From Quills to Blogs

I journeyed through the history of writing today.

Our home education support group had our volunteer historian with us today. Continuing his Tudor theme, he’d brought swan feathers for each child and showed them how quill pens were made. They then practised writing with their new quills.

Later in the day, ds1 asked me about blogs and, to my delight, decided to set one up of his own. He was even keener when I said that I would allow the time spent writing his blog to count towards his learning target! I’m very proud of him.

Ds2 and I are currently planning some train projects – so many people came back to me with train-related learning ideas that I have plenty now to keep us quiet! I will try and put up the list of ideas on our homeschool support site – I’ll let you know when it is available.

Overall though, today has been tough. All three boys have been quite badly behaved. We are assuming that the stage ds1 is going through (which has brought an increase in his emotional outburst/meltdowns) has had a knock on effect throughout the boys. Ds2 has returned to seeming very insecure, and throwing himself dramatically on the floor whenever he gets something “wrong” or is told off. Ds3 has increased on the shouting/whinging front, and has spent all day telling his brothers “I’m very angry with you”, “you’re making me upset”, or just resorting to hitting everyone.

At the moment, it sounds like a major battle is warring upstairs as I write this – poor dh, not long home from work, is trying to retain his calm amidst the storm. I think his boat is sinking – so I’m off to offer a lifejacket. I just needed these few moments contemplation before heading off!