IT'S BEEN A STRESSFUL WEEK!

Am writing this in blog format as it's a bit of a longer one as not been online.

After Monday's exam and opticians event Tuesday came along and was, luckily, fairly uneventful.  However, by Tuesday night, Callum was really tired and beginning to stress about the work placement as he's finding it quite boring.  Not entirely their fault as he wasn't supposed to be working there.

He made sure he had an early night, but was still stressy and tired by Wednesday morning saying that he'd had an erratic night's sleep.  But he went in.  Back home at lunchtime, he announced that he was having an assessment that afternoon at 1pm!  Oh great!  He took a bit longer for lunch, but went back within plenty of time even though he wasn't a happy bunny.

Turns out assessment went ok, but it has highlighted a few criteria that he needs to achieve, a couple on the written side and a fair few on the work side, but then that's going to be hard if they can't find him the stuff to do.  They did say that once he's completed the NVQ, and they are saying that he needs at least another 2 assessments done so at least 8 more weeks, that he could do a volunteer placement at another, more local to us, school as a kind of 'gofer'.  Shame he can't do that as his work placement as it appears that there would be a lot more for him to do.  The job could lead to an apprenticeship and maybe a job, so I think he has expressed an initial interest.

He was totally shattered Wednesday night though and he wasn't sure he could face going in again on the Thursday just to do filing, especially as we had the PIP assessment on Friday (today) and he was beginning to worry about that also.  So we came to an agreement that he would set his alarm for 9am (the time he was due in) and if he work up before he would go in and if not, he would, at least, be able to ring them and tell him that he wasn't going in (he wanted to do it, even though I offered to call them for him).

Thursday came and he didn't wake up until 8.50am so far too late to go in and he still wasn't feeling great anyway.  He called and let them know and went back to bed, which is unusual for him as once he's up, he's up.  He didn't wake until nearly 11am so obviously needed the sleep.  Spent the day having a chill out and reading over PIP form in prep for today.

Today we made it to PIP assessment a little early.  Callum a little stressed as we had to get a bus and, of course, we didn't know where we were going exactly, although roughly, and we didn't know the person we were going to see.  The assessment itself wasn't as bad as I imagined and the lady that took it did seem to have a reasonable understanding of Autism, which was a start.  She asks the questions and took time to explain when it was obvious that Callum didn't quite understand what she meant.  Callum answered as best he could, although no eye contact and fingers fiddling all the time and I filled in details where necessary.  Hopefully we got across the issues he faces.

Just missed a bus, so walked back to High St (approx 20mins) and checked into opticians to order his new glasses as we discovered he didn't have a spare pair at home.  Thought we, especially he, deserved a Subway so we had lunch and watched the world go by.  Gave him, and me, time to relax a little before coming home.

Both glad this week is over to be honest, but can definitely see the relief in Callum.  He now has a free weekend until Tuesday apart from an hour's free running tomorrow.

IGNORANT PEOPLE SHOULDN'T RUN BUSINESSES

Oh dear!  Had a horrendous day yesterday.  Callum had a huge meltdown.  Hasn’t had one like that since school.  Was crying, hitting himself, screaming, swearing and generally getting so upset it was horrible.  Why I hear you ask?

Went for our interview with Tuition Academy after he spent the allotted time on a Sunday to do his test paper (1hr 45mins);  met up with Simon, the guy I’d spoken to on the phone and hadn’t been too impressed with, and we sat down to discuss possibilities for Callum.

http://tuitionacademy.co.uk/

The man is an idiot!  He has no concept of ASD; telling Callum that he had to find coping mechanisms to handle classroom situations otherwise he wouldn’t get anywhere.  He doesn’t agree with any other form of education apart from school and the curriculum, so had no concept of home education and even slagged off adult education saying that Callum wouldn’t want to be a class full of 75 year olds who were treating the whole thing as a ‘bit of a laugh’ and not getting anywhere!  I remained as calm as I could for Callum’s sake as I liked the idea of him having a class that we could then work on at home for the week in between, but it got worse. 

He went on to tell Callum that he ‘should’ be doing at least 10 hours a week of maths and another 10 hours a week on English without everything else he should be doing.  I pointed out that an hour in class is equivalent to approx. 20-25mins one to one, but he wouldn’t have it saying that that was ridiculous.  He then went on to say that if he was in Grammar school he may have the option to have some one to one, but he would never get it in a comprehensive situation and would have to cope with doing more work as there would be too many distractions!  So they don’t get distractions in Grammar then do they?

He told Callum that he had to get exams to go to college after Callum had gently said that that is what he was aiming for and then went on to say that he was leaving it a little late!  Bastard!

He was rude, abrupt, didn’t understand anything other than mainstream and was basically calling all the kids he already had going there idiots as he said that, after briefly looking at the test paper Callum had done, Callum would probably know more than most of the kids there, but may know a lot less on other parts!  Backward compliment I suppose, but not really the attitude I’m looking for to teach my child.  He wasn’t encouraging, gave Callum no credit for what he had already achieved and was commanding towards Callum.

He was rude to me, saying that I couldn’t possibly have success with him as I wasn’t a teacher and that home education couldn’t work.  I pointed out that we also have college entrants and university successes which he decided to gloss over and forget.

He then went on to say that Callum should start in a lower group next week with the aim of doing GCSE work next September onwards, but that he would expect him to be ‘putting much more effort into his work than he does now’.

So, he obviously has no concept of ASD or Asperger as you cannot under any circumstances land something like that onto an ASD/Aspi child without far more warning and a period of transition.

He then told me to inform him of my decision within the next 24/48 hours as to what we wanted to do and that he would examine the test paper and send me the result that evening.

I’ve checked my email and still no result has been emailed to me and as to whether we are going to take him up on his offer……he can get stuffed.

Callum came home deflated, upset, angry with himself that he can’t cope with stuff and is stupid, hit himself around the head and crying saying that he’s missing opportunities because he’s an idiot!!  I felt like all the hard work we’d done over the past 8 years had dissolved in that moment and I could see that if we had decided to go along he wouldn’t have coped at all and we’d have been back to screaming, hitting, punching, etc as he would have tried to hold it together during lessons and then had to let it out when he was ‘released’.

I’m furious as the attitude of the man, I will not be sending Callum there and I seriously wouldn’t recommend the place to anyone with children who have ‘issues’.  I can’t speak for the teachers themselves as we didn’t meet any of them.

It took Callum over an hour to calm down and he was subdued for a while afterwards.  He even apologised to me later on in the evening for his behaviour at which point I told him that his behaviour was to be expected after having to deal with such an ignorant man.

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.

First present to open

Another NERF gun (he loves them)

Second NERF - he asked for them

Ooooo experiments

Slightly scary

 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.

XBox cake

Anyway, he had a fab day.  Cya

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 tin bath with rocks and now a Waterlily

One of our pond skaters in the very murky water

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.

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

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

FIELD TRIP THEN WORK, WORK, WORK

Good evening, hope you are all well.

Today we really knuckled down and did some work.  We said we would have a whole day of science and we did.  We are covering Biology at the moment and in particular trees, plants, leaves, grasses and, eventually, plants as food.

We started our day off on a field trip to Capstone Park to look at trees, leaves and grasses.  Firstly we had to pick out 4 different trees and measure the circumference of the trunks using string and a tape measure and then record the results.  We then picked a leaf from each tree to aid it's identification and took bark rubbings.  We also had a look at some cut branches around the park and counted rings to decipher age and discussed why some rings are wider apart than others.

Then we gathered a few more larger leaves that were similar in shape for another experiment which we set up later (more on that in a bit).

We then moved onto a nearby field and, whilst the dog ran around, we looked at one length of the field and it's hedgerow and picked as many different grasses as we could find to identify once home; taking note of how common they were to find.

On the way back to the car we found a largish cut log with very clear rings that Callum counted and then measured the circumference of the log to find a comparison with number of rings in relation to circumference of trunk.

Once home we used the two measurements 62 rings with a 127cm circumference to come up with the calculation 127 / 62 = 2.05 years per cm.  Using this we could work out an approximate age of the trees we measured.

We also used various references to identify the trees and created a page for each tree with the leaf, the identification, the measurement and approximate age and bark rubbing.

Callum also did some leaf rubbings to create some artwork.

After dealing with the trees we used the computer and a print off to identify some grasses and made a little booklet with the grass, id and some general information.  We also recorded the popularity of the grass within the border that we took them from.

This completed most of the written and research work and it was time to set up a couple of extra experiments which we can monitor.

One was to see how much moisture a leaf will lose over a period of time, using petroleum jelly to mask parts of or all of the leaf.  One leaf was left completely uncovered, one had the top side covered, one the underside covered and one completely covered with jelly.  They were then hung up by string and will be monitored over the next week or so.

Working from left to right;  underside covered, not covered, all covered and topside covered.  We'll see what happens.

Then we set up another experiment to see how roots and shoots grow using a piece of sweet potato.

Again, we'll see what happens.

Callum worked really hard today to get everything done and even when he was starting to flag, he suggested a break and then went back to it.

So what has Callum learnt today, in his own words: "we can use other ways of finding out the age of a tree other than counting rings and that the size of the leaf is not compared with the age as our oldest tree did not have the largest leaf." and "there are lots of different types of grass".

Best bit of the day: "The field trip to measure the trees".

Tomorrow will be tying up any lose ends from the week and getting some maths done.

Cya

All experiments come from http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1741856140/?tag=hydra0b-21&hvadid=11068759565&ref=asc_df_1741856140

UP AND DOWN WE GO, BUT FINISH ON AN UP SO THAT OK

Good evening my lovelies.  How are we all?  We are good...just!

So what have we been up to?  Well today did not start well for Callum as he didn't get up much before 10am and that was with me waking him up with a cuppa.  Apparently he was determined to finish a book he's been reading, so stayed up until 11.30pm last night to finish it.  Bearing in mind he was already tired from walking around yesterday (or so he says) I'm a bit annoyed that he stayed up so late, but what can you do?  I'm glad he's been reading, but he really needs to manage his bedtime a bit more to ensure he gets enough sleep.  I should probably tell him 'light's out', but he's 13 and I'd like to be able to give him a bit of responsibility to know when it's time to settle down.  Plus I can't make him sleep and there's no evidence that he would have slept before then anyway especially if he was stressing about finishing the book.

So back to this morning.  He woke up late, was tired and a tad grumpy to say the least.  Was supposed to start HE at 10am and get a couple of things done before going trampolining, but by the time he'd eaten breakfast and come to a little it was nearly 11am!  He also said that things had not gone well while he was getting dressed (apparently things kept falling off hangers), so I was not expecting great things.  But I insisted that we, at least, wrote up yesterday's outing and produce a small photo album using a computer programme we have to go into our 'day's out' folder.  As it was, he did pretty well.  He didn't want to do the main bit of the typing up of the day so he dictated whilst I typed, however, he did do the photo album by himself including the layout and the text.

Was in a much better mood when leaving for trampoline class.  Yay!  Today was private lesson with Kim and he had a fab lesson.  Practised lots of moves and his routine, ensuring positioning of arms and style of movement.  Then onto the new way of somersaulting.  Callum, as previously mentioned, has been having difficulty succeeding with the somersaults, so Kim has got him doing rolley polleys and then building up from there.  Today he got to 3 jumps, a flip over, land and then stand from sitting.  He did really well and is getting the tuck of the somersault a lot tighter so isn't travelling as far meaning that the move is looking a lot more controlled; which is good.  A bit of daily practice of rollovers and the extra class in between with the group has definitely shown a difference which is brilliant news.  Callum is a lot, lot happier with his work.

Then a bit of shopping and Subway.  Subway was really busy and his favourite corner was already taken.  Still decided to stay, but we had to sit separately to start with; me on a chair at the table (sitting sideways so that I could at least feel like I was next to him) and him in one of the armchairs (which he doesn't like anyway).  Added to this the staff seemed stressed too and the ladies on the table where I was sitting had said they were finished and just leaving, but didn't make any attempt to move, plus the rest of the armchairs were occupied by college students.  This all added up to a bit of a stress from Callum.  Luckily our little corner soon became available and I got him to rush over and grab it while I brought over the stuff and bags.  However, he was still so stressed that he wouldn't go and get his drink which he normally has no problems in doing and actually enjoys, so I had to get it for him.  Thankfully by the time he'd eaten he'd calmed down enough to refill his cup and be himself again.

Once home we had a present to wrap and a card to write out as he's going to a party tomorrow and he spent the rest of the afternoon (and still is) on the computer playing a Facebook game.

Must point out that whilst in Subway we saw this wee little tot, must have been 4 yrs old, dressed in his school uniform carrying a school reading bag that was as big as him and a lunchbox that wasn't much smaller walking along the High Street with his mum several yards ahead.  He threw down his lunchbox and had a strop to which his mum just ignored him!  Poor little lad didn't look old enough to be in school and we both felt really sorry for him!  Hate the fact we send our kids to school that young, seems so unfair!

Anyway, a day of ups and downs today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but then I'm off out tomorrow afternoon and Callum is with his dad.  Am also hoping that they don't forget the party!

Callum's favourite bit of the day:  "nearly landing the rolley polley with the jumps"

Cya

END OF THE WEEK...HOW COULD I TELL

Good evening peoples.  Wasn't sure if I'd get this blog done today as we've had (mainly me if I'm honest) a funny old day.

Firstly I didn't sleep very well last night so, although I was up bright and early, I have to admit I wasn't really with it.  That isn't a particularly good state to be in when you want to use the day to tie up all the loose ends from the home ed week and get other things done.

Callum has been an absolute star today and I don't think I could have got through the day without him.  Sometimes the whole 'not in my bubble' state of mind can be a wonderful thing as he sees me getting stressed, but doesn't see the reason for it, so can usually calm my waters in just the same way I can calm his. I'm convinced that I've got some form of ASD (but then they say everyone has), either that or being in a household with two of them has made me throw myself into their world to such an extent that theirs is normal and everyone else is odd!

Anyway, enough of me!  Started off by getting pancake mixture made ready for a late breakfast (Friday has become pancake day again) and then set up the apples, pears and quinces for Orchard Fruit Butter (a kind of jam made from sugar and pureed fruit pulp).  Was just wondering where Callum was (it was now gone 9.30am) when he appeared with his washing and proceeded to put on the kettle for tea.  Then it dawned on me.  We not only have a timetable of 'lessons' that we want to do each week, but we also have a personal timetable for him with scheduled showers, teeth cleaning, tidying of bedroom, emptying of bedroom bin, stripping bed and bringing in the milk (at 13, he is perfectly capable of taking responsibility for simple jobs, but he does need a prod, hence the timetable).  Today he was scheduled to tidy bedroom so I can hoover, strip his bed and have a shower.  He'd had a shower and had tidied his bedroom, although he did admit that he might need to do a bit more once I take the hoover upstairs.

So, fruit butter on to cook fruit down.  Then a friend turned up for a cuppa, chat and for me to give her some sage (scheduled visit, people rarely just turn up).  So Callum went off and stripped his bed, after jokingly arguing that he wouldn't do it, sarky lad, and then went on the computer to play Command and Conquer.

After my friend had gone and pancakes had been eaten, we decided to do a bit of basic work, although he wasn't really up for it and neither was I.  The potato experiment still hasn't been written up and will now wait until Monday, the maths revision sheets needed help and I was up and down into the kitchen checking on the fruit, so we left that too.  What we did look at was why Jews don't believe in Jesus as the Messiah.  Why?  Well, it's Jewish New Year next week and they are on a different year to us and we decided to find out why.  Didn't do any written work, but looked up some reasons, read through and had a 'compare and discuss' session.  I don't want to do religious education as a main lesson, but thought I'd look at important dates throughout the year and do a bit of work in relation to those.  I think it's good to have a look at all different types of belief from Christianity through to Pagan.  Callum can make his own mind up what he believes in when he is ready.

After our hour long chat we decided to finish off his bedroom, so he carried the hoover upstairs for me, bless him, and we gave his room a good clean.  He even carried the hoover back down for me too.

Other things he's done today; played in his sandpit, made me plenty of tea, told me to sit down (a lot!) and generally been fab!  Thank you mate!

Tonight he's on the computer again and I'm feeling a lot better after a long soak in the bath.

What has he learnt?  Adults get stressed about little things sometimes, Jews don't believe in Jesus because they don't recognise him as the Messiah as he didn't fulfil the prophecies written in the Old Testament and Orchard Fruit Butter and Plum Leather tastes rather good.

Oh and he dried up for me and put away the dishes!  Big hugs and a big fat star pupil me thinks!

Cya

A SLOW START

Good evening all you lovely people out there.  How was your day?  Ours was a bit of a slow start to be honest.  I was shattered and didn't wake up until 8.30am and by the time I'd mentally surfaced after a cup of tea it was nearly 9am.  Callum was still asleep, but woke about 15mins later.

I hate waking up late as the plan is normally to get up and do housework stuff before 10am, which is when we are supposed to start.  Callum was still very sleepy.  As he's now 13 I'm convinced the teenage hormones are really taking hold as he seems to be constantly hungry and constantly tired.  But will he go to sleep early....well, sometimes he resists and goes about 10pm instead of midnight, but he still fights it.  Routines and Aspergers can sometimes be a bit of a nightmare.

Anyway, as I really couldn't give him 100% attention this morning as I had so much stuff to do, I decided that today would be a good day to start the revision pages on maths that I'd typed up.  I knew he could be left to do them without too much necessity for me to be there, but he could still stop me and ask if he didn't quite get the question or he needed to double check with me that he was on the right track.

Due to late rise we had a late breakfast, but it was a good opportunity to teach him how to do scrambled egg and beans on toast using the toaster and the microwave.  I was washing up at the time, so he had supervision.  He was really chuffed at how easy it was and that he'd managed to produce himself a decent breakfast by himself.  Only thing he really has a problem with is the tin opener!  I'll have to teach him how to do it properly a bit later, haha.

This afternoon we returned to the group trampolining class that I'd originally set up 6 years ago when I first pulled Callum from school.  Having private lessons is doing him the world of good and he's progressing well, but I can only afford them fortnightly and he is beginning to find that he is falling back on the basics, so going fortnightly to the group class in between the private lessons will ensure he can practice the work Kim, his coach, gives him and keep on top of the basic moves.  This will hopefully mean that his private lessons can concentrate of the elusive somersaults.

He thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and he loved seeing some of his friends again that he doesn't get to see as often as he'd like.  So all good.

And what did he think of today?  Well, he said that the trampolining was brilliant and that he felt more confident in what he was doing.  He also said that he was beginning to understand why he was having trouble with the somersault landings as he was becoming aware of his legs.  After one extra lesson, I'm rather pleased, so long may it continue.

On our return he went out in the garden and played in the sand pit and then did some more on the computer to the Command and Conquer mission he's doing.

Tomorrow with be a catch up day before the weekend; tying up loose ends and making sure we know what is planned for next week.

Cya

ART, COMPUTERS AND......IT'S BEYOND ME!

Hiya, don't think I'm doing too bad this week.  Seem to be doing an update every other day.  Could have something to do with me now having a laptop so I'm not fighting over computer time with Callum and, of course, I can do it from the comfort of my own sofa.  However, I also think it may have something to do with the new timetable as I'm now organised with work and Callum knows what needs to be done, so we are doing more.

I don't really notice the difference when we don't have a timetable until I actually have one.  I've mentioned before that total autonomous education doesn't work for us, but every now and again, either because we are too busy or I'm too knackered, we end up practising that style of home ed.  But I know that it doesn't really work and having this new timetable has proved it.  It isn't that we don't do any work at all when its autonomous, but I find that I can't suddenly spring to action when Callum wants to do something (I need to be mentally and physically prepared and that means organising) and I find Callum's motivation lapses very quickly and he just ends up doing the same thing all day every day and that's Roblox or now a game on Facebook.  Callum's Asperger means that he does need a certain amount of routine although as he has got older he is more able to cope with sudden changes that may happen in the day.  However, having a visual timetable and a breakdown of what he's expected to do on a daily basis written up has seen him motivated and self organising which is a vast improvement.  His concentration is better and he is more willing to try.  I know this form of education doesn't work for everyone and I know that having a full day's timetable would not work for us, but this semi structured (mornings), semi autonomous (afternoons) approach definitely works for us.  I just need to ensure that I stick to it plus it helps me as well as I know what I need to plan for.

So what have we done over the past few days.  Well, Wednesday was scheduled for Science and Art and Terri was visiting as she usually does on a Wednesday.  I sort of delegated to her for some of the work and they ended up doing a combination of Science and Art using some experiments which looked at colour and light.  This time we/they looked at reflected colour and light; shining a torch covered in coloured cellophane (red, blue and yellow) onto various toy vehicles of various colours (red, yellow, blue, green and white).  It was quite interesting how the vehicles changed colour when different coloured light was shone onto them.  Non of us totally understood it, but a collective conclusion was that the colour reflected was the strongest colour that was left on the spectrum after you removed the colour of the vehicle and the colour of the light.  Unfortunately the cellophane we were using was from sweetie wrappers and the red one was rather strong in comparison to the rest, so we aren't entirely sure if our results were totally as they should be, but it was fun and we kind of got the idea.

They then attempted to make blue sky by using a glass of water and dropping various amounts of milk into the water.  The torch was then shone from the side of the glass and behind the glass.  As the water became more milky, the light from the side shone through the milk in a bluish tinge and shone from behind in a reddish tinge.  Rather interesting. Will try and post some pictures later.

Then they 'played' on Photoshop on the computer to change a photograph of Draco, the dog, into various degrees of blue tones.  I'm hoping to get Callum to do the same using red and yellow tones.

The afternoon was spent with us all together watching Journey 2: Mysterious Island.

Today was Maths and Computer Studies.  Callum spent most of the morning on www.khanacademy.org continuing to look at areas and perimeters and www.codeacademy.com where he begun to learn to write some proper computer code.  Then it was a single maths sheet on areas and perimeters of triangles to finish off.

After lunch we watched the latest edition of Turn Back Time - The Family, which is a BBC programme about the life of families through history.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kwlrr/Turn_Back_Time_The_Family_1940/

Callum enjoys this programme as do I as it isn't all about facts and figures, but more about the everyday life of families and how they lived, worked and played.

For the rest of the day, he has played on the Wii and has now started playing playing one of the games online with other people.  Not something that I would want to do or probably could even suss out how to do, but Callum, as do many others, just gets it.  I used to be pretty good using computers, but I think a lot of it is now beyond me.  But good for C, glad he can keep up as he'll need to.

Anyway, last ice skating meet before the holidays tomorrow and then a bit of a clean up of the house.

Cya folks

YOU REMEMBER IT WAS WORKING? WELL.....

Hiya folks, hope you lovely people are all fab and gorgeous. We are having rather interesting weather here so far.  It's been chucking it down one minute and then glorious sunshine the next.  So am glad we haven't got much going out and about planned this week.

So far we have had a lovely lazy Monday in pjs all day.  Now don't think we didn't do any schooling because we did, so there!  Subjects on timetable (remember only two subjects per day) were Maths and English Literacy.

Maths was a couple of worksheets on area and perimeter; one was a straightforward one and one was a bit more of an exercise in using areas and perimeters in everyday life.  It was called Martha's Garden and I found it on a website www.WorksheetWorks.com where there are loads of worksheets plus answers to download and they are free! Always a bonus.  Callum had to work out the perimeter of the garden to decide how much fencing would be needed and then work out different areas to see where different plants would be grown.  It was pretty basic, but it was interesting for Callum to see how the maths he is learning is used in day to day things.  This is something that he enjoys as, like most things, he doesn't like learning it unless he can see a reason for doing so OR he really likes the subject.  This is fine when it comes to using the computer or doing science, but the normal maths and english is something that he has to have a reason for.

Next was English Literacy.  He has a list of books (I downloaded the recommended reading list for year 9 and went through them making a sub list of what I think Callum would enjoy plus a few that I felt were 'classics'.  We have 4 on the list already; 2 that I own and 2 which we have obtained from the library.  The idea of the literacy lesson is to review the book using a question and answer sheet and to have a general discussion.  He's just started reading Slam by Nick Hornby and we had a little talk about the book, but as he has only read 3 chapters so far it wasn't a huge conversation and certainly not worth doing a sheet on yet.  So what to do?  Then I remembered that I had recorded a couple of the Shakespeare film adaptations that the BBC showed in their Shakespeare celebration and I decided that it might be an idea to watch one (or at least part of one).  We had 4 to choose from:  MacBeth, Twelfth Night, Othello and Merchant of Venice. Callum has already read MacBeth (in graphic form) and we had a MacBeth themed Halloween party last year, so he decided to watch that one.  I didn't mind as that is probably my favourite Shakespeare.

I don't know about any of you, but as far as I'm concerned Shakespeare wrote plays, not books, so I think that the best way of studying them is to actually see them rather than read them.  His language is often hard to read, but to watch it makes more sense and you can appreciate it more.  We managed an hour of an hour and 50mins movie and Callum began to remember what he'd read and associate it with what he saw on screen, so that was good and when asked, he said he was enjoying it.  It also meant we could talk about the story whilst we watched it.  We'll aim to finish watching later on this week.

After lunch, as Callum had got into watching some telly, he chose to sit and watch The Blues Brothers for the 2nd time (his 2nd, my umpteenth) and we spent a lovely afternoon having a giggle.

Today was English Language and Trampolining.  English Language had to be rejiggled as I, stupidly, hadn't looked at what was next in the book and it involved a lot of writing and I've vowed not to force him to do lots of writing as he says its hurts his shoulder to write.  We have a hospital appointment in August to check to see if anything is physically wrong.  So that page will be typed on the computer and we'll do that next time.  After flipping through the workbook we decided on the page which was all about changing sentences from two to one using connecting words such as who, which, because, so, etc.  He did really well and got them all correct.  It's frustating as he knows the language and how to put it together, he just doesn't like writing it or doing the sheets, but he's getting there and his handwriting is getting neater and neater.

Trampolining went well.  Routine and somersaults practised with him managed to nail 3 complete to feet somersaults, 2 of which were without using the mat.  So well done Callum.  He did get very frustrated with himself as he usually does because he could have nailed a lot more if he'd got his feet down instead of his knees.  Must admit his coach, Kim, is getting just as frustrated and it is quite comical to see them both grrrring.

After trampolining we went off to Subway for lunch and then I had an optician's appointment.  Callum decided that he didn't want to stay with me and for the first time ever he walked home, let himself in the house and waited for me at home.  Well done mate!  A small step each time amounts to something big in the end.

Tomorrow Terri should be visiting as usual and I'm hoping that the weather holds and she doesn't get wet.

Cya soon folks.

Hiya, have a little bit of peace and quiet at the moment, so am going to do the weekend update.  So here goes:

Friday was supposed to be a lazy day and it kinda was.  Our timetable stated ice skating and then a free afternoon, but as we have been so busy this week, we decided not to go to ice skating.  It doesn't really matter as, already mentioned a million times, Callum doesn't actually go ice skating.  He sits with us and has a bit of social time or joins in with conversation.  Instead we decided to look over the week's timetable and do whatever we hadn't managed to complete.  So that meant making a colour spinner that, when spun, should turn 'white' to represent how white light is made up of different colours.

As I've mentioned in my own blog, this did not go according to plan as we couldn't find the compass, the protractor or bluetac, but we managed to get round the compass by drawing round a cup.  We finally found the protractor, so Callum could measure out the angles and divide the circle into 6 equal parts.  Then it was colouring in the sections with the following colours; red, yellow, orange, green, violet and blue.  He then stuck a small pencil through the middle and spun it like you would a top.  Experiment relatively successful.  The colour wasn't really a good white, but it was a pale grey, so near enough.  You couldn't tell the separate colours, so they had definitely merged.

Callum wondered if, by putting them onto his small fan (kit from ages ago), the wheel would work better because it would be going faster.  Good idea.  However, had a bit of trouble finding bluetac, but managed a find a small amount which was just about bit enough.  Still wasn't really white, but it was still fun to do.

The rest of the day was a lazy one in front of the telly.

Saturday, I popped to the library and got out a couple of books for me and a couple that were on the recommended reading list for year 9 (which Callum will be from September).  He now has a choice of 4 books that he can read for English Literacy.

Saturday evening we went off to his friend Callum's 13th birthday party which was being held in a church hall near us.  Callum was a bit nervous about going as he knew there would be people he didn't know and that there would be a disco, however he really wanted to go and I said that we could stay as long as he wanted to.

He ended up having a brilliant time.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and was off with the boys playing and dancing.  I hardly saw him and we ended up being one of the last lot to go home.  He's had such a good time socially this week and I've been so proud of him.

Today he's off with his dad to work.  They don't really do anything, it's just them sitting in the office waiting for the 'workers' to get back, but he enjoys doing it and it's only once every 4 weeks.

Callum accepting his medal at Sports Day

Callum and Callum D at the party

That's about it folks.  So cya later.

OOOOO ORGANISING WORKED TODAY

Hiya

Today was the first day of the new timetable which I'm supposed to be putting into action proper in September, but thought I'd use it from now to organise finishing work off ready for end of year.  There are only two subjects a day and regular social meetings are scheduled in, so no surprises.  It's a 2 week timetable as we do some things fortnightly, but it now shows Callum exactly what to expect and when.

So today he was up early surprisingly and remembered to shower.  Can't believe he remembered to shower as he normally needs reminding, so that was a good start.  We then sat having our first cuppa in the living room and started on a discussion which was another of those wonderful subject to subject to subject ones that never cease to amaze me and makes me thankful for my decision to home educate in the first place.  I can't exactly remember how it started, but I know we ended up going from currency to strength of the pound to affiliation with Europe and the Channel Tunnel to tectonic plates (Callum wanted to know if eventually the tunnel would collapse due to the movement of plates) to the moon moving away from us to world destruction to space travel and ideal planets to colonise and then onto orbits, lengths of days vs lengths of years and finally finishing on fact that a lot of what you see in the night sky actually probably doesn't even exist anymore.  We got out books; talked about programmes we'd seen and news items we'd read and obviously his own theories.  Surprising how you can cover geography, politics, economics and science in just over an hour without even trying.

Then off to sign up for khanacademy and codeacademy for computer studies session.  He ended up watching all the videos on how to work out areas and perimeters and after the initial grump about having to do it, found he thoroughly enjoyed it.  Didn't try any of the challenges, but that's for next time.  And as for codeacademy; I had trouble getting him off it.  Think that one was the clear winner and he'll probably be back on that one whenever the mood takes him rather than when he's told to.

Science next, had one failed experiment where we were supposed to create rainbows using water and light reflecting through, but didn't manage to create any rainbows at all.  Oh well, beauty of science; some work, some don't.  We then went onto refraction and used submerged coins and immersed thumbs to demonstrate Snell's Law.

The submerged coin.  Top one real, bottom one refracted image

The fat thumb

This afternoon was round at a friends for a belated birthday lunch and social time.  Didn't see Callum all afternoon.  Friend's house was lovely (had moved some months ago and we just hadn't managed to get round to visiting).  Was nice to catch up and have a good natter with lots of cups of tea, pizza, nibbles, cake and strawberries.  Left later than we were intending, but even then, Callum was reluctant.  Promised we wouldn't leave it so long for next visit. Got home just in time for his dinner which he wasn't really up for eating, so has eaten that a little later on this evening.

All in all a good day and all ran pretty much to plan.  Callum happy and has had a good day.  Hopefully tomorrow's meeting at Faversham will be as enjoyable (usually is).

Cya

HE'S CONFIDENT! I'M NOT! BAD ME!

Hi all

Wow, that week went quick!  Can't believe I last did this blog on Sunday.  You must think we've been really busy and I suppose we have, but not because we've been out and about, we've actually done some work.

Callum and myself are feeling a little non motivated at the moment so trying to get into the spirit of doing 'work' has been really hard.  He just wants to play on his games, occasionally see his friends and bounce around on the trampoline as the weather has allowed us outside in the garden for a change.  Now there is nothing wrong with any of that and he has still being doing all of that.

I'm ready for the 'end of year' and having some time to catch up with sewing, gardening, knitting, etc.  But I'm also very aware of the fact that the open day is looming and we still have stuff to finish.  I'm also aware that Callum is now 13 and I'm suffering from one of  my 'aaargh' moments.  Those moments where I feel that we aren't doing enough; what will he do about qualifications; will he get a job; all those questions that all  parents must have from time to time, but I also feel that if any of the above fails that it will be down to me!  I know that everything is really fine.  I know that Callum is learning, maybe not as much as he would do at school, but he's learning what he enjoys and enjoys what he learns and it's at his own pace.  I'm pretty sure that he'll be fine when it's time to find work, but I'm still panicking and I do every year and I'm sure that as the years pass, I'll get worse and worse.  The trick is not to let it influence my attitude towards what we do.  I don't want our home ed experience to turn into one of me being teacher in front of him at a desk telling him what to do and how.

Callum on the other hand isn't having any of those worries.  He is certain that he's going to get a job; he's certain that it will be in computers (games design) and he's pretty certain that he's going to end up emigrating to America to do it!  I wish I had his confidence and his certainty, but I'm glad he has it.  Before we started home education he didn't have any certainty of anything.  He was a scared little boy; a frustrated and angry little boy with very little confidence and no idea of what he was good at.  Home education has taught him that; it has allowed him to investigate his likes and dislikes and has allowed him to grow in confidence in his own capabilities.  He may not be the most sociable kid on the block nor is he the bravest, but he has inner confidence and that is often more important.

So what 'work' have we done?  Well, we looked at areas and perimeters of different shapes and looked at Pi.  We talked about nouns, pronouns, verbs and adverbs.  We talked about what books we wanted to read next year. We had a discussion about how our local area has changed since I was a kid.  We wrote up the Horrible Histories theatre trip.  We looked up Amelia Dyer, the Victorian baby farmer.  We looked up the Charge of the Light Brigade.  We looked at the Tudor family tree.  We discussed next year's 'timetable'.  He rediscovered Lego and built several Halo models and built a base to put them in.

 He built an alarm for his bedroom door and we went to trampolining lesson!

On top of that, we've had visitors, bounced around on the trampoline, read numerous Horrid Henry books and been shopping.  Oh and, of course, played on the computer!

Cya

Hi all

This week has been a bit weird to be honest.  Not sure if I'm going down with a bug, but Monday and today I have felt exhausted and really achy.  I spent most of Monday asleep on the sofa only getting up if Callum needed me for anything, eg, food, drink or to look at what he was doing on the computer.  I have to admit that now he is older I don't need to be running around for him a lot and that, gratefully, I am 'allowed' to feel under the weather, but he still has issues with using knives for cutting bread or spreading things (he's a bit cackhanded to be honest) and he doesn't like the look, smell or consistency of marg or butter so he won't use it at all, but some things like a marmite sandwich are almost impossible to make without having at least a bit of butter on them.  Guess what he fancied for lunch on Monday....yep, marmite sandwich!

Anyway, Tuesday I was feeling all fab and glorious again; full of energy, although not full of brain power.  We went to the Faversham group, but took our time in the morning so didn't rush.  The group was really quiet this week, but to be honest it suited me.  Unfortunately, because it meant Callum's friends weren't there (the friends he goes off to the computer room with anyway), he sat with me most of the time.

I have no objections to this at all, except it does mean that he gets bored and I get poked and prodded a lot!!!  Am actually rather surprised I'm not covered in bruises on my arms as I get poked and prodded on an almost daily basis.  He doesn't mean any harm and he doesn't do it to hurt, it's his way of getting attention and his way of showing his affection; weird though that may sound.  I'm normally ok about it, but I must admit I wasn't really mentally up for it Tuesday and I own up to the fact that I did eventually snap!  I didn't shout at him, but I did do a huge sigh and faced him with an 'enough now' look and a "please stop it" voice!  I don't think he quite understands how infuriating and, sometimes, painful it can be.  There you are trying to have a conversation while someone is prodding you constantly with a finger.  When you ask what they want, they reply with "nothing!"  "Why are you poking me then?" "Don't know, just am!"

I wish he didn't have so much trouble with socialising sometimes.  I wish he could, occasionally, be like other kids and just go off and do something; try something; speak to someone; ask someone something; but I know he can't or doesn't want to (that's what he normally tells me anyway), but there are some days when I'm really just not in the mood to be his sole form of entertainment.  Some days I would just like to have a conversation by myself with my friends.

Right, that's the I'm feeling sorry for myself bit over and I'll now get on with the rest of the week.  Sorry about that!

Wednesday we seemed to do loads.  His sister spent the day with us as she normally does on a Wednesday, but we managed to achieve rather a lot and I don't mean that we can't normally, we just don't seem to.  We finally got around to the Quex House write up, included some photos and some background which we copy and pasted from the internet (I made him read it first though, so he knew what it said and made him decide what bits he wanted that were relevant and which bits he didn't and that weren't).  I also managed to find and print off a one page little geography questionnaire about Africa; simple stuff like how many countries made up Africa, which was the largest, smallest, etc.  He did that by himself looking up the answers he didn't know using the computer and when it was finished we added that to the write up.

He decided he didn't want to paint his pot, but he did stick some feathers on his mask so we completed that as well.

Then, as we had some time spare, we got out all the work we had done so far since September to see how much we had.  At first I didn't think there was a lot there, but then I remembered that we had a purple box full of ongoing stuff that needs completing and we have some science kits that need doing, so I don't think it will be as bad as we first thought.  Phew!

Oh and I forgot we planted up his new alpine garden; he now has two!  Did that when we returned from Faversham on Tuesday.

In addition this week we have played in the garden; he's helped me with some weeding; he made up an experiment using his treadmill and some of his cars, trucks, etc to see how fast he needed them to go and what speed the treadmill needed to be in order for them not to fall off.  I will mention that these were radio controlled or battery powered cars/trucks.  He's also helped me make cakes and done a bit of tidying in his bedroom.

Today I felt lousy again.  Really achy, really tired and kept feeling sick, so we haven't done 'schoolwork' today.  We did make cake this morning although I just wanted to get it done really quickly so Callum helped with getting things out and putting things away rather than going the whole making thing.  He has made me cups of tea today, bless him.  Plus we had a brief visit from a friend this afternoon (my fault it was brief as I forgot I had osteo at 4pm - sorry about that Carol).

Tomorrow, hopefully is iceskating!  I'm just hoping I can clear whatever this is that I appear to have got.  Can cope with the aches and pains, but the feeling sick is horrible and the feeling tired is just...well, tiring!

Anyway, that's it, cya folks

THE WEEKEND!

Hiya.  Update of weekend.


Friday went well, although we did get lost in Guildford on the way.  Followed AA route which took us through centre of Guildford.  Awful system that lead us round and round and into many car parks before we eventually found our way out!  Note to anyone planning on going to Dunsford...DON'T GO THROUGH GUILDFORD!!  Phil, of course, started to lose his temper and threatened to turn around and go home which was totally unacceptable to me or Callum.  However, a calming talk and a redirection finally got us there with a few minutes to spare.  Unfortunately that is a problem with Asperger; if something says a time, they have to be there by it or it's a complete disaster.  Callum has learned, being with me all day, that sometimes things don't always go to plan and there is nearly always a bit of leeway to timings.  However, Phil hasn't quite got there yet, but he does calm down pretty quick.


Anyway, back to the day.  There were a lot of people there all booking in and driving off in different cars with families taking pictures or videos so was a bit concerned for Callum, but we managed to find a corner with some plastic chairs and sat down to wait for his dad whilst watching all the different cars come in and out. .

People waiting

A number of cars

He was most impressed with the orange Lamborghini (below) and decided that Lamborghinis should either be in yellow or orange, Ferraris should be red and Aston Martins should be black or grey. 

Unfortunately the Aston his dad went in was red (well Burgundy coloured), but I don't think Phil cared which colour it was.

Phil attempting to get in (bit tight as he's 6ft 3)

Driving off

After the main drive which was four laps round the track (apparently the Top Gear track but in reverse) Callum was able to join his dad for a high speed thrill ride which was 1 lap round the track at mega speed in the car below.

Driving off

Returning (can just see Callum in the back seat)

Returned safe and sound and smiling

Needless to say the boys were on a bit of a high on the way home and I guided us on a different route which avoided Guildford altogether.  Lesson to self:  plan the journey yourself and don't rely on anyone else's directions.

Saturday was a small family BBQ as a belated party for Callum.  He only wanted his sister, Terri; her dad, Dave and his Auntie Teresa and Uncle Stephen (Phil's brother) to come so it was really little.  Oh and Terri's dog, Merlin.  Weather stayed dry, but did get a bit overcast and very windy.  Managed to BBQ the food and have a drink and a chat in the garden before returning indoors and all having a go at making origami boats from the instructions in one of Callum's presents that his Aunt and Uncle bought him.  Was hilarious trying to follow the instructions, but some of us managed to make boats and we decided to float them in the water butt outside.

There were origami paddles to be made to go with them, but we decided that the canoes were hard enough, hehe.

On the subject of Arts and Crafts below is a picture of the pot Callum made at Quex House (unpainted at present) and the Tribal Mask (also not finished) which I promised to post last time.

 


Sunday we were intending to go to Fuse Festival in Rochester, but due to our busy week and weekend, Callum felt that he just wanted a day at home being quiet (which means playing on the computer), so we didn't go.  First year for a while we have missed it, but then there is always next time.


So lots of photos this time.  Rest of week we are supposed to be sorting out his work for his Open Day next month and seeing what exactly we have, what is unfinished and what there is to be started.  Oh well, I'll probably be buried under paper and folders for a few days now. ;-)


Cya

RAIN, THEN SUN, THEN RAIN AGAIN

Well this week has been a bit of a weird one weatherwise.  It started off wet, we've just had a few days of brilliant sunshine and now they are predicting heavy rain again.  All good for the garden, but not so good when you have plans for being out and about.

Spent last weekend, which was fine in the day and wet by the evening, out and about foraging with Phil and Callum down at Riverside and Motney Hill.  Saturday was elderflowers for cordial, chickweed for infusing in oil for an anti itching lotion for later and sea beet for prawn stir fry for dinner.  Callum isn't into picking stuff, but loves trying things out when I've cooked them.  But he is getting rather good at spotting things, so armed with my 'shopping list' we set off.  Elderflowers this year seem rather abundant so managed to get plenty for cordial and a few extra for drying for making 'flu season' tea later in the year.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself running up and down the 'beach' with the dog and climbing over the walls.

Once home his dad had to go back to work and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen prepping my free goodies.

Sunday was Motney Hill for some more elderflowers; this time for fritters and we managed to get some samphire from the beach for dinner.  Also collected some red clover for drying for a tea.  Callum actually helped pick today, but only the clover as he was having far too much fun running up and down with the dog on the beach, but at least it's a start.  Both him and the dog ended up covered in mud and sand, but it all washes out so who cares?

Monday we went off to a friend's house and ended up picking even more elderflowers (this time from her garden) and showing them and her student how to make the fritters.  There were tons of them; plenty for 4 kids and 4 adults.  Callum had a great time playing with Azeem in his little den.

Tuesday was Callum's birthday; the big 13!!  Was planning to take him to the beach, but it poured down all day so we didn't go.  Asked him what he wanted to do and he said "pj day"!  So that's what he had.  All day in pjs.  He watched Tin Tin on DVD, played on the Playstation and the computer and watched a bit of telly.  Big sis visited for the day as well and he obviously had some presents to open and some cards.  Has ended up with £30 in cash to spend and a WH Smith voucher, has already ordered a new PC game.

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day which was brilliant as we were on a home education trip to Quex House in Birchington.  Quite a large group of kids, but Callum coped well and he did have some space to retreat for some quiet time too.  The guide we had was fab; very good with the children and very patient and funny.  We learnt a little about the Powell-Cotton estate, but he didn't dwell on it for long.  We then watched a short video on how to make African pots before going outside in the sunshine to have a go at making our own.  Will post a photo up next time.  Then back inside to make masks.  First had a little discussion about different types of masks and why we would use them and then pretty much all the kids went to make animal masks in the animal room.  Callum wasn't too keen on doing that, but decided to make a tribal one instead.  So I went and gathered some paper and crayons and we returned to the tribal room to make his mask.  Had to leave him to get on with it as he didn't want me watching.  It's turned out really well and I'll post a photo of that next time too.  He wants to add things to it before we finally put it together for a mask, so I may wait until it's complete, but then again I might not.

Then it was lunch and free time.  He needed to get some space by this point, so we went over by the fountain to eat and then walked around the gardens before coming home.  Was rather proud of him as he remained with the group for the majority of the time which I know was quite hard for him on occasion.

Today he's been at home playing on a game he's found on Facebook.  He now has an account as he's 13.  He wouldn't join before as you aren't supposed to have one until then.  A few of his friends already had their own account, but he insisted on waiting.  I must admit, it's a bit odd seeing him comment or like posts.

Tomorrow is his dad's driving experience day at Cranleigh and hopefully the thrill ride for them both.  I'll be making sure I have a large flask of tea to drink while I watch them career around the track.  Might have to make sure there are waterproofs too as they are forecasting heavy rain again for the afternoon.

Oh well, here's hoping it'll stay dry enough for them to have their afternoon.  Cya later folks.