Round Up

The last couple of weeks have been a blur of going out every day for some reason or other. I'm not sure if I could recall it all and publish it here on my blog.

Easter was interesting, we spent almost every day that week out soaking up the sun. We spent a day in Kearney Village flying the kids kites and had a very tasty picnic. Two days on the beach and several other days just out and about, we hit the town of Portrush too. The children all have a little colour in their cheeks now and me a healthy glow.

Other things were GCSE exam papers, three of them to be exact and now a stack of revision work for the eldest child's next three papers. Once the 27th May is here that will be the last exam for a few months. I am wondering what subjects he will sit next - its a real toss up between doing three more GCSEs or a couple of AS/A levels. Mag also got the results of the six GCSE papers he did back in March, 3 of them he got 100% on, one was 98% and the other two were in the high 80s. Not bad for a 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school.

We have been busy planning out foreign trips, we have two weeks travel coming up and another couple of weeks in the pipeline including a possible trip to the USA on the cards.

Sol has had problems with her feet, well she always did. As a baby Sol had what was called Positional Talipes, in other words her feet were real bendy and curved inwards. This was caused because of her laying breech in my belly for the whole time she was in there, once she was born she has a real tendency to lay with her feet tucked under her. She had a little bit of physio and wore boots to try keep her ankles straight. The last few months I started to notice her feet turning in again. I called the hospital clinic where she was registered before and they wouldn't see her, they said it was acceptable that her feet turned in again despite her history. They suggested that Ryan Giggs the footballer has feet that turn in and because he does its okay for Sol to have that too. What the F***, Ryan Giggs has millions of pounds and a full medical team at his beck and call, and further research shows that he actually gets treated for his foot problem.
I wasn't going to accept this, after all we neither have a million pounds nor the skills of a footballer. We ended up going private and she has been diagnosed with pronation, in most cases pronation turns the feet outwards but in her case they went inward. This un-natural curve in her feet had her hips misaligned so she had to have them manipulated and is now having to do special excercises. A long time ago talipes was treated with ugly boots and frames - Sol is very lucky now to be able to have orthotics made to wear inside her shoes. They are sort of like insoles but actually have a heal and are moulded in a certain way so her feet are shaped properly. She has had them for a few days now and I can already see how straight her ankles are compared to before. 

Where have I been?

Where have I been? I know, I know, it has been forever since I last updated the blog. I have ran out of excuses, there are none! I was just dead lazy and I got even lazier when I thought of all the other times I apologised at being lazy and reading other blogs where people do the same thing.

I wont apologise, I am here ... I am posting again, for now. Just accept that if I refrain from posting I am either being lazy or I am super busy, or having a crisis in my life, or out socialising far too many hours, or having a baby (probably not but maybe the rabbits are having babies again), or feeding the dog ..wait I don't have a dog. Oh, I don't know, maybe it is raining!

Wallace & Gromit

Going to W5 the science museum is certainly not new for us, and as usual there's always plenty of photographs. The children love it there but this time there was something special they wanted to see.

Anyway the 'ordinary' photos first.

Seb practising his boating skills.

Sol making music with lights.

What would you like to eat?

Siblings!

Seb playing the harp, this is no ordinary harp as it has no strings, yet it still makes music.

Animal dominos .... hhhmmm who is next to play?

'I like driving in my car.'

'I am sailing.'

Anyway ...this is the whole reason why we went this time. the children just love Wallace & Gromit. W5 is the venue of a Wallace & Gromit exhibition just now and is had actual sets and models from the film Wallace & Gromit And The Curse Of The Were-rabbit. How ccool are they? I loved the detail in every single piece.

Nuff Said

I suppose this ought to be a chat post, as I usually just post photographs on my blog.

The last two weeks have the usual blend of 'skooling' and every day life. Seb had his Boys Brigade parents night, he bagged himself a badge and made us proud as usual. Seb has tried so very hard at his BB, he is the smallest there.

Last week Mag went off kayaking in the Mourne Mountains with his Boys Brigade friends, they had a great weekend. I believe that they made water rockets with plastic bottles and a wooden launcher as well as hitting the amusements in Newcastle. He came home tired and happy.

Sol was at the zoo on yesterday with her Rainbows troop, she enjoyed seeing all the animals again. I had considered taking all of the children for the day and then perhaps taking summer to the gate when the rainbows were meeting but when I learned there would be 1400 there I decided to give it a miss. I let other hald take Sol up, and of course the other children wanted to go with him too. I spent four happy hours on my own, doing laundry, washing floors, and other jobs. As for other half and the kids they went and got fish and chips (without me).

Also yesterday Mag played chess at the UK Chess Challenge Mega Finals held in Belfast. He won first place for his age group so that makes him the the title of best player of his age group in Northern Ireland. He has to travel to England now to compete against the regional winners their ... then who knows what is next for him. Please wish him luck if you see him, he really needs the support. We have already booked his flight tickets, him and other half will go and make a weekend of it. We got return flights for the two of them to Liverpool for £83 from RyanAir ... not bad EH? So while the 'men' are off playing chess I get to spend a quiet weekend at home with my three babies.

This week has been a week of revision and that's how it will continue for the next month. Mag's final module for his Maths GCSE is split over two days in June. the first part on the 7th, and then on the 11th, I have no doubts in his ability to pass the exam with grades as good as he got for his other modules.

Oh and we decorated Toni's bedroom last week, what a marathon lightening fast job that was! We got it painted in the weekend and a carpet laid, all done in time for her new robes to fitted. I was feeling very pleased with how much we had achieved then came down to a bump remembering how long it is taking us to decorate the dining room.

And the final bit of news, and anyone who knows us is going to laugh their socks off. while my friends and neighbours are into caravaning and camping ..... drum role ..... other half bought a boat. NUFF SAID!

Moths & Mammals

The Ulster Wildlife Trust held an event at the Balloo Wetlands on Saturday, the topics covered were moths & mammals. I usually try to go to these local talks with the children as they are small enough you can enjoy them and always very informative. The children had a great day, learned lots, and each came away with a bag of goodies.

A Star A Star

This is going to be a big brag post!

We home educate as you probably all know! Well my eldest son sat the first two modules of three, for his maths GCSE. The way it worked out he ended up doing two modules in one day back at the start of March this year. Anyhow the results are in, and he did very well. For Module 1 out of a possible score of 108, Mag achieved 101 and that is an A*, on Module 3 out of 162 he got 160 and that too is an A*. All that's left to do is Module 5 at the beginning of June and with a bit of luck he will do well in that one too.

There is always a 'problem' arranging for home educated kids to sit their GCSE exams, well its not really a problem but you have to contact a school and ask them if they will take a child as an external candidate. Not all schools will accommodate external candidates, not that its any trouble, but simply because they don't. So you may need to contact a few schools to get one that will let you sit an exam. Anyhow the school where Mag sat his exams have now come back to us and said he can do all of his exams there, which is a huge result for us. Prior to him getting his two A*s I was under the impression they wouldn't be able to accommodate him for everything so as you can imagine I am really pleased at how this has worked out for him. Mag is hoping to sit his next three GCSE exams starting with the first modules for those in November this year.

Okay another brag ...

Mag goes to a Company Section of the Boys Brigade in a near by town. He missed a lot of last years Boys Brigade due to illness so this was his first full year with that Company. Mag has been in the boys brigade for nine years working up through the various levels. Monday was the parents evening and the last night of this years BB. He received a few badges for various completed projects through out the year and also the award for BEST BOY! Once again, twice in less than a week I have to admit I was really really proud of him.

Music Man!

We had a jazz day at our regular home ed meet up last week. I have plenty photos of the day, unfortunately I had my camera set wrong so most of them came out rubbish. Regardless of the photos the children had the bast day to date at the meet up and are now all suitably inspired to learn something that makes lots of noise.

Mag is begging at least ten times a day now to learn the guitar, so that's what the next purchase will be.

Exams, Freefall, Bump & A Birdhouse. How can they all be in the same blog post?

Well a week has gone by and every single day I had planned on writing a few lines to update everyone. So here it is all those few lines condensed into one post.

Monday the 1st of March was pretty much a study day for Mag. The nerves were increasing and I could see that he was starting to worry about the exams the following day. There came a point where I had to tell him to put his books away, enough was enough. I have no doubts at all in Mag's ability but seeing him get anxious like this makes me wonder how children cope with doing ten exams all at once. Well I guess they do, as I did it myself when I was a teenager, but looking at it from a parents perspective is a different issue.

Tuesday, exam day! I took Mag to the school where he was sitting his exams for doors opening and was greeted by the exam officer who showed him where he would be sitting both his exams that day. The morning exam started at 9:30 and he seemed pretty relaxed about it all. Mag was home for lunch then back in again for the next exam at 1:30, after that I had an informative chat with the exam officer to discuss what is next. It was an interesting day to say the least, its been almost three years since Mag had been at a school and I guess it would have been strange for him.

Wednesday was a 'down' day! I had to laugh because what I call a down day is when you do nothing of major importance; rest, watch TV, just hanging out around the house. I posted on Face book that this is what we were doing and everyone sent HUGS. I didn't have the heart to say that I didn't need the hugs, just thanked everyone instead.

Thursday morning I met up with a couple of home educating friends and their children at Indiana Land in Dundonald. Between us we had ten children and the whole place to ourselves which was good. Unfortunately for Mag he is too big to play there but he did get a couple of sneaky goes on the free fall slide. As for the girls, there was three seven year olds lined up along the top of the free fall with the colly wobbles was an amusing site. The mums all stood at the bottom shouting encouragement and each one stepping to the edge then jumping back. I am not sure if I would have done the free fall slide, but they all did it in the end.
At lunch time I had arranged to go have lunch with my friend Lorraine, which we did and had a great afternoon. I didn't want to leave to come home and I think the two of us could have chatted very easily for another couple of hours.



Friday was our day at the science museum, W5. We needed to get out the house again, we have spend a lot of time studying and doing 'school' that this last while so it was well deserved. The day was good except the fact Seb ran into some perspex in the afternoon and ended up going to the children's hospital. He was okay in the end, but left with a nasty bump on his head.



Oh and I almost forgot ... Ashley made a bird box, what do you think?

Science, Shopping, Fish, Changes

It's been a while, the last couple of months I have been so bad at updating my blog. You would think I had hibernated for the winter or something. I have plenty of questions and messages to reply to as well, so I guess I had better get busy.

The week was a busy one, we hadn't intended it to be that way but that's how it ended it up. Mag is studying hard for his first GCSE exam in three weeks time so we thought that we would stay at home... well best laid plans and all that.

Sol left playgroup this week, it was time for her to move on. She had been asking do 'school' every day when the other children were doing their learning, we decided not to hold her back. Getting to playgroup was starting to get to be a bit of an ordeal so it was for the best all round. I am really happy to have Sol home every day now, I always missed her when she was gone. Though I have to admit I felt a bit teary about having to say goodbye to the mums I had got to know the last couple of years.

Wednesday found us out grocery shopping and getting supplies in for our trip on Thursday.

Thursday we went to W5, the science museum in Belfast, to meet some home educated friends. It was a long day, we arrived at the museum for doors open at 10 o'clock and we didn't leave till 5pm.

Friday we found ourselves in St George's Market in Belfast, then lunch, then more shopping. This time not shopping for food but for fish, we got a fighter fish and a sucky bottom cleaner fish for our tank as well as a pond plant for the little frog pond we are making.

I am not going to say much more now, but try make a point of updating more often now I have broken the silence.

Here's the photos from our museum trip ...

Seb flying a plane!


All the children loved the boat simulator.

My little girl.

They have a pretend supermarket at the museum, all of the little kids love to role play.

My 13year old man!

Playing is very 'tiring'.

Okay seatbelts on, lets go.

SUNDAY SUMMARY, Birthday, desks and sleep

Okay, I HAD planned on doing a "snap Shot" Sunday  but it turned out to be more of a photographic summery of my week .....

Here goes

Monday night the children asked for a sleep over. When we went to check on them this is what we found.


I spent most of Tuesday (between swimming lessons, and running the kids to summer scheme, and childminding) trying to tidy the house.
I have to say my husband has the most annoying habit in the world, his newspapers. He buys the Sunday Times every week but never gets it all read. I don't know if you know the Sunday Times but there are 60 supplements with it, and now he has started buying yet another newspaper. If he doesn't get one read he keeps it, and each week this rolls on till he has stacks. I am not allowed to touch the papers, if I were to throw them out he would come looking for a certain article or something. What annoys me most is the fact he stores them next to the bed, oh and the newspaper print stains our white painted floor. Thing is most of the stuff in the Sunday paper we have already read or heard about during the week on the NEWS funnily enough.

No photos from Wednesday, much to my regret! We had early morning swimming lessons then on to our home education day. It was a tiring day, but very successful so well worth it.

Thursday, after swimming, summer schemes, and child minding, Hollie and I set about making some jewellery. This is the bracelet we made which we have since given to a friend.

Okay, so the desks are not really from Friday but I will share the photo anyway. We got them in Tesco's, reduced from £49 down to £12.25 which is a steal. They are MDF and just slot together in two minutes, the kids love them and they are ideal for their crafts and colouring. I am sure they will enjoy doing their skool at them too.

Saturday was my birthday, 21 again! We had Moet & Chandon champagne mixed with orange juice for breakfast otherwise known as bucks fizz! I didn't do anything else for the day, just sat around and rested after another hectic week.

Green Fingers

We have been getting things ready for the summer in the garden. The children especially have been enjoying the whole thing. Between us we have planted peas, tomatoes, lots of herbs, peppers, lettuces, cucumbers, and plenty of flowering plants also. I am not sure that we will be successful in our quest to grow veggies but at least its great fun for the children.

This weeks efforts ...

POST-IT NOTES and starfish

Nothing much to report today, well I am sure there is loads but quite frankly I am too tired this evening to write about it all. We went to W5 today, well three of the children went one stayed at home with daddy. My three year old wasn't too hot so I thought it best she stick close to home, I was so tied between her and going to W5 but I guess I did not want to spoil the day for everyone else.

We watched a couple of the demonstrations as well as looking at all the exhibits. Here is Toni enjoying part of the show.


I do have to share something else funny...
On our way back we stopped at Tesco, we found this car in the car park which had the windows covered in post-it notes. I wonder why they were put there, I wonder how long they took to stick on, and I wonder what will happen when the owner finds the car decorated like this.

Hot chocolate & grass growing

Today the 5th January - we thought we would get up early and start the year enthusiastically ... except that despite the children being up early every day for a fortnight they decided to over sleep. Roy had to go and do the 'work' thing and I had to make start with the children. It has been three weeks since we have done anything that resembled skool.

Couldn't start the day without a giant mug of Cadbury's fudge flavour hot chocolate from the lovely mug that Santa brought me.

We decided to use one of the Christmas gifts given to Roy and I from our neighbours who are also very good friends. They had got a chuckle out of this grass 'monster', they bought it thinking it was rather rude looking. The children oblivious to what us adults find funny duly watered the monster and we talked about what is needed to make things grow .. uhhum.

This month brings us to two years of home educating. We have evolved as a family and enjoyed the enhanced lifestyle that education at home has brought us all.

I personally have read many more books than I ever did, a few of them about other peoples theories on education, some of those books were quite alarming or disturbing in a good way of course. Things I had never thought of about the school system before, things to make you think about how you are bringing your children up. Not that we ever had any issues with Mag's prior schooling. Mag's school was unique, his school had 26 children and boasted as close to one on one attention a child could get whilst being in an education establishment. When his school closed down we looked at alternative schools. The other schools could not offer to us that same environment so we took fear and decided to try teaching the children at home. I wont say it was an easy decision to make, but once we did we embraced it whole heartedly - I think I always was a home educator just waiting for the chance to do so.

Anyways - I don't want to ramble (or maybe I do) ... this WAS leading somewhere at some stage ...

We took the last week or two off from real life as an opportunity to discuss what direction we are going in this year with regard to the children's education. Mag is still intent on doing his first GCSE this year though I am not sure he is quite ready. He has been working incredibly hard at a subject he loves (amongst others) - mathematics. The exam forms need to be filled in this month, and he has a school who will take him as an external candidate if we decide to go ahead.

With regard to learning, Mag follows a slightly structured style, following on from what he did in school just came naturally to him. We have found he is learning a broader range of things that he would have been in school, his appetite for knowledge is huge.

For the younger children we are not quite unschoolers, yet we are not strict schoolers. We do skool every day but when life gets in the way we don't! The children do spend their mornings making things, doing 'projects', they love nature work, stories, drawing etc. Toni is an excellent reader, and Seb is brilliant with numbers. Sol has a great imagination and can role play many situations. We do what I call 'structured' work too but the emphasis is on making the time the children have fun and rewarding.

Materials we have purchased this last year have been minimal, I was lucky enough to get to go and scavenge when our local school closed down. We got loads of reading books, drawing paper, exercise books, jigsaws etc We have purchased workbooks from an education website and a few books from amazon too but on the whole we didn't need much which makes life easier.