Fran had her General Level Club Competition at gym today. She’s been much more relaxed about this one but did want to do well; we talked a lot about focusing and staying so through the competition. Fran tends to wander off, fidget and get distracted (and hungry!) and also tends to be last to go (4 times over) in a biggish group, which makes it even harder to keep concentrating. She also planned in her head to think of doing well all round, rather than focusing hopes on one apparatus.

It must have paid off; she looked really controlled all the way round, i could see her watching to see how each other person did before her and she was much more aware of presenting herself nicely. Her group was the biggest and out of the 8 of them, most of them had been squad gymnasts for a while.

Here’s how she got on:-

Beam has been her most hated thing recently – this was head and shoulders better than last time, even with the annoying fall off. And she’s been mostly getting them recently but she knew she’d done far better than she had done a month ago, so was happy.

On bars…

And this was floor. She has loved this routine although it is probably so fast that it just plays to her tendency to rush anyway. Still, as a final use, this was pretty good.

She was happy with herself when she came out but after last time (a 3rd and 3 7ths!) she didn’t want to get her hopes up too much. I didn’t do a film of vault because it is just too hard to catch and was at a funny angle.

However, the results definitely proved she’d had a good day.

Gold on Vault.

Gold on Bars.

Joint 4th on beam, although this wasn’t a competition that counted 4ths but to have improved so much was a massive achievement.

And (for her) the absolute prize – Gold on Floor!

It wasn’t an all round competition but in fact they added up all round scores too and she also got Gold All Round and would still have got 2 Golds and Gold overall if the 13+s (who she trains with and was beaten by last comp) had been in the same group.

She’s a bit happy And i am thrilled for her; it is so great to see her get reward for how hard she works and how dedicated she is. And perhaps, for me, the best thing was that she’d worked to make herself perform that well. It wasn’t even that she had a day where she performed out of her skin to do so well, more that she actually performed as well as she knows she can and while under pressure – and that counts for such a lot i think.

Fran and Amelie are really enjoying learning stitches at the moment. I’ve got a lot of time for this kind of practical life activity; we did loads of binca sewing when i was at school and it taught me to plan things, taught me creativity and patterns and planning and colours that suited each other. It taught me to stitch neatly and how much a small error could show up and spoil the look of something. And it was fun and easy and helped me learn how to measure stitches so they were always the same. Excellent all round.

Anyway, F is still working on something fairly big, learning as many stitches as she can but Amelie has completed this rather lovely little sampler, her first one.

Will have to take a proper camera one later as the colours are really beautiful.

Science today; H did fab Chromatography with the children – i TA’d for the younger ones and was very impressed by the results from using M&Ms as part of science!

G did an excellent job of getting the kids to illustrate a story with percussion instruments and i was rather touched by the fact that the ones chosen to read (i assume by other kids) were the one with slightly imperfect speech (Fran) and the French boy, M. Love inclusive and accepting HE kids.

I ran the stitching class as normal and then K came back from her trip out and did raucous Latin followed by French in the field with the parachute. All very good.

Got home and managed to have 2 full on teen-parent arguments with Fran (i was as patient as possible) and then took her and Josie out to gym. Max pulled a late one at work so i cooked dinner, the kids watched a film and everyone, particularly the stroppy ones, had an early night.

Fran and Maddy worked more on their art projects; slightly staggered by how much they’ve got into this actually but the concentrated research they’ve put in, effort on presentation and computing skills has impressed me. Both more interested in “finding out” and “writing up” than doing any art but it makes a nice change to see them so engrossed in something entirely self directed that i can only gape and let them carry on really.

Everyone did music.

Amelie was very busy with her ticklist, which she really likes, and worked very hard doing little bits of everything.

Fran and i looked again at rotational symmetry and got to the end of that chapter together; she finds spacial stuff very hard but really applied herself today and got through lots of reflection work. Please to see her pleased with herself.

Maddy did pretty much the entire co-ordinates chapter in her book and got all them right; she liked those. Despite doing no written maths for ages, EC has proved really good for her. She’s met and got a grip on nearly every topic and all the book is doing is boosting her understanding of the workings. She’ll be ready for book 3 soon.

Everyone read, Amelie did “Investigating” on houses again and Josie spent ages writing bits and bobs out. She likes writing numbers

After that everyone set about some sewing; Fran and Amelie are particularly into this at the moment. Once we’d done some setting up of that, we put on the next episode of The Incredible Human Journey and watched it together.

Sent Fran out to gym with Zoe and fed everyone else then took Maddy and Amelie out to try Rhythmic Gymnastics. Amelie loved it and Maddy wasn’t sure but wants to give it a bit longer and see. She loved using the ribbon though.

Fran had a hard session (got 65 pressups!) but seems okay. Home finally!

We’re heading towards the end of “term” here and so finishing off odds and sods of chapters and projects. We’re away next week and have mostly Xmas stuff planned for after that, so finishing up for fresh new year starts is in order. I need to make some lists so we do most of the stuff we have planned. Must do more Xmas shopping too!

Friday they mostly did their art projects i think; Maddy was writing far more confidently than i’d seen for a while (i think a little a day might be paying off in overcoming whatever anxiety had occurred) and Fran was happily investigating Monet. She made a good start on written work and then set about practising some stitching to do her Monet cross stitch. Amelie spent ages working on some sewing too and did a very nice job. Think after that Max came home and then went off to his dad’s on his new baby… i mean motorbike… and then we were into the dancing rush. Came home for late tea and they watched Children in Need with me for a while. I howled, they rolled their eyes, although Fran did come over to console me Saturday we did KYT, some of us dashed into town to get Fran’s glasses reset to having the lenses pointing in the same direction instead of one up and one down and then we all went up to my folks house for a weekend with them, my sister and co and my brother’s girlfriend. Stopped off at my Nana’s on the way home for a gossip. Fran also had a go on my mums full size cello – she could play it fine, although it is too big but it did make me realise how much she has outgrown her half. Must get down to Exeter to try out a potential “new” one

Favourite 2 conversations of the week were Amelie saying, “i thought only lady animals were mammal because boy animals don’t feed their babies milk?” (bless) and Fran having a conversation with me about us being over 70% water, to which i said that you could squash the actual matter of the entire human race into the size of a sugar cube. I told her it would be incredibly heavy though, far too heave for anyone to pick up. “That wouldn’t matter,” she said “there would be no one left to pick it up anyway.” Fair point!

Monday was easy; Fran worked on some rotational symmetry using some Montessori materials, did some more Monet, music and some reading, Maddy did lots of reading (having got herself into a pickle of immense proportions over the name of a spoon) and Amelie read, did some EC and some really lovely music. She likes violin so much more now. Josie was impressing me with writing a list to Santa, copying out beautifully and knowing far more letter sounds than i had given her credit for. Really quite impressive. After that, Zoe turned up (on the dot of 11, i swear she was hiding around the corner!) and my lot had prepared the dining room so it was clean and had art materials out on the table. They spent probably 2 hours drawing, using books to help them, then had lunch, then did some Fimo and some craft (Maddy was showing them how to make Pudsey puppets and cookie trays) and then finished off with a Victorian game in full costume which assured me that Fran has learned something about that period during all her reading.

I took 3 of them to dancing, collected Max, came home, we cooked, Max went out shopping and took the big three to gym and i sat at home and worked hard on the site. Christmas is upon us but at least we are properly staffed up this year so can cope; i think we are as busy, if not slightly busier, than last year but the patterns are very different and the impact on our home life is entirely different. It doesn’t feel like we are actually living through a kind of mad hell anyway

Since she has applied to join blogrings, i don’t think Zoe will mind me blogging her blog over at Le Ciel Rouge – plus she has written up my day for me!!! Go and say hello if you fancy doing so

I’m reasonably clever – and i went to a good school. The school professed to select girls from the top 5% of the pool of intelligence that sat the exam and turned out exam results that placed it within sight of the top of the league tables of the time. I got 4 good A Levels, and 8 good GCSEs, which was the most that people took at the time by and large, as they were only in their third year of existence. Throughout the time i was there, once i’d been placed firmly in the B Set (with an end of year exam average of 69%) i got on in a haphazard fashion, scoring an average of 69% for the rest of the time i did school exams.

Because that, honestly, is the kind of person i am. My parents, i suspect, felt i could have made it into the A Class if i had applied myself and perhaps i could have, but the will or innate requirements were not there. My 69% tells me one thing about myself in retrospect; i’m a 2:1 kind of girl who has the spark but lacks the application or dedication to get a First. (Actually, i didn’t even have the application to commit to 3 years at university but i have no regrets about that at all). I’m clever and able but i don’t have the need to knuckle down to nitty gritty that some do; i flit a little, apply myself too little, spread myself a little too thinly, move on and over and up and beyond.

I’m a sugar hit type of person when it comes to knowledge, not a person who remembers to plan a protein breakfast and a carb lunch to see me through a tough day. When it comes to finding out what i need to know, i’m more of a chocolate bar eater, a read the article in the paper or find it on a blog where someone else has done the work, than a plough through Hansard type person. But i can, and i do, write as passionately as possible to try and rally and support and inspire others. And i will back others as much as i can – and i will stand up for my beliefs.

Unfortunately, as a self-confessed girly who still panics at the sight of a police car, despite never once getting pulled over, i can say without fear of being wrong that i am unlikely to promise non-compliance in aggressive language to laws. I’m simply not that type of citizen. I can – and i will – say no. I will absolutely hold my ground, argue my case, use every weapon in my arsenal to fight and if necessary, knowing right (if not the law) is on my side, run. But if it comes to the possibility that my non-compliance will give someone the opportunity to remove my children from me, i will not break the law.

That doesn’t mean i will not keep fighting. On my terms, with my words, within what i believe makes me still a good citizen of the country i wish to belong to. I cannot believe that this government have forced me into a position where i am now wondering if i am on a blog spotters guide of dissidents. I do believe they are wrong to have forced me into this position. And i will keep saying no. With my voice. With my weapons.

In the end, people who judge and think they know you are often wrong. My school for example, having failed to make me comply to their academic pressures, refused to have me back a few years later to work as a Young Enterprise Business Advisor for their 6th Form, even though i had a good job by then in a well respected bank. They got an old fusty in to oversee me (who barely ever turned up), thinking i had no idea of what to do, what was needed or how to help their precious girls succeed. Only of course, i did know (and they did succeed) – and i often wonder what the headmistress who made that decision would think now, if she knew that i had set up a business that turns over a little short of £1Million a year.

After 7 years, that headmistress knew no more of me than what she had decided i was – because i didn’t fit the High School model. After 3 reviews, consultations and some determination to force us to comply by straitjacketing us, Mr Balls has no idea about home educators at all. All he sees is what he wants to see because it gives him a reason to control and reject us.

Until he starts to think outside the box a little, i therefore refuse to climb into his box and listen to him.