Wild Flowers

Rushed out this morning to group without much enthusiasm to be honest, but I wanted to get there for the knitting activity that was promised. Was great to see some of the people and catch up. Pea 2 enjoyed starting knitting a yellow duck and SweetP decided that sewing a felt chicken was more her style and they both concentrated on this until it was time for lunch. Pea 1 was happiest in the ‘toddler area’ building a large castle from blocks-she seems to enjoy activities like this wherever we go,my favourite was the large scale model of Stonehenge that she built at Crownhill fort (I’ll pop a photo on when I learn how ).
After lunch, it was time for Spanish and, to be honest, I think it was our last. The teacher is wonderful but the Peas are struggling with it and that’s kind of stripping away their enthusiasm. The possibility of splitting the main group into younger and older children has been suggested and might be better for us but I have realised that there is a local Spanish group that is aimed at younger children running near me on a Saturday morning and, whilst it is going to be far more expensive, I think they’ll get more out of it. Just to be difficult,Pea 1 would rather go to the French group before it but if she’s interested hopefully she’ll concentrate.
After a family discussion, we’ve all decided that the home-ed group we’ve been attending in the week isn’t really working for us at the mo and we’d rather spend the day at home working and then hopefully use the Thursday as a trip day now the warmer weather is coming (ha ha). Having such a long day on Wednesday (leaving the house at 10:30 and getting home at 6:45) was wiping us all out and Thursday was turning into a veg and do nothing day and then Friday was following the same pattern with no motivation. I’m hoping the three days to work and then an educational trip will help our week run more smoothly. Also, as Thursday is the only day when the Peas don’t have some sort of after school club, it means that we don’t have to rush back for anything and can enjoy the day, and if Friday goes by the wayside it doesn’t really matter as we’ll have had a better week .
I’m sorry but I’m not a great believer in Autonomous learning as Pea 1 and 2 are incredibly lazy (as am I) and would either play or watch t.v so a structured week is the way we have to operate and I don’t feel that I can take days off in the week constantly as we tend to keep the weekends work free and of course they’re with DEP a lot. It works for us (mostly) and we do tend to take early (and longer) half terms to chill out when necessary. I’m not an evil ogre who keeps my children chained to the table working all day (as this blog shows ) but I equally believe that they do have to be made to do some work and often are inspired by the subjects that I suggest and do suggest areas that they are interested in as well so I’m not totally running the show as it were. The children do have plenty of free time and I’m always willing to drop something planned for an activity that they have suggested but I do feel that children need guidence (mine anyway ). Have to feel motivated soon

We’ve had a great day all round really ( apart from an afternoon screaming fit from me that wasn’t really warranted but was prompted by my ears hurting and general grumpiness setting in ). This morning we got up earlier than normal (which has been about 9:30 so anything before that is good ) and the dog hadn’t eaten the newspaper so the day looked promising-however I then discovered she’d taken packets off the side and wet the carpet . The Peas all listened to the Ambleside poetry with enthusiasm (they love poetry ) and I pulled out an ancient book on nature study and we did some water experiments to start the day- water properties etc. It seemed to go down really well and hopefully this book will prove quite useful for mini-science topics.
After this, we had another couple of poems and a short story from another forgotten gem on my bookshelf (one of my resolutions this year is to use my home resources more) . This led into blindfold games of guess who? and also a discussion on what we notice about people apart from their faces.
Then, we spent a while looking in the mirror together and finding similarities and differences,even between Pea 1 and 2 and drew pictures of each other. Pea 2 had a bit of an artistic tantrum, as she couldn’t get hers quite right, and we averted disaster by playing down the drawing side and talking up the observational point of the exercise. All the Peas seemed very surprised that I could draw and it made me realise that I should join in more and instruct less. This led into self portraits looking in the mirror,though Pea 1 drew herself with curly hair as that’s what she likes-missing the point really .To finish off, we played a giggly game trying to make each other laugh-SweetP is very good at this as I find it hard to keep a straight face when she’s being silly. Everyone helped clear the table ready for lunch and we all stuck our efforts up on the wall.
After lunch, the Peas took it in turns to go on EC and do their normal stuff and Pea 2 practised her cello. I had planned to do some more art with them, but got on with the housework while they were all working quietly. Then I retreated to the sofa with ear pain and tried to get some quiet but the phone kept ringing and the computer kept crashing so I gave up. My sister phoned just before the music run, so had a quick chat and raced off .
This evening Pea 2 and SweetP had a Brownie disco, so tea was rushed (and rubbish ) and I dropped them off. They were quite concerned that they didn’t know how to dance !?! but were soon enjoying themselves . Pea 1 came back with me and entertained the little girl next door, whilst on the internet, and emailed a close friend who moved away recently. Unfortunately, it looks like our neighbours are moving too and I had a bad mummy moment when I told Pea 2 and SweetP after their disco and they cried-I think I should have left it until tomorrow .
I think I have to teach the children more confidence in themselves though, as SweetP’s actions this evening have shown. Apparently, although I had said the money that I gave them for ‘tuck and drinks’ at the disco was theirs to spend as they liked, SweetP upon having bought two packets of sweets decided that I wouldn’t approve and put one back . I’ve talked this through with her and she seems to have relaxed but seriously I feel like an ogre making my children afraid of my reaction to anything they do .
The title for this post comes from overhearing a conversation the Peas were having over dinner whilst I washed the dishes. They seem to have a good grasp of the basic situation-men love ladies,ladies love men,some men love men, some ladies love ladies (we had to discuss homosexuality before when the word gay came up in a story book and the Peas had asked what it meant. I explained jolly/happy as the books meaning and then they wanted to know why someone had called them it as an insult. After explaining that that person was a moron, I explained with the modern term- I hate other peoples children )and then I stuck my oar in with”I don’t think Lesbianism is a subject for meal times” and the obvious question was “What is a lesbian, mummy?”. I know I said before that I wanted my children to be interested in the world around them but any subject that isn’t likely to have DEP’s family (and mine) dropping dead with shock would be good. I had enough grief when Pea 1 announced that babies came out of your minnie at Grandma’s roast lunch table ( I thought it was best to correct the assumption that they came out of your bum ). Anyway all was explained with the minimum of fuss-apparently they knew ladies could get married to each other from the paper though Pea 1 was most annoyed at a friend (the same one ) who had called her a lesbian because she’d said that she loved me-isn’t it lovely what they learn at school ? . I love home-ed and I’m quite proud of the Peas for having a lovely relaxed attitude to life and how other people lead it .

……is all I seem to do at the moment. That and behave like a member of the Brady bunch-must praise children,must smile always,must not get annoyed at stupid behaviour,must be patient,must be perfect mother,must have nervous breakdown…..oh,wait…
Surely it’s not too much to ask that, when I tell people once or twice to do something that they do it? Rather than vanish off to the toilet/computer room/bedroom/outer space. I hate nagging and I hate having to do it in that saccharin(sp?) voice -”Sweetie,mummy told you to do your workbook, so can you stop conversing with the cat and concentrate for longer than 60 seconds please?”-but the alternative is rather more choice language coupled with the “I’ve had enough,maybe you all need to go to school now you little B@~#!*”.
Anyway, the boring stuff-all the Peas worked hard at ‘normals’ and had a go on EC,who have renewed our trial. We all worked a bit on our Spanish homework,Pea 2 practised her cello,we watched ‘look and read’ and went to Sainsburys for a tinkerbell outfit for Pea 1’s dress as a nursery rhyme/book character event for GB tonight.
Interesting stuff-the children requested extra Ambleside reading this morning and my cat eats broccoli (maybe only interesting to me that one ).
Ended the evening with Pea 1’s Girls Brigade evening tonight-mainly a fundraiser and certainly fun for the Peas who dashed about trying quizzes,knocking over tin cans and hoopla. DEP and I missed out on the main quiz prizes by one point in both cases and so didn’t get any chocolate but our knowledge of Disney films was quite impressive between us . After GB, I asked DEP if he could pop the Peas back and start getting them PJ-ed whilst I popped to Lidl for some milk and loo paper. He really irritated me by asking if I was going to be long-we were across the road from Lidl and I’d told him what I needed- heaven forbid I might actually get 5 mins to myself whilst getting loo paper .
Missed Lidl anyway as it had already shut, so headed back for an intense chat with DEP about Pea 1’s sleep/behaviour issues-wasn’t really much help but I did need the moan

The weekend seemed to fly by again. Got up late on Saturday,rushed children to get dressed as their father was due soon and arranged shopping with Lin (tescos today ). Rushed to do some housework this morning as I had loads to do (house is a pigsty,can’t find any of my clothes,getting quite stressed with it ). At 10:20, I phoned DEP to find out his whereabouts (he’s supposed to be here at 10) only to wake him up . He finally took the Peas at 11:00.Rushed to Lin’s and we all headed off shopping.Again, I spent far too much money but hopefully it should last a while.Headed to the pet superstore and, with the car fully loaded-2 kids,2 adults, about 20 bags of shopping, a bag of rabbit food and a mop!, we headed back. I stopped for a coffee (and cake) and a chat with Lin,after nearly driving into her house . Crikey, I think all I seem to do is talk and shop at the mo and went home. Don’t know why but felt headachy and tired again, so vegged in front of the t.v for a bit and then went to bed until Peas came home. Avoided a bedtime story again, as still felt rough but feeling guilty about it, and we all had an early-ish night.
Sunday dawned bright and early (in my dreams) and after telling Pea 1 and 2 that we were all going to tidy the house today,realised I couldn’t be arsed and pottered whilst they all had a go on Education City. We all settled down and enjoyed Errol Flynn as Robin Hood in the classic movie this week (better morals this week-help the poor and downtrodden,get the baddies yay! Not sure about the robbing bit though ) and had a lovely roast for tea. Roasted butternut squash and sweetpotato was lovely as our veg and I think I’ll have to cook this again. Pea 1 had a major meltdown between bath and tea and SPAT on my carpet in annoyance so was sent to her room . It so ridiculous,one minute she’s an angelic sweetie and the next a bloody demon .
They all went to bed nicely tonight at least, but then I was tortured by the horrible spiders on ‘Supernatural’ yuck!!

Friday was a lovely day. In the morning ,after Ambleside,all the peas finished up their ‘normals’ for the week and we had our weekly spelling test. Pea 1 was awarded another star for 10/10 but Pea 2 and SweetP only got 4/15 and 5/15 respectively, so were both told that they would have an extra spelling test next week and to learn the words that they had gotten wrong. All three Peas also spent an hour each on Education City and seem to be throughly enjoying it,if finding it a bit tough at times. It does worry me that they seem to find some of the year 3 stuff challenging,especially when they would be in year 4, but I figure that they’ll catch up at some point and I’d rather that they felt confident with what they are doing and not worry about being behind/feel pressured/struggle and lose confidence. So I guess that I’ll have to learn to relax and let it happen naturally .
It’s strange though, but I do notice a huge difference,academically, between the children that I know who have been to school and are now home-ed, and the Peas who have never been in school. Sometimes it worries me that they seem behind but maybe it’s just that they’re still very immature (that’s not really the right word as I love the way that they’re still so innocent and childlike ). That’s not to say that I consider other people’s children as not innocent or childlike but academically they all seem so much more focused and their minds seem to work in a much more structured way. The Peas all still need to learn with art based/hands on/practical methods and others of the same age seem to have an ability to work from books and gather their own knowledge with the minmum of help and not be spoonfed it. It does make me see light at the end of the tunnel though,to see others of a similar age working independently . Anyways, as long as it’s working for us, I suppose I shouldn’t fuss .
After lunch it was a dash off to Jo’s for our SP meeting. This time it was all about Spain. Jo (as usual ) had provided us with loads of fab resources to look at after her recent jaunt to sunny Spain. Upon arriving, we all looked through bills/advertisements/packets etc, which were strewn across Jo’s floor, and tried to pick out Spanish words we knew and learn some new ones (lipposuccion anyone ?). The cosmetic surgery leaflet held my attention for quite a while . After that,it was time for the children to all get busy with colouring by numbers and some Spanish worksheets, followed by an extremely delicious feast of Spanish food of all desciptions (olives and banderillos were my faves yum yum). Many thanks to Jo for being fab and providing us with a hassle free educational day and for the lovely pressies.
Jo’s cunning plan to feed us yummy food (sangria for some ! )until we could no longer move failed, and as Jo very kindly agreed to look after Pea 1, whilst I did the Brownie run, I offered Lin a life home (hee hee LIFT home-perhaps it’s too late for my brain to be writing this ) via Brownies and Sainsburys ,as she needed some shopping and I was heading there for some washing powder (it’s better than tescos own). Unfortunately, we got waylaid by the clothes and toys( and a certain amount of aimless wandering on my part ) and ended up asking Jo nicely if she could have Pea 1 for a bit longer,as I didn’t have time to get home and back before the end of Brownies, luckily she didn’t mind -and the green and blacks choccie bribe was a good idea . Bought some xmas pressies for Pea 2 whilst I was there (never too early) and headed back to Brownies to get Pea 2 and SweetP.

On entering the church to pick up Pea 2 and SweetP, I was approached by one of the ‘owls’ with the dreaded “could I have a word with you,please?”. Thoughts turned to the dreadful things that might have been done by the Peas, but she wanted to discuss home-ed .As a family they had decided to give home-edding a try and are withdrawing their kids at the end of the term . She asked about local groups and getting started and we’re going to meet up for a chat at some point . It’s great sometimes to realise that just getting out there and living our home-ed lives loud and proud means that more people see home-ed as a viable option. YAY! And she said really nice things about the Peas -proud mummy moment .
Back to Jo’s to collect Pea 1 and stop for a cuppa and a gossip and finally got home at 9:50(I’m starting to believe that Jo’s house is, in fact, a magical kingdom where time passes unbelieveably fast and, before you know it, it’s almost 10:00 again ).

Hello,
My name’s Lisa and I have an addiction to smilies. I’ve been using (and abusing ) smilies for about two months now and I’m worried that I won’t be able to blog without them. Recently the problem has gotten worse as I’ve been under some stress and have been relying on them to show my true feelings. Also, the people that I’m friends with have recently introduced me to some hardcore smilies that I didn’t know how to use before and this has led to me using more smilies of a stronger nature. I think that bloggers should be made aware of the dangers of smilies before it’s too late and people become annoyed with your blog and stop reading. I think it’s too late for me.
Remember kids-smilies aren’t

Doh!

Mixed weekend really. Great game of Monopoly which everyone else got bored with as I was winning MWAHAHA!(hence the taking over of the world bit) and more Spanish homework was done. Settled down to watch Gentlemen prefer Blondes with SweetP and we were thoroughly enjoying it until my sister came around and I retreated to the kitchen to catch-up and so missed the end of the film . I don’t know how much I’m warping SweetP’s mind with all these classic films-last weeks moral was change yourself for a man and this weeks seemed to be money is really important -well I suppose it hasn’t done me any harm .
Later on, we took the little girl next door out with us for a dog walk by the river. She hasn’t been out with us for ages-probably about 6 months- and last time managed to ruin a nice pair of trainers by stepping in dog doo. Now, my kids tend to keep an eye out for this sort of thing, as we do a lot of walking with the dog in areas where people are not very considerate, so I don’t tend to watch where they are going but thought that I had better keep an eye out so we didn’t have a repeat performance of ickiness for little L. Aside from the children choosing to walk on the side of the river that was not bathed in lovely spring sunshine, it was a great walk. The children all enjoyed feeding the swans and ducks as we walked along and we headed home out of bread but with four very excitable girls. O.k. you’ve guessed what’s coming-on the way back, all the kids were messing about and the little girl next door stepped in dog doo again . At least she learnt how to scrap it from her shoe (URGH!) so an educational experience I suppose .
Home for tea and more reading before bed. They all seem to have a passion for the rainbow fairy books at the mo which is really great as it has really given Pea 2 and SweetP the confidence to try longer books and allows Pea 1 some light reading.

Has been awful . I have had a headache every morning this week as soon as I have woken up. Pea 1 and 2 have been refusing to learn anything at all and have protested loudly about Ambleside/normals/any work at all-in fact being asked to do anything at all. However, I have held firm and refused to allow them to slope off and play with that blasted doggie daycare toy . Their favourite trick of ‘I’m an idiot and don’t even remember the basics of any subject ‘ has also not worked, as I’ve very calmly gone through anything that they have claimed not to understand about 100 times until they realised pleading stupidity did not work and just got on and did it. Spanish this week was like flogging a dead horse, with even SweetP seemingly forgetting everything she had learnt since we joined . Pea 1’s tantrums and rudeness have been unequalled-though Pea 2 has tried . Pea 1 becamed obsessed last night that her blanket had ‘germs’ and was awake until 3:30 am !!!! So, I was wide awake from 3-6 as I’d been woken so many times I think my body just gave in and said “FFS, lets just get up now !” I have yelled, moaned, screamed at times and even had an hysterical giggling fit for 15 mins when I couldn’t stop laughing but at last, today has been better .
Right, that’s the moaning over with so I’m going to focus on the good stuff .
Enjoyed group this week (though Spanish was a bit stressful due to Peas behaviour ). It was great to see Jo and O, who were back from their holiday in Spain and have some great pictures, and really enjoyed making loads of tea/coffee for everyone as I find silly things like that really de-stress me . Though I did feel a great need for wine on Wed evening after …well more stress really .
More positive points have been-Pea 2 offering to make me a cup of tea and also finding Pea 1 using google to find the translation of Spanish words for her homework without her even asking for help (seeming very grown-up at times). Ooh and I bought some resources ( I’d tap in links but it takes too long) -an Island Story, a Marco Polo activity book and something else I’ve forgotten. I’ve seen a new bag that I want,cos it’s and I like to spend when stressed All the Peas have been enjoying Education city loads, so we might join so I can keep an eye on their progress (and save my sanity a little on the teaching side in moments of stress ).
So, today the Peas have all been on Ed city loads, caught up with all their ‘normals’ for the week,done their Spanish homework,some chores and practiced their spellings for tomorrow with the minimum of fuss (apart from Pea 2 and her cello ). All in all a good day-at last .

Don’t really remember what we did on friday,except that I had to get up VERY early to get J’s 2 out the door for school and childminder when she came to pick them up.I’m very glad I don’t have to do the school run . I think we did ‘normals’ and I got on with some housework and left them to it. Spanish homework was started with great enthusiasm by Pea 1 and 2 as well, and almost completed without any help from me.
J dropped little K off for tea as she had to sort out something in the house and needed her not to be under foot and we did the Brownie run later on and dropped K home. Pea 1 had decided to stay with the little girl next door so after dropping K home,I popped to my parents to pick up the garden chairs they’d been keeping for months for me that I’d been promising to pick up when I had an empty car-not often obviously .
Picked up Pea 2 and SweetP from Brownies and books and bed as usual.
And I forgot to mention,that Pea 1 and the little girl next door had decided to completely tidy SweetP’s room this afternoon.No idea why,but I’m not complaining