by Jade (blogged with permission!)
There was once a unicorn who wanted to go to fairyland. She flew far and wide, but she never could find it. The next day a fairy saw the unicorn crying. and she gently tapped her on the sholder. Now, the unicorn was called jessica. and jessica looked up. She was amazed! What are you crying for, Jessica? asked the Fairy. i want to go to Fairyland! jessica sniffed. Well you can! The Fairy said. I will magic you there! and she did. and jessica lived there from then on.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Theme park, festival of history, circus
We are back from our few days away with a few other blogringers. Many thanks to the Petits Haricots for lending us a tent in which to camp at Wicksteed, and then attend the Festival of History.
It all went quite well. We arrived on Thursday evening around 6pm, got the tent put up pretty easily and settled in. It was lovely to see many of the MuddlePuddle regulars again. Our day at the Wicksteed Theme Park on Friday was fun. Jade and Shannon went on their first mini-rollercoaster. Jade looked terrified for two out of the three small circuits and was just beginning to relax into it and half-smile when it was all over. She came off and cried because she'd been so scared. I think if it had gone one more round she'd really have realised that she was beginning to have fun. Shannon of course just loved the whole thing and grinned from start to finish. Before long we moved over to the fairground area and I think altogether the girls must have had about 6 goes each on the very large carousel with the beautiful horses. We had a trip on the miniature train and then on to the monorail and the Nautic Jets which were fabulous fun.
The Festival of History was a good day out too. Jade and Shannon enjoyed dressing up as medieval serving wenches, I liked the WW1 trench experience, and we all enjoyed the wandering troubadours and danced in the rain a little. Jade did NOT like the loud bangs so wouldn't go near the trench where they had machine guns rattling off, and she and I were both sad to miss the Victorian gymkhana which we didn't realise was on at the time we stopped for lunch until it was too late. We did a lot of wandering round the living history encampments, caught the Roman Imperial Army display, and stopped to look at anything that we saw involving horses. We learned how to make fake wounds for war reenactments (paste thick PVA glue onto crumpled tinfoil until it dries, peel it off and then decorate with facepaints). Both girls loved the Victorian seaside experience, but hated the WW2 D-Day Dropzone experience (apart from the paratroopers which were amazing) because of all the bangs and explosions. In fact Jade became nearly hysterical at all the noise and we had to evacuate the area pretty fast. She's always been very sensitive to loud noises and unfortunately we hadn't appreciated just how loud this would be until it was too late. She declared it the worst day of her life, so I was glad we'd only bought tickets for one day! I think it's the sort of thing we might go to every couple of years, rather than every year, but I'm glad we went.
We packed up on Sunday morning along with everyone else, and then spent about 3 more hours at Wicksteed just doing the free stuff - playground, sweet shopping (girls only have sweets on Sundays) (note that 'sweets' does not include chocolate as that is an essential food group needed each day), and picnicking. Then home for unpacking and sorting.
Bill has the rest of the week off to use up annual leave, so Monday was a nice relaxed day, topped off by a visit to Giffords Circus just up the road. It was the first time we'd been, but it was absolutely wonderful. Much smaller than any other circus I've been to, but with even more energy and imagination. The thing that was most astonishing to me was the utterly amazing standard of horsemanship. Two parts in particular demonstrated such incredibly perfect control and training that I was actually almost in tears at the beauty of it. To train a horse to kneel, bow, and even sit like a dog and then lie down is something quite astonishing. Definitely a show worth returning to each year when it comes around.
I am at work tomorrow and Thursday morning as usual, so it's quite like an ordinary week for me, but it's nice to have DH around a bit more and everything feeling that bit more relaxed and summery.
It all went quite well. We arrived on Thursday evening around 6pm, got the tent put up pretty easily and settled in. It was lovely to see many of the MuddlePuddle regulars again. Our day at the Wicksteed Theme Park on Friday was fun. Jade and Shannon went on their first mini-rollercoaster. Jade looked terrified for two out of the three small circuits and was just beginning to relax into it and half-smile when it was all over. She came off and cried because she'd been so scared. I think if it had gone one more round she'd really have realised that she was beginning to have fun. Shannon of course just loved the whole thing and grinned from start to finish. Before long we moved over to the fairground area and I think altogether the girls must have had about 6 goes each on the very large carousel with the beautiful horses. We had a trip on the miniature train and then on to the monorail and the Nautic Jets which were fabulous fun.
The Festival of History was a good day out too. Jade and Shannon enjoyed dressing up as medieval serving wenches, I liked the WW1 trench experience, and we all enjoyed the wandering troubadours and danced in the rain a little. Jade did NOT like the loud bangs so wouldn't go near the trench where they had machine guns rattling off, and she and I were both sad to miss the Victorian gymkhana which we didn't realise was on at the time we stopped for lunch until it was too late. We did a lot of wandering round the living history encampments, caught the Roman Imperial Army display, and stopped to look at anything that we saw involving horses. We learned how to make fake wounds for war reenactments (paste thick PVA glue onto crumpled tinfoil until it dries, peel it off and then decorate with facepaints). Both girls loved the Victorian seaside experience, but hated the WW2 D-Day Dropzone experience (apart from the paratroopers which were amazing) because of all the bangs and explosions. In fact Jade became nearly hysterical at all the noise and we had to evacuate the area pretty fast. She's always been very sensitive to loud noises and unfortunately we hadn't appreciated just how loud this would be until it was too late. She declared it the worst day of her life, so I was glad we'd only bought tickets for one day! I think it's the sort of thing we might go to every couple of years, rather than every year, but I'm glad we went.
We packed up on Sunday morning along with everyone else, and then spent about 3 more hours at Wicksteed just doing the free stuff - playground, sweet shopping (girls only have sweets on Sundays) (note that 'sweets' does not include chocolate as that is an essential food group needed each day), and picnicking. Then home for unpacking and sorting.
Bill has the rest of the week off to use up annual leave, so Monday was a nice relaxed day, topped off by a visit to Giffords Circus just up the road. It was the first time we'd been, but it was absolutely wonderful. Much smaller than any other circus I've been to, but with even more energy and imagination. The thing that was most astonishing to me was the utterly amazing standard of horsemanship. Two parts in particular demonstrated such incredibly perfect control and training that I was actually almost in tears at the beauty of it. To train a horse to kneel, bow, and even sit like a dog and then lie down is something quite astonishing. Definitely a show worth returning to each year when it comes around.
I am at work tomorrow and Thursday morning as usual, so it's quite like an ordinary week for me, but it's nice to have DH around a bit more and everything feeling that bit more relaxed and summery.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Phew!
I phoned the school this morning. They don't have a place available in Jade's year. What a relief! She didn't seem too bothered when I told her.
One thing that was very strange is that the school secretary said that Jade (who age-wise would go into Year 3 in September) would not be able to because 'she has not completed the Key Stage 1 curriculum' and therefore would have to stay down in Year 2. I am very slow in responding appropriately to comments, and of course should have said "How do you know?", but in fact she is correct especially as far as maths is concerned. I thought it was very odd, though - presumably they wouldn't say the same thing if she wanted to join at age 8 or 9 or 10 - that she'd have to go into Year 2 to do KS1 before she could do KS2 stuff!!! I think she might have been talking off the top of her head because they do have another ex-home-edder of Jade's age who is staying down in Year 2 but that's because she can't read yet. Hardly the same kettle of fish, really! Anyway it's all academic (har, har) because she's not going and I'm very glad! I still reserve the right to moan and complain heartily at the fighting, arguing and general demandingness of 2 girls at home though!
I did give Jade a sheet of simple adding-up and subtraction sums this morning - she completed them adequately (though still using fingers and sometimes borrowing mine!) and then ripped up the sheet when she'd finished to show what she thought of it. While she was doing those I was playing with some magnetic Letterland letters with Shannon, spelling her name and talking about the other letters. Then she wandered off to play a Dora computer game, and Jade made yet another horse out of the back of the sofa, a hobby-horse and some cushions, so while she was there I offered to read to her. She said yes as long as it was interesting, so I rejected Story of the World as not being quite scintillating enough and chose "Twenty and Ten", a Sonlight read-aloud story which since we are no longer following the schedule might otherwise have got missed. She was pretty gripped by that and of course it is very educational, covering Nazism, the occupation of France, the persecution of the Jews and orphan Jewish children having to go into hiding, none of which we have covered before so that was good. I got through about half the book before stopping for lunch.
After lunch I finished my half-hearted menu-planning and shopping list, took the dog for a lovely walk in the woods and then went to Tesco for a major food shop. We got home around 4pm so had just under an hour before taking Shannon to a friend's so that I could take Jade to her final Rainbows. It was billed as a 'party' but, as Jade said to me when she was in bed this evening, it wasn't really a party. They had milkshakes instead of squash to drink and as an activity they put icing and sprinkles on some little cakes, but that was about it. Still, a month on from her Rainbows Promise Party she has now left and has the badges to prove it.
One thing that was very strange is that the school secretary said that Jade (who age-wise would go into Year 3 in September) would not be able to because 'she has not completed the Key Stage 1 curriculum' and therefore would have to stay down in Year 2. I am very slow in responding appropriately to comments, and of course should have said "How do you know?", but in fact she is correct especially as far as maths is concerned. I thought it was very odd, though - presumably they wouldn't say the same thing if she wanted to join at age 8 or 9 or 10 - that she'd have to go into Year 2 to do KS1 before she could do KS2 stuff!!! I think she might have been talking off the top of her head because they do have another ex-home-edder of Jade's age who is staying down in Year 2 but that's because she can't read yet. Hardly the same kettle of fish, really! Anyway it's all academic (har, har) because she's not going and I'm very glad! I still reserve the right to moan and complain heartily at the fighting, arguing and general demandingness of 2 girls at home though!
I did give Jade a sheet of simple adding-up and subtraction sums this morning - she completed them adequately (though still using fingers and sometimes borrowing mine!) and then ripped up the sheet when she'd finished to show what she thought of it. While she was doing those I was playing with some magnetic Letterland letters with Shannon, spelling her name and talking about the other letters. Then she wandered off to play a Dora computer game, and Jade made yet another horse out of the back of the sofa, a hobby-horse and some cushions, so while she was there I offered to read to her. She said yes as long as it was interesting, so I rejected Story of the World as not being quite scintillating enough and chose "Twenty and Ten", a Sonlight read-aloud story which since we are no longer following the schedule might otherwise have got missed. She was pretty gripped by that and of course it is very educational, covering Nazism, the occupation of France, the persecution of the Jews and orphan Jewish children having to go into hiding, none of which we have covered before so that was good. I got through about half the book before stopping for lunch.
After lunch I finished my half-hearted menu-planning and shopping list, took the dog for a lovely walk in the woods and then went to Tesco for a major food shop. We got home around 4pm so had just under an hour before taking Shannon to a friend's so that I could take Jade to her final Rainbows. It was billed as a 'party' but, as Jade said to me when she was in bed this evening, it wasn't really a party. They had milkshakes instead of squash to drink and as an activity they put icing and sprinkles on some little cakes, but that was about it. Still, a month on from her Rainbows Promise Party she has now left and has the badges to prove it.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The week
Last weekend the girls and I went down to Hampshire to visit my Mum. Pleasant enough - we haven't stayed there for absolutely ages so it was a change. Nothing of note happened except that suddenly on the Sunday Shannon made one of those leaps and started saying 'yellow' instead of 'lellow' - I was a bit sad really!
We came home on Monday afternoon with just enough time to get the stuff out of the car and have a snack before taking Shannon to her babysitter and Jade to a farm visit with Rainbows. That was really lovely, particularly because they had a mare and foal which Jade was very excited about.
I had planned to actually get some proper education done with Jade on Tuesday morning while Shannon was at playschool, but my Dad rang and said he had found something wonderful for Jade in a charity shop and please could they bring it over. So instead we did a quick tidy-up and then my Dad and Pat arrived with a fabulous horse barn/stables/horses/jumps kit - all really good quality (Schleich) and bought for about £7!! So then of course there was no chance of her doing anything else other than play with it all for the rest of the day.
Late afternoon on Tuesday, while I was on the phone, Jade came rushing up to me and insisted on speaking to me. "I want to go to school!" she said. Huh? She didn't know what had brought this feeling on. She said she hadn't been talking to L from next door or anyone else about it. She just suddenly wanted to go!! She did use the phrase "I want to be normal and go to school and come back and play with L." Like a starving person unable to think about anything except food, I was very happy at the thought of being able to have time to myself!! I didn't really believe she would persist in wanting to go though. It was too sudden, out of character and not well thought through. After discussing it in the evening, she said she would play pretend schools on Wednesday and see how it went! In fact, she put her old school uniform on (much too small now, of course!) and went to bed in it.
On Wednesday I was at work. Bill reported managing a bit of maths with Jade discussing fractions.
On Thursday morning DH had a half-day off work because I had to be at Stow-on-the-Wold Farmer's Market for 8.30am to set up a Fair Shares stall (recruiting more members). He was supposed to get Shannon to playschool, but was unable to make her get dressed so she didn't go. He rang the wrong person to tell her not to collect Shannon from playschool, so consequently the childminder did have a wasted journey, and I had to take Shannon with us when I took Jade to riding. Ahem. I am making no comment.
In the afternoon, she asked me to play schools with her. As her teacher, I instructed her to write a poem, but instead she chose to write a story. It was so lovely I just have to blog it, but I can't find it at the moment so that will follow sometime.
Later on, during a conversation with L from next door, she suddenly realised that if she went back to her old school, she would be in Year 3 in September and therefore would go upstairs to a different classroom (Years R, 1 and 2 are in one room; Years 3-6 are in another). Cue absolutely floods of tears and much wailing about how she wants to go to her old classroom with her old friends. She was completely distraught for ages and ages. I assumed this would mean the end of her wanting to go to school Put her to bed early.
On Friday we went to visit another HE family to help the older 2 (ages 14 and 16) with a science experiment. They were testing for Vit C levels in fruit. Having done this some extraordinarily long time ago during my degree (okay it was only 10-12 years ago but it seems like forever) they asked me in for some expert assistance. It was a good job I did go because they would never have managed on their own. There were some very difficult (for youngsters) preliminary steps to go through to make up the standard solutions required, and they had no idea how to go about accurately using a pipette. I don't know exactly who the kit was aimed at, but I thought it was not well designed or adequately explained for people without significant science background.
We had lunch there and then rushed back for our hair cuts at home at 3.30pm. To my surprise, another discussion with Jade had her saying she still wants to go to school, even if she does have to go to another classroom. I have said that I will phone the school on Monday morning and see if they have a place and if we can go for a visit. I suggested she should go for a half-day on her own to see how she got on, but she said she wants me to stay! (Doesn't bode well, does it, bearing in mind she does know them all already.) And given more time to reflect on what this might mean, and with her seeming to be serious about it (though I still very much have my doubts once she is there) I really don't want her to go to school. Yes, I am very much in need of some time to myself at home, but that doesn't mean I want her out of the house 5 days a week for 6 hours at a time. I do wish there was more flexibility in the system, so that she could go to a 'learning resource centre' with trained 'facilitators' for a couple of days a week and spend the rest of the time at home. That's what I really want!
On Saturday morning I finally managed to clear enough time and space round myself to finalise our Tax Credit Annual Return, hurrah!!!! This morning we've been to church and the girls have played all afternoon, and tomorrow is Jade's final Rainbows which will be a party. She's going to Brownies in September and L from next door is going too. I am hoping that before too long she'll feel brave enough to just stay with L and not have me stay with her for the entire session too!
We came home on Monday afternoon with just enough time to get the stuff out of the car and have a snack before taking Shannon to her babysitter and Jade to a farm visit with Rainbows. That was really lovely, particularly because they had a mare and foal which Jade was very excited about.
I had planned to actually get some proper education done with Jade on Tuesday morning while Shannon was at playschool, but my Dad rang and said he had found something wonderful for Jade in a charity shop and please could they bring it over. So instead we did a quick tidy-up and then my Dad and Pat arrived with a fabulous horse barn/stables/horses/jumps kit - all really good quality (Schleich) and bought for about £7!! So then of course there was no chance of her doing anything else other than play with it all for the rest of the day.
Late afternoon on Tuesday, while I was on the phone, Jade came rushing up to me and insisted on speaking to me. "I want to go to school!" she said. Huh? She didn't know what had brought this feeling on. She said she hadn't been talking to L from next door or anyone else about it. She just suddenly wanted to go!! She did use the phrase "I want to be normal and go to school and come back and play with L." Like a starving person unable to think about anything except food, I was very happy at the thought of being able to have time to myself!! I didn't really believe she would persist in wanting to go though. It was too sudden, out of character and not well thought through. After discussing it in the evening, she said she would play pretend schools on Wednesday and see how it went! In fact, she put her old school uniform on (much too small now, of course!) and went to bed in it.
On Wednesday I was at work. Bill reported managing a bit of maths with Jade discussing fractions.
On Thursday morning DH had a half-day off work because I had to be at Stow-on-the-Wold Farmer's Market for 8.30am to set up a Fair Shares stall (recruiting more members). He was supposed to get Shannon to playschool, but was unable to make her get dressed so she didn't go. He rang the wrong person to tell her not to collect Shannon from playschool, so consequently the childminder did have a wasted journey, and I had to take Shannon with us when I took Jade to riding. Ahem. I am making no comment.
In the afternoon, she asked me to play schools with her. As her teacher, I instructed her to write a poem, but instead she chose to write a story. It was so lovely I just have to blog it, but I can't find it at the moment so that will follow sometime.
Later on, during a conversation with L from next door, she suddenly realised that if she went back to her old school, she would be in Year 3 in September and therefore would go upstairs to a different classroom (Years R, 1 and 2 are in one room; Years 3-6 are in another). Cue absolutely floods of tears and much wailing about how she wants to go to her old classroom with her old friends. She was completely distraught for ages and ages. I assumed this would mean the end of her wanting to go to school Put her to bed early.
On Friday we went to visit another HE family to help the older 2 (ages 14 and 16) with a science experiment. They were testing for Vit C levels in fruit. Having done this some extraordinarily long time ago during my degree (okay it was only 10-12 years ago but it seems like forever) they asked me in for some expert assistance. It was a good job I did go because they would never have managed on their own. There were some very difficult (for youngsters) preliminary steps to go through to make up the standard solutions required, and they had no idea how to go about accurately using a pipette. I don't know exactly who the kit was aimed at, but I thought it was not well designed or adequately explained for people without significant science background.
We had lunch there and then rushed back for our hair cuts at home at 3.30pm. To my surprise, another discussion with Jade had her saying she still wants to go to school, even if she does have to go to another classroom. I have said that I will phone the school on Monday morning and see if they have a place and if we can go for a visit. I suggested she should go for a half-day on her own to see how she got on, but she said she wants me to stay! (Doesn't bode well, does it, bearing in mind she does know them all already.) And given more time to reflect on what this might mean, and with her seeming to be serious about it (though I still very much have my doubts once she is there) I really don't want her to go to school. Yes, I am very much in need of some time to myself at home, but that doesn't mean I want her out of the house 5 days a week for 6 hours at a time. I do wish there was more flexibility in the system, so that she could go to a 'learning resource centre' with trained 'facilitators' for a couple of days a week and spend the rest of the time at home. That's what I really want!
On Saturday morning I finally managed to clear enough time and space round myself to finalise our Tax Credit Annual Return, hurrah!!!! This morning we've been to church and the girls have played all afternoon, and tomorrow is Jade's final Rainbows which will be a party. She's going to Brownies in September and L from next door is going too. I am hoping that before too long she'll feel brave enough to just stay with L and not have me stay with her for the entire session too!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Noticeably different
Shannon was off to playschool this morning, so Jade and I had a nice morning together. I almost went straight to Tesco's from playschool, nearly forgetting to come straight back home to meet a plumber, but thankfully at the last minute I remembered and got back to find him on the doorstep. Our boiler has been out of action for at least a month, and we've been making do with showering at friends' houses and once-a-week swimming to keep us clean. It's amazing how difficult it is to get a plumber to come and mend or even look at a boiler. Anyway one came a week or so ago but hasn't bothered to send a quote. This one today seemed to think (no surprise really) that an 11 year old boiler shouldn't be repaired but just replaced. And gave us a heart-stopping quote of £3900 plus VAT. We don't have that kind of money, and we don't have that kind of credit available either as we are desperately trying to pay down our existing loans. Hmmm.
After he'd gone Jade and I went straight off to Tesco's which was drastically easier with only one child instead of two. I have to laugh about that standard home educator's thing about a trip to the supermarket being educational though. I tried to point out to Jade the prices per 100g of things and how that helped you compare prices, and all she said was "I'm not interested in money". I told her she should be because the less she spent (in her adult future) on food the more she'd have available to spend on her horse, but she still wasn't bothered. It was definitely a 'maths avoidance' moment.
Got home around 11am and decided to make the most of the beautiful sunshine. We put rugs on the lawn and the big parasol up and lay on the grass reading our respective magazines (hers: Sparkle. Mine: Good Homes.) After a while we were getting hungry so got sandwiches and then I finished reading The Butterfly Lion to her while she ate and then spent a while pretending to be a horse. Then we had to rush and get Shannon.
The atmosphere was considerably different once there were two of them here again. I'm sure it would be lovely with either one of them at home on their own, but two of them together makes for three times the work and aggravations. I must learn to cope better with two requests being made of me at once, as that tends to make me very irritable. Anyway we had an hour or so at home of me reading some Dora books to Shannon and I did spend 10 minutes with them on the trampoline and then I got our swimming stuff together and we went off to the pool. Had a lovely swim in which Jade swam a whole width for the first time and was thrilled with herself :-) Then home for a healthy home-made dinner and a prolonged bedtime which is still ongoing as it's 10pm and Jade is still wide awake reading. I have been going up to her at 15 minute intervals to reassure her because she is constantly coming downstairs these days saying she is scared, whether it's of monsters or fire or anything else. I asked her tonight why she is more worried recently and she said it's because they watched Monsters Inc a few weeks ago! So I told her (again) how that was a made-up story that someone has just imagined and written, and suggested that she imagine herself to be WonderGirl with magical gifts and a quick brain and strong body with which she can beat the monsters, and imagine how she is going to win.
After he'd gone Jade and I went straight off to Tesco's which was drastically easier with only one child instead of two. I have to laugh about that standard home educator's thing about a trip to the supermarket being educational though. I tried to point out to Jade the prices per 100g of things and how that helped you compare prices, and all she said was "I'm not interested in money". I told her she should be because the less she spent (in her adult future) on food the more she'd have available to spend on her horse, but she still wasn't bothered. It was definitely a 'maths avoidance' moment.
Got home around 11am and decided to make the most of the beautiful sunshine. We put rugs on the lawn and the big parasol up and lay on the grass reading our respective magazines (hers: Sparkle. Mine: Good Homes.) After a while we were getting hungry so got sandwiches and then I finished reading The Butterfly Lion to her while she ate and then spent a while pretending to be a horse. Then we had to rush and get Shannon.
The atmosphere was considerably different once there were two of them here again. I'm sure it would be lovely with either one of them at home on their own, but two of them together makes for three times the work and aggravations. I must learn to cope better with two requests being made of me at once, as that tends to make me very irritable. Anyway we had an hour or so at home of me reading some Dora books to Shannon and I did spend 10 minutes with them on the trampoline and then I got our swimming stuff together and we went off to the pool. Had a lovely swim in which Jade swam a whole width for the first time and was thrilled with herself :-) Then home for a healthy home-made dinner and a prolonged bedtime which is still ongoing as it's 10pm and Jade is still wide awake reading. I have been going up to her at 15 minute intervals to reassure her because she is constantly coming downstairs these days saying she is scared, whether it's of monsters or fire or anything else. I asked her tonight why she is more worried recently and she said it's because they watched Monsters Inc a few weeks ago! So I told her (again) how that was a made-up story that someone has just imagined and written, and suggested that she imagine herself to be WonderGirl with magical gifts and a quick brain and strong body with which she can beat the monsters, and imagine how she is going to win.
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