Funny Old Week

It's been a funny old week. It was one of those weeks full of randomness...I felt like we weren't really doing much, but looking back we actually did lots.

Firstly it was a strange week because Dave wasn't around. He managed to bag himself a job, travelling around the south-west, chatting to random people and drinking lots of tea! On a serious note, I am so proud of him.... He "retired" a few years back, but has had a few temporary contracts since then, which has helped greatly with paying the rent! I think he likes working too, as long as its short term. Keeps his brain active!

Kat and I have done lots of shopping, especially for the home. The house is lovely, but fairly bland(lots of magnolia walls) so we have been looking for pictures and ornaments and furniture to make it more homely.

We have built flat-packed storage cubes and bed-side cabinets, and re-arranged rooms. Our home is starting to take shape. Kat knows the difference between a phillips and a flat-head and is a dab hand with a screw-driver!

Kat had her last guitar lesson at the Buszy this week. She has enjoyed the lessons so much, we have promised her a guitar of her own, and I hope to find a tutor locally so she can continue with her lessons.

Pets at Home were having a pet handling session at the store in MK. We saw it advertised a month ago, put it in the diary, and Katie has been waiting with anticipation for the day to arrive. She is especially interested in guinea-pigs. However, she was slightly disappointed as she didn't get to hold the guinea-pig for as long as she would have liked. We spent ages in the store as Kat showed me around the small pets section and I was amazed at her knowledge of guinea-pigs, their diet, hutches, temperaments etc. She has done a lot of research!

We managed to get through our "schooly" books. Sadly, I have to get them out a few times a week, for my own benefit really. Kat dutifully, if somewhat reluctantly, does the maths, answers the questions, fills in the blanks...... and then gets on with some real learning, researching the things that interest her.


So all in all, a busy and productive week. Wonder what next week holds?



Kat...doing what she does best...

......having fun!

 

 

 

 

 

One Year On.....

Oh my, it's been a year!
We are still in the same country, but a different county.


So, here I am, attempting my blogging again. Now I have blogged in the past (about our HE journey with Kat and our four year long vacation to Cyprus!) but I have to admit to being a "sporadic" blogger. So, a promise to myself....I promise to blog regularly and not be a lazy so-and-so!

So, we find ourselves in a new house, a new county (Bedfordshire) and a new adventure! Already we have found a thriving Home-ed community, and made some lovely friends.

We are so lucky to live in a beautiful, historic and busy part of the country. There are some lovely home-edders here that go out of their way to provide lots of opportunities to HE children, and on top of that there is just so much to do here.... Beautiful parks, leisure facilities, theatres, galleries and museums. We are spoiled for choice!


Last week I spent a lovely a day with both my beautiful daughters.... Kat, now aged 8, and Jaime aged 26!

Kat and I drove the 2 and a half hours to Jaime's house and then another hour and a half to the hospital, as Jaime is having an operation soon and had an appointment with her surgeon.

We got to spend time with Charlie, our first and only grandchild. He is 10 months old now and just the cutest, most cuddly baby! We took him a book, one of Kat's favourites, The Gruffalo. It was one of those books with the sound effects, and Charlie got straight into it! He is growing so quickly, and I feel bad that I haven't seen a lot of him lately. So, another promise to myself: I will make more of an effort to see Jaime and Tony and Cheeky Charlie regularly.

Then, Kat and I drove all the way home again. That's a 6am start, and 8 hours driving. No wonder we were both exhausted at the end of it. But, it was a lovely day, spent with family.

Cheeky Charlie!
 

 

Motion Sickness??

I have been feeling a little stiff these last couple of days, and the pic on the left is the reason why!

Who knew trampolining could be so strenuous?
Oh, and it also gives me motion-sickness!

So, I won't be doing it again any time soon, but it was fun!

Katie made a card for her little friend Rhia.      
It's the first time we have done anything "crafty" in a while but we had great fun!

Katie's tennis practice is coming on well. She got off to a rocky start, "but practice makes perfect"!

Wheelin 'n dealin!

Just had to post this....

Recently, we've been talking about persuasive writing and the way retailers use advertising, words and language to sell their goods.
Now Katie loves her DS, and she'd spotted a game she would like to buy on the Internet.
Dave thought it was quite expensive and suggested she wait until her birthday?
However, I seized the moment and  suggested she make a poster/advert to show us/ persuade us why we should buy the game. She jumped at the chance!
This is what she came up with.We were so impressed that we had to give in. Said game should be on it's way already!

Wild Dogs!

Finished our Wild Dog LapBook today!

We Love Lapbooking!

Knebworth

Today we spent the day at Knebworth and what a fabulous time we had! It was the Summer Show, and it had a distinct Medieval theme. Perfect! A history lesson while having fun!There were folk dressed in Medieval clothes, even babies! There were knights in armour and other battle regalia. We watched re-enactments including battles with swords and we got to see how the people lived in medieval times. We saw how they cooked and the foods they ate, got to see and smell the herbs and watch the women in costume cooking the meal in iron pots over  an open fire. We watched traditional wood carving.
There were birds of prey and beautiful working horses. Katie placed a bet on the ferret racing, all for a good cause since the monies raised goes towards the ferret charity. However, the best the best part for Katie were the dogs! There were dogs everywhere! So many different breeds, many Katie recognised, and a few new breeds we hadn't come across before. Katie was in her element, what with her being a dog-lover! We watched dog-scurries, dog-shows, duck-herding and basset-hound racing.
We spent a lovely six hours at the show and were truly exhausted by the time we got home. We took some great photos, particularly of the folk in medieval dress!  Hmmm, I feel a LapBook coming on.

Scary swords!

Today we headed off to Cherry Hinton Hall with our lovely friends to take part in a Myths and Ledgends Day. I think it's fair to say we all had a great day, children and parents alike! The children made saxon swords and daggers and magic wands. They tried spinning tops, juggling and plate spinning, Dave being very good at the latter! Who knew?!!


Scary Swords!

House-warming and flying kites in the rain...

Our lovely new friends invited us to their house-warming party yesterday. We were made so welcome and ended up staying far later than we intended. The evening started with a tour of their back garden (tour being the operative word!) It is huge and wild and magical and full of fruit trees_apples, raspberries, grapes, strawberries and plums. The garden had so many secret secluded areas, perfect for hide and seek! The children quickly disappeared, exploring and laughing all the way.

We had delicious food, a lovely bowl of Sangria (made with the fruits from the garden) and we talked and laughed and debated the hours away. And in spite of some of our differences, religion, education etc we had the most amazing discussions and still stayed best friends by the end of the evening. Can't wait to do it again.

Today we headed towards Royston for their annual kite festival. Great fun! We bought Katie a kite, and the heavens opened! So we made a dash for the car. On the way home we spotted MORRISONS!! my favourite store! Of course, we just had to stop off for a quick shop. Sad I know!
Tomorrow we are off to Woodgreen Animal Shelter for a picnic with our friends Shelly, Rhia and Zac...wonder if I should take a brolly??!!

Arctic expeditions and amazing dinosaurs!

The weather today has been glorious. I could almost believe we were back in Cyprus!

We took a trip into Cambridge, using the Park and Ride and spent the whole afternoon wandering around the Scott Polar Research Institute and then the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Totally fascinating! Who knew there were so many things I never knew, I never knew?



Scott Polar Research Institute

Katie had a great time dressing up for an Arctic expedition!

Phwoar! It's hot in here!!

Katie designed some traditional North Canadian clothes and we got to touch all the different types of furs and animal skins used for clothing by the arctic people. The wolf coat was her favourite. No surprises there!



A child's suit made from seal-skin.

Heading towards the Sedgwick we found a lovely cafe that served delicious food at very reasonable prices and a perfect cup of coffee! Dave ordered his all-time favourite, All Day Breakfast! Then we headed towards Sedgwick, tummies full and thirst quenched!

         The dinosaur at Sedgwick was HUGE and Scary!

Aaaarrgghhhh!!!

The museum was filled with relics and fossils and every type of rock you could imagine (perfect as we have been reading about the types of rocks in our new science book.)

There was a kids' reading area with lots of lovely books. Of course, Katie headed straight for it and settled herself down in a comfy chair. She found a Dinosaur book and poured over it for ages while Dave and I wandered around looking at the exhibits. I particularly liked the precious stones. Dropped a few hints to Dave about diamonds, but that fell on deaf ears!We were all so engrossed we didn't realize the museum was shutting until one of the attendants came to find us. Last out, as usual!

Popped into John Lewis on the way back to the Bus Stop. Well, I couldn't go into Cambridge and not shop! We bought Play-Doh for Katie!

We arrived home tired but happy. Who thought educational trips could be so fun? Of course, if you ask Katie what was the best part of her day, she'd reply "The bus ride!"

Oh, and in spite of being exhausted when we got home at almost 7pm, the lids were off the Play- Doh, out came the rolling pin and cookie-cutters and Katie created some lovely exhibits of her own!

The world is our classroom.

This week we met our new and very lovely friends, Shelly, her daughter Rhia and baby Zac at Milton Park.The weather was perfect and we spent the most amazing 5 hours walking, talking and playing. We were entertained by a family of rather vocal and protective swans and their hungry signets. The children picked fruit, apples and plums and blackberries. They collected treasures they found on our walk, shiny stones, coloured pebbles, nibbled leaves and birds' feathers! Somehow, we managed to get ourselves lost, but that was part of the adventure as far as the girls were concerned! We would most likely still be wandering around the orchards if it hadn't been for the help of a kindly man walking a pair of gorgeous Highland Terriers.

But most of all.... we talked and talked and talked! And that's when we do our best learning.

The world is our Classroom!




The treasures the children collected!

Catch up!

We have found some really lovely friends on our HE networking "expedition" this last couple of weeks. So as far as socialising is concerned, well, we have it covered!
Also we have signed up to Gymnastics, French, Art and maybe Drama next September. There are so many HE groups and organised events in between that is is almost impossible to choose!
Last week we visited Fitzewilliam Museum in Cambridge, Milton Park Family Day and Woodgreen Animal Sanctuary (twice!) We have visited our friends' houses and they have come to us for lunch and the children play so happily together. Us adults seem to be getting on very well to!

We have Katie's name down for a swimming class, we have just bought her a new bike and Dave and Katie will be joining the Tennis Club in Hemingford Grey...so I guess that's PE covered!

Milton Park

I am thinking of turning a little more structured on the HE front so I have bought some lovely workbooks from Amazon from  Galorepark Now they may turn out to be a waste of money as I can see that Katie learns so musc more when she isn't being taught. Still, the books are colorful and engaging and I am hoping she picks them up of her own accord. If she shows no interest, than we have lost nothing, just a few pounds from Dave's bank balance! Let's wait and see how we get on.

We are home at last!

Ok, it's taken an age to find a house we can call home. We have lived on a golf-course for over two months, travelled East Anglia far and wide, but finally we are home. "Home" is Cambridgeshire...for the next year at least. The house is perfect (I won't want to leave!) The village is idyllic, and the HE community is positively over-flowing! There is so much happening we literally can't fit it all in! But I am not complaining, oh no. It was so isolating and lonely being the only HE-er in Paphos. I was afraid to admit it while we were there, but looking back, I don't know how we did it!


Already we have made lovely friends and our diary is full with gym classes, french, drama, and HE meets, to name but a few of all the things on offer to an HE family here in Cambridgeshire.
 So, gone are the lazy, hazy days of Cyprus. Now I need to get myself organised, get the diary in order, make sure we don't double book (that's happened already!!) and, this is the hardest part, get ourselves out of bed earlier than we have in the last 3 years in Cyprus!lol


Expect to see this blog bursting into life. Just hope I find time to post between all our "socialising"!!