Mini-Skool ~ Part II

As promised ~ I thought I'd fill you all in on how our mini-skool is working, now that we have doing it for half a term already! The verdict from the kids is that it is brilliant (except that of course it is still school)! And the verdict from me is that it is BRILLIANT!!


The children get up and ready for school and can start whenever they are ready. For the girls this often means they are begun first as they are currently my early risers. Taz usually starts on the dot of 9 as he is my routine-fixed child. Bugs, well he gets up whenever the fancy takes him, but knows that the work must get done regardless and actually has been great at it (better than I expected). He sometimes tarries things over to Friday, but he still does them, so that's fine :D


I really can't believe how well this is working actually! 


Lilo is even good at coming and getting me to do her two-a-day with Mummy and then doing her other few things before she sidles off to play for the rest of the day (mostly).


DD comes and gets me when the mood takes him and I down-tools to work with him when he does. I'm fine with it like this at the minute for him, as he is really only ready for school on his terms. He is, despite that, learning really well :D. I could still use a workbox for him, but all too often he would say he didn't want to do whatever I put in it and disappear to avoid doing it! We actually seem to be achieving more with him deciding what and when to do things. These days I'm very much of the idea that 6-7 is a better age to start any (semi)structured learning ~ and he is not yet 5!


Stitch spends too much time of square screens, but I'm trying out the idea that maybe he will saturate himself and become bored enough to come looking for other things to do! I'm not convinced he will mind ~ it doesn't seem to happen in this house, especially with the boys! Meanwhile he is learning tonnes from the things he plays on, so it can't all be bad :D. Occasionally he will choose a tot-shelf activity and then either myself (if I am not working with anyone else) or one of the big-kids will down tools to play with him. These are nice times usually, but somehow I just think being a toddler is not a challenge to him! Everything I create he seems to do with ease and much as he enjoys the activity he doesn't often choose to repeat it. I'm struggling to think of things to stretch him whilst still keeping the activities appropriate to his age (iyswim). He doesn't much like pencil work so colouring is not an option. He isn't much into sticking either, though he will occasionally if he's in the mood. He likes painting sometimes and enjoys cutting, but these are not everyday activities here (neither would I want them to be!). All that said, he is happy and learning well enough, but I do often wish we lived near enough to a playgroup for him to be able to benefit from some time there ~ not so much for the social aspect (although I think he would enjoy that), but for the variety of resources he would be exposed to which I simply do not have the funds to buy (oh, I wish I did, but then I wouldn't have the space!).


Anyway ~ back to Mini-Skool. It basically is a glorified tick-box system that some of my friends are working with, but more visual (for my very visual kids). I like that it is adaptable for 6 to any age and much as I might need to make new tickets every now and then as subjects change, there really is very little work involved in maintaining the system.  Every now and then I throw out a worksheet or two (if I've noticed something needs more work doing on) and that is considered to be the ticket for whatever subject it fits with.  It is flexible, so on an 'off' day the kids can choose to do lots of crafts and reading and then just catch up on the academics on a day when their brain is working better! There is no 'dreading' of particular days because each day is the shape they choose it to be. The may still prefer not to do certain bits of work at all, but at least they can set to those when they are in the right frame of mind instead of just because it is next on their list/thing in the box. There seems to be plenty of fun and more craft happening and generally my 'school-room' (there's no getting away from it, that's what I have) is a happy place of positive learning, as opposed to the grumpy place of drudgery that it has been at times. There are still grumpy times, but they are much much fewer and further between than they were in the past :D


At LAST I think I have found something that works for us :D I have found a method of semi-structured-autonomy ~ if there is such a thing!! :D Admittedly the younger ones get most of the 'autonomy' side of things, but even the older ones have a good deal more say in their learning than ever they did before. Taz, for instance, HATES art with a passion. SO, I allow him to sit in only on the 'theory' part of the lesson and then he goes off to watch the Yesterday channel and chalks that up as History (partly because I've not really done any History with them this half term and he is more interested than the others in it ~ he likes a programme called 'World War 2's Greatest Battles' and I'm sure it is educational so I see no reason to not allow him ~ besides no-one else wants to learn about that!), or does his drum practice, or something else that only he does :D Bugs has his photography and Flickr account that are exclusive to his learning. Minnie does some sewing. TP hasn't found her 'thing' yet, neither has Lilo, but I'm sure they will soon enough and with this system there is room to accommodate individuality. Another great thing about this, is that it has made room in our lives for music :D!! I am now teaching guitar to Bugs and Minnie, and TP, Lilo and Taz are starting up piano. I don't play piano, but I do know 'how' it plays, so I can instruct them and Paul can polish them up :D Taz did start once before and his fingers seem to have remembered a fair bit, so I'm hoping he will get back to where he was pretty quick and move on. Lilo and TP are starting from scratch, but that's great :D It's so good to hear music (albeit hesitant, scratchy music) in my home everyday!


So ~ there you have it my self-review of my very own system. If you fancy giving it a try, just email me and I'll give you pointers, but at the end of the day I think we each have to find what works for us, our families and our kids. Trying out other people's methods is a great way to find our own! If I had never heard of, or tried Sue's Workbox System, I would never have come up with this and for that I am VERY grateful.


I haven't yet got around to re-utilising the workboxes, but I will. I have a plan...

Mini-Skool!

I've been having a think and a revamp this weekend. I LOVE the workbox system, but I HATE the amount of time and energy it steals from me each night and at the weekend. I was at burnout point with it I think and simply avoiding. The kids were doing good and filling up their boxes in the mornings from my excel spreadsheet (whilst I filled just the two youngest ones' boxes), but this felt to me just like a glorified timetable with 3 times the amount of work! BUT the kids love the workboxes too, so what to do?

This is what I came up with ~ I've termed it mini-skool! The cards are diddy - there are 40 of the on one sheet of A4 (bull-dog clipped to the top of the easel at the mo'). I even have one (the yellow one in the pictures)!! The idea is basically that the children have 40 activities to complete in a week (32 in the case of TP) ~ that's 10 a day just like before. BUT instead of me filling the boxes and dictating to them what they are to do each day and the order they should do it, they will now have the autonomy to pick and choose what they fancy doing AND how much they do in any given day. All the diddy-cards on the chart are the 'must do's' and yes, there are a lot of them, but they are not all difficult and boring! Then, for the boys especially, there are few blank spaces which THEY must fill with activities of choice on Monday morning ~ choosing from the pocket chart (last picture - there's more cards in it now though). My only demand is that there are 40 completed activities by the end of the week, even if they choose to do some on Friday or Saturday. Obviously there are some taught subjects that we do as a group and these they will do when I call them to, out of necessity of not wanting to teach the same lesson over and over! This is the reason I have my own chart. You see, I am very good at disappearing into the study and doing 'my stuff' ~ OK, it is the adjoining room and I am 'available', but lately I have been very aware that this is not really good enough. SO, I have made myself an accountability chart. It's on full display to the children too, so they have ammunition against me! If I don't fulfil my duties in the week I cannot expect them to! There are four 'marking' sessions built into my week, as I tend to find that the marking just gets left until there is a mountain and then eats up my weekend :( . I have allowed myself only 2 photography/study sessions during school hours, one of which I anticipate sharing with Bugs. The rest of the time I must be where my kids are, working with them until the day is done ~ it'll be a challenge for me, but one I need to take up.

In case you were wondering; under all those diddy-cards are smiley faces. As each activity is completed the child moves the card down to the space below to reveal the smiley. At the end of the week I will expect to see 40 smilies :D

I really like this plan ~ I hope it works for everyone! I like the fact the children are going to have to take some extra responsibility for seeing that their work gets done, and at that they are in control of what they do and when. They will be able to see when they are leaving themselves too much to do another day and they will be able to feel the effects of 'ploughing through' one day to get more time to themselves another. I like the fact that they can clearly see their week laid out before them and what the expectations are, much more clearly than words on an excel sheet, or even boxes filled daily. I'm HOPING that the fact there looks to be a lot to do won't be problem to them when they get to grips with it and see the smilies appearing :D The last thing I like about it is that they can arrange their chart however they choose. SO they could choose to use the four rows as days and arrange their activities the way they plan to do them that day (or even just what they plan to do that day, but not the order), OR they can arrange the chart as I have, with blocks of subjects that they can pick from each day ~ it's entirely up to them! For the first time I really do feel that I am handing more of the control over to the children, whilst still striking the balance of ensuring that they learn what they need to. I'll let you know how it goes!!

I'm not sure yet if I am still going to need those expensive boxes I bought ... I'm thinking I may re-label them into subject sections, so that when, say TP, takes down her 'Early Comprehension' card she can then go to the 'English' section of her box and pick it out easily - already marked by me and with a sticky note in to tell her what work she needs to do next. All her English books would be in this section and all I would have to make sure to do at the weekend is rotate on her smiley-chart which ones she is to use that week. Then when I mark the work I drop it straight back into the workbox ready for when she gets to it next.

It's School Ed', But Not As You Know It!!

This week I was entirely disorganised (again) and didn't have those boxes sorted at all, but the kids are so into this now they just HAVE to fill them! So each morning I jotted on a piece of paper the things that were 'must-do's' for that day - each of them slotted those in and filled in the gaps - easy!! I must confess they did fill in the gaps with a lot of computer orientated learning, but it was all learning none-the-less :D The discovery of TutPup was a GOOD thing - I'm hoping this will be an ace learning tool for TweetiePie as it has speed & accuracy practice with the two areas she struggles most with; spelling and 'number families' (the lowest level of algebra) - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! (Thank you Merry :D). Minnie likes it too.

Here's some pictures from our week - just to show you that I can do it even with my hair down ;D!!

(this last shot was Jake practising his photography skills!)

Despite this week being a result of me not being organised it IS a good thing to do this every now and then, because it has a couple of positive effects; it means the children plan their day and that is an excellent thing - they are taking responsibility for their learning, choosing whether they wish to work together or alone, choosing how to arrange their day and when they want to do the 'hard stuff', hence learning what does and doesn't work in that regard (like leaving maths until just before we need to leave for Little Drama Group is NOT a good idea!), AND it teaches certain of them (Taz in particular) how to build some flexibility into their lives. Taz is such a little creature of habit and routine and any change is difficult for him - he can do it, but he takes a while to adapt. He is the only one who seems to want to fit the Workbox System back into his old timetabled way of doing things. He gets quite agitated if he has to skip forwards or backwards to work with someone else (because they weren't ready at the same time as him), but he can't bear waiting around 'wasting his time' either (not that that's a bad thing). He is often first to finish in the day because he ploughs through his work and being held up by someone else, or some 'group' activity is a simple annoyance to him!! Get used to it my son - that's life - and if I have to not fill the boxes some weeks to help you learn to adapt and bend then that is what I will do - nobody else really minds!! :D

Drama in the house!

Tonight my Bugs has returned from A&E with a plaster up to his knee! He was dancing at his youth club on friday night, landed funny on his foot (in new shoes) and limped through the weekend. I had a look at it last night and decided I thought it might be broken, but to leave it one more night to see... His foot was pretty swollen this morning. Stitch is not too well with a heavy cold and feverish, so he, Bugs and I stayed home. This afternoon Lilo and DD were booked for a party I didn't want them to miss and as Bugs was happy just lying on the sofa with his leg up, we decided to take him down this evening. Obviously being a nice Sunday afternoon and rugby season A&E was busy, so they only just got back (nearly 5 hours later). Bugs has broken his 5th metatarsal (correct diagnosis on my part - grin!), but the tendons that connect are twisting his leg a bit, hence the mega-cast & crutches. Pictures to follow in the morning! Let's see how much he milks this then ;-) He's already tried the "Well, I can't do school then!" - to which I replied, "it's your foot that broken, not your brain!", but to be honest sometimes I'm not so sure!! :D

Stitch is non too well - nasty barking cough and he really looks rough, bless him :( Hoping we don't all get it.

I can't get motivated this weekend at all, so I haven't planned the week yet. I have a vague idea in my head of what the week needs to hold, but the boxes are empty - again! I really do love this system Monday -Thursday, but I dread the hours of prep on a weekend. It aches my brain trying to organise 60 activities and make sure everyone gets their fair turn at the fun things without stepping on each others toes too much. I think I need to try and be creative about how the boxes get filled. I could ask the kids to do it just as they finish each day, but I feel they already do quite a lot of stuff that eats into their free time (chores and all) and I want them to have time to be kids, BUT I am aware that they do it in about 5 minutes a piece and somehow it takes me so much longer than that when I'm doing them all of an evening. More thought required on that one. I certainly don't want to get into a 'rut' again, with the same things in the same boxes each day (which is how I know a lot of folks use it), because that would just feel like a timetable in boxes - and we've been timetabled for way too long. At least with this there is so much more flexibility built in and a lightness about it that allows me to feel things can pass-over to the next day if we've simply run out of time. The next day can be juggled and nothing is being missed out - unlike when we did timetables and things frequently got squeezed out.

Right now I need to go an make up a temporary chore-chart so that my invalid son does not just skive out of every chore there is for the next however many weeks!

Brain Dump!

It's all happening here - and I have a headache!!

Yesterday we did:

• Tux painting
• Maths (online and off)
• Art (painting our Greek pots) - just the red-clay colour
• Spelling tests - with varying degrees of success this week ;)
• English (Galore Park at various level & 'Just Write' for Minnie)
• Lilo did some more Starfall work - she is doing really well with it and loving it atm)
• Typing
• Education City & Moshi Monsters
• DD & Stitch spent some time on Poissonrouge
• A few of the kiddos had some Wii time
• Minnie chose to get out the Moonsand - which I regretted saying yes to when I was sweeping it up from all around the house half an hour later. It's great stuff - outside, or on a weekend when I can supervise better, but when little ones get their fingers in it (which of course they do the minute it comes out), just like any sand, it goes EVERYWHERE! And because it's sticky it sticks to feet very well indeed - and therefore spreads around rather nicely!
• DD did some fine-motor work with paper clips and colour cards. He stuck with it for a little while, but was not that enamoured! Paperclips were a new skill though and he understood how to work them after a little practice and verbal guidance, so that was good.

Sure there was more too, but I forget what!

Here's how today looked;

• Bible study (four bigs) while I printed out a few bits I forgot last night .
• Lego Challenge for oldest 4, joined by younger 2 and later by stitch - build an aeroplane to be judged by Daddy later, on effort, design & strength - great fun - took AGES!! Actually Lilo decided to build a train & station, and Tweetie built a plane & airport :D. DD had a major strop because he couldn't do it (even though he didn't actually try), but in the end he built a wall and was quite happy with that :D

• Whilst Lego was happening Stitch was downstairs amuzing himself with 'Push' - a game that requires all it's 26 balls to be there and whenever he has asked for it in the past I have said "no!", but I was upstairs doing Lego with the others, so, sneaky*(see later story) as he is, he got it out and when I spotted him I decided to leave him as he was playing so nicely with it. I just WISH I could trust him though, because just as always, when he was done (and of course I was called away else where), instead of tidying it or even just leaving it, he threw the balls everywhere - WHY does he do that with EVERYTHING!?! So now, I am missing a ball of course - rrrrr!

Various combinations of Tux painting & maths.

Watched the tractor with giant hedge-cutter attachment as it massacred the hedgerows along the footpath beside our house (very entertaining for small children).

Taz did something on the Wii for a bit

DD practiced his name (getting very good now) and did a tiny bit of his colour sticker book. I'm not sure why he doesn't want to do the sticker book atm, maybe because it doesn't involve ME!

DD also threaded some foam shapes on a nylon thread - independently - and enjoyed that - phew!

Lilo made a felt shape 'ribbon' bracelet with a LOT of help from yours truely - the instructions were SO unclear and it was very fiddly for her, but it's pretty so that's good! :D

We learnt a bit about the Roman Army and made shields for the project folder - which also took AGES and needed to be finished after drama/prayer group.

Bugs, Taz & Stitch went to prayer group (chauffeured by Dad), whilst Minnie, Tweetie, Lilo & DD walked to LDG (Little Drama Group) with me - in the rain!

Home to judge the aeroplanes and finish off the shields, clear up and now to eat tea :D

I took quite a few photos! :D

The workboxes have been about half completed today, but hey-ho, it was a busy, fun day & there's only so much one can squash in! :D I have a headache, because, although the kids have been good on the whole, they can still be incredibly noisy and when it's this busy I find it all a little too much. I like that it's productive, but at the same time, it's exhausting! It's exhausting when the children seemingly refuse to think for themselves - I seem to be the first port of call before they tap into their own brains, even just a little bit: "Muuuuum, what shall I do with this tiny scrap of paper I cut off (that is obviously no good to anyone any more)?" - seriously - how bright does one need to be to work that out!?! It's also not helped either by DD being rather screechy rather too much of the time of late - whiny, in a high screechy voice about sooooo many things. And Stitch is also a bit clingy and whiny some of the time too, but only in a normal 2yo way - it just all adds to the intolerable noise levels/pitch/fuzzy-head at times.

OK - moan over!!

* Sneaky Stitch ... this boy is SOOO sneaky! Bugs gave him the tiniest piece of bread from his own sandwich at lunch time. Stitch took this as being enough, and, while my back was turned to make food for the others, helped himself to a chocolate mouse from the fridge, sat down, opened it and proceeded to eat it (with his fingers) before anyone noticed what he was up to. We NEVER have mouse at lunchtime - he knows this and you should have seen the twinkle in his oh-so-mischievous eyes!!

This boy is SOOOO sneaky that often, when I go to get Jaffa Cakes out at snack time, I find a black (high)chair in my pantry and an empty Jaffa box (or two!!). This boy is SOOOO sneaky he will pinch chocolate snack bars, open them and sit on the bottom stair with it and his drink (like a table), minding his own business and you won't notice him until the misdemeanour is almost accomplished - and he looks so innocent (and quiet) that you seriously have to consider if it is worth the hassle (and noise) of reprimanding him. This boy is SOOOO adorable that he is extremely difficult to tell off as he smiles at you with twinkly eyes and huge dimples, and so intelligent that it's hard not to clock his mischief up to pure 2yo genius, but my-oh-my am I gonna have my work cut out with him in a couple of years time!! He does NOT rule the roost, by any stretch of his imagination, and he DOES know the boundaries (and push them constantly), but he is a force to be reckoned with, no shadow of a doubt!! I do and will have to pick my battles carefully with him because I think he will be libel to grind me down - and I cannot afford to let him be the winning side in a battle that I have chosen to pick!

Week 3 - Not TOO bad - considering..!

If you start the week chasing your tail in this house it's likely not to get any better...and it didn't, but we managed to keep the ball rolling and the kids were good, and I'll do better next week - I have to - I promised them I would!

On Saturday (I'll start there) some of the younger ones were asking to go out in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, but Paul did not want to. He just wanted to take some time to chill at home - he deserves that much, so I decided to take a few to the park and en-route take DD into the local pub to meet their dog. The dog is called ?Poppy and is adorable when she is inside, but the only time DD has 'met' her is when we are walking into the village and she is out in the yard 'on guard' - she has a ferocious bark (that's her job) and DD is very nervous to go past, but we have to. Kindly the landlord has said I can take DD in to meet her one day so that he won't be so frightened on our walk - how nice is that :D But, sadly, the landlord (M) was too busy on Saturday, so that didn't happen this time. However I did get some gorgeous autumn shots (always take my camera these days) and the children had a lovely play in the park and even met up with a couple of children they have got to know from the village (slowly, slowly...!). We were out almost 3 hours in all and by the time we got back it was tea and bedtime. I felt unnaturally tired and I knew I had a busy day to come on Sunday, so I had an early night - mistake - I forgot to plan the boxes!

collecting hay/straw from the cut grass in a field on the way home from the village - for the bunnies (we'd run out - how handy!!)

yes, it is still this warm - some days, but only in the middle of the day!

On Sunday was the town 'Food Festival' & Victorian Country Fayre. Our puppet & dance group had been asked to take a stand, so of course we agreed! It was a great success (again) with a big crowd watching, but it was a full & exhausting day (bearing in mind this was after our usual 9-1 stint at church). As part of it the girls got to take part in a mock Victorian Sunday School (the boys could have too, but they were busy looking at owls!) - that was good fun!! Later on Minnie 7 TweetiePie got to hold a little owl too :D Again it was tea-time before we got home. I'd Still had no planning time and again I was totally wiped - so wiped I actually fell asleep before the kids did! They were taking forever to get ready for bed. Paul had nipped out to collect Bugs from Hydro-G (Sunday Night youth meeting) and I fell asleep on my bed! Paul came in and covered me over - and left me there. It was barely 10pm then and I slept soundly (all bar a loo trip and a change into my pj's) right through till 8am - and even then struggled to get up!!

The boxes weren't planned and definitely not filled - oh dear!!

Fortunately the kids were wonderful. I told them 5 things that were a must for the day and they filled in the gaps with their task cards :D And I'm sorry to say the rest of the week did not get any better. I tried to catch myself up, but for one reason or another I never did and so each morning the kids have done the same thing this week - filled their boxes with a mixture of 'must do's' and whatever they choose-s. Never the less-it's actually been a really good week. I must say these last two days have been a bit tooooo computer orientated for my liking (just goes to prove the preferred medium of learning in this house!), but I don't feel like it's been a waste of time and I know they have learnt stuff, so I'm OK about it really. All the same - I must do better next week!!

The good bits have included;

• Making pots (looking at ancient Grecian art) to be painted this week
• Writing various meaningful numbers in Roman numerals (history)
• Completing the section on Earth in Exploring Creation with Astronomy - onto the moon next week, unless I decide to do the 'making a compass' activity, but no-one was keen to do it this week - funny kids!
• Lots and lots of Playdoh play by all the children
• Some interesting drawings from them all and Stitch even made his first attempt at drawing a face - then promptly scribbled all over it, so no photo :(
• Re-installation of Tuxpaint onto both computers - they all love this one and it makes a fun IT/art lesson :D
• Some Hama'ing by everyone at some point (very popular here atm) & more Airfix modelling by Bugs
• Photography (Bugs & me!)
• Memorisation & Recital of a Shakespeare poem by Bugs (Shall I compare thee...)
• LOTS of Moshi Monstering - but I am actually quite happy with it's educational value in many ways :D
• Some Puzzle Pirating (also has some educational value once you get good at a puzzle)
• Bugs took DD & Stitch into the kitchen to do some science - expansion & retraction of air (very cool and easy fun!)
• game playing in varying degrees of inside and outside-ness.
• chillin' and watching TV (lots of Horrible Histories - the cartoon series)
• reading stories
• puzzles
• discussion of baby animal names with both DD & Stitch
• some Tot-tray activities - particular favourite seems to be the pom-poms, which become anything the children decide - today they were chocolate biscuits being shared out, yesterday they were tea being poured out into 'cups' - interesting to see that the older children all like to play with these with Stitch!

I'm sure there's been a lot more too, but it's hard to remember it all. Not bad for an unplanned week though :D

As of today the boys are re-enrolled with Conquer Maths (was waiting for payday!) and I am just waiting for the Catherine Mooney English materials to come through. so we can start that.
I discovered MangaHigh online (recommended on one of my groups) - it's pretty difficult maths games - take a look. Bugs spent a while on there today and seemed to like it well enough for an occasional play :D

I also got the second set of six 'Using Maths' in the post today - the boys loved the look of them even better than the first set and even Minnie is asking to do them! So they will be in the boxes as soon as the current ones are finished then :D

DD practising cutting 'sausages' with a knife - that's pretty worthwhile :D

& then counting the pieces he'd cut :D

'shut the box' with Bugs

Science in the kitchen with Bugs...

...the air retracts in cold water

...and expands in hot!

PE - of varying kinds (it's so good to have a yard again).

Chillin' and learning in front of the box!

First Week Back...

Time to blog school as we know it...

We start our day with this (one each);

And then onto the workboxes, which are working incredibly well- like SOOO well!! OK - it's a lot of prep at the weekends a takes some time out of every evening to get the boxes filled, but it is worth it. I have JA pretty much finished by about 2 - and that's including breaks. Lunch sometimes slows things a little, but he is completing 10 activities every day!! I am amazed. Neither he nor I know WHY it is working so well, but whatever the reason, it is and that's all I care about. And it's not only working for JA, but for just about all the others too. Despite not quite getting ourselves into gear by 9am (target start time), it hasn't mattered too much :D
Bleb hasn't quite managed his box right through any day, in fact he has disappeared off to bed after lunch each day. I guess that means he's finding it a little tiring (although the nap is usually induced by me saying "no" to something or other!!). I think he will adjust slowly, because I'm not working him that hard - how hard can stories, playdoh, matching shapes and copying your name be? Belle runs out of steam round about number 8, but usually the last two activities are easy-going ones, so she is mostly managing to finish. The others are doing fine and even the group activities went better. Everyone paid attention well enough (JA still made a few irrelevant wise cracks, but was apologetic for being a pain!) and it wasn't nearly as stressful as it was last year - hope that lasts! We even managed some cookery - two at a time worked really well :D

Boo & JA made brownies the on Tuesday - completely independent of me, save for the putting in and removing from the oven. Beefie & JI made muffins this morning (not without my help).

There's been a ton of Hama'ing, Bas-relief creations from clay (Art), and clay-tablet making in History.

It all sounds idylic, but - and there is a but - around about Wednesday I was all spent! I had been up way too late for several nights preparing for the week ahead and I was trying to keep on top of housework and still catching up with washing from the camping holiday and ongoing life (it's not exactly 2 loads a day drying weather). Thankfully Paul offered to stay home the evening (he was meant to be out) and I crawled off to bed. It helped - a lot!! I got through Thursday OK and now it's the weekend and I all I have to do is fill up the boxes tomorrow, so I'm hoping it will get easier in that respect from now on in.

NJ has not been so enthusiastic about his tot-trays as I had hoped he would be. He prefers to have free-reign and not have me encouraging him to choose a tray. It's not been easy. Even the things he has shown initial interest in, he quickly is bored with and chooses to make a mess with instead. Not sure whether things will settle down with him, but I hope so. He has, however, latched on to the idea that one or other of them is free to play with him at regular points through the day and is enjoying that very much (I've put him in as an activity in their boxes!). I'm hoping that he will gradually choose to do his trays with them.

Anyway, here's some captures from the week - tot-school included.

Bottle-cap names for C (Bleb) - this idea is courtesy of Carissa :D

Slip-pegs for NJ - he liked this but was annoyed by the boxes - something more sturdy next time.

kids doing various activies at the table.

one-to-one counting for C & peg board for NJ (with JA)

JA writing his blog.

Wii time for Beefie and C.

Sink & Float experiment :D

Clay tablets (history)

puzzles - BIG hit (he's done these over and over this week).

tweezer pop-poms (also quite popular).

hunting shaped beads in macroni was met with enthsiasm, but...

he found the dog and the bear and played with them together - momentarily - just before he started...

'raining' the macaroni from his hands - it went everywhere!

cooking cake-in-a-cup...

Yummy!

Not a good shot I know - a good activity (matching two shapes) which I'd like to make a 3D version of if I can figure out how.

Hama - lots of it!

Muffins (JI & Beefie)

Brownies (JA & Boo)

Think that's about it :-D