tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318200232012-01-27T23:20:12.885ZHome education: my kids teach me everything.Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.comBlogger2241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-25907982402539249082012-01-27T23:10:00.001Z2012-01-27T23:10:31.918Z

Well,the 5yo decided that five to eight this evening was the time to start reading. She started trying on a jigsaw, so I got a Peter and Jane book and she rattled through the first 20 pages -- up to page 42, with every other page an illustration -- before she started making more errors than not. I think she's going to take off as a reader soon. Peter and Jane are really useful for building

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-80921266914348077432012-01-27T13:09:00.001Z2012-01-27T17:47:36.514Z

I used to proudly announce that L, now 7, was really really clever and brilliant and super bright and way ahead of her age. And then I stopped. I'm not sure why. It's difficult to think about. I think it's partially that she wasn't reading fluently until she was almost six, in spite of reading at least a bit from age three. It's partially that people can be quite nasty when one says one's child

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-65625603947415782202012-01-26T17:24:00.001Z2012-01-26T17:24:27.213Z

Did: Get everyone dressed. Get two of three children outdoors for at least ten minutes (told them about babies dying of rickets). Helped one child plant basil and bake scones. Helped another work through a Marks and Spencer maths workbook. It has nice shiny stickers. Cooked apple and cinnamon pancakes for lunch. Dragged third child indoors covered in mud when the rain went from "heavy" to "

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-60157024110364424242012-01-22T22:27:00.001Z2012-01-22T22:27:13.175Z

The whole thing is here - I am pulling out the bits I think are specifically relevant to home education, just for you. The good news for those of you who tried to read the Badman report is that this document is coherent, which helps a lot - I don't need to comment much, just draw your attention to some bits for you to look at. I'm looking at two things - the extract from the consultation document

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-51514553537507576632012-01-20T13:17:00.000Z2012-01-26T14:33:15.139Z

It's here. Which is frankly weird, because it's JANUARY, hello? But nonetheless... We had a busy morning, in that not very busy way; it was low key and unrushed, but people seemed to be getting a lot done. Reading maths puzzle books. I like that they don't need to be written in, so we can hand them on or lend them to others. Using acrylic paint to colour air-drying clay. I have no idea

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-60771541027191234152012-01-17T00:07:00.003Z2012-01-17T00:07:18.893Z

I think we're going. I'm a bit scared of it, but it's on clear public transport routes this time, so I think we're going. If we aren't, I'm sure we can do something with the tickets. Wall-mount them, possibly?

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-42586025918716483112012-01-12T22:04:00.001Z2012-01-12T22:04:40.940Z

(Sorry). It was a hectic day. L woke about 3 am, as far as we can tell, so she was charming and delightful by noon. But we all had porridge and headed out to get sewing supplies. All three children, including the 18-month-old, walked the mile to town, and we got sewing scissors for their sewing kits, a pinking shears, some bobbins, and other bits and pieces. I allowed them to choose one fancy

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-76379466218410596462012-01-11T00:09:00.000Z2012-01-11T00:09:54.352Z

I'd like, after the slog of illness, Christmas, New Year, more illness, DIY, etc, to get back into blogging. I thought I'd start by getting a little more up to date. This week, we started Monday by doing Bananagrams before breakfast; the seven-year-old (L) mainly sees words I don't, and vice versa, and the five-year-old (E) was fascinated by how many words she could make by going through the

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-47167052461876571432011-12-06T22:54:00.001Z2011-12-06T22:59:14.886Z

We haven't done much remarkable lately. The five-year-old is learning to read, fairly organically. The seven-year-old is reading voraciously, a mixture of Enid Blyton and non-fiction and things she finds lying around. The one-year-old can stand on tiptoe and almost jump. Weirdly, I haven't read to the older two for AGES. I'd like to, but I am not sure how to invite them to join me; they are

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-9363800413983195142011-11-23T20:34:00.001Z2011-11-23T20:37:43.367Z

Painting on big boards with acrylics, to make a playhouse / room divider. This is the door. We made a 12-hour train-and-ferry journey and had to bring the water bottles and tea stirrers all the way home because as soon as the tea stirrers were spotted, the five-year-old wanted to make this. With enough stickytape, she can make ANYTHING. Reading goggles. Right.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-49090852190100217062011-10-06T16:25:00.001+01:002011-10-06T16:25:09.465+01:00

We went out today, on a train, only an hour late. It has been difficult to go out for ages now, so I was pleased we managed it. No-one had any kind of major meltdown, though because it was to a new place no-one was very sociable either. It won't be new next time, so that's ok. And then we came home and Linnea started in on My Pals Are Here 1B (workbook part 2). She seems to be enjoying it. On

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-77579116254911473802011-10-02T20:58:00.002+01:002011-10-02T20:58:51.732+01:00

Last night was the end of a very hot day - 29C or so, the first of October! And it was a cloudless night, so at bedtime, instead of sending everyone to bed, we brought them out for a walk around the block and into the (dark, unlit) playground. I actually think we'd have seen more stars from our back garden but it wouldn't have been as exciting. We saw patterns, some of which we could name and

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-256188013804718232011-09-29T22:39:00.000+01:002011-09-29T22:39:11.598+01:00

(For The Friday Club) I've been actively decluttering since before the first baby was born to this house. You can't tell. But actually, you can, if you used to know what it looked like before. Two adults filled three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a garden shed, and still kept a lot of stuff up in the attic. Now we are two adults and three children, and we have two

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-16309919802989976352011-09-28T15:40:00.002+01:002011-09-28T15:40:57.759+01:00

We've had a good time lately. We did lots with fractions - L has been adding fractions in her head for a while without being clear on how she did it, and we did it on paper so she could see what was going on. We finally made it back to the library and got some new books, and somewhere there's a diagram of clementine segment skins under a microscope. Pocketmoney maths is big but complicated. And

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-88439671877167927402011-09-19T14:04:00.001+01:002011-09-19T14:04:51.874+01:00

We did an oil-and-water experiment today. The children wanted to do something a bit structured, so we got the balance, found a couple of identical cups and weighed them, and poured equal volumes of oil and water into each one. Then we weighed them. Then we poured them together and mixed them up. And put a lid on and turned it over. And dyed it with food colouring. And got very excited about

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-38343678249193897262011-09-15T11:39:00.000+01:002011-09-15T11:39:27.210+01:00

The conkers were from the park and the figs are from the end of our road. We are assuming it's a fig tree; we haven't asked the homeowner whose tree it is, but online searches and asking friends seems to show it most likely is. We're not going to try eating them, though.Stuff grows. This is constantly amazing to us.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-84700815488909790542011-09-15T11:37:00.000+01:002011-09-15T11:37:42.887+01:00

Emer is loving this - we eat blackberries and nasturtium petals straight away in the garden, but we bring orange tomatoes into the house and leave them on the kitchen windowsill to riped, and then we eat them with actual real live meals. Well, not live meals. But anyway. Yesterday we served some up in salad for her grandparents.I call them "Emer's tomatoes" because she helped plant and water them

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-44574263599514580792011-09-09T18:31:00.000+01:002011-09-09T18:31:13.740+01:00

I woke up grumpy today. Then I got grumpier, because there was water in the balance, under a teatowel, which spilt on the laptop. Then I got even grumpier because of all the poo I had to clean up. Everything is a learning opportunity, however, and at lunchtime I had to write up the following sentences to explain what I'd just saidshouted: I will probably be a lot nicer after I have eaten Linnea

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-62406281728744478512011-09-06T21:53:00.003+01:002011-09-06T21:53:55.863+01:00

I almost got up and started in on housework this morning, but I heard the children playing a complicated game downstairs and forced myself to stay in bed until 10am. I drank my coffee and listened to the radio, though I can't now say what was on it, and re-read a Georgette Heyer very slowly. Then I got up and did housework and child-cleaning and got them out to storytime at the library and so on.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-18079644468869397712011-09-06T12:58:00.001+01:002011-09-06T13:01:49.584+01:00

The courgette isn't very big but if you click on the second picture you'll see that the plant all but dwarfs the apple tree... Emer is very proud and already looking forward to chopping them up!From Who teaches whom?

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-88463683998797719282011-09-04T21:59:00.002+01:002011-09-04T21:59:13.781+01:00

New term! September! New year! In an alternate universe, Linnea is in something like Year Three, I think, and Emer is starting Year One. Actually, they are nothing of the kind, but it sometimes helps to remember what we'd be doing if they were, sometimes. Linnea recently read her first Young Adult novel - a friend had just finished Anna Carey's The Real Rebecca and was going to lend it to me,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-38605948120564368062011-07-30T14:28:00.002+01:002011-07-30T14:31:59.046+01:00

Linnea and I are having a wonderful time. I mean, she's ill, and on antibiotics which mean we have to seriously schedule her eating opportunities, but she found a Ramona book (Beverly Cleary) and liked it, so I've been ordering the rest from Abebooks and when they arrive we pounce on them, argue over who gets to read it first, talk about them - it's a wonderful, wonderful experience.She also sat

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-33034153662078608272011-07-27T20:52:00.002+01:002011-07-27T21:00:13.900+01:00

Not a lot happens, in home education. We live our lives. We got a new toy - Fraction Cubes - and Linnea is learning to add fractions with more accuracy than she had before. We have been drawing plans of the upstairs of our house, so that we are ready for the Great Bedroom Shift, when we rearrange so that what was planned as a two-adult bedroom arrangement is turned into a

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-31803630914848547542011-07-20T23:38:00.003+01:002011-07-20T23:54:30.994+01:00

I just discovered Khan Academy. Given that the seven-year-old spent today wandering around saying stuff like "I want to do number bonds!" and has been craving what I think of as tedious repetition in maths, this is brilliant. One grows tired of setting these things oneself and for some reason long sheets with dozens of exercises on a page don't appeal to her, she wants dozens of exercises but no

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-22807647593488956102011-07-19T19:52:00.002+01:002011-07-19T19:59:21.662+01:00

A quick check in conversation shows that both my children understand quite a bit about fractions. I must try to find some slices-of-pie toys for them to play with.I'm not sure when it becomes important to bring manipulating fractions from conversation to working on paper. I remember learning how to do it at school but not what I already knew.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-17050462626317673882011-07-08T18:58:00.003+01:002011-07-08T19:05:13.874+01:00

Days like today are so tiring. Things didn't go the way I wanted, and I repeatedly wished I could just hand at least one child over to someone else for six hours a day, to someone who was at least being PAID to be at odds with her. If I could get rid of all of them for a while, at least I could stare at the wall and drink tea.But of course that's not the real right answer.It's tough right now. I

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-77853196161244295772011-07-01T18:39:00.002+01:002011-07-01T18:44:50.169+01:00

Aha! My eldest reads like crazy, though we are now beginning to keep up with her intake ok, but the middle child didn't much want to until lately. It turns out that in spite of not wanting to she can read the names of almost all the characters in the "Floppy books" (Oxford Reading Tree) and a few things like "a," "the," "and," etc.I have bought a bunch of Key Stage materials so that I have some

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-26445303795487335992011-06-27T13:13:00.002+01:002011-06-27T13:23:48.469+01:00

Because of our careless, happy go lucky, parentally disinterested take on education - um, or possibly child-led, it all depends - we don't often have clear evidence of what the children know or don't know.But we happened to see the back of a book Linnea was reading to Emer the other day, "Until I Met Dudley," and it said Key Stage Two, so although it's a Baby Book by their lights, I can

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-3165685669343113352011-06-22T20:41:00.002+01:002011-06-22T20:46:51.148+01:00

It's hard to say. Today we harvested potatoes, and began making a costume for a Roman soldier, and I introduced Linnea to the concept of a radius and a compass (though, as with most of my maths-doing life, I didn't have a compass and I used string and two pencils instead).Linnea is a confident reader and has that thing of mispronouncing a huge range of words because she's only ever read them at

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-836570092639252512011-06-12T23:19:00.002+01:002011-06-12T23:20:32.308+01:00

Incidentally, it's twenty past eleven at night and the seven-year-old is running up and down her bedroom in the dark. She's been going for about fifteen minutes so far and isn't slowing down.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-64564328379025861702011-06-12T22:02:00.000+01:002011-06-12T22:02:51.588+01:00

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-76437764338902206692011-06-12T17:12:00.003+01:002011-06-12T21:37:01.234+01:00

It's so hard to figure out how to make people want to cooperate so that we can achieve the things they want to achieve. But I'm getting better at it.Getting L out of bed and out of the house with no time to spare - no time to get absorbed in something - is key. Bringing her water and food and helping her get dressed helps a lot. It's impossible to get to her before she starts reading, so

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-52859737517255394242011-06-08T21:02:00.002+01:002011-06-08T21:06:58.810+01:00

We had fun growing potatoes this year. We haven't finished yet - there's another bagful to harvest - but so far Emer and I have set seeds potatoes out in the sun to harden up the eyes, planted them, earthed them up, kept them watered, gently harvested the first batch with fingertips in the soil, pulled up the whole thing a week later for the last few, and examined the plant afterwards. Emer was

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-3520087693451794022011-06-08T13:46:00.002+01:002011-06-08T13:48:13.884+01:00

I started the day in a foul temper and screaming. Well, not started, but one mockery-and-taunting from a disobedient child was enough to get me there, when usually I can act like a grownup.However, I wrote out a recipe for French Toast and Linnea did almost all the lunchmaking - I handled the hot frying pan, and Emer cut up the bread, but Linnea found the ingredients and utensils, mixed the lunch

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-13690399552622911482011-06-07T22:18:00.003+01:002011-06-07T22:22:21.634+01:00

No-one would have believed it a decade ago but I have hardly touched a computer for weeks. I haven't opened the laptop for well over a week. The battery was so flat I thought it might be broken.But I had to Freegle some stuff yesterday so I needed the laptop today to arrange collections.And what are we doing?Well, we have a new kitchen. The baby is ten months old. The garden is springy and the

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-48288330706988744942011-04-13T18:28:00.002+01:002011-04-13T18:41:14.014+01:00

I haven't even opened the laptop much.My eldest child is reading voraciously - comic strips still, and little Usborne or Ladybird fact books. My middle child is keen on gardening, and things are coming along nicely there. I sprained my ankle failing to fall onto my youngest child, though I did have to drop her to achieve even that. We visited grandparents and adult cousins, and were visited

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-14298032454125060962011-04-05T23:49:00.001+01:002011-04-05T23:53:27.616+01:00

Fruit bushes growing where we planted dead sticksFlowers where we planted bulbsLego coming down from the attic like a plague of locusts, covering everythingOld dinosaur-excavation toys with bonus demonic gogglesYogo is like yoga but for children, apparently: This is a still of "lightning."Jam sandwiches, sewing, and Harriet TubmanSleepingThe older two decided that all three girls should wear

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-27274681373846446762011-03-30T23:39:00.002+01:002011-04-01T12:22:03.564+01:00

Today was horrible and miserable and we did nothing we planned. I cried my eyes out in Hyde Park. But. They gathered magnolia petals and watched mandarin ducks, great crested grebes, coots, moorhens, and (mating) squirrels. One squirrel fell out of the tree, even.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-49293563057751761072011-03-27T18:53:00.002+01:002011-03-27T18:57:41.927+01:00

They enjoyed filling it in, and both put their religion as Girls' Brigade, which is a new one on me. Astrid's address a year ago was listed as INSIDE PERSON 1 and I felt a pang for the babies who don't appear at all.We had an interesting discussion on why you need to know who is in a place and what they do, and I suppressed various rants.The other things we did today were... they went to see

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-10061893060392516922011-03-25T18:50:00.003Z2011-03-25T19:08:35.192Z

Time like now when I'm aloneI think of passing timeThe everlasting afternoonFrom when I was a childThe endless summers drifting pastThe days rolled out like doughThe time to play and sleep and beThat every child should knowAnd time like now when I'm aloneI look back through our dayAnd I can see that sometimes weCan use our time that wayThis morning there was buildingAnd tickling on the floorAnd

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-59635377578582569522011-03-23T23:46:00.001Z2011-03-23T23:49:11.076Z

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-68105909390688339732011-03-17T18:10:00.000Z2011-03-17T18:10:00.789Z

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-51230651608383783872011-03-15T21:45:00.003Z2011-03-15T21:46:18.579Z

Do other people's home educating methods seem far more attractive than yours? Do other people's children seem far better-behaved and better-educated than yours? Do other parents seem more patient than you, other homes cosier and less squalid?Or is it just us?

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-25729984706542318932011-03-15T21:02:00.002Z2011-03-15T21:16:02.038Z

I need to take a bunch of photos of our plants, but I'm not getting around to it.Various flowers have turned up from the bulbs we planted last year. The apple tree and fruit bushes are doing ok, in spite of the raspberry bush having been uprooted; the others are ok and the raspberry might well survive. You never know.The pots on the table in the bay window are all looking full of life and

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-31387289125874603972011-03-10T21:42:00.002Z2011-03-10T21:59:00.220Z

I haven't blogged much this past week, but the Friday Club prompt is ‘Ethics and activism’ which is very me, really.We're not what I usually consider religious, but I do hold strong views and strict morals, in my own way, and I have put a certain amount of effort into figuring out how to influence my children to behave in ways I consider morally right and to avoid behaving in ways I consider

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-31381452163380550382011-03-03T23:46:00.003Z2011-03-04T15:36:21.886Z

I did this last week, sort of, so I thought I'd do it again.My favourite childhood memory is a bit tricky to pin down. There are the ones I, as an adult, approve most strongly of - my mother teaching me hopscotch using chalk on the kitchen quarry tiles, and a shoe-polish tin full of dirt; watching my mother dig a drain outside the house to reduce the damp in the downstairs bedroom; times she made

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-57270285656732744712011-03-03T18:30:00.001Z2011-03-03T18:30:28.448Z

I got out of bed a few times today. I went to the GP, then came home and got back into bed. I got up and helped the children start soap-carving until we all lost interest (I will buy less ecologically sound soap next time, which will be easier) and got back into bed. And I got up and helped Emer plant tomatoes, and then did place value with both of them (one at a time, since I was establishing

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-89997277701473167122011-03-01T16:02:00.001Z2011-03-01T21:45:44.725Z

We got our free seed potatoes in the post a while back and today was the designated Chitting Day. So we did. It was something of an anticlimax - opening a packet and putting seven seed potatoes in eggboxes isn't very exciting - so we also filled some pots with compost and planted basil and chives (we don't know which is which because the seed packets were opened and investigated last week, all

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-10215985672384581932011-02-28T17:48:00.002Z2011-02-28T17:53:45.471Z

I realised the other day, when a friend came over and we all started drawing, that we approach drawing very differently. Neither Linnea nor Emer have the slightest serious interest in drawing what they see; they will sit down with me to sketch something but draw something totally different, or draw a version of what's there but not the actual thing - a bowl of bananas instead of a bowl of apples,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-60562628669006001742011-02-28T13:36:00.001Z2011-02-28T13:43:56.807Z

I can't help but feel we ought to know what these are but Emer is four and she was delighted that they came up and she could remember planting them. It's time to plant all sorts of things now. As soon as we're all over our bug, I'll break out the compost, flowerpots etc. We have plenty of seeds.Edit: I thought they were crocuses but then doubted myself terribly. Now I think they might be again.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-21038326637499424832011-02-24T23:33:00.004Z2011-02-24T23:52:10.298Z

1 I love you. I'm lousy at showing it sometimes, and I screw up, and I am not always as kind as I ought to be, and sometimes you think I want you to be unhappy, but that is because I sometimes fail at mothering, and I do, really, love you so much that sometimes I might explode or spontaneously turn into a flying unicorn from the sheer awesomeness of you.2 My failures are not your fault. When you

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-89297139166349545932011-02-18T22:50:00.002Z2011-02-18T22:53:46.223Z

This evening I spoiled everything for Linnea - erased the last hope from her life, dooming her to eternal despair.I finally got her to believe that even grownups without children can't do whatever they want all the time.She was slightly mollified when I explained that we do things we don't want mainly so that we can do things we do want, like work in boring jobs so that we can have nice houses,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-52163263974602025892011-02-17T21:48:00.001Z2011-02-17T21:49:28.365Z

Linnea is writing one - no text, just pictures. It's difficult not to interfere with what she thinks chapters are for. When she adds the text, later, I'm sure it will all be clearer.Meanwhile, this is me not interfering.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-1880984691483405732011-02-16T17:28:00.000Z2011-02-16T17:28:36.255Z

Note twist in optic nerve.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-22160444609227975682011-02-16T16:56:00.003Z2011-02-16T16:58:17.928Z

I've been feeling like a total failure. I've been ill for ages, with one thing or another, and I have a day or two of reasonable wellness and then crash again. My school-age children don't seem to have noticed, and in fact if I think about what they are doing it's obvious they are learning a good deal, but I feel that I should be doing more with them and for them.I can't work out how to get

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-84313512037509519522011-02-04T17:24:00.002Z2011-02-04T17:25:50.711Z

Linnea spent ages reading to Emer today. Then Emer played a game on my phone and read the words she knew to me. And one of their games today involved multiplication.They also played a complicated game about the life cycle of birds (species unspecified) and did a lot of drawing.But let's not mention the running. And running. And running. Not outdoors, oh no, they wouldn't want to do that. Up and

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-5388395224985415292011-02-03T16:46:00.002Z2011-02-03T16:51:27.237Z

The other day we were on a bus with a friend, and Linnea mentioned another bus journey on which she had felt a bit sick. "I was bus-sick," she said. "Yes," I said, "but you didn't get sick, did you?""No," she said, "I was bus-ill."And today Emer fell slightly when going upstairs and said "Oops, I had a little tumble."Neither "ill" nor "tumble" were in my childhood vocabulary at all. I consciously

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-16218224612444731652011-02-02T00:27:00.003Z2011-02-02T00:32:27.140Z

"We're not the kind of people who are going to die ever, are we," she said confidently.My insides clenched up, because the first child I had to discuss all this with found it impossible to either accept or ignore, and cried for hours at a time for ages. Sobbed, or wept quietly, in wretched, devastating anguish. It was horrible.However. "Yes," I said, "We're going to die, someday, a long time away

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-80802994120115122842011-01-30T09:34:00.002Z2011-01-30T09:44:02.078Z

It has all been very informal and unstructured around here lately. Linnea has been practising reading; occasionally I hear her working hard on punctuation, reading things aloud with different inflections to work out what the punctuation marks mean. She also reads to Emer, especially late at night after they've gone to bed and turned off the light. Emer has been writing, and painting. She likes to

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-22719796140306078722011-01-18T00:11:00.003Z2011-01-18T00:29:50.257Z

Today we read Papa Piccolo. Well, first we walked to town in the rain, because a laundry disaster meant I had to buy disposable nappies. So we ate out, and popped into the only art gallery I knew of, The Lemongrove Gallery, so that the children could see what an art gallery is or does, and some paintings other than mine or prints. That succeeded pretty well. I am hopeful that I can sort out some

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-85921054324535408862011-01-09T23:12:00.002Z2011-01-09T23:16:15.409Z

I've started painting. I had a bit of an emotional crash, and realised that I need to make sure I attend to my own mental health so that I can be properly available to the children, and so I bought an easel.So the children and I have been using water-based oils on canvas, watercolours on proper watercolour paper, etc. Oil pastels on heavy watercolour paper was popular too.Also, they've been

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-2730349768038160372011-01-01T14:22:00.003Z2011-01-01T14:25:10.675Z

The new storage works beautifully. They are much more willing to tidy up than they were, and they appreciate that leaving things lying around gets them broken or hurts me, and they seem fairly on board with my right not to be hurt by their toys. In return, I have a Things To Glue box, and some of the broken toys are going in there to be repaired, if I feel they are fixable.We haven't had huge

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-45266651220483996502010-12-13T19:11:00.002Z2010-12-13T19:16:48.330Z

"You are not kind!"Linnea said it to me, a few times, last week. She was absolutely right.So I had a go at being kind. Friday was the first day, and it was hard; I just said "fuck it," (not out loud, I don't want to hear them swear just yet) a lot more than usual and gave up on trying to get them to do anything.Saturday was easier because they were out. I tidied the whole front room properly,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-34863673243832739602010-12-10T20:22:00.003Z2010-12-10T20:23:58.867Z

Did it again. Stopped trying to make them do what I wanted them to do, just explained what had to happen so that they could do what THEY wanted to do, and left it more or less up to them.It may not be wholly unconnected that the eldest child is writing a long, long story about a two-year-old who has to clean houses for a living. Nor that my food is still bleeding from an unfortunate plastic toy/

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-3890707945312960742010-12-08T19:13:00.002Z2010-12-08T19:21:52.325Z

We have had a much easier time of it lately. And pretty exciting, in our low-key way.Linnea has flipped over into reading; she will openly read things, and pointing out her errors where I think it's useful is just extra information for her now, not criticism. She reads books to the other two very nicely, and also less nicely, if they don't want to be read to.She also drew a very convincing map of

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-51111428343981980122010-11-25T21:16:00.002Z2010-11-25T21:19:18.436Z

We've all been ill again, and it's cold out.I think I need to stop missing organised events and feeling bad about it, and start deliberately skipping them. Anything that needs a packed lunch or a bus journey, I think, I will just not bother with, until things are better in general. We might go anyway sometimes, but we probably won't.There's a lot to do at home. There's a budding interest in

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-22057117718748855192010-11-19T21:49:00.001Z2010-11-19T22:58:15.371Z

Just observing the flips from hyperfocus to pacing, doodling to reading. Hyperfocus is big this week.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-64129049984886710662010-11-17T19:41:00.003Z2010-11-17T19:53:56.462Z

We didn't read the FIAR book on Tuesday. We overslept - I dreamed I had twins, and woke devastated that they were gone - it took me a while to remember that I didn't have any children between Emer and Astrid, let alone two - and then felt an urgent need to tidy their room, because I couldn't walk from the door to the wardrobe. Once I'd done that it was time for brunch and getting dressed and

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-27374341851400743242010-11-15T11:59:00.001Z2010-11-16T00:55:05.643Z

It was just me and the children today, so without self-consciousness, I was able to speak French cheerfully and confidently. I remember far more than I thought. I wonder what my accent is like? It feels better when there's no-one listening critically to me.We're reading about Bleriot, you see, and it's a very amusing book and just plain works far better read in English with all the surrounding

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-86708541843058710302010-11-14T00:02:00.004Z2010-11-14T00:21:57.610Z

We did a Five in a Row book this week, one we've done before, but better. We coloured flags and stuck them to the map - the American flag, and we're doing another American book this coming week, so we might actually draw flags this time, you never know - and we watched videos on YouTube and briefly went through the history of transport, from horsepower and wind to steam to petrol and electric,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-69862914543376179732010-11-09T23:47:00.002Z2010-11-09T23:51:14.035Z

My usually supportive mother wanted to know what videos of ballet-dancing diggers had to do with real life. I pointed out that the diggers, the drivers, the dancing and the film crew were real.I learned this week that Emer thinks that the American flag is all the wrong colours, and Linnea can identify on a fairly normal projection of the world map all of Greenland, New Zealand, Africa, Australia,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-83121252918896632762010-11-05T20:20:00.002Z2010-11-05T20:25:09.002Z

My youngest child is eating this six-year-old snail.My eldest is out. She didn't want to do homeschool today so she just coloured in a bunch of flags instead; Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the UK, and Sweden.My middle child is asleep. or sleepwalking, and feverish.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-76694626958396607792010-11-03T21:49:00.003Z2010-11-03T21:50:37.010Z

My eldest child voluntarily read aloud from a book which was not part of a formal reading scheme. I didn't witness this historic event but Rob swears she read a story to Astrid while he was doing bedtime.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-69105997736617927372010-11-02T23:01:00.002Z2010-11-02T23:09:51.925Z

So we did this Five in a Row book about a steam shovel and I made a pan of water rattle a plate, and later I found Emer with a bag of Geomag ballbearing molecules "warming them up" by giving them ever more space. She stopped just before "and takes up ALL the space it CAN" because no, but no.Linnea bloody hates phonics and seems to have decided that the thing to do about this is larn 'em. As in,

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-57699205949941931852010-10-13T19:13:00.002+01:002010-10-13T19:22:18.284+01:00

I came to an exhausted halt yesterday after a trip to the library and the playground and a short visit with friends. I dunno, all I'd done was the laundry and meals and cleaning and tidying (Tuesday is our day for that) and fed the baby and got everyone dressed and out and...Oh, right.Anyway, we are also reading a book Linnea has been looking forwards to for ages and ages. Well, I say we are

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-10976125524225180282010-10-06T21:07:00.002+01:002010-10-06T21:34:56.546+01:00

A lighthouse...We invited people to lunch...Our front hall has a giraffe and a flamingo in it, plus photos of the cousins...And a train; engine and carriage:We fully intend to look these little red mushrooms up in a book sometime soon:

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-58555079064343992622010-10-06T13:50:00.003+01:002010-10-06T19:38:42.613+01:00

I'm getting better at not being invested in her ability to read, I think. Today she read a level two book (with two words from me, both of which I heard her read earlier.) And she read I have no idea how many to "the twins," that is, the four-year-old and the baby, who lie on the floor Being Twins.Also, she popped up and said "I'm Emer's age and half the same again, by the way," and popped down

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-24240346300358694222010-10-05T23:50:00.002+01:002010-10-05T23:54:39.377+01:00

So we got Oxford Reading Tree - Read at Home Collection in the post. Linnea can read the entire Level 1 set fluently, after a few minutes to look at them first. But she can't read any of Level 2, not even "the" or "an."Hah. Maybe tomorrow.

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-21000703573413356042010-10-02T22:18:00.002+01:002010-10-02T22:44:26.233+01:00

Rob was away for almost two weeks. We did one Five in a Row book both weeks, or maybe for three weeks running, I'm really not sure now. It's "A Pair of Red Clogs" and it gave us a lovely excuse to watch Totoro again.Turns out that although the children in Totoro wear shoes like the ones of the little girl's friend on the last page of the book, the father has clogs like the ones in the main part

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-23898039856280524902010-09-18T17:48:00.002+01:002010-09-18T17:56:30.262+01:00

I am so so tired.Good news though - we have exchanged our table like this (which we bought off Ebay ages ago) for a table like this, which has drawers and is a better shape for our purposes. I'm very pleased.This week has been hectic. Monday was, um, something, and then swimming. Tuesday was vaccinations and shoe-shopping. Wednesday we stayed at home. Thursday was ice-skating and the library. And

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-90181677540903894512010-09-16T22:38:00.002+01:002010-09-16T22:49:17.624+01:00

We spent yesterday at home doing nothing, so of course we did square numbers (Linnea made a book called SQUARE with square numbers on every page, because I found some graph paper) and were highly amused by the notion of square roots. Also, Linnea got up first and did some worksheets I'd left out for her, and she proved and demonstrated that she could read a fair chunk of the instructions. And

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-41646532786470926682010-09-14T22:56:00.003+01:002010-09-15T00:11:51.054+01:00

This is a shopping list. It represents Linnea's transition from not reading or writing in public at all to just doing it. I was too busy to write the things I was remembering and I asked her to do it and she did. I can't remember exactly when it was but I think it was August.Mainly in mirror-writing of a sort, but there you go. Rob was able to read it and buy things and cross them off. (There's a

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-16499290527206362382010-09-12T21:06:00.002+01:002010-09-12T21:25:11.118+01:00

Well, no.On Monday we went to town and got passport photos, a new library card, and the children's feet measured - we have to buy them new shoes but non-urgently, so it can wait until nearer the end of the month. We ate lunch out. In the afternoon I brought everyone to the swimming pool and there were swimming lessons; Emer refused to get in due to some objection to the teacher, but wasn't at all

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-27981075290852835422010-09-06T00:20:00.002+01:002010-09-06T00:30:22.119+01:00

We're hoping to do something like this (Lentil is the book for the week, and I never thought I'd be glad to have a harmonica but I see it being used a lot, as the thunder-maker was for Storm in the Night):Monday: Read Lentil. Go to town, get Astrid's passport photo, renew Linnea's library card, have lunch, take children to swimming lessons, come home, eat, collapse.Tuesday: Read Lentil. Go to

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-75513244276732686692010-09-05T12:45:00.002+01:002010-09-05T13:00:13.113+01:00

This coming week is when most of the children we know are going back to school. We're not, obviously. We are going to a Not Back To School Picnic, on Tuesday morning, in the playground and recreation ground opposite one of the local schools -- not because it's opposite the school, mind you, just because it's local and has parking and is easy to get to on public transport and isn't too far for me

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-86641591897625979222010-09-03T15:10:00.003+01:002010-09-03T15:23:47.687+01:00

What Emer drew while I talked about rivers:What Linnea drew (Linnea is 6, p. 1):The yellow is the mud which makes the Yangtze River yellow. Apparently the spring is underneath a swamp of it. (And can you guess what the triangles on the left are? they're beaks, because it's a bird's-eye view, and the bird can see its own beak).

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-53409889043675970672010-09-02T19:55:00.003+01:002010-09-02T20:01:01.421+01:00

They don't want to do The Story About Ping for Homeschool, apparently. They don't mind doing the exercises but don't want to read it again; they've read it a lot because we've had it since before they were born.So today we talked about how rivers are made, and Linnea drew three birds'-eye views of the process. If I can find the camera I'll post the pictures up. She took great pleasure in writing

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-43043539642774403882010-08-22T17:28:00.003+01:002010-08-22T17:56:42.887+01:00

I keep thinking train-travel is more expensive than it is. I looked a few trips up today and I can take the kids to Oxford for £6.40, to London for £12.75, to Bournemouth for £25 or less, to St Austell for £60... I must plan some trips. Actually, Linnea really, really wants to go to Scotland. Edinburgh would be just over £100...Well, Oxford is on the list for ice-skating anyway, and London

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-50456726297291109162010-08-20T23:38:00.002+01:002010-08-20T23:47:08.666+01:00

Well, that was interesting. Initially neither child wanted to hear the same story again, so we did more art - this time with Fancy Markers Just Like A's Family Have - and then, for some reason, they used the abacus and counted. When counting, not reciting numbers, it turns out that Linnea gets confused over the change from recognisable to slightly altered at fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and again

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-6560930309556958342010-08-19T22:49:00.002+01:002010-08-19T23:06:22.388+01:00

I had only the vaguest of plans today, but we had fun.We read the story first, then finished the oil paintings from yesterday, which was nice. We looked at all the high-contrast bits in the book (that took a while) and the children had the opportunity to consider how yesterday's crayons, the oil paint over two days, and today's regular poster paints were all different to use and gave different

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-44955465151195659462010-08-18T22:30:00.003+01:002010-08-18T23:44:01.623+01:00

I was very slightly better prepared today, in that I'd dug out my oil paints last night. So this morning we started with looking at the pictures of night and darkness and rain in the book, and then they got their crayons and drew some dark, rainy things on medium-dark blue paper, while I hung laundry (the laundry situation is somewhat desperate due to having a 3.5-week-old in the house, which is

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-45109167287128909512010-08-17T21:55:00.002+01:002010-08-17T22:18:30.659+01:00

This morning was dedicated to tidying and laundry, and just when I was kind of thinking of planning lunch and the afternoon, Rob called to say that he was coming home and, since my plans were incompatible with having Daddy at home all afternoon, I cancelled them.Turned out he needed to be at home and be able to WORK from home. Ah, then. That's a bit different. So he came home and we all had lunch

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-33279072497859219512010-08-16T22:10:00.002+01:002010-08-16T22:31:05.890+01:00

Today we started Five in a Row.You see, there was a birthday at the weekend, and one of the gifts was a Thunder Maker and the first book was called Storm in the Night and the day before the birthday party we had had a thunderstorm which the children were actually OUT in...And then when they woke up today we were all in the garden and Linnea said "Can we have homeschool in the garden?" and I said

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-2742169875832580792010-08-10T21:10:00.002+01:002010-08-10T21:29:21.272+01:00

Parcels started arriving today.We have a new art book which I read a recommendation for somewhere in the home ed blogosphere, and a new atlas because Linnea really wanted an atlas and my old school one is out of date and the huge Times one isn't a handy paperback, and I've just remembered that the other day we got a solar system poster, and today we got a wooden toast tongs so that the children

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-31222238326893521962010-08-09T11:22:00.003+01:002010-08-09T11:27:30.915+01:00

The Health Visitor came today, to check Astrid's hearing. Linnea and Emer told her how old they are, of course, and so she said "Oh so you're in school!" to Linnea. "No," said Linnea, unhelpfully."Of course you're not in school NOW," said the Health Visitor, "you're on holidays!""No," said Linnea, unhelpfully, and a little crossly."We're GIRLS," said Emer. She's working on a theory that boys have

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-8100616447650602682010-08-04T19:36:00.001+01:002010-08-04T19:37:24.030+01:00

My eldest child dislikes being taught things. That's ok; I try not to do Teaching Her Things. Sometimes I can offer to Show Her Things, and sometimes that's too close to Teaching. She does a pretty good job of teaching herself, mainly, and I can get by with occasionally demanding that she demonstrate something to me so that I can stay reasonably secure in our decision to accommodate her need to

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-35399882275935566212010-07-30T21:29:00.008+01:002010-07-30T22:21:32.464+01:00

There seem to be a lot of beginnings in this whole parenting business. The most obvious one is that we have a new baby - Astrid was born at home last Friday morning, so is one week old today.Before we had her, though, we had a summertime, which I have conveniently summarised in photographic form. I was confined to the house for 6 weeks of prodromal labour, after having been confined to the house

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-74022553035871151032010-07-18T21:14:00.002+01:002010-07-18T21:22:01.283+01:00

I always assumed my children would be early readers. I was an early reader. I have a house full of books. Until we had children, all we did in our leisure time was read, really (now we don't have the same kind of leisure time).And so when I had a child who was clearly bright but not obviously an early reader, I got very confused. She reached three without obviously reading and I was slightly

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-29089088409933510562010-07-14T14:49:00.003+01:002010-07-14T14:56:52.576+01:00

I've been having prodromal labour for five weeks now so things here at home are all a bit... strange. But we've had a few nice incidents. Linnea drew a picture of what she imagines might happen if I had the baby in the waterbirth pool we have in the front room (leaving no room for anything else at all) and the midwife was so struck by it she seized it to send to a midwifery magazine.Linnea's

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31820023.post-21069208062467115372010-06-09T10:21:00.003+01:002010-06-09T10:24:48.289+01:00

Daddy is required to read bedtime stories.Mum is not allowed to read stories, but is allowed to make them up (as long as she gets it right) because getting stories out of books when you COULD get them out of your HEAD is cheating. This is probably karmic revenge for my own childhood.No-one is allowed to notice that quite a lot of the time someone is reading her OWN stories to HERSELF unless she's

Ailbhehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766624288427858144noreply@blogger.com0