Skyscrapers and Whales

Recently H and I were chatting and I somehow recalled one of the first library books I got out for him after I started home educating.

One was a beautiful book of 100 tallest skyscrapers. The photos were lovely, far more lovely than I had expected and their names were far more varied too. I sat there reading out name after name, city after city, going round the world with it. H had enough after a few, naturally!

Another was all about British wild animals and fish. There were so many whales, I had no idea. That book came with me while I waited in the station car park for T, coming home from his school each day. Again, H didn't need too much of that book either :)

Quite often I thank H for this opportunity to be at home and to be able to read and read. I never expected to have this time with him and on my own when he is busy with other things. I explain that I don't know how long it will last because when he decides he wants to head off to classes here, there and everywhere, or some special sport, then my life will change again.

Candles

T is doing fire experiments and taking photos at the table. The fact that I can supervise while looking in the other direction and while blogging shows how different 14 is from say 10. I am in the room though! There is a bowl of water as a safety device, but T set it up before I had time to go through my standard fire warnings.

It reminds me of one of the first projects H and did after deregistering nearly 2 years ago, a life time away. We took the old scraggy candles I had in the back of a cupboard and wanted to throw away. Instead we burnt them down to wax ponds in my old serving dishes. We sat doing this outside in the cold garden, huddled up to the metal garden table.

We sat and watched the wax run down and we poked the soft walls of the candles. We destroyed all of them, one by one! We took all the time in the world and just played at messing around with candles. Happy memories.

Really of course I was discovering what processing unexpressed anguish feels like and how long it takes, but the mechanics were grey afternoons outdoors with those hideous candles from the back of my laundry room.

Progress

It has just dawned on me how being in the system relieved me unwittingly of the need to follow and really track the children's progress once they were in pre-school and primary school.

I trusted the schools completely. I assumed they knew better. I felt as if I were expected to leave them to it. I assumed I should pay attention to going back to some sort of work and no longer be primarily a mother. So I took my eye right off the ball. I tried to develop myself...train for other activities, when my primary activity was right under my nose.

Now I realise that tracking how each child is doing healthwise, academically and in other ways is just part and parcel of parenting. I cannot pass the buck to a school, even if the system assumes that I must. Nor can I assume that paying taxes or fees means that all issues are automatically dealt with. It would be nice and most issues are covered, but with the best will in the world the parent still has to step in as soon as there is a problem.

Caveat emptor (buyer beware) simply means keep your head screwed on in *all* aspects of your life.

Maybe one day I will be able to do the parenting bit with ease and have brain space to do other things too, but I'm not there yet and can't afford to drop the spinning plates that are children.

Song of Roland

Looking at the Saracen forces:

'Oliver's climbed a hill above the plain,
Whence he can look on all the land of Spain,
And see how vast the Saracen array;
All those bright helms with gold and jewels gay,
And all those shields, those coats of burnished mail;
And all those lances from which the pennons wave;
Even their squadrons defy all estimate,
He cannot count them, their numbers are so great;
Stout as he is, he's mightily dismayed.
He hastens down as swiftly as he may,
Comes to the French and tells them all his tale.'

Prayers before battle:

Then to their side comes the Archbishop Turpin,
Riding his horse and up the hillside spurring.
He calls the French and preaches them a sermon:
"Barons, my lords, Charles picked us for this purpose;
We must be ready to die in our King's service.
Christendom needs you, so help us to preserve it.
Battle you'll have, of that you may be certain,
Here come the Paynims - your own eyes have observed them.
Now beat your breasts and ask God for His mercy:
I will absolve you and set your souls in surety.
If you should die, blest martyrdom's your guerdon;
You'll sit on high in paradise eternal."
The French alight and all kneel down in worship;
God's shrift and blessing the Archbishp conferreth,
And for their penance he bids them all strike firmly.

The French rise up and on their feet stand close;
All of their sins are shriven and made whole,
And the Archbishop God's blessing has bestowed.
Then on swift steeds they leap to saddlebow.
Armed with the arms prescribed by knightly code;
All are now ready into the field to go.

Where is he? Teen Thursday

A bit earlier I realised T wasn't in the house. I guessed he had gone out taking photos, but was a bit embarrassed that I didn't know how long he had been out in the dark for. Or for certain what he was wearing, or what he had with him.

He has just come in with cold feet, a big smile and lots of photos. He agreed with my idea that I put a note up on the door with blutack so he can move it somewhere obvious as he goes out. Telling me would be better, but hey!

Finding Opportunities

I needed to find a way to phone my mother without being interrupted.

So I go out into the garden with my mobile and sit there in my coat.

Success! Relief!

Wordless Wednesday

Draft

I am surprised and pleased by my efforts this evening. I decided to do a first draft of a monthly review, starting with October 2009. If it is useful I will be able to send a copy to the LA inspector as I like to deal in writing with the LA now. It is really to reassure myself and to allow me to spot any big gaps in provision.

I looked in my appointments diary, the weekly book of conversations/tv programmes/outings etc, a daily diary log looking at specific issues I want to track, my nature observations diary and this blog. It was only by looking in all these places that I found notes of most of what happened in October. So many items only appeared in one place.

What I had thought would be much less than one side of A4 will now fill it nicely. We have visited so many topics I have had to think of new headings. History needs a current affairs section. Maths leads on nicely into economics. There are so many entries for PHSE. Adult life needs separate Medical and Cooking sections, or should those go under science! Social leads on into pure fun, which definitely deserves a mention.

Facebook - Act I

Not anything to do with Home Education. What do you do when you are facebook friends with your children? They get to see all sorts of messages from my mum friends, not all in terribly good taste. And the other way round, my dear relatives get to see tasteless comments from my offspring if they have a look at my wall.

I have ticked off each of my sons once via a comment after some mis-spellings of swearing (double whammy). I have now promised I will not 'see' anything I might be annoyed by in future. We have sort of agreed that if any of us defriends the other it's just part of facebook and we have the perfect right to defriend whoever we want. All very mature so far.

Let's wait for Act II.

The Moon

Well, I love the full moon because it is so round and lights up the house at night.

Earlier I suggested a sit on the bench outside to the children, but it's too much like middle aged nature worship for them.

I'll just have to go out there by myself.......

It is very still out there, just the ringing of the bells for 11 0'clock. There is a breath of wind, colder than before, but the trees aren't moving. The moon is burning through a thin layer of cloud. I felt very transitory sitting on a door step which will probably be there in 50 year's time.