Hard slog and an exciting show at the NEC

I am still working hard at trying to get Owen out of his rut, it's not easy but we are making slow progress.

This morning the children worked on more maths and watched White Rabbit. The programme today centred around Hilter and wacky WW2 weapons.

Sam wanted to practice writing Chinese characters, so he looked up some examples to copy.

Sam was up early and I explained I wouldn't be able to do his activities until I had my breakfast and shower. He's been pushing for things to be rushed and completed each morning. Sadly he hasn't had time to let his medication kick in, or for me to be completely focused on what he's doing. The upshot of this, is that he is getting increasingly frustrated.

He tried again today to reschedule everything planned and I reiterated our conversation. Once we were both in the right frame of mind, I was able to help him through some of the issues he was struggling with on his maths programme.

Next he spent ages looking at Chinese writing and coping words and symbols whilst I unpacked the shopping. It took him a long time and a lot of focus but we were both pleased with how it looked.

Owen got up and worked on his maths as he ate his breakfast. He then made sure Orel, his giant snail, was sorted for food etc and told me about a documentary film about poverty, that he wants to watch. I suggested it would tie in nicely with the project he had worked on last month, so he decided we should both watch it.

He's been researching films on this site to see if there's any he would like. It's helpful to me because I can quickly see if the films are suitable for Owens level of understanding etc. This proved to be an incredible film. We were both in tears at the end. The young students that were trying to live under the poverty line, had really thought out how income fluctuates and made some really insightful observations. The most touching aspects were how the community helped the young men, despite having very little themselves. I talked it through with Owen about the the loans system in use there, I explained I had been thinking of donating/loaning to a family business, like the ones demonstrated. We both decided to look into it more and consider the options.

Afterwards we watched more White Rabbit Project, today it was Scams:

Kari, Tory and Grant compare notes on six big-time scammers, including a swindling Swiss gigolo and the man who put Ponzi schemes on the map.

And another on Heists:

International hackers, an aviation-savvy hijacker and a gang of bank-robbing granddads mount some of the world's most daring and ingenious heists. All great fun as usual.

Sam and I did a 3k run today ( running and walking intervals), the sunrise was glorious.

Back home Owen was up and Blokey getting ready for work. The children ate breakfast and Sam practiced his Chinese. He amazes me with his concentration on this task.

The children worked on their maths. Sam did extra because he wanted to get his next certificate.

Owen moved on to the next level and is finding some of the new work challenging. He's asked me to go through it with him again tomorrow and finished what he could.

They then had free play because we are going to trampolining this afternoon with friends.

We all had a great time and Sam managed to land on his feet with both front and backflips. The instructor was amazed at how quickly Sam mastered this.

My main feat was getting myself out of the foam pit after jumping off the high tower. We all had a brilliant time and are planning on visiting the Chester Flipout because they have a ninja warrior assault course there.

Sam started with his maths. We are having some issues with Pi and the area of circles. The app we are using seems to work it out to a slightly different figure than we get. I consulted friends who aremore maths savvy than me, and they advised we were doing it correctly, so there must be a bug on the maths app. Sam does really well with the rest of his work..it's really just the circle issue that's evading us at the moment.

Owen gets up and makes cheese on toast before working on his maths. He is very sore and achy from the trampolining yesterday!

He does some really good work but starts to get fidgety and uncooperative when I suggest looking at a writing app next.

After a bit of 'I am completely broken and can't use my fingers' I show him the app and he decides it's a good idea after all and gets his book out.

He immediately uses the prompts to start his story and 2 mins later his head is buzzing with the possibilities and he's happy to continue. 

He gets frustrated at times with his writing, but after a while it becomes important to him that it can be read and he asks for advice on letters. It's a real juggling act for him to concentrate on his head full of ideas and working on improving his letter formation. He goes back over his work and asks me to show him how to make it better. Suddenly he seemed to have a need to make his writing better, so I hope I can move him forward and he can build some confidence because he has this story inside him now and he wants to get it out.

I will see how it goes, if it gets too frustrating I will suggest we do part scribe and part his own writing. He really struggles with his coordination but I do believe he can conquer it if he builds more muscle strength and control. It's tiring for him but when I suggested he stop, he insisted he wanted to do more. 

When he reads it back, he sees his mistakes and it annoys him. He understands grammar and letters in the written form but is struggling to apply this when he has to contend with the physical  process of writing. I can understand his frustration at not being able to prove the knowledge in his head on paper, but I reassure him it gets better with practice.

Sam and I went for a morning run.

We did some maths, the boys built Minecraft stuff on their servers, then in the evening we had a trip to the NEC to see Cirque Du Soleil. We were all very excited! It is the first big event we have taken the boys to, so we chose our seats carefully just incase they needed to leave for a break. Sam brought his ear defenders.

We set of early and stopped for a meal on the way there. We arrived in good time at the NEC, got drenched walking from the carpark and mooched around the arena looking at upcoming events.

An excited faces waiting for the performance to start. Sam was counting all the people at this stage.

Owen looking relieved that he isn't sat next to Sam whilst he counts 'all the things'.

Waiting excitedly for the second half to start. The first was amazing and there were lots of Ohhs and Ahhhs from the children.

The boys were fizzing after the show, they absolutely loved it and coped really well. The walk back to the car park and waiting to leave the grounds was pretty stressful for Owen but it was very late and he was tired.

The next morning Sam and I went for a run and did some suspension training at the park. He talked non stop about the show and definitely wants to go again. I explained I needed our bank balance to recover first!

We spent the next day playing games like chess, Roblox and minecraft. We walked, bounced on the trampoline, generally chilled out and watched films etc.

Half term

We never used to observe school holidays, unless it was to avoid busy places! These days, having more children around us, I tend to scale down in house activities to allow them to play outdoors with their friends.

Before lunch Sam and Owen worked on some strategies using Roblox and Lego Star Wars. Then their friends called round and Sam disappeared off outside. Blokey was doing more work on the camper bus and Owen was building online with one of his home ed friends. 

I went running with Sam and we saw the sun rise.

Back home I sorted  the shopping, washing and breakfast. Meanwhile, Sam did some maths. Then we watched Mythbusters together. It was 'Penny Drop' and 'Microwave madness'.

Owen surfaced halfway through Mythbusters. When the programme had finished, Sam decided to call for his friend .

Owen and I went on to watch a new programme called the White Rabbit Project. It was hilarious and informative, we laughed all the way through it.

He then worked on some maths.

And we joked around.

I was doing the family budget on my iPad and he was laughing at my serious face.

After maths Owen went to play online with his friend.

We watched more White Rabbit Project. This one was about Great Escapes.

Because the family escaped from East Berlin, I explained to the boys about the political situation. We have a friend from what was then East Berlin and I visited the city a year before the wall was dismantled.

So we looked at some footage and learnt a bit more about what happened in the 1980's.

The next day we did some maths and Owen achieved his next certificate. 

Sam told me he's finding some of his new sessions hard, so I have said I will sit through his next attempt to see if I can explain better. 

He's still making progress, but some of the new ways the questions are phrased seem to be throwing him.

The boys then completed their Lego Star Wars game. Sam went to play but all his friends were out. So we walked to the Post Office and sent Grandads birthday present to him. It was such a massive change in weather after Storm Doris . We looked at the damage to the local trees and enjoyed the sunshine.

Back home Owen played online with his friend, they like to do build on either Roblox or Minecraft and enter competitions.

We watched Manga and later Sam played out with his friends. In the evening we all tried new types of Indian food and went to bed with full tummies.

Sam and I went for a run.

His ADHD was very much in evidence so I tried, and faile, to tire him out with more exercises at the park.

Later we went into Stafford, firstly to watch The Great Wall film...which was awesome!

Then we went to the Chinese Doctor to see if acupuncture may help Blokeys bad back.

The next day consisted of chess games, Roblox, Manga, playing at the park and Blokey working on the camper. He could only manage a little bit because of his chronic back pain.

Valentine's , a birthday, Harry Potter and stuff

Owen had a long lie in, he's reading till late at night. We have tried our best to get him to sleep earlier but it just causes him stress and he can always work ways round any solution we feel we may have found. One of the many bonuses of how we live, is that he can take a nap or have a lie in when he needs it.

So I start off with Sam and he does maths, whilst telling me about all the things he did at the park with his friend yesterday.

Owen gets up very late and thinks and early lunch is in order. I explain its called 'brunch', he thinks this is a marvellous idea! He makes fish fingers with salad:

We work on his maths together. He's having a bit of trouble understanding coordinates, so I explained it more for him and he soon got the hang of it. He will need to do it for quite a while before it 'sticks' but he could see the logic in it by the end of the session.

 I needed to do some planning so the children played online after lunch.

We started with maths. Sam and Owen did their own work whilst I sorted washing etc.

Sam

Owen was pleased to be able to suss out the coordinates questions single handedly now.

Next we played Black Jack.

Then Historical Timeline. Which always causes some great debates and conversations.

The children played with friends online and learnt more about the ways Roblox can be used. In the evening we took them to jujitsu. After they were in bed Blokey cooked me a Valentine's meal.

In the morning the children got up early to give me the birthday present they had saved up and gone and bought themselves. This was a first for them and they were very excited.

Sam gave me body lotion and Owen compression socks. Both of which I really wanted. They looked at my cards and approved of the headphones Blokey had given me.

'We will cook our own breakfasts ' ...and they did.

After this we worked on some maths.

Sam

I did my exercises and the boys played together on the Wii Harry Potter game, so I went for a shower.

After that we went out for a walk before lunch. I have to say here that I am having a really hard time with Owen. He's still fixating on Roblox. Don't misunderstand me , I know there are a lot of learning opportunities in the application and he's using it to be sociable BUT it is to the exclusion of everything else. I mean everything else too, washing, eating, drinking...all have become even more of a battle with him. Now if there wasn't as much of an impact on him and the rest of the family, I could leave him to come out of it on his own. The reality is that it is impacting on us all tremendously. If Owen doesn't eat correctly and not drink enough, his moods become, shall we say, mercurial and the meltdowns increase, even over the smallest things. Also it's not very pleasant living with someone who doesn't wash...so we needed to find some resolution as a family. He had also started to refuse to leave the house, which has puzzled his local friends and I worry they will give up on him. 

As expected, he didn't take my explaination well, but once he had calmed down, he agreed to make a schedule for himself to make sure all his self care was addressed. Although he kicks off at these demands, once dealt with he seems to relax more and get his focus back. It feels like he loses his way and needs help getting back on an even heel. I had also noticed he wasn't enjoying the gaming as much because he was anxious, so hopefully he will have a better week now. 

The next day the boys were organised with their studies and self care. Owen stuck to the schedule he had made and seemed more relaxed. I tidied round as my mother was coming over.

Sam played his guitar and did some maths, Owen did some more work on Minecraft Jam, which he's enjoying,

By the time my Mum arrived, Owens mood had taken a massive spiral and he was pretty unpleasant to me. He was rather taken aback when his placid Nanny told him off about it. However, it was a bit of a wake up call and he tried really hard to address his behaviour for the rest of the day. We managed to have a nice time and all played board games together after lunch. 

The next day got off to a calm start , the boys played and then we had a belated birthday dinner at the pub. Owen really enjoyed himself and Sam ranked the pub in his top 3 all time favourite chocolate cake venues...he grades every meal out by the quality of the chocolate fudge cake on offer.

Afterwards we took the boys to spend their pocket money and ran the car through the car wash. It really needed it too. We talked about how Sam was terrified of car washes as a toddler and he had a good laugh about it. This is the first time he's managed to sit through one, he decided it was rather fun.

Back to the opticians for me again, so we walked around town and did a bit of shopping. At home we played chess and tried to resolve a nasty incident with the PC. A worm...terrible thing and we lost quite a bit of stuff. There were games of cards and UNO.

Sam played outside for hours with his friend, they finished with a long game of badminton. Owen was competing in Roblox competitions with his home ed friend and I could hear him chuckling away. Then we watched some manga in Netflix.