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.