Hot, History, walking and Manchester

We started with some maths today..Owen first.

Then we  read a passage from 101 Dalmations and did a spot of writing.

Sam worked on his maths too.

And kept going till had got his writing how he wanted it.

Later they both played out with friends but it was so hot and tempers frayed.

The next day I suggested we get out into the woods. After some deep thinking, the boys made me pack a spare set of clothes, swim trunks, food, drinks and full face snorkelling gear. They were not dissuaded buy the fact we would be going home for lunch, that the stream is only shallow or that it's 10 mins drive from our house. I had a massive back pack and a hip bag...so resembled Laura Croft, but less glamorous and more hot and sweaty.

Here they are looking disappointed that the stream isn't a raging torrent....

I hope I don't have a terrible accident...we can only guess what the emergency services would think looking through my heaving back pack...

We did some walking and balancing.

And sheltered from the hot sun but walking under the trees.

...had a little paddle ..

It was still very hot!

Yes take a snorkel mother but I won't need sunglasses...here is Sam not squinting one bit...no sireee..no sunglasses needed..just the snorkel.

Back home the boys worked on their own projects before having friends round to play. After dinner they went to their jujitsu class. I would like to think they didn't bicker the whole time..but apparently they did. Sam has been worried about a display he's taking part in this weekend. I emailed Sensei and made sure Sam got to class early so they could have a chat. Sensei worked his magic, and Sam is happy to take part at the weekend now.

Sam through one of his all nighters, possibly because it was so hot. He had already had something to eat when I came down at 6am, so we went for a walk before Blokey went to work. Owen slept in. 

He's skipping up the road chatting his head off here.

Counting bees in the poppies.

More bees. He's like a Jack Russell , running away and back to me.

We get home and I show him some caterpillars in our garden. Neither of us know what they are and we are very amused by their Mohawks , so we spend time identifying them.

Sam works on his fractions next.

Then he goes off to do more to his animation project. 

Owen works on evquivalent fractions whilst he eats his boiled egg.

Then we do a lesson from Mystery Science about how plants can be changed due to careful breeding and selection.

Next I went to sort Sam's room out. It's becoming more and more impractical to use, as his things are scattered far and wide. He's also camped on the floor to sleep at the moment and I can hardly get through the door. Although he's asked me to clean his room, he gets more and more upset when I touch his things. It takes me over two hours to carefully guide him through the process of tidying it up. Every thing gets a good wipe over and I group all like items together so they are easier for him to find. He's been getting upset about not being able to find things, so hopefully this will help. There is now floor space for when his friends come over and the whole room feels calmer and organised. Despite his earlier wobbles, and keeping a beady eye on everything I touched, he's actually quite happy with how it feels now. We managed to throw some empty boxes away ( he wasn't relinquishing them willingly at first) but when I showed him what I had in mind he agreed.

This sent Owen in to a frenzy of tidying his own room before I even got to it. He threw a few bits out, stacked his books and all I really needed to do was give everything a good wipe over. He doesn't hoard as much as Sam and doesn't get sentimental over things like paper bags etc, so it's a bit easier with him.

Later the children go to play at the park and when the get too hot, pitch up at home with their mates and play in their bedrooms until dinner is ready.

This morning Owen is up first and watches some Crash Course lessons whilst eating his breakfast, then he feeds and cleans his giant snail.

Sam joins us, then he decides to work on Roman numerals and fractions.

We also have a good laugh looking at limericks and he copies one out.

Owen fancied a go at limericks too, so he read a few out and decided to copy this one into his book.

Next we do more work on fractions and the number system.

The children watched a lot of the Crash Course series. They are pitched just right for short attention spans, so they happily watch a lot of these.

The next day we had a hellish journey up the M6 to Manchester. We sat at a stand still for over and hour. 

Blokey took the boys to the Natural History Museum and I had my hair cut. 

We then had a walk round the city centre and decided to try a Brazillian restaurant. You help yourself to  the extensive buffet of salads and nibbles first.

Then you have a little green and red disk. If you have the green side showing , waiters bring and carve, different types of meat on skewers at your table. It was awesome.

Owen pretending to be grumpy, but he absolutely loved this style of eating and tried lots of new cuts and flavours of meat.

Even Blokey was stuffed.

For dessert, we took the boys to the French patisserie a few streets away. Over whelmed by the choice, Owen chose a packet of crisps. Sam had a huge chocolate cake but decided to eat it when we got home later, as he was still full from his lunch.

Here he is back home enjoying his cake, the profiterole on the top defeated him though and he had to leave that.

The next day the boys jujitsu club were doing at display at the summer fete of their last school. Sam was very nervous. I wasn't sure if he would want to go and was a tad apprehensive myself at the thought of seeing people who saw the children at their most vulnerable time.

We were all fine and I talked to some of the parents I used to know. Not that anyone recognised me at all, I am so different to 5 years ago and the children's and my confidence has grown immensely. Despite worrying previously I found it a nice life affirming experience.

The boys did really well in their display and it was good to see them over coming their nerves and putting on a great show,

The next day was spent with T he boys playing with their local friends both at our house and at the park. Blokey and I worked on the camper van as we are hoping to go away again soon.

Dawgs, friends, baking, history.

We found a lost dog in the village, so quite a bit of the morning was spent trying to relocate its owner. Thankfully, they were found and both reunited. I tried not to be too sad, as I had rather fallen for the little chap.

In the afternoon we visited Manna House, which is a support centre for the homeless people of Stoke. We dropped off two bags of food and supplies. Next we collected the bus from the MOT centre (it passed) then boys played at the park.

Tuesday saw me doing maths with Sam.

And making sushi with Owen..he ate it as we worked, so there wasn't any left by 11:15.

Sam drew a Hunger Games logo.

They children played at the park before going to their jujitsu lesson and then fell into bed exhausted.

It was a beautiful morning, so I went for an early walk before Blokey went to work.

Sam was up first and we identified this beetle we found in the garden. It's a ground beetle. Sadly he was already deceased when I found it.

Sam wanted to make more cookies, he enjoyed smashing the dark chocolate bits.

Owen worked on Algebra.

Then he watched and enjoyed some Crash Course YouTube lessons.

The first was Social Conditioning.

Then one about silent movies

Islam and Politics. 

And finally Evolution.

The next day I went for a walk before Blokey went to work and spotted these:

Sam and I played Trinominos. He found it much easier to get to grips with this time. It was a very long game.

Owen wanted a game too. He is hatching an evil plan here lol.

Later their friends came over to play.

Owen chose to work on Algebra for his maths today and did really well. I need pen and paper but he can do it in his head.

Sam worked on subtracting and adding fractions with different denominators. He's still getting the process slightly muddled depending on how many stages there are. But he's definitely getting the principle of it all now.

A monumental game of Trinominoes next, with both boys against me.

In the evening we went over to 'Uncle' Nuggets house and had a couple of hours socialising in his batcave.

The next day the boys worked in their own projects in the morning, then we went to the park to meet some of for home ed friends,

Saturday the boys had a jujitsu course. There was a guest Sensi from Spain to teach them new combat manoeuvres. Both children really enjoyed the course, despite it being really hot in the village hall.

As it was lunch time when they finished, we grabbed some chips for them and they ate them out of the paper as we drove over to Blokeys parents. We stayed and chatted for a couple of hours before heading. Home. The children then went off to play at the park until it was nearly bedtime.

After all that socialising, we stayed home the next day. The children gave Blokey his Father's Day cards, which were suitably insulting, just how he likes them. We made ice cream, watched Dr Who and the children payed in the garden with friends.

Walking and a 100 words for potatoes

Sam and I mapped out a new route. He got up early and very excited to try it. Note new walking boots are on. He was fixated with the potato crop. This lead to a potato fuelled week. He's telling me all about potatoes here. How much he likes them, how many he would grow and what he would do to sell the extra ones and reinvest the money.

Back home after breakfast he worked on his maths. We are trudging our way through multiple factors and cubed numbers. It's taking some doing!

Afterwards we looked at more science lessons.

When Owen joined us, we tried to do some more work on cubed numbers and factor trees. We are all struggling and it got a bit frustrating for us all at times. 

Owen then learnt about how blind people perceive the work in mystery science.

Meanwhile Sam decided to study Japanese whilst watching Manga.

Followed by him writing 'potato' in as many languages he could think of.

Guess what he wanted for lunch...mashed potato! Thankfully Owen was keen too because I had some liver to go with it and it's his favourite food at the moment.

More potatoe words.

I walked in the rain the next day, alone, without potato boy.

More cubed roots and we seem to be winning.

Owen then wanted to do an English assessment he had found online. 

Sam then worked well in cubed numbers and factor trees.

He saw Owen finishing his English assessment and wanted to see how he faired. They got the same score lol.

Another language for potato ..aboriginal this time. 

I needed a nap, so Shadow joined me. The boys worked on their own projects.

I cleaned the kitchen. We made cookies...I cleaned the kitchen again....

Had a nice walk round the village and just about managed to dodge the showers.

I had a neuro appointment so my parents came over to look after the children. They took them for lunch to the village pub. We saw the neurologist, he mentioned upping my meds but I reiterated I can't function on them week at high doses. Good news is he thinks I haven't developed epilepsy so has cleared em to drive. His opinion is that I am exhausted and mentally tired, so my brain is shorting out, as it were..I refer to them as brain farts. 

Saturday we went to Stafford and had a mooch round. Over the weekend we had friends over and played at the park. We also took the Bus for its MOT and it passed. I has some jobs as advisories so Blokey is obtaining parts to work through those tasks.