No photos again today. Getting poor at taking photos but Mondays is the same old routine, to the point where I feel that I'm not doing enough because there is an extreme lack of thought put into the day.
Having struggled last week with morning routine almost daily I have started the week with a new approach. Today the lunch was packed the night before and I encouraged the boys to get dressed before second breakfast which they did. The only slight hic cough was after breakfast water play and the need to change our clothes before going out (best laid plans...) but all in all it improved things so much that we were able to ride our bikes across town to join our Monday morning activity Little Verse. Pumpkin has taken up singing and doing actions again and is now able to sing all the words to most of the songs and even corrected his own actions today. Plum really enjoys the singing and the boys love the story and bean especially enjoys the craft.
This was followed by Bean's gymnastics session where he has achieved his first badge (ironically badge 10) and then a play in the park. We were momentarily the only family in the play area but soon joined by four other home ed families and a few others. The rain breezed in on and off but was largely dry and the whole group of smalls played excellently together. There was climbing the crows nest, climbing, sailing and sliding on the ship, negotiating the round about and playing houses on the sand pit equipment, amongst other things.
We then headed home, still on our bikes. We have been out today for what is exactly the same amount of time as a school day, we got rather caught up in the school foot traffic on the way home, inevitable as we live down the road from two Primary Schools and round the corner from a Secondary School. We've had a great day out and I was glad to have spent it with my boys and not missed out on their journey today.
Our Tribe
Monday, 15 October 2012
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Tired little teddy bears
No photos today as I completely forgot!
A whole day spent in a management meeting for CAC and daddy largely taking on the smalls. They have built a den in their room, drawn pictures and Bean has made a bed for some of his toys from a small box which he cut large pieces off to make the shape he wanted, Bean used a pillow that he had designed and coloured yesterday and made a duvet for them. I had asked him why the sudden notion to draw a pillow and where he got the idea from but it seems it was his idea and there was no special reason. There has also been lots of lego making, a trip on the bikes to the park round the corner (daddy taking all three of the smalls for the first time single handedly- worth noting) and watching iplayer in their bedroom (special treat as mummy was hosting a meeting downstairs) And after yesterday's late night two very tired boys in bed by 7pm and Plum too.
A whole day spent in a management meeting for CAC and daddy largely taking on the smalls. They have built a den in their room, drawn pictures and Bean has made a bed for some of his toys from a small box which he cut large pieces off to make the shape he wanted, Bean used a pillow that he had designed and coloured yesterday and made a duvet for them. I had asked him why the sudden notion to draw a pillow and where he got the idea from but it seems it was his idea and there was no special reason. There has also been lots of lego making, a trip on the bikes to the park round the corner (daddy taking all three of the smalls for the first time single handedly- worth noting) and watching iplayer in their bedroom (special treat as mummy was hosting a meeting downstairs) And after yesterday's late night two very tired boys in bed by 7pm and Plum too.
It's a family affair
Friday 12th October
Oh my! What a busy day! I went of with Plum today to a Pink and Pampered Fundraisers to sell some wears and help raise some money and the boys went to spend the morning with SGS. They had a great time building train tracks and performing in a band.
This was followed very swiftly by a visit to friends where we spent a wonderful afternoon drinking tea and the children playing in the den behind the sofa, with their collection of cars and octonaughts with each other.
We had a hugely busy evening preparing for tomorrows CAC meeting at our house but both Bean and Pumpkin chose to stay up later than usual tonight, this is especially rare for Bean. Plum also decided to join the party so what had looked like a free evening to plough through lots of jobs turned into a family affair! Bean and Pumpkin both relaxed and watched iplayer and Plum played on the kitchen floor whilst I found an excuse for the third weekend in a row to make a giant cinnamon cake...mmmmm.
No photos today as I was toooo busy.
Oh my! What a busy day! I went of with Plum today to a Pink and Pampered Fundraisers to sell some wears and help raise some money and the boys went to spend the morning with SGS. They had a great time building train tracks and performing in a band.
This was followed very swiftly by a visit to friends where we spent a wonderful afternoon drinking tea and the children playing in the den behind the sofa, with their collection of cars and octonaughts with each other.
We had a hugely busy evening preparing for tomorrows CAC meeting at our house but both Bean and Pumpkin chose to stay up later than usual tonight, this is especially rare for Bean. Plum also decided to join the party so what had looked like a free evening to plough through lots of jobs turned into a family affair! Bean and Pumpkin both relaxed and watched iplayer and Plum played on the kitchen floor whilst I found an excuse for the third weekend in a row to make a giant cinnamon cake...mmmmm.
No photos today as I was toooo busy.
Even roses have thorns
Thursday 11 th October
Oh dear! What a day.
Having a very busy week and lots of disturbed nights (not just Plum) I'm very tired and hold my hands up to being a little grumpy and short tempered, patients is wearing very thin! There has been some shouting (mostly me) and some tears ( mostly the boys) but also a lot of hugs and making friends.
It's not all been bad. We ventured out to pastures new today and met home-ed friends in the rain and downpour and drizzle. The boys sat in my friends car playing lego! Pumpkin got into the spirit of things just as we were leaving and ran through a very large and deep puddle several times with great excitement.
The afternoon plan was to watch tv but we had hooked up the computer to another laptop yesterday and I couldn't get the sound to work so the boys went and happily did various other things: lego, drawing, dressing up, making.
Oh dear! What a day.
Having a very busy week and lots of disturbed nights (not just Plum) I'm very tired and hold my hands up to being a little grumpy and short tempered, patients is wearing very thin! There has been some shouting (mostly me) and some tears ( mostly the boys) but also a lot of hugs and making friends.
It's not all been bad. We ventured out to pastures new today and met home-ed friends in the rain and downpour and drizzle. The boys sat in my friends car playing lego! Pumpkin got into the spirit of things just as we were leaving and ran through a very large and deep puddle several times with great excitement.
The afternoon plan was to watch tv but we had hooked up the computer to another laptop yesterday and I couldn't get the sound to work so the boys went and happily did various other things: lego, drawing, dressing up, making.
Gullivers Travels
Wednesday 10th October
Beautiful day with friends at Petworth House. After deciding not to venture into the house today and explore the grounds some more we did infact go into the house. Bean enjoyed dressing up again and we found some of the paintings that matched the outfits in the wardrobe and the guide told us some information about the previous owner. Pumpkin joined an organised school group and listened in on some of the stories about the sculptures and then told his brother all about them.
We visited the rotund twice. We talked extensively about its position and the great views. Bean loves a great view and really appreciated this one. The second time we went it was covered in an array of ladybirds, all different colours...magical.
We also spotted a few different mushrooms and have sent pictures to pops for identification.
A little more independence
Tuesday 9th October
In recovery from our trip yesterday I had nothing planned today except to go with the flow. Bean however had other ideas. I talk about money a lot because it is something that is always on our mind. Last week a (very unhelpful) shop assistant gave the boys a sale magazine from the toy shop and they have had their noses in it ever since. It was a real opportunity totalk to Bean about where money comes from and where it goes. As it was the month end I promised him I would see if we had any pennies left for him to spend on a new toy. To be fair this is something that never happens in our house, we avoid toy shops, toy aisles and gift shops where ever we go unless it is a gift for someone else. It so happened that by some miracle we had some money left and we decided to let. The boys have some to spend on something of their choice. We also knew that our trip to Legoland was coming up so we talked to them about taking the money with us but Bean was adamant that he wanted a toy from this magazine he had been given. We managed to persuade him to wait and yesterday standing in the large Lego land shop full full full of merchandise all aimed at enticing children Bean said 'no thank you I'm keeping my money for the toy shop' daddy was particularly amazed. Pumpkin bought a Lego tractor.
So today Bean requested the promised trip to the toy shop and so off we went, on our bikes of course.
In recovery from our trip yesterday I had nothing planned today except to go with the flow. Bean however had other ideas. I talk about money a lot because it is something that is always on our mind. Last week a (very unhelpful) shop assistant gave the boys a sale magazine from the toy shop and they have had their noses in it ever since. It was a real opportunity totalk to Bean about where money comes from and where it goes. As it was the month end I promised him I would see if we had any pennies left for him to spend on a new toy. To be fair this is something that never happens in our house, we avoid toy shops, toy aisles and gift shops where ever we go unless it is a gift for someone else. It so happened that by some miracle we had some money left and we decided to let. The boys have some to spend on something of their choice. We also knew that our trip to Legoland was coming up so we talked to them about taking the money with us but Bean was adamant that he wanted a toy from this magazine he had been given. We managed to persuade him to wait and yesterday standing in the large Lego land shop full full full of merchandise all aimed at enticing children Bean said 'no thank you I'm keeping my money for the toy shop' daddy was particularly amazed. Pumpkin bought a Lego tractor.
So today Bean requested the promised trip to the toy shop and so off we went, on our bikes of course.
Legoland
Monday 8th October
I can not rave enough about how great our day at Legoland was. Made all the more better by the fact that there were hardly any queues and we didn't have to pay anywhere near full price we got real value for money. We managed the day well and it was a real success. The boys sat with daddy the night before and looked at a map of the park and YouTube videos of the rides. This helped to give them an idea of where we were going and what to expect and the boys were able to choose a few things that they wanted to go on before we got there. It helped to manage their expectations and stopped them from being too overwhelmed when we arrived.
The journey there was raining raining racing in but it held off the entire time we were there so except for being a little colder than I would have liked and overcast, it was dry. Bean was true to form and didn't ride on anything fast and made me ask every operator if the ride was fast before he got on it! He also refused anything wet or loud...and some of the rides do have loud accompaniments to them, what could have been a pleasant ride around storybook land was quite deafening! Pumpkin was also true to form and bounced around like he was in kiddy heaven and thoroughly enjoyed all the fast rides he had time to go on. He had decided that he would like to go on the roller coaster so we took him on the infant one first .
Having rode that twice, once with mummy and then once with daddy, he announced he wanted to go on the big one, so we did and he loved it. I was quite pleased as I like roller coasters too.Word has reached us that the offer we took advantage of is a perminant one now for those operating in the home educating world and so I can see us frquenting Legoland throughout the year and I am very much looking forward to it.
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