Petits Haricots

hmm!! this blog post is very late isn’t it. Unfortunately I have also forgotten most of the week, as it was particularly work related stressful! And the Greeks, I have been reliably informed that they were made up by historians! never mind, we have wonderful imagery Tues I do know that the manor born [-1] came to my house, had a rather late meal, a drink of wine etc etc, anyway, that means that my lot must have had djembe drumming . So weds was history. A dressing up day as well – lots of fab costumes. Rather taken with medusa [S] and v happy with SB being Nyresa [from shield of fire].

As I am rather behind with the blogging, i think I am going to skip the prose, and mostly find some visuals I loved the plaster of paris plaque paintings [even if my craft - lol] and the spanokopitas were delicious [bit overly buttery] loved the fimo representation of the 12 tasks of hercules, the lawful pediments and fab medusa masks and shields, and the peg dolls. Also loved the sounds of lots of children having fun and being friends.

On Saturday we went to Merry’s and celebrated the all too short life of baby Freddie, and remembered him in blowing bubbles and letting off helium balloons with our thoughts of or for Freddie written on them. It was a lovely moment letting them off and seeing them whisked straight into the sky. It was not a maudlin or moping event, and we hugged, ate cake and enjoyed the sunlight when it came out, discussing the inconsequential things that help the world go round. i hope it was what Merry and family had envisioned for the event. SB made what was apparently an absolutely delicious orange cake with orange drizzle icing [i didn't get to it in time!] and BB some buns, and lots of provided food. they both put lots of stars on the top for Freddie. Whilst adults hugged/chatted/drank tea, the children did a fair bit of djeco mosaics v happily. We stayed much later than planned. it was lovely to meet merry’s sister ‘in the flesh’ as it were. Merry and family, I so wish that this whole year had been completely different for you, many hugs and thoughts always x

We moved on to the manor born to help with a bit of party prep and then went swimming. I hummed and hawed about going in, and despite v v sensible advice to the contrary did so. I like swimming, and i like having all the time that i can around the girls. i miss them so much of my week, that i want to be present when i can. Both of them loved the inflatable, and bb was v proficient at it so i was v glad to be cheering them on and taking photos. BB was challenged to swim a length by R and so did, more or less, but needed to hold me for a breath 2ce. r swam without needing to tho! they had a lovely time playing together. SB also had a great time, and DH made the run a couple of times as well. Back to the manor for meal and chat and great conversation with friends. a lovely end to the day, and v impressed, as alwyas , with kfish cakes. got home v v late.

Today we got up as a family approx 11am – oops – to find the iphone borked, so tho was thinking might get texts re possible punting, couldn’t access them. oh well! DH would have stayed at home anyway to do jobs, and initially my head wasn’t conducive to driving. instead i had mothers day lunch and rang my mum for quite a while, and got a window dec from BB and a bag from SB but more importantly loads and loads of hugs . we decided that for mothers day [what was left!] we would garden, craft and watch a film. so SB pricked out the rest of her seedlings with encouragement, and I potted on the peppers. aubergines and BB’s sunflowers. BB trampolined and pond dipped. SB did some of her sewing crraft, bb chose to read a book!! and then ds snuggled up with me whilst i made a birthday card for my mum. a v chilled rest of day, and we watched ray mears in australia eating take out pizza. must go to bed now tho as working day tomorrow!

one of the problems with blogging is that sometimes the things that are filling up your brain and spilling out of your fingers are the things you can’t blog. and this is my problem right now. i have some well nigh impossible decisions and consequences at work in the have made and to make pile – i could do with an adviser tbh! and some of these would have profound consequences to home. Home itself also has number of pending decisions and outcomes. sometimes it is hard to even bring your brain to be vaguely in the now. possibly why i have had such a rotter of a migraine this weekend. but my lesson learnt from the death of my sister is that the now is the only place i am ever in, and therefore that at some point all those decisions will be crystalised in a now moment, as will the fallout.

ah bah.

should start with tues tho The kids and DH went to an animal sanctuary on a home ed visit. BB loved it, they had a good group and enjoyed the chat and got to stroke animals. the goats and chickens were her favourites. SB wasn’t quite so enthusiastic, I don’t think the leader of their group quite got the pitch right, and they also didn’t get to stroke things. BB did like going to the dog area, and seeing the area only for workers. BB has been to loads of things tho because the suit SB well, so not a bad thing to be the other way round. BB says daddy has said we can get chickens from there…

No idea what play eyc may have happened, needs an edit by DH but then there was BB’s hosp followup for the HSP she had before Xmas. She is doing well. Didn’t make it to swimming tho. I was v late back from work as well. V stressed this week about a number of things, need to simplify!

Anyway, moving on to today, we had a cooperative wednesday, with various families bringing bits to do to le ciel rouge. So I brought science and we did another of the RS4K chapters – on unmixing. the experiment wasn’t dramatically successful, so we did felt tip and water chromatography as a back up, and had a long chat about the experiment. I do like her texts, but a number of the experiments are not v exciting, and other things could be reasonably done that are more interesting… ANyway, also had spelling practice, which was enjoyed [a suprise that TBH!] and a request for more. Poetry, a french game or 2 [much enjoyed] sewing mother’s day bookmarks and a romp thro minimus chpt 1 with the youngest and r, and secundus chpt 1 and a discussion of verbs. SB and C did a bit of music theory first thing, there was a fair bit of trampolining and BB waas v taken by her replacement djeco craft kit. [thanks merry].

The kids got more time to play games, there was a relaxed but productive feel to it. i was a bit to stressy about some other things to react well to BB having desire to only do her new craft kit – which i should have just said yes to, but when my brain is on a loop it is hard to think properly at the best of times, let alone when there is wailing and wingeing!! However, she and Jpuddle seemed to be having a great time together. Need kids feedback as we do these sessions on what works and what doesn’t.

we came home to SB’s last brownies [sob at growing up so quickly!!] she had a lovely time, and gave out her buns for ppl to eat  [there were spares so i got one = delicious. vegan choc and cinnamon] and now she is at judo. i liked that when we were choosing adjectives to describe herself in latin she chose benignus. I like that. friendly is a good thing to be .

He is the main home educator and does a number of trips and fun things with the girls that would make excellent blogs, showing the diversity and fun that is home ed. He doesn’t, and I think the blog is all the poorer for it . I am considering starting one of those online petitions, or suggesting a regular nagging from friends [i think he has some special force field barrier that means my nagging washes over!!]

Anyway, last week he dropped SB off for the rocket challenge which was part of the science festival. It was with a group of home educators/friends and was by all accounts great fun. SB had fun with her group, and said they all got to do a lot. Their rocket also shot the highest, she says, so she was v happy with that. The manor born may have some photos too .After that he had planned a picnic, but instead went back to a friends house to trampoline. She also got to do a recorder top up lesson, which was nice too, as currently not sure how we are going to rejig music lessons, also a bit of secundus as well. they then reushed off to gym, and were v please to get certificates for what they did best. They v much enjoy recreational gym. I think SB would have liked to do a bit more, but there isn’t an easy way to do that, and she is now doing that many different clubs and things! I managed to finish work in time to pick BB up, and she was fairly shattered so we read stories and snuggled for a bit, and I made canneloni for tea [as daddybean had looked wan when we exchanged kids!] which was edible

Friday they went to art group and SB could now register for the arts award I guess as over 10 [bronze] BB was challenging there I believe, and has had the riot act read to her about being able to continue going by us. It was doing some fun and messy things with acrylics which they v much enjoyed doing. BB’s probs are mostly when things dont work out entirely as she thinks they should, and her frustration is immediately translated to anger, shouting and wailing at high decibel. I think this is getting worse [like her immed response of no before considering things] and is quite wearing. Have a feeling of failed parenting about this alot. Don’t want to seek prof advice, but would like to work out how to improve things. Mostly so that she can be a happier child. After arts award they went to the playground with le ciel rouge and ‘other a’ which they always like having opportunity to play then came home and who knows what!!

I was on call this weekend, so lots of gaps in the what happened! Some home ed things in the morning, and on sat pm we then made cards and presents for my dad, who was popping in on his way back from Norfolk with his 72nd birthday the next day. SB decorated a terracotta pot in his favourite green and yellow colours with grandad is the best written round it, and 3 of her zinnia seedlings put in it. BB made a green and yellow fimo steam train. I did get home intime to see Dad and have a nice chat, and he liked his presents. Lots of trampolining and playing outside. We sorted out the greek chitons for both of them for the next historyetc, and some fimo brooches. BB is being a boy and SB Nyresa from the book Shield of Fire, set in this period.

SUnday was a bit of an awful day at work, so I will gloss over that! SB and BB decided to do craft kits. SB had some beautiful craft kits for her birthday, and chose to do the sewing one which is really beautiful and BB chose her chalk one. This chalk kit is really beautiful and I love it, but we just couldn’t get the chalk pens to work properly. They would start off ok, then stutter and it all went pear shaped with BB shrieking and wailing because it isn’t working We may have just been unlucky with the pens, cos the kit itself is a true djeco beautiful kit. Luckily the rather excellent playmerrily on contacting them offered a replacement kit, and BB has chosen the dragon felt tip kit so peace is restored [thankyou Merry] .

I also pricked out all BB’s seedlings and potted on all the toms, as documented over on the gardening blog and played settlers with SB

Today I am off work, sitting in the conservatory whilst SB is doing her maths [having finished book 2 of the galore park junior science] and BB has painted a pot and is now happily doing her explode the code book 1.

Happiness is…

we aren’t particularly giddy going about home educators, so these last 3 days have been particularly stay-at-home! the girls have done a reasonable amount of home ed [tho less music prac] and a lot of trampolining and being out in the garden in this great weather. having picked up the kind of bug that gets me excluded from work i was off unexpectedly yesterday, as well as normally today. not that i could take advantage of this really, as feeling decidedly off colour [obviously!] DH has done a bit more veg bed prep, and today we finished sowing all the march things, so that is good.

SB made a brill solar power kit, except that the motor doesn’t appear to work – grrr grr. i did love her history tho, letters between xerxes and themistocles – made me giggle .. she finished book 1 skoldo and listened to the entire cd. we will need to do some consolidation of some of the vocab, but she is generally pretty confident. as well as history this week, a fair bit of maths [she is keen to finish decimals] , galore park english and galore park science [keen to get to the level 3's] some nice piano prax [starting on the grade 2 scales and one of the pieces, but continuing to enjoy the easy jazz duets as our prime thing] , and started the grade 2 music theory book .

BB did some baking – chocolate cake as usual. meant to do crafting, but somehow the lovely sunny weather has captured us she started minimus. she has been desperate to, so have done some baby steps there. BB is getting confident also, in reading [as long as not pushed ] and is now on her level 2 books. ‘the’ is still a bit of a challenge… we did some recorder and piano prac today. i did have to persuade her that it is alright to learn a ‘new tune’ with me though, can’t listen to hot cross buns forever! she has got a bit ds fixated tho so that can be a challenge.

we are currently watching lotr 3 between sb’s brownies and judo. she will be moving up to guides shortly.

flag fen was open for a free day with things to do and people to listen to, so we decided to have a change from science and go out and enjoy it as we haven’t been to flag fen for ages. the freeness was the clinching factor . we got out of the house way later than planned and pootled our way there, discussing irrigation, water meadows, flooding and fertility etc etc [as you do] whilst intermittantly singing english folk tunes along with a rather lovely cd the sprig of thyme arriving at the carpark i was somewhat surprised to find the girls shrieking they could see zoe, and they could! we wondered who else we might find, but no other home educators jumped out and said boo .

We had a great time, i loved talking to the lady knotting, who also discussed nettles and making a beautifully soft ‘yarn’ from them. almost tempting… the clothes made from it certainly were. the story teller was fab as well – enthralling and told in the iron age round house lit only by the light of the fire. and a particular cheer dor the reenactor by the bronze age roundhouse who joined in a grumble that the re-enactor lads were doing lots of lying down dozing as there was no hunting to do! there was also a log splitter and lots of helpful staff. the soay sheep were running and leaping free – which was lovely to see.

the girls got to have a good look round the museum and the info around the wooden crossing, and life at that time. they also did some rubbings, some pot making and lavender herb bag making and all found things to keep them happy in the shop. SB bought 2 handmade knot brooches to use as part of her greek costume. the times are ok, and they could have been traded. bb bought a little rabbit and we finished with cups of tea and icecreams in the sunshine. lovely day.

all the emotion of latinetc has left me feeling without reserves, and struggling a bit at work. this has had the usual knock on effect to the happiness/clinginess/shoutiness of the rest of the family Also, this week has had some v v long working days in it. i fell asleep on sofa after putting kids to bed on thurs! [tempted to do the same now ] and i did, so writing this another day!

SO friday was a bit of a laid back eve for me, chris and the girls had been to visit his parents – his dad is doing rather well. my parents returned from malta and we had a long phone call and then it was tomorrow or science day we like the science festival and gradually trying out different bits of it. this time i thought biology, chemistry and engineering sounded fun, so we headed in. We arranged to meet Ali and family in chemistry, but in one of those typical ways kept just missing each other until lunchtime. did manage to bump into weds helen 2ce tho as a bonus . we loved the chemistry, so spent the majority of our time there the whole thing seemed v well set up with lots of different bits and loved the goggles and lab coats most of the demonstrators were happy to spend quite a bit of time talking and answering questions, and it wasnt packed, so not long waiting i liked the spraying chemicals on a flame best but i think sb loves the cornflour whenever she gets a chance I also liked this year that bb was getting a lot from it, and actually remembering a lot from the latinetc. [both of them, actually so it has been worth it] . so we went in lots of their areas, and at 2 decided we were really really hungry and so then had lunch… and met up with Ali! hooray

After lunch, and meeting a couple of other local home educators [as you tend to at events like these ] we went into the scott polar museum. well, bb and i went in, as she was v keen to, and SB dressed up as an antarctic explorer outside and got v v warm. liked the scott polar, and bb was v taken by it. it can be hard to predict what will grab her fancy, but that def did.

We wandered back to biology, but bb was v definite she wanted to do the bridge thing outside zoology – which she did, and SB the spinning chair, and then there was only about 30mins before our chaos experiment session, so we went into zoology, sb discussed evolution and bb drew a ladybird and then we did our final experimenting. bb declared that she had done loads of those experiments before [which to be fair we have] but loved the lifecycles one. sb was attached to microscopes and the physics ones mostly.

At the end of the day, with hurty feet we waited over 30 mins for our bus [every 10 mins humph!!] and collapsed at home feeling job well done, and slightly scienced out [if that can be believed!] next year, i think we shoukd try and book earlier a few lectures, as think bb will be up for them by then.

have to add that the enormous moon was absolutely gorgeous on the way home, an enormous orange at horizon height. had my camera had any charge left i would have attempted a photo