Look! here's Squirrel by the artefacts! With a worksheet!
OK, we did that for 55 minutes, 20 seconds.
I admit it. I am trying to make myself sound good to impress the structured home edders, whose blog ring I would like to join. There are some very interesting blogs there. Here's one where I shall nick ideas from. Honestly, if you ever get stuck with what to do with kids during school holidays, you could do worse than wander about in home ed land.
You see, now I'm trying flattery. I cannot find a blog ring called 'Chaotic and disorganised home ed' or anything like that. Or a blog ring called 'Rolled out of bed, panicked, shouted OHMYGOD SQUIRREL CANNOT READ! Better DO SOMETHING QUICK!! Blog Ring'.
Now, on the basis of 55 minutes 20 seconds, and some flattery, can I join the structured home ed blog ring? Can I? Can I? Hey, don't forget those 20 seconds! I reckon, by our previous attempts, we are now probably tipped over into a personal best of 'highly organised'. Especially when mummy Grit rips the worksheet out of Squirrel's hand to put it into a folder so that she actually has proof that we did something, and she does not lose it in the back of the car like last time.
But because I am truly honest about our failings, I confess that afterwards, we did this.
That's right, mucking about in St Alban's fine water park, scoffing jam sandwiches, enjoying the sunshine and complaining about the toddlers who take over EVERYTHING. While mummy Grit chews her fingernails thinking OHMYGOD Squirrel chose the picture worksheet AGAIN! I am sure this means today she CANNOT READ. Either that or she is BONE IDLE.
Now, would you have us? Even though I can put my hand on my heart and lay claim to being a woman washed out at sea in a rubber boat, steering a course between deep ignorance and idleness, and all without a paddle.
10 comments:
Now see...you make home ed sound like something I *could* manage and, gasp, enjoy!
And as, ahem, a mom with a toddler, I'm always complaining about the big kids running all over my little ones! :D
Good luck with the blog ring!
Well why wouldn't they let you in their blog ring? You blog, you home-educate ... ergo you should belong to the blog ring!
That water park place looks wonderful - a different sort of education, but education all the same.
x
If they don't let you in, they're crazy.
hi dori! i think when the kids are little it seems like you just carry on doing the things they do anyway, so to me, home ed felt 'natural' and 'normal'. i suppose i began to worry more about home ed when the kids turned 5 and then 6; we were more noticeable out and about and would often be invited to say why we were not in school. the feeling of what's normal is usually imposed though by other people. perhaps now we get very thick skinned. but home ed certainly has moments when it seems the best thing to be doing, and i love to see the children take real control over their day and what they learn within that. they can be highly motivated and very determined about the things that interest them.
hi kitty! the water park is fab. swimming costumes to the ready!
hi potty mummy! i wouldn't want to give the impression that home ed bloggers are fierce in this matter! they are very nice and very good bloggers. (oh dear, does that sound like more creeping?!)
On the Squirrel front, and on a scale of 1-10, how far do you find yourself leaning towards the 'bone idle' option?
Try working your way round this site:
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/eng/index-new.htm
Some of it's in Welsh but you can't have everything.
giggle at structured HE blog ring! well, not at the blog ring, as lots of the blogs i read are in it, but are you quite sure you shouldn't be in the probably autonomous? we aren't sure what we are - i have decided we are eclectic home educators in the little bit of what you fancy does you good kind of way! [no ring for that!]
but I do like Elle's blog and when i can get my enormous posterior off this sofa, i might even consider ingredients!
i take it you are festival of historying? i thought if you were i might try and spot you to say hello!
Another productive and fun day in HE land. Love the long-range weather forecast for the Summer!
Do you really think Squirrel is having problems with reading? I know you have touched on the reading/writing levels before but I wasn't sure how serious your concerns were/are. Maybe some extra work on phonics may help (yes I know English is somewhat phonically challenged lol) I found this helped with my eldest who was very slow to catch on with reading. We also made books but I'm thinking you probably already do this. His school referred him to an Educational Psychologist who said he had some 'processing issues and was disorganised' and needed to work on those things. That was really helpful - NOT - as nothing else was forthcoming from that direction! He did catch up quite quickly and was reading above his age by the time he left Junior school after having left Infant school virtually unable to read or write unaided. Perhaps he was just a slow starter or it could be the extra attention was what he needed (I'm tending towards the latter as he always did 'need' more than his younger brother). Maybe Squirrel is the same. It must be hard for the girls to compete for attention, and for you to give it, when they are all at roughly the same developmental stage. That said I think you do an amazing job and I'm positive you will get them all to achieve their full potential.
Oh, and blog-ring shmog-ring, if they don't want you there must be something wrong with them :-)
Hi Grit!
Trust me to miss the one post where you're asking to join the blogring, lol! Luckily one of the other members was on the ball and told me.
We'd love to have you - see, we are not mad, or crazy or anything else (winks)! And I love your blog, have been reading it in lurkerdom for a long time...
Just fill in the form here --> http://structuredhomeed.bravehost.com/blogring.html and I'll add you ASAP
The same goes for any other interested peeps. (Even you Helen!):)
Linda x
ps, if for some reason that link fails, just pop over to my blog (http://briarpatch.blogsome.com), there's a 'join' link on my SHE ringbox
hi motl, i will check this out when i should be doing the laundry.
yes helen, we are historying, but not sure yet which date; will let you know! somedays i think we are autonomous and somedays i think we are structured. like you, we probably do eclectic!
hi sharon! thanks for your comments. i probably agree with the 'slow starters' and attention thing, although squirrel may consider she could get a bit less attention when i am chasing her round the garden with a book. if we keep plugging away, i feel confident that she will catch up; the bits of reading that she does do are limited but she doesn't seem too interested in it. otoh, shark was like this, and then suddenly charged her way through several novels; she sat up until midnite yesterday with the lion the witch and the wardrobe. it seems to happen very suddenly and i am not sure what prompts it (probably not me threatening things..!)
hi linda! i will be over as soon as i have a quiet half hour and a cup of tea.
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