Petits Haricots

actually, although we did various things today, the thing that made us most laugh was sorting out our miis on the wii. the girls veto-ed mine – grey bun with wrinkled face, but did let me leave it at the very fattest setting! the girls [well, bb is down as a boy actually] had a lot of fun too. BB has gone for vaguely herself, and SB hasn’t. but we giggled lots. SB and i went on to wiibowl and wiitennis – which was hard as we kept crashing into each other!

SO, other things we did today were play together, games tickles, cuddles. we didn’t craft [tho i had wanted too!] but we did watch far too much tv snuggled together – victorian farm [suggested by jax and michelle and much loved here], little house on the prairie, and turn left dr who.

so a laid back day, and i am going to have an early night!!

It seems suddenly a huge surprise to be writing a mission statement for another child, and the temptation is just to cut and paste the one for SB at this age! However, allthough the basic principles of our ethos are the same, the 2 children are v different in personality, styles and needs. Whereas SB was a keen people pleaser who wanted to learn, and was happy to learn however it was presented, and it has gradually taken time to find what suits her well, BB is really far more individualistic and internally motivated! Also, I think we are more relaxed as a family this second time round. We understand the value of dead ends, false starts and rethinking, so there is less pressure to ‘get it right’ and more belief ‘in the process’.

anyway, here goes – normal disclaimers still apply!

Taking us to jan 2012 – ie BB 7 [2 years]

I think full formal education starts too soon. this first period is about learning learning skills, and getting the information – so reading is something we will build on! making the world an exciting and interesting place to live in and imparting the knowledge without being overly concerned to the most part on how long it is retained! Some skills are we want to start and hope to built on – namely literacy, language, numeracy and practical things such as art, music and sports. Others will come and go.The key thing is to view the tapestry, not count the stitches. The basic warp and weft will be forming.

In this, we are likely to be child led rather than completely autonomous. I see it panning out that there are activities we try and accomplish on a regular basis, be this daily, weekly, fortnightly or what seems reasonable . The actual minutiae will not be programmed, and will be child interest led. Although I have rough idea of what we may get through as such in the next 2 years, it isn’t ‘must do or else’, and often I skip bits : more a guide to where i see us being. BB has a clear idea of what she finds interesting at the moment, and so it seems entirely reasonable to look at these and follow the spark of her interest over the years. I have no prioritised information, or educational heirachy to worry about, so following her self led discovery seems as good a pointer as any. Also, with having a home educated older sibling, she can’t help but have some overspill from that input.

Play activities are equally vital if not more so at this stage – as when else in the future are you given the chance to have free play without some pangs of guilt? Lets get rid of the guilt, so that is something that is part of the balance. many of the toys can be seen to have all sorts of possible educational benefits, as I think there is very little ‘play’ that doesn’t have some learning potential – from rehearsing life scenarios, honing imagination, fine motor control, etc etc.

the Nitty Gritty

literacy:

and that is that we will be leading up to increased stuff in the next 2 years, hopefully running through the before the codes , and then start the explode the codes- possibly 2 rather than 3 a year! BB has been very slow to ‘acquire the alphabet’ and i don’t want her to be pressurised and put off.

Find as many early readers that fire the imagination without being too awful, and ebay the rest! Encouraging a love of reading from the books – separate perhaps the architecture of reading into the explode the code, so the books aren’t so tedious from the language lessons! Continue to read aloud a wide and varied story matter that pleases BB and is chosen by her. I am also hoping that things like dsing will get her recognising the use of reading!

maths:
singapore maths we are on the earlibirds, but BB finds them v easy. Just trying to encourage her to think of doing some as part of life, and then hopefully this year will move on to the propre singapore maths books. this makes me realise how pro-active we were with SB, and worrying that should be trying harder with BB! Also incorporating lots of time just fiddling with manipulatives, and bring maths into the every day. We also have some cuisinaire books and the pattern blocks to play with.

History:
Mostly we will be doing this with SB, so story of the world 2 and then 3, looking though our various lovely books – i wonder why’s, usborne books, the through time series etc.

writing:
BB is not so keen on writing any large amounts at the moment, but does like to write small notes and cards to people. At the moment we are not planning any additional writing, but as she gets more confident and keen, we have the getty and dubay series to hone things.

science:
Actually we do regular science experiments, and BB enjoys these. We have again lots of early science readers i read to SB at this age

Geography:
will be predominantly history and holiday based

We should give languages a good crack
SB is doing french, and so sensible to do with BB, we tend to read the story books altogether, and listen to the CD’s – serge is a favourite!

music :-
BB currently appears to have perfect pitch, so i encourage lots of singing and note mimicry. she is leanring the recorder, and i would quite like her to consider another instrument.

PE:
currently swimming and cycling. she has given up football, but is doing gym taster sessions.

IT:
well!! whatever really, posion rouge, zoombinis cd, webland to be getting on with.

Arts and crafts:
obviously a huge component of our days! we are a bit low on feathers and glittery bits…

Domestic Science!!: slight rofl at title, but a fair bit of baking and cooking, gardening, some tidying and laying the table. May start some sewing and later on she would like to learn to knit [from Nana!]

Socialising: regular attendance at not quite local groups, local clubs [ie rainbows], national camps and making sure we have a steady stream of houseguests.

hmm, reading this I realise how different our approach has been to BB over SB. SB was child led, BB is totally autonomous. having looked at the mission statement above, i am not sure whether we will be considering a change from autonomous to child led at all. however, i would like to give BB a small try on the different structure to see whether she enjoys it or not. I can’t make my mind up! SO…

I would like to make BB a ‘box book’ box of various early learner type interesting books that were hits with SB, and try and read one or 2 of them a week. i would like th encourage the french alongside SB, some regular maths and reading of some nature and recorder practice [plus other instrument if she fancies it]. i would also like to make available various iT resources for her to play with as well.

you can all see i have been doing traditional blog new year things – ed philosophy done, compared last one to what we did [well, ok, i did that v sketchily!] made a few resolutions. so i guess i should blog the new year!

a friend of ours was having a new years party, which was v tempting, but i was working, and although allegedly only on a call out, i am just reluctant to go anywhere when on a call out [even with the wonders of modern mobiles] so we decided to stay at home, and were joined, traditionally by merry, max and girls. unfortunately i only really said hello and had a cup of tea before i was called in! i believe they had a relaxing evening!! i got home after everyone in bed, though merry got up and we chatted for a bit. back in the following day, and the babs and family arrived before i got home, but at least said hello to merry and max before they went home. felt a trifle poor host there!! games with the babs and chris whilst the children madly played with the wii chris got for xmas – wii boxing being rather hysterical! bb and r bonded well and played horsey games. i went to work again, called in for the whole night but returned in the morning to more gaming with the babs, and more wiiing/lego games etc and horsey games for the children.

so the little i saw of friends was lovely, and would have been a perfect start to the new year if it hadn’t been for work. however, the crisis at work that i was so worried about and devoted all that time to has had a happy ending, so it really is a perfect start to the new year after all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This is the next mission statement for SB, to last jan 2010 to 2012 [oh my goodness!!] when she will be just short of 11th birthday. But an initial immediate disclaimer!

THIS IS NOT A YEARLY [OR 2 YEARLY PLAN] THAT WE WILL LOOK TO ACHIEVE, TO TICK OFF ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST OR SUBMIT TO ANY LICENSING AUTHORITY! IT IS AN AIDE MEMOIRE TO ME ON WHAT WE MAY CHOOSE TO USE FOR THE THINGS SB WISHES TO COVER AT THE MOMENT, THINGS SHE CURRENTLY ENJOYS. I ANTICIPATE SHE WILL CHANGE HER MIND, AND WE WILL CHANGE OUR PLAN! I DO NOT *VALUE* ANY SPECIFIC NUGGET OF INFORMATION INPARTED OR ABSORBED MORE THAN ANY OTHER. I PLAN OUR EDUCATION TO BE SITUATIONAL AND RESPONSIVE IN THE MOST.

I guess, this is going to be a slight change in pace for our mission statement. We are moving out of our first period of home ed, and into the second, consolidating and expanding phase. This is where we hopefully make sure she has a solid ground start, and then gradually work on accelerating the learning/doing pace vs the fiddle faddle space for when secondary school age. We absolutely reserve the right though to change this mission statement dependent on SB’s preferences as this 2 year period passes.

we have, I think, delivered more or less on our basic mission statement for SB. She has, i believe, gained a basic warp and weft tapestry of knowledge that now we should start to embroider with extension of the things that she loves. Not that we have tested her knowledge in anyway, and it is possible that she retains no knowledge of anything. She reads fluently, enjoys and progresses with maths, has a wide enjoyment of learning, including history, science and biographies. We have started out the path to music, with some hitches along the way, and SB is developing a clear idea of music styles she enjoys, including jazz. We have also started out with languages. We have had a lot of fun, done a lot of playing, visiting, messing about and forming bonds with other home educators who have become her friends and peers.

We need to encourage her to see the need to strengthen the areas of weakness, so that learning is not prone to unravel unexpectedly in the future. Since this is is something she doesn’t enjoy so much, we need to find and agree levels that will incrementally lead to improvement, but don’t make it an unbearable chore, scaffolding and encouraging. this is most noticeable in the area of english language, grammar and spelling. At present we don’t write or record many of the things we do, because of the dislike and difficulty writing. I think that we gradually should start to encourage a record, be it lap book, mostly drawings or photos and a few words of some of the experiments/trips out and about, and ‘topics’ should we do them. This isn’t something that will come naturally, so we will consider how this might work for us – perhaps a learning journal?

In progressing forward, we hope that SB will more and more choose what to concentrate on, and what are the resources she likes to use and how. We hope that she will now begin determine the shape that the fabric of her education will take. Certainly, when we find the right resource for her – like currently the dk project books – she is capable of prolonged focused study and discussion. This is a period of emotional growth and change as well, and our home ed will aim to support personal development too.

One of the problems of home educating and blogging is seeing the best of other peoples home ed, and contrasting it with your areas of weakness or vacillation. we have more structured friends, whose children appear to be romping ahead in all areas very happily, we have more autonomous friends whose children appear to be having more fun, creating a very individual identity, we have friends who extrovertly educate, going to lots of workshops, events and just knocking my socks off with the wow factor, and those that lapbook and project and those whose children are driven by special interests… We can’t be all these different people, but will try and use their expertise and influence to perhaps balance our home ed, being a check to whether we can do anything better than we are.

So we will remain child led rather than completely autonomous. I see it continuing that there are activities we try and accomplish on a regular basis, be this daily, weekly, fortnightly or what seems reasonable . The actual minutiae will not be programmed, and will be child interest led. Although I have rough idea of what we may get through as such in the next 2 years, it isn’t ‘must do or else’, and often I will stillskip bits : more a guide to where i see us being. SB has a wide ranging thirst at the moment, and so it seems unreasonable to fix her attention on something she truly deems boring when there are many other things to catch her spark. but i think we will gradually be encouraging some structure – for her to find her own best patterns within it, but that she develops a balance that suits between pure play, enjoyed, enriching learning and the targeted ‘hard slog’ learning. Currently, she has been experimenting with a ‘pick ‘n mix’ timetable, where there are 50 or so ‘somethings’ and she tries to work for 20-30 of them, each prob with an average time of 15 mins, but with possibility to do much more.

I think the other key issue, which runs as a theme throughout, is that as parents we need to be tidier, keeping resources tidy and accessible – we can be helped and enabled by SB.

As before, i will do a nitty gritty consideration of curriculum , and am putting in links to some of the resources. Again, i reiterate that this is a rough draft planning of possible goals, but i do not tie myself or SB down to achieving them, and we may change our minds completely over course. it is a rough working for us to see what might be. It is unlikely to submitted to the LA

the Nitty Gritty

literacy:

to read herself a wide a varied amount of literature, encouraging her to try new genres and authors, and to stretch her imagination. to still read aloud to her a variety of stories, again across different genres and writing styles.

to start to discuss the mechanics of style and writing in the books, stories, poetry etc we come across. not much to start with -don’t want to impede the reading explosion! but to start thinking about why she liked bits, what the story is about, what interests are sparked from it, and perhaps the use of language. This might be aided by a book club or group? She was quite interested by friends doing nanowrimo in the short childs version this year, so we will try it next year.

SB is also doing a small amount regularly of the galore park english, being on book 1 at the moment, and we would perhaps like to have finished this and be moving through book 2 perhaps if all goes well. this is one of her areas of struggle though, so just doing a tiny bit regularly is the aim. If we find something she prefers to do to this, we will swap!

writing:

SB has stated an interest in writing more legibly, and was gradually working through getty and dubay. this has stopped for a while, but we have discussed it and plan to carry on with this. i hope to add some story writing or copywork activitities if she fancies it.to start her on the path to writing her own stories – encouraging the use of grammer and spelling! Writing could perhaps also be encouraged in keeping a journal for experiments or for trips out and about. We will perhaps see if lapbooking will interest her?

drama:

we don’t do any drama at the moment, which i think is a bit of a shame. I am hopeful that we can look at some opportunities in the next 2 years. i would also like to start visiting the theatre more again, now BB is older.

maths:

singapore maths we are halfway through 3b at the moment, and hoping to move through a year of singapore with each calendar year, so perhaps getting towards the end of 5b. it just depends really! SB loves this series, has no interest, she says, in trying anything else.

To add a bit of sparkle and interest, we will try and do some maths experimentation from our DK book.

we have quite a few maths story books that we all enjoy.

A friend is contemplating primary maths challenge, and SB is keen currently to do it next year.

History:

we haven’t completed the second story of the world as a reader, although we had planned too. We are still enjoying it, however, and will finish that and commence the third. We will hope to do more of the activities as well – perhaps a bit of parental pre-planning! alongside this we have lots of great usborne books, other good books and good piccies in DK eyewitness

I would like us to consider pulling out a few things to do larger topic work on, as we did the vikings, mixing crafts, history, visiting, dvd’s etc. SB is currently really enjoying a DK mediaeval project book, which suggests this might be a place to start. certainly we are near enough a few castles!

Also readers set in different time periods, and myths and legends seem to go down well. we can use this to spark interest and discuss as and when she fancies
we may start to introduce timelines, and see where this gets us .

Historical re-enactments and visits should add some external WOW to learning, and we will try and make the most of opportunities.

critical thinking:

We are working our way through the bond verbal and non verbal reasoning books, which SB enjoys – particularly the non verbal, where she is working on the 9-10 book, as opposed to the 8-9 for verbal. the problems with spelling and grammar hinder the verbal reasoning. ALthough this may sound dull and dry, she really enjoys them, like her mum there!

We play lots of board games as well.

science:

this is a multipronged pronged event. We read a fair number of easy access science books – such as those by jaquie bailey and meredith hooper. the magic school bus chapter books and programmes are a hit, and contain solid wodges of info in easily accessible formats. i think as she loves them, this is definitely something to encourage. Science is a no brainer subject for us, she loves it, we love it and great enjoyment had fiddling and learning! may have to kit out a lab one day!

SB is also doing a small amount regularly of the galore park science book, being on book 1 at the moment, and we would perhaps like to have finished this and be nearing the end of book 2 if not on book 3, depending on whether she continues to like this series. At the moment she is also racing through schofield and simms science workbooks for key stage 2 after picking one up casually!

We are aiming to do regular experiments at home, and have a number of kits and resources. i am hoping to encourage at least a small write up in a learning journal. We are also part of a fortnightly meeting where we do more science experiments with a bit of a theme.

We try to go to a number of RI events in the year, as well as the local science festival to add some external WOW to this area.

We have joined the astronomy group, but need to go more regularly and hopefully hiring one of their telescopes again, as we all learned a lot last time and really enjoyed it.

Geography:

will still be predominantly history and holiday based, but perhaps something such as geocaching may take SB’s interest if we do it more regularly, and also working out cycling routes? it also gets covered alot as part of other things.

Actually, since writing that, we have started postcrossing, and all the excitement of writing and sending, then receiving postcards and plotting them on our map is proving quite thrilling at the mo.

languages:

we have good resources for french, and we are trying to regularly use french for a small conversation, and also to read some toddler french books and base words around this. we have enjoyed doing this, and some words are retained. I am not sure this is the most efficient or best way of learning french, but we are are least learning some and enjoying it. i think we might try out rosetta stone. it is expensive, but i think it may be the time to give it a go with a trial before buying.

I am trying to supplement this with dvd/video/cd’s and may, hopefully, have some french sessions with a friend on perhaps a fortnightly basis,

we have for the last 2 years had a short camping holiday in france, and plan to continue this. i am not sure about sending SB on an en famille camp, but may host.

We perhaps need to work a bit more regularly at latin. this is done on a fortnightly basis, but possibly a look in between times would be useful!

music :-

piano is probably SB’s favourite, and we will encourage regular practice
recorder is also practiced, and am hoping SB can attend a local venue regularly enough for Gina to continue teaching. SB is hoping to do grade 1 clarinet, recorder and music theory and piano, and perhaps a grade 2 on 1 or 2 of these instruments in this 2 year period [eek!]

i have some first duet books to add a bit of a difference with our playing, and hope to regularly write group music for SB and friends to a level they are comfortable with.

we will also do lots of singing, and listen to a wide range of music – i don’t think we have enough background music on in the house, and since we have so much…

At some point, we may possibly add a bit of composer study, should SB show inclination or interest, but not necessarily.

for the out and about WOW factor, SB has really enjoyed holiday orchestra, doing singing, musical games and recorder, and is v keen to do again. there are a number of events nearly locally that she can participate in.

i also want us to start going out to more concerts. BB is def not interested, and i think for sb too they would still have to be short, but she did enjoy the LSO

PE:

is covered well at the moment, and we will continue to encourage a core sports practice and trying out all sorts of new ideas.

current activities are ballet, gym, swimming and judo on a weekly basis
She also goes to a variety of HE group sports as and when they happen.

she has a present of some golf lessons, so we can see if she enjoys it.

more ad hoc are yoga and dance videos [which i should do too!!], wii fit, and perhaps finding someone to get her started with in line skating. half term and holiday leisure centre taster events also popular

IT:

surprisingly, this is an area which we are not using much at the moment. SB prefers reading and playing to IT. our computers did break, which was prob v unhelpful, and we have not got back into using them. perhaps a few new and interesting cdroms will kickstart.

Arts and crafts:

we do a fair amount of art and crafting, using fimo and hama beads, kits and paints in a freestyle way

I would like to add in some art appreciation, look at different artists and styles, and ‘have a go’ now SB is getting more confident in painting

SB periodically is interested in tuesday sketch, so I might encourage this as well

Domestic Science!!:

slight rofl at title, but a fair bit of baking and cooking [which she is already skilled at], gardening, some tidying and laying the table. SHe is interested in sewing and knitting too, so it is just about making sure the basics are available and accessible for her to do when the mood strikes, or re-introducing if there has been a gap.

personal development

Socialising:

regular attendance at not quite local groups, local clubs [ie rainbows], national camps and making sure we have a steady stream of houseguests.

family is also very important, and maintaining close family ties and bonds. this is likely to be an emotionally fragile era, due to both hormonal changes and external sad events.

trips and outings:

i think we should be a bit more proactive now BB more amenable to going out and about to places for experiential learning opportunities. this would add a bit of sparkle and pizazz to the whole thing, add external excitement for looking at some things, and generally be fun for all.

practicalities:

we have lots of resources and opportunities, i think in the next 2 years we parents have to hone our presentation skills, storage solutions etc, so that they are all readily accessible for SB to find . i think we need a ruthless look at groups that work or not for SB, and keep an eye on the opportunities to play and socialise.

If we actually did achieve what i have listed above, i would be a very happy bunny! The devil is in the implementation! life gets in the way etc etc, but i think we really must try.

obviously we do a lot of ed by conversation and seeing where that goes – sometimes quite tricky, so the other thing is to make sure that we are available , enthusiastic partners in the educational process.

it is harder to really look at this in any more detail, as SB really will become more and more the driving force for her education, depending on her interest. I think for me, it is enough to know that i think we have resources and information and enthusiasm to back her up, but also to at this stage continue to encourage and lead and offer where necessary. i would hope that for the most part she will be autonomous and enthused about continuing to learn and find out. That we will have facilitated her spending ages on minutiae, and whipping through huge subjects in nano seconds where less interesting to her, and that she will start to be setting the agenda and goals for us to provide for.

Mine
1. be more organised – file away, sorting out, diarising etc etc.
2. exercise [yuk - nearly put more there, but whats the point, it is at all that's the issue - sigh]
3. continue the carpe diem policy!

House
1. be ‘job’ organised – sort conservatory papers, get tree surgeons sorted, quote for window painter [front windows friends, don't get excited!]
2. make house tidiable. think we should try and concentrate on one room a month, empty, clean [? repaint/refresh] and decide what storage needs before refill. [think this is a fail, maybe every other month?]

Home Ed
1. look for external opportunites and diarise!
2. be more proactive in laying the options available!
3. have fun!

please see previous disclaimers etc!!

the Nitty Gritty

literacy:

to read herself a wide a varied amount of literature, encouraging her to try new genres and authors, and to stretch her imagination. to still read aloud to her a variety of stories, again across different genres and writing styles.

YES

to start to discuss the mechanics of style and writing in the books, stories, poetry etc we come across. not much to start with -don’t want to impede the reading explosion! but to start thinking about why she liked bits, what the story is about, what interests are sparked from it, and perhaps the use of language.

STARTED

to start her on the path to writing her own stories – encouraging the use of grammer and spelling!

PARTLY

writing: SB has stated an interest in writing more legibly, and we are gradually working through getty and dubay. We are half way through c. i hope we carry on with this. i hope to add some story writing or copywork activitities if she fancies it.

NOT RECENTLY, BUT GOT TO D – SOMETHING TO WORK ON

maths: singapore maths 2b at the moment, and hoping to move through a year of singapore with each calendar year, so perhaps starting 4a. it just depends really! . we also plan to use some CIMT maths for different perspectives. Also incorporating lots of time just fiddling with manipulatives, and bring maths into the every day.

HALF WAY THROUGH 3B, SO I GUESS NOT QUITE

History: we have commenced the second story of the world as a reader, and perhaps aim to complete this, just seeing how it goes. alongside this we have lots of great usborne books and good piccies in DK eyewitness [the text is too rich at the moment]

NOT FAR OFF FINISHING ACTUALLY

Also readers set in different time periods, and myths and legends seem to go down well. we can use this to spark interest and discuss as and when she fancies
we may start to introduce timelines, and see where this gets us .

YES TO READERS AND ASSOC BOOKS, NO TO TIMELINES

critical thinking: I would like to do some critical thinking. May buy a sonlight book! However, i think lots of games playing will be helpful here, learning to plan moves ahead etc. SHe has taken up chess recently, and we play lots of games together

MOSTLY DONE THIS THROUGH GAMES AND ALSO VERBAL AND NON VERBAL REASONING

science: I would STILL like to join the young scientists club, and use those and our usborne pocket series. crystal kits, dig it out kits, and general messing about kits – lovely! SB has a real interest in doing experiments and seeing how things work, and i plan to facilitate this regularly.

LOADS OF SCIENCE!

at present the magic school bus chapter books and programmes are a hit, and contain solid wodges of info in easily accessible formats. i think as she loves them, this is definitely something to encourage.

YES

i would like us to get round to joining the astronomy group, and hopefully hiring one of their telescopes, as she is keen to do this, and we would all enjoy it.

YES

Geography: will still be predominantly history and holiday based, but perhaps something such as geocaching may take SB’s interest? it also gets covered alot as part of other things.

SOME GEOCACHING, A LOT OF INTEREST WITH POSTCROSSING

languages: SB would very much like to give more attention to languages. we have good resources for french, german and spanish to start, and also i need to practice the latin in between sessions. it is something she needs our help and encouragement with.

YES TO FRENCH, TIME TO MOVE TO NEXT STAGE!

we will try and back this up with local groups to encourage the skills, and consider camping holidays in france to make them practical.

music :- piano is probably SB’s favourite, and we will encourage regular practice

we will do violin and at some point in the next 2 years, i might pass the tuition on to the county music service

PIANO GOING STRONG, AND RECORDER, VIOLIN DROPPED, BUT CLARINET STARTED

certainly we wish to utilise the county music service for their early ensemble string groups. I think SB would get a lot out of this.

we will also do lots of singing, and listen to a wide range of music methinks.

drama: at present she does this with the home-ed group, and does enjoy it. the timing of the session is poor for me, and i think it might go after this term. we should look potentially for something else.

TO DO

PE: is covered well at the moment, and we will continue to encourage a core sports practice and trying out all sorts of new ideas.

current activities are ballet, swimming and judo. She goes for gym taster sessions, so we hope to add that.

she would also like to at least try horse riding, and see if she enjoys it.

DIDN’T, NEED TO SORT GOLF

the local group has a monthly mixed sports group, which she loves and will continue to attend

more ad hoc are yoga and dance videos [which i should do too!!], and perhaps finding someone to get her started with in line skating. half term and holiday leisure centre taster events also popular

IT: well!! whatever really. we have the internet, a variety of cd’s and webland to be getting on with. i won’t renew education city unless she has a sudden mad rush at it!

BEEN A BIT IT SHORT ACTUALLY

Arts and crafts: obviously a huge component of our days! we are a bit low on feathers and glittery bits…

I would like to add in some art appreciation, look at different artists and styles, and ‘have a go’

Domestic Science!!: slight rofl at title, but a fair bit of baking and cooking, gardening, some tidying and laying the table. SHe is interested in sewing and knitting too, so it is just about making sure the basics are available and accessible for her to do when the mood strikes, or re-introducing if there has been a gap.

Socialising: regular attendance at not quite local groups, local clubs [ie rainbows], national camps and making sure we have a steady stream of houseguests.

YES

we probably should have a look at what we go to and when, as with the increase in after school activity groups, we probably should do a bit more staying at home to accomplish some of the above.

family is also important, and maintaining close family ties and bonds.

trips and outings: i think we should be a bit more proactive now BB more amenable to going out and about to places for experiential learning opportunities. this would add a bit of sparkle and pizazz to the whole thing, add external excitement for looking at some things, and generally be fun for all.

YES

practicalities: we have lots of resources and opportunities, i think in the next 2 years we parents have to hone our presentation skills, storage solutions etc, so that they are all readily accessible for SB to find . i think we need a ruthless look at groups that work or not for SB, and keep an eye on the opportunities to play and socialise.

obviously we do a lot of ed by conversation and seeing where that goes – sometimes quite tricky, so the other thing is to make sure that we are available , enthusiastic partners in the educational process.

YES

today we had a bit of a manic day! we started with latinetc and then went on a steam train trip. latinetc the bigger children put on plays in latin and learnt about saturnalia. at sb for forgetting everything about the 12 tasks of flavia gemina! the two plays were both fab, with the boys doing a sort of latin tom and jerry, and the girls had kit/rufus getting lost in the baths. the littlies did a beautiful jingle bells with bells, and they all enjoyed looking at things down the microscope again. roman bread was made – though we left too early to eat it!

having left early, we made it to the nene valley railway santa special. it was more magical with the snow!! as we got there, we thought the car park must be full, as cars parking miles away on the road, so chris decided to drive to carpark to drop us off… and it was half empty! result! so we got in, bought tea and ot choc to fortify the wait for santa grotto. i have to say, a lovely grotto, and fab presents [there is a surprise!] and both girls happy. we got bb a ‘boy’ badge so she didn’t get pink tat, but i think all 5 year olds [pressies were age and sex demarcated!] got a rather interesting game, which hopefully she will let us play one day. bb had a drawing by numbers set.

the train was a steamer, and toasty warm our carriage had some uninhibited carollers in it, so we all joined in! v festive. santas helpers brought sweets and juice for kids, and mince pies and alcohol or hot drinks for adults, so we were happily set! BB did fall asleep in the end though. nice christmassy thing to have done, though once in train you don’t get the steam thing fully!

home to watch the second half of the troll merlin, play bohnanza with SB and then when girls chased to bed, finish the tunis cake and wrap the last of the pressies. i must pack clothes now. kinda dreading the journey tomorrow, as the ‘most sensible’ route by far takes us onto the m25 – which currently seems least sensible!