Another morning at home which Davies and Scarlett were pleased about, maybe they are getting more into time spent at home or maybe they’re just hunkering down for the winter? Whatever they continued much in the same vein as yesterday watching some TV (Evacuees again) and then connecting on their DS to play Viva Pinata. For two children who can’t read they are doing a fine job of working that out. Actually I’m being unfair to Davies with that statement as he clearly can read and is demonstrating that more and more these days with reading things of the TV, signs and instructions. He has clearly seen the value of trying and is doing it. Scarlett lies in bed every night with piles and piles of books and while she remains utterly resistant to doing any sort of reading with me there is clearly stuff going on there and she does now know all the letters.
I spent some time looking at the My Story website and was in turn entertained, amused and moved by some of the stories already posted up there. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s event and hoping we get a decent turn out attending.
I used up yet more of the pumpkin and made some cupcakes (which are very nice :)) and was amused by the short work the chickens have made of the pumpkins we put outside, they have already joined up the nose, mouth and one eye carved in one of them, and pecked a hole through the back of the other one.
We had lunch and then headed up to Truleigh Hill to visit the hostel manager and look over everything before camp. Davies and Scarlett have selected our room – they decided they wanted one with a fire exit in it, just like at Helmsley. There is an additional oven this year which will help for Christmas dinner but it is otherwise unchanged.
We spotted loads of birds, a magpies next, three cock pheasants in the field opposite and on the way home watched some mating sheep. It was all very wildlifetastic! 🙂 We talked about the starlings that gather at Brighton Piers and decided we should visit there soon to watch them at sunset.
We got back home for half an hour before heading back out again to swimming. I had my full hour and achieved my by-Christmas aim of 50 lengths :). Very pleased and proud of that. I hit a bit of a wall at about 30 lengths and really struggled to manage the full 50 in my very strict hour (I’m really trying to make it about time rather than endurance). I found the first 10 or so easy to do in a minute a length and actually the last 10 were probably not much slower than that as I was desperate to achieve it and was at 48 lengths with about 3 minutes to go. I could blame the minute or so stop for Davies and Scarlett’s lesson changeover and there was a point where three elderly people got in the way of all the proper length swimmers, got tangled up in the the 3 women who were struggling to keep up anyway and created a big bottle neck which slowed us all down but realistically that was a full hours swimming. Having managed my goal about 8 weeks early I’m not really sure where to go from here. I don’t think a length a minute :60 lengths in the hour is doable but I guess I could aim for 54 or 55 and see how I get on with that. I’d also like to do some research into which stroke is the best exercise as back stroke is my strongest, fastest and the one I actually feel some muscles working in but suspect it’s not necessarily the one having the biggest impact on fitness. Whilst it’s also the stroke I feel most able to up the pace on it is also the hardest to do in terms of being able to check who is infront of me and in my way.
Still, hurrah for 50 lengths! 🙂
Davies did some general practising while Scarlett had her lesson and then she joined up with her regular swimming buddy while he had his. She found out her name is Amber and she is also six today :).
Quick shower and change and home. Ady beat us and had already got the kids’ tea on and presented me with some garlic bread to keep me going til late dinnertime and a cup of tea – love that man :). I consumed that, replaced my washed off mascara and headed off out again to my course.
This week (week 6, only 3 more left now) was all about composting and was very interesting. As ever I learnt new things. I also chatted with Sheila about music for Davies and Scarlett and we’re going to meet up when the course has finished so she can do some music with them. She has a piano and a folk harp and is very passionate about every child having access to music. I love how this course has thrown me together with people I wouldn’t normally cross paths with :). We set dates for our post-course interviews (I will have to nip off for mine while we’re at camp, but actually it makes it easier in terms of not needing childcare to do it while Ady is around).
I arrived home just before 10pm and the children, who had only been in bed about ten minutes both got back up to greet me. Davies had had a good time at Sea Scouts -they had had a visit from the recycling place we visited last week so he’d done well on answering all the questions she asked. He is suffering with most of the other boys refusing to believe that he doesn’t go to school though and says they tease him and say he is lying. He told me he’d told them to ‘go home and google autonomous!’ which made me laugh, I didn’t even know he had got the idea of googling 😆 I’ve said I’ll email the leader and also give him the youtube link of him on the news back in the summer. He wanted to know if he could make his own website and I said yes he could. I think the time might be right for him to have his own blog, or just take over his Monster Movies one – might look at that with him over the weekend.
Curry for dinner and in a real acid test of how old my children are now I can see the bottom of the Sudocrem tub I had when Davies was a newborn thanks to my using it for my own excema. No closer to reducing the baby talc mountain however, I think that they are probably destined to be passed to my grandchildren. 😆
LOL at the Sudocrem! Must have been a huge tub.
And well done on 50 lengths so early before Xmas.
Looking forward to Truleigh x
Comment by Ali — 04 November 2009 @ 11:00 am
Well done you- I really miss my swimming. 60 is doable- you have managed 50 8 weeks earlier than planned!
My kids have never ever had anyone not believe them or give them a hard time over HE. I’ve had some negative responses from parents but nothing more than that.
Comment by Roslyn — 04 November 2009 @ 3:07 pm
woah to 50 lengths!
SB was told she was officially weird at the summer camp for not having a school, but they still believed her! Poor D, so annoying.
must be some talc based ‘speriments out there??
Comment by HelenHaricot — 04 November 2009 @ 7:55 pm
But what a fabulous response from him though! Way to go Davies 🙂
And well done to the 50!
Comment by Barbara — 04 November 2009 @ 10:09 pm
What they said 🙂 Well done you and D, and yah boo sucks to the annoying sea scouts.
I haven’t been swimming for ages, even with the kids, because of the way our schedule has worked out this year. Am going to have to plan better for next term.
Comment by Alison — 04 November 2009 @ 10:18 pm
C’s had trouble with Brownies not believing her, or saying that if she ever went to school she’d have to start in reception because obviously she wouldn’t know anything (?)
We had a flock of about 1000 starlings here today. I haven’t seen anything like it here before, but I was remembering watching them swooping round the West Pier in the ’80s and Mum and I were wondering where they go now. I remember one time seeing some cars parked under the trees outside the Theatre Royal which were going to need a very thorough wash. Can we go on a starling spotting trip from Shoreham?
Comment by Jan — 04 November 2009 @ 11:34 pm
Was talking to F at work who has had 3 of her boys going through Sea Scouts and assures me if I email the leader she will deal with it. I said I was thinking of offering to go in do a talk about Home Ed but she assured me most parents would definitely NOT want their kids to be told about it.
It is bothering D whereas I know S would just shrug it off with an ‘oh well, don’t believe me then. But I won’t be getting up early in the morning for school when you are!’ 😆
The kids and I were talking about a starling spotting watch from Truleigh so we’ll definitely be up for it Jan :).
Comment by Nic — 05 November 2009 @ 12:00 am