{Another Zoo Trip}

We spent a few hours of our Valentines Day having a family trip to Paignton Zoo. It was lovely. We had a chuckle in the entrance when one of the staff members came over to admire my bright pink DM's that I was wearing. The weather was dull, but quite warm and it stayed dry, so we have to be thankful. I of course took far too many photos, some of which I will share here.

I love this picture of the babboons nit picking - isn't the baby so cute!

A peeking Marmot.



One of the giraffes.



Me with Tiegan and Callum.



Joe in a bubble...



Callum with his beloved "Mr Purple" - a cuddly dog that goes literally everywhere with him.



One of the elephants.



The Lion.



We are lucky to have annual membership to the zoo until the end of July. We bought it last year when Lee was working or else we wouldn't have been able to afford to have gone today. It was another lovely family day - I'm really enjoying spending time as a family at the moment.

{Another one done and dusted}

Well today was the day of our annual LEA visit. I know that some of you reading this won't agree with us having them - but they work out as an easy option for us. We have had the same lovely lady since we started - it's like having a friend over for a chat. I love the discussions we have - everything from her family (a new grandchild this time), to her Australia visits, to the education system. Diverse and interesting.

I know I haven't updated for a while - we have been busy. Busy preparing for the visit, putting together work and sorting out our "schoolroom" displays. We have just started a number of projects for the winter 08/09 term -

Looking a bit sparse at the moment, but the spaces will soon be filled :o) As you may be able to see, our current projects include:

• The Solar System
• Recycling
• The Great Space Race
• Famous People through history (display not shown)

So be prepared for updates of how we are getting on with it all :o)

Hmm, what else have we been doing in our absence. Well, during the half term week, Joseph took part in a football training 2 day scheme. He thoroughly enjoyed it, seemed to get on well with the others, and I was very proud of his enthusiasm to join in with whatever they asked of him. It must have been tough, going along to something on his own, knowing no one. All of the others seemed to know each other either through schools or football teams, so for Joe it must have been daunting trying to fit in. He came home with a certificate and a t-shirt, along with many new skills and tips he had learnt.

Chelsea has been spending a lot of time with the girl next door. So nice for her to have a girl of her own age living so close after a few years of having to put up with boys lol.

Tiegan is still very much enjoying her Rainbows. She seems to have slotted into the whole group dynamics thing very well, and literally skips along the road each week when we walk there. She also seems to be learning a fair bit from the activities they do which is good - this week it was about Bonfire Night, the previous week it was Bugs.

Callum really is the dream child. Enthusiastic about everything, wanting to learning about all that goes on around him, thoroughly enjoying being a little computer whizz, playing on neopets and club penguin websites. He is like a little sponge, soaking up knowledge - knowing his letters and being able to count easily to around 50. He makes us all laugh with his comical facial expressions, his cute sayings, and the way he emulates his favourite WWE wrestling stars.

{Speech Therapy}

A lovely reassuring moment this morning whilst visiting the Speech Therapist that Joseph has been seeing since he was 4 years old. There has been a long (year long?) gap since the last appointment, and although I was obviously aware of Joe's fantastic progress, it is of course, always nice when an "expert" agrees and it gets recorded in the notes :o) The therapist is such a lovely lady with whom I always enjoy chatting. She has often openly expressed how she believes our home-educating lifestyle has been an enormous factor in Joseph's rapid improvement. Always nice to tell my mother - my main home-ed objector.

We came away today with a great sense of achievement, and a promise to attend again in a years time for another catch up appointment. We met dh and the other children at the nearby playground, and then had a lovely walk around Dawlish - feeding the ducks and black swans and eating too many cakes :o)

{Wishing Wells and Wheelbarrows}

Wow, the weather has been amazingly lovely today. We had a nice walk around Torquay in the sunshine, visiting the marina and harbour areas, as well as the shops. I wish I had taken the camera as some of the views were breathtaking. Never mind, always next time.

After Torquay, we came home and enjoyed the garden. I would like to be able to say that we worked hard - weeding, mowing, planting - but we didn't. We sat under the parasol, read a bit and chatted. I do love that sort of easy-going family time, just whiling away the hours together. Of course, the trampoline was too much of a temptation and there was intermittent jumping, along with roller skating, bike riding, drawing, and train track building (not all on the trampoline obviously!)

Joe has developed an interest in woodworking, and with a bit of help from his dad, has come up with these planters.

Isn't it lovely when a child starts showing an interest in something and it develops into an end product that they can be proud of? Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :o)

In other Joe news, he had his final session at cub-scouts tonight. It is sad, but he has a lot of very happy experiences and memories to treasure. Akela came over to me during the canoeing session a couple of weeks ago and said how much she will miss him. She remarked on what a "lovely young man" he is, and how refreshing it was to have a lad who wasn't afraid to stand up for what is right and not just follow the crowd. Yes, my head was swelling by this point. She said that he was such a pleasure to have around, always looking out for others, and ready with a kind supportive word, or a joke to lighten the mood when needed. I nearly burst with pride. We are now on the hunt for something else for Joe to sign up for, should he wish to do so . At the moment he is boasting about how he can have more time on the playstation now *rolls eyes*.

We have been having a sad time animal-wise recently, with the loss of another two pet rats. It came as no great surprise of course, as all of our ratties are of "that age" now, and it is inevitable. It doesn't make it any easier though, but we try to remember all the happy times, and the children seem to deal with it well. We have leapt from 9 to just 5 rather suddenly, but I have to confess that I am liking the quicker cage cleaning duty! Of course we still have the 2 rabbits, 2 guinea pigs, 3 budgies and mad dog. Talking of which, I caught some lovely (to me) pictures of Kira this afternoon. She has a silly obsession with dustpans and brushes! She has done since being a pup, and we have many photos of her chasing whoever was sweeping up to get hold of the broom *shakes head*.

Here she is in "I know I shouldn't have it mum" pose...



"but I like it sooooo much!"





"I'm not doing anything, honest!" *Thinks - If I smile sweetly for long enough mum will just go away*



"What brush? I haven't seen a brush..."


"Oh look, it's just MINE okay!"

:o)

{Kayaking}

Joseph had his first ever Kayaking session today at a nearby park. He adored it so much. I am thinking about organising a home-edders group thing there, or we may just book in for lessons :o)

Here are a few photos of his time on the lake.

Callum liked the playground.



I liked the wildfowl.

Fascination...

Are the days getting shorter? Sure seems like it in this household. We don't seem to getting as much done as I would like to. We have been a little lapsed with the "sit down" schoolwork, and have been enjoying time outside in the warm weather instead. I knew it wouldn't last though, and seemingly just to prove my point, today has been a wet and indoor kinda day.

It started off well, with each child doing various workbooks. Chelsea was working on Maths, Joseph and Tiegan both on English. Callum sat with us and drew pictures, played with his cars, and talked about colours.

Tiegan then went on the laptop, making use of various websites. Her favourite site at the moment is the Rainbows one. Joseph went on the laptop and used a few Maths sites, whilst Chelsea sat with me and corrected a very poorly written letter I had been sent a few days ago. She was horrified at the poor spelling and punctuation, and corrected both. It made me smile as she was tutting over her "just what are they teaching in schools?" remark.

After lunch I set about continuing with my organising. Having decided that the current schoolroom was too small for our needs, I have moved some of the school resources into the dining room. The old schoolroom will be my craft room/kids arts & craft space. I will get around to taking photos of the new areas one day :o)

This afternoon has been filled with various goings on. Chelsea and Joseph have been doing "website reviews" together:

whilst Tiegan and Callum had a colouring session:

Callum found some "new" games, that had been long lost in a cupboard, only resurfacing due to my change around. In one of the boxes he found a timer, the type filled with sand. Here he is looking at it with utter fascination...

Don't you just love those moments?

The kids are currently playing Twister Moves...

A lot of noise and a lot of laughter!

{Our Tuesday}

Not much to say about our day today really, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked.

The day started with a bit of swirling for Tiegan:

That's the swirly thing she made at Rainbows.

For the rest of us the day started with the usual cleaning routine - Dusting, Hoovering, Mopping, cleaning bathroom, sorting dishwasher, and sorting out the washing.

The children then did a bit of work from their English Workbooks. I have been absolutely amazed at how many words Tiegan can read. We haven't used any scheme, I haven't sat and actually "taught" her anything, I've just read lots of books outloud, and answered her "what's this word say" questions when she asked. Child learning at it's best.

After the workbooks it was out on the trampoline for a mad jump about, before we settled down to read a couple more chapters of Our Island Story.

Then lunch time, after which we all piled into our car (yes, OUR CAR!!!) and headed off to take Kira to the vets. She was due to have her stitches out today, and I was dreading it hugely. She isn't the easiest of doggies around people she doesn't know, in fact she sounds darn right nasty! However, she was pretty much okay today. She barked like mad for the first couple of minutes, but then as I sat with her she settled down and looked quite happy to give her paw and have the stitches removed. We now have a fit doggy and a car on the road again!!! Brilliant.

The rest of the afternoon I spent sorting out our "school" resources. I have files and files of magazine clipping, posters, printed worksheets etc etc, and I wanted them moved from one room to another. I also moved a desk and a cupboard. We now have much more space to work at which feels much better. The old schoolroom will be used as our Arts and Crafts room.

I had a horrid headache accompanied by weird dizzy spells which slowed me down somewhat, meaning I have more than I would have liked to finish off today.

Whilst I was on my organising spurt, the older kids did some more work on their fantasy story, and Callum did more work on his cars ;-)

After a quick dinner of quiche and salad, I took Joe around to his cubs session, taking Kira for her first walk in two weeks. Mad thing! Joseph earnt another badge tonight, for some written work he had done about his firestation visit a few weeks ago. Another one for me to sew on.

{Thing of the Past?}

I am really hoping that this scene:

that has been greeting me each day for far too long, is now a thing of the past. After a quick test drive this evening, it seems as if my wonderful daddy and fabulous husband have sorted our car out once and for all! I am sooooo pleased. We have mobility again, although a very poorly bank account :o( Just a shame all of the local garages have run out of petrol!

In other news, the children and I have had a pretty good day. After my bargain book arriving this morning, we promptly went outside for a reading session on the trampoline. We read the first two chapters of Our Island Story. I bought mine from Browns-Books (have I said it was just a penny?!?!) and was very happy with the condition it arrived in (quick delivery too!)

We then went inside and the children illustrated what they had heard.


The children then went their seperate ways for a little while. Tiegan went off to read and play in her room, Joseph went outside to help the men with the car, and Chelsea started writing a Narnia-style story. Callum played with his cars, had a play-picnic, a bit of trampoline jumping, drawing, and lots of chatting with mummy.


Tiegan went to Rainbows this evening. She is still enjoying her time there very much, and seems to have fitted in very well. Today's session was filled with group games and the making of a swirly hanger.


After dinner the children gathered together at the table and started discussing the story that Chelsea had been writing. They brainstormed ideas, and came up with some interesting concepts. Suddenly the idea of it being made into a film was mentioned, and they set about thinking of what the characters would look like, who would play what role, what special effects they would use, etc etc. Fascinating stuff in all honesty, it all sounded very exciting. They are now going to work on the story together. I'm quite looking forward to reading the final edit :o)

{Strange Thing in Tree and Bargain}

I had a little chuckle to myself this morning and I thought I would share it with you.

Joseph and Tiegan were playing on the trampoline in the garden whilst I was hoovering. Joseph suddenly rushed in all excited, "there's something weird in the tree!" he exclaimed.

Me: "Weird?"

Joe: "YES! It's round and look likes a skeleton but has a bit of a tail!"

Me: "Huh?"

Joe: "Quick, come and have a look. Tiegan is keeping an eye on it for us, you can only see it from the trampoline."

So grabbing my camera with the zoom lens to enable a better view, we rushed outside to see this strange thing. I clambered onto the trampoline, looked up, and...and...and...it was a...a...a....

Pigeon!

Here is the little fella causing all the fuss. The view from the trampoline:

and from the front.



After having a good giggle, I went back to the hoovering, and Joe and Tiegan continued on the trampoline.



I'm sat with a cuppa before calling the children to "schoolwork". Joe is now sat with the younger two having an impromptu reading session again :o)



Ooooh, the postman has just been and delived me the bargain of the century!

I ordered a copy of Our Island Story from a seller on Amazon on Friday evening. It was stated as new, but with bad damage to the cover. I didn't care about the cover, and as it was just 1p plus postage, I thought it worth the gamble. What has arrived this morning is fabulous hardback book, with slight creasing to the cover jacket. I am thrilled! £2.76 in total for a heavyweight hardback book. Off to have a read :o)