well well...holidays are over,let learning commence

So,already a month has flown by,bringing with it the annual trip to Newquay for boardmasters-weather so-so,trip in general awesome.The was much reading,many long lie ins and the usual activities one gets up to when not educating the Peanut .I say not educating,I didnt realise how hard it is to switch off...in fact,darned if she didnt start reading the textbooks Id purchased in an effort to keep up with the new year as a boredom buster.Remind me to get the child bored more often...There was also the obligatory trip to Reading festival on the saturday,we saw Madness,Jimmy Eat World and a few others,Peanut all the while lounging comfortably in the pop up chair she bought with the tenner donated by flatmate.We laughed at her purchase until we realised how wet and cold the ground was,then sheepishly admitted she is definately the smart one...
Of course,I shall be testing and taxing this smart one with various diabolical ploys this year.Today is pythagorus as an ease in to trigonometry,followed by some chemistry in the form of acid and alkali worksheets,and chasing it all down with a 'lets make a huge pot of veggie bean and pasta soup cos its too cold for salad,and I am,quite frankly,too poor and lazy to go shopping for anything more interesting.' In other news,we are starting 'To Kill a Mockingbird' this term.Mainly because the thought of having to get into russian politics for 'Animal Farm' was just to depressing to contemplate.

The end is nigh!And it brings with it...cuboids?!

Well,so much for yesterdays post.I confidently assured myself that we had nine days left of this term,and in fact this year.Well,turns out today I may have been wrong. We have 3 days. We break up on friday. This does not leave as much time as I had hoped to cram in a few extra bits before the end of term,or convince myself that yes,we can finish all those loose ends in time for the holidays....Ah well,they are hurtling towards us,warming Peanuts heart with the promise of lie ins and no cranky crazy old lady determined to breathe down her neck and educate her at every opportunity. I have to confess,the no teaching for a month sounds good.It would be nice to have time for other,more leisurely pursuits such as applying for my uni place,cleaning out the acres of crap that seem to invade the house on a daily basis and hold a slug extermination contest in memory of my pumpkins,cruelly sacrificed as lunch for a horde of slimy invaders. Oh,and send off the last pieces of paperwork to turn a decree nisi to a decree absolute,research french tutors for next year and try and get lesson plans organised at the start of the holidays,and not the day before we go back.
Anyway,I digress,today was all about cubes,cuboids and the making of nets and then the sticking together and colouring of said nets. I was hoping to start another topic today,but given the Peanuts concentration span,especially now she knows we are nearly at the end,I figured what the heck. We are also going to be looking at finishing the rock cycle etc,as next year is all about the chemistry and physics. I may try and get some english in,planning essays etc,and then we are off out to prepare for the birthday of our flatmate,aka kid3.Expect much childishness and balloons.With helium. Alvin and the chipmunks impression,anyone?!

CGP,rocks n roll...

Last week was all about CGP maths workbooks and rock studies.Not AC DC,more igneous,sedimentary and metamorphic. Peanut has finished all the warrior cats books we dragged back from Canada,and is now pining for more. I have to call my college in a few hours and sign away my entire life savings on a course which may or may not get us closer to Canada.We can but try. All in all a pretty quiet week around here,but we break up in 9 days for summer. Still a total lack of understanding on home ed,everyone I know is either outright against the idea (so help me,if I hear the 'socialisation' word once more.......) or supportive but unhappy with the idea. No one actually thinks I am doing the right thing. Guess its lonely out on the educational frontier.Im tired of second guessing myself,doubting that this is practical,sensible or even sane. Just another day though...suck it up and deal.

back to normality and health and disease hell

Well,jet lag has finally relinquished its ugly hold,at least mostly,and so it is back to the world of education. After a couple of days spent mostly sleeping and or reading,the Peanut today spent an hour on Manga High maths,an hour with National Geographic,her third hour completing 2 pages of CGP questions on health and the immune system,and a final hour reading one of the many Warrior Cats books we lugged back from Canada. (The bookstore there had an entire section devoted to Warriors-canadian author I presume...either way,Peanut was in hog heaven,and was limited only by the weight allowance Air Canada imposes on its travellers.Left to her own devices,she would have foregone packing clothes etc and filled the whole bloody case with books.)
While Peanut was settling back in,I on the other hand had already hit the ground running.Upon our arrival home,I proceeded to scrub the bathroom,scrub the kitchen,vaccuum,dust and attempt to remove various takeaway leftovers from the floor/chairs/everywhere else.Then there was the matter of the food left in the fridge. At one point I actually thought we had rats,but no,it was merely a cucumber.A very furry cucumber.Anyhow,all this,plus the obligatory shopping trips for more food meant that by today,I was down to the usual 2 loads of laundry and the washing up kind of day.I can live with that.I doubt we will set the educational world on fire with today,but at least we are getting back into the swing of it. I have a feeling it will be next week before anything of note actually gets started though,just because we are now sleeping and waking at roughly the right time doesnt mean it feels any less fuzzy round the edges in my brain.I dont remember it taking so long to clear jetlag before,must be a side effect of age.Ah well. On a different note,I am embarking on a move to change careers,which will see me home schooling myself in the near future,or at least embarking on a few evening classes. Hey,why should the Peanut be the only one learning stuff? My brain is a little crusty,but Im sure theres room in there for something besides cobwebs and KS3??

travel sick but not home sick...

Well,our trip to Vancouver is over. All agree that it is amazing,beautiful and we are definately returning,as soon as possible, please! I have never felt so at home in a place I had never been to before.Vancouver-ites (?) are friendly and welcoming,and in one day you can do beach and mountains as well as city.It is the greenest country too,both in terms of environmental friendliness and literally-I have never seen so many well cared for trees...much to the approval of the Peanut.Overall,no complaints except 'But WHY cant we live here?!' Ah,if only it was that simple...Have a suspicion they are not crying out for over the hill retail slaves.
Of course,there was one small fly in the ointment-long haul flights.As most people will know,these are best survived either:
A.) Drugged to the eyeballs or
B.)first class.
Given that neither of these options are available,we just had to grin and bear it. Ginger,peppermint,travel bands,headphones,earplugs-we had the lot! Given that the Peanut can get travel sick just looking at a car,and has a fear of flying bought on by a flight back from Italy with an ear infection,this was always going to be one of the hardest trips we have made.Not just the flight-straight through on the way,but changing in Toronto on return-there is the coach to the plane,then the taxi at the other end. Picture that scene in the exorcist,you know,the one where shes on the ceiling,projectile vomiting? Thats the Peanut. Throw in an attitude that makes Godzilla look shy and retiring,and a hair trigger oversensitivity to just about any comment or even look from anyone,and we are in hell. NOW add a 32 year old man-aka kid number 2-who has never been travel sick in his life and has a low boredom threshold and a 32 year old woman who has been known to get travel sick herself,and has also been known to get..um..overemotional...when tired,and we are ready to go. Gods help the rest of the plane...
In the end,the travel bands,headphones,earplugs (former over ear,latter in ear in case you were wondering)and fervent prayers to any and all deities who were listening kept the sickness to a minimum,and we crossed the Atlantic without vomit or bloodshed.Both ways. I am still unclear how,but I dont care.
Anyway,seeing as it was technically schooltime,we went out a LOT. Grouse mountain-orphan bears,amazing ski lift rides to the summit and birds of prey exibitions,plus amazing panorama and cool native craft exibits. Capilano suspension bridge-again,beautiful views,incredible bridge-like the wobbly bridge in the park x1000! and a wonderful treetop walk,where we learnt,among other things that Banana slugs are A.)exactly like squished banana skins and
B.)Supposedly toxic-although the raccoon population has figured out that the toxin only gives them numb mouths,which can be avoided by simply rolling the unfortunate slug in dirt,then swallowing it. Darn clever animals.
Speaking of raccoons,we saw one. At the Aquarium. No,not scube diving. We were sat in Stanley park,eating lunch and waiting in line for the aquarium when I saw what I thought was a cat run over to the bin. I nudge Peanut,and as I do realise it is not a cat,but a gorgeous little bandit.For a moment,we watch him in silence.This is shattered when an excitable kid runs over and screams 'RACCOON!OMIGOD!!!ITS ARACCOON!!' The poor creature,all hopes of dinner foiled,scarpers for the bush while I restrain Peanut before she gives the kid something else to scream about. Aquarium was awesome-Peanut falls for the beluga whales,kid 2 for the cute sea otters and me for the jellyfish. We left behind a cute pink fluffy octopus hat,but we shall return triumphant with our raccoon sighting...
Friday was Canada day,and that means a parade,right? Right...unless you misread the press and turn up an hour late...ooops. However,we got to join the crowds at Canada place,wave flags,wear temporary maple leaf tattoos and feel part of the whole celebration.
The rest of the time was spent either at the beach-2 blocks away,or at the port park-2 blocks and a hop. We walked on average 6 miles a day,and over the course of the trip have covered maths-currency conversion,HST conversion-man thats a pain-and pocket money to awesome stuff conversion...thats got to be maths,right?! Ecology,biology,sociology,and a healthy smattering of anthropology ties up science.The obligatory journal of the trip counts for english,and social skills counts as not asking 'Do planes crash often?' when one is embarking on a journey in one.We ate in italian,thai,indian and japanese restaurants and stayed on Davie in the heart of the 'gay district'.This lead to a discussion on human rights,what the rainbows symbolise,and why gay men can be so much easier to shop with than straight ones.Life skills,right there. So,if anyone from the education authority is sniffing round,we merely 'undertook a series of extended field trips which cover history,geography,biology,sociology,maths,science and english with a healthy dose of P.E and life skills.' If any normal person asks,we had an amazing trip,and are plotting our return...as soon as I can find a travel sickness pill Peanuts can swallow without retching...

geometric horror and the birth of a science nerd

Where the hell did this week go? Or the end of last week for that matter? Or this morning,if Im brutally honest? Time is definately not on my side at the moment,and this accounts for my lack of regular posting. This week has been all about angles once again,seems geometry has grabbed us and will not let go. There was a trip to the science AND natural history museums tuesday-proving that while time may not be on my side,it will occasionally turn a blind eye to some of my crazier schemes to pack more into a day. Peanut had an epiphany while there,and decided she loved science and it was cool to be a science nerd like her mother. There you go,all those guilt ridden donations to the museum coffers have finally paid off...Today we are attempting to understand interior and exterior angles,and also atoms and particles.That is,if I can drag Peanut away from the spider in our living room who has just hatched a whole brood of baby spiders,who will no doubt grow up to confound my attempts at housework. Speaking of which,for anyone who wondered,the house gets a thorough scrub down every monday,the washing gets done daily,and the washing up 3x daily. This,in spite of living with 1 small child and 2 large ones,none of whom are particularly tidy. Oh,and also in terms of field trips,a trip to Tesco yesterday,with 1 small and one large child. Anyone who has the time to shop alone,I truly,truly envy you...I spend most of the time hurtling round at breakneck pace,missing half of what I wanted to buy,and grabbing randomly at stuff I didnt,just trying to keep up with the larger of the two-hes driving,and doesnt want to get caught in traffic-whilst refereeing the usual state of friendly warfare between him and the smaller one,who is hyped up on the sheer joy of having 2 people to harrass round tesco instead of one,and actually getting driven there and back instead of being forced to walk,pack mule style, home with the shopping as is usual. Compared to this little outing,geometry should definately be the lesser of two evils...
Updated to add,in true friday fashion,we spent 30 minutes grappling with internal and external angles,then called time on it when it became painfully obvious that this was not going to happen and all that was happening was imminent meltdown.Peanut is now happily reading a nature textbook,trying to figure out the mating habits of fish. (If I knew,believe me I would tell you,but the recesses of the Peanuts brain are a mystery to me and some days Im very grateful for that...)The house is now calm,maths forgotten,and now the only battle on the horizon is working out what the Peanut wants to eat BEFORE her grandma comes to pick her up and I escape to the relative sanctuary of work,with its incessant demands of 'sell more loyalty cards'...actually,fish mating does sound more fun.
The above,incidentally, is an example of Friday syndrome,something which strikes every week in our house.My only day to day rule is that there must be an hour of maths per day,this down to both my own hatred of maths and the problems it causes me in day to day life,and my determination that Peanut shall not suffer the same fate.It has done wonders for her maths confidence and ability,but even this iron clad rule must bow to the fact that,by friday,the Peanut has the concentration span of a gnat and the temperament of an angry hornet. Education therefore must consist of something she can easily digest and something which does not have to be recalled for the lesson the following monday.We do a lot of origami,spirograph and other such vaguely mathematical stuff on fridays...The rest of the week,she is quite happy to humour her poor deluded old mother and do the maths first,then she is free to study what and when she pleases.It seems like a small price to pay.Friday? No,we do not want to humour the senile old fool,we want to do something more interesting. Fair enough.Im going to read a Jim Butcher book while I make lunch.

week off and whiny submission

Well,half term has come and gone,encompassing Peanut's bridesmaiding-and yes,she looked lovely-and general STUFF,and now its back to school... Tuesday consisted of Angles and geometry,followed by macrophages and microbes. The latter was a written blow by blow account of bodily microbe warfare,and the former was Q&A on paper and online.
Wednesday was further angles- transverse and congruent,and a NEW Erin Hunter seekers book,which was dragged straight up to Peanuts lair and devoured whole in a single sitting.
Today was supposed to be a trip to the science museum,but a cold put paid to that,so we settled for another online angles quiz and a little science.Better now than in 2 weeks,when we set off for Vancouver.Yes,we are long hauling it with a 12 year old. Really not sure how this ones going to go,but for a week it will be an adventure...