I just lived through my worst nightmare, which thankfully turned out not to be as much of a nightmare as I'd feared, but still bad enough not to want to repeat it again ever, please!!!
All four of us, sick with D&V at the same time. In a house with only one toilet. And I am v-phobic. I'm sure you don't want me to go into all the grim details, which involved lots of towels, the porta-potti from the caravan and a very stoic and understanding husband who took over until he finally keeled over on Thursday, by which time I was beginning to recover and the girls were lots better.
However, let's look on the bright side:- I am not currently locked up somewhere for the sake of my own safety; and I threw up, yet the world didn't end. Wow!
Funnily enough, the girls had both started with runny noses on Monday morning, so I thought it an appropriate time to start doing a lapbook on germs. Apart from colds, I hadn't really planned on doing the practical, though!! We didn't get very far with it so must try and continue that this coming week.
What else? The girls have watched endless Tom & Jerry, "The Way Things Work", "The Prince of Egypt", "The Horse Whisperer" and a fair bit of CBeebies. Jade and I have read a couple of Magic Tree House books - about the Titanic and the Lakota tribe. Shannon has enjoyed lots of books, and does her best to memorise them and read them back to herself.
And now, just as I was typing up this blog, a neighbour rang on the doorbell and offered us a large doll's house!! No furniture or anything, but even so! It is one of the things I'd been contemplating getting for Christmas, but as Jade seems to want horsey-related stuff even more, it was probably going to not happen. The Lord doth provide!!!!
Finally, today Bill has gone to collect another funny little car, although this one has much more of my approval than the last one! (Okay, I just spent aaaaages looking for the link to when he bought the ahem, ahem, still can't bring myself to name it, little car and can't find it, but did have a good laugh reading this year's new year's resolutions!!!). Anyway this one is the poor-man's (French) version of a Smart Car which runs on diesel or vegetable oil! The plan is he'll commute to Oxford in it and save enough money on petrol to pay for the loan we've had to take out to buy it!!! Fingers crossed!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Big blog postponed
I was all set to do a lovely catch-up blog last night of all we've been up to, but Shannon put a stop to that by developing a sickness bug just as she was about to go to bed. Suffice to say it's been an awfully long night and I have an awful lot of yucky washing to get done. She's doing OK, though still throwing up every now and then. I'm a nervous wreck in fear of catching it.
However, despite that, I have it officially that we are not a completely dysfunctional family in need of therapy!! The psychiatrist from Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services has phoned up this morning to say that the only treatment they think Jade needs for the selective mutism is the standard 'small-steps' exposure treatment which the speech and language therapist has started with Jade already (in fact she should have been here today but we cancelled her due to all the sickness). The psychiatrist will keep a kind of watching brief and have a couple of meetings with DH and I to chat over how we think things are going, but at least they haven't suggested family therapy or anything else!! We must be (fairly) normal!!!!
However, despite that, I have it officially that we are not a completely dysfunctional family in need of therapy!! The psychiatrist from Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services has phoned up this morning to say that the only treatment they think Jade needs for the selective mutism is the standard 'small-steps' exposure treatment which the speech and language therapist has started with Jade already (in fact she should have been here today but we cancelled her due to all the sickness). The psychiatrist will keep a kind of watching brief and have a couple of meetings with DH and I to chat over how we think things are going, but at least they haven't suggested family therapy or anything else!! We must be (fairly) normal!!!!
This made me really sad:
My Dad brings along the weekly 'Family' section of the Guardian. I've got rather behind and had a big pile of them to read, and just found this article which was in the 25th August paper. I thought it was desperately sad that it is accepted as necessary and normal to do this to such little children.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Real birthday pics
These are a few pics of Shannon on her birthday - the ones I posted below were earlier ones as I couldn't download the proper birthday pics straightaway.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Ramblings
Firstly, a big thank-you (in an awed 'how-does-she-do-it' tone of voice) must go to Nic for being such a fabulous camp organiser, chef, hostess and everything else. My first NicCamps experience had its highs and lows for me but I'm glad I went, and certainly the girls had a great time. For me, Wednesday was the best day, when everybody went to the beach, where the kids had a fabulous time and I enjoyed sitting in November sunshine, eating chips and chatting. It was lovely.
I don't shine in groups, though, as I do much better in one-to-one or very small group situations, once I've got to know people well and can trust them, and I do feel very self-conscious about being quiet and feeling not fully integrated into the group. I'm not good at being funny or joining in lively banter, and I so envy those that are. I'm not a quick thinker; I am a deep thinker, and that takes time! So I feel a bit out of place in the evening chats, not to mention that I am always tired and longing to go to bed by about 10pm!!
On Tuesday I promised to take Jade swimming, as Tuesday is our normal swimming afternoon and she was longing to go. So we missed the walk which sounds as though it was great fun, although it would probably have been difficult as both of my girls would have wanted carrying after about 15 minutes. Instead we drove off to find a swimming pool. Nic directed me to two - the first one I found quite easily but it was shut for staff training followed by lessons; the second one I couldn't find, despite clear directions. (It turned out to have been only about 20 yards further on than the place where I turned round and went back.) So we ended up on Shoreham beach, but without coats, so we didn't stay long. Despite that, Jade had a fabulous time jumping the little waves for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then 5 minutes in the nearby park, and then I was too cold and insisted we went back to the hostel.
I was tired on Thursday, having tried to put on a better show and stay up till midnight the night before. It does not suit me, when Shannon is still waking several times per night. If I had 7 hours straight I would probably be OK, but as it was I was tired and grumpy on Thursday morning The kids' cabaret was fantastic, though - I loved, loved, loved it! After that I thought it would just be hanging around the hostel until the party at 4pm. So it was a big surprise to me when the place pretty much emptied at 2pm and people disappeared off in all directions apart from those staying to prepare the party. So I disappeared to my room, with accompanying girls, of course, who got busy on a computer CD-Rom while I dozed or read my magazine. At 3pm Jade reminded me that I'd promised we could go out and get some strawberries for her, so we went down to the supermarket, wandered around a bit, got some strawberries, and some new pyjamas for me (I only had one complete pair of pyjamas and I bought them when pregnant with Benjamin!!) and then back for the party. Which was fabulous. And extremely well organised!! And great fun for everyone, I think, even Jade who does not like joining in party games. I was impressed that she had a go at the 'acting out the phrase on a Love Heart' game, with my help.
Took the slow way home on Friday, firstly going to visit some old friends, a retired couple who used to live in Stratford-on-Avon, who I absolutely adore and it was fabulous to see them for the first time in about 4 years. Then on to my Mum's in Alton to pick up the dog. We left there about 4pm and called in to see Bill at work in Oxford on the way home. We eventually got home at 7pm, though Shannon had slept in the car at lunchtime so neither of them went to bed till about 10pm.
Today has been rather gloomy at home with various pressures and strains rising to the surface and not being dealt with very well. The word 'congruence' keeps coming to mind, which apart from its maths usage is the psychological term for being integrated inwardly and outwardly, i.e. what you feel inside is the way you behave outwardly. I'm not good at it. Actually I'm rambling, but I'm bloody miserable so I can't think straight. I'd better stop.
I don't shine in groups, though, as I do much better in one-to-one or very small group situations, once I've got to know people well and can trust them, and I do feel very self-conscious about being quiet and feeling not fully integrated into the group. I'm not good at being funny or joining in lively banter, and I so envy those that are. I'm not a quick thinker; I am a deep thinker, and that takes time! So I feel a bit out of place in the evening chats, not to mention that I am always tired and longing to go to bed by about 10pm!!
On Tuesday I promised to take Jade swimming, as Tuesday is our normal swimming afternoon and she was longing to go. So we missed the walk which sounds as though it was great fun, although it would probably have been difficult as both of my girls would have wanted carrying after about 15 minutes. Instead we drove off to find a swimming pool. Nic directed me to two - the first one I found quite easily but it was shut for staff training followed by lessons; the second one I couldn't find, despite clear directions. (It turned out to have been only about 20 yards further on than the place where I turned round and went back.) So we ended up on Shoreham beach, but without coats, so we didn't stay long. Despite that, Jade had a fabulous time jumping the little waves for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then 5 minutes in the nearby park, and then I was too cold and insisted we went back to the hostel.
I was tired on Thursday, having tried to put on a better show and stay up till midnight the night before. It does not suit me, when Shannon is still waking several times per night. If I had 7 hours straight I would probably be OK, but as it was I was tired and grumpy on Thursday morning The kids' cabaret was fantastic, though - I loved, loved, loved it! After that I thought it would just be hanging around the hostel until the party at 4pm. So it was a big surprise to me when the place pretty much emptied at 2pm and people disappeared off in all directions apart from those staying to prepare the party. So I disappeared to my room, with accompanying girls, of course, who got busy on a computer CD-Rom while I dozed or read my magazine. At 3pm Jade reminded me that I'd promised we could go out and get some strawberries for her, so we went down to the supermarket, wandered around a bit, got some strawberries, and some new pyjamas for me (I only had one complete pair of pyjamas and I bought them when pregnant with Benjamin!!) and then back for the party. Which was fabulous. And extremely well organised!! And great fun for everyone, I think, even Jade who does not like joining in party games. I was impressed that she had a go at the 'acting out the phrase on a Love Heart' game, with my help.
Took the slow way home on Friday, firstly going to visit some old friends, a retired couple who used to live in Stratford-on-Avon, who I absolutely adore and it was fabulous to see them for the first time in about 4 years. Then on to my Mum's in Alton to pick up the dog. We left there about 4pm and called in to see Bill at work in Oxford on the way home. We eventually got home at 7pm, though Shannon had slept in the car at lunchtime so neither of them went to bed till about 10pm.
Today has been rather gloomy at home with various pressures and strains rising to the surface and not being dealt with very well. The word 'congruence' keeps coming to mind, which apart from its maths usage is the psychological term for being integrated inwardly and outwardly, i.e. what you feel inside is the way you behave outwardly. I'm not good at it. Actually I'm rambling, but I'm bloody miserable so I can't think straight. I'd better stop.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
"I'm not birthday girl, I'm Shannon!"
Yes, my baby is 3!!! I can hardly believe it's 3 years since that unexpectedly early home-birth. From that tiny baby, she's grown into a funny, feisty and formidable character, who goes from lecturing me ("don't you do that!") to affectionate cuddles and kisses in the space of just a moment or two. She so knows her own mind, is fierce with her anger and her love, and is in no doubt at all about who she is ... her favourite statement is "I'm not (gorgeous/a monkey/cuteypie, whatever's just been said to her), I'm Shannon!!" She's a dancer, a comedienne, a story-teller and a book-lover. She loves to turn the pages of the Sonlight Instructor Guide or any other folder of paper, and she loves to bounce anywhere and everywhere. She adores her big sister, and so wants to be like her, but doesn't want anyone to be like she is - "stop copying me!!" being her second-favourite phrase! She has brought such a lot of joy and laughter into our lives and we're all completely in love with her, even Jade, though she'll only admit it when Shannon's asleep. We're so glad we got to have her in our family! Happy Birthday for yesterday, Shannon - I hope you never grow out of those kisses and cuddles!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Working Wednesday
Not much to report from yesterday as I was working all day. Girls stayed at home with Bill. I think the most enthusiastic learning took place in the early evening, when I was at my computer and Bill was in the living room, looking at a book about the Titanic, with Jade. They spent ages looking at it together, with Jade asking many questions and Bill answering. It was lovely to hear her so interested in it.
Today I had offered to give somebody a lift to our Gloucester office, so had to be up and out by 9am to collect her and drive her over. Took the girls too, and borrowed the work cash-and-carry card for the first time. There were definitely some bargains to be had if you have sufficient storage space for bulk buying, which I don't. I did get some stuff, but have not yet compared prices to see how much cheaper it is than Tesco's. I'll have to muse on how much it's worth trying to clear storage space to be able to buy stuff in bulk.
After that we were starving, so we went to the nearby Sainsbury's for lunch, followed by a quick shop. Most needed item was new socks for Jade, but I was also delighted when I saw a dress reduced from £22 to £2, so I grabbed that! I wasn't sure how 'me' it was, but for a couple of quid it was worth a try, and actually it's pretty nice! We'll skim over the fact that Jade commented this evening that I look like I'm going to have another baby .... thanks for nothing, kid! So I may have been enjoying chocolate and crisps a bit too much lately......
Anyway, then we drove back home to spend an afternoon with my Dad who came over to deliver Shannon's birthday present (it's on Saturday) and to collect some printouts from the web I'd done for him. So that was a nice couple of hours.
And then we sat and watched "March of the Penguins" which I'd rented to follow up a little on our viewing of "Happy Feet" which we saw a couple of weeks ago during National Schools Film Week. Jade sat all the way through it and watched with interest, I was pleased to see. I thought it was amazing.
Then the usual dinner, a little TV, a bit of playing, and a lot of procrastination about bedtime. But now all is quiet.
Today I had offered to give somebody a lift to our Gloucester office, so had to be up and out by 9am to collect her and drive her over. Took the girls too, and borrowed the work cash-and-carry card for the first time. There were definitely some bargains to be had if you have sufficient storage space for bulk buying, which I don't. I did get some stuff, but have not yet compared prices to see how much cheaper it is than Tesco's. I'll have to muse on how much it's worth trying to clear storage space to be able to buy stuff in bulk.
After that we were starving, so we went to the nearby Sainsbury's for lunch, followed by a quick shop. Most needed item was new socks for Jade, but I was also delighted when I saw a dress reduced from £22 to £2, so I grabbed that! I wasn't sure how 'me' it was, but for a couple of quid it was worth a try, and actually it's pretty nice! We'll skim over the fact that Jade commented this evening that I look like I'm going to have another baby .... thanks for nothing, kid! So I may have been enjoying chocolate and crisps a bit too much lately......
Anyway, then we drove back home to spend an afternoon with my Dad who came over to deliver Shannon's birthday present (it's on Saturday) and to collect some printouts from the web I'd done for him. So that was a nice couple of hours.
And then we sat and watched "March of the Penguins" which I'd rented to follow up a little on our viewing of "Happy Feet" which we saw a couple of weeks ago during National Schools Film Week. Jade sat all the way through it and watched with interest, I was pleased to see. I thought it was amazing.
Then the usual dinner, a little TV, a bit of playing, and a lot of procrastination about bedtime. But now all is quiet.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Another good'un
It felt like another positive day today, despite not getting much underway till after 11am. Before that it was breakfast, showering (me), bathing (girls) (Jade loves baths and always wants one after I shower and stays in for ages!), second breakfast, Jade and I both spending ages reading the Bright Minds catalogue which arrived in the post and marking up various interesting-looking things, getting the dry washing in, the wet washing on the line, another load in the machine, and brushing a cushion's worth of fluff from the dog!
After that I persuaded her to have another go at some copywork she (deliberately) messed up yesterday, then she did a couple of pages from the Letts Maths (5-6) workbook, and then we had lunch!
I read some more chapters of "My Father's Dragon", and then we had a quick look at "Everyday Things" or whatever that Usborne book is called, which was a couple of pages about trees, then she answered a few questions about what we'd read.
Meanwhile Shannon spent a LOT of time turning the pages of the Sonlight Instructor Guide. For some reason, she finds this absolutely fascinating and can spend ages doing it!
I thought there was something else at that stage, some more reading or something, but I can't remember what. Whatever. Afterwards, we started carving our pumpkins!! I went online and found a free pattern that I liked (cat sitting on the moon, + stars), and Jade stayed with the traditional grinning toothy face. Both girls helped scoop out the gunk from inside - er, actually no they didn't because Shannon didn't like the feel of it and was wailing that it was 'gloddy' when she got some gloop on her arm and foot - a lovely word, I thought! She did help clean the top of the hob, though! Then I carved, and cleared up, and roasted pumpkin seeds, while they went off and played. The pumpkin seeds were ready, and none of us liked them - they were too woody.
By now it was around 4pm so I got the girls dressed (usual barely-clothed state most of the day) and we gathered up most of our library books and went to get a new batch, ready for being away next week. Then the girls watched more Tom & Jerry on DVD while I made dinner. Shannon took ages to fall asleep and I got cross with her, and Jade is still awake (10.45pm).
P.S. 2 soggy accidents today from Shannon plus 3 successful potty visits.
Oh, and FWIW, as a PS to yesterday Jade spent quite a while (with my help and encouragement) on Education City and I got her doing some of the literacy activities she hadn't done before and she did really well. She hasn't done any of the maths. No surprises there then!
After that I persuaded her to have another go at some copywork she (deliberately) messed up yesterday, then she did a couple of pages from the Letts Maths (5-6) workbook, and then we had lunch!
I read some more chapters of "My Father's Dragon", and then we had a quick look at "Everyday Things" or whatever that Usborne book is called, which was a couple of pages about trees, then she answered a few questions about what we'd read.
Meanwhile Shannon spent a LOT of time turning the pages of the Sonlight Instructor Guide. For some reason, she finds this absolutely fascinating and can spend ages doing it!
I thought there was something else at that stage, some more reading or something, but I can't remember what. Whatever. Afterwards, we started carving our pumpkins!! I went online and found a free pattern that I liked (cat sitting on the moon, + stars), and Jade stayed with the traditional grinning toothy face. Both girls helped scoop out the gunk from inside - er, actually no they didn't because Shannon didn't like the feel of it and was wailing that it was 'gloddy' when she got some gloop on her arm and foot - a lovely word, I thought! She did help clean the top of the hob, though! Then I carved, and cleared up, and roasted pumpkin seeds, while they went off and played. The pumpkin seeds were ready, and none of us liked them - they were too woody.
By now it was around 4pm so I got the girls dressed (usual barely-clothed state most of the day) and we gathered up most of our library books and went to get a new batch, ready for being away next week. Then the girls watched more Tom & Jerry on DVD while I made dinner. Shannon took ages to fall asleep and I got cross with her, and Jade is still awake (10.45pm).
P.S. 2 soggy accidents today from Shannon plus 3 successful potty visits.
Oh, and FWIW, as a PS to yesterday Jade spent quite a while (with my help and encouragement) on Education City and I got her doing some of the literacy activities she hadn't done before and she did really well. She hasn't done any of the maths. No surprises there then!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Pants!
Yesterday, Shannon wore pants all day for the first time! relatively successfully! I think there was one 'accident' in the mid-afternoon but the rest of the time she did very well. And we even went out for the morning, to church. She is very good at using the potty/toilet when naked, but previously whenever clothed she would just assume she had a nappy on and use it! I decided to persist with the pants, though, and just keep checking/reminding her to use the potty.
Today hasn't been quite so good as she said she needed a poo but refused to go on the potty, or have a nappy on, so just made a horrid mess! I put everything she was wearing in the bin! Ah well, on the whole we're making progress of a sort.
I hadn't meant for last week to slip by with no 'work' going on, but with L-from-next-door round here most of the time it was difficult to get on with anything much. We decided to get back to it this morning, and I had just settled down with everyone on the sofa to get on with the story of Moses when the doorbell rang and there was L again! One of those dratted Inset days! Anyway, I just made her sit and listen too, and she and Jade both seemed to really enjoy the story, read from two different books, from Moses' birth all the way through to the Ten Commandments, all territory which we haven't covered before so that was good.
By then it was lunchtime! OK, so before the Moses stuff we had done some tidying, dancing, and general procrastination!
After lunch I had to do something about the dire lack of food in the house, so took all 3 girls to the local small supermarket where they were incredibly LOUD but at one point we all had a fit of the giggles so I thought that was an improvement on the demeanour of most people when shopping!
The rest of the afternoon the girls have played with another girl from across the road, mostly on the trampoline. In fact L and J just appeared downstairs naked except for towels wrapped round them and announced they were going to do a 'naked dance'! Sadly L's brother then called for her to go home for tea, so that delight will have to wait for another day!!
Today hasn't been quite so good as she said she needed a poo but refused to go on the potty, or have a nappy on, so just made a horrid mess! I put everything she was wearing in the bin! Ah well, on the whole we're making progress of a sort.
I hadn't meant for last week to slip by with no 'work' going on, but with L-from-next-door round here most of the time it was difficult to get on with anything much. We decided to get back to it this morning, and I had just settled down with everyone on the sofa to get on with the story of Moses when the doorbell rang and there was L again! One of those dratted Inset days! Anyway, I just made her sit and listen too, and she and Jade both seemed to really enjoy the story, read from two different books, from Moses' birth all the way through to the Ten Commandments, all territory which we haven't covered before so that was good.
By then it was lunchtime! OK, so before the Moses stuff we had done some tidying, dancing, and general procrastination!
After lunch I had to do something about the dire lack of food in the house, so took all 3 girls to the local small supermarket where they were incredibly LOUD but at one point we all had a fit of the giggles so I thought that was an improvement on the demeanour of most people when shopping!
The rest of the afternoon the girls have played with another girl from across the road, mostly on the trampoline. In fact L and J just appeared downstairs naked except for towels wrapped round them and announced they were going to do a 'naked dance'! Sadly L's brother then called for her to go home for tea, so that delight will have to wait for another day!!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Okaaaaaay.....
Don't know why I've been MIA, really. Been quite busy but also just got out of the habit of blogging, I guess.
I really don't think I've got this HE thing quite right for our family, TBH, but not really got time to work out anything much different to what we are doing. We have Sonlight K, which officially we started in January and we are currently on Week 6!!! Obviously we get very sidetracked. I've been trying to stick to it more recently, just to see what it's like to have a definite programme to follow and to see if it works for us, and I'm not sure that it does. We are doing a fair bit of non-SL stuff, e.g. Story of the World, and Miquon maths (which isn't listed in the schedule even though a maths programme is part of the SL plan) plus all sorts of other bits and pieces I have picked up here and there, and yet I feel a great pressure to do as much of the stuff listed for each day as possible, regardless of whether it's working or not. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this yet, except keep a kind of 'watching brief' on it. I do feel I'd like to get significantly further into SL K before dropping it. Maybe we will find a way of using it without me feeling so compelled to either follow it or feel as though we are 'behind'. I do feel it is helping us (Jade and me in particular) to get into the habit of sitting down and doing a bit of formal work each morning, and then I feel more relaxed about just letting the rest of the day unfold.
Anyway, after all of that preamble, yesterday we started some Miquon simple addition and subtraction. Now, we've done this a few times before, but there's been quite a gap since we last did much maths. It's amazing to me, though, that a girl age 6y who has a reading age of somewhere between 9 and 10 (last time I checked) has such trouble with very simple numbers. For example, at one point today I asked her 1 + 1, and it took her a good 5 seconds to work out the answer! After coming up against this problem yesterday, though, I got out the Cheerios to use as manipulatives. Maths is much more fun when you get to eat the answer when you get it correct! We were just doing very simple addition and subtraction up to 10. I think doing this for several days in a row just for 5-10 minutes at a time should help, and she enjoyed it so much yesterday that she actually asked to do it again today! She really does seem to find the simplest mental arithmetic surprisingly hard, though.
We then went on to do three pages of 'Beyond the Code', which she has no trouble with at all. We did a couple more pages of that today too.
At lunch time yesterday we continued with her current passionate love of all things horsey by showing her the 'Join Up' video with Monty Roberts, aka 'The Horse Whisperer' - the original! It's absolutely stunning, and I would have thought that even the non-horsey couldn't fail to be impressed and amazed at the man's learning of equine body language, and what he does with it. It always moves me to tears when a wild horse moves towards him to 'join up' with him - it really is almost spiritual and deeply powerful.
I also attempted to make her a 'woollie' horse (link supplied by Sally) which came out looking more like a giraffe, and she wasn't motivated to have a go on her own!!
In the afternoon we went out to do a bit of food shopping and visit the Post Office, and she nagged me into buying her a 'Pony World' magazine because it had a free 'angel pony' on the front, which she has played with ever since. After we got home, it was time for next-door-neighbour L to come round and play, so that was that!
Today we've done the Cheerios/miquon maths, a bit more Beyond the Code, I've read a library book 'Tarquin the Wonder Horse' and looked at a Trains book, both before we go to the library this afternoon and change them. I've also got her whizzing quite quickly through one of the free Letts workbooks picked up free through that St Ivel Advance Milk promotion - oh I see that all the free books have gone now but you can still get 50% off Letts workbooks. I got an age 5-6 one seeing as she finds it such a struggle, and also to check if we'd left any gaps in her early maths! She did 9 pages of that this morning, and most of it was pretty easy but there's nothing wrong with making her feel that maths is easy!!
Meanwhile, Shannon was sitting with us at the table, looking through her BBC Toybox magazine, doing a bit of colouring, a bit of playdough, and a bit of being a nuisance!
They're currently watching Tom & Jerry and we're off swimming this afternoon, and then to drop in to the library on the way home.
I really don't think I've got this HE thing quite right for our family, TBH, but not really got time to work out anything much different to what we are doing. We have Sonlight K, which officially we started in January and we are currently on Week 6!!! Obviously we get very sidetracked. I've been trying to stick to it more recently, just to see what it's like to have a definite programme to follow and to see if it works for us, and I'm not sure that it does. We are doing a fair bit of non-SL stuff, e.g. Story of the World, and Miquon maths (which isn't listed in the schedule even though a maths programme is part of the SL plan) plus all sorts of other bits and pieces I have picked up here and there, and yet I feel a great pressure to do as much of the stuff listed for each day as possible, regardless of whether it's working or not. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this yet, except keep a kind of 'watching brief' on it. I do feel I'd like to get significantly further into SL K before dropping it. Maybe we will find a way of using it without me feeling so compelled to either follow it or feel as though we are 'behind'. I do feel it is helping us (Jade and me in particular) to get into the habit of sitting down and doing a bit of formal work each morning, and then I feel more relaxed about just letting the rest of the day unfold.
Anyway, after all of that preamble, yesterday we started some Miquon simple addition and subtraction. Now, we've done this a few times before, but there's been quite a gap since we last did much maths. It's amazing to me, though, that a girl age 6y who has a reading age of somewhere between 9 and 10 (last time I checked) has such trouble with very simple numbers. For example, at one point today I asked her 1 + 1, and it took her a good 5 seconds to work out the answer! After coming up against this problem yesterday, though, I got out the Cheerios to use as manipulatives. Maths is much more fun when you get to eat the answer when you get it correct! We were just doing very simple addition and subtraction up to 10. I think doing this for several days in a row just for 5-10 minutes at a time should help, and she enjoyed it so much yesterday that she actually asked to do it again today! She really does seem to find the simplest mental arithmetic surprisingly hard, though.
We then went on to do three pages of 'Beyond the Code', which she has no trouble with at all. We did a couple more pages of that today too.
At lunch time yesterday we continued with her current passionate love of all things horsey by showing her the 'Join Up' video with Monty Roberts, aka 'The Horse Whisperer' - the original! It's absolutely stunning, and I would have thought that even the non-horsey couldn't fail to be impressed and amazed at the man's learning of equine body language, and what he does with it. It always moves me to tears when a wild horse moves towards him to 'join up' with him - it really is almost spiritual and deeply powerful.
I also attempted to make her a 'woollie' horse (link supplied by Sally) which came out looking more like a giraffe, and she wasn't motivated to have a go on her own!!
In the afternoon we went out to do a bit of food shopping and visit the Post Office, and she nagged me into buying her a 'Pony World' magazine because it had a free 'angel pony' on the front, which she has played with ever since. After we got home, it was time for next-door-neighbour L to come round and play, so that was that!
Today we've done the Cheerios/miquon maths, a bit more Beyond the Code, I've read a library book 'Tarquin the Wonder Horse' and looked at a Trains book, both before we go to the library this afternoon and change them. I've also got her whizzing quite quickly through one of the free Letts workbooks picked up free through that St Ivel Advance Milk promotion - oh I see that all the free books have gone now but you can still get 50% off Letts workbooks. I got an age 5-6 one seeing as she finds it such a struggle, and also to check if we'd left any gaps in her early maths! She did 9 pages of that this morning, and most of it was pretty easy but there's nothing wrong with making her feel that maths is easy!!
Meanwhile, Shannon was sitting with us at the table, looking through her BBC Toybox magazine, doing a bit of colouring, a bit of playdough, and a bit of being a nuisance!
They're currently watching Tom & Jerry and we're off swimming this afternoon, and then to drop in to the library on the way home.
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Mom's Overture
One of these days I will blog properly, honest, but for now, here's another one of these:
Monday, October 01, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Innocence lost?
Jade started asking about Father Christmas last night. I asked her if she really wanted me to always tell her the truth, and she said yes. So I told her that Father Christmas was just a story that everybody enjoyed pretending about, but that he didn't really come and fill her stocking with presents. She seemed fairly relaxed about that. It feels like a bigger deal to me than to her, I think! In fact I had started off when she was about 3 or 4 telling her that it was a fun story, in order to avoid conflict between believing in Father Christmas (benevolent kind man who goes round giving nice gifts to people) with God/Jesus (loving benevolent being/man who goes round doing good to people). One true, the other not. (OK, save your arguments about that for another time - I'm too tired right now!) But somewhere down the line she seemed to start believing it and I hadn't the heart to keep saying it was just a story, but last night I felt I had to. The only thing she seemed bothered about was who did put the presents in her stocking then? I told her it was love that put them there. I think that retains enough magic combined with the truth!!
Anyway, I have been horribly tired the past day or so and can't be bothered to try and do a full run-down of the educational stuff. Today was mostly a trip to Stratford for a couple of things - ended up buying about 10 books from a charity shop so that was a good haul. Some Rainbow Fairy ones, a couple of pony stories (she's absolutely crazy about anything horse/pony related at the moment), Art School and Nature School, and Fraction Jugglers, all at 99p each. In fact, I have so many lovely resources which I'm using more of than I'm using Sonlight, that I'm considering not persisting with Sonlight all the way through, which I had anticipated, but maybe just getting a few of their titles that I really like and just making up the rest as we go along. I don't know - I'll have to think about it some more, but it seems we could do what Sonlight do an awful lot more cheaply, although without all the help and pre-prepared answers of course. Not that I'm using those much at the moment anyway.
Must go and do something now - we're off this weekend to visit DH's Dad up north so should pack or something. Would rather just go to bed.
Anyway, I have been horribly tired the past day or so and can't be bothered to try and do a full run-down of the educational stuff. Today was mostly a trip to Stratford for a couple of things - ended up buying about 10 books from a charity shop so that was a good haul. Some Rainbow Fairy ones, a couple of pony stories (she's absolutely crazy about anything horse/pony related at the moment), Art School and Nature School, and Fraction Jugglers, all at 99p each. In fact, I have so many lovely resources which I'm using more of than I'm using Sonlight, that I'm considering not persisting with Sonlight all the way through, which I had anticipated, but maybe just getting a few of their titles that I really like and just making up the rest as we go along. I don't know - I'll have to think about it some more, but it seems we could do what Sonlight do an awful lot more cheaply, although without all the help and pre-prepared answers of course. Not that I'm using those much at the moment anyway.
Must go and do something now - we're off this weekend to visit DH's Dad up north so should pack or something. Would rather just go to bed.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tuesday's appointment with the speech therapist went well. She is very nice, well trained and experienced in SM so we are confident she knows what she's doing. Not so sure about the psychiatrist we will see next Tuesday who is training so possibly will be less help. We'll see.
We've been giving the Education City trial a go, which has been OK in parts but Jade is very reluctant to have a go at anything she doesn't think she can get completely right and is always asking me whether she's got it right before she will click the button! She doesn't want to have a go at subjects she's not so sure on! Will encourage her to have a go more tomorrow when she comes in to work with me. After all, we know she doesn't have to practice her phonics, spelling or vocabulary - it's the other stuff I want her to have a go at!
Been doing a bit more Story of the World (Sumerians/Akkadians/The Jewish people) and she learned and recited a Mother Goose poem earlier this week. I videoed her reciting it and showed it to the speech therapist, to prove she could talk! Shannon joined in too, and they did a duet of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" - it was very sweet.
We've been giving the Education City trial a go, which has been OK in parts but Jade is very reluctant to have a go at anything she doesn't think she can get completely right and is always asking me whether she's got it right before she will click the button! She doesn't want to have a go at subjects she's not so sure on! Will encourage her to have a go more tomorrow when she comes in to work with me. After all, we know she doesn't have to practice her phonics, spelling or vocabulary - it's the other stuff I want her to have a go at!
Been doing a bit more Story of the World (Sumerians/Akkadians/The Jewish people) and she learned and recited a Mother Goose poem earlier this week. I videoed her reciting it and showed it to the speech therapist, to prove she could talk! Shannon joined in too, and they did a duet of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" - it was very sweet.
Monday, September 17, 2007
It's all starting to come together ... I think!
The living room remains tidy! It's lovely, it is really helping my mood. I did have to dump a pile of boxes full of junk in the other room (should be the dining room, but is full of books and computers so don't actually know what to call it!). I am sorting through the boxes slowly and hope to find a proper space for everything or throw it away. Flylady says 15 minutes a day decluttering will get the job done so that's my minimum aim. I plunged into the tidying/cleaning all of a sudden on Thursday because we had an unexpected visit from a neighbour on Wednesday evening and I was so embarrassed about the state of the house, and again feeling very frustrated that I couldn't seem to get a few hours to myself (without children) while I was feeling energetic and inspired in order to get on with it, when I suddenly realised they were both going to be at the childminders on Thursday morning and I didn't have too much to do at work so I could take about 3 hours off and come home and get it done!
We are getting back into the swing of regular activities and work at home. However I have already twice offered the alternative of school if she really doesn't want to do what we do at home!! We're getting on quite well with Story of the World and the related activity book, and some other misc bits and pieces (odd bits of maths, writing 'All About Me' in a fill-in-the-spaces type book, some Usborne Spanish, a trial of Education City) but it all feels very haphazard and bitty to me. The trouble is I have so many books and resources and I want to use them all!
Shannon has been most irritating today - it seemed like she was constantly shouting, grizzling, whining for mummy milk, or making lots of noise just while I was trying to read to Jade, and I was really having to raise my voice to be heard. Jade kept interjecting comments about the dolls she was fiddling about with while I was reading, and it felt like really hard work. I do feel I'm not doing HE in the most interesting/stimulating way possible. Jade likes books and reading, but I think she needs more interaction/activity than we have at the moment. It's all looking a little bit too much like school for my liking - not very imaginative.
Shannon's toilet/potty learning is coming along nicely! After thinking it was never going to happen (she's a whole year later than Jade), she now seems to have pretty much got the hang of wees on the potty or toilet, whichever is nearest, as long as she's not wearing anything on her bottom half. If she has a nappy on, she stops bothering to think about potties. So I don't even want to risk putting pants on her till it's a bit more consolidated - she still only gives a few seconds' notice! We even managed to catch a poo on the potty yesterday and she seemed happy enough about that! We haven't risked going out without a nappy yet, though.
Tomorrow we (DH and I, but without the girls) have an appointment to see the Speech and Language Therapist for an initial appointment to explain all about Jade's reluctance to speak, and I hope we will begin to formulate a plan. We have also had an appointment through with the Child Mental Health Services for next week, so things should start to take shape.
We are getting back into the swing of regular activities and work at home. However I have already twice offered the alternative of school if she really doesn't want to do what we do at home!! We're getting on quite well with Story of the World and the related activity book, and some other misc bits and pieces (odd bits of maths, writing 'All About Me' in a fill-in-the-spaces type book, some Usborne Spanish, a trial of Education City) but it all feels very haphazard and bitty to me. The trouble is I have so many books and resources and I want to use them all!
Shannon has been most irritating today - it seemed like she was constantly shouting, grizzling, whining for mummy milk, or making lots of noise just while I was trying to read to Jade, and I was really having to raise my voice to be heard. Jade kept interjecting comments about the dolls she was fiddling about with while I was reading, and it felt like really hard work. I do feel I'm not doing HE in the most interesting/stimulating way possible. Jade likes books and reading, but I think she needs more interaction/activity than we have at the moment. It's all looking a little bit too much like school for my liking - not very imaginative.
Shannon's toilet/potty learning is coming along nicely! After thinking it was never going to happen (she's a whole year later than Jade), she now seems to have pretty much got the hang of wees on the potty or toilet, whichever is nearest, as long as she's not wearing anything on her bottom half. If she has a nappy on, she stops bothering to think about potties. So I don't even want to risk putting pants on her till it's a bit more consolidated - she still only gives a few seconds' notice! We even managed to catch a poo on the potty yesterday and she seemed happy enough about that! We haven't risked going out without a nappy yet, though.
Tomorrow we (DH and I, but without the girls) have an appointment to see the Speech and Language Therapist for an initial appointment to explain all about Jade's reluctance to speak, and I hope we will begin to formulate a plan. We have also had an appointment through with the Child Mental Health Services for next week, so things should start to take shape.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Look at my living room!
It's tidy! It's clean! It's lovely!!!
Oh, er, but look at my garden:
Guess what I'm going to be doing this afternoon!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Back to work!
Phew, once the girl-next-door started back at school on Thursday, we were able to get back to a bit of edyookayting! It's a relief not to have her in the house from morning till night every day!
So, with that usual back-to-it burst of enthusiasm that will probably last about 5 days max, we launched into some Story of the World last Friday out on the lawn in the sunshine. It was lovely! I read, we looked at the globe, filled in a photocopied map, she answered some questions, etc. Didn't get much else formal done that day - it still amazes me how little we manage to get done in the midst of requests for food, soothing bumps, getting the washing done, preparing more food, rushing Shannon to the toilet, walking the dog, trying to tidy up a bit and the girls' games and adventures. Never mind, Jade is still only 6 so if she prefers to spend most of her time in a world of fairies, unicorns and magical happenings then that's fair enough really!
On Saturday the Fire Service Training College nearby had a rare open day - I think it might only be the second one in the 11 years we've lived here and we were away on holiday last time. So we were keen to go along and have a nose around the place seeing as security is normally so high you can't see a thing. We had a lovely day including a ride on a fire engine racing along with siren blaring, a guided minibus tour round the 'fire ground' where they have all the training scenarios and buildings set up, fire dogs demonstrating sniffing out fire-starting stuff at the scene of an arson attack, and road accident rescues involving cutting open cars to get people out. It was fascinating, and I was particularly surprised but heartened by Jade saying how interesting it was seeing the car rescue equipment and air bags and so on. It was not what we imagined we'd be doing when 17 years ago we were getting married on 8th September, but it was good anyway!
On Sunday after church in the morning, we took the girls over to my Dad's and Bill and I had an extremely rare afternoon out together in celebration of our anniversary. It was most refreshing to actually spend time together without two adorable but demanding small people inserting themselves inbetween us at every opportunity! We must do it more often.
Today I've tried to get back into the swing of Sonlight - which we began in January and I reckon we are now on Week 4!!!! There have been lots of diversions along the way, obviously! We've done 6 pages of maths, she's written out a Bible verse which is one that we've been trying to drum into her anyway seeing as it's something she clearly needs to learn - "Treat other people the way you want them to treat you." - they've listened to an Usborne Spanish Beginner's tape and both girls have been practising bits of that, and at bedtime she's read out loud to me one chapter of her current reading book "Nina Fairy Ballerina" which she has then continued reading to herself when I left her in bed. I am again amazed that though it seemed like a full and busy morning we actually have done only a small proportion of what 'ought' to have been today's work - we haven't been anywhere near the history or the science or the other language arts stuff. We had an HE friend visiting this afternoon with her 6-year old and Jade treated her nicely after I talked her through the behaviour I expected of her beforehand so that was a bonus and a relief!
So, with that usual back-to-it burst of enthusiasm that will probably last about 5 days max, we launched into some Story of the World last Friday out on the lawn in the sunshine. It was lovely! I read, we looked at the globe, filled in a photocopied map, she answered some questions, etc. Didn't get much else formal done that day - it still amazes me how little we manage to get done in the midst of requests for food, soothing bumps, getting the washing done, preparing more food, rushing Shannon to the toilet, walking the dog, trying to tidy up a bit and the girls' games and adventures. Never mind, Jade is still only 6 so if she prefers to spend most of her time in a world of fairies, unicorns and magical happenings then that's fair enough really!
On Saturday the Fire Service Training College nearby had a rare open day - I think it might only be the second one in the 11 years we've lived here and we were away on holiday last time. So we were keen to go along and have a nose around the place seeing as security is normally so high you can't see a thing. We had a lovely day including a ride on a fire engine racing along with siren blaring, a guided minibus tour round the 'fire ground' where they have all the training scenarios and buildings set up, fire dogs demonstrating sniffing out fire-starting stuff at the scene of an arson attack, and road accident rescues involving cutting open cars to get people out. It was fascinating, and I was particularly surprised but heartened by Jade saying how interesting it was seeing the car rescue equipment and air bags and so on. It was not what we imagined we'd be doing when 17 years ago we were getting married on 8th September, but it was good anyway!
On Sunday after church in the morning, we took the girls over to my Dad's and Bill and I had an extremely rare afternoon out together in celebration of our anniversary. It was most refreshing to actually spend time together without two adorable but demanding small people inserting themselves inbetween us at every opportunity! We must do it more often.
Today I've tried to get back into the swing of Sonlight - which we began in January and I reckon we are now on Week 4!!!! There have been lots of diversions along the way, obviously! We've done 6 pages of maths, she's written out a Bible verse which is one that we've been trying to drum into her anyway seeing as it's something she clearly needs to learn - "Treat other people the way you want them to treat you." - they've listened to an Usborne Spanish Beginner's tape and both girls have been practising bits of that, and at bedtime she's read out loud to me one chapter of her current reading book "Nina Fairy Ballerina" which she has then continued reading to herself when I left her in bed. I am again amazed that though it seemed like a full and busy morning we actually have done only a small proportion of what 'ought' to have been today's work - we haven't been anywhere near the history or the science or the other language arts stuff. We had an HE friend visiting this afternoon with her 6-year old and Jade treated her nicely after I talked her through the behaviour I expected of her beforehand so that was a bonus and a relief!
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Another catch-up
I'll try and begin where I left off - just about to go to Greenbelt.
Friday 24th was my birthday, so I woke up to Bill bringing me breakfast in bed, with a lovely heap of cards and stuff. As expected Jade was desperate to help me open and unwrap, but I managed mostly to fend her off! DH's card said my prezzie was behind the sofa, so after getting up we went downstairs and I found a ................ bass guitar!!!! Lovely surprise! I've been talking about wanting to learn for a year or two, but hadn't mentioned it for ages and it had kind of faded into the background a bit, so that was a lovely surprise and so far I have done Lesson 1 of the accompanying book!
Then we had to get sorted out fairly quickly and break the news to Jade that we were off to see a doctor about her. Bill explained it to her very well and light-heartedly, and she was absolutely fine about it!! We saw a consultant psychiatrist together with a trainee, both women, with a view to exploring what we saw as the problem, what we wanted to do about it, what help we were looking for, what steps we felt we would like them to take - all very 'us-centred' which I thought was excellent. Jade of course didn't say a word through the whole thing but was relaxed enough to nod her head in response to a question from me which sometimes is too much for her so I was quite impressed by that. They agreed that they can help us, and will work together with the Speech Therapist that I had contacted separately a couple of weeks ago. We are now just waiting for them to let us know when we can go along. We have heard from the speech therapist now who can see us mid-September so that's good.
Then we went home to do the final bits of packing up before setting off for Greenbelt. It's only a 45 minute drive from here, and we arrived I think around 2pm and then had to wait for about 2 hours in a mammoth queue before we could get onto the campsite. We managed to find the Raine Drops and Off the Path folk along with their other friends, and later were joined nearby by the Deep Enders, so we had a nice weekend with other people around, although GB being as action-packed as it usually is we don't get to see as much of each other as we might like.
Pre-kids, I used to find GB frustrating, although wonderful. It was frustrating because there is so much stuff going on, much of it (talks etc) powerful and potentially life-changing, and much of it has time-clashes and anyway I only have a finite amount of energy and can't get to everything. With kids, that frustration is massively multiplied. I went to a lovely calming and centring Taize service along with Jan and Barbara on Friday night, and after that didn't manage to get to anything of any substance at all on Saturday, for various reasons mostly linked to the children's needs and desires. The plan was for Shannon to go into a children's play session in the afternoon while DH took Jade off to the bouncy castles (she of course won't go near the organised kids sessions), and so I could have a chunk of the afternoon doing things I wanted. It required a 45-minute wait in a queue in the blazing sunshine in order to get a token to qualify to get into the kids' session, and then 15 minutes before the actual time, Shannon fell asleep on my lap.
I am seriously considering somehow going without the kids next year. GB for me is the highlight of my entire year, it refreshes the parts that other festivals cannot reach and even that church cannot reach, it opens up new ways of thinking and being and worshipping and looking at the world, and it touches me in ways I can't even describe. I hate frittering much of it away because my kids want to go on bouncy castles or something!
Sunday and Monday were better. And one workshop session I went to (called "Smiley spirituality can change the world") about positive psychology was very illuminating about Jade in one particular respect. Without going into too much detail, it seems that the over-sensitive part of her brain that leads her to social anxiety and selective mutism is also the same part of the brain that deals with feelings like "it's mine!" or "I want it now!" and other such primitive urges, so she's over-sensitive there as well. That would explain a LOT of bad behaviour that we have been wondering about as to whether it is just 'normal' or whether she is in fact more demanding in those areas than other 6-year olds. It turns out she probably is! What we do about it is another question entirely, and one we haven't explored deeply yet, except since getting home we have had a family meeting and together agreed the way we want other people to treat us, and therefore the way we have to treat them in return.
Anyway, since getting back from GB I find I am more deeply challenged than before about the gap between rich and poor, how I am one of the rich of this world (despite not feeling like it in our society), the stupidity and emptiness of consumerism and how that is not where happiness lies, about what am I doing to care for others, climate change and environmental challenges generally, and other stuff. Much thought and prayer is ensuing. Who knows when it will result in a clearer vision as to what is my own personal mission in life? - God's not usually in much of a hurry about these things! He prefers to take it nice and slow. "I want it now!!!" (Hmm, sounds familiar!)
Anyway one of my first decisions, after something that prompted me at GB, was to decide that one day per week should be computer-free, so for me that works best on Sundays. It felt at times like a deprivation, but also a nice oasis of peace on Sunday evening which carried on into Monday morning.
Time to put the kids to bed. More later (maybe).
Friday 24th was my birthday, so I woke up to Bill bringing me breakfast in bed, with a lovely heap of cards and stuff. As expected Jade was desperate to help me open and unwrap, but I managed mostly to fend her off! DH's card said my prezzie was behind the sofa, so after getting up we went downstairs and I found a ................ bass guitar!!!! Lovely surprise! I've been talking about wanting to learn for a year or two, but hadn't mentioned it for ages and it had kind of faded into the background a bit, so that was a lovely surprise and so far I have done Lesson 1 of the accompanying book!
Then we had to get sorted out fairly quickly and break the news to Jade that we were off to see a doctor about her. Bill explained it to her very well and light-heartedly, and she was absolutely fine about it!! We saw a consultant psychiatrist together with a trainee, both women, with a view to exploring what we saw as the problem, what we wanted to do about it, what help we were looking for, what steps we felt we would like them to take - all very 'us-centred' which I thought was excellent. Jade of course didn't say a word through the whole thing but was relaxed enough to nod her head in response to a question from me which sometimes is too much for her so I was quite impressed by that. They agreed that they can help us, and will work together with the Speech Therapist that I had contacted separately a couple of weeks ago. We are now just waiting for them to let us know when we can go along. We have heard from the speech therapist now who can see us mid-September so that's good.
Then we went home to do the final bits of packing up before setting off for Greenbelt. It's only a 45 minute drive from here, and we arrived I think around 2pm and then had to wait for about 2 hours in a mammoth queue before we could get onto the campsite. We managed to find the Raine Drops and Off the Path folk along with their other friends, and later were joined nearby by the Deep Enders, so we had a nice weekend with other people around, although GB being as action-packed as it usually is we don't get to see as much of each other as we might like.
Pre-kids, I used to find GB frustrating, although wonderful. It was frustrating because there is so much stuff going on, much of it (talks etc) powerful and potentially life-changing, and much of it has time-clashes and anyway I only have a finite amount of energy and can't get to everything. With kids, that frustration is massively multiplied. I went to a lovely calming and centring Taize service along with Jan and Barbara on Friday night, and after that didn't manage to get to anything of any substance at all on Saturday, for various reasons mostly linked to the children's needs and desires. The plan was for Shannon to go into a children's play session in the afternoon while DH took Jade off to the bouncy castles (she of course won't go near the organised kids sessions), and so I could have a chunk of the afternoon doing things I wanted. It required a 45-minute wait in a queue in the blazing sunshine in order to get a token to qualify to get into the kids' session, and then 15 minutes before the actual time, Shannon fell asleep on my lap.
I am seriously considering somehow going without the kids next year. GB for me is the highlight of my entire year, it refreshes the parts that other festivals cannot reach and even that church cannot reach, it opens up new ways of thinking and being and worshipping and looking at the world, and it touches me in ways I can't even describe. I hate frittering much of it away because my kids want to go on bouncy castles or something!
Sunday and Monday were better. And one workshop session I went to (called "Smiley spirituality can change the world") about positive psychology was very illuminating about Jade in one particular respect. Without going into too much detail, it seems that the over-sensitive part of her brain that leads her to social anxiety and selective mutism is also the same part of the brain that deals with feelings like "it's mine!" or "I want it now!" and other such primitive urges, so she's over-sensitive there as well. That would explain a LOT of bad behaviour that we have been wondering about as to whether it is just 'normal' or whether she is in fact more demanding in those areas than other 6-year olds. It turns out she probably is! What we do about it is another question entirely, and one we haven't explored deeply yet, except since getting home we have had a family meeting and together agreed the way we want other people to treat us, and therefore the way we have to treat them in return.
Anyway, since getting back from GB I find I am more deeply challenged than before about the gap between rich and poor, how I am one of the rich of this world (despite not feeling like it in our society), the stupidity and emptiness of consumerism and how that is not where happiness lies, about what am I doing to care for others, climate change and environmental challenges generally, and other stuff. Much thought and prayer is ensuing. Who knows when it will result in a clearer vision as to what is my own personal mission in life? - God's not usually in much of a hurry about these things! He prefers to take it nice and slow. "I want it now!!!" (Hmm, sounds familiar!)
Anyway one of my first decisions, after something that prompted me at GB, was to decide that one day per week should be computer-free, so for me that works best on Sundays. It felt at times like a deprivation, but also a nice oasis of peace on Sunday evening which carried on into Monday morning.
Time to put the kids to bed. More later (maybe).
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