Who’s Normal Anyway?

On Thursdays we usually got to baby signing and it starts at 10am. It’s a bit of a challenge to get there for 10am, especially when L likes to sleep til going on for 9 and it’s about 40 mins away. We were running slightly late this morning but it was probably going to be doable, until we got onto the A47 and were going along quite happily and then suddenly at a roundabout we found the whole road was closed - massive chunk of the A47 with a diversion sending us back the way we’d come and then off on a long diversion. When it got to 5 to 10 and we were only part way down the diversion I realised there was no way we were even going to get there for the end of the singing, so we gave up trying to go there and turned off in the opposite direction to go to a different supermarket for the weekly shop we also do on Thursdays. Then we hit 2 lots of road works (not literally LOL). From leaving home we took a good hour and a half to get to the supermarket, even though it’s less than half an hour away from our house. So we went for coffee and chocolate cake before we started the shopping!

When we got home I woke L up because he’s been having long naps late in the afternoon and then not wanting to go to bed til 9 or 10pm. We unpacked the shopping and M and then L played on the computer. M and I did some painting towards some Christmas presents he’s doing and L emptied out the painting supplies drawer but thankfully not any of the actual paint containers. I also put a curry on for tea and started maknig naan breads.

This evening L has learnt a new sign. He had some flapjack before bed and did a little jiggle dance and insistent “uh!” to get me to follow him into the kitchen where he pointed to the flapjack tin. It’s handy that we keep things he likes in a lot of different places in the kitchen or it would be even more confusing than it is, trying to work out what he’s after. So I asked him if he wanted some more flapjack and signed more and eat to him. He looked at me, looked at his hands and clapped. So I signed more again and said, “Look, you do it this way” and he changed his hands around and signed it back to me. We have been signing more (intermittently I must admit) for ages without any obvious recognition or attempt to copy it before, so it’s really cool when he gets a new sign. He’s picking them up faster lately. He’s signing food as well for the first time this week, and last week he learned apple (along with saying “ap” which helps somewhat, as his sign for apple is similar to his sign for hot and also cat). Although I think his “apple” means anything he fancies to eat rather than just an apple alot of the time.

I think we’re going to just carry on with signing at home now. We can’t get to the class next week because we’re going away for a few days, and I think next week is the last one before Christmas. The class is turning to a prebook only class and we’ve done 2 terms now and I don’t think I can sit through the same thing again for another term. So it was sad we didn’t get there today for the last time.

Advent is a preparation for Christmas and this year I wanted us to do more to remember Advent and incorporate lots of Advent and Christmas related stuff through December, so I’ve been preparing for preparing. I’m pleased with and looking forward to the things we have planned, I hope they work out and don’t feel like a let down when we get to them.

So far for Advent this is what we’ve got planned.

First of all, the children have 2 advent calendars each and an extra one - arghh…! I bought really nice chocolate ones in Thorntons with their names on ages ago. Then this week Grandma and Grandad have sent a chocolate calendar for each of the boys (I think it’s something they enjoy doing every year, but I wanted to get them one too!). And then BIL has sent a Kinder advent calendar from Germany. So we’ve got chocolate overload for December. I think we might leave the chocs upstairs and open one when we get up and one at bathtime. If they are downstairs I think they might cause trouble and lots of nagging to eat all the chocolate immediately LOL.

On a bit more of a spiritual level and remembering what Advent is actually about, we have a devotional book to read each evening. I first bought Jotham’s Journey and began reading it to M a couple of year’s ago. Each day of Advent (starting 3rd December this year - the readings tie in with the Church calendar e.g. labelled Monday after 1st Sunday in Advent, and so on) there is a section of story to read and then a thought for the day and a prayer. Last time we tried reading it the sections seemed very long and a bit intense in story content for M. The story is about a shepherd boy who gets separated from his family and how he travels to find them and it’s set around Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth. M is enthusiastic about the idea of reading it this year, so we’ll give it another try. He wants to read it at bedtime by candlelight, which might be interesting with L about. We have a ceramic candleholder we can put on the side out of L’s reach, so as long as L can sit still or at least mostly quiet we should do OK.

We also plan to make an Advent wreath on Saturday ready for Sunday. We’ve got a ring of oasis to stick everything in to and the right colour candles (3 purple, a pink and a white - though they need chopping to the same size) and some artificial greenery. In previous years we’ve done variations on a wreath and lit the candle every Sunday during our main meal. This year we might light it every evening during tea, not sure yet.

In addition I’ve tried to plan an Advent or Christmas related activity to do every day up until Christmas Day. A has printed out some stars in pink and purple and I’ve glitter glued the numbers 1 to 24 on and typed up one activity per sticker on 24 stickers to stick on the back of the stars. We’re going to put them up around the front room and get down one a day and do the activity on it. I’ve read of people doing similar with paper chains and picking activities randomly, but I’ve fixed it to do certain things certain days bearing in mind when we are at home and fixing things like St Lucia’s Day on 13th. We’ve a few days when we’re away from home and I’m still uninspired about those - might leave them blank as we won’t be here to get them off the wall anyway.

I’ve been getting lots of new Advent ideas from Advent 4 Evangelicals. I’ve too many ideas to use for this year now and I know trying to do too much will just get all of us stressed out. I’m saving my favourite ideas and websites for next year and the year after. I like to do some things every year (like the advent wreath) to keep traditions in the family but it’s also fun to focus on different aspects of Advent and Christmas each year. There are so many different and creative ideas for marking Advent and I’m learning about traditions from other branches of Christianity that are quite new to me.

We’ve been in Norwich today for some home ed events, which meant we needed to be out of the house just after 8am. I had to wake L and put him straight in the car. We used the park and ride and then walked to the Regimental Museum with L on my back in the Mei Tai. He had on his fleece hat and he has a bad habit of pulling it off and dropping it. M and I were supposed to be going to keep checking he still had it on, but we got talking and forgot. When we got to the museum I realised L was hatless and we ended up walking right back past the castle and up the road searching for it. Luckily we did find the hat discarded in an alcove and managed to get back to the museum in time for the start of the workshop.

There was a mixed age group of home ed people from little ones up to teens but we’dbeen put in with a school class who looked about 6, so it was probably aimed at key stage 1? The museum receptionist didn’t look too pleased to see us and couldn’t make sense of an “Education Otherwise” group, she was convinced she had 2 school groups booked in. The education officer was nice though. We rotated through 3 groups but it was all very basic. M said he was glad he’d gone though, so that’s the important thing. The first group was about living in Norwich during the second world war and there were artifacts to look at like a gas mask, a chamber pot and some old toys. The next group was “make do and mend”, making flower posies using wire and buttons. M managed to cut his finger on the end of a wire. L made friends with another of the babies there. The last group was about evacuation and what evacuees were allowed to take in their suitcases. They seemed to have to fit in some writing just for the sake of it - filling in labels with their names, favourite toy they’d take with them and their favourite food. I’d rather they’d spent longer learning about something interesting but never mind.

We went to McDonalds for some lunch and then walked across to the Forum for the ice skating session that was booked for the home ed group in the afternoon. The current session was almost empty so they let us on early. M got on to the ice and realised it was much more slippery in ice skates than he remembered. It took a while for him to get some confidence but at least he let go of the edge. You can’t balance and hang onfor grim death at the same time and going around the edge meant he kept having to skate round people with random limbs all over the place. L wanted to go on the ice too but had to make do with watching through the perspex and then he found some puddles to splash about in and got his trousers soaking wet. I was just about to take L off to the library for a bit when M came up and grabbed on to the edge to stop closely followed by another boy with even less balance who grabbed, missed and took both of them down. They clashed heads and M hurt the edge of his eye so came off the ice for a bit. One of the marshalls fetched some ice and filled in the accident book but he was fine really. He went back on and was soon skating around again so we went off to the library.

The library was full of school children having a tour(??) but we sat and looked at some books together until L got more interested in a little girl’s balloon. I found some different Asterix books to take out for M and then went back and found The Secrets of Vesuvius for him because I remembered he’s just finishing the first one. When we got back to the ice rink they were just coming off the ice. Then I realised I’d lost M’s cap somewhere. We walked back to the library and looked around and eventually spotted his cap. I’d put it in my pocket while he was on the ice and it must’ve dropped out while we were looking at the toddler books.

We went for a coffee and cakes in M&S. I was carrying L on my back again and once I’d paid and found a high chair I unfastened the carrier, grabbed L’s arm and swung him down into my arms - he was sound asleep! Some little old ladies stopped to chat and remark how they couldn’t believe he was still asleep after how I’d taken him off my back! He slept on my knee through latte and cappuccino cake. I asked M to hold L while I went to the loo and when I got back he was awake, in the high chair and happily munching on M’s crisps. So we finished up there and went for the bus.

This evening M has been out to roller skating - he’s going to have such sore legs and ankles tomorrow! I made leek and mushroom pie for me and A and a small pizza for M and L and then we’ve done baths and bed. Which is where I really ought to be and get caught up on some sleep!

(Started this on Sunday but didn’t finish and post it because of stopping to watch Lost!)

Today we’ve been out to Church. During coffee afterwards I went to ask the vicar’s wife (VW) about a new women’s group that’s starting (have never gone to stuff like that before, not sure if I actually want to but OTOH feel like I ought to make some effort to get to know people a bit better). She was saying it would be Thursday evenings for 2 hours (so I can’t go to the first one this week because A already has a meeting to go to) and I said I’d maybe not stay the whole time the first time or two and see how A goes with L, because he doesn’t usually put him to bed. I’m not sure how L will be falling asleep without feeding. Anyway, I got raised eyebrows at that slightly and they had considered alternating with Thursday mornings. I said if it was a morning I couldn’t come anyway because I’d have the boys (even if M was in school I’d still have L and there are 5 other women with babies younger than L who regularly come to Church - maybe they need a mums with toddlers Bible study or something - wouldn’t it be chaos!). So the VW said, “Oh yes, you home educate M don’t you?” (previously talked about it, along the lines of oh I could never have done that). So I replied that yes I do but some does another lady at church, C. VW then said that C’s children are back in school and when I asked surprised when did that happen was told they went back at half term. I can’t quite get past the fact that C has seen us every week at Church and not spoken to us or mentioned that the kids have gone back to school! I can’t believe they’ve not mentioned it to M during Sunday School either, though the boys his age go to football practice so wouldn’t be there. They only came out at Easter so have gone back quite quickly really. I don’t know if they were really struggling and needed more support or if it’s other family events and that’s really none of my business, but still. Not to mention it at all!

In the afternoon we went out for a drive to a garden centre/craft place for a look around. We didn’t buy anything except for a sturdy book with pull tabs for L’s stocking.

We were looking at bread bins in the kitchen shop but couldn’t find one we liked the look of that was a decent size. I’ve been making bread alot recently and most bread bins seem to barely hold a loaf or else are shaped so you’d have to pile everything up vertically or are gopping colours. Shall have to look on eBay instead.

We came home and put a roast in the oven so ate late for us, about 7pm. A did us proud with the veg and made some Yorkshire puddings too.

L went to bed fine though fairly late I suppose and we were late to bed too. I got a short sleep in and then from 2am onwards L was restless and breastfeeding on and on and on and on. I think he wanted a poo but couldn’t, possibly, it didn’t seem to be teeth or his snotty nose affecting him - more like the restlessness he has when he needs the potty. So he fed on and on and I felt chewed and uncomfy. He would half nod off for a bit and then faff about and latch back on. I lost my patience about 4am and A woke up and came and sat with me and made drinks and did the sympathy thing (amazing, he doesn’t do sympathy generally) and finally about 5.30am L settled down to breastfeed properly and fell asleep. I got off to sleep only to be woken about 7.30am by L sitting up bright as a button wanting me to get up!

(Edited to correct confusion of initials!)

Hmm, what did we do on Thursday? Oh yes, we went to baby signing and I’d won a prize in the raffle for Children in Need, so that was a lovely surprise - it’s a nursery rhyme songbook. Afterwards we went to do the supermarket shopping and got lunch in the cafe - eventually. We waited 45 mins for a jacket potato and chicken nuggets and chips. It wasn’t especially more busy than usual, I think they just couldn’t get their act together. Once we got home we did some reading from Britannia together and then did some experimenting with magnets and seeing how we could test which were strongest. M carried on playing with those while I was on the phone for ages to a friend, during which L managed a potty poo, then tried to carry the potty before I could stop him and tipped it over the carpet! Then once I’d cleaned up and got it upstairs to empty out he weed on the bathroom floor - ho hum! I can’t remember anything else from Thursday evening.

On Friday we were up early and out to a Lego Production Line Challenge workshop run by these folk. The kids got into pairs and sat back to back and one had to build a small Lego model and describe how to build it to their partner. It was pretty chaotic and loud with not a lot of listening or clear explanations going on so far as I could tell. M was paired with a little lad we haven’t met before (I don’t think?) and their building didn’t go so well, but M seemed to be looking out for him and getting on with him OK rather than getting frustrated, thank goodness. After a bit of that they got into 2 teams to make a production line with a more complex Lego prototype to copy and make as many of in 5 mins as possible. The first run through was bedlam and then they had a discussion about how production lines work and everyone having a job etc and tried again and it was a little bit better. L ran about a bit, played cars and took some photos (mainly of the floor) and then we had a picnic in the car for half an hour to pass the time, but he did very well.

When we got home A was back from Scotland so we chatted while L napped. When L woke up we opened a huge parcel that arrived from my BIL in Germany with Christmas presents and chocolates and an advent calendar. There were some lovely metal Christmas tree ornaments with chocs in that L was particularly attracted to - sniffs out chocolate already LOL!

We decided to go out late afternoon and finally go and view the family photos we had taken. With M we went for portraits about 4 or 5 times in his first year but this time around we’ve only just been to the photographers. They all came out well and we ended up getting small copies of all the photos and ordered a couple of larger ones too. On the way home we got some Chinese takeaway for tea.

Yesterday we were going to go shopping but sat down to make a list and decided we didn’t really *need* to go and were probably just going out for the sake of it, so we didn’t. We got loads of odd jobs done that have been waiting for ages instead. A and the boys started off by feeding the birds and then digging up and replanting the loganberry bush - it was in too deep for new shoots to grow well. They were out in the garden for ages and I went out for a bit and took some photos. While they were outside I got the sewing maching out to get some sewing done on some Christmas presents I’m making.

In the afternoon we spent ages looking through all of this year’s photos and picking out which ones we wanted to get printed out properly for albums/calendars etc. M did some painting of ceramic letters to spell out his middle name. We cast them ages ago and he was reminded of them when I finally got L’s name finished and put up on the bedroom door.

When L got up from his nap we went to pick up A’s suit from the dry cleaners and popped into the supermarket for some bits and pieces and spent a fortune, then came home for a later than normal tea and watched Strictly Come Dancing and Robin Hood. Robin Hood is getting more ridiculous each week, but I’m glad we’d covered the Crusades a bit to help M make more sense of the story.

Shall have to blog today later because Lost is about to start!

I hate it when A is away, it feels more like we are just surviving than actually living properly. Yesterday morning M came in with me and L for a while and then was awake and restless just before 7 so he went downstairs and I went back to sleep til almost 8.30, which was good. It took us ages to get going once we did get up. M did some maths and we watched a history programme on TV and the morning just seemed to disappear until it was time to eat lunch and go out to music.

We go to a music session for home ed children run by someone from the county music service. He is excellent with the children, just the right mix of silly and keeping them moving on with trying things. They’ve been doing alot of work on pulse and rhythm and are just beginning to start with reading music. The class reminds me alot of the music class M was in from age 4 to 5 in Hampshire with Len Tyler. He used Kodaly based ideas and so does the man teaching the current class. It’s just a shame we couldn’t keep it up when we moved to Yorkshire - what M is doing in this class now is the kind of thing he did near the beginning of the music class when he was 4! Though he has probably forgotten a fair bit of it. The teacher is talking about changing things after Christmas and maybe introducing the recorder (wondered if M would be keen cos he didn’t like to practice much and got stressed about it when he did it before, but he said, “Ooh, yeah!” when I asked him) because the children are all picking things up very quickly and could move at a faster pace. I hope the class continues, it’s good to do it as a group and have that opportunity for music learning with someone who knows what they’re talking about and is so enthusiastic.

We came home and had a quick tea and then I took M out to rollerskating. L toddled about and luckily managed to avoid being run over by any skaters - he wanted to be slap bang in the middle of the hall if I’d let him. As soon as his feet are big enough for the smallest sized skates I think I’d better sign him up LOL!

Today we’ve watched more history programmes (about the crusades and what the Stuarts did for us) and some more fractions. The weather was lovely this morning so we went out to feed the birds and stayed outside quite a long time raking up leaves (to make leaf mould and to generally tide the garden and path). M got out the pop up tent as a bird hide and sat outside taking photos of the birds on the bird feeder, then edited the best photos once we came back in. They have a greenish tinge from taking the photos through the green netting of the tent - will have to rethink that method! This is my favourite of his bird shots.

I didn’t realise til tea time (when it was already dark) that I don’t remember seeing my door keys since L was playing with them out in the garden, so I need to look for those properly when it’s light tomorrow . We had a mad rush around tea time cos I was stressed about the keys and trying to make naan bread to go with the cirry and L was overtired and throwing himself about.

We got through tea and out to take M to ju jitsu but we were stuck in stationary traffic for a good 20 mins on the way because of an accident and were very late to his class. L had fallen asleep in the car but woke as we got to the car park so I had to take him in to the leisure centra too and drop M off (worried about going in late by himself) and it was all a lot of hassle. But then I feel guilty for feeling it was a hassle because it’s not M’s fault A is away and I didn’t want M to miss out on his class. On the way home L shrieked hysterically for the last 10 mins and with his cold sounded like he was about to choke, but there was nothing I could do and nowhere safe to stop on the unlit country lanes (though if I had I don’t think it would’ve helped because he just didn’t want to be in the car). So not a peaceful end to the evening and I’m sorry I had to take him out so late. Thankfully they are now safely in bed and asleep and I can drink coffee and eat chocolate and chill a bit!

A was away all weekend up in the Lake District doing some walking with a group of people from work. Friday and Saturday nights were really long. L kept waking up and coughing and then once he’d settled M came in saying he couldn’t get to sleep again by himself, and ended up sleeping along the bottom of the mattress the first night (couldn’t stretch my legs out) and then on the floor beside the bed the next night. That didn’t work too well either - I’d been awake an hour with L and then got about 30 mins sleep before M came in, but he couldn’t sleep cos he was cold and faffed around for about an hour before he dropped off. I got about another 20 mins and then L sat up wide awake at 6am and wouldn’t be persuaded to go back to sleep. I was glad to have A back in the house last night to sort M out for the night so I only had L to deal with. Tomorrow A has to fly to Scotland with work and is getting picked up at 3am for an early flight. Not sure it’s worth him going to bed! He’s not back til Friday so it could be a long week of broken nights.

Anyway, on Saturday we had a quiet morning doing nothing memorable and then at 12 we met up with the Cubs so parents could help ferry them all to a Cubs 90th birthday party. So I did 2 lots of 45 miles round trip to drop off and then pick up, but it was quite entertaining having 2 of M’s cub friends in the back with him - kept us amused all the way. L nodded off on the way back and then had a sleep when we got home so I had quite a peaceful afternoon. M sounded like he had a brilliant time at the party and was full of it on the way home, well they all were and we played musical statues as we drove along (I didn’t obviously, I just paused the CD now and then). Quite funny watching a back seat time warp in the mirror LOL.

M requested a “dippy evening” so we had carrots, peppers, dips and nachos for tea while we watched Strictly Come Dancing and then Robin Hood.

Yesterday we had church first thing and then a pretty quiet afternoon at home. The lad next door popped round for a bit. While L napped I sorted out some Advent song mp3s I saved before and was going to burn them to CD but then the CD drive refused to see the blank disk so I had to give up. A arrived home about 6.30pm, just as we were finishing eating. He brought home lots of left over food so we’ve been attacking the biscuit tim today. The bananas will have to wait til they’ve ripened though.

Today I’ve felt tired and rather shouty. M has done some spelling, quite a lot of maths about fractions and some history stuff. L has played Jump Ahead Toddlers and tried to felt tip over his toys and generally got into places he shouldn’t. We had an early lunch and went out to PC World so M could spend his pocket money on Lego Creator Knights Kingdom. L nodded off in the car but woke up when we got home, so he’s overtired now and hopefully off to bed soon. What else did we do this afternoon? Erm, tidied up a bit, finished off making stew and veg for tea and then watched some of Lost that I videoed last night. Now we’ve finished tea and M is out at Cubs and A is about to go back there in uniform to present some certificates, then when he gets back he still needs to pack for tomorrow.

I’ve been pondering alot on the posts at Dare to Know, starting with this post about possible changes to home ed monitoring and then the set of posts following that one, especially this post about What To Do.

I’ve passed on an email about this to my local home ed list. I know if other people are anything like me, that it’s so easy to just glaze over about anything political and feel powerless and think “But what can I do?”, which is why I’m thankful for Carlotta’s blog post on exactly that above.

Basically, it looks as though the government are considering changing legislation to impose compulsory monitoring on all home educators (and we will all be known because of the children’s database coming in) and possibly impose a set curriculum and other restrictions on home educators. This will limit parents’ rights to be responsible for and to choose an education suitable for their child. There will be a consultation with the Dept for Education and Skills about this and the blog post and the emails I’ve seen going around primarily suggest we all register to be sent consultation info as it comes out, so the government know home edders aren’t going to take this lying down.

I’m fed up with the turn things are taking at the moment. The government is trying to interfere too much in family life and responsibilities. It’s our responsibility as parents (morally and by law) to see that our children are educated according to age, aptitude and ability. I don’t need or want government busybodies sticking their oars in. I think they are missing the point in alot of areas around parenting and it seems as though if we’re not careful they’re going to legislate against anything that’s not mainstream. I would rant on for longer but I’m supposed to be watching Children in Need with M so I’ll leave it there for now.

My local home ed list is doing my head in at the moment. Someone just posted that they’d moved to this LEA and voluntarily contacted them to make themselves known (why???) and they are now put out that the LEA are saying, “Once you have made contact, a simple exchange of letters and documentation will commence, which will include a home visit.” I have replied pointing out they can’t insist on a visit but everyone else is replying about how lovely the LEA inspector is and how they’d “recommend” a visit. Grrr… what is wrong with people? She might be lovely, but why let the LEA carry on overstepping the bounds of what is legal to the point where they say, “All our home edders enjoy having us visit every year” which could easily lead to “Everyone else has visits, what do you have to hide?” Doesn’t anyone else care about preserving the rights of parents to be responsible for their children’s education? Whether this particular person is nice or not is neither here nor there.

Apart from going out to baby signing today, we’ve had a quiet week in so far and for once I’ve been glad not to be driving around all over the place. It’s been pleasant just to be at home for a change. M has had evening activities Mon, Tues and Wed so not too stir crazy with no other kids to run round with, and we’ve had time to get on with his activities in the mornings and then play computer games or watch a DVD or whatever in the afternoons.

This week we’ve carried on with the Normans, we’re up to Henry II at the moment and dipping in and out of the crusades. I’m quite taken with these little figures (found while I was looking for pictures of crusader knights to colour in) but can’t really fathom the directions for the war games themselves. Anyway, I’ve printed some out for M to make and play with tomorrow.

M’s also been working on his Home Help cub badge, so he’s cleaned the living room and dusted and polished, he’s got extra motivation for keeping his bedroom nice this week and he cooked tuna pasta bake for tea last night. Shame there’s not more to the badge LOL!

L has been creating havoc in the art drawer this week. We have a unit we put together with MDF that holds drawers that contain alot of our craft things - paper, craft bits like glitter, paints and a drawer full of pencils, crayons and felt tips etc. He likes to pull out the felt tips and take all the tops off and draw (hopefully on paper if I notice, otherwise whatever is to hand) but this week is especially fascinated with a box of charcoal sticks. I know I could move them out of his reach, but then it would only be something else he’d be in to and I’m hoping the novelty will wear off given time.

L has also taken a fancy to the laptop and will fiddle with the keyboard and mouse on the computer in the dining room for ages if he can get on it.