It's around 15 months since I wrote one of my most-read blog about independence for pre-teens and younger children, and today feels like it was the next step. K & M are 11 and 10 and for quite some time have been allowed to go out either on their own, which is usually when the trip is tasked based such as going to the shop or the library, or together, which could also be to play in the park. They also sometimes go to the park with friends and whenever they go out to play someone has to wear a watch and there is an agreed time that they have to be home by.
Last week I had a conversation about with a friend about just this topic and in fact said that I didn't think that K & M were ready yet to use the bus on their own, and in fact when I asked them they confirmed this.
This morning came around though and the perfect opportunity to find out whether that really was the case arose. When I came downstairs for breakfast, I found that A had left his phone (a work one) on the side in the kitchen. I asked K & M if they thought they might be able to and want to deliver it to him, his office being in town, close to a couple of bus stops and somewhere they could find their way to pretty easily. They were both a bit nervous of the idea but, even when I made it very clear that it wasn't something that they had to do and it was entirely their choice, decided that they would go.
They have a travel card, know which buses are options and which bus stops they could use. So we phoned A together before they left. M had already decided that she was going to buy elevenses for everyone from the Co-op on the way, which she duly did. I said that they should go directly to A's office to deliver the phone, but that they could have a short paddle in the fountain in Market Square before coming straight home.
It all went extremely smoothly and they arrived home, just as I was starting to get a bit impatient but well before concern would have kicked in, both looking very pleased with themselves. I don't think that it's something that will happen particularly frequently, but the confidence that they will have gained by managing their little adventure is, in my opinion, definitely a good thing.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Another week.
Well another week has gone by and I yet again, I haven't got round to blogging. It's been quite a busy one and A has been away for much of it.
Monday was the second of the two sports days that we've been to. They were very different!
The Fun Club one was quite big (3-4 dozen children), outside, (with the exception of the three-legged race) individual, organised by the parents and divided up into age groups, although they were fairly broad ones.
The second one, at Old Dalby, was small (a dozen children) inside due to the weather, team activities, organised by one of the children and mixed ages (including a couple of the adults at times!)
M had a bit of a struggle with what she perceived as unfairness in one of the games, even though the team she was on had been consistently winning. This lead to a conversation about how sometimes fairness might not be treating everybody equally if things aren't even to start with.
On Monday evening we went along to try out Capoeira. It was acrobatics though, which was fine for K & M, although the movements are very different to the techniques they are used to from gymnastics. We all enjoyed it though (despite me jarring my neck) and will be back to have a go at the general (rather than acrobatic) class another time.
Tuesday and Wednesday were both quiet days, with the usual activities of piano lessons and korfball on Tuesday, and French horn and swimming on Wednesday. I also picked more cherries from the tree outside the swimming pool.
The rest of the week was busy! On Thursday our friends (E, C, L & J) came in the afternoon and the children all played in the park, or rather in the woods on the old railway embankment getting nicely grubby, while E and I picked the last of the cherries. Or rather the last of the ones that are reachable with our stepladder. Then the girls had Scouts in the evening.
Friday we had other friends, Z & R, here for the day. The children got wet having a water fight in the garden and had a great time playing their imagination games, while Z and I drank tea and chatted. As a result of part of the conversation, I spoke to K and discovered that she is aware that should, could and would can be followed by 'have' but not 'of', which can sound like in colloquial speech. I later discovered that M didn't realise this, but she now does. K & M later went to gymnastics.
Saturday was another sociable one, and we went for a walk in a local nature reserve wood, that we'd never visited before. Then after a shared lunch, we eventually found our way to a small festival, where we listened to a couple of bands, and the girls played with the swing ball that was set up, and with other balls that were lying about. Once home we dashed out again almost immediately to go and see K's ballet school's show. She hadn't wanted to take part, but did want to go and watch it and we spotted several friends, who all did very well indeed.
And that brings up to today, when I've been rather incapacitated by a sore neck/shoulder. The girls cleaned out the rats' cage with A, then we watched the film based on the first three Lemony Snicket books. It was rather different from the books in places, but worked quite well nonetheless.
M seems to have got into a crafty mood and made me a present this morning and she has also started crocheting a hat, like the one she made A for Christmas, and is trying to follow the pattern again, not something she finds easy.
In other news, we have been playing more Vapoosh!, mostly M and I but I have also had a game with K. M has been transferring her improved times tables knowledge from playing this to Timez Attack on the computer and has progressed well as a result.
We have also continued, and indeed finished, reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. While K & M have expressed their disapproval at some of the events in the book (Durrell takes two birds from a nest for example, although he does leave the mother bird two chicks), we have as happens quite frequently talked about how things that are not acceptable nowadays, were considered fine when they took place. We have all really enjoyed the book though, and the descriptions and rich language are absolutely fantastic.
Finally, I think that the cherry season is probably over for this year (although I will be taking tubs to the girls swimming lesson on Wednesday, just in case). I've been totting up the amazing harvest and this is what I have done (or will do having frozen quite a lot) with what we've picked:
3 pies
3 clafoutis
2 lots of ice-cream
2 lots of jam/sauce (about 9-10 jars)
1 batch of muffins
That's as well as taking plenty along to share with friends at various times and eating a very large number ourselves. All in all pretty good going!
Monday was the second of the two sports days that we've been to. They were very different!
The Fun Club one was quite big (3-4 dozen children), outside, (with the exception of the three-legged race) individual, organised by the parents and divided up into age groups, although they were fairly broad ones.
The second one, at Old Dalby, was small (a dozen children) inside due to the weather, team activities, organised by one of the children and mixed ages (including a couple of the adults at times!)
M had a bit of a struggle with what she perceived as unfairness in one of the games, even though the team she was on had been consistently winning. This lead to a conversation about how sometimes fairness might not be treating everybody equally if things aren't even to start with.
On Monday evening we went along to try out Capoeira. It was acrobatics though, which was fine for K & M, although the movements are very different to the techniques they are used to from gymnastics. We all enjoyed it though (despite me jarring my neck) and will be back to have a go at the general (rather than acrobatic) class another time.
Tuesday and Wednesday were both quiet days, with the usual activities of piano lessons and korfball on Tuesday, and French horn and swimming on Wednesday. I also picked more cherries from the tree outside the swimming pool.
The rest of the week was busy! On Thursday our friends (E, C, L & J) came in the afternoon and the children all played in the park, or rather in the woods on the old railway embankment getting nicely grubby, while E and I picked the last of the cherries. Or rather the last of the ones that are reachable with our stepladder. Then the girls had Scouts in the evening.
Friday we had other friends, Z & R, here for the day. The children got wet having a water fight in the garden and had a great time playing their imagination games, while Z and I drank tea and chatted. As a result of part of the conversation, I spoke to K and discovered that she is aware that should, could and would can be followed by 'have' but not 'of', which can sound like in colloquial speech. I later discovered that M didn't realise this, but she now does. K & M later went to gymnastics.
Saturday was another sociable one, and we went for a walk in a local nature reserve wood, that we'd never visited before. Then after a shared lunch, we eventually found our way to a small festival, where we listened to a couple of bands, and the girls played with the swing ball that was set up, and with other balls that were lying about. Once home we dashed out again almost immediately to go and see K's ballet school's show. She hadn't wanted to take part, but did want to go and watch it and we spotted several friends, who all did very well indeed.
And that brings up to today, when I've been rather incapacitated by a sore neck/shoulder. The girls cleaned out the rats' cage with A, then we watched the film based on the first three Lemony Snicket books. It was rather different from the books in places, but worked quite well nonetheless.
M seems to have got into a crafty mood and made me a present this morning and she has also started crocheting a hat, like the one she made A for Christmas, and is trying to follow the pattern again, not something she finds easy.
 |
| As you can see, it's a rest for a crochet hook! |
We have also continued, and indeed finished, reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. While K & M have expressed their disapproval at some of the events in the book (Durrell takes two birds from a nest for example, although he does leave the mother bird two chicks), we have as happens quite frequently talked about how things that are not acceptable nowadays, were considered fine when they took place. We have all really enjoyed the book though, and the descriptions and rich language are absolutely fantastic.
Finally, I think that the cherry season is probably over for this year (although I will be taking tubs to the girls swimming lesson on Wednesday, just in case). I've been totting up the amazing harvest and this is what I have done (or will do having frozen quite a lot) with what we've picked:
3 pies
3 clafoutis
2 lots of ice-cream
2 lots of jam/sauce (about 9-10 jars)
1 batch of muffins
That's as well as taking plenty along to share with friends at various times and eating a very large number ourselves. All in all pretty good going!
Sunday, 12 July 2015
A bit of a catch up.
For various reasons, I have once again got out of the swing of blogging regularly, so have decided to do a bit of a catch up post and then try to get back into the swing.
So some highlights of the past few weeks:
We went to a friend's climbing party in Derby, which was great fun. There was abseiling, climbing, a high ropes course and bouldering (as below).
We also went for a outdoor swimming session in Ashby de la Zouche, which was fun. The girls swam while I chatted with various people and did some cross stitch.
K continued following the FutureLearn Start Writing Fiction course, and although she didn't want to share any of her work online, she tells me that she did do all the set tasks. The only thing that she couldn't do assess other people's stories, because in order to do this you have to submit your own work first. Since then she has been working on a story, although I haven't been allowed to read any of it yet.
It was the Fun Club Sport's Day last week. M took part in everything in the 10+ age group and having only just turned 10 the month before, was one of the youngest in the group. She came in the top three in every event, winning the girls' 10+ long run, the obstacle race and the three-legged race with her partner. K didn't join in at all this year, but enjoyed herself watching.
Following one of the sort of conversations we have periodically, usually following a period of not doing so much, we agreed that aiming for 30 minutes each day of each of English and maths, as well as some music practice and also some work on something else, a project for example, would be a good plan. K seems to have really taken to this and most mornings lately has been up, had breakfast and done her English (working on her story), maths (a workbook) and music before I'm up! M has taken to it with quite the same gusto, but we have been playing rather a lot of Vapoosh! for the maths side of things, and her times tables are definitely improving as a result. She has also decided to do a project on jaguars (the big cats that is) and has made a start by getting several books on the topic out of the library.
It's been a while since I've made a note of what we're up to regularly at the moment, so here goes.
Monday - twice a month group in Old Dalby (used to be Asfordby)
Tuesday - piano lessons and korfball and once a month Fun Club
Wednesday - French horn (M) and swimming and once a month ice-skating
Thursday - Scouts
Friday - gymnastics
Saturday - ballet (K)
Today we met with various friends for a birthday picnic in Wollaton Park. We had a lovely time with great bunch of people, some we've known for ages and some new folks too. Quite a few of the people there were friends of the birthday boy and family from doing Capoeira together. M had a go and has decided that she would like to try it out properly, so we may be adding to our list of regular activities if it works out.
In other news, it is cherry season! After a very disappointing haul last year, this year's crop is absolutely amazing. So far we've picked around 20lb from the trees in the park and next to the swimming pool. Unfortunately, despite two efforts at jam, we've just ended up with an awful lot of cherry sauce, but I've also made a pie, muffins, ice-cream and I'm planning a clafoutis and of course we've also eaten lots!
So some highlights of the past few weeks:
 |
| M had a go making a poster with an old fashioned printing press. |
 |
| K produced this masterpiece on graph paper. |
We also went for a outdoor swimming session in Ashby de la Zouche, which was fun. The girls swam while I chatted with various people and did some cross stitch.
K continued following the FutureLearn Start Writing Fiction course, and although she didn't want to share any of her work online, she tells me that she did do all the set tasks. The only thing that she couldn't do assess other people's stories, because in order to do this you have to submit your own work first. Since then she has been working on a story, although I haven't been allowed to read any of it yet.
It was the Fun Club Sport's Day last week. M took part in everything in the 10+ age group and having only just turned 10 the month before, was one of the youngest in the group. She came in the top three in every event, winning the girls' 10+ long run, the obstacle race and the three-legged race with her partner. K didn't join in at all this year, but enjoyed herself watching.
Following one of the sort of conversations we have periodically, usually following a period of not doing so much, we agreed that aiming for 30 minutes each day of each of English and maths, as well as some music practice and also some work on something else, a project for example, would be a good plan. K seems to have really taken to this and most mornings lately has been up, had breakfast and done her English (working on her story), maths (a workbook) and music before I'm up! M has taken to it with quite the same gusto, but we have been playing rather a lot of Vapoosh! for the maths side of things, and her times tables are definitely improving as a result. She has also decided to do a project on jaguars (the big cats that is) and has made a start by getting several books on the topic out of the library.
It's been a while since I've made a note of what we're up to regularly at the moment, so here goes.
Monday - twice a month group in Old Dalby (used to be Asfordby)
Tuesday - piano lessons and korfball and once a month Fun Club
Wednesday - French horn (M) and swimming and once a month ice-skating
Thursday - Scouts
Friday - gymnastics
Saturday - ballet (K)
Today we met with various friends for a birthday picnic in Wollaton Park. We had a lovely time with great bunch of people, some we've known for ages and some new folks too. Quite a few of the people there were friends of the birthday boy and family from doing Capoeira together. M had a go and has decided that she would like to try it out properly, so we may be adding to our list of regular activities if it works out.
In other news, it is cherry season! After a very disappointing haul last year, this year's crop is absolutely amazing. So far we've picked around 20lb from the trees in the park and next to the swimming pool. Unfortunately, despite two efforts at jam, we've just ended up with an awful lot of cherry sauce, but I've also made a pie, muffins, ice-cream and I'm planning a clafoutis and of course we've also eaten lots!
 |
| About half an hour's work. |
Saturday, 4 July 2015
A book that deserves to be read.
Just over a year ago my friend, Teika, asked me if the girls and I would be interested in reviewing a book that she was considering publishing with her small independent publishing company, Mother's Milk Books. Knowing that Teika has extremely high standards, I was very keen and K & M were happy to give it a go.
The book, Oy Yew, did not disappoint. If you read this blog regularly you will know that I read to my girls frequently. There are many books that we enjoy and a lot of which the girls ask for 'another' each time I finish a chapter, but books that they keep asking for (rather than just giving an enthusiastic yes if I offer to continue with it) later that day or the next, are much rarer and Oy Yew was one of these. The girls' first question on finishing the book was 'Can we read the next one?', unfortunately, although the answer is yes, we will have to wait until next year for the second of the trilogy.
The world that the author, Ana Salote, conjures up is vivid and compelling and the title character intriguing. Most of the characters are either from the ruling Affland, some more sympathetic than others, or waifs from Poria, badly treated children who have to serve the Afflanders until they reach the height that earns them their freedom. Oy, however, is different, he isn't from either of those places and we don't really know much about him, since he doesn't know himself, but as he begins to find out so does the reader. The baddy, Master Jeopardine, is one of those villains that you really love to hate, with his sinister hobby of bone collecting. The waifs, kept hungry and worked half to death, take comfort from each other and together gradually find ways to fight back against their miserable existence.
Last weekend, K, M and I went along to Lowdham Book festival and attended a very interesting talk with Teika Bellamy, the publisher, Ana Salote, the author and the illustrator, Emma Howitt. They spoke about the process of 'bringing a book to life' from the author's brain to the bookshelf. There's a lot more to it than you might think! Emma's cover is absolutely perfect in the way it fits the atmosphere of the book and portrays an important incident in the story, although the girls and I weren't quite so keen on her picture of the waifs inside.
You can read the first chapter of Oy Yew here, and it gets even better. Please do consider buying this book for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is a fantastic book (and it deserves to be read by lots of people), and secondly it would be supporting a brilliant little independent publisher that brings some really beautiful books to the world. (You might also like to consider buying Musings on Mothering, a truly beautiful anthology that would make the perfect present for any mum, new or otherwise. You can read some reviews and some excerpts here.)
It's not often I say this, in fact I don't think I've ever done so before, but please do share this post. The more people who hear about this book (and hopefully buy it of course!) the better.
The book, Oy Yew, did not disappoint. If you read this blog regularly you will know that I read to my girls frequently. There are many books that we enjoy and a lot of which the girls ask for 'another' each time I finish a chapter, but books that they keep asking for (rather than just giving an enthusiastic yes if I offer to continue with it) later that day or the next, are much rarer and Oy Yew was one of these. The girls' first question on finishing the book was 'Can we read the next one?', unfortunately, although the answer is yes, we will have to wait until next year for the second of the trilogy.
The world that the author, Ana Salote, conjures up is vivid and compelling and the title character intriguing. Most of the characters are either from the ruling Affland, some more sympathetic than others, or waifs from Poria, badly treated children who have to serve the Afflanders until they reach the height that earns them their freedom. Oy, however, is different, he isn't from either of those places and we don't really know much about him, since he doesn't know himself, but as he begins to find out so does the reader. The baddy, Master Jeopardine, is one of those villains that you really love to hate, with his sinister hobby of bone collecting. The waifs, kept hungry and worked half to death, take comfort from each other and together gradually find ways to fight back against their miserable existence.
Last weekend, K, M and I went along to Lowdham Book festival and attended a very interesting talk with Teika Bellamy, the publisher, Ana Salote, the author and the illustrator, Emma Howitt. They spoke about the process of 'bringing a book to life' from the author's brain to the bookshelf. There's a lot more to it than you might think! Emma's cover is absolutely perfect in the way it fits the atmosphere of the book and portrays an important incident in the story, although the girls and I weren't quite so keen on her picture of the waifs inside.
You can read the first chapter of Oy Yew here, and it gets even better. Please do consider buying this book for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is a fantastic book (and it deserves to be read by lots of people), and secondly it would be supporting a brilliant little independent publisher that brings some really beautiful books to the world. (You might also like to consider buying Musings on Mothering, a truly beautiful anthology that would make the perfect present for any mum, new or otherwise. You can read some reviews and some excerpts here.)
It's not often I say this, in fact I don't think I've ever done so before, but please do share this post. The more people who hear about this book (and hopefully buy it of course!) the better.
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