Sarah's Blog

Fractions!

I've been introducing April to the idea of fractions using a couple of fun activities :) I also made a worksheet to go with these (there's another sheet but that came from a teacher blog - will try and remember where I got it from!) Here are the things you'll need to do these activities:

The worksheets

Fraction tower cubes (or similar)

Threading beads

A bag with lots of different colour pom poms

Piece of card or construction paper

Glue

First, I explained how a fraction was part of a whole and used coloured beads to demonstrate. I had her thread some beads - as many as she wanted - and then we counted the beads up.

Then, she worked out how many were yellow, blue, green etc and I wrote that on a piece of paper as "6 out of 12 are yellow" and so on.

Next a craft activity! She drew out 10 random pom poms from the bag and glued them on her construction paper to make a caterpillar (or fractionpillar as we called him!) She added feelers and button eyes :)

Then we took the fractionpillar worksheet and coloured it in to match her pom pom 'pillar. After she was done, we did the same thing as the beads - how many are there altogether? 10. How many are pink? How many are yellow and so on. She filled in a slip for each colour of her caterpillar.

That was all yesterday :)

Today, I reviewed with her the parts of a whole thing and introduced her to writing fractions as a number rather than words. Then I gave her 4 pizza "boxes" (folded and stapled construction paper) each containing a pizza cut into parts (hand drawn pizzas, each one a different number of slices). I also gave her the pizza worksheet.

The idea was that she had to first put her pizzas together, then count up how many slices were in them and then work out what fraction of the slices had mushrooms on, what fraction had peppers on etc. She then wrote the answers as fractions.

... not sure about the blue pizza there! :)

Here are my fractionpillar files:

Fractionpillar 1

Fractionpillar 2

Incidently, most of my home ed related posts/free files will most likely be on my shop blog now so if you're looking for home ed stuff, that's the place to go - just click on the shop logo in the sidebar :)

Plans

"Sure'n I hope you're considerin' the future, Mr. Eastwood?"

Maggie McFly to Marty (Back to the Future III)

If you've never watched Back to the Future (or, at least, not the 3rd one) that quote will mean nothing to you. The future, however, is something we've been considering a lot recently. Mostly Rosie's.

In September she "starts" Year 10 - she finishes her compulsory education June 2014 which seems a long way off but, as many a home ed parent will tell you, the years pass mighty fast. Ever since she was a little-bitty girl she wanted to "work with animals", over the years this has become more specific. Now, it's "work with horses". Since she has been taking her ride-outs with the local stables this wanting to work with horses idea has gathered momentum - to the point, in fact, where it is now definately what she wants to do.

So, plans had to be put in place to help her reach that goal and that means training. At the moment, her ride-outs are very informal lessons - she's worked up to a canter with them but that's about as far as it goes. In order to get on the course she wants to do (more on that in a minute!) she needs more riding experience as well as some horse care experience (grooming, stable care etc). In order to do THOSE things, she needs to be at a formal stable doing formal lessons.

Now, I always find with some things it's best to work backwards - what do you want to do for a job - what training do you need - what do you need to do NOW to get on the training. Having worked out the career choice the next step is where to do the training? In the end, there was only ONE place that she really like the look of - Kingston Maurward Equestrian.

It really is a fabulous looking place and she can work her way right through a programme of courses - ending with the British Horse Society exams if she wants. It also happens that they do formal riding lessons so, to prepare her for college and to give her the necessary experience before she goes, we're going to start her on regular lessons there - probably from early this summer. She's still going to continue her rides with the local stable though coz' she loves them :)

Wow! you know, it seems only 5 minutes ago that she was just starting her "compulsory" education - now we're only a short way away from college - crazy! Like I said, the years do fly past!

Onto other stuff now.

Yesterday the weather was absolutely perfect - warm, hazy sunshine. So, being at a loose end, we decided to go into Christchurch for a walk about. It was market day so, after we'd walked along the river and fed the ducks, we wandered about the market before going into M&S for some food. Then it was home again to .....

Start getting the bathroom ceiling ready for painting!! Errrk! It's the only bit of the bathroom that needs painting as the rest is fully tiled but god what a bind!

We also ordered in some new fencing for out back as the stuff that is there is shot to bits. Should be arriving tomorrow so we can get on and put it up at the weekend (along with some other gardening jobs that need to be done!)

This afternoon the hairdresser is coming to tidy us up :) About time too! :)

Ch...ch...changes

Hellllooo!

Change is good sometimes isn't it? Sometimes you just have to let some stuff go even if it is difficult.

I've been having a bit of a discussion with myself (always the best kind don't you find?) over the last month or so - Facebook.

I've had an account before but got fed up pretty quick and got rid. However, my latest "attempt" at Facebooking has lasted a lot longer which is why I had to have the big discussions with myself about it. The thing is, I got very, very bored with it. I generally post most (reasonably interesting!) things here on my blog anway and I quite often found I was repeating myself on Facebook (albeit in a shortened format). It was like - 2 sets of "posts", 2 sets of pictures ..... it got tedious. I just don't have the patience for it anymore.

I will say that if you don't have a blog or did have and now don't blog anymore then Facebook is probably a brilliant alternative and I do know lots of people use it to keep in touch with friends/family. I don't know, maybe it just never worked out that way for me (with the exception of the lovely Mrs Wade of course!)

So, I came to the decision to close my account again - this time for good. Tim, as it happens is doing the same although his closure is largely because he never used the damn thing in the first place! :)

Right, so now I can fully concentrate on my website again.

I am in the process of writing up some recipes to go on the foody page (I want to get a few done before I post them to save time) and ......

Well, wait and see - that will keep for another time ;)

So that's that.

PS - Tim came home from work today with CHOCOLATE!! They all got given Easter eggs (a little early?) He did quickly promise to share it with me (before he had it wrenched from his hands and I escaped off up the garden with it!) .... mmmm! chocolate!

"dem bones, dem bones"

We started getting "How Your Body Works" for the kids. It's a weekly magazine that tells you (surprise!) how your body works and lets you build a 110cm tall skeleton called Billie Bones. He's also got other "bits" - brain, eyeballs, intestines, lungs etc.

Anyway, we've got the first 2 parts so, today, we started building:

First we put his top set of teeth in (mega fiddly) and then propped him up on some scissors while we assembled the bottom jaw

Having got the jaws together (they do open and close) we added his brain and eyeballs - Billie Half-Brain *laughs*

"Alas, Poor Yorick!" .. or should that be Billie?!

Next time we get to add his neck bones and sternum and ribs :)

Other than schoolwork, we've been totally enjoying the gorgeous sunshine - I got to wear a springtimey frock today with SHORT SLEEVES! Woohoo! April and I went out to our favourite spot - the front porch step - it's an absolute suntrap and SOOOO warm - check out our toes :)

Tim came home from work with a load of new uniform - it's actually pretty nice and will certainly save his own clothes from getting ruined. The only downer was the reflective thing he has to wear which has "Tim" plastered across the front in fairly large letters. Most unfortunate. *laughs*.

Work this week

Just a quick, mostly photographic, post ... some of the work the kids have done this week (by no means all but I can't be bothered to do EVERYTHING here!)

A couple of Rosie's things this time - woohoo!

The physics lapbook I mentioned in another post - still not finished but I thought "what the heck" - here it is so far:

Rosie was making a booklet about hydrogen atoms at the time .. here is my chalkboard drawing I did for her ...um, basic :D

She's also been working on order of operations (from her GSCS maths). As with ALL things maths, we do concrete before abstract - usually with Montessori materials. Here, she's using the bead bars to "build" the equations before working out:

April next :) She's been doing allsorts including starting work on the 5 groups of vertebrates, square numbers with the bead bars, learning the triangles from the geometry cabinet, continuing her study of the UK by learning the flags with a pin map and starting the stamp game.

She used the rectangle inset to create her flag book

Static addition with the stamp game - how I LOVE the stamp game, it's probably one of my favourite materials. You can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, long multiplication and long division, factors and prime numbers and square roots with it. So, basically, you get quite a few years use out of it!

By the way, you can get this stamp game paper as a free download from Montessori Print Shop. The sum cards in the picture above came from Montessori for Everyone - I just glued them to card to make them more durable.

Off now to relax - made chilli for dinner (in the slow cooker) and fruit tart (with homemade custard yuuuuum!) for pudding and I'm looking forward to it! :)

A melting pot of "stuff"

No one thing springs to mind today so here is a mish-mash of bits and pieces.

Floyd. Moulting. Big time. He has very thick fur and, clearly, he has decided that spring is springing and that thick fur is starting to fall out. I brushed him today (or, rather, I chased him round the kitchen TRYING to brush him while he rubbed up against me, the comb, the washing machine ....) and a HUGE amount came out. He was purring so I guess he enjoyed it thoroughly.

Tacos. Had them for dinner last night, now the house REEKS. What is it with tacos?! Nothing else we cook has that affect and we cook some pretty pungent food sometimes!

Crafts. I have works in progress - so many in fact that I am starting to get slightly panicked every time I look in the direction of my craft box. To name but 2 - a tiger for April (I've made the head and made the body but the 2 have yet to join happily together) and a crocheted spring bag for me which needs to be felted in the washing machine and stitched together.

Homeschool materials. Rosie and April are about to start new topics and this resulted in me spending most of yesterday printing, laminating and cutting out Montessori materials to go with those topics. I was fair sick of it by the end of the day.

Builders. Of the annoying variety. I can do no better than to copy and paste exactly what I put on my facebook page: "Another day with the builders next door making on helluva racket. They've been here for WEEKS and are likely to be here for many more .... I'm sick of their noise ... I'm sick of the fact that they keep dumping stuff in our garden .... I'm sick of the scaffolding that's been put up that is partly IN our garden ... I'm sick of them listening to Radio 1 (which I LOATHE) .... I'M SICK OF THEM!!! Do you know what I want to do with one of those scaffolding poles? Do ya?......." Nuff said.

Rosie being silly about a scotch egg. Again (and I apologise for this laziness - I should re-write using different words) I shall lift from facebook: "Tim picked up Rosie from guides last night and her first words after coming in were "shall I tell you today's GRIPPING news?!" ... ok, sure ...... "there was a GIGANTIC scotch egg in one of the car parking spaces at the Guide hall!!" ...... riiiiiight...... Apparently, she wanted Tim to drive over it but he wouldn't ... the spoilsport!"

New car. Gorgeous. Going well. Love it. The lovely clean floor mats have already been christened with dirty footprints from our boots after being at the stables. Tim had a bit of an issue with the lights the first (early!) morning he went off to work. He couldn't turn some off (normally, he backs out the drive with the lights off to avoid disturbing the neighbours too much but he couldn't!) I pointed out that maybe the lights are on all the time like a Volvo. Anyway, he contacted Mazda who told him they are day running lights and are on all the time .... like a Volvo. EXACTLY. :)

Bye for now :)

Sunny Sunday

Yesterday the weather was so lovely! Tim took Rosie for her horse riding (and took April along with him just for a drive!) which gave me a while of peace and quiet. I took a stroll round the garden with Floyd trotting along beside me (he really is so sweet sometimes!) and noticed a lot of springtime things popping up.

There were crocuses all over the lawn and leafbuds appearing on the trees and the birds were going crazy! It was so warm - especially in the direct sunshine and I sat on the bench for a bit and soaked it all in - heaven!

Later on I went with Tim to pick Rosie up and we had a bit of a walk in the forest while we waited for her. I took my camera and got a picture of her on Lizzie (the pony they pretty much always give her) - Lizzie is still wearing her winter coat, really shaggy!

Today, by contrast, was a bit gloomy weather-wise but we still had a nice sort of day :) I got up and did something I haven't done for AGES which was make bread - bread rolls to be specific:

After lunch we went up the local shops and to the library - we haven't been to the library since before Christmas! Then home so that Tim could start his Monday evening run backwards and forwards to the local Guide hall - April has Brownies first and then, half an hour after she finishes, Rosie has Guides!

Some lemony things

We had pancakes ... yum yum .... we also had FAR too many lemons as the shop didn't sell unwaxed ones individually, so we brought a bagful.

Today, we still had the spare lemons left - I made lemon cake for tea which took care of most of them:

... but what to do with the last one? Hmmm...... aaah! lunch! Tim was at work and when Tim's at work I experiment in the kitchen. Don't ask me why this is, perhaps I'm terrified of making myself look an idiot if it goes wrong. Anyway, after a little rummaging in the cupboards and unearthing not only the lemon, but also some (ok, slightly wilted) coriander and garlic and after flicking through some cookbooks, I did my own version of a Nigel Slater recipe. It. Was. Heaven.

Pasta (any type, I used spaghetti) cooked in the usual way. In a serving bowl chuck some roughly chopped coriander, a squeeze of lemon juice and some lemon zest and drizzle over some olive oil. Mix up. Get some fresh white breadcrumbs, VERY gently fry them up in a pan with some garlic and olive oil until golden brown. Drain pasta, put in serving bowl, mix the whole lot together and sprinkle on crunchy bread/garlic mixture to finish.

Perfect light lunch :)

Now, work .... April's work. Before you ask, YES Rosie does do work it's just very difficult to get any pictures! Her maths is entirely computer based. she's been reviewing grammar (with Simply Grammar) but that's entirely oral and her creative writing is on her computer in her room and we're not allowed to see it until it's finished. She IS working on a physics lapbook but it's MAMMOTH and taking ages but I will post pics when it's done. She (and April for that matter) have been doing a history timeline based on Kings & Things (A Light Hearted Romp Through British History) by H E Marshall. I read aloud to them, they make the timeline. Simples. Thing is, I want them to complete more of it before I post pictures.

So, April's stuff:

Learning the countries of the UK

Making a timeline of her life so far (to see how much she's changed)

Multiplying by 10 (easy, as Tim would say, "bung a nought on!")

Constructive triangles

practicing cursive writing (oh, the concentration!)

practicing tables with the multiplication bead board

Finally, I shall leave you with this picture .... I did this for Tim this evening 'coz it's not just us ladies that like candlelit baths :) Romantic eh? :)

Cheerio! :)

Gettin' loved up and stuff

You might have noticed it was Valentines day recently and super it was too :) Some people don't celebrate it because they are, apparently, so fab to each other the rest of the year they feel they don't have to. Well, frankly, we are the most lovey family I know (lol!) but that doesn't stop us being EVEN MORE SO on Valentines day :) Anyway, the kids would never forgive me if I allowed this day (or any other seasonal event) to go past without recognising it.

So, Rosie made a postbox before the 14th and put it in the hall and we all made little cards for each other and put them in. Tim, who knows I love Hello Kitty, brought me a little Hello Kitty coaster to put my cup on and put it in with my card which was very sweet :) I cut the kids sandwiches into hearts at lunchtime and served them up strawberries with vanilla sugar for afters. Then, of course, Tim and I had a rather lovely (and loving!!) candlelit dinner, complete with bubbly, after getting the kids into bed.

All very gorgeous :)

Other than that, it's all been pretty quiet and nice and peaceful round here (which is how I like it!) Much homeschooling going on - April continuing to thrive on Montessori (just ordered a complete set of coloured beads for all the activities that we'll need them for!) and the New Child Montessori curriculum guides are continuing to serve us well - actually, that's an understatement - we LOVE them! Rosie is on a mixture of Montessori, GCSE maths and "real life" learning - very Montessori Erdkinder if I'm honest. She still adores her horse riding (despite taking a bit of a tumble recently!) She's been riding Lizzie an ex-point to point horse who is VERY speedy - she constantly wants to be at the front of the group but Rosie handles her very well :) Both girls are continuing to love Guides and April's doing very well now she's moved up to Brownies.

So that's about that - don't forget those who are interested, Winterwatch (one off special) is on Wednesday 22nd!

Photo heavy!

Helloooo!

I thought I'd be reappear before everyone thought I'd gone for good!

Ok, quicky update on the website. I have added another craft to the crafts page and I've got several recipes that I'm in the process of writing up to add to the food page. There WAS another page that I was umming and aaahing about doing but I've decided to put that on hold for the time being. This is largely because I don't ever seem to have the time to sit down and do it! It's one of those projects that I'm hoping to work on over the next couple of months or so.

So what else? Here come the pictures!

There has been .....

Work on projects - this is something April did for her animals in winter project. She made a folded book ....

Ploughing through GCSE maths (with the help of the very splended CGP video lessons)

Baking of glittery cupcakes (yum yum) by my good self

Crocheting of dusters (again, by me)

I also made April a fun bunch of stuff about alliteration :)

The first crocus of (early!) spring ... more please!

... and, finally, April doing some really funny daddy-related things. Firstly, paper dolly daddy! Can't say I entirely like the thought of him wearing an orange and green stripey skirt but hey-ho *laughs*

.. and this is really funny - daddy at work!! Stick man daddy shown doing various things (that actually did happen!)

Top left: Daddy driving the van (although it looks, for all the world, like he's crashing into a tree!)

Top right: Daddy twisting his ankle jumping clumsily out of van (and that facial expression is probably fairly accurate...)

Bottom right: Daddy in the New Forest being greeted by a 3 legged cat giving him a dead mole. Yes, that really did happen!

Bottom left: Daddy delivering stuff to a VERY grumpy, nit-picking chef. Mentioning no names obviously. Readers of this blog probably wouldn't know who it was anyway but the mushrooms being delivered by stick daddy are significant ..... *laughs out loud*

Love the way she always gives Tim incredibly curly long hair! His hair isn't this long OR this curly - he looks like Charles II!!

That's all folks!

"back to life ..."

Just a quicky today - having lunch soon then off out to buy April new shoes!

So, we're back into our usual routine ...... back to this mostly:

... work those kids .. bwa-ha-ha! Rosie's messing about with some general maths review until some GCSE maths stuff I've ordered for her turns up.

We've started reading a new history book (which has prompted much amusement with acting out various things with toys afterwards!), worked on physics, maths, art study and grammar.

Did grammar with April this morning - we started Montessori grammar work just before Christmas so today I quickly review articles and nouns with her. Usually, Montessori uses a farm environment to teach grammar but we use a ... erm... medieval/fantasy scene instead. Even Rosie joined in with this and was sort of teaching April for me ... "this is an article" ... good fun :)

Course, when this was finished, it quickly turned into a game of knights and dragons (after stuffing all the grammar symbols away first!)

Oh, who is that in April's little hand (at the top)? Why, it's Link! My homemade Link to be precise - made many moons ago and now looking a little worse for wear! :D

A New Year

So here we are, Christmas done and dusted, New Years Eve done and dusted and we've come tumbling out into 2012 :)

Normally by now I've done my new year post, in fact, I've normally done it just before new year. I looked back into my archives and realised that I always did a post about stuff I wasn't happy with and wanted to change, things I was desperate to do or achieve, homeschool work I wasn't happy with and wanted to change. All change.

It occured to me today that I hadn't done it this (last!) year and I wondered why. When I really thought about it, I realised that it was because all the things I wanted to change or do away with I actually did do last year - there was nothing left. I am, in fact, perfectly happy with the way my life is - I don't want to change anything. The homeschool work is fab, the house is nice, we as a family are happy ... I am content :)

Now, of course, that's not to say that I don't have things that I am aiming for - I'm practicing my new recorder (oh! the alto sounds soooo much better than the descant!) with Tim accompanying me on the piano most times, I'm increasing my crochet skills (just completed a little shrug - my first clothing done in crochet!) and I'm perfecting my baking skills. It's just there is nothing I feel I MUST change or get rid of - the things I want to do are just little, "pottering" things that increase my happiness even more.

It's quite refreshing really! :)

So now the Christmas decs are away and I've hoovered through and the house is back to normal. I'm sorting out the homeschool stuff ready for back to work and Tim also goes back to work on Thursday (he was very lucky and got the time off between Christmas and New Year).

Today we got out for our first walk of the year and went to Avon Heath. It was gloriously sunny and all blue sky (we timed our walk perfectly because just as we finished it got dark and started raining). Where we have had a lot of rain over the last few days it was incredibly boggy and muddy and the stream was very swollen - we had one great bit where we had to make our way across the water by climbing over some wobbly logs - a bit scary!

Hmm, what to say?

It's been a while since I blogged. In my defence, we have been very, very busy continuing with the regorganisation. It's now pretty much finished and, wow, does it look good :) Amazing what a few bits of new furniture (we've been in flat-pack hell) and a quick change around can do for a room - wish I'd taken some before and after pics really!

Homeschool - remember I blogged a little while back about looking at our curriculum and possibly making a few changes? Well, long-term readers of my blog will know that we have always favoured a Montessori-ish approach and that has more-or-less continued. However, I decided (after ...ooo!... about 3 years of deliberating!) to get the New Child Montessori Guides. These cover 4 seasons and each book has enough material for several years worth of work. The cover, mostly, the cultural subjects (science, history, geography) but also incorporate Language Arts and maths. I picked up the art manual while I was there and, honestly, these 5 books are worth their weight in gold and my only irritation is that I did not buy them years ago! My lesson planning with April is now going so smoothly and easily that I don't know myself! My other decision was to use Senari Academy maths programmes with both kids. Again, this is a Montessori-ish programme incorporating computer based work (very simple and basic programme but highly effective), written work and (for class 1) hands on manipulatives. It's basically divided into 4 classes - class 1, class 2, pre-algebra and algebra. Classes 1 and 2 cover (more or less) primary and early secondary with the other 2 following on from that. We LOVE it - nothing else to say! :)

So, April's been working on parts of the earth and is going to move on to animals in winter pretty soon. Rosie's not doing the New Child stuff (too old now sadly!) so she's been doing a physics lapbook from Hands of a Child that I actually brought her last school year but we never got round to.

So that's furniture and homeschool. What else? Hmm, well, I went to visit a cosmetic surgeon - NO, it was to have certain bits of me surgically enhanced (hee! hee!) - it was to discuss with him the possibility of having a mole removed. See, I have this little mole, just under my right eye - it's not massive and it's only slightly darker than my skin tone but it IS slightly raised. I go through phases of being intensely wound up by it and then other times I don't even notice. Anyway, off I trotted to see the consultant at the Harbour Hospital in Poole - he checked me out and is perfectly happy that it's not cancerous (not that I thought it was but I guess he has to check) BUT removal could be problematic. He told me I have 3 options:

1. Cut it out horizontally, leaving a small scar. However, with this option (due to the exact position of the mole) there would be a very strong likelihood that it would cause my lower eyelid to be "pulled down" making me look like a freak. What kind of a flipping option is that?!
2. Cut it out vertically, reducing the chance of freaky eyelid problems significantly but leaving a much bigger more noticable scar.
3. Shave it off and burn out the roots (*feels sick*) which would leave a noticable "pox" type scar.

The other option which I've researched myself is removing the mole (or at the very least shrinking it down) by more natural, non-surgical methods - i.e the application of castor oil. Now, before you guffaw mockingly, this is apparently VERY effective - albeit time-intensive as it can take a while to actually work. My mole is really not that big at all so I'm hopeful.

So, I've given myself a time limit - I'm going to try the non-surgery method first and, if it's not gone or at least drastically improved, by the new year I'll shall get the lovely Mr Tiernan to do his stuff. Watch this space to see if I'm successful or not (bet you can't wait huh?)

PS - I have to say that my eldest daughter has told me I shouldn't bother removing the mole as a) it's not that bad (she would say that, it's not attached to her face!) and b) it's "part" of me and I wouldn't be me without it. Bless the girl :)

Quick Round Up

Well, on Halloween day we finally got to Hengistbury Head (after wanting to go there for days and not managing it) and fabulous it was too. Very windy when we were walking up the actual "head" but once we got down into the woods it was very sheltered and lovely. We saw gazillions of starlings (PERHAPS a slight exaggeration there but MANY, MANY!) which I think may have not long arrived, a strange little reddy-brown creature that we couldn't identify that shot across the path in front of us at high speed and then disappeared into the bank by the water and a huge furry caterpillar (very late in the season I thought!) ambling along the path. It was a wonderful walk and certainly blew the cobwebs away.

Also been busy doing little things to get ready for the festive season - apart from the obvious of planning pressies/food. We're going to do up the lounge/diner a bit (as I've mentioned before) and reorganise the homeschool area (I'm terribly into minimalist "looks" and can't BEAR clutter!) - so it's new shelving and storage alround (we've found the most GORGEOUS set from Next). Of course, all this is also so that Tim can get his new piano in - he's chosen one he likes and is hoping to get out on Monday/Tuesday next week when he's off work again to buy said instrument :)

I've still got to book a gardener and get the garden cleared up a bit before the really cold weather kicks in. The problem with our garden is that it is LOVELY in the sense that it is big and rambling and woody and full of wildlife BUT it's big and rambling and woody ..... you get the point?! It's really hard to look after so we're getting someone to come in and top trees, smaller shrubs, tidy away dead stuff and generally tidy it right up (whilst still retaining all the bits that the birds/animals like to live in) so that we can manage it more easily next spring.

Homeschool - as I said above, we're going to sort out the homeschool area a bit and provide a nicer working environment with better storage. I've also been looking at the kids curriculum a little. This year hasn't been bad in terms of work achieved so far - April has done stuff on the water cycle, vertebrates/invertebrates and nocturnal animals. She's also started serious grammar work and been doing stuff on nouns (about to do work on noun types - person, place thing). In maths she's been continuing to work on adding/take away/multiplication/division and can now easily identify and read numbers up into the hundreds. English wise, she's reading fluently and is now on to chapter books (we recently had to buy her a set of The Dragons of Wayward Crescent that she fell in love with) - not bad for a 6 year old and with no pressure whatsoever! Rosie's been spending the first half term doing stuff on space (exoplanets, black holes, gravity etc). She's continuing to write manically and has started a new series (finished writing about Sir Sticky now!) which I know nothing about as it's a secret at present. In maths, she's using a Galore Park book and speeding her way through a load of review (JUST to make sure ....) before moving on to pre-algebra.

It's mainly the maths that I'm having thoughts about - particularly April as Rosie is doing ok with Galore Park. I'm seriously thinking of putting April on Math U See - I think it would really suit her and I've looked at it over and over and read reviews and it seems that it could be right for her. We'll see. I also want to get more in the way of science stuff for both of them - you know, kits for working with electronics that sort of thing.

I'm not overly stressed about all this though because, as I said, homeschool is going pretty good at the moment (if it ain't broke don't fix it ... TOO much!) The advantage of having slightly older kids (even a 6 year old) is that they are much more independent in their work - they know what they have to do and they just get on with it. Nice :)

Slip-up socks

Made these for April ... slipper socks (slip-UP socks because there are no "grips" on the bottom and the kitchen/bathroom tiles can be pretty slidey places!) I crocheted them - they can be worn top up or down :)

Feeling vaguely out of sorts today - woke up feeling a bit bleuurgh and, frankly, need to head to somewhere wide open and breezy. I feel Hengistbury Head calling ....

Photo montage

I did one of these a year or so ago ... this is an updated version (with a couple of oldie pics thrown in that were too lovely to leave out).

Wash out

We were planning on going into Christchurch this afternoon and feeding the ducks and having a walk but, sadly, the weather had other ideas. It really has been horribly windy and rainy .... oh well, another time.

Instead, Tim to Marks and Spencer for lemon cake (I ADORE their lemon cake) - he came back with 2 bags of shopping (!) - and I settled down with my knitting loom and made this for April:

Snakey! Here he is half finished

... and done :)

I haven't done any loom knitting for AGES so it was nice :) Now I'm using up all my wool oddments to make a crazy coloured shawl. I'll probably end up giving it to the kids to play dress up with but I'm learning new techniques so it's worth doing.

Got to go now ... in the middle of making pear and apple crumble (to have with Greek yoghurt) for pudding :)

hi there ....

My poor, neglected blog (and poor, neglected Facebook page too if I'm honest ...) Really, you haven't missed much as not much as been happening!

Homeschool is going good (got LOADS of April work piccies but cannot be bothered to Photoshop them at the mo). Although the year has got off to a pretty nice start, we're not using any particularly curriculum and I'm looking at some bits (for April and Rosie) that I might like to start after Christmas. More on that some other time :)

Rosie's horse riding is going MORE than good - she's an absolute star! This Sunday just gone she went in the afternoon (she does this once a month when Tim has church committments - the rest of the time she goes in the morning). Sunday afternoons are when there are a load of college students riding and they asked her how long she'd been riding and she told them a couple of months. They actually didn't believe her as she is SO good and has so much natural talent - she was cantering along with the best of them! :)

My poor old brain is (slowly) starting to come round to the idea of Christmas - got to do the cake in a couple of weeks! However, Tim and I are pretty keen to get the living room/dining room re-done soon - before the festive season - (i.e serious de-cluttering, new shelving etc) as it's all pretty old and tatty. HOW soon is dependant on a couple of things which I can't go into here. We're also going to have to re-arrange a bit as Tim is buying a piano at some point in the near future. Yep, he's a pianist without a piano - actually, that's not strictly true, he does have one but it's at his mums place. He's going to buy a digital piano so that he can use it with headphones and play even if people are watching the telly or whatever. It will be wonderful for him to have as he doesn't get nearly as much chance to play as he would like and he'll be able to learn new stuff!

Apart from that, we're just enjoying the lovely (getting chillier!) autumn weather. We have all been a bit under the weather with colds recently but they seem to be going now. Tims foot (remember his sprain a while back?) is about as fixed as it's going to get - we're pretty convinced it was actually a bit more than "just" a sprain as it really isn't 100% right even now and aches from time to time. He has to be really careful now not to do it again!

Lovely walk :)

This Friday just gone, with Tim feeling his foot had healed sufficiently to walk a reasonable distance, we decided to go to Moors Valley for the afternoon. I can honestly say I haven't enjoyed a walk as much as that for a LONG time - it was utter bliss. The weather was perfect - warm (just the right sort of warm, not too hot or cold) with a gentle breeze. We walked in the woods and enjoyed pure peace - just the occasional rustling sounds of forest animals and the birds singing. Our peace was temporarily ruined by a huge group of noisy school kids who had obviously been "released" for the afternoon and were making the most of it - we headed in the other direction though and quiet was restored! We walked in the woods for AGES and played on the fabulous wooden play structures and just breathed it all in .......

Eventually, we found our way back to the visitor centre and grabbed some tea from the restaurant and took it outside to a table to eat (too nice to sit indoors!) We'd just finished when a woman turned up with 3 dogs - 2 beautiful Whippets and an absolutely GORGEOUS Chihuahua. Now, I have to say, I'm not generally a dog lover but even I fell in love with it! We stayed chatting to the woman for a while and petting her lovely doggies and she happily answered the kids (especially April's!) questions. April was particularly keen to know how big the Chihuahua's puppies would be (tiny!)

After that, we wandered over to one of the other play areas for a bit and the kids went on the big wibbly-wobbly slides and tyre swings. By that time though it was getting late and Tim's foot was aching again so we headed on home.

Such an enjoyable, peaceful afternoon :)

In other news (and bringing us up to date today!), Floyd's Halloween collar is on it's way! Tim is not happy *laughs* but I think Floyd will look VERY cute and suitably attired for Halloween. YES, I know I'm sad!

Autumn!

The evenings are really drawing in aren't they? I noticed (rather suddenly!) how early it's getting dark these days. I don't mind though - I do love this time of the year - September and October are always gorgeous. Slightly alarming to think I'll be making my Christmas cake at the end of next month though! Usual activities have now been resumed now the summer is over - kids starting back at Guides - Rosie went on Monday and made soup as cooking practice because she has the Rosebowl Challenge on Friday. Rosie is staying on as a Guide until she's 16 - they have the option of becoming a senior at 14+ but she wants to continue as a regular Guide for the time being and discuss other options later. April goes back to Rainbows tomorrow for her last term before moving up to Brownies in January - how times flies!

The kids have started thinking about Halloween already and the silly nonsense they'll get up to then (I do recall a revolting "slime" game that Rosie made last year!) I shall be being silly to though because I'm going to get Floyd a lovely Halloween themed collar (black with little pumpkins all round it and a cute Jack-o-Lantern charm). Tim will not be pleased - he thinks cats should be "natural" but, if only for the period leading up to Halloween (and over it!) he's having it. A lovely lady is going to make it the right size for him - he's ...ahem... quite a big boy!

Of course, Autumn wouldn't be Autumn without Autumnwatch!! It starts (and goes on for 8 glorious weeks) at the beginning of October and I just cannot wait. Also starting on telly (tonight - BBC1 - 8.30) is Planet Dinosaur which Rosie is VERY much looking forward to and will watch, no doubt, tucked up in her bed :) I think we'll watch it too although I have just started re-watching my BBC Pride and Prejudice DVD an episode at a time so I'm not sure. Dinos or Colin Firth/Mr Darcy .... hmmmm ..... *laughs*. I'm sure the dinos will win - I can catch up with Mr Darcy another time, he's very patient :)