Little Star Homeschool

We ventured into the library yesterday, after shopping for shoes in the Clarkes sale, jeans and a belt in Next and lunch at McD's. Robert chose Shredder by Jonathan Kebbe and The Cat Who Got Carried Away by Allan Ahlberg. I feel brave taking out books again, I must be their worse customer. Never returning a book on time and in fact losing books for many months. Well this time I will use my trusty diary to remember the return date and fingers crossed I may well break my track record and return a book on time.

Robert has finished off the first book in the dragonlology chroniclesThe Dragon's Eye (Dragonology) while on holiday and has ordered the second book in the series The Dragon Diary: Dragonology Chronicles Volume 2 from amazon.

We found Working with Dragons in our local remainder bookshop on monday.

Dragonology is the title of several books, a modeling kit, and a board game released in 2003. The publisher's note at the beginning of the original book reads:

This book purports to be the facsimile of an original published on a print run of 100 copies in 1895, of which a copy was recently found in a bookshop near the Seven Dials in London. Unfortunately, the publisher has been unable to ascertain whether a real Dr. Ernest Drake ever lived in St. Leonard's Forest or wrote a book called Dragonology and so, with regret, is unable to make any claim as to the truth of this and must present this volume merely as an interesting curiosity.

The first book is officially edited by Dugald A. Steer, with other contributors credited as Helen Ward ("Scientific Artist"), Douglas Carrel ("Chief Draughtsman"), Wayne Anderson ("Pictorial Artist"), and Nghiem Ta ("Artistic Direction").

Source: Wikipedia

Robert's got back to his swimming lessons now his tonsils are out, he felt a little nauseous because the changing room is exceptionally hot but he got changed quickly and got through it. He hasn't forgotten what he learnt last year which is good.

Its such a relief to be able to sleep at night without the fear of him vomiting and to go out for the day knowing he can travel alright without being sick. Its been quite a journey now I look back, something like that can dominate one's life so much it takes a long time to adjust to normality. I have only just began to relax when he coughs and not react by fetching a bucket. We are all so much calmer now. He eats better too, free to eat apple skin, strawberry seeds and yoghurts with balls without choking.

His reading is his greatest strength, we are sailing through Roald Dahl books having just finished James and the Giant PeachAt the moment Robert's working through the I Love Maths! CDRom

Robert has been immersed in Greek mythology, he is suddenly fascinated by all things ancient. We have the Guardian newspaper posters up and they make a great starting point. Favourite characters are Medusa (oh those snakes), Icarus, Atlas, Gaia and Prometheus.

Meanwhile I've finally got a publishing deal for my novella, Leviathan Glass. Its being released under the genre Weird Fiction and its loosely in the vein of H P Lovecraft. I'm correcting the proof copy at the moment so publication isn't far away.

I have totally reshaped the household finances re: Money Saving Expert freebies drop through the door on a regular basis, we live for a lot less and now ALL our food is home cooked in advance of when we need it according to meal plans. This had helped to compensate for my hours reducing at work. I really don't want to look for another job, I'm happy where I am and that is secondary to a writing career.

Still attending Home Ed groups and getting out and about. I am a step-grannie to three now. step-son had a daughter in February and step-daughter had another little one, also a girl. in March.

I've just got round to blogging again after a busy couple of weeks out and about. These pics are from our trip to the Whistlestop Centre at Matlock Bath - part of the Wildlife Trusts. We had the rare opportunity to see inside a bee hive and learn about bees in depth from a beekeeper.

Robert testing out a beekeepers hat - very itchy apparently.

Nell (left) from the Wildlife Trusts and Margaret the beekeeper showing us a how a smoker works.

Robert made a bee life-cycle wheel, identified which differently coloured pollen came from which plant, played a game, tasted different honey from around the world and made this beeswax candle.

Another meet up, this time with some South Yorkshire Home Edders. The location - Chatsworth Adventure Playground. In my opinion an inspired choice. The result one child perfectly happy all day long barely stopping for lunch. Here's the highlights.

Waiting for the bus home. The bus took us directly from matlock to the house itself. When I was Robert's age or thereabouts we had to walk from Baslow all the way up the long drive to the house. We must have been super fit kids. And just for the record I have walked up that hill to Riber Castle in Matlock aswell.

Yesterday we took a bus out to South Normanton, Robert had a great time at the gaming group. He is so thrilled he could try different consoles. I only got lost once trying to find the community centre - we got off the bus a stop to late. I took this picture while waiting for the bus back in South Normanton, Robert is leaning against a sculpture which supports a clock. I had a moment of confusion where I wasn't at all sure if our Derbyshire Wayfarer was still OK to use on the bus back from South Normanton - am I in Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire? When I got home John confirmed I was indeed still in Derbyshire.

Later at home Robert made soft stuff cut outs and watched Jungle Run (his favourite programme at the moment.)