Today has been a bit of a struggle for me.
So much has been happening at the moment in connection with moving, or not!
And I have to admit that I have felt at sixes and sevens about it all...
Matthew wanted to start the day by remaking his new lego set
and asked me to help him to find specific pieces as he went along.
I decided to sort them into colours,
as Matthew had done before.
This makes it much easier to find each tiny piece.
as Matthew had done before.
This makes it much easier to find each tiny piece.
I was feeling quite panicky about our situation and so was finding it difficult to stay focussed.
So after this extended activity,
I decided to be assertive
and direct the children towards some reading tasks, etc.
I decided to be assertive
and direct the children towards some reading tasks, etc.
Sarah had been reading and colouring in her room and was reluctant to get going.
But in the end, after a lot of decisive persuasion, she got up and had a shower.
She worked very hard and constructively for the rest of the day.
I wrote her a list of activities.
On this occasion, she responded very well to this approach, and enjoyed each task.
The first thing she did, was to draw some little illustrations beside each item on her list...
While she was having her shower,
Matthew did a reading activity on the computer, followed by some subtraction.
We looked at an addition test,
but once again,
it seemed better to come back to this
with the Numicon apparatus later on.
with the Numicon apparatus later on.
Matthew had a snack of some pear and a cracker,
before moving on to reading a book about animals in a football match.
After her shower, Sarah went and sat on her window sill to write to her cousins.
This activity was not on her list, but was inspired and beautifully executed.
Matthew went and played on the trampoline.
I had asked him to take the guinea pigs outside.
Sometimes they enjoy eating the grass under the trampoline.
But today, they got into a bit of a fight and Sarah had to come to the rescue.
By this time, it had started to rain.
Sarah had been busy doing some Maths and French on line.
But even after this quick interlude,
she went back to her work quite happily.
she went back to her work quite happily.
She also completed some quick grammar and spelling exercises
taken from a GCSE Literacy revision book.
She did very well.
taken from a GCSE Literacy revision book.
She did very well.
Later, we listened to a passage of French together and translated it sentence by sentence.
Again, this was taken from a GCSE audio file.
She answered some questions about this extract
and translated some French dates into English.
and translated some French dates into English.
She had wanted to go to the post office on her bike,
but as it was drizzling,
she didn't fancy it anymore.
but as it was drizzling,
she didn't fancy it anymore.
She did, however, ask me for her cousin's address,
which she wrote neatly on the front of the envelope.
Matthew watched some Paddington videos and then moved onto The Jungle Book.
He seems to have been really inspired by the Jungle Book Production,
staged by some Home Educated children recently.
He asked me to find the hard back copy of The Jungle Book,
which Sarah had on her book shelf.
This story will be next on his bedtime reading list, after Paddington Abroad.
Sarah was on a roll and continued to draw a picture of a robin.
She had taken a photo of a robin on a table at Horner Tea Gardens on Saturday:
This seems to be a theme at the moment:
She also drew a rough sketch of the fence and plants outside her window.
Trying to encourage her to include more detail,
I found her the packet of water colour pencils in the utility room.
She was rather reluctant to take up this idea,
and when she came back,
and when she came back,
it was to show me another picture of a robin
she had created with the water colour pencils.
she had created with the water colour pencils.
She also completed a French pyramid puzzle
and organised multiples from the 6 X table in order.
Thanks to our good friend Karen for the tip.
Watch this space for more games with these numbers, in the hope that we can finally crack this tables malarkey!
Sarah also managed to fit in her piano and cornet practice as well as emptying the dishwasher.
This was all after a rather late start.
I am so proud of her.
It did take her until tea time!
But she had definitely earned a good stint on the kindle, while Matthew had his bath.
Matthew, meanwhile, had drawn some pictures to illustrate The Train Ride story,
had written some animal sounds
and completed the tricky addition sums using the Numicon apparatus.
87 + 24 = 111
65 + 67 = 132
68 + 13 = 81
58 + 65 = 127
 |
| 87 + 24 = |
Although I was impressed with Matthew's ability to use the Numicon
to visualise the numbers and calculate the sum successfully,
he was feeling a little bit grumpy after these rather mundane activities.
he was feeling a little bit grumpy after these rather mundane activities.
And to be honest, so was I.
I wish I didn't have to get him to read and write, as it is so tricky for him.
But it is my responsibility to help him learn.
This can feel like a heavy weight at times.
This can feel like a heavy weight at times.
He told me that he wished he could read.
It is so frustrating for him,
and, to be honest, a little bit worrying for me that progress is so slow.
and, to be honest, a little bit worrying for me that progress is so slow.
However, we definitely need to regroup -
I need to follow his lead to find some interesting topics as a catalyst for writing activities.
If I am on the ball, we will find them as he has so many ideas in his head.
It's me who needs to be reminded....
Last night he had started to write a list of games he wanted to play at his party.
His head was, and often is, full of all sorts of inventive ideas.
He has an incredible mind and I can hardly keep up.
He had written out this list in a highly phonetic style, omitting certain sounds.
This made deciphering what he had written rather difficult.
I felt a little disheartened.
We spent some time today rewriting this list,
paying attention to the various sounds in each word.
He did this quite happily,
as it gave us time to talk about the games
and start to generate fresh ideas
and in some cases an action plan
One of his ideas was to hide parts of a map in the woods for the other children to find!
Writing and talking like this, was highly motivating for him.
We should certainly stick to this type of activity in the future.
I have also made a note to ask the mums on the
Dyslexia Home Ed Facebook Support Group
Dyslexia Home Ed Facebook Support Group
for their ideas....
I need bucket loads of inspiration.
Sadly, I cannot make it easier for him,
but we can definitely keep the activities fun....
but we can definitely keep the activities fun....
I love the fact that he is teeming with plans,
even though, I wonder exactly how we are going to execute them all ....
While Sarah was enjoying her screen time, Matthew had a lovely bath.
He asked me to read him a chapter from Paddington Abroad,
while he was having his bath.
while he was having his bath.
When he was in bed, we talked about a few ideas for his party.
He can be very determined, which is a good thing.
But when his ideas become inflexible, I find myself getting rather stressed.
Night-time is definitely not the time to be making any kind of tricky decisions.
Note to self:
''Find relaxing activities for Matthew to do to help him to get to sleep,
as he has found it rather difficult to drop off this evening.''
