We had a lazier and far more what we’re used to start to this morning which was nice 🙂 Infact I realised at ten to ten while the kids were still breakfasting that I really needed to get the vegetables required for beef stew sooner rather than later if I was going to slow cooker it so nipped out while they still breakfasted to get them. I said I’d be back by 1015 and walked back in the door bang on the dot of 1015 much to their delight.
I was just dumping the veg peelings in the composter when Mark The Plumber arrived so we drank tea and chatted while he filled out his forms for the boiler and I chopped up beef which was all nice and companiable, then he headed off and left us to it.
Davies was watching Stig of the Dump which he has been listening to on audiobook repeatedly recently. He went through a stage of listening to it last year and asked for it again after Christmas so I borrowed it from the library again and got him the dvd of the TV serialisation too. He watched that while Tarly did some DSing, some decorating glass bottles (with nail varnish) and messed about on the cbbc website for a while. We talked about reading and writing and I got her to list all the things she thought would be good about being able to read and write.
Scarlett then watched a Michael Jackson video Ady had got from a charity shop while Davies did some plasticine model and background making ready to set up his animationstation when the video had finished. He has been doing lots of drawings of The Simpsons and perfecting his representation of them and has a renewed interest in animation although he currently wants to learn about cartoon animation rather than claymation which has previously been his passion. I’ve said I’ll get him some books and see if I can find other resources for him to learn more. I made contact with the creator of Henry’s Cat once before and recall that being a good resource and website so we must look at that again and I spotted a tracing paper pad in the pound shop which I think would be good for flick book style animation of slightly changed drawings each time.
While all this was happening I was finishing off my test for my Waste Prevention course and refreshing my memory on what we’d covered on the course. And drinking tea, lots and lots of tea.
We had lunch and after debate decided not to go ice skating today which had been our plan. The outdoor rink is in situ in town as it was last year and is here for all of February. A group of Home Educators were going today, which had been sort of hijacked from Julie and I arranging to meet there this afternoon but it was cold and miserable and neither of the children were that bothered so we decided not to go after all. Scarlett rather half-heartedly did change her mind but Davies wasn’t to be persuaded and I refuse to drag reluctant children anywhere, particularly if it’s going to cost me money to be there.
I booked tickets for the UK Aware show (if anyone is interested let me know as I can get tickets for £6 each rather than the advertised £15) for the kids and I as it looked like something we would be interested in and happens to be on a date I am not working. I’ve also been scanning local museum websites and other such local events listings for things to get signed up to. I probably need to get the Chatterbooks sessions out of the way but I do have various other ideas for things I want to set up locally (art, philosophy) either just for Davies and Scarlett or with friends if possible. I am hosting a Home Ed grown ups meeting here tomorrow evening so I will mention these ideas then and see if I can get something organised – must be my own personal time of year for planning ;).
A phonecall from Ady to say he was running late meant I had to take Davies and Scarlett with me to the offices and meet Ady in the carpark to hand them over as I had my interview for the Waste Prevention Advisor volunteering tonight. I think it went pretty well, I will hear sometime next week if they want to invite me to become a volunteer. During the interview we got to talking about Home Ed and libraries which at least made me look well rounded if nothing else ;). I stayed on for the meeting which was an update for local WPAs – about 20 of us in all about various personal initiatives, funding updates and lists of events that they need volunteers to sign up to cover the stands at speaking to people about waste prevention, composting, recycling, smart shopping and real nappies. It was good to catch up with some of the people who’d been on my course and hear about the work done by existing volunteers.
I got home again just after 9pm, had a bath and dinner – Ady had taken over the stew with dumpling making. It’s just as well we’ve had a quiet week with not being out much in the day as every evening seems to have had something going on.