An Eventful Day.....And a Strange Happening

Goodness, I've been so busy with end of the year book keeping and accountants I haven't had time for anything else. Monday I worked and Hettie tagged along, Tuesday I worked and Hettie tagged along again - mmm not very structured!

The rain has just fell and fell, but fortunately two mornings running I've bumped into a friend who has taken Issy into the school and class, therefore no need to park. This morning Hettie wanted to stay home alone - Aaagh! - while I did the school run and I decided a 15 minute trial alone would be OK. Well I've got to leave her alone at some point and by her age I'd been walking to school alone for 2 years. So with repeated instructions to not answer the door or the phone or leave the back room I left. At the bottom of the road I started to think what if I have an accident or the car breaks down, she won't answer the phone, perhaps we need a phone code, you know 2 rings, then ring again sort of thing. I should point out with have a huge very protective dog as well. Fire, what if there's a fire, will she know to leave the house?

Got home, rushed in and she was coming down the stairs. What are you doing out of the back room? What would you do if the house catches fire? Did you answer the phone? I demanded. 'Mum I was going to wee on the sofa if I waited any longer, the phone hasn't rung and if there's a fire I'll leave the house and go next door to J' and plonked herself back down in front of the tv.

So the first time is over. Isobel said 'When I'm 9 1/2 can I stay in on my own?' 'No you can't, you need to be 24!' was my reply.

So, off to our Home Ed group at the library. We had a great meeting, 29 adults and kids attended. My friend C did a great activity about electric circuits and they made a little lamp, which Hettie is made up with. She took it apart on the way home and even I managed to figure out how to put it back together again! It was a really, really good meet until a young lad snatched one of the mum's handbags from pratically under our noses. Fortunately another mum spotted him on her way out and the police were called - and actually caught him! The kids all rallied around and pointed out several times where fingerprints could be obtained! I really hope T gets her bag back because amongst other things she had a photo of her daughter which was special to here. Fingers crossed x.

So that wasn't a nice ending to the day.

The strange happening. Well I looked at Hettie yesterday, and she was reading a book, yes she had actually picked up a book and was reading it to herself. I very nearly shouted 'You're reading, you're absorbed in it!' But my brain kicked into gear and I said nothing. I left it a while and said 'What are you reading?' 'A book about tigers, its quite good' Its a Level 2 I Can Read Book and boy, am I glad I bought that!

That Was The Week That Was ....

It didn't get any better this week. Hettie woke me at 2am to say she felt sick, and hopped in bed with us. At 3am dh and I awoke to the sound of profuse vomiting. Dh muttered someones ill and nodded back off. Fortunately Hettie is old enough to run to the toilet now, but it meant I was jumping in and out of bed all night, wiping faces and giving sips of water. Until my half awake brain realised the sip of water was setting off another bout. However inbetween vomiting she was bright eyed and bushy tailed, wanting to discuss the books she's read and what are we doing for school work this week? 'Not sure at this precise moment I'll have a look tomorrow.'

So that meant the science museum trip was off. I was hoping we could leave later and catch the others up but she continued to be sick and then slept for 4 hours. I took the opportunity to ransack their bedrooms, sorry tidy up their bedrooms.

Saturday Issy was up at 6.30am talking, and talking, and then talking some more. She talked all day and then fell asleep at 10.30pm. She was still talking in her sleep, but at least she had an early night for a change. We all went to see Andrew Lloyd Webbers Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat with nanny after lunch. I couldn't get parked anywhere so I dropped the girls and my mum off while Isobel protested loudly because she thought I might get lost.

Eventually I found a spot and caught up with them and she sat on my lap throughout the show, yes still talking. 'Its dark in here', 'Yes its always dark in the theatre, we've been before' I whispered, well shouted down her ear. 'Its too loud in here', 'Yes well it'll be lovely when the songs start' I whispered again. 'Ooh look thats Noah', 'No he's called Jacob', 'Well I'm calling him Noah, because he looks like Noah', 'Fine you call him Noah then, now lets listen' I hissed, sorry whispered. I felt her take a deep intake of breath, and on it went. Fortunately I couldn't hear her at all so just agreed with everything, trouble is I'm not sure what I've agreed to now. Then on came the King of Eygpt (Elvis for those of you who haven't seen the show) 'Ooh look there's Elvis', 'Yes he's good isn't he', 'I didn't know Elvis was in the bible, can we read the Elvis bit when we get in?', 'Elvis isn't in the bible.' 'No you've got that wrong mum, he must be he's up there' 'We'll talk about it later'. Inbetween all this I'm whispering bits of the story to Hettie so she can keep up with it all.

Hettie gave it 9/10 and said it was better then reading the bible, Isobel gave it 100/10, blasted out the Cd all afternoon, accompanied it with the recorder and looked through the bible for Elvis. I also got completely ripped off by the two of them for a t-shirt each, cap for Hettie and stuffed camel for Issy, a programme each and a Cd.

Hettie doing a hip hop version, the t-shirts were a little large but still they'll grow into them!

It was my dads birthday so we rushed home and tidied and got ready for my mum and dad to come round for chinese take away. Hettie had learnt to play Happy Birthday on the keyboard, OK a slower version than the more popular one but we all enjoyed it.

Of course the girls helped grandad unwrap his presents. We bought him My Island Story by HE Marshall, a nice hard back copy which he was delighted with.

So now its Sunday morning and the gang have gone off to Morrisons to get the weekly food shop. Usual mad morning. Hettie never knows what to wear, despite much instruction about looking out the window at the weather and in the drawers to pick something. Dh can't find any socks, Issy has dressed herself, but dh says he's not walking round Morrisons with her looking like that, so I persuade her to change thick woolly tights with summer shorts over the top, for a skirt and socks. Dh can't get in the bathroom because the girls are cleaning their teeth and I've told them to do it properly and they are! Can I write the shopping list in order of the aisles so they don't miss anything, where are the car keys?

They've gone now and I'm sitting here quietly drinking tea. Its calm and peaceful. I'm just bracing myself to find some sort of explaination as to why Elvis doesn't turn up in the bible.

The Return of the Dentist...

It was D Day and I had to return to the dentist this afternoon.

But the girls went this morning. Hettie was fine with not a problem, this is the child who eats a tonne of chocolate, has no high calcium food and the one you have to nag to clean her teeth. Isobel, the child who eats lots of fruit and veg, has milk on her cereal every day, and cleans her teeth regularly had to have one filling replaced and needs four top milk teeth removed. Both the dentist and myself tried to gently persuade her to have an injection and have them out there and then. But she wasn't having any of that. So we have to go to the dental clinic for sedation and extraction. That's going to be a fun day!

I was re-injected, re-drilled and filled. It took 3/4 of an hour in total and left me with a newly throbbing face. I have to have a crown but she didn't want me to 'waste my money' in case I still need it removed, so I have to go back....again.

Issy didn't want to return to school this afternoon, obviously the filled tooth was much much worse when it was time to go back. So we gave up on school, home ed and anything else really for today.

Tomorrow Hettie and I are off to the science museum with some friends so I must go and rake through the cupboards for a packed lunch!

Whats going on this week?

It was another mad day, well morning. I had everything planned to the minute to fit it all in. Started all wrong when Issy limped about yawning saying she couldn't go to school 'cos she hurt her knee and her leg felt funny. She fell over yesterday and has a minute cut on one knee. You really need a magnifying glass to see it. She was then up 'til gone midnight. So I rang and made our excuses - again!

By now I'm well behind schedule, and we had to print Hetties work out for our HE group's library display. We did have to do this because we hadn't done the book review either, which she must do for the children's competition on the SHE group. We had all the writing typed up but needed to add some pictures of tigers. They're raising money for endangered animals. I googled for some pics and this took forever while she ummed and aahed about which pictures to use. I feel like I looked at a million pics of tigers. I had to be in work for a meeting in 15 minutes and Issy and I were still in pjs.

I ended up half an hour late, but better late than never. This in turn meant we left late for the HE meeting. Not usually a problem, but I was the mum with the stuff for the wall display! It poured with rain, you know when you can barely see with the wipers on top speed, and so couldn't even 'hurry along' a little. However we eventually arrived and got sorted. The children had their book club meet, and we got a smashing display up, well we like it anyway.

We drifted home, fortunately I didn't need to return to work after and went to nanny P's for a cuppa and a sandwich. On returning home the girls decided to play shops. While my back was turned this involved getting play food and tea set out, a variety of toys for sale, my birthday cards, and a lot of stuff back out of the re-cycling bin.

It was a pretty good department store but by now it was 7pm and I was beginning to think I'm never going to get all this put away, but as they both clearly pointed out to me 'this is maths'. So that told me.

Just a quickie tonight ...

'Cos I'm tired. I spent the morning trying to log in online to my bank account. When I finally rang she wanted details of transactions, and I explained I was trying to get to my bank account to look at that and basically she cut me off. Eventually I got in and then paid all the tax for our business for the year. Fortunately we'd earnt enough to pay it, so thats good.

Hettie in the meantime got bored and so got the modelling sand out. I think she threw it around the lounge.

Then I had to go and buy stationary stuff for work, so we rushed out before lunch and got that. then we came home and had lunch. Then we remembered the library has given us a huge display board for the home ed group and we should have done work on endangered animals, so we started that. Time to pick Issy up and by the time I'd chatted in the playground realised I had 10 mins to get home & iron Brownie uniforms and get them to the fire station for a trip. We now own 3 pairs of Brownie trousers. They put them on - No swop I screamed wrong trousers, No swop back even worse I screamed, - we need to label everything and Hettie needs bigger trousers. Rushed to drop them off and came home remembering I was having a staff meeting at my house. Mmm sand everywhere, in fact it looked like a beach!!

Hoovered, picked up girls, got their tea and had the meeting. Dh arrived home at 10.30pm tonight so I didn't moan at him about anything tonight!

I've stuck to the diet for two whole days now. I'm starving but I feel thin already!

One of those Monday mornings....

The weekend wasn't too bad.

On Saturday I spent a lot of computer time on our local HE group uploading links and re-arranging the yahoo group files section, organising bits and pieces. Dh took Hettie to buy a spray suit for sailing, to go over the wet suit and all the other kit she has. No sailing though because it was the wrong type of wind - sounds like a British Rail announcement! Oh and I had a little play about with my blog.

I decided the time to diet is way over due, must be my age! Plus I have a ladies day thing to go to in June and I refuse to buy a new dress when I have a lovely one, I've only worn once because now it doesn't fit. So I planned Week 1 weight watchers. I've only got 12lbs to loose, well 19lbs would be fantastic but lets be realistic here. I started today - for some reason I have to start a diet on a Monday - and yes I'm starving, possibly because I've used some points for a glass of wine tonight instead of food.

Sunday the wind was 'OK' for sailing, but it was really cold, so Hettie extremely well wrapped went off sailing with dh, his mate and brother and her cousins. She did quite well for a first trip although apparantly it was a bit of a rough ride. Still she wants to go again, so thats good as dh has bought her a full kit! Issy and I stayed in the warm, cleaned through and generally didn't do too much.

So one of those Monday mornings. We were up late to start with, as usual Issy wasn't asleep 'til gone 11.30pm which meant we were both tired this morning (I know Ruth, sounds like an early night for you LOL!) This led to her stuffing toast in her mouth as we ran out the door. Dh forgot to sign a cheque for dinner money and I didn't have any money. The car was as dead as a dodo - nothing. No money so we couldn't jump a cab, or even a bus. Dh miles away. Fortunately my friend rushed around to collect her. She now has a late mark against her name - do I care? No not really. My diet started so I felt hungry, even though I wouldn't normally. Hettie is having what we call a 'dyslexic' week, meaning maths was impossible, handwriting long and laborious.

But Hettie and I have started reading The Apprentice by Pilar Molina Llorente which is great and we're both really enjoying it. It's about an artists apprentice in Renaissence Florence and led nicely to us spending an afternoon looking at Leonardo Da Vinci (not very Walsorf I know). So we read a lot of that today. We also started A Child's History of the World by Hillyer which Hettie liked so that was successful. So although we struggled with our Waldorf main lesson, we did get it completed and spent the afternoon with Leonardo and our Book of Time which seemed to click with her once a timeline was laid out in front of her and she was actually filling it in herself.

Still 'tomorrow is another day' and I think we'll skip maths etc and just read and carry on with Leonardo! Hopefully the car will start.

Birthdays Come and Go...

I had a biggy birthday yesterday - 40!! Everyone wanted to make a fuss, which was nice. I woke up to some lovely pressies. Two chickens from my girls, now named Henrietta & Isobel, in lieu of the real ones (chickens not daughters). Think dh is hoping these will do!!

Dh has arranged for us to stay in a lovely hotel in the middle of Bath, in September, for the Jane Austin Festival My mum is having the girls for 4 whole days while we're away. Aren't I lucky!! Don't think we'll go the whole hog and dress up, although a real regency ball at the assembly rooms sounds very tempting. They also have a costume promenade you can take part in.

We went to my mum's for dinner with all the family. My friend S and her dh came as well later in the evening, which was lovely. All over now!

Home school as usual though. We did some work looking at temperatures from a solar power kit Hettie has, fortunately the sun was shining.

And we got on with our buildings and shelters work, Hettie wanted to put something about Teepees in.

We've moved onto house building with Hettie drawing her dream house and a floor plan neatly into her main book. We also had a look at architects and what they do. Our Singapore maths (not very Waldorf) is going well and giving us some structure on that front. She's moving pretty quickly through the book and I can see some progress at last, although we're still behind.

We still start our mornings ball throwing and times tables, followed by verse or tongue twisters. Then do 20 minutes maths work before our main lesson work. I've found she's wanting to do more in the afternoons now so we've added the solar power it which should last a couple of weeks or longer if the sun goes in! We finally finished On The Banks of Plum Creek Laura Ingalls Wilder today and both girls have listened to Stig of the Dump on audio CD.

I'm off to read my new 'How To Raise Chickens For Eggs & Slaughter' or some such title, which my sister bought me - and no I don't intend to slaughter any of mine!!

At last ...

... I managed to drink several cups of tea without my face falling off. Ok bit of an exageration but that's what it felt like. I still can't close my mouth properly, dh pointed out this is an ongoing problem - ha ha. Anyway hopefully the antibiotics have kicked in at last.

Not much to talk about today, cos I've been to work. The girls have been to Brownies and Issy has her Brownie Promise to learn. Not sure she'll actually stand up and do the promise but we'll just have to see.

Pop over to Thea's and have a look at her lovely new Chinchilla babies - 3 this time, wow!

So here's a pic of where we're staying in August. I can't wait.

More than....

...one child is more tricky! Well when it comes to home ed that is. My friend came today and disappeared upstairs with her OU assessment to complete, leaving me with two extras. As this was a bit of a last minute arrangement we weren't very organised but muddled through Ok. Hettie got going with her buildings & shelters work. She wanted to include Native American teepees before going onto housebuilding. A (11) and F (14) joined in and drew and wrote about teepees, so Hettie finished hers as well. F decided to start a chapter from Galore Park English and A decided she would do the same. So as they could pretty much get on with that, Hettie and I started her Singapore maths. More on that in a minute. So I was jumping from table to table a bit, with 'can you just explain', 'I can't quite get this' etc etc, but we all managed to get a mornings work in and after lunch they disappeared off into the woods until it rained. So then we rounded the day off with popcorn and TV. Those of you I know who HE 3+ kids, I take my hat off to you ladies!

My Sonlight order arrived this morning, four days from shipping to arrival, pretty impressive. We had some nice reading books, timeline books, a book about Leonardo da Vinci, A Child's History of the World, Maps & Globes and Singapore maths. So coming back to the maths, we've started at 1b which is way below where Hettie should be but there's not much point ploughing on until she's got it and it will be a good starting point for Isobel. She completed the first 5 exercises fairly easily although less than, fewer etc still cause problems.

I love Waldorf maths but we really need something to back it up, and more regularly. I struggle a bit myself with maths so find it a bit difficult to teach without something solid to work through. We'll give it a go and see how we get on.

Isobel went back to school reluctantly this morning only to find her teacher who has been off sick has in fact not returned, although the children were told she would be before the break. She didn't have a particularly good day either.

As for the tooth, despite having taken 3 days antibiotics it's still driving me mad. Thanks C for the tip about Anbesol which is helping and alongside pain killers & hot water bottles I'm getting along. If its no better tomorrow I'll have to have another emergency appointment - no doubt having to pay an extortionate price for the privilege of going back early!

Teeth...or rather a tooth!

The last couple of days I've had a niggling toothache, which by lunch time today turned into full blown facial agony. So I had to ring round for an emergency appointment, 'cos we can't get an NHS dentist where we live. Fortunately I struck lucky and found one. Not only that they took the girls on the NHS list although I had to pay £90 just to be seen! So no more ordering of anything because the treatment followed which was Part 1 of root canal. Part 2 follows in a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately it's also infected so I then had to pay for a prescription as well for antibiotics. Which leads me to how I feel now - which is horrible with a fat face following 3 injections. However the girls have now gone off to bed so at least its peaceful at last. Obviously today they decided they fancied doing some 'work'. Isobel worked on a spelling book and Hettie carried on planning her dream house ready to copy into her main book next week. They played with modelling sand for quite a while although nothing in particular was built.

Not so lucky on the bird box front as a big crow landed and started hopping about, and then he went and stuck his head in a starling nest on next doors roof. Neither blue tits or starlings have been seen since. Oh well, at least we had some interest.

We've Got Guests...

Much to our great excitement we've had a pair blue tits flying in and out of our bird box. Their little beaks all full of moss and twigs. I'm not sure whether they'll stay to lay their eggs or not, but at least we've had some interest. To be honest I've never really watched birds closely in a bird box. They seem to be really busy from early morning til lunchtime, and then disappear for the afternoon. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see if they return tomorrow.

Pics are a bit blurry I had to take them through the kitchen window.

We haven't done much else today, normal housework stuff and basically lazing about. Hettie started drawing up some rough sketches of her dream house for her buildings and shelters block next week, and made a list of which workmen she thought were needed to build a house. She had her piano lesson and is getting on really well. She's itching to start violin as well, but I'm holding out at the moment - 1) cost, 2) we've got a pretty full week anyway and 3) we'll probably need ear plugs when she practices!!

Issy has played in her room all day which meant it was pretty quiet, but her room looks like a bombs gone off in there. Still you can't have it all ways.

The Secret Six ....

We had some friends over for the day. Six kids all ran straight out in the garden and down into the woods, taking the dog with them. Reminded me a bit of Enid Blyton's Secret Seven stories. The dog made seven! The weather stayed fine and they only reappeared for lunch and later in the afternoon for drinks and crisps. I didn't manage to get any pics, but the day ended with a lot of muddy kids and one extremely muddy dog, who had been rolling in the ditch - Yuk!! My friend's kids were extremely well behaved and a pleasure to have round.

Mum's? Well we do what we do best, sit round drinking tea, feed kids, water kids, discuss HE and various resources and curriculums, good bits and bad bits, feed kids, water kids, wipe dog, pass on some life stories and shared future dreams, gather kids up for home time, wipe dog. Make a pile of things they left behind.

Dh came home at the tail end and was amazed how tidy it was - well they were outside all day, and put the bird box up, which maybe a bit late for this year but never mind, at least its up. We may be lucky.

Its outside the kitchen window so we can keep an eye out!

For those of you who were interested, here's our 'school' room. We don't actually sit out there to work all the time, often prefering the lounge, and technically it was a play room when the girls were younger. Then it very nearly became a dining room, but then fate intervened and it became a school room.

Off to mop the floors, get two grubby girls in the bath, so I can settle down with a glass of wine and watch 'How to look good naked', new series tonight.

PJ Day ...

Ok it was a lazy PJ day today. But when the postman gave me a funny look (when he delivered a parcel - guess what books!) as if to say it's nearly lunchtime, we got going. Well we got dressed. I looked at my new books, Issy played on the computer and Hettie watched Animal Planet.

Books were great because they are for Hettie's Waldorf Grade 4 and I really love our Waldorf curriculum, and I need them to plan her work. I got Roy Wilkinson's The Human Being and The Animal World, and The Norse Stories and Their Significance, and Eric Fairmans Path of Discovery Grade 4, all from Bob and Nancy's. I think I'm beginning to get my head around her Man and Animal block now, which is a bit daunting when you first look at it.

I printed out their Nature Detectives weekly challenge which is all about ladybirds and they settled down to it. I sorted the washing & done some ironing.

I've put an order in with Sonlight, but decided against buying a Core for Issy for the time being. So I ordered some Readers, Read Alouds, Singapore maths, Time Line books and another markable map. I've got 8 weeks of Issy's curriculum completed now and am ploughing on.

So far we have Issy:
6 week block on Animal Fables and Legends
6 week block on Saints and Hero's
Individual readers

Hettie:
6 week block on Man and Animal
6 week block on Norse Myths
Individual readers

Both together:
Daily verse/poem/tongue twisters
Singapore Maths
Grammar and Spelling using Galore Park Junior English Book 1 and Grammar Ace
History for both using Galore Park History Book 1 and HE Marshall Our Island Story
Read Alouds for both
Art/Craft/Cooking for both
Science/Nature Study for both

Hettie has an option to miss the history bit if she wants, because she's doing fine with Waldorf and its not part of her curriculum. I think she'll probably listen in & skip activities!! Sounds good in theory LOL.

The weather remains what can only be described as bizarre, snowing and freezing this morning, sun shining and roasting by 3pm. I went to work this afternoon which meant we missed our local HE trip to the theatre for a back stage tour, but we've friends coming for the day tomorrow or next day, so that will make up for it!

All Dressed Up & Nowhere To Go ....

Oh dear, all kitted out with her new stuff, and ready for her first sailing lesson with dad.


We got up to snow! One day we're sitting on the deck in the sun and then the next it snows. It was pretty steady all morning, so that put an end to the sailing. Unfortunately because it's tidal they won't be able to go next weekend either. Mind you, I don't think Hettie fancied going out in the cold anyway, so she didn't put up much resistance to the change of plans.

So dh and I decided as we had a day free (at last) we would have a good reorganise of clutter and cupboards. My in-laws had a sideboard going free, so we wrestled that into the 'school' room and I sorted it all out, actually it wasn't too untidy so it didn't take long. We then decided our bedroom was desperately in need of help, it was becoming a storeroom. I haven't got any pics but boy is it tidy now!! Much easier with two on the job. Dh took all the old stuff for recycling at the tip, several bin bags full. In the middle of the mess my niece came with her boyfriend and took the girls to the cinema.

One built in cupboard was so full of old sheets, duvet covers etc we couldn't actually get in what we use. The downstairs loo has been turned back into a cupboard for the time being - us girls don't use it anyway - and so the ironing board etc has now gone from my room, at last. The hoover has a home!

And I have two nice empty shelves to put on all the curriculum stuff I'm planning, most of which is in a heap in the front lounge -

I'll take another pic when it's all organised & labelled.

So I'm hoping to keep going now. The kitchen cupboards are pretty much organised but need a clean out & tidy, and I've got the bathroom to clean, and of course that never ending washing and ironing pile.........

Two Front Teeth....

Issy is missing them. I haven't got a picture yet, but she does look odd somehow. The bottom ones fell out but not in the normal manner, they leant further and further forward and the new teeth were nearly fully grown behind them. So she had 4 bottom teeth for some time.

Last night at 11.30pm she came down to say a top one had fallen out, she 'had been asleep but suddenly woke up when it fell out' - likely story! Still at least its school holidays. At 10pm tonight the other one came out. Anyway she doesn't like the whole business of teeth falling out and it's made her feel quite ill. Added to that she's vain and I had to sit with her until 11pm tonight when she finally plucked up the courage to look in the mirror. I'm now waiting for her to go to sleep so the tooth fairy can visit.

She has got odd teeth - she was born with five, all in a row. They came through four or six at a time and she never moaned once. Hettie on the other hand, screamed and created for about 3 months prior to every single one. It was a long painful process.

Other than teeth, we've had a pretty lazy day. Girls managed to complete their jobs again and Hettie had piano this afternoon. Dh was home early and mowed the new grass - first cut. It seems fine though, all growing nicely, no patches anywhere. The dog rolled and rolled on it !! I'm ploughing on with Issy's curriculum, working on a six week block of Saints & Hero's. There's some terrific stories, we're going to enjoy that block.

We're off to the country park with some friends tomorrow, so hopefully the lovely sunny weather will hold.

Nice day today...

We all went to a friends today for lunch. All the kids played together and had a great time, luckily enough it was warm Spring weather and they got to play in the garden. They all ate lunch watching a DVD about tigers which meant mum's got to chat. So it was a nice leisurely day. I took the Galore Park books and everyone agreed they look good and were reasonably priced. Hettie's gone off to fencing and Issy is playing with her Polly Pockets. She's particularly looking for a miniscule yellow shoe, which I think has possibly been hoovered!

So not many chores done today, and I've run out of washing powder, so shops early tomorrow. I figure we'll do extra, and early, tomorrow to catch up.

I'm beginning to peruse Grade 4 Waldorf for Hettie and trying to sort it out in my head. I think she's going to really enjoy it though, not as practical as this year but a bit more of a mix. I'd like to keep the local geography block for this time next year so we can get out and about.

I'm also pondering on a summer project for them both to do this year. They're both still in 'it's school holiday' mode, but will end up 'bored' if we don't do something. Hopefully we will have our veg growing and garden to tend for some of the time at least. If we can get onto the grass we can sit about and read some good books as well, which is just what hot summer days are for!

Day Two of Chores....

Well it hasn't worn of yet. Bedrooms have been tidied, playroom has been tidied, tables set, cleared and wiped, dishwasher emptied and oh boy what a difference. I taught Hettie to iron today. She got her clothes out of the tumble and folded them, and carried them up to either put away or iron. She ironed in more creases than she ironed out, but in the end we got there. I think she was quite chuffed with herself, but her arm was aching LOL!! Not sure they've both quite realised they've got more washing to do tomorrow before we go out to our friends for lunch.

Mrs D's blog made me laugh today, which was basically about doing housework and being unorganised. But although I thought she may have popped to our house like a fly on the wall I took some of her advice, i.e. get on with it! So we are tidied and fairly clean, washing is nearly at the bottom of the basket, sorry huge heap. Just the ironing to tackle now! I even did some of that today.

The girls painted, and cleared away after, and then they both helped make lunch. Hettie spent the afternoon building lego and Issy practiced her dance. I managed to get 6 weeks of Issy's curriculum completed.

I've based the language arts on Grade 2 Waldorf and for the first 6 weeks we're going to cover Aesops Fables, Lessings Fables, African Fables and some Beatrix Potter tales (not strictly Waldorf). The plan is that for this 6 week block Hettie will complete her Man & Animal work. I'm waiting for some books from Bob & Nancy's to arrive before I can plan this. I plan a shared block on Native Americans, and then Hettie will have a block on local geography & history. I'm deciding whether to let Issy join in here or do her own block. No doubt it'll come together eventually!