our weekend that is. It feels like I spent the whole weekend on the bike or at the climbing wall. We had a blast, I think we even managed to tire out sam, he slept until 7:30 this morning!! I don't know which he enjoyed more, the climbing wall or riding on his tag-along bike. It felt good to be out doing something energetic as a family. We hadn't been climbing since I was pregnant with sam, which is 5 years ago now. He really took to wall climbing and is excited about going again next week. I let the boys do most of the climbing, with me doing all of the belaying. I did do a bit of climbing, I was very rusty and my hands were aching by the end of it. We rode to the climbing wall so not only were my hand aching by the time we got home but so were my legs. They got another good stretch today as we cycled around graffham water. Sam coped really well and was disapointed when the ride came to the end. I guess we have crossed PE off for the week then!!
We also managed to fit in a trip to the cinema. We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it was really good. The casting was spot on, especially Johnny Depp!! Sam was mesmerised, to the point that he didn't realise he had to go to the loo until it was almost too late. My only complaint about the film was that they added in a story line about willy wonka's father-not sure why, it didn't add anything to the film.
Sam had his belt testing on saturday. I think it went okay, I can't imagine that they would fail 4 year olds. We won't find out if he moves on to his blue & white belt for almost 3 weeks as the karate school has its annual 2 week break.
M has now plastered in all the holes in the kitchen so that we can clean down the walls and paper and paint them. We still have loads to sort out but it should look good when we are done.
Not sure what this week holds. In theory we are supposed to go to sacrewell camping with the boys and their moms on thursday-that is of course if the weather cooperates.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Friday, July 29, 2005
We love playmobil!!
I awoke to a very bouncy 4 year old asking if it was time for the playmobil roadshow yet. Our local mall is hosting a playmobil roadshow for the next two weeks and sam has been so excited about going. He has been practically counting down the days. So today was the big day. We met our very dear friends H, E & M there and the children had a ball. I have to say, though, it was not worth all the hype. There were a few sets on display, a competition and then a table with some sets for the children to play with. I am not sure what I was expecting but it was definately more than this. In anycase at the end of the day it didn't matter what the adults thought because the children had lots of fun. After playing for ages we headed off to westgate house for sam to spend his pocket money. He chose the hover craft to go with his dino set. Then we went to John Lewis for lunch. Matthew met us there after his trip to the dentist to fix an abcess.
The afternoon was spent at a chelsea flower show meeting and doing a mystery job. Sam had a ball at the meeting as it was in C's garden and there were tons of other children to play with, not to mention a pond and two rabbits!!
The slowing down with the reading seems to be working, He happily read to me at bed time and was eager to do more!!
A busy weekend ahead, belt testing ( karate), wall climbing, cycling, diy and possibly a trip to the cinema.
The afternoon was spent at a chelsea flower show meeting and doing a mystery job. Sam had a ball at the meeting as it was in C's garden and there were tons of other children to play with, not to mention a pond and two rabbits!!
The slowing down with the reading seems to be working, He happily read to me at bed time and was eager to do more!!
A busy weekend ahead, belt testing ( karate), wall climbing, cycling, diy and possibly a trip to the cinema.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Where to begin..??
We have been very busy the last few days. M had two days off unexpectedly (they forgot to put him on the rota!!!-he did tell the dept but they never called him to come in). We made the most of the two days.
Tuesday was spent doing 'normals' in the morning and then diy in the afternoon. The big change around has begun. We have taken the extra working tops out of the kitchen and moved the dining room table in there. We also pulled up all the flooring and scrubbed down the walls to paint then. The dining room is now the grown up living room (must think of a better name than that!) and the living room is now the playroom. There is still lots to be done, including lots of decluttering. Our goal is to have the playroom at the least done by the send of the summer. This will give sam and I more room to work, play and learn. Sam was a very big help on the diy front, he is very good with a screwdriver and kept telling me "righty tighty, left loosey".
Yesterday was our family day, in ignorance of the weather forecast we decided to cycle round rutland water. We hired a trailer bike or tag along for sam and it was a great success. He peddled almost continually and was very excited at being able to ride like a grown up. We made it half way round the lake before the rain started and had no choice but to carry on round. We all had macs on but as it turned out M's was no longer waterproof! We were all soaked to the skin by the time we got back-and warmed by by lighting a fire!! I think it was the first time we have ever used the fireplace in the summer. It did the trick though as we were soon all toastly and warm. I was really proud of the way sam handled himself on the bike ride, not once did he complain despite the distance and the weather. We were so impressed that we bought a tag along bike and are now looking forward to lots of fun family cycle rides. We would have ridden it to karate this afternoon but didn't fancy getting soaked two days in a row.
We are taking the reading slowly at the moment-he seems very frustrated everytime we sit down to read together and I don't want to turn him off reading. I think we will go back over the second set of bob books and revisit some of the earlier headsprout stories. Perhaps by bolstering his confidence that will help him to move forward.
Tuesday was spent doing 'normals' in the morning and then diy in the afternoon. The big change around has begun. We have taken the extra working tops out of the kitchen and moved the dining room table in there. We also pulled up all the flooring and scrubbed down the walls to paint then. The dining room is now the grown up living room (must think of a better name than that!) and the living room is now the playroom. There is still lots to be done, including lots of decluttering. Our goal is to have the playroom at the least done by the send of the summer. This will give sam and I more room to work, play and learn. Sam was a very big help on the diy front, he is very good with a screwdriver and kept telling me "righty tighty, left loosey".
Yesterday was our family day, in ignorance of the weather forecast we decided to cycle round rutland water. We hired a trailer bike or tag along for sam and it was a great success. He peddled almost continually and was very excited at being able to ride like a grown up. We made it half way round the lake before the rain started and had no choice but to carry on round. We all had macs on but as it turned out M's was no longer waterproof! We were all soaked to the skin by the time we got back-and warmed by by lighting a fire!! I think it was the first time we have ever used the fireplace in the summer. It did the trick though as we were soon all toastly and warm. I was really proud of the way sam handled himself on the bike ride, not once did he complain despite the distance and the weather. We were so impressed that we bought a tag along bike and are now looking forward to lots of fun family cycle rides. We would have ridden it to karate this afternoon but didn't fancy getting soaked two days in a row.
We are taking the reading slowly at the moment-he seems very frustrated everytime we sit down to read together and I don't want to turn him off reading. I think we will go back over the second set of bob books and revisit some of the earlier headsprout stories. Perhaps by bolstering his confidence that will help him to move forward.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Rain, rain go away
sam and I want to play. It has been a horrible wet afternoon here. we were supposed to meet friends at the model railway at thorpe hall but play was halted due to rain!!!!! It is finally dry here, now it is too late to play. On the upside at least I won't have to water tonight.
A quiet weekend on the whole. Spring cleaning ( I know it is midsummer but I am always late for everything!), movies, playing and a trip out to ely musuem. We had booked into the dino dig as part of national archaeology week ( I know dinos are nothing to do with archaeology but I couldn't get sam excited by the saxon cemetery so ely it was). It was billed as a short talk by a paleontologist with some hands on stuff afterwords. It turned out to be an hour long lecture with slides and a bit of role playing but no hands on stuff. We were both disapointed, especially sam. The lecturer was nice but kept making the children raise their hands to answer his questions. Not only do 4.5 year olds not understand this but this goes doubly for home educated ones. The poor little guy was so sad when he wasn't called on, especially as he knew all the answers. If I need any, this just provided confirmation that we have made the right choice as far as homeeding. I would hate to see his love of learning squashed because he didn't get called on often enough by his teachers.
We had a nice week as I recall. We met marie and her children up at hill farm for some berry picking. I think we all had fun,particularly as we all had an ice cream!! I don't think there will be too many more berry picking trips this summer, the strawberries and raspberries look like they are coming to an end.
Wednesday was bliss as I finally treated myself to the massage and facial that m's parents gave me for xmas. I am completely hooked, I felt so fantastic afterwords I could have floated all the way home. I know what I will be asking m for for xmas!!
Friday was a milestone for us.. it was sam's last offical session at happy faces. We have been going to happy faces since he was 10 months old. Claire ( she runs HF) has been such a part of our lives for the last 4 years it will seem funny not to be seeing her on a weekly basis anymore. Sam wasn't as sad as I was, I don't think he really understands that after the summer break we won't be going back. We will still see Claire from time to time as she sells my usborne books but we won't be going to any sessions.
Friday afternoon I attempted to step into Merry's shoes and run our local mudpud group. We had a very loose theme of things that fly and each of the families brought something to do along those lines. We brought parachutes to make, M brough birds, H brought butterflies to decorate, J brought flying bugs and D and E brought moths and hummingbirds to make. I also brough our ELC version of twister which uses the contients instead of colored dots and the children had fun tying themselves in knots!! I hope everyone had fun and got something out of the session.
Not sure what this week holds. We may be brave an venture to london to visit the RHS library. As part of our chelsea flower show project we have to research past gardens and no library around here stocks the past programmes. Ordinarily I wouldn't think twice about going to london but in light of everything that has been going on I must confess to being slightly nervous. I know I shouldn't be but I can't help it. If I can find another way of getting the info I will. The past two years of shows are on line but nothing further back than that.
A quiet weekend on the whole. Spring cleaning ( I know it is midsummer but I am always late for everything!), movies, playing and a trip out to ely musuem. We had booked into the dino dig as part of national archaeology week ( I know dinos are nothing to do with archaeology but I couldn't get sam excited by the saxon cemetery so ely it was). It was billed as a short talk by a paleontologist with some hands on stuff afterwords. It turned out to be an hour long lecture with slides and a bit of role playing but no hands on stuff. We were both disapointed, especially sam. The lecturer was nice but kept making the children raise their hands to answer his questions. Not only do 4.5 year olds not understand this but this goes doubly for home educated ones. The poor little guy was so sad when he wasn't called on, especially as he knew all the answers. If I need any, this just provided confirmation that we have made the right choice as far as homeeding. I would hate to see his love of learning squashed because he didn't get called on often enough by his teachers.
We had a nice week as I recall. We met marie and her children up at hill farm for some berry picking. I think we all had fun,particularly as we all had an ice cream!! I don't think there will be too many more berry picking trips this summer, the strawberries and raspberries look like they are coming to an end.
Wednesday was bliss as I finally treated myself to the massage and facial that m's parents gave me for xmas. I am completely hooked, I felt so fantastic afterwords I could have floated all the way home. I know what I will be asking m for for xmas!!
Friday was a milestone for us.. it was sam's last offical session at happy faces. We have been going to happy faces since he was 10 months old. Claire ( she runs HF) has been such a part of our lives for the last 4 years it will seem funny not to be seeing her on a weekly basis anymore. Sam wasn't as sad as I was, I don't think he really understands that after the summer break we won't be going back. We will still see Claire from time to time as she sells my usborne books but we won't be going to any sessions.
Friday afternoon I attempted to step into Merry's shoes and run our local mudpud group. We had a very loose theme of things that fly and each of the families brought something to do along those lines. We brought parachutes to make, M brough birds, H brought butterflies to decorate, J brought flying bugs and D and E brought moths and hummingbirds to make. I also brough our ELC version of twister which uses the contients instead of colored dots and the children had fun tying themselves in knots!! I hope everyone had fun and got something out of the session.
Not sure what this week holds. We may be brave an venture to london to visit the RHS library. As part of our chelsea flower show project we have to research past gardens and no library around here stocks the past programmes. Ordinarily I wouldn't think twice about going to london but in light of everything that has been going on I must confess to being slightly nervous. I know I shouldn't be but I can't help it. If I can find another way of getting the info I will. The past two years of shows are on line but nothing further back than that.
Monday, July 18, 2005
I've finished!!
At about 6:30 this morning I closed the back cover on HP6 with a satisfied sigh. After a slow and meanderng start the book certaily finished with a bang. Yet again we have been left hanging, breathless with anticipation for the next book. I know at lot has been said about the writing style and the originality of some of the ideas but I have really enjoyed the books and have nothing but admiration for JKR. To get so many people so excited about reading is a wonderful thing. Even sam was excited about the new book and can't wait until he is old enough for me to read the series to him.
Finishing the book this morning was a nice way to round off a nice weekend. As you can see from the pics below we were hard at work turning our back lawn into a patio. Sam and I mixed the concrete while M was in charge of spreading and measuring and leveling. M's parents are kindly giving us the paving stones from their patio as they are having a new one laid. The garden should look really nice when it is all finished-hopefully the weather will stay nice long enough for us to be able to enjoy it. Sam really enjoyed helping, especially making up the concrete. He is very much a doer and loves to be given a job, particularly if it means he can make a mess and not get in trouble.
Sunday we went to M's parents for a bbq which was lovely. M's sister was there too so he got a chance to see James. We are honored to have been asked to be James' godparents. Sam and Benjamin got on really well and had lots of fun in the paddling pool with squirt guns. they were very good about not shooting people who weren't in the pool but Sam kept trying to convince all the adults to come in the pool as he had a nice surprise for them!! Yeah right...we weren't born yesterday you know.
Today we have had a really good day. We spent most of the morning catching up on our sonlight science and sam was enthralled. The unit was on pollenation and we ended up cutting up most of the fruit in the fruit bowl looking at the different types of seeds that different plants produce. He was amazed at the size of a mango stone and is very keen to plant it in the garden to grow a mango tree. We then used all the fruit to make smoothies, which he declared to be the best ever. We wrote up all our experiments in his nature journal-a cunning way to get him to practice writing without realising it. We finished off the morning with our normals and finished off book C of Get Set for the Code. We have enjoyed the series and will now start on explode the code. Tomorrow I think we will start the day with math and then move on to reading. I must sort out something fun from Gobble up Math for us to do.
We also sat down and worked out a few activities to take to muddlepuddle this week. Sam wanted to try and make toy parachutes so we are going to give that a go as well as paper airplanes and waxed paper stained glass butterflies. I think we are going to be busy the rest of the week getting all the templates together!
A quiet morning at home tomorrow doing our normals etc and then off to pick more berries with friends. I just hope the jam sets this time!
Finishing the book this morning was a nice way to round off a nice weekend. As you can see from the pics below we were hard at work turning our back lawn into a patio. Sam and I mixed the concrete while M was in charge of spreading and measuring and leveling. M's parents are kindly giving us the paving stones from their patio as they are having a new one laid. The garden should look really nice when it is all finished-hopefully the weather will stay nice long enough for us to be able to enjoy it. Sam really enjoyed helping, especially making up the concrete. He is very much a doer and loves to be given a job, particularly if it means he can make a mess and not get in trouble.
Sunday we went to M's parents for a bbq which was lovely. M's sister was there too so he got a chance to see James. We are honored to have been asked to be James' godparents. Sam and Benjamin got on really well and had lots of fun in the paddling pool with squirt guns. they were very good about not shooting people who weren't in the pool but Sam kept trying to convince all the adults to come in the pool as he had a nice surprise for them!! Yeah right...we weren't born yesterday you know.
Today we have had a really good day. We spent most of the morning catching up on our sonlight science and sam was enthralled. The unit was on pollenation and we ended up cutting up most of the fruit in the fruit bowl looking at the different types of seeds that different plants produce. He was amazed at the size of a mango stone and is very keen to plant it in the garden to grow a mango tree. We then used all the fruit to make smoothies, which he declared to be the best ever. We wrote up all our experiments in his nature journal-a cunning way to get him to practice writing without realising it. We finished off the morning with our normals and finished off book C of Get Set for the Code. We have enjoyed the series and will now start on explode the code. Tomorrow I think we will start the day with math and then move on to reading. I must sort out something fun from Gobble up Math for us to do.
We also sat down and worked out a few activities to take to muddlepuddle this week. Sam wanted to try and make toy parachutes so we are going to give that a go as well as paper airplanes and waxed paper stained glass butterflies. I think we are going to be busy the rest of the week getting all the templates together!
A quiet morning at home tomorrow doing our normals etc and then off to pick more berries with friends. I just hope the jam sets this time!
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Sunny days are here again..
A busy couple of days, though not perhaps from an HE stand point. This lovely weather brings out the truant in me-afterall you have to make hay while the sunshines because this being england the nice weather won't last!! We have done lots of reading the last couple of days-and he is even trying to figure out posters an notices while we are out and about. I am going to sit down before the end of the month though and get my head around all the sonlight materials and work out a game plan for sept. Then maybe I will feel less guilty about all the fun we are having now.
We went with our NCT group to Activity world today. It was strange to be there without the usual muddlepuddle gang. I got to chatting to one of the dad's as he had an institue of archaoelogy t-shirt on. It turns out that he was there at the same time I was and lived in the same dorm that M and did. We went into fits of laughter remembering the cleaning lady nicknamed mrs. mad who used to talk to herself and throw the bin bags down the stairs. We even had a few aquaitences in common. It really is a samll world.
We popped into the puddles to drop off a few things and pick up one of the new book bags. They are great! Sam can't wait to go to the library to show his off
We went with our NCT group to Activity world today. It was strange to be there without the usual muddlepuddle gang. I got to chatting to one of the dad's as he had an institue of archaoelogy t-shirt on. It turns out that he was there at the same time I was and lived in the same dorm that M and did. We went into fits of laughter remembering the cleaning lady nicknamed mrs. mad who used to talk to herself and throw the bin bags down the stairs. We even had a few aquaitences in common. It really is a samll world.
We popped into the puddles to drop off a few things and pick up one of the new book bags. They are great! Sam can't wait to go to the library to show his off
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Wonderful time at Wickstead...
was had by us all today. We went with our friend F and her son P who is 6. We all had a blast. Wickstead is a an old fashioned family fun park. All of the rides are fairly tame-even the roller coaster. There are several cool playgrounds as well as a boating lake and lots of green space to run around in. There were several coach loads of school children but even so it wasn't that crowded and we didn't have to wait long for any of the rides. Sam has is developing a taste for the fast rides-he loved the mini roller ooaster and can't wait until he is tall enough for the bigger one. I a not a huge fan of thrill rides so he is going to have to sweet talk daddy into taking him.
After wickstead we attempted to make raspberry jam this evening though as it hasn't set yet I am not optomistic. If it doesn't set I hope they don't take away my PM membership card!!
Did some more reading this evening-(thank you merry for lending us the bob books they are going down a treat). He is becomming more confident, especially since we stopped doing headsprout everyday. By stretching it out he is better able to absorb and practice the sounds from each lesson. He is really enjoying the bob books, mainly because the characters in this second set are quite mischevious.
After wickstead we attempted to make raspberry jam this evening though as it hasn't set yet I am not optomistic. If it doesn't set I hope they don't take away my PM membership card!!
Did some more reading this evening-(thank you merry for lending us the bob books they are going down a treat). He is becomming more confident, especially since we stopped doing headsprout everyday. By stretching it out he is better able to absorb and practice the sounds from each lesson. He is really enjoying the bob books, mainly because the characters in this second set are quite mischevious.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Peak Perfection..
Is how I would describe our weekend. We spent two nights camping in the Peak District near Castleton and had a great time. We left friday afternoon which meant that we were able to spend all day sat and most of sun enjoying the area.
We spent most of saturday hiking and sam coped really well. he didn't once ask for a shoulder carry and was keen to try and climb all the rocky outcrops. All in alll we probably did about 6km which isn't bad for a 4 year old or a 37 year old for that matter!! We had a lovely lazy evening with sam making friends which the children in a nearby tent. They spent ages building mountains out of the newly mown grass and then throwing them at each other. It looked like lots of fun and their shrieks of laughter could be heard throughout the site. After a family bowls match sam finally collapsed about 10pm. He must have been exhausted as he didn't stir until gone 8 the next morning!!
Sunday was our 12th anniversary and we spent it climbing up to and around mam tor. The views were just amazing. After a celebratory pub lunch we headed home. I think we all really enjoyed the weekend, doing sporty/active as a family was fun and I think that as sam gets older we will do even more. We hope to fit in a couple more camping trips this summer.
Today was spent doing normals, catching up on the laundry and unpacking. We also managed a quick trip up to hill farm to pick raspberries for jam.
I can thoroughly recommend the Merry Wives of Windsor up at Tolthorpe. The production was really good, my only complaint was not being able to hear very well but I suspect that was due to the torrential rain!
We spent most of saturday hiking and sam coped really well. he didn't once ask for a shoulder carry and was keen to try and climb all the rocky outcrops. All in alll we probably did about 6km which isn't bad for a 4 year old or a 37 year old for that matter!! We had a lovely lazy evening with sam making friends which the children in a nearby tent. They spent ages building mountains out of the newly mown grass and then throwing them at each other. It looked like lots of fun and their shrieks of laughter could be heard throughout the site. After a family bowls match sam finally collapsed about 10pm. He must have been exhausted as he didn't stir until gone 8 the next morning!!
Sunday was our 12th anniversary and we spent it climbing up to and around mam tor. The views were just amazing. After a celebratory pub lunch we headed home. I think we all really enjoyed the weekend, doing sporty/active as a family was fun and I think that as sam gets older we will do even more. We hope to fit in a couple more camping trips this summer.
Today was spent doing normals, catching up on the laundry and unpacking. We also managed a quick trip up to hill farm to pick raspberries for jam.
I can thoroughly recommend the Merry Wives of Windsor up at Tolthorpe. The production was really good, my only complaint was not being able to hear very well but I suspect that was due to the torrential rain!
Thursday, July 07, 2005
How do you age 20 years in 5 mintues?
Set off your friend's burglar alarm, loose her front door key and reduce her daughters to tears. Sorry Merry!!!!! In my defense the alarm wasn't my fault but that didn't make me feel any less guilty. Loosing the key was definately my fault, in my panic to comfort the children I dropped it somewhere on the drive and while merry's very nice neighbor took the children into hers to distract them, I frantically searched every inch of the gravel for the key. All those years of field walking paid off! I was just about to give up and offer to pay for a new lock when I spotted it on the ground (thank you st. anthony of padua). Thankfully the children had calmed down by the time merry arrived and she was able to turn off the alarm no problem. It was certainly an interesting way to end the day.
The rest of the day was very uneventful. Sales at waddling were better than expected and fran's twiddle necklaces sold like hotcakes. Sam is a brilliant salesman-even if he isn't always sure of his target market. He trying to sell the necklaces to anyone who walked by, be they a toddler or a parent. Whatever his method it worked because we sold several necklaces.
We also managed to fit in the library, karate and tescos which should have tied sam out but sadly didn't.
tomorrow is going to be a frantic day-happy faces, a mystery job, a hair cut and getting everything together for camping. I think we will all collapse in a heap at the end of the day.
The rest of the day was very uneventful. Sales at waddling were better than expected and fran's twiddle necklaces sold like hotcakes. Sam is a brilliant salesman-even if he isn't always sure of his target market. He trying to sell the necklaces to anyone who walked by, be they a toddler or a parent. Whatever his method it worked because we sold several necklaces.
We also managed to fit in the library, karate and tescos which should have tied sam out but sadly didn't.
tomorrow is going to be a frantic day-happy faces, a mystery job, a hair cut and getting everything together for camping. I think we will all collapse in a heap at the end of the day.
Why mommy, why??
How do you explain to your 4.5 year old why attrocities such as today happen? I must confess that I was at a loss. I stumbled along talking how we all have different views and beliefs and are entitled to them but that sadly some people feel that the only way to make their views known is to create chaos. He seemed satisfied with this and didn't question any more and didn't ask any more specific questions. My heart goes out to everyone affected by today's events. I hope they catch whomever is responsible for the bombings, though realistically they probably never will.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
What a bad HE mom I am...
we did absolutely nothing vaguely educational to celebrate the 4th of July. We had a brief conversation about it being America's birthday and how it used to belong to England. Sam's only response was to ask if we were going to buy it a birthday present!! If only I could, there are so many things the country needs, unfortunately none of them are available at the mall. We didn't even make flags, or read any of the patriotic children's books that we have. I hope they don't take away my passport next time I go home. This is going to sound silly but it didn't really register that it was the 4th yesterday until mid way through the day. I shall have to put together a project for us to do on the founding fathers to attone for my lack of patriotism. We did have key lime pie for dessert so the day wasn't a complete failure.
We are slowly getting back into our daily routine of normals (thank you for that word merry!) in the morning and friends and going out in the afternoon. I am going to use the next few weeks to plan out what I want us to achieve in the fall and start to gather stuff for the projects sam wants to do. Following the sonlight-K program even loosely is going to keep us pretty busy but I don't want to loose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a fun and exciting adventure for sam. We talked a little about what sort of projects he would like to do and he said that he would like to learn more about the ancient greeks (he is really into greek mythology) and also how things (like cars and computers) are made and work. I can see lots of trips to london (the BM and the Science Musuem) in the coming months. I have decided to cut back on the headsprout a little, instead of playing it everyday, we will do it every other or every couple of days. He does enjoy it still but I think he is beginning to suffer a bit with over exposure. It will give us time to practice what he has learned and to pull in other sources of reading material.
Kessingland really enthused us about camping-so we are off to the peak district this weekend with the tent. I just hope it stays dry. M wants to do lots of long hikes, and has promised to do a cooked bfast each morning so it should be fun. Sam is excited about hiking and really wants to learn to use a compass. (We have bought him one as a surprise). We haven't been up to the peak district since I was pregnant so it will be interesting to see if it has changed at all in the last 5 years.
Off on a girly night out tomorrow to Tolthorpe to see the Merry Wives of Windsor. Provided it stays dry it should be lots of fun. I must to find a synopsis of the story because I can't for the life of me remember it.
We are slowly getting back into our daily routine of normals (thank you for that word merry!) in the morning and friends and going out in the afternoon. I am going to use the next few weeks to plan out what I want us to achieve in the fall and start to gather stuff for the projects sam wants to do. Following the sonlight-K program even loosely is going to keep us pretty busy but I don't want to loose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a fun and exciting adventure for sam. We talked a little about what sort of projects he would like to do and he said that he would like to learn more about the ancient greeks (he is really into greek mythology) and also how things (like cars and computers) are made and work. I can see lots of trips to london (the BM and the Science Musuem) in the coming months. I have decided to cut back on the headsprout a little, instead of playing it everyday, we will do it every other or every couple of days. He does enjoy it still but I think he is beginning to suffer a bit with over exposure. It will give us time to practice what he has learned and to pull in other sources of reading material.
Kessingland really enthused us about camping-so we are off to the peak district this weekend with the tent. I just hope it stays dry. M wants to do lots of long hikes, and has promised to do a cooked bfast each morning so it should be fun. Sam is excited about hiking and really wants to learn to use a compass. (We have bought him one as a surprise). We haven't been up to the peak district since I was pregnant so it will be interesting to see if it has changed at all in the last 5 years.
Off on a girly night out tomorrow to Tolthorpe to see the Merry Wives of Windsor. Provided it stays dry it should be lots of fun. I must to find a synopsis of the story because I can't for the life of me remember it.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
An attitude of gratitude
I wanted to say a couple of thank yous before I set about recaping the last week and a half. First, thank you to cheryl for coming to visit, we really enjoyed your company and hope that you had a good time. However, could you please send back the nice weather because I think you took it home with you!!!
Another thank you to merry for organising the muddle puddle camp. Although we were only there for 4 days we had a fantastic time and it was so nice to meet everyone.
Friday we said a sad goodbye to cheryl, we are going to miss her. Sam was cheered up by the arrival of a package from my father containing two hot wheels cars. He spent the whole afternoon arranging his cars and counting them. He is getting very close to the 100 mark.
The past two weeks have flown by and we have managed to fit a lot in. The theme of this trip was in retrospect -stately homes. We visited Belton House, Sandringham, Burghley House, Woburn, and Framlingham Castle. It was nice being able to visit these places, normally cheryl comes in the winter so everywhere is closed.
We also managed to sneak in a visit to sutton hoo while we were at camp. I hadn't been back to sutton hoo since I excavated there back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was amazing to see the transformation. The visitor's centre and exhibition were fantastic and sam seemed to take everything in. In fairness though, I think he was more interested in my tales of the huge spoil heap and running wheel barrows up the barrow run than the items on display! The visit didn't seem to spark an interest in archaeology-thank goodness! No ologies for sam-he needs to have a nice clean career-that does not involve medicine or mud. I don't regret majoring in archaeology in college and feel priviledged to have actually done some field work before moving on to something else. Had I had more passion for the subject I would have carried on as a career but has it was I didn't feel strongly enough about any one area to want to specialise in it. I am looking forward to teaching sam about the subject and about history in general. History was always my favorite subject at school. I just hope he enjoys it as much as I do.
Camp was great-matthew and cheryl managed to pitch the tent in no time flat-something I am sure that he and I won't be able to replicate. They were aided in their task by the fact that sam had run off to find merry's girls. Sam really really enjoyed camp-he made so many new friends ( and so did I!) and he hasn't stopped talking about them all. He can't wait for next year. Everyone was so nice and made an effort to be friendly. We had such a good time that I may even brave the long drive to scotland for melrose in feb.
M's parents kindly watched sam for me today while I had a stall at the local school fete. It was better than I anticipated and doing well gave me a bit of enthusiasm for carrying on with the books. I am taking them to waddling on thursday so there may be a few more sales yet to come. M's parents took sam on Nene valley today which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Next week we will ease ourselves back into more structured work. Cheryl has lent us Handwriting without tears and I am excited about starting that. Sam is also keen to do some more science projects as well as making raspberry jam!
Another thank you to merry for organising the muddle puddle camp. Although we were only there for 4 days we had a fantastic time and it was so nice to meet everyone.
Friday we said a sad goodbye to cheryl, we are going to miss her. Sam was cheered up by the arrival of a package from my father containing two hot wheels cars. He spent the whole afternoon arranging his cars and counting them. He is getting very close to the 100 mark.
The past two weeks have flown by and we have managed to fit a lot in. The theme of this trip was in retrospect -stately homes. We visited Belton House, Sandringham, Burghley House, Woburn, and Framlingham Castle. It was nice being able to visit these places, normally cheryl comes in the winter so everywhere is closed.
We also managed to sneak in a visit to sutton hoo while we were at camp. I hadn't been back to sutton hoo since I excavated there back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was amazing to see the transformation. The visitor's centre and exhibition were fantastic and sam seemed to take everything in. In fairness though, I think he was more interested in my tales of the huge spoil heap and running wheel barrows up the barrow run than the items on display! The visit didn't seem to spark an interest in archaeology-thank goodness! No ologies for sam-he needs to have a nice clean career-that does not involve medicine or mud. I don't regret majoring in archaeology in college and feel priviledged to have actually done some field work before moving on to something else. Had I had more passion for the subject I would have carried on as a career but has it was I didn't feel strongly enough about any one area to want to specialise in it. I am looking forward to teaching sam about the subject and about history in general. History was always my favorite subject at school. I just hope he enjoys it as much as I do.
Camp was great-matthew and cheryl managed to pitch the tent in no time flat-something I am sure that he and I won't be able to replicate. They were aided in their task by the fact that sam had run off to find merry's girls. Sam really really enjoyed camp-he made so many new friends ( and so did I!) and he hasn't stopped talking about them all. He can't wait for next year. Everyone was so nice and made an effort to be friendly. We had such a good time that I may even brave the long drive to scotland for melrose in feb.
M's parents kindly watched sam for me today while I had a stall at the local school fete. It was better than I anticipated and doing well gave me a bit of enthusiasm for carrying on with the books. I am taking them to waddling on thursday so there may be a few more sales yet to come. M's parents took sam on Nene valley today which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Next week we will ease ourselves back into more structured work. Cheryl has lent us Handwriting without tears and I am excited about starting that. Sam is also keen to do some more science projects as well as making raspberry jam!
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