?? missing days and friday fun

Well,yesterdays post seems to have vanished into the ether...which is annoying,as Id actually got a picture to display-albeit hopelessly huge,but still.Anyway,since I do not want to type the whole thing again the edited version is-Area and Volume and several other things...including sitting in a courtroom waiting to swear that I recognise my husbands signature and after all the time and paperwork...dear gods,the paperwork...I do in fact want to get divorced and am not just looking for a fun day out wasting the courts time.Yeah.
Today I made the exciting/disturbing discovery that we are nearly all the way through the ks3 maths syllabus...I am not kidding.We have one more module to do and we are done! Not to mention,we are 3/4 of the way through the english curriculum already,and over half way through the science!! (we would be further on in science,but we are currently looking at the plant module in much more detail) Even if we slow right down and only cover half the material we are currently covering per lesson,we will still be finished by midway through year 8! Now I understand why so many home ed kids take GCSEs early..theres not much else to do! It makes me wonder exactly what they do in schools if it takes them until the end of year 8 to get through this lot...either way,Im just glad we have time to explore things in more depth,continue to pursue side projects and prep for the GCSE years a little early. It means Peanut will have less pressure going into GCSES,if we start early we can spread them out rather than trying to cram too many subjects in to a very short space of time!
Anyhow,today was spent (as is normal Friday practice) on Manga high,mainly because I never like to start a new topic on a friday when it is no doubt going to be forgotten over the weekend,and also by Friday the Peanut brain is very easily distracted.We finished up pH as well today,and had a fairly chilled afternoon reading. Peanut has now fallen in love with Terry Pratchett *(bwahhaha,knew Id get her eventually!) and we are reading Wee Free Men and Witches Abroad aloud to each other. A good end to the week.

court and counting

Something of a short day yesterday,as I had to go and sit in a courtroom and swear that yes,I recognised my husbands signature and yes, I did want a divorce-just in case I had made a mistake somehow when I filled in 20 sheets of paper all declaring I wanted to divorce the man! Anyhoo,I digress. Maths was Volume...thank you jediteacher2007 once again-I really should send that guy a fruit basket or something...and then Cai read the rest of horrible history's Measly Middle Ages before going to her Dads house. Not a scholastic high point yesterday,but still got a few hours of the official stuff in.Also,in further education related news,we finally got our reply from the LEA saying we are all good to go for the next six months before we have to check in again. It would be a year,but because the peanut has health problems with her guts,they need to check up on us every six months ?! Not entirely sure how that works,but fair enough...anyway...more from Peanut,Bean and Bandit later,when I shall attempt to get the hang of photobucket...(again)

ookay...testing...and tinctures

Well,Im trying photobucket...could be interesting... Todays schooling went roughly as follows:
Firstly,the dreaded maths...today: area and perimeter. Thanks are due once again to the incredible jediteacher,without whom I would have considerably more grey hair,and peanut would have a lot harder time wrapping her brain around these things. Sir,we salute you!
Having survived this form of torture (her words not mine) we detoured into town for bugsys and bath bombs from boots and lush respectively. For those of you who have not encountered a 'bugsy' and are thinking of bunny,allow me to enlighten you. The bugsy is the greatest sandwich in the world ever. (once again,not my words...I dont make the news,just report it!) It consists of grated carrot,hummous,rocket and alfalfa sprouts on wholemeal bread. It it served at its best with a chocolate brownie for desert,washed down with coppella apple juice. I would reccommend trying one,but not anywhere you will be spotted dropping half a bunny hutch of carrots down your front and into your lap. This is not food to be eaten in front of anyone you may be trying to impress!
Anyhooo,that enjoyable little detour aside,and the purchase of 3 lush robot bath bombs, (please,dont ask...just let me assure you that our forray into home chemistry does NOT involve explosives or any kind of illegal device) we headed home via the oxfam bookshop,where we pick up an interesting textbook on herbalism which Peanut pounced on and dragged upstairs to her lair the second we got in the door. After failure to remove her from said new book,I decide to play sneaky,and tell her to use it to find a tincture recipe. She does. Its in cups. Suddenly,its pencils and paper at the ready as we try to A) work out the conversion and B) scale down the recipe to more manageable quantities. All this,she manages. In the space of half an hour,we have both remembered and applied our conversion formulae,and dusted off the ratio we did last term. Im flabbergasted and happy that here,if nowhere else,is tangible proof that its actually going in...the stuff we study is being absorbed...and remembered!!! I need a moment here to collect my brain before we set out to make the tincture itself. Its fun,despite the fact that the brown bottles I carefully saved are not quite big enough,and the only substitute is a hastily sterilised Tiger beer bottle-dont tell the Boys,they dont need an excuse not to visit the bottle bank! Tincture making takes about an hour and a half. After that,we make several new entries in what we have begun calling Peanuts herbal volume. This afternoon was rounded off making flapjacks,and reading Terry Pratchett. An enjoyable,and productive day.Now,photographic evidence ( I hope!)

arty crafty kinda day

Well,yesterday consisted of an hour on manga high maths, an hour of learning how to make tinctures,and 4 hours designing and sewing adorable little stuffed cats and raccoons. Not exactly standard curriculum,but fun nonetheless. Peanuts sewing has improved so much,and she was confident enough this time to both draw and cut the pattern herself,chalk it on to fabric,and pin and sew with no help except for the sewing of the eyes-buttons are tricky and theres only so many times you can drop it and /or stab yourself before it starts to become annoying...she stuffed her toy,sewed him up,and voila! A small,mostly grey ,slightly lopsided (in an endearing way) little cat called Bean. Not to be left out,I made a raccoon,unoriginally named it Bandit,and decided he was Beans friend. Pictures will follow as soon as I can work out how to get the bloody things on here! The day concluded with homemade soup and an hour reading Terry Pratchett to each other. Reading aloud may seem a little babyish,but Peanut enjoys it,and I think it is useful as it gets her used to reading to an audience,and the fact its about giving each character a voice and giving the book life out loud not just in your head. Now,off to prepare today...

In the interests of education and sanity

...I will now be trying to update this blog on a more regular basis,with updates on exactly what we are studying and how.This will,I hope, have two benefits. Firstly,it will give anyone who may be interested in what the peanut is studying a fairly comprehensive overview.Secondly,it will provide me with a handy reference point for the dreaded review reports,because although I have been keeping notes,anyone who has read my handwriting will tell you that after 24 hours something magical happens to my handwriting and makes it completely illegible.This is a feat normally only found among doctors and other purveyors of prescriptions,or anyone in my family who attempts to write out a recipe. So,on with the update...
This week has seen the peanut announce that she would like to become a herbalist. I blame this on warrior cats (thank you Erin Hunter-like you dont already take the blame for her obsession with cats...)and possibly on a dog eared copy of Neals yard remedies I consult fairly regularly-hey,Im an old hippy,so sue me! Now,while my initial response was surprise,after thinking it through I believe we can actually work this to my advantage...the next segment of biology is fairly plant heavy,while the next segment of chemistry is concerned with melting and boiling points,and how a substances composition affects how it will react to such.
It is with this in mind that we have created the peanut handbook of plants.This is a thickly bound notebook which is divided into five sections. The first section is now full of basic plant biology; germination,fertilisation,photosynthesis,soil acidity and alkalinity and the basic composition of soil types.To be added is a section we are due to start in the coming weeks on genes and heredity involving the infamous pea plant experiment.
Section two is comprised of individual plant information.For example,where it grows,when it grows,what type of soil it prefers,when is a good time to harvest,which bits are useful,which active chemicals the plant contains and what their function is.The latter includes which parts of the body they work on,and how they work. There is also a line on contraindications, and a list of things it is possible to make with each,for example tincture,infusion etc. We have completed pages on nettles and dandelions so far,and harvested and experimented and tasted each.We are currently growing several others peanut is keen to test,and are scouting for many more while out walking. The kitchen is beginning to resemble a horticulturists nightmare,and its best not to drink ANYTHING which may be laying around in various test tubes etc.
Section three is something of a recipe book.How to make tinctures,infusions,balms,bath muslins etc as well as more traditional recipes such as nettle soup and the like.
Section four comprises diagrams of certain plants as well as anything interesting which peanut feels warrents a diagram of its own,and also experiment write ups.
Section five is a glossary of terms such as anti emetic,antitussive etc.
This is very much a work in progress,and will be added to over the course of this term.
In maths,we say goodbye to algebra,and are now looking at conversion and units. This,for the peanut has involved converting from imperial to metric,largely using old recipes and herbals. (see the tie in there?!)Next week we go to area and perimeter,and the units used. We are still very much following curriculum here,with bbc bitesize and cgp revision and a little help from maths is fun.There is also the genius that is jedi teacher on youtube,without whom algebra would have been far worse...whoever he is,I salute him,its a rare thing to find someone that talented at teaching a subject like maths,and I only wish he'd been my maths teacher...
As far as english goes,peanut is still relentlessly ploughing her way through every book in sight,often before it even gets home from the bookstore. Thank gods I get waterstones discount-although for how much longer I dont know...She is also reading several herbalism texts of varying age and getting a pretty good grounding in terms specific to medicine at the mo! She is currently reading vast chunks of world history,and the measly middle ages,which brings me on to...
History! We are currently on the middle ages.Peanut is particularly fascinated with plague and medieval medicine...charming Im sure,take two leeches and call me in the morning please kinda thing...We are hoping to try a genuine middle ages recipe for rose pudding next week...hey,the kitchen cant get any worse...
Odds and sods,otherwise strictly known as art,p.e. and design tech...there has been an invasion of Fimo. If you can think of it,it can be constructed out of the stuff,and if you hold still long enough,you can be covered in it too. There are a few sewing projects in the offing,and we are getting plenty of exercise walking down by the river searching for various herbs etc. Still no foreign language as such,but we are picking up a fair bit of latin one way and another...
Well,that was this week. Its been fairly green in many senses,and I can see this enthusiasm lasting until the end of this term. I am trying to sneak in as many different subjects as possible under the banner or herbalism,and its proving surprisingly easy to do so. I am also surprisingly enjoying myself,so we are two happy hippy herbalist homeschoolers signing off for the week!
(incidentally,this counts as alliteration. Please,do not ask peanut about alliteration,onomatopea,assonance etc. It is a current obsession,and you would not believe how many innocuous sentences contain examples of such...its driving me crazy,but hey,at least its education...)

divorce and drinking

Well,its taken its sweet time,but I can finally pay the court fees and get things moving,courtesy of a timely inheritance.I have never been so happy to post a letter or part with 3 hundred quid :) I feel like Ive been stuck in limbo so long,not really married but not really free either.Its time to move on in so many ways.Spring is pretty much here,its back to getting up before 7.30,cleaning everything within an inch of its life,pulling out the old art supplies and starting to look over the horizon and make travel plans. Of course,before any of those things,its time to go teach algebraic formula triangles and shakespeare,followed by a quick tour of the human digestive system-ah the joys of homeschooling,gotta love it. I still feel like it was the best decision I have made for a long while though,we are achieving so much and learning a mixture of academic and life skills.I dont want her to be one of those kids who can answer any test paper with carefully memorised answers,but cant even turn on an oven or fix a tear in a shirt seam.And of course,P.E in the park is all about the hula hoops not about running around a field until you fall over. Oh,and in another newsflash,the new washing machine is up and running,and I have never been so glad to see a kitchen appliance after weeks of washing everything in the tub :)

peace and understanding

...are two things I am not often found in the company of at the best of times...Strangely,the past few days have been something of an epiphany,triggered by,of all things,Buffy reruns. Now,I watched the series when it first came out,up until about series 5 I think,then lost track of it completely. About 2 weeks ago,fx decided to re-broadcast the final season,7,at 9 am every morning. This is,coincidentally, the time I am normally to be found sitting downstairs,eating brekkie and waiting for my brain to kick start.So I watched. I realised after the third episode that there were a few things I appear to have missed,such as why Buffy was now kissing Spike rather than Angel (improvement,I have to say,never been one for tall dark and brooding myself,and at least Spike got some of the best lines.) why one member of the nerd trio was now 'good' and why xander and anya still werent married,but were going at it like the dreaded bunnies...So,I bought the series on dvd-thank you staff discount and sale markdowns...- and watched it all. Then I bought season 6,and finally season 5. Really did like the Buffy/Spike thing. Where the whole Angel relationship was very much first love,Spike and Buffy fought,hated,loved,betrayed and redeemed each other,and at the end they gave each other strength and support in the kind of partnership that only comes with real knowledge and intimacy with the other person. At first,the way it ended had me kind of gutted.There are so many other tv couples who never quite make it and its so frustrating,I mean,Ive been trying NOT to watch this season of Bones,as much as I love the show,because the characters are just in too painful a place.Even the Bill drove me nuts-hey,it used to be on at the same time as Buffy is now-Ill watch anything when Im still half asleep-Stevie and Smithy?! So obviously meant to happen,but never got there. Booth and Bones,so obviously right for each other,and yet he goes all mid life crisis and shags some blonde journo..and now,Buffy and Spike,who is reduced to a pile of dust,but not before turning away Buffys profession of love with a 'thanks,but I know you dont'. So frustrating...and yet today,I realised that,you know what,she didnt love him as much as he loved her,but he meant a lot to her,and she did mean it when she said she loved him,and his response was down to the persistant way she had turned him down every time he had said he loved her. But at the end,she loved him,he loved her as he always had,and even if they werent destined to be together,thats still an unbreakable connection. Ive been toying with finding out what happens in the season 8 comics,but now I dont care if I read them or not,I know the outline of what happens,but its not important. She may not end up with Spike,but they will always have something between them that cannot be taken away. Ditto Booth and Bones,they may or may not get past the whole Hannah thing,but there are parts of him that only Bones will understand,and his cutting her off to make it less painful for himself isnt going to alter the fact she is the one woman who knows him best,and he loves her still. End of.There is a kind of peace in knowing that,even if these characters never get their happy endings,the relationships they have mean they are always connected anyway. The same is true of so many people in reality. How things turn out in the end does not necessarily alter what has happened on the way there. If things did not happen,things werent said or you did not achieve something you wanted so badly to,it does not mean that those things cease to be important,but that you can make your peace with the fact those things entered and left your life for a reason,and the impact or impression they made on you may have caused a change in you which was necessary,a kind of catalyst if you will for yourself to change. If we stop obsessing over how things should go,and accept that things are there and are real and are not going to disappear entirely if they dont end the way you planned,its ok.Pretending those things dont exist isnt the way to get over them not happening,its ok to acknowledge that they are real,and they mean a lot to you,but they may not be the ending you once thought. For example,I would love another child. For so long I have been angry and resentful because that chance has been taken from me as my boyfriend has made it clear he doesnt want children with me. Rather than let that eat at me,or try and convince myself that I dont want another child,its ok to acknowledge the fact that it is real,I do want another child,and that love and experience I could offer another child is real,but rather than the happy ending where I get my own child,the ending is that I use those feelings,the love and experience and desire to care for a child,to help my friends with their children. I have already had the experience once,and although I cant change it and make it as perfect as I would want,I can move on from here knowing that all the knowledge and experience I have now will not be wasted.I appreciate this is long,complicated,and is a stretch from the original analogy,even for a show as over-analysed as Buffy,this is an interesting twist,but its made me feel better. And after the last post,I needed it.