Keep fit, science, maths, seeing friends, trampolining and a trip to the fair.

We started the week with a bit of maths.

Sam is practicing his time telling skills

Then we made a self watering planting system. Sam very bravely used the scissors to cut his bottle.

Whilst we did this Owen read and ate some oatcakes.

Sam's spinach seeds all planted up and ready to go.

Sam set up the Wii and started his exercises whilst Owen and I did some maths.

He's getting to grips with multiplication, fractions and division better now.

After maths Owen made his self watering system.

Our spinach seeds were all planted and placed in the window to grow. If you want to have a try at this , here's the link: 

https://kidtimes.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/science-saturday-17/

As I tidied up Sam was finishing his exercises, he's doing his yoga here.

And strength training....the boy loves to exercise !

Next I worked alongside Owen..we did a step class. He finds the movement changes tricky, so me doing it with him helps him follow the moves.

He then did the plank and some ski jumping and balance games.

Here he is working on his balancing.

We played Wildcraft afterwards when Blokey came home from work.

I overslept today..unheard of. Sam woke me up, he was bouncing off the walls. Owen and I had breakfast, Blokey had fed and watered Sam the man before he left for work. After breakfast we tried a new maths game called Mathsblaster. The boys enjoyed it.

After that Owen and I did some modelling with fimo. Owen lacked confidence to start with but I encouraged him and he really got into it.

I baked his finished Minion and he placed it in one of his mini gardens.

Next we all did yoga and some step aerobics..plus a few core strength exercises. The boys played together in the afternoon, then went off to their jujitsu class.

I had planned on getting some meal planning done but life got in the way and now I have a few extra problems to sort out. So frustrating but needs must. The constant juggling of medications, illness and generally trying to run a household can feel overwhelming at times like today..but I have been here before and somehow everything gets done. Deep breaths..onwards and upwards.

This morning we worked on more Mathsblaster. 

Then did some strength and coordination work.

He's a blur!

Sam spent a long time perfecting his balance on the ski jump...

He was desperate to improve enough to get the highest score and beat Blokey off the leader board.

He was very pleased to achieve this..

And sent this picture to his Dad at work  'to rub it in' ...he is so happy with himself here I can't help but laugh.

In the afternoon we met up with friends for a chat and play, all the children were very entertaining.

Then back home for something to eat and a game of UNO with Dad before bedtime.

We looked at how marbles are made:

Then some maths with Mathsblaster. 

Sam worked on Wii sports .

We also did some yoga and I worked with Sam trying to fix an issue with his PC.

After lunch I took the children to their swimming lesson...Erm...the journey there and home was interesting..fortunately the lesson itself went really well.

We have a new game, Interlock, so the boys got started. It's harder than it looks but they got to grips with it quicker than me. It went very quiet whilst they worked out some of the combinations. 

You have to make shapes without having any of the holes or plugs showing .

We enjoyed watching Science vs Chef.

Owen in particular was glued to it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0752bbd/chef-vs-science-the-ultimate-kitchen-challenge

Then we went for a trampolining session at Flipout.

Saturday I wasn't well, so it was a quiet day at home doing our own things, Sam continue to film videos, Blokey did jobs and Owen played his new game.

We woke to a sunny day, after doing some cooking and meal planning we decided to head off to the fair. Blokey had seen it on his way home, so we decided to investigate. The boys love fairs, so were eager to get there and spend our money.

They won't go on the small rides anymore...which I find rather terrifying. I wish I could join them on the rides, as I used to be fearless myself. Sadly since I developed my neurological illness I cannot go on anything remotely spinny. This grieves me as I loved rides and spent many years terrifying my own mother.

We give them a budget and work out how much is left as we go along. Owen also decided to spend some of his pocket money on a stall and won a prize.

I LOVE the dodgem cars, so the boys always encourage me to drive . Blokey has Owen and Sam comes in with me..I think they enjoy me laughing raucously more that the bumping. I howl with laughter as I race round. Sam says 'you are really good at driving these cars mum ' .

As the day draws to a close I reflect on how our activities pan out. It looks very different to a school curriculum. Some weeks we do nothing but maths or reading..this can happen for weeks on end. Then suddenly it's all about going out and sports, another time it's science and history etc. Home education is very flexible and means if something grabs the boys attention, we focus fully on that until they feel they want to move on. It also means we can take breaks when it is most useful to them, when they need it and they can relax. This enables the children to be ready and eager to learn at their own pace and balances out the extreme anxiety which they are learning to regulate.

Decorating, terrarium making,Oatcakes and Jelly.

We took a drive out to choose some paint to finish the decorating in the kitchen. As I was very tired, Blokey and the boys suggested a pub lunch at the Royal Oak. Blokey also suggested we look at their function room, so we could decide if it was suitable for our wedding reception. It looked pretty promising and we asked the landlord to send us some details. After that we played cards and ordered some food.

Back home the boys busied themselves with their own activities whilst Blokey and I painted the kitchen. We managed to finish it and get everything put back just before the children got super hungry. I dispensed cheese rolls, fruit and drinks , so they could eat and watch SpongeBob. 

The next day we unpacked the items for a new activity...the bubble wrap packaging causes much hilarity as usual...never gets old apparently.

Look at our nicely painted walls....

Whilst Owen was reading his new library books, Sam and I put together our terrariums...he wanted a photo of him thinking about how to do it .

I got the idea from here:

http://www.acharmingproject.com/blog/2015/1/26/plants-and-coffee-lets-make-a-coffee-pot-terrarium

'I have have a massive range of expressions Mum'

 

Sam carefully chose where he wanted his sea glass, crystals and moss to go, before arranging his little Tillandsia plant. We read the leaflet about where and how the plants normally grow. We also found out about the  reindeer moss we used to decorate our jars with.

Finally we gave the air plant a spray of food and Sam spent time finding the perfect spot to put it in his room. 

'I am carrying it very carefully up the stairs...like its a precious diamond'.

Sam's finished jar.

This one was mine

It was Owens turn to have fun with the bubble wrap now...

This counts as sensory therapy too....just don't tell them!

And test its static electricity properties...

He then looked at the terrarium activity and chose the items he wanted to include in his jar.

He was very pleased the plants we found origonate from Mexico...'I like Mexico Mum, so that's really good!'

We will gloss over the fact that his current knowledge of Mexico focus's on building tacos and tortilla wraps....I am pleased he's broadening his knowledge base from food, to fawna and flora.

Both boys really enjoyed this activity and have asked to do some more..'maybe with bowls this time, Mum?'. It maybe worth visiting the charity shop to see if we can get different containers for their next ones.

After this Owen asked to look at Pinterest and got very excited at the ideas I had saved for clay modeling. I promise I will order some supplies so we can have a try. He thinks it maybe fun to add some Hama bead and Fimo creations to terrariums in the future too.

The boys really enjoy Jujitsu and come home more giddy than normal ( hard to imagine I know ). There were two new children at class and they had really enjoyed working with them. We chat and giggle about it as I tuck them in for the night. They are definitely recovering from their bout of horrible anxiety over Easter. I am relieved they seem to be able to recover and hope it means we are learning how to help them better too.

I don't sleep well again,  so I have to cancel our afternoon plans so I can rest. The boys and I do a bit of research on the iPad.  Mainly looking and talking about any projects they may like to do in future. 

Whilst Owen helps Sam with some Minecraft conundrums, I make some gf baguettes, Owen approves.

We then go out to the charity shop. The boys want to look for more glass bowls etc, to make more mini gardens with. They are lovingly tending their current ones. 

Here are some of the treasures they decided to bring home...they are now excitedly awaiting their pebbles and plants to arrive.

I make some calendula balm for our itchy skin 

The boys also do some more reading of their library books and look up info about Minecraft related stuff. I am pleased to see that they are incredibly happy again when I go to say goodnight. I just hope I can sleep tonight but I just can't seem to shake this virus off. 

I hear giggling upstairs the next morning whilst I am cleaning..then it goes quiet. On further investigation I find both boys have built a 'nest' in Owens room and are reading a book together *heartmelts*. They seem very settled and happy, so I leave them to it and carry on with my chores. It means a late breakfast and afterwards Sam and I do Wii fit.

He's so good at all the yoga and muscle exercises.

Sam doing the plank brilliantly here.

The only thing I don't show myself up on is the step class. Sam has more trouble with this because of the bilateral element to it. He's improving though and enjoys taking part.

Owen, sits and comments on our progress whilst he talks to his friend on Skype....for someone refusing to join in, he has a lot of 'constructive criticism'  to dispense.

After lunch we head off for swimming lessons. I mistimed leaving the house, so we end up rushing at the last second. This in turn throws Owen and it takes a good 15 mins for him to settle properly into his class. He tried really hard but his processing capacity is less than normal...I vow to be more careful next week.

Despite this they have a good session, Sam is flying throught the water now with front crawl. Owen is having major issues with coordination and executive functioning, so getting his body to do what he wants it to, when he wants it to, proves exhausting. He doesn't give up though and Rob is skilled at breaking it into parts for him and building movements in. I feel a bit sad for Owen whilst I watch. I do feel he would benefit from some proper OT sessions or physio. I know we would have a fight for funding and there's always the chance he wouldn't want to do it too....I will ponder on this more later.

Back home we have sandwiches and someone comes over to look at our old car. They like it so the sale is completed and they will collect it at the weekend. That's another job out of the way...I feel relieved.

After 4 hours broken sleep I am greeted by a very jolly, chatty Sam at 6:30 am. After stressing the importance of letting his tired, wheezy mother have some coffee and a slice of toast, he launches into the day. He's fuelled on nitrous ...I am not. He works on his daily science challenge from his iPad , then we set up a joint activity. We are making fruit jelly sweets with agar. 

After following the instructions and talking Sam through safely using a spoon in a pan, we pour them into Star Wars themed moulds. He's terrified of the Hob, but I managed to get him to overcome a bit of his anxiety and he takes turns are stirring the mixture. I am not convinced we will get them out of the moulds intact but we can try .

They worked.

Owen and I make oatcakes..and a smoothie..he then refuses to try either. He will eat the oatcakes later but the smoothy is all mine!

Meanwhile Owen is delighted that our craft supplies arrive in the post.

He gets busy on his mini gardens straight away, he loves this activity. He finds some fossilsized Sharks teeth and slate chippings to use too.

Sam comes to join us and loves the feel of the glass 'gravel'.

Sam's two mini gardens. He uses his favourite heart shaped pebble ..he made me carry it back from a day out in the woods last year.

Owens gardens, complete with sharks teeth and a special pebble he collected.

My work.

Another of Owens.

In the afternoon, one of the local children call round for Sam and he goes out to play. Owen is not interested in joining them as he wants to talk and play with his friend online.

Saturday is taken up with sorting the our old car our ready for collection and getting some DIY supplies. Back home , whilst Blokey and I are working , the children play together. The day flies past and soon the car buyer is here and we wave goodbye to the Ford. As its late we decide to order a Chinese meal, the boys do really well with their choices. Spicy crispy chicken for Owen and chicken with plum sauce for Sam.

Sam and I enjoy a game of Wildcraft together 

Whilst I went on my oxygen , Sam and Blokey did Wii sports. I then cooked dinner. The menfolk watched so Xmen as I clean up, then we played some different variations of MiCube.

Quite a tall one this.....

Next we played our history game

Deep concentration ......