And so on to December

Jonathan went to his dietician appointment last week. She was very impressed with his overall diet but concerned at the sudden constipation that he started with a few months ago so she recommended that I made an appointment with my GP.

Typically, since booking that appointment it appears to have cleared up, more or less overnight, on its own, no change of diet or anything, stopping as suddenly as it started!

On Thursday Roarke took the three older boys to a home education trip to... a chocolate factory! As you can imagine, a great time was had by all:and they enjoyed eating their produce :-)

Friday was a busy day. Samuel was collected in the morning by friends and went to the home ed skating at Gillingham. Roarke drove Josh over to Sutton to meet up with Theo for his birthday trip to the cinema. William and Jonathan went over to their Nan's whilst Roarke and I went for a business meeting. Then we collected everyone together again, had a very quick dinner, then Josh and Samuel went to Baseline with their friend Aron.

Saturday morning I had the chance to go out and share a breakfast with some of the women from church, at someone's flat, which made a really nice change. I'm really bad at making friends, especially with women, so it was A Good Thing for me to make myself do.

In the afternoon Roarke took Josh over to Carshalton to the theatre ready for his show. Roarke, myself and Samuel went to see it in the evening. The whole show was excellent. Once again the Young SAVVY Company produced some amazing performances under the direction of Sheree Vickers and the play DAGS (by Debra Oswald) was really enjoyable. As Roarke said, it wasn't some end of term young people's play - it was a real performance that was enjoyable and would have been impressive from a bunch of adults let alone 13-19 year olds! Josh was A STAR of course and we were excited to see how he has grown in his acting. He had one line that relied 100% on comic timing - something not all grown actors can do - and he delivered it absolutely perfectly and it was really funny.

DAGS is about the culture of school/youth, bullies, fitting in, being fat, teen relationships... it was quite unsettling to see Josh in a school uniform to play his part - shocking actually - and hugely ironic that he would be in such a show. I actually found the play upsetting in so far as it could have been written about me in my secondary schools years...

Defiinately made me come out thanking God for home education!

Sunday was community day at church, with an italian themed meal after the second service.

Over the course of the weekend we started putting up our Christmas decorations. Regular readers will know that we make the whole of December a special month, rather than focusing on just the two days of Christmas, because otherwise our aspie and asd lads just can't handle it. Yesterday (Monday) we finished putting up the outside lights on the house and had a grand switch on in the evening much to the amusement of the rush hour queued traffic outside our house!

Arts, Rocks, Reading and Chaos

Josh is now back at SAVVY. His arts award stuff is coming along, but very slowly. He's running out of time to get it completed before the end of the period (November). Its very hard trying to get the balance between autonomous learning - not interfering or taking over - and encouraging him and keeping him on target.

William has made some amazing progress this week with his reading. In true autonomous style, he's done it via Club Penguin! It seems that on Club Penguin, if you go to the Town, and into the Cafe, upstairs there is a Library where you can "take a book out" and read it. The idea is that you type the words to turn them from grey to black, and every now and again you can select one of two words to go into the story. Despite not being able to read, he has been trying to do this. He sits and tries every key on the keyboard until he finds the right one.

Now, his keyboard on the laptop of course is in capitals, so hardly any of them look like the letters on the screen. This means he's having to learn his capitals at the same time.

We decided a few weeks ago that we would stop focusing on the alphabet; why does he need to know the alphabet? I don't mean why does he need to know the letters, but why does he need to know the order?

Think about it.

Other than being able to recite it, or use it for codes, why do you need to know it?

Surely today it is more relevant to know the order of the keys on a keyboard!

Anyway, this means that we are more than happy for him to have found this way, that is relevant to him, of learning his letters. It has really worked! He watched an episode of SuperWhy with Jonathan in the evening and successfully called out every one of the "super letters" on the screen - which are all in capitals. That's the first time we've ever heard him get them right.

There's that autonomous learning again :-)

Today we had a nice morning out in Tunbridge Wells. We went to Wellington Rocks. Jonathan proved once again that he has no fear, and every confidence in himself, by charging off to climb straight up the rocks after his brothers. Poor old Roarke was kept on his toes trying to keep up with him, let alone one step in front!









We then got a portion of chips for everyone and drove home, because Roarke was expecting to have to go into London for a costume fitting for an advert that he is short listed for. The call never came, but we spent the rest of the afternoon not sure what was happening from one minute to the next!

I've almost finished our new family website. It is mainly so that I have someone to tell our home ed story, and also somewhere to put our gluten free recipes that people ask me about. Let me know what you think :-)

Tomorrow we are, to say the least, over booked. I am meant to be doing the shopping then going to the home ed meeting. Roarke is meant to be working in Orpington. However if he gets his call, he'll have to go to London. We are also meant to be meeting our MP in the evening (he kindly gave us 24 hours notice).

The weekend is equally as busy. Again, Roarke is either working in Orpington or, if he gets this part, filming somewhere on Saturday. Sunday is our church Community Day with a hog roast for the adults and a barbeque for the kids, then straight across to my brother's for his birthday party!

Oh and we had a house guest overnight Saturday!

Picnics and Hairy Bikers

Sunday saw our church moving to two morning services in order to make room for growth. I got to go to both services, one after the other which was just amazing.

I'd been highly organised in the morning and had put a curry into the slow cooker at 7.30am so we got a hot midday dinner before Roarke and Josh went off to the O2 in order to take part in Hillsong's 10th Anniversary celebrations up there. By all accounts that was pretty awesome too!

Monday was a busy day with Roarke in and out, and us trying to catch up on various things.

Tuesday evening was a logistical nightmare! We took Josh and Samuel to their life group for 6am, collected Mum to babysit William and Jonathan here, then left to get to church for 7.30pm for a meal and then the start of the DNA2 course that we are doing. Josh and Samuel therefore had to get a bus back to our house. It was the first time they'd got the bus together, only the second time Josh had got a bus without us, and the first time either of them had done it in the dark. They missed the first bus and had to wait quite a while.

I am SO proud of Samuel yet again. Even a few months back that would have destroyed him, as he would have been so anxious about being in the dark, being out "on the streets", feeling vulnerable. I really do have God (via Rock Camp and BCC!) to thank for that, as well as the time and space that home ed has allowed him. He is maturing so quickly!

Anyway, they texted us to let us know they were home, and we could relax for the rest of the evening!

Today was Not Back to School Picnic Day! We went to Gravesend and handed out leaflets and balloons in the high street, then on to the park for a picnic. About 43 children and adults attended and all had a great time. The highlight was that someone we'd given a leaflet to came along with his two young daughters to share the picnic and find out more about home education!

It definately made it all worth while.

Jonathan had a fabulous time. The longest time he'd spent outside at a park, safe and secure and able to play away to his heart's content on all the equipment.

He feel asleep in the car, and stayed asleep when we carried him in, and then slept like this for another hour and a half:
Very cute!

I've been watching the Hairy Biker's Food Tour of Britain and loving it! Mixing two of my favourite things - cooking and motorbikes - is a definate winner for me. It has really inspired me to get cooking properly and the family have definately benefited ;0)

We've had daube of beef and herb crusted pork tenderloin so far this week! Roarke says I'm not helping his diet...

Outings, Journeys, and More TV

Just as I think it can't get any busier...

Monday we enjoyed a lovely home ed trip to the Natural History Museum, organised by Veronique. Roarke went off with Samuel and William to do the Dino Scientists self guided session. Meanwhile Jonathan had very fortunately gone to sleep in the pushchair and proceded to sleep for an hour which meant Joshua and I got to potter around the downstairs exhibits on our own in relative peace.

The boys all did marvellously. Instead of being the chore that it often is, with Samuel and William having meltdowns and getting bored, they got thoroughly engrossed in what they were doing and learning which was brilliant. Samuel also coped really well on the underground which he hates.

All in all it was a lovely trip out.

On Tuesday Roarke was off early, for a six oclock start filming. In the morning I popped over with Jonathan to meet with another Mum from church. Back for a frantic lunch, then I took Samuel and William to Monkey Bizz in Chatham. It was really busy with lots of new faces which was really good. I had a chat with a few people who had turned up with questions for me, then we left early to get back here. I dropped those two off, collected Joshua (Mum had Jonathan) and drove him to Sutton in time (just) for his rehearsal.

I had to stay there for two hours, before bringing him back home. Fortunately Roarke had got in about 45 minutes previously.

Today I had Sheila and Callum up for a visit, which is always a highlight for me. A lady from Channel 5 turned up then at 11 to film for this short piece. Blimey, her camera was NOT kind to me! I know its meant to add "pounds" but this looks more like millions... time for the diet books to be dusted off...

In the afternoon a lovely lady came over with her 7 month old to discuss home education. Sheila and I both enjoyed chatting with her, and my boys were interested in her baby - a girl, which is a novelty to them!

Tomorrow I've got to take Josh to his rehearsals again. This is the three hour session so I will drive there, drop him, drive home, be home for 1 hour, then leave and drive back to get him and bring him home - about 3 1/2 hours in the car :0(

Roarke is NOT enjoying being an extra! All his other things have been supporting roles, minor roles etc. This is the first actual extras part and involves sitting around all day doing nothing, other than a few bits of filming now and again, and being treated like the furniture. Still, at least its the BBC...

Improving

Feeling a bit calmer now, thanks to some wonderful friends on and off line.

Highlights from the past few days?

William asking about the meaning of a whole bunch of words: physics, conscience, and dishonour being just three of them! When I asked about this eclectic bunch of words, he said that anytime he hears a word on TV he doesn't know, he remembers it so he can ask what it means.

Cool!

Also a highlight was the phone call for William from his new friend, the 88 year old lady, inviting him over for a drink this morning.

He's into fixing things at the moment, carrying around a shoe box with "William's Tool Box" written on it, filed with odds and ends. This started after findng a lot of nuts and bolts buried at the edges of Cobtree Manor Park, which we went to on Monday with our HE group.

It was a lovely afternoon. Seven families and sixteen children, between the ages of 14 months and 14! Really, really nice time.

Samuel went shopping with my Mum and my Brother today to a big Sainsburys, and he looked after his cousin (2) whilst he went round with him. Joshua meantime went with Roarke to get his hair cut, prior to his test photo shoot next week with the agency.

Roarke has an audition tomorrow (didn't get the part for the tv series one off), and this one is actually for a small part in a real film. With real sponsors and a real "name" in it. Hope the audition goes well for him. This is his first big audition.

Has it been a full moon recently? Samuel and William's behaviour has been awful, really manic, full of meltdowns, very emotional.

Mind you, I've not been much better ;0)

A Social Whirl...

Roarke enjoyed the filming - though playing a Russian mob bodyguard in a leather jacket, in last week's excessive heat, apparently wasn't as much fun as it could have been ;0)

He's been forced to have a Facebook account - I think all the "luvvies" have one - so we've been spending some more time than usual on that. If you are on Facebook, look me up! I need more friends!

On Wednesday I had the health visitor over. Poor woman has been trying to get hold of me for ages to do Jonathan's one year check, but I'm always out when she rings. In the afternoon the boys and I went to meet Henrietta and some of the kids, so that the boys could play football. William played beautifully with one of her lads, digging up "ancient" treasure - pottery and "puzzles" from under one of the trees.

Thursday on we had Mhairi and the girls over which was lovely, and Liz (a friend from church) and her daughter Grace. All those girls! I didn't know what to do! William was in his element with so many friends of HIS to play with for once, bless him.

In the afternoon, I had twenty minutes between them leaving and another family visiting to get Jonathan up for an afternoon nap. All in all a busy day! No danger of my lads having "socialisation" issues...

Samuel and William have a new bed, to replace the bunk beds we got recently from Freecycle that creak constantly and keep everyone awake. The bottom bunk is a double, and turns to a futon during the day, so they are very pleased with that.

Yesterday Samuel had a friend over from church, and the four boys together turned the bunks into a galleon, using the bits from their Superfort set. I have to say it looked amazing!

Joshua has signed up for more acting agencies - basically any that Roarke is on that take kids too. I think the two of them are getting just a teeny weeny bit competetive (can't think where Josh gets that from...)

Its all good though, as they are working together on stuff like audition parts, with Roarke helping Joshua learn all about voice projection, confident speaking, and the basics of how to act. Good to see them with something they can share, at this important life stage for Joshua.

Over the weekend we had a visit from Lynda H, who I had to do some work with, and it was just so nice to be face to face with someone I email so often. We were very profesisonal, and managed to get lots done, and Lynda took the chaos of the family in her stride for which I was grateful!

Poor Roarke has a massive gout flare up, and is in agony. So I'm trying to play nurse too at the moment. If I can get him in and out of the doctors quick enough today, we are then due at a park this afternoon with others from the group.

Sunny Days

Well, the pavlovas turned out alright, thankfully, and were all eaten up at the wedding by all accounts (Roarke was a wine waiter that evening).

Phew, its been a hot week, hasn't it?

Tuesday saw the Third Annual South East Beach Day for Home Educators, organised by yours truly. I think I may have missed some, but I counted 27 families in the end, with over 70 individuals between those families. Not bad! We had 14 last year, and 12 the first year so I was very pleased to see so many there.

We had a sign, kindly painted by Sheila, that said UK Home Educators, and it seemed to help everyone find us:

We spent 6 hours there ourselves, first there, but not the last to leave. All the feedback we've had has been positive, which is great. Same time, same place next year then!

Not much has been going on otherwise with the heat. Yesterday and today of course Roarke was away filming in Botany Bay. Filming "Washed Up" for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008, commissioned by the European Commission. Its scheduled to be shown at Prix Europe, which is cool.

He's the one with the braces in the middle of the photo here, of the cast. Sounds like he had fun (he's not home yet, still on the road on his way) but I've definately missed him.

Yesterday we were invited round to a barbeque with a family from church (not home ed - both parents are teachers!) which was very low key, relaxing. Samuel and William enjoyed the mum turning the house on them to cool down at one point, and Jonathan spent his time climbing UP the baby slide!

He's into boxes at the moment. His favourite is a large ice cream tub that he can just fit two feet into, or he puts it on his head, or sits on it. But he also likes cardboard boxes

Strange child!

Well, Masterchef is on, so I'm logging off now!

The End of the Holiday!

Sunday continued to be pleasant. After we'd made an admirable effort with our EO work that we'd set ourselves to do, we rewarded ourselves with a walk.

This meant going through a field of some kind of crop - wish I knew enough to know what it was! - and me being grateful for the three wheeler pram!

We set off amidst showers and walked back taking off coats and cardies as the sun came out again in force.

Our evening meal didn't turn out quite so good. We went back to somewhere we enjoyed last year and, I don't know if there were new kitchen staff, but the food was not very well cooked or presented, and was hugely over priced :0(

The effects of Samuel having had gluten all holiday were showing hugely. We had been weak and had allowed him to have what he wanted, feeling to restrict him wasn't in the holiday spirit. However, as the days went on it became obvious that this was a bad, short sighted decision. He got his facial tics back, repetetive movements, repetetive speach, not to mention the outburst and meltdowns. Poor thing.

Monday we set off for Tittesworth Reservoir. The boys enjoyed playing in the park (not in the rain like last year when we were there), then we had lunch in the cafe.

I felt like a grumpy old woman, moaning at the menu - which had taken the trouble (impressive on the surface) to show which foods were gluten free, and which were dairy free. However, when they showed jacket potato with cheese and beans as "dairy free" and the chicken salad "served with bloomer" as gluten free.... I lost interest!

Next stop was some rocks up by The Roaches. Jonathan obliged by falling asleep on the way there, so I sat in the silence in the car, windows wound down, listening to the birds (er, I know I said silence, but you KNOW what I meant!) and admiring the view over the valley (between dozing off) whilst Roarke climbed the hill with the boys.

In the afternoon we stopped by another HE family who live up that way. It was good to chat, but in the hour or so we were there William managed to fall against a radiator and get a scalp wound - and BOY do those bleed! There was some serious panicking until we managed to wash the blood out of his hair and actually see the size of the wound! He recovered - only to go into the (stone floored...) kitchen and drop his glass of coke! Don't know that they'll invite us again!

In the evening we tried a different pub, one that we'd found on an internet search. The food was better - London style portions, London style menu and sadly London style prices! It cost more than the previous night!

Tuesday we decided to go somewhere new (as the holiday so far had been a rerun of last years - without the floods). We set off for Jodrell Bank and had a fascinating time. Josh and I did one of the 3D movies too. (I was glad to hear today that it has been saved)

In the evening we decided to go back to the place we went on Friday for our first meal, and had a fabulous, well cooked, nicely served, well priced meal - we all decided to eat there every day NEXT year!

The journey home on Wednesday went ok, with us missing the rain that had been threatened. 5 hours again, door to door, with only one stop this time.

Start of the Holiday

Friday morning Joshua had the last of his Level 2 Kayaking course, and the kids all got presented with their certificates, and had their log books updated to show they'd passed their level 2 sailing as well.

I'm really proud of him.

Over the summer the kids who were doing level 1 kayaking are doing their level 2 on an intensive course, plus taking their 1 and 2 sailing. This means comes September we'll have two groups all ready to take their level 3s together. This is proving a great opportunity for lots of the kids and I personally think its really cool!

By the time Roarke got back with Josh I had almost finishing flapping, I mean packing, and we loaded up and set off.

As I "twittered", it took us 2 hours to get 67 miles - not good at any time with kids in the car, but especially not when 2 of them are Aspies! (not to mention the stressed Mum...)

Still, after that, it got better and we actually made good time getting here.

We stopped in Congleton to have a meal - and were served by a young lady who had moved to live there from just around the corner to us back in Orpington!

"Small world"...

(feel free to hum "its a small world after all" at this point)

Yesterday we got up fairly leisurely, and went off to Rudyard Lake.

We took the little steam train from the car park up to the end of the line/lake, then back to get off to go to the Cafe.

After a light lunch we took the train back to the car park. A magical mystery tour ensued, with us ending up finally in Leek to top up on some shopping.

We then headed out to find the canal. We got to the Bosley Locks where we sat and waited for a boat to go through. After about 10 minutes one obliged.

The owners were glad of the boys' help to open all the gates - so much so that they invited them on board to go through the rest of the locks!

A really good opportunity, that has set everyone off thinking about canal holidays...

Instead of eating out, as the boys (and me!) were worried about missing Dr Who (yes I know, sad), we got a take away and sat down to watch the penultimate episode of the series.

This morning Roarke has gone off to collect our friend, and his fellow Trustee, Fiona, from the station so that we can spend a few hours with her - a mixture of EO business and pleasure.

Joshua is doing his very own Springwatch, as he's found a housemartin nest under the eaves, with babies, and is currently timing the feeds. Samuel and William are, I think, exploring the undergrowth, and Jonathan has (finally) dozed off so I put him in the pram so that I can write this.

Catching Up

I see I haven't posted anything personal since Jonathan's first birthday weekend! Ooops!

We continued to have a good few days "holiday" at home. We went intro Bromley on the Monday (9th) and bought each of the boys something new to wear, then had lunch sitting outside Pret a Mange - introducing Samuel to brie and tomato sandwiches (which is now a new favourite of his!).

The we took the boys swimming ; Jonathan is somewhat aquaphobic so we hoped that it would help him. Well, he DID stop screaming after a while, but he spent the whole time clinging to my neck and refusing to let go!

We then went off to the St Pauls Cray Meadows, to meet up with Grace and the boys, and to let them play in the stream building dams.

As part of our holiday treat to ourselves, we also went and bought some paint and laminate flooring so that we could decorate the front room. Sharing with mum means we have one reception room and so far, in the two years we've been here, we hadn't got around to changing anything - the decoration was from my 81 year old grandfather (who has been dead 20 years) and my brother (who used to have the room as his living room when he lived at home).

Now we have one dark red wall, three pale almost pink walls, and a wooden floor! That kept us busy - we had to paint of an evening once Jonathan had gone to sleep and on Friday Roarke spent a marathon day laying the floor in one day.

We've also enjoyed a few meals out, had some take aways shared with Mum, and generally it was a nice week.

On Thursday Josh had the teen group, and Friday of course was my usual busy day - doing the shopping first thing, Josh going kayaking, and me and the other three boys going to the Bromley hall. There was a marquee being erected at the rugby club and a clean up going on inside the hall so we spent the three hours outside on the pitch!

Saturday was another busy day rushing around, but Sunday was nice as we went to Callum's birthday barbeque.

On Monday we went to Legoland, part of a group of home educators who booked together to get a group discount. We all had a great time, the weather stayed dry despite the warnings of sharp showers! Roarke was manoeuvred into going onto all the "wet" rides with Joshua, but I did go on the Dragon ride with him!

Jonathan has cut his eight tooth this week, but whether its that or his jabs this week, he has gone off his food (what little he has!) and only wants milk :0( Its a shame as we were starting to make progress with him. He also went 5 hours for the first time one night this week! Just the one!

Tuesday I went to the church Babyboomers meet for an hour, then back here to get ready to take the boys to Monkey Bizz. Two other families there, but I now have to pay for Jonathan who was determined to get his money's worth by wanting to be in the baby section all the time! Made conversations difficult :0(

In the evening Roarke drove myself and Mum (and baby of course) over to the British Legion Branch meeting at Thamesmead & Abbeywood. The Branch have remained disgusted that neither Dad's own branch (Petts Wood) nor Legion County or National did anything to commemorate Dad: he had held almost every position at Branch and County level, had worked selflessly for the Legion for many many years, and had served at Area level as a Standard Bearer.

So, Tuesday night, they invited us to attend and for Mum to unveil a plaque put up in the bar (Dad would be proud!) to commemorate him and all the work that he did. It was a lovely, lovely gesture from a great bunch of people. They bought us drinks, and gave Mum a huge flower arrangement too. It was nice to see some of the old faces I used to know when I was a Standard Bearer too for the Legion.

Painful, moving, but rewarding evening.

Today Roarke has taken Joshua to Blacklands Farm where two teams of HE kids are taking part in the activities there - bungee trampolining, crate challenge and archery!

We've also started signing Josh up for a number of acting agencies - must be all this TV/newspaper work having an affect on him ;0)

Quiet Half Term

Nothing startling to report really. Same old, same old.

Hasn't the weather been AWFUL? (unless you are in Scotland where I understand the bank holiday was sunny!)

Roarke had to work, and by the end of the weekend his foot was hurting badly from standing/long drive to Leatherhead and back every day. It recovered though after a further day of rest.

Bad news - the torrential rain led to leaks developing in his office and the walls are ruined. It will take hundreds of pounds now to fix it all up - NOT what we needed.

On a more positive note, Roarke and I were asked to review a restaurant for Where 2 Eat in Kent, and so enjoyed a lovely meal at the Plough in Eynesford. Grace had the older three boys, and Jonathan was an absolute star, behaving beautifully at the table in the restaurant.

Today we met up with three other HE families at Danson Park, having arranged to go there this morning whilst it was still dry and make the most of the sunshine. An enquiring parent, looking to take her two kids out of school, came along and it was a great chance for her to ask all her questions, reassure herself that there are others out there, as well as for her children to meet other HE kids. Her son and Josh clicked seriously, which was great.

We packed up just before 2, which proved prophetic as it started to rain just as we left the car park and was throwing it down by the time we got home!

Jonathan is asleep on the sofa behind me so I'm off to catch up with a few things....

Friends and Al Fresco

This morning we all went to church, then came back and the boys had some gf pizza for lunch.

My brother popped over, and his wife had kindly found 400+ balls (at a boot fair) to put in the bouncy castle.

Continuing the theme of recycling/second hand toys, we then went off to collect (thanks to Freecycle) a Little Tykes coupe car, and a toddler see saw. Its brilliant to have all this stuff for Jonathan especially as we gave all our stuff on after William so its nice to feel that what goes around comes around.

Whilst we were out, Roarke and I popped into Lidl (an old favourite shopping haunt before we were gluten free) and stocked up on some tasty treats. Back home via Tescos for a few more, then we came home and packed up a picnic dinner.

As a surprise we then whisked the boys off to High Elms for a early evening, continental style dinner al fresco. What made it extra nice was that there were two HE families there, with their friends and families, celebrating one of the daughter's 10th birthday. That meant the boys were able to hook up a little with some of their friends whilst we were there.

Feeling mellow (if worn out!) we then all came back home for much needed baths!

Basking in the Sun

Well, the sun just somehow lifts one's spirits, doesn't it?

Sunday and Monday were quiet days, enjoying the sun, though Roarke had to work :0(

On Tuesday Samuel had his first lesson for his Sailing Level 1. This really is such a huge deal. This is the child that, just under three years ago, came out of school traumatised, depressed, scared of being around other children, with no confidence and low self esteem.

On top of that, he has his Aspergers with all that means in terms of socialising, and visualising something that he has never done before.

So I am immensely proud of him that he undertook to take - and finish - this course. Roarke went with him, and Samuel enjoyed it, despite being in the only boat that capsized! Again, what a tribute to him (and Roarke's "reframing" of the situation with him on the way home) that he handled that happening without a meltdown, and just about keeping a grip on his confidence.

Go Samuel! Home ed wins again!

Today I was due to attend some Government showcase event, connected to the Children's Plan (ha ha) but decided that actually, listening to a load of PR from them, didn't come as high up on my list of priorities as being with the family, having fun, and earning some money!

So this morning Roarke and I both worked on our various income streams. We then packed up a picnic and went to High Elms, where we met up with our friend Grace and her three boys.

Roarke cycled there (about 3 miles or so) as part of his training regime for the triathlon.

We had our food, the boys climbed trees, some football was played. Then we went for a short walk around the walled garden, learning about bees, watching pond skaters, guessing which animal had nibbled the nuts from the tell tale signs left on the shells, talking about apple trees, discussing copicing, and trying to find the illusive zebra spiders (I offered a pound to the child that could find one, but fortunately my money was safe!)

All lovely, lovely afternoon.

Back home, Samuel did a level on his Maths Upgrade, and they are now all back out in the garden.

Jonathan improves on his walking day by day, and continues to eat almost anything except food!

Dockyard

Yesterday we enjoyed a great trip to Chatham Historic Dockyard.

We visited the Gannet, HMS Cavalier, we didn't do the Ocelot (though many of the kids did, just not my lot), the Wooden Halls and the Police Museum.

And that is where we found the Tardis! Being bigger on the inside that the outside, we managed to fit a lot of the kids inside!

Activities, Broadsheets, and Diagnosis

On Friday we had the first meeting in the hall that two of our group had organised, in the Bromley area. It was perfect: space to play indoors and out, places to sit and do crafts, a place to sit and chill - suitable for a wide age range and interest.

I took along the soft play, indoor sports equipment we've gathered from Sainsburys and Tescos vouchers in the past year or two, and that was ideal.

Someone set up some craft/painting, which many of the younger kids got involved in.

The big thing, for me anyway, was the attendance of a journalist from one of the broadsheets - yes, finally, home ed has made it to the "serious" papers! They are going to do an indepth feature and the guy is shadowing our group for a while.

He spoke with lots of families, and began to see for himself just how diverse HE is. Amongst the families there were people who have home educated from the start, to those quite new to it. Kids who have never been to school, and kids who did school. Kids with SEN. Kids who were bullied. Families with religious convictions. Families who don't believe the state *should* be involved in the education of our children. Families with one, two, or many children.

The usual bag of home educating flavours in other words!

As he is doing this properly, and offering complete anonymity, even the kids were happy to talk with him - and I think he was bowled over by some of them! It was so cool to listen in to them chatting away to him.

On Monday some of us went again to Godstone Farm Park - and again, the journalist came. By now he was commenting on how mature, how friendly, how self assured our children all were. He noted also how friendly the parents were, how welcoming. He was surprised that, considering some of us as individual adults hold *almost* opposing views on some subjects (religion and politics being just 2!), we get on really well, and so do our kids!

It sounds daft, I know, but I felt so darn proud of home educators! We really are quite an amazing bunch - all the more amazing because we are ordinary (if you see what I mean).

Tuesday was our indoor play area day. We had two new families come along, plus a two families who hadn't been along in ages - including the youngest addition to the group, now 3 months old! It was, therefore, a really good time, with lots of chat - both trivial and serious - and lots of kids running around making friends.

Our family have all been struggling big time with this nasty head cold. Mum's ended up with bronchitus, and Josh is especially having problems because of his asthma. Poor old Jonathan is waking every morning with eyes glued shut, and nose crusted over :0(

He is 9 months old today, can you believe it?! And to celebrate, he has cut his FIFTH tooth, and number six is probably only a day or so away!

His eating has obviously gone down whilst he's been ill, but tonight he ate half a beef burger, 2 chips (home made, I hasten to add!), then a bit later ate a slice of pear, and a bit later still 1 tablespoon of humous from the end of his maize sticks. An ecclectic eater like his mum then!

During the afternoon we went down to meet with some other teens in the group, who have taken to hanging out together on a regular basis. We didn't stay for long, as we were late due to taking Josh to the doctors first, just to check that his chest wasn't infected (it isn't).

The other big thing was that yesterday we had the "result" of Samuel's diagnosis process.

18 months after we started, yes he is confirmed as being on the spectrum, with Aspergers.

He is presenting subtly in the areas of social communication, and imaginative play.

Home ed rocks! I said to the two doctors, that is what two and a half years of "just playing" and learning life skills has done.

I am so, so proud of him, and so extremely glad we took him out when we did. What with the work we've done with him on language, and with his Dad teaching him all the top tips for how to talk to people, engage them, etc, as a "saleman", and with the playing he does every day with his two brothers, my son is able to take part in the world to a degree that, had he stayed in school, he could not have done. In fact, he would have continued to "fall behind".

I got stroppy at the end of the meeting because one of the doctors said "now, of course you know that for people with Aspergers, it is ESSENTIAL for them to achieve academically". Basically, she said that they needed to know what they were good at (agreed) and she said that should mean academic work (disagree!). She said that whilst she "heard" what I meant about my priority having not been about "school" work, that obviously wasn't going to be the best for him.

Huh!

It totally contradicated everything they had just noted about his progress. Again and again I could show how home ed had provided him with all these skills he needed... at his first assessment he'd been distressed, unable to answer, unable to maintain eye contact. Yet a few weeks ago, he took part in another one, relaxed, eye contact much of the time, and "such a confident, kind young person"

That was another thing - him being "kind" and caring for others was non-typical of being an Aspie... yeah I know why they say that but I don't exactly agree!

Anyway, I put her straight and said that whilst we were continuing to work on his maths, and were going to relearn how to read (as I now understanding why he has huge gaps in his reading ability, as I realise how he WOULD have learned, had we known about the aspergers before, and why the way the school taught him didn't work), I wasn't going to make him learn irrelevant subjects he wasn't interested in, just for the sake of it.

I left shortly after that!

Tutankhamun

Well I'm a happier bunny now, with Roarke back home! By all accounts his time away was a success, and he has a new contract to train salespeople for a major UK company. It might not led to many days work, but it is certainly something good to have on the CV!

I'm currently going round and round in circles trying to find things to eat. Although I didn't want to "do" the salicylate diet before talking to the dietician, having read up on it I've found it hard to go against my gut instinct and eat things that I know are high in them. So, breakfast is now organic porridge and rice milk, lunch is leek or onion or cabbage, mixed with cooked potato, garlic, and lightly fried in palm oil. Dinner is generally turning out to be plain meat and two veg - veg that are low or negligable in salicylates.

On Sunday we bundled in the car and went to see some old friends. When I was pregnant with William I joined the BabyCentre and met up online with other mums all due in the June of 2002. I really clicked with one lady and we soon became friends - especially when we both had our third son and both named them William!

Sadly, what with one thing and another, we haven't seen them for nearly 3 years so it was great to have finally got our diaries to coincide and get together. They live in North London, but the traffic up and back wasn't too bad and Jonathan slept for most of it.

Samuel, then Joshua, and now Roarke and Jonathan have had this bug going around; a slightly raised temperature, a headache that lasts days, and either tummy ache and/or loose bowels. Roarke also has I suspect a chest infection as his chest is very painful.

Its a shame because I found that after two days of changing my diet, I had a good night out of Jonathan but last night, going down with this bug, he was crying all night - not with wind but just the sort of grumbling we all feel when we aren't well.

Yesterday was a highlight, as we went to see the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2. Although it was very busy, it was a good thing to have done and even Samuel and William got into it (Joshua really enjoyed it). Jonathan did NOT enjoy the crowds, noises, and semi dark and I ended up at one point breastfeeding him whilst walking! Novel experience, and one where I was GLAD of the semi dark!

The boys looked up some stuff on the 'net before they went, and Joshua amazed us all with the knowledge that he already had about it. Grace kindly got one of the audio headsets for him, which meant that he was able to find out even more when he was there.

The boys also enjoyed the actual O2 dome, especially the interactive dance video "studio"!

Its Samuel's birthday on Friday and he has presented me with a hand drawn "plan" as to how he wants his cake to look... a tardis... so I need to get creative!

Lapland

Our trip to Lapland UK has definately gone down in the family annals!

It was a good time - though VERY cold! Four and a bit hours in freezing and below... I also can now claim to have breastfed in Lapland in public, complete with "snow" landing on my exposed bits... and I also got to feed in a traditional tent, covered in reindeer hide (me, not the tent!).

We were very nervous as to how Samuel would cope, particularly with seeing if the reality matched his "picture".

We went into the inflatable dome and watched the Snowman flight scene on the ceiling, whilst being "transported" to "Lapland" (and whilst I breastfed....)

Then we came out of the tunnel into the clearing in the forest. They had covered the surrounding trees in sprayed on snow, which actually managed (even to my adult, jaded, bah humbug eyes) to look rather magical instead of tacky.

They also had "snow" blowing intermittently out of some big blowers onto the scene, which the kids really loved.

I sat in the middle of the clearing feeding Jonathan, and trying to keep us both warm, whilst Roarke took the three boys into the Toy makers hut to make some toys.

Certificates in hand, they came out then went off to make some gingerbread.

Then the only disappointment of the whole day - paying £10 for 2 coffees and three hot chocolates that were served in small expresso sized cups (and of course William managed to pour his down himself)

We got a complementary mulled wine (the adults) which didn't exactly make up for that.

The food looked good but, as we had been warned by other family that went, it was very expensive. Using the "gluten free" card, we'd been able to take in our own food though.

After that, we had to kill about 45 minutes of time before our scheduled slot for Santa. We wandered around the clearing, went into the story telling tents, met some huskies, and saw some real reindeer. By now it was dark. We'd picked our times carefully, so that we arrived and did most of it in daylight (to help Samuel cope) but then finish it in the dark, so we got the magical feel of the fairy lights and the "snowy" trees.

We then went off to wait with our group in a tent, being called in one at a time to Santa. There were two elves amusing everyone, joined by an incredibly naughty Rudloph, who obviously rather fancied one of the elves, judging by the way he kept pinching her bottom....

Then we went in to see Santa.

He was really good, and we all ended up having quite a laugh (the boys especially thought it funny that he told them he remembered me from when I was a little girl, and that I had always been VERY naughty!).

We don't usually buy official photos, but of course we weren't allowed to take our own pictures of Santa so, as a rememberance of the day, we did purchase a group photo.

All in all, the boys enjoyed it - even Josh who is really a bit old for that sort of thing - and the boys all agreed that we will be hard pushed to top it for a Christmas surprise next year!

Harry Potter, and the Beach Day

Last week I encouraged Joshua to go and queue up at midnight for his reserved copy of the new Harry Potter. He was amazed to be allowed to stay up that late; and I was amazed he wanted to go! Whilst he didn't dress up or anything, its still the sort of thing that even up to a year ago I can't see him having wanted to do.

It shows that my little boy is growing up!

He managed to go straight to bed afterwards - though he was very late for breakfast the next day, NOT because he was sleeping in but because he was in bed reading! He finished it in one day, but has been very good about not spoiling it for me as I haven't had chance to read it yet!

On Tuesday, we went along to the South East Home Educators' Beach Day, which our group hosted at Joss Bay. Its a fabulous beach for families, and those that hadn't been before were suitably pleased with it.

In total, fourteen families made it to the beach. I was pleased to meet a number of our group for the first time, especially those that are on the far edges of Kent and therefore don't get along to our regular meetings. Also, those with older kids don't find many of the activities suitable; but the beach appeals to all ages!

We all chatted, the kids went in the sea, built sand structures, tunnels, channels, collected crabs (thanks Brian!), found fossils, went rock pooling, buried each other in the sand, body boarding.. and generally having a great time.

There was another group on the beach, who Roarke approached to see if they were home educators. They weren't. They were a school group! By the end of the day they'd been approached several times by families looking for us, which we found ironic (and, to be honest, highly amusing!)

We'd had to hire a car for the day, in order to all be able to go. It was a brand new kia sedona, and rather flash. However...

On the way home, the car broke down! (everyone blamed me, saying it must be something to do with me and kias!). So we spent 2 hours by the side of the Thanet Way waiting for RAC to do their thing. We then limped home, praying all the way that it wouldn't go again.

Thankfully, we arrived without any further delays, during which journey I'd had the interesting experience of leaning over Jonathan in his car seat, in order to breast feed him!! Honestly, the things we do! (I did still have my seat belt on, by the way, as a lap belt, and he was still strapped in, in case anyone worried).

Not very comfortable, but I was definately thankful for the convenience and portability of breastfeeding!

As part of stepping up our cooking again (which I've let fall by the wayside as I don't like cooking in mum's kitchen as its not a "chef's" kitchen like ours was), I'm watching the cooking programmes when I can, and the boys have got back into the habit of watching them too, like we all used to. Having seen someone cooking trout on Ready Steady Cook the other day, Joshua asked to try it, so we've just all had trout stuffed with dill and orange. Despite William telling me he didn't like "just fish, only fish fingers", he was the first to finish his fish!

Following an increasing battle to get William to go to sleep at night, we decided to try something I saw discussed on the HE Special Needs list a few months back, and have pushed back their bedtime to see where their "natural" bedtime is.

Amazingly, just as this other family had found, it turns out that Samuel, and William to a lesser extent, are at their best at night. The first night, having been told they had to stay in their rooms, and could either read, write or draw, we found he had started writing a book (story), and had written a page and a half - more writing than he's done in months, and the first totally spontaneous.

The next night he finished the short story, stapled the pages together, including a front cover which he drew, and even a back page with an extract from the book, and a publisher's comment!

Incredible!

They are still waking around the same time in the morning, so it seems that they just need less sleep. So now they all go up at 9, and when we bring Jonathan up for bed (around 10) we turn their light out. That last hour seems to be making all the difference.

The family that shared on the other list were up till 2/4am sort of time, but as we live with Mum I can't do that (that's MY excuse anyway!). But it still seems to be making a difference.

Think that's all for the moment; run out of my snatched time anyway!

Good news, and bad news

Sorry for the delay in blogging. As you can imagine, its been a bit of a crazy time!

Bad news first: they HAVE written off the car :0(

Insurance pay out falls short of the remaining HP on the car, but we had GAP insurance, which will cover that.

However, it means whilst we still (thank God) have a car (Dad's old skoda I "inherited"), that obviously only takes 5 of us. This means we can't go anywhere as a family any more. No visits. No outings.

I'm just thankful that the Disneyland holiday is a) paid for and b) we are going by train, not car, or we would have had to cancel it.

Not sure what we are going to do now, as we have no funds for another vehicle..

Brighter news: Jonathan is still doing well (though still colicky). Weighed in today at 10lb 9, which means he has gone up from (birth) the 25th centile to just short of the 75th centile, with an average weight gain since birth of 1 1/2- 2 ounces a day!

He has also grown 5cm, and is therefore on 98th centile for his height; just like Samuel was at one month (he went off the chart by 3 months!). This makes him the size of an "average" 3 month old - which explains why the babygrow I put on him last night seemed too small!

I didn't post much about last week, which is a shame, as despite the weather and the car episode, we had a good time.

We visited Rudyard Lake, and of course went on the railway as well. This trip gave us some good starting points for conversations about dams, reservoirs etc.

We also visited Tittesworth reservoir, twice; once in the rain, and once in the dry! I must upload the pictures, when I can find the data stick I took with me, as it was quite funny. We also met another home educator! A lad came running into the park, and we all looked at each other. When the dad came near, we casually asked "not at school then?" to find out that they were local home edders! Great stuff!

The second visit to the place, Roarke wore his trisuit and went for a run whilst I sat feeding Jonathan, and the boys played in the play area.

The other trip of note, was the two onto the moors. Roarke and I have been to Dartmoor and the Dales national parks, but never the Peak District, so it was new for us. We introduced the boys to some lovely sights, history, and geography.

Two highlights were climbing around on the Roaches (with the whole area very waterlogged as this was after the torrential rain), and then meeting a professional dry stone wall builder, who allowed the boys to go over and watch him work, and ask as many questions as they had.

This led to more discussions in the car, particuarly with Joshua, about the role of a national park, economics, decline, farming and preservation.

Home ed in action!

As I said, I'll try to get photos up soon, now that I am slowly trying to get some sort of routine (ha ha!) going with life!

Where Was I?!

Oh wow, just realised just how big the gap has been since I last posted!

Can't believe that Jonathan is now 3 1/2 weeks old. I just don't know where all that time has gone.

We've had him at the osteopath twice now for his colic. The first session made quite a difference, but I must be honest and say I haven't noticed the same change from the second time.

So it looks like we'll just have to ride it out. What I eat/drink doesn't, noticably, seem to make any difference either.

I hope wherever you are, you have not suffered with the floods? We have had a tiny glimpse of how bad it has been, as we are currently house sitting for an HEer who is at HESFES, and on our drive up here (Staffordshire) we have seen many rivers that have burst their banks.

The provision of this house, at short notice, has been a real blessing. Whilst we said to the boys that we are not, as such, "on holiday", it is a change of scenery for us all. It also gives us some vital privacy, which has been missing since we moved into Mum's last year.

We didn't have a holiday last year, naturally, and being here has made us very aware of the need to get away.

The boys are doing well. Joshua is still writing his story, and has been getting on with a number of his own initiatives. Samuel has reacted again to the full/new moon cycle (still can't get my scientific mind around why this should make a difference, but circumstantial evidence continues to support it!). However, when we packed to come away here, to my amazement I heard him searching for, and then packing, a number of "learning" books to bring away! Of course, whether or not he actually uses them this week will be another matter, but I still found it encouraging!

William is still struggling with the changes that come from not being the youngest, and from not being as old as the other two (and so often being left out of their games/conversations), and with the natural stage of development that comes around this age (5).

He had a good birthday though - I'll post pictures when I'm home, but we had some 24 children and 10 adults at his birthday "do", courtesy of so many of his friends from our HE group who took the trouble to come along to help him celebrate. Many brought food or drink, which was so sweet of them.

I found to my horror that I wasn't quite as ready to be a "hostess" as I thought, with a 2 week old baby, and I felt a bit panicky at one point. But everyone was really understanding, and we all piled up to the park after everyone had eaten, and let the kids run around (funnily enough, it was "too cold" for them to go into our garden to play - as I'd intended - but not "too cold" for them to go to the park.. lol!). That reduced my claustrophobia considerably!

Anyway, that was just a brief update. Little lad is waking now for another feed, so I'll have to sign off again till later.