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

YES TIME DOES!

Hiya

In respect of the blog title, the last one was entitled Doesn't Time Fly and this one is a follow on as it's obvious that it does as it's been an age!

What have we done?  Well, for starters, we've been on holiday!!!  And we went to the Science Fair in London.  AND we've also done the usual trampolining, social visits, etc.

So, firstly, Science Fair at London, EXcel centre.  Easy journey; high speed to Stratford International and then DLR to EXcel, brilliant!!

The fair was packed, but Callum coped really really well.  We arrived about 11.30am and had a good general look round before hitting some individual 'stalls'.  Callum joined in with the Science Museum stuff and although I had to help him 'get in amongst it' as the school kids were really pushy,he handled it pretty well and enjoyed the tasks set.  I even had the kids lining up at one point as there were kids who just stood by and let the others push in.  Hey ho, wasn't having that as it was unfair!  There was loads to see and do and I got some great information with regard to science awards from the British Science Association.  We toddled off for a coffee and some lunch about 12.30 and then dived back in afterwards to catch up on bits we'd missed.  However, by about 1.30pm it was starting to get even more noisy and busy and Callum (and myself) had begun to feel a little claustrophobic and he wasn't coping with the noise very well, so we left and had a stroll along the waterfront in the wind and watched the planes flying overhead.  Back on the DLR and high speed train and home by 3.30pm.  Short day, but good fun, well worth it!

And so to holiday!  Weymouth Bay Haven Holiday Park for 4 nights from Monday through to Friday.  Nightmare journey through A roads because dad felt that the M25 would be too busy, but as we kept hitting towns, I don't think it would have made much difference.  Took 5 hours!!!  Check in easy peasy and they had allocated a lovely caravan away from the main entertainment site, so lovely and quiet.  We'd also managed to get an upgrade; booked a Prestige and ended up with a Platinum!  

Unpacked, made a cuppa and then headed off into town to stock up on supplies for the days away.  Didn't do much in the evening apart from popping into the arcades to spend some 2ps.

Tuesday was sunny, but windy with some overcast clouds, but it didn't rain all day.  So Tank Museum (main reason for going) followed by Corfe Castle Model Village.  Callum loved the fact that they had a model village within the model village and even a really really tiny village inside that.  Didn't go up to the castle itself as up a very large hill and my hip was already hurting from walking around the museum and Callum was beginning to get a headache.  I'd like to point out that he was up at 7am! Normally it's 11am, so I think he was a little knackered.

My favourite - it's pink!

Hands up dad!

The entrance

The Triumph of Humanity

Outside again!

Tank museum pictures above!

Honestly, I've loads of tank pictures as Callum loves tanks, but personally, once you've seen one, you've seen most of them.  I'm such a heathen!

Model village within a model village with a model village (just look closely to the left just below the trees - it's there)

Working mill

The model Corfe Castle

The real Corfe Castle

Having a wander

Corfe Castle Model Village

Again got loads more, but hey, it's a small house.  Fab workmanship though.  Well impressed.

Anyway, that's the first day written up!  Will do some more tomorrow.

Cya

END OF THE WEEK LETHARGY

Good morning, sorry bit late with this but I was out gallavanting last night (seem to be doing that quite a bit this month - oh well, never mind, hehe) so didn't get round to writing up our day.

So, what did we do?  We were supposed to be going Ice Skating, but as one of our friends wasn't going and we had a couple of things we wanted to catch up on, Callum decided that he didn't fancy going so we stayed at home instead.

Both of us were feeling a little tired and, to be honest, neither of us could really be bothered to do much.  However, I did say that we needed to write up the potato experiment that we did ages ago, so that's what we did; creating a new basic blank sheet with prompts for writing up experiments.  We have them for days out and book reviews and they make life a little easier as Callum can see the questions he needs to answer and it gives him prompts as to what information he needs to include.

I know I may have posted this picture before, but this is the experiment we were writing up.  The potato on the left was standing in salt water and the one of the right just plain water.  Over a period of a week, the one on the left shrivelled and salt crystals grew on it, but the one on the right remained exactly the same.  It took longer than it stated to get the results, but was simple to do and could be left to get on with it, so all good.

This picture shows the salt crystals a little clearer and the wrinkling.

After this we did a little maths and went over the rest of the revision sheets to ensure Callum knew what he was doing; going to knuckle down and get on with those next week.

Called it quits after that.  Callum went off on to the computer to create a new game on Roblox.  Have asked him to print off a screen shot and the script so we can use it in our computer studies folder.  He spent pretty much the rest of the day on the computer although what him and dad did when I went out I don't know.

So that's Friday done!

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

AND OFF WE GO

Hello again...yes scarily I'm here for the 2nd day in a row.

So what of today?  Well apart from me being up before Callum, which is beginning to happen more often than not as he's getting older (another plus for the home edding, no forcing a disgruntled teenager to get up and get out of the house on time), we managed to be ready 1/2hr before we needed to leave to catch the train!!  We still managed to have our morning chat over a cuppa although neither fancied breakfast today.   Lunch was made and packed, I remembered to take everything I needed to and Callum had time to sort out extras that he wanted to take just in case.

We decided to leave a little earlier and go and do what we were going to do on the way home rather than sitting about knowing it wasn't worth starting anything and just watching the clock go round.  WHSmiths didn't have the book we wanted, but we managed to order it which saved us P&P and it should be here by the end of the week.  Bank was next and then the train station to head off to Faversham picking up Callum's friend on the way.

Home ed meet was brilliant.  Lots of people today including some newbies.  Callum disappeared with Stewart as soon as they got there which meant I could have a good natter and gossip with the mums and dads knowing that he was safe and happy.  Travelled home with some more friends and he got an invite to a birthday party which he is looking forward to.

We love our Faversham meets, such a lovely group and the activities are fab and as diverse as the children.

Tonight he is knackered to the point where he has decided to go upstairs with a cuppa and watch some telly in his room.  Wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't doze off on his bean bag AND we are going out again tomorrow.


As to the science experiment we did yesterday:

The two potatoes side by side (both were the same size)

The salt has been absorbed by the potato and the crystals are coming through the skin.

The potato wasn't particularly shrivelled, but had shrunk in comparison to the other non salted potato.  I think it's pretty much successful.  Just got to right it up now.

Anyway, that's it for today, cya later folks.

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

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

MID WEEK SUNSHINE

Hiya

Had a lovely, pleasant, ploddy day today. The sun was shining, although still chilly and we had a bit of a lazy start, then off up town to do a bit of shopping.

Firstly we went in search of some Borax; first port of call was, of course, Boots. Unfortunately Boots in Gillingham doesn't stock it anymore, although we were informed we may be able to get it in the larger stores. So we left with liquid paracetamol and Vit C tablets instead (we all have colds). We then scoured Savers (came out with large box of Bic of Soda), Wilkinsons (box of Quality Street) and Superdrug (nothing at all), all to no avail.

Why are we after Borax? Well we have some science experiments we want to do and we need Borax. One of the experiments involves growing crystals and one results in a bouncy ball, so the search will continue as I don't really want to have to buy it online. Oh well, we did manage to find the big box of bicarbonate of soda (£1.19 for 500g) which is always handy for volcanos and anything requiring a fizz and the Quality Street, which is actually for the coloured cellophane wrappers as we are going to do a project on light and colour (the chocolates are just a bonus, honest!).

Then off to a friend's house for general chat and a cuppa. We managed to leave there with a complete DS + games and a big pack of white A4 paper. We offered money for the DS, Callum even saying he would give her his £10 that he had in his wallet, but she wouldn't take it. So a humongous thank you to Kim!!!!

Next was the hairdressers for a trim. Callum had his hair washed for the first time at a hairdressers and I think he quite liked it, then next door to the 2nd hand shop to see what goodies we could pick up. Left there with another book on tanks for Callum and a PS1 game as well, both for 75p!!

A nice walk home, followed by a cuppa and a sort out of our wares.

All in all a lovely day with lots of goodies.

Cya

WHOOPS, MISSED A DAY

Hiya

Whoops sorry missed out yesterday. My fault, I went out!! Well, I went to a friend's house for cuppas and a chat, but I still class it as out.

So, what did we get up to yesterday? Well we had a day at home for starters, which is normally a good thing as we can attempt to catch up on some work.

Well, maths and literacy got done and then we were attempting to get science sorted. I say attempting, as I was having the day from hell and everything was going wrong! This, in turn, had an effect on Callum, so he was, how shall we say this, disgruntled and moody and doing a lot of faffing about.

We decided to have a sort out of documents on the computer and discovered one we'd forgotten to print off about acids and alkalines (the one where we tested the pH values of various household items, so that was a bit of a bonus find. Callum filled in a Testing Understanding worksheet writing in the first section and then using the computer to produce a bar chart and answer a couple of questions in the second section. Then another Testing Understanding worksheet with regard to cells where again he wrote out the first section and used the computer to name parts of a cell and compare the differences between animal and plant cells.

We had a sort through the science folder and decided to leave the other worksheets for another day. Folder beginning to look pretty good actually. Well done mate! It sounds like a fair bit, but it took us most of the day and it really should have only taken the morning, but hey ho, that's how it goes sometimes.

We also had to write up the 'showing' workshop that we did with Terri, his sister, on Tuesday and email it off to the moderator for the Arts Award. Had an email back saying that it had been received, looked good and that now we had completed the required parts to be put forward for assessment in November. Phew, kinda glad that over to be honest.

Today, we were picked up by a lady who is considering home education, after my talk a couple of weeks ago, and taken up to Ice Skating so she could meet others and ask questions. Strangely we didn't have to pay to get in (did last time), and we had cuppas bought for us and a portion of chips bought for Callum by her friend who is also considering home ed. So rather a cheap morning which is a good thing this month as we are skint!!! Callum ended up playing DS with another boy on/off throughout the morning too, which was nice.

This afternoon we looked at an onion cell through the microscope, trawled ebay for science equipment and generally chilled out.

Tomorrow is apple picking at Gore Farm.

Been a funny week, some parts productive and some parts not and both our moods have been up and down. Am hoping a couple of days of fresh air and a fresh week will improve our mindsets.

Anyway, cya

YAWN!

Hi all

Today was one of those days where being home educated worked wonders. I woke up at 5am this morning and could not get back to sleep, so spent the next 2.5hrs drinking tea, eating a bowl of cereal and watching TV progs I'd recorded for just such an occasion (although I was intending them to be the other end of the day). 7.30am arrived and I was expecting Callum up and about, so went off to do a morning cuppa for us both...he didn't appear. Ok, no worries, I sorted out the kitchen, sorted washing and cleared up the recycling, fed the dog, but still no Callum! 9.30am I decided I needed to check he was ok, he was, he was fast asleep! Typical, I wake early and he sleeps in, never mind.

He woke up about 15mins later in a right mood and complaining of a headache. Hmmm, avoid for a few mins I think. Admittedly I was beginning to flag by this point.

10am and after my bath and him getting dressed, he says that he's knackered! He's knackered? Pah!

"Do I have to do anything this morning?"
"Well, maths and literacy would be good, but we do have Mad Science trip this afternoon."
He pulls a face and flops on the sofa.
"You're not in the mood are you?" I say
"No! I'm tired and I want to go on the computer."

By this point, I'm really not in the mood either, I just fancy pottering about.

"Sod it then."
"Really?"
"Yep, I'm tired too and we do have all day tomorrow and we did stuff all day yesterday, so let's have the rest of the morning off?"
"Yay!" He perks up immediately and runs to the computer.
"Hang on! Get your stuff ready first!"
"Ok"

He decides to have brunch as its almost 11am by now, so scrambled egg, baked beans and toast, which he happily munches his way through.

12.15pm we are picked up by Lorraine and Amy and head off to Sittingbourne for Mad Science. We get a bit lost, but manage to find it after asking directions, and are only about 10mins late (we weren't the only ones).

Science show was fab...carbon dioxide (dry ice) today with lots of experiments on the fun of it all. They even got to taste it in water and had it blown (in gas form) over them like in a scary movie. And we got to keep the cups (they colour change)! Which reminds me, we still have Amy's cup I think. Whoops!

Back home and Lorraine and I have a couple of cuppas and Amy and Callum play in the garden for a while. No sooner have they gone and he's back on computer, but he was off again by 6pm tonight. Does this mean the game is losing its appeal or did he just fancy having a break...no, he'd got another headache so decided to go upstairs and chill in his room for a bit. Can now hear him giggling away watching TV.

As to me, I've just printed off all the science sheets we need to do and I'm going to flake out in front of the TV later. Hope I have a better night's kip.

Cya

A FUNNY START TO THE WEEK

Hi all

Well Monday is here and, although sunny, it was a little cooler. Was nice to have nothing planned, no time to keep to and be able to just plod at our own pace. So what did we do?

Well, Callum got up at 8am and made me a cuppa; announcing that he was going to go onto the computer until 9.30am and then do his maths/literacy so that he would be ready to start at 10am! Hmmmm, time management covered there I think. So I drank my cuppa, washed up, put washing on, prepped my dinner in the slow cooker and made a 2nd cuppa. Was ready to sit down with him by 9.45am by which time he'd finished his maths sheets and was beginning to have a paddy about his literacy. Spelling words with 'sh' in them today and opposites also with 'sh' in. Now, to you and me, the clue is in the question...all answers will have the 'sh' sound in them somewhere, but to Callum that was a stupid idea and the answers were stupid, ie, the opposite of 'open' is 'closed' and a picture containing a pile of bottles, tins, bags, etc was 'garbage'. I tried to point out the words had to have 'sh' in them and he got the right hump saying the book was stupid and wrong!
"Ok, now let's calm down here and think logically...the question involves the sound 'sh', what other words can you think of for garbage that contain 'sh'?"
"Crap" says Callum "or trash".
"Good, trash would be good" says I.
"It's not trash as it doesn't fit, it says -----sh! This is a stupid book."
"Ok, so on Tuesday night we put out the...what?"
"Garbage"
"Alright, you're watching a programme and it isn't very good. We say that programme was....what?"
"Crap"
Hmmm, I'm not getting anywhere here am I? I look at him, he looks at me, pencil posed to be launched across the room. He spots the hammer which his dad hasn't put away (grrrrrr) and picks it up. Luckily he decides to hit the book with it!
"Ok, now put the hammer down and think."
"......."
"Oh, rubbish, this is rubbish!"
"Yes Callum....rubbish is correct."
"But rubbish is American!"
"No garbage and trash is American, rubbish is English"
"Oh this is stupid!"
We decide to have a break and he goes off upstairs to go to the toilet and pick up a toy. On his return, he calmly picks up the book, spells the word rubbish, looks at me and says "the opposite of open is shut", writes it down and then hands me the work.
"You didn't mark last Wednesday's work, can you mark that too!"
I raise my eyes to the ceiling. One minute a meltdown was on its way and then we are as calm as anything as if nothing has happened. Oh well at least he got it eventually.

Next was science and we went back over cells and discussed specialised cells. He done very well on the revision side and was fine with the specialised bit until we looked at sperm.
"Yuck" says he.
"What?" says I.
"They can swim!"
"Yes. Why do you think that is?"
"That's yucky. I was fine until they said they can swim."
"Soooooo why do you think they can swim?"
"Because they have a long way to go to find the egg!"
"Yes, well done. We'll be covering that next time."
"Yuck, do we have to?"
"Yes we do"
"Oh. Are we done now?"
"Yes"
"Good"
And off he goes, but before he totally disappears we end up talking about fire and fire hydrants and fire safety and double glazed windows and how to escape a house and whether or not we should have a fire extinguisher and why fire extinguishers in buildings are in corridors.....strange how conversations start and end up.

This afternoon we popped into Rochester to try and get the mosaic kits that he wants to show Terri for his 'how to' workshop for his Arts Award. No luck, so we go to Dockside to The Range, but still no luck. Coffee and cake is needed and then home. Lovely afternoon out, but not very successful. He did manage to get a book from the 2nd hand book shop on Missiles and Rockets though, so he was happy.

Strange day.
Cya

THE WEEK BEGINS

Hi all

Just a brief one today. Monday morning arrived bright and sunny and at 9.30am for Callum!!!!! I decided to leave him to it this morning as we've been busy again over the weekend and had 2 early starts at the end of last week, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so late. Oh well, beauty of home ed is that there is no school run to do or school to get to, so lessons start when we are ready.

10am he was curled up on sofa wading through his daily maths and literacy sheets while I was checking post (which arrived early today) and making us a cuppa. A shriek of "yay" went up and I looked up from perusing The Book People's catalogue to find that he was excited because of a fraction sheet! Yes, I did say fractions. Strange boy. Apparently circles divided into sections and shaded is his favourite way of doing fractions. He remembers doing them before and really liked them, so am rather glad I've used them to start fractions all over again.

Next was Science - Physics this week and we are looking at Energy. So big discussion on fossil fuels verses renewable fuels; looking at different forms of energy; water shortage(?) and how we would be able to 'clean' sea water for use (again ?) and then he came up with an idea for a self charging fan! Home ed does tend to wander off topic, hence the water shortage discussion, but then we went round in a circle and came back onto it. Callum strongly thinks that we should be using solar panels, wind turbines and renewable sources of energy which is a good thing and he wants us to have solar panels on the house (have explained that its rather an expensive outlay and although I would love to do it, we just can't afford to at the moment).

Anyway back to the self charging fan. He came up with the idea that if a fan used rechargable batteries to work and you put a smaller fan in front of the larger fan, facing it, then there was no reason that, after the batteries initially being fully charged, that the big fan blowing air into the smaller fan, which would spin, would be able to recharge the batteries which powered the big fan which blew air into the smaller fan making it spin which would charge the batteries, etc, etc, etc (hope that makes sense). Good idea in principle, but we did discuss that we would need to check that the smaller fan would produce enough energy in the batteries to continuously 'fuel' the bigger fan. Might have to find some inventor/engineering home ed friends and see if we can build one. Anyway A+ for the idea definitely.

After lunch and some damson jam making we had a visit from Terri, his sister, and her dad, Dave. Dave came bearing gifts from America which, of course, went down a treat with Callum.

After that he decided he would go out with dad and Draco the dog when dad got home so he could fly his kite again. Nice, as it gave me a bit of empty house time. Back home and it was back on computer. He's still obsessed with Command and Conquer Generals!

So that's it for today.
Cya later

END OF WEEK CATCH UP

Hiya

Well, as you can see the daily blog hasn't exactly been daily this week! We've been quite busy and I think I've been getting the start of the hibernation season tiredness. All I want to do in the evening is curl up in front of crap telly and mong out, haha. So as Callum has his best mate around this afternoon, I'm going to use that time to do this and catch up with emails, etc. So, here goes:

Wednesday was another day at home, so it was the usual ritual of maths and literacy worksheets and then a quick review of acids and alkalines. We wrote up our experiment and then did a worksheet and comprehension sheet. Callum has never done comprehension sheets before but I thought it was a good time to start. Luckily the book I use by Letts contains a Key Words Exercise, a Comprehension Exercise, Testing Understanding section and a Skills Practice sheet for each section of work, so I'm not having to find and create worksheets. It also has an answer section...phew!!! ;-) The comprehension bit is just a few small paragraphs to read with about 1/2 dozen questions so nothing really difficult as all the answers are given in the paragraphs. Callum answered the questions and wrote out his answers (wow!), but didn't want to do one of them as he couldn't answer it as thoroughly as he wanted to without writing loads!! After he'd finished the rest of the questions I went over it with him with the answers given in the book and he realised that the amount he was writing wasn't really necessary. He still isn't happy about it all, but I think he's understood the point about being concise.

Wednesday afternoon was cooking as we were out all day on Thursday so we needed lunch. Broccoli soup for me with sage and onion rolls, some shortbread and some apple and blackberry muffins for breakfast just in case we didn't get up in time to eat and they were something we could eat in the car.

Thursday, we were up at 7am and being picked up at 8.30am. Off to a home education trip to natural pathways and a bushcraft day. We learnt about knots and how to put up bashas, Callum didn't want to help put up a basha as such but made sure everyone had ropes, tent pegs and helped out explaining some of the knots (evidence that he'd retained something from him being shown). We also did a sensory awareness exercise where some people were blindfolded and others helped lead (in case they walked into trees or tripped over brambles or roots). You had to listen for the sound of the drum and aim towards it using your hearing and personal space awareness. Callum didn't want to actually do the exercise, but he was quite happy to do the drumming!

Callum in our Basha

Toasting marshmallows around the fire

After lunch we learnt about animal skulls, skats (poo), pellets and tracks and went off on a walk to see what we could find. Callum was very comfortable by this point and I lost him off with the rest of the children while us adults trailed behind having a chat. Actually we really did get lost, one minute the kids and guide were in front of us and the next minute they'd disappeared into the trees. We did find them though. All in all it was a fabulous fun and informative day, 19 of us (parents and children)in all and the weather stayed lovely.

Animal skulls

Today I was giving a talk about home education to the local MAGIC group.

Callum went off and played with a boy called Ben on their XBox which again shows how much his confidence has improved. And this afternoon he has his best mate round to play.

So, there you go, another catch up done.

Cya later

Sorry, its a double post today as just didn't have time yesterday.


We've continued on the maths/literacy worksheets and Callum has been sailing through them. Included a sheet on symmetry today which we have covered before, but was a while ago. He redraw all the shapes easily...am going to have to find him something more challenging. Must trawl the internet later me thinks.


He's been a happy, but tired chappy past few days. Doesn't seem to be able to go off to sleep very easily and then wakes up late. I'm convinced its hormonal now that he's 12, but he's finding it really frustrating as he's normally such an early bird and he feels that he's wasting the day. I daren't wake him up though as, like me, he's a bear with a sore head if woken before his ready. He waited up for me (well stayed up in bed reading) until I got home last night, even though Dad was sound asleep, which didn't help. It was 10am when I finally couldn't wait any longer and woke him up with a cuppa and his worksheets. Am grateful that we don't have a school run to deal with in the morning as I doubt if he'd be in any fit state to learn if I had to get him up for it.


Science yesterday went well, we continued looking at Cells and how they form tissue and the various types that you have. We were supposed to be looking into specialised Cells today, but neither of us were particularly in the mood, so we had (well, he did) an easy and very basic day today.


Terri, my daughter, visited yesterday afternoon and although he'd been asked for days when she was coming, he still dived onto the computer to play his game as soon as she arrived. He did sit and explain to her what he was doing and he didn't like it when we went out to the cinema later that evening (hence no blog yesterday), but I was surprised that he didn't just launch himself on her as soon as she arrived.


This afternoon he had a surprise playdate for an hour when Carol came round to pick up the washing machine drum and to drop off some mini jars for me. Lauren (her daughter) spent some time with him on the Playstation whilst Carol had a cuppa and a chat, so that was cool. I also got a lovely little pile of educational resources to have a looksee at and decide what I want to take before passing on.


Other than that he's basically been a computer boy while I've been doing housework, washing and catching up on the knitting. He's also been making up his own game using the Cluedo board and paperclips......he was happy and I was....interested. Never did get to understand it though.


So that's it, not a great deal of activity, but that's how it goes sometimes. Very busy one day and very quiet and maybe a bit lazy the next.


Cya


PS: If you are wondering why Carol was picking up a washing machine drum, we saw people using them as fire pits whilst away at Off Grid this year and both thought it was a brilliant and simple idea (and why we hadn't already thought of doing it), so dearest partner has managed to pick up a couple from the yard at work and bring them home to be reused. Better than being put on the tip!

BUSY, BUSY DAY!!

Wow, sorry this is a late post, but today has been very hectic.

We started slowly as Callum was really tired, so he didn't leap out of bed and start his daily worksheets over a cuppa as normal. Instead he rolled out of bed at 8.30am when I took him a cuppa, slid floppily down the stairs, slumped into the chair and.....played on the DS.

Actually I didn't really mind as I had some questions I wanted to print out to go with our lessons on Cells.

So we started at our 'official' time of 10am with the daily literacy and maths. Hmmmmm, that didn't go completely to plan either. Callum still wasn't up for the writing, but as I secretly knew he'd have a reasonable amount of writing to do in science I let him off. Maths went ok until it got to division, at which he went completely blank and forgot how to do it!! So we went over that with the result of "Oh yeah, now I remember", only for him to be flumoxed again because he'd forgotten how to use a protractor! He got himself in a right tizz and I called time out for a cup of tea.

After a breather we went over the sheet together and he was fine, so then it was science and cells. We were just covering "What is a Cell?" today, looking at what cells are made up of and what they do. Callum zoomed through it, coming up with his own way of remembering the longer words and answering the questions easily. There was me allotting 3/4hr to the 'lesson' and panicking about how long it had taken to the do the dailies and he breezed it in 25mins!!! Hey ho!
After a quick lunch it was off to trampolining. His first lesson of the new term and the first proper lesson without James, but with Sue. He was really enthusiastic about it all and worked really hard, surprising Sue on a couple of occasions as she tried to work him up to a more complicated move and he just went straight ahead and did it! Grrrr, annoying how sometimes he makes it look so easy, hehe. He even had time for a bit of fun in the foam pit which went down brilliantly with him.

So back home, couple of hours rest and then out again (told you it was a busy day). Off to Riverside for Junior Rangers, this month's theme - seeds. We walked around the fields looking at berries, seed heads, nuts and grasses and discussed how each was distributed through being either eaten by wildlife, blown by wind or by attaching itself to animal fur (or our clothes) and being brushed or pulled off.





Needless to say Callum (and I for that matter) were knackered by the end of the day and were very grateful to get home, have some dinner and chill out.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be quite so hectic.

Cya

A WET AND WINDY START

Today did not start well. It was wet and windy; just like everywhere else in England by the sound of Facebook this morning. Anyone with ASD children will probably be aware that windy weather seems to ruffle their feathers (bit like a mad dog), adding to that the wet weather and we had a miserable, grumpy and slightly uncooperative Callum on our hands.

He wasn’t really responsive to his literacy this morning; putting lists into alphabetical order, so we agreed to do 4 out of the 6 and do the other 2 tomorrow. He hates writing, as I’ve said on many an occasion, and as I knew what else I wanted him to do today; I didn’t want to push it. He was reluctant on maths too, but did manage to complete the sheets without too much harrumphing!

A break was needed and a cup of coffee. He had ½ hour on his DS and then it was science. I wanted an overview today. There was a couple of worksheets with regard to things we covered last year that I wanted him to complete; see much he remembered and whether anything was missing. Then a discussion about how we were going to plan the science year. I want to follow the curriculum as much as possible with regard to subject matter, but not necessary do it the way schools do. Hopefully including plenty of hands on stuff to help him better understand.

So, how did he do? Well I have no worries about his learning last year as he zoomed through the Gruesome Gases and Powerful Planets questions in his Splendid Science book from Letts and got them all right. We have a couple of their booklets and they are pretty easy and fun to do, so are really just add-ons or for revision use.

Then planning…we thought that we hadn’t done much science last year, but on looking through what we should have covered last year, we discovered that it was only really Biology that we hadn’t touched. The majority of the Chemistry and Physics we’d already done, so we are going to redo and recheck over those areas quickly and fill in any gaps, concentrating for the rest of the time on the Biology stuff. I think that we will easily be up to date by Christmas and ready to start next year with this year’s work (if that makes sense).

This afternoon our friends Jackie, Hannah and Azeem came over for a play date; the boys spending the majority of that time on the Wii. Hannah was a little quiet today, but seemed ok to sit in and watch the boys. Jackie and I drank tea and caught up with news.

So Monday done and dusted. Tomorrow we start the serious work, haha.

Cya

MID WEEK LULL IN ENERGY

Hiya, us again.

Callum had a complete dip in energy today. Was supposed to get up and have a shower before starting work this morning. 8.45am and still wasn't up, so made us both a cuppa and took it up to him. He was in our bed by this time.

"Wakey, wakey" Said I,
"Uh" was his response.
"Tea here" His reply was just a grunt.

Undetered I climbed into bed and drank my tea while going through the post. He finally decided to drink his tea and then asked if he could have a quick game on his DS.

"Sure, you still have time."

I finished reading the post, got up and went downstairs, sorted out the front room, put on some washing, made another cuppa and went back upstairs. I must point out that Callum doesn't like being on his own when having a bath or shower. He doesn't like anyone actually being in with him, but likes someone to be in the bedroom next door. He still wasn't up. I drank a further cup of tea. He moved and then said,

"Can I play another game?"
"No! You need to have a shower before we start and its already 10am"

He had shower, he got dressed and then went into his room. I brought down washing, washed up, put washing out on line and came back in. Still no Callum.

"What you doing?"
"Playing!"
"No, its now 11am and you are supposed to have done your maths and literacy. Come on."
"Oh, ok."

Down he came and reluctantly did his one page of literacy - spellings today, not his best subject, but he really made the effort and got 10 out of 20 and 4 of the remaining 10 only had 2 letters round the wrong way each, so not bad for him. I think he rather impressed himself too. He has so little self confidence when it comes to literacy and he is so much better than he thinks. He proceeded to zoom through the maths sheets getting them all right, even the 5 times table ones!!

"Do I have to do any more?"
"Well, we was going to do another science experiment weren't we?"
"Oh yeah!" He leaps up from sofa and bounds into the kitchen.







The experiment didn't go completely to plan, but he had great fun doing it. We wrote it up and then he said,

"Can I stop now?"
"You're really not in the mood today are you?"
"No, I'm tired."
"Ok then."
"Thanks Mum." And he bounded off to his bedroom again.

Oh well, at least something got done today. Hope he feels more up for it tomorrow.

Cya

FIRST FEW DAYS BACK

Well it's two days in and we are slowly getting back into the routine of home ed. Callum wants to concentrate on Science this year and have a dip in and out of other stuff. I've insisted on continuing with basic maths and him working through his literacy books though AND he has his Arts Award to finish, but most of that is now done (I just need to upload it).

So Monday dawned nice and sunny and he was up by 8.30am. He made me a cuppa and brought that and his maths and literacy into the front room. He zoomed through his one page of literacy and then attempted the 3 variety sheets of maths. I must point out that the sheets have approximately 50-80 questions per sheet, but he only has to do 5 per sheet a day, so it may sound a lot, but it isn't really.

Discovered he'd 'lost' the 5 times table (again). So have searched out some basics of that and will spend a week going over it all. What is it about times tables, he gets them, then he forgets them. However, he can do division!! Which, to me, does not make sense.

We were then supposed to do some science, however, it all kicked off out the front. Well, I say kicked off, I happened to spot 2 guys and a girl over the road hovering around a car, wasn't sure who they were, but then noticed one of the guys had his forearm up in the air and noticed there was blood running down it. Was just going to open front door to see if he was ok, when a couple of Police walked down the road.

Apparently one of the dogs over the road had bitten him. Needless to say that Callum was much more interested to watch what was going on than to go and do science and, admittedly, so was I. We have a bit of a dodgy guy living opposite us who is well known to the police, he has a Staffie (not that I have anything against Staffies as I know people who have them, but they have become a status symbol for those who want to have a hard looking dog without the size so I'm always a little wary). The women next door also has one, although that one has only appeared over the past week.

It turns out that the woman had ordered her dog to bite this guy. The bloke living opposite had obviously been outside at the time also because he legged it leaving his house open. The Police kept going into the unlocked house to check for whatever and the guy who had been bitten kept shouting that it was the woman and that she had gone downstairs to the flat below. He ended up losing his temper just as the ambulance turned up and ran off up the road with his mate running after him to try and calm him down. As I've said, it all kicked off!!

The woman was found and was talking to the Police, then her and her Staffie went off in a car with another guy. The Ambulance drove off as the victim didn't want to be treated. The Police loitered about for a bit, then secured the open property, waited to be recalled and then disappeared. This had taken over an hour from start to finish and had raised some lovely discussions on behaviour, control of animals, racial discrimination, the role of the Police force and how not to behave.

Later on the guy over the road return, but was promptly arrested and taken off in a Police car. Not seen either him nor the woman since.

So... Monday we covered maths, literacy and Citizenship! hehe

Today, the day dawned wet and windy. Over a cuppa in the kitchen we gave our thanks that we home ed and did not have to do the walk to school in the weather. Poor kids that did.

Maths went fine as did literacy. Then it was science. The experiment Callum wanted originally to do meant going outside and that wasn't going to happen so we decided on attempting to extract iron from breakfast cereal instead (Richard Hammond's Blast Lab Messy Mess Kit).

We managed to make a lovely mess in the kitchen but did extract some very very small black dots of iron filings from the cereal (Cheerios), so worth doing.




This afternoon I wanted to watch a movie I'd recorded and Callum was going to go upstairs and play, but he asked if he could watch the movie with me. When I say that it was The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas you may understand why I was a little apprehensive. But I thought, why not, he needs to know what happened and this may be a 'safe' option. He sat and watched it and I explained some of the basics of what was happening and he watched it until the end. If anyone hasn't seen it, be warned, it is emotional, but very good.

Callum was amazing. He understood it and was pleased that they didn't make it a happy ending. He actually said that he wished they would make more children's films with more realistic endings rather than the sugar coated ones you tend to get. I'm not sure if his Asperger has shielded him from the true horror of what had happened (I'm sure the lack of empathy that ASD people tend to have did), but I'm glad he appreciates the message and subject. He saw it as facts, whereas I saw it as an emotional rollercoaster.

Cya