There isn’t anything so good as spending time with people you love; a close second is with people you like very much, a pretty good third is exchanging a few written words which changes feeling very blue and lonely about your outlook into something more like realising “you’re going through a phase”. Gosh, how often did my mum say those words to me? If i’d realised i’d still be going through phases at 32, i might not have been in such a rush to achieve adulthood! 😆
Well, i’ve managed to do all of those things this last few days which is good, because i’ve been feeling just a tad jaded; jaded with business (invigorated by new site and meaningful conversations with people), jaded with family life being somehow not wholesome, or meaningful, or happy enough, jaded with home educating and the thought of saying “in a minute” or “we’ll do that soon” for the next 15 years.
We’ve had a lovely weekend, marked mainly by Maddy and i getting new bikes and cycling loads with each other and Fran on both days. Maddy, following a monumental meltdown, got to grips with hers and cycled several miles on it and even used the brakes; i had to midwife her through it with lots of encouragement, but we did it and she was so chuffed. Fran took me out on my maiden flight and was patient enough to go slowly (she never got out of bottom gear!) and we had a lovely time.
The last was alieviated by an email exchange with someone feeling similar, which may not have solved any of our problems but it sure is nice to know it isn’t just me. Thanks 🙂
We also spent time digging out and rehanging lots of pictures and photos, so the house feels very definitely ours now (the fast dirtying carpet also makes it feel like home! 😕 ) We need something nice to hang up in the living room now but we have photos of us on our wedding day and a variety of precious pictures and portraits of the girls hanging in places that feel nice but not too in your face. The girls camped out with Max in the garden one night, we watched a ferocious thunderstorm happen over the back of us (people setting up tents on the ground behind us seems to automatically trigger rain here!) and we watched a LOT of Japanese cars (why? 😯 ) meet, get very wet and then have a fireworks display which was truly spectacular. The storm was incredible; a sudden gust of wind came over which actually blew our open doubleglazed windows shut, taking a huge quanity of rubbish and leaves across the tented area and then we just got blasted by this storm. The rain and wind were quite extraordinary. I wasn’t in a tent; i quite amused myself watching the people who were 😉
Favouite sentence of the week, as mouth droppers go, was probably Fran’s sentence referring to a pattern she’d called “love” in Animal Crossing which she wanted to come and display in my town – “I’m just going to come to your town and make love, mummy…” *WHAT?*
Today managed to be a really good home ed day. Started with me being organised from fairly early but then struggling to find anything unit studyish on Charles Darwin/Evolution for Fran – no surprise that all the American HS sites kind of avoid the topic so coupled with it not being on the NC, it is a bit under resourced as a topic 🙁 Eventually found something on Brainpop, so left Fran with that as maddy wanted to do bodies and Amelie wanted to do the sun. Maddy drifted to Fran and next time i looked they were watching something on buoyancy and water.
This prompted them to ask for a bucket of water to experiment with, which i provided in the form of a big stacking box in the garden and with gritted “don’t steal the moment” teeth, i left them too it. They spent ages sinking and floating things, then got a bit noneplussed, so i, who had been watching from an upstairs window, provided an Usborne experiments book and a clipboard to record results on and left them to it. They spent hours working through the pages of the chapter, completely on their own and IT WAS GOOD. It took a whole load of courage not to muscle in and TEACH them – but they learned all the same. Surprise! 😆
Both have decided to be scientists “when they grow up.” I didn’t think it worth pointing out that they’d been scientists all day 😉
The next door kids came round and they all played all afternoon; when they gave up on… ahem… watering the garden, they did loads of Hama and then loads of HappyMais. Maddy built an awesome model of a garden, house and people.
And then i ended the day with a really lovely visit to Hannah and Linzi which refreshed me enormously. We’ve laid some plans for doing some HE stuff together and that just feels like a load is lightened/shared somehow – and it has buoyed me up. So thanks, you two 🙂
glad you’re feeling a little happier today 🙂
Must do some of that usborne water experiments book over the summer – it really is a free-reign play in the sun type thing to do – thanks for the idea girls 🙂
Yes, as long as they’re doing:
1. observe
2. analyse -> try to explain
3. test explanation by experiment
they’re being scientists in my book, and 6 and 8 year olds (particularly bright and curious ones like yours) can have a go at it.
Well done on your well-deserved proud mummy moment (for what they did, and what you did in enabling them to do it).
Dunno where we got this from (DK Science kit?) but we all had a lot of fun making plasticine boats to carry marbles. So now whenever they get out a bowl of water to sink/float things in, the plasticine always comes out too now.
Hmmm, so it’s a phase, is it? OK, I guess I can live through it …
Bob, that is a very nice thing to say about them – and useful to have a reminder of that equipment-method-conclusion type stuff we did in science!
Alison 😉 I’m telling myself that and hoping it goes away! Nice idea about plasticine, i’ll try that!
Sounds like a good and meaningful day and yes it probably is a phase and this too will pass whatever it is and although it is easy to say that when you’re not experiencing it, I always try to think of the way we say similar things about our children and once their phase is over, we can suddenly see it’s true. 🙂
Water expts sound very successful! I find it hard to stay out of the play investigating stuff too. It’s knowing when to bring in the idea of making and testing a hypothesis when they seem to just be faffing about that is tricky. The BA First Investigator stuff is useful for guiding you through those stages, I’ve found. And I did science at uni and for a job, but it still helps to be reminded to really break the process down.
My sudden burst of laughter over the animal crossing comment propted the boys to ask “whats funny mummy?” Needless to say I didn’t enlighten them! 😉
*chuckles* at the animal crossing moment. Sounds like you had a fab day, its great how you always get so much done.
Glad your feeling better.