Perspectives, recovery from the wobble!..

The Wright Stuff on Channel 5 put home education on the agenda on Friday mornings show. 

I was fully expecting the usual bashing that goes with that on these programmes but I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction and positivity around it. 

Their facebook thread which you can find here, was equally as positive, full of positive stories...

My wobble from the other day has now disappeared and I have fully found my confidence again, just too much going on but my essays are in, and I took a day off yesterday to do nothing, no housework, no study, no work, just a wander round town to collect Louby's new Glasses and a trip to a cafe, yes I even had tea out instead of cooking and having to wash up..and a wander round a few shops, window shopping..

I now feel fully recovered from my wobble and have my positive hat back on.

Things are never as bad as they seem when you sit back and take a look at things and see them for what they are and along with the Wright show and my day off to do nothing, things seem good again!..

I need to take more breaks than I do and sleep more.... my output is far better when I have slept more, I achieve more study, housework seems to just get done easily, work gets completed and the kids get to places on time.

Sleep is my medicine and I have to force myself to take it!...

How long does it take for cheese to go solid in the freezer?

The kids made me laugh with this one and I was a bit miffed I couldn't have my cheese on toast for lunch, but give them their due they where thinking outside the box.

They had asked, so with quick thinking I helped them find the answer and added some variables in for them, below is how they found their answer.

They first grated cheese into a bowl and placed it in the freezer 

 Then they filled the ice cube try with water and some of the sections they put some salt

  We then noted down the time!....

 

  

                                                      I asked them a series of question.

                              How long do you think it will take to freeze?

                              Do you think the cheese will freeze faster than the water? 

                              Do you think the salt will affect how the water freezes!. 

We then waited to get our answers...

Whilst we were waiting with great patience, they then decided to put some items in some water and see what happens to the item. 

We took a look a few hours later we looked and the cheese was frozen, we also took the ice trays and pots out of the freezer, but the kids observed there was still water in the bottom and bubbles moved around the pots, so they put the large pots back in the freezer.

The ice cube trays where ready, 

They noticed without asking that the sections with the salt the ice had disappeared. 

They answered their question of which would freeze first the water or the cheese

Answer being Cheese.

And the additional question of
why have the large pots taken longer to freeze than the small ice cube trays?

They answered with, 

The small compartments in the ice trays where smaller than the big pots 

so did not take as long to ice up,  as there was not as much water in them as the big pots.

 We also did the ice cube glue test which you can find here

Oliver had a brainwave whilst the pots where back in the freezer and we were waiting for them to come back out and he questioned how will they get the toys out of the ice?

 

I just asked them to think about it and what would make the ice melt, they both shouted hot water and decided to put the toys in the hot water when they had finished eagerly waiting for them to finally come out of the freezer, properly frozen.....

 

finally they came out.

 They then put the pots under hot water to retrieve the toys...

Whilst we where doing this, we where noting down the times and when they had finished they where attempting to work out how long it had taken, for this we used multi links to make our own clock and drew on the numbers.

 And we worked out how many hours it had taken us to freeze the water.

That was a lot of fun today and guess what the film of the evening is going to be.. ..

Yes of course the Fabulous Frozen...

Book of the week - Jacob O'Reily wants a pet

Our book of the week this week is Jacob O'Reiley wants a pet by Lynne Richards and Lee Wildish..

A lovely little book about a boy who wants a pet and his parents suggested he did pet sitting. After a rather fraught experience pet sitting, he ends up adopting a snail as a pet.

This brought back fond memories for me of when they first experienced a snail in the garden, and Oliver went running round the garden screaming in fear which was not funny for him, but to watch it and experience that moment of first encounter is a comical memory.

The kids loved this book and so did I because of my fond memories so we have done a few activities surrounding snails. 

We have created a snail hotel and they have adopted some snails of their own.

I have read up a bit myself on snails and had some great inspiration for asking the twins some specific questions about snails and I used this fabulous website called Kiddyhouse for my resources which includes a few worksheets to give them some extra reading, writing and spelling practice with and a few games, colouring and painting activities and of course singing where they learnt a new song and read a poem.

Oliver particularly enjoyed this weeks book of the week activities, and Louby has requested horses for next time, I don't think she was so keen...

Darn TMA's

My course has been going really well but having to spend a lot of time trying to find new suppliers since I ditched the maternity pillows from my inventory, time has been of the essence.

Last time the TMA' where due in I had to get an extension on my submission date but fortunately I

had to only take a day or two, this time I have had to take a week for each one, which is disappointing especially as the weather is glorious for once and I am stuck inside not being able to join the kids in some garden fun, and the kids have voiced their disappointment to me, which makes me feel all the worse.

I am enjoying these courses more than I thought I would but I am not enjoying the substantial work you have to complete doing two 60 point courses at once.

I have learnt a lot about my weaknesses whilst doing TMA's this time round and I can safely say I need to improve dramatically on my essay construction.

I have tended to jump right in and start selecting material and then putting the essay together whereby really I should do a plan, which I keep cutting out, as I think I don't have time but the reality is if I did do a plan I could select the correct material for the essay with much more ease instead of writing and then re writing and then rewriting again which would get the essay done in a quarter of the time I waste.

I am finding the old saying of fail to plan, you plan to fail a very true saying right now. 

I know that I will have to pull my socks up and start to prioritise things a little better than I do now, the one thing I have always been good at is balancing everything that I have to do, but right now I seem to have lost the plot and I quickly need to find it again.

I have an exam in September, my first exam for many many years so I cannot cut corners like I am doing, at some point I have to go over the materials instead of skimming the materials for what I need in the essays.

My tutors are great and give good feedback on each TMA and are very accessible if needed, I just have to get my queries in order and clarify my difficult points so that I can get some guidance.

All in all, hopefully I can get these two essays done before the end of my extension date, right now it is looking unlikely but I am trying!!!!!!....

Home Education Groups.

There has been an explosion of home education groups on facebook over the past year or so, previously there where a small number of groups when I first fell into home education and started researching, I tagged along to some events with the kids even before they could walk, talking to other mums and finding out more about what home education was.

With the rise in groups I have felt more isolated due to the growing complexity of all the different groups that have formed, some for maths, some for art, some for Geography and Geology, the vast array just confuses me all the more. 

At one time all this information was available in one group with everyone sharing resources achievements and lesson suggestions and methods of teaching etc, and finding about different methods of home ed, sadly now you have to go hunting through reems of groups to find anything specific and the falling over a great post and an idea you would have never thought of seems to have all but disappeared.

There seems to be some kind of competition on who can get the biggest group, I have a group that was set up not by myself but someone else, and this was not by me wanting to have a group, but because I was forced into having the group to stay attached to my local area.

The local area group that was already set up for Manchester was handy for me but unfortunately despite many requests to join, it was ignored for some reason so I was an outcast and not allowed in the group, to this day I have no reason why, but when I was asked to take over this separate group that was newly set up I decided that seeing as I was not allowed into the already established group that I would, you can find the group I admin here  

*UPDATED* The group I did admin on I no longer admin on due to some crazy person deciding to have a go after being in the group for two days and a co-admin who also was a bit doolally crazy removed me from my own group... rotfl... the person in question who caused issues over something quite pathetic is now admin on the group.. lol, yes there are some strange people who actually do this kind of thing... anyway moving on I set up another group which you can find here.   It did end up being a blessing in disguise as the other group I spent a lot of time listing on lots of home ed directories, and there was all and sundry on there, and probably not very many that where home ed. I have kept this group off directories and it is only usually found by word of mouth or invite by a known home educator, so it has worked out and it has also got rid of the dregs I couldn't stand anyway, so hey ho onwards and upwards, I now only associate with those I actually like, the only admin is me and they days of spats and bitching are now gone, its a nice group with no bitching and if there ever is I can just remove at my own discretion without question with being the only admin.***

The groups being so fragmented are difficult for me to follow at the best of times so I only have a look in now and again to see if there is anything to catch up on and I am only a member of a couple of groups otherwise I would have thousands of notifications a day, quite often there isn't anything useful these days to catch up on.

I normally just take to google now, although if there is something we are interested in and we have a trip planned then I will put it on the group I admin and see if there is any interest for anyone tagging along, although this isn't very often, I arranged the trip to the Gruffalo which was a good meet, everyone seemed to enjoy the play.

The group I admin is also fragmented no one knows what is going on and where, things are not very organised, there is a yahoo group set up that people seem to post on frequently which I never use so I never know what is going on, the reems of emails that come through are astonishing and baffle my brain so I don't use it, otherwise I would spend all day trying to read through each email conversation. **UPDATE CONTINUED**** This is the reason why I was ousted from my own group, because I asked people to put events in the events tab instead of on multiple threads where everything gets lost, the new person who had been in there two days did not like being asked to do this and took offence and started causing shite over it, the other admin clearly thought she was right the rest is history, noobs....*****

So for now I am feeling a bit isolated from the home ed community of my own making really, and don't really have any clue what is going on in my area, it would be nice to meet with other home ed families regularly but it does not seem to happen for us, so my doubts about isolation and socialising are actually becoming a bit of a reality despite me strongly disputing socialisation is an issue in reality I think it is.

Home education can be quite isolating for me anyway, the kids don't seem to be phased by it but I would like to see them have a couple of regular mates they play with, they do get socialisation by going to dance and drama and regular trips to the park and library etc and there will be more groups they join but I would like to see them making friends, Louby particularly would thrive on it going to tea at a friends or having someone over to play.

I actually do feel a bit sad that they haven't got any regular little friends, so hopefully this will improve over time and something I will have to focus on for them, as they do need more than each other and me, so I do have to get out of this hermit mode and start to integrate with the home ed community a little more and start to make more of an effort in that direction, and find my own confidence in meeting new people which I have never been any good at.

 I generally find I have these huge walls up and keep people at a distance so I think this is time to change myself and start finding my own socialising feet and get more involved in the groups, and get rid of this silly feeling of being a pest and not wanted anywhere by anyone which has dogged me most of my life

The kids did have little friends when they where little but they seem to have drifted off and we never get invites to anything so rather than pestering people who don't want us around I have just left it, we never hear from anyone so we do need to find people that want us around without me pestering them and them feeling like they have to tolerate us out of politeness.

I really do have to find my socialising feet, which I know will be difficult for me, at the age of 41 you would have thought I would have mastered that art by now, but I have gone the other way and become a hermit finding friend forming a difficult task to do.

The big bang theory -The Friendship Algorithm, is an interesting theory!!!!...... enjoy..

Abandoning phonics!..

When we where using phonics the kids got very confused so we only used the method for a very short time and switched to the DISTAR method and oh what a difference it makes.

I purchased the book 'Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons', After months of using phonics they only made a small step forwards with reading, since using DISTAR they have come on leaps and bounds.

Within a couple of weeks they started to read simple words, we haven't had an awful lot of time recently with all the other things we have been doing, but we have been able to use the method with whatever we are doing so the practise never stops and I also hear Louby and Boliver regularly trying to spell things out on their own, so despite their protests whilst doing the book they are enjoying it and the bonus is it incorporates writing in the lessons so they have also been gaining some writing confidence.

I leave bits of paper around with the sounds we have been learning that day and they just write them as and when they please, we usually do half an hour after they have finished Stagecoach on a Saturday and try to fit some in during the week, all in all they do not have very much time on the actual book and the progress is amazing to say how little time we actually do spend on it.

How they are doing it is beyond me, I think something has clicked in them with using the DISTR method that the phonics just did not do or give them, from only just being able to recite the alphabet with actually knowing and understanding what the letters are to actually reading whole words within a couple of weeks I am more than impressed.

The one thing I can say though is that the use of phonics has damaged their learning process in my opinion and slowed them down, I really regret using phonics to start with and wish I had actually discovered this DISTAR method earlier, it can seem very monotonous at first when you start the program as it uses that key concept of repetition so for me and the kids it was hard to follow, but they have mastered it and half an hour is enough  to show a lot of progress.

We have been trawling the charity shops for more books and have found some great reads and they have been very keen since we started this program, we have even stepped up from once a month going to the library to fortnightly at the twins request, so this DISTAR seems to have done more than just helped them to read it has given them a new love of books.

Phonics has been well and truly abandoned and now we are doing it naturally with the help of DISTAR. 

I can certainly see why many kids in school end up leaving school without learning to read. Phonics really does not work effectively and misses that vital spot for many kids including the twins, DISTAR is the way forwards, for us anyway.

You can grab your copy over here on ebay at a reasonable price

Embarking on Geology....

Well that took me by surprise, we have now embarked on Geology. 

Oliver posed the question of what is inside the earth, I was a bit taken back as I know nothing on Geology so I gave him a basic answer of 'lets find out'.. off we took to Google....

Wow such an interesting topic, I feel I have been missing out!...

So far I found a great site to explain it in my language, which you can find here but not so much Oliver's language, I understand the basics now so I can go on and answer some more of his questions as I am sure his little mind is ticking over and thinking of the next question, but a definite volcano project is going to be under way pretty soon .

I like the fact that there is so much not answered or explained in Geology and there are a lot of theories, it will be something that Oliver and Olivia will think about and question quite often, giving them an understanding that not everything has an answer hopefully leading them to explore some more for themselves.

I think we will enjoy this topic over the coming years as I am sure we will revisit this topic often.

So far we have found some good sites to explore further, this one is my favourite so far OneGeology-Extra Oliver really liked this site as it is in a language he can understand, although I had to do a lot of the reading as he is not confident to read anything that is not basic just yet, so hopefully sites like this will encourage his reading as he is doing very well so far with recognising and spelling basic words. a lot of things on this site lead onto him asking further questions,we spent a good few hours discovering new things in Geology.

I also found a group you can join called rock watch which sounds interesting with magazine subscription and lots of events taking place you can attend in museums and field trips, it may be something I look at joining in with for them, and the subscription is very reasonable at only £15 per year for a family. Oliver particularly likes rocks he is always bringing a rock or two home wherever we go, we have quite a collection now so why not let him build it and learn more about them.

A video I found that Oliver watched was pretty useful for basic facts called The earth inside Out, a bit slow but understandable for him.

 Another one which we watched called plate tectonics which you can see here.

So now we have to plan for some volcano experiments and some rock collecting and earth model projects to fill our time with Geology, which will be shared in due course.

If you have any geology project and craft ideas I would love to hear them, or if you know of any good sites for kids that would be a massive help just leave me a comment.

We found a great bunch of Bill Nye the science guy videos on geology, Oliver was glued to them, Volcanoes which you can find below and a bunch of other videos on Geology, the Earths crust, dinosaurs, archaeology, there are all sorts of videos.

Arrrggghhhh a wobble moment!...

(updated and recovered from wobble can be found here)

I have had a bit of a wobble today, I'm not sure why I just think it has been a very busy few days and I am tired.

I have 2 essays that are due in and I have not even started them, let alone looked at the materials. on top of having to try and find new suppliers for my ebay store, which you can take a peek at here and maybe buy something if you so feel inclined, (you never know you may find something useful).

I have client Tax returns that need doing besides my own that should have been done ages ago, this financial turmoil seems to be getting worse not better, the harder I try and the more I work the less money seems to come in, it wouldn't be so bad if I had some kind of maintenance to help out but the pittance I do get of £6.65 every two weeks does not really go very far towards the twins upkeep, with a mortgage and council tax and clothes to buy it's been tough going the past few months on top of the usual mad mess of a house and the piles of washing and mess building up around my ears that the twins make every day.

It is very difficult being a single parent in the first instance so I have told myself not to be to hard on myself, I don't have anyone to put the washer on for me, or cook for the evening for once or even decide what we are going to eat.  Someone to say tenderly "you go and have a sleep I will watch the twins" or take them to the park whilst I get on with the things I need to do, someone to even just give me a kick up the back side when I am feeling a bit down or just someone there to tell the exciting bits of my day to. 

It's at these times you think maybe it would be nice to just have a tiny weeny bit of support from somewhere, but sadly this is not the case so plod on is what you do. 

If I had the support I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway, and at my time of life after being a single parent for the past 26 years, it would be a bit difficult to 'let anyone in', and I gave up asking for help a long time ago as it usually always fell on deaf ears, so, we just plod on  'alone'.

I know I am doing too much but what choice do I have?, either way I am buggered and have to plod on..... Send the twins to school and get a job and I will still be in the same situation only with a different set of problems, school bullshit to start with, uniforms to buy, nagging's from teachers, lateness every day as we have an inbuilt 'always late' button. 

The twins are well behaved, but then I am used to their quirky side, school would see it very differently and I would be constantly in school on bad behaviour lectures for behaviour that isn't naughty, but part of their personality, and the most important reason is they adamantly 'do not' want to go to school.

Life would be just as difficult as it is now, as I would still have to do housework and manage household day to day tasks alone, the same as I do now, only with the added stress of working for someone who under appreciates me and pays me peanuts.

The bills wont stop, they will just increase with petrol and work clothes and diners every day, school

trips and those extra bits of cash these schools are always asking parents for,  and the worst of all,  I would have to deal with working with people I can't stand every day, on top of doing probably a job I hate.

Study is not really an option to give up voluntarily, the twins won't be babies forever and I do need to prepare myself for that rat race when they flee the nest and do their own thing, and I don't intend to carry on doing those pittance jobs that cover the basic bills, if I have to work when the kids leave home I am hoping my last few years on this earth with not be spent surviving on peanuts and I have at least a bit of something to have a holiday or two, I reckon I deserve it after the hard work I have put in to life, despite all the irreversible mistakes I have made that has put me in the position I am in now.

Or I could just lie down and forget it and just not prepare for then, and just float along until my deathbed hits me, but my bones wont let me do that, it feels like if I give up study then I give up on life. I love the twins with all my heart but I do need something for myself, which is my study, but at this rate it looks like I am on the path to failure anyway if I don't get my act together and get these essays done and the study material covered.

I could just give up trying to get the ebay side of things going properly for an income, but then it would feel like all that time and effort I have given over to it was just a waste of time, but then what would I do with that time besides study, I think the main reasons for study and Ebay are that they fill my time, it fills that emptiness that would be there otherwise when the twins are not there but in bed., so it is a given I would probably just fill it with something else.

I am just on a life review I think, I just worry that I am not giving the twins enough of what they need, whatever that may be, I am pulled in so many directions I just feel like I am about to rip apart like a piece of fragile paper, it is difficult at the moment, but made more bearable by knowing I am doing my best, it may be all wrong, but I am doing my best.

The overriding factor to everything is that what am I doing all this for? and that is for the twins, to ensure that when they grow up they will be well prepared for the world and all it's tough times and mistakes they will make along the way, to prepare them for real life, educate them to educate themselves and live a fulfilled and happy life but to also enjoy the journey along the way.

I look at them now and see that whatever I am doing is working for them, watching them decide what they want to do each day, they have started to decide for themselves what they do, each morning they have announced their plans for the day, be that art or reading or playing in the garden even down to what they want to eat or if they want to bake or do something in particular, like find out something they want to know about. To my astonishment, Louby even asked for some work on her English project and to do a lapbook, Oliver regularly requests Maths Seeds. 

Watching them recognise words and actually put pen to paper and write something of their own accord without being prompted, asking me to read certain words for them that they don't know. 

They are doing it, they are learning and educating themselves, becoming inquisitive and finding out for themselves, questioning.

How would that all change if they went to school? I would become un-engaged not only with their learning but with them, they would just go with the motions of school giving  me the odd tit bit here and there, I would have no clue about my children. I would be giving up my responsibility and handing my children over to the state to educate as they please, to mold into whatever they choose whilst I do what many working single parents do which is spend their time working long hours trying to pay bills, missing out on my kids lives, we would not be a family unit with any purpose, just people living under the same roof practically strangers going with the motions.

I have no doubt they will be happy with whatever they do, they are happy children but statistically very few children go on to achieve their  full potential or even tap the surface, the majority leave for mundane jobs or hit the dole que, the lucky ones go on to college or university only to join the rest in the dole cue or in mundane jobs, the chunk that make the grade and end up in good jobs or further their education or even travel or start businesses do that because they self study.

I have to take the gamble, I have to look at our situation and decide what is the best way forwards not only for them but for me too. What is the purpose of school?, the purpose is to educate children for the world of work and in finding a way to economically sustain themselves, my view from my window is the outlook for us is bleak, failing schools in our area where the majority end up on the dole on or in mundane low waged work with very few or no aspirations in life.

It would be wrong of me not to try to give them the tools to make a better life for themselves than what is expected of them in schools in my area, where aspirations are low and kids leaving school being able to read is an achievement. I want more for them than that, I want them to enjoy the journey to whatever they do, and the conventional path for us  is one I do not want them to tread!....

The young man Stephen Sutton passed away today and lessons can be learnt from that young man, to never give up, life is to be lived and not squandered and he certainly made the best of what time he had, he was thrown lemons and made lemonade. If you don't know who Stephen Sutton is go and check him out here and give yourself a dose of inspiration.

The Dragon and the Turtle...

(In the spirit of full disclosure, this post contains affiliate links, which means that I may get a commissions if you decide to purchase anything. I only recommend products that I have used and love myself, so I know you’ll be in good hands.)



For our book theme this week we are keeping with the dragon theme but giving it a twist and adding in  a Turtle and covering the childrens book entitled The Dragon and The turtle -

This is a great little book to cover and you can find the website here for the Dragon and Turtle.

There are two books in this series, the dragon and the turtle and the dragon and the turtle go on Safari.

 

We have kicked off the week by making our own Dragon and Turtle and of course had to put in a Castle.

They also started to write and think about their own story of a Dragon and Turtle.

I found a great lapbook for Turtles that we have chosen but obviously just picked out theworksheets and some other ideas to do from homeschool share

More great Dragon and Turtle activities coming up

Bank Holiday Monday and Quarry bank Mill

I was at a loss of what to do with Bank Holiday Monday but we ended up deciding to go to Quarry bank Mill for the May Day Event and take a picnic with us!.

I am not a big fan of Quarry Bank Mill due to the barbaric history of Slavery there.

I always find the glorification of those slave masters the Gregs rather disdainful. 

You can find out more about the history here if you are interested. 

I always get filled with sadness thinking about the sadness those cotton trees brought to millions of people (slaves).

We headed off and the weather was glorious, I had planned to show the twins the mill and the apprentice house and watch the Maypole dance  but we never got to go to the apprentice house as they where so engrossed in the natural play park that I had no chance of dragging them away.

 

Oliver hated it in the mill as it was far too noisy for him with machinery whirring away, he was in quite a bit of distress walking round and couldn't wait to get out, bless his cotton socks, he is so sensitive to noise any loud noises usually drive him mad, he can hear a pin drop in the noisiest of places, he always manages to pick out sounds no one else can hear until he tells you and asks what they are which he does quite often.

Olivia enjoyed herself and was particularly taken by the dress in the first hall.

 

Here I was telling them all about the slaves and what they did at the mill and they where not interested in the slightest, I tried to get them to listen to the demonstration the lady was giving on the loom but nope, not interested in the slightest, so we just carried on at their pace which was pretty much at a sprint as they just wanted to get out, the machinery and all their amazing engineering did not capture the kids imagination at all.

 They did finally come to a point where they could be hands on and they actually slowed down and stopped to have a go!.

 Finally they got their way and ended up back outside where we sat and ate our lunch of savoury rice and chicken whilst we watched the maypole dance.

We the attempted to walk over to the Apprentice house but got waylaid on the way and ended up in the natural play park where we ended up staying for the rest of the afternoon.

We then headed to the waterfall for an ice cream before heading home with two very dirty and very tired children.

Not a very educational day out but certainly a lot of fun!...

So to leave you with some education inspiration here is a song about the Peterloo Massacre which is about the cotton workers in Manchester uprising which you can find out more about here

 (very interesting reading for Mancunians)

and this little song I found in tribute entitled:-

Oldham Tinkers: Peterloo song!.