Vastness, supanovas, quizzes, time telling, money handling, mushrooms growing and not being very well.

Owen decided to make his own breakfast ..this involved cooking oatcakes ( the Staffordshire variety) and making himself a milky coffee. Coffee is a current obsession with Owen , we are going with it, frankly , I am just glad he's drinking something without me nagging him.

He's very vocal, even more than usual and is speaking so fast, I have to keep asking him to repeat himself. He's talking about the universe sandbox game on the PC, he wants to learn more about the 'the cosmos Mum' and 'supanovas'...I try to look intelligent and not to sing and Oasis song.

So we do some research...

He watches some videos about it whilst I make some bread...he finds a supernova.

More reading and watching

And a bit of work on Chemistry

And a mooch around physics for the heck of it...

He then went to experiment on the Universe application on the PC.

Sam did some reading, he has a new book about twins on his Kindle, then he wanted to do some more practice on his time telling skills. I love how his little face screws up in concentration when he's working it out.

We also downloaded a quiz app where you can choose the subjects and it sets some questions. Sam answered as many questions as he could on food and African animals. I wasnt surprised about his knowledge because I know he studies nature a great deal and is fascinated by wildlife...but his delight at being able to answer so many right, especially as it was timed ( which can be stressful for him), was delightful to see.

Later Blokey took them to Jujitsu class. Owen was over tired when they got back and needed cuddles as he was a little teary...it's taken ages to get both of them settled.

Owen made his breakfast again, whilst Sam and I worked together. We did some money work, researched products online that Sam wanted to budget for and ordered the one he finalised on.

Following on from that Sam wanted to do some more on Khan academy and set me tasks. This used to bother me, I wrongly assumed I was doing all the work. I now realise this is his way of coping with new skills. He sits by me and watches, I talk as I go, explaining how I work things out. A couple of times he pointed out an error I had made and then took over. He enjoying himself so much he sat there for an hour going through stuff with me. He's very confident on time telling now it's taken just over a week of him working solidly and because he wanted to do it, he has, quickly, beautifully and efficiently.

He looked at some other subjects and had a go at new problems etc.

He earned enough points to upgrade his avatar, so spent some time working out which one he preferred and how to change it.

After a while Owen asked for me to work with him but he still seems under the weather in himself, so we sang and hugged in between tasks. A new maths problem was learnt and we played some Uno, chatted and bonded. He wanted to do some money work and chores because he's seen a special offer...he didn't quite have enough money, so worked out what chores to do to make up the shortfall.

Everyone is very lack lustre today, Sam is looking very unwell and his peak flow is dropping. He is uncharacteristically quiet and I don't like his colour. I explain we may have to start a course of steroids if the salbutamol doesn't being his peak flow rate up. Both boys are very teary and I suggest a quiet day playing board games and watching films. 

Sam still insists on doing more work on his time telling lessons .

We all play Uno and Owen informs me ( quite rightly) that I have told them some of the rules wrong. He reads through the instructions and explains the error of my ways.

Sam plots his next move...I swear the colour seemed to be draining out of him as the morning went on.

Owen decided to play with his friends on the home ed servers but Sam wanted cuddles and chats, so we snuggled the sofa. 

Next day Sam is no better and we start his steroids, I hope we can keep him home and manage till the GP practice opens in Monday ..fingers crossed. Steroids aren't ideal but I am hoping he picks up soon.

Owen listens to music and plays games with me and Sam whilst Blokey fixes a special light switch in Owens room. It's one we can set to go for after a certain time, Owen can over ride it every hour but we are hoping it will mean he doesn't leave it on quite so often. He's started switching the light on in his sleep and it's been upsetting him.

The "horror" of having the electricity off is quite stressful for the children 😂😂 but I manage to keep them occupied so Blokey can crack on. 

Sam got the Buy It Right game for us to play and had his first stint at being the banker. It's quite a lot to take on and remember your place in the game. Blokey and I reminded him when he forgot what he was doing...which is hard for him on a good day, but pumped full of steroids was more of a tall order. He did really well but 'I may not do banking next time we play ..I was busy all the time!'.

Sam was very upset to miss his swimming session today, he's still poorly and the steroids haven't kicked in fully yet. I cheer him up with cuddles and showing him our mushroom growing kit.

'Lets do it mum!' ..so we get to work.

I explain that the White 'fur' inside is the mushroom spores..

Sam: is it called mycelium mum?..they have that in Minecraft . 

I tell him he is absolutely correct and he looks incredibly pleased. We need to soak the growing compound and mycelium overnight, so he helps me get it prepared.

And we are ready to grow..Sam has taken responsibility for spraying the mushrooms daily..I just have to remind him ... Read...I put a reminder on my iPad to remind me, to remind him 😜