did a True or False quiz with soem questions relating to the food viking ate. BB was being the ‘glamorous assistant’ and showing the answers.

Though it was a bit of a comedy moment really as they hadn’t practised this. SB had coloured coded the True and False cards for BB green and purple, but BB didn’t quite have the hang of it

We handed round the bread and butter which all went down well

Other presentations included a Story and soup,  models of viking longhouses, about the battle of Hastings, the tale of Beowulf.

After the presentations was lunch and playing outside/chatting before hometime.

Home for a bit of playing and pottering about. They both got into a good Bob the Builder lego game so I left to quietly too it.

Then it was off out to BB’s football skills session and home to get dinner ready,  followed by a bit of flopping in the sitting room. Me and SB did a bit of her Meccano remote controled car before bedtime.

Tune in next month for the next thrilling instalment of ‘Daddybean does Blogging’

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

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

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

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

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

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

please, if you haven’t

the petition

the review

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

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

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

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

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

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

we returned home for a quick turnaround, SB did some galore park english [3.4] piano and a bit of science reading, whilst BB made herself sums in her books and used toes and fingers to answer them - bless [like 10+4] she didn’t want to use her real book obviously! then whilst SB went to ballet, myself and BB played oodles of traintracking. i love the way her trains are either chuggering or truckling round the lines - v cute!

And after tea we were out to the michaelmas fair. also fantastic. there was probably the most terrifying ride in fairgrounds in the world - called extreme. a big NO from me!! SB and chris did loads, bB did a few really baby ones, and instead one things hooking nemos and penguins! we spent more money that planned, as the fair was quite big, and through the town centre, making it more interesting and exciting!

SB has nearly finished her sugar and spice book and am wondering what to get next? a working towards grade one??