So he was wide awake and decided he wanted to start his first Hamma bead project. It took some time to decide on a design, he changed his mind three times during the process and finally worked out his own Quebert pattern. I was amazed at how hard he worked, especially as it's such a fiddly thing to do. I worked alongside him on my own design. He was really chuffed when it was ironed and finished.
My coaster..along side his design.
We attempted another one, but it didn't work out how he imagined and he decided to do some maths instead.
Sam was eating breakfast and watching us work and became interested in what he could make. After breakfast he asked me to find a minion design, Owen put some music on whilst we worked. Sam was really good at following the pattern and preferred to work that way, rather than designing his own.
It was interesting watching the different skills the children have.
Sam was incredibly pleased with his Minion!
I noticed that the most frustration was about finding the correct coloured beads, out of a mixed tub..I will definitely buy the separate bags of colours next time, to make the process flow better for them. I am assured they want to do more of these.
After we finished Sam decided to do some Khan academy and I could see doing a little bit per day is helping him remember the processes better. He rattled through two sections of work more easily today.
Sam was up early with me and we watched Life of Mammals and played a complicated board game about herbs and flowers. He also helped put the shopping away, as it was delivered whilst he was setting the game up.
Owen had a lie in today and finally surfaced at 9:30, so he missed dog walking with his dad. However it gave me chance to sort out my shopping and get the washing on the line.
Things got a bit tricksy at this point but we managed to work through it, after Owen had eaten he was much happier about the world...so I think it was a case of the 'hangries' ( hunger and anger). He really wanted to do more Hama beads, so I facilitated that with glee. He enjoyed watching me 'cook' his creation with the iron and even accepted that it was still good work, even if he deviated from the pattern he was following slightly.
A cupcake for Dad...he tells me.
After this he watched a wildlife programme, extolling the virtues of various creatures as he did. As usual I have scheduled a free play afternoon today because they have a jujitsu class tonight. So I am around if they want help or crocheting if they are happily engaged alone.
Jujitsu went well and Owen even managed to deal with someone else's difficult behaviour very maturely, despite severe provocation. We were so proud of him. At bed time he asked me to tell Blokey to make sure he was really awake tomorrow, because he really wanted to walk the dogs at 6:30. *blinks*
Owen shot out of bed to got out with Blokey and the dogs, it definitely helps improve his mood and we are both delighted he is enjoying the time alone with his dad. Sam was up too and made more of an effort to sort his breakfast out himself.
I am having a hard time emotionally after Sam's ASD/PDA report came through. It's really hard reading in places, no surprises but seeing your lives in black and white from a clinical perspective can be rather soul destroying. I make a point to speaking to supportive friends at times like these..it really helps remind me that, we all are more than a report. The children are well and happy, they are progressing in all areas of their lives and studies ...what we do here works...if it doesn't we change it. We are not at the whim of an educational system that the boys can't fit..we are good..more than that.
I put the report away, take a deep breathe and reassess...all is well..onwards now. I know I need to rest as its all been exhausting and my Cluster Headaches and migraines are ramping up. They do that this time of year but the added worry of the last few months of assessment have added to it all.
I take a deep breath and enjoy some laughs with the boys. I am so grateful for the children and having a supportive and understanding network of people around me...it wasn't always that way.
We are starting to build our hosting server today, using plugins. These are new skills, so we enrolled on a course to show us how. We managed to set it up and learnt how to load plugins. It was quite a lot to learn and we were juggling multiple screens and instructions, so there was also some impatience from the boys at times to manage. After a lot more hard work we managed to get our server online, understand file editing and got 3 plugins installed.
Inbetween the boys would suddenly go...'oh I know this bit!' and explain what the file intructions meant and why they wanted to alter them.
I also learnt that YAML parse can be really finicky and was showed a shortcut on how to check it. We can now check it but would still be a bit lost as to how to correct it. All a learning curve and my head hurts now.
After a few intense hours we decided to have a break..I felt my head would explode and I need to ask Blokey about a couple of issues we are not sure about. Even so we got far more done than I expected. I think when we reconvene I will go through the course work first before doing it with the boys, then I can explain things with a better flow.
Lovely sun rise here. Feeling brighter because I know Blokey is off work for 4 days after today. Whoop.
Sam managed to take a tablet for the first time today..he wasn't overly chuffed about the prospect but he managed fine. But 'I am never doing it ever again' ..deep joy.
I did the Hokey Cokey with our bins today..lacking in cognitive ability to read the collection day calendar..can't imagine what the neighbours thought as the watched me go back and forth looking puzzled.
Sam watched his wildlife programmes, Wildkratts and Life of Mammals after breakfast. Owen had a lie in and we sang along to Adventure Time as he ate his breakfast. I then taught the boys how to play Uno..a good game for mental focus.
Owen watched Life of Mammals and was engrossed whilst David Attenborough talked about
Marmoset monkeys.
Sam did some Khan Academy maths problems and wanted to practice writing his '9's' because he said he 'wanted to get them to look right' lol....he had them looking how he wanted after much persistence on his part.
The boys played for a short time whilst I made lunch, then we went out to visit friends. We all had a brilliant time. Me catching up with a friend and her new baby, them playing with her older child. We smiled and watched from the other room as they giggled and negotiated with each other.
After tea, Blokey played games on the PC with them and read out some interesting information about Tesla he had discovered. Both boys were fascinated with the information he had found and I looked up resources whilst half listening.
It was a brilliant day out and we learnt many things about the Tudor Hall..they even had Carp in the moat.
Both boys bought little toys from the gift shop with their pocket money and afterwards we enjoyed a family lunch on the way home. There was lots of rolling down hills and they enthusiastically filled-out their Adventure Scrapbooks.Small 'secret doors'.
Walking round the Knot garden and moat..lots of kitchen garden plants still growing.
Sam loved the fireplaces, I loved the stone flag floors
Decorative plaster work
Tudor wallpaper
Tudor food and preparation
Sam checking his list
The 'enormous gold fishes ' ( carp) in the Moat.
Beautiful stained glass..this one in the chapel
The courtyard..the boys loved this because it reminded them of Harry Potter!
They were very happy to find they had completed many of the '50 things to do before you are 11 and 3/4'....'we need to do canoeing mum"....it's on the list.
When we got home Owen wanted to 'excavate his dinosaur' from his gift shop haul.
The boys steadfastly said they didn't want to swim there, so we managed to get our money back and leave. The children were understandably grouchy at all out plans going haywire, so we took them to the park for a run round and played games there instead.
Blokey introduced the children to a new game called Sandbox Universe. They all had great fun moving the universe around, adding new planets and generally getting a feel of it.
After lunch we played a lot of Uno, made bread and then followed our own interests. Then had family film evening with the muppets.
In the morning Sam got up early and sorted his own breakfast out ( que huge amounts of clattering and banging) , whilst Owen and Blokey walked the dogs together. They left me to have a lie in and when I came downstairs, Blokey had hung the washing out and cleaned the kitchen..I was very grateful.
Later children had a jujitsu course this afternoon for a few hours so we dropped them off and enjoyed a quiet lunch together before doing a bit of shopping.
The boys passed their course and really enjoyed the experience. They ate the doughnuts we had bought on the way home and there were lots of giggles about what they had been doing.
Back home Owen played with friends online and Sam and I went foraging for elderberries in the hedgerows. He likes asking about the different plants and trees and I enjoy having time to chat with him as we wander round. He remembered that last year I made a 'delicious elderberry drink for my colds', so was keen to gather as many berries as we could. I reminded him that it was important to leave plenty for the birds over winter so we took a few bunches from each bush.
http://www.greenmanherbalist.co.uk/elderberry_syrup
We looked for some hazelnuts but the bushes had been cut back quite hard and we failed to get any this year.
Later at home I made the syrup and the boys had their evening meal, after which we settled down to watch last nights Dr Who together.
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