We are loving Spy Dog at the moment. I think it is the first time ever that Josiah has got hold of a book and pretty much read it from cover to cover (rather than skimming it and looking at the pictures!). Lovely to see him reading and really enjoying it.

He’s got this one and Spy Dog 2, plus Spy Dog Unleashed. I’m hoping to read them too, to see what’s so great about them, after he’s finished … later today I expect!

Don’t want to spend too long blogging today as I’m halfway through the Deathly Hallows and Steve wants it next … but it’s been a lovely day so thought I would write something.

Anna had a friend to stay last night; another Anna. Very pleasant to have her company though it was slightly confusing at times The girls spent ages making little braids attached to hair bobbles to sell at their school summer fair, and also went over to the park to meet yet more friends. After the other Anna had gone home, my Anna made marshmallow crispy cakes, played with Mollie and Ruby, then went out to play with yet another friend for the afternoon.

Abbie’s been mainly kicking around here, in pyjamas all day. She read, helped with the braids, played with Mollie, helped me with the guinea pigs, and made chocolate crispy cakes. And then had a bath

Abbie slept in the music room last night to make space for the other Anna, and she started drumming along to her cd last night, and has been doing it at odd moments throughout the day too. Steve came home and has shown her how to hold the sticks properly, and a basic 4/4 rhythm, and she’s been happily playing along to McFly and making a pretty decent job of it, for an 8yo beginner I am quite impressed. Think Steve (formerly known as a pretty good drummer) would be quite pleased if one of the kids took up the drums! Still, it just added the criteria of ‘downstairs music room’ to our list for any future house of ours, as despite the fact that it’s not a proper drum kit, it still sounds like a herd of elephants upstairs when you’re sitting underneath it!

Josiah stayed in pyjamas today too. He did a decent music practice, then played far too much gamecube, working his way through an old Sonic game again. He helped with the guinea pigs too, and also managed to trip over outside grazing his side (not quite sure how he managed it!) and elbow, which left him feeling a bit fragile and needing cuddles which was nice for me Managed to bath him too this evening as he was stinky!

And I’ve really enjoyed just pootling around alongside the kids – cooked a couple of Shepherd’s Pies, made a courgette & banana cake, washed and dried three loads of washing, had a couple of long phonecalls with various people, did lunch for everyone, helped out with the music practices, braids and crispy cakes, washed the kitchen floor after they’d finished, and then finally opened the book

Monday was a non-event of a day really, although Joe and I did defeat one big bad boss in Sonic at teatime so that was good (only one more to go now!). We did some maths and music workbook pages, and also played with pattern blocks and talked a bit about symmetry, reflections, rotations and translations. Reading and comprehension activities over the past couple of days have taken the form of hint guides and walkthroughs for Lego Star Wars and Sonic!

Joe started off with a Draw Write Now early this morning while the girls were still around. This was mainly so that he could cajole Anna into colouring the background and writing some of the sentences for him Still, the writing that he did was probably neater than hers! While this was going on the other three girls in the house (Caitlin & Riona were over here very early) were simultaneously practicing their recorders. Steve and I wondered if Rog & Ruth had done that on purpose?!!

Once the girls had gone, we sat and read the end of Monster in the Wardrobe which we’d started yesterday at the Music Festival. We quite like that Treetops series, they’re not bad stories. I think I did more reading than Josiah today though. Sometimes I insist on sharing the reading with him but other times I want him to enjoy the story without worrying about the mechanics of reading so it’s more fun to read to him. And often he’ll read something without really taking it in … I’m still generally waiting for his understanding to catch up with his de-coding abilities. He can read me a sentence out loud perfectly and then still turn to me blankly if I ask him what it said! Ahem, anyway. Moving swiftly on!

He went on to violin practice after the story, and that was very quick today. I told him if he could play his two pieces without stopping/making mistakes then that would be it, so he pulled all the stops out and did it. Fairly effortlessly as well. Which *really* makes me wonder why we have these torturously long and arduous violin practices!

After that he did some painting, from a Kipper kit that he had years ago. He got bored pretty quickly (it was colouring in by another name!) so had a bit of a play on Sonic Rings, then went and got the Lego out to play with for an hour or so while I spent some time with a Miscarriage Support Group person. Have had a couple of people through the group recently who’ve helped make it all feel worthwhile again so I’ve got a second wind with that whole thing.

Then came lunch, and we watched Friends and Heroes on CBBC. Because I’d seen it advertised and told Joe I wanted to see what it was like, he immediately said he didn’t want to watch it, he hated it, and it was rubbish (just like everything else at the moment it seems). However he then stood transfixed for half an hour while it was on so it can’t have been that bad

Another hour or so of Sonic, and I had a phone conversation with the other local Suzuki teacher who’s doing a group lesson in a couple of weeks. After the last disastrous attempt to join in with this group I’m more anxious than ever to get it right this time so I wanted to find out what she was planning so that Joe can be as prepared as possible. Apparently she’s happy to have older siblings joining in so I’m hoping to enrol Anna to help me by joining in on her cello. Anyway, more on that when it happens!

Then we played some other games together. We did some mindbender type puzzles from a puzzle calendar that we hadn’t even looked at since Christmas (got to about the end of January today!) so that was fun. Then we got the draughts out and had a looong game. It was looking touch and go at one point, I thought Joe was going to beat me but then he made a silly mistake at the end so I took him out.

The girls are home now and having piano/recorder lessons, and alternately playing chess and draughts with Joe. Then it will be tea and the mad rush out for violin, Stage by Stage (must write a cheque) and Wind Group. I’m missing my chauffeur tonight too … but at least that means I can take a short cut across town rather than sitting in traffic wondering if we’ll be late

She can afford to smile Abbie’s turn for a parent-teacher interview today, and Steve & I were both proud of her glowing report as well. Apparently she’s working easily in the top groups for most things, but does find writing hard. Which I knew – it’s slow and not terribly neat, but her writing has improved loads this year already … gotta have something to work on, anyway

Had a good look through her tray and giggled at lots of her work … pleased to hear that she’s reading lots at school (which I hadn’t really picked up, she keeps her school reading books and her home reading books separate so that she doesn’t lose them!), it seems that the librarian challenges them with different books to read, so that’s really good. She’s reading Pippi Longstocking at the moment

We did have to wonder, though, if the teacher really was talking about the right child, as she said that Abbie had never lost any suns (she has, she’s lost one twice!), and had already had a thank you certificate for all round good behaviour (er, no she hasn’t! but oops, now you’ve said that you’ll have to give her one!). It had obviously been a long afternoon of parent interviews and ours was the last, so we’ll forgive her

Bought her a birthday present this evening as well, one I will hate, but I know she will love … that’s what comes of having a good parents’ evening and a hint from the EYHE list on the same night!

Ah well – thankfully each day starts again new with no mistakes in it (even if you do have to put up with the consequences of yesterday’s ), and today has been nice … especially first thing this morning. I actually can’t believe the amount of difference it makes to have one child less to get ready for school. Anna and Abbie both managed to be up, dressed, breakfasted and music practiced in plenty of time. Hats and scarves were rooted out this morning, it’s suddenly got much colder here – and it was lovely to say goodbye to them peacefully and wave them happily on their way (am I ever glad we live so close to school!).

Joe chose some Usborne sticker maths pages to do (mainly addition and subtraction practice), played his violin for a bit, and read me a Kipper book beautifully, and we talked about exclamation marks, question marks, and full stops, and the difference they make to how we read things.

Popped into town after that as I had a list of errands to run/things to get, all of which we managed successfully, so we treated ourselves to lunch in town before getting the bus home again.

Josiah dug out a Snakes and Ladders game which he was setting up while I cleaned the kitchen floor, and found 6 dice while he was at it, so he told me what the highest score you could get with 1/2/3 dice each would be, etc. So we talked about the 6 times table generally – I’m trying to get him to see the relationships between a number and its factors, and I think he was just about getting there by the end. Anyway I quite like Snakes and Ladders apart from that awful bit at the end when you can’t quite throw the right number to finish, and then you always find yourself sliding down the longest snake and making the game take twice as long …

The girls arrived home in record time today, and then we had a houseful of people as various friends came to chat/play before tea – chucked them all out in time for a quick tea before taking Anna to her ballet lesson.

Highlight of my day was the evening – I’ve felt pretty rough with a sore throat/cold this week which today turned into a streaming nose (very pleasant) so I didn’t really feel like going out but I’d planned the evening and invited friends so I made the effort and even put on makeup to try and make myself at least look if not feel slightly more human! It worked (as well as could be expected ), and we had a lovely evening at our Picture House cinema, where we went just for drinks in the bar and to listen to some friends of ours who were playing at the jazz night there. Decided not to watch a film but to stick around for the second set by another band (trio of double bass, acoustic guitar, and fabulous vocal), and they were stunning so we really enjoyed that. Got to see friends and catch up as well, and we were still home by just gone 10pm, so all in all a good evening!

Had a break for violin practice (done beautifully again with no hassles, how long can it last?!) and Raven-watching, then went back to the Little Hotchpotch theme by making up our own imaginary animal – the plan was to draw it, describe it, then hopefully make a 3D model version … but that’s saved for another day as by the time we’d got that far and rounded up crafty bits from around the house Joe was wanting to play a game instead, so we had an extraordinarily long game of Trilemma/Addendum. Followed that with another episode of Raven (I’m guessing it must still be half term programming on CBBC?) before getting some food

After lunch Steve and I swapped over so I went to work, and they got lego out together – another of those things we simply haven’t had time for when he’s been at school so it was much appreciated. And children *should* have time to play lego

Girls got home from school and they all watched tv for a bit, then I came home, Steve took Anna out for her cello lesson, and the other two played with Geomags for a while before watching more tv (Blue Peter is a favourite here at the moment). The girls are currently engaged in bedroom lunacy aka putting their clean washing away before bed, while Josiah and Steve are discussing syllables …

Planning to watch the Da Vinci Code later, can’t think that I’ll enjoy the film as much as the book but you never know. We watched a couple of films last week too – R.V. which was just meant to be a bit of a laugh with the kids while we were staying in our camper, but Steve and I both enjoyed it too – we were in a slapstick humour sort of a mood, obviously – and the obligatory American mushy sentimental bit made us both cry!

Also made time to see Tsotsi in a couple of instalments last week, and I really enjoyed that film, it was brilliant cinematography and a compelling story too – definitely gets a recommendation from me and there are very few films that I actually go that far with these days!

The weekend
Was spent in various places; Steve and the children at home, and me away in London. They had a ball doing not very much although they did manage to buy new school shoes for Josiah, I’m not sorry to have missed that particular ordeal. They mooched around in town, had lunch in the park, and bought DVDs which they then went home and watched (Steve’s idea of a good day ). Apparently they missed me, because I don’t get cross as often as Daddy. Grass is always greener, I think, I’m sure I do!!

I was camping at Crystal Palace, where I went in order to meet an internet/acww friend! I decided to camp so that I could check out the site for possible future use ourselves, but as it turned out it was only 10 mins walk away from my friend’s house, so that was handy. And, she rents a room from a home educating family, I met her landlady as well so we compared Hesfes stories and I wished I was still a proper home educator. Ahem. Anyway, Chorna and I cooked, chatted, and played DS, all of which was lovely. And then I had some very self-indulgent time in the van as well, reading, sleeping, etc. Didn’t see London at all, but I couldn’t really be bothered, we’ll go back to the site again soon I’m sure. The drive home was horrendous, but the less said about that the better.

Got back into town, picked Anna up from her Wizard of Oz rehearsals, then went home to watch King Kong with friends for film night, we had dinner together in an extended interval too – quite enjoyed the film, at least I managed to stay awake for once! Mainly because we started it so early!!

Monday
Back to the usual routine (only not quite so usual as Russ is away for a couple of weeks so Steve and I are on full office duty), I think it’s the first day since school started again that Josiah hasn’t said he didn’t want to go.

Emma and Robyn moved in; they’re staying for a while because Steve’s parents’ house is undergoing major refurbishment. Meant I was finally forced into sorting out the cupboards and drawers in the music room which has needed doing ever since we moved house so that is a good thing! Might be chaotic to have them around all the time but on the other hand it could suit us all quite nicely and I’m sure she can babysit for us as much as we can for her

Got some new books for Anna; she’s doing WWII in school and is getting really into it, so thought it was the ideal opportunity to try and get her to read something different (having finished Harry Potter she’s back onto Lemony Snicket and while any reading is better than no reading, there is limited literary value in Lemony Snicket! although I notice The End is out soon, must get it and finally put the series to bed!). She fancied When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit so I’ve got hold of the trilogy for her, as well as a couple of Michelle Magorian books too. Don’t know if she’s actually going to read them but it’s worth a try! Now if only I could wean Abigail off those wretched fairy books …

Watched another film in the evening but have decided I can’t stand Nicolas Cage and anyway I was wifi-ing with acww friends at the same time which was more fun

Tuesday
I’m blogging from work This morning was interesting, getting everyone through breakfast, getting dressed, music practice etc. is bad enough usually but with Robyn thrown into the mix at that time in the morning it was even more chaotic. My children are *so* easily distracted! But we managed it with only one broken glass (Robyn ‘helping’ to empty the dishwasher!), and hey, it makes everything more exciting

Anyway, here it is: Water Lane Garage. There is still one tiny detail that I’m working on but otherwise I’m pretty happy with it. In due course we’ll add more articles and probably some photos too (still haven’t got our signs up at the actual site so we’re waiting for those). And I ought to put a Code Placidly hosting button on there somewhere too

In other news: Steve and I went to see Anna’s teacher today for another glowing report which again, I feel we actually can’t take that much credit for, as whatever Anna is/does is all herself and her own work. Still proud of her anyway.

Had a lovely conversation with the children yesterday which sprung from talking about school holidays and the differences in them across different areas of the country, to the ages at which people take exams. It seems as though Anna & Abbie at least are both thinking that they’ll stay at primary school but then be home educated again after that – I know it’s a long way off and plenty of things could change by then, but as a mid-long-term goal educationally it’s a plan I’d be really really happy with.

Nice to have Russ back at work, we missed him, as we had to do some work for once. We’ll be back to slacking now

As I write, Steve is out with Anna & Joe at Stage by Stage and violin respectively. Abbie and I are sitting here writing together which is nice – I’m blogging and she’s finishing a story based on Mrs Armitage on Wheels, her own take on it. Just nice to be doing stuff alongside one another.

Looking forward to the end of term, the children have a non-uniform day tomorrow and then the end of term on Friday so hurrah for the holidays

Saturday afternoon was a bit of a blur; I had to take Abbie to piano lessons, take the other two to a Young Strings concert (which involves parking in town), stay while Josiah did his performance, by which time it was time to go and pick Abbie up, so we left Anna there, went and got Abbie, got stuck in traffic, made it back to the concert *just* in time to catch Anna’s solo, although we missed her group performance.

Afterwards, more food. The highlight of these Young Strings concerts is often the buffet tea … especially the home made meringues that one of the members makes, they are some of the best meringues I’ve ever tasted.

Anyway. Saturday night was quietish … the children have been doing lots of drawing recently so I told them about Illustration Friday (thought we could jump on that bandwagon even without the home-ed-art rationale ) and they did some Spring pictures which I must photograph later. Steve went out to play poker again!

Today we took Steve back in to the Food Festival, so much more of the same picking at bits happened. I actually watched one of the ‘serious’ cooking displays, although not that seriously, as for goodness’ sake, who has the time or the inclination to make basil pasta from scratch, and then fill it with some weird creamy crab concoction – it was a very pretentious recipe, imho!! Which is exactly what I thought when we went to Michael Caines’ restaurant, but there we go. It was quite impressive to watch a one-armed chef at work, if nothing else. Bought some delicious curry sauces and some freeze-dried strawberries!

Had a naff start to the morning though, as I went to get the parking ticket and put a weekday’s worth of fee into the machine, pushed the button, and then realised that it was Sunday and I could have paid a third of what I did. DOH. Josiah then wailed as I’d borrowed his 50p in order to even make that mistake, and for some reason it suddenly became the hugest deal in the whole wide world.

Ended up in town buying too many cheap DVDs then came home for lunch. The afternoon saw DVD-watching, game-playing, and Mollie was over as well … as usual! I cooked dinner, and then read for a while with Joe – we really enjoyed Mr Cool, which was his school reading book, might have to see what else there is in that little series as it was perfect both ability wise and story length/involvement wise.

And here we are, ready for another exciting week ahead … must retrieve uniform from clean washing pile …