Ticking over.

I haven't posted for nearly a week for various reasons.  Partly because I usually blog in the evenings, but that's also when I do my LLL work and I've been rather busy with that lately.  Also because we don't seem to have done that much lately, we've just been ticking over.

We had a weekend when the girls were subjected to 'benign neglect', basically left to their own devices while A and I got on with things that needed to be got on with.  We're having some building work done and a new kitchen very soon (I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to having plenty of kitchen storage and drawers that stay shut without blutack!), and we need to start sorting and clearing out our utility room and the kitchen and A has been cutting back/down things that are growing up the back of the house.  K & M played various board games together and M got out and played her new French horn on numerous occasions.

On Monday we met up with friends at Belton House, which was a bit risky given the weather forecast, but we were remarkably lucky and only got drizzled on a bit in the morning.  We spent a couple of good chunks of time at the big adventure playground, had our picnic lunch in the orangerie, tried out the maze, went into the Discovery Centre (which isn't usually open when we go, as we generally avoid weekends and school holidays) and the café and indoor play area.  I also spoke to a very helpful lady, who told me that they could offer the workshops they do for schools for home ed groups at £2 per child and when I asked about minimum numbers, expecting to be told about 20, she said that at least two families would be okay!

New willow sculpture in the middle of the maze.

On Tuesday evening, I had the impression that we hadn't really done anything, but when talking to A on the phone (he had gone to Amsterdam by this time), I realised that having finished reading Roman Britain and had made a good start on Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, as well as continuing with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Wednesday we headed into town for ice-skating, which we all enjoyed.  I went on the ice for the first time since January, having been either ill or getting over illness the last couple of times we've been.  When we got home, K and I had a look at a worksheet I'd made for her about x, continuing to work our way through the Basher Maths book.  Since we got Dragonbox, which K really enjoyed and worked through the entire thing the afternoon that I installed it, she's got a pretty good grasp of algebra, so it was just a question of transferring the skills learned on the computer to paper.  I also introduced the idea of brackets in maths, which she seemed to grasp fairly easily.  The girls also had their swimming lesson as usual in the evening.

Today there was rather a lot of screen time, as the girls asked if they could watch the rest of Shrek, which they had started watching after swimming yesterday and they then started it again, so they could watch the beginning and as I was busy in the kitchen, I didn't notice.  K & I were talking about what's next in the Basher Maths book, which is 'Line', so remembering a video they'd watched a while back on youtube, I asked K if she'd like to watch it again and both she and M watched a video about Euclid and then another six!  This afternoon we went across the road for play or cuppa and chat with friends and stayed for tea, before coming home for some more Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer before bed.