socialisation

chris and i stayed up a bit too late with playing online agricola with the babs last night [i won - yay!] SB also had a late bedtime, having read a book she then got scared by, so had to have time to read a more comforting book, so was v tired today!

whe we got up, it was snowing - again! and quite hard, but a quick check suggested no snow at merry’s, so the science stuff was gathered and we set off. we were also the firsterers there!! actually, due to a number of circs we were 2 families down and one family up, and that worked pretty well! Did science in dribs and drabs, as it was basically setting it up and then watching what happens.

as we are on a ‘biology’ term, and roughly looking at microbiology, today we looked at yeasts. We have done a fair bit of discussion on and off about bodies, energy sources and then lungs, oxygen and carbon dioxide, so we did a bit of a recap. there was surprise that yeast might be ‘alive’ so this wasn’t a simple chemical reaction. that actually what was happening was the yeast would be using sugar to fuel the division into 2 [actually this is a bit of a simplification, as yeasts actually bud off rather than divide like bacteria] that they are single celled organisisms of funghi. we knew what it was used for, and i briefly touched on the krebbs cycle without naming and shaming it, saying effectively to make the energy, a gas was given off as a waste product. we had quite a talk about the various gas possibilities, but mostly settled on CO2, partly because this is something we breathe out as a waste, and partly because i had brought along some lime water to test for co2!! so we used my beautiful new erlenmeyer beakers and placed 5 spoons sugar, one heaped yeast and 250mls warm water and topped off with a balloon. soon enough this began to fill with ‘the gas’ and then each got a chance to mix ‘the gas’ with lime water - which rather fabulously went cloudy! and also to put a lit match into it - which v satisfactorily immed went out. so we learnt a bit about micro orgs, their needs, and waste products, and how to test for them. fab! this book suits this experiment pretty well, and we read it again earlier this week

I also did some of the sampler sewing - not as well as Merry! Kty did french, the children voluntarily did some music, and Zoe was pasta and tea maker - thanks! there was no snow at merry’s, tho it did snow on and off. we got back well in time for brownies - still snow here!

BB had her face painted and then decided she was tired [she fell asleep in the car on the way home whilst SB and I sang along to serge - above] and watched star wars whilst i snoozed.

SB was at brownies making valentines biscuits and then judo. this is the game of 2 halves, as this owl has a very brusque and brisk nature, and is just one of those busy women who perhaps SB isn’t so used to. so she asked to get changed in her toilet [it was at the big house for cooking] and j agreed, but whilst she was doing it, she was called for, and couldn’t hear so then got told off. then found someone else had taken her biscuits as they looked nicer, which she had made for me. SO loads of tears. Arrgh. I know she was prob stressed, but this isn’t the first time SB has cried. And yes Sb wears her heart on her sleeve and has no thickness of skin to speak of, but i do think that this being so a bit of compassion over the taken biscuits and actually, since sb had asked to change in the loo… oh well. we had a long discussion about different folks, and that j would prob be surprised that that exchange had made sb cry… btw Merry and katy, SB says she just isn’t used to shouty ppl as we and you don’t shout! Anyway, lots and lots of hugs on return, watching magic school bus inside ralphie episode, and to bed as a happy girl again.

As ppl might have read below, on monday chris bought fish from the fishmonger at the market. Today we dissected them at latinetc! i was really impressed, particularly by the younger [and more sensible group] at how carefully this was done in the main. i think the younger group were aided by being on 4 wanting to do it and 2 adults, to the older groups impatient 6! We started with looking at the beauty of the mackerel, the camouflage elements, and how we thought these might work, at the shape and dynamics of the fish - muscled and bullet shaped, likely to be a fast swimmer we thought. at the various external features - vent, protected eyes and gills, the various fins and the fabulous mouth. Then we started cutting!

we started with gills, talked about their purpose and investigated them - they are v beautiful! then we did our eviscerating slit - careful mostly not to eviscerated! amazingly we found the swim bladder, gonads, stomach and heart. may have found liver! def found lots of muscle and spine. and then after discussing those, they merrily set to on destruction! actually, that’s not entirely true, E did a beautiful dissection in the littlies, BB was a bit wilder! in the older group i think J and J did well to hang in their, being uncertain about dissection [and i have promised that will be the only one this term - so no eyeballs yet!] and the smell got to chloe. SB and maddy really enjoyed gutting etc their fishes…

other than that, they did music theory and latin and for the littlies french. we stayed and chatted whilst katy went to baby music, which was nice, i like the opportunity for a good natter. i listed to M and then J doiing their violin practises. we brought Maddy home with us, and she did brownies and judo v happily with SB, watched charlottes web with tea, and now all is finally quiet upstairs…

this is the third year that we have gone to centerparcs for a january break with friends. more friends than ever also holidayed this year, so there was a home ed camp feel to it as well! SB in particular loved having lots of different friends to go down rapids and flumes with as well as general messing about in the water!

We shared with jax from ‘making it up’ this year, so got to enjoy lots and lots of lovely cuddles with soa, the gorgeous new baby. She is a total delight, and at that bit where she is smiling and laughing and being coy, as well as cooing and burbling - very cute! surprising us all, BB and small really did a good job of playing together the majority of the time, and big and SB had their usual tempestuous relationship - but this is starting to be far more boom than bust as well [which is relieving for me and Jax on the eardrum front! rofl!!] we adults had our chilled, wine enabled evenings after the hurly burly of camp life! we ate well - due to some pre-prep, thus , i think, enabling kids blood sugars to be better managed, and a more peaceful chalet as a result! big ate everything i cooked -so into my good books ! and small was surprised by liking some of it too!!

we mostly swam - surprisingly enough! we enjoy swimming, we enjoy messing about in water, and therefore we enjoy centreparcs! SB is fish like anyway, and was an intermittent visitor as mostly with friends - as mentioned above! i mostly played with BB, who has great confidence in the water, swimming over and under and really enjoying it. we got some zoggs seals that she had great fun with, as well as the noodles. we just loved it! also, whilst swimming, we adults got to chat with each other, share keeping an eye on littlies so we could go down various of the waterchutes and just chill. I really needed a holiday to chill, so this was ideal! i think i prefer elvedon for the pool rather than sherwood, but not a huge lot in it! i missed the salt hot pool, as the outside pool here not so hot, and had the rapids running off it, which BB permanently tempted to go down! I also missed the gentle ‘indoor river’. This year we did have a new ‘gadget’ a ‘nereus’ plastic bag for popping digital cameras in and using in the pool to a depth of 20m. remarkably successful i think! no leakage and the pics far better than i expected - main prob being the children actually staying where put!!

the playparks were enjoyed too, we had a couple of different sessions there, once predom with the deependers, and another predom with the sotp plus assorted other children brought along! and we did a nice cycle en masse round the complex. This was rather great, picking up a few children on the way - glad that B found her bike again - will not suggest here that she takes after her mother tho… Although i did take crafting stuff, we didn’t actually have anytime to do it, as most days we swam 2ce [morn and eve] and parked in the middle, or we did the cycle. we also had a mini birthday celebration for big and e and a meet at starbucks - so v sociable!

on the social front, the families [12 of them!] were divided into 3 areas, so i guess i saw the most of the ones in ours, and the families that we seemed to share a wavelength with for pool visits! so i missed mostly monsterteeny and manorborns [except for their all day endeavour!] and saw more of the portico, puddles, deependers, sotp, babs, jo, lovelyem and a sprinkle of ali!! me ‘n jax socialised out 2 of the nights, and ‘the boys’ 1 night - though they made the most of it, having a games and beer night and getting in at 4am!!

these poor unsocialised home ed kids! As a promise for the difficult sunday, both girls had agreed to do some home ed ‘work’ whilst away, which we did for 2 of the days! though SB did do recorder every day, and don’t think she will have much trouble with the grade 1 pieces. She also read loads of her new books…

so all in all a fab hol!! i will prob think of bits to add, but off to bed [probably!]

today was a latinetc day, always enjoyable for all of us. we were still late, because somehow our kids don’t get out of the house, and my poor sleeping is making me just want to curl up in bed unless matter transported! We started with SB doing some music theory, which apparently she struggled to do there, but at home raced through the sheet, so as gina says, prob due to arriving half way thro. BB similarly shy in french, doing opposites, but got going, and for the rest of the morning toddling about quite happily!

I like being in the kitchen with michelle, though think she may have been a bit more dubious about our proximity as we were looking at bacteria! i reassured everyone that they were actually dead! fixed on a microscope slide in fact, and we had a peer at some, but my microscope not really powered quite highly enough. we did a fun bacteria division game with peas and paper ‘cells’ obviously these were intracellular bacteria! and that was enjoyed. then i got out the petri dishes and swabs and we all thought of somewhere that might harbour bacteria, swabbed and plated it. now, with any luck, the petri dishes are in airing cupboards gently warming! the plan is to look every day and draw what you see. we may, or may not, have the older group try and make a microscope slide depending on how well it goes! unfortunately, it used up way more agar than i imagined! so i have had to buy lots more, and am waiting for it before we do part 2 - grow bugs and then put in something we think is bacteriocidal - what do you think? teatree, lavender, breast milk, alcohol gel, soap?? oh and an antibiotic and see if we can kill them! so we will dissect a fish next time instead. we had lots of discussions about bacteria, and it is always great to see what info kids already have and can pull together, we had a bit of evolution, yoghurt making, pasteurisation, ‘good and bad’ bacteria…

latin and music also happened, tho not clarinet - will happen 2moro. we came home, and sb did the clarinet and theory sheet whilst BB got going with painting a plaster of paris frame she had made. she really paints v carefully, and acrylic paints are so much better for this!! just as SB was about to get a kit to finish out, we had the deependers arrive after baby music, so supplied tea and refreshments. M very taken by that maze ball thing we all have! J,K and SB played bohnanza for a bit, and L and BB played together v happily. apparently the frame is prob for L, but don’t get too excited, as BB often keeps the things she makes for others…

Other things this week - SB had and really enjoyed her first golf lesson. she has done loads of maths on angles. BB done lots of crafting and finally starting to learn some letters!! chris put up the new bookcases, so looks fab in hallway, and currently he has started on room of doom! work been stressful as always, but have some time off coming up - woohoo!! oh, and it snowed - somehow that is no longer newsworthy, and i have hardly mentioned this prolonged cold snap in the blog, but it hasn’t really affected us, not like so many others!

before we get to today, i thought i would just like to say i went out to a restaurant both monday and tuesday! monday with chris, as girls at nanna’s so we made the most of the evening by going out to a local turkish, which was delish! tuesday was work night out at a chinese-malaysian - mucho yummy! had mock peking duck for the first time and liked it [have always steered a bit clear of the mock things!] must take chris there, it was near where the deependers live so would recommend it, tho a bit on the pricy side! mind you, the non veggies all had lobster as one of the courses, so i am guessing if i had been with chris it might have been half that price!

and so to wed, thought would raise christmas cheer with the science, and thinking hard for a good end of year finale, decided on crystal structure! went really well. we looked at crystals with SB’s rather fab microscope

now, this has mixed reviews, so anyone considering one, i think digital with usb port is a fab thing, it works quickly and easily and the laptop we run it on is our oldest one. the x200 doesn’t have enough light, so i agree there, but if you see one of these going cheap, snap it up, as far more fun than something you have to look down eyepieces for! all the children were v interested in it, from the v youngest, and it was quite some time before BB declared boredom! tho i notice that when they moved to slides, she was still watching!

we discussed crystals, how they form, and that if i had a powerful enough microscope [they don't do toy electron microscopes yet!] we could have seen the actual crystalline structure - which we discussed! then, whilst gina did music theory we them, i prepared my ace card - we made the crystalline structures out of maltesers held with royal icing. great fun! enjoyeed thoroughly by all, and hoping that they might remember some of them [i said them till blue in face!] simple cube, face centered cube, body centred cube, hexagonal close packed. and here are some examples!

actually it was a busy session and v much enjoyed by all. Gina also did bells with the big’uns and clarinet with the SB. Merry continued with sewing samplers with everyone - remarkably patient with all the needle traumas! BB also remarkably patient with hers. katy did latin christmas carols [well, latin translations!] and french and also boiled sweetie window biscuits. All went down really well, lots of happy laughing kids learning lots.

we were not only first to arrive [as hadn't seen any morning emails!] but also first to leave, as BB wanted to go to the rainbows christmas party. she didn’t join in any game, but when we ate, a girl sat with us, and they got on well, as she was really outgoing and friendly. not sure if bb will ever go to rainbows again, but she was much happier having had this interaction. i think she is just much younger than the others - prob directly due to home educating as we don’t push the outward facing thing.

SB had brownies party afterwards, which apparently didn’t have enough games. we watched doctor who, a crazy long bath was had, and the day was done.

On Friday it was another history presentation session at a local HE group.  Theme of Normans and Medieval - so just a few Centuries to choose from

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.

Thursday was Tots and Nots.  Bit late getting going in the morning, but SB managed to get a piano pratice in before we left just a little late. Once we got there SB was straight into Philosophy Club - apparently this week it was about the difference beteen hearing and listening. Me and BB sat and made a cardboard cutout digger  that Gina had provided the materials for. Sat and read with BB, played with Megablocks and playdough, had snacks, some playing etc., SB did a poem activity with Katy and some of the other kids. Recorders all round with Gina. Had intended to leave early enough to get home for a bit for SB to do a bit more preperation for her presentation for the next days HE group. But she wanted to do French as well so we ende up staying on for that.

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’

and my sense told me to panic!! It was another latinetc wednesday, and i decided we would do spy writing [since i think all the children have destroyed their copies, they are on googledocs!]. so i bundled together a number of reasonably hazardous rather than outright dangerous chemicals, and set off! i turned out to be not so successful for the younger group, as the paper wasn’t starchy enough, but they enjoyed it anyway, and were remarkably dextrous at pipetting and measuring. [they didn't get to have really hazardous chemicals! citric acid, acetic acid and iodine!]

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 have had a v busy day today, and i took a day off work to do it! we had a locally organised trip to the nene valley railway - not quite so close! We were going on a mail train, where we would stamp our own letters, pop them in the mailbags, onto the train, then see how mailbags were picked up and dropped off at speed, and then sort the mail. [oh, involving a train ride]. It was absolutely fabulous. we all enjoyed it, although both girls were suffering from tiredness with tired wingy wobbles from BB and tired no-one understands me from SB with tired unsympathetic parents but still… i loved meeting loads of group people i haven’t seen for ages - waves!! there were loads of spouses, some never seen before [by me, obviously other people had seen them before!] i was fascinated by the bag pick up thingy, and enjoyed the convivial atmosphere of the whole trip really. absolutely fab!! the weather even was with us, a lovely warm lunchtime picnic!

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??

chris and the girls had a busy end of week whilst i was away on a lovely course at Madingley Hall in cambridge. v fab!! I got to start an new book there, which i am REALLY enjoying.

on thurs they went into town and had a bit of a shop. SB is on the lanky side, so has great difficulty in finding trousers that stay up without having to bunch lots of material up either with with elastic or belts. so they popped in to next, and a small fortune later she is really happy! BB had boot heaven at clarke’s, but SB not so fortunate, as with an E fitting there seems to be no shoes for her. the specialist shop in town seems to have closed down, so a bit more of a search is in order i remember this from my childhood! They then went onto a home ed friend for a playdate before rushing back for gym.

friday. ah yes, a home ed visit to a local orchard. a yearly event where the rather long suffering owner drives round the home ed rabble on a wagon hitched to the tractor!! i have been before, and it is excellent. he is v informative, the children get to try different apples, including new varieties and old trusted, and also see the sorting bit. he makes juices as well. SB came back with armfuls. BB had her footie lesson later on and then both happy to see me we have found the yoga dvd, and both girls rather cutely did it. SB and i both had a giggle reading the bagthorpe saga - our bedtime story. SB has decided she is rather good at doing trances - i v much agree, having seen her trance for over 30 mins doing one maths sum!!

Saturday. we started with the quest seekers presentation at the library. a bit weirdly it started by a speech about how hard reading was and why most children don’t choose to do it - this may be true, but seemed an odd start to the thing. and anyway, mine love reading, and i imagine a fair number of the other questseekers do too!! BB won the questseeker raffle and got a little ball game thingy, and in the book sale i bought SB 3 of the Spiderwick Chronicles for 30p each - a bargain! also persuaded someone else to buy Azincourt, which i really enjoyed. we posted some postcrossing postcards on the way home and put up our world map with the received ones.

SB has done a fair bit of piano practice over the last 2 weeks, so we had a ‘lesson’ together, and she is really moving forward. i am hoping that the speed of progress when she practices might persuade some more practice!! we did some recorder duetting as well, which we both like. whilst sb did some other home ed stuff - maths and music theory - bb and i played with her farm animals. i think i might neeed to practice at this, as i am less and less fond of playing with things! SB got out a tescos elecetric fan kit, which she put together quite happily - bit like this one Ein-o’s Box Kit Electric Motor Electric Science. we then had a lovely time making cards for chloes birthday party.

Merry having rung, we realised to take an alternate road work free route!! and arrived second at the pool venue, in time to give a very pregnant Jax a hug! and for Big and SB to exuberantly greet each other, before all those staying at the manor arrived too. i loved the pool, a great depth baby pool for bb to manically swim in. as an aside, her swimming is really coming on - although it is still more drowning with style, the backstroke is particularly good! scarily, she actually dived in twice - eek! luckilly bellyflopping rather than smashing head on the ground. i got to chat to the babs a bit! the bigger girls were being crazy in the bigger pool, though SB, big and E were mostly playing with the floats rather than the long floaty obstacle course.

lovely time, i love swimming!! [though i actually didn't get to do much, mostly kept an eye on crazy bb!!] party tea at the venue and lots of the blogring were in attendence! said hello again to michelle’s friend B, who i have met before and like v much! [she should blog you know!!] the cake cutting was a crazy moment!! back to the manor and wine and chat and relaxing until suddenly it was midnight, and we drove home to the sound of kids snoring!

sunday [btw having to blog with left hand only bb asleep on me and sb snuggled up also, watching jungle book - hard!!] anyway, i had planned to go to west stow for a reenactment weekend, but i had an unsettled night with lots of v unsettling themed dreams so had a lie in to recover - as did SB from having a late night. bb was up early tho. so i was a bit put out to have ‘ruined’ the day, but recovered! i discussed with the girls what fun things they wanted to do, and SB wanted to make the viking flatbread that was in the young archaeologists magazine. could i find it anywhere??? nope!! luckilly google to the rescue. the recipe galled for buttermilk tho… so we have made our own butter and topped up the amount of buttermillk with the first ‘washing’. we did do some of the butter in a jamjar for authenticity!! but the rest we did in the food processor, and is now in the freezer! SB then made the dough for the viking shardbread. we made one batch with honey, and the other with herbs, tried some each, but froze the rest to take to history group next friday and hopefully rewarmed there!! tasted delicious!! BB did some painting and stamping happily whilst we did this.

SB and i played bohnanza and landlock, she played castle keep with chris. i played an extremely long game of farm animals with BB. SB and i got the solar panels that we won on ebay to power a knex motor tried out, and thought what we might try and build - but didn’t! instead BB did some fimo-ing - piggies - and SB hama-ed some witches hats and we are all out of black. i seem to be constantly ordering from bead merrily!! think i might save up the order though!! i used some left out and hardening hama to make eyballs, teeth and worms beads for a scary halloween necklace! [having grumped at bb for starting something months ago and then doing no more so the fimo was dodgy!! Although our present to chloe had sparked some interest from SB, we didn’t actually get round to doing watercolour painting. nor the piano, maths and ballet practice we had planned. oh well!!

hoping for an early bedtime for the girls, but have, unfortunately, woken bb up, so not sure when she might fall asleep again! but an early out tomorrow.

sorry about hopeless blogging. life is feeling v short on time, and blogging and reading others blogs is a casualty! wouldn’t be so bad if the man himself - whose blog this is remember! - did some catching up too!!

me - well, with the girls went and visited mum and dad for the weekend. always good to catch up, relax and be loved and spoiled!! though did have one of the most horrendous journeys down for roadworks, diversions and parkedness!! also saw my BIL and nephew and niece for sunday, which we all enjoyed. a flying visit from sis too. returned late on sunday. chris had a weekend of tidying, though i really wish it had been windowing. i am sure it is going to fall in one of these days.

monday girls did some shopping for ballet stuff and new cycling helmet for BB. SB had ballet, a bit of home ed type stuff done i think. tues is library day, and a visit to chris’s parents, with swimming then for both girls. i played some games in the evening, and we watched a rather boring fact dvd on ice age survivors.

so to today. latinetc! it seems ages since the last one, and i have really missed them! it looks like we might be making a few changes to structure and layout, a dynamic process! today i did science - as always - and slightly shorter sessions, which i think worked better. i had 4 mystery chemicals, and descriptions of properties of 4 chemicals, and we had to identify which was which. think it worked v well!! merry did some fab fimo craft - though sb did a beheaded version!! a latin refresher by katy. think sb has forgotten vast swathes! and some music from gina and our busy morning was busy! we were going to go to the park in the afternoon, but it got chilly, so merry and girls came back to ours, and there was fancy dress going on.

excitement for bb’s first rainbows! she thinks one of us will have to go until she is 7 we’ll see!! she loved it though. sb is currently in brownies, and getting more badges probably, then judo. we did a really good piano practice today as well.

the other thing we are doing is postcrossing towards some geography!! actually working currently, in that each of our sent postcards has been looked up on a map, and more excitement over the current 2 received.

it was an RI day today, meaning up bright and early to catch the train. today it all seemed to go smoothly, there was parking, there was time, and we remembered the croissants! and we shared a carriage with the puddles! so all v delightful. got wathc SB and maddy practice their french conversation on the tube - how home ed cute! as we got off the tube, there were the manor borns, as we walked along the pavement, there were the portico, and finally, already there were monster, teeny and parents! if we had tried to arrange to meet up so effortlessly it would have been doomed to failure!

A bit of playing in the basement, and some interminable queuing as they set up - noticing that the manorborns snuck the back way past all of this! and then in to fantastic pole position seats. i think the experimenters were a trifle concerned to see BB so close, but she was fab! we really enjoyed it. lots of things to think about - with plenty of bangs! we were advised not to try at home, though i loved the luminescent bits… yep, we loved it! Afterwards, bb and sb spent a while poring over the periodic tables outside before we picnicked in green park with friends.

we decided to walk to buckingham palace and wander about a bit, but after we had got there, bb was flagging, and TBH, she has been tired more quickly recently, so we wandered slowly back through green park and came home, meeting the puddles at finsbury park! bb fell asleep on train, and SB and Maddy read some usborne pocket science books, played treehouse and did some colouring - all v beautiful to watch! back in time for SB brownies and judo, and BB and i played hiss and watched shrek. on SB’s returned she watched a what the ancients… on early britons whilst i snoozed!

next week rI is magnets, with latinetc deferred - i think?

getting a bit behind with blogging, as real life intervened! anyway, we had a fab weekend this weekend, having nipped up to sheffield to see some muddlepuddle friends there. i say nipped, but with all the fri eve traffic, and the roadworks, i did more plodding than nipping! the girls are now wired in with in flight entertainment for long solo flights, so that was fine. chris stayed at home to decrease his job list.

started off well, with despatching tired children to bed, and then playing caylus with my hosts. i obviously lost big style, i rarely, if ever, beat Team Sheffield! i really enjoyed it, so played 3 more times in the time we were there - never won though!

we did stay up until 3am, and as thurs had been a working night, i was somewhat tired, and unable to rouse the next morning, so we were rather later into sheffield than planned! we were off to weston park museum however, when we arrived, the children saw a helter skelter in the park, and it became apparent there was a free event on! so we watched a few acts, the children had a helter skelter ride, the older ones went up the climbing wall and the younger ones a bouncy slide thingy. panning for gold and badge making also happened, so it was 2 well spent hours later we went into the museum.

the museum was fab. thanks for taking us there. i stayed with the little 2, E and SB went round by themselves, so i missed seeing what they did, but SB was VERY enthusiastic, as was BB. i will get photos up in the usual place eventually! hoe via tescos where we bought tubs of icecream and suitable sprinkles and sauces to make children v happy. i cooked camp curry, then shipped children upstairs so we could game again!

Another late rise, pancakes with all the trimmings - yummy - and though we had debated a small farm open day, the kids were having a ball, and so… A1 lovely trip, thanks to my hosts. though the travelling back shew how badly people can drive when they put their minds to it…

i had managed to be mostly organised yesterday, sorting out an acid/bases science and picnic stuff, so setting off this morning ok. introduced myself to the temporary french child at the deependers, drank tea with katy, and eagerly awaited gina and her composing special occasion.

the children divvied themselves into groups with an adult, and i was with jjm combo, plus bb who was sulking because we hadn’t done the day in the right order with littlies science first. it was great fun, and loosely based around petroushka. i think we were probably more ‘loose’ than anticipated! all the children bar bb enjoyed it, and fran conducted the concert at the end. the children all had snack and watched petroushka on you tube, which they were all enjoying.

i hesitantly suggested if science was to happen, it should start, and they all raced at me like loons. i wanted to do it outside, but we had numerous too colds, so went into the deependers home ed kitchen. it was a bit of a squish doing all the kids science together, and reminded me why i wouldn’t want to be a class teacher, as lots of crowd control involved! i think it went really well though, and only had to be ’slightly’ shouty! we had a solution of acid [distilled vinegar] and we made a solution of base [bicarb and water] and i told them that these were dangerous chemicals, and we were going to practice being v careful - it is a good thing they weren’t, and actually, i think i need to be able to tell m in french things like dangerous chemical. i might print off some hazard signs! i had some red and blue litmus paper - which is more obviously pink and purple! and we worked out that they changed to ‘the other one’s colour’ to detect acid and bases. fab. so some went off to find some other fluids to test, and those remaining looked to see if turmeric really was an indicator too. it was supposed to go red, and not dramatically convincing, but i think it did! the children then all did a litmus blue and red, and chose which of the fluids to test. you would have thought that they might notice i don’t necessarily choose the loudest jumpy up and down one to have a go, but ask the quieter ones! [trying to remember so that all really get a first choice]. we found wine to be acidic, and also hand gel - good explanation from sb for that, and maybe milk to be alkaline.

the last bit didn’t work quite so well due to a lack in my number of eyes, ears and hands! basically each child was to put 10 drops of either acid or base in a well with the pipette [divided into 2 sides] and then swap the acid/base and put a specified number of drops in, hoping to then have solutions of different alkalinity/acidity. then drop a tiny bit of indicator paper in. having looked at the results, we didn’t exactly have a range, possibly because some of the young scientists didn’t count, splurged in etc. but on the whole, those starting with the acid were in the acid spectrum of pH paper, and those starting with the base were in the alkaline. and there was a bit of differentiation within them. maybe something to try in smaller groups/individuals.

quick pasta lunch and off to the not back to school picnic, as co-ordinated across the uk by ali - thankyou! we weren’t sure of the turnout, so hadn’t organised press, but in view of the bbc piece, may send something to local paper in case they have a gap! we actually had 10 families attend, which i thought was fantastic - thankyou all! and, a greater suprise, 4 of them were new, 3 had deregistered this term, and 1 new to the area. we are hoping to all see more of each other, and i realised what a good thing a relaxed intro like this is for newly deregged parents! a party to celebrate our childrens’ right to a uniquely tailored education, following their age, ability and aptitude, without having to norm reference within a class of 30. their right to learn in a way that suits them, makes the experience worth it, fun, informative and brings the family closer together. hip hooray for the ability to home ed, and a pantomine boo for dscf for trying to regulate it away.

bah humbug to swineflu. as far as i a concerned i have a viral URTI with cough, headache and a bit of a temp - common with viruses. just because DH has swine flu, doesn’t mean that this is. after all, even if mild, surely i would feel more dead on my feet.

humph, puter having a problem with m and v - having to hit keyboard especially firmly.

so took sb to holiday orchestra, and gina and katy still spoke to me - which was v nice! and SB still v enthusiastic. made me wish to be a child again and take my instrument and join in! SB again had a lovely day, really enjoying singing today, and sang all the songs on the way home.

bB had another not so fun day - chris with swine flu! so when i got home we played together and did a craft kit, which proved to be a bit on the difficult and disappointing side of things, and bb gave up on it. craft kits can be so variable!! why i like hama and fimo! they are exactly what they set out to be. But she had fun with her hatched turtle egg anyway.

we had home grown sweetcorn for lunch - lots of purple and blue corns, and bb had a strop about that too… sb and i v happy tho! sb got on with some box book reading

and then we read the bit about henry V from SotW and discussed the reenactment of harfleurs at FoH, and at that moment my order from the little linguist arrived [v promptly, fab company!] NIC was right, bb just wants to read the farm books herself, not in french, but SB and I read the berthe book. i really like the berthe series! and then played the where is game with a way way older edition of this book!!

both girls keen on tv, so we watched walking with beasts. sb had loads of asparagus soup for tea and toast. bb had toast and yoghurt. shrug!! chris is looking a little bit better, and i am having a little slump!!

well, swine flu wasn’t the only thing that happened whilst i went to work SB went to holiday orchestra - i dropped her off to the deependers who kindly took her in and out, and then let her play at their house all afternoon. she LOVED it. apparently she gave it 28/30 to Katy, but 30/30 to me. she said her recorder part a bit too easy as only 3 notes, but that was fine for her first go. musical games her fav thing, followed by singing. excellent!

i went to pick her up post tamiflu collection, and she refused to come home - having too much fun. so i had a cup of tea and admired katy’s fence. BB unfortunately missed her gym taster. on coming home SB had a french nintendo game waiting. not sure how good it is [given the v cheap price!] but she had a go, and was annoyed she had to spell.

BB had had a fairly unremarkable day at home with chris. they did a bit of math, looking at a space resource - vaguely - and she then bimbled about.

i note that i almost certainly bought at the right time - rofl at the used price! good pack tho

but nowt to do with me!!
SB has done lots more hama-ing, some non verbal reasoning, had a playdate again with SailingFriend and then watched ivor the engine and finally done some french conversation and piano practice with me - we have slipped back a bit…

BB has been plying with her alien baby - a boy as she proudly shew me its willy. you see mummy, boys don’t have proper bottoms!! she also joined in with some of the french - though she says she only wants to do it with katy [answer = tough!] we have practiced asking for chips, cakes and icecream. both could see the logic in that.

rather annoyingly, one of my ebay purchases went back to post office, and when chris tried to collect, they said it had already been signed for. having had a few purchases, he shrugged. but i emailed the seller to ask where it was. it has been signed for, by someone we have never heard of. aargh. so is it mine or the sellers responsibility to get money from post office? [i would like my money back, as t shirt gone! tho v much annoys me, cos it had my name on it, and my address, and it would have been easy for whover it was to have actually realised their mistake and popped it in our drive or summat. after all, we live OPPOSITE the post office!]

OK, so a new term is coming, and with that fresh leaf HE feel sweeping around parts of the blogring, not only will we try and do some HE and blog it [and chris, this means you too!] but also be positive and invigorating!

We have actually done some stuff this last week! SB has been on a level 2 sailing course. This wasn;t an unqualified success, as she had some major wobbles with swapping from side to side brought on by a head dunking on falling in. She has had a dreadful barking cough, and this made it worse. Anyway, the brave lass did carry on with the course, going back out onto the water to try some more, but on the last day just did fun sailing, so didn’t get her level 2. she knew she wouldn’t, but was still disappointed.

Meanwhile BB has been on a 2week learning to swim course [well, she is still on it] and is really enjoying it. they have even been in the deep end! This was obviously with a number of flotation aids! She is very proud

other excitements were visiting merry - always lovely, but this time with the added bonus of picking up a rabbit called monster. we will be calling it monsterrabs or mr to differentiate from friends’ child’s blog name! it has settled into life here, and is rather fetching!! as bb puts it, ‘i am rather keen on rabbits!’

We have done some arts and crafts - mostly with a space theme for the upcoming party, and some baking. Unfortunately, with SB under the weather, we have done far too much vegging in front of the tv watching dr who, narnia and assorted rubbish!! My general feeling of only just holding things together, and then not always quite is not really helping. Not quite sure how to improve this as surviving on willpower only really. hmm.

i love this, and think it is such a fab idea. really more people should join us!! the site has upped its shower and portaloo numbers further, and they were immaculate. we went camping at wicksteed park, joined by nic etc, jax etc and a brief portico. we got there in good time to tent up, eat, settle and get that holiday vibe. i was still migrainous, but standing - as it were! and SB - bless her - was really helpful putting up the tent. none of my children are perfect [just like their parents!] but i have to say how impressed i can be with SB’s thoughtfulness and helpfulness. nic was late, so got to stay in the guest wing of our tent -

Friday chris and girls went out to the park to have a go on some rides, and i joined them after a particularly bad shower when the migraine tabs kicked in - you know i really hate migraines. work takes loads of days out of my life, and then migraine attempts to decimate the rest. i just refuse to be ground down. i arrived to see them all on the carousel with rain pouring off the sides and just roared with laughter for the duration of the ride. i took BB, as neither of us are particularly keen riders!! and SB and chris gallivanted off. this tends to work well, with a few moments joined together, so i could watch SB and teeny be scary on the umbrella ride, but mostly BB wanted to play in the free park. we still have some of the ride tickets left from last year! i do love that wicksteed lets you carry these on. meant bb and i were ‘free’ effectively this year.

eventually we slumped off back to the tent, and jax and kids joined a bit later. SB demonstrated her helpfulness again putting the tent up [well, a bit of pegging anyway!] before all children ran amok. i got dinner started and had all 4 kids in the tent whilst jax and chris went off shopping. unfortunately the petrol ran out, and chris had the spare in the boot. darn! i earned my brownie helpfulness badge by rescuing a family [and their dog!!] and letting them wait in our tent for torrential rain to pass before they could put up their own. dinner did get cooked, friendly chit chat evening and then all up bright and early for kelmarsh

Saturday i was v excited this year, as noticed that instead of the trenches was an agincourt re-enactment. something a bit different hey! and so had planned to start the day with the siege of harfleur part 1. unfortunately an hour on the slip road scuppered that! but part 2 was fab, and i LOVED the raining arrows. thankyou thankyou the english bowmen! SB heckled harry, king of england AND FRANCE by suggesting he should, after all, hang the citizens of harfleur - where do they get this bloodthirtiness from?? thought he did v well with his speech and prancing on horse etc. once more into the breach indeed! so we chatted then to various re-enactors and then met up at the victorian beach and punch and judy. BB v happy with beach, SB with punch and judy, me with meeting up with friends, including unexpected ones from wales! SB wandered off to BZents - always a firm fav. we had already watched the robin hood one, and she went for what ho henry, with chris whilst i supervised BB jumping and playing with Shannon from going against the flow. they had a whale of a time.

SB specifically wanted to talk to people in tents and watch the jousting, so that is what we did, but she got taken by the boer war commentary, so we sat and watched that too. shame we didn’t get to see the balloon up, and we were all on the side of the plucky bitterienders, and discussed the meaning of concentration camp. one of the things i like about lifelong learning and wikipedia are the fact that i have just been whizzling around boer war sites for about an hour, and now know much more than before! it was not something that i had planned to watch, imagining it to be a bit jingoistic [it was], but have been glad that i did, as now have an increased understanding of that bit of history - something i guess festival of history wants to encourage!

anyway, we then hotfooted to the jousting arena, were entertained by peterkin the fool [very funny man] watched our french knight dress, and then really loved the joust. v different from previous jousts we have watched. SB entertained by the idea that there were 2 king henry’s on the field! BB was a grumpalump of immense proportions by this stage, but turning the buggy into a den kept her v entertained. after the joust i called it a day. it was very hot, and it was my first post migraine day, and i really didn’t want migraine to return! so back to wicksteed for dinner and children playing - not quite as smoothly, prob because all tired. Poor SB ended up on the wrong end of some of the fall out, and so i hugged her to sleep as she was all upset and washed out. She hadn’t been perfect to start with, but had had a fright. so she chose the secret garden for me to read to her to calm her down. i did point out that this book starts quite badly, and she said she knew, as listened to story cd. so we had more trauma, because she ‘needed’ to know who would look after her and BB, and would we ever forget they were there etc - i think not! just as i popped out to relax, became aware jax’s big unwell, so a mad dash to get them all packed and in car to drive off home. life is all go here!! did i say the portico’s had arrived?? they had guest wing facilities.

Sunday morning tent went down fine, the bigger kids went to park on their own - cue MASSIVE meltdown from BB. luckilly portico parent took pity on her and took her off to the park. we all finished detenting and set off for kelmarsh. no traffic at all, so got there pretty much at the same time. I was determined to bring back the legions, so singing the terry deary song we parked ourself infront of the excellent ermine street guard. we were initially with porticos, but ernest immed got stung by wasp - aargh! but ability to swallow nurofen helped. we loved the romans. sb again enthralled, bb not so. since bb so obviously not really wanting to re-enact, we often divided and conquered. we all mosied up to agincourt, talking to redcross and russians on the way. SB being pegged as a lad got offered far more guns to hold than she ever does as a girl . the weaponsmaster v patiently took them through 1 1/2 swords etc and both girls signed up for childrens drill. we admired the calligraphy.

children’s drill saw BB looking cute. she knew she didn’t have to do it, and just as i said to chris, i think that BB’s had enough and moved forwards, she burst into tears and ran into my arms. awww. i took her off to the craft tent whilst chris watched the rest of the drill, which sb enjoyed. was v impressed by the kaleidoscope craft. it was easy and it worked. on being joined by other family members we said hello to the deependers and then bought icecream and went to the beach~! BB had more fun in the sand, but SB was tempted by the dancers to join in georgian dancing. SB elected to watch another punch and judy, and BB to bob between that and the sand. our final plea from SB was to watch the parachute drop event, so we went down and did that whilst chris and BB stayed in the family zone. we had a good spot, and were impressed, as always, with the parachutes. from this vantage point also watched the grand parade, when the rain started. met up with chris and went via shop [pretty much all gone to bb's disgust] and finally home.

things i missed - the actual agincourt battle. the roman charioteers, the victorian gymkhana, the whole of the parade ground stuff and the archaeol tents. but i think we got loads out of it, again!

i worked hard today at trying not to let my total lack of tolerance be so obvious. was tricky in parts, but pretty much managed, and only suspected of nipping off for a breath/sob once. and we did loads of happy things together. starting with me having to get up way too early as chris dropped mondeo in for aircon refurb. after brekkie, we tidied up the playroom, sb read Cinderella: Level 1: Learn French Through Fairy Tales [With CD] (Slangman Kids: Level 1) rather well to BB. it doens’t have a good write up on amazon, and wasn’t what i expected, but sb likes to read it, and although it has perhaps 10 words in french in it, we count it!!! SB then did some maths, where it appears she has suddenly completely lost the plot wrt to long multip and division. it took her ages!!!

BB chose to do some art out of First Book of Art she started with the fingerprint dragon - which looked really fab when she had finished, and then moved onto the paper elephant. this was incredibly over the top, with glued jewels and feathers. she had a great time. when sb finished her maths, she moved onto this art book Art Treasury and chose the project to emulate the great wave at kanagawa by hokusai, which i think worked really well. she drew waves onto polystyrene, then when happy with design, she the dug out channels in the polystyrene. she mixed up some blues, and then used the polystyrene like relief printing woodcut. obviously it worked so well that BB did it too, so we discussed related ideas of prints/engravings and got messy!! had a great time doing this.

After lunch we went out to an event organised by Michelle, and met some old and new HE people, and the children ran about having great - and noisy - fun! this was the cloth place, and a revisit for the girls, although new to me. i had my map on me in case we got lost, and on the park and ride in, sb was charged with following its route to make sure we got off at the right place [tho the get off is v obvious!!] she really enjoyed following the road names, roundabouts etc and did it v well. training her up as next mapreader in the family. we were early so they got to have an icecream treat. as well as a park and ride treat - which they always like! was a lovely, and v noisy, session!! got to do a bit of chatting, but for quite a while played with bb. loved the sarcophagus and snakes [not maggots]. SB suggested to them an ice exploratory would be fun - ice sculpture, melting and freezing etc! needless to say, bb fell asleep on the way home. we got sb late to brownies, but they were mostly messing about in the sun or sticking pictures - as she was hot and bothered she went for sticking pics. and i collared brown owl who accepted the list of 10 brownie badges, but doesn’t have most of them.

bb came home and bounced and messed about in the paddling pool. i was allowed to stick my feet in and read book, but then my feet took up too much space - !! - and i had to just watch [read book] and then we started to make a fimo copy of a henry moore family group bronze - all bb’s idea, and only in the starting bit - will be v interested to see how it turns out. SB had judo, and we all went along at the end for the certification, as she now has the yellow/white.

so, phew, that is our hot day!

Books!!
oh, i am reading these, on load from merry. i am really enjoying them.

in return i have sent The Other Queen which is ok, tho not the best of her work [nor the worst, i actually threw one of her books away], and this Azincourt , which i really enjoyed and would recommend, i enjoyed his arthur series The Winter King a lot as well. oh and also book 2!The Valley of Horses (Earth’s Children)