Hiking, Ben Nevis, and camping

That sounds all healthy and outdoorsy doesn't it?

You'll notice that I have a new camera :D A Canon PowerShot A 3100 - and very nice it is too.

So, on Sunday me, A, and Granny went off on a hike. Starting off at Rosemarkie beach:

we then cut back along the path, through the bluebells:

then off up into the Fairy Glen:

One of the waterfalls:

Beautiful views from the top:

We've been doing a fair bit of walking just lately, to prepare ourselves for our Ben Nevis Climb, which (if the weather is ok) will be happening next Sunday (29th).

We'd been thinking about it for a while, then A came up with the idea of getting people to sponsor her to get to the top - to raise money towards the Summer skills course she has a place on down in Edinburgh this August (a week-long residential drama workshop with YMT).

So it will be me, A, Granny, and Nonno - a bit of a family outing. Should be fun!

Ben Nevis - the highest moutain in the UK!

On Thursday we had a lovely home ed group outing - a tour of the theatre in Inverness (Eden Court). Got to catch up a wee bit with some friends, and the tour was really interesting, especially for A, who loves all things drama-related.

This evening I dropped A off for her weekend Guides camp. I don't do camping, so it will be a bit of a novelty for her I think. I'm sure she'll have a great time - they have lots of activities going on, and a campfire disco tomorrow night. She'll probably come home completely wrecked on Sunday (in a good way!)

I was planning on getting lots of work done, and having a night out tomorrow, but have come down with a cold and am feeling all achy and lethargic. Will have to see if the copious amount of vitamin C I'm taking kicks in - if the brain fog clears I might manage some work, if I'm not too snotty I might make it out for a couple of hours. There's always hope!!

Maths exams, and the second law of thermodynamics

A seemed to have a good time at the sleepover party. She arrived home on Sunday at about 1pm, shuffled upstairs, collapsed on her bed and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Indication of a good party in anyone's terms.

We had a bit of a lazy start to the week, with both of us struggling to feel motivated about anything. But things improved as the week went on.

With maths, A has now reached the end of her online course, and has 10 exams to do (these are each one page of varied questions covering what she's learnt throughout the course). She was less than enthusiastic about sitting 'exams'(!) but I'm hoping they will show her how well she's actually doing with maths. Usually I sit with her so that we can discuss any problems as they come up and look at different ways of working things out. She seems to need this - her confidence in her own ability in maths is so low, I think it reassures her to know she can check things with me. I suggested with these exams that I leave her to it, and she does as much as she can on her own, then I'll come through and we can talk about any she's had difficulty with. She completed the first one on Friday, getting 29 out of 30, and needing no help whatsoever.
I don't think its registered with her how good this is - she focused in on the one error (which was just a careless extra nought, rather than a mistake in calculation), and then started wondering "do they make the first exam really easy, then gradually make them harder?" (which they don't). So, basically not acknowledging that "I did really well"!!!
Its like banging my head against a brick wall sometimes - she seems to be clinging on to this notion that she's really crap at maths (which she clearly isn't!) I guess all I can do is keep finding ways to show her that she isn't.

On Friday we watched the first programme in the Wonders of the Universe series that I've been recording. We both learnt lots, mainly about entropy. I did physics GCSE at school, and it was never as cool and interesting as Prof Brian Cox makes it - maybe if he'd been my teacher I would have actually passed!

This afternoon A is off to a Guide patrol get-together, where they will be cooking pasta together. Apparently they get a badge for boiling pasta - A was as bemused as me at this. Still, I'm sure they'll have a laugh, which is what its all about really :-)

Can we just slow things down a bit, please?

I feel like life is just speeding by at the moment, there is so much going on. I know its all about perception, nothing has actually changed really, but I'm starting to feel a bit sick. Probably just need to sort my head out. Not really sure how to go about that though, seems its an ongoing project.

So what have we been up to? All the usual for A: writing group; guitar lesson; drama; Guides. Oh and she's started going to an iceskating club night too - very enjoyable for her (a little less so for me, will copy my friend and take a hot water bottle next time!!). Looks like it might be a regular thing though, and its a cheap way for her to get a little bit of tuition.

A is off to the Remembrance parade with Guides tomorrow. She came home from meeting on Thursday with the news that she needed smart black trousers and smart black shoes for Sunday - of course she doesn't own such things!! - so we went off on a shopping trip yesterday. I ended up spending a fortune, as I've been promising for a while that we'll decorate A's bedroom. We now have purple paint (and various other purple accessories) so will be transforming her room into a purple palace any day now!

I've been enjoying my new Italian class - tutti bene!! Only had a couple of classes so far, but its a nice group, and I really like the teacher. I'll have to get over my embarressment and practice on A's Nonno, thing is, if I say a couple of words he replies - at length - and I get lost and get all flustered!!
It is weird being in a 'classroom' environment again. At school I absolutely hated language class (I did French and German, then dropped German, and did very badly in French). It had all my least favourite elements of school-type learning - being put on the spot, having to speak in front of everyone, feeling totally out of my depth most of the time. So I was very nervous going in to the first Italian class. I still feel that inner panic at certain moments, but there isn't the judgement I felt so deeply at school.

I have been brave and offered to take my turn and hold A's writing group at ours. I was really torn between feeling obligated to share the responsibility with the other parents, but also feeling my natural inclination to run a mile from anything involving 'group' activity. This is not laziness, I'm extremely introverted, and find groups very stressful and difficult. I've had to push myself on this, especially since we started HE, as I don't want A to miss out on social stuff because of me. Sometimes it works out well and I cope ok, other times I barely get through it and collapse in a heap when we get home. Anyway, what pushed me this time was A's brutally honest comment that "it looks bad if we don't have it at ours". And she's right. Although 'how we look to other people' isn't, and shouldn't be, the basis of our decisions about how we lead our lives, in this case it is important for A to feel equal with her peers. And what I found was, once I accepted 'this is something I'm going to do', I started to get all kinds of ideas about themes for the session. This is me in my element: planning and organising, structure. So at least I'll be prepared for the session! I'm 90% sure it will be fine, they are a great bunch of kids, and to be honest could probably run the group themselves, but even if I struggle a bit at least I've put myself forward and taken my turn.

The Tattie Holidays

Its been a funny couple of weeks. The schools up here have been on holiday, so there's been quite a lot of catching up with 'schooled' friends, and our usual (vague) routine has completely disappeared. This always makes me feel a bit uneasy, but thats my stuff, and A has had a great time.

A went on her first Guides sleepover at the beginning of the holidays, held in a local church hall. I think she got about two hours sleep, and she spent most of the following afternoon dozing on the sofa - so a success then!

We went to see this fantastic ice show with Granny, then on to La Tortilla Asesina for a very delicious Tapas meal.
I had a bit of a mini film fest, going to see I am Love and A Prophet in the same week, two very different films. I enjoyed the first mainly because it was in Italian, but I did get drawn into the story. It took me a while to get past the weirdness of the kind of wealthy existence portrayed, where you have staff around all the time to cook, clean, pull your curtains for you etc, but once I'd adjusted to that I became quite intrigued by the characters.
The second film was a very powerful prison story. Not exactly easy viewing, but beautiful and intense, definitely my kind of film.
Whilst in film mode, I watched Dogville (on DVD) again, one of my favourite films. Quite a depressing view of human nature, but brilliantly written, and I love the way its filmed almost like a stage play.

A seems to have developed a keeness for baking, and there is often a chocolatey smell coming from my kitchen these days. They don't always work out well - she's quite reluctant to follow recipes so its a bit of a trial and error process - but the one she's produced today looks very promising :-)

There was another sleepover this weekend, with A going to stay with our HE friends over the other side of Inverness. She had a wonderful time with them, and they managed to produce and perform a little play together - she's clearly found some kindred spirits there!!

So tomorrow its back to normal, whatever that is. Back to a little bit of structure anyway, and back to all the clubs and groups.

Pancakes!!!

I haven't made pancakes for years, I always (unnecessarily) associate them with eggs so just don't bother, but this book inspired me to give them a go. Very, very delicious, especially with the rhubarb puree I made, perfect combination!


This past week has seemed to speed by, quite alarming, I suppose that means I'm getting old.

Rehearsals are well under way for A's drama group production. She's getting a little nervous about it, but has learnt her lines well and is definitely enjoying the group. There's a week long summer school in July with the group, which A is quite keen to attend. I can see a real boost in her confidence since joining the group.

Guides has been another good move - she's been to about five sessions now, and has enjoyed every one. It doesn't seem to be very organised, I never went to Guides but I had this image of girls working towards different badges and completing various challenges. All A seems to have done so far is play sports out in the field. Not that I have a problem with this - if she enjoys it and it works for her then that's great, and they definitely seem to be a friendly group, the 'working as a team' thing is obviously emphasised.

We went off to an interesting exhibition of Renaissance drawings at the Moray Art Centre yesterday, A wrote in the visitors book that she found it 'very inspiring'. Some good classes go on there too, we must keep an eye on their courses listings.
While we were there we bumped into a parent from A's old school, and in conversation it came up that we were home educating. We ended up having a long chat as she has been thinking about home educating her son but is a bit unsure at the moment. It felt really good to be able to offer some insights from our experience of the past two years, and also how we see the future with HE. I actually felt like I knew what I was talking about (rare for me!), which showed me how far we've come. I'm feeling less that I have to justify everything and reassure people that I'm not a feckless neglectful parent, and more comfortable in our choices, because you only have to spend a couple of minutes with A to see that she's flourishing. I gave the woman my phone number and said to phone if she wanted to talk more, which she seemed quite keen to do, so we'll see what they decide.

This may be my last post for a while, as we're off on holiday on Thursday (yipee!!). We're going down to London first, then visiting a few other places to see friends and family, and will be gone for about 3 weeks. Prepare yourselves for lots of photos on our return!!!
I don't feel I'm organised at all, this weekend I'm focusing on work as I have a piece on learning styles that I need to finish before we go, and I just know that the beginning of the week will be a blur of rushing around madly trying to get things in order. I'm making lists, which is a good start, but they inevitably get lost or hidden under piles of magazines/paperwork/books. Oh well, we have our train tickets, and places to stay, so I guess we'll be ok :o)

Red Cabbage Experiment

A drew up a schedule for Friday. I was a little apprehensive as it was a very long list, but it worked brilliantly. She did have to cut things out as the day went on, but that was ok. Our main activity for the day was pH indicator-making with a red cabbage:

The cabbage was first chopped...

then boiled for ten minutes

Meanwhile, several household substances were gathered

Once the cabbage water had been drained and cooled, it was distributed between 10 glass containers (I knew all those jars I was hoarding would come in handy one day!)

Then A added a different substance to each jar - recording how much was added and any differences occuring to the cabbage water.

And here are the results - A has estimated the pH of each substance based on how blue or red the cabbage water turned.

Next came the 'experimental healthy biscuits', this involved chucking a load of vaguely healthy ingredients together, shaping into biscuit shapes and baking.

They weren't at all bad actually.

Other activities included:

• another crime scene investigation project, this time looking at DNA evidence
• writing a short story in 20 minutes
• online maths assessment on multiplication (she got 10 out of 10 - yay!!)
• 'geograball' - a game A made up with her Granny which involves throwing a ball at each other and naming countries/cities beginning with A/B/C etc
• piano practice
• smoothie making session

We ended the day with pizza-making, and both felt very satisfied with our day. Its great to see A so motivated, she seems to be entering a new phase (or something) where she's taking much more responsibility for her own learning.

The art session with the HE group went really well, I think A was quite inspired by the artist taking the session, and had a good look at her website when we got home.

A had her first night at Guides on Thursday. She was extremely nervous about it, worrying that she wouldn't know anyone, but as it turned out she already knew a couple of the girls, and was put into their patrol, so she came home with a big smile, keen to go back next week.

So all good then. I'm off to the pub tonight - haven't done that for ages. I think I'm in a lager mood tonight...