Home Educating the Puddle Girls…

Oh i wish. I coughed and coughed last night, long enough that i ended up lying away listening to Frances coming down with the same thing; got up to give her some Tixilix for dry coughs and decided to take a few spoonfuls myself. Worked a treat

Today has again had a pleasant feel to it; i’m enjoying the feeling of doing projects with Fran and Maddy on an almost equal basis, with Amelie joining in as and when. Oh, we are so much happier without the nursery run

Fran and i spent the morning on the SATs tests again - she did the level 3 English without much trouble at all (given it was a 5 page story to read and a comprehension to do, for her first ever go at such a thing she was excellent.) Maths one a bit tougher again; it’s got some slightly peculiar things in it, stuff that you really need a method with some logic attached for and she wasn’t up to it. I am probably guilty of leading her through things a good bit, if i’m honest, so i think it might be worth looking for some maths where she has to use those skills. I’ve dug out some appropriate CGP stuff from my “last day of HE discount” stack. Wasn’t so much that she couldn’t do it, more that her brain went blurgh at the thought of trying. Know that feeling only too well Other than that, she just busily finished off Heather the Violet Fairy (7 books in a week, WONDER who she takes after…..)

Kate and i gossiped while they all generally entertained themselves - ought to have done something more positive with Maddy but, tbh, she is so much more motivated generally to occupy herself that i don’t feel i need to so much. Amelie is still going through her major digital phase and has Leapstered and Cbeebied her way through the day; she and Maddy also co-operatively (in the loosest sense of the word ) played the DK Oz game.

After lunch we went back to our China project; while i quite like the idea of lapbooks, the whole thing is too fiddly for me, or for the girls’ writing size and dexerity. I did have a stack of paper folders though, so we are customising the idea and making a zig-zag book - lots of folders (the sheet of thin card slightly folded type) all stuck together with info on the front and back for as long as we can honestly be bothered. Today they did regional maps of Asia, all sat round our little table with me with them; everyone coloured in countries they could see on it that meant something to them; Fran got China, Vietnam (Miss Saigon) Russia (including “is it Europe, is it Asia? conversation) Iraq, Egypt, Mongolia (origin of Mulan baddies) and Japan while Maddy managed China, Mongolia and Egypt. Quite successful and not a bad haul of countries really. Oh yes, and India - and i made them giggle by telling them i always think it looks like a willy (or a belly as it has somewhat confusingly been renamed by Amelie - “daddy got a belly…”) with wee dropping off it! Then we did a final world map, to place China on it, coloured flags for the front page and did the SOTW colouring page of the story of Chin (little rice field boy) - while they did those we recapped on on the reading from the day before and i was impressed with their recall using the SOTW questions.

Tomorrow i think we might do rice growing in more depth and perhaps have a walk up to Sainsburys to buy some cheap different varieties for a rice picture or two.

We’ve finished off with dancing, parcels (pleasingly busy atm, thankfully, as i ordered a lot of stock!) and Puss in Boots. Am enjoying my MP curriculum a lot, it is just hitting the spot here.

Funny old day, quite productive but weird at the same time.

Max had today off, for one reason or another, but i didn’t really want to loaf about with no routine, so we ignored him and got on with normal stuff

The day started with Amelie lying in bed next to me and when i said “I feel rough” (i’ve got a laryngitis type thing with added cold) she said “R-U-F is rough.” Okaaaaaay…… She’s been playing “Word Factory” on the Leapster and i think sounding out must be sinking in. I certainly haven’t taught her anything! Why can’t my children just be predictable???!!!!??? She’s spent ages on CBeebies again with very minimal help; something must be sinking in.

Fran started the day with the 2 SATS books i got her; slightly to my surprise, she really liked the formula of them and i eventually had to drag them away. She did all the Level 2 English faultlessly and looking at it now, with the benefit of seeing how she read over the last week, i would imagine she’ll do the level 3 just fine too. She’s asked me to get more of them, which i probably will since she seemed to like them. More surprisingly, she found the maths quite hard - in fact, it wasn’t the maths itself but the unfamiliar ways it was phrased i think, she’s more used to the proper words and this was all a bit touchy feely. On the other hand, it flagged up a few things i’d like to be smoother, things that, to be brutally honest, she needs for real life. I’d like our maths to be more real life, but somehow it never quite happens. Sigh. We aren’t perfect ever, are we?

Maddy was very busily drawing a cartoon of The Hardy Tin Soldier - she did three really fab pictures, but i’ve mislaid her sketchbook at the moment, so i’ll have to photograph them later. They are fabulous though, i really loved them. She did a bit of the Leapster, which is so commandeered by Amelie now that Maddy doesn’t get a look in, which is a shame in many ways. On the other hand, we saw the next generation of Leapfrog stuff at the toyfair so maybe i could splash out on a new pad when they come out

The girls were still keen to spend some time looking at China, so while they ate lunch i printed off a few bits and bobs; feels like ages since i’ve had to do that sort of thing. It was quite funny, revisiting places like Enchanted Learning and stuff! To be honest, i didn’t quite know where to start, so i printed off a few maps and got them to colour them in while i read them a Chapter out of SOTW. Turned out to be a perfect thing as it gave us a big list of things we wanted to know more about.

Maddy’s map.

Fran’s picture - i’ve never seen her work so hard at making something look nice. She is growing up so fast

We dressed up, just for fun

Concentration.

Maddy decorated a fan with a picture of a rose. We’ve got plans for making fans later too.

Amelie joined in too and coloured in a map - she laid the colour on thick that girl, she does like to do things properly! They also playewd the matching game that was one of the first resources i ever put on to MuddlePuddle
That seemed to go down very well, they played it several times; Fran was still hoarding our orginals from our first hit on China as HEers if anyone still has the pdf on China that used to be on Woodwench, i’d love it

Several rounds of Narnia game, some Britannia stories, gym, some Dora (Josie is waiting in the wingfs to become a Doraphile but Amelie isn’t giving up the slot easily) and parcels and it’s bedtime. A successful day i think. We’ve identified the yellow valley, silk, chinese tea, the Shang Dynasty, Bronze and pictograms as things to look at from todays reading, so this project might take wings and fly

Oh and finally - Maddy’s picture from CP week. How cool?

China

(Goodness, i was organised in the old days!)

Daily Life in Ancient China - Welcome to Ancient China!

Ancient China - The British Museum

Great Wall of China

rice

I’ve been so hungry today, i could have eaten the house. Must have been catching; Fran has eaten a bag of apples, Maddy gorged on toast, we’ve had a huge roast for tea! Almost everyone had two portions of porridge for breakfast too… i don’t know. Mind you, Max went out for some new clothes and came home with my favourite trousers in a size 16 - and they fitted So that inspired me plenty

Educational bits have included lots of a Narnia card game given to us yesterday between Fran and Maddy, after Fran played it with Abbie first thing. Fran and i also played the word game (watch this space!) - yesterday she impressed me no end by coming up with “solve” - today she has been doing pretty well with 4 letter words. It’s a good game, even if Sarah did beat me every time last night! Fran has also read more Rainbow Fairy books - after finishing “Saffron” on Friday night, she’s done two more today. She and i went out to do a few jobs and we talked lots about various things; advertising, how to find out what words mean, you know, this and that.

This afternoon they’ve vegged tiredly, i’ve caught up on stuff, Max cooked. Josie has been practising her new trick, which is to start stamping with rage if anyone offends her, then go over and hit them. It’s quite funny really I don’t think our laughter amuses her though! We’re about to go and do more stories, i’ve updated the next week of the MP Reading List and i need to catch up or i’ll get behind!!

Someone suggested doing a “skin tones” mix - i thought pink, flesh, beige, coffee and brown and also perhaps cream and/or pastel yellow - anyone got any thoughts? It’s a good idea, but i don’t want it to be too like my browns one (which has beige, coffee, burgundy, brown, winnie and dark brown.)

Any thoughts?

A long belated bloggy….

We spent last week at Centerparcs, a holiday treat that is now established in our family calendar. There would be a mutiny on our hands if we didn’t do it i think, it is something that the children look forward to very much indeed and so do we. Somehow, it is so restful to have a week with no big shop, no driving and no commitments at 4pm! Elveden is particularly nice because it is forest based and i do love wandering through the trees with no particular aim in mind.

Monday
We managed to get ourselves organised to leave home early on monday, after i sat up till midnight working and parcelling after a busy bead weekend - i had so much stuff to tie up too so it was hard work. I took parcels to the PO early and we were away in good time. We stopped on the way for a Little Chef lunch and made a mistake; Amelie had a tomato based dinner which must have had milk in it; she was itching wildly by the time we left.

When we got there we went straight for a swim, spent hours in there (hurrah for finally remembering to pack swimming stuff on top!) and by the time we left it was almost dark. Frittered away the time doing bits and bobs, pattern blocks, stories etc etc.

Tuesday
Tuesday was characterised by the fact that Fran, who had taken 2 Rainbow Fairy books with her, started to read one. The week progressed with her suddenly discovering she can in fact read stories now - she finished Ruby, then Amber, then we had to buy her a Horrible Henry book and she basically walked around all week with her nose in a book - 6am, 10pm… it was like someone turned on a light in her head. Quite honestly she couldn’t wait to get home to get her hands on the next book! Passed a pleasant day of more swimming and walking (i went for a 40 minute brisk walk every morning) and in the evening Max and i sat doing a jigsaw of an Elizabethan map of thew world… now, my caption to the photo of this was supposed to be…”thereby proving we do know how to have fun and our marriage can stand even a 1000 piece jigsaw” - however, Max randomly crunched it before i could take a photo (despite me clearly saying for him not to, he NEVER listens to me!) which did somewhat test our marriage further than the jigsaw itself.

It was lovely weather too, bright and cold all week, a good change from our previous weeks where it had rained. All the lakes and streams were frozen and we all spent ages one day watching squirrels ice skate!

Wednesday
Wednsday signalled the start of “the tummy bug” - Josie threw up 3 times in quick succession. Couldn’t quite work out what was going on but after the third time she was fine. Unfortunately involved a certain amount of juggling people for swimming and so on, which was a shame. Can’t remember what we did the rest of the day except that Fran and Maddy had a go on the elasticated bungy trampoline thing. Think it was a bit more scary than either of them imagined it would be - Fran did last her go but Maddy didn’t, Fran finished off her session as well though!

I must download the photos of pattern pictures that Maddy took, she created some very elaborate story pictures and quite impressed me by being flexible enough to add some of our suggestions too. She also did some “floor patterns” out of her head after i described the idea to her. Fran spent a lot of that afternoon reading. Josie stopped throwing up but never really recovered her temper about it. We did take her swimming again on other days but she stopped enjoying wandering about on her own and was much more clingy. My abiding memory of her during the week though will be her imperious little “watching look” - she took everything in, all the time. She people watched ferociously the entire time which was very sweet; she reminds me a lot of Maddy at that ages, who was always giving people a “Paddington stare” but Josie doesn’t have the same worried look Maddy always had, more a slightly disdainful one!

Thursday
Paid a slightly ridiculous amount to take the little ones to a toddler session. i actually really enjoyed it. In a funny combination of things, they are a much more confident pair of children that Fran and Maddy were at that aghe, plus i am a far better “mummy to toddlers” than i was back then. I’m happier to play and engage and enjoy their littleness far more than i did with Fran and Maddy. Social occasions with the big two were always such hard work; Maddy was impossible to peel off me, Fran sobbed at the slightest confrontation and i was generally very isolated at that time too so toddler groups tended to be my only adult contact aside from Max. I’m very different now.

That afternoon, i got a 3 hour session at the Aqua Sana spa, followed by a facial. I’m starting to realise why people with lots of time and money always look better than i do! It was blissful to have some time to myself and be pampered and i thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you Max, for the treat and the time too While i was out the girls went to a “Cinderella around the world” entertainment session (though only Maddy spotted a link that evening when i read them an Irish Cinders story! ) and did bits and bobs. Think Josie was a bit of a monkey. Unfortunately by the time i got back Fran had commenced the 3 puke bug - but she was over it very quickly.

Friday
Packed in record time, swum, retailed theraped and had lunch at Chez Pierre before heading for home. Fran chose something from the grown up shop instead of the toy shop which was a bit of a bizarre “grown up girl” moment. Max let them go on the simulator thing which they loved, Maddy’s favourite thing in the WHOLE WORLD being rollercoasters! The big two and i also had a long conversation about China and it’s poulation issues which had a real “this is how the next phase of HE will be” type of feel to it. We decided to look at China a bit over the next two weeks as a short project. Their idea, not mine, which i like

Got home to a freezing house. Sarah had elected to come up despite the vomit, which was very brave, so before long she and Abbie were with us - just in time for Max to start puking

Saturday
He managed to get it over and done in 2 pukes though, so was ready for a 5 child onslaught the next day when Sarah and i left a 7am for a train down to London for the Toy Fair.

We had a ball - it was lots of fun - plenty of freebies, more catalogues to look at than we could carry and loads to oggle. Loved the fuly kitted out Stormtroopers and Darth Vader, who were so intimidating they scared us (though the comic effect of them loitering in front of a pink and sparkly stall later was good!) I’ve found several things i’m going to buy in to sell via a new venture, including a great wordplay game, Fun Blox and card games as a start. Also liked the wooden stuff my Hama suppliers already sell. Going to get going on that asap. The new Hama stuff is fab - 3 new boards, a new book, some nice new sets and a good chat with the MD about promoting my site from within their one. Am glowing from the fact that he loves the mixes i do so much he has told Hama to look at my ones on my site because they are great Am fired with enthusiasm for all sorts now

I enjoyed the day so much - i felt like a person, not a mummy and it made me want to start a new phase to some extent - i can see a way forward beyond more babies. I’ve felt a bit like that for a while now - but this motivated me in a whole new way. Felt amazing to be able to talk to people about my 2 successful enterprises and not be making it up! Plus the whole experience reminded me that i am actually a really good salesperson, a bit of me i’ve forgotten - some of the reps were AWFUL!

Was great to spend some time with Sarah, kid free and all kids had had a great time together. I survived London, despite Amelie questioning me closely on London, bombs and the likelihood of being killed Needed that; and WTF at her even remembering about it!?!?!?!! Was a bit shocked to discover that while i didn’t worry much about getting blown up (aside from making Sarah laugh because i avoided front carriages!) i really can’t handle being underground anymore - i am rubbish at that, i can’t even watch films of people underground but i lived in London and i was always fine with the Underground then; yesterday it just seemed so fast and deep I’ve obviously got less brave I really don’t think i could take the kids on it now, there is no way i could hide how anxious i was from Fran at all. It is a bit annoying actually, i like London a lot. Perhaps the further i get from Josie’s birth, it will fade, like my over-reactions to car journeys has. I’ll put it on my list of things to recover from! However, i did like being back in London - i love that it is still familar to me ever after 13 years and get a ridiculous kick out of seeing the Dome, Canary Wharf, Billingsgate Market and seeing the names of places my Dad talks about from his East End childhood. I’m a secret Londoner

Finishing on a high by losing 2lbs again this week - 9lbs since Xmas Eve. I can feel myself morphing into a big-middle-sized-person, rather than being a smallish-fat-person. I am so proud of myself!

How evil are you?

So WHAT did Jax put then?

Maddy is trying at the moment…. trying everything. The once mess-hysterical girl has taken to gravy, stuffing, tomato sauces, cottage pie - you name it. I am proud of her, messy food has been a big deal for so long. Hurrah for Maddy.

Amelie has finally got over her reaction to another milk product - finally sussed that the horrendous rash, and probably the subsequent behaviour, on Wednesday was probably due to milk powder in bakery bread. Poor girl, she looked awful for days. So much to learn. Tonight, we narrowly avoided gravy powder. She is being so good about it, she is so desperate to stop itching. She doesn’t moan about ANYTHING she can’t have. So very proud of her too. The reactions seem to actually be getting more extreme; even a little milk powder seems to set her off now, initially she tolerated that. She handled butterfat in dark chocolate though, another one we spotted too late, so i think that must not have lactose in it? Oh, this is so not me, i hate being like this. I positively cringed at myself reading labels in Tescos the other day.

Josie has a sore bum again, poor little soul. She communicated a new word very effectively today - she handed me a juice bottle with a squashed down (closed) nozzle and said “broken” - very clever girl.

Fran has spent the day swathed in scarves and looking very appealing - i did point out that making yourself look ravishing with them was perhaps not quite the idea, but she informed me she was a persian princess, rather than Muslim. (Think girl from Kingdom of heaven!) Fair do’s. We decided to start on Islam when we get back from our jolly. She is also finally asking for “bigger girl” films as she is bored of Disney (hurrah) so i must have a think about that. In a fit of paranoia today, i bought some practice SATs papers for her to try; she is the age now that the eldest kids in year 2 would be when they did them and i’m curious to know how she compares. On brief look, she’ll easily do everything but the level 3 English and even then she’ll be able to read enough to answer the questions. Amazing really, considering she was barely literate in April 2005, when she would have sat them in school. Pointless bloody things though; when i think what i was doing in school at that age, recounting to a friendly parent the doings of greeks, norsemen and fine artists… well, i ask you…

Paranoia over. Amelie and i had a long snuggle up in bed this morning. She asked me LOADS of questions - where does wee come from, where do babies come from, how do you make a boy or a girl. Always amazes me how much i still have to learn about children, even now. It is becoming so clear why nursery didn’t suit her; she is doing the now familiar “waking up” thing, a whole year or more earlier than the big two did. No wonder she thought it was crappy. Oh well, you live and learn; there i thought she’d enjoy playing and all she wants is biology lessons… i’ll send her to granny She’s also used her Dora Laptop lots too and seems more clued up to it now she’s had a good whirl at Cbeebies.

Signing off now - see you all soon.

Gap number one for daughter number 2.

I do wish i could get her to pose for photos though

Slow day.

Should have tidied, but didn’t. Lay on sofa and read. Tried to discuss something of utmost importance with Fran, which resulted in her sobbing uncontrollably at the mere idea Did thank you cards (it isn’t just you Kris!) Pondered life a bit. Packed parcels. Didn’t otherwise do anything useful.

I do like the ice skating programme though, the girls are lapping it up

Kids have been draped in scarves all day, trying to accomplish the “exceptionally neat and stable” Hannah-look. We need tutorials

… and i hadn’t had enough sleep, thanks to sudden onset molars from the Josie Division.

Ah well.

Other tooth news; Maddy’s brown teeth are not bad, just fluoride damaged/ damaged by illness during pregnancy. The thing is just an ulcer, and healing. She was brilliant at the dentists; leapt on the chair and behaved like a charming child in all ways. When we came out she said “He wasn’t like the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, was he? He didn’t have all those things…”

Got ready for MP group - loads of us there today; 24 paying kids, another 10 or so that were too little to pay, 3 new families and plenty to do on Healthy Eating. See Beans for photos!

Fran has played Paper Mario all day, after overhearing i was going to sell it due to it being too difficult. Its all reading based and she hasn’t had any help, so that covered literacy and puzzle solving, or something. They’ve both done maths and latterly played scarf ladies in the scarves Hannah donated. Thanks Hannah

Everyone including Josie has had a haircut so we all look very trim. Must tidy house. Josie seems to be strewing the house in absolutely everything she can get her hands on atm; i think its some sort of reverse scorched earth policy… “the more i leave in mummy’s way, the more time it will take her to wade through to what i’m doing now and maybe she’ll just get bored (or buried) while trying…”

V excited about BM - Hama sent me a leaflet with some pics of new lines on it today - 22 new things Can’t wait to see them!