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

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.

WE HAVE NO MOTIVATION

Hi all, yes I know it's been ages!  We don't seem to have any motivation at the moment.  Everyday is a struggle to get anything done or planned.  I know that this is just a lull, but it's beginning to worry me.

Callum has definitely turned into a teen or at least a preteen.  He's reading every night (which isn't a bad thing) until about 11pm, but that means he isn't getting up until 9am, sometimes 10am.  Again, this isn't a real problem as we aren't having to get ready for school, but it does mean that by the time we are up and ready it's verging on lunchtime!  The weather hasn't helped either as it's been so miserable that that affects my moods and I've been having more headaches and having a general feeling of blurgh!

So what have we done?  Well, we've still been going to ice skating and the Faversham meetings and Callum has still be doing trampolining.  He's now somersaulting!  Did six this week, with 4 of those in a row!  Go Callum!

Last weekend we held a charity tea party in aid of the Blue Cross (animals) and managed to raise just over £100.  Callum helped make a few of the cakes and posted invites to the neighbours.  He also helped clean up the house in readiness for our guests.  So I suppose we could class that as life skills, haha.

Sunday we went off to the local Flower Festival at Cozenton and bought some veg and fruit plants for the garden and some alpines for Callum's little sink garden.  It needs digging out and redoing, so that is something I'd like to get done before the weekend if the weather stays dry.

Monday this week we went off to London with his sister, Terri, to visit an art exhibition in Somerset House.  We are supposed to be looking at colour and light and The Courtauld Gallery had a Mondrian/Nicholson exhibition on, so I thought that would be a good one to visit as Mondrian (and Nicholson) used blocks of colour.  Callum really enjoyed it, in fact he also enjoyed having a look at the other exhibitions that were on, "I liked seeing the different ways of painting" he told me on Wednesday when we were doing a write up to go in our folder.  In fact, he even said he would like to go and visit some other galleries!

Callum's own version of Mondrian

Afterwards we then walked back towards Waterloo East and went off to the Imperial War Museum for a couple of hours.  Had totally forgotten how much of it there was and we have decided another visit is necessary.  We only managed one floor and the main hall.

Callum with his sister, Terri

Just about reach!

As I've already said we had trampolining on Tuesday and yesterday Terri visited us again and they had a little art lesson on creating pictures in the style of Mondrian or Nicholson (see Callum's above).

Today, it's overcast again, I have a headache and Callum is in his pjs on the Wii.  Tomorrow is the ice skating meet and we have Mini Beast Hunting and Tree Identification Walk at the weekend.

Hopefully we will feel more motivated next week.  Not so out and about which means we might be able to get some experiments done and some more maths.

Cya

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Hi all

Been a quiet couple of days to be honest. Were supposed to be going to a home ed meet in Maidstone on Monday, but both myself and Callum woke up a bit snuffly and didn't feel like going out. Instead we decided to plan Christmas. Callum helps me with the cooking preparations and we got down our box of presents and cards to see what we needed to get. I tend to buy bits and pieces throughout the year if something grabs me and its in a sale and they all go into a big box for birthday and Christmas presents.

We discovered that we didn't need any cards as we'd got them all in the January sales, so Callum has decided to try and write out a card a day as he hates doing them. He needs to make a list first though, so we'll do that by the end of the week.

We finished packing and cataloging the Halloween stuff and that went upstairs to the attic.

We then did pop up the town as its Draco's (our black labrador) birthday next Monday and the pet market stall is on Mondays. We bought a couple of treats and looked at a new bed for him as his is getting a bit tatty and flat!

Today we cleared out the under stairs cupboard. It is supposed to be the overflow kitchen cupboard with all the seasonal/birthday crockery, trays, etc, but it does tend to get used as a dumping cupboard. So, it was pull everything out, clear out the rubbish, tidy up the posters and papers and repack the boxes. Took off and on most of the day, but we now have lots of room and everything is pretty easy to get at. Callum got easily distracted by the posters and the art stuff and all the bits and pieces, which probably accounted for most of the time, but it got done!

Then off to trampolining where he was definitely put through his paces for 1/2 hr. He worked extremely hard and has nearly nailed another thing off his list which he's really pleased about. Oh, on the subject of achieving things, we heard yesterday that he has passed his Bronze Arts Award! Yay! I have written about this during previous posts and although relatively easy, making sure it was written up how they wanted it and covering everything they asked was pretty hard, plus doing or attending workshops is a big issue for Callum, so the fact that he managed it at all means I'm really pleased for him.

Whilst out we popped to the library to see if they had the next book from the one he has just finished, but sadly they didn't. Then off to charity shop to drop off some bits found in the cupboard and, of course, we couldn't resist having a look round. I managed to pick up a skirt and a jacket that came to the grand total of £3 and Callum took a liking to a Christmas mug for 20p! Then card shop for birthday cards and paper, then home, we also have his Uncle's birthday and a friend's daughter's birthday this weekend.

Since then, he's been back on his game, but he is now doing some maths and some word puzzles while I'm on here. Going to start limiting his time on computer otherwise he is and has been on it all day!

So that's it; busy, but at home and its been rather enjoyable. Tomorrow we need to check ingredients for mincemeat as want to make that on Thursday. He loves making the mincemeat as its really easy and a case of chucking everything into a big pan. Then, of course, we get the first smell of Christmas with all the dried fruit, spices and a touch of Brandy.....yum!

Cya

WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABDUCTED!!!

Hi all

No we are not dead, we have not moved or been abducted by aliens, we’ve just been busy! Well, I’ve been very busy and Callum has just been busy! And we have had a temporary addition to the family in the shape of my daughter’s Chihuahua/Jack Russell cross Merlin. Sweet little dog, very bouncy and likes lots of love and attention..aaah!

So apologises in advance for this being so long!

Last week of October is always busy for me, even with Callum’s help as we have a Halloween party to organise. I adore Halloween; it’s my favourite festival of the year. I love the excuse to dress up and be silly and to do crazy stuff with food and games. I’ve been doing kids parties since my daughter, now 23, was 8 and they have got more elaborate as the years have gone past. I’m actually glad I have limited money as I’d be one of those that would go completely over the top.

So, what does Callum think of it all. Well, he thinks it’s a lot of fun too and as he’s got older he enjoys the ‘over the topness’ of it all. He’s been a great helper this year too as he’s come up with his own ideas and helped to develop the games and helped with the decoration of the house.

This year, we did a Macbeth themed party (well it does have murder, ghosts and witches in it, so why not?). We decorated the front room with a hanging witch, a cauldron with prizes in, silhouettes of trees and the tree shields that would be used for a later game. We also had a sound activated black cat and broomstick.


The dining room was the medieval mansion with spider webbing, rats and insects plus a ghost to represent Banquo. The table was laid out in black and silver with mice, spiders and bugs on.



Food was medieval themed with baked potatoes, corn on the cob, chicken legs, cold meat, bread and cheese with dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit and (un-medieval) cupcakes.

Games were played in an order to represent a slightly shorter version of the story and included:
Meeting the Witches – items in jars of birdseed, shake to reveal items and tick off list.
Pass the Crown – Card crown with bag attached. Pass round and pick out parcels in order when music stops. Whoever is King Duncan will wear the crown first.
Murder of King Duncan – Chocolate shaped heart filled with chopped red jelly. Throw a skull on the dice, put on knight’s gloves, helmet, and colours and eat with knife and fork.
Murder of Banquo – Silhouette of Banquo with heart. Blindfold and use dagger to stab nearest.
Witches Spell – ‘Cauldron’ (covered with black bags) of cooked spaghetti containing various spell ingredients. Dive in and pick out stuff. Food stuffs and other items to represent the ingredients.
Moving Trees - Hold cut out tree shields and daggers. Move around and when music stops stand as still as possible. To make it a little harder the moving broomstick was set off and they had to avoid that too.
Finally;
Bobbing for Apples - Containing a cut out head of Macbeth apple. As many apples in 30 seconds avoiding the ‘head’



The party went well and there was a least one “yuck” moment when Amy was the first to cut into the chocolate heart to discover the red jelly oozing out. Face was a picture, bless her.

It was nice to see that the kids had done a bit of research too so that they knew the story and where the games were heading, in fact they got quite argumentative as to who should be wearing the crown and who was dead and who wasn’t.

We had a nice steady stream of ‘trick or treaters’ at the door from about 5pm till about 7.30pm and all the cakes went and we were left dishing out sweets.



The next few days were spent deconstructing the house back to normal and then trying to relax in between going out and about. Tuesday my friend Linda popped round with her daughter Danielle; which was nice as I haven’t seen her for ages and it was lovely to have someone to talk to whilst I packed everything away in boxes.

Wednesday was Mad Science in Sittingbourne with home ed group. Thanks to Lorraine and Amy for driving us there. Acids and Alkalines this time. Callum didn’t go down and try it all out as 1) he was wary and 2) we’d already down this at home, he still enjoyed it though.

Friday was Ice Skating; again with Lorraine and Amy, Callum didn’t ice skate, but sat reading his book and then having a quick game on his DS with one of the other boys. I wonder if it’s worth us going, but he does enjoy it and I think it’s good to get him out in a group, even if he doesn’t join in, to get used to the noise and the people. He does like going as I asked him, so we shall continue, one day he may actually go off and skate.

Saturday was Riverside Country Park for Scarecrow making. We took along some old clothes and used other bits and pieces to make a face and hair and then stuffed it all with straw. We decided to take it home and sew it all together as using the string and/or staples didn’t seem to be working that well. Cappuccino and hot chocolate in café afterwards while we waited for dad to pick us up. Callum has named the scarecrow George. Just need a couple of broom handles now and he can go in the garden next Spring to protect our crops.


Then up to the Great Lines in the evening for the Firework display. We had to take Merlin the dog as our dog was freaking out and Merlin was being a bit of a pest with him. Luckily he wasn’t bothered at all by the noise and ended up falling asleep inside my jacket at one point!

Yesterday, Terri returned from America so we looked at all her photos, got given lots of pressies and then she and Merlin and all her bags went off home.

It’s been very quiet here today.

Cya

HALLOWEEN IS COMING AGAIN! YAY

Hello everybody peeps.

Been a bit distracted by preps for Halloween party so have missed a day. Callum's input has been fab, he's really starting to get into it and when I've been stuck, he's come up with a plan.

Past few days have been lots of odds and sods really; mainly sorting out of workbooks, puzzle books and sticker books and going through all the arts and crafts stuff we have. I tend to buy bits as and when I see them 'just in case' and so end up with bulging drawers full of stickers, crayons, felt tips, pipe cleaners, rubber stamps, sticky shapes, etc, etc. Most have been sitting about for quite a while, so we decided to go through it all and shift stuff we are not going to use and get rid of dried up paint and pens. Made a huge difference and now have space in the drawers...wooo hooo!

The reason for the clear out; we have craft stuff to do for the party and we really needed to know what we had and what we needed to get. By Wednesday we had decided on the first two games and needed to make sure the 1st one worked ok, so we assembled the jars (not giving too much away) and gave it a go. Success rate was about 95%, one object just would not budge, so we (well, Callum actually) spent the next hour (yes, I did say an hour) testing different weights/amount of filling until he managed to get the success rate to as near 100% as he could without compromising the ease/difficulty of the rest of the game. Thanks Callum, I really didn't have the patience and was ready to change the whole thing, so I'm really grateful for his effort.

The 2nd game involved making a crown complete with inner fabric cap (duel purpose) and again I required some assistance...well modelling really.

Today we've completed the list of games. After much discussion the finer points have been agreed on and a draft 'plan of action' has been written. Hard work this party planning stuff, but good fun.

So seven games sorted (well decided on), food agreed and decorations planned and bought. Now its just finishing off making stuff that needs doing, food to be ordered and baking to be done. Nearly ready!

Tomorrow we are having a break and going swimming.

Cya

Hi all,

Quite a productive day today. Mainly to do with Callum's Art Award, but did have fun too.

We started off with the normal maths/literacy with no strops today as he found it really easy!! His words not mine. We had a discussion about fractions into percentages (me having to wrack my brains to remember how to convert one to the other, but remembered eventually - bad me!) which, of course, led onto infinite numbers like 0.3333333 or 0.66666666 and the use of the word recurring or the symbol for infinity. Then it was writing up his workshops to include in his Award. We weren't entirely sure if the bird house making would count, but we wrote it up anyway and then the kite making one from last week. This one we did think we could include as there was designing and colouring involved. We included photographs and sent them off, only to have an email back saying exactly what we thought. We tweaked the kite making one a little bit more to include why Callum had designed his kite the way he had and were given the thumbs up! Yay.

This afternoon was his workshop to demonstrate something to someone else. Callum decided to do mosaic coasters and show it to his sister. We had to do step by step instructions and Callum had to work with his sister showing her what to do, then she had to give a brief description on how he did and he will have to do a quick write up of how he thought it went. Am hoping it will be fine as we are now running out of time. The moderation date is 4th November!!

Anyway, below is how they got on.








Terri rather enjoyed herself and has come up with loads of different projects that she now wants to do using broken tiles, mirrors, glass, plates, etc and Callum really enjoyed showing something he could do and being able to do something with his sister.

On top of that I made nectarine chutney out of a glut of nectarines Phil brought home at the weekend and managed to tidy up the dining room table and the computer table of all its junk. Would have been a bit difficult to do the coasters if I hadn't! haha.

Anyway, short and sweet today as its a bit late.

Cya

WOW, WHAT HAPPENED TO LAST MONTH

Well, hello there. Just realised that I haven't posted since the start of the summer hols. Oooops!!! So here's a quick update of what we did:

Archeology Dig at Tower Bridge - found animal bones and pottery;
Orienteering at Capstone Park with friends - didn't get lost, but walked miles;
Foraging with friends for damsons, blackberries, cherry plums and red clover;
Photo exhibition and some bands at a local pub;
Cinema trip to see Zookeeper with friends;
Swimming with best mate;
Margate with best mate;
More bands at a local pub with friends;
Beer festival at another local pub;
Medieval Merriment Festival at Rochester Castle;
Model Exhibition at local Royal Engineers Museum, and
Various play dates with various people.

Plus, of course, the normal shopping, chilling, playing on computer/Wii/Playstation.

PHEW!!! Glad we are back to home ed, it might be quieter - haha

FIRST WEEK OF BEING TWELVE AND A VERY BUSY ONE AT THAT!

And so to the rest of the time.

Private trampolining is still going well. Would love him to finish a badge before James leaves, but we only have two more lessons, so that's looking unlikely which is a shame. We will be stopping until September after that and I'm convinced that he'll have forgotten half of it by then. We shall see, he normally ends up proving me wrong!!

We've also had another Riverside Rangers meet up. Bird watching this time. Callum was, unfortunately not really in the mood. I think he was still obsessing about his new things as I hadn't had much cooperation out of him on the education front either, but I insisted he went along, even if it was just for the fresh air. Big Sis, Terri, joined us which was really handy as while I was ensuring Callum was ok and helping him with binoculars and generally being the pack horse, she wrote down lots of notes which came in very useful when we came to write it up the next day.

On the Thursday, Callum had his first osteopath appointment. He'd been complaining off and on about having a pain in his back and so I said I'd make him an appointment. We weren't sure if the pains were just growing pains of whether it was due to him using his scooter since forever!! Callum has never wanted a bike, although he has recently been on his best friend's one. He's always had a scooter and has an offroad huge affair at the moment. My worry is that he can only 'scoot' on one side and this would have led to one side being stronger than the other making him lop sided. He wasn't keen on going and had a bit of a moment before going in, but he calmed down once he met her and she'd spoken to him. He wouldn't take off any of his clothes, but she managed to examine him by him lifting his Tshirt. He is slightly wonky and one side of his lower back is tighter than the other, so he had a lovely massage and a bit of manipulation and came home happy! In fact he was really tired and slept until 9am the following day! He had about 3 days of sleeping brilliantly and late into the morning, so whatever she's done, it's been good for him.

Friday was foraging with our friend Carol and her daughter Lauren.
The kids ran off into the mudflats and the water while we had a good forage for some food. Learnt a lot and came home with enough Sea Beet and Samphire to do two dinners. Callum loved both the veggies, but his dad wouldn't try the Sea Beet and didn't really like the Samphire. Oh well, Callum and I will be ok if there's a food shortage as Callum loves trying out different things that we pick, but Phil would probably starve as they don't come clean and in packages. Hehe.

The weekend was Fuse Festival, a local Arts festival, where lots of different wacky acts get together and do performances. Callum loves Fuse and even though it rained we spent 4 hours there!!!

The AirAquarium was a tent with a transparent roof. It was supposed to be an underwater lab (very well done) and puppets made from recycled rubbish were used to 'explore' the bottom of the ocean! Very funny in parts and very clever!
Dizzy O'Dare and Poppet on the Tiny Tightwire

Callum's favourite act of 2011 - Goronwy Thom

OK! I CAN'T DO IT - HAHA

Right!! It's Sunday, it's 11pm and it's blog time. I'm not tired, although I will be tomorrow morning when I have to get up!

This week has been a lot better than last week. Neither of us have felt quite so ill, but we have still felt like hibernating! Weather has been a bit better, so I think that helps and we have been (or at least I have) in full swing getting ready for Halloween. (See other blog for info on my obsession!).

So, what has been happening? Well, the Sunday after the party we met up with a few friends at Gore Farm where we rent an apple tree. It's an annual thing and we all troop up to the orchard, boxes in hand, get allotted our tree and pick all the apples off it. There is normally at least 3 large boxes for each family to take home, so well worth the £10 per annum it costs us. It does tend to be the adults picking the apples and the kids eating them or running off into the orchard/meadow to hang out and this year wasn't really much different. However, the farm now has lots of animals on it which it never has had before, so there was even less incentive for the kids to pick fruit! Was a good afternoon though except for one little glitch. We all wanted tea and cake afterwards, but the cafe has some strange rules about when they serve food, so weren't serving cake. Callum was not amused and decided to sulk, even refusing an icecream as compensation, but he soon got over it.

Monday we slobbed about the house, but Tuesday we were out and about. First up to the library to pick up our 2 DVDs that we'd reserved. Up and Gladiator! Up for entertainment and Callum has never got round to seeing it and wanted to and Gladiator so we can have something visual for our project. Whilst there, I returned a couple of books and asked whether they had any other Asterix books. We were led to a shelf which had loads on so Callum was in heaven. He picked one out and was overjoyed when I told him he could have more. Found out we can take out 30 books on his card. A bit too many for us to carry, but we ended up with about 10. 4 Asterix, couple of dinosaur reference books, dinosaur origami book (dinosaurs being next month's project), another version of Midsummer Night's Dream and another gladiator book which turned out to be a graffic novel which Callum seems to have taken a shine too. Then it was off to my friend's new house for the afternoon.

Wednesday was slobbing again, but at least we had Up to watch which we both loved, although it was quite sad to start with. Callum didn't quite fancy Gladiator today, but went off and found a game on the computer instead. Then it was Bang Goes the Theory on TV tonight!

Thursday was trampolining as usual, but Callum decided he didn't want to bounce again. Am getting a bit worried about him to be honest. I asked why he didn't want to bounce, but he just said he didn't fancy it. Although he wants to at his private lessons. When I queried it, he just said that he preferred his private lessons as he has more time on the trampoline. He did join in with the foam pit though and he interacted with all the kids, so not a complete loss.

Friday was theatre day! Group home ed visit to see Shakespeare for Kids version of Midsummer Night's Dream. Met Liz and her children on the train (completely by accident) which was nice. However, at Rochester station a school group got on which put Callum out a bit, but not as bad as he's been before. When we got off the station we were in front and the school group behind us. It looked like Callum was leading the way and he cheekily said that if that was true he'd continue walking back round and up the steps to the train station and see if the school would follow. He did, but they didn't - oh well. At least he thought it was funny.

The theatre was packed with school groups and Callum wasn't dealing too well with it saying he wanted to go home. Luckily we had the back two rows, so he sat between me and Carol, his favourite other parent. I'd got him some sweets and he calmed down pretty quickly. The play was excellent!!! Very very funny. All the kids enjoyed it and all the school kids were joining in with the shouting and clapping. It was wonderful to see actually. This was Shakespeare and they were loving it!! Would definitely go and see another production by them.

We came out and decided to wander around the shops for a bit with Carol and Lauren as all the kids were heading back to the station. We left them half way round and met up with Liz again and then Carol turned up on the platform just before train due in, so we all travelled back together which was really nice. Did mean that we were late for my daughter though! Ooops, my turn! hehe. Whilst she was there the postman turned up and our Horrible Histories DVD was in there, so we then had 7 episodes of that being watched - aargh! Was good fun though, although probably not what Terri was expecting - sorry Terri!

This weekend he's been on computer designing road tracks for racing cars and I've been art and crafting for Halloween. All said and done, a much better week!

Cya

HOSPITAL, PARTY AND RAIN

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I last told you what we've been up to and to be honest it hasn't really been much. Although, I always seem to say that and then end up writing reams of stuff, haha.

We downloaded our Dover Castle pictures this week and are now gathering quite a lot of information to go into our Castles project folder. We also made a salt dough motte and Callum built a bailey out of cocktail sticks and strips of newspaper. We've made a shield (see left) to represent him as a knight and cut out and stuck together (well I did as it was glue, which he doesn't like, and tiny, so he would have got frustrated) a square keep castle so we have two forms of castle to show people. I also managed to get a Knights and Castles activity box for £1.99, which has a poster, mask, booklet and sticker scene in it. Actually I think we've overdone the resources on castles, so won't have to buy anything about those for a while - hehe.

He had his best friend's party on the 3rd July. He had a bowling party at the local AMF bowling alley and had a fab time. It was mostly boys apart from Callum D's sisters and friend and, bearing in mind my Callum didn't know at least one person there and hadn't seen the others for ages, he got on with all of them brilliantly and he ate (including anyone's leftovers!!!!!).

We also dogsat for his uncle's dog Floyd who Callum adores and on their return they stayed for a BBQ, so Callum thoroughly enjoyed his weekend.

The week beginning the 5th was a bit slow, as I had to have an op on my leg on the Tuesday and didn't really feel like doing much. It was an outpatient’s op, but for the rest of the afternoon on Tuesday and all day Wednesday I was still full of anaesthetic, so keep dozing. Luckily my daughter, Terri, came over on the Tuesday and she and Callum had a baking day while I was in hospital and sleeping afterwards, so it was only really Wednesday where he had to occupy himself. Having the permission to be on the Wii all day instead of working or shopping or helping out though was a bit of a bonus for him, so he definitely wasn't complaining! ;-)


Thursday I was feeling a little bit more normal, whatever that is, and we went to trampolining as usual, had Amy and her mum Lorraine back afterwards for an hour or so and then off to MAGIC in the evening with Callum D. MAGIC is a special Autistic night at the local indoor play centre. It is only open to our group so the children can run, shout, play and generally have a great time without the worry of anyone thinking that they are different. It's a fab night and I managed to get some reading done and drink tea - bliss.

On the Friday we had been invited to the Kent Autistic Trust's opening of an art exhibition by local Autistic adults. It was lovely to be able to see their work and it was all outstanding and I'm not just saying this, their work was wonderful and if I'd had the money I would have bought lots as would have Callum (he already owns two original pieces of art and he loves them both). The only downside was that the exhibition was in a fairly small room and it got pretty crowded and noisy in there. We all spilled into the hall where there was food and drink and could have a chat and meet up with others. Callum managed about an hour before it got too much and we decided to leave, popping into Wilkinson's on the way home to pick up photo paper, bird food and bits of stationery that we were low on.

We had a relaxing weekend of doing nothing in particular and then have concentrated on putting the finishing touches to our project over the past couple of days. We did take some time out to do some phonic work and to recap on shapes and our delivery of lovely books turned up this morning, which included a set of Spongebob Squarepants books for Callum to read. He hates reading, but will read Hairy McClary and now Spongebob. He loves watching the cartoons and was hoping that he would read the books - he devoured 4 in total today!!! I also continued with reading Skullduggery Pleasant to him this afternoon after lunch.

Anyway, more work tomorrow, trampolining on Thursday and, hopefully, water survey at Mote Park with big sis on Friday. Oh yes, the rain! Forgot to mention the rain. It rained here yesterday all morning and guess what Callum did? He went out in it, in his pjs and a coat and spent the whole morning brushing the puddles (our patio area gets flooded as there is only one soakaway). He had a whale of a time making waves and watching the water splash about. When the rain stopped, he came in!!!! Bless him. Oh well, each to their own and it did mean I could catch up with six months (yes six months) of filing!! Eeek there was a lot of paper!

A YEAR OLDER AND HAVING FUN!

Hi all

I know it's been another couple of weeks since posting, sorry all, but it's been busy!

Firstly, Callum has had a birthday, he's now 11 - wow!! And instead of having a party to celebrate we took his best friend off to my Callum's favourite place, Great Yarmouth Haven Site. He loves it there for several reasons, but mainly because of the wind farm out at sea which is clearly seen from the beach!

This little weekend away was a big thing for Callum as he has never had/been to a sleepover before (he's never wanted one or to go to one), so I wasn't entirely sure how things would go and the fact that we only booked a two bedroomed caravan could have proved a bit difficult if the boys hadn't got on! I did a bit of investigating when got there and found the double bed in the sofa, so if the worst came to the worst myself and Phil would have to sleep there, but then there would have been an issue with bedding. We always take our own as Callum prefers his own things.

Anyway, the weekend went fine. Callum and Callum got on fabulously and didn't argue once! They spent the whole weekend either on the beach or in the arcades with a kart hire and crazy golf as extras. They did get up ridiculously early mind you! 5.30am on Saturday, 6.30am on Sunday and my C was up 7.30am Monday with CD up around 8am. I'm surprised that they didn't completely crash, but they didn't. Actually my C did on Saturday as we wanted to watch the England match and he wasn't particularly interested so curled up with the dog on the floor and fell asleep. The other Callum kept nodding off, but was determined to stay up 'til the end of the match, but as soon as his head hit the pillow afterwards he was gone, bless him. The Monday after we signed out we spend the morning and afternoon in The Model Village which Callum had remembered from last time and wanted to go again!

On our return we spent most of the week uploading photos and making a display folder for all our holiday stuff, photos, brochures, etc. We also finished off the display folder from our holiday in Cornwall earlier this year. Callum seemed very energised after the break and worked really well.

Thursday was trampolining as normal and his sister came along to watch. Callum was on top form and worked really well, smiling and being very affectionate to our coach James! I'd invited everyone back to the house afterwards for an impromptu tea and play, doing a emergency shop online the day before to get things delivered. I even managed to get a birthday cake, which he didn't have while we were away. Callum had a great time and didn't get stressed once!

Friday, Callum D came round as my Callum wanted to play his new Wii Mario game with him. This meant I could catch up on emails and finances.

Saturday was Fuse Festival in the High Street. Fuse is an arts festival with music, fun stuff, puppets, etc. I wanted to go last year as in my youth I worked for Arts in Medway and we helped to organise stuff like this, so it was a reminder of days gone by. However, Callum doesn't like the High Street on Saturdays or Mondays as it is also market day. But I managed to persuade him to go (for an hour said I) to see what was there. Ended up being up there the whole afternoon (12.30pm - 4pm) with us coming home for a quick cuppa (we are only 5mins away) before returning. Callum loved it all, although the music group Bang On was a bit noisy for him. They use household items to make drumming music and Callum really liked it, but couldn't stand and listen for too long as it hurt his ears. He loved, however, the moving Bollards from Bureau of Silly Ideas and the completely crazy nun called Musical Ruth who was a guy dressed up as a nun riding on a mobility scooter that had been converted into a church organ (see photo). He was hilarious and completely bonkers, but Callum adored him. Am hoping to go to Rochester this weekend as they are having their turn then.

Anyway, I'm going to stop there and try and blog this week at the end of the week as there is just too much to write and my fingers hurt - hehe.