Proud Mummy Day

We had a very successful Reading Eggs(press) morning today. Eldest just storms through his allocated time - he tends to go through a couple of books at a time, plus further games/ exercises; Middle had no problems today - yesterday I printed out a little chart with the definitions and examples of the parts of speech that he seemed most likely to come up against to start with (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun).  Given that he has never learned about the parts of speech, he seemed to grasp the concept really quickly - very proud Mummy moment.  Once he'd worked his way through his online book, he couldn't wait to get onto the Quote Quest and other games.  And Youngest - well, he finished another world today!  He is now on world five, and doing brilliantly.  I've already mentioned how much he benefitted from a few months off to assimilate everything he had learned before he got stuck... and today he experienced that again in a smaller way.  He had done a few exercises and reached the test at the end of the 'world' or level.  I was in another room with one of his brothers, and he had a go by himself but gave up, saying it was too hard.  Once I was available about an hour later, I asked him if he would show me the tricky test.  We sat down together and again - having just had an hour away from the computer he was able to focus, and just whizzed through it, getting them all right with ease.  Definite Reading Eggs(press) fans here!

After that, Eldest and Middle both did some more work on their lapbooks.  Again Middle ended up doing some really quite advanced work, writing about and illustrating the different types of muscles.  Bless him, I hadn't realised that some of the downloaded flap templates were harder than others until we started on this one, but as he had started it I just waited to see if he would give up - and he didn't.  The little star!  Eldest has almost finished his too - he had a couple of days off when he ran out of steam, but is almost finished now - he wants it finished by the weekend, so hopefuly we'll have photos to share on Friday.

All of this while Youngest and I baked some Smartie cookies for lunch...

This afternoon  was very lazy.  Hubby has started a new job this week which is further away than the previous one, so he needs to get up earlier in the morning, and so far the boys have been waking up with him, and consequently getting tired earlier.  So this afternoon after all their hard work they just wanted to flop on the sofa, watching TV for a while before disappearing upstairs to build battlefields out of lego and recreate the island of Madagascar in duplo.  It was a bit odd watching about the hottest place on earth (Death Valley) with snow still on the ground outside our window, courtesy of CBBC's Fierce Planet. We had a lovely moment when Eldest and I were excited to spot a songthrush that briefly visited our garden... I love that we're so often at home during the day and can call each other if we see something out of the ordinary, to have a little shared moment together.

Finally it was time for tea: lentil bolognese, cooked almost entirely by Eldest...

Happy sigh - this really has been a proud Mummy Day.  I don't like giving the impression that all of our days are glowing and perfect (they really aren't), but a little bragging comes with the maternal territory, doesn't it?  And hopefully my boys' progress as recorded today might be encouraging to those needing reassurance that HE really can and does work!

Mellow Monday

We had a busy weekend away this weekend, visiting family, meeting up with old friends from the church we were part of when we got married a LONG time ago, and then celebrating my brilliant nephew's 18th birthday with more family.  It was a lovely weekend, although I was glad to get home having had to drive through heavy snow in the dark on the way back.  I'm always so happy every time I stop and register that weekends away are no problem, because tired boys (and Mummy) can have a lay-in and lazy day the next day if necessary.

So this morning we got up very slowly and gently.  The boys drifted downstairs and were allowed one programme before breakfast (they chose a programme they had recorded called Splatalot), then breakfast, then Reading Eggspress.  I don't want them to feel crowded or harrassed, so more often than not I tend to leave the boys to it and let them know they can call me if they need help - but today I stayed with Middle to have a look at it together, and I'm glad I did - he had got stuck and was playing the games rather than ask for help.  He had still been learning while playing, so it wasn't a disaster, but I was glad for the opportunity to go through it together.  He obviously still has a problem with feeling bad if he can't do something first time (even something he has never learned, bless him).  Anyway, we went through it togethe and chatted about the bits he was getting stuck on, then he whizzed through the other bits, happy to be progressing.  He had got stuck on not knowing the definitions of nouns, pronouns, verbs etc, so I'm going to print off a sheet for him with the definitions so he can stick it to the desk and have it to refer to all the time.  So that was lovely, seeing his confidence grow - and making a mental note for Mummy to keep a closer eye on him to check that he isn't struggling but not asking for help (it's hereditary it seems: I never asked for help at school/ college either).  Well after that he carried on with some of the Reading Eggspress games while Youngest and I went on Reading Eggs on my laptop.  Youngest totally whizzed through it again - he picked it back up again last week after a good few months off - and I'm still astounded at how, during his time off, he has mastered the thing that he was stuck on!  I know it's true that we all need time off to process things and that children given that space really do progress naturally without needing to be drilled - but it's still amazing to see it happen before your eyes!

Other than their online curricula we watched "321 Go" (a Maths programme recorded from BBC's Learning Zone) on fractals and symmetry, which was lovely, because it tied in really well with the art I had planned for today.  Following on from our 'painting with scissors' art on Friday in Moodswings, Muffins and Matisse, we did some more cutting out, but this time using lines of symmetry to create 'positive' and 'negative' images:  We used an A4 piece of paper as a background sheet with a line down the middle (the line of symmetry), and then an A5 piece of paper to draw one half of a symmetrical shape/ image, and then cut it out and flipped it over the line of symmetry - and then glued the pieces down.  I think the pictures show more clearly what I mean...

 Mummy's 'Face' - the example I made to show the boys what I meant

Middle's 'Ball'

Eldest's 'Lightsaber Duel'

Youngest's 'Shapes'

Middle's 'Octopus'

Eldest's 'Squid'

 Mummy's 'Snowflake' (that took AGES!)

Following that, the boys wanted to watch "Fierce Earth:Tsunami", recorded from CBBC.  I wasn't at all sure because for some weird reason tsunamis - more than any other natural disaster - give me nightmares, & I was concerned for the boys.  They were all sure they wanted to see it though, and it was a children's programme after all so on it went.  Actually it turned out to be quite positive for me too as it focused on survivor stories... so next time I dream about a tsunami I can just climb a palm tree in my dream & all will be well! (I know, there aren't many palm trees in Hertfordshire - but then we're not exactly on the coast either... nobody said fears had to be rational!)

And that was it!  The rest of the day mostly involved pottering, relaxing and playing, cosying up inside and looking at the snow outsaide (we weren't even tempted to go outside in it, we were that tired!) - basically, the perfect Monday after a busy weekend away!