Wow, what a busy few days we’ve had. Ben has had his first night away from home, I’ve had my first day fending for myself in the real world with a baby (!), we’ve had baby jabs and gym competitions and goodness knows what. And we are still dealing with the hopeless reality of BT deciding to cut off our line instead of handing it over to the new provider, which means we’ve been existing (thank goodness) on a Three dongle (love it, love it, love it… and yes I bought it, it’s not a sponsored mention!) and my not very good o2 3G phone. Bah. BT will never see me again and I’ll be moving from O2 as well I think as I’ve had my eyes well and truly opened to how much better my internet connections could be. (update: plusnet made an appearance, hurrah!!!)
Ben is gradually moving into a new phase but as he is 13 weeks and also 3 months this week, I’ll save him for that post.
Fran got all her mock exam results back. She passed everything, made huge leaps in Geograpghy where the first two assessments went beyond her wirtten skilled levels and she failed and got a D. She got a couple of solid C’s (Maths and Science) and passed the stupid English Functional Skill paper that was based around Big Brother and Dragon’s Den. Am I allowed to be entertained that she got a B in History, which she has no school lessons in and I teach her at home? (Well, I say I teach her, actually she teaches herself and I just chip in and talk it through, correct her and help her expand her answers into ones that would get more marks).
She had a really good term, although she was so ready for a holiday and only had one shockingly bad moment where she screwed up on handing some work in, mainly due to losing her head a bit. She got into plenty of trouble for that and I think (hope) it won’t happen again. She’s loving playing for the yr 9 netball team and looking forward to trying out athletics next?
Maddy, as ever, has left me with little to say. She’s so hardworking and self contained. I have noticed her asking for spelling help less as she chats with friends online more, I have seen her confidence in drawing people grow enormously, I have seen her read half the unfortunate events series and start work on guitar grade 1. She’s finding life stressful lately, which is hard to watch. I feel sad for her so much of the time and wish I could make it easier for her to sit in her skin.
Amelie is on a last warning about actually using time wisely before we make it not our problem and send her to school to waste someone else’s time instead. She’s so clever but puts so much effort into evading doing anything. I don’t mind her largely autonomous approach but I do mind her disrupting others and I do mind her actively wasting time on rubbish and making mess. The approach to life is beginning to become her default stance to the point where everyone in the family is frustrated with her. She turns her mind to not being part of ordinary family life and everyone else has to pick up the pieces. It’s really annoying and I’m so frustrated. I’m beginning to worry that long term it will affect our relationship to only nag her and wondering if some time out of the family day would make her appreciate us all as humans a bit more. So I can’t tell you much about her. She’s trying to read more, plays her violin all day and does her work beautifully – if she does it. I’m all out of ideas for radical rethinks on approach.
Josie is pretty much reading, drawing beautifully, playing recorder and being lovely. She starts a new gym group tonight and is very excited. She’s a delight to be around, something that heightens other frustrations as she would thrive on more of my time.
We had an easy going Easter break to enjoy Fran and have family time. But Lego house for the maths project did get built…
And Easter Lego challenges got done. We had my dad to stay and he got the allotment ready for us too. So it was all good. Max is back at work more now though, so life is more of a challenge again.
Hello! Not sure if I’ve missed any lego challenges you were planning to post. No worries if you’re not doing it, I know you’ve got your hands full! just thought I’d let you know we’re keen!
And thank you for such an honest update of the girls. I find it so refreshing to hear how things really are for other home educators. So many blogs only focus on the rosy bits. And yes, I know so well that frustrating feeling of not being able to give each one more of my time. And I find sometimes the ones that take the most time aren’t the ones who most need it or appreciate it. I think Fran is amazing to be adapting so well to school and lovely that she’s obviously doing so well in history! Well done all!
Amelie – how old is she? could it it be a link to a development stage and a passing phase? or has this been brewing for a while?
I so hear your frustration (so glad it’s not just me struggling with this kind of thing)
I’m tickled to hear about Fran’s B in History – way to go, Fran. And I have no useful advice for the rest because I’m not a home-edder so shall leave it all to the people who know!