Migraine Monday

I am having a lot of them again aren’t i. must be something to sort out. Actually have had all weekend, and as working it has been really difficult. I would have gone off sick Sunday it was so bad, but my backup rang in to say he was too unwell to cover, and I didn’t have the heart to ruin the only option available’s weekend. SO when I couldn’t open eyes or lift head off pillow this am without wanting to shoot myself, I took today off – and feeling guilty still. got out of bed after lunch though. Not sure what the girls had been doing in the morning – lots of screaming anyway! Chris had been tidying, and BTB was on the vid.

the ebay oogly googly arrived – wahey. [btw, there seem to be a fair number of wacky wigglers on there atm] so although an eyeball missing, still a bargain! we set to making an oogly googly – well, as I was still very rough I observed and enhanced/scaffolded from the semi recumbent position on the sofa! SB and BB both very happy to get on with it, and loved having weird eyeballs. I mainly got it as the cheapest way to have another motor so the girls didn’t argue. rofl.

blank mind – o yes, a late lunch. read BB some more apple tree farm – which she loves – and did jigsaws, then she went for a lap. SB and I then did roman sotw, with other roman book on the go and colouring in. She loves story of the world – she said today anyway. oh, before, she had started the getty and dubay how to form letters, as hers are a mishmash. she chose to do i, and then wrote as other i words, ivee and iys, with suitable pictures. She then read some ORT book to herself – rather well. BB came down and we did some blocks and building, and mostly jumping on mummy – very helpful for head! So then SB was detailed maths – argh 3/4 through MPH 1B, so have to buy some more! and BB insisted on doing her maffs too. So cutesy homeschool picture of them both at table doing workbooks. [if i ever get round to flickring them!].

we then all looked at our model heart and discussed the arteries and veins – I wonder if she will remember their names – she certainly remembers [atm] that the pulmonary ones are odd as the vein is red and the artery blue, and even why. we matched it up to all of us, and decided it probably was a 10 year old heart!! BB enjoyed wiggling her fingers down the holes. SB wants a body shlef – so far we have a heart and eye. I think i have been watching too much bones [yep Jax, it does get much better when you stick with it!] and a body bits shelf just sounded a bit, well…..

We did a fair bit of dancing around, talking about little house on the prairie [firmly identified with laura there!] making sure her plaits were like lauras!! We also did our french conversation, and have added how old are you, I am 5 to it.

more obligate kleine hippo watching for BB as room tidied [very very slowly by SB with many accompanying wails, but this is her LHOTP task - evil grin]. They both watch this, and SB has started asking me what some of the words are – eek, as if I know!! Promised SB I would pay for education city. she really likes the next stage webland too. story tonight was the lion witch and wardrobe, and they are both is SB’s bedroom. SB took some ORT books to bed to read though – rofl.

I looked on Gill’s blog about compulsory NC , and it gives me the shivers. I don’t think I could pretend we follow it, as we don’t do it in the ‘right order’. I could write an ed phil that should satisfy anyone, and I’m sure if we ever allowed a home visit that it would be hard not to show we were providing an education. However I realise that is the stated not actual goalpost. After all, I don’t have lots of evidence of work or progression, as it is practical based or verbal as SB not keen on writing. I am sure they would say ‘behind’ too. I would just say she has only recently shown an interest in it, and so it is appropriate for a starter position. I used to do a list of what NC areas I thought we had covered, and maybe will start that again, but I just don’t want too! I guess I have the tags. So here’s what it might look like [though TBH, I couldn't bear to look at the national curriculum for actual places on it!] and it doesn’t account for the actual time on any item [think bite-sized!].

PS, Chris has just checked on SB, and she is very proud of the fact she is reading her ORT book to herself. Is this an official reading milestone - reading in bed!!!!

maths [mph adding 10's and units]; literacy [ORT, LWW]; geography [SOTW] history [SOTW, roman flap book, LHOTP], design and technology [gears], science [gears, heart, carrot experiment [ongoing]], modern language [KH, conversational french], writing [GD], ICT [KH], arts [SOTW, photography]

OK, OK, linking to years 1 and 2 [SB in year 1] it is all really waffly, and I guess if I was BOVVERED, I could stuff lots of it in little category boxes of waffle. but it would still be pointless. At a push, I could change the categories to the NC ones. Still not BOVVERED. I still think the great thing about HE is the FREEDOM to follow SB’s interest at the time she is interested. I list and tag because I am weird like that [see below] rather than because I think its required.

oh, and as for citizenship, isn’t that what PARENTS and FAMILIES are good for. I don’t need to TEACH this, she just needs to live it – I quote the goals

  1. to recognise what they like and dislike, what is fair and unfair, and what is right and wrong
  2. to share their opinions on things that matter to them and explain their views
  3. to recognise, name and deal with their feelings in a positive way
  4. to think about themselves, learn from their experiences and recognise what they are good at
  5. how to set simple goals.

etc etc!!!

6 weird things

Six weird things about me.

we’ve been tagged twice, so shall each do it.
THE RULES

Each player of this game starts with the ?six weird things about you? blog post. People who get tagged need to write their own six weird things post and state the rules clearly. At the end of the post tag six more people and don?t forget to leave a comment on their blog to tell them they have been tagged and tell them to read your blog.

1. I guess I don’t think I am weird at all, and what might be weird probably depends on where you know me from! I guess that I home educate does probably count as the weirdest thing. for this blog ring, that probably doesn’t count as weird at all. Certainly doesn’t seem tht weird to me though.
2. for the blogring, my job is probably the weirdest thing about me. Makes me a very atypical hippy really, and is the thing that defines me but least seems to go with the rest of the defining things, I guess. But I don’t think its weird, but possibly that I’m good at it and made the top seems weird.

3. also eminently sensible and normal is tagging and crossreferencing photos. Thus the flickr tags. Flickr is fantastic for me. I already have all the photos tagged and organised on the ‘pute, and then I get to set them as well on flickr. I can find any photo. A kind of exultant showing off of my list-making tendencies. but not at all weird.

4. Being a fat vegetarian. I keep being told you can’t be a fat vegetarian, and i’m the only one they know. I’m not sure whether being a fat vegetarian is weird, or the fact that people are so keen to be so absolutely crassly rude because of it? Oh, and I’m right with you there on the surgery. ?6000 and slimness. A factor of 5 on what I have spent on diet clubs and food, and I guess when you include gym membership I have not used, it begins to sound almost a bargain.
5. That I still consider myself to be shy. i think its more ‘cos I’m not very skilled at small talk and being, well, friendly. I’m quite boring. but saying that as a reason for being a wallflower is more, well, brutally honest, and being ‘shy’ suggests I might be oK if you give me a chance.

6. I have a degree largely comprising of evolutionary psychobiology. But I think that is cool not weird.

I don’t know, are any of those truly weird, they’re normal for me?? maybe commenters can say what is weird? the other contenders are – i have absolutely no care about clothes. I want to be warm and comfy. it annoys me about being neat for work – which I do badly. And I hate shoes. I love bare feet [but in this cold house, the slippers are fab] I only have 2 pairs of shoes – and they are open toe no heel slip ons. a work pair and a home pair both I have had for > 5 years.

SO there you go.

who to tag? is anyone left?
well

Kath

Katy

Joanna

Barbara can do it in my comments box if aksimet lets her!

Tammy

Kris?

I have to say though, I think you are all normal

All down.

Well, almost, there is still? some tinsel lurking on the stair banister….. But having done by now is pretty promptly for us ;-)
Took down the trees over the weekend – I hate it, all the faffing about with having to put breakable things in boxes.

Down comes the fairy :-( Bit over-rated this xmas tree lark

Well, suppose we really have to get back to normal now.

Potty Training!

Chris, hopefully, is going to blog the science experiments and so forth going on here, so I am going to do a BB update.

She doesn’t want to wear nappies any more, and is potty training – at her insistance. On the whole she is quite good at it. She is naked, and clutches her bottom doing a funny wiggle saying she needs a wee. She is rather proud of this too. Her speech is coming on in leaps and bounds. I do like that she loves to emphasis things. ‘I like hadding bikbik, I dooo’ ‘I did ‘tar, i diiiiiid’ ‘ I like mugger doose, I doooooo’ etc. She really loves the apple tree farm books, and when she wins the lap battle outright [I usually try and have one on each knee], this is the guaranteed book choice. She does lots of cutie dances to music, and has special skips and jumps routines. Her and SB play together a lot, really well most of the time – though usually with great wildness. She loves joining up toys – doing things ie kid k’nex, gears, building etc and just getting into jigsaws. She is weaned, though periodically sees whether there is a milkie option – no. She really is quite babylicious.

I was late home from work today, as the registrar was a no show. for a while I thought I would have to stay forever, but we got a locum. I got home to the tree undecorating in the playroom, and the end of while the bear sleeps. I read to SB more usborne cut away roman book, and we finished her M and S body book too. She does read some of it too – and rather well. She is gradually stopping the happit of sounding out all words however easy [I was a bit bored with the t-h-e = the routine! She said she had read a yellow nose reader to Nana earlier. She told me all about her day, the new webland she has [the older magazine] and we looked at some of the puzzles.

Chris has set up a freecycled old ‘pute where the xmas tree was, so that SB can be on ours and BB on the new-old one. of course, they both battled for the new-old one!!! Mostly SB showed BB cbeebies. Also more kleine hippos watching – a firm favourite with BB. We are listening to German so often, I think we must restart Muzzy, as SB def picking up a few words and accents – mostly names and titles and politenesses – such as grossvater [no funny s on my keyboard] and es tut mir leid [no idea of spelling!].
more little house on the prairie – entailing SB’s request to know more around that time.

Little House on the prairie

SB would like to learn more about the time to go with this. I am doing a quick trawl, but if anyone else knows any places, could they link in comments! I know there is a whole curriculum out there, but prob a bit oTT for our needs

http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1496.html http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/2005/01/little-house-on-prairie-lesson-plan.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_House_on_the_Prairie

http://www.hoover.archives.gov/LIW/

http://www.littlehousebooks.com/resources/resources.asp

http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/index.html

Looking into the past – 2006 home ed

well, this is the home-ed resolutions for last year

first view of a mission statement 2006

And this was the summary of how i think we have done

sum up for 2006

so now we need to think how to improve getting to the first, and what changes we might need to do to achieve that.

Socialising

A relaxing day today. Some home-ed friends came by and M and SB vanished fairly immediately while we grown ups chatted, and H and BB stayed mostly close with lego and wacky wigglers. BB was VERY fond of the guacemole tortilla chips.

Before there was lots of playdoughing and faffing about, and after we have been watching kleine hippo, reading various rome books – best being the lift the flap one, and now watching little house on the prairie.

As Chris says, we are pondering our use of home ed resources!! SB rather likes the look of a DS [thanks Merry for corrupting them both!!] so she is keen to improve her reading to be able to use it, so thats high on her priorities. Also to do more piano-ing. Otherwise we need to look at the rest.

Getting back to normal.

With Helen being off all the week before xmas, and only having two days at work last week and then the Bank Holiday it seems like we’ve al been at home for a long time we’ve had together, which has been good. So yesterday we started getting back to normal, in a fairly gentle way. Starting off with SB having a much needed bit of sleep catch up and not getting up until past 10.30 am. -Not sure exactly as she’d come down stairs before 11 and the TV had been left on, so she’d sidled into there and was watching Toms Midnight Garden on the TV :-)

It did mean that I had a nice time playing with BB, with the animals, lego, books, playdoh and stuff. as well as exciting things like sorting out washing. Got SB moving when i mentioned the Library and she realised it was ‘Bic-bic day’ – they have a fund raising stall on the first Tues of the month – with drinks, biscuits etc. So we went round to the library, had biccies, coffee, chatted about xmas, the girls did their usual we are cute and lovely thing, and even got some books just before it closed :-)

Home to lunch with Littletoe show, and then enforce nap tiem for BB – she just isn’t making it through. So I basically give her an enforced cuddle on the bed until she gives up making? big fuss about it and falls asleep. Seemed to work ok though. She was asleep by 1.30, we got her up before 3 and she went to sleep ok at about 8.30, which was rather better.

SB sat and spent ages looking at her library books, then me and SB did a fair bit of reading of them. She did a bit My Pals are Here, felt ages since we had done any so did it in gentle-ish sort of way. There was bit of something happening when BB got up, but I forget what exactly. Made a pasta bake for tea and then we sat down with tea/hot choc and toasted teacakes (BB – ‘I need choc-choc cup’) to watch the rest of Toms Midnight Garden. Then? a bit of tidying up before dinner. One of the targets for this year is to be tidier in general through the day, worked ok yesterday, kitchen ended the day pretty tidy, playroom was tidy (the main chaos areas).

Need to have a bit of think about where we are going with/approaching HE though. SB mentioned Education City again, so time to sign up to that I think.
Visitors due any minute now (M and family, a girl from a local HE group, almost the same age as Sb, and they hit it off from the first meeting) so time to be organized – at least the lunch soup is cooking

The New Year

merry and I were the last to get up, but we had had the crappest sleep – well apart from Josie and BB of course!!

SO we had pancakes for lunch – rofl!! The children all danced and played wildly. SB demonstrated several times how to collapse in a heap of wail on the floor for no reason, and then skip away. She is really quite skilled at that billowy heroine fall to the ground. Cocolate gave BB and Josie the perk that they needed to vaguely keep going.

We sang to Merry and Max [poor max] a goodbye, and then a whirlwind of tidying. I still haven’t found my other slipper boot though. They are massive. I just don’t understand where it can have got lost. We played a bit of lego, the collapsed in front of secret life of plants, and then the island bit by titchmarsh. SB really loves these documentaries at the mo, and chooses over all else [i had suggested a film]

We had scraps for lunch and tea. BB didn’t wuite make it to tea. one minute she was looking at decs on the tree and taking off the tesco’s wooden angels [which are lovely!] and the next minute she did an SB fall to the ground. I was brushing SB’s hair at the time so not really paying that much attention, but got SB to look at her face and she was asleep. Fantastic ability to fall asleep while walking.

IMG_1570_edited-1

She was breathing I hasten to add. So SB and I played Uno, Set and Scrabble before chasing her to bed as I am zonked myself.

Ahh, BB just fallen out of bed. so no early night for me. oh, SB down as she has wiggled that tooth free.

edited to add. I just had the sad news that my Uncle Ronnie passed away at 4am Canada time. He was a heavy smoker for 60 years and accepted the consequences fatalistically. he just managed to see the latest grandchild and a last Christmas. A gentle man who loved his family – 4 children and 5 grandchildren a present count -? and put them first. Rather too fond of Canadian brand country and western, but hey, each to his own. I will always picture him in the boots and belt buckle outfits in my mind. Happy singing Uncle Ronnie.

ready to fall


ready to fall

Originally uploaded by Scrumbledelicious.

I remember crying as she broke that tooth and begging the dentist to glue the little bit on.
Now its about to go, and I actually feel really emotional about it.