Summery projects

Gosh- where the last two months have flown past I don't know- a whirlwind of dancing, holidays, birthdays etc. We have been going through a self-directed (as far as resources allow) crafting with SJ selecting projects to do from the numerous crafty books (lots of Usbourne!)- slowly working our way through 'activities for boys'- although FI is relishing some too. Am being slightly mean and trying to force him to do some of the reading of each step too- which he absolutely CAN he just sometimes conveniently tries to forget he can and sometimes impresses himself when he actually remembers he can. Other wise he has moved onto a new set of readers- ORT advanced (allegedly 10-11yrs- although am not sure I believe that)- The Time Chronicles- which we are both really enjoying- he has noticed that there is one set aboard HMS Victory- so he is desparate to get to that one- shame it is the last but one..... I have put him up a level on Education City as well- which has forced us to move on a little in Maths- such that we are now introducing Multiplication. It is a hard one- trying not to be forced by the National Curriculum but then being forced by the backdoor as a result of uptaking educational programs. M is working with him on introducing some cursive writing - as an experiment to see if he actually prefers this- at the moment its is looking positive.

This is a nature picture of FIs produced at her Playgroup summer trip. This year, rather than pay loads to hire a bus to ship them all off to the local farm park type place- we cooked up a Forest School type day at the local Scout Campsite with outdoor cooking, bug hunting, treasure hunting etc. Few moans heard from some of the staff but certainly my kids enjoyed this more- especially the outdoor cooking.

Can't believe my little lion is into her last week of Playgroup and will be fully HE in September (even though she is STILL ONLY 4!!!). She has a 'graduation' ceremony on Wednesday. I think she is actually fairly ready to finish though and she does understand that most of her friends will no longer be there in September anyway. However she is excited that she has new things to look forward to this summer. When she turns the magic '5' in August she will be able to join holiday activities at the local leisure centre as well as start Gymnastics and today she found out that she can start Tap in September, now she has done her Pre-Primary Ballet exam and moved up to her new Primary group. She had a taste of the high life in June when she performed in her Ballet show at a city centre theatre- along with lots of 'big' girls- a certain amount of idol worship going on. Ballet mad probably sums it up at the moment- and now Tap is the icing on the cake. And the best bit is that I pulled out SJs tap shoes (from his brief foray into performing arts) and found that they fitted her ( for a while anyway) and daddy has produced a 'tapping' board ( an oak table top from a defunct table!).

And finally Mr TP has not only potty trained (now it really becomes apparent why I haven't blogged for soo long)- but seems to be training himself overnight too- fabulous! We have been doing a bit of growing the household up and thinning out a few items- the bicycle trailer etc are off (trying to make space) plus I have been reading 'Simplicity Parenting' and am trying to gently implement some of their principles (right up until the point that a friend allowed me to sort through a pile of her cast offs- and I came home with two large carrier bags full.........).