Petits Haricots

SB is getting near to the end of lots of hospital visits. One problem, for which she has had 2 diff specialists and 2 MRI scans has been investigated and no clear answer demonstrated so presumed migraine. Migraine is not something i had wished to pass on, but could just be due to changing eye prescriptions. Her tooth saga is still ongoing. the tooth broken before christmas has finally had the nerve root dying, and so she had an abscess, and has now had a root canal drainage and a root canal filling!! She has 1 more appointment to have the tooth rebuilt again. these appointments have been fairly disruptive to the home ed during the week!

So it has been a ‘low’ home ed week for normals. Hopefully will do a bit better next week! However, we did have historyetc on weds, which was fabulous, and the girls also went to ‘the wild place’ for woodcraft on friday. They had a great time, making a veg soup, getting fires going and also coppicing. Lots of discussion and lots of things learnt. Think both girls fancy a firesteel now. Lots of the normal after school activities went on, and BB still enjoying judo. SB’s friend has left guides for a drama group, and SB really didn’t enjoy guides this week at all. She was predominantly the tidy upperer and assistant as it was a pairs activity… we may rethink guides. My SB is a lovely heart-on-sleeve girl, but she is a bit too shy to ‘break in’ to the pair groups at guides and the leader doesn’t really seem to see it as part of her role to help.

It being a history week we have had guests. We had Jax and family staying on the tuesday night which was great. SB and Big got straight down to playing their clarinet and bassoon respectively. They had a great eve together had lots of fun, but did then settle too late and we had some unfortunate moments before they finally went to sleep In the future Jax and i think we might see if SB and Big can do one of the extension bits of geog or history together in the eve, as these often say to do with class/partner etc. might then see if some ff distance learning interaction makes it work?? SB really does wish we lived in an HE village, tho is clear she doesn’t currently want to go to school. Hoping to make the most of the peer group that she loves that lives relatively locally. Jax and I got lots of time to chat over herbal teas, nice for us to meet IRL too.

Weds night we had 2 of the puddle chicks staying, and that was great too. They are much loved by my girls, and happy that history group is also giving them the sleepover and friend thing too. Lots of playing and finished with film night of ratatouille, and the all settled asleep v v quickly!

Today was quite a multifaith session as well, dealing with buddhism and the beginnings of islam, as well as china and japan [we haven't read those chapters in story of the world as a bit behind!] . It was an absolutely fabulolus day with truly brilliant ideas being brought along and great fun had by all.

I started as a helper outer, as we had all the ‘messy’ tables in use, and it was a bit too chilly to be going outside. M started us off with a fabulous koinobori craft. Making painted material carp kites to signify determination, vigour and overcoming obstacles – something all our children need. This took a lot of concentration to make, so were done in small groups and only got joined up at the end, and looked brilliant. I must take the girls outside in the sun and see them swim

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Merry got set up to make oasis scenes from a sinbad story which also worked really well, both for the older and younger kids. Out of fimo, of course

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My photos are a bit dire as lost our camera, so from the phone . Zoe was in the sitting room leading people making buddhist prayer flags to add to a banner. I think everyone did this one, including lots of the parents. The whole thing strung in my conservatory looks so fabulous i will be sad to divide it up!

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On the table G and I had our ‘slack’ crafts that would be done without a lot of adult assistance, some curly snakes, that twirl with heat and printed islamic tiles to hopefully have enough to stick and make a wall frieze. as it was, there were so many fab things to do, that we didn’t have enough ‘filler time’ . ALso on the floor was K’s ‘slack’ craft – kai awase – making shells to pair match with.

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K was in the kitchen making a sumptuous feast. Intially with SB and Big helping chop loads of veg to make sushi and spring rolls. they were both delish I do love the food side as well as the craft side, and will def have to buy some spring roll wrappers for the future.

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After lunch, when the kids had had chance to blow off steam racing around outside, we set up myself and G in the conservatory. She was making geometric styled bags, but the kids prefered to decorate them to become history bags sounds like a good idea. I was doing more tile making, as had bought some white tiles, and had carbon paper to transfer islamic designs across. however, quite a few kids experimented making their own designs, and i thought that it worked really well. I know jax was doing a buddhist prayer bead chain, but as strapped to my table, didn’t wander about.

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Both my girls and I thoroughly enjoyed the session, meeting friends and socialising whilst being productive

These are the texts we are predominantly using this year

I should point out that unlike galore park junior 1 and 2, GP 3 and syrwtl 1 deal only in english history to run alongside SOTW.

at the last moment we had decided to stay in sussex and have another day, which we got up slowly to, had a little chef brekkie, and then went to walk/find geocaches. in the end we did far less walking as bb had had enough – a v busy sat had obviously drained her of walking and coping skills.

we first went to see the wilmington man, had a gentle wlak there and found 1 and failed to find one, and broke into emergency rations for cheering up bbs!

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Follwoing that we went to birling gap and lazed on the beach, had picnic, looked at stones, chatted and only came off when icecreams called. when we got them it got cloudy!

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so we geocached, mostly along to beachy head they are v close to carparks, so cache and dashes. BB rarred and rampaged as a saxon warrior whilst we found the caches – all denuded of tat so we restocked them

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finally ended up in eastbourne for a chippery supper on the beach before driving home. A great day and great weekend

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this weekend we went to hastings, ok we went to Battle, and attened the English Heritage re-enactment weekend of the Battle of Hastings. It is true that the result was somewhat a foregone conclusion, but you never know We stayed in a premier inn the friday night. Had planned to camp, but finished work a bit too late for that, and putting up tent when cold in the dark is not a relaxing thought!

This meant that after the most enormous all you can eat breakfast we made it early to to the abbey at battle, and tht felt unusual! as we walked in the site, sb read the signs to us and we noticed a dad thought that was a good idea. think his elder daughter not so impressed as she then was reading them all to her family! onarrival we stopped at the viking ship for a bit. the lady there very informative about the navigation aids and chatting to the kids. Then the manor borns arrived to great joy

The kids took part in a pretend norman/norseman naval battle which looked fabulous fun and the chap leading it was v good. we then went up to the more children’s area and painted some shields, having heard the earlier banter, they told the kinght handing out shields their names were banana, gertrude and chicken! great painting done and just in time to listen to a storyteller recount the battle for pevensey. i loved he kept being interrupted by a tiny boy telling on ppl climbing walls [often bb] but was fantastic, and then he lead the kids battle. whilst the storytelling was ending the deependers joined us, also fabulous I seem to have missed them saying they were travelling there by train – possibly as all this working means i am just not keeping up properly!

we were peckish, and once the word tea had been mentioned there was no distracting some of us so tea and picnic lunch in a patch of shade as it turned out to be a scorcher of a day. BB then did archery and SB and i wandered around re-enactors selling area, not knowing which wool might be tudor and seeing lots of things to buy. C bought a fab double lucet and i bought linen thread.

We all joined to sit behind saxon lines for the big reenactment. initially it seemed like poor placement due to the view being almost all backsides! however since the ending is in the saxon area, we got to have a fab view of the end of the battle photos for this included as were on iphone.

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we had a final cup of tea and wander around a reenactment area, where the older kids were being shown how to do tablet weaving [i did try really hard to remember jax! but it is a bit beyond me!!] and we watched before saying good bye to the deependers catching their train, and looking for a handy restaurant with the manor borns

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what we hadn’t counted on was the reenactors booking out all the restaurants! we did take the last 2 tables at the curry house and had a lovely meal there before going on to a travelodge. a kerfuffle over lack of bed numbers made me remember why the premier inn is better… however a v comfortable night was had.

i really need DH to blog. I have no idea what happened for lots of last week, but i am sure that they were out fairly lots?? the usual home ed type stuff, some concentrated working for SB grade 3 music theory, general bits and pieces of going out and about, new glasses etc.

They spent a day with the local HE group fossiling and then pond dipping, which was great fun.ppl from le ciel rouge and patch of puddles were there too. Loads and Loads of fossils were found, mostly ammonites and belemnites. We had remembered to take along the geolog hammers and chisel, and BB in particular was in her element. I haven’t been along to a home ed thing for so long that i definitely had a bit of eek outsider feel! luckilly group v friendly, and i did know quite a few other people too.

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took a ginormous packed lunch out that got ravenously eaten. in pond dipping came back with quite a few fish and beetles, so satisfaction all round. SB also did some bird watching from the hide
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We returned in time to send BB out to judo, which she v much enjoyed, and is happy to go again. Sensei wasn’t enthusiastic about having periodic extra children tho, which is a shame. SB had judo afterwards. I do like both girls doing a martial art as think at various times it might have been useful to me to have learnt.

thursday was a tidying and gym day, and some home ed thrown in for good measure and then friday arts award. Made more exciting by the fact there was a chemical spill near where we live, so the girls couldn’t return until all over. it turned out not to be that dramatic… They did some fab art, and i enjoyed getting to see it on my return from work. My cousin’s partner sadly passed away from her brain cancer.

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and then we hopping in the car and drove down to sussex, but i think that might be another blog post

sat looked pretty gloomy, but we had arranged to meet jax and family from making it up at Ickworth Hall where they had a woodfair going on. SB and Big have been great friends, but as is the way with ppl a year apart, they ended up on different sides of the elastic stretch, so we thought some time a deux would help them reconnect. They had an utterly fab time

We started eating in the restaurant our lunch, which was delicious. I promised sb and big that when they were 16+ they could share with friends a chalet at centreparcs whilst we wer ein a nearby one. they were v v excited! [it is miles away ] . we then went on to the wood fair. the weather was on and off drizzle/rain, but there was lots to look at. we let the big 2 slip the leash and wander around together – which they seemed v happy to do. there was some beautiful wicker work, pottery and wood carvings. all a bit too pricy for me as a spur of the moment purchase! there were woodturners – happy to speak to bb, ppl chainsaw carving and my fav, a steam engine sawing wood . BB purchased a wooden sword and SB a wooden box. BB and small got to create with clay v happily. BB made a penguin and small an ugly mug. he was skipping and dancing with happiness over it.

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Jax and family said goodbye and we went to look round the rotunda bit. I whizzed with BB and SB took more time with DH. It was near empty so the volunteers were desperate to volunteer knowledge We finally left and drove home listening to a french CD. Lovely day, thanks jax We finished the day watching carrie’s war.

The next day we had decided to do a bit of tidying – well, the desks are clear now, but that is it! read some story of the world [and SB dod some junior history] and do an autumn craft. after lots of hmming and hawing we settled on an autumnal still life, and picked some squashes and pumpkins from the veg bed, and a variety of orange and golden flowers. We painted using gouache, and both girls did a fantastic job with it. [i might even add pictures!]

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We had a games pm with puerto rico with sb and then all on the wii with supermariobrothers [which I am still poor at!] and finally ending the day with the prev days merlin episode.

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i am waiting to hear that my cousin’s partner has died. She was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer shortly after my sister died and it seems that the processing of one is blended into the other. I have found myself to be quite emotionally labile during this time. Currently she is holding out, but in a coma. She has had a far swifter move from managing to hospice than my poor sister did. I hope for a swift and peaceful passing.

But, other things have been going on this week! SB had an opticians appointment, who made her eyes approx -4 [approx cos i can't remember, not because he didn't know ] She and BB had their usual groups and clubs. Great step forward in that BB thinks she is ready to consider judo [ i am a firm believer that girls especially should do a martial arts/self defence ] and, even more surprisingly beavers!! So am feeling a bit positive about BB going out into the world. One of my worries is that she is desperate to be friends, but not got the automatic knowledge of how, and is v shy about it. I do remember worrying about SB, as I had to introduce her to everyone, but she seems better now, so hopefully with help and encouragement…

Home ed has happened. Well, definitely SB has got through some ‘normals’ and with that practice for music theory exam [slightly worried = grade 3 - eek!] and ballet exam [ ditto, grade 4] . Me working such a lot has meant a nose dive in quality music practice, but hoping to get back on track with that too [except the clarinet, as tooth still too painful] lots of la redoute trousers arrived – always good as slimfit BB has done reading practice and music theory, and lots of starfall and poisson rouge. she has had a wobbly over maths as there were too many boxes!

Going out and about also happened, as well as the usual things. On Weds we went to G’s this was supposed to be for clarinet lesson, but due to moratorium currently on clarinet playing, we had piano and recorder instead also music theory. As the exchange, i did some sciencey stuff with the youngest ones – we smashed egg shells and mixed with vinegar in 2 conical flasks, and in 2 others we placed some small marble fragments. we covered the tops with balloons and waited to see what happened. Pleasingly it worked and a gas was produced which we convincingly tested as carbon dioxide. Afish had an egg in vinegar to take home and observe, and sbiff had a chicken bone in vinegar. Yes we were happily joined by the fishes, breaking from their school-run. I also did a mosaic sticking craft with the younger ones, a bit of music theory with them and there was lots of playing Instead of a lunchtime departure, due to dbiff at home, we stayed and decorated masks for a bit. On our return home we were joined by mil and pil after a hospital appt. we demonstrated our carbon dioxide making, and then sb demonstrated making oxygen with hydrogen peroxide and manganese dioxide [again with balloon over top] . felt like a proper home educator

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SB also had HE multisport, which she has always really enjoyed, but apparently it isn’t as good with the new ppl as it was with Chris. Will see whether it is just ‘different’ and she will start to really enjoy it or not. Another HE group activity quite new was the new forest group, the made fires and attempted to cook far too much pizza in an earth oven both said they really enjoyed it.

I did chat to SB, who says she knows I work,and would love me to be at home more, but loves me for who I am, and that I do lovely things with them etc etc. That girl has a heart of gold

SO the weekend! I was at home the weekend, and we got up, did some home ed and then went to the library for the big read presentations. SB and BB are keen supporters of the library. Was very proud of BB that she went upnon her own without SB for the certificate and medal. a big step forwards for her. When we got back DH was painting the big window and both girls did some maths and i did some sewing. We all played board games BB’s fab labybird game that she made in fimo s a copy from poisson rouge, and supermariobrothers ds, which i am entirely hopeuless at, and bth girls scream for me to turn myself into a bubble!! SB then went off for pretty much the rest of the day. She had a swimming party with her friend in guides and then was invited back to her house. BB felt a bit lost without her. We agreed on a craft to do, but it was one of those annoying packet crafts that you can’t actually do straight off. grrrrrrrrr. i have made a fix for it, at least part of it, so it can be started on. instead we finishd a santa craft we have had for ages, played games and watched something – mostly dinosaur and natural history progs. A lovely relaxing bath and she went off to bed as SB came home. To be fair this is a fairly sanity edited version of the day as BB was finding most things a trauma so we had a number of emotional high and lows.

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Next day we concentrated on doing things we enjoyed with each other. we were outside in the garden, BB did some crafting and then a science experiment. She wanted to use her cuttlefish bone for something, so we put rough chunks in vinegar and also more powdered in another and popped a cork in the top, which got pushed out. we tested the gas and it was carbon dioxide.

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After lunch we then went out to a 40′s village shindig and met merry, zoe and girls there, had a wander round, learnt something, chatted and played and generally had lovely time whilst the sun was shining. BB got a cute ladybird pendant watch, which now doesn’t seem to work despite change of battery. will try a new battery. Definitely ice cream weather home to chill out and watch dr who and the new merlin all snuggled together. DH had put second coat of paint on windows too so all right with the world.

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more or less a Smiths title, certainly you can hum behind it. I am kind of wondering whether to keep on blogging. Not that I don’t want to blog, and I really would like a record of what happens. But mostly because I am working so much that DH truly is the home educator, and he just isn;t blogging any more

He and the girls did a fair bit this week. SB was fairly productive on the home ed front, BB did some. but nore interestingly that that thy had 2 great home ed trips out. Neither of which i went to tho had hoped to go to either at some point. ws working Think my girls will look back on their childhood, and I am going to be the working nagging parent I know someone has to, but the hours it takes up, and the huge stress levels are just making this a bit of a nightmare time, and I feel their childhoods just slipping away from me.

Anyway, amongst other things they went to Hedingham castle for an early mediaeval re-enactment based session. it was fab apparently. they also went tobogganing on an indoor slope. Also fab, apparently.

Do I sound jaded. I am. I am heartsick.