Saturday, February 28, 2009
It's about time
Jade can tell the time, yay! After trickle-feeding her little bits of information over the months and years as she has asked about it, the last bit has finally clicked into place and she is proudly telling the time about every 10 minutes!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tired Tuesday
So I stayed up way too late last night (blogging, amongst other things!) and have been very tired and grumpy today as a result. Not helped by getting a phone call at 8am to say that playschool was cancelled because the playleader is ill. So if Shannon has to be at home all morning, there was no point sending Jade to the childminder either, and bang goes my one free morning to get anything useful done. I was childishly grumpy and resentful about this for a long time today. In fact, I think I still am ....
Anyway when I managed to get myself together enough to do so, we went off to my lovely group at church, put the kids in the creche and felt a lot better for being with a warm, caring and funny group of women. We're starting a whole-church study for Lent called "Better Together" which will encourage us all to really care and be there for one another both in the church and in the wider community too, so I'm looking forward to getting into that.
We came home via the supermarket so that we had the necessary stuff to make pancakes with. Then I put a film on for the girls, and I went off to bed! It was bliss.
Much restored, I got up and helped Jade to finish off the last two things for her Friend to Animals badge so that's all ready to hand in at Brownies tomorrow. She wrote something about how you know when an animal needs to go to the vet, where and when the vets are open, and what to do if you find a sick or stray animal. Finally she has decorated a hard plastic mask in a zebra print. She did it in felt tip pen, though it might benefit from going over in paint tomorrow. I think the felt-tip pen might just wipe off - I haven't tried it now it's had a good long time to dry. Meanwhile Shannon did a bit of computery stuff - CBeebies and Webkinz I think. L from next door came round and they all played together for a bit while I prepared dinner and did computer stuff myself. They've also both played with Polly Pockets.
From time to time during the day, when I remembered, I threw the odd '5 times table' question to Jade, and though she usually looked resentful when I did so, she answered them correctly anyway.
Anyway when I managed to get myself together enough to do so, we went off to my lovely group at church, put the kids in the creche and felt a lot better for being with a warm, caring and funny group of women. We're starting a whole-church study for Lent called "Better Together" which will encourage us all to really care and be there for one another both in the church and in the wider community too, so I'm looking forward to getting into that.
We came home via the supermarket so that we had the necessary stuff to make pancakes with. Then I put a film on for the girls, and I went off to bed! It was bliss.
Much restored, I got up and helped Jade to finish off the last two things for her Friend to Animals badge so that's all ready to hand in at Brownies tomorrow. She wrote something about how you know when an animal needs to go to the vet, where and when the vets are open, and what to do if you find a sick or stray animal. Finally she has decorated a hard plastic mask in a zebra print. She did it in felt tip pen, though it might benefit from going over in paint tomorrow. I think the felt-tip pen might just wipe off - I haven't tried it now it's had a good long time to dry. Meanwhile Shannon did a bit of computery stuff - CBeebies and Webkinz I think. L from next door came round and they all played together for a bit while I prepared dinner and did computer stuff myself. They've also both played with Polly Pockets.
From time to time during the day, when I remembered, I threw the odd '5 times table' question to Jade, and though she usually looked resentful when I did so, she answered them correctly anyway.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday (not original, but the best I can do right now!)
It makes a change to feel like I've actually got anything to blog, but today I have so I will try and make it the beginning of a new era! Get Back To Blogging!
Shannon was at playschool this morning, so Jade and I sat down in peace and quiet to get on with just a little of the more formal stuff, i.e. maths. She's dipping her toe into the waters of multiplication, and as with all things maths-related it has to be taken very slowly and gently otherwise she will take fright and refuse to do it at all. I think we made some progress - we spent about 20 minutes on it and she remained happy all the way through so that was a good result! Then I read a chapter from "Penrose the Mathematical Cat" about Pancake Land (thought that was topical, even though a day early) on the difference between two and three dimensions.
Then we got on with another piece of work towards her Brownies 'Friend to Animals' badge. She's already done a piece about her favourite animal (the horse, of course!) and how it should be kept and looked after. She's done a study of 4 different extinct animals, what they were, where from, why they became extinct and how we could avoid something similar happening in future. The piece she worked on today was about animal patterns and colours and why animals need camouflage. She needs to do a piece of art using some of the animal patterns she wrote about. With all of these pieces either Bill or I have helped her by suggesting how she needs to go about it and roughly how to structure it and then she's used her own words to dictate to us. We have typed it up verbatim and shown her how to insert pictures into Word. We've obviously covered lots about Googling, saving pictures to the computer, layout and the like as well. The final piece she needs to do is about the local vet's surgery, where it is, when it is open, why your pet might need to visit the vet and what you would do if you found a sick or stray animal. I don't suppose we'll get both that and the art done tomorrow, so one of them might be left for Bill to help her with on Wednesday, which is when it all has to be taken to hand in at Brownies.
After that it was time to go and pick up Shannon from playschool, and then we came home for a quick lunch before setting off for the Redwings horse sanctuary/rescue centre at Oxhill. We tend to go there about every 3 months, so it's a familiar place to us and very welcome to me because it's free! Except for the usual agonising and traumas in the gift shop at the end when Jade desperately tries to find something she can buy with her £1 pocket money. She still hasn't fully absorbed the reality that if you keep spending your £1, you don't get to save up so that you can buy the nicer things for £5+! She begs and begs me to give her some extra money towards what she wants, but I refuse because a) otherwise she would always expect it everywhere we go and we would be bankrupt and b) she would never learn to live within her means. She thinks I am just mean, of course!
We only spent about an hour at Redwings because it was cold and I wanted to travel to near Banbury to look at a car. Our old Subaru is in some ways on its last legs (the engine's fine but everything else is wearing out) and besides I've always disliked it. And now Bill's pinched the Prius off me and I have to drive the Subaru, I'm determined to change it. And the Subaru is too thirsty for our budget so we need something cheaper to run. Anyway, I really would rather like a Renault Scenic 4x4 diesel which seems to cover all our needs, and I had seen one advertised at this garage so went to take a look. It was very nice, but overpriced in my opinion and he wasn't prepared to come down as far as we want him to, so I don't think that is 'the one' which is a shame because it is a nice car.
There are masses of things I could blog about to catch up over the past couple of months, but I can't decide which to include and which to leave out except the very most recent which was that I was supposed to run in my first 10k race yesterday but didn't. I've had a slight niggle in my left hip when I've run the longer distances which I'm being very wary about because I don't want it to turn into a full-blown injury, and then the two weeks of snow and ice stopped me going out for the duration, so effectively I have not done anywhere near as much training as I should have. So there. I will do a 10k at some point, but only when I'm fit enough!
Shannon was at playschool this morning, so Jade and I sat down in peace and quiet to get on with just a little of the more formal stuff, i.e. maths. She's dipping her toe into the waters of multiplication, and as with all things maths-related it has to be taken very slowly and gently otherwise she will take fright and refuse to do it at all. I think we made some progress - we spent about 20 minutes on it and she remained happy all the way through so that was a good result! Then I read a chapter from "Penrose the Mathematical Cat" about Pancake Land (thought that was topical, even though a day early) on the difference between two and three dimensions.
Then we got on with another piece of work towards her Brownies 'Friend to Animals' badge. She's already done a piece about her favourite animal (the horse, of course!) and how it should be kept and looked after. She's done a study of 4 different extinct animals, what they were, where from, why they became extinct and how we could avoid something similar happening in future. The piece she worked on today was about animal patterns and colours and why animals need camouflage. She needs to do a piece of art using some of the animal patterns she wrote about. With all of these pieces either Bill or I have helped her by suggesting how she needs to go about it and roughly how to structure it and then she's used her own words to dictate to us. We have typed it up verbatim and shown her how to insert pictures into Word. We've obviously covered lots about Googling, saving pictures to the computer, layout and the like as well. The final piece she needs to do is about the local vet's surgery, where it is, when it is open, why your pet might need to visit the vet and what you would do if you found a sick or stray animal. I don't suppose we'll get both that and the art done tomorrow, so one of them might be left for Bill to help her with on Wednesday, which is when it all has to be taken to hand in at Brownies.
After that it was time to go and pick up Shannon from playschool, and then we came home for a quick lunch before setting off for the Redwings horse sanctuary/rescue centre at Oxhill. We tend to go there about every 3 months, so it's a familiar place to us and very welcome to me because it's free! Except for the usual agonising and traumas in the gift shop at the end when Jade desperately tries to find something she can buy with her £1 pocket money. She still hasn't fully absorbed the reality that if you keep spending your £1, you don't get to save up so that you can buy the nicer things for £5+! She begs and begs me to give her some extra money towards what she wants, but I refuse because a) otherwise she would always expect it everywhere we go and we would be bankrupt and b) she would never learn to live within her means. She thinks I am just mean, of course!
We only spent about an hour at Redwings because it was cold and I wanted to travel to near Banbury to look at a car. Our old Subaru is in some ways on its last legs (the engine's fine but everything else is wearing out) and besides I've always disliked it. And now Bill's pinched the Prius off me and I have to drive the Subaru, I'm determined to change it. And the Subaru is too thirsty for our budget so we need something cheaper to run. Anyway, I really would rather like a Renault Scenic 4x4 diesel which seems to cover all our needs, and I had seen one advertised at this garage so went to take a look. It was very nice, but overpriced in my opinion and he wasn't prepared to come down as far as we want him to, so I don't think that is 'the one' which is a shame because it is a nice car.
There are masses of things I could blog about to catch up over the past couple of months, but I can't decide which to include and which to leave out except the very most recent which was that I was supposed to run in my first 10k race yesterday but didn't. I've had a slight niggle in my left hip when I've run the longer distances which I'm being very wary about because I don't want it to turn into a full-blown injury, and then the two weeks of snow and ice stopped me going out for the duration, so effectively I have not done anywhere near as much training as I should have. So there. I will do a 10k at some point, but only when I'm fit enough!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Shannon is reading!
Well, it's only a very simple phonics beginners book with three letter words, but she has read a whole book all on her own! She's loving it. She's completely obsessed by letters and words and writing at the moment - she rarely does anything else. It's lovely to see.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Not really an update
I will blog properly again one day, I promise. I just keep thinking I've got so much to catch up on that I need a good long time for blogging, and I just don't get it.
Things I could mention when I get round to it are:
1. Center Parcs holiday - excellent
2. Jade's Friend to Animals badge for Brownies
3. More maths meltdowns
4. My Organizing 101 online class
5. Snow and sledging fun
6. School decision
7. Selective mutism therapy.
There's probably more, but that's all I've got the brainpower for right now.
I do want to give a big thanks to Lotusbirther for pointing out that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has included selective mutism as one of the possible signs of child maltreatment in their proposed Guidance on which they are currently consulting, on the basis of one very flimsy and poorly-conducted piece of evidence. The Selective Mutism Information & Research Association had no idea about this until I was able to point it out to them last Thursday night, and an awful lot of work has been going on behind the scenes all of a sudden to get some proper scientific evidence in there to refute their false belief.
Heavens above, I am a home-educator with a selectively mute child - clearly we are definitely child abusers!
Things I could mention when I get round to it are:
1. Center Parcs holiday - excellent
2. Jade's Friend to Animals badge for Brownies
3. More maths meltdowns
4. My Organizing 101 online class
5. Snow and sledging fun
6. School decision
7. Selective mutism therapy.
There's probably more, but that's all I've got the brainpower for right now.
I do want to give a big thanks to Lotusbirther for pointing out that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has included selective mutism as one of the possible signs of child maltreatment in their proposed Guidance on which they are currently consulting, on the basis of one very flimsy and poorly-conducted piece of evidence. The Selective Mutism Information & Research Association had no idea about this until I was able to point it out to them last Thursday night, and an awful lot of work has been going on behind the scenes all of a sudden to get some proper scientific evidence in there to refute their false belief.
Heavens above, I am a home-educator with a selectively mute child - clearly we are definitely child abusers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
