http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots The journey of our homeschooling. With 5 (soon to be 6) small children (8, 6, 4, 3, 18 months & bumb) en pcjjap pcjjap Fri, 23 Dec 2005 01:18:13 +0100 daily 1 I'M GOING BACK TO BLOGGER!! It's so easy now - you can blog from Word :) Our Christmas newsletter can be seen there, so check us out over at; www.wellyboots.blogspot.com C U there :) ! Fri, 23 Dec 2005 01:18:13 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Yup-moving/49/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Yup-moving/49/ I have been having another look at Blogger recently and it seems to have a few more addons these days and is apparently a little more reliable thatn it was too (with a recovery system for lost posts), so as I am fed up of pasting URL's to post pictures and then having to resize them etc... I am CONSIDERING moving pack to where the blogging is a little easier! But for Now I'm here until further notice. :) Mon, 05 Dec 2005 02:08:16 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Contemplating-a-move-back/48/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Contemplating-a-move-back/48/ Well having two kids at home full time for the last two days has shown me a taster of what our homeschool will be like after Christmas! Boy are girls SO different!! Phoebe has been out the last couple of mornings and Ellie was out one and asleep the other. Caleb was of course asleep too and Jacob was at school. This provided me with a great opportunity to 'do' stuff with the other two . I decided it was about time I got organised with Joel and have drafted a trial timetable to last us until Christmas at least. But them I have had to add Boo into the equation and she is SO full on an keen, but boy do I need a bit of peace now. I am all kidded out and I think I'm going to blow if one of them asks me one more question that I have answered at least three time already - which they are all so apt to do! Anyway today consisted of Joel doing his usual Bible study and handwriting, followed by maths. Meanwhile Abbie was doing some 'rainbow tracing' (lots of different coloured lines over a single dotted line).... Wed, 23 Nov 2005 21:19:45 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/FULL-ON-SCHOOL/47/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/FULL-ON-SCHOOL/47/ At last Blogigo is back up and running! Don't know what happened there, but as it's midnight I'll make it brief! Jacob is still doing great at school and loving it. The head rang me today to give me a little update. Last week Jake was sent home with an ORS level 10 reading book, which he read in an evening - too easy! I wrote a note to the teacher just to enlighten her a little and ask why - as politely as I could . Apparently it was a mistake and he should be on level 11. I still think this is a bit too easy, but apparently the level is based on how well he can infer and comprehend, not just on his reading ability. I will grant them that his ability to infer and comprehend is probably about where they have him placed. So he can race through the school books if he likes and read more appropriate stuff at home for pleasure!! Otherwise she assures me he is settling in well, if polite, articulate and generally a bright little lad (I knew the last bit, but I never saw the former two at home). I... Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:27:33 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Restored/46/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Restored/46/   I just want to add as this post script to todays blog. This is the 'spiritual' bit! Whilst we were making this decision we really felt God's hand in it. The sermon on the Sunday just after I had made my phone-calls I was feeling as if I had failed Jacob and I was giving up too easily (not exactly the first hurdle, but still...). I love collecting resources and relish planning for the forthcoming year - I was grieving the loss of that and the resources I have that will go untouched for another two years now (until Joel needs them). The sermon was about 'giving up your Isaac' - a different slant on the Abraham & Isaac story, but basically the gist was that there are times when God does call us to give BACK to him the blessings, promises, giftings, ministries, etc... that he has given to us and WE should not hold them too tightly. SOMETIMES He then chooses to return them to us again, other times he chooses not too - that's His prerogative. Schooling is definitely my Isaac!! I am... Tue, 15 Nov 2005 01:47:22 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Post-Script/45/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Post-Script/45/ Jacob has now been at school since last Wednesday and, much as I hate to say it, I think it has possibly been one of the best decisions I have ever made. The atmosphere in our home has been instantly transformed from fraught & tense with the constant worry of a potential explosion just around the corner, to one of calm & inducive to learning! I can't explain what it is about the relationship that Jake & I have that simply doesn't work when we are together 24/7 and that was one of the main reasons I decided to send him. I have always found him difficult - even as a baby he was demanding and challenging. I love him dearly, but he is incredibly like my Mum - who I also love dearly, but bicker & fight with constantly. My relationship with Jake was going down much the same road and I wanted to stop that happening. We just seem to be able to rub each other up the wrong way in less than an instant. All this coupled with Jacob's attention problems and inability/unwillingness to work or learn... Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:06:01 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Long-Awaited-Update/44/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Long-Awaited-Update/44/ After moving house and wanadoo taking almost 6 weeks to get us re-set I am eventually back on line! It's been a tough few weeks - in lots of ways, but maybe, after this weekend which is set to be hectic again, life might turn a corner. I'll post more this evening - Oh, no I'm out - maybe later today if I get a mo! Save to say the house is great though not yet 100% sorted and Jacob starts 'school' (gasp!!) tommorrow - at lovely village Cof E school, with taxi door-to-door!! Long story - I'll tell all later... Otherwise life is good Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:33:55 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/I-M-BACK/43/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/I-M-BACK/43/ ...but not really blogging! We move house in less than a week - all being well - so I've been packing boxes all day and hunting for new storage solutions @ the Ikea website this evening. The new house has NO wardrobes!! Our current landlord is being awkward again - this time refusing to give the estate agents any info' at all! So they have decided to side-step him after he was unhelpful to them on the phone. Phew - that hurdle is almost past then... just waiting for final confirmation that we can move next weekend. Everything is always last minute with us and we have SO much stuff to pack. Just as well we are only going round the corner, because it means I can just pack the loose bits. We are only getting a long, high-top transit and doing lots of trips (and it will be lots!!). I took the kids round to see the house this afternoon. The garden was unlocked, so they got to see that and peek inside from the front and back, so now they are all excited too :) So I guess this might be my... Sun, 11 Sep 2005 01:51:48 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/True-to-my-word/42/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/True-to-my-word/42/ We're back from our holidays, but I lost all my photos in one tragic moment when my smartmedia card came out of my camera and got erased by the bright sunshine (at least that's all I can work out that happened) - the pic's were there minute, gone the next - all 80 of them!! Valuable un-repeatable pictures of people, some of whom we may never see again due to their age, at my Nan's 80th surprise party and then some other lovely ones of Paul's brother and nephew, who we rarely see either, together with our own children. I am gutted to say the least! :( An update on the plants; We came home to find my neightbour, who had been asked to water the plants and feed the guinea pig in the absense of all my friends (who were also on their hols), had over watered them. Despite me saying to only water them if didn't rain for two days, she did it 3 times a day - according to the little boy upstairs! I planted them in water-retaining compost on the basis that kids forget - so they were completely water-logged... Sat, 10 Sep 2005 01:29:12 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Back-from-hols-and-packing-up/41/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Back-from-hols-and-packing-up/41/ Well despite not schooling and having a mummy-helper my summer seems to be sweeping away unblogged  ! Caleb is a reasonably good baby at night, but day-times he is quite fussy. He feeds loads and, since his jabs, what goes in seems to come straight out again - hmmm! I've actually really been enjoying watching the children doing their own 'learning' over the summer. It's hard to recall all the specific moments, but I've noted them at the time as "must blog that" moments - which of course I then haven't, but the very fact that I have thought I should has meant that I have known they were there - if you get my gist?! Some of the things I can call to mind; We have had some fun inventing a 'Hampton Family Dictionary' - made up of words only we know the meanings of! One day Ellie covered herself in orange spaghetti bolognese sauce. At the end of the meal the need to "deorangify'' her was declared (pronounced de-oringe-ify). Then there's to make something look 'freaky-cute' - freakutify -... Mon, 22 Aug 2005 00:47:28 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Not-Very-successful-Blogger/40/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Not-Very-successful-Blogger/40/ I'm not blogging much of late because I simply don't have the free time, but now it's summer hols you might hear from me more :) We've potted out the plants and all is looking good - although how much fruit they will bear remains to be seen - a little late in the planting really. Here's a sneek preview, but you can see the full 'garden' HERE . The boys just about finished up Ireland (lapbook yet to be assembled, but it's not going to be a big one) & the 'Bible' section of Egypt (pics yet to be posted). in time for the summer break and now they are enjoying the yard - bikes and skateboards rule OK!! Whiel we were 'doing' Ireland they learnt to count to 10 in Irish and that was good fun! How come they can learn & retain that kind of stuff - things they'll never really need to know, but the important stuff is all too easily forgotten?! They also both went up in their swimming lessons, so now Jake is level 9 & Joel is level 5 - starting tonight. I'm very... Mon, 01 Aug 2005 15:36:39 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Going-Potty/39/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Going-Potty/39/ All these window plants were planted about two weeks ago and my back lobby is like a glass green-house,s o they've grown really fast :). The apple tree and the advocado were planted a lot longer ago - 3 years (almost) and last summer respectively. The whole lot!    American Salad (like watercress)   Runner beans (grown in ice-cream sundae dishes - the stands are also lids, so make great incubators! Left-Right : pumpkins, sunflowers, tomato plants and peas (this is the boys tray - the girls have one too) - where am I going to plant these all out too? I can't see the pumpkins growing too big in this little tray!! Jacob's apple tree :) A random advocado stone that got planted! Wed, 13 Jul 2005 00:58:39 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Our-Window-sill-Garden/38/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Our-Window-sill-Garden/38/ The Bee that got lost! See it bigger HERE  & clickthe pic'.   Mon, 11 Jul 2005 02:07:31 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/A-gorgeous-Pic-for-bee-lovers/37/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/A-gorgeous-Pic-for-bee-lovers/37/ Well not much to blog really, suffice to say we have assembled the first 'history' section of our Egypt lapbook. I need to add on the Jacob & Moses bit this week - so check back. I'm not going to post pics here - there are simply too many, but check the link on the right or click HERE ! We had Paul's sister and her four here yesterday and today. 10 under 9 in the house and not one single squabble amongst them . It did help that we all went out to the "Nantwich Family Fun Day" (basically a carnival affair) on Saturday afternoon. Here's a couple of pic's to give you a flavour For more click HERE ); Five Little Girls in a spinning Tea-Cup! Skating on Pink Ice!   Also just thought this was cute - this is Caleb in Abbie's doll's pram! The kids love pushing him around the yard  - bless! And a nice recent one to keep you all up to speed (and because we all love baby pics!!). Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:54:14 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Egypt-Assembled/36/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Egypt-Assembled/36/ On Wednesday morning I returned from a 3 and a half day stint in hospital on IV Antibiotics. Having retained bits of membranes after Caleb's birth and had one one-week course of Oral AB's I then felt ok, but kept loosing 'bits' (sorry to be graphic) and eventually got to feeling quite rough. On Saturday evening a lost what looked like a piece of placenta - not big really, but too big too have been hanging around 3 weeks, so I went off up to the out-of-hours GP and ended up staying in. Temp of 38.3 that stayed up, despite the IV's, until late Monday night. I almost had to have a D&C, but escaped it when the consultant decided to scan me first and on scan there was nothing to see and my uterus was a normal size, so I was VERY pleased about that of course!! I hated being in hospital - can't imagine having a baby there (!) - and was bored out of my brain, as well as feeling extremely rough and having to care for Caleb almost single handedly. Being confined to a 7x7 room and not allowed to walk... Fri, 08 Jul 2005 01:17:33 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Been-out-of-action/35/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Been-out-of-action/35/ Caleb Tobias is already 12 days old and I must say he is a fantastic baby!! I had prayed that he would be easy and on the whole he really is. He has pleasant awake times when he is all eyes and observation and the rest of the day he sleeps. About tea-time he wakes up and is quite figidty then until his bedtime (lots of feeding, pucking and squealing). But come 11pm, we bath him, and then he settles down, has a big feed (I try to save him a full side) and sleeps soundly. The last two nights he has slept 11-3 & 3.30-7am! Then this morning he dozed off again until 9am and gave me a lovely lie in while Paul got the kids breakfasted, dressed, the girls delivered to playgroup and the boys started at their Bible study. School has been 'ticking along' - Paul has been holding the fort a little and I have contributed where I have been able (mostly in the afternoons), but the last couple of days have been quite disrupted with visitors arriving mid-morning and not leaving until after 2pm. Then the boys... Thu, 23 Jun 2005 20:54:12 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/It-s-been-a-while/34/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/It-s-been-a-while/34/ Well I guess thing you all want to see is this (taken at about 12 hours old); And if you want to see more then check HERE  or HERE I'll post up the full story over on my BIRTHSTORIES page - you'll need to click the 'current posts' button from there or you can just head straight to it via the links on this page. One day I will add the other four stories too - promise!, but here's the bare-bones of this one for the less interested, or those who wish to simply avoid the gory details!! Waters went at 4.48am (in bed). Baby Caleb born at home (as planned) at 8am. No problems . Weighed in at 7lb 13 oz. He's gorgeous. He feeds well (2-3 hourly).He sucks his thumb and soothes himself with it, so long as he is not too fretful. This is a skill my others had lost by this time after their birth, but that he seems to be maintaining  He is the almost sole recipient of his siblings' attentions & affections - they simply cannot get enough of... Tue, 14 Jun 2005 18:49:15 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/My-first-post-birth-update./33/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/My-first-post-birth-update./33/ we have a baby boy. His name is Caleb He is loverley He is 7 pond thirteen and a half He was born at 8am on Saturday the 11th June Caroline is well Baby is bootiful!!! Or is that the other way round!!! Sat, 11 Jun 2005 14:49:24 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/it-s-a-boy/32/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/it-s-a-boy/32/ Had a good 'show' today and my midwife nipped in to give me a sweep. Contractions - few and far between, but at least I'm having some and they seem more meaningful too - which is good. I can't see me lasting another 14 days, so that's one good thing Watch this space... After having had a few fantastic days with Jacob being good as gold, we've had another couple of really not-so-good ones (going to bed in tears - which I hate him to do - too memories of doing the same myself as a child! ). We had 'family church' tonight and normally the kids love it, but tonight because the boys had been SO silly all evening and Jake was flailing his arms and legs eveywhere - meaning a small was bound to get hurt should he be allowed to continue - we told the boys they had to sit and not dance tonight  & just enjoy watching the girls dancing. A hard request, but sadly a necessary one we felt. Unfortunatly, although Joel was willing to conform, this led to Jacob sulking in the hallway and... Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:16:02 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Making-Progress/31/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Making-Progress/31/ As you can probably imagine I really am not feeling up to doing much school, especially not with five children around all day! We did start our 'Plants' project on Monday with some success (I was having a good day). We went into the garden to collect whatever plants took the children's fancy (within reason) and then spread them all over the living room floor - on newspaper - to be studied thoroughly. We even managed to pull up a baby Oak tree with the shoot still coming out of the acorn! Then back to the table to 'write up' what we learned - so far, so good! But I couldn't face it today, despite the children practically begging me to do some more! It didn't help that the little work I did set the boys to do this morning they dallied over - althought they did eventually finish it. Joel is doing some lovely drawing and writting at the moment. He has these 'Draw then Write' books which are a bit like the 'Draw Write Now' books I think, only less detailed drawings and not so... Thu, 09 Jun 2005 00:38:54 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Really-not-feeling-like-it/30/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/wellyboots/Really-not-feeling-like-it/30/