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!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Good sleep qualities..
that is the reason sam has given for creeping into our bed in the wee hours. Apparently our bed has "Good Sleep Qualities" while his doesn't. Apparently good sleep qualities include-a double layer of duvets, miko, mom & dad snuggles a big bed. His bed apparently does not posess any of these things. We offered to get him another duvet and to let mko sleep with him but that is not good enough. His bed is not big enough for two duvets and miko would eat all his fluffers! We wouldn't mind him coming in our bed if only he didn't wiggle so much when he was there. It is like sleeping in the middle of a busy highway the way he thrashes about. He had stopped coming in but I guess old habits die hard because he is back. We may need to resort to the dreaded star chart again if he can't stop his nocturnal wanderings. It wouldn't be that bad but the dog has now decided that she needs to wee about 5am and sadly once she is up she is up. Between the two of them we aren't getting much sleep. Anyone want to have them over for a sleep over???
Sam and I had a nice weekend, though we missed M as he was at work. Saturday we have the house a good spring clean and then took the dog for a long walk. Sam was lots of help and good company. He was in charge of bathroom sinks, shower and tub and all the skirting boards and door handles. Miko even tried to help but she and I have different views on how to clean glass!
Sunday saw us at tennis bright and early and sam ran around so much that despite the cold he was sweating. Sunday afternoon he spent playing at his friend m's house while miko and I went to lunch with the girls. It was lovely to catch up with everyone, seems ages since we had a good natter without children tearing around. L is expecting her third child so it was also a bit of a baby shower. Please send her good thoughts for an easy birth.
Yesterday and today have been very hands on school days. Yesterday we spent most of the morning on our latest young scientist club kit-all about capillary action. We had done some of the experiments before but I don't think sam remembered them as he was very excited about everything. Today we worked on the roman road and the aquaduct-pics to follow. The aquaduct has turned out better than I expected and we hope to give it a trial run tomorrow. My only complaint about the activities in SOTW is that they don't provide pics so that you know how it is supposed to look. Luckily there are tons of pics of aquaducts on google so I pretty good idea of what it was supposed to turn out like.
Sam and I had a nice weekend, though we missed M as he was at work. Saturday we have the house a good spring clean and then took the dog for a long walk. Sam was lots of help and good company. He was in charge of bathroom sinks, shower and tub and all the skirting boards and door handles. Miko even tried to help but she and I have different views on how to clean glass!
Sunday saw us at tennis bright and early and sam ran around so much that despite the cold he was sweating. Sunday afternoon he spent playing at his friend m's house while miko and I went to lunch with the girls. It was lovely to catch up with everyone, seems ages since we had a good natter without children tearing around. L is expecting her third child so it was also a bit of a baby shower. Please send her good thoughts for an easy birth.
Yesterday and today have been very hands on school days. Yesterday we spent most of the morning on our latest young scientist club kit-all about capillary action. We had done some of the experiments before but I don't think sam remembered them as he was very excited about everything. Today we worked on the roman road and the aquaduct-pics to follow. The aquaduct has turned out better than I expected and we hope to give it a trial run tomorrow. My only complaint about the activities in SOTW is that they don't provide pics so that you know how it is supposed to look. Luckily there are tons of pics of aquaducts on google so I pretty good idea of what it was supposed to turn out like.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Dog + balloon=
bad combination. While she loves playing with the balloon, when it eventually pops she tries to eat the silly thing. This then results in mad panic with me having to stick my hand down her throat to retrieve it. Not pleasant I can assure you. The house has been full of balloons this week in honor of M's bday which was monday. We had a nice party on sunday with M's parents-complete with party poppers, balloons and birthday cake. Miko took the party poppers in her stride but went mad for the balloons.
Apart from M's bday it has been a quiet week. Schoolwise things are progressing-we have started doing science experiments again much to sam's delight. We spent wednesday afternoon playing with circuits and making lightbulbs light up. We have also been doing crafty stuff around the romans as we are visiting them at the moment in story of the world. We are currently building a mini aqueduct, not sure if it will work, we didn't get to finish it today but hopefully over the weekend we will have some pics to show. Sam seems to be enjoying this section on the romans, mainly I think because they were so blood thirsty. EC continues to be a big hit and the math especially makes a nice compliment to what we are doing on our own. It is certainly helping him to develop his mental math skills which can only be a good thing. French class starts up again tomorrow and it will be nice to see everyone.
Apart from M's bday it has been a quiet week. Schoolwise things are progressing-we have started doing science experiments again much to sam's delight. We spent wednesday afternoon playing with circuits and making lightbulbs light up. We have also been doing crafty stuff around the romans as we are visiting them at the moment in story of the world. We are currently building a mini aqueduct, not sure if it will work, we didn't get to finish it today but hopefully over the weekend we will have some pics to show. Sam seems to be enjoying this section on the romans, mainly I think because they were so blood thirsty. EC continues to be a big hit and the math especially makes a nice compliment to what we are doing on our own. It is certainly helping him to develop his mental math skills which can only be a good thing. French class starts up again tomorrow and it will be nice to see everyone.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Eek I was tagged..
thank you for tagging me..okay here goes.
Six weird things about me.
THE RULES
Each player of this game starts with the ’six weird things about you’ blog post. People who get tagged need to write their own six weird things post and state the rules clearly. At the end of the post tag six more people and don’t forget to leave a comment on their blog to tell them they have been tagged and tell them to read your blog.
1. I am american, my parents are american, I was born in america (kansas of all places) but I have now lived 22 of my 38 years outside of the us. My father was in the airforce and we were stationed in germany and the uk, which accounts for a good portion of the years, the rest are the years I spent here in college and graduate school and the 13 that M and I have been married.
2. I like filling in forms. Don't know, maybe it is the satisfaction of completing something or maybe I am just totally sad but I am happy and willing to fill in all the forms that get shoved my way.
3. I am a parrothead and a trekkie. Odd combination I know but I can't help it. The highlight of our vacation in 2005 was going to see jimmy in concert. Am hoping to do the same for my 40th.
4. I have slept with the same pillow my whole life-it has been recovered numberous times and in need of repair again as the puppy decided to chew it.
5. In college I actually studied on friday and saturday nights rather than going out and having fun. Not sure if that makes me weird or just sad.
6. I know all the lyics to most classic disney songs-especially the older movies.
I don't think there is anyone left on the blogring to tag..but if anyone reads this and hasn't been tagged yet consider yourself tagged.
Off the blog ring I tag
Mary
Cheryl
Six weird things about me.
THE RULES
Each player of this game starts with the ’six weird things about you’ blog post. People who get tagged need to write their own six weird things post and state the rules clearly. At the end of the post tag six more people and don’t forget to leave a comment on their blog to tell them they have been tagged and tell them to read your blog.
1. I am american, my parents are american, I was born in america (kansas of all places) but I have now lived 22 of my 38 years outside of the us. My father was in the airforce and we were stationed in germany and the uk, which accounts for a good portion of the years, the rest are the years I spent here in college and graduate school and the 13 that M and I have been married.
2. I like filling in forms. Don't know, maybe it is the satisfaction of completing something or maybe I am just totally sad but I am happy and willing to fill in all the forms that get shoved my way.
3. I am a parrothead and a trekkie. Odd combination I know but I can't help it. The highlight of our vacation in 2005 was going to see jimmy in concert. Am hoping to do the same for my 40th.
4. I have slept with the same pillow my whole life-it has been recovered numberous times and in need of repair again as the puppy decided to chew it.
5. In college I actually studied on friday and saturday nights rather than going out and having fun. Not sure if that makes me weird or just sad.
6. I know all the lyics to most classic disney songs-especially the older movies.
I don't think there is anyone left on the blogring to tag..but if anyone reads this and hasn't been tagged yet consider yourself tagged.
Off the blog ring I tag
Mary
Cheryl
En Garde..
was something that I thought they only said it movies but last week at fencing class I learned that it is a real term. M and I have just started an 8 week fencing course. Last week was our first week and we both enjoyed it. We spent most of the lesson learning the correct position and practicing moving forward and by the end of it my arms ached. E from next door watched sam and he had a blast as they watched a movie and looked at dog websites. The most exciting part of the evening though was coming home to find that he had just lost a tooth! Can't believe that my little boy is so grown up. He was very anxious for the toothfairy to bring a hotwheels car instead of a £1 and as he wrote her such a nice note she oblidged. Not sure if she will be able to do it for each tooth though-they are awfully heavy for her to carry!
Schoolwise things are ticking over. We finally subscribed to education city, which with the home ed discount was very reasonable. Sam really enjoys it and I like the fact that you can work at different levels in different subjects. He is doing year one for everything but since where I have moved him up to year 3. It is a shame that they don't have a history or geography section. Speaking of history we have finally finished off Alexander the Great and are moving on to the romans I think. That ties in very well with our latin lessons. I am thinking of doing the Cambridge on line latin course to help me brush up so that I can teach him better. I would also like to do a greek one at some point.
To help further his love of space we have introduced him to star trek next generation-the series. He his lapping it up, guess we have another trekkie in the house. I think a lot of the plots have gone over his head but he loves the gadgets and all the cool machines that they have on the show. I don't know-a trekkie and a parakeet what are we teaching the boy!
Schoolwise things are ticking over. We finally subscribed to education city, which with the home ed discount was very reasonable. Sam really enjoys it and I like the fact that you can work at different levels in different subjects. He is doing year one for everything but since where I have moved him up to year 3. It is a shame that they don't have a history or geography section. Speaking of history we have finally finished off Alexander the Great and are moving on to the romans I think. That ties in very well with our latin lessons. I am thinking of doing the Cambridge on line latin course to help me brush up so that I can teach him better. I would also like to do a greek one at some point.
To help further his love of space we have introduced him to star trek next generation-the series. He his lapping it up, guess we have another trekkie in the house. I think a lot of the plots have gone over his head but he loves the gadgets and all the cool machines that they have on the show. I don't know-a trekkie and a parakeet what are we teaching the boy!
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
wiggle, wiggle
is what sam has been doing all day for you see he has his first loose tooth. He has spent the last two days with a finger in his mouth wiggling this tooth. He is convinced that the toothfairy will leave him a hot wheels car instead of money. We have tried our best to point out that she only brings money but he won't believe us. I even pointed out that he could buy a car with the pound she will leave but he won't be swayed. Oh well, maybe she will make an exception for the first tooth!
Iditarod..
This will be our second year following the iditarod and I thought I would give a little background the race, why we are doing it and lits a few webistes if anyone else is interested in the race. We first became really aware of the race after reading the story of Balto, a famous sled dog. The story was part of our curicculum ( Sonlight) and sam really enjoyed it. He got very interested in the sport of dog sled racing and it kind of snowballed from there. The first race was run in 1973 to commemorate the famous run made by several dog sled teams ( the last and longest leg was run by balto and his team) to get life saving diptheria medicine to the town of nome. The race is approximately 1049 miles and alternates between two routes each year. Each team has to pass certain check points and is allowed so many rest breaks and overnight stops. A musher can drop dogs from his team during the race but can't add them.
We followed the race in a very basic way. We each chose a musher and then sam and I made up a chart with each of their names and all the check points. We also did a map of the route. We checked their progress on line each day and updated the chart accordingly. I can't remember now whose musher won, I think it was M's. We aso did some stuff on the geography and climate of alaska and watched clips of the race on line. Think we will go a bit more in depth this year as sam is that much older and able to do more writing and figuring things out.
The most useful sites we found were:
www.cabelasiditerod.com
ww.iditarod.com
the yahoo group eiditarod@yahoogroups.com ( this is run just for teachers and homeschoolers by a great guy named walter)
If you like lapbooking then www.handsofachild.com have a great iditarod lap book that you can down load for about $6.
We followed the race in a very basic way. We each chose a musher and then sam and I made up a chart with each of their names and all the check points. We also did a map of the route. We checked their progress on line each day and updated the chart accordingly. I can't remember now whose musher won, I think it was M's. We aso did some stuff on the geography and climate of alaska and watched clips of the race on line. Think we will go a bit more in depth this year as sam is that much older and able to do more writing and figuring things out.
The most useful sites we found were:
www.cabelasiditerod.com
ww.iditarod.com
the yahoo group eiditarod@yahoogroups.com ( this is run just for teachers and homeschoolers by a great guy named walter)
If you like lapbooking then www.handsofachild.com have a great iditarod lap book that you can down load for about $6.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
start as you mean to carry on..
Happy New Year!! May 2007 be happy and healthy for everyone.
Sam and I started the new year in productive healthy pursuits that hopefully means the rest of the year will carry on in that vein. We spent the morning tidying the house, packing away the xmas decs (still no sign of baby jesus) and then the afternoon on a mamoth walk through mud and small floods. Our lovely white dog was black by the time we got home and we discovered that sam's wellies are no longer waterproof as his feet were soaked. We had a good time though and so did miko as she got to meet and great lots of people and dogs. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having M with us, unfortunately he was at work. After our marathon we came home to dry off and warm up and watched multiple episodes of magic school bus.
New Year's Eve was quiet as predicted-we were all in bed early and only woke up at midnight thanks to very considerate neigbhors who let off a volley of fireworks for over half an hour. The dog was beside herself, which in turn woke us up. Luckily sam slept through it all.
Today saw the return of some sense of normality. We did some school work and swimming lessons resumed. I think most parents must have forgotten because the pool was empty, there was only one other boy in sam's class! We will ease ourselves gently back into work-our two main projects this term are going to be the iditarod and norway. M is hopefully going there in march so it will give us a good excuse to learn something about it. I am woefully ignorant about the country except for some basic historical knowledge. he has promised to bring us back reindeer meat and pickled herring-yum!
Sam and I started the new year in productive healthy pursuits that hopefully means the rest of the year will carry on in that vein. We spent the morning tidying the house, packing away the xmas decs (still no sign of baby jesus) and then the afternoon on a mamoth walk through mud and small floods. Our lovely white dog was black by the time we got home and we discovered that sam's wellies are no longer waterproof as his feet were soaked. We had a good time though and so did miko as she got to meet and great lots of people and dogs. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having M with us, unfortunately he was at work. After our marathon we came home to dry off and warm up and watched multiple episodes of magic school bus.
New Year's Eve was quiet as predicted-we were all in bed early and only woke up at midnight thanks to very considerate neigbhors who let off a volley of fireworks for over half an hour. The dog was beside herself, which in turn woke us up. Luckily sam slept through it all.
Today saw the return of some sense of normality. We did some school work and swimming lessons resumed. I think most parents must have forgotten because the pool was empty, there was only one other boy in sam's class! We will ease ourselves gently back into work-our two main projects this term are going to be the iditarod and norway. M is hopefully going there in march so it will give us a good excuse to learn something about it. I am woefully ignorant about the country except for some basic historical knowledge. he has promised to bring us back reindeer meat and pickled herring-yum!
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