just another morning here

Josiah: has done some writing and colouring on Very Hungry Caterpillar stuff, which he really loved doing. Someone somewhere (magic pencil on Words and Pictures, perhaps? Or at Start Right?) seems to have shown him how to form letters, I was watching him and he was doing them all the right way – a bit wobbly, but starting and ending in the right places. He’s also had lessons in Formula One teams/drivers from Steve, and played with lego and playmobil. He’s done plenty of reading, too, he absolutely loves the Hungry Caterpillar book, unsurprisingly – I don’t know a child that doesn’t!

Abbie: has played on neopets, been shopping with me, and, erm, done nothing that looks educational from the outside at all! Oh no, that’s not quite true – she got a Hi-5 comic from Sainsbury’s with her money. I thought it was going to be awful because it came with a CD but in fact, she and Anna sat with the CD on and went right through the comic doing all the activities – the CD basically just reads the comic and has a few sound effects on it as well. Still, it saved me having to read bits to her! It was definitely beneath them, ability wise, but they enjoyed it.

Anna: has also played on neopets. I can’t work out what the *point* of neopets is – I mean, I can waste time there myself playing games and stuff, but not quite sure if there is a bigger picture I should be grasping – Merry? It doesn’t seem to be instructional enough for the girls to get anything more than playing the games out of it – which might be a good thing if they discovered all there was to discover for themselves, but they don’t/haven’t yet – I thought they would ‘explore’ more than they have. Hmm, there’s still plenty of time, I suppose.
Anna’s also finished off a little art project she’s been working on, but can’t say too much about that on-blog She came to Sainsbury’s too. Her afternoon has been rather spoiled by somehow (during a dance practise session, apparently) falling into the corner of the coffee table, with her eye, or just to the side of it. Despite immediate ice-application she’s ended up with a big purple bruise to the side of her left eye, and has been feeling sorry for herself ever since. I have to say, I felt sorry for her too, it was nasty. She’s currently snuggled on the sofa listening to Big Toe Radio. Taking a photo of it cheered her up somewhat, she’s progressed from feeling sorry for herself to being proud of it now

Steve managed to not sell two cars today, so that wasn’t very good. I’ve bummed around – got the shopping done and planned menus for next week, and kept everyone fed and watered – picked up lots of post-easter-bad-for-you-but-couldn’t-be-refused bargains at the supermarket so it hasn’t been very healthy, and we’re about to end up by having the cooked breakfast that we didn’t get round to this morning. We have countered it by snacking on fruit as well, if that helps at all!

As I write we’re watching Two Brothers – it’s one that I have some activities on CDrom from Film Education for so we rented it because of that really. Not sure what to make of it yet but the tiger cubs are definitely very cute, and the children are enjoying it.

Filled up my basket today at the Boden Sale and then closed the window on the credit card details page. How often do I do that – I mean, I could kit the kids out for next season but then they’re likely to get given bags of hand-me-downs between now and then, plus Tescos and Sainsbury’s clothes are still cheaper than the boden sale. Perhaps they wouldn’t last as long, but I’m inclined to think that they actually do, especially the way my kids wear clothes. And then there’s Jules’ shop as well

One at a time the girls have both completed a mini book for the lapbook this morning, and I think they have enjoyed it. I really don’t want to get into producing these things just for the sake of it, but they are a nice way to record all sorts of different activities, and because the miniature books are, well, miniature, you can never be expected to do *that* much writing in them, hence they’re not as offputting as an empty project book page. I’m planning to make a few blank mini-books of different sorts so that the girls can see how to make them, and maybe produce a ‘just for fun’ lapbook as an example for them to work from if they want to take it further. I think I will do one butterfly/caterpillar one with Josiah, as he’s expressed an interest, then leave it at that – but maybe when we encounter things I might suggest that the girls use mini-books for their records, then when they have enough for a lapbook we can put it together – that way it’s not a strenuous ‘work’ activity but the natural culmination of an area of interest.

On that natural interest topic, I must link to Gill’s fascinating Journey to Autonomy post. I’ve been thinking about the whole thing again recently, trying to work out where I stand on it all, but I can’t, so I’ll send you to Gill

Erm, where was I? Oh yes, this morning – made a caterpillar/butterfly life-cycle spinner thing with Josiah which he enjoyed colouring and sticking together, Anna did a mini book on Henry VIII’s wives, remembering all sorts of details that I had already forgotten, and Abbie did one compiling pictures of our artwork, and then Tudor buildings that we’ve spotted in Exeter. Only the ‘places we’ve visited’ mini-book to complete now – guess we’d better get visiting some of them – we’re planning Buckland Abbey (Francis Drake’s house), the Mary Rose, and the Kentwell Hall tudor re-enactments. If I’m honest, part of the reason for doing the lapbook is that *I* am tired of the tudor project now and wanted to knock it on the head, pull it all together, and move on. I am so not a natural historian.

Joe and Abbie played with their shadow puppets for a while, Anna went over to Mollie’s to play, we hung out some washing, watered the seeds in the greenhouse, then we popped to the shop for some bread, and en route found a book sale in the church hall. Picked up the entire ‘Little House’ series in a box set for £1.50 which I was most pleased about, and a few other things – the kids found a couple of books each and walked home with their noses in them, Josiah included. Much to my amusement, I had to keep pushing him back on to the pavement while he read some poem or other about being three – so lovely when they can just pick up any book and recognise enough in it to be able to make sense of it and then read more. I only had to fill in a couple of words (wriggle and giggle) but the rest he pretty well read for himself. Sorry, I’m going on about it rather a lot but it has just amazed me, I wasn’t expecting him to read so well so early, neither of the girls did – maybe that’s what home education and having two big sisters around (not to mention a mother who’s paying attention – every other time I’ve had a 3yo I’ve had a 1yo as well) does for a 3yo?! Or maybe it’s just him, who knows?!

Anyway. Went hunting for the Very Hungry Caterpillar on our bookshelves this morning, to no avail. Then I had a deep distant memory that perhaps the girls wore the original copy out and I got rid of it during one house move because it was falling apart … so I’m off to the library to see if I can find a copy there instead.