I had intended to do a proper posting before we headed off on holiday to York tomorrow morning, but it will have to wait til we get back as I have no time!
We'll be back by the end of the month, hopefully with lots of pics and news. X
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Friday, 11 September 2009
Briefly...
We watched this yesterday, something I had recorded with my fab new BT Vision. A really interesting programme about Scottish art, presented by the wonderful Peter Capaldi. A did some sketches of me afterwards. I looked like an old lady, so pretty accurate!!
Angles and mushrooms are ongoing at the moment, both going pretty well.
Granny took A to an open day by Out_of_the_Darkness theatre company, with some mini performances and presentations. Very inspiring stuff I think. I've seen some of their performances and they are amazing.
A's new drama class seems to be going well too, she's all fired up for the Christmas show already! I'm really glad she's got an outlet again for her enjoyment of performing, I think this needs to be encouraged and nourished. Cant understand it myself - I can think of nothing worse than getting up on stage in front of loads of people, but what do I know - I'm the weird woman who likes maths ;0)
Angles and mushrooms are ongoing at the moment, both going pretty well.
Granny took A to an open day by Out_of_the_Darkness theatre company, with some mini performances and presentations. Very inspiring stuff I think. I've seen some of their performances and they are amazing.
A's new drama class seems to be going well too, she's all fired up for the Christmas show already! I'm really glad she's got an outlet again for her enjoyment of performing, I think this needs to be encouraged and nourished. Cant understand it myself - I can think of nothing worse than getting up on stage in front of loads of people, but what do I know - I'm the weird woman who likes maths ;0)
Monday, 7 September 2009
Back to work
I'm enjoying getting back into a kind of rhythm after our summer 'break'. A and I had a discussion about how we are going to approach our second year of HE. We talked about things being a little more purposeful this year. For our first year we were kind of finding our way a bit, thats how it feels looking back. Nothing wrong with that, but I think we've both grown to know how things do and don't work for us.
A asked me to put up a chart of all her projects so she can keep track of how much she's doing:
So our basic routine is: some maths and English in the morning (this can take many forms - I'll expand later); then A chooses what she wants to focus on in the afternoon.
This is a very loose, flexible routine - sometimes we'll go out for the day and there's no 'routine'. Sometimes A becomes so engrossed in a project that she spends the whole day on it. Its all good.
But somehow it helps us both to have some kind of framework grounding us, even if we do ignore it at times.
And the routine only works for the days we're based at home together - one or two days a week I have to work, so A spends time with her Granny, where she has some workbooks she sometimes uses, but the two of them also go off on all kinds of adventures. Granny is involved in Adult Literacy classes, so some of the resources she uses for that are quite good for A.
For English we do all kinds of reading and writing - A is much more interested in reading since she did the summer reading challenge at the library, and is often happy to sit and read for a while. Sometimes she'll ask me to give her some titles for stories to write. Other times I'll ask her to write a review or summary of something. I read to A regularly too, something we both still enjoy, and which often sparks off interesting discussions.
I'm feeling very inspired about maths (even if A isn't!). We had a great session on 'angles' today, which seemed to go really well. I'm very excited about Khan_Academy , which I'd put on my favoutires links some time ago but never looked at properly until recently. These little YouTube tutorials look perfect for A - visual, short, clearly explained - I anticipate using these quite a lot. I also had another look at NRICH , which looks promising too.
I'm using a mix and match approach to maths, picking a theme then gathering lots of info from lots of different resouces, and using what I think will appeal to A most. A still has a very negative attitude to maths, so I'm being very gentle and encouraging with it. I'm doing my best to make it enjoyable and relevant. I've told A there are only 2 rules for our maths sessions - 1. she can take as long as she needs to think about/work out things (she reacts very badly when pressured or rushed on maths questions, and completely loses confidence in her ability), and 2. its ok to get things wrong, as thats a crucial part of the learning process.
I keep hoping that my enjoyment of maths (yes, I am that nerdy) will be infectious, but it doesn't seem to be.
A asked me to put up a chart of all her projects so she can keep track of how much she's doing:
So our basic routine is: some maths and English in the morning (this can take many forms - I'll expand later); then A chooses what she wants to focus on in the afternoon.
This is a very loose, flexible routine - sometimes we'll go out for the day and there's no 'routine'. Sometimes A becomes so engrossed in a project that she spends the whole day on it. Its all good.
But somehow it helps us both to have some kind of framework grounding us, even if we do ignore it at times.
And the routine only works for the days we're based at home together - one or two days a week I have to work, so A spends time with her Granny, where she has some workbooks she sometimes uses, but the two of them also go off on all kinds of adventures. Granny is involved in Adult Literacy classes, so some of the resources she uses for that are quite good for A.
For English we do all kinds of reading and writing - A is much more interested in reading since she did the summer reading challenge at the library, and is often happy to sit and read for a while. Sometimes she'll ask me to give her some titles for stories to write. Other times I'll ask her to write a review or summary of something. I read to A regularly too, something we both still enjoy, and which often sparks off interesting discussions.
I'm feeling very inspired about maths (even if A isn't!). We had a great session on 'angles' today, which seemed to go really well. I'm very excited about Khan_Academy , which I'd put on my favoutires links some time ago but never looked at properly until recently. These little YouTube tutorials look perfect for A - visual, short, clearly explained - I anticipate using these quite a lot. I also had another look at NRICH , which looks promising too.
I'm using a mix and match approach to maths, picking a theme then gathering lots of info from lots of different resouces, and using what I think will appeal to A most. A still has a very negative attitude to maths, so I'm being very gentle and encouraging with it. I'm doing my best to make it enjoyable and relevant. I've told A there are only 2 rules for our maths sessions - 1. she can take as long as she needs to think about/work out things (she reacts very badly when pressured or rushed on maths questions, and completely loses confidence in her ability), and 2. its ok to get things wrong, as thats a crucial part of the learning process.
I keep hoping that my enjoyment of maths (yes, I am that nerdy) will be infectious, but it doesn't seem to be.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Been away again
This time to Pitlochry - we stayed here , just for a couple of nights.
Me, A and Granny went down to meet up with some friends from Norwich - an old family friend and her two daughters aged 10 and 12 (they came up and stayed with us last summer, for anyone who was reading this back then and remembers!).
It is a wonderful part of the country, we went out hiking in the beautiful surrounding countryside, and generally had a really nice time catching up with our friends. It was perfect timing for A, who enjoyed socialising at the hostel - playing pool, learning chess (which we're going to continue with at home) and hanging out in the TV room.
So - here are some pics!
Me, A and Granny went down to meet up with some friends from Norwich - an old family friend and her two daughters aged 10 and 12 (they came up and stayed with us last summer, for anyone who was reading this back then and remembers!).
It is a wonderful part of the country, we went out hiking in the beautiful surrounding countryside, and generally had a really nice time catching up with our friends. It was perfect timing for A, who enjoyed socialising at the hostel - playing pool, learning chess (which we're going to continue with at home) and hanging out in the TV room.
So - here are some pics!
Hiking
We got a bit wet the first day,
but generally were very lucky with the weather
The Pitlochry Dam
View from the Dam
We stopped for a paddle in the river
A small loch in the woods
The Falls of Bruar
We stopped off here on our way home. I wasn't that keen to do more walking after the previous day's long hike, but I was really glad we did as it was SO beautiful, these pictures don't do it justice at all.
A view down
At the bottom
A was our tour guide for the walk -
The lower falls
A view down
At the bottom
A was our tour guide for the walk -some fascinating (and highly questionable) 'facts'
A contemplative moment
A contemplative moment
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Social Stuff - Wobbles
A's dissatisfaction with the amount of time spent with friends over the summer came to a head yesterday, when she told me "I've only got about 10 real friends, including my cousins." I said I thought that was pretty good - and more than I had, but she wasn't happy. This threw me into a bit of a panicky/self-doubting/crap parent quandary.
I know that the school playground environment is the very thing that pushes many kids to want to get out and HE, and it wasn't all plain sailing for A all of the time, but it is the one thing she misses about school - social time.
I'm trying to tread carefully here, as I know the 'social isolation' issue is often used as a criticism of HE. I don't think A is socially isolated, she has friends, but she doesn't see them as often as she would like.
Whenever this issue is raised there always seems to be HEors who say things like: "oh, my kids have loads of friends, they don't have time to fit them all in, the house is always full of kids", which somehow makes me feel a bit inadequate as thats not our experience at all.
Our local HE network, lovely as it is, is very widespread and meetings are sporadic, so although we have attended quite a few events and A has got on well with some of the kids, no strong friendships have been built up.
I suppose what worries me most is that its my fault, and somehow I'm limiting her chances. I have specific problems with social stuff, and don't function well in group situations. I have a handful of close friends, but am quite happy spending time by myself, in fact I find I need regular time alone to keep my head together.
A's Dad was the opposite, he couldn't bear to be alone, and while A isn't that extreme I think she's more like him than me when it comes to sociability.
I have made a real effort to take A to different things, like the HE group, astronomy class, nature workshops - as I know this is really important for her. And while I've struggled at times, its probably been good for me too, as I've pushed myself to go to things that I've ended up enjoying. But I cant help feeling that if I was more outgoing it would give A more social opportunities.
We discussed going to school yesterday. Educationally I hate the idea of this - I know without a doubt that HE is the best for A. At the moment she doesn't want to try the local school, but I'm aware that if she continues to feel lonely she may choose to go to school in order to spend more time with friends.
A is joining a new local drama group next week, and I'm still trying to get hold of the local Guides leader to find out about A joining Guides. This is my main hope at the moment - that A will make friends with some local kids and so will get to socialise a bit more after school and at weekends. If this doesn't work out I'm not sure what to try next.
I'd really appreciate some comments here if other people are willing to share experiences on this issue.
I know that the school playground environment is the very thing that pushes many kids to want to get out and HE, and it wasn't all plain sailing for A all of the time, but it is the one thing she misses about school - social time.
I'm trying to tread carefully here, as I know the 'social isolation' issue is often used as a criticism of HE. I don't think A is socially isolated, she has friends, but she doesn't see them as often as she would like.
Whenever this issue is raised there always seems to be HEors who say things like: "oh, my kids have loads of friends, they don't have time to fit them all in, the house is always full of kids", which somehow makes me feel a bit inadequate as thats not our experience at all.
Our local HE network, lovely as it is, is very widespread and meetings are sporadic, so although we have attended quite a few events and A has got on well with some of the kids, no strong friendships have been built up.
I suppose what worries me most is that its my fault, and somehow I'm limiting her chances. I have specific problems with social stuff, and don't function well in group situations. I have a handful of close friends, but am quite happy spending time by myself, in fact I find I need regular time alone to keep my head together.
A's Dad was the opposite, he couldn't bear to be alone, and while A isn't that extreme I think she's more like him than me when it comes to sociability.
I have made a real effort to take A to different things, like the HE group, astronomy class, nature workshops - as I know this is really important for her. And while I've struggled at times, its probably been good for me too, as I've pushed myself to go to things that I've ended up enjoying. But I cant help feeling that if I was more outgoing it would give A more social opportunities.
We discussed going to school yesterday. Educationally I hate the idea of this - I know without a doubt that HE is the best for A. At the moment she doesn't want to try the local school, but I'm aware that if she continues to feel lonely she may choose to go to school in order to spend more time with friends.
A is joining a new local drama group next week, and I'm still trying to get hold of the local Guides leader to find out about A joining Guides. This is my main hope at the moment - that A will make friends with some local kids and so will get to socialise a bit more after school and at weekends. If this doesn't work out I'm not sure what to try next.
I'd really appreciate some comments here if other people are willing to share experiences on this issue.
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