A Glorious Waste Of Time..!

If you had your way and you were 4,6,7,8,11 or 12 how would you spend your time? I know when I was any, or all of the above ages I was pushed outside for 'play-time' each morning, lunchtime and afternoon whatever the weather. I hated it, as did many others, and tried to spend as much time as possible during those break times sitting on the loo, or washing my hands in warm water! I would even strike up conversations with the prefects (who I didn't necessarily like in the real world) just to hang out the time INSIDE - where it was warm & dry! Consequently, now that the weather has turned significantly colder I do not 'force' my children to play outside. I do have rules like "No running in the house - if you want to run around, wrap up and run around OUTSIDE!", but I don't make them go if they don't want to - they just have to stop running! Every now and then I do suggest to them that they might like to make the most of a dry day and play outside for a while, but seldom do they take up my suggestion. Then, every once in a while, an idea takes them and I can't keep them in..! Two days ago Taz took it into his head that he wanted to make a football goal in the adjacent field to us, which belongs to our neighbours but who have said the children can play in there. The field was full of ferns (I mean REALLY full) when we moved in. Over the summer the children made a pathway into the middle and built a den with branches and ferns and had lots of fun in there. As the ferns began to dye back Taz decided he might as well flatten it all out properly and make it more of a play space, so he trooped in there one day with the girls and trampled most of the middle of the field flat. THEN he thought he'd try it out as a football pitch! It really is the most unlikely pitch - it's uneven, it slopes, it has a fern carpet underfoot, but he liked it :D It IS big and not so easy to loose a ball - and if you did the fences are low enough all round to hop over and collect it from the next field. SO, he collected three long pieces of scrap timber from the top of the pile of rubble/rubbish sitting in our garden (left over from the renovation of the house and garden before we moved in) that is waiting for a skip to collect it all. He lumbered them over to the field, spade in hand and dug holes for the posts. He measured it out and sunk them down so that the tops were level. He did a fantastic job, but was not able to figure a way to get the cross bar on. Today Paul did that for him with the longest nails I have ever seen in my life! Now they have a football goal that is really a perfect size for them all, in a big field, with a fern pitch to play on - brilliant!! Not only does this provide them with a lot of fun and motivation to play outside, but me with plenty of photo opportunities!! ;D The best of it is, it's not only the lads who want to be out there (in fact Bugs is not so keen), but the girlies too. And another great thing is how multi-purposed they have made this field. They have had a hollow amongst the remaining ferns (their house) and behind the trees is their dance/recording studio, complete with branch-microphones and a dance floor!! It's brilliant to see my techno-addicted children playing free in a fern field. The only thing that worries me is the way they chose to dress! While I wrap up warm in several layers, Minnie is out there in a strappy top and TweetiePie in a T-shirt - crazy kids!! OK, so they were running around, but it is COLD up here!!

Of course playing footy took a chunk out of their school work on Wednesday, and when they realised this, this was, of course, a great incentive also to do the same the next day!! But I was only to happy to see them outside, knowing that there are so many days of winter ahead of us when they will be unable to go outside. I want them to get the very most out of living where we do just now and of being children. I know that even though they didn't have pencils in their hands they were learning none-the-less, just a different kind of lesson than the one I had planned :D There's something about this place that makes me want them to have more fun, makes me want to have fun with them - it's something that's been missing for WAY too long - and I am so pleased to be here and to have rediscovered the zest in life. Of course, life is never a bed of roses, but a carpet of ferns will do me just fine! :D

I won't post a stash of pictures here today, but if you want to see some more then you can check out the last two days over on my 365 blog :D But just so you can see the goal post and the relative size of the field...

She Can't Read...

...but apparently she can write just fine!

Lilo wrote this today completely unprompted by me during her 'you choose' time. I only had to help her to add the 'a's on the ends of Hana & Montana. She sounded it all out completely by herself and even wrote the capital letters! I think reading is just around the corner somehow :D

Actually to say she can't read is not accurate really - she can, sort of. She can sound out completely phonic words and today read 'grown-ups' in the context of learning that 'ow' says 'oh!' She is doing fine, but I don't think she has realised until this week that she can read and that writing is within her grasp too - she was pretty chuffed with this little sentence!

DD made a leap today too - he redid a puzzle from a couple of days ago, only this time entirely unassisted. 40 pieces - all by himself!! It took him about 30 minutes and he stuck at it until it was done - major, major progress!!!

Out Of touch

I don't know about you, but sometimes life just runs away with me. I wasn't 100% over half term - had a raging sore throat and a bit of a temp to boot. I'm largely over it now, but it did make 'catching myself up' over the holiday just a bit more challenging. I had loads of stuff to do and sort for the church Sunday School (now that I am in charge of the rota and resources, etc...), I had a stash of marking to do and the following week to plan. I wanted to get some more materials printed of for DD & Stitch, but that didn't happen in the end. I also wanted to finish up some photo editing I had promised to some friends. I finished one set, but only just started on the other - sigh! Put that together with visitors either end, sleep overs and a birthday (Taz turned 11 on the 24th), it all got a bit busy, busy. Not that I mind that, it's just I still feel like my tail is lost somewhere!! :D

Life ticks along anyway. H'ED is going well. I'm thinking that, in the light of current potential legislation, I might stop talking about 'home-school' as, although I have a school room and, to all intents and purposes, we have a fairly structured school in our home, I would not like to think that I will be forced to continue this way if I should choose to move away from it even more than I have in recent times. My children's education is more valuable to me than my system - so from now on I will call it H'ED as that better fits with how I feel our nation should view what we do :D

Anyway - H'ED is going well..! Stitch is beginning to get the hang of not being such a pain and is a good deal more involved in our day than I remember any of the others being a toddlers. He has his own little supply of resources which he has free access to. I haven't changed this around as much as I would like to due to a) lack of time, b) lack of creativity, c) lack of courage (i.e. there are lots of fantastic ideas out there I could use but I can just envisage what Stitch would turn them into!!). But he has his favourites that he has a go at every day, sometimes more than once and he spends a LOT of time playing on PoissonRouge - or rather roping in someone to play on it for him as his command!! :D Each other child has a 'slot' in their boxes to spend time playing with him and now that he has got used to that he is responding well to it and is not demanding that it be me quite so much. I too, try to make at least one slot in each day to spend time with him, but it's not always easy.

Bugs & Taz are doing well with their new Science and English materials. It is interesting and challenging enough without being too much for them. It's good to have them working on something together, although in reality they often do it separately because Taz is a fast worker and Bugs not so, but at least they can compare notes :D

DD has suddenly started to blossom: He has got the hang of things that six months ago were way beyond him. He can now tell me the beginning sound of most words (still struggles a bit with 's' and 'z') and find another picture that begins with the same sound.

He can now match up pairs of things that 'go together', like hat & coat, salt & pepper - which shows a vast increase in his comprehension of language and the world around him.

He can also count up to about 14 quite reliably and count out objects up to about eight. Beyond that he loses count of objects and as he can't 'count on' yet it gets a bit difficult!

He knows all his colours - although for some reason has begun confusing blue and purple on occasions, and interesting some shades of blue and green. My dad and Taz are blue/green colour blind, so maybe he is too - not tested yet.

He can verbally label numbers 1, 2, 3 and sometimes 4 now - so that's progress too. Matching up the numbers on his workbox is really helping with that without even deliberately working on it - learning by the back door I call it :D

He knows the names of most of the basic 2D shapes.

He can complete simple sequences (ABABA..., ABBABB..., ABCABC...)

He can hold a pencil correctly (most of the time, and when he gets it wrong it's only to put his 2nd finger on the pencil instead of under it).

He can almost write his name independently and has fantastic pencil control when writing inside 'hollow letters' or over dotted ones. :D

He forms the majority of his letters correctly and understands about starting at the top and ending at the bottom, also about working left-right, top-bottom, which he does now about 90% of the time instinctively and no longer makes a fuss about it when prompted to do so the other 10%!

He DOESN'T yet know very many letters (only 'curly c' and 'kicking c', 's' and 'o'), but tbh - I don't really care - he is enjoying himself and I can see life beginning to make real sense to him now. In the light of this, he now can put together full sentences - including all the 'little' words (I, it, the, on, to, etc...) and asks more sensible questions than he used to, with genuine interest in the answers. He sometimes can then follow up with a subsequent question. This is a real marked improvement in his speech and makes life so much less frustrating for all of us :D His diction is gradually improving too, although he can still be hard to understand at times, especially when he has mis-remembered what something is called, or how a word should sound. When he does this, we not only have to work out the sound of what he is saying, but also what he is meaning!! He still gets a little frustrated with this, but mostly he gets that we don't understand him now, and tries to say whatever it is more slowly and carefully, rather than just screaming at us (and making it worse) - and when he does that we can usually get to the root of what he means eventually :D He is then able to hear us say it correctly and repeat it back without error.

I don't know what the Early Learning Goals are for a Reception age child (and I don't really care either!), but I am happy that mine is doing well and achieving to the best of his ability and I am sure that he will continue to make happy progress with the way we are doing things now.

I am loving the way things tick round here now - I really am. It is all so much less pressured than it was when I started out with Bugs 8 years ago now - sometimes I really wish I could turn back time and get to enjoy him as a 5 year old again. Everyone told me at the time to "make the most of it - they grow up so fast" and all I kept thinking at the time was "good - this is a nightmare!" He was so full on and so hard work, but he was so funny and so full of life - so creative (yet not imaginative - which made it difficult to channel his creativity) and he just LOVED to be with me and do stuff with me. He loved looking at books and colouring and had a zeal for learning. He asked what anything and everything said - on bus shelters, road signs, everywhere, he would ask me "what does it say?" Now, I wish I had that time again - then it annoyed me! :( Now, I wish I had 'got' him as a little kid (I SO didn't) - now, I am enjoying 'getting' the young man he is becoming before my eyes. I love him to bits - I just wish I could do his toddlerhood again for him. I would do it better this time - I know I would! I watch myself with my now pre-schoolers and I love every minute (well not every, but a lot) of their mischief and naughtiness! I don't find their questions as annoying (I just switch them off when I've had enough and they soon get tired of asking - better than yelling to get them to stop and upsetting them) and have more interesting answers to give them. I try to explain the world in a way I never saw the need to before. I find them funny and interesting - and I love to watch them grow as people without feeling the need to hurry them on to the next stage. Of course there are many things that I still struggle with in my home - noise being the chief annoyance (particularly shouting to and at each other too much of the time), screaming (in anger, frustration, annoyance, or pure irrationality sometimes), throwing of things (especially if it's something of mine!), and the constant MESS everywhere - no matter how much I pick (or get the children to) up there is always more accumulating somewhere! But I wouldn't actually want life any other way just now - they will all be gone from here before I know and I just feel in my bones that I will miss it all - all those things that drive me crazy just now will be gone from my life and I will wish for them back again - so maybe I shouldn't complain so hard just now and maybe I should just live for the moment, for the here and now and keep it close while I still have it with me :D

Enough sentimentality - time for pictures;

DD loved this very simple activity - it's been buried in my cupboard for eons.

I'll get it out again for certain ;D

Stitch giving his orders!

When it's wet outside...

Scientists in the making :D

Lilo having fun and learning on Moshi Monsters - love it!

Lilo colouring her new Snowman puzzle (£1 for 2 - bargain!) with her new

not-so-cheap triangular Staedler pens!

Lilo finishing a 49 piece puzzle - solo :D

Stitch playing with his new 'pens' (paint dabbers). He had been given paper, but he discarded it because he likes to line them up, take all the lids off, knock them all down, count them (with me of course) and then match all the lids back on again - it's his own little game :D!! Occasionally he 'writes' with them!

DD doing some handwriting practice. These are homemade Write-0n, Wipe-off strips and I thought he might do one or two - he did them all :D He did get bored towards the end and it showed in his effort level, but on the whole these were excellent for him and he enjoyed them. A boy who likes to write - is that possible?!

The finished result (can't really hide the names here!) - the Nathanael one was the first he did - Daddy was the last - you can see the decline, but it's still good :D

Stitch considering his next move!!

Lilo playing on Tux Paint - she loves this too (they all do) and I liked the pattern she achieved with this colouring. It's not all colouring - they can paint and draw on this independently.

A puzzle (40 pieces) that DD did on Monday. I only gave verbal help and as he got to about half way I just left him to it - he completed it independently and I was very pleased with him. His concentration was good for this one :D

(WARNING!! - last photo - scroll down - is of a rather LARGE SPIDER who crawled out to visit us (bringing along lots of 'behind the cupboards' debris) and who the kids were fascinated with - it's Minnie holding it, not me - I'm not afraid of them, but I'd rather not hold them this big!!

The Beautiful Bus :D

:=D

Pictures as Promised..!

Crazy Weekend!

I'm so glad it's half term - a chance to just catch my breath a little - except not this past weekend! On Thursday night some good friends of ours (J&T, J, L&S) stayed overnight. They arrived late and left early (very early!) to catch a ferry to Ireland (from Holyhead), for a wedding on Friday. They then stopped by again for the day on their way home to Oxford on Saturday. Saturday just happened to be Taz's 11th birthday too, so the addition of great mates as visitors made his day :D We convinced them to take a walk round The Moss and the village, with a little stop at the brook and our lovely village pub - kids & all - and so, with a couple of pints down, they were obliged to stay the night again :D It was brilliant to spend some time with them. We haven't seen them since February (when we camped in their garden just after the really heavy snow). S is Lilo's very close friend: despite the miles they are soul mates. J&L are life-long friends of Bugs & Taz, and the whole crowd get on SOOO well - it is always such a joy to be with them :D

They left for home this morning at the same time we left for church (the extra hour was a real blessing this morning with so many in the house to be out by 9am!). After church we came home for bangers-and-mash (loverly!!), and just as P was dozing on the sofa (with numerous children on top of him) M&B with Taz's mate D arrived to collect something from us. M is another pastor in our church and she had some things she needed to discuss with P. Shame - he so rarely naps on a Sunday and when he chose to.... No sooner had they left when S brought back our two girls, having had them for lunch today to play with K. She stayed to chat for a bit...and as she was thinking of leaving our other expected guest arrived for the evening - our close friends H&G, who moved away just after we moved house. So they were around for the evening until about 9ish (as X-factor was finishing they left). It was lovely to see them too, I miss them so much :(

But it's been a couple of days FULL of people - I shall be glad to not have to do school tomorrow! I have Sunday School 'stuff' to do and I need to print some resources out for Stitch for next half term, plan out the week following and catch up on some marking! AND I need to have some fun with the kiddos :D I also have a pile of photo editing I want to get through for a couple of friends of mine who have been waiting several weeks now to see these shots I've taken... Where does time go?!

Forgot to blog too, that we got a new Tourneo. In the end we gained the consent of Ps M&D (while they were here last weekend) to bid on one on Ebay. It was a tough choice, but the only other one I could find on the net that was within our budget was the same age as this one, but with 25, 000 extra miles on the clock, an arm rest missing on a passenger seat, pictures that weren't as clear - and it just didn't FEEL right. I prayed so hard. This other one looked immaculate, but it was on Ebay (something P's parents do not quite trust I feel). In the end we bid and won - we got a 2003 model for just over £5000. P went down to Norwich on the train to collect it (half expecting to be getting the train home again) and it was as beautiful as I thought it was. He paid the man and drove it home! It IS stunning - silver, not a speck of rust even underneath or on wheel arches (as Tourneo and Transits are notorious for), not a scratch or a dent anywhere, the engine is clean, the inside is pristine, even with added rubber flooring to protect the carpet, the A/C works and the CD Player is GOOD! The only minus for P is that it doesn't have a headphone socket to plug his MP3 player into - poor man :( !! This car, sorry BUS, is SOOO much quieter than the last one - you can actually hear the music & each other whilst driving! It purrs contentedly under the bonnet and it's not slaving away at 4000 revs at 70 mph - in fact, it's not even working particularly hard at all! :D We are hoping now, God willing, we are set for the next 10 years!! By then the kids (maybe 3 of them) will be driving their own cars and two may be living independent lives (scary thought), so then we can downsize to a 7 seater!! :D

I'll post up some pictures when I've put them on the PC - P is on there atm and I hate loading them to the laptop as it takes forever to transfer them over to the big hard drive - much quicker to just wait a day and put them there to begin with, so tomorrow maybe :D

Smoothly Does It!

I'm organised this week - and it shows :D Everyone is working smoothly (provided they start before half the day is gone) and stuff is happening :D

Yesterday the kids did these;

They draw around their shadows (we shone a torch on the whiteboard with paper attached) and then took them away to add all the details. I assisted only with the placement of ears, the shape of eyes, and the arrangement of their hair. For the older ones I just showed them with my finger, but they did them themselves. For the younger ones I added these features for them, but they filled everything in without help (if I hadn't have helped you might be able to work out where Lilo wanted to put her eye - we pretended it was a hair decoration in the end!!). I didn't want to do it all for them, as they so often want me to as they really do not like a poor result in their own eyes, but at the same time I wanted them to be pleased with their results - this time they really were! They are coloured with oil pastel (hence the smudgey marks) with the exception of DD's which is just chalk

. Top-Bottom, Left-Right they are; Lilo, TweetiePie, Bugs, DD, Taz & Minnie (stitch was busy playing cars somewhere at the time :D).