Made it!

The last couple of weeks were fairly tough in some ways, particularly getting up in the morning, but there were also some really positive things and M has made it to the end of term!  She played her French horn in the band for a pensioners Christmas party, followed by a carol service. The following week the band also played as part of the school Christmas show, which was a modern school-based take on A Christmas Carol, which was very entertaining.  As a result of these things, she missed a few days of lessons, which caused some stress when doing the homework which had been set.  Since nowadays homework is generally set online, it doesn't seem to be a case of not doing it if you miss the lesson.  On those occasions she has had a go, but been stressed as she's not been completely sure what she was supposed to do, however each time I've suggested she take what she's done in, show it to the teacher and ask if she's got the right idea and it's been fine.

Insisting that M needed to stick with school until Christmas in order to give it a good go has, I think, proved to be the right thing to do.  After a horrible few weeks to start with, when M was really unhappy and would have given up every day after the first one if we'd let her, she has settled in pretty well.  She definitely doesn't love school, but there are parts of it that she really does enjoy.  I'm quite chuffed that she seems to have got over her initial extreme dislike of maths and quite likes that now, although she really doesn't like English much.  She is really rather put out by what they have been told will be happening after Christmas, which is being given a reading book which is considered the 'right level' for them.  I'm not sure whether they will be able to chose their own from within the 'correct' range or be given a specific book, but I must admit I'm not particularly impressed either.

Another thing that I am really not impressed with is that children with 100% attendance (of which M is one) were 'rewarded' with a pack of chocolate bars, since basically that's punishing children for being ill.

So having made it to Christmas, I did ask M if she was planning on going back to school after the holiday.  She told me that at the moment she's 50/50 about that and would let me know the day before school starts back!  I wasn't very happy with that, so have given her until the new year to make up her mind.  It's not so much needing to know if she's going back, as needing to know if she's not, as that will take more organising.  I think that she probably will go back and see the year out, although we'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, K's still quietly getting on with things.  She's now at 77% of 6th grade maths completed on Khan Academy and last week she finally posted the assignment for unit two of her English course. I didn't make a note of when she started this unit, but I think it's taken at least 5-6 weeks, which is considerably longer than we talked about it being likely to take when she started it.  After spending rather a long time thinking about and planning the short story that was the final assignment and then taking half an hour or more to write a few lines each day, she then found that she needed to research things as she went along.  The story involved a journey and she wanted to make sure that what she had written was sensible, given she had used real places.  With encouragement, she did get a bit better at getting a more done in a session, but even so it was a question of about a third of a side of an A5 sheet of paper at a time, but at least that is an improvement.

In other news, it's nearly Christmas!  Both girls have made some cards, K a few quilled ones and M more that she's drawn Christmassy pictures on.  We went to friends' Christmas party last weekend, where as is traditional the children disappeared upstairs, planned, practised and then came downstairs to perform a nativity play.  This year M was a sheep, K was the shepherd and Joseph was played by a broom in a coat and hat. There are some more bits and pieces to finish off, but I think we're nearly there.  Merry Christmas!

It's December!

I'm not entirely sure how it's happened, but it's December already. 

K is on something of a roll with maths at the moment.  She's spending quite a lot of time on Khan Academy and is working through the 6th grade 'mission' at a pretty fast rate.  6th grade in the US is the equivalent of year 7 here and it was after using Khan Academy for a while but without any particular aim that I suggested she could use the school year mission as a way of having something to aim at.  It seemed to make more sense to go for an earlier year to build confidence and K was happy with that.  She started this in earnest in September I think and had already completed some of the 6th grade mission completed and she's now at 65% complete and adding another few percent each time she goes on the website, which is most days.  She is also insisting on doing all of the maths involved in her science homework (this week that was working out the density of various objects given their volume and mass) on paper and refusing to use a calculator! 

Her English course is coming on rather more slowly; from my point of view rather frustratingly so.  K can take half an hour or more to write just a couple of lines of the short story that is the final task of the second unit.  I'm never entirely sure how much this is due to K getting distracted by other things, or daydreaming.  Finding the balance between leaving her to get on with things at her own pace in her own time and encouraging her to focus and just get on with it is a tricky one.  One of the reasons for doing this English course is as preparation for doing a GCSE and clearly there will be time constraints when it comes to exams, so it is something that needs consideration.

M seems on the face of it to be settling in quite well at school now.  She is doing fine with the work, has joined the concert band and was picked to play in the U12 netball team for a tournament.  She's participating in various Christmas activities, playing her French horn with the band for a pensioners' party and also for the school play.  It only been about two months though and she is definitely still adjusting, understandably so.  We had a conversation recently when she told me that she wasn't sure whether she wanted to carry on with school after Christmas yet and that she wished she either loved school or hated it.  She feels that both options, carrying on or returning to home ed, would be 'wrong'.  I guess it's one of those life lessons that we all learn eventually; that the choices we make, especially the big ones, are very rarely 100% positive or negative.

A very busy weekend!

M & L did the 5km Park Run on Saturday morning three-legged (although they didn't manage to run as such) to raise money for Children in Need in just under an hour, which K accompanying them as support. Soon after they got back, they went to help out at the church Christmas Fayre with Scouts, making bacon butties and then in the afternoon it was time to clean the rats' cage.

Sunday we had a lovely treaty day planned, including meeting with friends at the Dice Cup, but unfortunately illness prevented them coming, which was a real shame, but we'll try again in the new year.  We did still have a good time and tried out a couple of new games as well as some old standard ones.

We played were Dixit and couple of times and attempted to play a Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets Quidditch quiz game, but after reading the rules and having a look at the questions decided to skip that.  A new game that we all really liked (so much so that we've bought it for friends for Christmas) was Qwordie.  It's a cross between a quiz and a word game, that works really well.  There are questions which each have several answers and you have to collect letter tiles in order to be the first to spell out a correct answer.  Most of the tiles have letters, but there are also blanks and 'steals' which allow you to take a tile from another player.  The winner is the first to cross the winning line, which is marked on the tin and having won a round, you stack your tiles from that word and when your stack reaches the winning line that's the end of the game.  There are three winning lines to give options of a quick game, or longer ones.

The tin! (I forgot to take a photo while we were playing)

We also had a bit of a play with, but not a proper game as we'd run out of time, Dimension.  It's a 3d logic game, where you have 15 coloured balls of 5 different colours that you have to stack whilst fulfilling the instructions of 6 cards, relating to number and position of the different colour balls as you can.  You get points for the number of balls and managing to do what is on the cards, whilst losing points if you don't manage.  It's not always possible to manage them all, as sometimes the cards can be contradictory.  It'll be interesting to have a proper go another time.

Having a go.

The reason we ran out of time is because we had tickets to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  We all really enjoyed it - it's so good to have a new Harry Pottery thing to enjoy.

In other news I forgot to share the lovely birthday cards that the girls made for A for his birthday, so here they are...

M's card....

...and K's.

Just a little update.

The mornings are still less than easy for M (and me!) and she is finding the tiredness a big struggle at times.  However, M is pretty good at getting her homework done in plenty of time, doing most of it on the day it's set.  She has started going to concert band with her French horn on a Friday after school and is enjoying that, although a knock-on effect seems to be that she's missed gymnastics later that evening from being too tired a couple of times (although she might well have done anyway I think).  I'm really pleased that she did decide to give band a go and is enjoying it, as playing music with others was such an enormous part of my childhood and adolescence and is one of the few things that is harder to offer in a home ed setting, at least before a certain level of proficiency. 

One M's main reasons for deciding to try school was sport.  She wanted to be able to do more and different sports.  Since she started a few weeks after everyone else, she missed some of the PE lessons doing netball before they moved on to something else.  Despite having had just three lessons of netball and during those only one match, she was selected to play for the school in an under 12s tournament at another local school.  She was slightly concerned that she doesn't know all the rules, but decided to go for it.  At the parents' evening her PE teacher had said that she has a good tactical awareness and clearly her korfball ball skills are transferable to netball!

Meanwhile, K seems to be getting on well with maths on Khan Academy and science lessons are going very well too.  English however is incredibly slow going, as she seems to take days to write just a couple of lines of the story that is the final assignment of this unit.  We have had a talk about this and that K has been trying to hide the fact that she's not making much progress, and have a plan that she'll try doing the English first before moving on to the work she does online and see if that helps.

A busy half term.

Half term has always been a bit out of routine, as various activities stop and we also try to meet up with schooly friends, but with M at school this time it's been more significant.  And very busy!

M had an 'insect day' on the Friday and we met up at Wollaton Park with three other home ed families, who M particularly wanted to keep in touch with.  There was plenty of imaginative play, running around and also a go or two on D's 'hoverboard'. 

On the Saturday, M and A went to do Park Run with our friends across the road.  M and L did well and although it wasn't a personal best time, they managed to run the whole way with no walking for the first time.  A didn't do so well and pulled his calf soon after starting, so had to stop. M then later went shopping with L and H.  We also had a beautifully neighbourly late afternoon/evening.  Our new next-door neighbours popped round bearing chocolate brownies in the plastic tub that M had given them some flapjack in and stopped for a chat and cake.  L from over the road was round at the time and H (her mum) popped over to check she was there, as the girls had come back to ours from the park and hadn't told her where they were.  H came in to say hello to the new neighbours and invited everyone to come over for a glass of wine.  It was soon after this that K and I had to go to the supermarket to do some shopping for her Scout expedition with the other members of her group.  By the time we got home, our house was empty, so we joined the others over the road.  It turned into such a lovely evening.  I'd made a big saucepan of soup, so I fetched that and H got out bread, ricecakes, cheese and ham and we all ate together. 

This really got me thinking about how fortunate we are with our neighbours.  Our immediate neighbours in all directions are all lovely, but since H, C & L moved in about 2.5 years ago, they've made such a difference.  While various families have always been friendly with each other, they have the ideal space and the inclination to host get-togethers, and we see much more of most of our neighbours as a result.  As well as that, they have become really good friends and have been so helpful and supportive, particularly with the whole school appeal process and subsequent settling in period. 

On Sunday, K went on her Scout expedition.  This involved four Scouts who had planned the travel and food and practised putting up their tents.  They met the leaders on Sunday after lunch at a local bus stop, they then made their way on their own to the campsite, which was a bus ride and walk away.  The leaders were there waiting for them, but didn't help as they put up their tents, cooked their own food, slept and cleared everything up before making their own way home again the next day.  Everything went smoothly and K really enjoyed it.

We had A & J round for most of the day on Monday.  M, A & J played The Game of Life in the morning and we had a very late lunch when K got back from her expedition, mainly because my pizza dough had gone horribly wrong because I forgot to multiply the water by 1.5 when scaling up and had to start again! 

Tuesday K was back at science in the afternoon, so we had C, G, L & S round in the morning, so M and G could spend more than the few minutes they get together most Tuesdays and Wednesday we went to the Dice Cup with different friends. 

Thursday was supposed to be our quiet day, but it didn't quite work out like that.  Partly it turned into a horribly shouty day unfortunately, although it ended with everyone making up and hugs.  But also, M ended up spending up quite a bit of time with L across the road, because she had come down with chicken pox for the second time and really needed company and distraction.

On Friday, we headed off to Ironbridge, picking up M (the dad) en route and meeting C and M (mum & daughter) at the youth hostel at Coalport.  We had a lovely weekend with them, including a visit to the China museum (next door to the youth hostel), a night walk, a visit to Blists Hill, the Victorian museum, pumpkin carving for the girls, card games, a visit to Enginuity and the Darby Houses (plus the Museum of Iron for some of us), and a walk to the Iron Bridge itself.  We had all been more than once before, but the museums are really good and plenty to get out of them.

So all in all, a lovely half term, although not as restful as it could have been.  The clock change has helped make the transition back to early mornings not as difficult as it would otherwise have been though fortunately.

Now we're back to the school routine after a couple of days.  M's definitely not happy although does seem to be a bit more settled and she is still finding her feet with the social side.  She feels that the girl that she thought was most likely to become a friend isn't as keen as she is, and having had a conversation with L this evening, who is on the other side of a similar situation, is trying to work out how to deal with that.

Another schooly update.

We're now three weeks in to M's school journey and although there are still some glitches that are yet to be ironed out, she seems to be settling in a bit.  Generally from what I can gather, socially she seems to be getting on fine and since meeting another mum at the parents' evening we have sorted out a lift share a couple of afternoons each week.  We've only done it a couple of times so far, but M and her friend A have spent some time together after school as well.  In fact they chose to get some homework done together last Thursday after school at our house.

As far as the academic side of things is concerned M seems to be doing fine too.  She really doesn't like homework, but often gets in and gets at least part of it out done and out of the way immediately.  Homework has changed absolutely hugely since I was teaching, nevermind since I was at school.  Admittedly it's 13 years since I taught, but text books seem to be a thing of the past, at least in terms of each child having one that they take home with them.  In addition to that a significant amount of homework is now both set and completed online, in SNA's case on showmyhomework.co.uk, along with other websites, such as hegartymaths.  The vast majority of the homework she has been given so far has been online (mostly maths tasks) and learning vocabulary for French and German (which fortunately she doesn't find too difficult) along with some finishing off classwork and drawing exercises for technology and art. 

Until a couple of days ago, M had been very vocal in her dislike of school.  She has stated very firmly that she made the wrong decision in going to school and was not happy.  She understood why we had said she had to continue until Christmas, but that did not stop her railing against it.  I was absolutely gobsmacked when yesterday morning she said that it seemed like everyone expected/wanted (I can't remember exactly what she said) her to stay at school and that she might stay for the whole year.  I reminded her that it's her choice and that it doesn't matter what other people think of her decision to which she replied rather grumpily that she knew that and I had told her that a million times already!

M has made it through to half term now, as tomorrow is an inset day.  That feels like quite an achievement and I'm cautiously optimistic that the next half term will be a bit less of a struggle.  M is talking about starting an after school activity after the holiday, probably either the concert band or a sports club, which I'm hoping will help her continue to settle in.  As to what she will decide at Christmas when we talk about options again, I have no idea!

Settling in.

We had a lovely but rather busy weekend, not ideal in terms of rest but it fulfilled M's wish to keep in touch with friends.  On Saturday morning M and A got up early (well early by my standards) and joined our neighbours, H, C & L for a Park Run.  M and L got their best time yet and it was A's first time and he apparently did pretty well too, although struggled to go up and down stairs for the rest of the weekend!  Later that day we were invited to a barbeque at our lovely neighbours' and had a lovely time.

On Sunday, it was the weekly cleaning of the rats' cage in the morning.  Then there was some conflict over getting homework and other things done.  That's putting in mildly really, but we resolved it eventually and finished with cuddles.  We met friends who we haven't seen for a while for cake in the afternoon.  We had a lovely catch up and they came back to ours for a play afterwards.  We finished the weekend with K's birthday meal treat, which had been postponed from the previous day, which was takeaway pizza in front of Strictly Come Dancing.

This morning was hard.  M really didn't want to get up and she definitely did not want to go to school.  When we got there, she told me that we had broken our promise that she could change her mind if she thought she'd made the wrong decision.  When I reminded her that the agreement had been that she needed to give it a really proper go and that we were working on the basis of going for a year, that less than two weeks really wasn't a proper go and that we had already compromised by saying we would reassess the situation at Christmas, she wasn't impressed.

Things seemed somewhat better when I picked her up after school fortunately and we returned a short time later for parents' evening.  As soon as we walked in she spotted a friend and went to chat to her and there were several other girls she went to talked to as well.  Having spoken to most of her teachers, she has made an overwhelmingly positive impression, that she was doing well with the work.  We spoke to one of her two English teachers, who said she had an excellent understanding of what she read, could predict what might happen and understand what a character might be feeling.  Rather predictably the thing she noted as needing to be worked on was M's handwriting, which is fair.  Most of the teachers said she was quiet and encouraged her to volunteer answers occasionally, although one (who M has said that she likes and who is less strict than most of the others) said she was rather chatty!

Talking on the way home, M said that she does understand why we're saying she has to say until Christmas, she just doesn't like it, but actually when I suggested that she might even change her mind by then (with reference to doing different sports later) she didn't disagree.  I'm feeling much more hopeful that she will settle in and enjoy the experience, whether she decides to continue or not.

Meanwhile at home, K and I had a conversation about what is reasonable and realistic for her to be doing and together came up with a loose timetable for her.  She had been trying to come up with one for herself, but it's been taking so long that she's not been doing much work!

She then did some maths on Khan Academy, but very frustratingly (from my point of view at least) she got stuck straight away.  It wasn't anything to do with the maths, but with her refusal to accept the standard notation used.  What she was doing was solving a problem that was written with a couple of letters in place of numbers and finding the answer by replacing the letters with the values given.  She really, really does not like the fact that you don't use multiplication signs when letters are used instead of numbers and insisted that if p=6 and q=8 then pq should =68 rather than 48.  I got very frustrated and raised my voice slightly when asking her to just accept the standard notation and solve the problem.  K got rather upset and after a big cuddle when she couldn't tell me what was wrong, she told me it was because I'd shouted at her.  I'm inclined to think that it was more likely to be a reaction to the emotions that have been running high at home over the past couple of weeks, but after a big hug she did get on with the maths.  She reconciled herself to accepting the notation by writing extremely large multiplication signs when solving the problems.

I found out this evening that she has led me to believe that she had made more progress with the English course she is doing than is the case, so we've had a chat about honesty and agreed that we'll check in with each other more frequently.  K is very private and doesn't want to show me what she's writing a lot of the time, so it's tricky to find the balance between respecting that and keeping an eye on how she's getting on and supporting her to make progress.

In addition to the new situation for the girls, changes are afoot for A too.  It's not entirely settled yet, but it's very likely that he will be changing jobs soon.  Assuming this goes to plan, the new situation will mean possibly more travel (although less of the very long day trips that he currently has), including around a week each month in Amsterdam from January.  The biggest change, however, will be that when he is here he will be working from home rather than going to an office in town each day.  We told the girls this at the weekend and their reaction was a unison, 'Working from home?  That's just wrong!'  Another new thing to get used to.
 

A week in.

It's been a tough one.  Very tough and very emotional.  There have been tears (M's and mine), lots of cuddles and talking and a bit of shouting.

Although M had anticipated that school would be hard to start with, neither of us really appreciated just how hard she would find it.  The first day was, of course, a massive culture shock.  She knew nobody in her year and only a couple of older acquaintances from gymnastics in any other years.  In addition she started a few weeks after everyone else, so they are just about at the point where they know what they're doing and where they're going.  The final straw was that we had arranged to meet in reception after school, just for the first day, and she didn't turn up.  She had been swept out of school with everyone else and not allowed back in by the builders who control the path through the demolition site of the old school buildings.  There was absolutely no mobile phone coverage, so she hadn't managed to contact me and vice versa.  After 10 minutes or so of waiting, with various teachers looking around the school for her, one of the teachers and I went to look outside, where I found her waiting by the car.  She had managed to hold it together until that point...just.

Since then M has not wanted to go to school.  She accepts that she needs to give it longer and that it's very early days and that there's a lot to get used to, but she doesn't want to go.  I don't think the work has been a problem, although in most of the lessons they seem to be part way through various projects.  The one subject for which she'd been put into the top set and was completely out of her depth that was an issue was maths, but she's now been moved and her form tutor is now her teacher, so I'm hopeful that will improve.  There are some subjects that she quite likes, PE and technology in particular.  Some of her first impressions were that 'everybody swears and people have drawn penises on the chairs'.  Although she's been very clear that she does not like school, every day so far there has been something that has been either 'okay' or she has liked. 

As far as friendships are concerned, M is very mature and realises that they take time.  She has said that there are people who are friendly, but that she doesn't know if they are being nice because she's new or if they really like her, so we've talked about those people being potential friends.

Her form tutor has been excellent.  He has been very responsive to emails and phoned yesterday for a chat, although since I was just on my way to pick her up (Wednesday is the only day I can't pick her up at the end of school, so she stayed to do homework in the library, which is an option until 4pm) I met him rather than talking on the phone.  He has been very supportive and helpful sorting out a couple of issues that we've brought up and he is clearly very on the ball, putting extra support in place very quickly when he has noticed it was needed.

We are all aware that it's still very early days but given how hard M is finding it, rather than keeping to what we originally said, that it would be for a year (although with the caveat that we would of course take her out if she was very unhappy), we have said we'll take it a term at a time.  Knowing that if things are no better (and I do think that they are improving slowly) by Christmas she won't necessarily have to go back has helped M somewhat.

It's parents' evening on Monday, which will be interesting.  I'm aware that the teachers won't have much to say, given that it will only have been school days, so some may only have seen her once or twice, but I see it as a good way to get to know the school better and see if there's anything we can do at home to support M.  It will also be my first parents' evening as a parent; I've been to them as a pupil and a teacher, so this will complete the set!

And in other news, it's K's birthday today.  She's turned 13, which is pronounced 'tenty-three' because she does not want to be a teenager.  She got up at 6.50am, so that she could open at least some of her presents with the whole family there before A had to leave to at 7.05am to catch a train.

Working towards a new normal.

Last Friday we went to visit the school at which M had been offered a place when we first applied for a school place at our local school back in June.  We have had several very stressful months, which were very much focused on one goal.  It was only after finding out that we were not successful in that goal, that M was in a position where she could really consider other school alternatives to continuing with home education.  Given that we would have inevitably had to go through another appeal process for any of the other three local schools with the chance of success being probably slimmer, we did not consider those.

However, one of the things that stood out for me about M's decision regarding school was that she 'didn't want never to have been to school'; that she wanted to experience it.  So knowing that we could visit another school and there would definitely be a place for her if she and (to a lesser extent) we liked it, it made sense to do so and M agreed.  So on Friday we, that's M, A & I, went along to have a look around SNA.  It's a brand new building (they are still knocking down the old ones) that they have only moved into this term.  As at 'the other place' (that's what we now call the local school), a deputy head showed us around, but that's pretty much where the similarity ends.  There was no feeling of being whisked around as fast as possible, and we all sat down together and had plenty of opportunity to ask questions afterwards as well as while we were being shown around.  Because the school is not ridiculously overfull the class sizes will be smaller and it sounds as though there will be flexibility of movement between sets if necessary as a result.  The school itself is less than half the size too, which I see as a very good thing.  The only things which SNA compared unfavourably against 'the other place' were the distance (it's definitely not walkable, so either a car ride, at least to start with, or the bus) and therefore logistical difficulties of clashes with K's home ed activities and that M does not know anyone in her year group there although she did wave to a couple of older girls she knows from gymnastics though.

It's always handy to have insider knowledge, which we don't have about SNA to the same extent as we do for 'the other place'.  However, a colleague of A's has family in the area whose children have been through the school and who is the sort of person who knows everyone locally and from what we have heard through those channels the school has a very good reputation for the pastoral side of things.

Following our visit we asked M to make a decision by Monday evening.  We wanted to give her time to think it over and the chance to talk to people if she wanted to.  She did have another chat on Saturday with her lovely friend/neighbour/childsitter, who is doing A-levels this year at 'the other place' and has been so helpful and supportive of M throughout the whole process.  The pros and cons list that they did together and that we then added a few more things to was really helpful.  When I asked M what she was feeling about the option of going to school on a scale of 1 (definitely not going) to 10 (definitely going) she told me she was on about 5.5.  By this morning, I thought that she had probably decided and that she was going to go and I think that she's made the right decision for her for now.  I shared my thoughts with her; that if she thinks she will want to experience school at some point now is a sensible time to do it and that although she had wanted to go to school with her friends, she would make new friends quickly at SNA and that didn't mean she'd lose touch with her old ones.  Also I reminded her that one of things she'd said when she originally decided she did want to go to school back in May, was about wanting to experience school and that she would be doing that and that this decision was about this year and we would review it at the end of the academic year anyway.  If school doesn't suit her, then she can return to home ed and she will have got out of the experience one of the things that she wanted and if it does then she can continue.  Finally, I encouraged her to tell me sooner if she had decided, because it would be useful to hand in the form as soon as possible if she did want to go and the fact that we had both filled in the form (there were two copies in the pack we'd been given on Friday) in the morning meant that we were ready to do so.

Around lunch time M decided and told me that she does want to go, so I phoned the school and arranged to take the forms and speak to someone at the same time about starting.  It was a different member of staff from last time, but just as helpful and welcoming.  She asked my opinion on how best to integrate M into school and offered the option of part time for the first week.  I said that I thought diving straight in might be better, but that doing so mid-week rather than a Monday would be a good idea if we went for that and asked M what she thought.  M said she didn't mind, so we agreed a starting day of this Thursday.  That just about gives us time to sort out her uniform and some last bits and pieces.

This is going to take some getting used to and M is really rather nervous, as am I, but I am confident that the school will help her with the transition to school and whether this is the end of the road of home education or merely a pause, she will be okay.

What next?

After a very emotional day on Friday, we had a lovely weekend away at Nana's which helped take our minds off the whole school thing.  We went for a good walk and returned with blackberries, damsons and sloes (I made bramble jelly this morning); foraging is always very satisfying!

Although M needed some time to process things, A and I decided that it would be sensible to find out what the options are as regards school if M does decide that is something she still wants to consider.  So he phoned the school where M had been allocated a place automatically, when we originally not offered a place at her catchment school.  Having found out that they do have places and she would therefore be able to go if she wanted to, we asked if she would like to have a look round.  She had a think and talked to K about it and decided that she would, so I have arranged a visit on Friday.

Although we're back dealing with uncertainty again, this time M will be able to make a decision and know that it is not dependent on others whether it can happen.  When I said as much to her today, M told me, that she didn't like the way we are bringing her up, to make her own decisions, because then she can't blame us when things go wrong!  That really did make me laugh, although I must admit I can understand where she's coming from there.

Meanwhile, K is cracking on with things in her own way.  She's made her own timetable which I have not been allowed to see but, given how much she seemed to get on with things today, seems to be an interesting idea.  She is very motivated at the moment, so I'm hoping she finds a routine that she'll be able to sustain.  Today was the first session of a pre-GCSE science that she's started, which sounds like it's going to be very interesting.  The lessons are two and a half hours including a break in the middle in a small group of half a dozen children.  In addition to the science she also did some piano practice, did some maths on Khan Academy, French on Duolingo, started the pre-GCSE English course that she's doing with Catherine Mooney and did a bit of the online touch typing course.  From what I gathered she had time-tabled most of those things for 15 minute sessions; I suggested that slightly longer sessions might work better which she is considering.

School appeal update - the result.

We hoped that the letter would arrive before the weekend and have been hanging on the arrival of the post for the past couple of days.  Today it arrived and it did not bring the answer that we'd hoped for.  While I admit that I had mixed feelings about the idea of M going to school, I knew it was the right thing for her.  Sadly she is not going to get the experience that she so wanted to have.

"The panel considered all the points that you made and were equally mindful of the case for prejudice to the the efficient working and use of resources against the school.  The panel weighed all the evidence heard and on balance concluded that the case for the child did not outweigh the case for prejudice against the school and The XX School was not uniquely placed to address M's needs.  I have to advise therefore that your appeal was rejected unanimously."

M was absolutely devastated at the news. She put so much emotional time and effort into really thinking this decision through, whether to go to school or not.  It really was not an easy decision for her and understandably it feels very much like a personal rejection.  It feels as though her chance to experience school has been taken away from her.  She has seen all the time and effort that we've put into this appeal and does at least know that we really did do our very best to try to make it happen for her.

We're going to take a bit of time for now, but will then need to talk things through with M to decide what's next.

Options to consider include:

• applying for one of the other three local schools, but our chances of being offered a place are at best no better than this time (two being faith schools, the other not our catchment school and all three already oversubscribed), so would involve going through the stress that we've had for the past few months with almost certainly the same result.  I think it's fair to say that we've already pretty much ruled this one out.

• taking the offer of a place (although it would mean reapplying, as we've already turned it down) at a school outside the area, probably the one where M was offered a place.

• continue with home education at least for now, which would mean M accepting that she will probably never have the experience of school and knowing for herself what it is really like. 

At the moment, we'll probably be going for the last option, but we need some time and headspace to properly think things through.  Something that I am wondering about and that we'll look into, to find out if it's an option at all, is going to stay with a friend for a week or maybe even two and going to school with them.  A cousin of mine did this for a few weeks when moving to England from Germany with his dad, my uncle, when he lived with us for a while and went to school with my brother.  I don't know whether it's even a possibility nowadays though.  The positive would be that she would see what school was like, even if it wasn't the same as actually attending one, on the downside if she decided it was something that would suit her (having possibly had a not completely authentic experience to base the decision on), it would make this result even harder to come to terms with.

To end on a positive note, at least we'll still be able to go on holiday in term time for now at least!

School appeal update - the hearing.

Well, today was the day that we've been gearing up to for about a month - the appeal hearing.  I have been finding it really stressful, both preparing for the appeal itself (I have got physically shaky whenever we've been working on it) but just as much the uncertainty for M and for us as a family.  Unfortunately A is abroad with work so couldn't come, but H, our lovely friend and neighbour who has been through an appeal at primary level for her daughter L when they moved to the area a couple of years ago, came with me for support.

Having looked at the stats on my blog, it's really quite noticeable how much interest there seems to be in my posts about this, so thought that it may be helpful for anyone else who may be in this position in the future to know what the process is like.

We had been given information about the process but had misunderstood what it was saying.  The hearing is in two parts, the first where school puts their case, namely that they are full.  Our understanding was that we had to show that this was not the case in order to progress to the second part, about M and why she should have a place.  Actually, the second part happens only if the school does show that they are full.  If the appeal panel is not satisfied that the school is full, then there is a place so M would have been given it without having to put our case.  It seems rather bizarre that it is only if the panel accepts that there is not space that they then move on to hearing our case as to why M should go to the school and indeed determine whether she should go there anyway, but that's how it works.

The appeal panel is independent of the school and made of three people.  There has to be one 'educationalist' and two others, in this case a business woman and a man who had been a school governor and parent.  They were clearly aware of the stressful nature of the situation, did their best to make it as easy as possible, while still asking sensible and searching questions.  They had obviously read what we had submitted in writing and also the emails that asked for further information subsequent to receiving the school's case, along with the replies.

It was the school's head who put its case, fairly briefly, but based on the written submission that the panel had already received, and that had been provided for us several weeks ago.  I was then given the opportunity to put questions to him, when I asked about some of the numbers we'd been provided with (about how although the school is clearly oversubscribed this year, it's not to the extent that it was last year).  The panel then asked a number of questions as well.  At this point we, the school's representatives and H and I were asked to leave for the panel to consider whether the case had been made.  It didn't take long for them to decide that it had, which was absolutely fair enough.

Then it was my turn.  I started off by saying that we bring up our children to make their own decisions and then they do, which is why we were there.  My main points were that we considered it essential for M to go to this school where she had established friendships in order to support her transition to school education; that this was something that M had given a great deal of thought and consideration to; and that this was her catchment school (and she would be less likely to be offered a place at any of the three other local schools and that a school further away would be isolating for her).  One of the questions that the panel asked was about what had prompted M's decision to go to school.  I explained that, somewhat ironically given the reason we home educated in the first place was the amount of testing at primary level, it was feeling left out during the end of SATS celebrations of friends that prompted her seriously considering the possibility of school.  Another question was what our Plan B was, to which I replied that we would continue with home education.  When given the opportunity to put questions to me, the head picked up on my remarks about testing about primary level and asked my feelings on the testing that takes place in school, for setting and continued assessment.  I replied that in that case it was about ensuring the pupils were in the right group as regards the level they were working at and was to their benefit, rather than about testing the school and entirely different.

The school and I were each given the opportunity to make any final remarks, at which time the head took the opportunity to try to suggest that M could go to another of the school in the academy chain and indeed mentioned this again in the corridor afterwards. (That's not going to happen!)  I took the opportunity to ask about the school's waiting list.  It states on their website that they maintain a waiting list only for year 7 and only until Christmas.  The head started to explain that it follows the same admission criteria, but I clarifed that this was not what I meant and asked at what point the child at the top of the waiting list would be offered a place, if it would be if year 7 child left the school.  He explained that would only happen when the number of children in the year dropped back to below the published number that the school is 'supposed' to have (I can't remember if it's the PAN or IAN - published/indicative admission number), which given that they are currently around 60 children above that number means that the waiting list is a complete farce.  However, I'm very glad that I did ask that, as it means that we know where we stand.

Stressful though it was, the hearing went as well as it could have done I think, and H said the same.  I might have shed a tear or two of relief once it was over.  We will hear within five working days in writing by first class post, although I'm hoping that we'll know by the weekend.  I'd been hoping that the ball of stress in my stomach that has been there for the past month or so would go once I'd got the hearing out of the way, but unsurprisingly given the uncertainty is still hanging over us, it's still there.

Mostly M.

M and I have been struggling lately and there have been some instances of less than my finest moments of parenting, when dealing with her less than reasonable reactions at times.  Understandably M is finding is very difficult to cope with the uncertainty of not yet knowing whether she can go to school yet and I'm finding it all very stressful too.  This time next week, we should hopefully at least know the answer to that; the appeal is tomorrow (Tuesday) and we will be informed in writing 'within five working days', so it could be after the weekend but we're hoping not.

On a completely lovely note back before the summer break, M decided that our friend known as Korfball Kathy, who is my oldest Nottingham friend and coaches the junior korfballers, deserved a Blue Peter sports badge.  Having decided this, she wrote to Blue Peter, telling them about her and asking if she could have one.  It was probably about a month or so later that she received a letter back from them.  It said that unfortunately she was too old for a sports badge, but they sent a Blue Peter sew on patch for her instead.  We saw her a couple of times after that over the summer, but M had decided to keep quiet about it.  Tuesday was the first korfball session back, so when I dropped the girls off I hung around along with a couple of other parents I'd managed to let know about it.  When she gathered the children round, after I'd got everyone's attention, M made a little speech about what she'd done and Blue Peter's reply and presented the patch to Korfball K, who was chuffed to bits.  She's already sewn it on to her tracksuit top and is telling everyone about it!

Korfball K with her Blue Peter patch!

Recently, when transferring birthdays to our new calendar (I get one which runs from September to the following December) I noticed that it was Felix Fox's birthday on 6th September.  Felix is a puppet who is very much a member of the family, so it's quite surprising that this had been forgotten.  M decided very quickly, since A was away on the day itself that she would bake a cake to celebrate at the weekend.  Since he is a fox, she decided to do so in the shape of one of his favourite things.

A chicken!

Continuing the update - films, games, appeal and more.

We don't go to the cinema particularly frequently generally, but have gone twice as a family this summer.  Both films were ones based on much loved books; The BFG and Swallows & Amazons.  While the girls were, rather critical of the changes from the books, which was to be expected, we did all enjoy them both.  Swallows & Amazons did need to be taken at face value as a film, rather than as an adaptation of the book as it strayed wildly from the original, but was pretty enjoyable if you can manage it.

Somewhere we go more frequently is the Dice Cup and indeed we have been back, this time with friends A & J and their dad C.  As well as playing Mysterium (the current favourite game) a couple of times, we played a few rounds of Telestrations and a couple of new to us games.

The first new game is one that our friends have, so were able to explain how it works.  It's called Saboteur (we just played individual rounds).  The players are all dwarves who are mining for gold, but each is randomly assigned to be either a miner or a saboteur.  You take it in turns to lay tunnel cards or block others from playing, and try to work together to get to the gold, which is under one of three possible cards you are working towards, or indeed stop others from doing so.  The saboteurs have to be quite subtle though, so as not to be blocked from playing themselves.  K didn't play this one, because she doesn't like games where 'you have to be mean', but M and I really enjoyed it. 

Saboteur.

The other new game we tried pretty much at random.  It looked fairly simple.  It was really hard!  It was a pack of cards that had one them 1,2 or 3 of three different shapes, in one three different colours with one of three different sort of shading.  You put out 12 cards on the table and try to find a set.  A set is when all three cards have either three of the four criteria the same, or all but one different.  We quickly gave up trying to be competitive and just tried to find a set between us.  It was incredibly difficult and although the instructions gave the chance of there not being a set with 12 cards on the table as one in several hundred and with 15 cards out one in tens of thousands, we still couldn't find one some of the time!  The girls got fed up with this quite quickly, but C and I got a bit stubborn about it.  It really was quite interesting how hard it was though.

In other news, M & I did some more multiplication today and I have finally persuaded her to give long multiplication a chance.  She seems to have cracked it and when multiplying two two digit numbers, rather than doing 4 individual multiplication sums and then adding them up, she has agreed to do them in a column.  I've made her some worksheets for some more practice, and I'm hopeful that she'll gain confidence soon.

Today we took Beatrice, K's rat to the vet for an operation to remove a lump.  M found it a while back, when it was tiny and could be felt under the skin.  A and the girls took her to the vet, who said to keep an eye on it and bring her back if it got a lot bigger.  It did, to the point that you could clearly see if from some distance.  Given how quickly it had grown, it was recommended to remove it.  Happily it all went well and she is home again and appears very perky.

Finally, we have been working on our submission for the school admission appeal.  The deadline for written submissions (and anything not submitted in writing will not necessarily be considered by the panel) was today (Monday), so we emailed and I dropped a paper copy in to the school.  We think we've got a pretty strong case, but there's nothing we can do now until the day, which is the 13th.  M is really struggling with the uncertainty, as she put it "I don't know whether my life is going to change massively."  It's really preying on her mind, particularly at bedtime and it's really hard not being able to do anything to sort it.

She was asking about our case recently, so I told her about how we have looked at the information the school has given and shown that there are inconsistencies and we've said about it being our catchment school and various other things including pointing out that M has chosen to go to school and so wants to be there which is more than can be said for some/many of the pupils.  To this replied 'Well I'll want to be there on the first day.  I don't know about after that.'  Well, we'll see how that pans out if we win the appeal!

Outdoorsy stuff and indoor crafts and games.

We've been really busy since my last post, so this is going to be rather a mammoth one!  Having got back from Beaumanor on the Sunday, the girls and I headed off again the next day to my parents', where we saw my best friend from uni, S, and her four children ranging in age from nearly 4 to 10.  Fortunately the weather was good, so for most of the time the children all played together in garden, while S and I caught up over tea and cake.  It's always lovely to see them, but is sadly these days not a common occurence, although her having relatives not too far from my parents does help.

On the Tuesday morning, the girls were booked in to do a sewing workshop at the local haberdashery/yarn shop, something they've done previously and enjoyed.  This time they made double-sided fabric baskets, I think is the best way to describe them.

K's finished product....

...and M's.

After the sewing, we went to watch Granny finish her bowls match, before taking her and Big Grandad out for lunch.  Later we went to visit Great Grandma too, who was delighted to see us as always and had a good old moan about her health, which given she's 94 and still living independently is really pretty good!

On Wednesday, the girls and Granny went swimming while I read my book, and then we went off 'Shakespeare-ing'.  Although the girls still like going to the Shakespeare properties, the appeal is waning somewhat, particularly for the Birthplace since the actors who they considered friends have all now moved on.  We went to Mary Arden's Farm for a while, before popping back to Granny's to finish packing up our things and have some lunch.  Rather than going straight home, we went into Stratford and checked out the newly re-opened New Place.  We had been there once before, in the early days of our Shakespeare-ing, when it was still an archeological dig but with very little that you could actually see.  We much prefer it now, with the additional sculptures in the garden and some hands on activities as well as the exhibition inside.

View from a roof terrace over part of the garden.

K building New Place.

Matching play, with plot and characters.

On Thursday after we'd got back we saw our lovely friend, C, who's having a tough time at the moment.  We went out for a drink together while the girls were at Scout camp, which was the day before her birthday.  I gave her Bananagrams for her birthday (she'd borrowed ours and loved it), so although it was rather late, K made her a matching card.

K's quilled card.

M gave her a little pile of presents, including the fabric bowl she'd made at the workshop and made her a card that said 'Happy Random Day' on it.

One of the things M made for C; a little felted fox.

We had a few days at home before we headed off again, this time to visit friends in the Worcestershire countryside.  We were pretty fortunate with the weather and had a lovely walk in the Clent Hills on the Bank Holiday Monday.  It was really rather busy when we got there, with lots of people on the main paths, but once we headed off onto the less well-beaten tracks in the woods, you wouldn't have known it at all.

M, K & M.

M & M.

Two of the standing stones on the top with K enjoying the view from a bench.

As well as the lovely outdoorsy stuff (we also toasted marshmallows on a fire in their new-since-we-were-last-there fire pit, and had a barbeque) they introduced us to a new game and we played some others we'd played before.

Mexican Train

Sequence

The new game that they introduced us to (I don't think it has a name or at least they didn't have one for it) is one where you need only pen and paper (and if you play outside as we did stones to weigh the paper down!).  One person prepares the game (the way we did it they didn't then play, but I don't see why they couldn't, or you could have more than one person preparing it).  They write 25 different words down on separate pieces of paper, the words should be generally fairly random, but with some groups of words linked in some way.  They also draw a 5x5 grid and add 6 ticks and 7 crosses into random boxes on the grid along with one star.  The 25 pieces of paper are then laid out in 5 x 5 pattern at random.  You need two teams, with one person from each team who gets to look at the grid, who then has to give the rest of them team clues to try to find their words and it's the first team to find all their words who win.  If the word with a star is said, then it's game over immediately and the other team win.  The clue-giver is allowed to say one word and then a number, the word is the clue to one or more of the words they need to find and the number is how many they can guess (it may be the exact number needed, but if there are more words that could fit, particularly if they're not words the other team need to find, then your team can guess more as there's no penalty apart from the with with a star).  That team then can guess words up to the number given that they think best fit with the clue word and those words are turned over.  The team that goes first has to find one extra word to even it out and the team that has all their words turned over first, no matter by whom, wins.  We really enjoyed this one and played it several times.  I was thinking that if you keep say 100 words in an envelope, you could pull out 25 random words and have a go without the preparation each time, although I do think having some words that are related probably makes for a better game.

On Tuesday we went for a bushcraft day the other side of Derby, with our friends C, G & L.  It was really good, very well run with a variety of hands on activities that were real, involving fire, saws, axes and drills!

We started with lighting fires, although first we had to find fuel.  It wasn't a piece of cake as it had clearly rained rather a lot recently, but with some tips on what to look for (the silvery part of birch bark for kindling for example) we soon had a good pile.  We did have a little cheat to help us of a ball of cotton wool, which catches fire easily but does burn out pretty quickly.  K, M, G & L started off in a group together and C & I were told to go away, so we did, although L joined us after a while.  It was fairly easy to get the fire going, but not so easy to keep it burning.  I think everyone managed eventually, although most people had to have at least a couple of goes before getting it established enough to cook popcorn over.

L lit it!

M, K & G cooking popcorn.

Nearly ready!

After we'd eaten our popcorn, it was time to get lunch ready.  Rather unexpectedly it was pizza!  There was dough, which one of the helpers rolled out and everyone got to add their own toppings from the selection provided and they were cooked in batches in a metal box thing over the main campfire.  It was very impressive and the pizzas were delicious!

C with M, G & L making their pizzas.

After lunch we went into a different part of the wood, where the children had a bit of a safety talk and explanation as to why it was good management of the wood to chop certain young trees down.  They then tackled sawing down trees, sawing off sections, splitting them in half down the middle with the aid of an axe and mallet, drilling a hole for a leaf sail and then sailing them down the stream.

M & L sawing down a tree.

They learned about how to judge which way the tree should fall, cutting out a wedge on one side, before making the felling cut on the opposite side.

It was a bit tricky around this point, as M & G have become very close and want to spend time just the two of them, however this means that K & L can feel left out.  It's a really tricky balance to try to help them manage for C & me, but F, one of the leaders of the activity, was extremely helpful.  After going off on her own for a bit, K returned and with a bit of persuasion went to help F with another tree and spent a good bit of time with him, sawing and chatting.

L watching K & F sawing down a tree.

Next step, splitting down the middle.

K drilling the hole.

Some of the finished boats.

M & G sailing their boats down the stream.

After some more time exploring the wood and the water meadow beyond it was time to head off.  The whole session was extremely well run and we'd definitely be interested in doing something like this again.  When children are shown how to use real tools safely and trusted to do so, they live up to that trust and can have a really good time doing so.

I had said that we'd have to go straight home after the session, but I was persuaded by the girls to pop back to C, G & L's for a quick cuppa first.  It really was on the way home, so I didn't need an awful lot of persuasion, particularly since and they have a new kitten that turned up hungry and apparently neglected in their garden.  Happily after some tlc and help from the vet she is now doing really well, being full of beans and incredibly cute!

I had planned on getting completely up to date with this post, but I think this is long enough, so will stop there now.  I'll have the evenings on my own this week after the girls are in bed to do so, as A is off to Singapore tomorrow.  He's only actually going to be in the country for just over 48 hours, but away from Monday until Friday.  So there will soon be an update on the school admissions appeal (just over a week to go) as well as another trip to the Dice Cup and some baking!

Back to Beaumanor.

This weekend, we had a return trip to Beaumanor Hall nine months on from our previous trip.  There were some similarities and some differences between the two trips.  This time in addition to the cabins with bunks, there was the option to camp, either in pre-pitched tents or taking your own.  As last time there was a mix of (optional) paid-for activities for our group with the centre, self-organised things and free time.

K & M were keen to camp and A happy to as well, in the new-to-us tent that was a hand-me-down from my brother.  I don't camp so I stayed in the cabin with a couple of other families (most people did camp though).

We got there mid-afternoon on Friday in the rain, but it cleared enough to get the tent up without too much difficulty and for a good time to be had playing outside and exploring.

On the Saturday we had two organised activities arranged.  In the morning we had 'challenges' of which there were four.  The first one involved a cross with half a dozen concrete filled tyres on each of the four arms, the group was split into four and given a wooden plank that was long enough to reach between the tyres.   The aim was to get all of the people from the end of their arm, to the middle and then to the end of the arm to the left.  The rules were that you couldn't have more than two people on any one tyre and if anyone fell off a tyre the team had to go back to the start.  We did really rather well and everyone co-operated beautifully.  Mark, the Beaumanor bloke, told us that they allow half an hour for this activity and all sorts of groups do it, from schools to corporate ones.  We took about 15 minutes, but it often takes groups up to an hour and even though the aim is for *everyone* to get where they need to be, sometimes people push other people off!

The second activity was in the sports hall and this time was a bit more competitive.  We got into four different groups and stood on wooden benches (the sort you have in school sports halls).  Firstly we had to organise ourselves, without stepping onto the floor, into height order, then in order of shoe size, then in order of house number but without speaking.  After this each group was given three carpet square 'stepping stones' and had to get across a 'swamp' to another bench.  This was subsequently made progressively more difficult as the benches were moved apart and then swamp monsters joined in who could try to steal the stepping stones.

The next activity was hide-and-seek in the cellars under the hall.  M got a bit teary about this, as she's really quite claustrophobic, but she really pushed herself and managed to join in.  She stuck with a friend the whole time, but by the end was quite enjoying it and was glad she had given it a go.  The cellars are quite extensive with quite a number of different rooms and plenty of nook and crannies and pillars for hiding.  The hiders were given time to hide, then the lights were turned off and the seekers came looking with torches.  It was really good fun!

The only slight dampner, which happened at the beginning of the hide-and-seek was that Mark, who was otherwise excellent as a leader for both the morning challenges and the afternoon activity, asked for 'strong boys' to carry a box.  That alone would have been just a bit annoying, but when I challenged him and suggested he meant 'strong children', instead of accepting he'd made a mistake he tried to say that he just happened to want boys (and this was in a group of children where there were not only more girls than boys but the oldest and biggest couple of children happened to be girls).  That irked me more than the original comment.

The final challenge was the pirate canons.  These consisted of mounted drainpipes, large plastic bottles with special nozzles, softball balls and hand pumps.  We had to fill the bottles 1/4 full of water, fit the pump tubes into the top of them, load them into the bottom of the canon, put the softball in the top and start pumping.  There were some pirates to aim at some way away.  The pressure built up in the bottles until the pump tube was pushed out, the water shot out of the back and the bottle and ball whizzed towards the pirates.  This was very entertaining too.

M pumping the canon.

In the afternoon, there was a smaller group of us taking part in the organised activity, canoeing, partly because there was a lower age limit of 7.

There were a dozen of us including Mark and after kitting us out with floatation jackets and paddles at Beaumanor, it was a short minibus ride to the river.  We had the choice of going in separate canoes of 2-3 people (depending on size) or lashing a couple together to make a sort of canoe-y raft, which is what we did.  What we did was a circuit on river and canal that took a couple of hours.  It was surprisingly interesting as it took in not only a lock, which we had to work, but also a weir; we had the choice of getting out and walking along the bank to the bottom or getting our feet wet and helping walk the canoes down it, about half of us went for each option.  In addition to those things, we also picked a few very big and juicy blackberries which were hanging over the canal and paddled past a naturist doing his thing in his garden; he has a big hedge of evergreen trees at the bottom of the garden, but the bare trunks meant you could see in just about to waist high! I don't think any of the children happened to see him, but the look on some of their faces when they asked what we were laughing about (Mark had told us that when he'd mentioned it to the teacher of a school group he was taking out, she had seen the man and screamed and pointed, which meant that all the children had turned and seen him too!) was absolutely classic.

The canoeist (except K who generally avoids photos).

In the evening, M, L and K organised some 'wide games', although some weren't particularly 'wide'.  We played dob, stick in the mud, blind man's buff (mostly with adults being the blind men) and a game where you have to get a set of keys from underneath the chair where a person is sitting blindfolded and they then have to guess who took them in the space between the cabin and the camping area.  Then once it was getting dark we moved to the formal garden area, where we played 'manhunt', which is basically hide-and-seek but you are allowed to move about.

A in blindman's buff.

On Sunday morning it was time for C's treasure hunt (a requested repeat from the last visit).  There was a bit of tension as a few of the older boys wanted to run on and get to the next clue as quickly as possible, while most were happy working things out co-operatively, but this was sorted out so both could happen without spoiling it for each other, and it went really well after the first couple of clues. 
A & I struck the tent while K & M were off treasure hunting and had pretty much packed up by the time they got back.

All in all it was a lovely weekend.  The activities, both those arranged by Beaumanor and ourselves, were great fun.  There was a games room with table football, table tennis and a mini pool table, as well as space for the crafty things that people had brought along.  Meal times worked brilliantly, the first evening Ma baked an enormous number of potatoes and we had brought along our own toppings and the same with pasta the next night.  Apart from some very minor inevitable little disagreements everyone got on really well and we met some lovely new people.  And it's always a good sign when both children and adults are talking about 'next time' before you even leave.