MORE MAGNETS

Good afternoon you lovely people.  Am trying a new 'work' schedule, can't see it always working, but it should if we are at home all day.  So, today, it's worked, haha.

Slow start this morning.  Weather grotty, very wet, overcast and dark.  Did snow a bit this morning, but didn't lay as ground too wet from the rain.

Draco the dog in the snow and wet

A few things needed to be sorted out this morning before we started properly.  One of which was deciding  what Callum wanted to cook for dinner on Wednesday (alternate weeks he cooks dinner).  After going through his cookery book.

Managed to get this in a charity shop for £1.50.

He decided that pizza with mozzerella, olives and pepperoni was on the menu. Shopping list was duly made and a trip to shops tomorrow put on the To Do list.

Then it was firing up the computer and going into the To Print folder that we created when our old printer died.  As we now have a new one, it was time to print of the work and file it in the folders.  As it was the first time we'd used the printer, which is WiFi, was very glad that it all worked according to plan.  Now just need to link up my laptop.

Callum likes the new printer as it has lots of flashy lights!

A book review followed.  He has 3 to do in total, but as he's not keen, I said he could do one a day this week as we have a quieter week.

Then back to the magnet project.  Making magnets today, although we did try to magnetise both a needle and a screw, but couldn't get either to work even though we both tried several times.  We know what should happen in theory, but just couldn't get it to work which was a bit disappointing as some of the experiments Callum fancied doing needed a magnetised needle.  However, we did do some experiments which involved extended magnets as follows:

Adding a screw to a screw

Making ends repel by making screw heads the same pole

Making ends attract by making screw heads  opposite poles

Called it quits after this as we kept trying to magnetise the needle but it wouldn't work.  Callum then just had a play with a bowl of water, magnets and various floating objects, whilst I cleared away work.

Oh yeah, almost forgot we also used magnets under paper and sprinkled iron filings on to make magnetic patterns. 

Using a straight magnet

Using a U shaped magnet

Anyway that is definitely it for today.

Cya

RAIN, THEN SUN, THEN RAIN AGAIN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TEEN + HEAT = VERY LITTLE DONE

Hiya

I know I should be doing a daily blog, but to be honest we really haven't done enough to warrant a daily one.  Weather has changed here in the South and it's become hot, very hot!  It appears we will have to get used to swinging from jumpers, raincoats and wellies one day to vest tops, sunhats and sandals the next without a period of acclimatisation in between.  Add to this the fact that, as previously mentioned, Callum is reading until all hours and sleeping in later (Issac Newton's theory springs to mind "every action has an equal and opposite reaction") and we don't exactly have a lot of room in the day for getting things done before Phil is home and chaos reigns. Phil is also an Aspi (undiagnosed), but is one for strict routines (his, not ours) and woe betide we alter those or get in the way of them.  So anything we want to do that requires the kitchen, utility room or the TV and often the garden too has to be completed before 3.30pm!  Bit like school really.  I know he would argue that he isn't like this at all, but having experienced the hrumphing and the moaning, I beg to differ.

So this week; what have we achieved?  Monday wasn't too bad as we managed to write up our visit to the Imperial War Museum that happened the week before.  We did separate write ups for each part of the day as the Art Exhibition was going into the colour and light project we are supposed to be doing and the museum part is in the unrelated days out folder.  It appears we are doing rather a lot of those and I might have to go through it at the end of the 'school' year and perhaps pick bits out to expand upon into projects for next year.  The write up took rather longer than expected as, as usual, we got sidetracked by conversation, questions and online searching.  That's the one big thing that I love about home education, it can wander off topic, go onto lots of different pathways and then come full circle back to where we started.  Found a really interesting website whilst having a conversation on timezones (don't ask how we got onto those as I can't remember) which had lots of other stuff on it too.  We ended up 'playing' on here for ages:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Tuesday was Faversham meet.  Callum happy as quite a few of his mates were there, so he didn't end up reading the whole time.  I did find it particularly funny though when I went to look for him as his mate and himself were in the computer room (no surprise there) but at opposite ends of the room talking to each other on Roblox (no surprise there either).  Oh and he actually spoke to another adult!  Well, I say spoke he answered her polite enquiries with stilted two word answers, but it's better than nothing.  Davinia, you are honoured! hehe

Wednesday I didn't see him all day pretty much.  Terri was over and as she needed to use the computer, he was upstairs in his room playing with his tanks and watching Family Guy and Have I Got News For You on his telly (he has Tivo in his room).  Lots of laughter coming from his room with the added occasional 'explosion' from his game he'd made up.

Today he didn't surface until 9.50am!!!!  And even then he was a bit lethargic - he'd been reading until gone 11pm the night before again.  So we decided to have a PJ day and watch a documentary that I'd recorded about why we need the moon.  It was really interesting and the presenter, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock was brilliant as it was explained in easy to understand terms (good for me as well, haha).  It isn't on iPlayer that I can see, but the link below has some information and clips.  Well worth watching if you can find it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yb5jp

This afternoon we dug out Callum's Alpine trough (well it's an old sink to be precise) and repotted with some salvaged old plants and some new ones we bought at the garden festival a few weeks back.

We just need to get some more gravel to fill in the spaces, but it's now looking a lot more healthy than it did as it was overgrown with weeds and unwanted seedlings.

Anyway, that's about it.  Ice skating tomorrow and then we are intending to plant some more seeds in the garden and into pots in the afternoon.

Cya

STILL WET AND WINDY

Hi all

Now don't all fall off your chairs or splatter that cuppa over the floor, yes I am back today. Wow, two days in a row, hehe.

So what have we been up to? Actually it's been really wet and windy today, so we didn't venture outdoors at all. Decided to use the time to try and get back into the swing of doing the maths and literacy dailies. However, this didn't work out totally as planned.

Firstly I was awake at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep and Callum was awake a little earlier than he has been lately too, so we were both a little slow in getting it all together this morning. We managed to print off our Easter Bunny Hunt write up and then had a go at our new photo programme which prints posh backgrounds, inserts texts and generally tarts up the presentation. We've only used it once before so we are both still learning, but the photos to accompany the write up look pretty impressive with easter egg borders and labels. It just took us a little longer than normal to sort out, but its fun, pretty easy and we both know that after a couple more plays we'll be experts, haha.

While we were doing these Terri, my daughter/his sister, turned up with Merlin the dog, so we had a manic 5 minutes with a bouncy canine.

Dailies turned out to be a mixture of easy and a bit more confusing. The literacy was easy (surprisingly for Callum), but the maths wasn't as straight forward and we are going to have to go over it all again tomorrow when we have a bit more time to ourselves.

To add to this we were going to write up our science experiment, but discovered that, although we have the photos (see above and right), we seem to have lost the results!!! Oh well, good excuse to do it again and Callum did rather enjoy throwing stones into a tray of flour coated in cocoa powder to represent meteors, haha.

So, partly a successful day, partly not, but it's been fun and tomorrow is another day.

Cya

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

Hi all

Spent the weekend pottering about.

Callum and I managed to get 4 trees planted (2 beechnut, a cherry and an acer) plus level off a load of soil and planted bulbs in the darkish, not really much use for anything else, corner of the garden. Am hoping they will all come up; daffodils, bluebells and snowdrops. We also had a tidy up as we'd left tools out, buckets, black sacks, pots and general other gubbings lying about. Callum loved that bit as he got to spend a lot of time using the wheelbarrow to move things around.

He spent time on Roblox again!! Has had over 1,000 visitors to his game and he's well chuffed.

Sunday we did the usual trip to the farm shop, which weirdly Callum looks forward to. Think the black cat they have is a bit of a draw as it's very friendly. Plus they have geese, goats and horses there. Noticed that they will soon be getting their Christmas trees in, so will be down to get one of those as soon as they come in. It's Callum's job to choose the tree.

Today, popped up market to get some winter plants for the courtyard to bring in a bit of colour. Promptly ended up digging up some bulbs in the pot that the cyclamen was supposed to be going into. Typical, always forget I've planted some in there. So, planted the plants and popped the bulbs back in around them. (Note: not the bulbs we planted yesterday).

Then this afternoon we went off to the cinema. The Adventures of Tin Tin. Been promising I'd take him ever since we saw the advert for it months ago. He started reading Tin Tin after he'd finished the Asterix books and rather liked them, so thought the film would be good to see. Wasn't entirely sure if I'd enjoy it, but actually it was brilliant. We both loved it and Callum laughed a lot!!! It was very well done, had lots of action and was often very funny. Didn't feel like we'd been in there for as long as we had, so all good stuff.

Was pretty foggy when we left the cinema and it was very foggy this morning when we got up, so we ended the day as it started.

Busy day tomorrow; trampolining and a home ed workshop.

Cya

WATCH THE CREDITS, IT'S NORMALLY WORTH IT!!

Good late afternoon to you all. Am looking out of window onto a beautiful sunny evening with the light bouncing off the top of the trees and their leaves..they look almost golden.

Today did not start well. Actually the night was pretty crap as my dog decided to have a funny and wouldn't settle all night..up and down the stairs, whining, back and forth through the house also whining. Got up and let him in the garden, but no, he just sat there looking at the stars!!! Spent from about 2am to 2.30am making a fuss of him as he wouldn't settle and wanted to sit by me. Then it rained and kept me awake! Needless to say I was a little weary this morning, so we had a very late start.

Plans for morning were washing up, washing, hoovering and a tidy. Callum helped out as much as he could moving furniture and carrying the clean washing upstairs, but rest of time he was on computer.

This afternoon, as I'd promised, we went off to the cinema. Saw Johnny English Reborn. Was nice and quiet, not even a quarter full and Tuesday's is cheapy day at £5 a ticket. As Callum has a CEA card I only have to buy his ticket and I go for free, so definitely worth going. Popcorn, Fanta and a cup of tea for me (how civilised) and the best seats just in front of the barrier. Film was hilarious and Callum cackled and screeched his way through it; love listening to him laugh although he does get very loud, hehe. We stayed until the end of the credits as usual and were the only two in the cinema to see the 'take away' sketch, which was brilliant. So if you haven't seen the movie and plan to, wait until the credits before leaving.

Then it was off to The Range to pick up some black and gold card, cupcake cases and a hanging basket inner which will become our cauldron. Met our neighbour at the till and he offered us a lift home, which we gratefully accepted.

Back home and its been a cup of tea, dinner and he's had a quick go on the Wii. Is now upstairs watching his telly (probably the same programme as partner is watching in the other room).

Tomorrow is crafting day.

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