{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)

{Haldon Woods, Brixham and Dartmoor}

Well we have certainly kept up with our promise of getting out and about this week whilst dh is off work. Yesterday we had a really lovely morning out at Haldon Forest Park. Rain had been forecast, and the clouds were looking threatening so I (stupidly) didn't bother to take the camera. However, we had a lovely walk, in fab weather conditions. It was warm, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Bliss. Kira loved it, and was very well behaved with all the other doggies around, and the children adored walking and playing on the equipment en route. Sadly, once we were home I started to feel really ill. Raging headache, bright light sensitivity, sickness, and general yuck. I spent the rest of the day trying (and failing) to sleep it off.

Today (re-armed with my camera) we headed to Brixham, just a short drive from our home. We took Kira with us as we are trying to get her used to being around more people and crowds. (I won't mention that the postman refused to visit us today because she "scared him off" with her barking. *blush*)

We all had a lovely stroll around the harbour, looking at all the different boats, admiring the views, and watching the crabbers trying not to get their fingers pinched by their little catches.

After a wander around the streets, we headed back to the carpark to get our picnic food to eat on the beach. The Brixham Lifeboat was directly in front of our car, as the crew were taking part in an interview for our local Spotlight news programme.

The photo opportunity was too good to miss, so I happily snapped away :o)








Once our picnic basket was empty, we all climbed back into the car and headed off to the Moors. I adore Dartmoor. It is the one place I am going to severely miss when (if?) we move from here. I love the wilderness, the tranquility, the history, the folk tales. I love the ponies, the sheep, the cows, and the Tors. I love the feel of it, the changing landscapes, the lush woodland and the barren ferns.

Anyway, we stopped for a child and dog run about. Kira needed to release the energy that she had been unable to use up whilst *yawn* lead walking around Brixham. She hates walking on the lead and I'm desperately trying to train her to walk nicely without pulling my arms out of their sockets. It's an absolutely impossible task I'm in no doubt, but I WILL NOT give up!! Off-lead she is a real darling, you can't fault her, her recall is superb. On lead? Forget it.

The children just wanted to run, for no other reason than there was lots of space to do so :o)

How could you not fall in love with views such as these:




Even on an overcast day there is just *something* special about the place.

{Resevoir Walk}

We have just returned from a stunningly beautiful walk at a Resevoir on Dartmoor. Such breathtaking views and such a tranquil setting, it is definitely a place we wish to return to one day with a picnic.

It was the "proper" first walk that Kira has had since her paw accident, and she was so happy to be out and about again :o)

{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.

Enjoying the Weather

There hasn't been a lot going on here as the weather has just been soooo glorious, I couldn't bear to be inside. Our lessons have been taking place outdoors, with reading and comprehension, nature study, art, and a bit of gardening ;o)

Here are a few pictures of our day yesterday, most of which was spent just making the most of the warm sunshine as I knew it wasn't going to last!

We had the little paddling pool out for Callum, but Tiegan and the dog enjoyed it too :o)

There was lots of trampoline bouncing...




More pool playing...




and some resting in the shade...

I've just noticed that Kira has managed to sneak on all of those pictures, little monkey! Just goes to show how much a part of the family she is :o)

The weather is going to be changing for the worse tomorrow sadly, so it will be back to the normal grindstone.

My parents are over in Spain as I write this, on their holiday/house hunting search. My brother has put his house on the market and is selling his posh car and even his private number plate which suprised me. It appears to be all systems go for their new life in Egypt, it will seem very strange without family around us here. Still, we are all very excited and hugely looking forward to our new start "up North". Nothing to report as yet, still very much playing the waiting game to see what happens with my parents.

Weekend Catch Up

Saturday was another cleaning day. I hand-scrubbed the floors and woodwork of the kitchen, hallway and lounge. We took down the Christmas decorations, and once again the lounge feels larger and lighter now that we have regained the space where the tree was. We then spent a lazy afternoon recovering, watching family films and playing games.

Yesterday we had a day out with the dog. Kira is very protective of her family (and me in particular) which ordinarily isn't a problem. There are times though when her behaviour just isn't acceptable (like when she frightened a young chap half to death because he stood slightly too close to me whilst at the pelican crossing...) To try to overcome this, we decided to take her out to busier areas again. We used to take her regularly to the nearest town, but they have numerous pigeons around the main street and Kira would go bananas trying to chase them. Everyone would stare at the silly dog making such stupidly loud barking and whining, it was quite embarrassing. It was easier for us to avoid taking her, and we stuck to going to Dartmoor, the beaches or around our village and avoided the larger towns. But yesterday we were brave and took her to Exeter town centre. She was a little star. Granted nobody tried to touch her (her biggest problem is with strangers trying to stroke her), but she waited with me outside the sports shop for ages whilst dh was trying on trainers. She had to put up with a nearby merry-go-round, pigeons, people eating hot dogs and pasties right nice to her, and people throwing footballs around. We will definitely start taking her out to towns more as the new experiences did her the world of good, I was so proud of her. We came home and I prepared all the veg for dinner, before taking Kira out for a nice long off-lead walk to the park. It was raining but still enjoyable.

I am sat here waiting for the delivery our our new crock pot to arrive. I can't wait. I'm hoping it does indeed come today as I have stew ingredients all ready and waiting to try it out :o) We have also got a new kettle. It's very pretty and I love it (so sad). It changes colour and everything! Oh, yes, it even boils water ;)

Today we are starting our "new term" so to speak. Actually, it's tomorrow when the real work begins as Monday's are our family days, but it's good to start getting back into the normal routine again. Chelsea, Joseph, and Tiegan are down in the arts and crafts room doing some art work, whilst Callum is looking at things on the internet with me. We have got reading planned for this afternoon, and then family game playing. Bingo today I think, don't know what else.

Brief Catch Up

On Saturday we went to Newton Abbot, and got stuck in the chaos caused by roadworks. Who on earth thought that digging up a road in the middle of the town, right next to 2 main carparks and the bus station, with a 3-way traffic light system that didn't work as there were 2 other roads not controlled, on the busiest day of the week, well it's beyond me! I know that there were lots of angry exchanges, plenty of carhorn beeping, and lots of people thinking they knew best on how to solve the situation. Oh dear.

Sunday was much more pleasant, apart from the parking situation in the two towns we wanted to visit. The first was Brixham, where we eventually managed to park, but not until we had watched an elderly chap manage to wedge his car stuck fast on the kerb as he tried to turn a corner too sharply. Luckily it was a small car and was able to be lifted free by helpful occupants of other cars. Brixham was as lovely as ever though, and Callum loved watching the people catching crabs and seeing the boats.

After Brixham, we headed onto Dartmouth which was just as busy and the carparks just as full. Fortunately we managed to find a space after much searching and asking a policeman :o) More boats were found, including this rather spectacular specimen...



We also saw these cottages (in the background) and Callum was convinced they were from the show Balamory due to their bright colours.



Monday, we went to Trago and ventured around the animal section. Loved the new piggies they have on loan at the moment, and got rather attached to a beautiful goat who came over to say hello. When we got home, we found all of our old board games which hadn't been unpacked since we moved here. The kids loved playing them all again, and many hours of Uno, Cluedo, Twister Moves, Scrabble and Whatever Next ensued.

Today has been a little eventful, starting off when Kira found this little chap in our garden...



It was a little chaotic to say the least, but the bunny is safe and well. The only cage I had big enough to keep in him was being occupied by two rats, so I had to have a re-shuffle around much to their disgust! Hopefully it will only be a temporary measure as we have put up posters around the village, so I'm sure that the bunny (which the children are calling Stanley) will be returned to its rightful owner soon.

At one point during the chaos we thought we had lost Kira (something which those that know her will find unbelievable I know, when you think that I can't even go to the loo without her being with me lol). We think that she was still looking for the bunny, and had managed to jump into the garden at the back of us. Poor love couldn't jump back over to us, despite her efforts when she heard my calls.

I then noticed that she had something wrong with her eye, and despite me having a good look and washing it, it still seemed to be causing her discomfort. I checked out the vets opening times and found that it didn't open until 2pm, so searched for others in the area, but they were the same or later. Of course they opened for emergencies, but I didn't think Kira's trouble warranted emergency consultation nor emergency costs! We decided to take the children and Kira over to my parents house, thinking that we would stop off at the vets on the way home when they were open.

After about 20 minutes of us being there, Kira's eye was looking a whole lot better. It seems that her being distracted by the excitement of being at my parents (she totally adores them!) had meant that her eye had time to sort itself and it stopped weeping and she stopped winking :o) All that worry for nothing. We came home and I washed it again, but it is showing no signs of abnormality now. I'm quite glad that the vets were closed (despite cursing at the time!) It's saved us a bit of cash.

I had hoped that someone would have got in touch about the rabbit by now, but no, it looks as though we have him here for the night. Hopefully we will fair better tomorrow.

More like this please...

We were all up late this morning, so we were fighting a losing battle to fit everything in. We took Kira to the park straight after breakfast, and let her off the lead. She behaved brilliantly, but then we were the only ones there (it was raining) so she had no distractions.

On our return, the children wrote out their diary entry for yesterday (I'm trying to get them to do this daily to help handwriting practice. I can really tell when we have been lacking in written stuff as the handwriting suffers badly.)

We then moved on to numeracy work, just simple addition revision. All of them worked hard and I was really pleased with their efforts. Chelsea finished first, and so she started on a Maths CD-Rom using the laptop. She did a bit of work on symmetry, shapes, and money matters.

I went to the shop with Tiegan leaving the older two to continue. I needed to buy a few bits and pieces for Chelsea's birthday tomorrow. I returned home to find Chelsea still enjoying her time on the laptop, and Joseph looking at a Pirate crafts book deciding which items to make.

Joseph has spent much of the afternoon sitting with me and deciding on which cub badges he would like to have a go at getting. I've promised Chelsea I'll go through her badge file with her later so she can do the same.

All in all it has felt like a lovely easy day, with plenty of educational stuff going on. I hope we have many more to come.

Catch up post.

Time is whizzing by and my days are seemingly totally evolving around the newest family member. Not that I'm complaining, she is far too cute to complain about :-)

She is now a fully paid up member of the vaccinated doggy club, so is able to go out and be sociable. We are having such fun, and lots of exercise! Must be good for all of us. We feel we are finally winning the house training battle, now just have to conquer the separation anxiety one. She goes bananas when I'm not around. We managed to get a dog crate from someone advertising on Freecycle, and are working hard to ensure it becomes a positive place for her to be. Then we will start building up the time she can be left for. It will be a lengthy process, but worth it when we know we can leave her for an hour or two without her stressing about it.

In other news, the older two have been to Cubs and Guides, and taken part in two parades. The first for Remembrance Sunday, and the second was this morning, to celebrate the opening of the Scout headquarters. Both Chelsea and Joseph are still thoroughly enjoying their groups, and are really getting involved in all activities. They seem to have become accepted members and are surrounded by "friends" whenever I see them. It makes me feel good that they are able to interact so confidently with their peers, despite all of the socialisation worries home-educators can face.

The project on Aztecs is progressing well, with all children suitably involved. For numeracy we are looking at different ways of recording information, including graphs. We have done the good ol' counting cars thing that I can remember doing at school, which despite their moaning about the cold I know they secretly enjoyed doing ;-) I think they got a good grasp on line graphs, and bar charts. Pie charts are next. We have also been doing lots of baking, making cakes and biscuits. We have also used the Encaustic Art set for crafting, and a few "learn to draw" books for art. As always, there has been lots of discussion, which really does seem to play a huge part in our days. Reading has been done each day, with us taking in turns. I read the family chapter book, and Chelsea, Joseph, and Tiegan read a book or chapter of their choice. Tiegan is enjoying the Ladybird Read With Me Series.

I really feel we are settling down nicely again now, and am looking forward to re-gaining our once fruitful routine after the upheaval of the house move and new puppy's arrival :-)

Tomorrow we are planning on taking Kira out for a lovely walk somewhere new. Chelsea and Joseph have bought new wellies for the occasion ;-) I bought new wellies last week, and Tiegan and Callum already have theirs, so we are well kitted out for whatever the ground may throw our way. I am hoping it will provide a few good photo opportunities.

We have got our annual LEA visit on Monday morning, so keeping fingers crossed all goes well with that. As it is my "usual" visitor, I am actually looking forward to it, but still get stupidly nervous.

Our Tuesday....

didn't go quite to plan due to new pup. I had very little sleep as I either had puppy crying or Callum crying, seemingly in shifts. Due to them ganging up on me, much of my day was spent in a zombie like state.

However, we did manage to get *something* done in the form of maps. We used materials from the Enchanted Learning Geography section, and included compass points, following directions, grid work, and map symbols. The school room makes such a difference, and the children contentedly got on with their work whilst I was able to work on some egg-cards I am hoping to put on Ebay. We worked in a very relaxed sort of manner, making up songs as we went along. It was fun, and I found myself thinking how the childen would have been working in a school environment. Very different to how we were doing things.

Joseph read an excellent chapter from his new Horrid Henry book he requested when we last visited Asda. I still get a huge amount of pleasure from hearing him read, he enjoys reading greatly now and puts lots of expression into his voice. I still get chuffed when he asks for a book. Six months ago a book would have been the very last thing he would have wanted, as compared to his computer and Playstation games, books were very boring.

I can't go without mentioning Kira, who is settling in just wonderfully. Callum is a little wary (or scared?) of her right now, I think her trying to steal his bottle didn't exactly warm her to him . Still, they are tolerating each other and Kira is slowly learning that he is the one she can't jump up and play with excitedly as the others will tolerate. Kira thinks everything is hers, and if it isn't hers it's up for grabs. So far she has claimed dh's slippers, and tried to pinch my Dr Martin's (which are bigger than her, but she tried dragging them anyway). She has taken a dislike to the dog we keep outside on the garage roof. So okay, it's her reflection she can see through the door, but she hasn't figured that one out yet. At first she was scared of it, then she wanted to play with it, now not gettng the response she hoped she has taken to barking and growling at it. All very amusing. Training wise, she will sit *almost* at every command, she will give paw 8 times out of 10, and she responds to her name, coming when called. She has only had a few toilet accidents indoors (boy, am I loving this laminate flooring!!), so I'm pleased with that. All in all she is a pleasure to have around.

Fun...

I had forgotten what a pest *oops I mean pleasure* a puppy can be. I haven't been up before 6am for a long long time...