a pic of M as taken by sam. He is getting to be a very good photographer.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
happy easter
we had a fun time hunting eggs in the sunshine. The dogs even joined in. They weren't interested in the chocolate eggs, only the real ones. They would have eaten them all given half a chance.
easter egg dying
Sam doing our annual easter egg dying, think that next year we will be able to do away with the stool!!
Going Topless...
sorry to disapoint but nothing risque just putting the top down on the wrangle for the first time! The weather was so amazing yesterday that M decided to put the top down for our trip out to get a new olive tree. It only took about 20 min to put it down and it was fantastic riding with the sun on my face and the wind im my hair and jb blasting out of the stero. We took S from next door along for the ride and he just couldn't believe that someone was singing about a cheeseburger!! It was a lovely way to round off a lovely weekend. Saturday we pottered and then went to beacon hill country park for an amble. We clambered ove the bronze age hill fort and the boys did a bit of rock climbing. The views from the top were amazing, you could see for miles in every direction.
Sunday we headed down to M's parents, dogs and all. Sam had a blast hunting for eggs and playing with his cousins. We had fun catching up with everyone and relaxing in the sunshine. The dogs were amazingly well behaved, even Rogue. We stayed the night and the pups slept in their crate in the kitchen. We had expected lots of whinning but not a peep was heard. Sam made a new friend, a shield bug named shieldy who ended up living in a plastic pot supplied by nana. Shieldy survived very well and came home here to be released into our butterfly garden. Sam has now decided to collect insects whenever we go out and bring them home for the garden. Can't decide if this is a good thing or not. The garden is now looking much better as M, helped by the two sams has had a good sort out and done lots of planting. The lawn is still a mess but we have plans to deck over a lot of it so that should help with the mud next winter!!
Back to school today but as we are starting with science sam's shouldn't complain too much, that and the fact that we will be going out to toys r us later on a lego run should put him in a good mood.
Sunday we headed down to M's parents, dogs and all. Sam had a blast hunting for eggs and playing with his cousins. We had fun catching up with everyone and relaxing in the sunshine. The dogs were amazingly well behaved, even Rogue. We stayed the night and the pups slept in their crate in the kitchen. We had expected lots of whinning but not a peep was heard. Sam made a new friend, a shield bug named shieldy who ended up living in a plastic pot supplied by nana. Shieldy survived very well and came home here to be released into our butterfly garden. Sam has now decided to collect insects whenever we go out and bring them home for the garden. Can't decide if this is a good thing or not. The garden is now looking much better as M, helped by the two sams has had a good sort out and done lots of planting. The lawn is still a mess but we have plans to deck over a lot of it so that should help with the mud next winter!!
Back to school today but as we are starting with science sam's shouldn't complain too much, that and the fact that we will be going out to toys r us later on a lego run should put him in a good mood.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Stakeside in the Peak District
We went hiking in the Peak District last weekend and had a great time. The views were amazing
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Here is one to try at home..
Thought I would post the recipe for slime in case anyone is interested. It is an american recipe so where it says elmer's glue just use pva.
www.sci-experiments.com/slime/slime.html
Sam's slime is still going and still just as fun. it is very durable and I suspect it is going to be around forever. The recipe doesn't suggest glitter but we put glitter in ours just to give it that extra sparkle.
Can't believe that it is good friday already tomorrow. We haven't done anything remotely easterish and haven't even opened the easter books that we got from the library. Guess tomorrow is going to be our easter session. We have lots of eggs to dye, cards to make and history and traditions to learn about. Sam knows the basics (unlike the marketing people at sommerfield-they said that we give eggs and gifts at easter to celebrate christ's birth-oops) but it would be nice to have him learn about the traditions around the day.
We have had a lovely week filled with friends and sunshine. Monday we went down to visit my friend MB whose son is just as lego mad as sam. The two disapeared to his room as soon as we arrived and we had to drag them out later to take them to the park. I got to have lots of cuddles with my goddaughter who is getting to be a very grown up little lady. As it was a beautiful day we took everyone out to cliveden where we ran around the parkland, fed the fish and had ice creams. Sam had a ball with H and F and D, though I think F got a bit fed up with all the talk about lego. It was hard to leave at the end of the day, sam and I both enjoyed ourselves so much. Thank you B's for a lovely day and hopefully it won't be too long before we see you again.
Wednesday was also a social day, though did manage to fit in some school work first, mean mommy that I am. In the afternoon we met up with ML and the boys at Belton House. Sam is now a NT member so it was essentially a free day out. We took the dogs for a long amble through the parkland before heading over to the adventure playground. A walked Rogue and I was very impressed at how well rogue behaved himself. The boys ran wild over the playground and sam ran himself so ragged that I am amazed that he didn't fall asleep on the way home. While on the train ride he informed me that his life is boring and that he needs me to make it more exciting for him. When I enquired what would make it more interesting he said that doing lego all day and science experiments as well would make life perfect for him. While that could cover math, handwriting, reading and of course science not sure how I could work in history, languages and art. I will make sure that we do more hands on science everyweek but as for doing lego all day don't think that is going to happen-unless of course he does it on the weekend. As fun and educational as lego his, you do need a bit of variety in life.
www.sci-experiments.com/slime/slime.html
Sam's slime is still going and still just as fun. it is very durable and I suspect it is going to be around forever. The recipe doesn't suggest glitter but we put glitter in ours just to give it that extra sparkle.
Can't believe that it is good friday already tomorrow. We haven't done anything remotely easterish and haven't even opened the easter books that we got from the library. Guess tomorrow is going to be our easter session. We have lots of eggs to dye, cards to make and history and traditions to learn about. Sam knows the basics (unlike the marketing people at sommerfield-they said that we give eggs and gifts at easter to celebrate christ's birth-oops) but it would be nice to have him learn about the traditions around the day.
We have had a lovely week filled with friends and sunshine. Monday we went down to visit my friend MB whose son is just as lego mad as sam. The two disapeared to his room as soon as we arrived and we had to drag them out later to take them to the park. I got to have lots of cuddles with my goddaughter who is getting to be a very grown up little lady. As it was a beautiful day we took everyone out to cliveden where we ran around the parkland, fed the fish and had ice creams. Sam had a ball with H and F and D, though I think F got a bit fed up with all the talk about lego. It was hard to leave at the end of the day, sam and I both enjoyed ourselves so much. Thank you B's for a lovely day and hopefully it won't be too long before we see you again.
Wednesday was also a social day, though did manage to fit in some school work first, mean mommy that I am. In the afternoon we met up with ML and the boys at Belton House. Sam is now a NT member so it was essentially a free day out. We took the dogs for a long amble through the parkland before heading over to the adventure playground. A walked Rogue and I was very impressed at how well rogue behaved himself. The boys ran wild over the playground and sam ran himself so ragged that I am amazed that he didn't fall asleep on the way home. While on the train ride he informed me that his life is boring and that he needs me to make it more exciting for him. When I enquired what would make it more interesting he said that doing lego all day and science experiments as well would make life perfect for him. While that could cover math, handwriting, reading and of course science not sure how I could work in history, languages and art. I will make sure that we do more hands on science everyweek but as for doing lego all day don't think that is going to happen-unless of course he does it on the weekend. As fun and educational as lego his, you do need a bit of variety in life.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
A scientific week..
We seem to have done endless amounts of science this week. On top of our usual sonlight science we have done a young scientist club set on weights and measures (which ties in nicely with what we are doing in math!) and have been to nottingham university to a science fair. That was undoubtly the highlight of the week for us both. We went as part of a home ed group and knew absolutely no one there as they were all from the east midlands rather than leicester. We met several nice families and hope to set up a few playdates. The Chemistry dept at the uni had set up 6 stations all run by students and the children got to participate in a variety of experiments including making slime (went down well as you can imagine!), alchemy (changing a 2p from copper to gold-well not really gold, we covered it in brass but it looked like gold and the children thought it was at first), watching the effect of liquid nitrogen on various objects (see the pics below), powering a calculator with fruit and veg and several other experiments all designed to be fun. We also had a tour of the labs and a real scientist (cue a very excited sam) showed us an experiment with liquids and bases. Sam was excited to meet a real scientist and has now revised his plans for the future. He wants to be a scientist and an lego designer. He wasn't sure what kind of scientist he wanted to be but he knows that he wants to do experiments-especially ones where you get to make explosions.
Friday we did a different, calmer sort of science-we went fossil hunting with our peterborough home ed group. We also took V & I. It was nice to see old friends and make new ones, there were lots of new faces. Sam was in his elment, and managed to find several fossils, mainly of bivalves. V & I also found several and I had lots of fun just digging in the sand. In two weeks we are meeting up with them again to go fossil hunting at the hanson quarry just outside pborough. There will be more and bigger fossils apparently and Sam is already making space in the garden for his yet to be found treasures!!
Yesterday was Rogue's first puppy class and he did better than we thought. He can be quite grumpy toward other dogs but by the end of class he was able to sit right next to his classmates without barking or making a fuss. I think we may be watching too much dog whisperer as sam kept saying "remember mom, calm assertive engergy" and " rogue needs to be calm and submissive". Actually we are picking up lots of good advice from the DW so thank you MK for letting us borrow it. It will be winging it way back to you soon.
The biggest disapointment of the week was finding that the bbc had cancelled our fav radio show, little toe radio, without any warning. One minute it was there and the next it was gone. They have replaced it with ceebies radio which is drivel in comparison. It is mainly about characters from the children's tv programmes and the stories are far and few between. I email to complain and although they apologised for the cancellation they could't give a good reason for it. Guess we will have to search around for another radio show, M suggested that NPR may do one.
On a positive note, V and self have sent out the announcement about our new group. Hopefully it will generate lots of response and lots of new members. I have yet to send it out to the leicester group but will do that this week. We hope to have the group up and running by the end of april. We need about 7 families each sessions to meet the cost of room hire. If anyone out there wants more details on the group just let me know.
Friday we did a different, calmer sort of science-we went fossil hunting with our peterborough home ed group. We also took V & I. It was nice to see old friends and make new ones, there were lots of new faces. Sam was in his elment, and managed to find several fossils, mainly of bivalves. V & I also found several and I had lots of fun just digging in the sand. In two weeks we are meeting up with them again to go fossil hunting at the hanson quarry just outside pborough. There will be more and bigger fossils apparently and Sam is already making space in the garden for his yet to be found treasures!!
Yesterday was Rogue's first puppy class and he did better than we thought. He can be quite grumpy toward other dogs but by the end of class he was able to sit right next to his classmates without barking or making a fuss. I think we may be watching too much dog whisperer as sam kept saying "remember mom, calm assertive engergy" and " rogue needs to be calm and submissive". Actually we are picking up lots of good advice from the DW so thank you MK for letting us borrow it. It will be winging it way back to you soon.
The biggest disapointment of the week was finding that the bbc had cancelled our fav radio show, little toe radio, without any warning. One minute it was there and the next it was gone. They have replaced it with ceebies radio which is drivel in comparison. It is mainly about characters from the children's tv programmes and the stories are far and few between. I email to complain and although they apologised for the cancellation they could't give a good reason for it. Guess we will have to search around for another radio show, M suggested that NPR may do one.
On a positive note, V and self have sent out the announcement about our new group. Hopefully it will generate lots of response and lots of new members. I have yet to send it out to the leicester group but will do that this week. We hope to have the group up and running by the end of april. We need about 7 families each sessions to meet the cost of room hire. If anyone out there wants more details on the group just let me know.
Friday, March 30, 2007
For my next trick..
This is just one of the six experiments we took part in at a science fair run by nottingham university chemistry department. We went as part of a home ed group and sam had blast. We did everything from making a calculator work using fruit and veg to making slime and hitting people with frozen flowers! This is the experiment with liquid nitogen. Sam was chosen to demonstrate how brittle the flower becomes after being frozen. He just couldn't believe that he was going to be allowed to hit someone without getting scolded for it.
Smash
He just couldn't believe that he was allowed to hit someone and that he wouldn't get in trouble for it. The lad he hit was a very good sport.
Making fruit salad
Here he is smashing fruit, it is amazing how far a grape will fly across the room if you hit it at the right angle.
Concentrating
Here sam got to make slime, which as you can imagine went down well. He has played with it non stop, think we will have to make some more next week.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Lego king..
Sam has informed us that he will indeed go to college when he grows up but only if he can do a degree in lego as he wants to be a lego designer when he grows up. It seems as if he has done nothing the past week but lego. He bought most of the aquaraiders set with his lego land money and nana and grandad brought him back part of the set from their vacation. He is very singleminded when doing lego and will sit for hours putting together a set or doing creations. The only problem is we are running out of room for all his sets and creations-think we are going to have to start putting up shelves in his room and the play room!
We have had a good and busy month. Just after sam's bday C arrived and I don't think we sat down the whole time she was here. We visited Warwick Castle, Woolsthorpe, saw the sights of leicester, visited friends and had a whistle stop tour of Paris. Paris was fantastic, and even sam enjoyed himself. He didn't get bored with the sightseeing and was very keen to hear all about the history of the sites we visited. He was a very brave boy and walked up and down the arc d' trimophe and the tour eiffel without batting an eyelid. Wish I could say the same for me! The tour eiffel wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, infact I think the lift down was more nerve racking than walking up the stairs. We managed to fit in a bit of shopping which was a much fun as the sightseeing and you will be surprised to learn that sam threw himself into the shopping wholeheartedly. he came away with a clutch of knights and a catapult not to mention several good french children's books. The weather favored us and made wandering around the city even more delightful. It was nice having C with us and I hope she enjoyed the trip as much as we did. We were so exhausted after paris that we just mooched for her last two days.
C left on monday and we were said that she had to leave. I hope she enjoyed the visit, I know we were delighted to have her here.
We have had a good and busy month. Just after sam's bday C arrived and I don't think we sat down the whole time she was here. We visited Warwick Castle, Woolsthorpe, saw the sights of leicester, visited friends and had a whistle stop tour of Paris. Paris was fantastic, and even sam enjoyed himself. He didn't get bored with the sightseeing and was very keen to hear all about the history of the sites we visited. He was a very brave boy and walked up and down the arc d' trimophe and the tour eiffel without batting an eyelid. Wish I could say the same for me! The tour eiffel wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, infact I think the lift down was more nerve racking than walking up the stairs. We managed to fit in a bit of shopping which was a much fun as the sightseeing and you will be surprised to learn that sam threw himself into the shopping wholeheartedly. he came away with a clutch of knights and a catapult not to mention several good french children's books. The weather favored us and made wandering around the city even more delightful. It was nice having C with us and I hope she enjoyed the trip as much as we did. We were so exhausted after paris that we just mooched for her last two days.
C left on monday and we were said that she had to leave. I hope she enjoyed the visit, I know we were delighted to have her here.
Monday, March 19, 2007
cool glacier pic by M
think the title says it all really. M was so impressed by Norway that we are hoping to go back as a family later in the year.
What pyramid?
Am not sure what kind of pyramid sam was expecting but even as we stood there taking this he was still asking where the pyramid was!! The Louvre was amazing and we managed to enjoy ourselves even though it was closed!! They still allowed us to enter the main reception areas so we got a taste of the museum and then we wandered around the new underground mall that is attached to it. It was all marble and they had some of the medieval stone walls preserved so we got in a bit of culture too.
Dizzy
Made it up and down all the steps at the Arc de Triomphe without panicing too much. C took this fantstic photo on the way down.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Pooped after climbing all those stairs
Sam made it up and down the tower with a minimum of fuss-wish I could say the same about me!!
wobbly legs
Think sam took this pic-a very cool one of legs that look all wobbly like jello. Kind of like our legs felt after walking all round paris!
Paris in the Sun
Our first stop in paris was Notre Dame. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. Sam enjoyed seeing all the gargoyles. It was lovely and warm and sunny.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
wacked after the weekend..
we are all pooped after a busy weekend, even both dogs are sacked out. C arrived from the sunshine state on thursday and we are overjoyed that she is here. M left for his trip on friday we sent him off with lots of cuddles and assurances from him that he wouldn't come back with anything in plaster! Have had a few texts from him, apparently norway is beautiful and he is having fun.
We have hit the ground running here, C is going to need a vacation to recover. Friday we introduced her to Bradgate Park as well as the city center. Although it was warm for here, she must have froze at bradgate as the wind was blowing as usual. It is always so windy there, must be the ghost of lady jane making her presence felt.
Saturday we continued with the history theme and took ourselves off to warwick castle following a long walk round watermead. Warwick was all that a castle should be and the scenes were really well done-especially as all the figures looked to have been made by madame tussads wax works. The only dispointing thing was the number of gift shops, it seemed like everytime we turned the corner there was another gift shop or food stand-someone has been taking lessons from disney. C treated us to the audio tour and I was amazed at how well it held sam's attention. he has come out with all sorts of interesting tidbits since. We climbed both towers and he was a very brave boy on all the narrow spiral staircases. As he said, going up isn't too bad, it is the going down!! We all agreed that we wouldn't have wanted to be the poor housemaid who had to keep all those stairs clean. It was a lovely day for wandering in the garden and sam took great delight in attempting to catch a peakcock. All in all it was a good day out and can't wait to take M back there later in the year.
Today started bright and early with tennis, how he has the energy to run around like that at 9am I don't know. This afternoon we visited Woolsthorpe Manor, Sir Isaac Newton's home. We had a fantstic time in the science center and in the make and do activity section. The NT have done a really good job with the hands on activities, they kept us occupied for ages. We were all very excited to see the lambs and it was all I could do to convince sam that bringing one home with us would not be a good idea. The house itself was interesting and the actual apple tree is still there so as you can see below we took lots of photos of our science guy under it. We took the doggies for a walk around the village-they were equally as excited to see the lambs but thankfully couldn't get anywhere near them.
Tomorrow we are off to explore the sites of the city center a bit more, just hope everything is open on a monday!
We have hit the ground running here, C is going to need a vacation to recover. Friday we introduced her to Bradgate Park as well as the city center. Although it was warm for here, she must have froze at bradgate as the wind was blowing as usual. It is always so windy there, must be the ghost of lady jane making her presence felt.
Saturday we continued with the history theme and took ourselves off to warwick castle following a long walk round watermead. Warwick was all that a castle should be and the scenes were really well done-especially as all the figures looked to have been made by madame tussads wax works. The only dispointing thing was the number of gift shops, it seemed like everytime we turned the corner there was another gift shop or food stand-someone has been taking lessons from disney. C treated us to the audio tour and I was amazed at how well it held sam's attention. he has come out with all sorts of interesting tidbits since. We climbed both towers and he was a very brave boy on all the narrow spiral staircases. As he said, going up isn't too bad, it is the going down!! We all agreed that we wouldn't have wanted to be the poor housemaid who had to keep all those stairs clean. It was a lovely day for wandering in the garden and sam took great delight in attempting to catch a peakcock. All in all it was a good day out and can't wait to take M back there later in the year.
Today started bright and early with tennis, how he has the energy to run around like that at 9am I don't know. This afternoon we visited Woolsthorpe Manor, Sir Isaac Newton's home. We had a fantstic time in the science center and in the make and do activity section. The NT have done a really good job with the hands on activities, they kept us occupied for ages. We were all very excited to see the lambs and it was all I could do to convince sam that bringing one home with us would not be a good idea. The house itself was interesting and the actual apple tree is still there so as you can see below we took lots of photos of our science guy under it. We took the doggies for a walk around the village-they were equally as excited to see the lambs but thankfully couldn't get anywhere near them.
Tomorrow we are off to explore the sites of the city center a bit more, just hope everything is open on a monday!
the famous apple tree
sam in front of the famous apple tree. According to guides, dating of the tree has revealed that this is old enough to be the actual tree!! We had a lovely time at the manor and look forward to going back again with M.
there goes my car
Sam's car travelled so well, it went out of shot!! He was very pleased and has played with it endlessly since getting home.
make and do at woolsthorpe
Today we went to sir Isaac Newton's home, Woolsthorope Manor. We had tons of fun, especially in the science center, were sam made a sail car.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Birthday catch up
Sam is now 6 and we are all exhausted from celebrating. Friday was the big day and it started early with presents galore in our bedroom. The pups kindly helped him to unwrap everything. Most of the day was spent playing with new toys and putting together lego. Managed to tear him away long enough to go to french but when we got home he was straight into the lego again. M came home early and we went to leicester to buy sam's present from us. This was followed by dinner from pizza hut and more playing!! I hope he had a good day, he certainly seemed smiley and happy the whole day and told everyone he met that it was his special day. I just can't believe that he is 6, it seems just yesterday he was a newborn. He is a lovely boy and we are both very proud of him.
This week has been very much coming down to earth. We eased into the week as we had 3 mystery jobs to do yesterday but hit the books in ernest today. It will be a short work week as auntie C is arriving on thursday and we will be busy showing her the sites of leicester. We plan to take her to the museum and the medieval buidlings in town and to newton's birth place. Lincoln is having an open day on sat so may venture there. We are very excited about her arrival, it has been almost two years since we have seen her. Sam can't wait to introduce her to orlando, though I suspect that she is not quite so keen to meet him.
M is just about ready for his trip and is really looking forward to it. Just hope the weather stays cold for him.
Today was all about mud, both for the canines and the humans. We met up with V & I for a walk and the boys ended up squelching in a huge muddy bog in the park. This was full body squelching and I can honestly say that I have never seen sam more dirty than he was today. I only wish that I had taken the camera. He and I had a blast and will no doubt sleep well tonight. The doggies managed to stay clean but then came home and had a mud fight in the backyard. Luckily I took all the washing in before the mud started flying. Everyone should have glowing coats and skin thanks to the imprompto mud baths.
This week has been very much coming down to earth. We eased into the week as we had 3 mystery jobs to do yesterday but hit the books in ernest today. It will be a short work week as auntie C is arriving on thursday and we will be busy showing her the sites of leicester. We plan to take her to the museum and the medieval buidlings in town and to newton's birth place. Lincoln is having an open day on sat so may venture there. We are very excited about her arrival, it has been almost two years since we have seen her. Sam can't wait to introduce her to orlando, though I suspect that she is not quite so keen to meet him.
M is just about ready for his trip and is really looking forward to it. Just hope the weather stays cold for him.
Today was all about mud, both for the canines and the humans. We met up with V & I for a walk and the boys ended up squelching in a huge muddy bog in the park. This was full body squelching and I can honestly say that I have never seen sam more dirty than he was today. I only wish that I had taken the camera. He and I had a blast and will no doubt sleep well tonight. The doggies managed to stay clean but then came home and had a mud fight in the backyard. Luckily I took all the washing in before the mud started flying. Everyone should have glowing coats and skin thanks to the imprompto mud baths.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Happy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday dear Sam!! Hope you have had a wonderful day. Can't believe that you are 6 already. You are such a delight to be around.
As taken by sam
Sam took this shot with his new cameria. It is the Warhammer set that we gave him for his bday. He and matthew have been busy putting it together this evening.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
mud in your eye..
and everywhere else for that matter!!! Our backyard is no longer a normal backyard it is now a site of scientific interest as it is the only swamp in the village. we are attracting all sorts of exotic wildlife, gators have been spotted as well a few swamp rats. In fact we are thinking of getting an airboat and giving tours. No more rain please!!! My floors can't take the mud and my back is killing me from all the mopping. Sam has kindly offered to help out and we are considering tying sponges to the dogs paws so that they can help out.
Schoolwise we are having a good week. Spent most of yesterday morning on the latest young scientist club kit (15-air) and most of the afternoon doing art. Sam has designed a t-shirt for the iditarod and we are going to have it printed up on a t-shirt. Must go to pc world to get the special iron on paper. Today started bright and early with a spontaneous math lesson in counting money, Sam decided that he wanted to figure out how much money he has saved up for legoland so while I was coming to terms with being up he was counting his money at 6 am. he was able to total it all and even used various combination of coins to make up stacks of £1. I was impressed, we have done money both american and english but I had no idea that he had absorbed so much. He is very excited as he has about £45 thanks to generous family and saving his allowance. We carried on with math once we were up properly and he had fun weighing things in pounds and kilos.
We have been talking a lot lately about the fact that the government want to have more control over home ed with greater monitoring. When I mentioned that they may decide to test home ed children to ensure they are meeting milestones he turned around and said, "why do the government want to test me, it is none of their business" And indeed it is not. As long as we are satisfied with his progress then that is all that matters. Sorry to get political I just resent the fact that the gov want to monitor and control our lives even more. It is hard to find an area of life that they don't want to regulate and tell us what to do. We can think for ourselves thank you very much.
Schoolwise we are having a good week. Spent most of yesterday morning on the latest young scientist club kit (15-air) and most of the afternoon doing art. Sam has designed a t-shirt for the iditarod and we are going to have it printed up on a t-shirt. Must go to pc world to get the special iron on paper. Today started bright and early with a spontaneous math lesson in counting money, Sam decided that he wanted to figure out how much money he has saved up for legoland so while I was coming to terms with being up he was counting his money at 6 am. he was able to total it all and even used various combination of coins to make up stacks of £1. I was impressed, we have done money both american and english but I had no idea that he had absorbed so much. He is very excited as he has about £45 thanks to generous family and saving his allowance. We carried on with math once we were up properly and he had fun weighing things in pounds and kilos.
We have been talking a lot lately about the fact that the government want to have more control over home ed with greater monitoring. When I mentioned that they may decide to test home ed children to ensure they are meeting milestones he turned around and said, "why do the government want to test me, it is none of their business" And indeed it is not. As long as we are satisfied with his progress then that is all that matters. Sorry to get political I just resent the fact that the gov want to monitor and control our lives even more. It is hard to find an area of life that they don't want to regulate and tell us what to do. We can think for ourselves thank you very much.
Monday, February 26, 2007
new kid on the block
This is the newest member of the family-Rogue Hito a 13 week old male akita. He is very cute but very impish.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Puppies in need..
If anyone out there is thinking of getting a dog, the Japanese Akita Welfare Trust has 7 Eight week old puppies who urgently need rehoming. Check out their website at www. jawt.co.uk for more details. We adopted Miko from the trust and I am now helping out when needed with bits and pieces.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Thank You..
For all the birthday wishes and cards. I have had a nice day and received lots of very lovely pressies. Can't believe that I am only 1 year away from 40-that sounds a lot older than I feel ( most of the time anyway!) Do I have to start acting like a grown up now I am almost that old?? I hope not because I am may not be able to.
Treated sam and I to cake and hot chocolate at starbucks and then M made dinner. We had pancakes, savory and sweet and sam has set the family record at 6 pancakes. He was so stuffed he could hardly move.
Treated sam and I to cake and hot chocolate at starbucks and then M made dinner. We had pancakes, savory and sweet and sam has set the family record at 6 pancakes. He was so stuffed he could hardly move.
Early risers
How did I end up with a family that likes to get up at the crack of dawn? The boy and the dog both have internal clock that are set to go off way too early. I have decied not to fight it any more, maybe they will both get so tired by the end of a week of early mornings that they will sleep in at the weekend. A pipe dream I know but a girl can hope. At least being up this early gives me time to potter on the computer an start the day without rushing.
Back to work yesterday without too much fuss. We have a few visits this week so won't be getting back into it properly. Our focus for the week will be working on our iditarod folder. The teacher on the trail has done lots of cool activity sheets, so we will tackle a few of those.
We had unexpected visitors yesterday. Sam's friend P and his family stopped by on their way back from the space centre. It was wonderful to see them and it gave sam and I the excuse to make a cake in their honor. Sam and P rough housed like crazy and sam slept like a log last night. Maybe more rough housing is needed just before bed! You would have thought that walking a couple of miles a day with the dog would tire him out but I guess not.
Back to work yesterday without too much fuss. We have a few visits this week so won't be getting back into it properly. Our focus for the week will be working on our iditarod folder. The teacher on the trail has done lots of cool activity sheets, so we will tackle a few of those.
We had unexpected visitors yesterday. Sam's friend P and his family stopped by on their way back from the space centre. It was wonderful to see them and it gave sam and I the excuse to make a cake in their honor. Sam and P rough housed like crazy and sam slept like a log last night. Maybe more rough housing is needed just before bed! You would have thought that walking a couple of miles a day with the dog would tire him out but I guess not.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Guess we are having half term after all..
Hadn't planned on having a half term this week, we were going to take our break when C comes in march but somehow we have managed to be busy all week with non normals. Monday we spent working on our Iditarod binder, we all now have mushers (including miko), our maps are set up and we have done some work on the history and the rules of the race. Sam has emailed his musher and much to his delight received a reply. Sam chose his musher based on the name of his lead dog-Pork Chop. The musher is called Matt Anderson and is 26. This is his first time doing the race and sam is very excited about following his progress. I have more activites planned around the race and will fit them in in the next few weeks.
Tuesday we met up with my friend Mel and her childlren. We went to a fantastic NT property called Charlecote Park. It is a fantastic tudor house right on the banks of the river. The house was closed but we a great time playing in the grounds and admiring the gardens. Miko was a bit miffed as she was not allowed in the grounds-the NT seem to think that she would chase their lovely sheep. They are probably right and she had to make do with a walk around the village instead.
Yesterday we took miko for a long walk round watermead which wasn't the best idea as it was flooded and my wellies have holes in them! My feet were soaking wet by the time we got home and mikos paws were covered in smelly black mud. Sam's coat was even dirtier than it had been and his wellies were black with mud. We went along to the library in the afternoon for a bird event sponsored by the RSPB. We had expected a short talk followed by make and do activities, instead it was a long talk followed by a hunt round the library for bird pictures. The talk was interesting for the grown ups but most of the children were bored-in fact one girl who looked about 10 announced that she was bored! The speaker didn't quite know what to say but certainly did not take the hint that his talk was not lively enough for the audience. Sam made me laugh, the speaker asked a question about birds and Sam shouted out the answer, the man looked shocked that sam was corrected and then asked if he was a RSPB member to which my son replied "No, I have the box set of david attenborough at home". Only Sam...
Today we sent back to peterborough for S's bday party. It was so good to see all the boys and their moms. We both miss them all so much. R was very kind and let miko in the house and she was very well behaved-possibly better than the monster! Sam just gets so excited to be around his friends that all common sense flies out the window. He needs more friends here in leicester and hopefully setting up this home ed group will be a positive set in the right direction. He also has his name down for boy scouts which is another good place for making friends.
The text book for the latin class that I am going to take arrived this week so I have been eagerly dipping into it . I can't wait to get going properly The stories in the text are the ones that I first had when I took latin at school when I lived here in the early 80s. It was a nice surprise to see the familiar faces of the characters and it brought back lots of happy memories of school. I was a strange child, I loved school and hated to miss it for any reason. I especially loved the school I went to when I lived here and would love to go back for a look around. Mel is going back there next week with a mutual friend to have tea with our old headmisstress, Sister G who must be at least 100! Why is it that nuns seem to live forever?
Tuesday we met up with my friend Mel and her childlren. We went to a fantastic NT property called Charlecote Park. It is a fantastic tudor house right on the banks of the river. The house was closed but we a great time playing in the grounds and admiring the gardens. Miko was a bit miffed as she was not allowed in the grounds-the NT seem to think that she would chase their lovely sheep. They are probably right and she had to make do with a walk around the village instead.
Yesterday we took miko for a long walk round watermead which wasn't the best idea as it was flooded and my wellies have holes in them! My feet were soaking wet by the time we got home and mikos paws were covered in smelly black mud. Sam's coat was even dirtier than it had been and his wellies were black with mud. We went along to the library in the afternoon for a bird event sponsored by the RSPB. We had expected a short talk followed by make and do activities, instead it was a long talk followed by a hunt round the library for bird pictures. The talk was interesting for the grown ups but most of the children were bored-in fact one girl who looked about 10 announced that she was bored! The speaker didn't quite know what to say but certainly did not take the hint that his talk was not lively enough for the audience. Sam made me laugh, the speaker asked a question about birds and Sam shouted out the answer, the man looked shocked that sam was corrected and then asked if he was a RSPB member to which my son replied "No, I have the box set of david attenborough at home". Only Sam...
Today we sent back to peterborough for S's bday party. It was so good to see all the boys and their moms. We both miss them all so much. R was very kind and let miko in the house and she was very well behaved-possibly better than the monster! Sam just gets so excited to be around his friends that all common sense flies out the window. He needs more friends here in leicester and hopefully setting up this home ed group will be a positive set in the right direction. He also has his name down for boy scouts which is another good place for making friends.
The text book for the latin class that I am going to take arrived this week so I have been eagerly dipping into it . I can't wait to get going properly The stories in the text are the ones that I first had when I took latin at school when I lived here in the early 80s. It was a nice surprise to see the familiar faces of the characters and it brought back lots of happy memories of school. I was a strange child, I loved school and hated to miss it for any reason. I especially loved the school I went to when I lived here and would love to go back for a look around. Mel is going back there next week with a mutual friend to have tea with our old headmisstress, Sister G who must be at least 100! Why is it that nuns seem to live forever?
Saturday, February 10, 2007
more snow please
We had such fun playing in the snow on thursday and that sam and miko would like to order more. Sam so he can have snow ball fights and build snowmen and miko so she can eat it! It was so funny to watch her jumping up to try and catch the snow flakes, I don't think she knew quite what to make of them. So sam and miko would like lots more please ( thought not as much as they have had in upstate NY!).
The snow was a nice way to end the week. We spent the first half of the week with our noses to the grindstone doing lots of school work. Sam's top favs this week have been science ( big surprise there),latin and history and anything on education city. We upgraded our before you know it on line language programme so now we have tons more latin word lists. We spent wednesday learing to count to 20 in latin and then linking it with roman numerals and our current number system. That led to more discussions on the romans and a few math problems done in roman numerals. Don't you just love it when all of the subjects come together like that. Next week we are going to start focusing on our work for the iditarod and looking at norway. Sam has decided that Miko gets to choose a musher and if her musher wins he gets the prize instead of her. Doesn't sound very fair to me!
T & L came up today and it was lovely to see them. We had a trip out to melton to get sausages and to take miko for a walk. Then it was back for a big lego session and dinner before they had to head home and M head off to work. Miko was so excited to see them-she wagged her tail so much I thought it was going to come off. They brought her a fluffy toy which she hasn't let go of all afternoon. Needless to say it is now very soggy indeed.
The snow was a nice way to end the week. We spent the first half of the week with our noses to the grindstone doing lots of school work. Sam's top favs this week have been science ( big surprise there),latin and history and anything on education city. We upgraded our before you know it on line language programme so now we have tons more latin word lists. We spent wednesday learing to count to 20 in latin and then linking it with roman numerals and our current number system. That led to more discussions on the romans and a few math problems done in roman numerals. Don't you just love it when all of the subjects come together like that. Next week we are going to start focusing on our work for the iditarod and looking at norway. Sam has decided that Miko gets to choose a musher and if her musher wins he gets the prize instead of her. Doesn't sound very fair to me!
T & L came up today and it was lovely to see them. We had a trip out to melton to get sausages and to take miko for a walk. Then it was back for a big lego session and dinner before they had to head home and M head off to work. Miko was so excited to see them-she wagged her tail so much I thought it was going to come off. They brought her a fluffy toy which she hasn't let go of all afternoon. Needless to say it is now very soggy indeed.
more snow please
We had such fun playing in the snow on thursday and that sam and miko would like to order more. Sam so he can have snow ball fights and build snowmen and miko so she can eat it! It was so funny to watch her jumping up to try and catch the snow flakes, I don't think she knew quite what to make of them. So sam and miko would like lots more please ( thought not as much as they have had in upstate NY!).
The snow was a nice way to end the week. We spent the first half of the week with our noses to the grindstone doing lots of school work. Sam's top favs this week have been science ( big surprise there),latin and history and anything on education city. We upgraded our before you know it on line language programme so now we have tons more latin word lists. We spent wednesday learing to count to 20 in latin and then linking it with roman numerals and our current number system. That led to more discussions on the romans and a few math problems done in roman numerals. Don't you just love it when all of the subjects come together like that. Next week we are going to start focusing on our work for the iditarod and looking at norway. Sam has decided that Miko gets to choose a musher and if her musher wins he gets the prize instead of her. Doesn't sound very fair to me!
T & L came up today and it was lovely to see them. We had a trip out to melton to get sausages and to take miko for a walk. Then it was back for a big lego session and dinner before they had to head home and M head off to work. Miko was so excited to see them-she wagged her tail so much I thought it was going to come off. They brought her a fluffy toy which she hasn't let go of all afternoon. Needless to say it is now very soggy indeed.
The snow was a nice way to end the week. We spent the first half of the week with our noses to the grindstone doing lots of school work. Sam's top favs this week have been science ( big surprise there),latin and history and anything on education city. We upgraded our before you know it on line language programme so now we have tons more latin word lists. We spent wednesday learing to count to 20 in latin and then linking it with roman numerals and our current number system. That led to more discussions on the romans and a few math problems done in roman numerals. Don't you just love it when all of the subjects come together like that. Next week we are going to start focusing on our work for the iditarod and looking at norway. Sam has decided that Miko gets to choose a musher and if her musher wins he gets the prize instead of her. Doesn't sound very fair to me!
T & L came up today and it was lovely to see them. We had a trip out to melton to get sausages and to take miko for a walk. Then it was back for a big lego session and dinner before they had to head home and M head off to work. Miko was so excited to see them-she wagged her tail so much I thought it was going to come off. They brought her a fluffy toy which she hasn't let go of all afternoon. Needless to say it is now very soggy indeed.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Friday, February 02, 2007
Spoiled Rotten..
is how sam, miko and I felt on wednesday. While M was away we spent the day at my in laws. Sam and Miko had great fun playing with nana and grandad and cousins J & B as did I. I also had the added treat of a massage and facial. It was absolute heaven. It was so relaxing that i fell asleep on the table. A huge thank you to T&L who gave me the gift voucher and who babysat so I could enjoy it. Miko behaved herself and was in 7th heaven with all the attention. She played in the garden for ages and didn't even attempt to fish in the koi pond. It was lovely to catch up with everyone and to play with my nephews. They both enjoyed taking miko for a walk and miko was very well behaved for them. After such a jolly day we rushed over to coventry to pick up M. He arrived in safely but was knackered. We were all so shattered the following day that without exception we (including the dog) were all tucked up in bed by 9:30!
Yesterday and today were easy days as far as school was concerned. We spent most of yesterday talking about the romans and starting our roman binder. Rather than doing a lapbook we thought we would create a binder and include all his drawings from the SOTW activity book as well as interesting facts and photos of the things we make. We did a chart of roman numerals and he had great fun translating everyone's ages into roman numerals.
Today we did junk modelling at V & I's and sam has not put down the droid he made. It has had to go everywhere with him, including bed! He informed me that he wants to create a whole droid army-me thinks that child has seen star wars one too many times.
I apologise in advance if blogging gets a bit sporadic over the next few weeks. I have started a new knitting project which has been absorbing my time. I get into a rythmn and just can't stop, I think it is addictive. Oh well, at least it stops me snacking. It is very hard to snack and knit at the same time.
Yesterday and today were easy days as far as school was concerned. We spent most of yesterday talking about the romans and starting our roman binder. Rather than doing a lapbook we thought we would create a binder and include all his drawings from the SOTW activity book as well as interesting facts and photos of the things we make. We did a chart of roman numerals and he had great fun translating everyone's ages into roman numerals.
Today we did junk modelling at V & I's and sam has not put down the droid he made. It has had to go everywhere with him, including bed! He informed me that he wants to create a whole droid army-me thinks that child has seen star wars one too many times.
I apologise in advance if blogging gets a bit sporadic over the next few weeks. I have started a new knitting project which has been absorbing my time. I get into a rythmn and just can't stop, I think it is addictive. Oh well, at least it stops me snacking. It is very hard to snack and knit at the same time.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Budding Twitcher??
Yesterday we met up with our old home ed group at rutland water and went bird wattching. Sam was really enthusiastic about it and is keen to go again. We saw all sorts of fowl, including a woodpecker, lapwings, widgeons and cormorants. He took great pleasure in crossing off birds in his bird book. Looks like we will be taking a few more trips out there then! It was lovely to see all of our friends and hope that we will be able to make a few more of their trips.
Apart from a bday party on saturday we had a quiet weekend. M was studying and sam and I piddled about and took the dog on long walks. This week promises to be busier with several mystery jobs and a trip to m's parents tomorrow. Sam is beside himself with excitement at seeing his grandparents and cousins and miko has promised to be on her best behavior. I am looking forward to a trip to the spa for a massage.
Schoolwise we are continuing with the romans as well as hoping to fit in more science experiments. Sam is still very enthuisastic about education city-I have moved him up to year 4 science and year 2 math. Those seem to be his favorite subjects, His reading is coming on leaps and bounds and is easily able to read books aimed at 2nd-4th grades. Today Ameila Bedelia and tomorrow the financial times!
Apart from a bday party on saturday we had a quiet weekend. M was studying and sam and I piddled about and took the dog on long walks. This week promises to be busier with several mystery jobs and a trip to m's parents tomorrow. Sam is beside himself with excitement at seeing his grandparents and cousins and miko has promised to be on her best behavior. I am looking forward to a trip to the spa for a massage.
Schoolwise we are continuing with the romans as well as hoping to fit in more science experiments. Sam is still very enthuisastic about education city-I have moved him up to year 4 science and year 2 math. Those seem to be his favorite subjects, His reading is coming on leaps and bounds and is easily able to read books aimed at 2nd-4th grades. Today Ameila Bedelia and tomorrow the financial times!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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