Wednesday 21 November 2012

Learning to read.....

It never fails to amaze me just how absorbent children really are. I mentioned in a previous post that Nathan is really interested in language and I wanted to jump on it, which I have. I recently posted on a Home Ed forum for some advice on fun reading programmes to try him with and the one that came up trumps was Reading Eggs, somebody kindly gave me a code for a months free trial and I set it all up last night.

Well what can I say! It's pretty impressive not just in the interactive sense but also with how it captured Nathans attention. He's going through a tired spell at the moment and I'm going to cut out and daytime nap as he's just waking up too early for his little body. However, given that he is tired, he's just sat and done 15 minutes of it and managed to learn how to navigate my touch pad on my lap top as well as do the activities. What I also like about the program is that I can also buy accompanying books that will be good at reinforcing what he will learn. I know it's early days but I really think he'll enjoy it and if he doesn't well we can try something else.

I've also been told about some of the Leap Frog learn to read items and I'm going to invest in a couple of those too after all Christmas is coming up!

I've started to go to a couple of Home Ed groups which has been good although I think we won't need them too much at the moment as we're so busy with other things, but I do think they will definitely have their place and it's good to know they are there and that the support is so good!

If any of you have any other tips on teaching little ones to read in a fun way I'd be grateful to hear from you, in the meantime I'm going to plan lots of christmas crafts :-)

Tuesday 6 November 2012

My Mum.

Two and a half weeks ago my mum visited our house. She needed to talk to me. Knowing that she was having some marital issues I assumed it was to sound off about those. No. She had found a lump in her right breast and it had been confirmed by her doctor that morning that it was indeed there. I felt myself getting slightly emotional but also tried to play it down and tell her that it would all be fine.

I've spoken about my mum on here before, in fact if you look at past posts you'll see pictures of her and in quite a few of the days out we have been on and the holiday we went on this year, she was with us. I'm close to my mum, our children adore her, Kenny gets on brilliantly with her and she does so much for us.

Even though I knew deep down that it was more than likely to be nothing to worry about, the fact that two other members of our family have had breast cancer played on my mind a alot. I'm sure it did hers too but whenever we have spoken about it she has remained upbeat. I on the other hand was terrified.

I never take the things my mum does for us for granted. She looks after the boys two mornings a week so that I can go to the gym and do some work, she pops over for coffee if Kenny's away and she knows I want some company and she brings me flowers because she knows I love them. She makes me laugh, she makes me feel special, she makes me feel loved. On the other side she can also frustrate the hell out of me and drive me nuts but hey it wouldn't be a normal relationship if we didn't have those moments!

What I do take for granted is her being here. Being at the end of the phone if I have forgotten something (happens alot), being a text away if I just want to check in with her and living only a few miles away so that I can see her a few times a week.

My mum's appointment was this morning at 9:40. She told me she'd only let me know at the end of the process. At 10:15 my phone went. It was mum saying that she was fine. It was hormonal imbalances causing lumps and bumps and she needed no follow on appointment. I was immediately filled with a sense of relief, gratitude and happiness. The feelings I felt afterward made me realise just how worried I had been.

I won't take my mum being here for granted anymore. I won't take anybody being here for granted anymore.

I love my mum xxxx

Friday 2 November 2012

New friends....

Here we are again, so much time has passed. What can I say, we've been busy! I'm never sure really where the time is going. I find it terrifying sometimes. It's hard to believe that the boys are only 3 and 1.

Nathan is just amazing us with his insatiable appetite for words and language. He now knows all his phonetic alphabet sounds and every day I'm asked what letters words begin with. I'm making the final touches to a moveable alphabet and will show pictures soon. In the meantime I'm going to start going over some sight words with him to see where he is. Although I've read this should wait until they're 5 I think he's in such a great place with language that I don't want him to get bored. Got to keep him active, clever thing :-)

Ethan has started to walk finally but there is no stopping him now, it's as if he decided to wait until he could do it well. His language is also coming along. He repeats most words after you and his pronunciation isn't too bad. We're starting to learn colours which is going well so far.

We've met some amazing new friends who are also home schooling. Their little girl Jess is 2.5 years and her and Nathan have the sweetest friendship blossoming. It's wonderful as Lisa-her mum has so many of the same educational thoughts as me that being in their company is just so easy. She is probably the calmest person I know and I always feel so much more relaxed when I've seen her.

I'll leave you with a few images of what we've been up to.

Checking out the Penguins

A favourite day out. Drusillas Zoo

Dot dot fun
After bath cuddles

Space sensory tub
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings and as ever take care.

Lisa xx