Thoughts on a first week

Well, i wanted to have a go at the Ambleside Curriculum and we have done a week. So far i am pleased – its not caused any friction, the kids have been happy all week with what they are doing, i suppose i mean Fran by that mostly, and i feel like something of worth has been added without spoiling what was already good. TBH, the “worksheety” element of the last fortnight has had more impact on her, but she is enjoying that too.

That said, we have probably only fitted in half the reading that it suggests in the 4 days we have attempted it. I had some good advice the other day, which was that 6 is fairly young to start, in terms of how the curriculum progresses and that a 6 year old doing yr1 of it, would be out of their depth doing yr3 at age 8. But given that we seem to have only manged half, i reckon i might jiggle it about myself a bit and try to do one “week” per fortnight, with perhaps a Our Island Story and a Bible bit every week. That way we can continue doing all the things we enjoy and if it takes double the length of time, who cares? We have plenty of time!

In actual fact, i didn’t do anything CM’y today with her – i intended to read the Just So story but it didn’t quite happen! However, she did play lots of RR Maths again and has now reached “First Mate” level for some areas, which is second to top. That included fractions of the “find 2/3 of this” when you only have a shape cut into 1/6′s to work with. She did really well with it. Moo spent a long time on Learning Ladder and was much more involved – i saw her listening to stories and playing a letter match game, so that’s good too.

A long time ago i made some worksheets for Fran and today i remembered about them and did them with Moo. They were way too easy for her but we sat together and she had fun. She certainly loved having a bank of something to work through. I was quite pleased though because her big/little less/more words and meanings have been nearly as jumbled as her he/she him/her ones in the past, but clearly she has sorted them out now. So that has inclined me to start finding a slot for something “sit down-ish” with her each day. Before i do that though, i am planning on reviving our Montessori materials and giving them both a good workout with them over the summer. I think they could work together now easily, which will help me organise it. Ammi still sleeps so that gives us a slot for it.

Today Fran got through
3 wordsearches
2x match up (her request again but done with no helping cards today)
the reading book mentioned below

and then last but not least, i printed her off a 100 square which has about 40% of the numbers missing. She filled it all in, completely on her own and worked so hard at her number formation – most impressively it got neater as she went on and by the end all the numbers were not only right, but the right way round and really quite neat and small. It was quite an achievement!

And at that point Ammi woke up so we went off to Tesco for a airmattress/ nappy buying session.

I’ve packed the kids clothes so i had better go and start organising a few other things. The weather looks blooming awful for tomorrow :~(

Stop Press!!!!

Fran just read a book! I sat with her and she made her way through most of an Usborne Early Reader Phonics book – some words she knew, some were quite new (like nest, hatch etc) some she hadn’t encountered for a while and remembered and some she sounded out and picked up really quickly as the book went along.

It was major progress :~) and a good job too as i had just succeeded in making myself cry by reading c/s birth stories to try and believe that i would be okay with that.

Weather reports looking progressively greyer. I’m feelnig a bit depressed by it because i always just feel really responsible for the weather on these occasions. Which is why i don’t make them highly planned affairs because i couldn’t cope with the responsibility!

Well thank goodness that’s over

I hate the disappointment of footbal teams going out of competitions. I don’t like football and i don’t like how much people care about it! It upsets me! *has paddy*

On another note, i emailed yahoo over my problems with getting to my group page. Their response?

“we recommend that you try accessing Yahoo! through a different computer or through a different Internet connection. We also recommend that you contact your Internet Service Provider for further assistance.”

Hmmm.. .well that’s a practical and helpful response! ROFL!!!!

Keeping going.

It was all slightly harder work today but i think that was more my fault than anything as i was feeling a bit tired and overwhelmed by mess. I seem to function better if the house is tidy.

Anyway, i appreciate that “what worksheets i forced my child to do today” doesn’t make the most interesting reading, but i want to keep a record, so i’ll do it in list format today to try not to bore you!

10x match up
10x sums
wordsearch plus BB11 recap and BB12 start.

Her heart wasn’t in it so much today so we called it quits there and moved on. I read her Parables From Nature: A Lesson of Faith and then she narrated it back to me and illustrated it. I actually really like the illustrating idea as a concept because art comes easily to neither of us but this takes the pressure off; we can use the ideas, try it and move on and i think it will be worth having a few different art mediums to explore with it.

I find the idea of guiding a child into being positive with drawing a bit daunting. I must need a book! lol!

Last night Fran spent a long time on that RR Maths game again; she was doing so well with it and tackling quite complex symmetry puzzles, adding and time conundrums too. I’m chuffed with her. I let them both have the preschool learning ladder programme too today; i’ve heard good things about these but *I* find the interface really hard. I need to look at it myself really so i can guide Moo with it more. Still, both enjoyed it and i know there is plenty more in there to use too.

All this is leaving aside moo who had an AWFUL start to the day. I knew we were in trouble when i woke up to find her pressed against me in bed, shuddering into my boobs. I’ve no idea what the problem was but her “vertigo” was terrible; she couldn’t get down the stairs, or really even ask to be carried and i spent until about 11am wrapping her in her little duvet, tucking the edges down tight, squeezing her, rubbing her and putting more heavy duvets on top of her. And then, after an extended period of Fantasia, she suddenly recovered and went off to nursery quite happily.

*Baffled*

Ams has been great today. It occurs to me she is my most rounded child in many ways, vocal, energetic, loves to look at books together or alone, plays imagination games on her own and only seeks comfort if she really has good reason. Given the relationship she and i have had for the last year, she ought to be rocking in a cot somewhere, but maybe all the rejection of me had more to do with a fierce independence and desire to be self-reliant. I don’t know.

*Baffled again*

Ammi’s longest ever sentence

“mummy, milk bottle this way please!!!”

Last night Max remarked that Ammi has to be a good year ahead of where Moo was in terms of speech – actually its probably more like 18 months ahead but its so great for us to be really able to talk dispassionately about Moo and how she has developed now. For a long time it was really only me who was worrying/coping/trying to work things out or at least vocally – it was a difficult subject for us to discuss as parents. But lately, mainly since dx which proves i suppose that i was right to go ahead and get it, he has been really, really clued up and objective about her. Its such a weight off my shoulders. :~)

I’m reading…

George and Sam by Charlotte Moore. This is pretty fascinating on rather a lot of levels for me; first its a description of two very different autistic children, brothers, being narrated by someone who can view them from a level perspective. And secondly because they are the nephews of Fran’s godfather and reading a book about 2 children i have heard about, at times, for 10 years, which has references to brothers i know of, or have met and photos of a granddad i have met, is destinctly odd.

I remember Fran’s godfather telling me about their eldest when he was maybe six, just a random remark about a child who at the time i think they thought had Aspergers rather than full blown autism – and thinking even this small incident of running off or something sounded like an insurmountable, terrible crisis that i could never face.

You have to laugh :~)

Its interesting because Moo is currently going through a good phase that makes me wonder if i am slightly mad but a lot of this book is extremely familiar, even if her boys are far higher up the “spectrum” than Moo is, or i hope, ever will be. Its a cautionary tale though; take nothing for granted.

Its made me realize i need to write down all the things about Moo that led me to seek a diagnosis because they are fading from memory and there might come a time when i have to justify to her why i was so worried.

One thing i do know, and i am defiant enough to say it, is i think i am an exceptionally “good” parent of an autistic spectrum child. I love Moo for who she is – i haven’t shed a tear over the official diagnosis, i don’t want to change her and my total motivation for everything i have done or do is to seek better understanding of her, for her by others and for her by herself.

So there. ;~)

Completely different day!

Lol… well today was a definite change from the last few!

Started off with our MP local group which i took a load of fairly simple crafty stuff to. But it all seemed to go down fairly well and then quite a lot of them came back to ours – and stayed till 3.30pm!!!!!!!

9 kids in a house makes it fairly full but they all had a lovely time and i didn’t hear one fight. Once they had gone my lot were completely busted and its been grizzly and tired since. So everyone is tucked up in bed now.

CGP books arrived which i am cautiously pleased with. We shall see. Not a lot else to say!