The positive mode is continuing - hooray!  Joe had his 15th birthday this weekend, and we had a lovely day.  A lunchtime barbeque at the Grandparents' house with his cousins gave us all a chance to spend a few hours in the garden in the sunshine, and then in the evening, at Joe's request, we had Domino's pizza (takeaway) and watched the finals of "Britain's Got Talent"!

The good work continues, with Joe really getting to grips with trigonometry and then, to top it all, achieving an A* grade on a practice ICT paper!  With less than two weeks to go to his first exam, this is such an encouragement.

Hannah has finally submitted her english language assignment, so we are waiting for the tutor to mark and return it.  English lit still hasn't moved on, so I must deal with that.  Of course, things are fairly focussed on Joe at the moment, with his impending GCSE, so it may have to wait just a week or two more.  Unfortunately, Hannah injured her foot at kickboxing on Monday night, so she's struggling with that, with the added worry that there are gradings in a couple of week's time.  However, I think it just needs rest and TLC, so no permanent damage envisaged!

With my sister in hospital (scheduled surgery) it's been quite hectic, planning visits etc, so we're a little off-kilter so far this week.  But the kids' attitude is great and it's really helpful to be able to have confidence in their ability to study independently when I'm called to be elsewhere.

Thanks guys!

x

Something seems to have "clicked" in Joe's head, with regard to maths, and he is doing so much better.  We powered through algebra last week, and have embarked on Pythagoras' Theorum and trigonometry this week.  Studying at a faster pace certainly seems to be suiting him.  I feel much more positive about covering the syllabus than I did this time a couple of weeks ago!

More good news - Joe got a very acceptable 70% for his Tolkien english assignment, so that was a great encouragement.  That put together with maths is serving to build his confidence which will lead, in turn, to a greater desire to succeed (I hope!).

Hannah upped her work load last week and clocked in nearly 20 hours, including 2 hours of latin!  I was delighted with this, and she certainly had an aura of satisfaction about her, rather than the lethargic persona of the previous week.  This week has been a little less focussed since it is half term for most of her friends, plus Bank Holiday.  She elected to take Tuesday and Wednesday off, and work Thursday and Friday, and she is sticking to the plan.  Her main challenges this week are to re-write her english language assignment (Tolkien) and submit it, as well as draft her "Wuthering Heights" essay, which has been hanging over her for months.  English language is well on the way, but I'm not so optimistic about the literature side of things!  Still, we shall see...

Last week went well, until I looked at Hannah's learning log and saw that she had only in fact done around 8 hours of study!!!  She was very sheepish when she realised this, and so this week has a definite target of between 15-20 hours' work.  She has decided to move on from KS3 maths to GCSE maths (KS3 was "boring"), and I have had to explain that there is a HUGE amount to do if she is to sit her exam next summer.  The course on NEC suggests taking between 120 and 150 hours to do the entire GCSE, so achieving this will take some serious hard work.  Mind you, the same goes for Joe, who isn't much further ahead than Hannah.  However, yesterday, I upped the pressure a little and really pushed on with algebra, to which he responded very well - maybe that's the key?!!!  A MINIMUM of an hour a day on maths is our target, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Hannah also finally picked up her latin book yesterday - hooray!  She has a huge mental block over this, but insists she wants to do it at GCSE level.  Overcoming your own reluctance to do something is quite an achievement, I think, especially when no-one else is pushing you to do so.

Joe submitted his third english language assignment yesterday.  We have spent way too long on it, and it has become stale and a bone of contention, so I decided that he should just submit it and see what comments his tutor makes.  I have realised that both Joe and Hannah need a lot more help with their english, particularly in terms of structuring analysis and written work.  Hannah can see what the author is saying, but doesn't put her answer together very well, whereas Joe struggles to infer meaning.  I've been scouring the Internet for helpful websites and learning resources, and think I'm going to have to give them both regular, short analysis tasks to do over the next few months, just to get them on track.  The teachit.co.uk website is very good and I've used it alot in the past, so I'll probably use many of their learning resources.

Today sees another ICT mock paper for Joe - it's actually a repeat of a paper he did some time ago, so it'll be interesting to see whether his mark has gone up .....

Well it's nearly 4.30 pm and I don't feel I've stopped all day!

Mondays always kickstart the week with the challenge of getting to my piano lesson for 9 am.  This may sound simple enough to those of you used to getting out of the house at that time of day, but remember it's been over 5 years since we had any regular enforced attendance somewhere at that time!  However, the lesson went well, as I had managed to fit in a good amount of practice last week (not always the case).  A walk in the park with the dogs followed, with a bit of ad hoc training going well.  It occurred to me that my piano playing, dog training, AND home-ed all require huge amounts of patience, and acceptance that all things take time, but do come about eventually.  Many days are hard and can be discouraging, but then you get the "wow" days when you begin to see everything you have worked towards take shape.  With education, working on the baby-steps when you are all too aware of the GCSE looming is akin to teaching the dogs to sit but worrying that they'll never make field trial champions!  However, one day, you suddenly realise that, in our case, Joe has his ICT GCSE in a few weeks and he is in a position to have a jolly good go at it; likewise, the dogs are slowly beginning to respond to the sit, retrieve and "close" commands, despite me pulling my hair out a couple of weeks ago!

Hannah has had a much more focussed day today, and she has made excellent progress with her "Wuthering Heights" assignment.  She has also continued with her english language and maths.  We have agreed a system whereby I set her the week's work, but leave her to carry it out as and when she wishes, giving me any marking at the end of each day.  She has chosen 9 subjects to pursue to GCSE level over the next 3 years, with several others as general interest (but no exam) subjects.

Joe has been revising ICT today, and continuing on with his Physics work.  This afternoon has seen work on more algebra - he had done his last lot of "homework" rather disappointingly, and when we came to look at it today, he immediately did it correctly.  I think a little "Friday-afternoon-itis" was the cause of that particular problem!

I've agreed with Hannah that she may have 2 hours in front of a screen, each day - be it either the television or her laptop (but not both simultaneously!).  However, neither she nor Joe may do any computing or TV watching before 4 o'clock each day.

A good, positive start to the week.

It's now Thursday morning, but I've decided to (probably) update the blog with a day in hand, since I have some "spare" minutes each morning and am more likely to be able to focus and have enough uninterrupted time than in the evening.

Since Hannah had spent the previous day in London, I let her sleep in for a while - which turned out to be a good move, since she struggled enough after that!  She managed to complete a music theory (grade 3) paper, although she was a little disappointed at her mark, later on during her singing lesson.  Speaking from experience, music theory can be terribly dry, and I know just how difficult it is.  However, Hannah accepts that she has to pass her grade 5 theory exam before she move on in her singing practical, so we'll have to try to find ways to help and motivate her.  She is to sit her grade 3 in June, and then will go straight on to grade 5, so it shouldn't be too long before it's all over with!

Joe had a good day, consolidating well on his initial understanding of algebra (in all it's glory!).  He then moved on to his Tolkien piece, of which he achieved a good half.  I'm aiming for him to complete it today, although I'm not around that much (dog training day) so it'll be down to him.  He'll be sitting another mock ICT paper today, so I'm hoping he'll be able to maintain the B grade that he achieved on Monday - watch this space!  This afternoon I've a friend coming round whose son needs help with algebra (funnily enough!), so I'll probably rope Joe in on that as well.

Hannah is "in discussion" with Gary at the moment about her method of working - she is quite unsettled and un-directed (if that's a word) at the moment, so we're going to take some time to try to work out what suits her best, combined with what she actually needs to achieve.  We all feel that school is still not an option - that would suit her less than what she's doing now - so we'll continue with trial and error until we find a successful formula for her.  That's the joy of home-ed!

Yesterday was a good day!

Obviously I haven't posted any news on the blog for quite some time, but rather than go into the ins and outs of the last 8-9 months, I am simply going to move forward from this point.

Hannah went up to London with Shinies to a visit/workshop at The Tower of London, and then a visit to the Tate Modern.  By all accounts she had a great time, and was commended by the workshop leader for her knowledge of the Tudors.  This is hardly surprising, since it is far and away her most favourite period in history!

Joe and I stayed at home.  I had decided to tackle algebra, since I am aware that we are a little behind with his GCSE Maths schedule, if he is to sit the exam next spring.  It was, as would be expected, quite hard work, but much of it he picked up well.  After two hours we decided to stop!!  I wouldn't normally do such a mammoth session with him, but it was an important day and equally as important to spend time with him focussed.

The current english language assignment it a piece of analysis of a journal article on the work of Tolkien.  I am heartened since this is Joe's favourite author/story-teller.  His work came up a little short, so we'll need to extend the actual volume today, but he had some good ideas on which he can base further development.  I'm hoping that assignment will be completed and sent to the tutor this week.  Hannah has already done and sent hers - I wasn't allowed to see it before it went, so have no idea what she wrote!

Finally, in the afternoon Joe sat a "mock" ICT GCSE paper 1.  He has been doing these regularly for the last few weeks, in the build up to his exam in June, and has so far been averaging a C grade.  Today he achieved a B grade!!!  We were both so pleased and encouraged.  If he can sustain that through the next few mock papers, I will be more than happy!

I did make some fairly hefty changes to our "rules", as a result of some of the things that have been rumbling away over the last few months.  Joe has relinquished his laptop computer.  By his own admission, he simply finds it too difficult to exercise any self-discipline when on the computer, so as a parent, I felt strongly that it was my duty to deal with this issue for him, and maybe try to actively encourage him to pursue other hobbies/interests etc.  Thankfully our involvement in Kings Church is developing really well, especially for the children in their relevant youth groups, so I think this will provide an awful lot of support to our "non-computer" rule. Joe has also recently reformed a friendship with a lad from his old school and they are both keen to spend time together - Greg enjoys clay pigeon shooting and fishing, both of which Joe also likes, so there are plans afoot for activities there! (Greg has only last week come out of school in favour of home-education!).

Hannah's particular discipline is the removal of DVDs.  She is an avid fan of many (usually American) TV shows and has a tendency to watch them back to back, when left unsupervised.  We have decided to stop all DVD watching unless together as a family, so that too should be interesting!

On Sunday at church, the pastor spoke about the "joy of the Spirit" (with regard to the fruit of the Spirit discussed in Galatians), and about actively "fighting for joy".  This talk spoke to me on many levels.  One of the key points was taking care with the use of electronic media as, although it can of course be used in many good ways, it can also be a negative, fairly destructive influence.  As I pondered this I realised that it probably was causing more harm than good in our household - nothing dramatic or life-threatening - but maybe "life-ENJOYMENT-threatening", since it was taking the kids away from engagement with real life, and allowing them to exist more and more within the confines of a 15 inch screen.  This was the final thing that pushed me to my decision about laptops/DVDs.  It is my hope that we can all taking a new and fresh look at the way we spend our time, and seek to explore LIFE in all it's glory, rather than in a 2 dimensional fantastical world given to us on an electronic screen.

I'm not afraid to admit it - I've made a MASSIVE U-turn in my approach!  Read on, McDuff!

It seems to me that the whole of the last year or so has been spent with me flailing around, not really knowing which direction to take with the kids and, most importantly, expecting them to be able to sort themselves out much of the time.  I realise, and sheepishly admit, that I have not been spending enough time working WITH them, encouraging and guiding them, helping them plan etc.  Clearly, at some point, I felt that they were old enough to be uber-motivated themselves and "ought" to be doing things on their own.

I was wrong.

In fact, I was so wrong that I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself.  For some reason (probably alot to do with my own personal psyche) I had visions of them being completely self-motivated and achieving masses of GCSEs way earlier than school kids, as well as being totally rounded and confident in anything they chose to do.  I was, no less, inflicting my standards (ie for a 40 something year old woman just having completed a degree in economics) on my 12 and 14 year old children.  No wonder it wasn't working!

What was I thinking?!!!  How did I manage to go down this path?

So, the (latest) rule book has been torn up and thrown away - nay, burnt to a crisp!  Gone are all the extra activities whereby I teach groups of (other peoples') children; gone are all the visits and coffees and lunches with friends and their children; and most definitely gone are the huge expectations I have come to obssess over with regard to Joe and Hannah's work.

BACK comes structured lessons; back comes proper teaching; back comes consistent pace and effort; back comes praise and acknowledgement for their own achievements, and back comes ... dare I say it ... NEC GCSE courses!

I have realised that the only way to keep a lid on my expectations is for someone else to police them!  Although I still stand by my earlier conviction that the GCSE syllabuses kill all learning inspiration, I, too, have to take much of the blame. The kids were flying with their course grades, until I got it into my head that they needed to work my ridiculously pressured timetable!  By having their work monitored and marked by an outside tutor, they will get an unbiased, knowledgable judgement about their work, without the "Mum-factor" hanging over them.  So I have requested (and have been granted) a year's extension by NEC, which means that Joe and I can begin his GCSE studies (again) and aim for him to complete them in 2 years' time (which is, incidentally, when his school-attending peers will be sitting their exams too).  We should be ahead, anyway, since we have already covered almost half of all his courses.  This way, we can really take some time on his coursework, though, which is his most challenging area.  I will continue to teach the EdExcel Maths modular course, and it may be that he tries a couple of modules next year  - we'll see.  We'll also work really hard on developing his written english style, since this will obviously benefit him cross-curriculum. Joe's reading is coming along in leaps and bounds (ie the scope of his reading) - he has just finished "The Time Machine" and his currently composing a structured book review.  His new book is "Aunts Aren't Gentlemen" by P G Wodehouse, which I thought would give him a bit of light relief after the two Wells novels.

This week we have covered everything I had planned on the timetable, including geography, english, biology, astronomy and classical greek.  His maths has been excellent, so I'm much heartened!  The regular dictation we do, using Charlotte Mason spelling texts, is not only showing an improvement in his spelling and grammar, but also in his handwriting, and he is ploughing on through the Wodehouse novel fairly happily.

Hannah, having been given "Brave New World" on Monday, has finished it!  She absolutely loved it (in preference to "1984"). I've been sourcing some other books for her (recommended by The Guardian's booklist for teenagers), and hopefully today's trip to the library will bear fruit.  She is still going to work more autonomously, but with regular input from me to guide her in her choice of study.  We tackled psychology this week (really good!), and picked up her NEC English Literature course, starting at drama, as she absolutely loves Twelfth Night.  However, all is not lost for prose, as we watched the new TV adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" and we were both gripped.  I suspect she might start looking at her work for that again soon... This morning we have discussed how she is going to tackle her history project - The Reformation and Dissolution of the Monasteries, and she seems very fired up, particularly with the promise of a trip to Battle Abbey and Michelham Priory through the month.  Every day sees her completing a page of her KS3 maths workbook, as well as english and science - these are all coming on really well.

So that's it, really!  Although the start of the week was a Bank Holiday, and saw me have to take to my bed for an entire day on Tuesday due to a really grotty cold (kids convinced it was swine flu, but it was JUST A COLD!), the remaining part of the week has been constructive, productive and enjoyable. I'm hoping (?against all hope?!) that this will be the start of a nice, gentle, happy and productive term for all of us!

Ha!

 

The last few weeks have, predictably, flown by and I now find myself rapidly approaching the start of our new term (next Tuesday). I've been gathering together resources over the last week or so, but now I have to put together some sort of "plan", and this is the part that I find the most difficult.

If you elect to reject workbooks, then most of the work you select for your children has to be put together by you.  For me, that naturally leads to the question "where do I want to get to by the end of the week/month/term?" which, consequently, means I have to know what I am going to teach in a specified time frame (also having to be set by me), estimate how long we will need to complete each section, and allow for any "reading round" that might be appropriate (this is often why set courses are not good for us, since they don't allow any time for reading round a particularly interesting subject, or going off on a tangent).  With both children doing six core subjects and five further (different) options each, that means I have to plan sixteen lesson subjects to last for a period of, say, six to twelve weeks.

(Forgive me whilst I breathe into a paper bag for a few minutes!)

Joe's options have turned out to be: astronomy, global warming, engineering, classical greek and law.  Hannah, on the other hand, has elected to focus on: art history, history, human biology, psychology and english literature.  Both will study maths, english (language and literature), spelling and grammar, bible study and reading.  Both are also having golf lessons (Hannah is now hooked), and continuing with two martial arts classes each week.  Hannah begins her singing again next week, studying towards her grade 3 exam; she is also making a good job of teaching herself to play the guitar, but has asked me to help her over the next term or so.  Joe will continue to study Design and Technology with Karen.  I have drawn up my statement of aims for the coming month, as I have also learned that I like having something to which I can compare our achievements.

Joe and I have found over the past few years that he works better when he has a timetable from which to work.  He also works better if I am actively "teaching" him, rather than leaving him to his own learning devices.  Conversely, Hannah much prefers to "unschool" - to choose as, when and how she studies.  As a rule, she handles herself very well, but we have agreed that with some of her options I will give her a "kick start" lesson once a week, to help to get going.  Maths, spelling and bible study learning will be done together, but they are the only points at which all three of us will be singing from the same hymn sheet!

As a result of all of the above, I am now trying to put together a timetable incorporating all Joe's subjects, whilst allowing for the times when I will need to be with Hannah.  The timetable outline is done - of course using lots of pretty colours (it makes me feel better!) and although I know it will more than likely be "tweaked" at least once a day between now and Tuesday, I feel 80% of the way there.  As and when I put together a lesson plan, I mark each appropriate square on the timetable with a red tick - I only have five left to tick for next week! Strictly speaking, actually, I have more, since I am only working on Joe's subjects at the moment, and still have to face psychology, human biology etc etc for Hannah, but let's keep optimistic shall we?!!!

Time to confess - we've "broken up" a week early!  Well, home schooling has to have some perks!

Last week saw us slowing down quite considerably so, since I felt in need of a break myself, I elected to give us three weeks rather than two weeks' holiday.  It will give me the (much needed) time to become a mother, as opposed to mother/teacher, and will enable me to spend some time reviewing the past couple of months, since we abandonned the syllabus-type studies.  Oh, and I might even get a chance to relax!

The deal with Joe and Hannah is that although they are on holidays, their chores are still to be done every day and the amount of TV they watch is limited.  I have found in the past that giving them a completely free rein, with no responsibilities whatsoever, only brings huge amount of problems when trying to reinstate some sort of routine.  This way, in theory, come September a return to routines won't be quite such a shock to the system!

On Saturday, Hannah performed in a concert organised by her singing teacher, together with 7 other students at a local church.  She sang "Butterfly" (one of her current grade 3 pieces) and a group song called "Solfarge Samba".  The whole thing was very impressive, and many people had very complimentary things to say about Hannah's singing!

On the advice of a friend, I spoke to Joe last night about what subjects actually interest him, and what he might like to study in September.  By the end of the chat he had come up with: law, meteorology (and climatology), human disease and medicine, ancient greek and engineering.  Quite eclectic, to say the least!  However, I'll begin to look into the resources available for these subjects in readinness for September.  I've been toying with the idea of doing an OU short course in "how medicines work", so it may be that Joe and I study that together.  As for ancient greek, well I have recently decided that I wanted to learn that myself, so that's another one we can learn in tandem.  We will, of course, continue with the standard core subjects (maths, english, spelling, bible study and reading); hopefully golf will continue and that, along with the martial arts, should produce a nicely rounded curriculum!

Just a quickie this morning - I can so recommend watching "The Victorian Farm".  We watched the penultimate episode last night and were enraptured by the entire programme, which included showing us how to move bees to a beehive (without getting stung!), extracting the wax and the honey; making ginger beer; weaning piglets; making cheese and harvesting hay (without success).  It is an absolutely fascinating series, and Joe was begging to watch the last episode straight on last night (but I was mean and said he would have to wait!).

Have decided to try and find out if there is a local beekeeper we can visit to see the whole wax/honey process for ourselves.

This month is a short month for us, as we can all look forward to two weeks' holiday at the latter half of August!  Yay!  Having said that, however, things do seem to be ticking along rather nicely just at the moment...

On Saturday, Gary, Hannah and I took Nanny and all went to Batemans' (the country home of Rudyard Kipling).  Hannah and I (and Joe) have all been there before, and us girls absolutely loved it.  Joe elected to stay at home and puppy sit this time!  It's such a lovely place - the gardens include the herb garden, the orchard, the kitchen garden, the rose garden and the wild garden; the house is brimming full of Kipling and early 20th century memorobilia; the garage houses Kipling's Rolls Royce, and to top it all there is a working watermill, which we were lucky enough to see in action, grinding local wheat into flour (which we could then purchase, but forgot to!).  The weather was fairly kind (only a few showers) and we even ended up joining the National Trust, determined to make more such visits.

A day of rest on Sunday, then today the routines started again.  This week, though, I have decided to do some more "sit down" work with Joe so today, alongside his maths, english, reading, spelling and bible study work, we looked at geography, extra maths and physics.  A little while ago when on a book-binge (yay!), I had bought the National Geographic junior world atlas which, although "junior" is packed full of resources and visual references.  Today, Joe and I looked at land forms, ranging from glaciers, mountains, basins and canyons through to peninsulas, capes, points and (my favourite) isthmuses!  Joe's task as a follow up is to find real-life examples of as many of these features as he can, and print off a (colour) document with pictures and name details.  Our physics was a continuation of our electricity experiments - we repeated the basic circuit experiments, using pencils as resistors, then learned how to draw a schematic representation of both a series and a parallel circuit.  We were both eager to get onto the next experiment, which involves conducting electricity through salt water, but time beat us on that one!  We are only spending 30 minutes on each session (timed, using my FLYLady timer) and this ensures Joe's interest and focus is maintained throughout.

In the meantime, Hannah has been working hard in her room, undertaking english, maths, science, art, music and history research.  We reviewed her work yesterday, and everything is looking really good.  She had a few problems with her history project (religion in the time of Elizabeth I), so I've suggested she start with Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries, since there will be plenty of research material for that.  She's planning to go to the library to get even more books whilst I take Joe to the driving range for golf practice!  She also admitted that translating Harry Potter from french is probably a little bit too difficult for her, so we agreed that she would concentrate her french work on a book which we have used before, which is from France, and includes translation, quizzes, drawings etc.  Her reading of "Cider with Rosie" is almost done, and she is concurrently reading Bill Brysons' "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" - another autobiography, so she is making some interesting comparisons!

Only "Julius Caesar" to go now, then we can relax and watch a further episode of "The Victorian Farm" (ooh yes - have ordered the book of the series from the library, so Hannah and I can experiment with some of the recipes!).

Saturday today and, on the whole, it's been a good week.  Hannah has engaged well with her "unschooling",  although continued to do her daily maths, english and reading.  She fell down on her maths a bit this week, though, simply through transcription errors - she kept writing the the numbers from the next question!  As she prides herself on getting full marks on each of her maths pages, I'm hoping this will be the impetus she needs to be a bit more careful with her work.  Her english, as would be expected, is fine, and I'm not exactly sure where she's at with "Cider With Rosie" - I know she's read about five or six other books as well this week, since she keeps reserving them at the library and we have to check every day to see whether they're in or not!  Yesterday we were supposed to review her week's work, but never quite got round to it, so I'll be looking at that with her over the weekend.  I'll be quite interested to see what she's been doing, since she does most of her work in her bedroom at the moment, so I haven't got a clue!  On Tuesday, she had her art lesson with Grandpa, and has started the most amazing piece of work, based on a Van Gogh (I think!) - they've laid down textures, such as kitchen roll and corrugated card, and then are painting over that.  It looks absolutely brilliant, even though it's only half done.  I'm definitely thinking a wall-hanging for this one!

Joe has gone from strength to strength in his attitude and general demeanour this week - what a difference it makes to him, not having the computer to play on!  He's completed his work and his chores (generally) without complaint, and even took "The Invisible Man" on the train to London with us on Thursday so he could finish it.  In actual fact, he was so keen to find out what happened in the end, he "speed read" the final chapter, and then voluntarily re-read it on Friday as he felt he hadn't really "got" what had happened!  He's completed his poster - writing character names and sketching a scene, but leaving spaces where the Invisible Man might be standing - and has also produced a poster on robots (both of which he was asked to do by the end of the month).  To have two posters on the wall by Jonah, NEITHER of which have any computer-produced work on them, but are all hand-written, is a huge achievement in my eyes.  They've been produced carefully, writing with a silver pen on black card, in neat, legible handwriting.  I'm really pleased with this result.

Golf is coming along nicely, with another lesson for Joe this week.  It's a nice place to go, and he seems quite happy to go onto the driving range and practice hitting the balls. When I watch, I can see the focus and patience developing, which is great.  When I think about it, actually, it's quite logical, since he uses a HUGE amount of patience when painting his Warhammer models.

Thursday saw us going up to London to the Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition.  I absolutely loved it, and found it hugely inspiring.  The children enjoyed it too, although I didn't feel we could do a repeat circuit as Joe had "been there, done that" already!  A trip to Foyles followed, and both children were allowed to choose a book to buy.  Hannah chose one she hadn't been able to get from the library (which she has finished by the time of writing this!) and Joe, to my surprise, chose "The Time Machine", which he asked to read as his next nominated book.  "Result"!!!!

Friday was a restful day, after our busy Thursday, until the evening ... we went to investigate a local dojo with a view to starting Martial Arts lessons (Joe and Hannah, not me!). Our friends had already checked it out, and given it the thumbs up, so we met them down there before the Muay Thai kickboxing lesson, to go and, well, watch.  Both children were apprehensive and nervous, since this isn't a bespoke children's place - it's a small place on the edge of town where serious people go to train!  However, watching was not on the menu - they all took part!  It was fantastic to watch them (including Karim) going through the motions of warm ups (very hard) then training (very scary!).  They had to learn to receive the blows (onto pads and cushions) as well as deliver the blows (using legs and arms).  I don't think I've ever seen them sweat so much, and be quite so happily exhausted!  An hour and a half later, and it seemed they were hooked!!  We've got the option of going down to some of the other classes over the next week (free of charge) before we then have to decide whether or not to join.  Following that, it'll be two classes a week (of their choice).  They're both really keen (as is Karim), although it'll be interesting to see how much they ache this morning ... and what time they actually wake up!

Today was a GOOD day!

I'd had a long chat with Hannah yesterday, with her attempting to convince me to let her "unschool" this coming week.  This basically involves her directing her own studies completely, going in whatever direction she chooses, when she chooses.  We have adopted this approach before but, as I pointed out to Hannah, that was in the days when I was confident that she was motivated enough to actually DO work.  Just lately, she has been opting for the fall-back option of watching DVDs whenever she isn't doing specified work.

However, she did convince me that she was fired up enough to give it a shot and, as a sign of her committment, we agreed that all her favourite serial DVDs should be put away.  All TV viewing should be agreed upon between us and not used as a default "switch off" mechanism.  I also asked Hannah to produce a list of targets for the week, stressing that she had to be able to account for her time.  I'm not so laid back and chilled that I'm happy not to see any evidence of work!  She went away and came back with a huge long list, which included a very wide variety of curricular and non-curricular subjects - go Hannah!

So far, so good - Hannah has got on with all her work today, including maths, english, french, reading, writing and history.  We have also watched the next episode of "The Victorian Farm", and she decided it would be great to be able to make the home remedies, such as hand cream and lip salve, that featured on the show.  We are going to look in the library to see if they have the book of the series, although we were there this afternoon and she took out a further eight fiction books in her quest to read through the entire teenage fiction catalogue!  Tonight she is watching the first episode of "Brideshead Revisited" (she's cross with me for watching it without her!).

Joe has got on well today too, completing his maths and english well.  We went round to see a friend this morning, and it was nice to see the kids all playing in the rain!  This afternoon we embarked on my newly proposed physics project of ... "electricity", building simple circuits with bulbs, batteries and crocodile clips.  It was really cool - we even got power flowing through a pencil! (I've never been terribly good at electricity, so am easily impressed!)  At the library, I tasked them with finding out who "discovered"/"invented" the units of measurement: Watts, Volts and Amps, which they managed to do (WITHOUT using a computer!).  Joe and I took the dogs for a walk tonight and he proceeded to narrate to me the whole plot of "The Invisible Man" so far.  It was a brilliant, impromptu English lesson!

Well that's enough for today.  Tomorrow morning Hannah has art with Grandpa, and Joe wants to spend some time at the golf club, so it looks like I'll be sitting in the clubhouse drinking coffee!  It'll give me a chance to plough on with reading "The Canterbury Tales"!

As we were supposed to have been away from Friday to Sunday, I made a last minute decision to take myself off to London on Friday - I invited the kids, of course, but neither were terribly interested (they are both very anti-museums at the moment).  So off I went for my "academic" day!  (I let the children have a "duvet day", which is a big treat for them, every now and then!)

First port of call was the British Museum - somewhere I have never been to before.  I was quite overwhelmed!  Why on earth had I not been here before?!!! The building itself, as is often the case with museums, was awesome, and then the quality of the exhibits was simply mind-blowing.  I knew I wouldn't be able to take in everything, so I bought a family guide and elected to follow the trail of the most popular exhibits.  I can now proudly profess to having seen: the Elgin Marbles; the Lewis Chessmen; an Easter Island statue; the Sutton Hoo Helmet; and the Rosetta Stone - all things I have read about but not really "grasped".  I now feel I have truly engaged with the past, and am keen to try to instill some of this into the children - gently, of course, over time!

Next stop was Camden Lock - another promise I had made myself.  Unfortunately, whether it was my age or simply the weather, this place failed to deliver as the museum had done!  Of course, if I had wanted several dozen body piercings, tattoos and general gothic attire, I would've been in my element!  Sadly those days are gone, and I found the place that I had hankered to visit for some time (in the hope of a quaint craft market, with lots of handmade trinkets and bric-a-brac) was a place to avoid in the future!

Undeterred, however, I next made my way to the Tate Modern.  What is very important here is to note that I WALKED across the Golden Jubilee Bridge - something I have hitherto refused to do because of my fear of heights and big bridges in general.  Another box ticked, I feel!

I love the Tate, but was a little disappointed that there was no exhibition in the big atrium this time (before there had been the massive aluminium tubes for people to slide down).  However, the big hit of this visit was my viewing of Monet's "Water Lilies".  I was awestruck by this piece of work, which was as wide and tall as our kitchen.  I couldn't articulate was it was about the painting that captured me, but I just stood there, staring, engulfed by the colours and the brush strokes.  It was a similar feeling to when we visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice - I didn't want to walk away.  However, there were many more exhibits to see (including Pollocks, Picassos, Mondrians, Kandinsky, Miro and Giacometti) so I eventually left at about 6 o'clock.

The day also gave me some well-needed head space to review what has been going on with the children over the last few weeks.  Surprisingly, we have managed to achieve most of what I set out to achieve in July, from a work point of view.  They are both working from their KS3 maths and english workbooks daily (which hopefully should be finished by September time), and making great progress with their nominated reading.  We are reading through Dickens' History of England, which in itself is raising questions (such as why the Scots actually came from Ireland, and who really did build Hadrian's wall?); Charlotte Mason spelling/dictation is done virtually every day - the strange thing is that they get the hard words right and often get (what I think are) the simple words wrong - and Charlotte Mason bible study is coming along slowly.

However, the 20th Century culture project is not really hitting the spot, so I think we may well have to write that one off and move in a different direction.  I think that it is simply too big and, well, not directed enough for the children to engage with, and I think it would be a mistake to hammer away at it.

Had another long chat with Gary about it all, and decided that I do need to introduce a bit more focus/channelled study into our routine, so I'm going to endeavour to make August a science month.  I bought a great book on electricity experiments (from Herstmonceux), so it seems sensible to concentrate our minds on the study of electricity (particularly as we regularly visit the Royal Institution, which also houses the Faraday Museum).  I'm thinking of choosing a biology topic - possibly genes and DNA - and a chemistry topic too (don't know what yet!).  These topics will hopefully complement our core studies, and help the children focus on particular areas of learning. 

Better get going now - got lots to prepare!

 

Thursdays are generally "Joe days" and yesterday was no exception: the first golf lesson went really well, following which Joe spent another half hour or so on the driving range with a bucket of balls, practising.  He really seemed to take everything on board, and is keen to do plenty more practice before his next lesson.  DT in the afternoon went well - Joe had prepared a cracking piece of homework on anti-design, and the continued to make his pencil holder out of thermo-plastic (not very technical, but basically it involves heating sheets of plastic and bending them into shape!).

Hannah did a nice piece of artwork representing the planets, and managed to get them all pretty much to scale.  She also had a "nostalgia-fest" looking through old photo albums and watching old family video footage.  Her maths and english work is excellent, and, needless to say, she's still reading! 

Today we were supposed to have gone to Camp Bestival - camping festival in the grounds of Lulworth Castle.  However, the weather is just so grotty and unpredictable at the moment, that we decided to give it a miss.  I'm not so committed to camping that I'll do it all weathers - I'm quite happy to be labelled a "fair-weather camper"!!!  At least I'll stay dry and warm!

 

I have chosen "The Lady of Shallott" (1888) for today's desktop, since it ties in very well with our look at fantasy fiction:

Today's picture is by George Bellows, and is called "Shore House" (1911):

 

Work continued well today.  What is really nice is that Joe is getting up early in the mornings to come on the doggy walk with me.  Not only are we getting to chat and put the world to rights, but he is also getting out meeting other adults (also dog walkers) and mixing a bit.  He's then up and ready to start work when we get back.

Hannah finished "1984" (George Orwell) this morning - she was gripped!  I think she really enjoyed it as a "read", despite the subject matter being rather grim.  I also think the ending threw her a bit - but I seem to remember the whole point of the book is the hopelessness of life, so it's no surprise that the end is so depressing.  Her next book, for a complete change, will be "Cider with Rosie" (Laurie Lee), which I'll get her to start once she's completed a book review for "1984".  Joe is doing well with "The Invisible Man" and should be on target to finish it by the end of the month.

Although they both worked well this morning, work wasn't completed today since we had an opportunity to go over to Auntie Mandy's and have Hannah's contact lenses fitted.  Hannah picked it all up very well, and came home sporting her first trial pair!  It's amazing to see her without glasses!

Joe has gone down to Warhammer Veteran's Night tonight (ha!) for the first time.  He was really quite nervous, but mustered up the courage - what a star!  I don't know whether he would've done that six months ago.  It remains to be seen how long he stays down there ....

Today's background is "Beech Forest" by Gustav Klimt.

Today we went to Herstmonceux Science Centre and Observatory with Shinies.  It's an old favourite of ours (having been there just once or twice over the past few years!) but the children were still really keen to go.  They had the telescope tour, and then time to "play" on the hands-on exhibits.   I had tasked them with writing a one page report after their visit, describing one of the exhibits, how it works, what it shows etc, so each took some photos of their chosen project - we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what the reports are like!  They then had a "show" about space and the planets, which included lots of experiments - it was really good.  I have to admit to being very impressed when both Joe and Hannah knew the answer to the question "how long does it take light from the sun to reach Earth?".  Apparently it takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds!

We had the dogs with us, so I spent much of the time out on the outer field with them.  However, I did manage to procure a couple of new science books from the shop (ha!), as did Joe and Hannah.  It's hard not to be enthused when we visit there!

The response to the desktop art was good too - I asked the children to find out one fact about Monet each (thinking they would have to go look something up).  Hannah immediately replied that Monet had gone colour-blind towards the end of his life and therefore all his latter paintings were done in green and blue .... wow!  Thanks Grandpa, the art lessons are obviously going in!!!

Hannah is also currently hooked on "1984", which is great, since it is quite a challenging read.  Joe is working nicely through "The Invisible Man".  I want them both to finish these books by the end of July, so we can start new books for August.

Tonight we're planning to watch "The Victorian Farm", since we've only watched the first episode so far - we're all in awe of the "technical advance" of a plough, and the work involved in making cider from farm-grown apples!  I've rented "Beowolf" from the town library (now seriously interested in fantasy fiction since watching "The Lord of the Rings" and apparently a lot of Tolkien's ideas stemmed from Beowolf).  Might well try to watch that tomorrow, depending on how "normal" work goes....

I've made a great discovery this morning!

Of late, I've been changing my computer background daily, trying to find pictures which provoke comment and discussion with the children - I've used animals, architecture, nature, scenery and so on. Well this morning, I've found a great website which contains downloadable backgrounds of dozens of the paintings by the great masters, ranging from Monet, Da Vinci and Lautrec through to Hokusai and Millais.  This week is going to be an ART week!

Today's choice is "The Artist's Garden at Giverny" by Claude Monet.  Let's see what the children think ...

[The website is: http://www.theartwolf.com/services/wallpapers.htm]

So much has changed/evolved during the last three months - it has been a real roller coaster of a ride for both the children and for me.  It is so very easy to become entrenched in habits and expectations without realising it, and that is exactly what happened to us with our studies.  GCSEs became everything - they became "the Ring" which we followed, regardless of interest, enthusiasm and joy (or lack thereof).  We had no time to study around the syllabus, or go on trips, or simply relax and enjoy our learning, since we had to get through specific syllabuses in a definite time scale.  Joe's interest faded fast; Hannah stopped reading and writing; I felt tired and bored with it all and wondered whether or not the children ought to be going to school.

I can't remember what happened exactly to cause me to step outside of our situation and review it from afar, but the end result was that we withdrew Joe from his ICT GCSE (the day before the exam) and then, after a GREAT deal of thought, decided to withdraw from the study of GCSEs altogether.  The learning was dry and uninspiring; it was 2-dimensional; there was no reason to study what the children were studying once the interest dissolved, and as a result of this, their own interest and enthusiasm for knowledge simply disintegrated and they became dull, moody teens obsessed with their computer games and MSN.  I, too, was uninspired and bored, having to force them to work through their courses each day and face reams and reams of words on pages.  I was desperately keen to take Joe to Lulworth Cove to see the geographical features he had been so interested in, but there simply wasn't time to take.  I wanted to take Hannah to Paris to soak up the Parisian ambiance and joie de vivre but, again, there was no way we could fit it in.  This clearly wasn't right.

... so we jumped ship.

It's a scary enough thing to take your children out of school, but to stand and say "actually we're not going to do GCSEs" is ... well ... huge!  I should point out that if the children wish to do any exams over the next couple of years, well they are welcome to do so - I shan't be preventing them from doing so.  However, I have elected to leave that route to them, as and when they feel the need, or the desire, to obtain qualifications.  I shall be concentrating on seeking out the spark of enthusiasm; the love of knowledge; and the joy of learning that once we had.  I will look to my children for conversation and interest, and I quite openly refuse to accept the stereotypical characterisation of teenagers not communicating and only being interested in their computers and TV.  I want an integrated relationship with our children - I want to watch them explore the wonders of the world around them, and seek to push themselves beyond the comfort of their laptops to areas in their minds which develop creativity and independence.  I am not fooling myself to expect an easy journey, but the journey is the thing - where we end up is almost irrelevant, because I hope by then that the children will have developed the necessary life skills to cope with whatever path they finally choose to follow.

So here we are .... the middle of July.  Hannah is once again reading voraciously and Joe has rediscovered his enthusiasm for Warhammer.  They are both doing regular maths and english workbooks, Charlotte Mason Bible Study (which includes Roman history, geography and scripture), spellings and nominated reading - Hannah is reading George Orwell's "1984" and Joe has H G Wells' "The Invisible Man".  I have a bookshelf full of classics (both old and modern) that they will be working through - gently, slowly and with interest!  We have started a project on the 20th Century whereby we are looking at a decade at a time; Joe is still doing DT and Hannah and I are learning Mandarin Chinese together.  And what is more, we are able to spend time walking the dogs, watching "Lord of the Rings" (a promise I had made Joe earlier in the year!), looking at the newspaper and the children are often able to be, well, just children. 

They seem to have rediscovered their smiles, and that's not something you can get a certificate for!

 

Our first week off in April saw us going to Spring Harvest at Minehead.  This is a HUGE Christian conference, attended by thousands of people and some of the top worship leaders in the country.  It was inspiring to say the least!  Joe and Hannah were more or less completely independent throughout the week (only coming to find me when they needed lunch money!) and got involved in all their group's activities, including raising money for an orphanage in Uganda by doing the conga around the Butlins Skyline Pavilion in their pyjamas!  They attended group worship sessions twice a day with their 11-14 year old group (called "Distinctive"), and then made the most of all the Butlins facilities in the afternoons.  The adult worship and teaching sessions were absolutely brilliant, and the quality and range of the speakers was the best I've ever seen/heard.  We all returned home spiritually fired up, and physically exhausted!  http://www.springharvest.org/

The following week really was just a question of recovering, but did include a visit to the soon-to-be new additions to our family - Henry and Honey - two springer spaniel puppies.

We officially started back to work this week, and both Joe and Hannah have done well getting back into a semblance of routine (although not so sure about myself!).  Hannah picked up her art lessons with Grandpa on Tuesday, then both went to Shinies sports and had a lovely time at the park. Joe has been revising for his ICT exam which is looming, but I think he'll be fine.  Thursday saw us visit the British Library in London for a workshop:  the building is absolutely amazing, but we saw very little in the way of books!  Sadlly, they're all behind closed doors and you need a reader's pass to get in, so the workshop was rather limited to generalised discussions and activities about knowledge and research.  However, we did visit the "Treasures" gallery where they have on display the Magna Carta, the Lindesfarne Gospels, and many original texts by authors such as Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte.

Still having a bit of a problem with the website, since our anti-virus software seems to be preventing me from accessing the site to add photos etc, hence no up-to-date pictures.  Will work on it .....

The studies are continuing successfully, with both Joe and Hannah engaging well with their subjects.  At the moment, we seem to be working "hard" on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with a broader teaching focus on Thursdays, and a complete day off on Fridays (that's if they have finished their work for the week - otherwise they have to spend time on Friday ensuring it's all complete!).

I must confess that Wednesdays and Thursdays are favourite days of mine.  Wednesday mornings are spent on our own studying, but then in the afternoon we meet up with one of our "study buddies" for joint lessons.  This week saw the start of french lessons (by me) for Hannah and Karim, followed by Joe and Karim's regular physics lesson with their tutor (and my friend) Jen. Both sessions seem to be very successful, especially this week and Jen endeavoured to re-create a model of the Large Hadron Collider using the inside tubes of toilet rolls!  Happy to say that they didn't manage to suck East Sussex into a black hole!

Thursdays are potentially quite exciting now:  not only do we have our maths GCSE study group, which is progressing brilliantly well, but we are about to embark on DT GCSE with a new tutor we have found.  Karen is to bring all her skills (and tools) to our house each week and teach the DPS, with a view to submitting their work for GCSE. She's very pro-home-ed and, more importantly, loves her work.  Watch this space (and the album page) for details of their progress.

On Monday we had a "parent's meeting" about DPS english, following an entirely unsuccessful session last week with the boys.  We have decided to task the boys with creating a monthly magazine - name yet to be decided!  Each month we will hand out assignments on a rotational basis, and each potential journalist will be required to produce a piece of work to publish in the magazine.  There will also be an "editor" each month (again rotated) who will be required to hand-write an "Editor's letter" at the front of the mag.  The boys will then be responsible for creating and marketing their magazine, and monitoring the costs and profits associated with that.  The boys seem quite keen about this project, so hopefully it will enable them to follow their own interests whilst conforming to our requirements regarding the production of actual written work!

Today I also found a great project on the BBC News website, which involves schools registering for a huge project called "News Day".  I have e-mailed the BBC to see if they will allow a home-ed group to register.  Check out the web page: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/school_report/7600511.stm.

Signing off for now - I have a maths group to teach!

I had an interesting chat yesterday with a good friend of ours who is home-educating her 14 year old son.  Although both Karim and Joe are studying towards GCSEs, after watching a BBC Horizon programme by David Baddiel, Sonia was beginning to wonder whether or not following this route was in fact the right path to take.

It's a great dilemma, I think, for many home-edders: we see the joy and benefit of being unconstrained in our choice of "curriculum" for most of the children's time at home - we are able to embrace all aspects of the world around us; literally follow our noses when it comes to curiousity about, for example, science and natural history; and attend whatever type of exhibition or museum takes our fancy.  But then (and I speak for myself as much as anyone), as the children get older, it is extremely difficult not to get drawn into more conventional expectations of GCSEs and, what's worse, following a SYLLABUS!  There is no doubt that as soon as one is required to follow a syllabus the spontaneity and fun of study dries up.  When under pressure to get certain things done and certain areas covered, the great worldly classroom hitherto used and studied becomes compacted into one or two textbooks.  Again, speaking for myself, I find it almost impossible to introduce broader study themes into our pursuit of GCSE Biology, for example.  The science lectures we attend at the Royal Institution are fantastic, but even our attendance to those have declined due to lack of available time.

My own reasons for wanting the children to take GCSE exams is purely and simply to facilitate their own choices as they journey through life.  The big question is, however, how much should I allow considerations for their (conventional) future impact on their own enthusiasm for learning and quest for knowledge on their own terms?  Who is to know what the future holds for my children, and what they might decide to do in five years' time, or even next year?  It is so easy to become convinced that conventional education is the key to all happiness when, clearly, there are so many other options for their future.

As with anything in modern society, it takes a level of braveness to go against the flow of expectations.  As for myself, I'm still treading water in the middle of the river, unsure as to whether I will allow myself to be pulled along with the tide, or take a deep breath and set out in the opposite direction....

Ok! So i haven't posted a blog entry in ages................. but things are going really well for the last 2 weeks it's been great fun, and as it's getting warmer we've been having lessons outside which is sooooooo nice. I've been doing art with my grampa and at home and have just started to draw people which isn't going particulalry well but ho hum. Doing art this moring with Mads(another homeder) and then off to my grade 1 singing exam.  hehe

 

Hannah!!

The last two weeks have been great - at last we seemed to have reached a "steady state", where everyone seems to be settled.  Shan't speak too soon - as with most of our activities, things are always very, well, "organic" and tend to change quite alot.  However, my delight at the progress of the last two weeks is undampened!

Both Joe and Hannah have responded well to our new ground rules (which I shan't go into now).  They have both knuckled down well to their study tasks, but have also benefitted from being able to play hard too.  Both have also submitted a written assignment to their tutors - Joe for Physics and Hannah for English Literature, and both received back excellent marks, which is really encouraging to me as well as to them.  Hannah is loving chemistry and often regails us with impromptu lessons about atoms and bonds, which also crosses over with Joe's physics and biology.  Joe is finally getting on well with his geography, although the most recent module about the environment and ecosystems is a particular favourite of his anyway.  They are both reading a-plenty, although Hannah doesn't like "Wuthering Heights" and has to be pushed into doing her allocated reading for her course.  Shock horror!!  I couldn't put it down!  But I do agree that it is a very dark book and quite hard to read.  Joe is struggling with "The Lost World" by Conan-Doyle - I'm in two minds whether to let him give up or push him to finish it ... the jury is still out on that one.

Hannah's artwork is absolutely wonderful - see her art page for evidence!  She loves the medium of watercolour and believes she may have found her niche.  Meanwhile, Joe is busy building and painting a tank-like vehicle for his Warhammer collection.  He has started a small Warhammer club with the other lads from the DPS study group, and is teaching them to play (which is by no means an easy task).  Friday afternoons sees us regularly meet up with another home-ed friend and go swimming - they all really relax and spend a good few hours in the pool, just playing and chatting, with the occasional bit of swimming.  As this usually follows our home-ed group morning session, they are usually very tired and mellow by Friday evening!

I'm really happy to say that we have got back into the habit of going to church on a Sunday morning, which is backed up during the week by a regular session with our church youth worker who comes round and does a bible study with Joe and Hannah, and discusses any particular issues they may come up with.  Chris is great, and is keen to involve them both in a new church music group, as and when it is organised.   Music is featuring largely in our weeks now, with Hannah singing and playing the piano, and Joe working well with his drumming.  Today we all got together for a Christian jamming session, with me on keyboard, H singing and Joe drumming - it was great!  Hannah has her singing exam (Grade 1) tomorrow, but we've every confidence in her.  Watch this space!

Signing out with a smile ...

 

Sometimes its a long, hard slog.  And sometimes its an even longer, harder slog!  But I'm determined to be positive, and know in my heart of hearts that we shall soon get back into the swing of things.

Today was good and very creative:  Hannah had her art lesson with Grandpa, which involved the use of watercolours and blending different tones of the same colour.  The result was a lovely piece of work, which I shall post on Hannah's art page asap.  Meanwhile Joe visited Auntie Mandy for a lesson in making glass beads, and absolutely loved it!  He made eight beads, which are all "cooking" in the kiln as I type.  It was just the sort of precision work that Joe loves (and is good at) and was a joy to watch.  See our Family Album page for piccies.  However, the children weren't the only ones to learn today - I also learned how to wire beads ... so there!

Shinies sports followed, then Hannah had her first chemistry lesson with Jen, which was a resounding success.  At teatime tonight, we all were given a lesson on the periodic table of elements, including details of protons, electrons, relative atomic mass and other such delights!

My big excitement of the day, though, was taking delivery of my living willow whips, with which Joe and I proceeded to build a wigwam in the back garden (see Family Album again for piccies).  It has long been my desire to build a living willow structure, and today finally saw that particular dream realised!  According to the instructions, the willow should start to sprout leaves within the next few weeks, so I'll keep the album updated.  I'm hoping it will be another sanctuary for birds and small wildlife, as well as being something pretty to look at in the garden.  If you're interested, the company from which I sourced the whips is called Willows Nursery, based in Northampton (ironically where I grew up as a young child).  Their website can be found at www.willowworks.co.uk and has proved to be exceptionally efficient - I ordered the willow on Saturday, over the internet, and received the whips today (Tuesday).

I also have to confess that yesterday saw a first - Hannah and I playing duets on the saxophone!  Gary finally let me use his sax, so Hannah and I had a really good session - we do a mean "When the Saints Go Marching In"!!!  I also started "Wuthering Heights" last night (it's on my "To Do" list, and is Hannah's set book, so I should read it anyway) - I can't put it down!  It's absolutely gripping.  I was going to read "The Knight's Tale" tonight (another part of my "To Do" list is to read all the Canterbury Tales), but I'm afraid "Wuthering Heights" wins out that particular battle!

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt some ICT and Biology with Joe, then it's RE and Physics for him in the afternoon.  Hannah needs to start work on her english assignment on "Mocking Bird" and will then also do RE, followed by her singing lesson.  Slowly and surely we'll get there ...

Before I get to the crux of today's entry, I should say that the last couple of days have gone well.  Yesterday's economics lesson with Joe and Karim was good, with them both having to start thinking about "opportunity cost" - ie if you buy a Mars bar it means you can't buy a Yorkie bar (in a nutshell).  Physics with Jen was great, with some really cool stuff being bandied around, like "gamma ray explosions" and "quasars" and other stuff like that, that I don't really get.  Way to go, Jen!  Joe and I then watched a DVD called "Eyes on the Skies" which was about the history of the telescope and space mapping - I really tried to find it interesting, but sadly succumbed to an overwhelming urge to doze off ... oops!  However, I did wake up when Joe shouted "ooh we did that in physics today!".

Today saw DPS maths group which, as always, was a pleasure to teach.  We're really cracking on well with data handling, samples and questionnaires, and the boys really do gel together well.

This afternoon saw the really interesting bit ... Joe and Callum both asked that Callum could stay for the afternoon to "play", by which they meant spend four hours solid on the computer and the Playstation only stopping for toilet and food breaks.  I said Cal could stay but there was to be NO computer, NO PS3 and, in fact, NO ELECTRONIC games of any kind.  Well that certainly put them both in a spin, however they decided that each other's company was "better than nothing, I spose", so stay Callum did.  After about half an hour of various attempts at activities, each of which was followed by a quick "I'm bored" from one or both of them, I suggested it was time Callum went home.  But wait .... suddenly, out of the blue, someone suggested good old fashioned "Monopoly" and ... everyone agreed!  What followed was what I can only describe as a dream-come-true:  Joe, Cal and Hannah played Monopoly for the best part of an hour (with no arguments!) and then continued the board game theme with  the "Game of Life" which they then played until I said (reluctantly) that I really had to take Callum home.

WE DID IT!!!! A whole afternoon without computer/Playstation Games!!!!  And what's more, they had a really good time (I think they surprised themselves even!).

Bring it on, World, that's what I say!

Well, I have to confess that Friday didn't go quite according to my (highly industrious) plan - we didn't go!  Recent events were clearly taking their toll on us all, and the children were very reluctant to go up to London - Hannah didn't want to go to "Pyromania" and Joe didn't fancy the Byzantium Exhibition.  There seemed little point in forcing them to go when (a) it would have made us even more tired; and (b) it would have ended up being quite an expensive day for little or no return.  As it happened, we had a really nice time just pottering around home and Eastbourne, and all ended up going to bed happy and perhaps a little more relaxed than we started the day.  I think that's probably just as important, if not more so, than learning about the Roman Christians at this point in time.

I'm not holding my breath for next week - the funeral is on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday Nanny, Joe, Hannah and I are going to the crem to look at the flowers and say our own private prayers for Grandad.   We'll have all our set lessons as normal - DPS English, Maths, Economics and Physics, but hopefully by the end of the week we'll all feel a bit more like looking foward and reforging slightly more concrete study plans.

well as you know this has been a bit of an upshot week we haavet done much except mong and a few lessons. today we just did gcse maths with DPS and did a bit of stuff on the Byzantine empire because we are going up to london and are going to the RI and also to go and see the byzantine Exhibition. We are hoping that we will have a nice and sunny day tomorow since we walk to the RI. thats really it so i will see you later.

As already mentioned, the last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic, so I'm looking forward to getting back to some semblence of normality towards the end of next week (after Grandad's funeral).  Today was great though - it was the first day in quite a while that the kids and I had time together at home and even though Joe had a sore throat and slept in til 10, it was a pretty productive day. 

Joe had already scheduled himself to watch a couple of "Coast" episodes - we have the DVD of two series, and he really enjoys to watch them.  It ties in well with both his geography and his physics work, so he gets the best of both worlds really!  He then did his physics prep for Jen (lesson this afternoon!) and some preparation for tomorrows maths group.

Hannah, in the meantime, did some of her english lit work - she's nearly at the first assignment now, which is also coursework, so I think we'll look at that together (even though she likes to work independently).  She loved "To Kill a Mockingbird" and is now keen to start "Wuthering Heights" - it'll be interesting to see how she gets on, as I've heard it's quite a dark book (I've never read it, but will read it at the same time as Hannah so I know what she's talking about!).  After that, I went over the last two sessions' maths work with her, since she has decided to study independently of the group (but at the same pace). Scatter graphs and correlations are quite cool, and she picked it up well, drawing lines of best fit and working out estimated values etc.

Lunchtime saw us head to McDonalds - sorry!  We then peeked into "Pets at Home" and looked at all the dog stuff ... you never know!!  Then it was off to Sonia's house for RE with Karim, during which they discussed spirituality and then learned basic meditation techniques - they were REALLY chilled afterwards!  Trouble is, Jen then arrived and had to "wake them up" for physics - oops!  Hannah has decided she doesn't want to do physics, but is going to start looking at chemistry with Jen and I.  I have stipulated she study a science, and she's now rejected physics AND biology, so chemistry is her last option really.

I've decided to take them to the Byzantium exhibition at the Royal Academy on Friday, after the RI lecture - Sonia was talking about it today, and since we're the only ones from our group going up on Friday, and the RA is just along the road from the RI (!), I thought we'd make a day of it.  I've downloaded some info from the RA website on the Byzantium era so we can read up a bit before we go.  Check out the website: http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/byzantium/about/

Unfortunatley this week we have not got much work done as last tuesday my Grandad died so we have been spending much time with nanny and yesturgay we had a pretrty fab time out in town with her all day which we think really cheered her up but its back to work know an di have my singing lesson this afternoon which means Molly will be there yipeeeeeeeeeee. But until then I have Maths,Eng Lit, and RE all  O.K except maybe maths not too bad but not my fav. Also I haven't done this for a while so my granny got a bit annoyedd with my so I have done it Granny.

It's not been a good week, so I'll not have too much to say on the home-ed front.  The children lost their dearly beloved Grandad on Tuesday, so we've all been very fragile and concerned about looking after Nanny.  It has not been the time for focussing on work, although Maths DPS on Thursday was a welcome distraction.  The children have been very understanding of the amount of time we've had to leave them to visit Nanny this week, despite their own sadness.  I'm so glad I haven't had to ship them off to school each day - we've all drawn solace from each other and just being around each other this week.