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NOTICE ON PICS - All pics on this blog (unless otherwise stated) are my personal work. DO NOT take pics from this blog without seeking my permission first! Bless you.

Welcome to my blog. It is updated weekly with pictures and projects from our homeschool - maybe you can find something to inspire you :) I have a (no longer updated) materials page elsewhere on my website and will, occasionally, post my homemade materials in this blog.

I'm married to Tim (delivery driver and gorgeous musician), have 2 daughters, live on the south coast of the UK and have 1 aging cat (Hemmingway or Hemmy for short). I love reading, yoga, crafts, baking, daft old comedies, music and teaching.

On this page you can find my homeschool blog, if you want to read my general, day-to-day blog, click the link below :)

My NOT Homeschool Blog!

Great Links:

Hands of a Child

Homeschool Share

Mathwire

Nature Detectives

NOTE ON PICTURES: This shouldn't be necessary but I have, sadly, noticed growing cases. Please DO NOT link directly to pictures on this website - it steals my bandwidth and is BAD! I CAN trace you if you do and I will take action.

Archive : May 2009

 

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Tranquil

 

More outdoor play today :) We're living (well, me and the kids - poor old Tim was very busy at work today), at a very slow and easy pace at the moment. It's so calm and quiet and, occasionally, I wonder what April is up to and then I find her. She's plopped her sunhat on, headed outside and is quietly playing some little game - lost in a world of her own :) Gorgeous.

 

Friday, May 29, 2009

Sun, sun, sun

Absolutely gorgeous day and, it would seem, more of it to come :) I'm a happy bunny.

Today was a kind of quietly productive day - everything just ambled along nicely and we all went about our business sort of ... happily :)

Tim worked this morning and then went to the shops 3 or 4 times after he got home. Yes, really - shocking waste of petrol, I know.

April played with water inside at the kitchen sink:

 

... and outside with a bowl:

 

Rosie did an edition of her family nature newspaper:

 

We put some flowers in the press - I think the kids are going to make bookmarks with these:

 

Finally, I made a raspberry jam and fresh cream sponge (just too delicious for words!):

 

Tonight, Tim and I are having tuna steaks in a sort of lime marinade and salad for dinner. This is one of our regular summer meals and it's the first time we've had it since last year - the weather is just so definately summery though, that it called for it. :)

Edited later: I've just realised I put "telly" down as one of the categories for this post and then forgot to write anything telly related *rolls eyes*. I was going to mention that I'm thoroughly enjoying springwatch this year and Chris Packham (who replaced Bill Oddie) has turned out to be utterly lovely :) I was always worried he might be a bit dull but far from it - brilliant telly!

 

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Ooooo!

Warming up! Assuming it doesn't change, this is our local weather for the next few days - mmmm! I love this sort of weather!

 

 

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Nuturing your family

Today, something hurtful and unpleasant happened with a member of my family (not Tim, me or the kids - another member of my family) that made me realise, yet again, how important it is to cherish, nuture and love the family you have. I've been hurt badly today - not prepared to go into details but it had me sobbing on Tim's shoulder for a good long while this morning. I think, all there is to say is that I'm done with my family once and for all, I've been crapped on once too often.

It got me thinking about families in general. Yesterday, I took this screenshot from one of the Springwatch webcams - it's a sodden lapwing, sat on her nest in the pouring rain (for HOURS), shielding her chicks (the droplets are obviously rain on the camera):

 

Today, I saw a blackbird out in our back garden, hopping about on the lawn hunting (most likely) for food for it's offspring. It was being buffeted by the wind and rain and yet kept plodding on collecting food.

Both of these birds made me realise how, to be honest, crap we humans are as parents compared to them. Birds don't shove their chicks out of the nest at the earliest opportunity (like we humans sending our kids to school!) - they care for them, feed them, keep them clean. All the while the chicks are learning what they need to learn (flying, looking for food etc) from their parents. Parent birds have a hard job - they're out in all weathers looking for food, they sit for HOURS on eggs or chicks protecting them for the elements while they, themselves are usually soaking but they keep on doing it. They do it because, albeit unconciously, they want to give their chicks the best start in life. The chicks stay there, being carefully nutured by their parents until they are ready to go and then they fly, confident, fully grown and ready to face the world.

I want to be more like the parent birds when it comes to my own kids ......... yet, I think I fall waay short.

 

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Alice to the cat

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

~ Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ~

 

Sage advice for the eternally confused and bewildered I think - decide where you want to go or what you want to do and go there or do it ;) 

 

Monday, May 25, 2009

Sunny :)

What an absolutely gorgeous day it was yesterday :) All of us spent pretty much the whole day outside in some form or another - it was just such bliss to feel proper hot sun!

I pottered about hanging up washing to dry (got loads washed and dried!), did some gardening, played with the kids and just sat for a bit - about 10 minutes - and got a rather red back as I was only wearing a little strappy top! I should have been more careful really - I'm very fair skinned and having been under wraps for months on end I don't think it knew what hit it :(

Tim got the foul job of cleaning the old sand and rainwater slime out of the kids sandpit in readiness for refilling (last year I did it and it was gross so it was definately his turn!) April had a bowl of soapy water and a sponge and washed all the buckets and spades and stuff and left them on the path in the sun to dry.

Rosie, my little naturalist, was bug hunting and found millipedes, a dead beetle (which she's brought inside and put somewhere to view under the microscope), woodlice and a funny little thing called a click beetle. This little bug made us laugh because, if it feels threatened, it pretends to be dead (for aaaaages!) and then lets off a loud "CLICK!" and jumps straight up into the air *laughs* She put it on her hand and we all had to wait and wait and wait for it to jump :)

Anyway, after all that lovely sunshineness yesterday, today ..... it's raining .... hey ho.

PS - Oooo! don't forget - tonight, BBC2, 8p.m SPRINGWATCH!! Hmm... Springwatch with Chris Packham instead of Bill Oddie .... Hmmm.

 

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Rosie-ism's

Forgot to mention this earlier but it was an amusing little thing that happened today :)

Got a bunch of Letts KS3 computer discs through the post - English, maths and science - I'm going to put them away to start using with Rosie in September. Anyway, she was looking at some screenshots on the back of the maths one and there was a picture of a door wedge with various measurements round it. Over the picture it said:

"A door wedge is the shape of a trapezium. Work out the volume of the door wedge."

Rosie turned to me and, completely seriously, said "why on earth do I need to learn to work out the volume of a door wedge?!"

I was about to explain that the idea was to learn to work out the volume of that particular shape, as opposed to actually a door wedge, instead I teased her a little. "Oh", said I in all innocence, "you wouldn't believe the number of times in my life I've had to work out the volume of a door wedge, it's just SO important to know".

She looked at me for a second, frowning, then realised I was pulling her leg and burst out laughing. In fact we both laughed about it so hard that we couldn't do anything else for a second.

I guess you had to be there *grins*.

 

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Acceptance

Pretty much slowly coming to terms with the school thing now. April is so genuinely excited and looking forward to it that it's virtually impossible not to be caught up in that (even to the point where I've found myself wondering just how impossibly cute she's going to look in her uniform!)

I'm obviously still concerned for her - she's my little baby! However, if I'm honest, I am aware that we're very, very lucky. The school is, by all accounts, astonishingly good - as indeed all the schools in our immediate area are (our upper school is, so I've read somewhere, supposed to be one of the best in the country!) If your child is going to have to go to school then it sure does help to know that they are going to schools that DO seem to genuinely care about the kids and what happens to them.

So anyway, school stuff aside, life has been going on pretty much as usual here. Rosie's been making a model of a crocodile skeleton and April has been doing a little experiment from one of her Schofield and Sims preschool books - growing a carrot top. In between that, they've been outside lots (especially on the trampoline) and, as a result, I've had to remove god only knows how many ticks from them :( It's one of the problems of living somewhere borderline rural - the vet at the end of the road who checked our cats over last year said that it's just one of those things round here. Anyway, I'm now a totally bloody expert tick remover - there are many methods for this. I use a pair of flat head tweezers, grasp the little critter as close to the victims skin as possible and then GENTLY tug and twist slightly. I don't actually pull it straight out - it's more of a "come on you filthy little beast let go ... go on, you know you want to" *laughs* Anyway, this works - they do give up and let go and you don't leave bits behind which is baaaad!

 

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Going away for a bit

Not physically, just in blog terms.

I'm more "down" than I've been in a loooong time. I'm not dealing with the April-going-to-school thing very well at all. I know those people reading this who's kids go to school (and I'm pretty sure there are some) will not understand my misery at all. However, I'm hoping very much that those who love home ed as much as I do will understand .... know how crap I'm feeling.

I just don't have any incentive to blog about anything now. Also, I now have to rush April, in the next 3 months, through "grasping" things that, under other circumstances, she would have been left to master in her own time ... shoes, zips, buttons and all that stuff.

Truth is, I really don't want to get on this particular fucking merry-go-round at all but I have no choice. April does have a choice and she's chosen school. Now, for her sake, I've got to go around pretending to be happy about it.

Bye for now.

Added later: sorry about the use of the "f" word - just feeling so incredibly miserable :(

 

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

It couldn't be put off any longer

The subject of April going to school had to come up again. We are expecting, any time soon, to start getting letters from the school about parents nights and preschool clubs and whatnot so I couldn't put off making a final decision about it any more.

So, this afternoon, while April was out playing by the back door, Tim and I discussed it. Should she go or not ...hmmm, weigh up the pro's and con's. Discuss, discuss. Then, a big, bellowing voice from outside shouts "I WANNA GO TO BIG SCHOOL!!!!"

Oh. Ok. She'd obviously heard us and was making her feelings on the subject VERY known.

So that's it. The final decision - I will not deprive my child of the chance of doing something that she so badly wants to try. All I can do is be encouraging, slap a big smile on my face and be there to pull her straight out and home ed her IF it all goes pear shaped and she hates it.

I hope it doesn't. I hope, with all my heart, that she loves it because I just badly want her to be happy.

Tim is, of course, trying to make me happy by saying "think about the advantages!" - the whole afternoon to myself (YES, imagine, a WHOLE afternoon *rolls eyes*). The fact that in 5 years time Rosie will be off to college and I will be .... well.... done with teaching and Tim and I will be able to actually DO stuff together *laughs*. Oh, and I'll only be 43 as opposed to the 50-odd that I would have been if we'd home educated April.

I'm still feeling a bit fragile about the whole thing though but I'm sure I'll get over it.

Anyway, apart from April, there is one VERY happy bunny in all this - Rosie. As much as she loves her little sister, I suspect she misses those days when it was just me and her home edding AND she really does need more help than April does. Finally, we'll be able to get the chemistry set out and melt the kitchen work top without worrying about April's whereabouts *grin*.

 

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Smile ....

... you're on Google Streetmap.

Aaaargh! Google's camera vehicle just turned round in our close! Fab, now the entire world will be able to view the dense undergrowth that masquerades as our front garden *laughs*.

 

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Brace yourself ...

Todays links are for those who follow the National Curriculum in some form or another.

Now, I've got to admit that we do use this as a guide and have done for a while. Another home educator a while ago said that she brought NC workbooks and used them to help her plan what work to give her kids. I thought this was a pretty good idea as I've always really struggled with the "what" part of home ed. The "how" bit is a doddle to me - a mixture of workbooks, lapbooks and hands on stuff!

Anyway, if you do use the NC, here are some great places to visit (any I've missed, do email me or use the contact form and I'll add them):-

Foundation Stage/ks1/ks2:

Free interactive games for maths from Spark Island

Ditto for English

Ditto for Science

A huge load of interactive games and flipcharts at Crickweb

Woodlands Junior School site - one of the best

Snaith Primary School's Thinking Things - brilliant

Primary Ideas - lots and lots of free downloads

Learn about the weather with some fun games from the Met Office

Primary Interactive - lots of fun games

Secondary Level:

Ideas, lessons and resources for geography from Juicy Geography

Lots of downloadable English resources

KS3/4 science resources from Science Active

Curriculum Bits provides games, quizzes, animations and videos on a variety of topics - we love this!

Brainteasers & Puzzles for 11-18 year olds

KS3 science resources from the Science Museum

Ditto forKS4

Skoool - another of our favourites - free, interactive lessons in maths, biology, chemistry and physics plus a GCSE exam study centre.

Schoolsnet - KS3/4 lesson plans

Finally .... a section for all ages -

Eco-awareness lesson plans - the link will take you to the KS1 page but you can also get to the KS2/3 pages from there also.

Eco Friendly Kids

A bright, interesting site from Planet Pals

 

Monday, May 18, 2009

Setting up a small school or learning centre

I've got various educational related posts buzzing around my brain at the moment - nothing "heavy", just a few topics that I want to blog in case they are of interest to anyone else. They will be, mostly, link collections on a theme I suspect!

Anyway, today it's the turn of setting up a small school or learning centre. With all the recent hoo-haa about home ed, this might be something that some parents may consider - they way things are going, I suspect it's going to get to the point where the average independent school has less hassle from the authorities than home educators!!

I think the trend for parents getting together and forming their own small schools is growing. Rosie attended such a place a few years back - it was run in a scout hall and the school owners had to go in every single day and set the school up! It must have been astonishingly hard work for them but the school was fabulous. Rosie adored going there and still would be if we could afford to send her and April.

Anyway, for anyone considering this route (I would if I could find any like-minded parents but they don't seem to exist round here!), here are some handy links:

A list of current small schools with websites - sometimes, it's a good idea to contact people who've already done what you want to do and ask their advice:

Educare Small School - Surrey

Great Oaks Small School - Kent

The Family School - Lambeth

New Elizabethan School - Worcestershire

Priors School - Warwickshire

The Acorn School - Nailsworth

An excellent pdf, giving good tips on setting up a learning centre/school - here

Information pack from HSE about setting up a small school (scroll down the page) - here

Those are probably the best links for going down the official "registering as a small school" route. Do remember though, that you only have to register if you provide education for 5 or more pupils on a full time basis (I'm guessing full time is considered to be Monday-Friday, 9.00-3.30 or something). If you have less than 5 pupils and/or only operate, say, 4 days a week, you do not have to be officially registered (a little like the School in the Woods, Bath). So, if you wanted to get together with a friend and educate your children together, give yourselves a school name, have joint inspections by the LEA etc, you can do that - you just won't be able to claim the usual school discounts on books and so on and if you DO take on more pupils or do more days you will have to officially register. I do think that the un-official school route is quite a nice one - some kids do like the idea of "belonging" to a school and having an identity in that respect. Certainly, I would imagine, it would make the whole business of explaining to relatives/friends/strangers less odious if you can say "well, my kids are at xxxxx school". I KNOW, I KNOW!! Shouldn't have to do that but ... well, you know! Also, as mentioned above, if you're going to have to have inspections - well, get them all out the way in one go and let the visiting inspector see all the kids working happily together!

If anyone else has any information on this topic that I've missed, let me know and I'll add it :)

PS - I want to add that these are just general views for those who might be interested in going down this route (me included if I could). I am NOT saying that this is how ALL home educators should do things! I have enough respect for other people's opinions, view points and ideals not to try and force my ideas on others. It's JUST for information, that's all :)

 

Friday, May 15, 2009

What's on?

Check out the ratty hair! Rosie, not long out the shower and hence a trifle damp looking, doing a science experiment on hydrophobic and hydrophilic materials:

 

Today, I made her up a whole bunch of reducing fraction sum cards which I want her to do tomorrow. I'm hoping to finish up this topic soon and these are harder than any she's done so far - she's going to love me for it. Not.

April has been mucking about on the kitchen draining board with various plastic cups filled with water and food colouring. She's been using an eyedropper to mix colours ... "look! I made green!"

I've started a Montessori training course. I was going to do this last year but never got round to it so I decided the time was now :) This is not a full teacher training course but will be brilliant for helping me to teach, Montessori-style, those topics which I'm a bit stuck on. It lasts a year!

Oh! and it's Eurovision tomorrow! WOO-HOO!! We HAVE to watch this complete feast of naffness every year despite the fact that it's crap simply because it makes us laugh our arses off *laughs at the thought* ..... hehehehe!

Got to go ... dinner beckons :)

 

Thursday, May 14, 2009

62 today!

Happy Birthday to my daddy!

Here's a rather lovely pic of him with Rosie on the day Tim and I got married :)

 

 

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

3 Part Card Template

Last post of the day! *Laughs*, I'm astonished I've found the time - think I may have to take a couple of days off blogging now .......

Anyway, this is something I just made to enable anyone to create their own 3 part, Montessori style cards. I did this in Open Office so you will need to have that installed on your computer in order to use it. You can go here to download it.

The table sizes have already been set (8.50cm x 8.50 cm for the larger section and 3.0cm x 8.50 cm for the smaller). The font (Times New Roman) and font sizes have also been set. All you have to do is add in your own clipart/photos and text by deleting what's already there and replacing it with your stuff. If you need more table cells, just tap the "tab" key after the last cell and it will give you a new row. You will, however have to input the sizes for the large cell as it will automatically copy the last row (ie, the smaller size cells).

3 Part Card Template

 

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Heaven in a frock

 

Saw this divine garment here and totally fell in love :) Problem is, would I have an occasion to wear such a feast of prettiness? No I wouldn't, for that I'd need, I'd imagine, some kind of summer outdoor event involving teeny-tiny sandwiches and about 10,000 cups of tea.

The last time I attended anything like that was YEARS ago when I worked for a local firm of estate agents (I know, the shame!!) and they had a sort of garden party social thing in the grounds of the ex-Hurn Court School. All very prim and proper ... well, as about as prim and proper as a bunch of estate agents can get *laughs*.

Shame, I can just imagine making small talk whilst wafting about in the sunshine in this *sigh*.

PS - finished up the grusome spring cleaning for now, thank god. I'm beyond fed up with dust!

 

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Vers libre

So it would appear that my super little horoscope gadget disappeared in mysterious circumstances over night. I got up this morning and it didn't work and despite much fiddling by me, it still didn't work so I removed the code. Aaah well, plenty more gadgets in the sea, t'was silly anyway.

The moon is waning - actually only just noticed. Funny old thing, but I always feel quiet and odd and reflective and everso-slightly pissed off during a waning moon. Weird no?!

Anyway, this morning, perhaps inspired by this bizarre phenomena, whilst waiting for the tea to brew, I scribbled ... something that is meant to be poetry  

A Cancerian Game of Hide & Seek

I'm a cancerian,

Don't you know?

Governed by the Moon - her ebb and flow.

But, oh my god!

I wish it wasn't so!

You see,

she plays

with me.

A drawn out game of hide and seek.

Some days I find her easily,

She's there, clear to see.

Big and round,

like my typical Cancerian eyes,

or face,

or backside,

I've found.

Then I'm happy,

full of glee,

flirty, playful -

Wanna play with me?

But that Moon,

she gets bored,

Yawns, time to end this game now.

And I'm floored,

taken by surprise.

What

Is

Going

On?

She's taking my joy with her!

On her waning path into darkness,

she saps me of my

happiness,

enthusiasm,

energy.

I sink down,

sadly.

"Oh come back!"

I whisper.

"Come back and play,

we're not done yet!"

But her retreating face,

just smiles and mocks me.

Disappears and wins again.

And I retreat,

into my shell.

Ever the bad loser.

 

Monday, May 11, 2009

Come up for air

“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day”

~ Simone de Beauvoir ~

As mentioned earlier, today, we spring-cleaned. Let me rephrase that, we spring-cleaned The Lounge. It. Took. All. Day. I honestly DO clean my house but this was out-of-reach cleaning that involved yanking out huge bookcases and tables and whatnot. Horrible.

Oh god, the hauling about of furniture, the piles and piles of books, paper, cds, dvds, computer bits .... and the DUST!! The worst bit by far was behind the computer desk which is really inaccessible on a day to day basis so was absolutely thick with dust. Tim and I actually found ourselves speechless for a second when we saw it!

Our task was made slightly less hideous by the fact that it was a gorgeous day and so we had all the windows and doors open to air the place. Of course, it would HAVE to be extremely windy so we did have to put up with those windows and doors going BANG shut every so often

Still, it's done well, the lounge is - tomorrow we are entering the bowels of hell. The kids bedrooms.

 

Monday, May 11, 2009

Interesting

...comments so far :) I've had lots of great thoughts about the blog/website and have enjoyed reading them. The general consensus of opinion seems to be (very surprisingly to me!) that most seem to actually prefer a more "general" thing going on here. I've had a few that really love the free materials page so that will be staying for sure.

I've decided not to make the blog any more "educational" based than it is now (maybe less so). I'm going to try and encourage Rosie to pick up her own blog (that she abandoned yonks ago) and write her own stuff rather than doing it for her.

As many long term readers will know, I'm a great gadget lover - I very often add little bits and pieces to the blog for entertainment (they usually disappear again after a while but hey-ho). My current bit of silliness (or is that sillyness?) is a ... taa-daa!... horoscope gadget!

Yes indeed! All complete nonsense obviously but, come on be honest, EVERYONE sneeks a peak sometimes *laughs*. It's in the sidebar, just scroll through until you find yours and prepare to be amazed by the accuracy of it *laughs even harder*. I'm a cancerian and whilst the "character profiles" the astrologers do is usually pretty accurate (spookily and scarily so), the actual horoscopes usually leaving me thinking "erm.....?"

Right, I've got to go - Tim and I are spring cleaning today. I've been doing some of this on my own lately but I needed him to shift the heavy furniture out the way so we can get to those long forgotten places (probably full of spiders!)

 

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Highcliffe Castle

Well, it was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon so we went off to Highcliffe after lunch and spent a bit of time wandering around the "castle" (it isn't actually a castle, more of a grand old manor house) and grounds and eating icecream :)

Didn't get too many piccies today and this is all entirely Tim's fault. I informed him that the batteries on the camera were running out and, originally, he said he'd buy some more on the way. Then he said "naaa, we'll try and get by with these" - I told him they'd run out but he was quite certain that they'd be ok. Hmmm.

So, here are some we did get:

Me "n" April in similar pose - yummy, yummy, yummy! Check out my frowny face though! It was very sunny and I was squinting.

 

Outside the front

 

April running

Both the kids running

The gorgeous stained glass window in the grand hall

That's all folks - drat Tim and his failure to buy new batteries!

 

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Will you?

UPDATE: Thank you to those who've taken time out to respond so far :) The comments are really interesting and helpful - keep them coming! :)

Help me out a little here? :)

My website has undergone a load of changes over the last year or so and, at the moment, it's a little "up in the air". I want to know what direction to take the site in (you know, more or less educational materials, bring back the recipe page or whatever) and I'm trying to conduct a teensy-tiny survey to give me some idea of my "audience" (so to speak!), what people like or don't like, want or don't want etc.

If you like, I'm trying to make the website more "whole" and give people what they actually want and I'd like to know whether to make the blog, for example, more educational based or whether to keep it more general.

If everyone who visits this blog over the next day or so takes the survey (and honestly answers, not mucks about *laughs*) it would really really help me enormously :)

Just to note:

1. It's entirely anonymous - I'm not after collecting personal information about your name, where you live etc - that's not the point of this so please don't worry that this will reveal anything you'd rather I didn't know - the questions are very general.

2. It's short as I know many of you are busy - only 5 questions (actually, only 4 with the 5th one being an "any other comments" type thing.

3. You do NOT have to give your email address on the form - it's entirely optional - and you do not have to give your real name (any old alias will do) again, I'm doing my utmost to protect privacy here.

4. All I ask is that you answer all 4 (or 5 if you want!) questions to give me a good general feedback.

To do the survey, just go to the "Contact" link at the top of this page. I have put the questions on that page and all you need to do is copy/paste them into the comment box, answer them and send - a complete doddle :)

Thanking you in advance for your time/help - now off you go visit the page

We're off out to Highcliffe Castle after lunch for a wander so hope to post some nice piccies soon :)

 

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Poetry

Occasionally I mention poems on this blog - I really like poetry but I'm picky :) I have to feel really moved in some way - laugh out loud or feel spooked or excited.

I really adore Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes - I read these out loud to Rosie once and we both howled with laughter. Doesn't matter if you're a grown up - go buy the book and I guarantee you'll find it hysterical too :) Here's a bit from Goldilocks and the Three Bears:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears (From Revolting Rhymes)

by Roald Dahl

You are of course a house proud wife,

And all your happy married life

You have collected lovely things

Like gilded cherubs wearing wings,

And furniture by Chippendale

Bought at some famous auction sale.

But your most special valued treasure,

The piece that gives you endless pleasure

Is one small children's dining-chair,

Elizabethan, very rare.

It is in fact your joy and pride,

Passed down to you on grandma's side.

But Goldilocks, like many freaks,

Does not appreciate antiques.

She doesn't care, she doesn't mind,

And now she plonks her fat behind

Upon this dainty precious chair,

And crunch! It busts beyond repair.

A nice girl would at once exclaim,

'Oh dear! Oh heavens! What a shame!'

Not Goldie. She begins to swear.

She bellows, 'What a lousy chair!'

I sometimes find poems on the web that I really love so I decided, every now and again, to put one here. This one today, gives me delicious little shivers *smiles* - I can imagine this guy (I think it's a guy!) writing this about some woman he admires from afar - very beautiful.

- A Simple Secret

Imprisoned inside me

Is a secret

Buried so deep

No one will see.

It’s a simple secret really.

It helps me through

The best and worse

Life can be.

My secret?

I think of you

And the rest is easy.

1988-1989

Ronberge

 

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Fixed phones and stuff

Well, what a difference an afternoon makes :) Funny how things turn out.

My tummy feels better now (the Mac-yuk-burger must have shifted itself ... ahem), my phone is fixed (turned out to be a problem with the call centre number or something), got a few bits sorted today and I just feel ..... aaaah, better  

... and Tim has just come back with fruit salad which is just about exactly what I need *big smile*

 

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Still plodding

Yep, I feel rubbish after eating Macdonalds last night *sighs*.

I'm also feeling sluggish, frustrated, vaguely unhappy and irritated. It's just one of those days - apart from feeling yuk because of last nights dinner, I'm annoyed because my bloody mobile phone has gone screwy. Apparently, it seems, I can make calls and receive texts but not SEND any texts??!! Eh?! I have credit, so I just don't know why they won't send - I tried a couple to Tim and his mum but nothing happened, just got a "failed" message. I also can't shake the feeling that something, somewhere has gone terribly, badly wrong.....

Anyway, been doing stuff with Rosie lately about eyes and I made some things so thought I'd share in case they're useful to anyone - you will need to colour the different parts of the eye by hand after printing them, using the chart on the first page for guidance:

Parts of an Eye 3 part cards

Blank eyes to colour and label

Parts of an Eye definition cards

 

Friday, May 08, 2009

Plod, plod

Onwards we go. Definate uneasy feeling at the moment that I just can't shake and really can't understand the reason for ... well, maybe, maybe not *laughs*.

Tim's booked a day off in mid-July - my birthday is around then so we thought it would be rather nice to be able to "do special dinner" .... and things .... without him having to worry about getting up in the morning for work. The flipside of that is that they've then got him for a whole week of overtime the following week (or week after that, can't remember!). Tit-for-tat

Anyway, the kids "did work" - I'm still persisting in giving April stuff despite the fact that if she goes off to Reception in September she's going to be way ahead of the other children and this might actually cause problems.

Here are some not-very-exciting pics (trying to do loads at the moment for the forthcoming LEA report):

Rosie's Montessori noun sorting activity - common, proper, abstract and concrete nouns - I'm pretty sure she went a bit wrong with this and "doctor" isn't a concrete noun but I could be wrong ........

 

..... and the follow up work - "mapping" nouns in sentences using the Montessori grammar symbol. She's working in her "general work journal" here - the book she uses for all subjects - just to the left of her noun work you can see some guff I wrote in for her about reducing fractions which she's also doing at the moment.

 

April drawing a picture of Link (of Legend of Zelda fame) .... he's looking pretty worried here I think!

 

Well, must be off now ..... Tim and I are being terribly lazy later and having BigMacs for dinner - groan! Delicious junk that every now and again we get a real craving for and then feel like total crap the day after.

 

Friday, May 08, 2009

Little musical interlude.....

Cute