What have we been up to?

Its been quite a while since I blogged last, the time just seems to fly at the moment! Weve been busy but seemingly busy doing not alot. I guess its just been one of 'those' weeks. Weve celebrated a birthday with home ed friends by going bowling ( lovely and quiet- most of the schools were back) and are getting organised with things to look forward to- a home ed drama group is starting soon and we are looking forward to  joining some schools workshops at the Hay festival  The annual trip to Glastonbury is on the horizon and Im looking into whether we can afford to attend HESFES for the first time. It would be fab if we could go and meet some of our HE friends weve made thanks to facebook and blogland.

Sophie started army cadets last week, she was taken by the worker at young carers who is a cadet leader at a different unit. She really enjoyed it and although she was a little worried about going back. She had talked herself into thinking she was 'different' because she is home educated and she had been taken by young carers( and introduced as 'one of my young carers' by the support worker) and that the other kids would therefore assume she was different from them and wouldnt want to know her.  I persuaded her that she just needed to give it a go, be herself, join in and if she had enjoyed the week before she would probably do so again. Of course we got there and she was greeted by one of the other girls with a huge grin and a "Hey!" It turns out shes also the older sister of a child with ADHD and so they had loads in common. This girl is two years older than Soph had also had involvement with young carers at about the same age as Sophie. She came home glowing and showing me the things she had learned and talking excitedly about the possibility of doing her Duke of Edinburghs award and theres the possibility of some sort of level 2 NVQ qualification when shes 16 if she works hard which can hardly be sniffed at in terms of a 'freebie' qualification( worth 4 GCSE's at a-C!). Looks like she will continue with it then! The girls also went to the library again and the staff are always pleased to see them, know they are home educated and got chatting with the librarian about home education. As a result Im going to go in and see if we can organise some home ed activities there- she suggested including the younger children in their schools and storytime programmmes!!!!
Connors been pootling about, seeing more of his friends who are home educated and live around the corner. Im really proud of him, he didnt used to want to go anywhere without me and has started broadening his horizons a bit. He spent a couple of hours with them last week when I had a hospital appointment. That was such a massive achievement for him in itself, he asked if he could go to play rather than sit in the waiting room with his books/DS and he had a lovely time too :) Theyve introduced him to KNEX and hes keen to have a go so Ill have to go get some of that for him. His mates make some really quite complicated models, including guns with cogs etc which fire elastic bands!
Hes been doing more mathletics and really enjoying "whooping" people on the live game... he doesnt realise how much better he has got at it in just a few weeks. We are aiming for him getting a certificate this week. He has such a short attention span that we havent achieved it yet! Sophies also signed up for it so Im hoping a little "in house" competition will be an incentive. Ive offered a prize if they can get a certificate before we go to center parcs!
Weve been playing games lots too, cranium conga, monopoly and chess....and Connors played masses of games on the internet... not so sure about some of them but I try and reassure myself that they have some sort of educational value and  have also led to him spending a lot of time on Bills Climate Lab Google maps ( researching his latest obsession, Alcatraz) and  Youtube led him to enjoying some new music and some whacky science/disaster videos. Ive set up a folder in favourites which he looks through if he fancies something new or whinges hes "BOOOORED" ( this happens about 50 times a day at present it seems) and I add to it when I find something interesting.

Chloe suprised us all when she announced suddenly during the easter holiday that she intended to return to school as a weekly boarder "whoop their asses, prove them wrong and do my GCSE's( them being the staff who have been rooting for her to return all along!!!)
She helped me compose a letter to the headmaster before she returned outlining the problems she has with school which mainly involve the houseparent who in my opinion isnt a terribly nice woman- I certainly wouldnt choose her to be a stand in parent for my child. She returned to school on sunday, breezed into the boarding house, was terribly nice to this woman who isnt terribly pleasant to her (we'd had a few chats about the best way to annoy someone who isnt being nice to you by being overly nice and obliging) and within minutes was back with her mates unpacking, chattering and joining in. The letter seems to have had an effect... she reported being treated much better now and although I havent had a response from the head yet she said she didnnt want to come home this weekend as there was a birthday party and so on and could we come down and see her on sunday before we go to center parcs? Im amazed by her determination and maturity, she realises she is choosing to miss something which is a massive treat in order to pursue her chosen educational path- and it is a real choice. Id said she could de-register if thats really truly what her heart and head together told her was best. Im massively proud of her because it was a very very difficult choice.
In the week after easter I recieved some volunteer expenses I was owed from home ed group things and so decided to splash out on some books from Bananas.co.uk  Massive thanks to Lisa at The State Im in for posting about this site! I chose an assortment of books, including 'lucky dips' by age/gender - sets of 10 books for just £5. Some of the titles prices were above £10 RRP and we got almost 60 books for just the£36!Including books for me to enjoy if I get the time/peace!  Chloe dug in excitedly, chose a title and got into her new book before she headed back to school which will give her something to do if the activity levels at school get too much for her and she needs some quiet time.
The delivery also had a suprising effect at home.... Two years ago I had  purchased a Sonlight "core"  which was very expensive and  the kids enjoyed for a while but then found too onerous time/schedule wise and the sight of all these new books reminded them of the day the sonlight delivery arrived. We had had a couple of days of the kids not doing much and fighting endlessly so I suggested some "Table time" which is just really a name for time where we choose something to do while sat at the table and Im on hand to help, Ill put music on or the radio etc and we just get on calmly for a bit with whatever. Suddenly they both went "great,can we get the sonlight going again, yeah we liked that" They like the sitting and listening while I read to them so thats what were doing.... back to some structure entirely at their suggestion! Im also going to get organised with a science experiment/project each week- again at their suggestion....They are really getting involved with the garden, chickens and cooking.
 Which all just made me  think this week Ive been reading lots of stuff from the USA slating unschoolers. It seems to have started from a piece on Good Morning America which seemed to prompt something of a storm. Ive read everything from the children are lazy and unmotivated to beng denied an education and opportunities to gain skills for use in "The real world" and be employed... even down to some terrible comments passed on by Christian Home educating friends who have even had the bible used to attack their unschooling and told they arent Christians if they unschool... they cant be - allegedly according to these anti unschooling people the bible says so... GRRRRRRR- if I recall it also says lots of things about guiding and loving your children and raising them well???
 Well if you ask me, look back at our last fortnight and this "Busy doing not alot" encompassed a huge amount. You can learn alot while doing "Not alot" and my kids certainly arent lacking any motivation to choose their prefered learning style,curriculum, activities, gain skills and engage with their community!

Pics of this week to follow really..... when Ive managed to locate the card reader- another downside of all this "not doing alot"... you can never find a pen in this house when you need one and the card reader keeps getting taken off places! If they didnt have their own camera now I'd never find that either! Shame really... while looking for it I missed Connor exploring centrifugal force with a bottle of squash...... my nerves are thankful that I did and my living room/laptop/electrical stuff are thamkfully centrifugal force exists in the first place!