Back in the Land of the Living!

I have about 10 minutes to blog, so I'll see how much I can post in that time!! I am just about emerging back into the land of the living - at last :) some days I still have crushing migrains (like yesterday when I stayed in my darkened bedroom and gave out instructions for the boys to do this and that bit of schoolwork), but the sickness is lifting and when I don't have a headache I can function almost normally.

Today was a pretty good day. We began with Bible study (sadly neglected of late), then maths - both boys are progressing nicely :) Joel has just completed Part One of SingaporeMaths 1A. Then we stopped for lunch and spent all afternoon doing Geography in various shapes and forms. Jacob actually said to me that Geography was more like History sometimes - which with 'Galloping the Globe' it is, because we look at famous people related to each country, and literature, etc... We are currently studying The U.K. (more specifically England at the moment). Today we read a children's version of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' (Shakespeare), A story of George & The Dragon, by Geraldine McCaughrean, which was quite enthralling!, looked a little bit at Florence Nightingale (who she was and what she achieved), read about C.T. Studd - Missionary to China, India & Africa and then looked at major rivers and landmarks in England and plotted them on a map of England. The boys then filled in their 'passports' to Britain with bits of information they had learned today and on other days. Previously we have looked at transport-networks, major industries, traditional foods (like the 'Traditional English Breakfast' & 'Friday Fish & Chips'), population numbers, and other famous Authors (like Charles Dickens). Next we move on to look more specifically at London and then Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland (and maybe S.Ireland too, but that's not part of the UK apparently!!). That covers the rest of the month (once a week) before we move into a new country in Europe. The U.K. is taking ages to study purely because is consists of four countries, each with their own individual cultures and characteristics, but it is great fun and the boys are hopefully learning things they didn't know before about their homeland ;)

Of late swimming lessons have been my saving grace, because the boys now have their lessons an hour apart, which means we are at the pool for more than 2 hours!! This has meant that I have had an allotted time each week when I HAD to give the boys something constructive to do - school work!! They have been able to do bits of English, spelling and Maths down there without too much trouble and seem to (strangely) respond well to the environment!! I am still very aware though that Joel is so much more able to attend to whatever task is set him until it is completed (get the job done) than Jacob is. He just seems to wander off task at the slightest little nudge in the wrong direction!!

Other than that there have been dribs and drabs of school happening. My friend Cath has been coming in to do Art with them as usual and this week they are making collage faces - should be interesting!! You should see the self-portraits they drew :) I might photo them for you... Another friend of mine also took them on for a couple of hours last week to do some card-making. Joel made Ellie a birthday card (she is 1 this Saturday) and Jacob made me a Christmas card which he couldn't resist giving me!!

They have also managed to keep up with their Maths and English with a little minimal input from me - which is great and reassures me that they are heading towards being able to study more independently - not that I want to be totally hands-off, just to know that I can be if I need to be and that they know how to carry on without me. Afterall, I figure that at some stage their knowledge will supersede mine and then they will have to be able to carry on alone! Now there's a scary thought!!

So now I'm looking forward to getting back to more of a sensmblance of normality. But amongst all the 'uuugh'ness we have had all our lighting re-wired and our cooker (well our landlord's actually) is now fusing out the power every time we use the rings!! The washing naturally has piled up on a regular basis and as soon as I hit the bottom of the wash-bin a child is sick in the night and I get behind again!! Cleaning, well....I have re-enlisted a cleaner!! And there are piles of clothes 'to be put away' from at least a week ago still hanging around!! My sort-out of a few weeks back never quite reached completion and I still have two baskets of clothes to 'file' into their appropriate boxes when I eventually find a few spare moments.
Ellie started walking a couple of weeks ago and is now a constantly following bleating sheep - demanding to be held far too much!!

I guess that's about all for now folks. Paul is home and tea is cooked. Baby is bleating and kids are squabbling...get the picture... got to go!! I'll try to do some reading-round another night, Hope you are all OK. :)