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.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
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.
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