Little Star Homeschool

"Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." Plato

Today Robert has been busy, very busy. He did Hotwires with Dad and played Tantrix by himself. We went into town and got stopped by a promotor for the library service and were persuaded to join the Quest Seekers summer reading challenge. Robert has to read six books in six weeks to gain rewards. We have a chart to complete and the best thing is its all free! So thats maths, science and literacy covered for today. Tomorrow I need to do some cooking to restock the freezer and carry on with repainting the office.

John is a happy bunny after seeing one of his favourite rock bands play Chesterfield last night - Saracen -

Following their first live performance in 1977, the band gigged extensively
across the Midlands during the ensuing years. The standard of those 'live'
performances, combined with their unique brand of symphonic rock, saw Lammergier
amass a large and loyal following of fans. Then a new decade arrived, and with
it some major developments for the Matlock-based rockers.

Their named changed from Lammergier.....to SARACEN. But the music remained the same; an ever-growing repertoire of powerful, guitar-oriented rock, amply laced with lush keyboards and evocative vocals. After several months 'off the road', with time spent putting the finishing touches to their new 'live' show, the Lads re-emerged as 'Saracen' in January of 1981. And this time with plans for a debut album!

During the summer of that year the now famous 'Heroes, Saints & Fools' album was recorded, at Fairview Studios in Beverley, England. Released in October '81, it was received with critical acclaim, and is still regarded as a 'classic' of it's genre even today, over twenty years on!

Its that cat again, we've named her Kitty because we don't know her real name. She seems to like it.




And she's making herself at home. I wonder how many houses she visits?



Robert loves his new friend, we don't have any pets of our own.



She's been exploring the whole house, including the bedroom.





Finding new places to snooze.





Its a cat's life.


After being suitably reprimanded yesterday for mistakenly calling Robert's tour a 'world tour' when in fact he has never set foot outside the UK I thought I would stick to safer pursuits today and start painting the office. I had a tin of blue paint just doing nothing, an impulse buy from a few years ago. I am dealing with my 'blue problem' trying very hard to use new colours but I cannot let a good tin of paint go to waste. Robert sat and watched while reading to me from Horrid Henry's Joke Book.

That cat has been for a visit again, exploring the house, sitting on the sofa, purring and rubbing against just about everything.

Have had a few problems with Blogger over the past couple of days, ads not feeding properly and text refusing to wrap around pictures. Very glitchy. John uses Wordpress and keeps trying to convert me but I do like Blogger most of the time.

While in Bakewell today we found a real toyshop - not just a department or catalogue store - The Bakewell Toy Shop it has two upstairs rooms devoted to jigsaws. Robert chose a Ravensburger puzzle.





Our trusty Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket took us to Bakewell today.


To feed the ducks while we ate lunch by the River Wye.


To have fun.



And enjoy the sun.




And sit and think.




And wait for fish.





And learn about sundials.







And antirrhinums





And simply enjoy a new place to be.





One neighbourhood cat exploring our garden.


Wandered in through the back door for an inpromptu visit today.




Making herself at home



Does looking cute get me snacks?




String chase...yay!




Hmmm...where did that spider go?

We ventured into the library yesterday, after shopping for shoes in the Clarks 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.

More photos from our holiday at Peak Camp.
Not very wild chickens to start with



Getting wilder - Swallow on Wire



Yellow Wagtail on Wild Rhubarb



Low Cloud over the Farmhouse



Green Orb or Leaf Spider




Rook

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

So we took the plunge and decided to do Peak Camp this year, we had a rough idea what to expect. We mainly went to give Robert some experience of socialisation on a larger scale than just his home ed group. There were a few old friends there and many more new ones waiting to be made.


Robert paddling in the River Dove, Beresford Dale.



Natural caves formed in the limestone cliffs at Wolfscote Dale



Home from home, our gelert tulsa 4 man tent, complete with camping gaz camping chef stove. The first time we've camped as a family and the first time I have ever camped. I loved it btw.


Adventures


Can you see it? White dry ice in a White polystyrene box! I had a frozen delivery and it was packed in dry ice, so we did some spontaneous science - sublimation. Dry ice sublimes, changing directly to a gas at atmospheric pressure.

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.

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