MORE SCIENCE

Hi all, been a week or nearly two since last wrote. Am sure that time speeds up the older you get!!

What have we been up to? Well lots of socialising for Callum and more science - he's becoming a bit obsessed, haha.

On the Friday after the science fair we visited a friend of ours that lives in Maidstone. They have come to our house a few times, but we have never been to them. They come along to our trampolining group. They kindly picked us up and dropped us home, which was lovely as I probably would never have found it!! It was a slightly hectic day, but Callum really enjoyed it as did I.

Saturday, his sister came over to visit (and to watch Dr Who) and stayed overnight as it's easier for her to get to work from our house than it is from hers. Callum loves it when his sister visits. He really misses her being here full time. I think having an older sister (she's 22 now!!) is really nice for him. It's like having another mum, but one who doesn't moan, haha!

Monday, we went to Gore Farm to have lunch with a couple of friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. I was really chuffed with Callum as there were no other children going. I packed him up with nature books, a bug box, binoculars, etc and hoped that they would be enough to keep him occupied! He ended up spending a lot of time sitting by the pond watching the Koi Carp, bless him. We did go for a walk through the orchard and was hoping to go the the lake and feed the ducks, etc, but the little area where you can go in and feed the birds was being refurbished, so we had to come away. Thought he might be a bit sulky, but he wasn't! Treated him to a door hanger in the shape of a camper van as he'd been so good!

Tuesday we redesigned our timetable. I'd set one up, but it hadn't been working that well. Callum needs a timetable and has always insisted that we 'work' until lunchtime Monday to Thursday and not 'do anything' afternoons and Fridays. We parents know that actually even when doing, what seems to them, nothing they are learning, but often with Callum doing nothing means computer games (as spoken of in previous blogs). Anyway, Callum had a good look at the timetable and decided to rearrange and redo most of it. We don't do a subject timetable anymore, just a list of things we'd like to achieve during the day covering maths, literacy, science and projects. I thought he'd cross most of it off and insist on cutting the work down. However, much to my surprise he reorganised, added and rejuggled times!! He's now spread the work throughout the week pretty evenly, including afternoons, evenings and Fridays, taking into consideration his strengths and stressers and how receptive he is within the week! Wow!!! I'm impressed!!! I finally feel as if he has taken control of his education and not just left it up to me, perhaps me reorganising 'the classroom' has helped him see what is available to him other than his beloved computer games! Anyway, well done Callum!

Wednesday he worked through his list and then went to his best friend's house for the afternoon. This meant I had an afternoon to myself which was lovely!

Thursday was trampolining. He'd caught up with stuff in the morning and done a spelling test. Now I'm only doing the weekly test because I want to know where his problems are and to prove to him that he knows more than he thinks. He got 9 out of 10! The one he got wrong was a 'st' word! I've noticed before that he has trouble with 'st' and it was this that lead me to ask for a hearing test and now a speech and language assessment. I don't think he is hearing sounds properly! His hearing test came back perfect, so now am just waiting on the assessment. After trampolining, he had a couple of the children back to play until 4.30pm. I love watching him socialise now! Those that know me well will remember the days, just after removing him from school, where he would hide under tables and chairs and behind me rather than socialise. So I love seeing him happily playing and interacting. Thanks to home education and the patience and understanding of those parents and children that we've met, he is finally able to socialise without stress (apart from the odd occasion, but then it will never be perfect, what child is?)

Friday, his sister returned for another visit. Callum wanted to do experiments with her, but he got increasingly aggitated as the time of her arrival got later and later. Luckily, I already knew that he'd want to do the experiments more than once, so we did them all and then did them again when Terri arrived.

We did Elephant's Toothpaste and Dissolving Polystyrene from the chemistry with cabbage website and the 'volcano' using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

The Elephant's toothpaste is similar to the mentoes in soda experiment, but using Hydrogen Peroxide, washing up liquid and dried yeast. It foamed beautifully and looked exactly like a squeezed toothpaste tube. See below:

We used Acetone to dissolve a piece of polystyrene (that we'd got out of a skip up the road) and spelt out Callum's name.

And the volcano turned out fab! We made it out of salt dough the day before then laid it onto green and blue card in a tray to form a landscape and I made 'trees' a la Blue Peter to add to it.

We used red wine vinegar, I don't have malt in my house due to the gluten issue and it fizzed a lovely reddish colour!

This week we have continued with printing off and displaying our holiday photos so we can produce a folder and continued with our 'timetable' which seems to working rather well.

At the moment, Callum is upstairs playing with Callum D on the pool table. I think they have made up a game using the pool balls and Battle Strikers!! I'm not asking as it's bound to be too complicated for me - haha!