Steve was back for a nice long lunch, then when he disappeared again Abbie & Joe played gamecube while I cleaned bathrooms – then we went off to pick Anna up and go to Grandma’s for tea. As predicted, she really enjoyed Set, and we enjoyed spending time with her.

A first for me and Joe, we sent an invitation to a friend he’s made at Start Right to come over and play sometime. Would you believe, the children have, until now, never made friends with anyone whose parent I didn’t know at least a little bit – at least, not to the extent of wanting to invite them over. Marginally amusing that it’s Josiah who has done it!

Anyway, he came home saying he’d delivered the invitation but that his little friend didn’t want to come here any more. It transpired, much later in the day, that the true story was that he’d dropped his bucket on his friend by accident somehow, and his friend had responded by saying that he didn’t want to come and play any more. For some reason Joe didn’t get a chance to say sorry, and I think he’d been a bit upset by the whole thing, judging by the way it came out. I hadn’t been to pick him up, Steve had, and he didn’t notice anything, so it was probably something that happened at some time during the morning. Anyway, Joe seemed happy at the suggestion that saying sorry on Thursday would probably put things right … and by then I expect his little friend will have forgotten all about it.

They made Domatosoupa (tomato soup, if you couldn’t guess!), followed by Spanakopita (spinach pie – although we made little tarts instead) with Xoriatiki (Greek salad), then Baklava for pudding. Abbie and I both liked the soup, and I think everyone liked the spinach pies, but only Joe and I ate the salad. Pudding was an all round hit though

Steve was not impressed at having his photo taken (and yes, that Unfortunate Events poster is still up in the conservatory, a whole month later … ). The kids loved using their greek pots to eat from!

Haven’t done much else today other than more washing and playing with the children. Anyway, for my benefit and in case anyone with an early years Home Ed website fancies nicking it for an easy page addition, here is a round up of the things we have done for the Ancient Greeks project:

General resources:
Story of the World – Ancient times – story book and related activity pages
Groovy Greeks book and audio CD (part of the Horrible Histories series)
BBC Schools Ancient Greece resources
BBC schools video – Ancient Greeks
C4 schools video – Eureka! The Ancient Greeks
Ginn Primary History book – The Ancient Greeks … and some other schooly books borrowed from our resources centre, can’t find links for any of these though!
I Wonder Why Greeks Built Temples
Theseus and the Minotaur, Jason and the Argonauts, The Wooden Horse of Troy
C4 Learning Ancient Greeks Ideas Today website

Specific activities we did:
Looking at family trees – our own, and then the Greek gods family tree.
Mapwork from Story of the World
Greek Gods activities from the C4 site
Looking at the Greek alphabet and comparing/contrasting it with ours. Writing our names using Greek letters.
Key patterns – observing them on Greek artefacts, then making our own.
Looking for evidence – using photographs of Greek artefacts we asked ‘how do we know what the ancient Greeks were like’ and found some answers from the pictures.
Prime numbers activities using Eratosthenes’ Sieve – again, from the C4 site
Colouring pictures from Story of the World activity book
Painting – whatever the children wanted to do – we did key patterns, pictures of Gods and inspired by mythical stories.
Storytelling and the oral tradition – reading greek myths, making up our own greek stories
Poetry – talked about Homer’s Iliad and they read some poems – dramatically!
Theseus and the Minotaur maze from Story of the World activity book
Ancient Greek fashions – including dressing up and greek dancing
Making and decorating papier mache greek pots
Cooking – greek recipes from EatGreekTonight.com.

Other things we could still do as extension activities (or to add to my 4 year rolling programme ) if we wanted to:
Aesops fables, more Greek Myths, Pythagoras’ theorem, square and triangular numbers … and ideally go back to the British Museum sometime before too long!

Phew, well, I think that’s about enough education for one day’s blogging, but I just wanted to pull it together into one place so that it was easily accessible – I feel that we worked relatively hard on it together so it’s nice to have something to show for it – and I didn’t really plan any of it, we just gathered it together and did stuff as we went along, before I get labelled!! Must give credit to Aunty Jacky too, who spent loads of time with the girls on it all, which is just lovely for them and for me. We’ll have to have a think about what project to do next, although I’m not starting anything until after Melrose/half term/Animated Exeter activities are over.

Ah, Melrose. Must write a list, and remember to fill in my own baked potato poll before I forget

All three kids decorated their own pots, then Anna and Mollie collaborated on the big urn. We looked at a few pictures first, but it’s amazing how much stuff they have retained from all our Ancient Greek project work, it all comes out when they do something like this. Josiah did a great horse and man, followed by a pig. Abbie painted Theseus and the Minotaur on hers I think, so did Anna, and the urn has a Trojan horse on one side, and a Greek lady on the other side. Lots of key patterns and olive trees/leaves as well. The girls had to wear their wreath/headband things while they were painting, too

And here are the finished products:

Our friend Maria came round for coffee, with a stunning ginger cake (yum), and we had some fun with the Bongos together. Now we’re just doing lunch and waiting for Grandma. Josiah has been very excited about today, he came upstairs this morning declaring that it was going to be a ‘special day’ because Grandma was taking us to Crealy … and at breakfast time he asked if we could call it lunch so that we could go to Crealy after lunch … !! Anyone would think he’d never been there before …

Joe read one of his Start Right books, and we played with his wooden letters – I’m trying to help him with sounding out words, just simple 3 letter ones. He will look at three letters (eg J-A-M), say the sounds correctly, and then when he puts them together he just changes them for no apparent reason, (eg he’d say JIM or something equally random!). Start Right use both phonics and ‘look & say’ with the children, but I think Josiah has picked up on the ‘look & say’ stuff and needs to build up his awareness of phonics so that he can sound out unfamiliar words. Anyway, he’s only little yet, doing really well with it all, but he does like to be doing ‘work’ alongside the girls. I am thinking of using 100 Easy Lessons with him, but not until the summer holidays when there is a decent break from Start Right, as I don’t want to confuse/overload the poor child – but I think he is more than ready *and* able.

Anna did some more stuff on verbs and tenses, while Abbie did a short reading comprehension thing. Oh, and Anna’s finished ‘The Miserable Mill’ (Book the Fourth in the Lemony Snicket series), too.

Abbie did some lines of symmetry activities, all fine, and Anna had moved on to tenths and decimals, which again, she’s actually understanding, until she has to try and write it down – strange. The Eduss software has been great in supporting it all though, we’ve been watching the little ‘teach me’ clips together and she’s found it helpful. I had to phone them today to try and unlock my re-installed version, and they are sending me an upgrade – just thought that might interest anyone else who has it (Joyce, Merry?) because it will make it transportable between pcs.

After a bit of chilling we came back together again and ripped up newspaper for papier mache – always satisfying, that part! We were going to make Greek vases, to tie in with our somewhat overhanging Ancient Greek project, which is sort of half finished, because Christmas got in the way. Anyway, I decided that the vases were going to be somewhat too complicated for everyone, what with bases, necks, and handles, so I’ve made one which they can decorate together, and they have made a pot each as well. I need to go and put another layer on in a minute.

Erm … then Mollie came over in her brand new school uniform (she did look very sweet), it was her first day at school today – so they all played schools for a while, we’ve bongoed (is that a word?), and made dinner much later than usual because the garage is now staying open until 7pm Monday – Saturday. Steve is now educating the children with regard to special effects in film, apparently. Just don’t ask

Then we headed out to Crealy to meet up with EO friends. That was lovely in itself, and at lunchtime I skipped out to pick Joe up then went back to be with everyone again. The other day when we visited Steve’s grandparents they gave the children some Christmas money, and during December the Crealy shop is offering 20% off to members.

I bought a really nice jumper there the other week, and the girls had both been eyeing up jumpers there too, so we suggested that they might like to use their Christmas money at Crealy. Unsurprisingly, this suggestion was met with cheers from the children – Joe too, because he’s had his eye on a sword and helmet set in the shop there too, which I’ve been saying ‘no’ to for months now.

So, the Christmas money from Gran & Grandad paid for all three children to go and see Father Christmas in his grotto and get a small pressy from him, and actually the gifts weren’t too tatty – and they were letting the children choose, so all three of them had something they wanted. NB – for keen observers, Anna chose something vaguely resembling a Bratz doll, aargh!

The girls both bought their jumpers and Josiah had his sword & helmet, plus a disc shooter toy (otherwise known as a gun which shoots foam discs, in addition to the ubiquitous sounds and flashing lights). To be honest, I think Josiah would have been just as happy with simply the 99p sword, it has hardly left his side since he bought it, in fact he ate his dinner with it in his other hand …

As soon as we got home we took these photos which will be included with a thank you letter to Gran & Grandad tomorrow. The shooter thing was great fun, actually, the girls were looking quite envious in the garden late this afternoon!

Then, as if that wasn’t enough for today, Steve’s Aunty Jacky turned up ready to do Greek dance and drama with the girls, which went down very well, especially being dressed up with gold and silver sparkly bits! They did all that stuff that the NC harps on about in its dance section – sequencing, putting together moves, practising and performing. They also chose a poem to read ‘dramatically’, which was hilarious to listen to!

The Greek project is now officially on hold, we’ve been charged to make some papier mache Greek vases over the next few weeks and once we’ve done that, and painted them white in preparation for being decorated in a Greek manner, Aunty Jacky will pick the project up again with the last couple of sessions, due to include a Greek banquet. All good projects should include food

This evening Steve is watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the children – he was meant to be somewhere between here and Sheffield, but plans changed somewhat. I was glad his plans changed though, because it means there’s a chance that I might get to see the Raines whenever they get their new car!

Plans for tomorrow are to make more chocolate truffles, put our gift boxes together, and work on that thing we’re not supposed to be talking about Anyway, I’m supposed to be sitting under Josiah for the film, so I’m off to make a cup of tea, then join them

Made loads of Christmas cards this morning to the accompaniment of my new carol CDs which arrived this morning, then this afternoon the children watched TV while I chatted to a lady who’s interested in being involved with the Miscarriage support work. Oh, and I finished categorising the blog today, too!! After that came cello lessons and playing at the park, and then a friend has arrived for tea and the evening. All very nice and laid back, which is just what I was hoping December would be.

Another reasonably nice if somewhat boring day … Ruth popped in first thing (luckily we had just about got dressed by the time she was on her way back from the school run!). The kids all did some workbooky things after she’d gone (maths & english), as well as working on some project things that Aunty Jacky had asked them to do – looking at the Greek alphabet, some colouring, and storywriting using Greek Gods as the main characters – only they didn’t have to write it down, the aim being to demonstrate oral tradition! Just as well, because Anna’s turned into rather an epic! Abbie raced through to the end of the maths book she’s been working on and finished it off, well, Anna finished hers yesterday and she’s never one to be outdone So now we have two laminated trophies up on the noticeboards. They’re planning to finish their english books by the end of November too, then we’re declaring December art & craft month, definitely abandoning the ‘normals’ for a month, anyway! Although I might try and keep up with the handwriting, because they are definitely benefiting from doing some writing each day – then again I guess a Christmas card a day will sort that one out!

The children watched some Cbeebies later in the day, and a toy order arrived. Just about within the three weeks they promise, but out of 12 orders included only about half were complete. Which would be okay if I didn’t have to travel to deliver them, so by the time I’ve travelled twice or three times with the back orders, my profit will have been consumed by my fuel bill. I know I haven’t exactly bent over backwards to make loads of money through this little enterprise but I sort of hoped it would have been a little bit easier than it has been! Oh well – better stick to helping Steve sell cars, I guess.

Went out to Crealy again this afternoon, it’s been another beautifully sunny mild day here, so we made the most of it and went for a walk down by the lake – all the little bridges were closed, which was sad – I guess in the winter they become a bit of a health and safety hazard if they’re slippery. Anyway, we fed the ducks and geese, Josiah got his hand nipped by an overenthusiastic duck (!!), then we went up to one of the indoor play areas when it began to get a bit cold and dark, and I read some more while they played, which was lovely.

Interestingly, Josiah has developed an uncanny knack of making friends when we’re at Crealy – he was tearing around with a couple of other 3ish year old boys who were there together, and had obviously managed to become part of their game – very interesting to watch, it’s only recently that I’ve noticed him doing it.

Once home we had tea, chatted to friends who popped in, now everyone is in bed with books or CDs, it’s very peaceful. Steve and I are going out this evening to our small group and then for a drink afterwards. Anyway, must dash, babysitter should be here soon …

Joe went off to nursery this morning and the girls & I did some handwriting – Anna chose to copy a psalm from here, while Abbie is continuing to work her way through a Schofield & Sims book. They are both really improving, and it’s quite nice to see them take pleasure in watching their own progress. I think they did a couple of pages of maths each as well – nothing too strenuous though. They spent the rest of the morning together on the computer playing here – which makes me cringe, but they like it.

After picking up Joe and some lunch and a bit of housework we went to the park to a home ed meet … which was nice, although I can’t believe we ended up discussing the other group again (the one with the exorbitant prices, lol!) and still not really getting to an answer – our best bet at the moment seems to be to try and talk our way into concessions on the rent. Either that or find somewhere else to go. Not that I’m at all sure we’d go wherever it was or however cheap it was, well, not regularly anyway. I guess I just find that the week is usually full enough anyway … then again having said that I do think we maybe ought to give it a try again, because I feel like the kids are missing out and the reason we don’t go (other than the cost) is more because *I* wasn’t enjoying it than anything else. I dunno! Turns out both Jules and I had been paying over the odds without realising in any case … I still think it’s all too confusing!

Anyway, the children had a nice time playing, we took scooters which I think got used by everyone … and then we had to leave to get home for Steve’s Aunty Jacky who came round for another Ancient Greeks project session with the girls … they did some work on alphabets and numbers which complemented what we’d done the other day, and she read stories to them from Story of the World while they coloured, all very nice and laid back today.

Discovered I’d left Joe’s hat at the park when Jules called round to return it (thanks Jules!!), just as I was on the phone to Stuart telling me they’ve been approved at the adoption board – great news, and now I’ve stolen his blogpost for tomorrow

The highlight of our day though, came after tea when we (well, Anna, Abbie and I – we left Steve at home with Joe who was crying because he wasn’t coming) called for Mollie & Emma from up the road, and went off together to see Wild One at the school round the corner – a Theatre Alibi production. It was absolutely brilliant, we all really enjoyed it – highly recommended if they ever tour near you!!

No snow here, just wind and drizzle. Typical!

Got to go to the library and shops to get icing sugar for icing the cake this afternoon, then Caitlin & Riona are coming here after school, so it will be a fairly laid back afternoon too …

While the girls were working Josiah sat and looked through a DK History of the World book which I’d given him and challenged him to find the Ancient Greeks in it – which he did! He then went on to look at pictures all through the book, shouting loudly each time he spotted a soldier, armour, or weapons of any description – and in a History book there are plenty of those – it began to get a bit wearing after a while, but lovely to have him with us and excited about reading/looking at things in a book.

Then they went out to the garage and got the paints out, I’d said they could do whatever they wanted, and they proceeded to paint pages full of more key patterns and various greek-related things! I’m still working on the idea of a big papier mache Trojan horse … big enough to put playmobil people inside, perhaps, but that’s my art & craft project …

While the kids were painting Steve and I got through a whole load of filing that had been gathering dust for ages, then we gave the kids the job of shredding the unwanted paperwork for the recycling bin – which they thought was a fab job! It turned out rather well as we decided to cash in some rather crappy life policy things that we’d taken out after we had Anna but before we had a house and other responsibilities … so now that we’ve replaced those with much better provision it seemed a bit pointless to be paying out for them every month. They had minimal cash-in value but it will still be nice to have some unexpected money, should go a bit of a way to paying off the credit card! A loan that we took out three years ago has just finished, too, and rather than enjoying the belt-loosening, Steve has arranged to pay more off the mortgage each month – a goal we are keen to achieve before the due date, iyswim! We had a friend round for lunch which was nice, then Steve had to go back to work – weekend’s over

This afternoon was filled up with playing at home with Mollie, then in the park while Anna had her cello lesson. This evening we’ve read a bit more of Little House in the Big Woods (did I mention that I’d started that? My first real foray into reading aloud … I’m still not really enjoying the reading part but it is nice to sit and be with the children sharing something together) which Josiah is enjoying just as much as the girls are, if not more. He’s counting guns, and so far we’ve got Pa’s gun, Grandpa’s gun, and Uncle Peter’s gun … Pa making bullets and shooting bears makes for a damn fine story in Joe’s eyes

Plan for the evening is to watch TV and use the exercise bike for once (another thing gathering dust ) in the vain hope that I might be able to get relatively in shape before Centerparcs …

Oh, and before I forget, photos of The Gap, which, as predicted, appeared late yesterday afternoon … and the strange but very ‘Abigail’ photos that we took en route …