When I'm 64

What a great day! It all began with the idea that we would go to Nyman Gardens but as it was wet and cold we toyed with the idea of going bowling but both boys decided that they were happy staying at home. and what a busy day followed!

It all began with a conversation about what grown up people do and I asked what they thought they would do when they are grown up. Bean put forward the ideas of being an astronught and a pirate and Pumpkin drew and drew and drew. Fortunately my phone is now working so it is a well documented activity. His drawings are really good and it was only a few months ago that he was screwing up every bit of paper because he thought it was not good enough.

This was the highlight of the day for Pumpkin and he was pretty quiet for the rest of it...and still, both very unusual.

Bean played on teachyourmonstertoread but he is starting to find that it doesn't move on quick enough for him and you can't skip forward so we're on the search for more games and books etc that will engage with him. The tricky thing about learning to read later than the educated masses is that the books that are readable are aimed at much younger children (easier concepts and story lines) but mostly he is happy listening to us read to him and getting to grips with environmental words.

Pumpkin did decide that he wanted to make daddy some heart shaped biscuits but didn't join in when it came to it. I made them on my own. Plum was asleep again by this point and Bean bought the Lego down from his room and began building brick walls. He overlapped the bricked the way we had done earlier in the week and the way we have been drawing them too. It's interesting to watch how he plays out this new skills. He made several pyramids and then finally measured them all up against each other and joined them together. He worked really hard at it for about 45 minutes. 

All this time Pumpkin quietly built a city out of bricks and played with his own Lego creations on the window sill, which has become a favourite play place for Pumpkin recently.

After lunch Plum, Bean and I went into the garden but Pumpkin wanted to was Cars (again) ...why is it that no matter how many times I watch it I still get excited and end up crying? Anyhow, we planted some garlic and thinned some snowdrops and pulled out and cleared a lot of dead plants and played football. Bean had a great time. We came in and watched the rest of Cars with Pumpkin. 

The end of the day came with Pumpkin playing drums on the pots and pans, daddy making it home in time to eat dinner with us, Bean playing pairs with cvc words and writing 'real and funny' words that he could write.

Pumpkin as the future king

Pumpkin as a soldier

Pumpkin as an astronaught

Pumpkin as a blindfolded artist

Pumpkin the explorer (finding the tallest tree in the world)

Pirate Pumpkin

Pumpkin driving his magical car

Mr Pumpkin the teacher

Pumpkin the chef

There on the stairs

Monday 4th February 2013

Monday's normal journey to little verse followed by gymnastics. Plum spent 20minutes going up and down 2 steps at little verse and felling very proud of herself.

Bean made a Lego airport set today. An aeroplane, check in desk and baggage carrier. I was so impressed. The future holds great Lego constructions, I can see it now!

Morning has broken

Tuesday 5th February 2013

We spent the morning doing things at home. The 'stay at home in the morning' rhythm is working really well for us atm. I get to spend time with the smalls and get jobs done and there is no 'getting out of the door' stress. Breathe easy. There was Lego, and colouring and reading and eating and building and puzzles.

The afternoon adventures took us to town to do a few errands and a library visit. The boys didn't want to return any books so we couldn't get anymore out as both their cards are full but we spent an hour reading stories before we ventured home.

The day ended with Pumpkin requesting to go to sleep in mummy's bed (unusual)

Bitter

Wednesday 6th February 2013

Sometimes things aren't quite as adventurous as we had hoped they would be. Today's adventures were supposed to be a return trip to Bury woods. The boys pestered at me for an hour before we left as they were desperate to go. I had to pack a food bag and get Plum dressed and changed etc before we were ready to go. However, the journey there w both Plum and Pumpkin fall asleep in the car. When we arrived and opened the car door a bitter wind flew through the car. It was freezing. We managed to find some hats and scarves in the boot of the car to supplement the waterproofs and coats we had packed but it still wasn't enough. As soon as we opened the car door and Pumpkin stirred he declared that he wanted to go home, and he screamed it and screamed it and screamed it.

I managed to persuade him that we should say hi to our friends and drink some hot chocolate before we went home again. It wasn't great but Bean wanted to say hi and go and see the tree he had climbed before. Pumpkin sat, upset n my lap and refused cake and hot chocolate and crisps and was miserable. Bean ate and drank and then climbed a little way up the tree and then we went home. Surprisingly this all took an hour, I'm not sure how. And it wasn't until Pumpkin got off my lap and I looked at his face that I saw how pale he was. Poor thing.

He recovered on the way home, ate cake in the car and had hot chocolate and the rest of his lunch when we got home. We rewarded ourselves for venturing out but snuggling up on the sofa for the afternoon and watching lots of tele.

I had thought that with the daytime sleep Pumpkin would have been up later in the evening but he very happily went to bed with Bean.

The numeracy hour

Thursday 7th February 2013

In school learning is divided up into subject headings and then timetabled into neat one hour(ish) slots. One of theses hours accurs everyday and is entitled numeracy. It is typically an hour but was actually designed to be 45 minutes. Well today I spent an hour doing numeracy with the boys. We covered addition, subtraction, number bonds to 10, higher and lower numbers, tens and units, comparisons, difference between, mental arithmetic, space and shape, direction, weight, length, mass and comparative measures...we just happened to be bowling at the same time. The boys opted to go bowling again this week and we had the whole place to ourselves. They had most fun pointing the ramp aid in different directions and making the bowling ball bounce down the alley, they did also use it to try and knock down the skittles. But this week they noticed the numbers that kept appearing on the screen and asked lots of questions about what they were hence the maths lesson!

It was rather a number day from there on in. Pumpkin is finding numbers and counting everywhere atm. We went to the farm shop for our weekly dose of fruit and veg and spent quite a time looking at prices on different items.

The day had begun with the farm and animals coming out and being sorted into different paddocks and lined up. Very intriguing self directed play. Great for an observation but not sure what it tells me...Bean likes to organise! Or maybe just, he can sort and order.

The biggest development for Plum today was....da da da daaaa (trumpet announcement) Plum took her first step. Such an exciting moment even the third time round. So thrilled.

The biggest development in our home ed journey is that Bean asked me to help him learn his letters this afternoon. I'm wondering if this will progress in the same way that his favoured topics do, on and off, little here, little there, or whether he will see himself acquiring a skill as we go through words and letters together rather than the gaining knowledge and if he'll stick at it longer than dipping in and out. We'll see. Can't help but still be excited!

Climb every mountain

Highlits of my day have included: drinking a lot of hot tea, novel as it's usually cold by the time I get to it!; using the bathroom several times uninteruppted; and bouncing on a trampoline. And all because we went to a friends house to play.

We had a great time when we got up this morning playing computer games and designing a sherif badge for Pumpkin as he has taken to wearing his sherrif's hat all the time and declared the need for a badge. We also read several of daddy's comic books with Bean and danced with Plum.

We then went to our friends house for several hours. I don't know if it was the early rise or the lack of having to be somewhere at a certain time that made the whole process more relaxing, and consequently we arrived at the time we said we would. The boys enjoyed reading books and playing cars and Lego and exploring the outside (which is well worth exploring.) The most interesting things was watching Bean clamber and climb all over the steep hill and in and out branches across the pathway and watching Pumpkin nervously climb up and down the same paths asking to be carried and having to settle with holding hands. Pumpkin was very pleased with himself for achieving the climb and descend but if you had asked me before we went out I would have had it the other way around, bean being nervous and Pumpkin full of adventure and confidence. Wrong.
Plum enjoyed finding her favourite books at someone else's house, climbing (and falling) down the stairs (only a few steps and all was well) and emptying my bag with the youngest of our friends as her partner in crime :)

By the time we got home both Pumpkin and Plum were asleep and they both stayed asleep when I bought them indoors. Pumpkin on the sofa and Plum in bed. Bean asked again if we could do letters together so I showed him some of the games I had printed of the Internet last night and we played a few together and he tried out some letter formations. He's asked if we can label things around the house that he can read and then gave me a list. It includes: hob, cup, nuts, mug (mostly kitchen items as we were sat in the dinning room at the time.)

you'd better go in disguise