Or that is the theory. We didn’t divert too seriously from todays plan though, which probably means it was worth doing. Kate wasn’t available though, because Summer is still hurt from last weeks accident and wasn’t at school or up to noise. So drawing is on hold for another day.
Still managed to entertain everyone nicely, and a chopped up day was somewhat improved by having Max at home, who’s cold had finally overwhelmed him. Never heard anyone sneeze as many times in a row 🙁 Still, he was well enough to be a responsible, if unresponsive 😉 adult which helped.
Fran started the day with a load of internet exploration. She’s getting quite good; she impressed me even more the other day by finding a kids wordsearch on the ntl pages of the tv and doing it. Not sure i’d be able to do that. Then she watched Primary History and Geography. She remembered quite a bit of the glacier stuff from Dynamic Earth, which pleased me and liked the History, which was Saxons at Sutton Hoo, so ‘excellently linky’ 😆
I’d made playdough, so the middle two had spent ages with that, then Fran joined them. That worked blissfully till lunch and then i took a “scared by excited” (to quote her) Amelie off to nursery. I stayed for a while, having promised i would, nipped to the loo and promised to come back, surprised the staff but pleased her by doing so and eventually agreed with her i would leave but come back if she asked for me. Staff promised to call. Was sad to see her holding the teachers hand and looking woebegone, can’t say i felt good about it, can’t say i didn’t cry all the way home. Feel like every ‘choice’ i make regarding my family at the moment is one that goes utterly against how i actually feel if i’m honest. I’m not enjoying feeling i’m compromising how i actually feel in order to fit the compromise of a partnership. Not that i’m disgruntled, but i’m not used to not being ‘lead partner’, as it were.
Anyway, Amelie did seem to have had a good time and does wan to go back tomorrow, so i console myself that i didn’t leave her crying or anything.
Fran was a bit spaced out today – we eventually got through her normals but, having spent time doing similar work with Maddy today as well, i just feel even more bothered really. We were looking at ‘ow’ words – she persistantly read snow as sown and bowl as blow. Her letters seemed to be even more backwards than normal and she just doesn’t deem to realise that she writes letters with no thought as to their height or line placing, or whether that makes them something else entirely. Compared to Maddy (i know, i know, don’t compare) who reverses nothing and has perfect letter/numeral formation, i just find it really odd.
Anyway, we quit ‘English’ while more or less ahead, did a bit of Wizard Whimstaff 7-8 Maths. Today was graphs, which initially made no sense to her (actually, i think she was possibly just having a real numpty day!) but we spent ages drawing out graphs in squares, swapping the values over and seeing what had happened to the column values, putting coins on the individual squares and working out what that showed us. I felt quite proud actually; i have no confidence in my ability to decipher maths, but we seemed, by doing some practical playing, to crack something that had seemed monsterous initially. i knew she’d got it anyway, when she suddenly said “oh – so the difference between that column and that one is 3 then” by looking at the top of two columns only marked out in multiples of two. Bingo. Got it 🙂
Last week we started reading Archaeologists: Dig for Clues. We got about half way through, tried to decide what our bins and rubbish dumps would say about us, tried some sunflower seeds which had been in the midden of the book’s dump and spent some time playing with the mapping grid. Today Fran and I finished it, Maddy was too absorbed in a Reader rabbit game and thoroughly enjoyed it. Planning to do a ‘dig map’ of the garden this week sometime. Also looked at some YAC stuff with her about an area of Qatar, so that covered Bedouin culture too.
Fran finished the day making clay stuff; she wanted to make some artifacts that she could bury; quite entertained me to see her deliberately making broken pottery. 😆
Maddy and i did some maths together; she’s breezing through a reception book that Max got her; going to finish it as she likes it, but the next one is waiting. Love sitting and doing stuff with her, she revels in it.
We’ve finished with gym again tonight, they love it. And i’ve got them on a Splash course for half term which they are thrilled about.
