He survived!!

:-)

He came out smiling and full of beans. His teacher is really into Doctor Who so they gelled well, and the other kids in his class were ok. They did some work on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which is right up his alley and he said it only took him an hour or so to stop feeling wobbly so that's good. Hopefully he'll have the same to report when he gets out today.

Issy worked well today again, I think a few wires are starting to join up in her brain because she is working well with her workbooks and they are aimed at 6-7 so she must be doing ok. She's still slow with her reading but I have been looking through a website with resources that lovely Immy pointed us towards and shall start implementing some of these strategies with her. She is improving but she has such little confidence in it and tends to sound out every word rather than attempt splitting it into separate syllables etc. She is much happier doing maths and science work! But we shall perservere...

anyhow must go and help Alex do a jigsaw as he is climbing on my head :-S

he's gone..

*sniff*

Boy wonder left me this morning. Took him to the playground and he was so quiet, he was clearly nervous. Starting Juniors as well, so most of the kids were older than him and although he knows a few of them from footy training etc it's not the same, as they all know each other and he was just so blatantly new. The other mums too - I didn't recognise anyone so chances are I shall once again be Billy No Mates, twiddling my thumbs awkwardly while they chat away. Oh well.... stick with what you know,eh?

Anyway, a lady from the office came out and I asked her which line to join and when the teacher came out they all filed in. Mrs Carlisle is his teacher, and she greeted him with a big smile and asked him if he was Callum and he said he was, and that's all I caught before the door shut. He didn't look back, which I guess is a good sign.

Issy settled to work very well this morning, we did a little of English, Maths and Science and she tried hard and we had fun, which is most important. Then Alex's nursery teachers, Miss Lawson and Mrs Hefford visited to meet Alex properly - he was very quiet and shy at first but warmed up a little. He starts next Tuesday and I hope he'll be ok....... it was nice to have them here anyway as they are both lovely and gave me the gossip on their new headmistress,lol!!

I will update with Cal's opinion of his day later but for now here is my baby.. he was very brave and I was so proud of him. I so hope he has a good day. Fingers crossed everyone!!

ok, I'm back!

Right then.

So I start again, minus a pupil, as of next week and arrrrgggggh it's scary! Cal is off to St Johns school and I am quite sure it was the right decision for him as he is very excited about it all. I hope he will slot back in ok and that he has learned something these past months! I know that I tried my best and I know that we have had 9 months of being together and having a lot of fun which is infinitely more memorable, right?

So Issy and I will be battling it alone for the time being. I think at the moment she is feeling a bit put out as we've made a big thing of Cal going to school and I worry that she feels left out and 'punished' almost by staying home for a bit. But the school can't take her as well - they are full to capacity for year one and we have to wait until a)someone leaves or b)she goes into year 3, whichever comes first. I am all edgy about it tbh, now I know that is where she is going to end up, I worry about getting her to a certain level, and then when she does go school will be totally new - I don't want her to struggle or be unhappy. So the pressure is really on me to get her somewhere and up to a decent standard. I have bought her some CGP workbooks today for English, Maths and Science KS1 that will take her up to SATS level by the end of the year, and I have chosen a few books that I want her to attempt reading, as she's still not quite there yet. I have also told her to start thinking about a subject she is interested in that we can research, and so far she has suggested Golf.

Golf??

Anyway... we will be starting on Wednesday, as Cal will be at school and *sob* Alex will be starting nursery school!! I can't believe he's going - he still seems such a baby to me, but I know he'll be ok. Mrs Hefford, his teacher, looked after Isobel when she was there and she's solid gold, I know she'll treat him like her own. I just have to try and get my head around the whole school runs in the rain and lunchboxes and uniforms thing again and at the moment I am a bit AARRRGGHHH about it all.

The last few months have been so laid back and fun, especially the summer break - they've been up to all sorts in the garden with their friends, and to the cinema, and soft play, and a holiday to Nanny's and its been great. I have managed to pick myself up and have improved personally lots in terms of my confidence in doing things alone, now that I have finally decided to just be their mum for the time being and stop putting pressure on myself to do everything at once. It's going to be hard to get back to the 'real world' and more than anything else I am going to really miss Cal, and at the same time I feel like I have really let myself down... why did I have to be ill? Why wasn't I better at it? How come I couldn't just relax and see what happened? When Rich was at home with us it was all great and went really well, and when he went back I just was crap and got ill. I know we can't live in cloud cuckoo land and that he had to work, but we did have such a great few months all together and I wish that it could have been like it all the time and that this hadn't happened... you know? But I have to look on the flip side - Cal is wanting to go to school, and it will be easier just having to concentrate on Issy, she works well without Cal. I hope so much that I can do it this time and that I don't let her down.

Parenting sucks. It is such a fecking guiltfest!


I shall leave you with a few photos of how they all look now:

sorry for going awol..

.. as some of you will know it's because I have been quite ill since March. I had some gynae health problems which meant that teaching the kids has been impossible. Heck, getting up has been impossible. It was a really tough time, unfortunately, I have been really scared and shaken up as I have never had anything wrong with me in my life before other than the odd cold and cough. I have struggled through it as best I can but education wise there's not much to report, Rich has had to be at work most of the time while I was suffering so couldn't really help in that respect, it's been a case of surviving with our heads above water with no energy for anything else.. We've made sure they've been reading every day and writing as much as poss and we've been watching a lot of National Geographic stuff but that's really all I have managed. I feel horrendously guilty about the whole thing tbh :-( this wasn't what we signed up for - it was meant to be a better way of learning for them and instead they have completely lost any self discipline to learn that they had. Cal in particular is being difficult because he's just not being stimulated enough for the past few months. I feel pants about it but there's nothing else I could have done, you know? It's just me and Rich doing the practical applications of this and it seems that if one of us is ill then the whole thing just crumbles.

Anyway. On the positive side Issy's reading is slowly improving so it seems, I did a reading age test with her and she got 5 yrs 11 mths and she's 5yrs 3 mths, so it's not brilliant but not bad either. My health is much better all round, I have a good pill that I am taking that seems to have resolved my problems and I'm eating lots better which means I have lost a stone, only another 3 to go.. lol. But I am trying to feel positive and look at it from the POV that had I been ill and the kids were at school I would not have been physically able to take them and pick them up each day - which would have concerned the school and social services would have been on the door step, so every cloud...

Hoping that that is the end of it anyway, and we are in the planning stages of a new strategy which may involve Cal going back into school in September, a place has become available at an excellent Catholic school close to my house and I am thinking I may need to surrender my anti faith schools principles. I will do whatever I have to do for him to do well and the head seems to be a decent sensible man. You cannot argue with the Ofsted report anyway..We shall see, I suppose. I have a few tricks up my sleeve on a personal level too that may involve a massive shake up for the whole family... but again I won't say too much now because I am wary of jinxing it.

Anyhow, I shall keep you updated as soon as I know what the heck is going on chez moi.

Much love, Rach xxx

Thank you Immy!!

Today my lovely, wonderful, inspirational and flipping downright marvellous friend Immy sent me some really valuable help for teaching Issy to read after seeing my post bemoaning the fact that we are struggling. It's a system that the government uses to teach children in schools and from what I have seen it should make a huge difference to her - making it a lot more fun and less stress for all involved. In the parcel were some chocolate coins, and the kids wanted to say thanks for them, so here they are doing that.

Thank you Immy - you are a superstar!!

another new nappy...

I know, again not educational, but I am not really up to much at the moment! lol

Here is Sammy in his itti bitti d'lish..
and another so you can see his little furry butt.. I love it!!

I know,I know... it's not educational, but it IS cute...

Look at the itty bitty baby in his new Spidey nappy...

back a-workin!

As of yesterday!

They spent the morning doing their workbooks, I find that if I supervise very closely then they seem to get lots more done, funny that lol. But they worked well in the morning which was nice. the only real bother I am having is with Issy and her reading. Her writing is good and she has neat handwriting for a child her age and can form all her letters well. Her Maths is good too. But it seems no matter how much we try she just isn't 'getting' how to read. I am not overly worried as she has only just turned 5, but Callum seemed to 'get it' a lot quicker than she is doing. I know it's unfair to compare but it is hard not to because if she doesn't crack it it's my fault - I can't go and have a word with the teacher because it's ME - argh!! Talk about self induced pressure.. I know that they all get there in the end but I struggle so much to remain patient with her when she reads a page fairly well yet has forgotten it all 3 minutes later - how teachers of reception age kids manage to do it day after day with 25-30 kids is beyond me - big kudos to them. Anyhow I shall perservere, practise is the name of the game right?

Then in the afternoon we decided to look at Space for the next week or so, inspired by Cal and his telescope. We concentrated on Mercury yesterday and I am trying to find a recording of the Planets suite online for them to listen to as well as we do each planet - multi disciplinary ahah!!

Alex and Sam are trying to join in as best they can, Alex likes Planets he says. Sam is good, still refusing to take more than one independant step. Rich says it's because he's been worn for so long he has no reason to learn - the others learned more quickly because they wanted to escape from the buggy lol - Chops has no incentive! Maybe there is something in that. .. If the weather holds then we *might* venture to the park, and I will take him in the buggy for a change, see if the theory holds.

Right no rest for the wicked. I have to go help Cal with some measuring for his Maths work. I just wish I didn't have another flipping migraine. ARGH!!

Rahs xxx

Wow what a busy day! Sam had a great time, lots of lovely presents and a day out to Camelot theme park with Hazel, Tansy and family. The older kids got a lot more out of it than Sam did but he was content to look at the animals in the farm and be carried around all day! :)

Photos then.. morning balloons with his traditional first cup of tea..lol

Opening a few pressies!


Sam's best presents by miles... thanks so much to Hazel and Hazel's very talented Mum... 3 personalised t-shirts..






In the ball pit tent that we got him with Alex..


Looking at the animals on the farm...

Cake....

will put some more on tomorrow...xxx

Sam's birthday cake!

My angel turns one tomorrow! Will do a proper entry for him then but for now I want to show off the cake I made for my baby pirate!

back to the grindstone tomorrow..

eek!

We had a three week Easter break in the end.. whoops! Oh well. Turned out quite handy in the end as I have been rather ill for the last few weeks, having to have some investigations done next week, so I haven't really felt up to it anyway. The kids have had a good time anyway, lots of playing out with their friends on the street and helping Rich do the back garden up, as well as our trip to Reading and a few good walks.

Tomorrow we shall resume some kind of order in the house, back to our usual pattern. I think we'll do Monday through to Wednesday and then have Thursday and Friday off, and work Saturday instead. It's Sam's 1st birthday on Thursday and we are going to Camelot theme park with my friend Hazel and her family, we've never met before in real life lol, so it should be fun!

I am a bit nervous about regaining order and disciplining ourselves again, as knowing how the kids are I expect a kind of rebellion for a few days while they get used to concentrating again, so good vibes and luck for tomorrow are gratefully received. I shall update again tomorrow if I am still in one piece! :-)

White Easter!

Had a lovely afternoon at NannyLyn and Peter's house, Grandad Michael came too! Lots of lovely food and cake and wine so Rich and I were happy.. Nanny does put on a jolly good spread.

We went for a walk in the snow and took some piccies too, freezing but beautiful. I love where we live especially on days like today :-) Kids had a brilliant time in the snow and had a huge snowball fight with Peter (Rich's stepdad) and we also saw some of the first newborn lambs of the season. A fab day xxx

Sam didn't have eggs for breakfast..honest.


Before it snowed on our walk.. the monument is called Stoodley pike and we are walking up to it as soon as we get a warm weekend, so I am told!



It was snowing by this point which is why it looks so grey


Sam was unimpressed by the snow, tbh! But a woman in a car stopped to give us back Sams hat because he'd dropped it, and said 'Love your MeiTai by the way!' - LOL!!



Cal and a snowball. He is LETHAL!


Some very very pregnant sheep!


And a few postnatal mama sheep and their offspring...


Just because the view was nice, really :)


Rich and me... grinning like morons :)

And finally, Sam didn't have chocolate cake for tea. Honest..

back from the Home Counties!

A lovely holiday had by all,lol! Lots of mooching around being fed and given cups of tea by my mum. Not much better than that is there?

Friday we went shopping with my friend and Alex fell in love with her baby.... he wouldn't stop kissing her! We had far too good a time in Krispy Kremes though. whoops! Then in the evening I went to the cinema with Mum to watch the Other Boleyn Girl. It was good, but as my mum said, there was nowhere near enough Cardinal Wolsey. And it's not often you get to say that.lol! But I haven't been to the cinema since the last Star Wars when Alex was a baby, so it was great for that reason alone.

The kids spent Saturday at Nanny H's and they went to a farm park for the day with all their cousins on that side of their family. Well Sam stayed with us and after my Uncle had been round top say hello, Mum had him for a few hours while Rich and I went OUT. On our OWN. First time in about 2 years that we haven't had one of them attached to us, with the best will in the world :)
A Miracle. We just had a bit of lunch and then walked home again but it was really, really nice to just 'be' for a while. Unfortunately Sammy came down with a nasty cold so we couldn't try and let him stay with Nanny H that night either as it wouldn't be fair on him, so we didn't get a night off, but it was enough.
On the Sunday we were woken by my brother, SIL and nephew Warwick (2) at the door at 9am - they had just got back from a holiday in Australia. Then late morning my sister arrived with her 4 children who are 9, 8, 3 and 1 and we went with my mum to the local soft play extravaganza for a while. The noise was horrendous but we all had a great time, Rich and I decided Alex needed our help to get down the slides though *whistling with hands in pockets*
All the kids had a great time and it was wonderful to see all my family in the same room for a few hours :-)
Monday we took Cal to the Madejski staduim megastore so he could buy Reading FC merchandise, then Issy went for a gardening lesson at my Dad's allotment. She planted some asparagus that will be producing for the next 20 years, so Dad told her that if she was lucky she would be able to eat it in a quiche at her wedding buffet..lol! Anyhow she had a great time and now wants to be a gardener who moonlights as a clown when she grows up...
Tuesday was the three hour train journey back home... joy of joys. But they were as ever well behaved enough and we made it home in one piece. It's nice to get away but it's nicer in some way to get home again.
Photos!

The train. Oh lord, the train.lol



Alex loving baby Jessica!


Sam and my mad Uncle Keith. Not obvious that he is a scifi geek at all is it? ROFL! He is probably my favourite relative though, utter legend.





My elder brother Michael, and Callum.




LOL this is Zac, my nephew. He can be the devil in disguise. But so, soooooooooo funny and cute!



awwwwww.. my Dad and my nephew Toby.



Me and Sammy in the ball pit!


Toby on a slide!


Rich on a slide. Sam really wasn't bothered... but he was,lol.


My lovely niece Ellie


Sam and my sister, Kate.


and lastly my little boys on the trampoline. Look at the static in their hair!!

Happy Birthday Callum!

Yip time for another birthday chez Roberts! My beautiful biggest boy and the main inspiration for this whole home ed thingy is 7 years old today - I can't believe it's been seven years since he arrived and turned everything upside down in the best way possible.

He's had a decent enough day,not done much due to weather and Rich being in work all day (booooo) but is spreading his birthday out a bit. We are taking a few days off home ed and going to visit my family on Thursday and he's having a party with his cousins on Sunday, so yay - holidays! :-)

A few photos of this morning with his presents..

Sam making the most of a large box opportunity!

My wonderful friend Rosie created this materpiece cake for him - a replica Reading FC shirt in honour of his beloved team. She is a grade A diamond - thanks Rose xxxxxxxxx

And eating said cake which was flipping GORGEOUS!

And Mr Sammy doing his best to help shovel the cake away..

So happy birthday Cal - I'm so proud of you and I love you, thanks for being such a star. xxx