School Days...

It's begun! Or well, it'll begin in earnest tomorrow when C has her first full day. E went in today. I can hardly tell you how DIFFERENT this new school is compared to his last one. For one, it's more welcoming. You can take your child right into their classroom (his old school made us drop them off in the playground and they had to find their own way). The other parents were immediately welcoming, and one wrote my email on her hand in order to offer me/E an invitation to her child's birthday. (The parents at the last school hardly talked to strangers, let alone sent birthday invites.)

I walked away with a good feeling. I hope it lasts. I think six months of home education did E the world of good, especially since it got him out of that school, but I'll be so happy if this new place works out for him.

Here's some photos.

E's first day of Year 3, aged seven years, one month. That's a water bottle he's holding. No, the school has no uniform policy, which I think is cool.

C's first day of Reception (Kindergarten), aged four years, nine months. She actually starts her first full day tomorrow, but I took this on Thursday when she went in for a two hour "getting to know you" session. She's wearing a uniform because (for right now at least) she goes to a different school than E. We're hoping to get her a place at his school, since hers currently doesn't take grades higher than Year 1. It's a little bittersweet, because I quite like her school and have gotten to know some of the parents. Still, we are better off than we were at this point last year.

So, you ask, what are you going to do tomorrow with nearly six hours of free time?

Yes, that's a good question. Probably I am going to spend a few minutes capering in circles and gibbering. Then I am going to buck up, go to a cafe, get some coffee, and WRITE LOTS OF WORDS. Now and again I will resist the urge to go eeeeee! under my breath. Mind you, I will eventually miss having a little sidekick along with me. It was truly fun while it lasted. And I won't completely rule it out in the future should it need to happen again... at the same time, I hope it doesn't NEED to happen.

Greece 2015, Part One

Home education is going well, though it's going to come to an end in early September. E has a place at an outstanding local school starting in September. We're hoping C will get a place there as well. In the meantime, she'll attend the school around the corner (on the way to E's school). She's finishing up her year of part time Nursery. We were offered full time but I did not accept. They're only young once.

Because we're home educating, travel during term time is possible. (If you try to take a holiday during term time if your child is enrolled in school, the government can, and often does, fine you. Which is ridiculous, but is not the topic of this particular blog post.) So, a few weeks ago, we traveled to Greece.

First stop was Athens. We got there late, went to the hotel across the street from the airport, and spent a few hours there in bed. Flight delays didn't help! Early early, around 5:45am, we got into a cab and headed for Athens. Saw the sunrise from the cab. Our destination was Piraeus, where many ferries call. We were able to board almost immediately, and set up camp in a comfortable area near the front of the boat. Keep in mind we were all running on about 3, maybe 4 hours of sleep, so finding a good area was vital.

The kids were initially Too Excited to snuggle up/chill out, so we went onto deck and watched Athens slip by...

Then, as we drew further into the Aegean, we withdrew indoors for a different perspective:

The ferry ride lasted for a little over six hours, during which E was able to take a short nap. Although it sounds a long time, it was thoroughly pleasant, with good toilets nearby, and several cafes to choose from. Also, one could go out on deck and enjoy the breeze and warm weather. I chatted to a passenger who was on her honeymoon, heading to Santorini. I took her photo, with the Aegean as a backdrop.

The ferry called at Paros, and then there was the excitement of pulling into the port of Naxos. Our first view of the island:

We traversed the gangplank and found a cab. "Welcome on the island!" said the cabbie, who was very surprised to discover that B had been there thirty years ago. He told us the island had been very different then, with his father having been called out to help people push vehicles that had gotten stuck on the dirt tracks that had once passed as "roads" back then. Now, many roads are paved and vehicular access is pretty widespread.

We stayed at a lovely little apartment off the beaten track (almost literally, since the roads nearby were not paved!). It had a small play area that we could see from our patio, and a nice swimming pool. It was also about a 45 second walk to the beach.

Above, E and I test out the pool. It was a nice surprise to see that E is swimming, properly, with absolutely no floaties or assistance. Just a doggy-paddle, but a fairly strong one, and certainly it grew stronger as the holiday progressed.

The beach. Well, what can I say...

...that pictures don't say better? Sandy, warm, light waves, cool ocean, warm sun, mitigating breeze. Happy children in the sunset.

There were many local tavernas to choose from, plus the option of a local market where we could buy light food items and eat in our own apartment. I lost track of how many times I ordered moussaka. Great stuff.

One day, we headed into Naxos Town (Chora) to do a bit of sightseeing. We waited for the bus...

...enjoyed lunch in town...

..and headed off sightseeing around the backstreets of the Old Town.

Along the way, we found some spigots that dispensed cool water, which the children enjoyed splashing over their hot little faces. By popular request, we stopped for ice cream before walking out to the islet that hosts the two thousand year old Portara.

The waves were wilder out here! E points a particularly large one out...about ten seconds before it delightfully soaked all three of them! (Aftermath not pictured. Photographer may have been laughing too hard.)

This post is getting quite long, so I will stop for now. Next time, I will post about our adventures in the interior of the island.

Home Education

Proving that life is what happens when you're making other plans, we're now home educating E. In his particular situation, this is because the school we have been sending him to since September is, shall we say, not a match for him. A few of our complaints? Things like being forced to miss five minutes of break if he needs the bathroom during lessons. He is a fairly rule-abiding little boy, and one day he waited until break, and was told he couldn't go back inside to use the facilities. HE IS SIX. Miscommunication, perhaps, I'll never know, but when I approached someone in-the-know, I wasn't given sympathy/apology, but rather a "your-son-wasn't-listening" kind of spiel.

There is no trust between the powers-that-be and parents. Children are punished by losing their entire break time if a parent doesn't sign their reading book every night (and I do mean every night, that's seven times a week. Last I checked, school ended on Friday and began on Monday. Now they dictate what I must do on a weekend with my child?). Homework is make-work and there's a ton of it, too much for age six--probably about an hour a week, which eats into family/weekend time. And then he comes home and I ask him about his day... and I get a little boy talking about who's misbehaved and gotten a red form, and his misery at the boy who doesn't speak English and rips down the other children's belongings, and the fact that he can't leave anything unattended or it will be thrown away or taken, and his sadness at not being able to go to the 100% attendance party, and having to sit through a school-wide assembly on the same, because he was genuinely sick last term and didn't go to school. Yet he was never late, never missed school without a "good" reason, but got caught by the luck of the draw. And yes, I have seen vomit on the way to school because a child has been so caught up in the 100% attendance party! fervor and went to be counted as present/not late, then gone home vomiting, only to rinse and repeat. Once, a child borked all over the classroom floor. BUT GUYS, AT LEAST HE CAME TO SCHOOL TO BE COUNTED AS PRESENT, THANK YOU BOX-TICKING CULTURE. And hello, germ spreading!

NB: I was given a form stating that he'd attended all but two of the forty one days of the half-term. Attendance was wrongly calculated as 94.29% And I was trusting this school to educate my son? Certainly the trust doesn't go both ways--children who don't do their homework are forced to sit in school and do it!

There are other issues, social ones being the main, that prompted us to finally home ed. E was miserable, going to school. He'd walk in like he was going to a funeral, not bouncy and cheerful and already talking to other kids like he was at his other school. Since we told him on Saturday that he didn't have to go back to school, his attitude has been amazing, and the questions have been coming thick and fast.

"Did dodos go extinct during the reign of Queen Victoria, or before?"
"If tornadoes have no debris in them, if they're just pure air, how can you tell if it's a tornado?"
"If that cafe serves hamburgers, why isn't it called a bistro instead?"

And so on, and so on.

On Monday, we pulled out a dusty magnetic science kit that I'd been meaning to get to during weekends or after-school, and never did because of all the daily life getting in the way. We learned how to magnetize a compass. We learned that metal with iron in it is attracted to magnets. We learned about the fundamentals of a mag-lev train by doing an experiment ourselves. After I picked C up from nursery (she's still going five mornings a week. We were offered full days but I declined.) we trundled off to the British Museum where we explored the Egypt section, looking at thousand year old statues and seeing hieroglyphs up close and personal. And real granite, which he's been mining in Minecraft.

Today we walked a bit over three miles, broken up by 45 minutes in a cafe where we had lunch and he did some pages in several workbooks (math and handwriting). Then we went shopping where he was the lookout for discounted items, and helped me add up the cost of everything in our basket. I'm on several lists, FB groups, on the hunt for local groups to meet friends, and am already discovering home ed stuff in this area.

We didn't go into this intending to home ed for the long term, but I feel strongly right now that this has been the correct decision. I feel relieved not to drop him off at school every morning. And I know he feels that way too. He is on the waiting list for several good local schools, so we'll see where we're at in the next few months.

Why home ed? Here's a post that I mainly agree with, one I wish I could link in real life when question are asked.

Now I have to go. The four year old has requested frogs-on-snail-toast, with rubbish flowers on the side. Side effect of me Calvin and Hobbesing her into eating her lunch. It's much more fun to eat pretend crunched up cars than a fried egg, don't ya know?

Long Overdue...

...update.

We have been busy! We pulled E out of school a month early (since we were moving to North London anyway) and went to California for 7 weeks. What we did there... well, that warrants about 5 blog posts on their own! Suffice it to say we had a family reunion and did a ton of stuff that was almost a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Uncle Howard, his wife, and son Jack (7) were there, and we were able to see many good old family friends. B, the kids and I also traveled to Mendocino for a midweek break at one point.

I hardly know where to begin with this update. Certainly I want to catalog what we did in CA, but maybe I should start with mundane matters. We're now living in the top bit of B's parents' house, with much more room than in our old flat. E is in Year 2 in a local school, and C is at the same school in Nursery, going 5 mornings a week. They seem to be settled-ish, although we have our doubts about that particular school. We may try to get them into a different one. This is mainly because a lot of the school's funding is focused on bringing children with skills below their age level up to an appropriate one. E doesn't need that, at all. Neither does C. So... we wait and see. Meanwhile, he is not unhappy there although I don't think either of them are challenged quite enough.

This year, we've taken life by the horns and really lived it. I've learned that sometimes the actual doing of things is difficult, but having done them is awesome. Like flying that Cessna in Cornwall. This year we have been to Cornwall, rural Norfolk to stay with family, California, moved to North London, and this weekend we went back to Norfolk again. We're so lucky to have family members who have access to a holiday cottage up there.

So, since CA will have to be its own updates, here are some pictures from this weekend.

E catches a crab! All the kids caught some, and we wound up with 20+ seething in our bucket. Drama ensued when a little girl next to us went right over and into the water! We helped her and her grandfather (who went right after her) out.

C stirs her witchy cauldron at the festival we went to. She was making a potion (with leaves, water, mud and her magic wand).

E and C at the top of the biggest "drop slide" in the play area we went to on Sunday. Yes, they both went down it, multiple times!

The boys conquered this tandem zip wire. It was enormous.

One last photo, from the festival's candlelit procession. The children carried jars they had decorated earlier, with little tea candles inside. There were drummers and fire dancers. It was a very cool thing.

And that's it for now. I'll do my level best to update again soon, but National Novel Writing Month begins Nov. 1. I am going to try to write a heist/thriller in about 30 days. I won't finish it, of course, but it will be fun trying.

And, Just Like That...

...it's October.  School continues to go well for E.  I gather he is receiving a bit of extra attention/instruction off to the side.  He tells me he and a few others are taken off to play games or do projects with Ms. K-- who works with the special ed area (this area also covers gifted children).  I guess I'll find out more later this month during parent-teacher conferences.

I am overdue posting photos from last month's visit to Hever Castle... here are a quick few.

(It didn't rain on us!)

 E doing the Water Maze.  Step on the wrong tile and you get squirted!  He got pretty wet but fortunately it wasn't very chilly.

Couldn't take pictures inside the castle - but everyone enjoyed traipsing through and seeing Anne Boleyn's old bedroom.  After the water maze we took a walk near the Italianate gardens, past a fountain and waterfall, and smelled some of the most beautiful roses I've ever seen/sniffed.

Exit to the hedge maze, decorated for the Queen's Jubilee.

Not pictured: the adventure playground.  They had good fun there - zip wire, wooden maze with slides, swings etc.

We went to the Science Museum on Sunday.

Here's C (with E in the background far left) exploring the water feature in the part of the museum designed specifically for young children. 

E was absolutely fascinated with how he could change the flow of the water with the removable plastic dams.  There were also plastic boats to float down the stream and squirting jets that the kids could change around. 

Taking a break from the water table to explore cause and effect, heights and pulleys together.  The kids at the top threw these beanbags down the chute....

...the kids at the bottom wheelbarrowed the beanbags to the other side and loaded them into the pulley to transport them back up top again. 

Brief visit of the Flight exhibition.  Lots of real old planes and a decent overview of the history of flight.  The kids were on their last legs by this point so we went home--a surprisingly short drive, maybe 20 minutes--so C could have a much-needed nap.

Think I'm caught up on most of the photos.  I'm due a Dumbphone download soon but I've been busy editing my novel in order to submit it to a publisher.  Still haven't heard back from the other place but it's only been a month and they're holding a big convention this week.  In the meantime I wrote a 20k novella that has the potential to be part of a series.  I plan to edit that after I finish revising the novel (I'm about halfway done).

So that's all for now!

First Day...

...of Reception (Kindergarten). 

He was very excited to set out in his big kid uniform with his own book bag.

I went up the hill to have a nice hot cuppa in a cafe with one of the other mothers.  Then C and I went home, made lunch, and picked E up at the gates at 11:45.  He can go half-days until he becomes acclimated... but given his gung-ho attitude I don't think he'll be needing to do many half-days!

The teacher assessed his reading skills and started him on Level 2 Blue, whatever that means... but he liked the book he got today so much that he read it right away after lunch.  He will be bringing a reading book home every night, and two for the weekends. 

Exciting times!

September

Can it really be September already?

E's reception (kindergarten) class held visiting hours this week where the kids and parents could drop in and stay awhile.  We met up with A and his mom on Thursday and spent some time in his new classroom, then B got to go with us on Friday and participate in a short interview with E's new teacher.  She seems great!

I am so impressed with his classroom and indeed, the school in general.  There are two reception classes (children ages 4/5) who share a playground - that will be 60 kids his age (then there's Year 1, 2, all the way up to age 10/11, but the older kids have more separate areas).  E knows many of them - some won't be in his classroom, but they'll be able to play together during breaks/lunch/outside time.  The aides I met are all cheery and very willing to initiate interaction with the children there.

Also, the preschool he went to is on site as well, just over a low blue fence.  So he will be able to see his old teachers and aides and even chat to them if he likes.

A snippet of the toys/tools/projects I saw over the two mornings we visited:

-table with sand, pebbles and wooden diggers/cranes
-dinosaur table with wooden blocks to build them houses/other structures
-"tree block" table - these are amazing blocks cut out of natural wooden branches, with bark still on
-water basin table with boats
-permanent structure: climbing frame with a big slide
-permanent structure: water "tube" with removable/adjustable dams.  E and his friend spent a long time carrying water from the fountain over to this tube and pouring water down to the bottom/floating boats etc.
-there's also a big covered sandbox outside with lots of toys
-a big wooden firehouse set up with fire trucks, ladders and firemen

Inside, the classroom had two little areas to each side.  One was set up as a kitchen with a TON of toy items, lots of plastic/wooden food and other equipment.  I looked into the eaves and there were dozens of "dress up" boxes containing everything from holiday/Christmas type wear to ethnic wear to princess/prince fantasy and superhero costumes.

The other bit is set to be decorated as a reading nook with beanbags and lots of books.

The main part had several project tables as well - a playdough table with lots of rollers and tools, a table with lots of stamps and pieces of paper the children could doodle on, and a painting area.

E is really excited to start in just over a week!  He will be doing half days at first.  They recommend we do half days for the first week.  Then he can be eased into longer days - I can take him home for lunch and a break, then send him back to school for the afternoon session.  When I feel he is ready I can send him with a packed lunch for the whole day.  They are very flexible up until the beginning of November and then they suggest the children do full days unless the parent feels strongly otherwise.

Anyhow, this is getting to be a wall of text, so how about some photos?

Here's E doing the zipwire at Kew.  He's a bit excited.

A special treat.

Inside the desert-themed greenhouse at Kew.

B, post being shot in the face by a slightly more vigorous baking soda/vinegar volcano than expected.

Hurtling down the inflatable slide at a charity fundraiser for the preemie baby unit at the hospital where he and C were born - we were happy to spend money there, and he was happy to slide.

The Incredible Levitating Toddler.

And... only ONE MORE PHOTO until I am caught up with everything recent...

...C, having gotten herself some breakfast (in a manner of speaking).  E was helping her clean it up "by eating it off the floor," he explained helpfully, as his sister shouted "CHEEESE!" into the camera.

Most reception children start tomorrow, but E's the youngest in his class and will start next Thursday.  So we are going to go on a little road trip to Devon and stay in a rural cottage for a few nights midweek.  Tomorrow E is visiting A at his house, Tuesday is the first day of C's whizbang playgroup (seriously, this is an awesome playgroup with a handmade wooden pirate ship AND a huge wooden playhouse outside, plus slide and trampoline) that I used to take E to before he started actual preschool.  He will be going along with me for the first two sessions until he starts his big school.  Then we're off late Tues or early Weds, not sure which.  Hooray for very last minute flexible holidays!

I'll end with a recent quote from E:

E: Why is the sun so hot?
Me: Blah blah... star... gasses... nuclear fusion...
E: The core of the earf is really hot too. That means the core and the sun be's friends.

Gotta love 4 year old logic.

Summer 2012

What have we been up to?

Well, E has been off preschool since mid-July, and won't be starting Reception (Kindergarten) until Sept 20.  I thought 9 weeks would feel like an incredibly long stretch of time... actually it has felt like time is passing quicker than normal!  We've been fairly adventurous - bus rides to faraway parks, an experimental trip to Brighton, a trip to South Bank on a weekday with just me and the kids, and lots of weekend activities.

Today was hot.  I'd caught wind through local gossip of a water park of sorts at a park in Wimbledon.  There's a paddling pool in Clapham as well, but that one's next to a busy road, and I figured we couldn't go far wrong with Wimbledon given there was apparently a playground right beside the water feature.

Anyhow, we went, and it was superb.  See?

Only next time, I really have to remember to bring towels.  The kids drip-dried in the sun, playing in the playground - and were mostly dry before they hit the sand pit.

There's a lake (with pedalos) as well, but we stuck to the water area and playground.  Lured the kids out with promise of a late lunch at the cafe (you can just see the roof of it in the above picture).

Siblings sharing a cherry ice cream. 

Our garden, as of several hours ago.  The kids love the homemade "water slide" and B also set up the sprinkler for a little while, which E proclaimed was a VOLCANO that they had to periodically run away from.  It was in the mid-80's today and tomorrow is forecast to be even hotter.

Earlier this week, we went to Brighton.  Met Granny at the train station, rode 50 minutes on a fast train from Clapham, and met B.  He'd booked the afternoon off work.  We had fish and chips, visited the aquarium and pier.  Family friend met us there, with her son who is less than a few weeks older than E.

Interior of the aquarium.  I was feeling dizzy from the underwater tunnel we'd just passed through.

Emerged into an increasingly rainy and windswept day - C on the beach outside.

Walking the pier - E in his waterproof jacket.

B and C on the carousel.

Going up... B and E on the log flume.  B has forbidden me from posting the after-picture.  E was wearing a waterproof jacket... B was not!

This post is getting long, and the night is short.  I still have more to cover - E's birthday and his party, our visit to the London Eye and South Bank, our trip to Legoland, and snaps of the Olympic torch relay passing through our area.  Will get to those soon!  In the meantime - tomorrow we meet for brunch with friends, then possibly meet other friends at the same water park we visited today (timing allowing!).  Monday I've got a playdate with one of E's friends - they'll be in the same class under the same teacher next month which is nice.  They met at one of the local playgroups when they were both just two!  Tuesday - E has a few hours of sports camp... and the weeks wind on.  Three more until his first visit to school - then B has a week off work... after that, it'll be a matter of days before E goes to school fulltime....

The Last...

...day of preschool for E was in mid-July.  The summer holidays are shorter in the UK than I'm used to (6 weeks).  Although for E it will be more like 8-9 weeks total because he'll only be starting full-time in mid-September, to give him a chance to be gradually introduced into Reception (Kindergarten).

Here he is, with his "smile face" on his last day of preschool.

 And with little sister....

We have been busy in the run-up to E's 4th birthday on Sunday.  Last weekend we went to Legoland.  Tomorrow we are going to ride on the London Eye because under-4's are free, and this will be E's last chance to get on without paying.  On Monday we're going to be having a party at our local soft-play area - have invited a bunch of his school friends.  Looking forward to the chaos without resulting clean-up!