Finally succumbing and occasionally putting the heating on.
Sometimes, like tonight, it's still perfectly livable downstairs. We've already dug out blankets and fleecy pajamas, purchased new slippers and super-soft throws, but the upstairs is always at least a degree colder because of the flat roofed dormer extension and with Dot and Hoof both sleeping upstairs now I'm wary of letting it get too cold up there, so on the heating goes for an hour or two, at least in their room.
We've also dug out coats and hats and scarves, my salopettes have been pressed back into action and gloves have been carefully stashed away in coat pockets. Winter is upon us, basically! Sometimes we get a warmer, wet day, sometimes it's clear and sunny but rather 'fresh' and more often we've had a lazy wind... one that can't be bothered to go round you so goes through you instead. We're still keeping up forest school, the heated hut is a great refuge and we all have good, waterproof wellies and plenty of socks which makes such a difference.
Other changes have been more soups and stews. I've carved up one of the pumpkins a friend gave us from their allotment and got two batches of soups and three pies from it. Have a far larger one still to use, so that's good. Miraculously everyone liked the pumpkin pie!
Dot has had her birthday. This year, rather than a huge party she just had a couple of friends over for a slumber party- well, one slept over, the other went home around eight (as planned) and we had lots of fun. So now our thoughts turn to Christmas. Names have been drawn from a hat for sibling gifts and we've also been writing Christmas lists. Really, there's hardly any year left!
Sunday 19 November 2017
Monday 13 November 2017
Grey Dawn Breaking
Read about Attila the Hun and Fredegund this morning, also farmyard cats and the tradition of scarecrows (aka tattie bogles) in rural England. We set up some crystal growing and now one of the kitchen windowsills is full of experiments! The crystals, a gummy bear 'growing' in water and lots of orange peel drying to to be punk (firelighter) for forest school.
Papacrow moved the home ed white shelves along their bit of wall so that he could put up another set and now we have lots more room, hooray! So we spent some time this morning moving things round and organising books in the front room, moving some to the new shelves, as well as ordering the craft stuff.
I also turned out the airing cupboard and I did three kitchen cupboards at the weekend. I always feel the urge at this time of year far more than in the spring. I want everything neat and tidy and ready for winter, somehow!
Papacrow moved the home ed white shelves along their bit of wall so that he could put up another set and now we have lots more room, hooray! So we spent some time this morning moving things round and organising books in the front room, moving some to the new shelves, as well as ordering the craft stuff.
I also turned out the airing cupboard and I did three kitchen cupboards at the weekend. I always feel the urge at this time of year far more than in the spring. I want everything neat and tidy and ready for winter, somehow!
Friday 3 November 2017
Sea-gulls Crying
Well, hello November!
October was just a mite stressful which is a shame because it's my favourite month. We had lots of events squished together all at once- all fun things we wanted to do but having a gig, a wrestling show and a comic convention all on the same weekend took its toll.
Saurus was due to go to American to visit his girlfriend and indeed, got halfway to the airport before it was discovered he didn't have all the documentation he needed to get in. Luckily he and his girlfriend were able to cancel the flights and get the money back as she had got insurance on the purchase, phew! After much discussion and scrutinisation of all the rules and regulations they've decided to postpone the trip until next summer, giving him time to get more funds together and iron out all the other little details like phone network provision and health insurance. Yes these are all things we mentioned and discussed with him well beforehand but oh well, he's living and learning!
Roo had his parents evening and got a glowing report from his tutor who is very happy with him. I am not, now, so happy with his tutor as we've just discovered Roo's been told to organise his work experience. Himself. No guidance, no list of approved sites, nothing. Utter madness! This is a class of sixteen year olds who have been told, essentially, to cold call building sites to get themselves on them! No risk assessment, no insurance, no health and safety regs, nothing. To say I am fuming is an understatement.
Wig seems to be doing fine at school, still enjoying it, still eager to go. I have doubts as to how much quality education actually goes on during the school day but he seems to be thriving and they seem very happy with him so I'm not getting pushy about it. He does seem to have hit the typical grumbly teen phaze, but that's to be expected.
Here at home we've moved on from Ivan the Terrible's fascinating life to the history and origins of language. So far we've investigated Nicaraguan sign language, started reading Gilgamesh and are looking into the development of anatomy that allows speech. We're enjoying Strictly Come Dancing, Blue Planet 2 and the new series of Robot Wars. Ballet, football and karate continue, as do forest school, minecraft club and various meets. Hoof does all his alphabet flash cards by himself now and needs very little assistance. He knows each letter's name and sound and we're just beginning to put them together to make words. Dot has discovered the Dairy of a Whimpy kid and Captain Underpants, Fluff is onto the second book of Lord of the Rings and Petal and I have a date to go shopping for crop tops. They're all growing up so fast!
I'm involved in a dance show with the adult dance school I take classes with. It seemed like a fabulous fun idea back in April but in fact has become something I've begun dragging myself to with dread, mostly because the classes I am in are really above my ability. Still, now there's only the dress rehearsal and performances to go, so I only have to survive two more days. I say survive advisedly, I have a stinking cold and sore throat and feel dire and I've managed to pick up a massive burn on my chin from eating pizza, would you believe!
October was just a mite stressful which is a shame because it's my favourite month. We had lots of events squished together all at once- all fun things we wanted to do but having a gig, a wrestling show and a comic convention all on the same weekend took its toll.
Saurus was due to go to American to visit his girlfriend and indeed, got halfway to the airport before it was discovered he didn't have all the documentation he needed to get in. Luckily he and his girlfriend were able to cancel the flights and get the money back as she had got insurance on the purchase, phew! After much discussion and scrutinisation of all the rules and regulations they've decided to postpone the trip until next summer, giving him time to get more funds together and iron out all the other little details like phone network provision and health insurance. Yes these are all things we mentioned and discussed with him well beforehand but oh well, he's living and learning!
Roo had his parents evening and got a glowing report from his tutor who is very happy with him. I am not, now, so happy with his tutor as we've just discovered Roo's been told to organise his work experience. Himself. No guidance, no list of approved sites, nothing. Utter madness! This is a class of sixteen year olds who have been told, essentially, to cold call building sites to get themselves on them! No risk assessment, no insurance, no health and safety regs, nothing. To say I am fuming is an understatement.
Wig seems to be doing fine at school, still enjoying it, still eager to go. I have doubts as to how much quality education actually goes on during the school day but he seems to be thriving and they seem very happy with him so I'm not getting pushy about it. He does seem to have hit the typical grumbly teen phaze, but that's to be expected.
Here at home we've moved on from Ivan the Terrible's fascinating life to the history and origins of language. So far we've investigated Nicaraguan sign language, started reading Gilgamesh and are looking into the development of anatomy that allows speech. We're enjoying Strictly Come Dancing, Blue Planet 2 and the new series of Robot Wars. Ballet, football and karate continue, as do forest school, minecraft club and various meets. Hoof does all his alphabet flash cards by himself now and needs very little assistance. He knows each letter's name and sound and we're just beginning to put them together to make words. Dot has discovered the Dairy of a Whimpy kid and Captain Underpants, Fluff is onto the second book of Lord of the Rings and Petal and I have a date to go shopping for crop tops. They're all growing up so fast!
I'm involved in a dance show with the adult dance school I take classes with. It seemed like a fabulous fun idea back in April but in fact has become something I've begun dragging myself to with dread, mostly because the classes I am in are really above my ability. Still, now there's only the dress rehearsal and performances to go, so I only have to survive two more days. I say survive advisedly, I have a stinking cold and sore throat and feel dire and I've managed to pick up a massive burn on my chin from eating pizza, would you believe!
Saturday 16 September 2017
Rainy Days
We seem to be having a sort of autumnal version of April showers at the moment. They come on as suddenly and as hard as if someone's turned on the tap at full blast and end just as abruptly. We got caught in one coming back from the Home Ed group meet yesterday. We'd been playing in the playground not long before and when we got home- a ten minute drive- the pavements were dry, it hadn't been raining there! So extremely localised, too. The home ed friends who host Mine Craft club had it raining in their front garden but not in their back the other week!
Karate today, and tomorrow Petal and Dot are off to play with the little girls who used to live downstairs, so that will be nice. We also had lots of discussion round the dinner table about meals for the coming week, who's cooking what and what treats and puddings we are going to bake.
Karate today, and tomorrow Petal and Dot are off to play with the little girls who used to live downstairs, so that will be nice. We also had lots of discussion round the dinner table about meals for the coming week, who's cooking what and what treats and puddings we are going to bake.
Friday 15 September 2017
All I Ask
Ooof, I'm glad we've managed to get to the end of the this week! Not sure if it's the turn of the weather or the general 'back to school' vibe but it seems to have been especially busy.
Not that we have all been back to school, of course, but as the girls do a lot of ballet and Fluff does football and those things are all term based there's still been a certain amount of that 'scrambling back into routine' effect!
We've also been trying really hard to dive into Conquer maths and plug away at that. Today we have the Home Ed meet and although I'm only working very part time it does seem to take up a lot of time... wouldn't it be nice to have extra hours?! Especially to sleep in! Or maybe just some more elastic hours that stretch a bit, if you could only choose WHICH ones stretch and which ones don't. One of the nice things about home ed is that you have plenty of time, you don't have to panic... but this year seems to have flown past rather faster than I was expecting.
Not that we have all been back to school, of course, but as the girls do a lot of ballet and Fluff does football and those things are all term based there's still been a certain amount of that 'scrambling back into routine' effect!
We've also been trying really hard to dive into Conquer maths and plug away at that. Today we have the Home Ed meet and although I'm only working very part time it does seem to take up a lot of time... wouldn't it be nice to have extra hours?! Especially to sleep in! Or maybe just some more elastic hours that stretch a bit, if you could only choose WHICH ones stretch and which ones don't. One of the nice things about home ed is that you have plenty of time, you don't have to panic... but this year seems to have flown past rather faster than I was expecting.
Thursday 14 September 2017
The Lonely Sea
We caught up with some table time yesterday, and did lots of conquer maths, too as well as massive sorting and folding session as it had backed up some. Nephew wasn't in school as he had to go to the doctors (minor eye infection, nothing serious) and then came and hung out with us, so that was nice. We went to the allotment and picked tomatoes. I've left the butternut squash on the vine but I don't think they're going to get any bigger which is annoying. The globe courgette I've left on is expanding nicely, however, and we had lots of cornflowers. They've been a delight. Only half the patch I sewed came up but that was enough to made a sizeable bush that has just been peppered with flowers, we've had bunches and bunches out of it for the kitchen windowsill.
The weather is patchy at the moment. Windy, with bits of sun and sudden heavy downpours.Typical English end of summer, I suppose!
I'm struggling a bit at the moment. I'm very glad indeed for the work I'm getting and I'm fitting everything in as far as housework and home ed are concerned and everyone's on board and helping out but I'm still getting that 'I'm not enough' feeling. Could be just the time of year, however. Home ed, parenting in general can be lonely sometimes. Life can be lonely some times, I suppose is what I'm really saying.
The weather is patchy at the moment. Windy, with bits of sun and sudden heavy downpours.Typical English end of summer, I suppose!
I'm struggling a bit at the moment. I'm very glad indeed for the work I'm getting and I'm fitting everything in as far as housework and home ed are concerned and everyone's on board and helping out but I'm still getting that 'I'm not enough' feeling. Could be just the time of year, however. Home ed, parenting in general can be lonely sometimes. Life can be lonely some times, I suppose is what I'm really saying.
Wednesday 13 September 2017
A Merry Yarn
Lewes Castle was great! I had to drag them all away in the end otherwise we were going to get snarled in the homeward bound rush hour and Petal had a ballet lesson at five.
I was slightly confused as to why the workshops were Saxon based when the Castle is Norman built but the attached museum does cover from the Neolithic up, finds from all over Sussex, and the workshops were excellent. We tried drop spindle spinning, handled Saxon weaponry and jewelry and enacted bits of Beowulf. A good time was had by all, particularly Hoof who had a whale of a time being an archer. Fluff was half of Grendel and the girls limpeted to me and were audience. Wasn't surprised that Petal did that, was slightly surprised that Dot did too but I'm sure they still got lots out of it. I, of course, got stuck in and was part of the Queen's hall. (Yes we had a Queen instead of a King.)
We also got plenty of exercise, parking out of the paying zone and walking down and therefore up a slope on the way back to the car. There were also one hundred and eight steps from the bottom to the top of the tallest tower and we did it twice, plus probably about a hundred steps in the second tower that we did once as well. Hoof loved going to the tops of the towers, all our quads got a good work out.
The journey was fine both ways, it was windy but we also got some sun and we used a double treadle spinning wheel in the afternoon. There were plenty of nice flowers and trees to spot on the walk and we had an interesting discussion about the prison. In the evening we all slumped on the sofa and watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and I sobbed my way through the last ten minutes as expected.
Saurus pulled all the stops on out being helpful today, he picked up the nephew that has just started school round the corner and is on half days (so we're helping out) and looked after him until we got back, he took Petal to her ballet as I was exhausted and, along with Roo and Wig, he even vacced- hoorah!
I was slightly confused as to why the workshops were Saxon based when the Castle is Norman built but the attached museum does cover from the Neolithic up, finds from all over Sussex, and the workshops were excellent. We tried drop spindle spinning, handled Saxon weaponry and jewelry and enacted bits of Beowulf. A good time was had by all, particularly Hoof who had a whale of a time being an archer. Fluff was half of Grendel and the girls limpeted to me and were audience. Wasn't surprised that Petal did that, was slightly surprised that Dot did too but I'm sure they still got lots out of it. I, of course, got stuck in and was part of the Queen's hall. (Yes we had a Queen instead of a King.)
We also got plenty of exercise, parking out of the paying zone and walking down and therefore up a slope on the way back to the car. There were also one hundred and eight steps from the bottom to the top of the tallest tower and we did it twice, plus probably about a hundred steps in the second tower that we did once as well. Hoof loved going to the tops of the towers, all our quads got a good work out.
The journey was fine both ways, it was windy but we also got some sun and we used a double treadle spinning wheel in the afternoon. There were plenty of nice flowers and trees to spot on the walk and we had an interesting discussion about the prison. In the evening we all slumped on the sofa and watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and I sobbed my way through the last ten minutes as expected.
Saurus pulled all the stops on out being helpful today, he picked up the nephew that has just started school round the corner and is on half days (so we're helping out) and looked after him until we got back, he took Petal to her ballet as I was exhausted and, along with Roo and Wig, he even vacced- hoorah!
Tuesday 12 September 2017
White Clouds Flying
I see I didn't blog yesterday. Oh well. I started a few days after the first day in this month so I already wasn't going to hit every day and I'm not surprised- we spent yesterday finishing off the room move and moving books up and down the stairs!
We also went to mine craft club, that was fun, had a nephew over, went to the park and Fluff had his football. I did dance class and show rehearsals in the evening and am proper, PROPER knackered now.
No peace for the wicked, however, as we are off to Lewes Castle today! I'm quite excited, I've never been that I can recall.
We also went to mine craft club, that was fun, had a nephew over, went to the park and Fluff had his football. I did dance class and show rehearsals in the evening and am proper, PROPER knackered now.
No peace for the wicked, however, as we are off to Lewes Castle today! I'm quite excited, I've never been that I can recall.
Sunday 10 September 2017
Blown Spume
Upstairs bedroom is now painted! Rather than a nice but now rather shabby purple it is now yellow. I chose the yellow, a bathroom paint from Wicks called Summer and both Dot and Hoof profess to love it, but I'm not sure I do. Certainly it looks better under natural light than electric and in future I'll pay the extra and get Dulux, their colours seem better suited to my eyes somehow but it's mold resistant so it if lives up to those claims it will be worth every penny.
It dried quickly too, Papacrow finished the second coat off while we were at a birthday party and we moved all the toy boxes up after dinner. Books to sort tomorrow but they'll all be divided up differently- Dot and Hoof have a bookcase each now and Petal has her own shelves so they can all grab what they want and I'll divvy up the rest.
The birthday party was a lot of fun, another home edder so the usual crew and we all had a good old chat. It was Hawaiian themed and the organising mum had put a lot of thought and effort into it. It was perfect for a grey, rainy day- a real splash of sun and fun. Plus I won the adult's towel surfing, go me!
It dried quickly too, Papacrow finished the second coat off while we were at a birthday party and we moved all the toy boxes up after dinner. Books to sort tomorrow but they'll all be divided up differently- Dot and Hoof have a bookcase each now and Petal has her own shelves so they can all grab what they want and I'll divvy up the rest.
The birthday party was a lot of fun, another home edder so the usual crew and we all had a good old chat. It was Hawaiian themed and the organising mum had put a lot of thought and effort into it. It was perfect for a grey, rainy day- a real splash of sun and fun. Plus I won the adult's towel surfing, go me!
Saturday 9 September 2017
Flung Spray
Well. Yesterday's return to our regular Home Ed meet was lovely and there was lots of catching up, playing and planning for future activities.
Today was all about the upheaval but tonight everyone is sleeping in their new rooms! The upstairs bedroom needs to be repainted tomorrow, the front room is FULL of all the stuff that is going to go into it when that's done and Wig is sleeping on an air-mattress because there is NO point buying a new bed until we've sorted the chaos.
I'm exhausted and I'm definitely not the only one, still, Petal is delighted with her new room, Hoof loves his new (to him) proper bed and Dot is jacked to be promoted to the top bunk. Hopefully we'll get most of the rest of mess conquered... we've already filled our wheely bin and will have to go begging for space in Grandad's as the bins aren't collected until Thursday!
Today was all about the upheaval but tonight everyone is sleeping in their new rooms! The upstairs bedroom needs to be repainted tomorrow, the front room is FULL of all the stuff that is going to go into it when that's done and Wig is sleeping on an air-mattress because there is NO point buying a new bed until we've sorted the chaos.
I'm exhausted and I'm definitely not the only one, still, Petal is delighted with her new room, Hoof loves his new (to him) proper bed and Dot is jacked to be promoted to the top bunk. Hopefully we'll get most of the rest of mess conquered... we've already filled our wheely bin and will have to go begging for space in Grandad's as the bins aren't collected until Thursday!
Friday 8 September 2017
Grey Mist
It's rainy and windy this morning. It just about held yesterday so that we could play in the outdoor bits at the Science Center which was fortunate as the water tables and the Discovery Park are definitely our favourite spaces there! It was lovely to catch-up with lots of other Home Edders too, people from all over go to the discount days so it's a good opportunity to chat with people I don't get to see often. Plus things are inevitably quieter in the summer with our usual meets grinding to a halt, people going away on holiday and general hiding from the crowds, so it was nice to see how everyone was and share news on what we had all been up to over the summer.
Today our weekly home ed meet starts up again and Petal is excited to talk about her Book Club plans. Ballet, too, although Saurus is taking them as I'm working. Then we're gearing up for the great bedroom reshuffle of 2017...
Today our weekly home ed meet starts up again and Petal is excited to talk about her Book Club plans. Ballet, too, although Saurus is taking them as I'm working. Then we're gearing up for the great bedroom reshuffle of 2017...
Thursday 7 September 2017
The Running Tide
Have kept trying to go for a run this week but haven't quite been able to make myself yet. Maybe today.
Mind you, we are also off to the local Science Center as they are having another Home Ed discount day, hoorah! They like to try out their new talks and workshops, we like to get in for only a fiver a head :D
It's looking grey and we had to have the quilt on the bed last night, just along the bottom. We may even need to dig out coats! Mind you, Roo went off to his first day at college this morning without one... that could prove a mistake seeing as how he's walking, but oh well. Live and learn, etc.
Mind you, we are also off to the local Science Center as they are having another Home Ed discount day, hoorah! They like to try out their new talks and workshops, we like to get in for only a fiver a head :D
It's looking grey and we had to have the quilt on the bed last night, just along the bottom. We may even need to dig out coats! Mind you, Roo went off to his first day at college this morning without one... that could prove a mistake seeing as how he's walking, but oh well. Live and learn, etc.
Wednesday 6 September 2017
The Gull's way
So here we are in September, and some of the chicks are spreading their wings again. Saurus is looking for work and getting ready to go to America to visit his girlfriend, Roo is off to college and Wig is back to school.
I can't imagine how hard and potentially soul-destroying it is to have to drag children out of bed every day who really don't want to go to school. As Wig is at school because he wants to be, there's very little fuss even with him being a teenager who likes his sleep... he's all bouncy and bushy-tailed this morning, excited at the thought of going back!
For the rest of us we have new sticker books- Medieval History, fashion in the 1970's, Villains and Outlaws from through history and Cavemen. That last is Hoof's choice and rather cute. Rather than having to put certain stickers in certain places each double page spread is an empty scene which he can populate however he likes with the stickers assigned to those pages. We had a reindeer hunt yesterday and he wasn't at all sure he wanted his cavemen to actually catch any! That lead to some interesting discussions around diet and eating to survive from what there is versus eating for pleasure from vast choice.
I am also determined to sort out some of the huge quantities of produce we have from our allotment, and some from other people too- there are apples to be turned into apple sauce, a HUGE marrow from my sister that we're going to attempt Milly Molly Mandy style marrow and ginger jam with, courgettes to slice and freeze and Dot wants to make carrot cake again. We're certainly not going to starve in a hurry!
I can't imagine how hard and potentially soul-destroying it is to have to drag children out of bed every day who really don't want to go to school. As Wig is at school because he wants to be, there's very little fuss even with him being a teenager who likes his sleep... he's all bouncy and bushy-tailed this morning, excited at the thought of going back!
For the rest of us we have new sticker books- Medieval History, fashion in the 1970's, Villains and Outlaws from through history and Cavemen. That last is Hoof's choice and rather cute. Rather than having to put certain stickers in certain places each double page spread is an empty scene which he can populate however he likes with the stickers assigned to those pages. We had a reindeer hunt yesterday and he wasn't at all sure he wanted his cavemen to actually catch any! That lead to some interesting discussions around diet and eating to survive from what there is versus eating for pleasure from vast choice.
I am also determined to sort out some of the huge quantities of produce we have from our allotment, and some from other people too- there are apples to be turned into apple sauce, a HUGE marrow from my sister that we're going to attempt Milly Molly Mandy style marrow and ginger jam with, courgettes to slice and freeze and Dot wants to make carrot cake again. We're certainly not going to starve in a hurry!
Tuesday 5 September 2017
Windy day
The seasons are inescapably turning here. Despite the fact it's still officially summer until the solstice, summer is definitely over. Jumpers are required for a start, sometimes even coats- though admittedly more for the rain than for the cold.
Conkers are in the park. We're blessed with a great many horse chestnut trees... it's a square really, originally belonging to the adjacent Victorian houses and the Victorians did like their trees! The place is stuffed full of them, including a truly splendid copper beech but it's the horse chestnuts we gather under now, scanning about bent over almost double, searching for small, brown, shiny objects or, even better, prickly green cases to stamp on and liberate the contents. They are still white and soft in places but there are plenty of ready ones to find if only you look carefully and it's almost impossible not to, to seek them out and start a collection is simply irresistible.
Mind you, not that we play conkers in this house. It's not banned, exactly, although one particular person is banned for life for getting waaaaay too competitive.... *cough* Papacrow *cough*
Conkers are in the park. We're blessed with a great many horse chestnut trees... it's a square really, originally belonging to the adjacent Victorian houses and the Victorians did like their trees! The place is stuffed full of them, including a truly splendid copper beech but it's the horse chestnuts we gather under now, scanning about bent over almost double, searching for small, brown, shiny objects or, even better, prickly green cases to stamp on and liberate the contents. They are still white and soft in places but there are plenty of ready ones to find if only you look carefully and it's almost impossible not to, to seek them out and start a collection is simply irresistible.
Mind you, not that we play conkers in this house. It's not banned, exactly, although one particular person is banned for life for getting waaaaay too competitive.... *cough* Papacrow *cough*
Monday 4 September 2017
Down to the seas again
If you home educate, happy not back to school week!
If you use schools- happy back to school week!
Not doing things by halves here, we are of course doing both.
Wig is back to school this week, going into year nine- this year is all about options apparently, choosing what you want to do for GCSEs and he already has a clear idea of what he's going to go for, so that's good. He did of course grow like a weed over the summer holidays so he has new shirts, new school shoes and a new (much bigger) rucksack. He doesn't need new trousers because I cunningly got HUGE ones earlier in the year and he might need new PE trainers but we're going to deal with that next Saturday.
Roo has finished school, got the GCSE results he wanted (phew!) and is off to college this week to study architecture. He needs some new clothes at some point because despite being nearly six foot he is still going on up, and we need to have a root around in the attic today to see if we've got any spare steel toe-capped boots in there that fit him. If not, we'll need to get him some.
Saurus has all finished college, he's looking for work and preparing to go visit his girlfriend in America.
Fluff, Petal and Dot are all carrying on Home Educating and Hoof, who will be five in January, now officially joins them! Of course he's been doing all sorts of things for ages but now he's in the 'legally obliged to provide with an education' bracket. We have lots of fun things planned! Petal now has her own tablet and will be doing lots on that, we need to get back into Conquer Maths with a vengeance for a start.
So, I wish you all a happy and productive Autumn Term!
If you use schools- happy back to school week!
Not doing things by halves here, we are of course doing both.
Wig is back to school this week, going into year nine- this year is all about options apparently, choosing what you want to do for GCSEs and he already has a clear idea of what he's going to go for, so that's good. He did of course grow like a weed over the summer holidays so he has new shirts, new school shoes and a new (much bigger) rucksack. He doesn't need new trousers because I cunningly got HUGE ones earlier in the year and he might need new PE trainers but we're going to deal with that next Saturday.
Roo has finished school, got the GCSE results he wanted (phew!) and is off to college this week to study architecture. He needs some new clothes at some point because despite being nearly six foot he is still going on up, and we need to have a root around in the attic today to see if we've got any spare steel toe-capped boots in there that fit him. If not, we'll need to get him some.
Saurus has all finished college, he's looking for work and preparing to go visit his girlfriend in America.
Fluff, Petal and Dot are all carrying on Home Educating and Hoof, who will be five in January, now officially joins them! Of course he's been doing all sorts of things for ages but now he's in the 'legally obliged to provide with an education' bracket. We have lots of fun things planned! Petal now has her own tablet and will be doing lots on that, we need to get back into Conquer Maths with a vengeance for a start.
So, I wish you all a happy and productive Autumn Term!
Sunday 3 September 2017
Vagrant Gypsy Life
It's going to be all move again... though admittedly only inside the house!
Hoof really needs a full size bed. Petal really needs her own room. After much discussion, Papacrow has come up with a solution!
Saurus and Roo are coming down from the upstairs bedroom to the downstairs bedroom and Wig is joining them. We will separate the bunk-beds in the downstairs room and buy another full size bed from our local second hand furniture shop. The piano is going out into the hall, the cupboard set there back into the front room. The toy cupboard and clothes cupboards in the downstairs bedroom will be used to divide up the space and to store their clothes.
Dot and Hoof are going upstairs. The bunk-beds in that room are currently separated so will be put back on top of each other, most of the toy boxes will go up to the fitted cupboard, some will go in the front room. Their clothes will go in the chest of drawers in the fitted cupboard and they'll take one bookcase from the downstairs bedroom with them (giving them two, the downstairs bedroom one).
Petal is going into Wig's room. It needs a thorough tidy up and I'll probably take out the broken white shelves. We need to go through the children's dvds anyway and make some decisions, we don't use them much anymore.
Fluff is staying where he is, as he's quite happy in his little room (though it could do with a tidy!), there'll be lots of pictures and shelves to move around, the upstairs bedroom needs repainting and the downstairs one needs sound insulation putting under the carpet.
The move, painting and sound insulation is scheduled to be done next weekend and the jury's still out as to where the monks bench, coat hooks and shoe rack from the downstairs bedroom are going...
Hoof really needs a full size bed. Petal really needs her own room. After much discussion, Papacrow has come up with a solution!
Saurus and Roo are coming down from the upstairs bedroom to the downstairs bedroom and Wig is joining them. We will separate the bunk-beds in the downstairs room and buy another full size bed from our local second hand furniture shop. The piano is going out into the hall, the cupboard set there back into the front room. The toy cupboard and clothes cupboards in the downstairs bedroom will be used to divide up the space and to store their clothes.
Dot and Hoof are going upstairs. The bunk-beds in that room are currently separated so will be put back on top of each other, most of the toy boxes will go up to the fitted cupboard, some will go in the front room. Their clothes will go in the chest of drawers in the fitted cupboard and they'll take one bookcase from the downstairs bedroom with them (giving them two, the downstairs bedroom one).
Petal is going into Wig's room. It needs a thorough tidy up and I'll probably take out the broken white shelves. We need to go through the children's dvds anyway and make some decisions, we don't use them much anymore.
Fluff is staying where he is, as he's quite happy in his little room (though it could do with a tidy!), there'll be lots of pictures and shelves to move around, the upstairs bedroom needs repainting and the downstairs one needs sound insulation putting under the carpet.
The move, painting and sound insulation is scheduled to be done next weekend and the jury's still out as to where the monks bench, coat hooks and shoe rack from the downstairs bedroom are going...
Saturday 2 September 2017
A Wild Call
One of the table-time tasks Fluff, Petal and Dot do most days is handwriting practice. Those books, with all the lines... it's one of those things that kills several birds with one stone because we use poetry for this. They choose a poem out of one of our many anthologies and I write out a line in pencil each time for them to trace over with biro or a gel pen until we've finished the poem.
It's always interesting to see what they choose... Fluff has a love of D.H.Lawrence and Robert Frost, all of them adored Bishop Hatto and Dot likes nonsense verse. Petal is currently working on 'What Is It?' by Joan Poulson and I thought these lines from it were deeply profound and very apt, especially as applied to home edding-
It's always interesting to see what they choose... Fluff has a love of D.H.Lawrence and Robert Frost, all of them adored Bishop Hatto and Dot likes nonsense verse. Petal is currently working on 'What Is It?' by Joan Poulson and I thought these lines from it were deeply profound and very apt, especially as applied to home edding-
and I'm always being told
that I should be more sensible
use less imagination
but that's the way
I find out things
a sort of education
Saturday 26 August 2017
The wind's song
Friday 11 August 2017
The wheel's kick
My Book People order arrived yesterday!
Yes, I succumbed to them again... well, they sent me a discount code, what's a girl to do?! Besides, you can't have too many reading schemes, that's what I've discovered. You can never be sure which child takes to what and besides, if you have several then you can alternate and switch things up and really, Dot and I have both had enough of the ladybird readers and Letterland, she's done with Peter and Jane and doesn't want to go back to Piggie and Elephant.
So, I got the complete Appletree Farm stories- we have a few of these, mostly in miniature or sticker book form and they really are great and, more importantly, Dot rather likes them so she got those out of the parcel.
I also got the complete set of the Ladybird Keyword series. My originals are falling apart and the set is incomplete and the 1a to 3c replacement set I got ages ago went down well, and Hoof claimed these and is avidly leafing through them. Of course as far as I'm concerned they have the 'wrong' illustrations but they're still enjoyable!
Petal and Fluff are both avidly into coding and Scratch at the moment and are booked on a Scratch coding course for the end of the month so I got an Usbourne flap book on Computers and Coding for Petal and a book on Scratch coding for Fluff. At least one if not both were in the sale so I made double savings and both have gone down very well indeed. Petal is carrying hers about with her at the moment, showing everyone who will listen 'my coding book. It's about computers!'.
The final thing was four write on wipe off grammar books on verbs, adjectives, tenses and nouns. I thought we could do with some of these and they're really well put together. The children all love them in that slightly mysterious way that sometimes happens, I think it's do with a wondrous box arriving and everything wanting what's in it!
Yes, I succumbed to them again... well, they sent me a discount code, what's a girl to do?! Besides, you can't have too many reading schemes, that's what I've discovered. You can never be sure which child takes to what and besides, if you have several then you can alternate and switch things up and really, Dot and I have both had enough of the ladybird readers and Letterland, she's done with Peter and Jane and doesn't want to go back to Piggie and Elephant.
So, I got the complete Appletree Farm stories- we have a few of these, mostly in miniature or sticker book form and they really are great and, more importantly, Dot rather likes them so she got those out of the parcel.
I also got the complete set of the Ladybird Keyword series. My originals are falling apart and the set is incomplete and the 1a to 3c replacement set I got ages ago went down well, and Hoof claimed these and is avidly leafing through them. Of course as far as I'm concerned they have the 'wrong' illustrations but they're still enjoyable!
Petal and Fluff are both avidly into coding and Scratch at the moment and are booked on a Scratch coding course for the end of the month so I got an Usbourne flap book on Computers and Coding for Petal and a book on Scratch coding for Fluff. At least one if not both were in the sale so I made double savings and both have gone down very well indeed. Petal is carrying hers about with her at the moment, showing everyone who will listen 'my coding book. It's about computers!'.
The final thing was four write on wipe off grammar books on verbs, adjectives, tenses and nouns. I thought we could do with some of these and they're really well put together. The children all love them in that slightly mysterious way that sometimes happens, I think it's do with a wondrous box arriving and everything wanting what's in it!
Wednesday 9 August 2017
A star to steer her by
So after a year's break, I've been lured back to the world of blogging.
In the end, my solution to the problem of old pictures that now older boys didn't want out there anymore was just to start a new blog. In many ways this is a new voyage with the younger four. The eldest three are out in the world of work, college and secondary school now (by choice!) and in a way it's a little like starting over with a new set of eager little sailors... sort of!
I'm glad I've taken a year off. It got too much, trying to keep everything updated and adjust, at the same time, to all the changes in the family... so this is like a new era, a new voyage, although I might repost old posts from the old blog from time to time if relevant.
In the end, my solution to the problem of old pictures that now older boys didn't want out there anymore was just to start a new blog. In many ways this is a new voyage with the younger four. The eldest three are out in the world of work, college and secondary school now (by choice!) and in a way it's a little like starting over with a new set of eager little sailors... sort of!
I'm glad I've taken a year off. It got too much, trying to keep everything updated and adjust, at the same time, to all the changes in the family... so this is like a new era, a new voyage, although I might repost old posts from the old blog from time to time if relevant.
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