Monday 6 October 2014

Finding Our Feet

After the chaos of the previous few weeks we are finally settling in to some kind of routine.  Our daily round is in part governed by Pip's comings and goings for school but we still have a good five hours each day to fit in home school activities and craft/business work for me.  It is a case of so far so good!

  Benedict would have begun secondary education this September and with this in mind, I decided it was time to ditch the unschooling which was not working and to follow a school based curriculum.  The course is specifically geared towards home educators so it is not jam packed full of activities, thus allowing us freedom to meet other folks, attend the fortnightly group if the mood strikes and to follow rabbit trails if a subject grabs our attention and we want to delve further.

We are currently on week three of a thirty six week course. Benedict has made good progress with the English, History and Science but the prescribed Maths course is a non starter!  Benedict was diagnosed with dyscalulia during the summer and as a result we are following a hands on approach to maths, using puzzles and games to reinforce learning.  For the first time ever he is enjoying number work :-)

Our history topic is Vikings (his favourite!), in addition to written work, he depicted a stone painting for art and is currently working on a viking chest.  Woa betide anyone who lifted the lid of the chest without permission form the chief!

In science we are looking at classification and to reinforce our learning we made a yeast balloon!  Sadly the balloon did not inflate as well as we had hoped, but I think this was down to the fact that the rubber material was quite rigid.







 

In English we have been looking at parts of speech and Benedict had fun making up silly sentences using various cards:
 






 "Time to check your bloods Benedict!"
 
 
 Pip is working really hard at school and although she is happy to leave the house in the morning by the time we collect her at the end of the day she is shattered and very grumpy.  In addition to her time spent in school she also has weekly spellings, some literacy/numeracy homework and daily reading.  She also enjoys out of school activities, namely rainbows on a monday, swimming on a tuesday and ballet/tap on a saturday morning for an hour and a half.  Quite a lot going on I know, but I am reluctant to drop down on the out of school activities as she really does enjoy them.  She will be ready for her half term break at the end of this month!

I have been busy in the loft room.  Pip's head teacher has commissioned five medium sized japanese knot bags!  She took the bag that I made her to London a few weeks ago and had so many compliments that she ordered five for Christmas presents!  I also had a lovely chat with a family member over the weekend and she gave me the much needed  push, to think about my client base for the shop and finalise the website. So hopefully things should be live by the weekend.
 
We helped Dave's mum and dad celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Friday.  The reception was in the original venue all those years ago.  Mum had displayed pictures from the wedding but in between sorting out the kids and chatting I did not take many pictures.  
 






 The smaller cakes were yummy gluten free mini carrot cakes and they were delicious!

So that's me caught up!  Hoping to blog more regularly from here on! x

4 comments:

sustainablemum said...

It's good to hear that you are all doing ok, I had hoped your silence did not mean that you were all ill again just busy!

dorinalouise said...

You've been so busy and I'm glad to see that it has been good :) Congratulations on the 50th wedding anniversary. That's very exciting and looks like a fun time. Pip is very busy but she is happy and that is what matters. Enjoy her holiday time when it arrives.

I think Benedict's schooling is good for both of you. I hope it continues to be so and that the rhythm stays comfortable :) It's so nice to find a rhythm that works. Good luck with the sewing! Orders, orders, orders . . sehr gut!

It's nice to hear from you, San. The days sound busy, full and happy. It's nice to hear about Benedict's projects. These are the times I love homeschooling and I hope you are pleased :) Sending a big hug and lots of love,
Dorina xoxo

Eva said...

Dorina, your German is really taking off! Now it is going to England :))))!! Love this!

I also would like to wish your parents-in-law all the best. 50 years, quite an accomplishment. My parents will celebrate their 50th in three years!

So I assume you are spending lots of time sewing these days. I look forward to taking a look at your business website.

We have done science experiments like that. Somehow those bottle experiments are always very tricky. Good luck with the homeschooling and Pip's endeavors. I hope you are all well health-wise.

Anonymous said...

Wow San, I've been offline for a bit, and it was lovely to catch up with everything you've been doing, but phew! Seriously I'm exhausted just reading about it!

So many memories made, what a lovely thing.

Lots of Love

Lorna xx