Well for me it was both but it felt like hard work... the cough/cold hit with a vengeance and I can hardly breathe and feel dreadful. Being 1/2 term for school here I did toy with the idea of taking them into work( they run a playscheme there) and I could have gone back to bed but decided against only to have been told later that they would have loved to have gone... Oh well live and learn!
Sophie and Connor spent the morning mooching around, playing with the rabbits and watching the latest episode of 'Coal House'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/coalhouse/
Theyve really got into this is in a big way,living in a welsh mining village( the pit head less than 100 metres from our front door where the local school now stands) its very relevant to us.
Darrens relatives all worked in the mines in S Wales and during the time in which its set. Their late great-grandfather would have been a boy( he died a few years ago and they adored him) Its really sparked their imaginations and they want to know more about the village,the mine and how people would have lived here when it was open.
Next week we will visit big pit http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/ at their request but they decided to give it amiss this week due to my illness and it being half term. They much prefer places when they are quiet and can ask questions of the staff at museums etc.
They spent the afternoon doing some more Halloween activities while I managed to get an hour in bed! Theyve learned to make a mean cuppa since theyve been home too- Bliss!
Connor played a phonics card game with Dad when he got home as well as completing a few halloween worksheets from enchanted learning and Sophie played for quite a long period on the 'Dance mat typing' game on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
The pumpkin wasnt quite ripe enough to carve today( and I didnt have the energy!) hopefully tomorrow night they can tackle it with Dad!
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Monday, 29 October 2007
Spooky doings...
We've spent today doing some spooky activities downloaded from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/
Doing a spooky code cracker and wordsearch and tomorrow we will make some skeletons
We went out and bought ourselves a slightly green pumpkin and hope it will ripen a bit in the warmth of the bathroom ready for carving tomorrow!
Im feeling like death warmed up right now with a sore throat and the shivers... not a good week to be ill, we have too much planned( as is usual these days) and Darren can't get time off work to take them to things!
We have a clowning workshop and slavas snow show on wednesday http://www.slavasnowshow.co.uk/
and our new Home education group starting on Thursday afternoon I cant be ill! Theres no time to take to my bed!
Connor decided to tackle the Jeremy Strong book I bought him this morning and managed to read two pages with a bit of help on the longer words! A real achievement for him.
Sophie has set herself a target of finishing her maths book by Christmas so she can have 'curly fries' and a club sandwich as a treat at her favourite cafe and is very busy with the rabbits who are happily settling into life in the garden of the little red house. With bonfire night so close they seem to be spending more and more time indoors as lap rabbits each evening as the bangs terrify them( nobody has told the locals that its nov 5th we let off the fireworks!)
Doing a spooky code cracker and wordsearch and tomorrow we will make some skeletons
We went out and bought ourselves a slightly green pumpkin and hope it will ripen a bit in the warmth of the bathroom ready for carving tomorrow!
Im feeling like death warmed up right now with a sore throat and the shivers... not a good week to be ill, we have too much planned( as is usual these days) and Darren can't get time off work to take them to things!
We have a clowning workshop and slavas snow show on wednesday http://www.slavasnowshow.co.uk/
and our new Home education group starting on Thursday afternoon I cant be ill! Theres no time to take to my bed!
Connor decided to tackle the Jeremy Strong book I bought him this morning and managed to read two pages with a bit of help on the longer words! A real achievement for him.
Sophie has set herself a target of finishing her maths book by Christmas so she can have 'curly fries' and a club sandwich as a treat at her favourite cafe and is very busy with the rabbits who are happily settling into life in the garden of the little red house. With bonfire night so close they seem to be spending more and more time indoors as lap rabbits each evening as the bangs terrify them( nobody has told the locals that its nov 5th we let off the fireworks!)
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Lost for Words
Ive been really interested to see these programmes on Channel 4 about literacy and why 'our' kids cant read.http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatches/why+our+children+cant+read/937947
As a family with three Severely Dyslexic children its very relevant.
Our experience has been that in school the children were taught to read using a 'look and memorise' technique with no phonic based techniques used as far as we could see.(oxford reading tree). Chloe coped fairly well with this initially and could 'read' however as things got harder she just fell to bits. We later discovered that was because she was memorising as many words as possible, as soon as she reached a level where her photographic memory failed her she had no skills to be able to decode or decipher what was being put in front of her. If the word didn't 'match' one she remembered she had no idea what it could possibly be. I believe this led to a huge delay in diagnosing dyslexia and can only imagine the stress she must have gone through.
The use of phonics was being introduced when the youngest was in infants and so it was clearer that Connor had problems however the school felt his problems were because he had a lisp rather than because he couldn't read the sounds, he couldn't say them. Well maybe they were partly correct. He has difficulty with phonics too. After a year of specialist teaching he now knows the sounds only he cannot blend the sounds together, they go forwards, backwards, the wrong sounds( he knows what it should say but a different sound comes out of his mouth!)
We are currently practicing CVC words( vowel, consonant, Vowel- Ie CAT, RUN, TOP, TOT etc) but he's still struggling- only now hes at home it doesn't really matter to anyone but us and his tutor that hes struggling. There is nobody around to criticise or appear impatient, no timescale for him to 'have' to do things and now hes at home he's not missing out on an education because he cant read and write as well as the rest. We just do things differently! He does alot of his learning using DVD's , the PC and with me reading relevant things to him or with him.
I think the aim of the school involved in this programme was admirable and clearly for many children it was effective.It uses exactly the techniques that Connor uses. I thought it was shocking that there wasn't any routine screening for Dyslexia shown( if it was I missed it!) and no recognition that for some children they could work at it every day,they still might not be able to do the business!
I loved the input from the Poet Benjamin Zephaniah and the inspiring work he was doing bringing words to life and the success that all the children were experiencing performing his work.
Its really made me think about the advantages for him of being at home. If he were in school he would be confined to his hour a week as his 'opportunity'( I use the term loosely) to learn to read in a separate room with other children with problems , withdrawn from the rest and missing something he would enjoy ( pointing out he has these problems in a negative fashion) because of course he wouldn't be allowed to miss English or Maths so removing his opportunity to enjoy something he is good at!
There is no way I can even imagine them getting all the children in a programme such as the one featured in Channel 4, That would be seen as detrimental to the children who can already read, which is where their efforts are concentrated while the ones who cannot read after about age 7 are expected to cope( no time to catch up or enjoy). This was illustrated when I bought him a Jeremy Strong book in WHSmith this week (aimed at 5+) and he said "Oh I know this one, T ( his best friend) read it to me one wet playtime in Year 2... he thought it was funny and I thought so too.The school separated he and T in year 3( diff classes) and put Connor on the 'special needs table'( oh how charmingly divisive!) and then wondered why his self esteem plummeted!( its really not rocket science!)
I absent mindedly thought" how fantastic some of that work was Chloe gets lots of this in her school and I can see it works.... if only Connor could..." and went back to the programme. Less than 24 hours later however the opportunity did present itself!
We'd booked to attend an African storytelling workshop at the Wales Millennium centre and he decided that morning he wasn't going, no stories, wasn't playing, would rage and glower and act stroppily if I tried to make him! We set out with a really unhappy Connor and I said he had to give it a go...
He was so glad he did! The storytellers were brilliant!They got the whole group involved in the session held in a Yurt, we sang a traditional song,learned how to respond to the storyteller inviting everyone to share the story and the children really enjoyed the traditional tale of the animals and the journey to see the witch doctor at the top of Table mountain, trying on hats and playing musical instruments, trying all the different sounds to re-create thunder and rain and playing the drums.
Connor threw himself into it with great gusto and his sisters enjoyed too only slightly 'cooler' about it as befits teens but Chloe wrote a long diary entry in her holiday diary about it and said she would ask her year tutor if they could have them visit their school.
The effect on Connor has been amazing he's more fired up about books and stories and has been more willing to sit and share stories( a big no no- books are scary and someone will force me to try and humiliate myself making mistakes).He's even trying that Jeremy Strong Book with me, reading the words he can manage and spotted "Men at work" on a sign the other day, unremarkable for many 9 year olds - a big step for him!
We've also started looking at African stories to try and find others he can enjoy sharing.Its really amazing what can unlock a child's interest... just such a shame this is denied to many school children once it is decreed they have reached an age where they 'should' be able to read.
Sophie's also getting into poetry, enjoying reading some funny poems to us and appears to find it more manageable than a book, although she can read( and is trying to tacke the Diary of Anne Frank), she finds it a chore and will also do anything to avoid it if possible so the nature of poems means she doesn't have to plod on and on, can dip in and out and the more amusing the better. I hope Connor will also start sharing her interest... I'm going to invest in some Spike Milligan and roger Mcgough next!( to amuse me too!)
As a family with three Severely Dyslexic children its very relevant.
Our experience has been that in school the children were taught to read using a 'look and memorise' technique with no phonic based techniques used as far as we could see.(oxford reading tree). Chloe coped fairly well with this initially and could 'read' however as things got harder she just fell to bits. We later discovered that was because she was memorising as many words as possible, as soon as she reached a level where her photographic memory failed her she had no skills to be able to decode or decipher what was being put in front of her. If the word didn't 'match' one she remembered she had no idea what it could possibly be. I believe this led to a huge delay in diagnosing dyslexia and can only imagine the stress she must have gone through.
The use of phonics was being introduced when the youngest was in infants and so it was clearer that Connor had problems however the school felt his problems were because he had a lisp rather than because he couldn't read the sounds, he couldn't say them. Well maybe they were partly correct. He has difficulty with phonics too. After a year of specialist teaching he now knows the sounds only he cannot blend the sounds together, they go forwards, backwards, the wrong sounds( he knows what it should say but a different sound comes out of his mouth!)
We are currently practicing CVC words( vowel, consonant, Vowel- Ie CAT, RUN, TOP, TOT etc) but he's still struggling- only now hes at home it doesn't really matter to anyone but us and his tutor that hes struggling. There is nobody around to criticise or appear impatient, no timescale for him to 'have' to do things and now hes at home he's not missing out on an education because he cant read and write as well as the rest. We just do things differently! He does alot of his learning using DVD's , the PC and with me reading relevant things to him or with him.
I think the aim of the school involved in this programme was admirable and clearly for many children it was effective.It uses exactly the techniques that Connor uses. I thought it was shocking that there wasn't any routine screening for Dyslexia shown( if it was I missed it!) and no recognition that for some children they could work at it every day,they still might not be able to do the business!
I loved the input from the Poet Benjamin Zephaniah and the inspiring work he was doing bringing words to life and the success that all the children were experiencing performing his work.
Its really made me think about the advantages for him of being at home. If he were in school he would be confined to his hour a week as his 'opportunity'( I use the term loosely) to learn to read in a separate room with other children with problems , withdrawn from the rest and missing something he would enjoy ( pointing out he has these problems in a negative fashion) because of course he wouldn't be allowed to miss English or Maths so removing his opportunity to enjoy something he is good at!
There is no way I can even imagine them getting all the children in a programme such as the one featured in Channel 4, That would be seen as detrimental to the children who can already read, which is where their efforts are concentrated while the ones who cannot read after about age 7 are expected to cope( no time to catch up or enjoy). This was illustrated when I bought him a Jeremy Strong book in WHSmith this week (aimed at 5+) and he said "Oh I know this one, T ( his best friend) read it to me one wet playtime in Year 2... he thought it was funny and I thought so too.The school separated he and T in year 3( diff classes) and put Connor on the 'special needs table'( oh how charmingly divisive!) and then wondered why his self esteem plummeted!( its really not rocket science!)
I absent mindedly thought" how fantastic some of that work was Chloe gets lots of this in her school and I can see it works.... if only Connor could..." and went back to the programme. Less than 24 hours later however the opportunity did present itself!
We'd booked to attend an African storytelling workshop at the Wales Millennium centre and he decided that morning he wasn't going, no stories, wasn't playing, would rage and glower and act stroppily if I tried to make him! We set out with a really unhappy Connor and I said he had to give it a go...
He was so glad he did! The storytellers were brilliant!They got the whole group involved in the session held in a Yurt, we sang a traditional song,learned how to respond to the storyteller inviting everyone to share the story and the children really enjoyed the traditional tale of the animals and the journey to see the witch doctor at the top of Table mountain, trying on hats and playing musical instruments, trying all the different sounds to re-create thunder and rain and playing the drums.
Connor threw himself into it with great gusto and his sisters enjoyed too only slightly 'cooler' about it as befits teens but Chloe wrote a long diary entry in her holiday diary about it and said she would ask her year tutor if they could have them visit their school.
The effect on Connor has been amazing he's more fired up about books and stories and has been more willing to sit and share stories( a big no no- books are scary and someone will force me to try and humiliate myself making mistakes).He's even trying that Jeremy Strong Book with me, reading the words he can manage and spotted "Men at work" on a sign the other day, unremarkable for many 9 year olds - a big step for him!
We've also started looking at African stories to try and find others he can enjoy sharing.Its really amazing what can unlock a child's interest... just such a shame this is denied to many school children once it is decreed they have reached an age where they 'should' be able to read.
Sophie's also getting into poetry, enjoying reading some funny poems to us and appears to find it more manageable than a book, although she can read( and is trying to tacke the Diary of Anne Frank), she finds it a chore and will also do anything to avoid it if possible so the nature of poems means she doesn't have to plod on and on, can dip in and out and the more amusing the better. I hope Connor will also start sharing her interest... I'm going to invest in some Spike Milligan and roger Mcgough next!( to amuse me too!)
And they call it Bunny love!
Here's Flower, the little Netherland dwarf we discovered in Pets at Home, looking rather lonely and tiny in a large cage with nothing to amuse her! We were realy sad leaving her in the shop and really wanted to be able to take her with us.Thankfully our friends N and K offered her an immediate home in their empty hutch until our hutch arrived and could be assembled so we went off next day to pick her up. To our relief she was still there!She was advertised as being in need of lots of love and cuddles and thats exactly what shes had!Shes a lovely bunny who had been in with another bunny who used to attack her apparently. Were not sure if she can be housed with another rabbit because shes very timid still so we bought another hutch for the rabbit which my friend found in her garden.
On Tuesday we set off to Somerset to collect the other bunny who was in a pet carrier after coming from the farm where it had been kept. We spent a lovely day with our friends in the sunshine with the kids playing in their garden with the dogs, ducks and chickens. It turned out the bunny was a boy so after the kids vetoed the names Pie and stewart he ended up called 'thumper' because thumper and flower both feature in Bambi so the kids felt the names went together.
Chloe was home for half term this week so they spent much of the week getting to know the bunnies and enjoying lots of cuddles( and the odd nip!)
Sophie was also thrilled to visit the Vets surgery with Thumper for his first vaccinations, its an ambition to work with animals when shes older, possibly as a Vet or Vetinary nurse so she was really interested and asked lots of questions!
A cuddle first thing in the morning!
DIY Hutch building... next time we go to IKEA I know who can put up the bookcase!
This is Thumper, ready for his new hutch!
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Healthy Stuff.
This week the kids have been asking lots of questions about our bodies, how they work, digestion in particular! Sparked off by Connor's Horrible science 'disgusting digestion' activity book.This has led on to how best to keep our bodies healthy and they were both very interested in a report on Jeremy Vines show on Radio 2 about how many adults are drinking too much even just having a couple of glasses of wine in the evenings. They have also started thinking about healthy eating and so we discussed balanced diets and how to get everything they need to be healthy, especially their 5 a day.
They spent this afternoon shopping for ingredients and making their own home made pizzas which were a great sucess.
We also went shopping for rabbit essentials. Sophie has fallen in love with her friend I's bunnies and her friend N( who lives opposite) asked her to care for her bunny while on holiday so when we were offered this rescued bunny she was over the moon.
The hutch arrived today( in a massive box-flat packed) so we went to the pet store to buy the bits we will need to bring bunny home.We were also offered a gorgeous female netherland dwarf rabbit which needs adopting so we are crossing everything that this rescued one is a girl so they can go in together
Tomorrow will be a DIY day so long as it stops raining!
They spent this afternoon shopping for ingredients and making their own home made pizzas which were a great sucess.
We also went shopping for rabbit essentials. Sophie has fallen in love with her friend I's bunnies and her friend N( who lives opposite) asked her to care for her bunny while on holiday so when we were offered this rescued bunny she was over the moon.
The hutch arrived today( in a massive box-flat packed) so we went to the pet store to buy the bits we will need to bring bunny home.We were also offered a gorgeous female netherland dwarf rabbit which needs adopting so we are crossing everything that this rescued one is a girl so they can go in together
Tomorrow will be a DIY day so long as it stops raining!
Monday, 15 October 2007
Busy busy!
I thought I would start blogging and get right into it, add to it every day but home educating I just dont have the time!
A friend who works full time and who has a 10 year old said "You never stop!" to me tonight and I think reflecting on it thats probably the case, every day seems packed, add in work and other committments such as Sophies Trampolining and Connors swimming and youth club and boys brigade and I wonder how it all fits in. No wonder I dont find time to blog when I cant find time to do many things I would like!( get this house in order for one! Does tidying up all day count as educational activities I wonder?)
The kids are really excited this week as we are of to Caerphilly castle for a visit with the new Home education group Kate and I are starting( link in list to your left!).
Its been wonderful to get emails from people we dont know( as well as those we do of course) hoping to come and join us and meet up with other home educators. There are also some older children coming which Im sure will be of benefit to Sophie .I feel despite having a couple of lovely home ed friends her own age who she is growing close to it will be good for her to have more teens/pre- teens to get to know who may share similar interests and I hope her existing friends will come along too and meet some more older children.
We'll be looking at the 'siege machines' because at the first 'hall based' meeting Neil will be helping the children create their own! All I could say after seeing the prototypes was COOOOOOOOOOOL! Nothing else seemed to fit while watching soft toys fly some distance accross their garden!
Connor has been inspired by hearing all about Leonardo Da vinci from Neil and he and Darren spent a lovely afternoon exploring a website about his inventions( including the catapult) and when i arrived home from work I was treated to a detailed explaination of all the things they had looked at and Im sure thats given him lots of food for thought when planning his own siege machine. he now cant wait to go and observe them at close quarters at the castle. We visited a Tank museum while on holiday and he was thrilled to find that one of leonadro da vincis inventions was an early tank.
He's also showing a great interest in electricity, motors and circuits so Im investigating electronics kits... all sparked by questions when he was in a complete strop after being dragged to the bank... where while sat on the sofa and " being very angry"( which he reported to me in a very cross voice) he suddenly piped up" when that button with the wheelchair on it is pressed, why does the door open? How does that happen?"Of course he would like all these things to appear immediately and doesnt really understand why we cant just go and aquire these things!
On the plus side he saved up his birthday money and gave it to me to purchase his nintendo DS( hence the visit to the bank) and so we did 'online' transactions, ordering, paying with a credit card and delvery times which was very useful for him. Even the waiting for it to arrive and the patience he showed impressed me, usually he wants everything yesterday and finds it difficult to understand why we need to wait, sequences of events etc so this has been very useful!
He is struggling with his dyslexia tutoring and his tutor at the Dyslexia institute recommended he be referred again for speech therapy( concentrating on his language not just speech production as they have done so far) and also for Occupational therapy.
We will pursue these via the GP although she suggested we ask the LEA for help with comupter programmes etc since the Welsh assembly guidelines on Home education say they should provide access to resources etc( in an ideal world) I doubt we will get far but its something to try!
Sophie has been busy watching 'animal 24/7 on BBC1 which has increased her interest in all things animal and has strengthened her resolve to want to work with animals at some point in the future. Shes definitely interested in finding out more about the work of RSPCA inspectors,animal sancturies and vets so Im hoping that maybe a sanctuary locally or vets practice a will be willing to let her come along and watch for a couple of hours.
We only have stick insects at present which are hers but she is starting to find them a little "scuttly" and shes a bit scared of spiders so I guess its not surprising. I had hoped that the stick insects would be a good halfway point for her and at first she loved playing with them. I think they have started to run a bit fast when she cleans the tank and the legs are a bit overwhelming! ( one broke off recently when she was cleaning them and she was distraught!)
A friend has recently found a bunny in her garden, its a grey dwarf lop and apparently very friendly. Its down near Chloes school and we've been offered it. Sophie of course was very excited but is now very sad that after almost 3 weeks nobody has claimed it.She cant understand why anyone wouldnt look after a bunny.
My friend has quite a menagerie but her lurcher is likely to eat it alive if possible so we will go and collect it from them in a week or so, once the hutch we have bought arrives and weve got a pet carrier etc
She's also enjoying getting into web design using a basic programme from 'girl scene' her current favourite website to design herself a web page.I hope this will grow into using some more sophisticated software/HTML etc
Shes also enjoying poetry and spent this afternoon reading me poetry from a childrens poetry book ( in between giggles) with wide ranging topics from the perils of shaking a baby to a useless, vegetarian ant-eater
A friend who works full time and who has a 10 year old said "You never stop!" to me tonight and I think reflecting on it thats probably the case, every day seems packed, add in work and other committments such as Sophies Trampolining and Connors swimming and youth club and boys brigade and I wonder how it all fits in. No wonder I dont find time to blog when I cant find time to do many things I would like!( get this house in order for one! Does tidying up all day count as educational activities I wonder?)
The kids are really excited this week as we are of to Caerphilly castle for a visit with the new Home education group Kate and I are starting( link in list to your left!).
Its been wonderful to get emails from people we dont know( as well as those we do of course) hoping to come and join us and meet up with other home educators. There are also some older children coming which Im sure will be of benefit to Sophie .I feel despite having a couple of lovely home ed friends her own age who she is growing close to it will be good for her to have more teens/pre- teens to get to know who may share similar interests and I hope her existing friends will come along too and meet some more older children.
We'll be looking at the 'siege machines' because at the first 'hall based' meeting Neil will be helping the children create their own! All I could say after seeing the prototypes was COOOOOOOOOOOL! Nothing else seemed to fit while watching soft toys fly some distance accross their garden!
Connor has been inspired by hearing all about Leonardo Da vinci from Neil and he and Darren spent a lovely afternoon exploring a website about his inventions( including the catapult) and when i arrived home from work I was treated to a detailed explaination of all the things they had looked at and Im sure thats given him lots of food for thought when planning his own siege machine. he now cant wait to go and observe them at close quarters at the castle. We visited a Tank museum while on holiday and he was thrilled to find that one of leonadro da vincis inventions was an early tank.
He's also showing a great interest in electricity, motors and circuits so Im investigating electronics kits... all sparked by questions when he was in a complete strop after being dragged to the bank... where while sat on the sofa and " being very angry"( which he reported to me in a very cross voice) he suddenly piped up" when that button with the wheelchair on it is pressed, why does the door open? How does that happen?"Of course he would like all these things to appear immediately and doesnt really understand why we cant just go and aquire these things!
On the plus side he saved up his birthday money and gave it to me to purchase his nintendo DS( hence the visit to the bank) and so we did 'online' transactions, ordering, paying with a credit card and delvery times which was very useful for him. Even the waiting for it to arrive and the patience he showed impressed me, usually he wants everything yesterday and finds it difficult to understand why we need to wait, sequences of events etc so this has been very useful!
He is struggling with his dyslexia tutoring and his tutor at the Dyslexia institute recommended he be referred again for speech therapy( concentrating on his language not just speech production as they have done so far) and also for Occupational therapy.
We will pursue these via the GP although she suggested we ask the LEA for help with comupter programmes etc since the Welsh assembly guidelines on Home education say they should provide access to resources etc( in an ideal world) I doubt we will get far but its something to try!
Sophie has been busy watching 'animal 24/7 on BBC1 which has increased her interest in all things animal and has strengthened her resolve to want to work with animals at some point in the future. Shes definitely interested in finding out more about the work of RSPCA inspectors,animal sancturies and vets so Im hoping that maybe a sanctuary locally or vets practice a will be willing to let her come along and watch for a couple of hours.
We only have stick insects at present which are hers but she is starting to find them a little "scuttly" and shes a bit scared of spiders so I guess its not surprising. I had hoped that the stick insects would be a good halfway point for her and at first she loved playing with them. I think they have started to run a bit fast when she cleans the tank and the legs are a bit overwhelming! ( one broke off recently when she was cleaning them and she was distraught!)
A friend has recently found a bunny in her garden, its a grey dwarf lop and apparently very friendly. Its down near Chloes school and we've been offered it. Sophie of course was very excited but is now very sad that after almost 3 weeks nobody has claimed it.She cant understand why anyone wouldnt look after a bunny.
My friend has quite a menagerie but her lurcher is likely to eat it alive if possible so we will go and collect it from them in a week or so, once the hutch we have bought arrives and weve got a pet carrier etc
She's also enjoying getting into web design using a basic programme from 'girl scene' her current favourite website to design herself a web page.I hope this will grow into using some more sophisticated software/HTML etc
Shes also enjoying poetry and spent this afternoon reading me poetry from a childrens poetry book ( in between giggles) with wide ranging topics from the perils of shaking a baby to a useless, vegetarian ant-eater
Coming second in her recent trampolining competition seems to have given her lots of confidence in her ability and determination to push forward with her trampolining which is really lovely to see. I picked her up tonight with a cherry red face and absolutely worn out having worked at all her new moves which was really nice to see after spending a few months worrying that perhaps she wasnt enjoying it and waiting for her to ask to give up!
We are also seeking a copy of an out of print book called "The Book of Letters" by Michael Thomson ( 1991) if anyone knows how we might get a copy could you please let us know( all suggestions welcome!)
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Salvage
This week we visited the 'salvage' exhibition by Nigel Talbot at Newport Art Gallery with the South Wales Home Educators Network.
After a very interesting talk about sculpture the children looked around the installation made from reclaimed materials. Mr Talbot gave them a really interesting talk, explaining the origins and inspiration for the pieces they could see. Afterwards they made drawings of anything which interested or inspired them and finally they made boats from clay.
It turned Nigel Talbot had been an art teacher who had taught one of the Mums! I remember loving art at school and never being any good at drawing, particularly being made to draw trees over and over and over in senior school
The kids had a wonderful time and it certainly was a different 'take' on art!
Monday, 8 October 2007
Celebrations!
On wednesday Connor celebrated his 9th Birthday with 10 friends at 'jump' a huge play centre, packed to the rafters with things to swing, slide climb and of course JUMP on! We visited during the day on a weekday and so it was really quiet with only a handful of other children there so they had the place pretty much to themselves and had a fantastic time racing around and getting completely worn out!He spent a day and night with my mum and dad who bought him his much coveted Wales rugby shirt and a telescope! Hes absolutely fascinated with the planets and solar system, volanoes and earthquakes and is desperate for an opportunity to use it. Sadly its a bit too cloudy here at the moment to see the stars so he's satisfying his curiosity studying pictures in books and watching his "The Planets" DVD that we got with the sunday times!His current fascination is Jupiter which apparently is the largest planet with volvanoes , each the same size as the earths moon!
Later in the week we went to TGI fridays to have a meal with his grandma, his best friend and the rest of his family. The way he tells it "the waiters made me stand on a chair, holding my heavy, burning birthday cake and everyone sang to me"
Of course he loved every second of having the whole restaurant singing to him as you can probably tell from the photo!
We ended the week with Sophie taking part in a regional trampolining competition and coming 2nd in her age group/difficulty level and also winning a gold medal as part of her team! Not bad considering she hadnt practiced all week due to her twisted ankle( which turned out to be a bit more sore than I;d first thought!) and she had forgotten her ankle support, fell on her back during the warm up, everything which could go wrong did go wrong and her coach wasnt able to ne there either so we are especially proud of her. She was absolutely thrilled.
Monday, 1 October 2007
Bumps, bashes and sprains!( and recovering from the brusing school gave them!)
Today started out a very normal day, we waited for our tesco delivery and once that was unpacked we headed off to the home of nearby friends, also home educators for coffee and playtime.
Sophie and Connor were enjoying playing with their friends when he suddenly felt sick, wound up on the bathroom floor in the foetal position sobbing that he felt rather ill! Whether it was something to do with swinging enthusiastically in O's IKEA chair which hangs from the ceiling or something he ate or maybe a bug is all yet to be determined but he was taken swiftly home for a lie down!
Sophie stayed to play and later recounted the lovely games they had all played. She especially loves being 'the big one' when they play, shes the middle child here and she and Connor are really close in age (22months between them) so having 4 younger friends to play with is a real novelty for her, she said she'd loved teaching them her games.
Sophie was kindly dropped back home later and as I said goodbye there was an almighty screech from the kitchen, followed by much sobbing from Connor who had slipped on the floor and wound up scratching the skin off his side as he fell!Icepack applied he was fine, if a little 'stingy' and when Darren got back Soph and I headed off to work.
Sophie enjoyed joining in with the gym class and I dropped her off at trampolining... returning two hours later I spotted the French rugby team who were training at the university sports facilities (no opportunity for pictures though.. shame Connor was at home!)
I went into the gym and there I found Sophie sat with an icepack on her swollen ankle!
She spent tonight hopping round the house,sore and stroppy. Hopefully she will recover soon!The last thing I need this week is two kids in the wars.. we have too much to do!
She said on the way home that her mates are all intrigued by her being home educated, all but one think its 'cool' and would love the opportunity. Only one has been negative, when asked whether she sits at a desk between 9-3.30 she said "not exactly no" and the little girl replied that she couldn't possibly be having an education, because education is sitting down between 9-3 and doing your lessons... turned out she had gone into her school and recounted the fact her friend was home educated and asked if she could try it! I think her teachers response was probably less than enthusiastic!
She's also able to articulate more of her feelings about school now its further away, she was never what Id have called 'happy' in school( despite the school insisting even my eldest was happy- despite being desperately unhappy!) she couldn't really say what it was which upset her so much and once she got out of school a stream of whinging about its awfulness followed. It was as if she needed us to realise how much it hurt and how terrible it was, just in case we were contemplating returning her to that school!
Now however shes been able to find a bit of emotional distance and space from her school experiences she's recounting things a bit more objectively. The most interesting revelation of late was about the pressure that she felt to conform, even in a school which had a strict uniform code there were 'things you had to have'. I tried my best to resist these things whenever they arose but Sophie yesterday admitted she not only managed to get certain items from us by not telling us they were 'must haves' but that she didn't even like half the things she felt she 'had' to have!!
She's said shes really enjoying the freedom she feels she has now to choose what she likes and being able to express her likes and interests without fear of being judged by her friends.In the Home ed community those same things aren't important, she can be who she wants to be and popular for who she is and she's realising that she is both liked and likable.I think she also likes herself a lot more than she did when she was at school and constantly having her confidence knocked by teachers and other children both academically and socially.
She's also discovering wider interests. Her new favourite programmes being Panorama and Who do you think you are! Which I'm sure wouldn't have been acceptable to her teachers ( she would be too young to know too much I think they would feel she was precocious,especially because they viewed her as not very clever due to her dyslexia) nor her friends who Im sure wouldnt share her interest in current affairs !
She has also asked whether we could have a go at writing some poetry ( this child who struggles with reading, for whom books are a bore and writing even more so!) So I will have to find some poetry related activities for her.
Connor continues to surprise me with the leaps and bounds his skills are coming on in too. His speech is continuing to improve( with minimum help from speech therapy), he couldnt swim before we took him out of school, every swimming teacher he'd had had tried with him and failed, he'd end up crying, sinking, spluttering and everyone was at a loss ( and they were all lovely people who tried to raise his confidence through any means!) we left it in the end but he knew he was missing out not being able to swim like his sisters and decided to try again.
In the 6 months since he came out of school he has gone up three levels in swimming, every ten week term he's gone from the learner pool(3ft deep) into the shallow end of the big pool, through the two clases held in the shallow end and now he's been chosen to go into the deep end of the big pool!
He realises now that he can do things despite his dyspraxia and his ability to do other things is emerging too. He told me this afternoon he got upset at school because he couldnt spell 'green' and that green was a hurty word for him because he's colour blind and he realises he cannot see many deeper shades of green. He said "I think I know how to spell green now G-R-E-E-N... which he taught himself. Not bad for a child who struggles with CVC words!
Sophie and Connor were enjoying playing with their friends when he suddenly felt sick, wound up on the bathroom floor in the foetal position sobbing that he felt rather ill! Whether it was something to do with swinging enthusiastically in O's IKEA chair which hangs from the ceiling or something he ate or maybe a bug is all yet to be determined but he was taken swiftly home for a lie down!
Sophie stayed to play and later recounted the lovely games they had all played. She especially loves being 'the big one' when they play, shes the middle child here and she and Connor are really close in age (22months between them) so having 4 younger friends to play with is a real novelty for her, she said she'd loved teaching them her games.
Sophie was kindly dropped back home later and as I said goodbye there was an almighty screech from the kitchen, followed by much sobbing from Connor who had slipped on the floor and wound up scratching the skin off his side as he fell!Icepack applied he was fine, if a little 'stingy' and when Darren got back Soph and I headed off to work.
Sophie enjoyed joining in with the gym class and I dropped her off at trampolining... returning two hours later I spotted the French rugby team who were training at the university sports facilities (no opportunity for pictures though.. shame Connor was at home!)
I went into the gym and there I found Sophie sat with an icepack on her swollen ankle!
She spent tonight hopping round the house,sore and stroppy. Hopefully she will recover soon!The last thing I need this week is two kids in the wars.. we have too much to do!
She said on the way home that her mates are all intrigued by her being home educated, all but one think its 'cool' and would love the opportunity. Only one has been negative, when asked whether she sits at a desk between 9-3.30 she said "not exactly no" and the little girl replied that she couldn't possibly be having an education, because education is sitting down between 9-3 and doing your lessons... turned out she had gone into her school and recounted the fact her friend was home educated and asked if she could try it! I think her teachers response was probably less than enthusiastic!
She's also able to articulate more of her feelings about school now its further away, she was never what Id have called 'happy' in school( despite the school insisting even my eldest was happy- despite being desperately unhappy!) she couldn't really say what it was which upset her so much and once she got out of school a stream of whinging about its awfulness followed. It was as if she needed us to realise how much it hurt and how terrible it was, just in case we were contemplating returning her to that school!
Now however shes been able to find a bit of emotional distance and space from her school experiences she's recounting things a bit more objectively. The most interesting revelation of late was about the pressure that she felt to conform, even in a school which had a strict uniform code there were 'things you had to have'. I tried my best to resist these things whenever they arose but Sophie yesterday admitted she not only managed to get certain items from us by not telling us they were 'must haves' but that she didn't even like half the things she felt she 'had' to have!!
She's said shes really enjoying the freedom she feels she has now to choose what she likes and being able to express her likes and interests without fear of being judged by her friends.In the Home ed community those same things aren't important, she can be who she wants to be and popular for who she is and she's realising that she is both liked and likable.I think she also likes herself a lot more than she did when she was at school and constantly having her confidence knocked by teachers and other children both academically and socially.
She's also discovering wider interests. Her new favourite programmes being Panorama and Who do you think you are! Which I'm sure wouldn't have been acceptable to her teachers ( she would be too young to know too much I think they would feel she was precocious,especially because they viewed her as not very clever due to her dyslexia) nor her friends who Im sure wouldnt share her interest in current affairs !
She has also asked whether we could have a go at writing some poetry ( this child who struggles with reading, for whom books are a bore and writing even more so!) So I will have to find some poetry related activities for her.
Connor continues to surprise me with the leaps and bounds his skills are coming on in too. His speech is continuing to improve( with minimum help from speech therapy), he couldnt swim before we took him out of school, every swimming teacher he'd had had tried with him and failed, he'd end up crying, sinking, spluttering and everyone was at a loss ( and they were all lovely people who tried to raise his confidence through any means!) we left it in the end but he knew he was missing out not being able to swim like his sisters and decided to try again.
In the 6 months since he came out of school he has gone up three levels in swimming, every ten week term he's gone from the learner pool(3ft deep) into the shallow end of the big pool, through the two clases held in the shallow end and now he's been chosen to go into the deep end of the big pool!
He realises now that he can do things despite his dyspraxia and his ability to do other things is emerging too. He told me this afternoon he got upset at school because he couldnt spell 'green' and that green was a hurty word for him because he's colour blind and he realises he cannot see many deeper shades of green. He said "I think I know how to spell green now G-R-E-E-N... which he taught himself. Not bad for a child who struggles with CVC words!
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