Today started off with a very sleepy Callum and then a very long discussion on his game. Funny how when he's talking about something he's interested, he's suddenly very alert! However, my brain ended up exploding!
He's decided to build a new Roblox game and he's decided to log it as a project for home ed. Started with layout on paint yesterday with information on weapon prices, sizes, zombie waves, regeneration, points earned, main boss level, etc. He's then going to write the script to make the game, hopefully remembering to print it off; have screen shots of the game, instuctions on how to play and any tweaks/changes he's had to make. Now I'm fine with all that; in fact I think it's a great idea. He's even given himself a deadline to work to. However, whilst he was trying to explain it all to me he went a little bit too in depth and I totally lost track. It was a bit like the Brian Cox explanation on measuring light where I was "yes, understand", "yup, still get it", "yup, blimey I'm doing well" and then "No, my brain has just exploded!". All I can say is that I'm glad he gets it, because I can't help with any of it. Must admit, I'm quite impressed with the whole thing so far as he's even going on about how to advertise it on the site and get the game up the rankings.
After my brain had recovered and I'd laid in a hot bath for a while, he then attacked percentages, decimals and fractions in a workbook that he wants to finish. Now I'm ok with maths, but I have to admit that converting decimals to fractions and vice versa isn't my strong point. I can do percentages to fractions, but the other way round makes my head spin so I envisioned another brain explosion, but, nope, Callum, amazingly got it and even taught me how to do it. Love this home ed thing! Now I'm the pupil! Haha
After lunch we headed off to first trampoline lesson of the 'term'. Well, there was us thinking Kim might ease him in gently, but no! He started off running him through all the basic jumps right up to front somersaults, then ran through some combinations including: seat drop -> front drop -> back drop, front drop -> half twist -> back drop and then back drop -> half twist -> back drop; at which point Callum's head went dizzy! He finally finished with practicing both routines he's learnt including the somersault. For a half an hour lesson I don't think he stopped bouncing, twisting or spinning for more than 4 mins! Phew!
The rest of the day was errands; library, bank, haircuts and a bit of shopping then home. He's spent a bit more time on his Roblox game and is now upstairs on the XBox!
I don't think easing in this week is exactly what happened today, but hey ho!
Tuesday 3 September 2013
Thursday 13 June 2013
THE BIG FOURTEEN
Why fourteen seems so much older than thirteen, I do not know, but it does. Anyway, he had a fab birthday. No home ed or course, but....well, it was his birthday!!
He was up earlier than normal, no surprise there, 8.30am instead of 10.30am. Hmmm, perhaps birthdays should be every day.
Presents from us and his aunt/uncle opened and cards placed on mantlepiece. 2 Nerf guns, science book, T-shirt and Family Guy DVDs.
Big sis turned up with a few more presents in a bag, so 2 XBox games, some mosaic kits, 2 'make your own straw' kits and a penguin bag. Plus in the post, £15!
Lots of playing with new guns (one is interchangable, so all previously owned Nerfs were brought down!), then a play on the XBox with big sis.
Dad home with last present from us; small 6L fridge for his bedroom. Sausages and burgers for dinner; he wanted a barbeque, but weather wasn't good, so had to cook indoors instead, then birthday cake!
Being an Aspi, I may have a bit of trouble getting him to eat the 'controller' and the 'game' as he doesn't like eating shaped things. Why make him one then, I hear you ask? Well, he wanted a cake and, after having looked at cakes I'd made in the past for him, he wanted a shaped one and this just about sums him up perfectly. Favourite game with a red shiny controller just like his. He did let me cut the main cake at least, although he didn't have a piece yesterday as too full of sausages. But at least big sis, Terri, and her dad could have some and so could we. We did have candles but my camera died just as he was blowing them out and am relying on daughter to upload her photos later.
Anyway, he had a fab day. Cya
He was up earlier than normal, no surprise there, 8.30am instead of 10.30am. Hmmm, perhaps birthdays should be every day.
Presents from us and his aunt/uncle opened and cards placed on mantlepiece. 2 Nerf guns, science book, T-shirt and Family Guy DVDs.
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First present to open |
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Another NERF gun (he loves them) |
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Second NERF - he asked for them |
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Ooooo experiments |
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Slightly scary |
Lots of playing with new guns (one is interchangable, so all previously owned Nerfs were brought down!), then a play on the XBox with big sis.
Dad home with last present from us; small 6L fridge for his bedroom. Sausages and burgers for dinner; he wanted a barbeque, but weather wasn't good, so had to cook indoors instead, then birthday cake!
Being an Aspi, I may have a bit of trouble getting him to eat the 'controller' and the 'game' as he doesn't like eating shaped things. Why make him one then, I hear you ask? Well, he wanted a cake and, after having looked at cakes I'd made in the past for him, he wanted a shaped one and this just about sums him up perfectly. Favourite game with a red shiny controller just like his. He did let me cut the main cake at least, although he didn't have a piece yesterday as too full of sausages. But at least big sis, Terri, and her dad could have some and so could we. We did have candles but my camera died just as he was blowing them out and am relying on daughter to upload her photos later.
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XBox cake |
Thursday 9 May 2013
BEEN A WHILE I KNOW
Hi folks!
Yes I know, its been a while. But I haven't been slacking off too much, just been concentrating on daily updates on the related Facebook page. It's often easier, as I'm normally on there in the evenings anyway, to do a quick little update there than log in and write something a bit more substantial.
So what's been happening in Callum's world? Well, Digipen course is going well apart from some pretty big techno problems, but I've already ranted about those on my Is It Me blog, so I'm not going to go into it again here. Callum is really enjoying the course and I have no problems getting him to do the homework. In fact he ends up by going further into the course than he should as he's finding it interesting and perfect for what he wants to do, so I think programming is the way to go.
On top of that, the Kestral Award is starting to take shape. We found some previous work that fits in with the criteria so we've put that in and we've done one more item on the Do It list.
We'd already made a bird box, so I found the work and took extra pics of finished object and put that in and we've bought some pond plants to go into our wildlife ponds that we have. Basically they are the old corner bath we had and a tin bath that we found in the garden. We've buried the corner bath and the tin bath will have stones and bricks around it so that anything can climb up should it wish to. They have both been full of water for about a year and the corner bath is looking really green and murky, however we discovered water skaters on it this year and an underwater beetle, so were pretty impressed. One of the tasks in the award is to help create a wildlife pond, so we went out and bought some oxygenating plants, a water lily and a couple of shallow water plants and Callum planted them up and positioned them in the pond; me taking photos. We now need to get some plants around the pond, create the bog garden and surround the tin bath with stones once in permanent position. As the Kestral Award doesn't have a time limit, we can take our time, but hopefully it will all be up and running and planted by the end of July.
The other award we want to do is from the British Science Association. They run a scheme similar to the Arts Award we did a few years ago. We are going to start at Bronze just to get some practice in with regard to what type of work they expect before moving up to the Silver and Gold awards which have UCAS points attached. At the moment we are awaiting a delivery from Amazon with regard to some rockets as Callum wants to do Transport!! One of the sections he's chosen has experiments on model rockets and trajectories, speed and energy. Looking forward to starting it, but might need to go somewhere a little more spacious to carry out the tests.
Yes I know, its been a while. But I haven't been slacking off too much, just been concentrating on daily updates on the related Facebook page. It's often easier, as I'm normally on there in the evenings anyway, to do a quick little update there than log in and write something a bit more substantial.
So what's been happening in Callum's world? Well, Digipen course is going well apart from some pretty big techno problems, but I've already ranted about those on my Is It Me blog, so I'm not going to go into it again here. Callum is really enjoying the course and I have no problems getting him to do the homework. In fact he ends up by going further into the course than he should as he's finding it interesting and perfect for what he wants to do, so I think programming is the way to go.
On top of that, the Kestral Award is starting to take shape. We found some previous work that fits in with the criteria so we've put that in and we've done one more item on the Do It list.
We'd already made a bird box, so I found the work and took extra pics of finished object and put that in and we've bought some pond plants to go into our wildlife ponds that we have. Basically they are the old corner bath we had and a tin bath that we found in the garden. We've buried the corner bath and the tin bath will have stones and bricks around it so that anything can climb up should it wish to. They have both been full of water for about a year and the corner bath is looking really green and murky, however we discovered water skaters on it this year and an underwater beetle, so were pretty impressed. One of the tasks in the award is to help create a wildlife pond, so we went out and bought some oxygenating plants, a water lily and a couple of shallow water plants and Callum planted them up and positioned them in the pond; me taking photos. We now need to get some plants around the pond, create the bog garden and surround the tin bath with stones once in permanent position. As the Kestral Award doesn't have a time limit, we can take our time, but hopefully it will all be up and running and planted by the end of July.
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The tin bath with rocks and now a Waterlily |
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One of our pond skaters in the very murky water |
One another note, I'm back to having to remind Callum to wash his face, clean his teeth and shower! He was doing extremely well, but its all gone out the window again. Not sure if that is just him being a typical teenage boy or whether it's his Asperger or both, but it is a bit annoying after having got him into a routine with it all. Oh well two steps forward, one step back I suppose.
Oh and he's still doing trampolining! Somersaults now achieved on a regular basis. Concentrating on technique and starting backward somersaults at the moment. Eeeeek!!!
Anyway, stuff to do this morning, so hopefully back another day.
Cya
Monday 22 April 2013
DIGIPEN AND STUPID TRAIN TIMETABLES
Back up to Albany Park for Digipen today; lesson two. Teacher not really improved on being able to keep us all up and running at the same speed and, once again, Callum had to help out a fellow student! Actually I helped out a fellow student as well today, go me! Haha. Went over the homework we should have all done; surprise, surprise, Callum was the only one who'd managed to complete it all, so we went over what he had already done, but then added some music. Callum didn't mind as we learnt another way of doing something he'd done already and it also meant he could play a bit more and investigate further.
The journey this week was as straightforward as it should have been with no delays, but if does look like we'll have to catch the 5.45pm train home which stops at Strood (but at least is direct)!!! If we then wait at Strood for a connection back to Gillingham, we won't get home until 7pm!!! We leave home at 2.10pm to get there for 4pm. The lesson is only supposed to be an hour (although so far it's been more like 1 hour and 20mins), so that's 4 hours travelling for a one hour lesson. Blimey we're dedicated. haha. As of next week we're hoping to get a lift from dad from Strood which will save us about 20mins journey and a 15min wait on a cold Strood station.
Not everyone there this week either, so not sure if people have already dropped out. Some people are still having difficulty getting the programme to run so they are going to have to talk in the week to try and sort it as it will soon get to the stage where they are too far behind. Luckily the issues we had in the first week I managed to solve and, so far, everything is running fine.
We also got the manual this week and I can imagine Callum going beyond the required homework just to see what's next. Had a quick flip through myself and after feeling chuffed with myself for being able to help out, I can't see that lasting as it looks way beyond me in a few sessions. Think I might start taking my knitting, haha.
Anyway, cya
PS: Took a flask of tea with me today to drink on the way home and stupidly ended up kicking the thing and smashing it! Boo hoo, no tea for me again until I got home. Waaaaaah!
The journey this week was as straightforward as it should have been with no delays, but if does look like we'll have to catch the 5.45pm train home which stops at Strood (but at least is direct)!!! If we then wait at Strood for a connection back to Gillingham, we won't get home until 7pm!!! We leave home at 2.10pm to get there for 4pm. The lesson is only supposed to be an hour (although so far it's been more like 1 hour and 20mins), so that's 4 hours travelling for a one hour lesson. Blimey we're dedicated. haha. As of next week we're hoping to get a lift from dad from Strood which will save us about 20mins journey and a 15min wait on a cold Strood station.
Not everyone there this week either, so not sure if people have already dropped out. Some people are still having difficulty getting the programme to run so they are going to have to talk in the week to try and sort it as it will soon get to the stage where they are too far behind. Luckily the issues we had in the first week I managed to solve and, so far, everything is running fine.
We also got the manual this week and I can imagine Callum going beyond the required homework just to see what's next. Had a quick flip through myself and after feeling chuffed with myself for being able to help out, I can't see that lasting as it looks way beyond me in a few sessions. Think I might start taking my knitting, haha.
Anyway, cya
PS: Took a flask of tea with me today to drink on the way home and stupidly ended up kicking the thing and smashing it! Boo hoo, no tea for me again until I got home. Waaaaaah!
Tuesday 16 April 2013
THE START OF SOMETHING BIGGER
Well, yesterday was the start of a new section of work. We're attempting 2 award schemes and a Digipen course which is a game programming course (see link below for some more info). We're doing this as I'd like a bit more structure and I'd also like Callum to begin having something to show for his work instead of just lots and lots of paper. Exams may prove difficult for Callum due to the Asperger, so am looking at alternative routes and ways of getting certificates.
https://projectfun.digipen.edu/online-courses/
Yesterday was the first of the Digipen 'lessons'. And after much hrumphing, moaning, worrying, "be glad when today is over"ing, Callum actually really enjoyed the lesson. It was a fairly basic one I admit (even I followed it and I'm useless at tech). He even helped out a fellow student who'd arrived late and got him up to speed really quickly. The boy's mum (I will learn names eventually) even said that Callum should be teaching as he'd explained it well; the teacher having confused her.
So good points: He enjoyed it. He wants to go again!!! He helped out someone else willingly and obviously engaged in conversation with someone new. Journey there and back was easy and cost was reasonable. And there is no online lessons planned unless we feel it necessary later which is brilliant as trying to pin us down to being online at a certain time/date could prove difficult. AND she reckons we'll be finished in 8 weeks instead of 12, but obviously that depends on how much we get done at home and whether people have problems. So Callum and me very happy!
Bad points: Teacher is a bit disjointed in her teaching (confused me and a couple of others and didn't cope very well when people ended up on different levels to where she was expecting us to be, but hopefully that will improve). Journey was very long due to long waits between connections and delays of trains due to signalling probs so we left the house at 2.10pm and got home at 7.15pm just to do a 1 hour lesson (admittedly we did stay a bit longer than 1 hour as we had a problem). That problem was that our programme which we'd downloaded pre lesson wouldn't run and so Callum couldn't check that his work had worked, if you see what I mean. Have hopefully sorted that out this morning, but can't check until he gets up!
It's trampolining and social time today, but he's planning on doing the homework tomorrow at his sister's. Here's hoping the thing will actually work this time.
Cya
https://projectfun.digipen.edu/online-courses/
Yesterday was the first of the Digipen 'lessons'. And after much hrumphing, moaning, worrying, "be glad when today is over"ing, Callum actually really enjoyed the lesson. It was a fairly basic one I admit (even I followed it and I'm useless at tech). He even helped out a fellow student who'd arrived late and got him up to speed really quickly. The boy's mum (I will learn names eventually) even said that Callum should be teaching as he'd explained it well; the teacher having confused her.
So good points: He enjoyed it. He wants to go again!!! He helped out someone else willingly and obviously engaged in conversation with someone new. Journey there and back was easy and cost was reasonable. And there is no online lessons planned unless we feel it necessary later which is brilliant as trying to pin us down to being online at a certain time/date could prove difficult. AND she reckons we'll be finished in 8 weeks instead of 12, but obviously that depends on how much we get done at home and whether people have problems. So Callum and me very happy!
Bad points: Teacher is a bit disjointed in her teaching (confused me and a couple of others and didn't cope very well when people ended up on different levels to where she was expecting us to be, but hopefully that will improve). Journey was very long due to long waits between connections and delays of trains due to signalling probs so we left the house at 2.10pm and got home at 7.15pm just to do a 1 hour lesson (admittedly we did stay a bit longer than 1 hour as we had a problem). That problem was that our programme which we'd downloaded pre lesson wouldn't run and so Callum couldn't check that his work had worked, if you see what I mean. Have hopefully sorted that out this morning, but can't check until he gets up!
It's trampolining and social time today, but he's planning on doing the homework tomorrow at his sister's. Here's hoping the thing will actually work this time.
Cya
Monday 25 March 2013
YES TIME DOES!
Hiya
In respect of the blog title, the last one was entitled Doesn't Time Fly and this one is a follow on as it's obvious that it does as it's been an age!
What have we done? Well, for starters, we've been on holiday!!! And we went to the Science Fair in London. AND we've also done the usual trampolining, social visits, etc.
So, firstly, Science Fair at London, EXcel centre. Easy journey; high speed to Stratford International and then DLR to EXcel, brilliant!!
The fair was packed, but Callum coped really really well. We arrived about 11.30am and had a good general look round before hitting some individual 'stalls'. Callum joined in with the Science Museum stuff and although I had to help him 'get in amongst it' as the school kids were really pushy,he handled it pretty well and enjoyed the tasks set. I even had the kids lining up at one point as there were kids who just stood by and let the others push in. Hey ho, wasn't having that as it was unfair! There was loads to see and do and I got some great information with regard to science awards from the British Science Association. We toddled off for a coffee and some lunch about 12.30 and then dived back in afterwards to catch up on bits we'd missed. However, by about 1.30pm it was starting to get even more noisy and busy and Callum (and myself) had begun to feel a little claustrophobic and he wasn't coping with the noise very well, so we left and had a stroll along the waterfront in the wind and watched the planes flying overhead. Back on the DLR and high speed train and home by 3.30pm. Short day, but good fun, well worth it!
And so to holiday! Weymouth Bay Haven Holiday Park for 4 nights from Monday through to Friday. Nightmare journey through A roads because dad felt that the M25 would be too busy, but as we kept hitting towns, I don't think it would have made much difference. Took 5 hours!!! Check in easy peasy and they had allocated a lovely caravan away from the main entertainment site, so lovely and quiet. We'd also managed to get an upgrade; booked a Prestige and ended up with a Platinum!
Unpacked, made a cuppa and then headed off into town to stock up on supplies for the days away. Didn't do much in the evening apart from popping into the arcades to spend some 2ps.
Tuesday was sunny, but windy with some overcast clouds, but it didn't rain all day. So Tank Museum (main reason for going) followed by Corfe Castle Model Village. Callum loved the fact that they had a model village within the model village and even a really really tiny village inside that. Didn't go up to the castle itself as up a very large hill and my hip was already hurting from walking around the museum and Callum was beginning to get a headache. I'd like to point out that he was up at 7am! Normally it's 11am, so I think he was a little knackered.
In respect of the blog title, the last one was entitled Doesn't Time Fly and this one is a follow on as it's obvious that it does as it's been an age!
What have we done? Well, for starters, we've been on holiday!!! And we went to the Science Fair in London. AND we've also done the usual trampolining, social visits, etc.
So, firstly, Science Fair at London, EXcel centre. Easy journey; high speed to Stratford International and then DLR to EXcel, brilliant!!
The fair was packed, but Callum coped really really well. We arrived about 11.30am and had a good general look round before hitting some individual 'stalls'. Callum joined in with the Science Museum stuff and although I had to help him 'get in amongst it' as the school kids were really pushy,he handled it pretty well and enjoyed the tasks set. I even had the kids lining up at one point as there were kids who just stood by and let the others push in. Hey ho, wasn't having that as it was unfair! There was loads to see and do and I got some great information with regard to science awards from the British Science Association. We toddled off for a coffee and some lunch about 12.30 and then dived back in afterwards to catch up on bits we'd missed. However, by about 1.30pm it was starting to get even more noisy and busy and Callum (and myself) had begun to feel a little claustrophobic and he wasn't coping with the noise very well, so we left and had a stroll along the waterfront in the wind and watched the planes flying overhead. Back on the DLR and high speed train and home by 3.30pm. Short day, but good fun, well worth it!
And so to holiday! Weymouth Bay Haven Holiday Park for 4 nights from Monday through to Friday. Nightmare journey through A roads because dad felt that the M25 would be too busy, but as we kept hitting towns, I don't think it would have made much difference. Took 5 hours!!! Check in easy peasy and they had allocated a lovely caravan away from the main entertainment site, so lovely and quiet. We'd also managed to get an upgrade; booked a Prestige and ended up with a Platinum!
Unpacked, made a cuppa and then headed off into town to stock up on supplies for the days away. Didn't do much in the evening apart from popping into the arcades to spend some 2ps.
Tuesday was sunny, but windy with some overcast clouds, but it didn't rain all day. So Tank Museum (main reason for going) followed by Corfe Castle Model Village. Callum loved the fact that they had a model village within the model village and even a really really tiny village inside that. Didn't go up to the castle itself as up a very large hill and my hip was already hurting from walking around the museum and Callum was beginning to get a headache. I'd like to point out that he was up at 7am! Normally it's 11am, so I think he was a little knackered.
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My favourite - it's pink! |
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Hands up dad! |
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The entrance |
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The Triumph of Humanity |
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Outside again! |
Tank museum pictures above!
Honestly, I've loads of tank pictures as Callum loves tanks, but personally, once you've seen one, you've seen most of them. I'm such a heathen!
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Model village within a model village with a model village (just look closely to the left just below the trees - it's there) |
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Working mill |
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The model Corfe Castle |
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The real Corfe Castle |
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Having a wander |
Corfe Castle Model Village
Again got loads more, but hey, it's a small house. Fab workmanship though. Well impressed.
Anyway, that's the first day written up! Will do some more tomorrow.
Cya
Friday 1 March 2013
DON'T TIME FLY?
Wow, well the hell did that week go? It's been a bit busy.
We've had friends over as well as family, we've done a little work and dad's been off for a couple of days.
Callum's highlight of the week was Wednesday as he was left with his big sis all day as I was off with my friend, Carol, for the day. They cooked dinner and played scrabble; Callum not doing too bad and almost winning.
Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner that night and I'll hopefully have some piccies once my daughter has sent them to me.
Apart from that we had friends over Monday so Callum had a great afternoon socialising with Azeem.
Tuesday we did a little work; maths on KhanAcademy and some more work on the Magnet project. Had some simple question and answer sheets to do and Callum also had to research some additional, slightly harder, questions.
Thursday was group trampolining lesson and then Lauren and Carol back for a bit of social and a cuppa. No cake made this week though, so we popped into Aldi on the way home and Carol bought some ice creams for us all. I ended up spending some money on some baby bits. Callum especially liked the little socks!
Today (and yesterday) dad was off and Callum had haircut appointment. So we had a drive there instead of a walk, then a quick look in the Cats Protection League before dad picked us up again and we all headed off to Sainsbury for our monthly stock up shop. Also picked up peanut butter in Holland and Barrett (buy one, get one half price) and Callum managed to find a Worms game in Game which was the exact price that his dad owed him (wasn't planned as he actually asked me if he could buy it with his money before dad then piped up with the fact he owed him some cash).
So, although it appears we haven't done a great deal, it's been really busy. And he has his best mate Callum D over tomorrow afternoon.
Cya
We've had friends over as well as family, we've done a little work and dad's been off for a couple of days.
Callum's highlight of the week was Wednesday as he was left with his big sis all day as I was off with my friend, Carol, for the day. They cooked dinner and played scrabble; Callum not doing too bad and almost winning.
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Terri - 199 pnts
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Apart from that we had friends over Monday so Callum had a great afternoon socialising with Azeem.
Tuesday we did a little work; maths on KhanAcademy and some more work on the Magnet project. Had some simple question and answer sheets to do and Callum also had to research some additional, slightly harder, questions.
Thursday was group trampolining lesson and then Lauren and Carol back for a bit of social and a cuppa. No cake made this week though, so we popped into Aldi on the way home and Carol bought some ice creams for us all. I ended up spending some money on some baby bits. Callum especially liked the little socks!
Today (and yesterday) dad was off and Callum had haircut appointment. So we had a drive there instead of a walk, then a quick look in the Cats Protection League before dad picked us up again and we all headed off to Sainsbury for our monthly stock up shop. Also picked up peanut butter in Holland and Barrett (buy one, get one half price) and Callum managed to find a Worms game in Game which was the exact price that his dad owed him (wasn't planned as he actually asked me if he could buy it with his money before dad then piped up with the fact he owed him some cash).
So, although it appears we haven't done a great deal, it's been really busy. And he has his best mate Callum D over tomorrow afternoon.
Cya
Thursday 21 February 2013
HALF TERM? MAYBE
Hi all
Here's this week's blog. Finding it hard to write blogs daily, not because of time, but because it's difficult to write without going into the whole "we did this, then we did this, then we did that" kind of writing which is not only boring to write, it's boring to read. So, I've started doing quick, easy, daily status updates on Callum's World page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CallumsWorld?ref=hl
And then a proper blog at end of week (or whenever I get time over the weekend).
So, what has Callum been doing this week? Well, for starters he's been very lethargic and typically teenager floppy lazy hrumph boy. He isn't rude or grumpy, but I am getting the occasional 'grunt' reply when he's asked a question. Hey ho, to be expected with a 13, nearly 14 year old, even with a neuro typical kid, let alone an Aspi one.
Our days still always start with a cuppa and a sit-curled-up-on-sofa-in-pjs chat. I've normally been up a couple of hours before he surfaces, so it's actually nice to take a bit of time out and talk. We go over how we slept, whether he had good or bad dreams, what time he finally got to sleep and what book he's currently reading. We then discuss the day and I talk over what I expect from him. He can then ask any questions, raise any queries and, quite often, try and compromise with me if he's really not feeling up to anything huge. He can drive a hard bargain sometimes, but then so can I. It always works out suitable for us both in the end though and I think it's a good lesson in negotiating.
It was our week for two trampolining lessons this week, private with Kim and group with James. Kim always works him really hard and Callum certainly knows he's done half an hour of workout. He was a bit worried this week as it's half term and he was concerned that there might be a holiday club going on. He hates the idea that they might be staring at him and judging what he does, even though I am constantly telling him that they spend most of their time with their heads in their lunch boxes and talking amongst themselves. Luckily there wasn't a club and he had the whole centre to himself (kids wise). Somersaults went well although he did graze his chin after a particularly clumsy landing and he's practising the routine that he has to tack the somersault onto. Kim always stops the lesson about 10 mins before the end to do conditioning exercises with Callum, which I might add, he hates. This week he was getting a bit bolshy and telling Kim he wouldn't do it, but Kim, like James, is very good at convincing him otherwise. Came out absolutely knackered and had definitely earned his Subway. Group session today was more of a fun lesson which suited Callum.
As to 'lessons', as it's half term in school world, we haven't done anything too in depth, but I have asked him to do some more self monitored work like Khan Academy maths and today's science was reading matter with questions to answer. He's getting a lot better at working on his own, but still needs me to dish out work rather than being self motivated.
Socially he's had a pretty good week too. Monday was spent around his friend's house playing on the Xbox and Playstation. He loves going there as he has known his friend and his family since nursery school, so he's completely comfortable there and I have no worries about leaving him. Wednesday was the usual big sis visit with Merlin the dog and a now ever growing bump. No cooking this week though as not in the mood and was tired (more later). So lots of chat and play on Roblox. Today, after trampo, it was the now regular visit back from Lauren for tea and cake and even more Roblox.
Tomorrow is his dad's birthday and we still have a couple of bits to get ready for his return from work, so a shopping visit in the morning and possibly a cake bake in the afternoon, but that may not get done until Saturday. We like to spread out birthdays in this house, usually over a week, and as we are dog sitting his uncle's dog overnight on Saturday, we may have tea and birthday cake on Sunday afternoon when they return to pick up the hound.
He's had a good week even though he had a visit to the osteopath on Tuesday evening. He only goes about once every six months, normally when he starts complaining his shoulder or neck feels stiff. He likes going and Emma is brilliant with him, although he had to take off his Tshirt this time and he doesn't like stripping off in front of strangers. A bit of cracking later and all he wanted to do was go to sleep, hence the sleepy eyed, excessively lazy Wednesday. He's additionally happy as he received two more books in the Phoenix Files saga in the post along with dad's presents, so he's now rereading the previous three books in preparation of next two. One more to go apparently, but that's not been released yet.
Sorry no pics this week, not really done anything worth photographing, but hopefully be back on track with that next time.
Cya
Here's this week's blog. Finding it hard to write blogs daily, not because of time, but because it's difficult to write without going into the whole "we did this, then we did this, then we did that" kind of writing which is not only boring to write, it's boring to read. So, I've started doing quick, easy, daily status updates on Callum's World page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CallumsWorld?ref=hl
And then a proper blog at end of week (or whenever I get time over the weekend).
So, what has Callum been doing this week? Well, for starters he's been very lethargic and typically teenager floppy lazy hrumph boy. He isn't rude or grumpy, but I am getting the occasional 'grunt' reply when he's asked a question. Hey ho, to be expected with a 13, nearly 14 year old, even with a neuro typical kid, let alone an Aspi one.
Our days still always start with a cuppa and a sit-curled-up-on-sofa-in-pjs chat. I've normally been up a couple of hours before he surfaces, so it's actually nice to take a bit of time out and talk. We go over how we slept, whether he had good or bad dreams, what time he finally got to sleep and what book he's currently reading. We then discuss the day and I talk over what I expect from him. He can then ask any questions, raise any queries and, quite often, try and compromise with me if he's really not feeling up to anything huge. He can drive a hard bargain sometimes, but then so can I. It always works out suitable for us both in the end though and I think it's a good lesson in negotiating.
It was our week for two trampolining lessons this week, private with Kim and group with James. Kim always works him really hard and Callum certainly knows he's done half an hour of workout. He was a bit worried this week as it's half term and he was concerned that there might be a holiday club going on. He hates the idea that they might be staring at him and judging what he does, even though I am constantly telling him that they spend most of their time with their heads in their lunch boxes and talking amongst themselves. Luckily there wasn't a club and he had the whole centre to himself (kids wise). Somersaults went well although he did graze his chin after a particularly clumsy landing and he's practising the routine that he has to tack the somersault onto. Kim always stops the lesson about 10 mins before the end to do conditioning exercises with Callum, which I might add, he hates. This week he was getting a bit bolshy and telling Kim he wouldn't do it, but Kim, like James, is very good at convincing him otherwise. Came out absolutely knackered and had definitely earned his Subway. Group session today was more of a fun lesson which suited Callum.
As to 'lessons', as it's half term in school world, we haven't done anything too in depth, but I have asked him to do some more self monitored work like Khan Academy maths and today's science was reading matter with questions to answer. He's getting a lot better at working on his own, but still needs me to dish out work rather than being self motivated.
Socially he's had a pretty good week too. Monday was spent around his friend's house playing on the Xbox and Playstation. He loves going there as he has known his friend and his family since nursery school, so he's completely comfortable there and I have no worries about leaving him. Wednesday was the usual big sis visit with Merlin the dog and a now ever growing bump. No cooking this week though as not in the mood and was tired (more later). So lots of chat and play on Roblox. Today, after trampo, it was the now regular visit back from Lauren for tea and cake and even more Roblox.
Tomorrow is his dad's birthday and we still have a couple of bits to get ready for his return from work, so a shopping visit in the morning and possibly a cake bake in the afternoon, but that may not get done until Saturday. We like to spread out birthdays in this house, usually over a week, and as we are dog sitting his uncle's dog overnight on Saturday, we may have tea and birthday cake on Sunday afternoon when they return to pick up the hound.
He's had a good week even though he had a visit to the osteopath on Tuesday evening. He only goes about once every six months, normally when he starts complaining his shoulder or neck feels stiff. He likes going and Emma is brilliant with him, although he had to take off his Tshirt this time and he doesn't like stripping off in front of strangers. A bit of cracking later and all he wanted to do was go to sleep, hence the sleepy eyed, excessively lazy Wednesday. He's additionally happy as he received two more books in the Phoenix Files saga in the post along with dad's presents, so he's now rereading the previous three books in preparation of next two. One more to go apparently, but that's not been released yet.
Sorry no pics this week, not really done anything worth photographing, but hopefully be back on track with that next time.
Cya
Friday 15 February 2013
REMAINS OF THE WEEK
Good evening all
Thought I'd take a bit of time out from sorting out all the computer gumpf to do a quick write up.
Wednesday was a little different to usual as Terri visited yesterday. So today we caught up on some work. Callum did yet another book review. He's finally caught up now though, so those should be a bit more spaced out; much to his likeness as he hates doing them. I want him to start thinking about how things make him feel. Being an Aspi, empathy and emotions are things that they find hard to express, so anything that challenges that is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
It was also Callum's turn to cook dinner and he chose pizza. He cooked it all from scratch, even the sauce. The pizza base wasn't a yeast version as we didn't have time to do that and I wanted to keep it straight forward, so this one was based on using baking powder. Then the tomato sauce was made (using the same recipe as the meatball sauce we used a couple of weeks ago) and we left that to reduce and become thick. The base was then smeared with tomato sauce, sliced mozzarella, pepperoni, olives and a sprinkling of mixed herb.
Yesterday was trampolining class with the group and James. Not many kids there today so turns came around quickly. Somersaults done and then practice of backward rolls ready for backward somersaults. Eeek. Carol and Lauren back for tea and cake and play on computer, then he was on his own again.
And today, he helped me with some surveys, bought Dad's birthday present online, sorted out and researched best place to get Black Ops season pass and then bought and paid me back. He then, of course, disappeared off to immerse himself in new maps and extras. So I've had the computer to go through emails, more surveys and catch up on Facebook and here.
Cya
Thought I'd take a bit of time out from sorting out all the computer gumpf to do a quick write up.
Wednesday was a little different to usual as Terri visited yesterday. So today we caught up on some work. Callum did yet another book review. He's finally caught up now though, so those should be a bit more spaced out; much to his likeness as he hates doing them. I want him to start thinking about how things make him feel. Being an Aspi, empathy and emotions are things that they find hard to express, so anything that challenges that is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
It was also Callum's turn to cook dinner and he chose pizza. He cooked it all from scratch, even the sauce. The pizza base wasn't a yeast version as we didn't have time to do that and I wanted to keep it straight forward, so this one was based on using baking powder. Then the tomato sauce was made (using the same recipe as the meatball sauce we used a couple of weeks ago) and we left that to reduce and become thick. The base was then smeared with tomato sauce, sliced mozzarella, pepperoni, olives and a sprinkling of mixed herb.
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Stirring the sauce |
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Making the dough |
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Spreading the tomato sauce |
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Finished pizza before cooking |
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Cooked! Can I eat it now? |
And today, he helped me with some surveys, bought Dad's birthday present online, sorted out and researched best place to get Black Ops season pass and then bought and paid me back. He then, of course, disappeared off to immerse himself in new maps and extras. So I've had the computer to go through emails, more surveys and catch up on Facebook and here.
Cya
Wednesday 13 February 2013
SHROVE TUESDAY
Good morning folks. Whilst Callum is struggling to write a book review, I thought I'd write up yesterday while he, either gets his brain in gear or yells for help.
Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. It's traditional in this house to have pancakes all day! Yep, breakfast, lunch and dinner (and dessert if there are enough left).
So breakfast was English style pancakes with lemon and lime juice and caster sugar - yum.
Terri came over late morning and then made American style pancakes which Callum and herself had with bacon and maple syrup:
Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. It's traditional in this house to have pancakes all day! Yep, breakfast, lunch and dinner (and dessert if there are enough left).
So breakfast was English style pancakes with lemon and lime juice and caster sugar - yum.
Terri came over late morning and then made American style pancakes which Callum and herself had with bacon and maple syrup:
Then dinner was cheese and ham English pancake wraps.
We didn't just eat all day. Callum did another book review and we went to Aldi to get the ingredients for today's (Wednesday) cooking. He's making pepperoni and olive pizza today.
He also did some research on what Shrove Tuesday means and printed off some info and a list of dates for future years. Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, is the day preceding Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the custom for Christians to be "shriven". Pancakes are associated with the day because they were a way of using up rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar before the fasting season of Lent, where all foods that give 'pleasure' are not eaten.
The custom of 'pancake races' which are still held in England is said to have originated from the story of a housewife in Olney, Buckinghamshire, who was so busy making pancakes that she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for service. She, apparently, raced out of the house to church still carrying her frying pan and pancake. Pancake races are traditionally run by woman, although if men want to join in they can as long as they dress up in an apron and scarf. The most famous race is held in Olney and is run over 415 yards. The rules are that the contestants must toss their pancake both at the start and the finish of the race. The race is then finished with a church service.
The date of Shrove Tuesday changes each year as it is connected with the dates of Easter.
Anyway, that's enough for the moment.
Cya
Monday 11 February 2013
MORE MAGNETS
Good afternoon you lovely people. Am trying a new 'work' schedule, can't see it always working, but it should if we are at home all day. So, today, it's worked, haha.
Slow start this morning. Weather grotty, very wet, overcast and dark. Did snow a bit this morning, but didn't lay as ground too wet from the rain.
A few things needed to be sorted out this morning before we started properly. One of which was deciding what Callum wanted to cook for dinner on Wednesday (alternate weeks he cooks dinner). After going through his cookery book.
Slow start this morning. Weather grotty, very wet, overcast and dark. Did snow a bit this morning, but didn't lay as ground too wet from the rain.
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Draco the dog in the snow and wet |
Managed to get this in a charity shop for £1.50.
He decided that pizza with mozzerella, olives and pepperoni was on the menu. Shopping list was duly made and a trip to shops tomorrow put on the To Do list.
Then it was firing up the computer and going into the To Print folder that we created when our old printer died. As we now have a new one, it was time to print of the work and file it in the folders. As it was the first time we'd used the printer, which is WiFi, was very glad that it all worked according to plan. Now just need to link up my laptop.
Callum likes the new printer as it has lots of flashy lights!
A book review followed. He has 3 to do in total, but as he's not keen, I said he could do one a day this week as we have a quieter week.
Then back to the magnet project. Making magnets today, although we did try to magnetise both a needle and a screw, but couldn't get either to work even though we both tried several times. We know what should happen in theory, but just couldn't get it to work which was a bit disappointing as some of the experiments Callum fancied doing needed a magnetised needle. However, we did do some experiments which involved extended magnets as follows:
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Adding a screw to a screw |
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Making ends repel by making screw heads the same pole |
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Making ends attract by making screw heads opposite poles |
Called it quits after this as we kept trying to magnetise the needle but it wouldn't work. Callum then just had a play with a bowl of water, magnets and various floating objects, whilst I cleared away work.
Oh yeah, almost forgot we also used magnets under paper and sprinkled iron filings on to make magnetic patterns.
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Using a straight magnet |
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Using a U shaped magnet |
Anyway that is definitely it for today.
Cya
Saturday 9 February 2013
BIT OF A BUSY WEEK
Good afternoon on this fine, if chilly, Saturday. Not been around much this week, so this is a bit late. Hey ho, fed up with apologising for not doing dailies, life gets in the way and to be honest I do go through a bit of an anti tech phase occasionally where I just cannot be bothered to log in; too much other stuff to do. So anyway, this week:
Briefly;
Monday - hospital with Terri, my daughter, his sister, for her 21 week scan of pregnancy.
Tuesday - Private trampo lesson, subway, eye test.
Wednesday - Terri plus her friend Natalie over for cooking lesson and some arts and crafts.
Thursday - mum, me, at tattoo shop, so friend over and then both off to class trampolining lesson.
Friday - dentist appointment, bit of shopping and then friend's house for a couple of hours.
Today - computer, now Xbox after helping dad put up another shelf in bedroom to house growing collection of helicopters.
Monday
Didn't expect Callum to want to come to hospital with big sis to see baby scan, but he did. I know he's been a bit worried so maybe him going would put his mind a bit more at rest or maybe he was just curious. Also he doesn't normally like hospitals. But off we went, managing to get a lift from Terri's dad (bit like an extended family outing) and got to hosp on time. There was, of course, the usual wait, but we finally got called for scan. Terri's dad had to go off for blood tests, so it was just Terri, Callum and me.
I think he found it interesting and he was paying attention and, as he hasn't asked any more questions since, I'm assuming he's ok. So say hello to Callum's niece or nephew.
Tuesday
Private trampolining went really, really well. He was full of smiles and managed to do 3 full somersaults in a row without using a mat, so whoop whoop to him. Definitely deserved the 12 inch meatball Subway which seems to have become a tradition after the private lesson. Then eye test afterwards; slight deterioration so new glasses on order. Hoping to make the old ones into sunglasses for the summer once new ones have arrived.
Wednesday
We did make carrot cakes first, but for some unknown reason Blogger isn't uploading the picture of our success, so may try again another time. Anyway, the above picture shows the rest of the afternoon with Callum just about to start an Xmas coaster mosaic and the two girls making Valentine bits and pieces.
Thursday
Today
Callum is doing the usual weekend things of computer, XBox or TV or combi of both. He doesn't want to go out anywhere as we've been out pretty much all week (or had people here), so he's after a day to himself. He has, however, helped dad put up another shelf in his bedroom (there are now 3) on which he can put his new helicopters on. He's got 4 waiting construction and housing.
Briefly;
Monday - hospital with Terri, my daughter, his sister, for her 21 week scan of pregnancy.
Tuesday - Private trampo lesson, subway, eye test.
Wednesday - Terri plus her friend Natalie over for cooking lesson and some arts and crafts.
Thursday - mum, me, at tattoo shop, so friend over and then both off to class trampolining lesson.
Friday - dentist appointment, bit of shopping and then friend's house for a couple of hours.
Today - computer, now Xbox after helping dad put up another shelf in bedroom to house growing collection of helicopters.
Monday
Didn't expect Callum to want to come to hospital with big sis to see baby scan, but he did. I know he's been a bit worried so maybe him going would put his mind a bit more at rest or maybe he was just curious. Also he doesn't normally like hospitals. But off we went, managing to get a lift from Terri's dad (bit like an extended family outing) and got to hosp on time. There was, of course, the usual wait, but we finally got called for scan. Terri's dad had to go off for blood tests, so it was just Terri, Callum and me.
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Baby Munn |
Tuesday
Private trampolining went really, really well. He was full of smiles and managed to do 3 full somersaults in a row without using a mat, so whoop whoop to him. Definitely deserved the 12 inch meatball Subway which seems to have become a tradition after the private lesson. Then eye test afterwards; slight deterioration so new glasses on order. Hoping to make the old ones into sunglasses for the summer once new ones have arrived.
Wednesday
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Left to right: Callum, Natalie, TerriThe crafting trio |
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Xmas tree coaster |
I had my tattoo booked for Thursday, so wasn't around for most of the day. However, my wonderful friend Carol agreed that she would take Callum to trampolining for me that afternoon. As it was she dropped Lauren, her daughter, off to our house around 11.30am and Lauren and Callum played on the computer until it was time to go off to the lesson (admittedly they were a bit early). They then came back to the house until it was time for them to go off to Lauren's next activity for the day. Tea and cake was provided by Callum (I assume he made the tea and the cake was the carrot cake he'd made the day before). It mean't that, in the end, Callum wasn't alone for long; about an hour, so I ended up feeling a lot better about it all. Although Callum didn't really mind either way, I think he was happier having the company.
Found out later that evening that James, the coach, was beginning to get him practising backward rolls in prep for backward somersaults - Eeeek!!!
Friday
Not a day that we were entirely looking forward to as it was a dentist appointment first. However, all was well except for Callum being advised to brush his teeth a bit better than he does now. He still hasn't got fillings so was happy. She did ask if he wanted a brace, but he replied with a definite and resounding NO! To be honest, I don't think he really needs one.
Then a bit of quick shopping: jewellers for me to sell off a couple of bits of jewellery that I never wear and then health shop to pick up some marigold and chickweed cream for me to care for my new tattoo. Bought some apricots for £1 on way back to bus stop and then off to friend's house for a couple of hours playing on his XBox whilst us mums drank tea and had a chat.
Today
Callum is doing the usual weekend things of computer, XBox or TV or combi of both. He doesn't want to go out anywhere as we've been out pretty much all week (or had people here), so he's after a day to himself. He has, however, helped dad put up another shelf in his bedroom (there are now 3) on which he can put his new helicopters on. He's got 4 waiting construction and housing.
So busy week, not a great deal of lesson work done apart from maths on Thursday morning before I left, but then again, seeing a pregnancy scan, reading every night, cooking, making a mosiac, trampolining and seeing friends is all good stuff.
Cya
Wednesday 6 February 2013
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Friday 1 February 2013
TODAY I'M GRATEFUL THAT WE LIVE IN THE UK
Ice skating today. Well went to the ice rink. Callum doesn't skate. He took the laptop with him today and played Roblox.
Just as we were leaving a school group came in. Don't know which one, but they reinforced why I don't send Callum to school. Two boys got into a fight, one was so verbally and physically violent that he grabbed the boy, threw him up against a wall, swore in his face repeatedly and then threw him on the floor. Teacher, a female, was about half his height and tiny. Had no hope of dealing with him.
Then in the car park there was another group of boys, assuming from same school as they were in and around a mini bus, probably aged about 15/16 smoking!! No adult supervision from what I could see and all looking rather intimidating.
Really saw the difference today as we have a few teens in our group. They were upstairs playing pool together AND they asked the receptionist politely for some more chalk for the cues. None were rude, none were arguing and none were outside smoking!
So grateful that we can lawfully home educate and I feel so sorry for those children that really struggle at school and then have those oiks to deal with on top of it all.
Thursday 31 January 2013
HELLO, WHERE DID THAT WEEK GO?
Hiya folks, just noticed that it's been over a week. Do apologise but I've been knitting most evenings and not getting on here to write up a proper blog. Have been doing quick updates via Callum's World page on Facebook though, so if you really want to keep up to date, that's probably a better place, although I do end up writing it all up properly on here eventually.
Anyway, where to start?
Wednesday 23rd we had a family day out, sort of. Terri, Callum's big sister, wanted to go and discuss her tattoo on her foot with her tattooist who is only in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so off we went to Rainham. Then a short bus journey to Dobbies the garden centre for lunch and a look round. Had a good nose around the plants and sale stuff. Plus Callum loved the aquariums and the wind chimes, which in the slight breeze sounded beautiful. Tescos next for sugar and cereal for me and then bus drive home. Caught the tail end of the school kids. Always interesting and always reinforces the reasons why I home educate.
That evening our beloved Draco continued to refuse to go out with my partner, so we all ended up having a quick cuppa and taking said dog plus my daughter's dog Merlin out for a walk in the snow.
Thursday the snow was on its way out and the walk to trampolining was practically clear. Class session this time. Callum nailed 3 somersaults without falling forward, woo hoo!!!! Well done Callum! Then back home with Carol and Lauren for tea and cake. Lauren and Callum on Roblox having a great time with lots of laughter. Then out with dog again in the evening who is still continuing to be a mummy's boy.
So, Friday arrived. Supposed to be going to ice skating, but because the dog hasn't improved it was off to the vets. Nice little walk there, Draco didn't refuse to go in and lots of praise from vet re his temperament and glossy coat. £60 later armed with antibiotics and good bacteria powder we went off to the Great Lines for a walk in the remaining snow and to check on the snow chair we made on Monday. No sign of the chair as such, just a big pile of snow. Then home for a cappuchino. No home ed today, but Callum did help the lady who came to pick up our freecycle unit get the unit into her car, so I suppose we did cover pet care and community spirit.
The weekend was just the weekend. Nothing planned, so Callum spent most of it on the computer, but we did take a break to go through the shelves and drawers that are under his bed and clear out some of the things that he doesn't use and get rid of some of the rubbish that had congregated there. Next weekend will be the corner where the multi drawers are; that section we are both dreading as there are lots of bits and pieces there. Eeek!
So, now to this week - finally got here.
Monday morning Callum did one of the book reviews that he needs to do. We have several different types of 'forms' that I get Callum to fill in as he hates writing and finds it difficult to get ideas from his head onto paper. The 'forms' prompt thought and, as they are on the computer, he can type up the 'answers' instead of writing them. We have 'forms' for books read, programmes we've watched and days out we've had. They can also be adapted to fit other situations should we need them including science experiments.
The afternoon he spent on Khan Academy doing maths whilst I went off and did a couple of hours party plan work. He did have a minor meltdown just before I left as the site flashed up a couple of Algebra questions which made him panic. So went over them step by step and made sure he understood before I left. I also told him that if they came up again whilst I was out he could just skip them if he felt that he still didn't understand. When I got home, however, he was a rather happy chappy as he'd managed to do, understand and get right some problem solving questions which contained negative numbers.
Tuesday we spent at home. This gave us chance to catch up with some work. So the other book review was done and then we spent the afternoon 'playing' with magnets and investigating their pulling and pushing power which was great fun.
Wednesday he cooked with his sister, making meatballs in tomato sauce for dinner (with spaghetti) from scratch as well as 12 double chocolate muffins for an afternoon treat and for today after trampolining. He thoroughly enjoyed the cooking and he even got his hands into the mince, onion and breadcrumb mixture to form the meatballs. He did wear disposable gloves though as he isn't keen on what he says is 'yucky feeling stuff'. Apparently, the meatballs were lovely. I can only vouch for the sauce as I'm vegetarian so I made my own quorn version of the balls, but I can say that the sauce was indeed rather good. And the muffins had great big chunks of gooey melted chocolate in. Yum!
Today Callum didn't get up until nearly midday. Apparently he says he had a bad night with lots of bad dreams, so he didn't sleep well. As he doesn't really wake me up that often anymore, I'm assuming that they weren't too horrendous. So it was a quick cuppa with very late breakfast of toast before heading off to trampolining class. One good lesson later and another Roblox session with Lauren afterwards with even more laughter and he's now quietly settled and probably awaiting his American friend Benny to appear online. Can always tell when he's there as all you can here is Callum squealing with laughter as they both have the same sense of humour and are very silly together.
Anyway, that's it, sorry it's long and sorry no pics as I've stupidly uploaded them to the main computer and I still haven't linked the laptop to it so can't access them. Will have to post a blog purely of photographs.
Cya
Anyway, where to start?
Wednesday 23rd we had a family day out, sort of. Terri, Callum's big sister, wanted to go and discuss her tattoo on her foot with her tattooist who is only in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so off we went to Rainham. Then a short bus journey to Dobbies the garden centre for lunch and a look round. Had a good nose around the plants and sale stuff. Plus Callum loved the aquariums and the wind chimes, which in the slight breeze sounded beautiful. Tescos next for sugar and cereal for me and then bus drive home. Caught the tail end of the school kids. Always interesting and always reinforces the reasons why I home educate.
That evening our beloved Draco continued to refuse to go out with my partner, so we all ended up having a quick cuppa and taking said dog plus my daughter's dog Merlin out for a walk in the snow.
Thursday the snow was on its way out and the walk to trampolining was practically clear. Class session this time. Callum nailed 3 somersaults without falling forward, woo hoo!!!! Well done Callum! Then back home with Carol and Lauren for tea and cake. Lauren and Callum on Roblox having a great time with lots of laughter. Then out with dog again in the evening who is still continuing to be a mummy's boy.
So, Friday arrived. Supposed to be going to ice skating, but because the dog hasn't improved it was off to the vets. Nice little walk there, Draco didn't refuse to go in and lots of praise from vet re his temperament and glossy coat. £60 later armed with antibiotics and good bacteria powder we went off to the Great Lines for a walk in the remaining snow and to check on the snow chair we made on Monday. No sign of the chair as such, just a big pile of snow. Then home for a cappuchino. No home ed today, but Callum did help the lady who came to pick up our freecycle unit get the unit into her car, so I suppose we did cover pet care and community spirit.
The weekend was just the weekend. Nothing planned, so Callum spent most of it on the computer, but we did take a break to go through the shelves and drawers that are under his bed and clear out some of the things that he doesn't use and get rid of some of the rubbish that had congregated there. Next weekend will be the corner where the multi drawers are; that section we are both dreading as there are lots of bits and pieces there. Eeek!
So, now to this week - finally got here.
Monday morning Callum did one of the book reviews that he needs to do. We have several different types of 'forms' that I get Callum to fill in as he hates writing and finds it difficult to get ideas from his head onto paper. The 'forms' prompt thought and, as they are on the computer, he can type up the 'answers' instead of writing them. We have 'forms' for books read, programmes we've watched and days out we've had. They can also be adapted to fit other situations should we need them including science experiments.
The afternoon he spent on Khan Academy doing maths whilst I went off and did a couple of hours party plan work. He did have a minor meltdown just before I left as the site flashed up a couple of Algebra questions which made him panic. So went over them step by step and made sure he understood before I left. I also told him that if they came up again whilst I was out he could just skip them if he felt that he still didn't understand. When I got home, however, he was a rather happy chappy as he'd managed to do, understand and get right some problem solving questions which contained negative numbers.
Tuesday we spent at home. This gave us chance to catch up with some work. So the other book review was done and then we spent the afternoon 'playing' with magnets and investigating their pulling and pushing power which was great fun.
Wednesday he cooked with his sister, making meatballs in tomato sauce for dinner (with spaghetti) from scratch as well as 12 double chocolate muffins for an afternoon treat and for today after trampolining. He thoroughly enjoyed the cooking and he even got his hands into the mince, onion and breadcrumb mixture to form the meatballs. He did wear disposable gloves though as he isn't keen on what he says is 'yucky feeling stuff'. Apparently, the meatballs were lovely. I can only vouch for the sauce as I'm vegetarian so I made my own quorn version of the balls, but I can say that the sauce was indeed rather good. And the muffins had great big chunks of gooey melted chocolate in. Yum!
Today Callum didn't get up until nearly midday. Apparently he says he had a bad night with lots of bad dreams, so he didn't sleep well. As he doesn't really wake me up that often anymore, I'm assuming that they weren't too horrendous. So it was a quick cuppa with very late breakfast of toast before heading off to trampolining class. One good lesson later and another Roblox session with Lauren afterwards with even more laughter and he's now quietly settled and probably awaiting his American friend Benny to appear online. Can always tell when he's there as all you can here is Callum squealing with laughter as they both have the same sense of humour and are very silly together.
Anyway, that's it, sorry it's long and sorry no pics as I've stupidly uploaded them to the main computer and I still haven't linked the laptop to it so can't access them. Will have to post a blog purely of photographs.
Cya
Tuesday 22 January 2013
SLUSHY TUESDAY
Maths this morning - Callum says ugh!! Using mathematics Stuntman book; good way of going over some basic maths uses in a realistic environment.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-A-Stuntman-Using-Maths/dp/1860075460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358875431&sr=8-1
Then trampolining this afternoon with Kim. Somersaults!!!! And yes, nailed at least 5 of them! Woo Hoo! Landed on feet. However, did lose a bit of balance and ended up on trampoline in front on a couple of occasions - whoops! Hey ho, he's pleased he's now landing on his feet and not completely falling over and was beaming like a Cheshire cat. Kim then made him do exercises; Bunny jumps to end of pit run up and back and then push ups and running on spot on crash mats. Knackered afterwards!!!
Snow nearly all gone and High Street definitely clear. Bit of shopping and then to Subway for the, now traditional, foot long meatball with melted cheese and salad.
Home, unpack shopping, had a little chat and then on computer; supposedly finished for the day.
However, on Dad's arrival home, Draco, the dog, decides he doesn't want to go out for a walk with him and wants to go out with us instead. This was shown by refusing to move from his comfy dog bed in front of radiator even after Dad had shaken his lead and gone out the door. However, Mum gets up and walks into kitchen and up he gets wagging his tail and getting excited. Mum opens door to garden, but, no, that's not it; so she gets lead and he starts bounding about. So out we went again, back to trampolining centre and walk the dog around the small green that is behind it.
Back home, Dad a bit miffed, cup of cherry cappuccino (bought from new shop in Gillingham) and back onto computer.
Good day!
Cya
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-A-Stuntman-Using-Maths/dp/1860075460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358875431&sr=8-1
Then trampolining this afternoon with Kim. Somersaults!!!! And yes, nailed at least 5 of them! Woo Hoo! Landed on feet. However, did lose a bit of balance and ended up on trampoline in front on a couple of occasions - whoops! Hey ho, he's pleased he's now landing on his feet and not completely falling over and was beaming like a Cheshire cat. Kim then made him do exercises; Bunny jumps to end of pit run up and back and then push ups and running on spot on crash mats. Knackered afterwards!!!
Snow nearly all gone and High Street definitely clear. Bit of shopping and then to Subway for the, now traditional, foot long meatball with melted cheese and salad.
Home, unpack shopping, had a little chat and then on computer; supposedly finished for the day.
However, on Dad's arrival home, Draco, the dog, decides he doesn't want to go out for a walk with him and wants to go out with us instead. This was shown by refusing to move from his comfy dog bed in front of radiator even after Dad had shaken his lead and gone out the door. However, Mum gets up and walks into kitchen and up he gets wagging his tail and getting excited. Mum opens door to garden, but, no, that's not it; so she gets lead and he starts bounding about. So out we went again, back to trampolining centre and walk the dog around the small green that is behind it.
Back home, Dad a bit miffed, cup of cherry cappuccino (bought from new shop in Gillingham) and back onto computer.
Good day!
Cya
Monday 14 January 2013
EASING IN GENTLY
Hiya, been a while I know, but I have been posting up some very brief status' on Facebook page under same name:
https://www.facebook.com/CallumsWorld?ref=hl
I've started a page as sometimes it's difficult to write a complete blog. That could be because we haven't done much or because of time. Anyway, feel free to check it out.
So back to blog proper. We have been very slow in getting back to 'normal'. Callum is definitely a full blown teen staying up and watching various comedy programmes (Family Guy, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, Russell Howard's Good News to name a few) plus, of course, reruns of Top Gear. So he invariably gets up late as well. So we have gone from a 8.30am morning to a 10.30am start! Hmmmm, not good. In fact we discussed today that it wasn't really good enough, so we have agreed that instead of starting work at 10am, we'll start at 11am and I'll wake him at 10am if he isn't up! Hopefully after a few weeks we'll be back in a routine.
I have no problems with him having a lay in as it is a natural and normal teenage thing. Some people may say it's because they are lazy, but it isn't. It's biological. And let's face it, given the choice, most teenagers would do it and I can't think that they would be 'blanket' lazy! Interesting article on link below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7932950.stm
I'm digressing again, sorry. Last week we literally only did organised things, eg, trampolining and supposedly ice skating. Trampolining was on two days last week as he is now going to return to the weekly group meeting; a) because James is back and b) he likes the kids that go, so it's a bit of social time with children he knows and likes the company of. So alternate Tuesdays is private lesson with Kim and every Thursday will be group lesson with James. Both lessons went well by the way.
We were going to go ice skating on Friday, but the ice machine had broken so it wasn't safe, so we had a day off instead.
Now to this week and today. After discussing a timetable (we are going back to hands on and project work as the curriculum/workbook stuff was a) boring and b) boring!!) and the above mentioned start time, we grabbed a box of kits, craft items and puzzles and Callum picked out 2 new items based on magnets. Had a fab play with the sets and adding our own magnets and found a Usborne book on experiments using magnets. We have decided that for this week and next we are going to build a small project on magnets and magnetism.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Just a little selection of 'playtime' photos.
After that we had a nose on the computer for pictures of Earth's magnetic field.
Then a couple of hours 'playing' with Rush Hour; a brilliant puzzle game where you have to move cars/lorries around to release the taxi or red car (we have the bolt on pack as well).
It's great fun, can be really hard and makes you think. Very logical game. We love it.
That's about it. He's now on the computer playing on Roblox.
Cya
https://www.facebook.com/CallumsWorld?ref=hl
I've started a page as sometimes it's difficult to write a complete blog. That could be because we haven't done much or because of time. Anyway, feel free to check it out.
So back to blog proper. We have been very slow in getting back to 'normal'. Callum is definitely a full blown teen staying up and watching various comedy programmes (Family Guy, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, Russell Howard's Good News to name a few) plus, of course, reruns of Top Gear. So he invariably gets up late as well. So we have gone from a 8.30am morning to a 10.30am start! Hmmmm, not good. In fact we discussed today that it wasn't really good enough, so we have agreed that instead of starting work at 10am, we'll start at 11am and I'll wake him at 10am if he isn't up! Hopefully after a few weeks we'll be back in a routine.
I have no problems with him having a lay in as it is a natural and normal teenage thing. Some people may say it's because they are lazy, but it isn't. It's biological. And let's face it, given the choice, most teenagers would do it and I can't think that they would be 'blanket' lazy! Interesting article on link below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7932950.stm
I'm digressing again, sorry. Last week we literally only did organised things, eg, trampolining and supposedly ice skating. Trampolining was on two days last week as he is now going to return to the weekly group meeting; a) because James is back and b) he likes the kids that go, so it's a bit of social time with children he knows and likes the company of. So alternate Tuesdays is private lesson with Kim and every Thursday will be group lesson with James. Both lessons went well by the way.
We were going to go ice skating on Friday, but the ice machine had broken so it wasn't safe, so we had a day off instead.
Now to this week and today. After discussing a timetable (we are going back to hands on and project work as the curriculum/workbook stuff was a) boring and b) boring!!) and the above mentioned start time, we grabbed a box of kits, craft items and puzzles and Callum picked out 2 new items based on magnets. Had a fab play with the sets and adding our own magnets and found a Usborne book on experiments using magnets. We have decided that for this week and next we are going to build a small project on magnets and magnetism.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Just a little selection of 'playtime' photos.
After that we had a nose on the computer for pictures of Earth's magnetic field.
Then a couple of hours 'playing' with Rush Hour; a brilliant puzzle game where you have to move cars/lorries around to release the taxi or red car (we have the bolt on pack as well).
It's great fun, can be really hard and makes you think. Very logical game. We love it.
That's about it. He's now on the computer playing on Roblox.
Cya
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