just another morning here

Having really enjoyed the week at Calvert last year, I was really pleased to be going again this year – with some students who had been before, and others for whom it was a new experience. I’m pleased to report that it was brilliant again

I confess, I was mostly looking forward to the food and the company, but I enjoyed the activities too (the food was the best though!). We had a camera in each group this year so I wasn’t the official photographer, but joined in with all the activities, so that was a lot of fun.

In a shock spontaneous moment I decided to ride a horse – I have been slightly scared of horses since I was a child but decided the time had come to get over it! It was quite fun, I can definitely see the attraction, but I think I’ll stick to geocaching – much cheaper. Speaking of which, I found one of the caches around Wistpoundland reservoir this year while walking around with the students – excellent

Generally it’s just a lovely week to spend with some of my favourite people – staff and students alike – they are a fantastic bunch. Brilliant to see the children having opportunities they don’t normally get, achieving so much, and enjoying themselves with the freedom that comes from being away from the confines of school. We were lucky with the weather again this year which was great. There were a few people who couldn’t go which was a shame, and they were very much missed.

My family, meanwhile, didn’t miss me at all, I don’t think … so after a day of music related activities on Saturday followed by a school quiz night in the evening, I went back to work for a day on Sunday to write reports. It had better be nice weather in the Easter holidays, that’s all I can say!

Joe’s second first day at school went really well.

The rest of us had a good day too, even me – felt a bit strange, but generally ok. We got all music practices done before school which was fairly impressive, probably won’t manage that every day but nice to know it can be done.

Steve came home to pick up the children from school with me and go to the dentist. We had to wait for almost an hour as he was running late, but that gave us some nice time to chat. Got home and had tea, now we’re watching yesterday’s Top Gear together before bed. Oh, and the children are trying to learn the books of the Bible in order so we’re going to practice that as well. Watching some ebay auctions through tonight, and packing them up ready for posting tomorrow, so far I’m fairly pleased as we’re making a profit on the Star Wars costumes that we bought on ebay earlier in the year. And tomorrow I have a job interview!

All three children have done nice things today; Anna had orchestra and then a friend’s birthday party, while the other two went to Crealy with Grandma and Robyn, making it a nice end to the week for all of them. Steve and I have painted a wall and snivelled our way through the day with help from Lemsip. Looking forward to a curry and Saturday night tv tonight, then a relatively quiet day (might do a second coat on the wall) tomorrow before school starts again on Monday.

A couple of weeks before half term Josiah decided that he’d like to go back to school again. Not sure what changed his mind exactly, but I have to admit that in some ways I was relieved. So he is going back to school on Monday. I’m probably feeling more anxious than he is at the moment, and slightly disappointed all over again about not home educating any more, but at the same time I’m quite pleased, as it has been such hard work for us to have a foot in both camps. So that’s our news.

Working backwards, just to be confusing.

Today Josiah and I accompanied Anna’s class to the local high school for a ‘Cool Science’ show. It was quite fun, and basically consisted of sticking various items into liquid nitrogen to demonstrate various things. Josiah enjoyed it as much as all the Y6s, and even answered a question, which astounded me somewhat, that he had the confidence to stick his hand up! He then threw a wobbly on the way home which wasn’t too helpful (he wanted to walk on the outside of the narrow pavement near the busy road, I wanted him to walk on the inside), but never mind. Photos are rubbish but give you an idea …

Yesterday we were in school again making Momos with yet another group of children – Abbie was there this time so that was nice. I was on my own, the other mum couldn’t make it, so it was more hectic than usual. Oh, and the school photographer was there so the kids kept disappearing to have photos taken – but that did mean that Josiah got to be in the girls’ group photo so an added bonus there.

And back at the weekend, a photo from the balloon launch that took place at the MA’s 25th Anniversary study day. I found it a strangely emotional and moving part of the day, surprisingly, despite not usually being touched by that sort of thing.