Robert's bird, made in Photoimpact.
We poured some milk onto a side-plate and dropped in three different food colourings (red, yellow and blue). A small drop of washing up liquid was drizzled onto a cotton bud. The bud was dipped into the milk in the centre of the plate. We observed the colour swirls as the proteins and fat broke down.
The flowers turned out really well. Yellow coloured the petals quickest but red gave us the most dramatic veining.
Robert and I did some baking today, made anzac biscuits, flapjacks and choc chip muffins. I have struggled through the day a bit after I fell in the bathroom yesterday. I have a bruise the size of a dinner plate on my hip, cuts on my arm and foot and my ribs are sore. I'm still debating whether to go to the doctors. My self-pitying side wants x-rays and pills and my logical side knows the response will be the usual prescription for Ibuprofen and a scathing look from the GP that makes me feel like a hypochondriac. I don't know why I fell either, one minute I am stood up, I bend down to pick something up and then down I go. I remember the room spun round once bfore everything went into slow motion. That was fortunate because if I had not sensed the fall I would have knocked myself out on the radiator. Instead I twisted to avoid it thus hurting my ribs. And of course me being me I trotted of to work half an hour later thinking I was OK. It was when I laid down in bed last night everything started to hurt. John cooked dinner tonight and has been helping with a few esssential jobs around the house, other things will have to wait til I'm feeling better. robert kept himself busy making pictures from sticky shapes and glitter and building himself a den.
I've just switched this blog over to the new blogger, so things may or may not be a little bit disorganised for a couple of days while I get everything back in order. Overall I prefer the new blogger, its just a real pain having to re-do the sidebar widgets. I'm off to look for some new blogger hacks now to give it some style lol.
The petals are coloured after 24 hrs...more tomorrow.
Robert got out Carol Vorderman's English Made Easy Ages 5-6
I know its early but I've never been known for my patience so we've started doing some science projects a little before the actual start of Science Week. The first experiment involves some carnations, three vases filled with water and the addition of three different food colourings. We chose red, blue and yellow. This is the photo for the beginning of the experiment. I asked Robert what he thought might happen to the flowers and he answered in a roundabout way that they will drink the water and change colour according to the water they are in. I will take another photo tomorrow.
After setting up the flower experiment it was art time.
And here's one he made earlier...
Robert and I stayed up on Saturday night watching Charlie and Lola DVDs in the big bed and of course the lunar eclipse. There were plenty of wow's as I explained what was happening to the moon.
Took some books out of the library for Robert yesterday and bought a new fridge, the old one is quite literally blowing hot and cold. Having to buy chilled food almost daily til new fridge is delivered next week.
Robert's been busy painting and adding and doubling numbers while I've been rearranging our "library" - we have twelve (I think) bookcases which I am organising to make a quiet reading area on the landing and thus freeing more space in the office so Robert can have his own desk. We've installed a chest freezer too so I can store more bread from Tesco when I do the main shop rather than paying convenience store prices through the week. The chest freezer will also mean I can double up when cooking stews, shepherds pies, curries and chillis and freeze portions for the weekends when we John and I find ourselves too busy to cook something substantial for ourselves.
For national science week in March I am looking out some simple experiments to do with Robert, will post more about them in a couple of weeks.
Robert's drawing is improving. He produced this self-portrait today.
He also wrote this poem, he began with making a fish sound with his mouth then writing what came to mind.
At first we only told the people that mattered we were home educating Robert, family and closest friends. Recently we have been telling the wider audience of aquaintances. I must admit I was suprised by the enthusiastic response and the nods of agreement when I explained my disappointment in the current state educational system, other parents admit to feeling let down by their child's school and teachers and wish they had had the time and /or dedication to home-ed. Some asked lengthy questions about teaching him higher mathematics and the pedantic rules of English grammar and others asked the simpler questions like "what do you teach him?" and "how do you keep him interested?" I must look the truly proud parent when I reply "I just teach the rules and concepts, he learns from the world around him because he is receptive and naturally capable of grasping new concepts."
Now he is learning to multiply, divide and I am introducing fractions. We take a little bit of time each day phonetically spelling out medium length words. Today he made a desert island and yesterday a collage. He is snoring very loudly as I type this, he's caught my tonsilitis.
Almost forgot...John was making some notes in a notebook and Robert wanted to see. "Oooooh, Daddy" he said " you have written a lot. You deserve a hug for that" and gave his Daddy a big hug.
Its a new year and yes we are still here, home-edding. Sorry peeps for the gaps between posts but life is so hectic now I rarely sit at the puter. Robert is coming on in leaps and bounds especially with his maths, adding and subtracting small numbers with ease and getting to grips with tens up to millions. he has a fundamental grasp of 3 dimensional shapes and his knowledge of the natural world simply amazes me. his handwriting is gradually gaining in legibility, as with most boys its not his fave activity and he would rather use the puter sometimes than paper and pen. hes a happy chap tho and grasps new subjects quickly and has a phenomenally good memory.
Another reason I have been busier than usual is due to the arrival of my first step-gransdon (if thats the correct term) Lisa, my step-daughter gave birth to a healthy baby boy last October and the phone rings nearly every day with her news, worries and general moans and groans. She lives in South Wales now with her boyfriend but she still managed to visit a couple of times before Christmas and we are thrilled at becoming grandparents.
And yes, we have Guardian posters everywhere!!! Its the new wallpaper.
Johns maternal grandmother passed away a couple of weeks ago and while it wasnt unexpected, she was ninety-four, it was still an emotional time for all the family.
Meanwhile I have been going slowly green, hehe. Onwards and upwards from composting to switching to a green energy supplier for our electricity (its generated by wind turbines I am told) and running about the house changing all the bulbs to lovely energy efficient ones. We are looking at installing a wood-burning room heater later in the year and improving our homes insulation.
At present I am getting over a bout of tonsilitis, The winter viruses have hit me hard this year and for a good couple of months I have hardly been well, the doc put me on yet another gruelling course of antibiotics. I cough as I type...Robert however has a cold for two days and is up and running again, ahhhh what it is to be young *sighs*
I will blog more often....I'm sure I will, if I keep telling myself one day it may come true.
Thursday it began to snow...so we threw snowballs...
Made a snowman...
Felt how cold it is...
And just looked in awe at it...
By saturday it was all gone. Robert said "snow is my favourite and my best mummy."
Went into town today to fetch some new trainers to wear for work mostly because I discovered my boots leak when I went out in the snow the other day! Popped into the RSPCA charity shop and the sales woman asked Robert "not in school today?" I just quipped back without thinking really "he's home educated" and started a quick conversation concerning the legal ins and outs of home ed. I could have made an excuse and said he was off sick but why shouldn't we be proud of what we do?
Roberts learning to read new words from The Cat in the Hat Dictionary by Dr Seuss. He can read a lot of stuff from this book however its still filling in a lot of gaps in his reading knowledge.
Robert and Daddy spent the rest of the afternoon playing Harry Potter on the playstation while I made a curried shepherds pie for dinner.....experimental cooking using Indian spices to cook from scratch rather than buying ready made curry sauces to reduce our intake of trans-fats, sugars and artificial additives.
I'm off work this week...a much needed break because in a couple of weeks I will be covering my colleague when she goes into hospital for an op. More shifts : ( but the extra money will be useful.
I'm thinking of growing some veg in the garden this year, I read an article by Monty Don in last Sundays Mail and he claims it can be done in a small garden and we have a small garden lying fallow after the winter. I like flowers a lot but veg somehow seems more progressive towards a healthier lifestyle and when I was little gardening with my dad we grew some amazing stuff. I can still remember how good home grown runner beans tasted.
We had some snow on Friday, now the sun is shining and its looking more spring like. I better get the vacuum cleaner out now and try to find the carpet lol
I woke this morning with the 'lurgy' sore throat, fever, lethargy...yuk! Still, there's no lying in bed feeling sorry for oneself when kids are around and on pancake day? Never been known! So guess what we had to eat today : )
Robert is asking what day is it again, hoping for the answer to be monday so he can go to the Muddle Puddle group again. I have marked the next meet on the calendar so he can keep track of the days.
Meanwhile he is expounding on his theories regarding plumbing and sewage, he reckons toilets must like what goes into them (I think this is because he doesn't consume things he doesn't like.) Then he chattered on about the consequences of not having a bottom. Cats do not have bottoms I am told "only tails."
Yesterday Robert and I went to our first Muddle Puddle Group over in Sheffield. After initially sitting on the sidelines with his coat firmly on, Robert soon joined in. Its the most relaxing afternoon I've had in ages too. When we got home he was quiet and reflective, he gave Daddy a rundown of the main happenings such as who cried and such. He wants to go again. Yay!
Its worth commenting on the difference I noticed in home-ed kids when compared to school-ed kids, John's first two children (now 20 and 21) were school educated and they and their peers were very different in their treatment of adults and class-mates. Yesterday I was watching mixed age kids play without conflict and talking to adults in a completely confident and relaxed manner. There were no 'crowd-control' issues that overwhelm the classroom and children used their initiative to develop games. Older children naturally shepherded the little ones, this wasn't just a group of kids but a team of like-minded individuals working together. Now that's something you will be hard-pressed to find in the adult world.
Home-ed kids do not learn the adversarial attitudes bred in schools, there's no 'them and us' divide between kids and adults, yet they understand who is in authority should they need help or a child is getting into danger. Now then, if they do not need to defy authority because it is not eroding their self-esteem then these potential teens will not need to rebel against authority in order to build the false ego and will grow to become well-rounded adults comfortable within themselves and their place in society.
We bathe under the midnight starry sky
and sweep careless drops of mik from our hair
We sigh and marvel at creation every day
and in our wonderings create so much more
Are we godesses woven from aphrodites loom
More than that we are daughters and mothers
This silent sorority who sit with our cheeks pressed
staring listlessly at the rain watching the window cry
And chase away the shadows with a song
We share our dreams and delights for the days ahead
Whilst innocently dabbling in water, earth and ink
Wiping away the heavy dew pressing us down into slumber
we are fond of this life with all its passing drone of hectic noise
We are pleased with who we are.
Robert created this on Ulead PhotoImpact after watching me use it countless times. He built the image up from set shapes coloured with bucket fill and multivision and defraction filters added last. I think its stylish and shows he has a a good eye for colour.
