Obviously for home-educated children there is no such things as 'back to school' in the traditional sense, but as we DO take traditional holidays there is a definite change when term starts up. Suddenly the idleness and non-routine of summer is gone and thinking caps go back on! If it were sunny, which it isn't, I'm sure learning would be happening in the garden and lanes, but as it is wet (no change there then) we are pretty much confined to the house and more formal learning, but that's OK ~ it gets us back in the swing of things, and away from excess square screen time..!
It's been an up and down kind of week. Being now almost 28 weeks pregnant I am finding it a struggle to keep going all day, but I am also acutely aware of having had 8 weeks off and the children really needing to get back to some kind of routine ~ if only to make sure they get up and dressed in the mornings!! ;)
So, at the end of last week I sat down and went through resources with them and talked through my expectations for them for the year. Nothing as heavy as it seems, except that I did make it clear to both older boys that they needed to be working a bit harder than they had been. They agreed - in theory!! Then this week we 'started up' again. Monday was a nightmare, but I think that was just settling in/down to the idea of using a pencil again. There was far too many 'Muuuummmmeeeeeeeeeee'-s in that day to be bearable!! Tuesday and Wednesday were loads better, but Thursday had some pretty awful patches again. Even though I decided at the beginning of the week that all the 'group' activities could start up next week to give me chance to get back in the swing too, it still seemed to a big stretch. Wednesday night Stitch joined us in our bed from the small hours onwards and I know my sleep was erratically broken, not because he was a pain, but just because he was there. I woke up still tired and far too early, which really did not help my mood for the day. So when the Bugs had a wobbly over something little and continued yelling at me after several warnings to stop - well I kind of lost the plot! That was right at the start of the day ~ good start! When we'd both calmed down (and talked) things were better for a while and he was certainly good as gold for the rest of the day! The girls were angels, but I didn't have enough patience with Lilo and her reading (or lack of it) today. We did have fun writing an opposite poem though: we read 'Bed in Summer' and reversed everything in it ~ which ended up, of course, like a poem written by someone who works a night shift and talked about how that might feel, so not a completely lost day!
She's also continued with Orange Miquon this week and has done some Headsprout. I decided it was time to challenge her though and get her to prove to herself that she is actually better at reading than she believes, so I set her THIS book to read over the weekend. There is nothing in it she can't sound out, so with a little concentration and determination I know she can read it! I've asked Paul to read it with her though ~ he has more patience than me atm!! I meant to do some Science with her too, but that didn't happen :( ~ next week..!
The little ones enjoyed games of Dotty Dinosaurs (big favourite with Stitch atm, and he knows all the shapes too) and played with shape pictures for quite a while.
DD also did some colouring by numbers & some other number work (basically quickly revising concepts I know he already understands, ready to step up the game a little ~ he is good with numbers now). We also set up a little science experiment and talked about what 'science' actually is. He is BIG on asking questions at the moment, so this really appealed! Other stuff I have done with him this week; read Three Billy Goats Gruff and did 'language arts' stuff related to that ~ talking about concepts & words in the story, re-enacting the story with finger puppets & playing with playdough mats (I even made the playdough!). A friend put me onto THIS website and actually it's looking like it might be a really great resource for Lilo and DD this year. I've also put Minnie and TP on Science & Language Arts streams too, but they can work through them more at their leisure than my instruction (although I will get involved where I need to of course) ~ it's just another resource for them to access to make life interesting :D ~ This is the Science page that Minnie made a start on, in case you are interested.
At the end of Thursday Taz was doing a crossword based on collective nouns. It WAS challenging and tbh I couldn't have answered all of it without doing a bit of 'looking up'. His problem is that he approaches all of school (and life) like a test ~ he assumes, as I guess all 11 year old do, that he KNOWS everything he needs to know already and therefore he can answer anything worthwhile with the knowledge he already has. Problem is, of course, that he doesn't know that much really, so when he comes up against things he cannot answer easily he has a tantrum!! Despite having well stocked shelves of books and the internet readily at hand he thinks sucking answers out of me, or getting me to do the research is a much better thing to do than look anything up himself. He is approaching 12 ~ this is no longer an acceptable solution in my eyes and so I told him he had to find the answers for himself (especially as I would have had to have done the same) ~ cue major wobble, huffing, puffing, crying, slamming of the computer mouse when the first website he visited didn't have the answers he wanted... cue me getting rather annoyed with him... cue more tears and anger... (does this sound familiar to ANYONE, please tell me it does!!). Eventually he found all but two of the answers he needed, but was FURIOUS that it had taken so long! Welcome to life son ~ things do not always arrive on your plate so easily as the snap of your fingers!!
There have been a few other issues with Taz this week too, but I am hoping that things will settle down as he gets used to this years work load..!
Bugs on the other hand ~ who used to give me SO much grief, has worked like a dream. Long may it continue! :D But we are beginning to think about the future for him too. He is worried (although I am not) about not taking any GCSE's (which quite simply we cannot afford to put him through, and in all honestly I am not sure would benefit him really for HIS future). He is NOT an academic ~ not stupid at all, really quite bright, but not 'sparked' by academic subjects. I cannot see him flying into a career where he is required to use Science, Maths, or English much beyond the normal everyday level that most of us use. I want him to be well grounded and 'up to standard' in those subjects of course, but I do not think an exam in them is necessary for where he is likely heading. He is creative and I want him to be able to enjoy his learning in a creative way. I think that school would stifle him and in reality, IF he went in next year with a view to doing GCSE's, he would hate it more than he realises. SO, what instead..? We like the look of this; http://www.s-cheshire.ac.uk/newcamp/14-19/course14.htm
He would look at doing the 'creative and media' higher diploma (equivalent to 7 A-C GCSE's), with a view to then going on to do the Photography AS/A2 course, but of course that would be optional, he could do pretty much anything else if he chose to at that point and of course he could do additional studies too. SO, here's hoping that this course is open to him (need to make some enquiries), because it looks absolutely up his street and I think college will be a healthier environment for him than school, especially as it is quite likely that some of his church friends are to be going there next year too.
Monday week I have my annual visit from out LEA lady ~ it doesn't worry me as she is very nice and has been consistently visiting us for a number of years now, but still, it's in the back of my mind with recent events and all...
I think that's about all I can think to write just now; pretty 'schooly' I know, but life itself just ticks along, with me getting fatter and the kids getting bigger ~ that's just us!! I still struggle to envisage our family with another little addition in around about 12 weeks time... I am SO not ready for that!
I thought it was about time I brought you all up to spead properly on things in the FrogAcademy household.
As you know Paul and I took a weekend in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago, to view a potential pastorate there. This was a small church of under 20 people, who's pastor moved on earlier this year. It was suggested to us as a venture that we could take on, but we went knowing that they were at a crossroads of knowing whether or not it was right to continue the church with such a small number, or whether to call it a day. They had just been moved out of the local Next Generation Gym that they were using, when it was taken over by another company, and were meeting in a local community centre for the first time that weekend. We went with an open mind, but with no real sense of 'calling' to the place, just the knowledge that vision for us often comes when a sense of a place/people moves in our hearts.Not long after we arrived on Friday afternoon we went to view a couple of houses for rent - one was a strong potential. In the evening we went into central Glasgow (on the train) for a wander (city on a Friday night - didn't want to leave our van anywhere!) and a meal. It was suprisingly quiet, although the Italian Restaurant (my choice) was pretty busy. The food was delicious and the service very good. We then went for a wander along the river, to get a feel for the city. I rang home to my friend R to check Nat was OK - which of course he was - and we caught the train back to the Premier Inn where we were staying, in Milngavie. By this time I was not feeling very well at all and gradually got worse over the weekend, but had to muddle through all the same :(
Saturday morning P had his interview (or rather WE did, as for this kind of job I matter too). The leaders were really lovely - a pretty together bunch with a sense of unity that they really wanted to see their church into the future. We chatted about styles of ministry, vision, community, and other such stuff. But for us still no sparks from Heaven.
Saturday afternoon we decided to go for a drive to think, talk and pray (after we had viewed another potential property). Our original plan had be to wander around 'Anniesland' to get more of a feel for the place, but it soon became apparent that Anniesland was a bit of a non-community, too vague a location to have a set place to wander round. This for us was a minus point. We are the sort of people who need to get our hands dirtly in 'community' and one of the things the leaders had said at the interview was that there was very little sense of community where their church currently was. SO, we drove out to Loch Lomond instead and arrived just in time to watch the sun setting (beautiful, but REALLY hard to get good shots of when the battery in your camera is virtually dead - such bad timing!).
Saturday evening we went out for a nice meal with the leadership - again a really great time of being together, chatting and getting to know one another, but for us still no real sense of calling to be there. I think we made our decision that evening.
In essence we felt we could take on this little church, we could shape it and mould it and really make it our own. We could inject some vision and try to begin to build it into the community (which I might say we would have had a better chance of doing in the new community centre they had moved to, or the school opposite that most of the local children went to, than where they had been meeting previous to that) - we could do all those things and they were the pluses, BUT we just didn't get a sense of 'calling' to do it and so in the end we decided that without that essential ingrediant it was too big a risk to take, as it could just as easily fall flat if tried to do it all of ourselves and without God's backing. In reality I am sure God would bless our work even if we did decide for it, but it would not necessarily be His BEST for us - or for THEM, so we said "No". We don't actually know what their decision was in the end because we communicated our decision through the Regional Superintendent (the co-ordinator / overseer of the NorthWest regional Elim Churches) and so did they.
And so, we are staying put for now - again! Still praying over where God wants us to be next. If I am honest I cannot shrug off Windermere very easily. I have tried to, and for a few weeks I thought I had, but it just won't leave me alone. It comes in my dreams, in the early morning thoughts, in my falling asleep thoughts, just all the time really. Paul knows this, but for reasons I cannot talk of on here, this option is not open to us anymore right now. I STILL think it is where God wants us to be - somewhere along that lake (even though if I had my my pick of anywhere in The Lakes, I would be more up towards Borrowdale). I have not felt as spirtually alive in such a long time as I did in the time that we were seeking God over WCC, and I don't want to let that go again, but for now...
Paul is not taking his name off Stationing List, but he has got an action plan to prevent him from stagnating in the waiting. There is house-group that our church oversees in Winsford which P is going to take over for a while. It is actually the remains of a slightly bigger church that had difficulties, but we (our church) are hoping it may develop into a church plant. If P feels it is right and he is growing a vision/passion for the place/people he may stay on to help it grow, but meanwhile we will keep busy while we wait to see what plans God has for us.
Paul has an interview in Anniesland, Glasgow. Not sure when it will be yet, but watch this space :) Nothing is certain or set in stone, but it looks like it might be a strong possible.
It's been crazy in my house today. J2 and E each had a friend over and A&P had 2 sisters over to play (A&C). So in all 11 kids for lunch & most of the day - that made short work of a loaf of bread!! Surprisingly it was relatively peaceful - aside from the occasional crash & ride of drums. The children kept themselves very nicely busy. I managed to get on and sort out all my re-usable nappies for storage/sale/freecycle and sort out some fresh toys for N so that he is not so bored in the daytime. It's great bringing out toys I'd almost forgotten we had - a bit like an early Christmas. Hopefully it will help N a little next week, but it serves the dual purpose of helping me know what we could get him for Christmas without doubling up. In all honesty, he doesn't need anything and last year everyone put money in the bank for him I have then spent it over the year on odd things here and there that he has needed or I have thought he'd enjoy. But this year I think he will want to be opening stuff like everyone else, so I don't think we will get away with that again. I'm going to try and make sure that whatever I buy he can use for a good long time (value for money), or it's cheap and chearful and will 'break and bin' quickly enough to not add to our ever increasing ,mountain of 'stuff' (and then I'll put his real present in the bank!!).
I haven't been to bed before 3am all week - really trying to get the house straight and sorted even if it's not very clean. At least if its tidier it's easier to clean and it looks better generally. Problem is I am now pretty exhausted and getting grouchy, so when I walk into the girls room, after spending an entire day tidying it on Tuesday and a bit on Wednesday too, and find sooo much stuff out and bits spread everywhere again (due to have 3 extra girls playing in there I guess) it does make my heart sink a little :( It would have recovered fine if the girls had then continued on to put everything back away in it's right places - being that everything now has a new and better organised space to be in - but No! I go up to find, having been told they had finished tidying, bits scattered around, books and make-up stuffed under cupboards, things in the dressing up that simply are not (towel, nightdress), things just dumped on the nearest available surface through lack of thought where it should properly go, etc... Would you guess what I did?... Yup! I blew my top big time. I was SOOO mad with them. I am 'this' close to getting rid of everything and cancelling Christmas presents. If they continue to show so little respect for their things, or the time and energy I have put in over the last couple of days to improve things in their room for them then I might just do it. My guess they wouldn't let it happen again!!
Oh well, tomorrow is another day - I hope they will do better. I think I might make it a 'homework' day as they all have bits they need to do before school next week; Spanish practice, spellings, unfinished poster (A), unfinished Maths & History (JA). That will keep them busy and stop them making so much mess - maybe ;-)
It is a good time to be sorting though. I am managing to find things for the shoe box appeal parcels that my Mum does every year, for selling on Ebay to raise cash for Christmas, and to generally get rid of by whatever means so that there at least a little less to take with us when we do eventually move. Tbh - I am dreading it. We are going to need two big lorries I think - we have sooo much stuff! And sooo much furniture to contain it and us! But if it is organised before we start trying to pack hopefully it will go some way to making the whole thing less stressfull (c'mon, you've got to let me deream a little)!!
The Previa has a bid on it for £150 with 11 watchers, so it's sold at least this time (second listing), but I hope the bidding will go up a little bit.
