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!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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.
Monday, June 30, 2008
From Elvis to Shakespeare
Quite a good day in a frustrating sort of way.
It started, as most mornings do, with both girls climbing into bed with me, after they'd already been downstairs and had breakfast and started watching a film and I was hoping for 15 mins peace and quiet to start my day, but no they came upstairs and disturbed me anyway. And Jade started talking about how she thought L from next door had told her a lie, and we discussed whether or not it was a lie, and I told her about how my best friend when I was 7 always told loads of lies. In fact, she had once told me that she had Elvis Presley in her room, and when I couldn't see him she told me he was lying on the floor on the far side of her bed. Hmmm. She's turned out to be a really nice, mature, sensible woman, (we're still occasionally in touch) but in those days she was a terror. Anyway Jade and I went on to talk about Elvis, and I told her who he was, and as my laptop was on the floor by the bed I opened it up and got some Elvis on Youtube. We enjoyed that so much we watched several more Elvis clips and with accompanying conversation she now has a thorough appreciation of the birth of rock 'n' roll. Scary to think that it's 'history'!!
Then once we got passed the 'getting dressed' battle, and I'd had breakfast, and set my Fair Shares gardener to work on the evil field bindweed and creeping buttercup, I sat Jade down to write her Thank You notes for her birthday presents. It's not too late to write thank you notes 4 weeks later is it? She started off happily enough, but after making several mistakes on the first card and scribbling them out and beginning to get frustrated and angry with herself, the tension rose rather. I had to do much deep-breathing and praying hard for patience to see it through, but eventually she has written 6 out of the 8 required so it's not bad going. Shannon joined us at the table and I found her some old party invitation cards that are unlikely to be needed so she enjoyed 'writing' on those and putting them in envelopes. While they were doing those I was mindful of trying to find a way for me to enjoy all this, so I decided to try a little drawing and did a fairly passable imitation of a horse which was interesting.
The next bit is when it all went rather pear-shaped, though it all becomes such a blur in my mind that I cannot write about it. This feeling comes regularly these days, when I'm trying to hang the washing out and Shannon wants to play a game and Jade is on the computer and something goes wrong and I go to put it right and then Shannon wants a drink and then the phone rings and then I try and sit down to menu plan for the week and then Jade wants me to watch her on the trampoline and then Shannon wants 'hungry' and I say no and she says "but I want to" like that's all the reason she should need and I say no again and she cries and whines and then I shout "No, you're not having any hungry, just go away!" and then everybody's hungry and wants a sandwich but then while I'm making them Jade hits Shannon and then I yell at Jade and make her sit on the stairs and go back and try and continue with the sandwiches and then I find Shannon is playing with one of Jade's toys and Jade has seen her and is yelling for me while trying to wrestle the toy off her sister and so I sort that out and then put the telly on to try and get some peace and quiet while I finish making lunch and then doing the menu plan and then doing the shopping list and by this time I am on the verge of tears and I've run out of energy and I feel like I just can't do this anymore......
So I leave them in front of the telly and go to bed for an hour. I want this to be 'quiet hour' from 1-2pm each day, with the girls quietly reading or listening to audio CDs, but I know this will need some training which will involve many interruptions to my quiet time until they get the message. And on days like this I'm just so desperate for my quiet hour the TV is the best way to get it to happen.
And then I got up and suggested we go for a walk, but by this time Shannon was n*ked and didn't want to get dressed again and it took ages to persuade her. But in the end we made it up to the woods and had a nice half-hour walk in the cool greenery, which was much appreciated. We got home and I was thinking, "I never got time to do the maths and bible stuff I wanted to do today" but by this time I had to prepare the dinner. Then I had to persuade Shannon into her clothes again because it was time for Jade to go to Rainbows. Shannon had to come too as her usual babysitter for that hour is away at HesFes. So we all went off to Rainbows where two police officers came for a chat with the girls about the emergency services and phoning 999 and the necessity of knowing your own full name and address, which Jade already does, not that she would ever tell it to anybody or phone 999 so it all seemed a bit academic really.
Then home to dinner and bed and to my surprise, while I was reading stories to Shannon, Jade found my Usborne Stories from Shakespeare and read the whole of Midsummer Night's Dream! We finished off with a further chapter from Michael Morpurgo's The Butterfly Lion as recommended by Chloe from the Manor Born. And so ends another day.
It started, as most mornings do, with both girls climbing into bed with me, after they'd already been downstairs and had breakfast and started watching a film and I was hoping for 15 mins peace and quiet to start my day, but no they came upstairs and disturbed me anyway. And Jade started talking about how she thought L from next door had told her a lie, and we discussed whether or not it was a lie, and I told her about how my best friend when I was 7 always told loads of lies. In fact, she had once told me that she had Elvis Presley in her room, and when I couldn't see him she told me he was lying on the floor on the far side of her bed. Hmmm. She's turned out to be a really nice, mature, sensible woman, (we're still occasionally in touch) but in those days she was a terror. Anyway Jade and I went on to talk about Elvis, and I told her who he was, and as my laptop was on the floor by the bed I opened it up and got some Elvis on Youtube. We enjoyed that so much we watched several more Elvis clips and with accompanying conversation she now has a thorough appreciation of the birth of rock 'n' roll. Scary to think that it's 'history'!!
Then once we got passed the 'getting dressed' battle, and I'd had breakfast, and set my Fair Shares gardener to work on the evil field bindweed and creeping buttercup, I sat Jade down to write her Thank You notes for her birthday presents. It's not too late to write thank you notes 4 weeks later is it? She started off happily enough, but after making several mistakes on the first card and scribbling them out and beginning to get frustrated and angry with herself, the tension rose rather. I had to do much deep-breathing and praying hard for patience to see it through, but eventually she has written 6 out of the 8 required so it's not bad going. Shannon joined us at the table and I found her some old party invitation cards that are unlikely to be needed so she enjoyed 'writing' on those and putting them in envelopes. While they were doing those I was mindful of trying to find a way for me to enjoy all this, so I decided to try a little drawing and did a fairly passable imitation of a horse which was interesting.
The next bit is when it all went rather pear-shaped, though it all becomes such a blur in my mind that I cannot write about it. This feeling comes regularly these days, when I'm trying to hang the washing out and Shannon wants to play a game and Jade is on the computer and something goes wrong and I go to put it right and then Shannon wants a drink and then the phone rings and then I try and sit down to menu plan for the week and then Jade wants me to watch her on the trampoline and then Shannon wants 'hungry' and I say no and she says "but I want to" like that's all the reason she should need and I say no again and she cries and whines and then I shout "No, you're not having any hungry, just go away!" and then everybody's hungry and wants a sandwich but then while I'm making them Jade hits Shannon and then I yell at Jade and make her sit on the stairs and go back and try and continue with the sandwiches and then I find Shannon is playing with one of Jade's toys and Jade has seen her and is yelling for me while trying to wrestle the toy off her sister and so I sort that out and then put the telly on to try and get some peace and quiet while I finish making lunch and then doing the menu plan and then doing the shopping list and by this time I am on the verge of tears and I've run out of energy and I feel like I just can't do this anymore......
So I leave them in front of the telly and go to bed for an hour. I want this to be 'quiet hour' from 1-2pm each day, with the girls quietly reading or listening to audio CDs, but I know this will need some training which will involve many interruptions to my quiet time until they get the message. And on days like this I'm just so desperate for my quiet hour the TV is the best way to get it to happen.
And then I got up and suggested we go for a walk, but by this time Shannon was n*ked and didn't want to get dressed again and it took ages to persuade her. But in the end we made it up to the woods and had a nice half-hour walk in the cool greenery, which was much appreciated. We got home and I was thinking, "I never got time to do the maths and bible stuff I wanted to do today" but by this time I had to prepare the dinner. Then I had to persuade Shannon into her clothes again because it was time for Jade to go to Rainbows. Shannon had to come too as her usual babysitter for that hour is away at HesFes. So we all went off to Rainbows where two police officers came for a chat with the girls about the emergency services and phoning 999 and the necessity of knowing your own full name and address, which Jade already does, not that she would ever tell it to anybody or phone 999 so it all seemed a bit academic really.
Then home to dinner and bed and to my surprise, while I was reading stories to Shannon, Jade found my Usborne Stories from Shakespeare and read the whole of Midsummer Night's Dream! We finished off with a further chapter from Michael Morpurgo's The Butterfly Lion as recommended by Chloe from the Manor Born. And so ends another day.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
I had a 'sanity Saturday' yesterday - took off on my own in the afternoon and spent a blissful 4 hours without anyone yelling "Look, Mum!" or "Mum, she hit me!" or "Mum, I'm hungry" every 2 minutes. I desperately needed it and felt much better by the time I got home. I must plan them more regularly rather than waiting till I get to breaking point.
So off I went to shop in Cheltenham. The main aim was to get some proper running shoes. So I can run faster to get away from the kids. No, not really! I am planning on taking part in the Little Hearts Matter sponsored run in October, which can be 5K, 10K or 15K. I'm aiming for the 5K! So in due course I shall be badgering you lot to sponsor me for loadsa money, but first I've got to get training. Which I did today - took the dog out and managed seven sets of run 1 min, walk 2 mins. Well the schedule did suggest run 1 min, walk 1 min but there was no way I was up to that! It's not going to be so easy to get out during the week unless it's after 9pm but we'll just have to see how it goes.
In the process of buying the shoes, I had a video analysis of my running gait. I never knew that I was a severe pronator! As I walk or run, my arches kind of collapse, my ankles drop in and down and generally it's all a bit of a mess. So I had to buy highly expensive, highly supportive shoes and this probably explains why I've got constant foot and leg ache and why I get so tired by the end of the day. But custom-made orthotics for ordinary shoes cost £200+ so that won't be happening in a hurry.
While shopping I also visited many of Cheltenham's charity shops and was very pleased to find a brand new, unused "Around the World" Dorling Kindersley game for 50p, a book about Robots as Jade was very interested in them when we visited the Cheltenham Science Festival a couple of weeks ago (don't think I ever blogged that) and a little book about hair braiding. A Dora activity pack for Shannon, new underwear for all the females of the family and 4 new pillows (bargain £7.50 reduced from £25) completed my shopping spree.
Today we've been to the local riding stables Open Day. The girls have been very excited about this for days as pony rides were on offer and Shannon had her very first go. She was bumped about all over the place but said she liked it and had another go. Jade had 3 rides, one on the pony she usually rides there each week and one each on the other two, including a 16-17hh horse which I thought was very brave for her!
Jade riding Sonic
Shannon riding Sonic
Jade on Bracken
Shannon on Miniman, the pony Jade rides each week, and he is 30!
So off I went to shop in Cheltenham. The main aim was to get some proper running shoes. So I can run faster to get away from the kids. No, not really! I am planning on taking part in the Little Hearts Matter sponsored run in October, which can be 5K, 10K or 15K. I'm aiming for the 5K! So in due course I shall be badgering you lot to sponsor me for loadsa money, but first I've got to get training. Which I did today - took the dog out and managed seven sets of run 1 min, walk 2 mins. Well the schedule did suggest run 1 min, walk 1 min but there was no way I was up to that! It's not going to be so easy to get out during the week unless it's after 9pm but we'll just have to see how it goes.
In the process of buying the shoes, I had a video analysis of my running gait. I never knew that I was a severe pronator! As I walk or run, my arches kind of collapse, my ankles drop in and down and generally it's all a bit of a mess. So I had to buy highly expensive, highly supportive shoes and this probably explains why I've got constant foot and leg ache and why I get so tired by the end of the day. But custom-made orthotics for ordinary shoes cost £200+ so that won't be happening in a hurry.
While shopping I also visited many of Cheltenham's charity shops and was very pleased to find a brand new, unused "Around the World" Dorling Kindersley game for 50p, a book about Robots as Jade was very interested in them when we visited the Cheltenham Science Festival a couple of weeks ago (don't think I ever blogged that) and a little book about hair braiding. A Dora activity pack for Shannon, new underwear for all the females of the family and 4 new pillows (bargain £7.50 reduced from £25) completed my shopping spree.
Today we've been to the local riding stables Open Day. The girls have been very excited about this for days as pony rides were on offer and Shannon had her very first go. She was bumped about all over the place but said she liked it and had another go. Jade had 3 rides, one on the pony she usually rides there each week and one each on the other two, including a 16-17hh horse which I thought was very brave for her!
Jade riding Sonic
Shannon riding Sonic
Jade on Bracken
Shannon on Miniman, the pony Jade rides each week, and he is 30!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Brief notes
- Jade wrote her first story :-) About a girl and a horse ;-) I would blog it but I know she won't give permission. Perhaps if I rant more often about how little she is doing, she will surprise me again?
- Not long after I tried to impress you Twitter followers with my devoted-mummy-act about how I had gone in to work for a couple of hours to really study some books about how best to help Jade, I lost my temper with her in a very spectacular way and completely undid any fantasies I may have had about being a good mummy.
- The last 2 nights when I have come in at about 10.30pm-ish, I have found Jade tucked up on the sofa with Bill having a maths lesson using the abacus! Tonight she actually came down and told him she wanted to do the same as last night!
- We went to Stratford today. Jade had a £5 WH Smith token to spend, and she chose a pink A4 notepad, Helena the Horse-Riding Fairy, and Chrissie the Wish Fairy (3 stories in one book). She read HtH-RF on the way home in the car, and Chrissie by the time she went to bed :-o
- I bought some hand-weights. To start my exercise regime!
- I have got through Benjamin's anniversary today pretty smoothly. Too many other things on my mind I guess. And after all, it's just another day.
- Not long after I tried to impress you Twitter followers with my devoted-mummy-act about how I had gone in to work for a couple of hours to really study some books about how best to help Jade, I lost my temper with her in a very spectacular way and completely undid any fantasies I may have had about being a good mummy.
- The last 2 nights when I have come in at about 10.30pm-ish, I have found Jade tucked up on the sofa with Bill having a maths lesson using the abacus! Tonight she actually came down and told him she wanted to do the same as last night!
- We went to Stratford today. Jade had a £5 WH Smith token to spend, and she chose a pink A4 notepad, Helena the Horse-Riding Fairy, and Chrissie the Wish Fairy (3 stories in one book). She read HtH-RF on the way home in the car, and Chrissie by the time she went to bed :-o
- I bought some hand-weights. To start my exercise regime!
- I have got through Benjamin's anniversary today pretty smoothly. Too many other things on my mind I guess. And after all, it's just another day.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Please click for me!
Please would everyone coming by this blog please do me a favour?
I have nominated Little Hearts Matter to become the next charity supported by the MoneySavingExpert.com website. LHM is the charity that supported us all through the time that my first child, Benjamin was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, the pregnancy, the birth and afterwards, and I now help them with bereavement support. If LHM did become the MSE charity for a year, it might receive in the region of £20,000 which would be amazing.
The way you can help is by going to this place on the MSE forums, sign up as a forum member, scroll down on page 2 of the thread to about the 7th post down where I have nominated LHM (yes, I am MrsMessy!) and click on the 'Thanks' button at the bottom of the message.
Thank you!
I have nominated Little Hearts Matter to become the next charity supported by the MoneySavingExpert.com website. LHM is the charity that supported us all through the time that my first child, Benjamin was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, the pregnancy, the birth and afterwards, and I now help them with bereavement support. If LHM did become the MSE charity for a year, it might receive in the region of £20,000 which would be amazing.
The way you can help is by going to this place on the MSE forums, sign up as a forum member, scroll down on page 2 of the thread to about the 7th post down where I have nominated LHM (yes, I am MrsMessy!) and click on the 'Thanks' button at the bottom of the message.
Thank you!
HE rant
I feel a bit useless at saying that 3 years into HE and I still haven't settled on what I feel to be a successful and happy approach to HE for our family.
I like what I read about unschooling, but I am not totally convinced either in theory or in practice for us. Maybe I would feel better about it in practice if it was like I read somewhere recently with a quote roughly along the lines of "I started to realise how ridiculous it was to call my son away from designing his own model aeroplane to sit down and do some maths." If I saw plenty of designing, creating or discovering going on here, I might well just go along with it. Instead, what happens when left to their own devices is that Jade either pretends to be a horse or pretends to be riding/grooming/feeding one and Shannon begs to watch DVDs from dawn till dusk. I'm also not convinced about it in theory, because, rightly or wrongly and as someone who had a relatively academic education, I really want my daughters to be able to use grammar and the English language properly, with correct punctuation and spelling, and I want them to learn how to discuss and express their ideas and arguments fully and cogently, and I want them to be able to recognise good science from bad, I'd like them to have the basics of one or two foreign languages and the basics of maths, and how do I know whether, left to themselves, they would take these up to the level that I think they 'should'? It's disheartening when I read other blogs and find that other children her age are doing amazing art work, happily attending language groups, making their own patterns to sew their own clothes and being fascinated by electronics kits. With Jade, the only thing she is fascinated by is horses/ponies, and although I know there are plenty of educational opportunities in there, she WON'T do any of them. She will not make up pony stories, she will not write a pony project, she doesn't want to do anything that would feel to me as though she is doing something productive. She just wants to play at riding ponies and read pony stories and that is it.
With Jade in particular, giving her structured work is a dangerous venture, which has to be approached with the lightest of touches, otherwise sparking off major confrontations and leading to grumpiness and misery for us all. She is significantly resistant to being 'taught' anything, even stuff that she has actually asked to learn. I think perhaps she is incredibly insecure about feeling that she might get things wrong, so only wants to do things which she already feels she can do, and is scared of trying anything new. Her difficult behaviour seems to be part of the selective mutism syndrome, having compared notes with other parents, but she is particularly challenging to parent and I feel quite at sea with her at the moment.
It would be great if I was imaginative and energetic enough to come up with interesting activities and hands-on investigations that were fun and educational, but I feel stretched in too many directions and simply refereeing all the sibling rivalry, hitting and arguing and tantrums wears me out and I have very little left to give. It used to be that a quiet evening and a (relatively) good night's sleep (i.e. one where I only get woken about 2-3 brief times by Shannon) would refresh me and set me up again for the morning, but these days I am sick to death of the arguing and bickering before I've even got out of bed.
Part of me would quite like to throw in the towel and just send Jade to school, and then I'd get that blessed much-longed-for me-time that is so missing at the moment, but I know perfectly well that she wouldn't cope, it would do her much more harm than good and we'd end up in a worse position than we are now. Plus I'd miss what I feel that HE could and should be. I still believe in HE; I just don't feel as though I'm making a very good job of it with this particular child.
I like what I read about unschooling, but I am not totally convinced either in theory or in practice for us. Maybe I would feel better about it in practice if it was like I read somewhere recently with a quote roughly along the lines of "I started to realise how ridiculous it was to call my son away from designing his own model aeroplane to sit down and do some maths." If I saw plenty of designing, creating or discovering going on here, I might well just go along with it. Instead, what happens when left to their own devices is that Jade either pretends to be a horse or pretends to be riding/grooming/feeding one and Shannon begs to watch DVDs from dawn till dusk. I'm also not convinced about it in theory, because, rightly or wrongly and as someone who had a relatively academic education, I really want my daughters to be able to use grammar and the English language properly, with correct punctuation and spelling, and I want them to learn how to discuss and express their ideas and arguments fully and cogently, and I want them to be able to recognise good science from bad, I'd like them to have the basics of one or two foreign languages and the basics of maths, and how do I know whether, left to themselves, they would take these up to the level that I think they 'should'? It's disheartening when I read other blogs and find that other children her age are doing amazing art work, happily attending language groups, making their own patterns to sew their own clothes and being fascinated by electronics kits. With Jade, the only thing she is fascinated by is horses/ponies, and although I know there are plenty of educational opportunities in there, she WON'T do any of them. She will not make up pony stories, she will not write a pony project, she doesn't want to do anything that would feel to me as though she is doing something productive. She just wants to play at riding ponies and read pony stories and that is it.
With Jade in particular, giving her structured work is a dangerous venture, which has to be approached with the lightest of touches, otherwise sparking off major confrontations and leading to grumpiness and misery for us all. She is significantly resistant to being 'taught' anything, even stuff that she has actually asked to learn. I think perhaps she is incredibly insecure about feeling that she might get things wrong, so only wants to do things which she already feels she can do, and is scared of trying anything new. Her difficult behaviour seems to be part of the selective mutism syndrome, having compared notes with other parents, but she is particularly challenging to parent and I feel quite at sea with her at the moment.
It would be great if I was imaginative and energetic enough to come up with interesting activities and hands-on investigations that were fun and educational, but I feel stretched in too many directions and simply refereeing all the sibling rivalry, hitting and arguing and tantrums wears me out and I have very little left to give. It used to be that a quiet evening and a (relatively) good night's sleep (i.e. one where I only get woken about 2-3 brief times by Shannon) would refresh me and set me up again for the morning, but these days I am sick to death of the arguing and bickering before I've even got out of bed.
Part of me would quite like to throw in the towel and just send Jade to school, and then I'd get that blessed much-longed-for me-time that is so missing at the moment, but I know perfectly well that she wouldn't cope, it would do her much more harm than good and we'd end up in a worse position than we are now. Plus I'd miss what I feel that HE could and should be. I still believe in HE; I just don't feel as though I'm making a very good job of it with this particular child.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Festival of History
I have come across two problems pertaining to us coming along to the FoH weekend. Firstly, it is the Saturday night that we show our Rural Cinema film locally and I am in charge of that and I don't know if my colleague will feel able to have a go herself (she cancelled the one in May when I was on holiday). Secondly I note that Wicksteed Park only allows caravans on Friday and Saturday nights so we would need a tent to stay for the whole thing.
If I can find a way round problem number one, could anyone lend us a tent big enough for a family of 4 to overcome problem number two?
If I can find a way round problem number one, could anyone lend us a tent big enough for a family of 4 to overcome problem number two?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Good unschooling article
I've just discovered this really well-written blog post by an ex-teacher about why she no longer believes in schools and was not going to send her daughter any more, written just after she resigned her teaching job. A good read.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Birthday!
Jade is 7 today! I am completely and utterly exhausted from preparations and the party today, so this will be very brief.
T-bird Anni and Aprilia arrived on Saturday afternoon, and both Jade and Shannon were very happy to see them and to play with Aprilia immediately - no warming up time needed! Jade has even been speaking fairly openly in front of Anni (though not directly to her), so that's been lovely.
I put Anni to work making the birthday cake while I prepared the evening meal. Isn't it great having friends like that?
Anni and I were up till after midnight last night making said cake look like a horse's head. I did most of it but she did a great job steadying my nerves and making useful suggestions. Not long after we went to bed (it seemed) Shannon was awake and I had to go to her and of course spent the rest of the night in her bed, and she woke a few more times. Then Jade woke up at about 6.30am and was too excited to go back to sleep again.
She had a lovely time opening her presents on our bed with everyone watching, and was delighted with everything, which is always a relief! (Heely's, Barbie Jumping Horse (Tawny), I Love Ponies playset, squishy dolphin, fantasy castle playset, some beautiful elves/fairies on horses, etc).
She was not so delighted to go off to church but it was the 10th anniversary service of our combined group of churches which work together, so a local school had been hired and it was absolutely jam-packed with people standing round the back and sides as all seats were full. Aprilia and Jade went into the kids' group and Aprilia threw herself into all the activities with gusto and Jade refused to do anything, and in the end we left Aprilia in there enjoying herself and we went out so I could at least listen partly to the main speaker. Found Anni chatting at the main door with the mum of the only other home-educating family in our 4-church group, who introduced us to a dad who was considering HEing. Anni did a great PR job on HE! I met up with several friends whom I have not seen properly for ages so was disappointed to be having to rush off and get the party ready instead of staying for the barbecue and the afternoon's fun which was scheduled.
Anyway, we rushed home and made final preparations and then had 5 more small and excited small girls show up to have great fun at the party. We did a 'find the ponies' game where Jade's massive collection of little horse/pony figures were hidden in the garden for them to find. We did that twice! We had pass the parcel, show-jumping round a great course of jumps built by Bill, a bit of dancing, and a lot of playing and having fun. It was lovely! Beautiful, glorious sunshine too. Fab but exhausting, and as usual I question my sanity in continuing to do home parties, but as that is the way I always had my birthdays it is the only way that seems 'right' to me!
Aprilia and Anni are setting off in the morning to visit the MonsterTeenys, leaving us to get on with celebrating Bill's birthday .... now all we have to do is wait for him to decide where he wants to go for the day!
T-bird Anni and Aprilia arrived on Saturday afternoon, and both Jade and Shannon were very happy to see them and to play with Aprilia immediately - no warming up time needed! Jade has even been speaking fairly openly in front of Anni (though not directly to her), so that's been lovely.
I put Anni to work making the birthday cake while I prepared the evening meal. Isn't it great having friends like that?
Anni and I were up till after midnight last night making said cake look like a horse's head. I did most of it but she did a great job steadying my nerves and making useful suggestions. Not long after we went to bed (it seemed) Shannon was awake and I had to go to her and of course spent the rest of the night in her bed, and she woke a few more times. Then Jade woke up at about 6.30am and was too excited to go back to sleep again.
She had a lovely time opening her presents on our bed with everyone watching, and was delighted with everything, which is always a relief! (Heely's, Barbie Jumping Horse (Tawny), I Love Ponies playset, squishy dolphin, fantasy castle playset, some beautiful elves/fairies on horses, etc).
She was not so delighted to go off to church but it was the 10th anniversary service of our combined group of churches which work together, so a local school had been hired and it was absolutely jam-packed with people standing round the back and sides as all seats were full. Aprilia and Jade went into the kids' group and Aprilia threw herself into all the activities with gusto and Jade refused to do anything, and in the end we left Aprilia in there enjoying herself and we went out so I could at least listen partly to the main speaker. Found Anni chatting at the main door with the mum of the only other home-educating family in our 4-church group, who introduced us to a dad who was considering HEing. Anni did a great PR job on HE! I met up with several friends whom I have not seen properly for ages so was disappointed to be having to rush off and get the party ready instead of staying for the barbecue and the afternoon's fun which was scheduled.
Anyway, we rushed home and made final preparations and then had 5 more small and excited small girls show up to have great fun at the party. We did a 'find the ponies' game where Jade's massive collection of little horse/pony figures were hidden in the garden for them to find. We did that twice! We had pass the parcel, show-jumping round a great course of jumps built by Bill, a bit of dancing, and a lot of playing and having fun. It was lovely! Beautiful, glorious sunshine too. Fab but exhausting, and as usual I question my sanity in continuing to do home parties, but as that is the way I always had my birthdays it is the only way that seems 'right' to me!
Aprilia and Anni are setting off in the morning to visit the MonsterTeenys, leaving us to get on with celebrating Bill's birthday .... now all we have to do is wait for him to decide where he wants to go for the day!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Random ramblings
Excuse me if this is disjointed, but I have several things on my mind and am tired.
Firstly, Jade has been vile today. We go through these phases every now and then, when her nastiness to Shannon (hitting, pinching, name-calling, snatching toys away etc) gets worse and our parental tempers get shorter too and every day is a trial for a while. So much so, at the moment, that she only has to do 9 more nasty things to anybody and her birthday party on Sunday will be cancelled. (T-bird: if that comes to pass, our Plan B would be just to go out somewhere with you and Aprilia, so do still come!). We haven't figured out what causes these phases - it might be that we are doing or not doing something to which she is reacting, but if so we are not seeing it yet. But it is so aggravating when you have tried every which way you can to improve a child's behaviour and it just doesn't seem to make one jot of difference.
Sunday was a strange day. We sold our cot on Ebay (for a surprisingly large amount of money!) and it was collected on Sunday morning, so we re-arranged our bedroom to return it to its pre-cot configuration. Which ended up having unanticipated reverberations for both Bill and I because the last time it was like that, Benjamin was at home with us. We moved the furniture around to get a Moses basket in when he'd been home with us for a few days. And considering I hadn't gone to church on Sunday morning, because it was the annual open-air service which I haven't attended for the past 8 years because I have such clear memories of attending it 9 years ago with one small baby, I guess I was already set up for feeling a bit weird. Sometimes I wonder if these uncomfortable episodes will ever stop - will there ever be a time when there isn't something that can send me all off-balance?
It feels like not much planned educational stuff has gone on lately. We did a bit of Miquon maths this morning which provoked some tension in Jade and had me working hard to control my reactions as she fiddled about, wrote stupid things in the book, didn't concentrate on my explanations and so on. That's about it as far as formal stuff has gone on. She has however spent a vast amount of the past few days avidly reading some books about ponies and pony care, so should we ever win on the Premium Bonds and be able to buy her one, she'll at least know roughly what to do!
Shannon is really enjoying having recently learned to identify all the letters of the alphabet as Letterland characters, and frequently stops and reads through the list of letters in any word / logo / advert she comes across. It's fun!
And, having just realised how horribly late it is, that's the lot for now.
Firstly, Jade has been vile today. We go through these phases every now and then, when her nastiness to Shannon (hitting, pinching, name-calling, snatching toys away etc) gets worse and our parental tempers get shorter too and every day is a trial for a while. So much so, at the moment, that she only has to do 9 more nasty things to anybody and her birthday party on Sunday will be cancelled. (T-bird: if that comes to pass, our Plan B would be just to go out somewhere with you and Aprilia, so do still come!). We haven't figured out what causes these phases - it might be that we are doing or not doing something to which she is reacting, but if so we are not seeing it yet. But it is so aggravating when you have tried every which way you can to improve a child's behaviour and it just doesn't seem to make one jot of difference.
Sunday was a strange day. We sold our cot on Ebay (for a surprisingly large amount of money!) and it was collected on Sunday morning, so we re-arranged our bedroom to return it to its pre-cot configuration. Which ended up having unanticipated reverberations for both Bill and I because the last time it was like that, Benjamin was at home with us. We moved the furniture around to get a Moses basket in when he'd been home with us for a few days. And considering I hadn't gone to church on Sunday morning, because it was the annual open-air service which I haven't attended for the past 8 years because I have such clear memories of attending it 9 years ago with one small baby, I guess I was already set up for feeling a bit weird. Sometimes I wonder if these uncomfortable episodes will ever stop - will there ever be a time when there isn't something that can send me all off-balance?
It feels like not much planned educational stuff has gone on lately. We did a bit of Miquon maths this morning which provoked some tension in Jade and had me working hard to control my reactions as she fiddled about, wrote stupid things in the book, didn't concentrate on my explanations and so on. That's about it as far as formal stuff has gone on. She has however spent a vast amount of the past few days avidly reading some books about ponies and pony care, so should we ever win on the Premium Bonds and be able to buy her one, she'll at least know roughly what to do!
Shannon is really enjoying having recently learned to identify all the letters of the alphabet as Letterland characters, and frequently stops and reads through the list of letters in any word / logo / advert she comes across. It's fun!
And, having just realised how horribly late it is, that's the lot for now.
Monday, May 26, 2008
4 go wild in Wales!
We've just had one of the loveliest holidays we've had in a very long time! We were in New Quay, Wales, for a week in a static caravan on the Haven holiday park.
Now, a holiday park wouldn't really be my first choice for accommodation, but they accept Tesco vouchers and we are penniless so beggars can't be too choosy. However, we got a really fab static caravan (prestige standard) which was extremely smart and, for anyone who's been in our real (towed) little ancient caravan, you will appreciate this was a very big step up!!! For instance, here is the view from the deck:
It was a 3-bed caravan, so the girls even got a bedroom each which they don't have at home. I think they appreciated that! In fact, it was all so clean and smart and tidy that we have a bad dose of the post-holiday blues and want to rip everything out of our house including the plaster and start all over again. No can do due to the aforementioned pecuniary status, but maybe we can take tiny steps in the right direction....
Anyway, back to New Quay. We arrived on Saturday around 6pm, so that evening was just eating, unpacking and going to bed. On Sunday morning, the first job was to sit on the deck having breakfast and look for dolphins in the bay:
We didn't spot any then. After breakfast, we walked down to the beach from the site. This was a very steep downhill walk through a lovely woodland area which is specially protected for wildlife. We had a lovely time doing the usual beachy stuff, and, as was to become the pattern for the week, Shannon stripped off and ran about in that lovely innocent three-year old way:
We also investigated the rest of the site, and had a go in the Funworks amusement arcade where Jade was thrilled to find a cowboy-type horse ride and a little pony carousel, so a couple of goes each on that were essential for them and of course set the scene for continued nagging for the rest of the week to go on them every day.
The evening was very special. I was just finishing putting Jade to bed (DH had already got Shannon off to sleep) when he called to me from the deck - DOLPHINS! We sat there for ages watching them with binoculars - there seemed to be about 4 or 5 which we could see when they surfaced for air, although no spectacular jumping or anything. I've loved dolphins for years and years, though, and this was the first time I'd actually seen a live one, even from a distance. Very thrilling!
On Monday we investigated New Quay town itself, did some bits of shopping, walked along the quay, spent a while on the other beaches, and went into the dolphin exhibition place where someone was filming an interview in Welsh for TV. Jade was interested in all the dolphin information and happily pressed buttons and lifted flaps about them and other sealife and environmental threats etc. We went back up to the site in the afternoon and went swimming in the pool. The kids braved the little water slide, and soon loved it so much that's all they did for the next half-an-hour.
On Tuesday we went to the Centre for Alternative Technology for the day. Well, not exactly for the day as we are not the fastest risers in the morning and it was a 1.5 hour journey to get there so we needed lunch as soon as we arrived, and it was about 1.30pm before we properly started looking around. I will gloss over the marital tensions that surfaced due to delays and misunderstandings and move swiftly on to the afternoon which got better after that! The site is very different from the last time we were there, which was probably about 15 years ago, although we have been members and have been receiving the quarterly magazine ever since. (We thought we were members anyway - turns out we had been paying £15 annually on a standing order and they never let us know we needed to change the amount, or change to direct debit, so we had to swiftly upgrade to the proper price for family membership when we got there.....). The girls just wanted to run about and play on the adventure playground bit, so it was hard work to drag them away to the exhibits and information which we wanted to see. We did get a nice pic on the self-timer for our profile though (see right)! I don't think Jade absorbed much as we were going round, despite our best efforts, but she did have a go on a computer program to assess your household's carbon footprint and saw some of the video displays so maybe some of it went in. There were masses more exhibits and things to do than we realised, though, and we mis-timed the afternoon so we only got (sob) 10 minutes in the shop at the end, and that was having missed out virtually all of the power/electricity/solar displays and exhibits. Memo for anyone going in the near future - allow more than 4 hours!!! The girls loved the mole-hole bit where you get to see what it's like to live underground, and in fact Jade said she loves the CAT and wants to live there till she's 120!
We did get a few ideas for stuff to do at home, and in fact have ordered a Rotaire washing line cover which is one of those brilliant ideas that you wonder why nobody invented before so that you can hang you washing out even when it's raining, and it still gets dry.
I've got my days all confused after that, so I'm not sure what we did on Wednesday. I think it was Thursday when, despite a forecast of rain, it was seeming to hold out fine all morning so we went for a coastal walk. This was really the highlight of the week. I used to get taken for long hikes on the Yorkshire Moors, round Snowdonia and the Lake District on holidays with my parents when I was a child, and I don't think I'd realised how it was kind of imprinted in me, but I knew I felt a desire for a lovely walk, and when we got up on the coastal path I really enjoyed it and think it's something I need to be doing a lot more of. But the best bit about it was, at the top of an extremely steep walk up to the top of a cliff above New Quay, Bill spotted dolphins with the binoculars. We stayed there for absolutely ages in the lovely hot sunshine, watching them both with the binocs and with the naked eye, and even caught a fantastic leap out of the water by one of them. Jade had a look and was excited to see them too. We must have sat there for well over an hour, maybe two. I lost track of the time. We tried to take pics but there is quite a shutter delay with the digital camera which was the only one we'd taken. If you can see a black dot in this pic, though - that's the dolphin!
The rain held off all day until about 6pm, when we were safely back in the caravan, so that was good!
The next day the forecast had suggested it would be raining from when we woke up in the morning. It wasn't, though, but kept expecting it to start so we faffed around all morning. In the end, because the rain hadn't come we went off to Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park which has lots of animals to stroke and feed, and then a lovely walk down to the cliff tops where often you can see seals. The problem was once we got out and Jade had spent time with the ponies which were in one of the first fields, she refused to go any further and was in tears because she didn't want to leave them. So I went off with Shannon, explored a bit, saw the tide was in so we couldn't see any seals, and went back up for us all to have lunch. We went back down to the cliff edge again later when the tide was out and Jade agreed to come with us that time. We saw a couple of seals swimming in the sea, at least you can see just their heads sticking up, but didn't see any basking on the rocks which was a shame. It was a pretty stiff hike up and down and all around the site, though, and much of it I had to do with Shannon on my back, so I was pretty wrecked by the end of it. On the final walk back up the rain came down pretty hard and we all got rather wet.
On Friday I was in a horrible mood all day (DH says it's PMT - I say I was just very tired) and we didn't do much except relax in and around the caravan and have a final trip down into New Quay to see one of the dolphin exhibitions which is only open Fridays to Mondays. When we got there they pointed out there were a couple of dolphins in the bay, so we got to watch them again and chat to the volunteers running the place. Then we went and sat on the beach for an hour or so for one last time.
On the Saturday morning we achieved a minor miracle by leaving on the dot of the prescribed time of 10am, which I don't think we have ever done before. We stopped off at Raglan Castle on the way home which we all enjoyed, although I would recommend to everyone that you do NOT go to the nearby 'cafe' in a farmyard which was merely a greasy-spoon caff which could be an awful lot nicer.
I would love to go back to New Quay again and who knows, maybe even retire there to watch the dolphins like some other people we chatted to, so I'm sure it won't be our last visit.
Now, a holiday park wouldn't really be my first choice for accommodation, but they accept Tesco vouchers and we are penniless so beggars can't be too choosy. However, we got a really fab static caravan (prestige standard) which was extremely smart and, for anyone who's been in our real (towed) little ancient caravan, you will appreciate this was a very big step up!!! For instance, here is the view from the deck:
It was a 3-bed caravan, so the girls even got a bedroom each which they don't have at home. I think they appreciated that! In fact, it was all so clean and smart and tidy that we have a bad dose of the post-holiday blues and want to rip everything out of our house including the plaster and start all over again. No can do due to the aforementioned pecuniary status, but maybe we can take tiny steps in the right direction....
Anyway, back to New Quay. We arrived on Saturday around 6pm, so that evening was just eating, unpacking and going to bed. On Sunday morning, the first job was to sit on the deck having breakfast and look for dolphins in the bay:
We didn't spot any then. After breakfast, we walked down to the beach from the site. This was a very steep downhill walk through a lovely woodland area which is specially protected for wildlife. We had a lovely time doing the usual beachy stuff, and, as was to become the pattern for the week, Shannon stripped off and ran about in that lovely innocent three-year old way:
We also investigated the rest of the site, and had a go in the Funworks amusement arcade where Jade was thrilled to find a cowboy-type horse ride and a little pony carousel, so a couple of goes each on that were essential for them and of course set the scene for continued nagging for the rest of the week to go on them every day.
The evening was very special. I was just finishing putting Jade to bed (DH had already got Shannon off to sleep) when he called to me from the deck - DOLPHINS! We sat there for ages watching them with binoculars - there seemed to be about 4 or 5 which we could see when they surfaced for air, although no spectacular jumping or anything. I've loved dolphins for years and years, though, and this was the first time I'd actually seen a live one, even from a distance. Very thrilling!
On Monday we investigated New Quay town itself, did some bits of shopping, walked along the quay, spent a while on the other beaches, and went into the dolphin exhibition place where someone was filming an interview in Welsh for TV. Jade was interested in all the dolphin information and happily pressed buttons and lifted flaps about them and other sealife and environmental threats etc. We went back up to the site in the afternoon and went swimming in the pool. The kids braved the little water slide, and soon loved it so much that's all they did for the next half-an-hour.
On Tuesday we went to the Centre for Alternative Technology for the day. Well, not exactly for the day as we are not the fastest risers in the morning and it was a 1.5 hour journey to get there so we needed lunch as soon as we arrived, and it was about 1.30pm before we properly started looking around. I will gloss over the marital tensions that surfaced due to delays and misunderstandings and move swiftly on to the afternoon which got better after that! The site is very different from the last time we were there, which was probably about 15 years ago, although we have been members and have been receiving the quarterly magazine ever since. (We thought we were members anyway - turns out we had been paying £15 annually on a standing order and they never let us know we needed to change the amount, or change to direct debit, so we had to swiftly upgrade to the proper price for family membership when we got there.....). The girls just wanted to run about and play on the adventure playground bit, so it was hard work to drag them away to the exhibits and information which we wanted to see. We did get a nice pic on the self-timer for our profile though (see right)! I don't think Jade absorbed much as we were going round, despite our best efforts, but she did have a go on a computer program to assess your household's carbon footprint and saw some of the video displays so maybe some of it went in. There were masses more exhibits and things to do than we realised, though, and we mis-timed the afternoon so we only got (sob) 10 minutes in the shop at the end, and that was having missed out virtually all of the power/electricity/solar displays and exhibits. Memo for anyone going in the near future - allow more than 4 hours!!! The girls loved the mole-hole bit where you get to see what it's like to live underground, and in fact Jade said she loves the CAT and wants to live there till she's 120!
We did get a few ideas for stuff to do at home, and in fact have ordered a Rotaire washing line cover which is one of those brilliant ideas that you wonder why nobody invented before so that you can hang you washing out even when it's raining, and it still gets dry.
I've got my days all confused after that, so I'm not sure what we did on Wednesday. I think it was Thursday when, despite a forecast of rain, it was seeming to hold out fine all morning so we went for a coastal walk. This was really the highlight of the week. I used to get taken for long hikes on the Yorkshire Moors, round Snowdonia and the Lake District on holidays with my parents when I was a child, and I don't think I'd realised how it was kind of imprinted in me, but I knew I felt a desire for a lovely walk, and when we got up on the coastal path I really enjoyed it and think it's something I need to be doing a lot more of. But the best bit about it was, at the top of an extremely steep walk up to the top of a cliff above New Quay, Bill spotted dolphins with the binoculars. We stayed there for absolutely ages in the lovely hot sunshine, watching them both with the binocs and with the naked eye, and even caught a fantastic leap out of the water by one of them. Jade had a look and was excited to see them too. We must have sat there for well over an hour, maybe two. I lost track of the time. We tried to take pics but there is quite a shutter delay with the digital camera which was the only one we'd taken. If you can see a black dot in this pic, though - that's the dolphin!
The rain held off all day until about 6pm, when we were safely back in the caravan, so that was good!
The next day the forecast had suggested it would be raining from when we woke up in the morning. It wasn't, though, but kept expecting it to start so we faffed around all morning. In the end, because the rain hadn't come we went off to Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park which has lots of animals to stroke and feed, and then a lovely walk down to the cliff tops where often you can see seals. The problem was once we got out and Jade had spent time with the ponies which were in one of the first fields, she refused to go any further and was in tears because she didn't want to leave them. So I went off with Shannon, explored a bit, saw the tide was in so we couldn't see any seals, and went back up for us all to have lunch. We went back down to the cliff edge again later when the tide was out and Jade agreed to come with us that time. We saw a couple of seals swimming in the sea, at least you can see just their heads sticking up, but didn't see any basking on the rocks which was a shame. It was a pretty stiff hike up and down and all around the site, though, and much of it I had to do with Shannon on my back, so I was pretty wrecked by the end of it. On the final walk back up the rain came down pretty hard and we all got rather wet.
On Friday I was in a horrible mood all day (DH says it's PMT - I say I was just very tired) and we didn't do much except relax in and around the caravan and have a final trip down into New Quay to see one of the dolphin exhibitions which is only open Fridays to Mondays. When we got there they pointed out there were a couple of dolphins in the bay, so we got to watch them again and chat to the volunteers running the place. Then we went and sat on the beach for an hour or so for one last time.
On the Saturday morning we achieved a minor miracle by leaving on the dot of the prescribed time of 10am, which I don't think we have ever done before. We stopped off at Raglan Castle on the way home which we all enjoyed, although I would recommend to everyone that you do NOT go to the nearby 'cafe' in a farmyard which was merely a greasy-spoon caff which could be an awful lot nicer.
I would love to go back to New Quay again and who knows, maybe even retire there to watch the dolphins like some other people we chatted to, so I'm sure it won't be our last visit.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Duvet day
It's been a manic sort of week, and therefore being blessed with an empty day, it's after 11am and I'm still in bed. Bliss! I fell asleep putting the girls to bed at about 8.30pm last night, woke up at midnight and got into my own bed, Shannon joined us in the big bed at some point, and then nobody (except Bill who had to go to work) woke up properly till about 9am! (Apart from Shannon's frequent wakings/wailings/general annoyingness!)
On Tuesday morning Shannon went to playschool, so Jade and I got home, did some bible, LLOTG and miquon maths. She seems to be getting over her mental block about maths, hooray! Just being able to take it very slowly, backing off when it was too much for her, and using lots and lots of different approaches to practise simple addition and subtraction, and now, just in the past week or two, she's got it! Instead of groaning when I say we're going to do some maths, she's actually asking for sums to practise, spontaneously making up her own sheets of sums to do, and enjoying mastering them! She said she'd seen a book in the local bookshop window saying I -hate- love maths and she wants me to get it for her! (oh, well that was supposed to be a strike-through 'hate' and I obviously don't know how to do it!)
So, after that bit of success, we went out to deliver Christian Aid envelopes, which was a lovely 45 minutes in the sunshine, although we didn't finish as we had to get back and have lunch before collecting Shannon. We then went straight from playschool and drove to Newbury to meet my mum to collect the dog. We had a conversation about her refusal to stay in my messy house, and although I still think it was an over-reaction, she's entitled to her own feelings and we've cleared the air a little. Stopped off in Oxford on the way back to see Bill at work and visit the university library (full of teacher-training resources!) and came home with a very big bag full of books and software - hooray!! Would list them except they are downstairs and I am upstairs in bed on the laptop! Jade found a book explaining about death and was absolutely glued to it. We got home at about 8pm after buying sandwiches and eating them in the car on the way home for 'dinner'.
On Wednesday I was working all day. I wanted to finish delivering the Christian Aid envelopes in the early evening, but time ran out and I didn't get the chance.
On Thursday it was playschool for Shannon and work for Jade and me. Was very busy at work, trying frantically to get all the loose ends tied up before leaving as I'm on holiday next week. Didn't finish as early as I wanted to. Managed to get in some shopping from Budgens before going to pick up Shannon (the cupboards were bare!) but didn't get to finish delivering the CA envelopes! Got home with the girls about 2.30pm, taught Jade to play checkers with the large floor-sized game we'd just received as a gift from someone, played 3 or 4 games of that, and then (finally!) got the rest of the CA envelopes delivered! Went home, cooked sausages for tea, then went out again for 45 minutes starting the CA collecting.
Today I have to try and progress the washing/drying of laundry, and then sort out as much of the packing for holiday as possible. This evening I will try and finish the CA envelope collecting.
So, if I don't get back on here later, I'll catch up after our week in Wales! Really looking forward to it (if the sunshine comes back). We're planning on visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology for one day, and hoping to spot dolphins off Cardigan Bay.
On Tuesday morning Shannon went to playschool, so Jade and I got home, did some bible, LLOTG and miquon maths. She seems to be getting over her mental block about maths, hooray! Just being able to take it very slowly, backing off when it was too much for her, and using lots and lots of different approaches to practise simple addition and subtraction, and now, just in the past week or two, she's got it! Instead of groaning when I say we're going to do some maths, she's actually asking for sums to practise, spontaneously making up her own sheets of sums to do, and enjoying mastering them! She said she'd seen a book in the local bookshop window saying I -hate- love maths and she wants me to get it for her! (oh, well that was supposed to be a strike-through 'hate' and I obviously don't know how to do it!)
So, after that bit of success, we went out to deliver Christian Aid envelopes, which was a lovely 45 minutes in the sunshine, although we didn't finish as we had to get back and have lunch before collecting Shannon. We then went straight from playschool and drove to Newbury to meet my mum to collect the dog. We had a conversation about her refusal to stay in my messy house, and although I still think it was an over-reaction, she's entitled to her own feelings and we've cleared the air a little. Stopped off in Oxford on the way back to see Bill at work and visit the university library (full of teacher-training resources!) and came home with a very big bag full of books and software - hooray!! Would list them except they are downstairs and I am upstairs in bed on the laptop! Jade found a book explaining about death and was absolutely glued to it. We got home at about 8pm after buying sandwiches and eating them in the car on the way home for 'dinner'.
On Wednesday I was working all day. I wanted to finish delivering the Christian Aid envelopes in the early evening, but time ran out and I didn't get the chance.
On Thursday it was playschool for Shannon and work for Jade and me. Was very busy at work, trying frantically to get all the loose ends tied up before leaving as I'm on holiday next week. Didn't finish as early as I wanted to. Managed to get in some shopping from Budgens before going to pick up Shannon (the cupboards were bare!) but didn't get to finish delivering the CA envelopes! Got home with the girls about 2.30pm, taught Jade to play checkers with the large floor-sized game we'd just received as a gift from someone, played 3 or 4 games of that, and then (finally!) got the rest of the CA envelopes delivered! Went home, cooked sausages for tea, then went out again for 45 minutes starting the CA collecting.
Today I have to try and progress the washing/drying of laundry, and then sort out as much of the packing for holiday as possible. This evening I will try and finish the CA envelope collecting.
So, if I don't get back on here later, I'll catch up after our week in Wales! Really looking forward to it (if the sunshine comes back). We're planning on visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology for one day, and hoping to spot dolphins off Cardigan Bay.
Monday, May 12, 2008
sunny Monday
Ah bliss - I'm enjoying the sunshine! In fact, I got up at 6.30am and enjoyed it even then! The church weekend has finally got me to do what God's been nagging at me for months to do - get up early and have a bit of quiet time. It was very good :-) Having to do the AA thing and just take it one day at a time and not make great promises to do it forever!
Despite the early start, I seemed to get stuck in a wormhole or something, where it was suddenly 9.30am and still none of us were dressed and nothing was done! Eventually chivvied one girl to get dressed and the other just remained in her birthday suit all morning until we had to go out! I sat down with Jade and did a couple of pages of Miquon, then a bit of bible reading and Leading Little Ones to God. That was the extent of the formal work for the day! I had to make inroads into the washing mountain ready for going on holiday on Saturday. I had about 3 long phone calls - a couple of them I made as mystery shopping phone calls for which I will get paid. Frequent requests for food and assistance in reaching things or getting things set up for the girls didn't help either. We had some lunch and then suddenly another hour had passed and it was time to go swimming. Had a relaxed, fun play in the pool, and then returned to hand Shannon over to a friend who had offered to have her while Jade went to her first Rainbows group. Couldn't find friend in the park where we had arranged to meet her. No answer at her house either. Tried the other small local park but no luck. Ended up taking Shannon to Rainbows with us! She joined in more than Jade did! Jade didn't want to participate much in anything, and of course I had to stay and she clung to my hand or sat on my knee most of the time, and looked like she wasn't really enjoying it. When we got home I asked her what she thought of it, and she said she loved it!!! So that's good, but I have no idea how we will ever get her integrated enough for me to be able to leave her. And some special allowances are going to have to be made for her as she won't be able to say her name at the beginning (everybody holds the Rainbows teddy in turn and says who they are) and she's been given her Promise to learn but there's no way she's ever going to say that in public!! I had printed out a couple of information sheets on selective mutism to give to the group leader so at least she'll be slightly informed when we have to discuss it. But we're on holiday next week and then it's half-term week, so it'll be 3 weeks before she goes again.
And now I must go to bed if I'm going to be up early again tomorrow morning!
Despite the early start, I seemed to get stuck in a wormhole or something, where it was suddenly 9.30am and still none of us were dressed and nothing was done! Eventually chivvied one girl to get dressed and the other just remained in her birthday suit all morning until we had to go out! I sat down with Jade and did a couple of pages of Miquon, then a bit of bible reading and Leading Little Ones to God. That was the extent of the formal work for the day! I had to make inroads into the washing mountain ready for going on holiday on Saturday. I had about 3 long phone calls - a couple of them I made as mystery shopping phone calls for which I will get paid. Frequent requests for food and assistance in reaching things or getting things set up for the girls didn't help either. We had some lunch and then suddenly another hour had passed and it was time to go swimming. Had a relaxed, fun play in the pool, and then returned to hand Shannon over to a friend who had offered to have her while Jade went to her first Rainbows group. Couldn't find friend in the park where we had arranged to meet her. No answer at her house either. Tried the other small local park but no luck. Ended up taking Shannon to Rainbows with us! She joined in more than Jade did! Jade didn't want to participate much in anything, and of course I had to stay and she clung to my hand or sat on my knee most of the time, and looked like she wasn't really enjoying it. When we got home I asked her what she thought of it, and she said she loved it!!! So that's good, but I have no idea how we will ever get her integrated enough for me to be able to leave her. And some special allowances are going to have to be made for her as she won't be able to say her name at the beginning (everybody holds the Rainbows teddy in turn and says who they are) and she's been given her Promise to learn but there's no way she's ever going to say that in public!! I had printed out a couple of information sheets on selective mutism to give to the group leader so at least she'll be slightly informed when we have to discuss it. But we're on holiday next week and then it's half-term week, so it'll be 3 weeks before she goes again.
And now I must go to bed if I'm going to be up early again tomorrow morning!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
&*(()&^^*(* to my Mum!
We've all just come back from being away on our annual Church weekend - had a good time and those of you who've seen Jade at HE camps will be astonished to learn that I barely saw her all day on Saturday! I made arrangements last Thursday to re-introduce her to a girl, C, with whom she usually pairs up at the church weekend but they hadn't seen each other since last year. They got to know each other again at that visit, so on Saturday when C was just there for the day they instantly bonded and ran off together for most of the day - it was fab! In fact so much so that Jade cried all through the evening meal and didn't eat anything because C had gone to sit with her family at the other side of the dining hall!!!
Anyway, the weekend was slightly marred by my Mum, who had come over to us on Friday to stay at our house and look after our dog for the weekend. And after she'd been at our house for an hour and I was dashing round trying to get stuff ready, told me that she didn't want to stay at our house because it was too dirty and untidy. Well stuff her. It may not be great but I can hardly believe it's that bad. So she pushed off home, and good riddance to her.
Anyway, the weekend was slightly marred by my Mum, who had come over to us on Friday to stay at our house and look after our dog for the weekend. And after she'd been at our house for an hour and I was dashing round trying to get stuff ready, told me that she didn't want to stay at our house because it was too dirty and untidy. Well stuff her. It may not be great but I can hardly believe it's that bad. So she pushed off home, and good riddance to her.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
HE, at last!
I actually feel like I've got something worth blogging today, so here I am at last. Nothing particularly exciting, but got going by about 9.30 this morning with some maths for Jade! This is big news. She's found maths so much harder to grasp than the reading/literacy side of things, and despite being almost 7 she's still at a Year 1 level in maths, and (I noticed today) still using her fingers to add 2 and 2! But nevertheless she is getting more comfortable with it all and is actually quite enjoying being given a page full of simple adding sums. Yesterday I introduced her to 'tens' and 'units' for the first time, and today I showed her how to add double-digit figures by putting them in columns and adding the units column first and then the tens. She got that fairly well! So for the first time I feel we are making real maths progress. I must make a big effort to make sure we do a little bit every day, rather than leaving it for days or weeks at a time (avoiding the angst!).
Then, it being such a lovely sunny day, we took a pile of books out onto the trampoline to read out there. I read them some Bible, Leading Little Ones to God, Wild Places (Jungles) and In Grandmother's Attic, interspersed by some jumping and fun!
When we came back inside again, I introduced Shannon to the letter A - following the Letter of the Week plan in a vague kind of way. I wrote both capital and lower case letters on the blackboard, she traced over them with her finger, she had a go at writing them herself and really did a pretty good job! We talked about some of the words that start with the letter 'a'. She can already recognise most of the Letterland characters but not when they are pure letters without the characterisation. She can recognise 's' on its own, and one or two others, but Jade knew her alphabet thoroughly at age 2, so it will be interesting to see if Shannon does not have quite the same aptitude for literacy that Jade does have. Not that it matters - it's just really interesting to see two people developing in their own individual ways, and I love to wonder if any of these early differences really do end up predicting later aptitudes and strengths.
I then went through some spellings that I found on another page of the Brightly Beaming website. Jade was enjoying being asked if she could spell the words and she wrote them on the blackboard, so we just carried on until she started to get fed up and in fact she could do most of them - just needed help with 'woman' and 'two' and I'm pretty sure she'll remember those now. I'll do more of those as and when she's interested and happy to do them.
Had lunch, and then I did my usual afternoon slump when I was devoid of any energy or motivation to do anything educational. I think that's the part of the day when I really need to be left alone to recharge my energy a bit. Chased the girls out into the garden again and I did some tidying up and sorting through of stuff. Sharpened some coloured pencils, chucked out some bits of tat, put odd bits of toys and puzzles back where they were supposed to be. Did get Jade to do another 5-minute burst of simple maths sums. I also found myself sitting next to Jade's recorder and book of simple tunes, so I taught myself to play "London's Burning" and then taught Jade. She's pleased to have a new tune to add to her repertoire which until then consisted solely of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - and so am I!! Then we took a short walk round to the library, spent a happy hour there and all came home with a lovely pile of books.
L from next door came round then, and the girls all played relatively happily out in the garden while I caught up on e-mails and did some dinner. While snuggling with me on the sofa, Shannon was reading out the numbers she could see on the calendar - she can recognise all the single-digit figures now. They watched a small amount of TV, then we switched it off and I read to them both - just Horrid Henry and Holly the Christmas Fairy so not exactly highbrow but they both enjoyed it.
Then, it being such a lovely sunny day, we took a pile of books out onto the trampoline to read out there. I read them some Bible, Leading Little Ones to God, Wild Places (Jungles) and In Grandmother's Attic, interspersed by some jumping and fun!
When we came back inside again, I introduced Shannon to the letter A - following the Letter of the Week plan in a vague kind of way. I wrote both capital and lower case letters on the blackboard, she traced over them with her finger, she had a go at writing them herself and really did a pretty good job! We talked about some of the words that start with the letter 'a'. She can already recognise most of the Letterland characters but not when they are pure letters without the characterisation. She can recognise 's' on its own, and one or two others, but Jade knew her alphabet thoroughly at age 2, so it will be interesting to see if Shannon does not have quite the same aptitude for literacy that Jade does have. Not that it matters - it's just really interesting to see two people developing in their own individual ways, and I love to wonder if any of these early differences really do end up predicting later aptitudes and strengths.
I then went through some spellings that I found on another page of the Brightly Beaming website. Jade was enjoying being asked if she could spell the words and she wrote them on the blackboard, so we just carried on until she started to get fed up and in fact she could do most of them - just needed help with 'woman' and 'two' and I'm pretty sure she'll remember those now. I'll do more of those as and when she's interested and happy to do them.
Had lunch, and then I did my usual afternoon slump when I was devoid of any energy or motivation to do anything educational. I think that's the part of the day when I really need to be left alone to recharge my energy a bit. Chased the girls out into the garden again and I did some tidying up and sorting through of stuff. Sharpened some coloured pencils, chucked out some bits of tat, put odd bits of toys and puzzles back where they were supposed to be. Did get Jade to do another 5-minute burst of simple maths sums. I also found myself sitting next to Jade's recorder and book of simple tunes, so I taught myself to play "London's Burning" and then taught Jade. She's pleased to have a new tune to add to her repertoire which until then consisted solely of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - and so am I!! Then we took a short walk round to the library, spent a happy hour there and all came home with a lovely pile of books.
L from next door came round then, and the girls all played relatively happily out in the garden while I caught up on e-mails and did some dinner. While snuggling with me on the sofa, Shannon was reading out the numbers she could see on the calendar - she can recognise all the single-digit figures now. They watched a small amount of TV, then we switched it off and I read to them both - just Horrid Henry and Holly the Christmas Fairy so not exactly highbrow but they both enjoyed it.
Monday, April 28, 2008
She's so excited!
We finally got round to going to Gloucester to hire a cello from the Gloucestershire Music Service:
She's really enjoying it, but absolutely refuses to take any guidance as to what to do - "I want to just do it my way!" she says. We looked at a couple of online videos but she missed the one I saw about how to position the bow and absolutely wouldn't listen to me when I suggested the right way to do it. Ah well, I guess there are self-taught musicians around!! It's probably going to be a good idea to expose her to videos and recordings of good cellists so that she can be inspired and maybe she'll see for herself the technique they are using. The other thing I'm going to do is try and set a good example of myself learning to play my bass guitar which DH bought me for my birthday last August and I have picked up and played precisely twice! This morning I've received my Tesco DVD hire delivery which is bass guitar lessons so if I am diligent, maybe she will follow suit.
Oh, and Sarah, she really wanted me to phone you to get Anna to come round and watch her!!!
Anyway, I really wasn't planning to do this:
I've always promised myself I will not let my children learn the violin - I didn't want to endure all the screeching and scratching. But faced with Shannon's longing face when she saw the little violins at the hire place, I just couldn't help but relent!!
She's really enjoying it, but absolutely refuses to take any guidance as to what to do - "I want to just do it my way!" she says. We looked at a couple of online videos but she missed the one I saw about how to position the bow and absolutely wouldn't listen to me when I suggested the right way to do it. Ah well, I guess there are self-taught musicians around!! It's probably going to be a good idea to expose her to videos and recordings of good cellists so that she can be inspired and maybe she'll see for herself the technique they are using. The other thing I'm going to do is try and set a good example of myself learning to play my bass guitar which DH bought me for my birthday last August and I have picked up and played precisely twice! This morning I've received my Tesco DVD hire delivery which is bass guitar lessons so if I am diligent, maybe she will follow suit.
Oh, and Sarah, she really wanted me to phone you to get Anna to come round and watch her!!!
Anyway, I really wasn't planning to do this:
I've always promised myself I will not let my children learn the violin - I didn't want to endure all the screeching and scratching. But faced with Shannon's longing face when she saw the little violins at the hire place, I just couldn't help but relent!!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Weird
There's a boy in our HE group called Ben. I think I've mentioned this before - I found out a few months ago that his birthday is the day before or after (can't quite remember which) my Benjamin's birthday - same year. And they dropped in today to give Jade an invitation to his birthday party on Saturday. So now on my calendar I have a note which says "2.30 - Ben's party". Just as it might well have been in other circumstances. Bizarre, but OK. It's not upsetting me or anything. Just feels slightly strange.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
In print
The Time Bank that I run was featured in the Times last week - check it out! They got some of it wrong, of course - the trip to Hidcote Manor Gardens was last month, not last year. And the National Trust was our very first organisational member six years ago, so it's not that recent of a development. But never mind. Oh, and I am the "co-broker" mentioned after Lyn's comment.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Should I be happy?
I really can't decide whether to be pleased or not! I had a Recorded Delivery Letter today saying I had won a holiday worth £3750! Couldn't help but be a bit excited. Got home and found it is this holiday company. We are entitled to one week's accommodation for 4 people at any of the resorts for life (but not travel). BUT we have to pay the management fee which the first year is discounted to about £275 and normally is £367.
So, in a nutshell, we have to pay (this year) £275 for a week's self-catering accommodation - any time of the year. We have to travel there at our own expense. Seeing as we always holiday in our caravan because we can't even afford a cottage holiday, I really can't tell if this is much of a bargain or not!
So, in a nutshell, we have to pay (this year) £275 for a week's self-catering accommodation - any time of the year. We have to travel there at our own expense. Seeing as we always holiday in our caravan because we can't even afford a cottage holiday, I really can't tell if this is much of a bargain or not!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Highlights
Jade lost 2 teeth on Saturday. About time too - one of them had been extremely wobbly for months!
Had a lovely HE moment last night, while putting her to bed, when Jade asked about oxygen, and air, and radio waves - she said she was confused about it all. I explained, adequately I think!
Had a horrible HE moment this morning when I made Jade cry while trying to teach her to tell the time. Every time she comes across numbers she says she finds it too hard.
Monday was completely frittered away. Had intended to start Shannon on 'Letter of the Week' or somesuch light introduction to the alphabet, but somehow it never happened, and I felt like the day was just completely wasted on pacifying the needs of 2 demanding girls. Didn't do anything constructive with Jade either.
Started to gather together the papers for taxing the Prius yesterday ..... and found the MOT expired last September!!! Why oh why isn't there some proper reminder system for it? They're quick enough to remind us to tax our cars - why can't there be MOT reminders too! It also needs brake pads and discs replacing, and 4 new tyres. Ouch! Don't know how we're paying for all that yet! Still, on the bright side, when I do get round to taxing it, it will only cost £15 for the year!
Edited to add: Waah! Just lost most of my template when I deleted that annoying chicken-out counter thing, and have lost my Benjamin ticker.... and don't know where I got it from!
Later - Phew, managed to make another one. Now all I need is the blogring code...
Had a lovely HE moment last night, while putting her to bed, when Jade asked about oxygen, and air, and radio waves - she said she was confused about it all. I explained, adequately I think!
Had a horrible HE moment this morning when I made Jade cry while trying to teach her to tell the time. Every time she comes across numbers she says she finds it too hard.
Monday was completely frittered away. Had intended to start Shannon on 'Letter of the Week' or somesuch light introduction to the alphabet, but somehow it never happened, and I felt like the day was just completely wasted on pacifying the needs of 2 demanding girls. Didn't do anything constructive with Jade either.
Started to gather together the papers for taxing the Prius yesterday ..... and found the MOT expired last September!!! Why oh why isn't there some proper reminder system for it? They're quick enough to remind us to tax our cars - why can't there be MOT reminders too! It also needs brake pads and discs replacing, and 4 new tyres. Ouch! Don't know how we're paying for all that yet! Still, on the bright side, when I do get round to taxing it, it will only cost £15 for the year!
Edited to add: Waah! Just lost most of my template when I deleted that annoying chicken-out counter thing, and have lost my Benjamin ticker.... and don't know where I got it from!
Later - Phew, managed to make another one. Now all I need is the blogring code...
Friday, March 28, 2008
Time flies when you're having fun....
So, I haven't blogged, I haven't done much laundry for too long, the house is even messier than usual .... what's going on?
Well, I have simply been unable to put down Valley of Horses, the second in the Jean Auel (pronounced 'Owl', apparently) Earth's Children series, until I finished it late last night. I don't generally read much fiction these days, but as there are 5 books in this series (and book 6 should be on the way) I shall be kept busy for a while yet. Anyway I have a bit of respite until Book 3 arrives from Amazon, so thought I'd better try and catch up a bit.
Took Jade to Snowshill Manor yesterday (while Shannon was at playschool) and joined the National Trust while I was there. I'd never been inside the house before, which is amazingly stuffed with all sorts of exotic furniture and curios. Jade did rather race me through many of the rooms because she was desperate to see the cellos in the Music Room, but the rest of the collections were well worth looking at and will bear repeated visits I hope. I joined because I particularly like the idea of just popping up there or to Hidcote Manor Gardens, which is also local, on a lovely sunny day and hanging out in a beautiful place.
Must dash now, as it's HE group this afternoon at the local library and I need to gather stuff together to take, not to mention the library books that are due back.
Well, I have simply been unable to put down Valley of Horses, the second in the Jean Auel (pronounced 'Owl', apparently) Earth's Children series, until I finished it late last night. I don't generally read much fiction these days, but as there are 5 books in this series (and book 6 should be on the way) I shall be kept busy for a while yet. Anyway I have a bit of respite until Book 3 arrives from Amazon, so thought I'd better try and catch up a bit.
Took Jade to Snowshill Manor yesterday (while Shannon was at playschool) and joined the National Trust while I was there. I'd never been inside the house before, which is amazingly stuffed with all sorts of exotic furniture and curios. Jade did rather race me through many of the rooms because she was desperate to see the cellos in the Music Room, but the rest of the collections were well worth looking at and will bear repeated visits I hope. I joined because I particularly like the idea of just popping up there or to Hidcote Manor Gardens, which is also local, on a lovely sunny day and hanging out in a beautiful place.
Must dash now, as it's HE group this afternoon at the local library and I need to gather stuff together to take, not to mention the library books that are due back.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Dein Ergebnis:: 9 - the Peacemaker
Thanks for taking the test !
you chose BX - your Enneagram type is NINE (aka "The Mediator")
"I am at peace"
Peacemakers are receptive, good-natured, and supportive. They seek union
with others and the world around them.
How to Get Along with Me
- If you want me to do something, how you ask is important. I especially
don't like expectations or pressure. - I like to listen and to be of service, but don't take advantage of this.
- Listen until I finish speaking, even though I meander a bit.
- Give me time to finish things and make decisions. It's OK to nudge
me gently and nonjudgmentally. - Ask me questions to help me get clear.
- Tell me when you like how I look. I'm not averse to flattery.
- Hug me, show physical affection. It opens me up to my feelings.
- I like a good discussion but not a confrontation.
- Let me know you like what I've done or said.
- Laugh with me and share in my enjoyment of life.
What I Like About Being a NINE
- being nonjudgmental and accepting
- caring for and being concerned about others
- being able to relax and have a good time
- knowing that most people enjoy my company; I'm easy to be around
- my ability to see many different sides of an issue and to be a good
mediator and facilitator - my heightened awareness of sensations, aesthetics, and the here and
now - being able to go with the flow and feel one with the universe
What's Hard About Being a NINE
- being judged and misunderstood for being placid and/or indecisive
- being critical of myself for lacking initiative and discipline
- being too sensitive to criticism; taking every raised eyebrow and twitch of the mouth personally
- being confused about what I really want
- caring too much about what others will think of me
- not being listened to or taken seriously
NINEs as Children Often
- feel ignored and that their wants, opinions, and feelings are unimportant
- tune out a lot, especially when others argue
- are "good" children: deny anger or keep it to themselves
- are supportive, kind, and warm
- are sometimes overly permissive or nondirective
Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele
The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
Harper
SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Better
Jade pointed out as we ate dinner this evening that I hadn't got cross with her all day! Yes, that is a very notable event. Probably just because we've been too busy.
Shannon's playschool has a parent rota for helping out once per term, and it was my turn today. Jade came too. She found it a bit boring actually, and apart from the times when she wasn't hanging on to me spent most of her time in the home corner. They both enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt, though, but then Jade got very upset when she made a slightly wobbly tooth get extremely loose while eating celery at lunchtime. So now that's two teeth hanging on by their fingernails (so to speak...) ..... the first of which has been like that for months. I do wish they'd both just come out, but she really gets quite scared and upset about it.
Then we came home for a bit of Tom & Jerry/Simpsons for the girls and a quick nap for me and then out to swimming. Having had a break of a few weeks due to bad colds/parental unwillingness to go, Jade astonished me by getting into the pool and launching straight into swimming a few metres, and then did it again and again. She normally just plays and saves practising 'proper' swimming till the end. She seems to be stuck at doing about 8 strokes in a row and then having to put her feet down, which seems odd. If you can do 8 strokes, couldn't you just keep going? Anyway, she'll get the hang of it in her own time, I'm sure. She's resistant to any but the gentlest of hints about improving technique, so it'll be her own way or not at all.
Shannon's playschool has a parent rota for helping out once per term, and it was my turn today. Jade came too. She found it a bit boring actually, and apart from the times when she wasn't hanging on to me spent most of her time in the home corner. They both enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt, though, but then Jade got very upset when she made a slightly wobbly tooth get extremely loose while eating celery at lunchtime. So now that's two teeth hanging on by their fingernails (so to speak...) ..... the first of which has been like that for months. I do wish they'd both just come out, but she really gets quite scared and upset about it.
Then we came home for a bit of Tom & Jerry/Simpsons for the girls and a quick nap for me and then out to swimming. Having had a break of a few weeks due to bad colds/parental unwillingness to go, Jade astonished me by getting into the pool and launching straight into swimming a few metres, and then did it again and again. She normally just plays and saves practising 'proper' swimming till the end. She seems to be stuck at doing about 8 strokes in a row and then having to put her feet down, which seems odd. If you can do 8 strokes, couldn't you just keep going? Anyway, she'll get the hang of it in her own time, I'm sure. She's resistant to any but the gentlest of hints about improving technique, so it'll be her own way or not at all.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Mama told me there'd be days like these...
It's not going too well here today. The original plan was to meet my Mum at a big garden centre place near Abingdon. But Bill has gone on a course today and went off this morning saying that he couldn't find the car key for the estate car (he was taking the Prius) but I must have them because I was the last one to use it on Saturday night, and he didn't seem to have it anywhere. I accepted this, assuming I'd be able to find it later on. However when I looked, I couldn't find it, and then I realised that Bill had moved the car to a different place on the driveway on Sunday morning so he was the last one to use the key.
So, I phoned his mobile - no answer so I left a message. Then I phoned my Mum to say we might not be able to make it but I'd keep looking for the key. Phoned Bill's boss to try and find out where he is to get in touch with him, but she wasn't there so left a message on her machine. Then I remembered that all the equipment for the Rural Cinema scheme was locked in the car and it was being collected today at 2pm by the next village! Phoned my colleague in the office to get the Rural Cinema man's phone number. Considered what it would be like to tell them that they would have to cancel their showing for this evening! Phoned a friend to see if she knew of anyone who knew how to break into a car! She was a good deal more sensible, and recommended I phone the AA. Seemed like a good plan so I did that next. They were remarkably quick and came within half an hour. Found Bill's mobile phone in the back of the car!!! Phoned my Mum to say we still weren't going to make it as I still didn't have the key to drive. Phoned the Rural Cinema man to tell him to collect from my house and not the office. Of course, all this time the girls were little angels ....not!! It seemed like every 5 minutes they were fighting and arguing over something new. Wished I had a cellar like the Beans to lock someone into! Or at least threaten....
At last we took the dog out for a walk, then got back and seemed to faff around not settling down to anything. Seemed to fulfil one request for food or drink after another. Did a bit of the laundry shuffle. I sat down to read "Who were the first people" (still interested due to reading Clan of the Cave Bear series) and Jade lay on the back of the sofa looking over my shoulder, until Shannon started pushing and shoving and they started fighting again (sigh...). Gave up and made lunch.
I really don't know what we've been doing since then, but got fed up with Jade saying she was bored around 3pm and got out a few bits and pieces - "Super Science" workbook, drawing skeletons book, "Beyond the Code" book 1, and she said she wasn't interested in any of them so I made her sit down and do Super Science, which she usually enjoys. She huffed and puffed, said it was too hard, she didn't want to do it, so I threatened school ..... I used to read other people's blogs and think they were rather mean to issue school threats just because things weren't going perfectly. What can I say; I am swallowing my pride. She did do one page with bad grace, objected to having to think what the answer to "What part of the body do we use for looking at things" might be .... so I suggested we move on to Beyond the code. She loves literacy type stuff. But by this time we were both grumpy and fed up with each other. I asked her to read out the beginning passage, and she refused to read out loud. She wanted me to read it. Or to read it to herself, not out loud. This is too close for comfort to SM behaviour, so I probably over-reacted and insisted she had to read it out to me. Actually part of the SM is this absolute fear of getting things wrong, and not wanting to try anything she thinks she might get wrong. I need to come to terms with this and find some good strategies for addressing it instead of just getting all stroppy with her about it, which is completely counterproductive. At this point the doorbell rang, probably very fortunately, and it was L from next door, so they are now running about and playing and making Shannon scream again when they run away and exclude her.
I am very out of sorts at the moment. I have the wrong attitude to all sorts of things, and can't seem to sort my head out. And I hate making a battleground of education but find myself doing so anyway. I feel like I don't want to be doing any of what I am doing, like being with the kids, being at work, anything. And yet I know that's not really the main problem, just the symptom. Need a week in a health farm, I think.
So, I phoned his mobile - no answer so I left a message. Then I phoned my Mum to say we might not be able to make it but I'd keep looking for the key. Phoned Bill's boss to try and find out where he is to get in touch with him, but she wasn't there so left a message on her machine. Then I remembered that all the equipment for the Rural Cinema scheme was locked in the car and it was being collected today at 2pm by the next village! Phoned my colleague in the office to get the Rural Cinema man's phone number. Considered what it would be like to tell them that they would have to cancel their showing for this evening! Phoned a friend to see if she knew of anyone who knew how to break into a car! She was a good deal more sensible, and recommended I phone the AA. Seemed like a good plan so I did that next. They were remarkably quick and came within half an hour. Found Bill's mobile phone in the back of the car!!! Phoned my Mum to say we still weren't going to make it as I still didn't have the key to drive. Phoned the Rural Cinema man to tell him to collect from my house and not the office. Of course, all this time the girls were little angels ....not!! It seemed like every 5 minutes they were fighting and arguing over something new. Wished I had a cellar like the Beans to lock someone into! Or at least threaten....
At last we took the dog out for a walk, then got back and seemed to faff around not settling down to anything. Seemed to fulfil one request for food or drink after another. Did a bit of the laundry shuffle. I sat down to read "Who were the first people" (still interested due to reading Clan of the Cave Bear series) and Jade lay on the back of the sofa looking over my shoulder, until Shannon started pushing and shoving and they started fighting again (sigh...). Gave up and made lunch.
I really don't know what we've been doing since then, but got fed up with Jade saying she was bored around 3pm and got out a few bits and pieces - "Super Science" workbook, drawing skeletons book, "Beyond the Code" book 1, and she said she wasn't interested in any of them so I made her sit down and do Super Science, which she usually enjoys. She huffed and puffed, said it was too hard, she didn't want to do it, so I threatened school ..... I used to read other people's blogs and think they were rather mean to issue school threats just because things weren't going perfectly. What can I say; I am swallowing my pride. She did do one page with bad grace, objected to having to think what the answer to "What part of the body do we use for looking at things" might be .... so I suggested we move on to Beyond the code. She loves literacy type stuff. But by this time we were both grumpy and fed up with each other. I asked her to read out the beginning passage, and she refused to read out loud. She wanted me to read it. Or to read it to herself, not out loud. This is too close for comfort to SM behaviour, so I probably over-reacted and insisted she had to read it out to me. Actually part of the SM is this absolute fear of getting things wrong, and not wanting to try anything she thinks she might get wrong. I need to come to terms with this and find some good strategies for addressing it instead of just getting all stroppy with her about it, which is completely counterproductive. At this point the doorbell rang, probably very fortunately, and it was L from next door, so they are now running about and playing and making Shannon scream again when they run away and exclude her.
I am very out of sorts at the moment. I have the wrong attitude to all sorts of things, and can't seem to sort my head out. And I hate making a battleground of education but find myself doing so anyway. I feel like I don't want to be doing any of what I am doing, like being with the kids, being at work, anything. And yet I know that's not really the main problem, just the symptom. Need a week in a health farm, I think.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
See, I told you housework makes me ill!
I don't know what came over me this morning, really, except that I read a blog last night about spring cleaning, and decided there are some really disgusting corners of this house that I ought to have a go at. So I took everything off the top of the kitchen cupboards at the left hand side of the sink, hoovered up the cobwebs and dead woodlice, wiped down the walls and ceiling, washed the sticky dust off everything that was going to go back up there and threw a whole load of stuff out.
And then got a really horrid headache that has lasted the rest of the day. So that's enough of that then!
Yesterday (Friday) morning we did some fun stuff. Following the suggestions for language development in Sonlight, I did some "Simon Says" games with the girls, including variations on a theme like "Silly Simon". Shannon just copied whatever Jade did! Then we did a geography game where each of us said the name of a place (country, town, city or whatever) and the next person had to think of the name of a place beginning with the last letter of the previous name. Jade needed a bit of help with this so she brought down the "Counties of the United Kingdom" map from her bedroom and cribbed the names of a few places. Then I read out a bit of stuff from "Living Long Ago" on food and eating. They both did a couple of jigsaw puzzles.
My Dad came over in the afternoon, and I was pretty shocked that for quite a while Jade would not talk to him or in front of him. He used to come every week and babysit, and she has always been very comfortable and chatty with him, but he 'retired' from that last year and since then we've mostly seen him with his wife to whom Jade will not talk. I had become slightly worried that she might stop talking to my Dad, but didn't think she actually had done, but that's why I had suggested to him that he ought to try and come over on his own reasonably often. So I was rather gutted that she would only whisper in my ear in front of him for a while. Later in the visit, though, I had to go upstairs and after I came down my Dad gestured (when she wasn't looking) that she had talked to him while I was gone.
Still, the childminder has now had a briefing session from the speech therapist about becoming Jade's keyworker, and starting the 'sliding-in' sessions so that hopefully before long she will become someone that Jade can talk to, and then she (childminder) will introduce other people into the 'talking circle' too.
Maybe if your child has to suffer from something then it's better that it's selective mutism rather than a physical illness, but it still has me worried sick about her sometimes. I foresee a life of anxiety, depression and social isolation ahead of her if we can't get this straightened out pretty soon.
And then got a really horrid headache that has lasted the rest of the day. So that's enough of that then!
Yesterday (Friday) morning we did some fun stuff. Following the suggestions for language development in Sonlight, I did some "Simon Says" games with the girls, including variations on a theme like "Silly Simon". Shannon just copied whatever Jade did! Then we did a geography game where each of us said the name of a place (country, town, city or whatever) and the next person had to think of the name of a place beginning with the last letter of the previous name. Jade needed a bit of help with this so she brought down the "Counties of the United Kingdom" map from her bedroom and cribbed the names of a few places. Then I read out a bit of stuff from "Living Long Ago" on food and eating. They both did a couple of jigsaw puzzles.
My Dad came over in the afternoon, and I was pretty shocked that for quite a while Jade would not talk to him or in front of him. He used to come every week and babysit, and she has always been very comfortable and chatty with him, but he 'retired' from that last year and since then we've mostly seen him with his wife to whom Jade will not talk. I had become slightly worried that she might stop talking to my Dad, but didn't think she actually had done, but that's why I had suggested to him that he ought to try and come over on his own reasonably often. So I was rather gutted that she would only whisper in my ear in front of him for a while. Later in the visit, though, I had to go upstairs and after I came down my Dad gestured (when she wasn't looking) that she had talked to him while I was gone.
Still, the childminder has now had a briefing session from the speech therapist about becoming Jade's keyworker, and starting the 'sliding-in' sessions so that hopefully before long she will become someone that Jade can talk to, and then she (childminder) will introduce other people into the 'talking circle' too.
Maybe if your child has to suffer from something then it's better that it's selective mutism rather than a physical illness, but it still has me worried sick about her sometimes. I foresee a life of anxiety, depression and social isolation ahead of her if we can't get this straightened out pretty soon.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wot, no blog?
Shannon's been quite poorly this week with a very heavy cold that has had her feverish and wakeful in the night for 5 nights in a row, and sorrowful, clingy and whingey during the day. Whenever I've sat down at my computer, it hasn't been long before she's woken up crying for me, and needing ages to settle. Hence no blogging!
I did take her out to HE group on Tuesday morning where the girls had fun painting eggs, making chocolate nests, making baskets and doing an Easter egg hunt. Neither of the girls would let go of my hands, though, so it's not a very social occasion for either them or me!
Not much else to report - a little bit of other educational stuff but not much. We did have a nice conversation about Fair Trade this morning while still in bed. Hope to go to the library this afternoon.
I did take her out to HE group on Tuesday morning where the girls had fun painting eggs, making chocolate nests, making baskets and doing an Easter egg hunt. Neither of the girls would let go of my hands, though, so it's not a very social occasion for either them or me!
Not much else to report - a little bit of other educational stuff but not much. We did have a nice conversation about Fair Trade this morning while still in bed. Hope to go to the library this afternoon.
You Are Flip Flops |
 You are laid back and very friendly. Cheery and sunny in disposition, you usually have something to smile about. Style is important to you, as long as you can stay casual. It takes a lot to get you to dress up! You are a loyal and true person, though you can be a bit of a flake. You tend to "play hooky" and blow off responsibilities a lot more than most people. You should live: By the beach You should work: At a casual up and coming company |
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Following on from Jade's expressed interest in the cello at Melrose, Bill has borrowed one from work for a few days so she can have a go. She's just fiddling about with it on her own, but is loving it and still says she wants one. I've found a few online videos showing basic technique so will show her those later, when L from next door has gone home. I've also confirmed I can hire one from Gloucestershire Music for £26 per term, so that'll be useful! I've identified a teacher in Stratford-on-Avon who is playing at a wedding fayre nearby next Saturday, so we'll go and have a peek at her.
Meanwhile Shannon is feverish with a bad cold, so is touchy and weepy (even more than usual!) so she didn't come out with us on our "Keep the Cotswolds Clean" Spring Litter Pick this morning. Jade and I went (well I had to - I was organising it!), and about 7 others turned up to help, so we made a useful difference to the amount of rubbish lying around. It gives me a warm virtuous feeling!
Yesterday started off somewhat dodgily. Thought I'd get the dreaded maths over with first thing, so started playing a game with Jade using the '100 square' book we've got. The game involved me choosing a number, and then we took in turns to use a number from the top line (i.e. 0-9), adding and if necessary subtracting, to try and reach the target number I'd chosen. At the end of the first (demonstration) try, when I got to the target number I said "I won that one" and gave myself a tick on the sheet of paper. Cue Jade throwing a strop, throwing away her pencil and refusing to do any more. OK, so she hasn't learned to be a good loser yet! Actually, I got furious with her, and said she wasn't leaving the table until she was prepared to have another go. I (outwardly) calmly went and got my book
(which is utterly fab, BTW, if you've never read it). I sat and read and asked every now and then (calmly!) if she was prepared to have another go yet. She got down under the table, went and hid in the under-stairs cupboard next to the table, and all sorts but I just went and got her and sat her back in her chair and said again she wasn't leaving till she'd had another go. I was seriously doubting whether it was wise to make it into such a big battle of wills, but I am so fed up with these strops over minor little things (me saying I'd won, this time) and I just didn't want her to get away with not doing what she was supposed to be doing again. In the end, she started drawing hearts on a piece of paper and gave it to me. This gave me the idea to write her a note, so I wrote "Dear Jade, I hate it when you give up and won't even try. I love you." I passed it to her. She came and climbed on my knee, and I cuddled her and then asked her if she was prepared to have another go yet. She said yes. We had another go, and she got it right first time :-) We then did some simple sums with M&Ms for 5 minutes and she got to eat one every time she got it right. She did adding and subtracting (numbers less than 10) and we also touched on multiplying and dividing. I then with great relief left maths alone on a relative high note!
We then moved over to the sofa for a bit of reading together. I read "Where Babies come from" with her. We've gone over most of that stuff before, but she has never asked the critical question of how seed meets egg. She's not in any doubt now - a very clear picture told it all, but she didn't bat an eyelid except at the kissing!! Then we moved on to "Mary on Horseback", part of the Sonlight package, which we finished off.
Next I put on an episode of Time Team which I'd downloaded onto my laptop from the Ch4 website, which was nearly about to expire. It was set not far from here so I'd particularly wanted to see it. After about 10 minutes viewing the archaeological dig, the girls wanted to go out and dig up 'pottery' from the (as yet empty) vegetable patch. That lasted about 5 minutes until Jade had another strop because Shannon started digging in the hole that Jade had dug, so we came back in and we finished watching Time Team.
I can't remember what happened next - I think maybe it was lunchtime!
Sometime in the afternoon we did some minor "science with air" out of the little Usborne book of the same name, took the dog for a short walk, prevented WW3 breaking out several times over use of the computer/recorder/keyboard/voice-activated dog/anything else you care to mention and eventually I refused to do anything other than sit on the sofa and finish my book. Shannon came for 'hungry' (b/f) and fell asleep at about 4pm. I woke her up about 4.45pm, and then put "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (BBC version) on for them to watch while I made dinner.
After dinner it was bath, hairwashes & nit-combing (just to check - they've been spotted at Shannon's playschool) but we are clear, and then a very chaotic period where Shannon in particular was way too energetic to want to go to bed and I was too tired to enforce anything, so I lolled about and let them muck around. Eventually I did stories and bed for Shannon, but unlike me she hadn't fallen asleep by the time DH got home around 9pm. So I went to bed, Jade followed me and fell asleep with me while DH got Shannon to sleep.
Meanwhile Shannon is feverish with a bad cold, so is touchy and weepy (even more than usual!) so she didn't come out with us on our "Keep the Cotswolds Clean" Spring Litter Pick this morning. Jade and I went (well I had to - I was organising it!), and about 7 others turned up to help, so we made a useful difference to the amount of rubbish lying around. It gives me a warm virtuous feeling!
Yesterday started off somewhat dodgily. Thought I'd get the dreaded maths over with first thing, so started playing a game with Jade using the '100 square' book we've got. The game involved me choosing a number, and then we took in turns to use a number from the top line (i.e. 0-9), adding and if necessary subtracting, to try and reach the target number I'd chosen. At the end of the first (demonstration) try, when I got to the target number I said "I won that one" and gave myself a tick on the sheet of paper. Cue Jade throwing a strop, throwing away her pencil and refusing to do any more. OK, so she hasn't learned to be a good loser yet! Actually, I got furious with her, and said she wasn't leaving the table until she was prepared to have another go. I (outwardly) calmly went and got my book
(which is utterly fab, BTW, if you've never read it). I sat and read and asked every now and then (calmly!) if she was prepared to have another go yet. She got down under the table, went and hid in the under-stairs cupboard next to the table, and all sorts but I just went and got her and sat her back in her chair and said again she wasn't leaving till she'd had another go. I was seriously doubting whether it was wise to make it into such a big battle of wills, but I am so fed up with these strops over minor little things (me saying I'd won, this time) and I just didn't want her to get away with not doing what she was supposed to be doing again. In the end, she started drawing hearts on a piece of paper and gave it to me. This gave me the idea to write her a note, so I wrote "Dear Jade, I hate it when you give up and won't even try. I love you." I passed it to her. She came and climbed on my knee, and I cuddled her and then asked her if she was prepared to have another go yet. She said yes. We had another go, and she got it right first time :-) We then did some simple sums with M&Ms for 5 minutes and she got to eat one every time she got it right. She did adding and subtracting (numbers less than 10) and we also touched on multiplying and dividing. I then with great relief left maths alone on a relative high note!
We then moved over to the sofa for a bit of reading together. I read "Where Babies come from" with her. We've gone over most of that stuff before, but she has never asked the critical question of how seed meets egg. She's not in any doubt now - a very clear picture told it all, but she didn't bat an eyelid except at the kissing!! Then we moved on to "Mary on Horseback", part of the Sonlight package, which we finished off.
Next I put on an episode of Time Team which I'd downloaded onto my laptop from the Ch4 website, which was nearly about to expire. It was set not far from here so I'd particularly wanted to see it. After about 10 minutes viewing the archaeological dig, the girls wanted to go out and dig up 'pottery' from the (as yet empty) vegetable patch. That lasted about 5 minutes until Jade had another strop because Shannon started digging in the hole that Jade had dug, so we came back in and we finished watching Time Team.
I can't remember what happened next - I think maybe it was lunchtime!
Sometime in the afternoon we did some minor "science with air" out of the little Usborne book of the same name, took the dog for a short walk, prevented WW3 breaking out several times over use of the computer/recorder/keyboard/voice-activated dog/anything else you care to mention and eventually I refused to do anything other than sit on the sofa and finish my book. Shannon came for 'hungry' (b/f) and fell asleep at about 4pm. I woke her up about 4.45pm, and then put "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (BBC version) on for them to watch while I made dinner.
After dinner it was bath, hairwashes & nit-combing (just to check - they've been spotted at Shannon's playschool) but we are clear, and then a very chaotic period where Shannon in particular was way too energetic to want to go to bed and I was too tired to enforce anything, so I lolled about and let them muck around. Eventually I did stories and bed for Shannon, but unlike me she hadn't fallen asleep by the time DH got home around 9pm. So I went to bed, Jade followed me and fell asleep with me while DH got Shannon to sleep.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Melrose and more
I'm feeling tired and a bit fragile after Melrose and the 9-hour journey home yesterday (punctuated by stops at Tebay services and then, unexpectedly, at Anni's where we had yummy fish and chips). I suspect today is going to be a very lazy day - in fact it already is, as it is 11.30am and the girls have done nothing but watch TV/DVDs while I loll about doing not much, and none of us is even dressed yet. Well, that's not completely true - Shannon is dressed, but only because she was transferred sleeping from the car to her bed last night so is still wearing yesterday's dress.
(Later)
Well, today's ended up being even lazier than I had thought - I got a bad stomach-ache around about lunchtime which has lasted all afternoon. In fact I had stomach-ache on the drive home yesterday - feared 'the bug' obviously, but by the time I got home it was much better. I suspect it is a version of my 'seized-up stomach' that I get every now and then when my stomach motility seems to completely cease and everything just sits there like a big stone inside me - though this time it is rather more painful than usual. This meant that I still haven't got the car emptied and have done nothing but lie around all afternoon trying to feel comfortable somehow while plying the kids with DVDs and TV. I called Bill and he came home early to help out.
Anyway, back to Melrose. Jade found it very difficult. I think it may have had a lot to do with not having stayed overnight with someone beforehand to bond strongly with at least one child before she got there. We had planned to stay with Anni but the quarantine period from Shannon's 'D' episodes on Friday morning put a stop to that. So we arrived on Sunday evening, had dinner, unpacked and then I put the girls to bed. Monday's plans changed suddenly when we went down to the kitchen at about 8am to get me a cup of tea and breakfast for Jade, and Shannon seemed to get something caught in her throat, coughed a bit, and then threw up all over the kitchen floor. It was difficult to know what it was - she had had these couple of episodes of 'd' on Friday, but the last one was lunchtime on Friday and so this was therefore about 68 hours later... and it did look more like she just choked a little on something which made her 'v' - but nevertheless we decided to quarantine ourselves in our room for 24 hours at least, to see what happened. She appeared to be in the best of health all day, so we went out shopping in Galashiels for a while for a change of scene. Nothing else untoward happened so by agreement with others we declared it probably to have been a false alarm and resumed normal activities on Tuesday. I do really and truly hope we didn't cause the outbreak of d and v that ended up spreading around - as a lifelong emetophobic I know how much I dread us catching stuff like that and I would never knowingly expose anyone else. We really had tried to take every precaution, and unless the quarantine period from the 'd' should have been longer than 48 hours I don't see what else we could have done. And maybe it wasn't us anyway.
But, back to Jade. I know she talked to Aprilia, and played with her a little in our room. Apart from that, I think she only played on her own or stayed with me and Shannon. She was much more reluctant to talk to anybody or join in with things than last year, and I was quite disappointed because she's made progress at home - speaking in front of visitors to the house - and I'd hoped we'd see her join in more with the others. But it is such a big leap to go from that to a whole hostel full of happy kids going round in groups and she just couldn't manage it this time. By the end of Wednesday, on top of all the anxiety about the illness going round, which probably made everything else seem a lot worse, I felt quite upset about how 'disabled' she really is. It's obviously not just selective mutism - it's not all about talking - it's major social anxiety as well. Last week we were busily filling in the forms to apply for Disability Living Allowance (on the advice of the psychiatrist) but I was feeling a bit guilty about it as, in her own home and with familiar routines and obviously being home-educated, we don't notice her problems as much as perhaps we otherwise would. But the time at Melrose really showed her up in extremely stark contrast to what other children her age do, and I really did end the time there feeling she really is disabled. It's so hard to see your child struggling in a major way with things that everyone else finds so straightforward. It's hard to see her not joining in, not playing, not talking and laughing with other kids. She couldn't even go to the toilets without me, and although she could spend a little time in the common room on her own, it wasn't long before she came to find me.
She watched the music session with interest, and asked me to go and fetch her recorder, but wouldn't join in (she just wanted to prove to everyone that she had one too, I think). But at the end she expressed interest in the cello played by Anna, and said she wanted one. I asked Anna if she would show it to Jade, and she was very happy to do so, but unfortunately the audience of other interested kids meant Jade would only hide behind me and refused to sit and have a go, even if she was sitting on my knee. On getting home she still says she wants a cello. I could hire one from the County Music service, but I see little point in doing so without her taking lessons, and it's going to take a lot of work to persuade her to even try to do so.
Shannon didn't show her best side either. At home, she's full of cuteness, laughter, giggles, funny faces and dancing. At Melrose, she seemed to mostly just scream with rage because Jade went in front of her, or opened the door first, or they wanted the same toy, or something else.
So what with the pain of watching Jade struggle so much, and the fact that it stresses me out having her almost glued to my side all the time, and Shannon's screaming and wailing, and the creeping vomit-fest, I opted to leave a day early. I'm very glad I did so, but apologies to those who stayed till the end and did all the cleaning. I think I was one of the last few there last year, though, doing a fair bit of it, so I won't cripple myself with guilt over it.
At the moment, I don't think I would go to Melrose again. Jade will have to be an awful lot better socially for it to be worth me braving the stomach-bug risk again, I think.
(Later)
Well, today's ended up being even lazier than I had thought - I got a bad stomach-ache around about lunchtime which has lasted all afternoon. In fact I had stomach-ache on the drive home yesterday - feared 'the bug' obviously, but by the time I got home it was much better. I suspect it is a version of my 'seized-up stomach' that I get every now and then when my stomach motility seems to completely cease and everything just sits there like a big stone inside me - though this time it is rather more painful than usual. This meant that I still haven't got the car emptied and have done nothing but lie around all afternoon trying to feel comfortable somehow while plying the kids with DVDs and TV. I called Bill and he came home early to help out.
Anyway, back to Melrose. Jade found it very difficult. I think it may have had a lot to do with not having stayed overnight with someone beforehand to bond strongly with at least one child before she got there. We had planned to stay with Anni but the quarantine period from Shannon's 'D' episodes on Friday morning put a stop to that. So we arrived on Sunday evening, had dinner, unpacked and then I put the girls to bed. Monday's plans changed suddenly when we went down to the kitchen at about 8am to get me a cup of tea and breakfast for Jade, and Shannon seemed to get something caught in her throat, coughed a bit, and then threw up all over the kitchen floor. It was difficult to know what it was - she had had these couple of episodes of 'd' on Friday, but the last one was lunchtime on Friday and so this was therefore about 68 hours later... and it did look more like she just choked a little on something which made her 'v' - but nevertheless we decided to quarantine ourselves in our room for 24 hours at least, to see what happened. She appeared to be in the best of health all day, so we went out shopping in Galashiels for a while for a change of scene. Nothing else untoward happened so by agreement with others we declared it probably to have been a false alarm and resumed normal activities on Tuesday. I do really and truly hope we didn't cause the outbreak of d and v that ended up spreading around - as a lifelong emetophobic I know how much I dread us catching stuff like that and I would never knowingly expose anyone else. We really had tried to take every precaution, and unless the quarantine period from the 'd' should have been longer than 48 hours I don't see what else we could have done. And maybe it wasn't us anyway.
But, back to Jade. I know she talked to Aprilia, and played with her a little in our room. Apart from that, I think she only played on her own or stayed with me and Shannon. She was much more reluctant to talk to anybody or join in with things than last year, and I was quite disappointed because she's made progress at home - speaking in front of visitors to the house - and I'd hoped we'd see her join in more with the others. But it is such a big leap to go from that to a whole hostel full of happy kids going round in groups and she just couldn't manage it this time. By the end of Wednesday, on top of all the anxiety about the illness going round, which probably made everything else seem a lot worse, I felt quite upset about how 'disabled' she really is. It's obviously not just selective mutism - it's not all about talking - it's major social anxiety as well. Last week we were busily filling in the forms to apply for Disability Living Allowance (on the advice of the psychiatrist) but I was feeling a bit guilty about it as, in her own home and with familiar routines and obviously being home-educated, we don't notice her problems as much as perhaps we otherwise would. But the time at Melrose really showed her up in extremely stark contrast to what other children her age do, and I really did end the time there feeling she really is disabled. It's so hard to see your child struggling in a major way with things that everyone else finds so straightforward. It's hard to see her not joining in, not playing, not talking and laughing with other kids. She couldn't even go to the toilets without me, and although she could spend a little time in the common room on her own, it wasn't long before she came to find me.
She watched the music session with interest, and asked me to go and fetch her recorder, but wouldn't join in (she just wanted to prove to everyone that she had one too, I think). But at the end she expressed interest in the cello played by Anna, and said she wanted one. I asked Anna if she would show it to Jade, and she was very happy to do so, but unfortunately the audience of other interested kids meant Jade would only hide behind me and refused to sit and have a go, even if she was sitting on my knee. On getting home she still says she wants a cello. I could hire one from the County Music service, but I see little point in doing so without her taking lessons, and it's going to take a lot of work to persuade her to even try to do so.
Shannon didn't show her best side either. At home, she's full of cuteness, laughter, giggles, funny faces and dancing. At Melrose, she seemed to mostly just scream with rage because Jade went in front of her, or opened the door first, or they wanted the same toy, or something else.
So what with the pain of watching Jade struggle so much, and the fact that it stresses me out having her almost glued to my side all the time, and Shannon's screaming and wailing, and the creeping vomit-fest, I opted to leave a day early. I'm very glad I did so, but apologies to those who stayed till the end and did all the cleaning. I think I was one of the last few there last year, though, doing a fair bit of it, so I won't cripple myself with guilt over it.
At the moment, I don't think I would go to Melrose again. Jade will have to be an awful lot better socially for it to be worth me braving the stomach-bug risk again, I think.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Monday and Tuesday
Brief notes only - made blogging notes yesterday to remind myself but haven't got enough time to pad them out too much.
Monday - Story of the World - beginning of India chapter/Indus River. Map. Tried to get Jade to attempt narration but not much effort.
Maths - adding and subtracting chocolate drops and Cuisenaire rods - 2 pages Miquon. Introduced the idea of multiplication and 3 x tables (already can do 2s).
Spanish DVD.
Making fairy kit / daisy chain kit
Tuesday - face painting first thing which led to lots of lovely giggles. Read some Sonlight Books - "Finding Out about Everyday Things" - under the sea/waves. Talked about mammals/plankton/food chains/fish/gills. Then read "Living long ago" - caves. Read all of "A Dolphin story". Did some measuring with feet/hands and Jade made the link to measuring horses in hands which is 4".
We also had a visit from the speech therapist but for some reason Jade got extremely stroppy/upset when she arrived - possibly because she commented on Jade's painted face? Don't know. She got very bad-tempered and unco-operative, hit Shannon, got put on the stairs for time-out and she stormed off upstairs. She then refused to have anything to do with anybody until the SLT was about to leave, then insisted on showing her the bit of dog-training she'd been doing, making Poppy sit and stay. When I tried to talk to her about it later and find out what had made her so stroppy, she just said, twice, "I don't know anything about it." Strange, as she usually looks forward to the SLT sessions. But we do get quite a lot of this stroppy/angry/upset behaviour and she absolutely refuses to discuss it at all.
Today: I was working all day although with a Dr appt this morning and yet another dental appt this afternoon I wasn't there much - will book it as a half-day off. It's easier to make appts for when the kids are being looked after by DH! While I was gone Jade has worked some way through a "Nutrition Mission" CD-Rom and they've looked at/talked about rocks and shells. By the time I got in they were in the middle of watching Snow White on the big screen.
I'm hoping that the dentist has been successful this third time of working on my tooth - I think we may have done the trick this time! Had more nice driving in the sunshine listening to JD, though, so not so bad!
Monday - Story of the World - beginning of India chapter/Indus River. Map. Tried to get Jade to attempt narration but not much effort.
Maths - adding and subtracting chocolate drops and Cuisenaire rods - 2 pages Miquon. Introduced the idea of multiplication and 3 x tables (already can do 2s).
Spanish DVD.
Making fairy kit / daisy chain kit
Tuesday - face painting first thing which led to lots of lovely giggles. Read some Sonlight Books - "Finding Out about Everyday Things" - under the sea/waves. Talked about mammals/plankton/food chains/fish/gills. Then read "Living long ago" - caves. Read all of "A Dolphin story". Did some measuring with feet/hands and Jade made the link to measuring horses in hands which is 4".
We also had a visit from the speech therapist but for some reason Jade got extremely stroppy/upset when she arrived - possibly because she commented on Jade's painted face? Don't know. She got very bad-tempered and unco-operative, hit Shannon, got put on the stairs for time-out and she stormed off upstairs. She then refused to have anything to do with anybody until the SLT was about to leave, then insisted on showing her the bit of dog-training she'd been doing, making Poppy sit and stay. When I tried to talk to her about it later and find out what had made her so stroppy, she just said, twice, "I don't know anything about it." Strange, as she usually looks forward to the SLT sessions. But we do get quite a lot of this stroppy/angry/upset behaviour and she absolutely refuses to discuss it at all.
Today: I was working all day although with a Dr appt this morning and yet another dental appt this afternoon I wasn't there much - will book it as a half-day off. It's easier to make appts for when the kids are being looked after by DH! While I was gone Jade has worked some way through a "Nutrition Mission" CD-Rom and they've looked at/talked about rocks and shells. By the time I got in they were in the middle of watching Snow White on the big screen.
I'm hoping that the dentist has been successful this third time of working on my tooth - I think we may have done the trick this time! Had more nice driving in the sunshine listening to JD, though, so not so bad!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Snore .......
I am so so so tired today - and therefore extremely grumpy and horrid to be with. For the second night running, Shannon was awake for a nightmarish length of time during the night. I have no idea why unless it's because I had one cup of coffee during the MORNING! I coped yesterday after one bad night's sleep because the girls were at playgroup/childminder all day as I had a conference to go to and speak at in Gloucester. A second bad night and being single-handed child carer are not going well together!
Still, I have managed to complete a mystery shopping assignment (phone call) and have been greatly cheered up by the arrival of "Autograph" by John Denver on CD. It's been an extremely rare album for years, although I did have a copy on tape. With no working tape player in the car I haven't listened to it for a couple of years, but just spotted that AT LAST it has been issued on CD and I am over the moon - def. about my favourite JD CD! (Although now I look closely I see it has a date of 2001 on it - ah well, better late than never!)
I think it's about time for a long DVD for the girls and a nap for me. ZZzzzzzz
Still, I have managed to complete a mystery shopping assignment (phone call) and have been greatly cheered up by the arrival of "Autograph" by John Denver on CD. It's been an extremely rare album for years, although I did have a copy on tape. With no working tape player in the car I haven't listened to it for a couple of years, but just spotted that AT LAST it has been issued on CD and I am over the moon - def. about my favourite JD CD! (Although now I look closely I see it has a date of 2001 on it - ah well, better late than never!)
I think it's about time for a long DVD for the girls and a nap for me. ZZzzzzzz
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday tantrums
Tooth traumas continued this morning ... thankfully I had been forewarned by several other bloggers that sometimes, little girls get quite emotional about their teeth falling out and don't want to lose them. Unfortunately, it seems I had failed to warn Jade that the 'tooth fairy' (she knows it's me) takes the tooth away when the money is left!!! So she was completely traumatised when it was gone this morning. She wailed hysterically at me "Where is my tooth?" and when I told her it was in my jewellery box (phew!) she went and got it and then threw it and the £1 down the stairs at me and sobbed that she didn't want them! She went off and cried in her room for a couple of minutes, and then came down sobbing even more because now she'd lost the tooth. Oh dear, it's hard to be 6!! Thankfully she did find it on the stairs and eventually peace was restored, and she decided she did want both the tooth and the money. Thankfully I managed to remain calm throughout her storm of emotions.
Despite the rocky start, the rest of the day went OK. While upstairs getting dressed Shannon found my jewellery box open on the bed (left there by Jade), investigated several items in it, and discovered a little locket with a teeny tiny picture of Benjamin inside that somebody gave me when he died. Jade then drew her attention to the other picture of Benjamin that we have in our bedroom, and Shannon said she wanted to see "Benjamim's book". So downstairs we came and got out the as yet unfinished scrapbook I had done for Ben, and all spent some time looking through that. This prompted discussions about intensive care, what the word "intensive" means, family relationships, the heart, fetal life and how babies don't have air in their lungs while in utero, but have 'water' instead, so they can't cry, but they do wake and sleep; dying, heaven and eternal life! Didn't plan that into this morning's curriculum!!!!
After having read the myth about Gilgamesh from Story of the World yesterday, I gave her the choice of drawing a 'half-man, half-animal' or creating a fairy-tale/myth of her own which I would write down. Strangely, for a girl with such a gift for reading/words and all things literacy-related, she seems unconfident about writing a story herself and so chose to do the pic. I sat with her to do one as well, so she drew a half-horse/half-man (of course!) and called it "Skewbald-Man" and accompanied it by other unrealities, such as the moon inside the sun, a half-bush/half-tree, a bird with one wing and one arm, and the ground with half-grass, half-mud. I did a "spider-man". I did get the camera and pics together at one point with the intention of blogging the pics, but got distracted and it never happened.
I then received a phone call, so the girls wandered off and started playing something or other which required Jade to go outside and cut the grass with a pair of scissors and bring the grass inside to put onto trays. After she had brought it in and started playing she discovered she didn't have enough and I offered (phone call ended by then) to get her some more. So I found myself in the slightly surreal position of being outside in the garden cutting our grass with scissors, and hoping fervently that the neighbours couldn't see me and think I was a complete nutter! Needless to say before long there was grass all over the living room carpet, so cleaning instructions were issued and to her credit she did a reasonable job of clearing it all up. Meanwhile I was getting lunch. After lunch I read a bit of bible, and she urged me on and on and I ended up doing about the next 3 weeks' worth of Sonlight bible readings all in one go. Then I quickly threw together a cheese & sweetcorn flan, cooked it, and then we went off swimming. We met 2 other HE families at the pool so the girls were mostly happily occupied playing and splashing around and I got more chance than usual to actually get a bit of exercise. Then out of the pool, a quick visit to a friend's house, and home for tea.
Despite the rocky start, the rest of the day went OK. While upstairs getting dressed Shannon found my jewellery box open on the bed (left there by Jade), investigated several items in it, and discovered a little locket with a teeny tiny picture of Benjamin inside that somebody gave me when he died. Jade then drew her attention to the other picture of Benjamin that we have in our bedroom, and Shannon said she wanted to see "Benjamim's book". So downstairs we came and got out the as yet unfinished scrapbook I had done for Ben, and all spent some time looking through that. This prompted discussions about intensive care, what the word "intensive" means, family relationships, the heart, fetal life and how babies don't have air in their lungs while in utero, but have 'water' instead, so they can't cry, but they do wake and sleep; dying, heaven and eternal life! Didn't plan that into this morning's curriculum!!!!
After having read the myth about Gilgamesh from Story of the World yesterday, I gave her the choice of drawing a 'half-man, half-animal' or creating a fairy-tale/myth of her own which I would write down. Strangely, for a girl with such a gift for reading/words and all things literacy-related, she seems unconfident about writing a story herself and so chose to do the pic. I sat with her to do one as well, so she drew a half-horse/half-man (of course!) and called it "Skewbald-Man" and accompanied it by other unrealities, such as the moon inside the sun, a half-bush/half-tree, a bird with one wing and one arm, and the ground with half-grass, half-mud. I did a "spider-man". I did get the camera and pics together at one point with the intention of blogging the pics, but got distracted and it never happened.
I then received a phone call, so the girls wandered off and started playing something or other which required Jade to go outside and cut the grass with a pair of scissors and bring the grass inside to put onto trays. After she had brought it in and started playing she discovered she didn't have enough and I offered (phone call ended by then) to get her some more. So I found myself in the slightly surreal position of being outside in the garden cutting our grass with scissors, and hoping fervently that the neighbours couldn't see me and think I was a complete nutter! Needless to say before long there was grass all over the living room carpet, so cleaning instructions were issued and to her credit she did a reasonable job of clearing it all up. Meanwhile I was getting lunch. After lunch I read a bit of bible, and she urged me on and on and I ended up doing about the next 3 weeks' worth of Sonlight bible readings all in one go. Then I quickly threw together a cheese & sweetcorn flan, cooked it, and then we went off swimming. We met 2 other HE families at the pool so the girls were mostly happily occupied playing and splashing around and I got more chance than usual to actually get a bit of exercise. Then out of the pool, a quick visit to a friend's house, and home for tea.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The tooth is out!
At last!!! I'm sure her bottom two front teeth have been very wobbly for about 6 months, and it seems like forever I've been saying "it won't be long now till they come out". In fact, they've been there so long that her two new teeth have already come up and grown considerably. But at last, her very first baby tooth has fallen out. It caused a bit of trauma and tears at the time from the scariness of it, but after a long cuddle and some time sitting together reading stories, she seemed to be fine and happy. She gets very cross with me when I mention the tooth fairy, because she's already established that such a creature doesn't really exist (she insisted that I tell her the truth at the same time as she asked about Santa) so she knows that it's parental money that will be slipped under her pillow.
The other good news from today is that .... she will be able to go riding with Riding for the Disabled!!! The psychiatrist suggested it at the meeting we had last week, and we have spoken to the lady who runs the local group who says it is open to anybody who can benefit physically or emotionally from it, so she is happy to take her! She is very excited.
The other good news from today is that .... she will be able to go riding with Riding for the Disabled!!! The psychiatrist suggested it at the meeting we had last week, and we have spoken to the lady who runs the local group who says it is open to anybody who can benefit physically or emotionally from it, so she is happy to take her! She is very excited.
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