This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

I was away on a school residential last week, so Steve and the children were here alone. To be honest, I’m not surprised they didn’t miss me as this year Steve has done pretty much everything even when I am here, as I’ve been buried under work. I usually cook tea but apparently the children did that between them. They had a busy week, including two piano exams, four performances at the DPAF, a hockey match, various lessons as usual, and an additional trip to see Fantastic Mr Fox – the Opera with Grandma & Grandpa. By the time I got home the house was relatively tidy and hoovered, plus clean sheets on my bed, and Abbie had cooked dinner during her Home Economics lesson – result! Josiah does seem to be walking around in a pair of identical shoes to his own, two sizes too big – but that’s a minor detail! Some poor child at school will be wondering why their feet hurt …

My residential was at the Calvert Trust, an outdoor ed place specifically for people with disabilities. It was an amazing week yet totally exhausting, as residentials always are I know, but probably more so given that we were doing round the clock care for our kids as well. Accommodation was fab – I think my little group were quite lucky though, we had the biggest apartment including a tv in the lounge, so we had a few of the kids in most mornings to watch tv while waiting for breakfast!

The kids all got to abseil, climb, and canoe, as well as take part in other activities like crate stacking, horse riding and archery. There was a swimming/hydrotherapy pool onsite too – with jacuzzi, and as well as all that there were evening activities to choose from as well; arts and crafts, a visit from the local zoo with animals to interact with, then a disco on the final night. Staff joined in with all the activities too, and it was as challenging for some of them as it was for the children! For some kids it was a huge deal just to be away from home; one of my students was totally thrown and hardly ate all week, and was very quiet and reticent – but managed it and enjoyed the activities that weren’t height related. He did look VERY pleased to be back in the familiar surroundings of school on the last day though! Other students enjoyed the independence and freedom offered them in that setting, and had a ball taking part in activities that they don’t normally have the opportunity to do, and it was such a treat to see them enjoying themselves so much.

The staff at the centre were fantastic – I was lucky to be designated as official photographer (I took 756 shots in 5 days!) so I got to see all three of the activity groups at work, and see how the staff worked so well with our students – obviously that’s what they’re trained to do but I was still totally impressed! Sensory introductions to activities, photos/symbols to explain what we were going to do, games to help students who found things challenging, etc. etc. Endless patience. Just amazing. I can’t post many photos, of course, but here are a few that don’t show any more than the activities in the beautiful surroundings. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, which made it all the more enjoyable

And having written this post, now I am wondering why I keep the blog here at all. Perhaps I will just let it disappear into the ether …

Last week went by in a bit of a blur; my Monday and Tuesday were spent doing extra work to get things ready for the class during the rest of the week, while I went up to Kettering for a three day course on Autism. This was good for a number of reasons – I’m interested in autism a fair bit anyway, the course was really good, but also it was nice to have a little break from the norm, and I got to stay with some good friends who just happen to live in Kettering – bonus!

As a result, I’m not entirely sure of much of what went on at home; Steve held the fort admirably, and I got home on Friday night and have been thrown back into the usual manic weekend activity! We did have a nice meal out first though – bumped into a number of people we knew at the Chinese down the road, which was amusing!

Now I am desperately trying to get through housework and the washing but people keep tidying their room (aka chucking all the clothes that were on the floor into the wash regardless of whether they need washing or not ).

This morning we had choir/orchestra/work which kept us busy until lunchtime. The children looked rather shocked this afternoon when I announced that I was going into town to meet *my* friends (apparently this is something only they should be allowed to do!). I spent a happy hour and a bit catching up over a cuppa in Costa before going home to work for a bit. Steve, meanwhile, did the food shopping and then made sandwiches to take to Josiah’s Candlelight Concert this evening – another treat at the Cathedral for us – particularly enjoyed Seek Him That Maketh the Seven Stars again.

Josiah – did really well in his violin lesson. We’d worked really hard to stick a couple of extra practices in at the weekend since there’s a concert coming up, and he’s trying desperately to learn the Millionaire’s Hoedown for a week on Sunday. He had improved loads in his practice by himself and then worked really hard in the lesson too. The lesson came after a long day at school plus a rugby match that finished late, so I was really proud of him. His Vivaldi is coming on well too …

The girls – are just enjoying school and life, busy as ever. It was St. Margaret’s Day this week, which was basically an excuse for a day off, as far as I can make out! Well, they did have a service at the Cathedral but after that they were back at school for fun activities for the rest of the day.

Steve – hoovered and dusted the whole house as well as getting through a couple of loads of washing without being asked! Josiah was quite surprised as well and commented “that doesn’t sound like *my* daddy!” A lovely thing to come home to after a tiring day at work, though I would like to point out that he didn’t quite finish the ironing, despite his comment in the post below

Me? I’ve just been working. We do have an occasional day on Monday though so I am really looking forward to that!!

However. There were some highlights in the week; particularly (for me) the after school trip that I organised for some of my students to see an open rehearsal of the Exeter Symphony Orchestra. It was a hectic day and quite a feat to get the kids all through their tea and onto the buses in time but we made it with plenty of time to spare, and the students got so much out of it. The whole thing fitted in really well with a unit study we’d done on the orchestra, so that was great – in fact one of the TAs asked whether I’d given the conductor my planning for the unit as it fitted in so well! Some wonderful staff members gave up their own time to make it all happen, a bottle of wine and a box of doughnuts wasn’t really enough thanks!

Steve’s been working hard as ever, and I don’t really know about the children, having not really had much time to talk to them about their weeks, if I’m honest (and of course even if I did ask them how their week had been I’d probably get monosyllabic grunts!).

Yesterday Steve worked all day. The rest of us were busy with various combinations of choir, orchestra, and concerts, so apart from a couple of hours at lunchtime we were all out all day.

Today’s been a day just for catching up with housework etc., around other commitments. Josiah had choir this morning but has played really nicely with his M-Gears set this afternoon. I keep trying to remind him about some homework but he’s playing so well that I feel mean to try and drag him away! Abbie is making me a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ example for artwork at school this week. I’m planning lessons and Steve’s playing guitar then watching the Grand Prix (upstairs, thank goodness). Anna’s out at another SWMS day, on improvisation. While these days are great for her I think she’s going to struggle as she hasn’t really had much downtime this weekend.

That’s about it. Being emotional makes you even more exhausted than you were before, and I’m falling asleep as I write – at only 4pm.

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password: