Thursday 22 March 2012

An Interesting Week

We've had lap top failure so I'm writing this on Sara's computer whilst ours is hopefully being fixed.

Our trip to the MOSI inspired some independent learning and Benedict followed the instructions to make a home made rocket from the blast lab book:







Despite Benedict following all the instructions correctly we had an issue with the bottle nozzle and the darn thing would not launch!!  I did tell him that I'm sure NASA have plenty of technical hitches too.  Dave is determined not to let the whole thing defeat either him or Benedict so they're hoping for a re-launch sometime soon.


I managed to sort and tidy my work room in the loft.  I cleared extraneous paper work and have filled two boxes of old tapes and videos for the charity shop.  I've shoved all our home ed stuff  up there too as both Benedict and I are heartily sick of the daily battles regarding desk work.  I'm hoping that some time away from the desk and instead contact with other families will renew our spirits and help us plan a realistic workable rhythm. 


 I also managed to finish some knitting for a blogging mum over on here:


When I first began our home ed journey two years ago this kind hearted gal sent me a copy of Elizabeth Foss' book " Real Learning - Education in The Heart of The Home."  My knitting for her new babe was my way of saying an extra thank you for her original act of kindness.  Her parcel was sent last week and contained the following items:



Baby Boheme.


Baby Bonnet and Socks.


  Last Friday we finally met with a decent bunch of home edding mums.  We attended Forest School at Bolton Environment Resource Centre and apart from initially getting lost a great time was had by all.


Den Building with The Boys.



Hammock Fun.



A Short Journey Back To The Centre.


We had a fairly quiet weekend and Mother's Day which was nice although I'm sure in the past Mothering Sunday shared the feast of Laetare Sunday, which in fact would have been this weekend coming.

Monday was a little bit more adventurous.  Benedict succumbed to a nasty stomach bug, his pump went hay wire and he was producing massive ketones in his blood.  I rang the hospital twice and in a last ditch attempt to sort things I completely changed his insulin line and gave an emergency injection.  It was a very nervous two hour wait but thankfully his bloods came down and slowly the ketones were flushed out of his system.  It was only later in the evening that I fully realised the enormity of it all and experienced an attack of the shakes!

Pip has been with another minder this week as Debbie's youngest has been really with a week long gastric bug.  She's been to toddler group and had fun this morning at "The Tractor Place."

Benedict worked really hard with Shein yesterday completing several pages of Maths and English.  He had tea with her too and loved spending his time with Sam, another boy she also helps.  Both lads are Lego mad so many models were made during their time together. 

 Benedict was also very brave as we had to fit the continuous glucose monitor yesterday lunch and this involved shooting in a two inch needle on a forty five degree angle just under the skin.  Some folks use the stomach area but B is stick thin, so the top of the buttock is generally used in paediatrics.  Despite spraying the whole area with anaesthetic spray he still understandably yelped.

Today has been a garden and errand day.  I've managed to dry two loads of washing on the line and baked to cakes, some meringues and other goodies from the kitchen.  We've made contact with another home ed family forty minutes north of our home and have arranged to visit with then tomorrow.  We initially made contact with them over a year ago when we were attending a group in Cumbria.  Sadly the group meetings did not work out for us and so we lost touch.  It was through a recent posting I made on the Green Parent forum, where our contact was made, so thank God for cyber space I say!!  The mum is lovely and she has two kids, a boy near Benedict's age and a girl a little bit younger than Pip. 

Here's hoping for a sunshiney day tomorrow!






6 comments:

doe said...

benedict is so brave, and so are you! i think that bottle rocket is fabulous, and can't wait to hear about a re-launching. the knitted baby sweater, booties and hat are beautiful!

it's been a busy week . . ! i'm glad you have good friends to visit. it's good for the children to play, and for you to talk :) hugs . . xoxo.

Unknown said...

I CAN'T WAIT TO CHECK MY MAIL!!!!!!!

:)

Anonymous said...

Hope the shakes have subsided now:) And the rest of the week is restful for you. xxxx

Eva said...

The knitting for Posy is so pretty. As always, I wonder where you find the time to do projects like that! I'm so glad you found some other families with children the right age for Benedict and Pip. That must feel so nice. I'm so glad that the Monday adventure had a happy outcome! There seem to be stomach bugs all over the place. There are many children sick on campus here (children of professors). I hope that we won't get that. Have you had any success with the rocket yet?

Unknown said...

THEY CAME! And oh my goodness, they are just gorgeous. I can't wait to take pictures of little miss wearing them. Thank you thank you! You are so sweet. I feel blessed by your sweet gift.

doe said...

hello san, i awarded you a liebster award . . i know you're very busy but i thought this award was special. it honors those who inspire us, and you do inspire me.

http://outsideblue.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-heart-my-liebster.html

xoxo and a big hug,
dorina