Nearly there...

...with the broken wrist that is.  Tomorrow is the day that M can take her splint off and is allowed to go swimming again, quite handily on the day of the girls' swimming lesson.  She's got another 10 days of no other sports, which means missing the first korfball session of the new term, which she's not happy about, but not long now.  Phew!

The weekend was fairly relaxed.  A's final cricket match of the season was called off, due to previous rain, so he was around on Saturday afternoon.  Given that he had to leave mid-afternoon on Sunday for a trip to Berlin, that wasn't a bad thing though otherwise we wouldn't have seen much of him at all.  The last weekend of the month meant tidying of girls' bedrooms.

Yesterday was a day of dinosaur, dentist and decor.  We had an LLL toddler meeting in the morning, happily within walking distance.  Unfortunately M left the dinosaur (a brachiosaurus by the name of Brian) just outside, fortunately it was found by one of the other mums, unfortunately though rather than leaving it there so we could easily pick it up (presumably not realising we live close by) she took it with her to look after.  It caused M great distress when she realised she'd put Brian down and forgotten him and we couldn't go back to get him immediately because she had a dentist appointment.  K did however go and look and discovered what had happened.  The dentist appointment was because M had a very sore gum and was spitting quite a bit of blood when brushing her teeth, we discovered that this was due to a small cavity, so she now has a filling.  I'm hoping that both my girls will take after me in respect of dental health, I had a couple of fillings in milk teeth, but so far haven't got any in my adult ones.  Following the turning of the bottom bunk in M's room into less of a bed and more of a sofa space, she decided that she would like to look for some cushions to go on it.  We went round the numerous charity shops and after finding various possibilities she decided on three.

Today was Fun Club with the theme of harvest.  K disappeared upstairs to play a games with the older children.  From what K told me they played a game which involved trying to survive hand-to-mouth in a third world country (they managed, but only just).  Meanwhile M made some bread in the kitchen (she did grumble that it was only shaping the dough, not actually making it, but did concede that they wouldn't have had time to make it from scratch) and did a pretty good job of identifying some seeds.  We also all caught up with various friends we haven't seen for a while. 

In other news M has been going through photos on the computer over the past few days, something she started a couple of months ago now.  I can't remember how it came about, but both girls were very keen on the idea of a photo album and having found one each at the bring and swap session at Asfordby in the spring, I said that I would let them have a certain amount of money (I think it was £5 but we need to check prices) to get some photos printed.  I've got a 20% off voucher, which has been an incentive to get cracking for M.
K has got on with another of the maths worksheets I made for her based on Basher Maths, this time on the subject of quadrilaterals. 

Finally books.  Both girls completed the summer reading challenge at the library, each choosing nice variety of books.  K has continued to read to M at bedtime, although I'm not allowed anywhere near so I don't know what the current book is.  I have read the twelfth Lemony Snicket book The Penultimate Peril to the girls and have just finished the third of the Wombles series.  We are going to read The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson (author of Journey to the River Sea which we really enjoyed), having found it in the library last week, before starting on the final Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket book.

Lots of variety.

Bank Holiday Monday was fairly relaxed and included a family game of Monopoly.  K & M have rather peculiar ideas about games like this as they don't want to be unkind to other and in Monopoly they each have a particular property that they always want to have.  They don't mind if they lose all their money and every other property but whoever they end up being bankrupted by generally has to agree to let them carry on living in the property and that generally avoids any upset.  On this occasion M went out first, following by me and then K finally succumbed to A, although it took longer than might have been anticipated.

Still fairly even at this point.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had to get up early to take K to gymnastics on the other side of town for 9 o'clock.  M was a bit down about not being able to stay and join, but we then went straight to the house of friends who live not far from the gymnastics venue, as M was doing another couple of drama days with A, and gave her and her mum J a lift there.

After picking K up from gymnastics and then M from drama (fortunately the timings worked pretty well), we went with A and her dad W to the library, before going back to theirs for a bit of a play before heading home on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, the drama involved a 'show in a day', clearly a shorter one than the 'show in a week', that they then shared for the last 15 minutes of the session.  Unfortunately, although we would have arrived in plenty of time on the Tuesday, the traffic was much worse on the Wednesday, so K & I only got there for the last five minutes.  It was based on the book War Horse (and on realising that there was death involved, K immediately left the room) and from the little I saw looked very interesting.  Although M had said in the morning that she didn't want me to come and watch, she did seem rather disappointed that I hadn't been there for the whole thing unfortunately.

While the girls were out all day, I got my sewing machine out and finally got round to mending a favouite top of K's that she had torn badly a couple of months ago.  I had already cut off the bottom and pinned it ready to hem into a somewhat shorter version.  I also got on with my crocheting and did various jobs around the house and also caught up with a Coursera course that I had signed up for, but hadn't started about learning how to learn, which is really rather interesting.

Mending K's top.

Both girls enjoyed their contrasting days, although K was a bit upset on Tuesday when I picked her up.  It turned out that they had been filming some of the things that the children had been working on in groups and K hadn't realised this.  If she had known she wouldn't have joined in, but having already been filmed doing a routine that she and something she had become friends with, she didn't want to then ask for it to be deleted, because she knew that they had liked that it was filmed.  We talked about some of her options and I asked her if she wanted me to speak to the coach in charge and she said that she didn't and that she would do it herself.  I did have a quiet word with him at the end of the next day to find out if she had said anthing and she had and had decided to sit out the parts that were filmed.  It's not uncommon for K to decide that she doesn't want to take part in an activity for some reason; I know that it has happened at Brownies in the past (I think that was Wink Murder, because she doesn't like the idea of murder, although she has since got over it in the context of that game!) as well as at various HE groups.  She doesn't make a fuss about it, but just quietly explains to the organiser if necessary and sits at the side or goes and does something else.  I think she is very self-aware of what makes her uncomfortable and she has the maturity and confidence to deal with it in a way that doesn't disrupt others.

Yesterday morning K finally got round to continuing with the bunting that she had almost completed at the workshop a week ago, as I had got the sewing machine out while the girls were doing their gymnastics and drama.  M ironed some of her material that has been scrunched up in her sewing box for months in preparation for making something using the sewing machine too.

K sewing and M ironing.

She didn't however manage to finish it, as L their new friend who moved in opposite a couple of weeks ago rang the doorbell to ask if they wanted to play at about 11.30am.  We already had plans for the afternoon, but I said it was okay for an hour before lunch.  As it turned out they had lunch over the road too!

In the afternoon we met up with our friend R & A.  As we have done previously, we decided to go for a 'kiddiwalk' and so we went to find the Hemlock Stone.  Initially we found the nearby trig point instead, but with a helpful point in the right direction we did find it although the none of the girls were particularly impressed!

The Hemlock Stone.

They preferred playing as we walked through the woods and disappeared off for into them, while R & I sat on a tree stump and put the world to rights.

Playing in the woods.

We then went back to theirs for a play and tea before heading home to see Daddy, who'd arrived back from a trip to Paris and Amsterdam, having left early on Tuesday.

Today we had plans to meet up with our friends Ka, Ma & Am at the library and D (the dad) came too.  The reason was that Imagination Gaming (they're in the process of updating their website - so come back and have a look in a week or two if that link doesn't work, or check them out on Facebook) were coming again, which was definitely a good thing.  K spent most of the time working on Katamino, she was really focused and did really well with it getting up to level 9.  Chris, the bloke who ran the session, noticed her and commented on it.  Interestingly he said that she was what he would remember from the session and would want to try to engage her in some of the other games for more than one person next time.  I did ask K if she was wanting to be on her own and that was why she concentrated on that puzzle, but she said it wasn't that, she just really wanted to crack the puzzle.  The rest of us tried out and enjoyed various other games, a couple that we'd played last time, but mostly new ones.  A really good mathsy game was City of Zombies (although I understand it might be better to wait for the second edition as some of the instructions aren't as clear as they could be, which is something that will be improved), which combines strategy and numbers.  You have to use three dice to kill off zombies which have different number values, using any of the four arithmetic operations (+, -, x, ÷) and squares and square roots of the numbers on the dice.  A complete contrast was Anomia which involves quickly coming up with something that fits in with a particular category in a sort of duel with another play who has the same symbol on their card as you do.  There were a couple more, but we ended with Concept which was a fascinating idea.  It involves trying to get across a word, phrase or name by placing markers on various icons which try to describe the idea, appearance or things to do with it.  It's always good to try out new games and this is a great way to do so, not just because of the variety that are available, but also because Chris can get you playing really quickly with a clear and succinct explanation, so you don't need to plough through the instructions trying to pick out what you need to get going.  We were very pleased to hear that he'll be back again later in the year.

Lots more C things.

Conception - again.  Over lunch we talked more about sperm donation and alternatives to the natural way of making babies, including IVF and surrogacy, and also reasons why they might be needed, for example in the case of same-sex couples or fertiliy issues.

Concert.  Yesterday I had a call from M's French horn teacher, partly to find out when she was likely to be able to play again after her broken wrist and partly to tell me about a concert that he had mentioned briefly a while back.  Consequently, having decided that she would like to go with Daddy, A & M headed off to Southwell at about 4.15pm to a horn concert that he was involved in (he conducted and played).

Crochet.  I've been doing more and M has found that she can manage to do so again now, which is definitely a good thing.  She has added trebles to her repetoire of stitches.

Computer.  K has been on the computer today, mostly while M & A were out.  She has been having a go at some of the games on mathsisfun.com, including playing chess against herself, Mad Virus and 'Classic Breakout', which is very similar to the earliest computer game that I remember playing.

Corrections and comparisons.  I've been reading more of 'blog' and have been rather horrified at some of my typos, including using the wrong there/they're/their at times!  I have been correcting the worst of the mistakes as I go along.  I've now read up to a year ago and as I said to A when he asked if I'd talked to my Mum about how the girls are getting on (he likes to have an idea of how they compare to schooled peers and my Mum was a primary school teacher, although she taught infants for the most part particularly in the latter part of her career), looking back at all the things we've covered over the last nearly three years is extremely reassuring.

Cricket, conception, crochet and other stuff.

When we arrived home from Granny & Big Grandad's early Friday evening, K & M were very disappointed to hear that they hadn't been home when their new friend L, who's very recently moved in opposite us, had called round to see if they wanted to play.  A had already started cooking tea, but it wasn't going to be ready for a while, so they went over and ended up staying until tea was ready.  They were very disappointed to find out that L wasn't going to be around for the weekend, as she's going to stay at her dad's.

Saturday was A's penultimate cricket match of the season.  After a reasonable start to the season, he has had rather a lot of ducks (or noughts), but last week did extremely well with 84 not out (he opens the batting).  He was very pleased with this, but extremely stiff as a result!  The girls and I hadn't been to watch any games so far this season, as he had been dropped to the thirds for much of the season and they don't play any of their matches at their home ground, even the 'home' matches.  For the past couple of weeks though, he's been back in the seconds and this match was a home one.  So partly to watch him and partly because I was going to help out a friend with mid-move putting a van load of stuff into storage and the girls were going to stay with him rather than come, we went along to the cricket ground.  I was rather perplexed when we arrived, as A was batting and the score board seemed to indicate that it was the second innings, but when we went into the clubhouse, they hadn't yet had tea, which they usually have between the innings.  It turned out that A's team had got the opposition out so quickly that they had decided to have tea after the match instead of in the middle.  He had another good game with about 40 not out and the game was over just in time before a quite torrential downpour.

Post downpour amazing rainbow with extra blue & violet underneath!

Finishing so early meant that A could come along and help with the moving, which was extremely helpful.

All the kids at the storage place.

On the way home the conversation turned to how it's possible to chose to have a baby even if there isn't a 'daddy' around.  The girls have got one friend locally whose father was a sperm donor for example.  So we talked about conception and how usually the sperm is deposited in the vagina directly from the penis, but it doesn't have to be and you could for example use a syringe.  K suggested that you could get sperm from a tank where it's stored, and I think she had an idea that there might be a bit vat of sperm where you suck some up into a syringe to use which really gave me the giggles, much to her bemusement.  We'll probably return to the idea of 'other' ways to make a baby, such as IVF at a later date.

In other news both girls have decided that they would like a penfriend.  K has already written in reply to one of the penfriend requests in Aquila which arrived yesterday.  She has tried this once before but didn't hear anything, so fingers crossed she'll get a reply this time.  I have suggested that she could put her own request in the magazine, but she doesn't want to do that.  M also wants a penfriend, but has gone for the option of me asking in a Facebook group if anyone has a child that is interested.  We have found someone who is, so she is planning on writing the first letter today or tomorrow.

M had two lots of post yesterday, her copy of Aquila and something she's been hoping for for a while now.

A replacement Blue Peter badge!

Finally, I've started making the crochet top that I bought the pattern and yarn for a couple of weeks ago.  I took me a while to manage to follow the pattern to make a tension square, but I managed eventually and I think doing that has helped me to get going better when I moved on to making the top.

Progress at the end of the first day.

Looking back and home and away.

I noticed a couple of days ago that 'blog', as it's known in our house, is fast approaching 20 000 views, so that prompted me to look back at what I've written over the past two and half years or so.  So far I've re-read chronologically from the start until the end of August 2012 and it's brought back some lovely memories.  It really is fantastic to have such a good record of what we've done in terms of home education and just generally.  It's reminded me, yet again, that things tend to go in cycles of lulls, when I eventually get a bit stressed that we're not doing enough, and times when what the girls are learning is obvious and we are much more active.  If you have been considering keeping a blog, whether just for yourself and your family or to share with others, please do!

Last week we had a couple of days seeing friends, first visiting friends on Tuesday, then at home on Wednesday.  We hadn't seen our friends E, C, L & J for a month, but it seems like much longer as usually we see them most weeks.  We had a lovely afternoon, although M sometimes struggles with C not wanting to play.  C is the same age as K, but sometimes seems somewhat older in some ways, and although she does sometimes, she's not always up for playing 'imagination games', which is usually still M's favourite thing to do.  Despite some moaning from various children, E & I decided that it would be good to go out for a walk and some fresh air.  Once we were out things were generally better and we did pick some blackberries at K & M's insistence, despite having no container to carry them in, so we had to use our hands!  There were enough to make a very nice blackberry & apple crumble the next day.

On Wednesday, we had A and J here for the day.  All four girls played together happily the whole day with an extended game which involved walkie talkies that A & J had brought with them.  After an early tea, S, their mum came round while I took K to swimming (M not being allowed to swim for another fortnight). 

Thursday the girls and I headed to Granny & Big Grandad's, where K & M were booked on to a sewing workshop in the local haberdashery.  While they were there, I went to see my Grandad which was quite eventful as we had words about various things, which has been a long time coming.  The girls went to a workshop last year and enjoyed it, so were keen to go again this year.  I was a bit concerned at how M would manage, given her broken wrist, but she didn't want me to stay and it was fine.  They made bunting, so it was all machine sewing straight lines, so she didn't need to twist her hand, which is the one thing she really can't do at the moment!  K didn't quite finish hers, so I need to get my sewing machine out for her to do so at home before I'm allowed to see it.

M's bunting.

On Friday Granny, M & I had a game of scrabble, then the girls and I went for a wander down the town, where the girls bought sweets from the old fashioned sweet shop.  We went out for lunch with Granny, Big Grandad (who is recovering well from open heart surgery - a bypass and valve repair) and Uncle Mike before going to visit Great Grandma before heading home.

That's not brought 'blog' quite up to date, but it's long past time I should be in bed, so more tomorrow.

New friends and old ones.

Having been rather disappointed at getting a boring beige splint rather than a colourful cast or one you could draw on, M took matters into her own hands, using ribbon and some flat beads.

M's jazzed up splint.

On Friday our new neighbours moved into the house opposite and on Saturday the girls and I got chatting with the mum H and daughter L, who is M's age (just turned 9).  The conversation turned to schools, as it inevitable seems to when you talk about the ages of children, and H mentioned that they have not managed to get a school place sorted for L yet, at which K was practically jumping up and down with excitement and suggesting home ed!  H took it in very good part, although it's not something that they're considering for their family.

On Sunday afternoon K & M went to see if L would like to play, which she clearly did as they still hadn't come home a couple of hours later.  I went over the road partly to say please do send them home when you've had enough of them and also to say hello again and if I'm honest have a nose!  I ended up stopping and joining them in a new house glass of champagne.  They seem lovely and the children had clearly hit it off really well and were already asking about a sleepover by the time I dragged them home for tea.

Today we went to Nottingham University's Summer Scientist week for the third or fourth time (and sadly in K's case the penultimate time) and met up with old friend J & A, who were there for the first time.  We used to see them fairly regularly, but since A decided to give school a try, which is clearly working for her, we haven't seen them for a quite a while.  The girls didn't see much of each other during the session, as they kept disappearing upstairs to take part in the various experiments, but J & I had a good catch up.  J also came up with a good suggestion for M since she can't do the two days of gymnastics that she was supposed to be doing next week.  So now, while K is doing gymnastics, M is going to do some more drama, this time at Nottingham Playhouse with A.  I hadn't managed to come up with any ideas of what she and I could do and had anticipated a couple of days of a very glum M brooding on what she can't do at the moment, so I'm rather relieved to have this sorted!

Cat-tastic!

Today was the final day of preparation and the performance of the Show in a Week that K & M have been working towards all week.  From when I dropped them off on Monday and spoke to one of the coaches to say that K & M didn't think that they would want to perform but would just want to do back stage things, to the performance today when they took part on stage fully with everyone else, including a verse of Macavity the Mystery Cat just the two of them.  We got two free tickets to the show for each of them, so we had a couple of spare ones.  K & M had really wanted MC to come, as she but unfortunately that wasn't possible as she had to head home to Leeds on Wednesday.  After that they had a think and decided that they wanted to ask three friends, C and R & A (mum & daughter).  C already had plans, but R & A were returning home from their holiday in the afternoon and said they'd would like to come, which K & M were very pleased about.

The CAT-Tastic programme

A mix of song, movement & dance and poems.

K

M

They both professed to be a bit nervous, but you really couldn't tell.  They did their bit of the poem really well, clearly and without any hesitation.  And most importantly they really enjoyed themselves.  They have both already decided that they do want to do another of these next year.