The last day of an interesting year

I'll start with some photos I took yesterday:


With his fave cuddly



Started by being woken up at 7.30 this morning by the noisy inconsiderate heating oil delivery man. Grrrrrr. At least the tank is full again, just wish it wasn't so damn expensive. Double grrrrr.

Charlie did 4 pages of maths including making hundreds. He did really well at this I was suitably impressed. A couple of pages of a CGP science workbook were done and enjoyed as well.

After lunch Charlie had his bike ride that I had been promising him for 2 days!



So a very happy new year to everyone. See you next year!

Beware the Phantom of the Opera

We started the day with the excitement of a bank visit followed by a supermarket sweep and then, saving the best shop till last, a book shop visit. Bought Charlie 5 new books, fab, all reference books and designed to slot in with future planned projects as well as general reference resources.

Had a quick lunch and then the parental unit arrived to take us to the cinema. I loved, loved,loved the film, it was fab, very true to the stage show and brilliantly acted and sung and the sets were amazing. Charlie enjoyed it too, jumped a few times when the music was loud and refused to watch the chandelier crashing, but the second Harry Potter filmed scared him far more than Phantom!

We had dinner and then I packed him off to bed early for a change, although he was still awake ten minutes ago when I checked! Anyone know any useful insomnia cures for an almost 7 year old?

It's a miracle

We're actually up before lunch time. Special thanks must go to my dear mother for phoning at 8.45 which woke us up

Just about to do some maths and English workbooks and then off to see Phantom. More later.....

Quiet contemplation

That's what we did today as we failed miserably to make it out of the house again. Neither of us woke until 11 again, how I wish for a child who wakes early - even 8 would be great!

So after our breakfast/lunch Charlie was cajoled into doing his diary. He wrote about christmas, mainly his presents and what we ate, but he did a whole page and was really pleased with himself. His writing was pretty good too, spacing is coming along nicely.

He read for a bit and then did 2 pages of a maths workbook. Both pages were done really quickly and he didn't need any help at all and got them all correct. What frustrates me is that some of the sums were "hard" eg adding 3 numbers together and he was fine. Yet other days he can't even add 6+3 when I ask! He was really pleased with himself so that was nice to see.

Ever since then, and stopping only to eat dinner he has been reading, in fact he's still reading now and tells me he is on page 196 of The Faraway Tree Stories.

Tomorrow we are off to see Phantom of the Opera with my parents, we are both very excited!

Shock horror.....

...we left the house today! Ok so we didn't get up until nearly 11am and we didn't actually leave until 12 but hey we still did something!

The purpose of leaving the house was so Charlie could spend his christmas money from his great grandma. We went to Big W and boy did he get a lot for his money. Ok, so some of things were steered by me towards educational items, but he did say he didn't want any more "toys" as he had enough! He spent £35 and got a magic trick set, some colouring pencils, a Rotten Romans sticker book, a gorgeous encyclopedia of earth and space, a times table workbook and tape, a fleecy throw for him to snuggle up in when reading in the playroom and 5 packs of stickers. So all in all pretty good value. We mooched along to JJB Sports because I wanted some sports socks and he spent another £9 on two t"shirts, both of which are gorgeous and not actually sports brands. I said I would buy them but he insisted on using his money.

We had a good look in Pets at Home and cooed over the rabbits and guinea pigs. They had loads in there, so they can't have sold many before christmas.

We had lunch whilst we were out and when we got back we put the rest of his money in his robot money bank which he got from my aunt for christmas and then he asked me to teach him to play draughts. That was quite good fun, I've never played it before. He got a gorgeous solid wood chess and draughts set from my parents for christmas, but the instructions aren't that good and I'm not sure we did it right! The last game we played Charlie managed to beat me!

He's been playing manically on the leapster again today and also on the playstation since after dinner. We did some colouring in the pattern pad together whilst dinner was cooking which was fun.

We've arranged to go and see Phantom of the Opera at the cinema on Thursday with my parents, as Charlie has been bugging me for ages to take him. I've seen the stage show twice and love it, so we're both very excited.

We might go to @Bristol tomorrow as we love it there, it's very educational obviously but great fun, and hey its indoors so warm! If it's a really nice day we might even go to the Zoo in Bristol as we're members. We both love it there, the gardens are so beautiful and most importantly it has seals and penguins!

I'm in the ring!

Woohooo - I've been added to the MudPud blog ring - all thanks to the grand mistress of the ring - Jax!

Yet another unproductive and boring day here. We managed to get up slightly earlier today though - 10am, well it's an improvement!

I've been getting soppy all day watching babies being born on Discovery Health, plus bits of tidying up here and there and a bit of de-cluttering in the sitting room. Also have now put all the photographs that were lying around in the new album Charlie bought me for christmas. Uploaded a load of digital prints to a printing service to get those ordered.

Charlie has errrmmmm not sure actually what he's been upto. Oh yes he's read another book today and is currently halfway through a second. He's played on his leapster quite a lot, so that's proving to be a great investment for him, he loves and of course it's all educational!

He's had his marbles out too, but I've been feeling far too apathetic to actually get off my backside and play with him. He's fascinated by them so I really must do that with him tomorrow.

Boxing Day

Deep breath in, Charlie is driving me nuts. I'm just wondering if this kind of pathetic, can't even understand what I'm saying kind of behaviour is to do with de-schooling and needing to regress by about 6 years to do so. I really lost my rag earlier as he couldn't understand the relatively simple instruction to unplug everything in his play room! He's been unplugging things for me on a daily basis for me for months. Setting up his playstation and tv today seems to have confused him. I *just* don't get it.

His behaviour really has been on a downward spiral since half term, and stupidly I thought that as soon as he knew he wouldn't have to go back to school again, it would all stop, but obviously not! I don't get any sympathy/understanding from friends, as he really is angelic compared to most people's children apparently, but that doesn't really help when he isn't doing what I've asked.

Maybe I need to reassess how I respond to him. He really is starting to test boundaries he's had for a long time now. I know that around this age boys get a huge serge of testosterone and it really freaks some of them out. He's always described his "bad" behaviour at school as "I feel wobbly", so I guess that would tie in with a hormone surge.

Talking of hormones, I've been back on the hormone pills for IVF for 3 days now, and I really am starting to feel the nausea side effect. God knows what I will be like when I start down regulating on the 10th. Puts the body into temporary menopause - haha, Good thing I'm single I reckon!

Charlie has spent most of the day reading, playing his play station - or rather just getting frustrated and yelling at it and watching DVD's. We didn't even wake up until 11 - scandalous!

Christmas Day....

As Charlie will sleep for England, I set the alarm for 8.00., woke him up and sent him into his room to see if his stocking had been filled. He opened his stocking presents and then we went downstairs to check the tree.

He seemed pleased with everything he got, although he never seems that excited about christmas presents. I've no idea why but he's always been like this, except the christmas just before he turned three. That year he was obsessed with racing through opening his presents and particularly interested in the bigger ones. I think it may be because I don't hold back on buying him things he wants throughout the year. Not that he is spoilt, but more that if it's not something too large/expensive I don't see the point in making them wait for christmas. He isn't really materialistic anyway, its mainly books and art/craft stuff I buy on a regular basis, and he rarely asks for things. Even when he does he only asks once and if it's no, he just accepts that.

We had breakfast and then headed over to my parents at 10.00 ish. More present opening after my brother got out of his pit. I got a gorgeous lilac cashmere wrap top from my parents, a really seriously expensive, well made mini tripod for my fab new digital camera, which I could never have afforded as its made from titanium and has to be bought from specialist dealers, and some smellies. Charlie got a magnificent microscope set from my parents, as well as books, PS2 stuff and other bits.




Opening present fun


Leapster games!


Charlie's present from The Tree


We left around 5 ish and came home. Around 11pm I noticed it was snowing quite hard and we had a substantial covering of the lovely white stuff.

He's finally asleep and I'm playing Santa...

One really bad thing about HE is no early mornings, so C isn't tired until really late! I've had to make him go to bed in his room tonight (he decided to start co-sleeping about 9 months ago) because all the presents were in the cupboards in my room!

They are all safely under the tree now and I'm so excited! The plan is to open his presents here in the morning then go over to my parents at 10.00 ish where he can open their presents there, spend the day with them and my brother and grandmother who are staying with them. We'll come back here around 5/6 ish I guess.

We've just chilled out today and watched tv, ds watched a fair bit of Mickey Mouse stuff on Sky this afternoon and a shark documentary. My brother popped in for an hour or so before going on to my parents.

I've been thinking about what we're going to do next week. Charlie really wants to see Phantom of the Opera at the cinema so I will try and combine that with a meal at a chinese restaurant, as its food we both love. I was going to try and do it on NYE but somehow I think I've left it a bit late to book!

Merry christmas everyone.

SKY has landed....

Another quiet day....zzzzz....

We slept in until 9.30am only to be woken up by the phone ringing. It was the SKY installers letting us know they would be coming this morning.

Thankfully the installation was quick and painless, although Charlie really hated it when they drilled through to the outside of the house, he ran to the playroom, shut the door and hid.

After this we whizzed off to my parents to return my finished work, posted a few letters and then had a mooch around the shops. I bought Charlie 3 new books, including Swiss Family Robinson.

We braved Tesco's as we need some milk and a few bits, and omg, I have never seen a supermarket that busy! Luckily we were in the "less than 10 items" queue, which while long, moved quickly.

We came home, had lunch and then I started watching all the birth stories on SKY - getting thoroughly emotional, and Charlie finished one book and started another.

Tomorrow I have to start taking my pills again for the IVF - exciting.

Quiet, boring day....

We stayed at home yesterday, didn't even get dressed!

I motored on with my work, and finished both files, so now I can have Thursday and Friday off. Head office closes on Friday afternoon anyway, and doesn't re-open until the 4th, so I get at least some time with Charlie over the festive season!

I was reminiscing about being in Florida this time last year, was such a fab holiday. Being totally honest, although we were only there for a week, it really was the most time I have ever spent with Charlie, which was fantastic. On other types of holidays there have been times for reading, or other things, but at Disney World, you are just on the go all day every day, and therefore together all the time. I have such fond memories of the holiday because of this, we talked and experienced more things together than we probably ever have.

Charlie has read several novels today, played with his playmobil and with his play money too. It was very interesting last night, as he was desperately trying to add up 1750 Euros and £260. He tried really hard, and although he hasn't quite got the hang of counting in 20's, he can do 10's fine, 50's ok, and struggles a little with 100's. I can see the potential to do some work on this in the new year. I will try and tie it in with our roman project I think.

Tomorrow SKY is being installed which I am very excited about. I love all the documentaries on there, and Charlie adores all the nature, science and history programs too. When we're at my parents he watches nothing but Animal Planet and hates leaving. I think it will be a really useful home ed tool. Discovery kids looks interesting too and helpful.

Busy,busy bees....

The day started with the alarm going off at 7.15 and me promptly switching it off, only to be woken at 8.15 by the postman. She had a parcel from Charlies' dad - obviously his christmas present, and the first to EVER arrive before christmas! I won't say too much except that I do hope it isn't yet another present of which Charlie has no interest in. I know its the thought that counts - but with your father - it should be something you actually like surely?! As he hasn't seen him for nearly 2 years now, and hasn't e-mailed me for ideas I don't hold out too many hopes.

I am a little impressed that its arrived in time for a change though.

So after forcing Charlie to get up - much too early for him - we left for Bristol, arriving at 9.40. Shops were pretty busy but not as bad as I had expected. The queue to get into the multi-storey and the wait for a space was the worst part.

We had a very decadent breakfast at the shopping centre of raisin danishes and apple juice - yummy! The decorations were gorgeous, much better than the Mall, interestingly.

We headed into Virgin to get my brother's present, a very helpful assistant spent ages helping me find the 2 DVD's for him. The Charlie decides he needs the loo - and helpfully in this huge 3 storey high shopping centre there is only one set of toilets and there are on the top floor - huge groan.

I got a much needed pair of new jeans in Debenhams and we had a nosey round WH Smiths but didn't see anything we fancied. That was the busiest shop of all - it was bursting. Had a look in a couple of other shops for new coats for both of us but didn't seen anything I liked at all, which was disappointing.

We left then and went into Yate, so we could return our library books, pick up two I had reserved and go to the bank. We also had lunch. I bought Charlie a couple of new novels and a book about the UK and also found a DK Eyewitness "Monster" DVD for £3, which was a bargain.
Then we went to meet D and her 5 children from the South Glos HE group. That was really lovely, Charlie really enjoyed himself and loved all their pets - they had an iguana, pole cats, dogs, cats, kittens, rabbits, rats...errrmmm I think that's it! Charlies' face when he realised the huge iguana sat on the window sill was real, was priceless!

After a lovely chat and a cup of tea, we had to leave and went on to my parents to return my files and pick up more work. Surprisingly there were no comments at all about HE - but fear not - I can tell mother is planning a conversation! I can always tell when she is "picking her moment".

Shortly after dinner I sent Charlie to bed early as he was being really obnoxious. I've been reading some more of "Free Range Education" and am really enjoying it so far.

Brain dead now.....

Just this minute finished my work for today and tomorrow. I really need to go into Bristol tomorrow to get my last Christmas present. It's for my brother and typically his wish list only landed in my inbox last night! I've had all the others bought and wrapped since October.

I also need some new jeans as the only pair I can fit into have a hole in the knee! It's a bit stupid to be buying new clothes at the moment as I've just started IVF in the hope of having another child - I know I'm mad and many people will disagree with a single parent purposefully trying to get pregnant but that's life. I've always wanted a huge family and being without a partner isn't going to stop me. Besides, I'm also doing egg donation at the same time, so I can console myself I am giving something back.

I'm due to start taking hormone pills on the 24th - nice!

Charlie has done a few bits today. Two pages of a maths workbook - which he struggled with. Well not struggled in terms of ability but he just thinks he *can't* do it, even though he can.

He also wrote in his diary about the museum visit yesterday and colour in a pattern in one of those pattern pads, as an example of a type of mosaic. He read loads of his current reading book too.

He's been quite highly strung today and talking about wanting to go to one of the schools we looked at last Monday, but I explained that I really don't feel at the moment school is the right place for him and why, and he agreed. The main issue he bought up was friends, but I am sure we can continue to see his closest friends as I'm friendly with their mums.

He's not asleep yet, or even in bed. I sent him up at 9.00, but to be fair to him, he just isn't tired, you can really see that he's not, even though I made him get up early this morning - 8.30. Believe me he is a 10.00am kind of boy normally!

He's just come downstairs and wants to watch Armageddon - but I'm not convinced its all that suitable!

Woohhooo

Just a quick post to say that the headmaster has replied to my e-mail, and in the circumstances has decided that it wouldn't be appropriate for the school to charge a terms fees in lieu of notice!

So I need to:

a) Write the letter saying I am withdrawing him - easy to do with great pleasure
b) Tell my parents that Charlie is not going to Querns or any other school for that matter - ermmmmm might take some time that one.....

The Beginning!

So, here I am at last. After two schools with 6 months of Home Ed in between, it looks like my desire to Home Ed Charlie, and the fact that it is the right decision for him, has born out.

This return to Home Ed has been bought about by his abject misery this last half term, despite loving the school for the last year. I am just waiting to hear whether or not they will let us go without having to pay a terms fees in lieu of notice. If they won't that leaves me in a sticky situation as it isn't me paying the fees.

Part of this has been sparked off by watching the Clarkes on A Different Life last week, it was really fab and Charlie loved watching it.

Charlie has been doing English and Maths workbooks on and off this week. I've also persuaded him to draw a different bird each and write about it, as he struggles sometimes with his writing. He loves birds/animals/wildlife so this is a good place for him to start.

He announced yesterday he wants to start a project on Romans as he was reading his Usborne Romans book and so this afternoon we have been to the Corinium Museum in Cirencester. It was really interesting and Charlie enjoyed himself and is currently planning all sorts of things we can do. Amazingly Cirencester (or Corinium) was the second largest Roman city in Britain.