Bullet Point Year!

Well, part two of last year's post never happened. Despite taking a whole different approach to home-educating the chids these days, life just seems to rush past. This blog has missed significant birthdays and events and I'm sad about that. If anyone follows me on Flickr, you might also realise how horribly behind I am with my photos too! I just never seem to find the time, but it isn't helped by having a study at the top of the house where it's not only cold in winter, but also a dark room all year round. It just has one tiny window and one tiny wall-light. It's not really somewhere I like to be, other than to sleep because I feel so cut off up there. BUT that's where the big computer is and that's where 'work' happens, so avoiding being there means I also don't get so much done as I might! I have decided now that I cannot even begin to fill you in on everything that's happened since September last year (which was where my last blog got up to really), so without pictures (although I may add them later) I am going to bullet-point the year and start again from now. Then maybe I might feel like this blog is worth keeping going. I know so many of my blogger friends of ages have ceased to blog for one reason and another, but for me this is a good record of our lives. It's the only diary I keep and I really hate that it is so out-of-date. I am so thankful for the photographs I take that also serve to help me remember all that I might have otherwise forgotten, but so many of the 'snippets' of life are lost in one-off snapshots on my phone. They do pop-up up every now and then and bring a smile though, so that's nice 😃

If you don't want to read everything here do feel free to skip forward to the present, but I am recording this for MY benefit, possibly more than for my readers 😉

SO...

End of September & October 2016;

• Big move to Liverpool (see last post)
• Unpack the house and spend some time settling in, exploring the city and that kind of thing
• Girls start courses at colleges in Crewe & Nantwich (planning to commute and see for a year). Abbie will stay at a friend's house two nights a week to make it less arduous, and means she can continue her ballet for another year :D It also means she gets to see all her friends in Nantwich because she is there the right night to go to the youth group. I'm happy that the transition is made gentler for her by all of this. Phoebe is only in college one day a week, so the travelling is not such an issue for her.
• Joel starts college in Liverpool and doesn't like it much to begin with, but thinks there are more opportunities here.
• Boys make a bunch of friends on the park and spend a LOT of time playing football, especially after school's out each day.
• Try out a new gym for Caleb, but he decides not to continue 😞and to find a new sport instead. 
• Paul is inducted as Pastor and it's lovely to have so many friends with us for the evening :D
• Joel turns 18!

November;

• I have a weekend back in Nantwich at a Pastor's Wives Retreat, which is refreshing and lovely! I land myself a reputation as a techno-wizz and end up setting up a Facebook group for us all to keep in touch 😉
• My amazing niece gets baptised, in Birmingham :D
• Have a clothes sale at church (to raise money for setting up a new toddler group), at which I have to say goodbye to almost all my little children's clothes. We fill the room with clothes! It is hard for me to watch them go, but good in it's own way.
• Caleb and Phoebe have a rock-climbing try out
• Ellie is supposed to have a dance trial, but ends up not going
• Boys start going to Mini-Soccer on a Saturday and enjoy it.
• Joel has his first paid Gig with some college friends. They've formed a band called 'Food for Zeus' and are REALLY good!!
• Ellie turns 13!

December;

• Nothing majorly significant or exciting happens.
• Lots of prep for Christmas - especially now Paul is the boss!!
• Chip turned 6. We organised a rock-climbing party for him and bunch of his friends (and siblings) - but he wouldn't climb!! He said he enjoyed it though. Funny little thing!
• Christmas - Just us - the first time in many years! The church bless us with a MASHOOSIVE hamper of goodies, someone else blesses us with 3 joints of meat and other goodies - and some money. What was looking like a scant Christmas is suddenly very much more abundant. God is VERY good to us :D
• Boxing Day spent with family again - this year in a community hall in Hinkley, where Paul's sister works. It's lovely and we have a great day :D
• Over New Year my Mum and Nan come to stay and we open our home to the neighbours and church family for a party - but everyone is gone home before midnight, which feels rather odd! We are used to parties where everyone outstays their welcome 😉!

January;

• The start of 2017 is about as stressful as it could possibly be. My Nan had not been very well really over New Year, and on going home she gets worse almost overnight. She is admitted to hospital with impaction and severe dehydration. She is in hospital for almost 10 days. She loses loads of weight and we really think we were going to lose her. She is more or less refusing to eat, but eventually we begin to be able to get her to eat a bit more. When she is discharged, having resolved the impaction, she has a pressure sore, is painfully thin, still eating very little and has almost no energy to do anything. A care package is put in place for her and we get Complan prescribed for her, to try and increase her calorie intake. Miraculously, she slowly comes back to us. She regains almost a stone and has been well ever since - until recently (Nov 2017), but more on that in a bit.
• At church we start our Toddler Group - Seedlings. One Mum comes the first week and three the next. We see slow but steady growth over the year and have a good number of regulars now :D. It's still a small group, but there seems to be a culture of putting children into Nursery very young and many get full-time vouchered places from the age of 3. So, I am not terribly surprised we aren't bursting at the seams. But it's a nice group and we all enjoy it :D
• I begin to take on a more admin for Paul, including building a website and more of a web-presence on Facebook and the like. 
• Joel breaks up with his girlfriend 😞

February;

• Nan on the mend now, so my Mum goes home (eventually). 
• Spend a weekend in Malvern for a 'Transition Training' weekend, which is lovely, gives us a short break and also the chance to catch up with Helen & Geoff, some old-friends of ours who live there. Geoff was one of Paul's lecturers at college and Helen and I became very good friends. We hadn't seen them for a few years and we got to spend the evening with them :D
• Abbie turns 16 and Phoebe 15. 
• The Dunnes pay us a visit (miss them so much) and Jack fixes our sash window in the dining room!
• The Pearces (cousins) visit too and we have a lovely few days with them. 

March;

• Abbie decides that next academic year she would rather study in Liverpool, so we go to an open evening at City of Liverpool College to look at the Bakery Btec there. She is fairly convinced she'll make the change.
• I take Ellie, DD, Stitch and Chip to a Schools Performance at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. They are all enthralled and Ellie decides she would really like to learn to play the violin! Definitely one to do again :D
• Take the same four + Abbie & Phoebe to an 'Endangered Animals' workshop at the Maritime Museum (where they also have a Customs and Excise section called 'Seized'). They enjoy it - and so do I! 
• We go to Watoto Choir concert in Liverpool and arrive late because Paul got the time wrong!!
• We have our first 'Family Film Night' at church, which is well attended and a hit with everyone who comes :D

April;

• We take a lovely Spring walk around Calderstones Park, the chids do lots of tree climbing and Chip learns to ride his bike - at last :D
• Next day we go to the beach at RedRocks beach on the Wirral and have a fabulous afternoon and evening with a fish and chips supper on the beach (in the rain). :D
• Take chids to a Viking Village day over at Birkenhead Priory. It's FREEZING but generally they enjoy the outing. Paul suggests getting the re-enactors to put on a whole day for us and to use the church. I take the details.
• I finish a blanket I have been crocheting for ages and Chip claims it as his!
• We run our first Children's Holiday Club at church (Adventure Cruise) and it goes down incredibly well. There's a great team that run it and everyone has a lot of fun. 
• I start playing Crown Green Bowls with Linda and Dot's team. Apparently I'm not that bad at it and it's quite fun.
• My Mum comes up to stay again for a bit. 
• Ellie has a violin group-taster session (on a borrowed violin). She enjoys it, but the group is a bit too young for her. I need to find another solution - and a violin!
• Take most of the family to a 'Rock Pools' workshop at The World Museum. It's interesting, but not a lot of new-to-us stuff. 

May;

• Jake turns 20 and gets a job!
• Stitch turns 10.
• We take a family walk up to The Dream (in St Helen's)
• Paul and I have a night out at The Liverpool Philharmonic; "Sound Like Shakespeare." It's lovely :D
• Go to Elim Leader's Conference in Harrogate and take Jake and Joel with us as young leaders. We have a wonderful three days. So inspiring and uplifting, encouraging and motivating :D
• We spend a lovely weekend in Nantwich at Bren & Michelle's 20th WA celebrations. 
• Phoebe, Chip and myself spend the weekend in Meltham at J&J's OTP Party in the Field. As always a great weekend with friends.
• The kids play late on the park now that the nights are staying light later. 

June;

• It's beginning to look a lot like summer!
• Caleb turns 12. He has a climbing party (just family) and this time Chip climbs and discovers he loves it. He's definitely found his brave since his birthday.
• My birthday - but not much happens. We were going to go to The Lakes for the day, but for various reasons it couldn't happen. Instead we have a day on beach at New Brighton. It's a lovely day - and turns out to be our last beach day as a whole family for the entire summer. 
• Rachel Jones comes to share and preach at our church and it's a fabulous day :D
• We have a quiz night at church and it's great fun!
• Abbie goes to ballet for the very last time 😔

July;

• I speak at Aglow. It's received well, but I don't think I am called to be a speaker!
• My Mum comes over for a couple of days and we go out for the day to Farmer Teds, then over to Crosby Beach for fish and chips on the beach on the way home. A good fun day with not too much walking!
• Second family film night goes down just as well and we decide to make it a bi-monthly thing, with other activities in between. 
• DD & Stitch go to an Egyptian Workshop at TWM and I take Sol to a workshop next door in The Walker Gallery. The girls go to the library for a bit. Then we all meet up and spend the afternoon in The Walker Gallery doing a 'treasure trail' with some other Home-Edders (this time a Christian group). It's a lovely day and some of the children exchange contact details.
• We are offered a free weekend away at a conference (CMJ) and it turns out to be a very refreshing weekend. All the children have a great time and make some lovely new friends - some of whom are also home-ed :D But the best bit is that Chip and Stitch both make personal decisions to become Christians :D
• We spend 3 days taking part in 'Jesus Loves' outreach. It's a fabulous week, culminating in three young people from our church (amongst MANY others) getting baptised - one of whom is Caleb!

August;

• Abbie goes away for a whole week to New Day camp, with her BFF, and comes back buzzing! 
• Meanwhile we have Terry and Judi, whose mission we went to in Kenya, here to speak at church. It's lovely to catch up with them, exchange news and renew friendships :D
• We run our second children's holiday club (Adventure Cruise, part II) and it's equally good fun, with a few more attenders.
• We set of on our family holidays to Cromer, via Cambridgeshire to collect a tent from the Haricots, this year minus one. Jake was working 😞 Our first incomplete-family holiday. All the same we had a lovely week and made the most of having Joel with us, in full knowledge that he too would soon be fledging home. 
• We drive right across the country to Mid-Wales (such a long drive) for a Christian Retreat week at Cefn-Lea. Jake meets us there. Again it's a fabulous 5 days and we all have a great time. It's a bit of a bus-man's holiday for Paul and I because we are there with 20 others from our church and therefore in a pastoral role, but that doesn't stop us receiving some great teaching ourselves. It's also a lovely opportunity to catch-up with friends from Nantwich because many of them come too. The children & teenagers get to be with their friends and we barely see them all week, except when hunger comes calling. It's a highlight of our year really, and this year the teenagers especially seemed to make some made-to-last friendships :D
• Then home to our final weekend of Joel being at home with us. We have a family afternoon walking around Red Squirrels (NT) in Formby, then over the sand dunes to the beach, where I and the girls can't resist the sea despite being completely unprepared to swim. We all go in fully clothed. I think it was the warmest beach day we had all summer and we were only there about an hour! 
• Paul drove Joel down to Yeovil on the 31st, 
• I can't go because I have to take Phoebe for her college interview and enrolment. She too has decided to study closer to home from September. 
• Abbie also enrols in college here in Liverpool.

September;

• Both girls start at their new colleges and settle in quickly. Phoebe finds it a bit difficult to fit in at first but when she prays about it, God quickly answers and she settles better after that. Abbie seems to make a group of friends right from the off :D
• Take 5 chids down to the docks for the day for the Pirate Festival. It's absolutely freezing down there, but we have a fun day. 
• Take DD to climbing club and sign him up to the NICAS scheme with a plan to go more regularly now. He is VERY good. Phoebe has decided she doesn't really want to climb for a hobby.
• We manage to get Ellie a violin on a loan-to-buy scheme from a local shop, and she gets started using free online tuition. She's loving it and making good progress so far.
• My Nan celebrates 92 years of life!
• Jake is offered promotion to a full-time position :D

October;

• Joel has his first not-at-home birthday and turns 19. We miss him!
• The big 5 go off to The Gathering (and see Joel & a lot of their 'national' friends there) for the weekend. They come back buzzing as always. This year a couple of other young people from our church go too.
• I take the boys to a 'Reformation Day' party and then to a PJ Film Night at another local church (instead of celebrating Halloween) and they have a great time at both. 
• We have a church 'games' night which is a blast and there are calls for another soon. :D
• I start a monthly 'Family Bible Study' night at church, which also goes down really well. I hope it will grow, but I'm happy to do it even for just my own family. It's a bonus to share the time with others.
• Sign Stitch up for Hoffmann Academy - online piano lessons and he is making real progress and enjoys the lessons. 

November (so far);

• We have taken the children to the cinema twice during the 'Into Film' free films fortnight. Paul took them the first time to see Cars 3 and I took them to see Goodbye Christopher Robin (through which Abbie & I wept almost the whole film). 
• I took Ellie and DD to meet up with some older HE kids one afternoon, whilst Stitch, Chip and I had a wander round the top floor of The Museum Of Liverpool. We didn't really finish looking round, but they found it interesting. 
• Stitch and Chip are going regularly to a 'Multisports' activity for an hour each Wednesday. Most Wednesdays my friend picks them up and drops them home, which affords me the luxury of almost 2 hours peace - and was the reason I started this blog today (although it's taken me all day to write it and they have long since been home and requiring my attention).
• Caleb has passed his Level 1 NICAS and is half way to completing Level 2 already. He can climb Grade 5+ climbs and can't wait to get on to higher Levels. He absolutely loves it and I think the coaches have spotted that he's a bit good!
• My Nan has become increasingly unwell over the last month or so. To begin with she was having excessive diarrhoea, but being on permanent heavy laxatives I knew it was not a repeat of last years impaction episode  She then had two falls when going to the loo in the night (thankfully she was unhurt both times) and simultaneously she began eating less and less again and saying she had no appetite. I called the GP we agreed a slight change to her medication and to run some blood tests. Suffice to say the blood picture is not great and this Thursday I am taking her to have a conversation with the consultant at the hospital. I can't say too much just now, but I will when we have a clearer picture of what's going on with her. She is losing weight quickly though and becoming weaker again by the day.
• On Monday Ellie turns 14 and we are in the run up to Christmas. I am certainly not ready for it all this year - mentally or in any other way. I actually wish I could run and hide until it's all over. To top all the stress of caring for my ailing Nan, shopping for Christmas (and two birthdays) for not only us, but my Mum and Nan too, and 3 boisterous boys who don't handle being shut up in the house so much, now that the dark nights have drawn in and playing out is not an option; I have also managed to hurt my back somehow and am on high doses of pain killers that make me feel a bit sick, dopey and dysfunctional. But it'll all come out in the wash I guess...

If anyone want to have a look at any pictures, the best way to link events to pictures is to look at my 'albums' view on Flickr. It's not quite up to date atm (only goes up to Day One of our Cromer holiday), but it will get there soon I hope. This is the first picture-less post I've done in a millennium, but needs must. Hopefully now I'm caught up, I can stay that way!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pcjjap/albums

Planning for FrogAcademy 2015

This year sees the dawn of a year when I have my eldest son, who has completely finished his education and is job-hunting, whilst at the same time my youngest just begins the journey of his 'education' years. If I am being totally honest here, I'm 13 years in, with another 12 years looming ahead of me, and the thought is very daunting! I cannot even begin to drum up the mad-enthusiasm I had in those beginning years. In those early days (after we walked away from ACE) I would spend hours downloading - on significantly slower internet, printing and planning. And then I would try to muster up the same enthusiasm in my children ~ and often it fell flat, but I persisted anyway. Gradually, over the years, I began to hear my children better and started to model their education around them more as individuals, and life improved. If you read back over the years of my blog though, you will observe that we began very structured and timetabled; loosened up somewhat, but still had very much a formal style of learning. Up until now that has worked for almost all my children. I don't think it ever fitted Jake that well, but I was unable to make the shift in my head (or heart) back then and ultimately he has done very well, finishing college with Btec Level 3 Photography with great grades (D*DD), plus a GCSE in both English and Maths. For Joel, the girls and DD the scheduled approach has worked fine. Even Lilo, who might have struggled most, has been OK with the way things have been. Even if the content has been a stretch at times - and not that enjoyable for her, the structure hasn't bothered her. But then Stitch came along, and after him Chip. Stitch began home-ed with gusto and enthusiasm, but that has quite rapidly worn off because, as more has been 'required' of him, he has increasingly switched off to the idea of table-work. He is definitely not a child to sit still and learn to a timetable and the way we have done things has been a bad fit for him this last year - leading to tension in him and stress in me - giving me a sense of deja-vue that took me back to Jacob's early days, and I have no desire to go hang around there again! Adding Chip into the mix this year, and I am thinking it's going to be a nightmare to carry on doing things with the same structure this academic year. 

After a bit of a think I have come up with this:-

This is DD's sheet, but they each have one with slightly different headings - except Abbie, who has chosen to write her own timetable (without times). Phoebe is also unsure how she'll get on with this system, but she's giving it a trial run for a month and then she'll decide. In reality, it's a trial run for all of us, but I think it'll work so long as all the children are honest ;-)

The idea is that they are each entirely in control of what learning they do, how much time they spend and when they do it. It's centred around 10 minute slots and the only requirement is that there is SOMETHING written in every coloured box by Saturday bedtime. Although there is still a requirement for them to do a certain amount of learning each week I am chilling out about what that learning looks like. Math could be done in a workbook, on Conquer Maths, on a app, or on a learning website (e.g. Skoolbo, or Sumdog). They do however much they choose to do and record how much they did, and what they did by writing in the boxes. If they did 20 minutes of Skoolbo they'd just write Skoolbo in the 10 min box and a ditto in the 20 min box. 

General Interest will be filled in with things we do in groups together ~ like cookery and art. 

'English' I have split up a bit, so they can record what kind of learning they have done. This is because some of the workbooks they have contain various types of tasks and it's often difficult for me to make sure they are getting a balance. This way I will be able to see at a glance where any gaps are forming and address them ~ although not necessarily with workbooks ;-). I am also hoping to do a lot more literature based work with the younger ones this year ~ bouncing off the back of poetry and prose. We begun using FIAR a little last year, and it was enjoyed by all three younger boys, so I am hoping to inject more of that into our learning this year.

Also, I am hoping to make plenty of use of our Spielgaben set ~ especially with the youngest two boys.

All this could add up to very busy days for me - jumping from one activity to another as and when the children need my attention. I know am not too great at that in reality, which is how we ended up with a structure in the first place I guess. I do better knowing what's coming next and working with low-energy activities. I was a workbooks kind of child myself. I simply loved doing pages of little exercises. But imho home-education is about an education that fits the child (and as much as possible the family), and so this year I am going to have to make a big effort to make learning work more relaxed, happy and stimulating for my younger boys, whilst releasing my older children to take more charge of their own learning. I would really like to gradually phase out even this much structure and fall into a much more chilled educational style. I think it might be good for us all - because don't have the energy for so much nagging any more! I know my younger boys are bright, and intelligent. I am not concerned at all about their ability to learn, but I am a tad concerned about their desire to do so. Trusting the process is definitely not my strong point!! Maybe I will get there - I hope so. 

So, today the stop watches arrived (so they can know how long they've been at work on each activity, and help keep things honest) and Monday will be our first day of this new way ~ I'll let you all know how it goes at the end of the week!

A Few Schooly Pics…

 

It’s business as usual here…well almost! The children are keeping themselves pretty busy and I’m chipping in when & where I feel up to it! There is plenty of learning happening though

 

Funonminoes (or Mathominoes if you like)

Lilo, TP & DD played this today ~ Lilo and DD did amazingly well

 

Tux Paint ~ “The Singer”, by Lilo (age almost 7)

 

More Tux-Paint… Spontaneous ‘charting’ (also by Lilo)

Today she made a chart of the whole family (the ‘l’s are supposed to be ‘J’s and the last ‘n’ is for ‘new-baby’!)

It shows favourite colour, favourite food and favourite animal ~ so I am ‘m’ purple, steak and lizard!

Ok ~ so the drawings are not so easy to understand, but I love that she did this entirely without prompting or help!!

Lilo has also completed the first half of Headsprout and essentially is reading. I’ve told her she’s got to stop saying “I can’t read.” now as it simply isn’t true anymore! I’m hoping she will realise just how much she CAN read now and start using her skills more. She does seem to be quite pleased with her progress, but still has a strong tendency towards guessing and trying to memorise, rather than putting in the effort to actually read! I’m looking forward to working with her on ‘non’ Headsprout books, but she’s not quite ready to make that jump yet.

She has always loved stories, so as a little ‘aside’ we are working on a picture/story book together. She writes one sentence each time and draws an accompanying picture ~ I take some photos for next time, but for someone who ‘can’t read’ it’s brilliant!!

Maths wise she’s nearly at the end of Miquon Orange, which I think is pretty good. When she completes it we will quickly run through Singapore 1A , and maybe B, depending how she gets on with it, but she loves Miquon (and it really suits her), so we’ll be keen to get back and start red I know!

DD continues to do really well with his maths too ~ I decided to use Mammoth Maths (grade 1)with him and it seems to be suiting him well. It’s slow and steady, but he can manage a couple of pages a day almost without my help.

His letter-learning is slow but steady too, but his writing is very neat

Apart from the little ones, there’s been crafting (Minnie made a really nice bracelet with safety pins and beads) and lots of Jigsaw Puzzling! DD can now quite easily complete 100 pieces, as can Lilo (she could probably do more really). And Minnie and Bugs have both worked on some 500 piece puzzles these last couple of weeks, which we have all enjoyed pitching in with

Minnie is about to set about making a ‘terrarium’ for her science, but she’s waiting for a warm enough day to go out and dig up LOTS of worms! Lesson Pathways is working really well for her for Science and she needs only a little guidance from me every now and then as to what activities are best to do.

Stitch gets PLENTY of attention from the others ~ he’s have it no other way! Here he is today playing on Peppa Pig on the Wii (just because he’s gorgeous!)...

And Paul has dyed his hair blue for Children in Need!

And all this while we wait, not so patiently, for the new arrival

The Why & The How and The Journey!

I have been home educating now for 7 years, just going into our 8th. It's been an epic journey so far, not least due to our family size and the very different children that have, one by one, arrived since we first began! This could be a long read so grab a cuppa before you start!! :D
It all began way back in my teens when my youth leaders were talking about the fact that one day, when they had children, they might home educate as they did not have a great deal of faith in the system. As it turns out they never did so, but a seed was sown in my mind.
Years later when I was dating Paul we chatted and agreed that should we ever have children we would discuss the possibility (neither of us were too fond of our school days).
Eventually we got married and just under 2 years later JA arrived on the scene.  As he gradually approached school age we began to consider our options a little more. He was at Playgroup and loved it, had a nice group of friends and by rising 5 could already read basic CVC words and write his name legibly. I had spent a little time working with him 'for fun' from tot-workbooks and he was obviously very bright - one of only 3 to be reading before leaving playgroup. I loved teaching him then and we enjoyed our time together. Decision time was approaching and I was erring towards HE, but just about that time our church changed minister and our new pastor was H'Edding his three children using ACE (TEACH) - a Christian American program. I went over and looked and thought it looked OK - all set out and easy :D So, not knowing any alternatives and by now being convinced that HE was the right, best and God ordained path for us, I jumped right in and signed up to ACE. 
Paul and I dutifully poured over the training materials and I think even then I began to doubt it was right for us, but knew of nothing else, so persevered and introduced it to JA at the start of Sept 2002. He started out on the reading program and we both got on well with that - it was fun and easy and he quickly learnt to read fluently. Other work was not such a joy! As soon as he could read he was introduced to 'paces' that he was expected to complete independently and as soon as we began on that road the boredom began to set in. We struggled on with ACE for the rest of the year and a bit into the next, but by then we were both dreading school each day. I didn't feel he was learning anything and he was obviously bored to tears - even resorting to picking massive holes in his chair, but at the same time not completing his work till late in the day due to reluctance to actually get it done! He never cottoned on to the 'do it quick and go and play' idea - he just couldn't get motivated to do it at all! One day I simply decided enough was enough and called it a day with ACE & Teach, but what now..?
After that life became a little easier. I took a step down and back and re-covered all work other than reading, but using WHSmiths books (bright, colourful and relevant!) and chilled for a bit, while I did some research about what else was out there - though I now think even that was not enough.  Partly because of advise I was given on chat lists and  partly because I did buy those workbooks and I hate waste, I was kind of catapulted onto a structured learning path. That coupled with knowing that JA was not going to be an autonomous learner however hard I tried - he just never asked any questions and when he ever did at all, he still didn't have the attention or desire to wait and find the answers! I was at the time questioning ADHD/ADD with him (and to some extent think he still shows tendencies towards it), but no-one would hear me out on that one. I did not know how to work with it or him either and to cut a long story short we struggled along with an eclectic mix of curriculum & lapbooking for another 2.5 years, adding JI and then Boo into the picture by this time, before I cut my losses and sent JA into school for a while. 'Cut my losses' is not a fair statement actually - it was a real battle within myself, but in the end I felt God put his hand on me and allow me to send him into school, just for a time. Life became easier overnight - he thrived (even if he only  made a little progress academically) and so did his siblings in his absence!
By now we were working to a 9-3 timetable. Each child had their own with some group activities worked in for things like Geography, History, languages, cookery, music, etc... - all that could be addressed at multi-age level.  We mainly used text & workbook, but also I had discovered lapbooking which we use quite a lot for project work. They were signed up for Education City and this too formed a good chunk of learning, together with a few other online work-sites. There were long breaks woven into the day too, and playgroup runs to collect the littler ones. [Just as an aside, I have always used playgroup until now, because I believe it has been good for my children to have a short break from their family just a couple of three times a week and to get to meet other small children outside of home. They only went for 2.5hr sessions and they have all thoroughly loved it right up until they out-grew it around about leaving time! For my slow speakers it has also been the kick-start that they needed because they had to make themselves understood in an environment where not everybody already did :D]. Whilst Paul was at college doing his degree he had every Friday free - this was supposed to be our 'outings' day, but sadly somehow never really was that very often, but none-the-less it was a school-free day and I have never found the need to change that. We did school quite adequately in 4 days each week. As time passed I felt the need to create more breathing room in our week so I introduced 'non-book day' on Thursday. The thinking being that this would be a day when no workbook saw the light of day and the children were free to follow their interests and/or we did lighter 'fun' stuff like cooking and music, or project work. In reality it turned out that most of the children did their best to wriggle out of doing any work at all that day and I struggled to motivate either myself or them. All the same that has been the shape of school for the last four years I'd say (even after JA returned home again for Secondary) : timetable 9-3 Mon-Weds, non-book Thurs, non-school Fri-Sun. The children have done well and made steady progress & for the most part it has worked well, but we needed a change...
And then I discovered Sue Patrick's Workbox System (via another blog I follow) and instantly loved the idea, but wasn't sure how to make it work for us, especially in the confines of our not-very-big home. I spent a few weeks thinking on it and became more and more convinced that I had to try it. So we bought the boxes we now have - and then we moved which solved the space issue somewhat, although not enough for them to have a rack each still. I set to work creating the necessary numbers and tickets and set to it. For the last four weeks of last term (Mon-Thurs) we gave it a try and it was brilliant - except that I had to drop to 10 activities each for my own sanity! I had Boo telling me that everyday was like a non-book day & thoroughly enjoying her work, JI keen and often finished by lunchtime, Belle and CT constantly wanting to 'do the next thing' & enjoying the structure it offered, Beefie able to see what she needed to achieve in a day and although a slow plod is her style she was mostly getting finished (which she wasn't before) and without sadness, and JA able also to see his quota for the day and applying himself pretty well - for him. He is now much more self aware and even though he still struggles to concentrate for more that 20-30 minutes at a time he knows that now, so he will work for that and then take a wander and come back. The advantage of this system is that he knows what he is coming back to and he is in control of it. He knows he isn't done for the day until all his 10 tickets are checked off. It really helps keep him focused and takes most of the nagging out of my day. I highly recommend the system - even if you have to tweak it a little to make it work for you.
My one difference this year is that we now live to far from a playgroup to make that an option for NJ without a car, so I have had to bring Tot-School into our home and have spent a good portion of my summer putting stuff together for that. It's not that I never did tot-stuff before, it's just that now it has a more definite form. 
Now I'm guessing you are all thinking this is all very formal - and to some extent you are right. We take our school holidays when the schools take theirs, but not because I feel we must, only so that the kids can catch up with their friends who are in school and do all the sleep-over type stuff :D, we work a 4 day week from 9am until they are finished and it IS a structured education, BUT in amongst all the structure is a lot of fun. The boxes don't only get filled with workbooks, but also with cookery lessons, jigsaw puzzles, Wii time!, outdoor play, project work (some of which can be of their own choosing should they wish it), etc... I have never had the courage to 'free-range' my children, although I am sure that Boo and Belle would do fine with it as they are quite sponge-like (unlike some of my others who are more like sieves!). JI would do OK so long as he didn't choose to opt-out too much of the time. JA, Beefie on the other hand I am very sure would not learn a thing. They are my non-questioning sieves. CT - don't know about him yet, but I think he might be a bit like JA when it comes to it. It's strange though because countering all that I have Beefie and Belle who both shut down/go vacant when they are put on the spot, or when they expected to learn one particular thing, so I have to tread gently with them both, or we end up with frustration & tears and a no-go sign right in front of them. Belle is best left to discover - and she really does - and then suddenly it's evident she has learnt something awesome with no effort at all. She is on-target (if you are interested in those sorts of things) with everything except she doesn't read, but I have taught her very little (and that which I tried to teach her I gave up with and she learnt it by herself in the end!). I fully expect that one day she will just pick up a book and read it - when she is ready and in her own time, and that no matter how much I try to teach her to read she is not going to get it until that time - not that that will stop me putting things in her path to help along! NJ - well he is sharp and I am/am not looking forward to having him around this year. He is a busy bee, but easily bored and when bored he is destructive and disruptive..!
So that's us - that's the FrogAcademy - each day 'Fully Relying On God' for the patience and strength for the day, constantly evolving as the road changes and working together as a team - well that's my ideal!! :D
Along the road others have joined us and we have met up with many fantastic people travelling with us. It's a road I would not leave and that for the most part I enjoy immensely - just as well as we have many years left to travel on it yet :D