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

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

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.

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