18 YEARS AGO...

18 years ago today... I became 'mummy' for the very first time...

...And today is the day I become mother to an adult! Yes, so he's still a teenager, but is a full legal sense he is an adult. 

18 years ago today the UK heralded the dawn of a 'new-labour' government ~ and now, in just a few days time, the boy born moments after the results were announced, gets to vote himself on the government for his future (and ours).

I will never forget the moment I held that tiny red boy in my arms and how my heart just knew such overwhelming love for him. His is the pregnancy I remember most clearly, and the labour and the birth ~ not because it was painful, but because it was beautiful! He paved the way for me: he gave me faith in my body and enough insight into of it's ways, that allowed me to safely birth 7 more children at home. He taught me that I am strong ~ and brave ~ and able!

Jake was not the easiest baby, or toddler, or small boy, or slightly bigger boy!
BUT he was always funny, chatty, clever, quirky and very winsome ~ he is still all those things. I always adored him - even on the days when he drove me to tears! 

He was always very easily distracted and discipline was difficult with him because he was very 'self governing' ~ such a strong sense of self and a will to go with it! In these regards he's not much changed, but the difficulties that come with those characteristics are now tempered with more awareness of how he affects others around him and a growing understanding of how to turn his struggles into strengths.

Jake always struggled with physical affection ~ even as a tiny baby ~ he needed hugs and cuddles, but disliked the restriction they brought. He cried to be held, then struggled to get down. He fed in a hurry and cried often for more, because he never quite took enough in one sitting! Thankfully, as he has grown he has found ways to show his affections without being uncomfortable ~ I even get a hug from him occasionally these days ;-) ~ and he is always very loving and affectionate towards his younger siblings - they adore him.

I know Jake has always born the brunt of my parenting struggles ~ being the first every step of the way is definitely the short straw! But I hope he knows how much I love him ~ that deep, deep love (and hint of pride) that wells up when I look at the lovely man he is becoming. I hurt when he hurts. I rejoice when things go well for him. I ache when I see a fall ahead, and I struggle to resist reaching out to stop him hurting himself, but, just as when he was small, he would rather run ahead of himself and face the scraped knees than walk quietly and sensibly by my side! He has always been a 'go for it' kind of person and I don't wish to change that about him at all. I want to send him out to 'go get the best out of your life' with all my blessing. I want him to aim high and not be afraid to fail ~ to be true to God and himself, to be faithFULL and fearLESS!

The way ahead is just about to spread wide before him, with choices everywhere he looks. Each choice will shape him and lead him to more choices. I'm not sure he has a plan really ~ and in some ways I love that he doesn't because he is free to go wherever his journey takes him. He's never really been a planner, or a forward thinker, and I suspect he will always be somewhat swept along by the waves that pass underneath him - sometimes bobbing gently along with life, sometimes hurtling rapidly towards the next adventure and occasionally (not too often I hope) recoiling from a storm. In six weeks time he leaves college ~ and full time education. He isn't going into higher education. He is content to have achieved what he hopes will be a very acceptable grade in his Btec and to now want to go and 'get a job'. Ideally he would still love that job to include photography in some way, but he is aware that his love of images may just have to remain a passion until he can find a way to make his passion pay!

And so I'm left wondering and praying about what the future holds for my grown-up boy:

I pray for his happiness.
I pray for his health.
I pray for his peace.
I pray for his success ~ however he measures it.

I pray for his 'one-day' marriage:

• I pray he falls deeply, madly in love, marries and stays faithful to beautiful Christian woman, who will walk by his side through all that life throws at him ~ the good and the not so great, as it is apt to do. And that he will cherish her like nothing else ~ and love her like his Dad loves me ~ utterly and completely. 
• I pray that his wife will love him, cherish him and encourage him, and when life gets rough she will know how to help him through. 
• I pray that his marriage will be strong and beautiful. That he will be able to take the good stuff he's learnt from his Dad and I and build on that to make his marriage even better than ours. That their faith in God will be at the very centre of every decision they make together and will be the cord that binds them and entwines them. 

And if he never marries ~ I pray that the relationships he has with Jesus, his friends and his family can be all those things for him!



We love him Lord. When he was a tiny baby Paul & I entrusted him to you, acknowledging that he was always more yours than ours. We've raised him as best as we could and taught him of you. We've encouraged him to find you for himself ~ and he has. So now, it's coming time to let him travel with you, without us so much at his side. It's nearing the time where we have to let go and let him find his own path. It hurts Lord, but then Love often does. Look after him Lord ~ he's Your precious child.

Ten Days...

For me to post in just 10 days is quite something, but I'm still going to have a job to think back!

Nothing much new on the home ed' front really. We're just plodding along nicely, so I'll bullet point the things of note (for the record really)...

• Completed All About Spelling Level 4 with Lilo and DD, but wasn't really happy that either of them had the 'rules' sorted in their heads very well, so have decided to repeat the level with both of them. It won't hurt and will hopefully cement a few things that are shaky atm.
• ETC Online ~ Taz 2/3rds through book 3, DD Bk 6 Lesson 3:1 (completed Bk 5 in ten sessions), Lilo BK 6 Lesson 4:1 (7 sessions so far) ~ making slow but steady progress).
• Reading ~ Stitch is reading an abridged version of Robinson Crusoe, DD reading Five on Treasure Island (I thought the Famous Five would appeal to him and it's easy reading, without being TOO easy), Lilo reading Shadow the Sheepdog ~ again easy reading, but hopefully ticking her 'interesting' box. It's so hard to find books for her, because at 10 she needs older content, but her reading level and comprehension of what she reads would not keep up. TP about to start a new book, having just finished 'The Body Book'  Minnie re-reading Ballet shoes, and thrilled to bits with a hard-back copy I bought her on Amazon for less than the Kindle edition! 
• Maths ~ Minnie whizzing through Miquon purple and decided to try to re-tackle some of the Year 6 conquer maths and actually finding it easy enough, so hoping Miquon has done the trick for her and plugged some gaps :D. Lilo struggling to get to grips with fractions in Miquon Yellow, so finished the section but have asked her to work through fraction on Conquer Maths until she has it sussed out more in her head :D DD happily plodding through Yr 4 Heinemann maths without any issues. Stitch almost completed Year 2 Collins Primary Maths, so will then move on to working through Yr 2 on Conquer Maths, but I think he will sail through it. The only concepts he struggled with a little, were the ones to do with shapes ~ reflections, rotations, etc... which fits a little with the way he struggles to process those concepts in every day life too, so no surprises there, but all the 'concrete' maths he is very solid on and can explain to me quite complex ways of finding solutions :D
• Geography ~ we have been looking at urbanisation in rural areas, and in poorer vs richer countries. It has raised some interesting conversations and ideas about solutions to the problems it brings! One suggestion by TP was to build one Mega building and everyone and everything be under one roof ~ the whole world! We thought about that for a bit and considered some of the pro and cons... can you imagine!! Taz  suggested that all the shopping could be in one mega-rise building then people wouldn't have to travel to more than one place for anything ~ I pointed out we sort of have that in places like The Bullring (to which he has never been) and we discussed the problems that places like that themselves present. We went on to discuss the effect of internet shopping on ALL genres of 'real' shops, from small family businesses, to town-centre shopping, to business parks ~ all negatively, and yet also positively affected by on-line shopping. This week we talked a little more about 'commuter villages' (such as the one we live in) and how history has changed the nature of our villages across the country, to the point where many of them consist of little more than a few 'nice' houses and pub ~ no village shops and few young children. We also discussed how health care and public transport are often not so easily accessible in rural communities which means more people, especially those with young families, choose to live nearer to towns, with all those amenities close at hand.

      Strangely all my children tell me they "don't like Geography!" - yet it very often brings the most relevant and interesting conversations to our school room ~ so we aren't stopping it ;-)

• Zoology ~ we made some fossils! Looking at the differences between fossils formed in mud/sand/clay ...

• Art  ~ last week was a bit of a cheat ~ we just did some wax relief painting ~ easy for the littler ones for a change ~ and Taz did some more of his Airfix helicopter. We didn't do any art this week as Paul & I had to be at the college by 4 for Jake's (Bugs') parent's 'consultation' ...

Tonight, as I said we were at the college for Jake's review. It seems they are generally quite pleased with him, but to be honest I was not mightily impressed with them! They have a very airy fairy approach to grades etc... in that they basically are too afraid that a low grade would discourage a students from working well, so they don't give any grades at all until the end of the second project ~ end of Feb! I explained that I felt that would depend on the mind-set of the student, because for someone like Jake (and me), he needs to know where he stands or he feels he is flailing in the dark, not knowing if he is doing OK or not and feeling like he's working hard for little or no reward. I think the tutor understood, but I don't think it will change anything tbh ~ it's the nature of an arty farty department I think!! Essentially though, I got the gist that Jake is working to merit level. His target grade overall, based on his initial entry assessment, is a MM (higher level Merit), and with steady progress this is perfectly achievable. I personally feel he is capable of a Distinction, but would need more tutorial support to achieve it ~ which he is sadly not all that likely to get. Although his tutor said "all he needs to do is ask," in reality he is not always available and knows that, so he kept saying things like "but it is all written out for the students in the 'objectives' guidelines." To Jake though, those guidelines might as well be written in Dutch for all the help they are to him :( 

Jake's other concerns about certain 'personalities' in the class were rather brushed aside, so I will need to keep a careful eye on that with him. He is being slightly bullied/intimidated, but tbh he doesn't help himself by not being able to keep his mouth shut at times. He opens himself wide for attack ~ like handing them ammunition. He's just not very worldly-wise or diplomatic! That said his tutor did mention how impressed he was with the way Jake has handled the transition into college from Home-school, and that his energy and enthusiasm were a real asset to the class dynamics :D

Aside from the chids, I too have been learning something this week...

For YEARS (literally since I was a small girl) I have wanted to learn to crochet. I had a ladybird book when I was girl that was supposed to teach me, as no-one in my family crochets either, but I could never make much sense of it and even going back as an adult it wasn't easy to follow. I managed to eventually make a square block  of double stitch, but couldn't get any further. I wanted to make a granny square ~ SOOO badly! In the end I resorted to You-Tube (oh the joys of modern technology) and watched a video or two! I realised I was using the hook like a knitter (not that I knit, but I can a bit) and wrapping the wool instead of hooking it up. I got the same result mind... So now I'm practising doing it properly, but it's not as comfortable and I keep dropping everything! All the same, I have managed to make 5 granny squares, all different sizes (due to different wools and hooks), but I'm getting there :D I've also made a phone sock and two MP3 player socks for the girls :D. I'd like to attempt a small blanket for my Nan for mothers day (thinking a square or two each night), but I need to get some wool first ~ some decent wool ~ this horrible, cheap, rough 3ply is doing my head in - it's so 'splitty'.

I've also found time in the week to complete Lilo's sock-cat that she got as a kit for Christmas ~ helped by taking it to do at a soft play centre early in the week, giving the little chids a run around and me a break!

In Other News...

Chip has taken to painting a lot just lately (that and endlessly doing puzzles)

On this day we started out with sponge painting,

but it rapidly warped into finger painting

and then generally making a 'lovely' mess!

There is a reason so many of my children went to playgroup!!

We've had a few warmer days ~ not many, just a few



And one of these days Bugs decided to give DD some tennis tips.



He turned out to be pretty quick off the mark!



How did I come to have such sporty boys? ;D

Sweet Sixteen!

It's hard to conceive that 16 years has passed since my weenie little 6lb 6oz son came into my life and changed me forever.

He wasn't the easiest as a baby, nor toddler, nor small boy,

but thankfully he is certainly not the most difficult of teens :D

He is funny (and can take on him really well), sensitive (most of the time), 

a FANTASTIC big brother & mostly good fun to be around.

He asked for money, as teens are apt to do, so that's what he mostly got.

He's hoping to buy a guitar this year :D

He spent a good deal of the afternoon in the kitchen making his birthday pudding (he wanted to), which was utterly scrumptious ~ Chocolate Delice Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis ~ YUM!

Happy Birthday my very first Sweet Sixteen!

I blogged Bug's party here.

The Non-Conventional Route to College!

Many of my HE friends out there have been asking me to blog our route through secondary and into tertiary education. So, now's as good a time as any! Although Bugs does not actually start college until September, and things are still not 100 % settled yet, I can at least blog our journey thus far!

Part I

If you've followed my blog for any number of years you will know that Bugs is my only child that has EVER been to school. He was a difficult small-boy and HE'dding him became a constant source of stress to the whole family. So, at the age of 9 he went to a small C-of-E primary school, where he spent almost 3 happy years. He actually loved school, but by nature he is an avoider and so, although he had a lovely time and made a group of friends (some of whom I  think he still chats to on FB), he avoided learning a great deal! I won't say he didn't learn anything ~ he did ~ but he didn't exactly reach his full potential!     

At the end of Year 6, Bugs very much wanted to carry on into Secondary School - with his friends.  But, I looked at him as a whole person, and didn't really like some of the other changes that school had brought about in him. He had become more of a crowd-follower (a worrying thing going into Secondary School), thought less about his own opinions on issues, had even less respect for his Dad and I, and had all but lost his faith - where so many seeds of doubt had been sown and we'd not had so much time to build him up. This, to us, was a major issue. It wasn't that he was saying he didn't believe in God any-more,  but rather that he didn't know what he believed any-more. He was on-the-fence. To us is was important that he be in a safe, loving environment to make the most important decision he ever would, and that it wasn't made 'by default' or under peer-pressure. Of course, we wanted him to be a Christian, but we wouldn't reject him if he chose another path. However ~ I don't think the same could be said of his school friends who had made his chosen path thus far a real struggle for him! 

So, against his wishes, but after a lot of loving explanation, he didn't go to Secondary school, but stayed home with us again. By this stage, he was a much more manageable little boy with a better attitude to his work (although still not driven to work hard!). He settled back into HE quite happily and I have never regretted the decision Paul & I made. 

Being at home with us may not have provided him with as varied an education as being at school might have (although when I wrote him a 'report' for college I was able to talk about 10 different subject areas he has studied, so not that much narrower), but it has allowed him to follow his passions. It has meant we have got through his high-school years with minimal stress & minimal 'home-work'. He's been able to be as sociable as he wishes without the thought of early morning rises, or exams & tests the next day ~ so MORE sociable than most of his at-school friends, who've been putting their lives on hold to get school work done, for a year or more now! It's meant he hasn't had to strive to pass subjects at which he felt doomed to fail (like Science, which would have been essential at school), but has been able to study them at his own pace and within his own ability. I've still stretched him, but I've not 'tested' him ~ that's different!. 

Being at home has ultimately meant no exams & no bits of paper! No GSCE certificates ~ plain and simply because we could not afford them and because I am not a great believer in pieces of paper to prove your worth, or your knowledge!

BUT ~ the world at large likes to see those pretty certificates, that show you can regurgitate prescribed information in a given length of time: the world at large considers them a passport to your future. Without them you are lost! 

EXCEPT, I refused to accept that way of thinking and sought to find another way for Bugs to move into his chosen future...

Part II

My first move was to Bugs up to the college when they had an open evening. He had hoped originally to go a year early, but they point blank don't take anyone under age 16, so that was not even worth fighting for. He just had to suffer another year at home ~ and it's not been that bad for him really ;). We had a good look around and chatted to the photography lecturers. The facilities are excellent - and new! Now to find out what hoops to jump through. I tried to speak to the vice-principle that evening, but he was no-where to be found, so I ended up trying to speak to him on the phone. This was quite a challenge (not made better by faulty phones at home), but eventually I did so and we came up with a plan. He was obviously not really sure what to do with a HE kid who wanted to come to college with no GCSE - understandably really. I'm sure it's not every day this problem would arise for him! I put to him the idea of allowing him to take the test that would be taken by an adult wanting to come to college as a mature student. I know that this is often a 'way around' the required 5 GCSE's for adults, whose old GCSE's/O'levels are now obsolete. He seemed to think that was a good idea and told me to contact the person concerned with adult entry around October time ~ after the current academic year was up and running smoothly. We did so, and around November time Bugs went and sat the test at the college.

On the test Bugs passed the English element with flying colours and even did an extra bit of 'free writing' to be handed on to the relevant department ~ he wrote on photography (clever kid!). The maths element he didn't do so well on, and knew he hadn't. He omitted to answer questions and made silly mistakes. In the car on the way home he was telling us the answers he should have given! That's how he is under pressure ~ brain freeze ~ and why exams would not be the best way to see what he's made of! Fortunately he'd done the Maths first and by the time he got to the English he'd relaxed and could flow ~ save the best till last is often a good policy for him! At the end of the test, the guy said that he had done well and he couldn't see why Bugs shouldn't get on to the course he wanted to do with the results he had. 

The next step was to fill in an application form for the course ~ and wait! Bugs sent the application in with a covering letter from me, explaining that he had sat the adult entrance test and that the college held the results of that (although we have a copy too). Just after Christmas, Bugs received an interview date, which he had at the beginning of March ~ blogged yesterday. And now we sit and wait to see what happens next. He has a letter offering him a 'provisional place' ~ although I suspect in his case it's not really provisional because he's already done all the tests he's going to!

And there you have it ~ Bug's painless, exam-less, not-quite testless, route into college! The most difficult part was getting to have a proper conversation with the vice-principle in the first place!! He was initially rather dismissive, but I think he realised I wasn't going down without a fight, and in the end was quite helpful. I still haven't met the man face-to-face, although I would have pushed to do so should I have needed to. ;). 

Next year we will be a known entity when I come to do it all again for Taz! He wants to study Music and Biology. Music might not be so much of an issue (although he has no graded instruments), but Biology might be more difficult to convince them to let him in on, as it's a more academic subject. I just hope that his knowledge of the subject, his 'files' of work and his charisma will be enough to carry him in!

Mostly about Bugs ~ and other stuff!!

I don't even know where I'm up to with blogging! I really should keep up to speed better, but I don't and I'm not sure I can either, so it is what it is these days ~ sorry!

Where shall I start..?

I don't think I've blogged Bug's college interview yet, which was back on TP's birthday at the end of Feb! We weren't quite sure what to expect, but parents were invited to attend, so I did. I asked Bugs if he wanted me to disappear for the actual 'interview' part, but most parents seemed to be sticking around and I was surprised (but pleased) when he said he wanted me to also. I don't think he was lacking confidence, but I think he wasn't really sure what HE needed to know about the course etc..., so I was there to help prompt his questions. I was glad I did stay though because his interviewer was not terribly chatty or forth coming about anything really. He sort of talked Bugs through his tick sheet and made assumptions that Bugs knew about stuff on the course he would have had no way of knowing before! He was not a great conversationalist and seemed to be more interested in making sure his form was filled in than whether Bugs was right for the course. I prompted the fact that Bugs had brought a portfolio (it cost us enough money and time..!) and when he saw it he did seem quite impressed and asked Bugs a few questions about certain images. And that was that really. Lastly, he gave Bugs an assignment to complete within 3 weeks. He had to analyse 5 of another photographer's images, take a series of 15 shots of his own on a theme ("A day in the life...") and post 15 images to Flickr (which he already had so that wasn't an issue). I guess this gives them an idea of where each of the students is starting from and also an idea of how they work. Bugs enjoyed it and has now submitted ~ just in time! I think he's going to be a scrape-the-deadline kind of person all the way through, but I think he'll get used to it. The next we should hear will be an invitation to a summer 'tea party' in June ~ a kind of get to know the tutors kinds of thing I guess. And then there may be another assignment to do over the summer break too. It feels all very 'full steam ahead' and Bugs (and I) are really excited about it all. 

The one thing that is still a little niggling worry is that the interviewer had no record of the entrance tests Bug's had done! I think it was really just a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, as he agreed, it would be unlikely that they would have offered Bugs an interview for a course they were not willing to accept him onto. However, the next letter that came in the post was a provisional offer based on grades ~ which of course was a standard letter, but not at all relevant to Bugs. I said to him we'd sit on it and wait to see what comes next before we chase anything else.  I personally think he's in :D

The following week, at the beginning of March, Bugs and I took off to Birmingham NEC for the day to attend 'Focus on Imaging'. We had a really fun day together; handling cameras and lenses we can only dream of! Bugs took off a couple times when I was interested in business-y type things (like websites and album prints...) and took a couple of shots of one of the models (braver than me!).

I, on the other hand, quite by chance got to go have an impromtu coffee with Steve Gosling ~ one of the top UK landscape photographers! He was really friendly and down to earth, and even though landscapes are not my forte, he was really encouraging and had some good tips for Bugs (who came and found us), who loves to shoot landscapes.

When we were almost done for the day, and considering heading home, a guy came up to us and asked if we'd like to win a tripod. Even though I'd recently replaced the one Bugs broke with a better one, I knew anything we won here would be WAY better, so of course we said we would (who wouldn't!). We had to hunt for a little bit of 'lost' card called Leonard! We were told there were about 100 people looking for him. We truly did not expect to find him ~ the exhibition was HUGE. BUT... we did find him! Well, I didn't - Bugs did! And it took us all of about 3 mins! Seriously... we stopped to look at a Fuji camera Bugs fancies and then set off to look. We turned a corner - Bugs looked up into the corner of a stand - and there was Leonard! And just like that he won himself neigh on £500 worth of kit (tripod (named 'Eric') & all the accessories for the tripod - which, by the way, is also a monopod, a rock bag & a T-shirt for each of us)!!
So thank-you 3LeggedThing for making my son VERY happy that day, and believe me, he has become best friends with that tripod!

We'd both like to go back next year ~ maybe with some money in our pockets!! ;D

The rest of March has ticked along pretty 'normally' with schooling etc... Nothing miraculous to report!  DD completed Reading Eggs and moved into the Comprehension part and I know Stitch is pretty close to completing Reading Eggs too. He's not ready for the Comprehension yet though, so I'm going to have to think on my feet a little :D. I'm hoping our subscription to Sumdog will fill the Reading Eggs gap with computer-based English for a bit and I'll add in a bit of paper English when I feel he's more ready for it.

Somewhere near the beginning of March I also took delivery of our very first set of FIAR books (which I got from Conquest Books - who btw, also now stock All About Spelling - Yeah!!). Those books are GORGEOUS!! The short, fun lessons are right up Stitch's street and he LOVES the books too! DD & Lilo also enjoy it. I had feared it would be too young for them, especially Lilo, but it isn't at all and I am definitely glad I took the plunge. I can't fit it in every day, or even every week, but we've done two books so far and it's been fun for all of us ~ no stress! :D

On the subject of All About Spelling... which I wasn't, but I am now... We are now on Level 3. I can see MASSIVE improvements in Lilo's spelling. She still struggles, but what this is doing is giving her the tools & rules she needs to be able to build words successfully. DD is right up there with her, so his spelling is excellent for a 7yo boy! I think come September I will start again with Stitch, back at Level 1. He's quite capable of doing it, but he needs to be able to attend for a decent amount of time, which is where he has issues atm ~ and not just in school! He has about a 20 second attention span it seems at times! 

A week ago last Friday, I took a shopping trip my girls and my M-I-L in Chester we had fun and the pics are blogged HERE. We shopped till we dropped and the girls did fantastically well with their money. If you read their own blogs (links on the right) they made lists of what they bought!!

What else to say..?

Well, I guess the other big news concerns me and my photography...

This last six months I have been taking an online course and that ends in just a few days time :(. It's been great. I've learnt loads and I have the course on-file to keep for reference in the future. The last assignment was to do something out of our ordinary. SO, I reluctantly (I mean kicking and screaming) obeyed and hunted for some inspiration. There are SO many photographers who inspire me, but they mostly shoot outdoors (as I like to) and right now it is simply TOOOO cold to head outside with my crowd. SO I needed some indoor inspiration that was doable in my rather busy house!! I fell upon Sue Bryce and instantly knew I could do something like this with my girls. The upshot of it all was this shoot. When I look at these pictures I struggle with two things... first - believing that those two beautiful young ladies are MY little girls!, secondly - believing that I actually TOOK those shots! It's so confidence boosting to have the knowledge that I really did!

Now, the story doesn't end there! Having seen what I was capable of, coupled with some other spiritual inspiration that weekend (see HERE if you're interested), I felt led to do something new. I still believe what I do for my business is right ~ I am definitely a family lifestyle photographer ~ I shoot on the fly and I love it! But I have wanted for a LONG time to 'give something back'. I've wanted to give the gift of photography just because I can, but not at the expense of my business ~ so how and to whom?

A friend of mine (J) runs a charity. She is a professional beautician & masseur. Her charity gifts 100% free treatments to women refereed to her as needing some TLC!! Many of her clients are cancer suffers, or survivors. Many are struggling with bereavement  Many simply are struggling with incredibly low self-esteem, for whatever reasons (she won't always know why). She gives each of them 7 free treatments (of their choosing) and, in that time, aims to build them up and help them feel valuable and valued again. She is amazing at what she does and I love her! 

As I was editing my pictures of my girls I was just thinking about, and praying for J (as God prompted me), and then it came to me! I shared my idea with J on the Sunday and we have since shared the idea with J's support prayer- network. They have unanimously said we should go for it!

Currently, when J's clients finish their sessions with her, she gives them a bunch of flowers as a gift. The idea that came to me was that we could offer them a make-over and photo-shoot instead! J would do the make-up and I would take the pictures. Our aim would be to make these ladies feel like a million dollars for the day, and then to give them a portrait of themselves that they could cherish & enjoy. We envisage this being all the more valuable for those that are terminally ill. The image of themselves that they will leave behind for their loved ones to treasure, will be one them looking beautiful!

J and I are SOOOO excited about this. I can't wait to get started! I need to scout out a location and then I am going to start with J herself! We figure I need to put together a little 'flyer' so that the ladies can see what's on offer ~ so I need some models in order to do that. We don't imagine that all the clients will want the photo-shoot, but we hope lots of them will and it will be a whole lot of fun for them.

If you are a Christian, I would ask you to pray for our new venture. Pray that I will find the right venue to do this in (light and décor being the main issues) and then that I'll be able get the images I envisage. Pray that we will be able to bless these women with beautiful pictures to build them up and make them feel incredible. Please also pray for the financial side of this. We are doing this at NO CHARGE. Everything will be a gift ~ the make-up, the time, the disk of images, the print - EVERYTHING! We are stepping out in faith for God to provide for this, and trusting Him to be faithful. We both believe the idea has come from & been guided by Him, so please just pray for J & I going forward ~ that we would keep listening and get it right for J's clients and for God!

And on that note I'll leave you with some Sunday afternoon snapshot cuteness...

A Morning Glimpse

I'm hopeless at 'real' blogging these days, 
but I thought I'd share a little snippet of Wednesday morning with you...

Chip decided it was a puzzle day. 

He hasn't done too many puzzles up until now, but has suddenly got the right idea

And today it was hard to get him to move on to anything else!

Above was an attempt to do so, he did it for a short while, then back to the puzzles.

Problem with puzzles and Chip ~ he still requires an assistant and if there isn't one available launching ensues!

In other parts of the room TP was reading, & DD was reading to me.

A little after this Minnie took over with Chip and I did "All About Spelling" with DD and Lilo

Spelling is still a constant struggle for Lilo, but at least we have phonetically correct spelling now and she is making good progress. Most days she gets more spellings right than wrong now :D In the end, on this test they both got 20/25 with only a couple that they both spelt wrong ('oyster' being one of them, 'while' being another!). At the moment we are just running over a few of the more difficult-to-spell words, but when we are done we will be already on Level 3. 

In the study, Bugs was working on some editing of shots he took whilst at Focus On Imaging on Tuesday ~ which is really another post in itself...

Most of this time Stitch had been working on the laptop (probably on Reading Eggs) and at this point something required a LOT of attention... (there are a good many of these moments in our days!)

And all that before snack-break @11am, when I put my camera down and it disappeared for some time!!

Probably after snack I did some maths with DD & Stitch, DD worked on Explode the Code (Online) and before lunch we did Geography  all together. We were looking at 'Geomorphological Processes' this week ~ they all loved learning that word :D!  For Bugs and Taz it was a quick revision of material they have already covered (in more depth) in their Science this last year, but not for the others. I often get groans when it's time for Geography, but in reality they all find it quite interesting, so I ignore the groans!

I've no idea what happened the rest of the day, but there'd have been some older kid's maths and English going on, and Taz did some Science I think.  He did his end of module test today (Thurs) and got 100%, so now he's moving onto the next level course ~ he's chosen Biology, which I must admit surprised me rather. When I chose Biology at school it was because it was the only science I really understood, but I know he's chosen it because it genuinely interests him ~ which is a much better reason! Scarily like his dad, who did Maths, Music and Biology at college, Taz would like to do Music and Biology too (and said so before his Dad told him that's what he did!). Actually Taz could probably also manage Maths if he wanted to, but I'm almost certain that won't be a choice he makes!

So there it is, a bit of a morning here - in pictures.

Bugs Play Tenth Avenue North

By Your Side

I'm pretty proud of him for getting this far almost entirely off his own back :D

This Week in not-so Brief...

I decided that after half term we were going to knuckle down a bit as we have a nice long stretch now until Easter. It had been a mad busy half-term with a birthday party, a birthday, sleep-overs, The Gathering 2011 (meaning really late nights for the big boys) & Granny staying, but planned outings turned into a wash-outs, so we hadn't spent as much time as I'd have liked outside. Monday the sun came out a little - typically! So I gave the kids an 'inset' day (lol) and sat on the pc doing a little planning and printing (no playing - honest!!). In the evening I also renewed the activities on Stitches 'school' shelf ~ I'm hoping he'll like to do what's there, but screens are way too inviting to him atm!


I absolutely LOVE lessonpathways ~ it's simply so much of a time saver. I headed on over to look up something to do with DD this week and fell upon 'My Shadow' for literacy, so decided to tie that in with the 'shadows' for science and do a sort of 'four-in-a-row' mini unit (we don't work on Fridays so normally only four in our house, but this week only 3 in reality as we'd skipped Monday!) :D
It's been a lot of fun so far and DD has really enjoyed it. Lilo and some of the others wanted to join in too and I think they've all learnt something new, so that's been good too. We began by talking about Robert Louis Stevenson ~ "boring!" in DD's words, but I kept it short and sweet. Sometimes I feel it's good to let them hear stuff they are not so 'into' ! Then we talked about where light comes from and how it is essential for the survival of all living things. This was developed today with the older children over lunch, when we had a discussion about vitamin D & 'rickets' ~ they were asking to go on the Wii and I was kicking them outside instead! (I have the policy that the Wii in the daytime is only for wet and freezing days, otherwise they have to go catch some rays!) For 'hands on' stuff, we have drawn around our shadows on the yard (DD and Minnie did anyway) and then watched them move and grow. DD has been really grabbed by this and keeps asking "HOW?", but I've left that question open for next week: now his curiosity is really sparked I think he will be even more absorbent of the answers!
We also talked about how light 'bends' and 'bounces' and played with a big bowl of water. He was fascinated by how much bigger his hand looked in the water when he looked through the side of the bowl and I attempted to explain how the curve of the bowl bends the light so that it magnifies his hand. We also dropped objects into the water and noticed how much harder it was to grab them out whilst looking through the side of the bowl ~ fun!
He played with the little BBC Bitesize interactive 'thing' from my last post and enjoyed that.
We attempted to make a sundial, but the spot I chose was too shady after 4pm, so I need to 'move' it and try again on another sunny day, but we did manage to plot 3 hours worth so he got the idea.
And inside we made shadow puppets and a screen to show them on ~ great fun :D


We didn't actually finish all I'd planned to do with him on the topic ~ mainly because two of our computers were being stupid today and ate my Solomon-free time, so we didn't do any shadow work today (grrr). Next week we will finish off the science element and work on the literacy side ~ writing some fun poems together :D ~ definitely something that some of the others can join in with too if they want to!


Aside from shadows, DD and Stitch played 'letter bingo' with Bugs and me today (Bugs played to take the other board) and I was amazed how quickly these boys are picking up their letter sounds now. I haven't worked much more on this in the last week or two, but they have at least two or three more that they each know now :D. I was pleased to notice this week that Starfall have now added to their site and I paid up for the extra 'stuff' this week. That, together with Education City, their Leapsters and Leapworld (which they get as part of the package with their Leapsters) are all making up a very comprehensive package of stuff that they both love to spend time on. Stitch also still loves Poissonrouge (which keeps getting better). It's hard to limit computer/screen when I know they are gaining so much from it, but I do pull them off from time to time!! So today, we also did a jigsaw and talked about 'opposites' (that's what the jigsaw was designed to help teach). Stitch already knew most of them, which was reassuring as I haven't 'taught' them as such at any point. Tbh, I am discovering more and more just how much these boys learn by simply being allowed to explore and discover. I am happy that it is so as it makes my life SO much easier that they are natural learners. Lilo is too to a great degree and given the right tools (introduced with careful timing) she can really fly off on her own. She is beginning to read things independently of me now (of her own choosing) and likewise to write things that she wants to down at times.  She has made amazing progress this year and she knows it! She said today, quite flippantly, "I'm getting much better at my reading now." ~ I guess she really means it is beginning to feel easier to her, which is very pleasing.


I never seem to have so much to say about the bigger children, but they are doing well too :D I guess they just need me less these days ;( I mark what they do and it's mostly correct. They call me when they need me, which seems a lot collectively, but really isn't individually! I really want to get back to some 'group' stuff now though ~ geography, astronomy, history, art, music ~ they all seem to have been sidelined for far too long. Bugs was even asking about doing some Geography again today. I think they miss it ~ I know I do! Although I don't miss the noise that usually accompanies group-work! I just need to get my head around it and work out a time when Solomon is consistently asleep for long enough to do it. It'll be summer before we know it and I hope it won't take that long before we get back to at least one them, however long summer days learning in the garden do lend themselves nicely to topic work ;)


One thing I need to blog though, is that after setting down MPH maths with TP for almost a year I decided to give it back to her the week before half term. I asked her to complete a few practices towards the end of the book (where she had begun to come un-stuck). With minimal coaching, just a little reminding of how, but only once, she did them with ease. She went on to work the 'revision' (which I use as an end-of-book 'test' ~ meaning they get zero help from me when they are doing it) and got 86% correct! I was thrilled for her. She has now gone on to 2A and says it is easy :D I'm so glad we took a break. I am becoming ever more the advocate of child-paced learning. I always have been in theory, but the reality has been hard for me to find my way to. I think at last, after almost 10 years of not-quite-getting-it, I am finally beginning to see how children really can learn of their own free-will, if they are given the right 'space' and tools to do so. I even sat and explained to Taz today why our 'school' does not always seem 'fair' ~ that being because they are all different, with different strengths, weaknesses and passions and if each of them were doing the same as the next, then I would not be doing my 'job' well in meeting their individual needs. I think he understood, although I don't think he liked it! He pines after 'going' to school a bit just lately. I think he would almost like to prove me wrong about it! Although what he'd be setting out to prove I don't exactly know ;) He thinks they are all saddled with HE because I didn't like school ~ but that is not the entire truth really (only a small part of it). I just have no faith in state education as an effective way to learn. Taz doesn't get it, but then I wouldn't really expect a 12yo to. He thinks if he went to school he would make a whole gang of close friends ~ he doesn't believe me that that is not very likely. In reality he might a few good friends, for a few years, who he will then completely loose touch with the day he leaves, keeping in touch with maybe one or two if he's lucky. That is not so unlike where he is at now!! He even implied to me today that he would like to find out just how much he would hate it at school ~ sort of like he knows he would, but just wants to taste the disappointment!! Odd child! But he can save it ~ I'm not sending him ;) 

Ok ~ that's enough now ~ enjoy the pictures (click to see them bigger if you wish too) ..!