science

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

we tootled [or chuggered - to use Bb'S moving verb of choice] down to london for the day to see/hear/participate in a lecture at the royal institute for science. it was on sound, and by these guys. we were pleased to be making our inaugeral venture with friends - meeting up with Nic, monster and teeny, em, E and R, the deependers and a local home ed family. As it happened, we had failed to assess which session Nic was going to make! so she took the early showing, but we did all meet up at the park for an hourish of running about wildly greeting friends. chris and i now have oyster cards, which feels v londony!! i am going into london 2ce more this week for work, so will prob use mine up - i wonder how you recharge the things?? Em having driven quite a way then parked and tubed, i wonder whether that would be cheaper for us - as there are 2 adults?

i really enjoyed it. i think the presenter was excellent. even if the regional accent threw me once :blush: it was the herrs in the ear! in the warm up, there were q and a’s on the wall, and i was totally appalling at them! the kids all had a go though - we had them all sitting in a row together with adults behind. they loved it. K and SB both got to go down and interact. we were slightly concerned that sb had been given scissors and an instruction not to cut his nose off, and she said that when she got close, she did consider it! bB managed really well too. she liked putting her arm up to answer questions and volunteer slightly releived he had more sense than to choose her. she did some remarkably loud yawns, but it was only after her loo break at 40 mins that she lost concentration, and insisting on scrambling over people for a mummy cuddle, rather than the next to her daddy but i was really impressed with her staying power. both girls would def like to go again. i did think he had a lot left to do, and rushed the last 10 mins or so, but it was good. and he didn’t mind the home ed third of the audience shouting answers rather than hands upping! but yes, SB was enthralled by the whole thing, and lovely yo meet up with friends, however briefly, so def worth the price of travelling.

afterwards we went down to the not opened museum in the basement, and alll the children really REALLY loved the singing periodic table, where you had to bash the elements found at the RI [all 10] as the appeared in the song. most of the rest doesn’t look particularly interactive, but worth another look another time! we think we will try out the am heart one, and pop to a museum pm in Nov - hopefully limiting the pain of travelling costs by the 2 for 1 thing! Any friends doing the same also a bonus!!

all the kids were fantastic on the journey back. we had a really crowded train, and a lovely chap gave up his seat for me, and also someone gave up theirs for Katy [who needed it more with A, but 'mine' was backwards facing] the children had books read to them, and the SB carried on reading books out loud for the rest of the journey, and BB fell asleep on my lap. [due to sleep bB is STILL awake, and show us how she balances things. i am going to bed soon, and will try for a second time with BB then - SB asleep though] SB made it back in time for judo, which she v much loves.

otherwise this week maths and handwriting and piano practices have happened, lots of reading, and some violin. BB is so into sounding out syllables and what words might begin with that we are doing more before the code with her again.

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.

well, latin and science anyway! we managed to get up and nearly there on time - the girls and i would have managed it, but chris stopped to buy apples at the orchard! latin kicked off with revision of what has gone before, as last term things got a bit rusty! at present latin etc is 4 family strong, and it has smallies, middlies and big’uns. the middlies did a quick bit of science on energy, where to find it, and what it might be whilst the big’uns did the latin. a fruity snack and a run about, and the groups swapped, so the big’uns did science and the middlies did french. SB is a big’un, and BB in a bit of a gap between being a smallie and a middlie, so a bit of a loose cannon really. she’ll be a middlie with me for science, and a smallie prob for french. maybe we can get something hands on and crafty going on that she will stick with too.

we did energy anyway. it seemed to work well. we did lots of investigating and looking at things, and the kids have their sheets to go home with and stick in a book! so the session 1 worked well. think session 2 will be even better - and must gradually shape that up!

plenty of nice food and lots of play before we set of with michelle and chloe for the monthly rspb walk.

we adults agreed that it was probably the least enjoyable walk we have done there, though SB with her revisionist history thought it had been great, and couldn’t remember that every single one of the children had had their stand off waily moments [BB>SB>C] poor bb’s trousers kept falling down, leading to 2 nasty falls when running. SB got herself into a wrong side of the bed kind of mood, and had to be gently cajoled into joining the living, at which point she got the wrong side of a bramble… but we kept on. us adults [well mostly me, and maybe michelle] were totally unimpressed when the 1.6km walk ended up not a nice circuit, or going anywhere, but at the road! humph. somehow, back at the carpark the girls all recovered their jollies and played really beautifully for an hour - prob the cause of revisionist history!

we came back, quick tea for SB before judo - which she does really enjoy, so that’s good. BB and I had a snuggle and watched ‘the snowman’ before her bedtime.

we usually get back from holiday at the last minute, and i really struggle at work for the first week recovering [maybe something to do with the type of holiday we take!]. so it was rather nice to have a relaxing day today and a return tomorrow instead.

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.

we have had a mostly screech free day here today. BB is *very* piercing! when I got up, BB had been watching magic school bus - and I found another one i hadn’t seen - the microbe one! [yes, chris is going to get round to it!!] SB started off with doing a jigsaw book on ancient egyptian sites. We then read together a story about ramadan and eid, and she went on to look at a the what I believe book. Then did some self directed recorder practice - getting better at hole covering so not so many shrill bits. BB and I did maths at this point. she is starting to add 1 onto things, and subtract 1’s. BB and I then did some alphabet stuff, as she doesn’t know it at all yet.

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?

Much faffing about (plus my watch being 10 minutes slow for some reason) saw us get to the  library a bit late for story time, but they sat and did the crafty bit (which is always a bit simple for SB - it’s aimed at pre-schoolers, but she likes doing it so waht the heck). Spent quite  a while there sitting on the floor reading books to Butterbean whilst Stringbean read an Usborne Puzzle book. The  ’library ladies’ got slighty flummoxed by the computer again whilst checking out the books, it beeped and said that one of the books was already checked out to us and couldn’t be renewed (which it wasn’t, we’ve never had it out I’m sure anyway). They peered and ummed and ahhed a bit, I suggested that maybe there had just been a slip on the scanner or something and it had got checked out twice. Anyway after a bit more peering and clicking it was checked out. I always do have the urge though to walk round and just sya look ‘click this, or that or whatever’. But it’s run by volunteers, so we just smile and get mildy entertained by it all

Headed home, with BB wailing most of the way, though I’ve forgotten  what the issue was. BB had come up with an idea for an experiment, seeing if a lollipop dissolves. Not yet having lollipops, SB started off with her own idea for seeing  if sugar dissolved in different things. So her and BB got different things - juices, coke, veg oil, washing up liquid etc. to dissolve it in. They moved onto salt, and then a Sodium Percarbonate (’oxygen’) bleach powder. They enjoyed seeing what happened, coke fizzing, things going murky, thre bleach powder in washing up liquid interested SB most, it made a thick gel, which thrn turned foamy (presumably as Oxygen was released) hey spent a fun half hour or so fiddling about.

OK,what's next?

I do get the urge to take control and direct these sort of things - to do a ‘proper’ experiment. The science teacher in me I guess, but did manage to let them get on with it. SB does have a goode idea about how to control an experiment - a ‘fair test’ as they tend to call it in the school science books. Things like using the same amount of liquids, only changing one thing at a time etc. but at times like this she just gets distractedby the fun of it all

Had lunch of beans on toast, whch prompted another fuss from BB as it wasn’t Tomato soup Eventually ate the beans, but wouldn’t eat the bread becuase it wasn’t white bread. Told her she wouldn’t have afternoon snacks unless she ate it. She stuck to her guns and had nothing else until about 4 pm when she realised that she wouldn’t get flapjack at SB’s swimming lesson unless she ate it, so it soon went

After lunch we went and bought Chupa Chups lollies for the experiment - shop assitant was a bit bemused when we said they weren’t for eating but for a science experiment.  SB realised that they weren’t all the same flavour, and that might affect things, but we carried on anyway as we had them now.

Set them up 2 lollies each, one in boiling water, one in cold water and left them to see what would happen. Not surprisingly the ones in hot water dissolved first, SB was correct to worry about the different flavours, the Coke flavour one dissolved noticeably faster than the Fruit/Cream flavour one. They were interested by the way a coloured layer formed near the bottom of the jar. And excessively pleased when I let them finsish off by eating  the last bit of the lollies in cold water

Ready to go.

Going - Hot water on the left.

Comparing Progress

Gone - Hot water on right here

End result - Cold water

End Result - Hot Water

BB surprised me a bit by showing how well she can copy words. Sometimes we forget she is almost 4.

I’d said we could go up the road on the skates, where there is a gently sloping cul-de-sac that SB likes to skate down, we got ready, and then as soon as we were ready to go out it started raining (and then rained for the rest of the day really)In the rest of the afternoon SB did some handwriting, some Singapore maths, and read some of Penrose the Mathematical Cat. She read a couple of her library books as well.They attempted to tidy the playroom, though BB grumped some more about this ‘I’m too tired, I can’t do it, I need help’  wail, gnash, to which my reponse is to wave the mythical bin bag at her They got it a bit tidy and then watched a bit more Jane and the Dragon, which seems to eb the favourite at the moment, before SB’s swiming lesson. It’s a pain goign out then (the lesson is at 5.30 as it makes for a long day, but at least BB doesn’t fall asleep so eaily now on the way to or fromas she did last year. We watched SB a bit - she is getting better at her strokes, did some good back stroke. Then BB enterntained herself by jumping around on the floor tiles from one red tile to another (mostly creamy tiles with some reddish ones).

Fell asleep when putting BB to bed and only woke up when Helen had got home from workand came up with Sb for her to go to bed. Ooops !

i’ve been working, but chris and the girls have been busy busy. a visit to nots and tots at one of our not so close HE groups. picked up our suma order from Katy - pleased so see that it is enormous, as it was expensive! Also pleased that chris left in the dried mango slices - yum yum. SB put out that she didn;t finish the science experiment on heat loss as she had to go to the dentist. SB was fine at the dentist, and was oK with the discussion that her front teeth stick out and will need some work when she is older. [aargh to thumb sucking, if i could go back in time i would be there with the dummy] bB wouldn’t open her mouth. she decided she only will when she is f and bigger for an overwhelmingly confident bean she is remarkably scaredy about these type of out of family/friend things.

in the afternoon, SB did maths, handwriting, piano and violin - she is def motivated at the moment! When i got home they were recreating the heat loss experiment. weirdly paper did best, our socks obviously not v good!! BB and i had lots of stories from library books, and she played chase the A through the book.  SB did some more of our viking brooch craft, and also made a paper kit viking ship i picked up from greece some time ago. SB particularly likes the idea of i-viking as a phrase! She amazed me by saying that she knew how the vikings and normandy tied up, and telling chris about it. it is in SOtW, but i don’t test recall, and make no significance to remembering, and i get a sad thrill about things remembered! We did some french altogether, with SB snuggled on my lap.

I really like an SB snuggle, and I don’t get one so often any more [oK. i still get lots, but i like LOTS] and i had a distinct moment of looking at her and seeing the lovely, charming older girl looking back at me. i cherish every second, because one day this older girl is going to leave home! i am not sure that we do the best that we can all the time, and i know my parenting and ed could be better, but i think we try hard, and love well. Though she is still emotionally up and down, i hope that this gorgeous and sensitive child is being done the best by that we possibly can. ah, i had a real mummy moment!

whilst bB went to bed, it was games time, and SB did some of the horrible histories viking sticker book with me and then chose a multiplication game. we read a bit more of the second roman mysteries book and did a made up story.

we are being reasonably productive at the moment. yesterday the girls had a library morning, making owls and listening to owl stories, and SB has read loads of her library books. she also did some piano and handwriting. She learnt she had got a place at gym - woohoo, and also went to the first swimming of term, she is now at level 7, so v happy.

today SB did some violin and piano. we are trying to do 15 minutes more regularly, but this is v variable! SHe has done maths and spellings as well. from the box books she chose some of the viking stories [we have viking fact and fiction, volcano fact and fiction and weather fact in there at the mo]. We also did the first chapter of minimus, realising we have forgotten too much of our sketchy latin!

BB has also done lots of letterland books [ iread them and we play search for the main letter of the book] as well as counting and jigsaws. She also played on starfall.

we all made castles and other creations out of wooden bricks for a while, and played outside for a bit too, and i read a french book with them both.

SB has done some education city science, and bB loads of the jump ahead starting maths. i was desperate to do something crafty, so eventually enticed them away with air drying clay. BB made snowmen and SB the start of the viking badges in the hundred history projects book. They both wanted to be facepainted, so i did that, but soon they wanted it off as they said it was itchy.

SB did a chromatography experiment with felt tips to see what hidden colours were there after initially identifying the pen that had made the ‘test’ chromatogram. she really loved doing this, and i think plans to do loads more. i think we might then have a go with 2 way chromatography on the ones that didn’t split well and use alcohol as the other solvent [though we don't have pure ethanol!] and perhaps see what might happen with other solvents.

a quiet time with ‘how things work’ and ‘magic school bus’ and then a castle/fairy game before tea and bed. I have started shortening SB’s judo suit.

chris has had fun with a blocked drain, and sorting camping stuff for the weekend. i love camping!

i know i shouldn’t gripe. but i think my ambient temp is between 18 and 22 degrees. when its colder i wrap up warm, but when its this much hotter… well, i hide in the shade and dip feet in the paddling pool.

but, what i really needed to do was give the garden a good weed. but with it being so hot and airless, and me only just shaking off a migraine, i didn’t think it worth the risk [and it would have been seriously unpleasant]. i could go out in the datk with a torch on i guess, but now feeling lazy!

so, the girls spent a lot of the day in the paddling pool - it did seem like the most sensible thing. though they came in for a 2 hour muzzy fest before i kicked them out again. there seems to be a new interest in muzzy, and they’ve watched 3 days on the trot. since we have series 1 and 2 in german, and 1 in spanish, this is a serious amount of muzzy! i do think my german comprehension has improved mind you!
so i chased them back into the garden and we swung, paddled, picked petals off flowers etc. i took out the airdrying clay - actually i love air drying clay, especially hen you buy it in a sale! as it is cheap, and the girls can fiddle about with it to their hearts content. BB immediately said she wanted to make a coil pot, and set about doing it - she remembered exactly how we did it before easter and got going. sb made a thumb pot. they both then made pizzas. i read some of my book - male sci-fi. you have to roll eyes once in a while, but it is excellent escapism.

helped chris net the raspberries before the birds steal any more, and played games with the girls until we went in to cool off [victorian house good at being cool, partic if we leave cellar door open] and we did some french books and SB did violin practice, but we had to do a bit less, as bb also got her violin out, and was demonstrating her new clock song! they fancied pancakes for tea [they don't often get to choose!] so i did that, and whilst i was getting ready, they both did some maths. BB very proud of how beautifully she can now write a 4. read dinodoors and hairy mcclary to bb, and a roman mystery 2 chptrs for sb. SB also had a chapter of SoTW - islam goes to spain.
bath and bed for both of them. though in the gap between the 2, sb and i played several hands of rummy, and then did a simple electronics kit

forgot to say that i have given BB a pretty short bob as well!

ok, i am going to alter the time stamp so they all appear right. amd i am prob going to add things, as TBH, my memory is a bit affected by the quantity of bloody migraine drugs ingested. i hate migraines. i hate their ability to suck away my life.

anyway, we tidied manically so kirsty and her family could see their way into the house. it still wasn’t actually tidy mind you! saturday was spent in eager anticipation of their arrival, so we did some home ed stuff to take away the constant are they nearly here yet chorus. SB and BB both eagerly did maths and handwriting - i think they thought if they did it quickly it would speed K’s car! SB also did a violin practice. no further memory of the day!! K and co arrived, so lots of playing and ds-ing! we had tea and wine. a v late night for the kids too!

the next day we went out to an rspb event to celebrate the opening of a new reserve. the worst thing about it was the prickles. they had just strimmed/mowed the field, and it was obviously v thistly, and k and i - and to a lesser extent the girls - kept getting prickles in our feet as crocs were really not the best footwear for us to have chosen! SB and A got facepainted. BB and M moaned at the lack of cake. we had fed the troupes before leaving, but obviously should have taken cake with us [we had loads at home!] as it was too temptingly on display, but ridiculously expensive. after a bit of discussion, we went towards the pond dipping and owl pellet zone. SB said it was owl puke, but he insisted it was not as the pellets were coughed up. i am sorry, but they still must be coughed up from some stomach affair rather than lungs! Anyway, SB and A were transfixed by the owl pellets, and found loads of bones in them. SB in particular found loads of skulls, and learnt the difference between field mouse and vole. the man was really friendly and knowledgeable so a great HE moment! we joined M and an extremely grumpy BB ponddipping, and found lots of damsel fly larvae,water beetles, water boatmen and a few fish. ALso a blood sucker - yuk!! We then played in some sand to find things, but most had been found already as it was getting to the end of the day, and then looked at loads of moths that had been temporarily captured the night before.

the mon i went to work, and BB and M got firmly fixed in matter/antimatter mode. mostly after rowing over the didicar we have. BB would try the patience of a saint at times, and M and her seemed to gravitate towards each other to shriek. not so restful! they also did lots of fab fimo-ing. i was so impressed by BB’s snowman - well, for a bit anyway, as she then overdecorated it into a blob! BB does seem to be v dextrous for these things. luckilly on the tues - when again i was at work - merry and girls came across, and all had a great time playing and bindeezing,

BB is just a little too lark like at the moment, and SB and owl like her parents. i think this house prob only has 3 hours of all asleep inhabitants, so chris and i are a bit on the zombie side at times. i felt i had had a lie in by 9am, and went down to join the fray, actually, i think the fray came up to join me!! we did jigsaws on the bed, played imaginary games about frogs that hide in the duvet etc, until my imagination was worn out and we went downstairs. you know, i was far more imaginative with Sb more easily. i must work on this!! SB did piano whilst i was still in bed!
we did some ‘normals’ as it were, with SB enjoying handwriting practice whilst BB and i had fun with an ancient first alphabet workbook that sb had not done at the time. BB is getting to grips with at least considering what sounds might start a word. and she also has much more interest in writing - sb had none at all at this time, but bb is having a go writing letters and numbers - not often recognisable to anyone but her!. she has a runic signature that she does all the time as well, which has a near capital A in the middle.

SB had a bit more of a struggle with maths, so i sat her with me, and with prodding she did it all fairly painlessly. we thought of different ways to make a quick guess to see if the answer was right. i like singapore maths, as i think it makes manipulating numbers easier.she borrows and makes up to hundreds and tens in swirls as it were, and gets it right. ie in 4.25-2.35 she was quite happy to add ten to the 25 to make the answer 2, and then remember to take it away again for 1.90, yet at 6.60-4.90 she borrowed 1 from the 6 and did 16-9=7 so 1.70 . bb was playing quite happily with a bus, being the magic school bus!

we then did some more imaginative play, involving me walking the girls round the house on ribbon leads and pretending to feed the doggies. bb quite often needed to do a poo… i decided i didn’t fancy playing any more, so the doggies had to go to puppy school and listen to some french about a monkey wanting a banana!

some point after this [o think] the girls went to get dressed [it is lunch time obviously!] and after lots of kerfuffling i went up and read riot act AGAIN about bedroom such that both girls wailed, bb inconsolable and i tidied half, bb made a slight effort and sb a reasonable one. so only 1/3 bedroom left to go…

lunch and i became reasonable again!! we did hand painting - because i really didn’t want my face painted. my left hand was done by bb, and my right was a poppy field by sb. we had a lovely time. i painted a rainbows rainbow on her cheek ready to go to said rainbows. it was her last rainbows today and she was quite sad. also because we had got some treats to handout, and she forgot. bless.

whilst she was out, bb and i baked some chocolate brownies, and though i tried and tried to get the timing right, this time they are raw in the middle - sigh. i just can’t time brownies. please, what should be the optimum moment for pulling out? they wer for the guests this weekend, and the mixture yummy!! so we watched magic school bus.

Cuddled sb on her return and more mSB before bathtime before dinner. after dinner she was searching merry’s website for aquabeads. i have told her that if she wants jobs to earn money, they will only count if playroom and bedroom tidy! and after bb going on, she has the same deal if she wants a longneck! i have to asy, i adore the anamalz range!

anyway, where were we?? oh yes, bedtime!!!!

i had a much needed lie in today. my head, body and soul were not at all engaged. whilst recovering, i heard sb do piano practice. when i came down, chris and sb had gone through those lovely anholt books around artists. we did some HE - handwriting, french. i have to say that SB’s handwriting is really coming on. She has struggled at writing, but in her own time and on her own terms she is getting there. She likes the getty and dubay, and does lots of practice with cards and notes to people. She also spent a lot of time doing the colour in doggy clothes she got from merry’s girls.

BB also did french and some early numeracy with singapore early bird and literacy from before the code and letterland red books - which i managed to find. BB was very impressed to get some books, its a shame i can’t get sb gagged quickly enough before she says they were hers first!

we did lots of imaginative play altogether today. i am trying to jumpstart my immersion back into these games, as i have sort of gradually faded out of being a pinky ponk, or a doggie or a vet etc etc. so i decided this was ridiculous, so i have been a pinky ponk [or whatever it is!] bought and cared for doggies, played with cuddlies etc etc and made my girls happy.

we also baked carrot cake, watched some how things work, nina and the neurons and magic school bus, picked peas and broad beans from the garden.
aargh how did it get to be this late?? bedtime!

i didn’t have wed off, but had to work - with migraine. so missed on what seems to have been a fab visit to a firestation, and also meeting friends to talk to grrrr.

instead i had a suprise day off today - a surprise as i was going to a conference far side of london, but, due to raging migraine and out of migraine meds, that just wasn’t practical. retired to bed with cold compress and gp appt booked. so i now have meds again and at least spent half the day compos mentis with the girls. [well sort of] what struck me was that having got out of the pistols at dawn to dusk for a bout 3 days, they have returned to that pattern. aargh to the levels of bickerdom. it isn’t all bb, the split is prob sb:bb 40:60. just that bb is noticeably more unmanageably horrid. mind you the wailing was also stratospheric today, so i might have been better at that conference in london.

in between bickers and wails and time outs [for me] we did have a lovely time! SB and bB had done some beautiful hama when i came too, and we ironed them b4 they were scattered on the floor - so result! SB then finished singapore maths 2b part 1 [at last - we have been being quite slack on the formal ed front] and bB and i did earlybird 1a -which is v easy for her, as it is predom counting to 10, which she can do in french or english quite happily. actually in english she gets to 20, then starts going up in 10’s. the more/less, most/least is quite easy too. so a romp really, but she likes having done hers whilst sb is doing hers.

after that we did some french - farm and wild animals. much taken by the fact that lots of the african ones had the same names, but with an accent. and we read SOTW on australian aborgininal beginnings - sort of! we looked at aboriginal art, read some dreamtime stories, and thought about doing some painting. but sb and bb had a fight over this, so the offer was withdrawn in a fit of pique [and regretted afterwards - must keep mouth shut!]

girls went out to play, i had a time out by hoeing - i have to say we have done the best so far with the veg and fruit beds. earlier this week chris harvested 3 1/2 lb strawbs!! we are harvesting peas, broad beans too, and the pots are prob ready to have an exploration!!

i then brought out some books on weather and ponds, and a pond dipping kit from ebay - which turned out fab [never linked to an ebay seller before, but actually the magnified tank is v fab] and this rescued the afternoon. we have quite a lot of pond life in our goldfish pond. unfortunately loads of mosquito larvae in the waterbutt, but we have lots of waterboatman - who eat them, a water spider, and pond skaters. we have a plague of large pond snails [oh dear!] and on one lily pad stem was the empty shell of what was some kind of dragonfly we think. so we all enjoyed this. BB liberated loads of pond snails, and then both girls played unhappily in the paddling pool until riot act read. SB had violin, and BB sitting on step… then BB made a card and SB and i played an alphabet game and then we played shops.
i redressed SB’s foot and put BB to bed. and there we are.

it has been v windy here today. from the weather forecast, i hadn’t thought we would be included, but we were! particularly in the morning. no trees down [cross fingers!]

so, what have we done? well, when i got up, BB was engrossed in a castle game - she really has got a lovely imagination for playing games and gets totally sucked into them. SB was doing animal crossing on her ds. luckilly she has spelled all letters correctly this time! so i went on ‘puter to be shocked by the news that a good friend lost her sister last night. many hugs Jax. i don’t have any wise words of comfort, but i am thinking of you, and if you can think of anyway i can help…

girls were both desperate to do one of the experiments out of the horrible science explosion kit. BB wanted the volcano, and SB the snot!! so both were duly done. the volcano is - of course - our vinegar and bicarb type approach, but bB v satisfied. the snot was prob polymer science [i do wish these kits would include some 'real' science explanation - equations, what we actually made - if only for me! so, google being our friend, i think we are talking non-newtonian fluids again! here are some possible instructions for prob similar [unfortunately the glue in the pack just said glue!! so not sure what kind it actually was] . on googling, think we would enjoy having a go at the bouncing balls next!

[ooh, on a different note - it was the instructions that reminded me - look here Michelle for stalactite experiment]

where were we, oh yes, we were making snot. we enjoyed it greatly. not entirely sure exaclty what we made! SB gave it a squidge about for a bit, and then declared herself done. so we read a bit about polymers from here, and reminded ourselves on what atoms where, so what molecules were, and got to poymers. we thought a bit about polymers we have about.

Both girls joined me for a bit of french, and we did la maison [again!]. some lunch, and an interminable time to get dressed and clean teeth possibly because i was outside hoeing the veg bed and planting the last of the cucurbits in that time! then i rousted them all outside saying it was a nice day, so we should be out. we failed to fly kites in the garden - too much turbulence from trees i guess. Sb settled on doing a stamping craft. bb raced about on her like-a-bike, paddled and played in the sandpit. we topped up the birdfeeders [they get through SO MUCH!]

girls played nicely for a bit, so i pruned the bay tree, and we made some herb bundles to hang in the utility room [where no doubt the spiders will make huge webs!] we harvested and ate strawberries, i rousted BB around a lot, and SB felt hot, so went inside to do webkinz, education city and webland. we got a tp swing cheaply from ebay and cannibalised it so that ours can be pegged into the ground and not wobble around as much. hung a swing off the climbing frame at a v low height so bb ecstatic. sb pleased that she can swing wildly on new set up!

i made curry whilst sb ds-ed and bb watched pingu and 64 zoo lane. think thats about it.

today in retrospect is not quite the same. anyway, we had a chilled and lovely day. we did reading stories together and cuddling, and had another science kit to try out. this was the burglar alarm half of the science kit. SB really enjoyed putting it all together and making the circuit - it was quite cool! unfortunately it didn’t work!! she said she still enjoyed doing it though. BB did some air drying clay, and made a head - also rather cool, as she fixed wiggly eyes into it. BB does seem to have a keen artistic streak really. As well as cuddle, swing them etc etc, i also did a fair amount of gardening. would blog, but SB calling for a cuddle.

i should be gardening or weeding, or perhaps getting ready to go to work tomorrow, but i have post holiday blues, so will blog instead! actually, have just wasted 1 hour idly looking at rightmove!

anyway, oh yes, today. yeah, have headache = surrrprise! but got up, read to SB and looked at pictures in DK eyewitness WW2 - reading theatre shoes has made her want to find out ‘a bit’ about living in london in war and post. chris’s dad was an evacuee, obviously we have grandparents and sibs that did all sorts of different war efforts. [note to self - do nOT follow kirsty's book links!!]then read about dinodoors to BB.

we both read a bit of a french book. i am hoping this reg reading of basic french stories, and doing a bit of vocb round them will get us going. i wish i had more french though! they always want words i have no idea for. eg yacht not boat on holiday, and caravan, what about turtle mummy - aargh! why can’t they want tree, car and house!! anyway we did days of the week afterwards. realised i can’t remember months though v- oops.

girls then had a bath and we had lunch - so v lazy start! out into the garden, as staying indoors reminded me of unpacking to do! SB wanted a science kit, and BB ‘colourful painting’ [she did lots of magic painting on holiday!]. we started of with a magic garden kit - one of those you curse and swear over because the bits don’t quite fit, and you can see crystals in the solutions and wonder if it will work at all. Anyway, all in, and waiting for it to flower - which it did - thank goodness, though not much of snow on the mountain!

SB then did a fossil find kit that we picked up last oct from sedgewick museum in cambridge when we went visiting with mum. [i think it is a home made kit by the museum] we bought 2, and they are good and cheap. they each contain 3 fossils, that you have to identify and write a few things about - last time was a crinoid, ammonite and ohh, can’t remember! this time was a shark tooth, a belemnite and a trilobite. she was particularly taken by the trilobite as soooo old.

BB painted [oops the stuff is still on lawn] some air drying clay models we made last week. we all did some dot painting - a la impressionists. bb did huge swirls and sb muddy smears!! BB ran about while  i read to SB about edison, and she cut out things. BB also did cutting out, so we have a confetti lawn. icecreams, fruit, and then a final ’speriment’ - a tiny electricity kit. the fan bit worked, but the pulling to make a bulb light didn’t. the kit is cheap though, we have its pair yet to do.

we finished after tea with watching the sound of music, as we had talked about the ‘axis of evil’ [oh, you mean there is another one now??] and hitler overrunning austria without much effort.

not such a good camping weekend, also not such a good weekend to try and show someone one of the tents - that I had as a teen with my parents. lots of happy memories tied in that tent. we have passed it on anyway, and I hope it is still in working order [and that the new owners do take a digiphoto of the tent step by step as they unfold it so it can be back in order]

I was at work for the morning, but got back in time to have some playing time with the deependers. the children all seemed happy playing together [well, mostly] haven’t found l’s trousers though. wonder if they are playing sardines somewhere!

we did - at BB’s request some ’speriments. i was trying out the beginning of electricity. though both wanted to do it, they didn’t want to do it together as it were, and i guess i am not being the model of patience at the moment, but we got there, had fun - particularly with static in balloons! i think i might start to have to do lesson plans!

We moved onto violin practice with SB, her in charge of how long, and she enjoyed - got to hovis advert! lots of cuddling, did a bit of french [things in the house!] and girls watched some magic school bus. BB to bed and SB and I read the isle of immeter [in the sir cumference series, which she really enjoys]

watching heros and listening to beat of talent free band at pub across the way [with sundry woos and wails!!] . thanks for hugs.

just a little one as i am seriously on edge - management meetings. i am just not the right type!

Anyway, the girls had a busy day, going to nots and tots, with a bit of french and a bit of latin amongst other things. SB did a piano practice as well.

when i got home they both wanted to do a craft, so some cards for fran are half made! Sb has used a stamping kit, and bB and i have done wax splodges so far. we had candles out for a bit of demonstrating that there was air and you can use it up.[bb is particularly keen on speriments] SB also did some maths. we all read a bit more of these baby french books [they are v much for 2's but they are quick, and we try and do a sentence with the words, today we were eating or not eating various foods!] SB and BB watched some how things work based on the DK books, which they both enjoyed [and yes, some MSB] . Sb playd some chess, and read some 3rd grade detectives books.

hmm, i am trying to back flickr, blog, think about important meeting tomorrow at work etc etc, and multitasking is not compatible with BB awake. gorgeous though she is.

Anyway, we all got up, CHris to SB to drama, unfortunately he was running late and they went to the wrong venue. it is far enough away that there was much sighing! she got to half of it anyway.

meanwhile BB and I were having a much more satisfactory time. we started off playing silly games - hide and seek frog etc, then did some seed sowing. BB quite keen to do more experiments with seeds, so we have put some different ones to chit and we will see which one germinates first. [more details on gardening blog] after we had done that we did some ‘match and sort’ with singapore 1a. she enjoys this as v easy!! [though she did say she wanted to do SB's book...] and we read one of the very starter french books on colours again.

Still desperately keen to do ’speriments, i got out an air book, so we saw how we could blow air on each other [degenerated a bit!] and then [b******, FORGOT ABOUT THE LINK THING AND JUST PUBLISHED. THIS IS WHERE I LAST SAVED!] i impressed myself with making some really good aeroplanes.

lunch and SB home. she wanted me to show her her piano hands afterwards, so we did a piano practce, then a violin. BB joined in the violin practice - always tricky! Both girls did afrench book with me on clothes and then ordered crystal experiments, so we set them up - very brave of me to handle chemicals with BB! SB read all the safety warnings v carefully. she remembered that we had hung the rock from string before, and wanted to repeat that, so we did.

Rainbows for SB - feels that there is no time for me in her current wed timetable, so will have to change that. A surprise visit by chris parents, so i made tea and dinner at the same time [grin] and got them to read [and i won't link this time!] Katie and the dinosaurs and Digging up dinosaurs. we then read a red nose reader together before she wanted to bake pink cupcakes with smarty eyes. so we did. SB returned in time for the lickings, and we said goodbye to grandparents.

Bath, tea, BB bed, SB playing in garden, me potting up seedlings. SB bed. Apprentice, apprentice you’re fired and BB awake. playing drawing birds and dinosaurs with BB and looking at flickr pics of her as a baby. the end!!