So we reached the end of term with all four girls in school. It’s been a big half term, what with one thing and another. Fran is (thankfully) on the mend from her op and against all the odd the hole that developed in her palate has pulled back together. She’s still got some way to go, but she’s been very brave about it, because she’s had weeks of pain and been extremely uncomplaining.
There has been an awful lot else going on too so I think I’ll give everyone a short round up so they know that despite rushing about like loons, I do notice 🙂
First up came Fran’s achievement evening. She won awards for the most positive events (awarded for good effort across syllabus and activities) and also an award for best contribution to college life in her year.
She probably *is* one of the best achievers academically but what I loved about both of those awards was the roundedness of them; she isn’t just clever, she works hard, she joins in, she tries. Those are skills I think home ed gave her, her outside activities gave her and that she will be glad to have in life.
She also nailed a new tumble…
…and is flic-ing on beam
There is still a mat on there but she’s pretty strong and it’s a huge step up from the mental block she had 9 months ago about even going over backwards on beam. In the week since she has learned a two footed one and a Corbett flic too.
She probably also deserves some kudos for taking her grade 4 tap and grade 5 jazz exams and being now entitled to buy her ballet pointe shoes too. She’s had 3/3 distinctions out of recent exams and worked her way through 3 grades of jazz in 6 months too. Impressive stuff.
On to Maddy. Half a term of school was a steep learning curve for Maddy; she fitted into work fine, got put in all the top sets and settled into the options timetable they do for the last two weeks well. She had some getting to grips with the social side to do but she’s got there okay I think. She sung in the achievement award ceremony and at the school fete, doing a tiny solo.
She’s awesome.
She also got her black tag belt in TKD, but I seem to have lost the photo. That’s very annoying.
Have one of her holding a dragon instead.
Amelie had a storming few weeks. Having really made school her own and settled in beautifully, despite joining only a few weeks before SATs, she then really did herself proud when they came round. Level 5 in maths and one half of English (ie, above average for age) and a 4 in the ‘SPAG’ test (grammar etc) which is certainly her weaker areas (so,average). Considering all the rest of the class had been taught to test for at least 2 terms and she had done nothing of the sort till she arrived, pretty good I think.
She also did seniors school immersion days and coped really well with that, got distinctions in Grade 3 tap and ballet and grade 1 Acro and has generally been quite lovely.
Her big moment was getting one of the 3 main parts in the school yr 6 leavers play and opened it with a tiny (slightly terrifying and under rehearsed on a violin she had had for 1 hour) solo.
The play was fabulous, a modern take on The Highwayman which was very clever. She was very good indeed, a real (and unexpected) natural on stage.
I’m feeling rather sorry for her though as she had decided to really put her heart and soul into gym this summer but on the first day of the holidays, this happened 🙁
Josie has been very busy getting to grips with school. She had a very wobbly start indeed and I think if we had offered leaving after 3 days, she would have. The school were brilliant though, very proactive in managing her anxieties and she suddenly settled. She loves it now. Her reading was pretty behind when she went, which they understood totally about and have been very able to see that late reader does not equal unintelligent. She’s had some catch up work, been given scribing help and been encouraged to do what she can. We’ve stepped up the work at home which (having been really resistant to) she now sees the point of, and she is well on the way to becoming a reader. She does very happily to guess-spelling which none of the others would ever do and it is all coming together.
We watched her in her school play and her sports day and just could believe how settled and happy she looked. Whatever my regrets, I think it has been the right move for her, for now, anyway.
Now she’s settling down for a week of Minecraft. Oddly, this is Minecraft… just in real. She’s planning out her virtual Legoland.
As for this little chap, he’s 18 months old now and really not a baby. He has some words – dadda and mumma and no and night night and bye bye and no have all gradually appeared, along with a an imperious “this!” while pointing at whichever breast he wants to be unwrapped 😆 But his first proper word is, entirely unsurprisingly… “car”. He’s been practising it for a few days… it started out as a sort of rolled “hrrrrar” and now he’s got the sound sussed.
He very cutely had his first tantrum…
… had a hair cut and learned that shooting his daddy and sisters with the hose is a lot of fun.
It’s been a good few weeks. Bunch of over achievers 😉
Am so proud.
