Garden Days

So, last week me, DD & DS went on our jollibobs :-)  (Aka holidays!)  We left poor DH at home, as he is still tied to term times and school holidays, being in the teaching profession :-(   And headed off, the Fab Three (DS calls us The Three Musketeers, DD calls us the three Muske-Cheers! Because, she says, there are no tears now we are happy Home Edders!) :-)

Anyway, I was very proud of myself (CEO of my Zoo's on our first Team Building Field Trip lol!).  The car decided to die a death before we went, so we had to go by public transport - which added another 'fun' dimension with the current strikes/ staff shortages!!  So a 2 hour journey to a holiday park ended up taking 4 1/2 hours each way but we took in all in our stride and had a fab 5 day week just hanging out, playing, making the most of the facilities (especially as we had them almost totally to ourselves due to it being off-peak season!).  I was so proud of the kids - they made friends, behaved appropriately with a variety of ages and had great fun.  Highlights included DD winning a skate board for being picked to go up on stage and won a sing off!! My shy little DD who HATED school performances!! Wow!  And DS won another game, where he won a bottle of wine for Mummy (yay!) and a Slush Puppy for himself!

Now we're back home, have successfully ploughed through the mountain of washing we brought home with us. We've caught up with family and friends and today had a nice, peaceful At Home day.  With a bit of coaxing, the kids spent an hour and a half weeding their raised vegetable beds - their crops are coming along nicely.  DD has planted carrots and sugar snap peas - she was fascinated today looking at the tendrils on the pea plants and how they have coiled and clung to the canes she planted them up against :-)    While DS had planted sprouts, broccoli, carrots, onions and radishes in his bed.  I planted swiss chard and strawberry runners.  All are doing well.  So much so, we had swiss chard and radish salad with our dinner tonight - and the kids ATE it!!! 

After all that weeding we took a break for drinks, biccies and lots of doing handstands (DD) and magic tricks (DS)!  Then the kids tidied their shed/ playhouse :-)  

They were so pleased with their efforts, they decided to decorate the outside too, with flowers from the garden (that they asked permission to pick - as Mummy gets a bit precious about her flowers lol) :-)

So pretty, isn't it?  

An exciting find, in the shed when they were tidying, was this tiny abandoned wasps nest -

It had long been abandoned so was totally safe to remove by hand and absolutely fascinating to be able to look at and hold.  The workmanship is just amazing.

And DD's amazing find was this..................................!

We have no idea what it is, or how it got in her vegetable bed!! It looks like a tooth, or teeth. We need to do some investigating for sure!!  

And after (extremely thoroughly!) washing our hands, DD made some cakes, for a perfect tea party afternoon :-)

Romans, Art, Jewellery & Melt Downs

So, we finished our Roman themed matchbox and posted it off to our partner for this month :-)  So super proud of the kids efforts and creativity in this - this is all their own work & ideas.  We utilized some fab resources from the wonderful  www.twinkl.co.uk but the rest is all their own ideas and all their own work :-) 

Apart from that we had a nice chilled end to the week.  Lots of reading, drawing and painting from DD - her bedroom looks like a junior art gallery! I will try and sneak some snaps sometime :-)  

DS found an online tutorial on how to draw Cut The Rope characters.  It really motivated him to have a go - he followed the instructions beautifully and was so excited to learn there could be rules and a 'science' behind drawing - in this tutorial it was drawing your basic shape first then marking your points of features before drawing them.  I think he should be justifiably proud of the results - 

I also decided to get out my old jewellery making stuff............

 and sat and taught DD how to work the various jewellery findings to make clip on earrings and a necklace.  Well, to say she LOVED it would be a complete understatement!!  And she made these little beauties -

In the end she made herself two pairs of earrings and a necklace and we had the most wonderful Mum & daughter bonding time :-)

The weekend was a more difficult time of meltdowns for DS - starting on Friday night at a social club he goes to with his sister, there was a packet of sweets given out as a prize during one of the team games.  This is something DS finds MONUMENTALLY difficult - he, quite literally, cannot bear it if he does not win these things.  He takes it very much as a personal failure and a judgement upon himself.  So that was an emotional evening to manage.  

Then on Saturday, we had a largely peaceful and successful day, until he asked if we were having home made pizzas for dinner (this has kind of, unofficially, become a Saturday night tradition in our house recently - and I hadn't factored in how much he loved it).  I hadn't bought the ingredients this week, so (foolishly) answered "not tonight, I'm making a curry".   Oh my Lord!  The poor thing, just dissolved in to floods of tears and gasping breathes for many minutes.  I felt terrible, as I normally would've totally got that and prepped him well in advance of a change of such magnitude.  Long story short, we ended up treating ourselves to take away pizza instead, which was almost as good!

And today we had ALOT of meltdowns.  Firstly because we went to town after their gym rehearsals, and there was a new stall selling ice creams, donuts and slushies.  The choice was unbearable, and to make matters worse the seller was not sympathetic to this (even though we were the only customers and there was no queue!).  Full, rocking melt down occurred and we retired to as private a place as possible (in an open Mall!!) - which ended up being in a toy bus ride on!!  During this, we managed to get calm enough to choose a slush but then he realised he could've had a milkshake! And he hadn't known that! But now he did..... and he tried the slushie but it felt too cold, so there were many more tears.  Hand in hand we talked about how sometimes the feelings get so big, and then the thing we wanted doesn't feel or taste good any more, even though we wanted it, but now kind of don't want it.  It was a Big Chat and so we found a bench to sit down and cuddle away all those huge feelings.  I cradled DS on my knee and we sat and gently rocked for a while.  He found the words to tell me that all the Bad Things were Crowding In on him, and kept saying he was sorry.  So I rocked and I soothed, and he was super brave, and there was nothing to be sorry for, and after a good while he felt he might have some slush and be able to walk with me to the shop I needed to go to.    DD kindly offered him a donut (as this is what she had chosen) - he took one, bit it and half promptly fell on the ground!  There was no screaming (because he was so tired by now) but lots of silent tears.  DD immediately offered him some of her donut, which I thought was super sweet of her.  But he didn't want it, because that wasn't right either. 
Poor darling :-( 

We got to the shop, got what we needed and then asked the kids whether they wanted to go home or the park.  Both chose park, not the wisest idea it turned out.  We had an ok game of frisbee, but then DS went sprinting off to the playground and promptly fell down the slide, banging his face above his eye.  Luckily I was right at the foot of the slide as he came off, so I was able to scoop him up as there was lots of crying and "I want to go home"s.  
I felt so bad for him, he was being so brave.  He said "I want to say this are the worst day ever, but I know it aren't so I'm not sayin' it!"   Oh, my heart! We cuddled, and soothed, and chatted the bad things away until he felt ready to go on the swing - but not for long as that all felt Too Much after everything else.   The small water feature was on in the toddler area of the park and he decided "that would be a Peaceful thing to do".  So we let him have a few minutes there, playing peacefully with the water, so we could leave and come home on a happy note.  

I am SO proud of this boy, and this girl, in all that they do and achieve.  The great and good, and what seems to be totally insignificant but actually is HUGE.  In every victory.  They are warriors and they are champions.  And because of that, this was not The Worst Day Ever and we had a peaceful bath and bedtime, with no Bad Feelings left over from the day and (hopefully) sweet dreams for my darlings who deserve them :-)

Romans & Rainy Play

Today we have been immersing ourselves in all things Roman.  In preparation for our Matchbox swap this month (Home Ed group that partners families who swap a matchbox full of info/ resources on a set subject every month) DD (8) made this beautiful Wordsearch:-

She made this entirely by herself, with the aid of our reference books (although she chose all the words herself and worded the descriptions in her own way rather than copying definitions).  She is 8.  I think this is impressive!

DS decided he would join in. Obviously not with the Roman soldier worksheets I wanted him to do (that would've been far too much like compliance lol!).  But instead he did make his own Roman Soldier task/game - so I appreciate the effort :-)  

Apparently the instructions are - within a time you set yourself, try and fill all the speech bubbles with facts about Roman soldiers or the Roman army :-)


We then took a drive out to meet up with a new HE group we've joined.  It was POURING, and I do mean POURING - and of course the meet up was in a park!  Thankfully we managed to de-camp in the onsite cafe/restaurant/pub with some board games and hot chocolates while it passed over a bit (not really, it continued to rain AS MUCH AS EVER!)  But kids don't mind do they?  So us brave and hardy Mums took shelter under a tree and watched while they had a whale of a time, splashing and chasing about :-)  

So nice to meet a bunch of people for the first time and watch them just welcome new kids with open arms, no suspiciousness, no defensiveness, no 'you can't play here', no 'this is OUR park/ MY friend/ OUR game'.  I'm not saying the world of Home Ed is perfect, but it is welcoming, it is inclusive.  Sadly, we found school wasn't.   And it isn't because in Home Ed we are all the same - there's a huge mix of families, parenting styles, religion and atheism and reasons for pursuing Home Education.  There is a level of respect and acceptance.  A massive decrease in competitiveness and one-up-man-ship, but an increase in self worth.  I can't help but get on board with that and sing it's praises while I watch my happier (than they were) children thrive xxx

Hospitals, Farm animals, Veggies & More

Lovely couple of days :-)

Yesterday I had a routine hospital appointment.  Luckily we were seen by a nurse DS knows really well.  She is so sweet and kind with him, doesn't rush us out when I'm done if he wants to ask questions or is still looking around. Yesterday she gave him a little ball of gauze to gauze :-)  It's the little things - makes a HUGE difference.

Afterwards I decided to take the kids to one of our favourite places for a day out.  A lovely farm with cafe and playcentres.  It's always been one of our favourite go-to places and we were lucky that a friend shared a voucher she had for discounted entry this week so we decided to make the most of it.

Not gonna lie, one of the MOST FABULOUS things about Home Ed is Not Queuing!  We had the place almost to ourselves in the morning - we rode tractors, bounced on trampolines and had the indoor soft play and slides all to ourselves until nearly lunch time :-)   We fed the, still hungry, animals :-)

Saw tonnes of gorgeous spring lambs and kids. Couldn't resist getting a picture of this blissed out pair, Mumma & baby - so precious...

And today was another beautiful day.  DS harvested a few radishes from his vegetable patch (of, they're still a little small but he's just SO excited to have grown them!!) 

And we did some Table Work on Romans - learning all about the baths, strigils and daily life via a busy street scene.  We also looked at designing a poster to advertise the Gladiator Games, and played Roman God's pairs (all thanks to wonderful  www.twinkl.co.uk - they have such fabulous resources).

Then in the afternoon we had some lovely Home Ed friends over for a play date.  Such adorable children.  The kids had The Best time, just playing and hanging out together.

Love these simple days. Love being in control of our schedule.  Love being able to do what we want when we want.  Love being able to be a Yes! Mum - because there IS time, and we CAN do it :-)

I love that my DS says things like "Mum how much do you spend on us for Christmas?"   Hmmmm, why?  "Because I'm thinking just don't this year. There's nothing we need and you do stuff with us all year."
Priceless xxxxxxxxxxx

Tides Turning, Dentists, Leeches & Steam boats!

Hello lovelies

We enjoyed a nice peaceful end of week here and I'm delighted to say I think the tide is finally turning.  It's been a really rough transition in to Spring this year.  I'd like to say it improves year on year, as my understanding increases, but in reality I don't think it does.  I react less, I shout less, I take it personally less but it doesn't overwhelm me any less, it doesn't bring me to my knees any less, it doesn't make me want to walk away any less..... There have been some particular lows this spring, by far not the worst we've ever seen, but hopefully enough this year to persuade the powers that be to finally do a formal assessment on DD.  I'll keep you posted about that.

On the plus side, we've had less sibling fights that usual, less door slamming and outbursts of rage/ meltdowns/ no lip chewing/ hair pulling/ nail biting, no refusing to eat, occasional night terrors but not all night every night, not itching her skin until it is utterly raw but best of all no nosebleeds! (Either through distress or through hayfever she violently rubs her nose until it bleeds - alot - so we historically have lots of nosebleeds at this time of year. She was often sent home from school with them as they were so severe).  But this year, without school to content with, it has still been a turbulent ride and heartbreaking to watch her suffer with, but immeasurably improved upon in that regard.  

And this week we've had a huge improved attitude toward learning, and toward instruction in general. 

On Wednesday we had the dentists.  Just a regular check up.  Luckily our dentist is way supportive of Home Ed and the fact the children both have special needs and it is amazing how much more settled they are going there now.  DS likes to go first as he is anxious about it. DD accepts that now, doesn't make a fuss and nicely waits her turn.  The dental nurse had pre-selected stickers for them, so as not to cause stress and anxiety by offering them a rushed choice.  And then the dentist was happy for DS to stand unnaturally close while she did me - she was much more relaxed about it which meant he didn't act unpredictably.  Hurrah!  Oh, and the dentist was so pleased with how clean their teeth were she assumed I was still doing it! (I'm not, so that was really nice to hear :-) )

We went in to tow afterwards and treated ourselves to a naughty but nice chippy lunch! We then had a look round the charity shops (fab for HE resources & bargains in general) and I found some unused Usbourne spotters guides which I snapped up - including Weather and Shells, so we'll enjoy using those when we go on holiday in just over a week's time. 

It was Beavers in the evening with DS is finding it harder and harder to manage, although my DH does accompany him every week, he stays for less and less time.  He is holding on at the moment because he wants to go up to Cubs, he thinks that may be better.  We'll see.... :-/

Thursday was rock climbing this week and I was told by another child in the group, completely independently (and rather randomly!) that DD & DS had a good climbing session today! That did make me laugh!  A very tactful way of saying - DD didn't fidget/ annoy/ distract too much and DS didn't have a meltdown! Good to know :-) 

Friday we just had a nice 'at home' day - the kids were both in great moods, self motivated and happy.  DD painted - including a lovely Roman soldier for her Matchbox Swap this month (we belong to a group of Home Educators who swap a matchbox full of resources/info on a chosen subject each month - this month it's Romans).  

She also made a mosaic picture, which she has drawn and coloured herself, of a Roman soldiers helmet and sword, and is going to scan on the computer to make a mosaic jigsaw :-) 

And DS has even joined in, and (voluntarily!) made and labelled a picture of a Roman soldier too. 

DS painted some of his Warhammer figures, and then packed them all away beautifully and decided he was in a making mood :-)  

He made some homes out of boxes and old plant pots, decorated and lined with soil, shelter and leaves and set about for an afternoon of bug hunting :-)  He stumble across some ants under a patio slab and watched fascinated as they scrambled to move their eggs - some of them must have been virtually ready to hatch as you could see the larvae moving inside.    He found lots of woodlice, millipedes and various grubs.  But the Star Find (if you can call it that!) was a ginormous leech!  Heaven only knows what he was doing in our garden but he had found his way into a large puddle.  He was about 15 centimeters long and fascinating to watch (if a bit 'eeeek'-y!).  We got our nature books at and looked him up, and learnt all about leeches :-)  
Not wanting to leave him there, we captured him in a jar and called the wildlife service who said it was fine to take him to our local public pond and release him there. It was a fascinating find, but one that I hope isn't soon repeated!!

Inspired by DS's earlier creating, DD decided to make a steam boat with funnels for her toys to have rides in :-)  Initially this cause a massive meltdown (by DD) as I made a suggestion to use a different box (the one pictured, interestingly enough).  This of course caused an epic outburst and barage of abuse from She Who Shalt Not Be Questioned :-) :-)  
After a nice calm talk, and (yet another explanation) that I was simply offering her a bigger box she decamped to her room for 10 minutes stropping and hating me.  After another talk, a bit of a tickle and her "getting the common sense" (as she called it! Brilliant!) it was back to action stations and she made her fabulous Steam Liner :-)   Then outside she cleverly (and safely! Yay!) attached it to DS's skateboard, put her skates on and took them on a tour around the world (aka garden!) :-) 

Such lovely, simple, positive ways to end the week.  

And a lovely chilled weekend for me as Daddy took them swimming yesterday morning, and cinema club today :-)  I can't remember the last time I had the house to myself for anything more than 5 minutes and it is such a treat! I've given the bedroom a bit of a spring clean and done the kids washing but other than that I am ignoring the house work, reading my book and watching TV with swear words! Bliss :-)

Inky Babble & Maud the Witch

DD & DS have been lucky enough recently to have been selected by a friend of ours to 'review' the text for her forthcoming children's book.  What an amazing privilege to get a sneak peak at this fantastically talented ladies work.  It was especially exciting for the children to be afforded this unique opportunity to be involved, in some tiny way, in a real authors work.

Obviously I can't give anything away, but the story is in the form of a beautifully constructed poem, involving Maud the Witch, that will appeal to younger children through the exquisite illustrations (also done by the author) and the eloquent prose that will engage and enthrall the older reader also. 

A wonderfully visual treat and a punchy story for all the family to enjoy, time and time again. 

Get a sneak peak & follow the author, Hannah Shewan-Friend, for yourself on Inky Babble FB page. Definitely one to watch out for :-) 

Peace

Gorgeous peaceful morning this morning.   Great talk with the kids about DNA and cloning over breakfast, and beyond.  And for the last 45 minutes there has been complete SILENCE in the house while DS builds Lego and DD reads her library books in the playroom with the rabbit!  

Meanwhile, I catch up with a few bits (and some blissful solitude!) before we head out to horse riding :-) 

Fingers crossed, today is a GOOD day :-)

Microscopes, Pinatas & Lego

And today we have been...........

using a microscope to look at things from the garden, and recording our findings...........

making a pinata...............

and building Lego :-)

We've also been out to the dentist, our dentist is so sweet with DD & DS.  She was horrified by them when they were younger and told them off one visit when they just couldn't sit still and stop fiddling!  But we've persevered (because she was trying to help) and now she has a much better understanding of them.  They were calm today, we read mysteries while we waiting, then took turns in the chair.  When it was my turn, she has happy for DS to stand uncomfortably close and watch intently, and when he asked a question she stopped what she was doing and turned the equipment off to answer him :-)  And at the end, the dental nurse had a sticker ready for each of them that she had pre-selected so there were no 'choice' issues. Ah, Heaven :-) 

Then we needed to run a couple of errands, after which we went in to town for lunch, collected some holiday brochures for DD's forthcoming project on tourism in Egypt for her Geography Study Group, and visited the library to choose some more books.

A quick whizz round a few charity shops and we found more books, a dinosaur documentary DVD and some brand new clothes in a 60% off sale (8 items for £20!)  

And, my favourite bit of all?  DS's quote of the day "I looked at a apple blossom and I knew it are a GOOD DAY" - and it has been :-)

Solving Mysteries, Yoga & Racing Through Rome!

So yesterday we were ..................

solving mysteries :-)  

Doing Yoga.........

And Racing through Rome :-)

So fun just enjoying these activities together.  DD really enjoyed the Yoga, and DS dipped in and out.   The Case Closed mysteries book was a fab charity shop find, and both the kids are really enjoying using their observational powers to find the clues and crack the cases.  Really great fun, short and simple - great for out and about (like when we were in the Dentist's Waiting Room this morning!) :-)

Race Through Rome is another of the FANTASTIC 'choose your own adventure' format, fact-based book. We LOVE these! Find them at - The Book People/ Quest Adventure Collection.

Daisy Art, Outdoor Learning, Wizards Brew & Daily News :-)

And, on a separate note, here's a few of the things we've been doing lately :-)

Varnishing ducks..............

Finding fairies........

Mosaic pictures.............

Planting our vegetable patches..............

DD's carrots & sugar snap peas.......

And DS's sprouts, broccoli, onions, radishes & carrots.......

Wizard's Brew.....................

Daily News......................

Change of scene - Outdoor classroom..........

Daisy art.................

Sunbathing...................

Nurturing our potatoes............

And Loving :-) 

The Spring Madness

So, it's been a long time since I posted!  We've been adjusting to the Spring Madness in this house!  

Spring is always a very turbulent time in our house.  I read a great article recently that explained it quite well - Spring Sensory Issues.  I knew we suffered at this time of year, but I'd never really been able to put my finger on it.  When DD was in school I thought it was transitions, as they would start prepping for the move up to the next year in spring.  Then I thought it was Easter - the chocolate, and obsessional behaviour with sugar (that is a big struggle for my DD).  At times I thought it was depression, in cycles.  You name it, but we get to spring every year and it's like DD completely switches off her brain.  Absolutely EVERYTHING has to be re-learned, again and again and again - getting dressed, eating, brushing her teeth, going to the toilet, having a single independent thought EVER!!!   It is sooooooo mind-numbingly frustrating.  And all the time the aggressive, contrary behaviour - re-phrasing all your sentences, the need to exert control over everything and everyone, constantly, the drama, the malcontent - it's exhausting!   But this article really helped me realise how challenging it must be for her.  Literally we reach the start of spring and EVERYTHING is wrong ......
- the nights are light, not dark
- the clocks change, so my body feels different at different times.  It can take weeks for my internal body clock to adjust
- my clothes are wrong. It's not hot enough for summer clothes, I'm too hot in my winter clothes. I never know what to wear.
- I can't plan anything - I may want to play in the garden but it's hailing.  Or go to the park with my friends but it's pouring down
- my body feels wrong.  I have asthama and hayfever affects me greatly - my whole skin itches, my eyes water, I can't get a deep enough breath in to my body and I sneeze sometimes until I get a nose bleed
- of course this, and the light evenings, and next doors dog that barks until the sun goes down, and the next door but one's rooster that crows at the dawn - all affect my sleep pattern massively
- so, during the day, I am tired, I am cranky and I don't know why
All this and more, contributes to the Spring Madness and it is a hugely wearing time.  Everyday I think ' I am going to start anew, stay positive, not lose my temper' - most days I fail at some point, but we patch up and try again the next day :-)

We've had some more Zoo talks.  About how we want to be Zoo's but with it comes responsibility.  We need to be aware of the Needs of the Zoo.  Of the schedules and feeding times of the different animals.  How we don't let the lions out of their enclosure, as they would eat all the other animals.  And we don't let the giraffes roam free or all the trees would be bare.   We can't let the penguins out as they need water, and although they are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cute, they are kinda pongy too :-) :-)    So we are learning, slowly, to manage our Zoos - and to ensure that all the different Animals have the right kind of enclosure for them the thrive, as we absolutely want to support and encourage the full range of animals to thrive :-)

And, slowly but surely we are getting there.  Hopefully fast enough for me to pass my blood pressure test in a couple of weeks! Lol xxx

So, to all my fellow special needs/ sensory/ ASD/ ADHD parents and carers - let's take the Star Wars out of May the 4th and literally may the force be with you, through the Spring Madness and beyond xxxxxxxxxxx