I hate Claudia and NEVER want her to be happy, and NEVER want her to do what she wants to do and ALWAYS make her help me.

Obviously.

I asked her to sit with Jasper for a couple of minures so I could clean the puke up.

She’s my new favourite internet person:

I think this is descusting what are you’re thoughts on this? do you think he should be deported ?

Reading - Babette Cole
RA - Worst Witch, HP, Princess Tales, The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark
RANF - Horrible Histories

Anti Colouring book, went to park, A & the children, games on computer.

I’m hitting the codeine here - most definitely not pregnant but definitely in pain

Maths - SM multiplication, MQ multiplication
English - NNE long vowel sounds, story narration*
Handwriting - GD - ‘p’
Reading - ORT A day in London
Read aloud fiction - Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, The Worst Witch
Read aloud non fiction - Horrible Histories (Pharaohs & Aztecs)
History - The First Writing (Sumer & Egypt), hieroglyphs/cuneiform, narration/map.

*A rabbit made fun of a turtle. The turtle said ‘Even though my legs are short I can still win a race!'’ They asked the fox to watch the race. The rabbit hopped really fast and soon he was winning. The turtle walked really, really slowly and you couldn’t see him move. The rabbit looked behind him and couldn’t see the turtle so he decided to take a nap. The turtle walked past him while he was asleep and won the race.

The moral is slow and steady wins the race!

Made apple crumble (Claudia picked the apples yesterday) did some mosaic craft, played in the garden & watched some BrainPop.

We all had breakfast together this morning as Simon didn’t have to leave for work until 8:30. That was novel.

We have had the most exhausting weekend. We went up to Oz’s party on Saturday which was lovely, the kids so enjoy being together. Claudia stayed up there with Lily & my parents for an extra night and Simon and I went into London for the afternoon with Jasper. We haven’t had a mooch around for ages and ended up going to Valerie’s for brunch then lusting (me only ) in the yarn department of John Lewis. Came home, found the cats, watch some Numbers & went to bed. Reading Festival was fucking loud & our neighbours were having screaming rows at 3am - I’m so tired I actually didn’t care. Today we got Claudie back, got the kids some new clothes & had a go at the loft and understairs cupboard (make room for a freezer).

Typical bank holiday.

Simon starts at the Beeb tomorrow - he’s close enough to come home for lunch which will be lovely

you come across such a gem of persuasive prose that it cries out to be shared:

The fatal shooting of Rhys Jones in Liverpool is yet another brutal reminder of how far removed from decency a section of young people have become.It is almost incomprehensible that a teenager on a BMX bike should ride up and fire three bullets at an innocent 11 year old,for what ever distorted reasoning.In factit is equally incredible that such a young person should have a hand gun on his possession at all.Yet it has happened, a child is dead and we as a society are left to ponder this latest youth outrage.Of course as we always say at such times,its only a small fraction of young peoples whose minds have been so corrupted by evil influences that they are capable of such infamy.These people are on the margins,but its a margin that has been stretched farther than ever before.Sadly there can be little satisfaction for anyone in the capture and sentencing of the perpetrator of this crime.The chances are that a troubled boy, who’s identity will be kept secret if he is under 18, will be found guilty of manslaughter and will recieve a sentence that most of the public will find woefully inadequate.But the punishnent of one criminally psychotic teenager is not the main issue here, its the fight against drugs, the gang culture and the easy availability of fire arms that must occupy the home secretatary and the cabinet.Gangs must be broken up because collectively they give individuals a sense of purpose and daring they would never have as individuals.And far more draconian laws must be reintroduced to bring back a fear of the police,the courts and most importantly the law.

Simon was though Cooked a nice meal last night; I was amazed to find that both Jasper and Claudia (!!!) love lasagne. Simon and I managed to drink two bottles of wine, given his condition this morning I think Si consumed most of it.

Maths - doubles (MM), adding 3 numbers using number bonds (SM), some word problems
English - vowels & consonants, proper nouns
Handwriting - ‘O’
Reading - A Day in London (ORT)
Read aloud - HP & the Chamber of Secrets

I don’t want to go overboard with ‘good day’ talk (& as an antidote C’s attitude has been horrible for the last couple of days - overtired) but I am so pleased with Claudia’s reading, she’s always got her head in a book and is really enjoying it not being a struggle

This week has gone really well - we’re doing about 3 hours of stuff together (including the read aloud books which is a major chunk & crafty stuff) which fits in nicely with J’s sleep (or not ) - it feels like we’ve hit the right balance and C is definitely happier when challenged We’ve managed to get out most days & that definitely helps. C is really looking forward to all the groups starting back up - she’s cursing the summer holidays because she misses her friends & teachers.

I never really record the conversations, questions, games, puzzles & activities that punctuate the day; they’ve become background noise. When we started being more structured I was afraid that it would somehow quash Claudia’s natural interests & inquisitiveness, disempowering her and irreversibly harming her ability to express her autonomy (doh this is Claudia we’re talking about!). It really was a leap into the unknown but I felt strongly that our approach wasn’t working for her. She could happily & busily fill the day but was definitely frustrated by a lack of skills. I maintain my position that you cannot make anyone learn and that while responding to a child’s needs/desires is fundamental to HE, recognizing that Claudia has limited experience & taking the initiative to introduce something new was important for us.

Anyway, I needn’t have worried Claudie still pulls out books on every subject imaginable (except now she reads some herself!), and fills the days with happy (incessant) chatter & plans for world domination.

We’re doing just fine and that is far too much thinking

(almost forgot - of course watching bad 70s Sci-Fi is a VITAL life skill )

Maths - halves (MM), Thinking Blocks
English - ‘oy/oi’ (NNE), common nouns, poem
Handwriting - ‘o’, birthday card
Reading - A Day in London (ORT)
Read aloud - HP & the Chamber of Secrets
Non Fiction - Awesome Egyptians.

Lots of BrainPop and some of this. School of Rock & nonsense conversations (’if you were a lion in Australia …’), more weaving.

Claudia would be in Year 2, right?

Sorted out some way of managing to go away on the holiday we’d booked in September (yay!). Started swaddling J again for his naps - he gets into such a state when he’s tired but this seems to relax him. Went into town to look for French stuff & a stopwatch (didn’t manage to get either). Indulged in some yarn lust & got Jasper an all-in-one rainsuit (have no idea what happened to Claudia’s) we had a picnic & watch pigeons. Planning to cook a decent meal for dinner for a change. Pulled myself out of bad mood, I’ve been in bed by 10:30 for the last week & I’m still knackered.

Progress is being made on the chevron scarf - this is from the stash (Jojoland melody in blue/zure and green/purple), I’d love to do one in more vivid colours.

(yup he’s wearing a swim nappy & a tank top)

Maths - Adding 3 numbers using number bonds (SM), Thinking Blocks, doubles (MM)
English - poems, NNE ‘oo’
Reading - Scarecrows (ORT)
HW - ‘N’
Read aloud - Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, Stories from Around the World
Literature pocket - Arachne and the Weaving Contest

C did some weaving & made spiders webs. Played in the rain, bounced, talked about organ transplants, lots of brainpop, no Star wars today.

Thinking Blocks are a big hit - she’s been doing 4 questions a day & is almost at ‘click point’ - and she seems to have learnt carrying as well. Been looking for French resources, that’s the new thing on her list … was going to the library but didn’t.

I am so fucked off with this bloody weather. I’m so fucked off. I’m so tired.

ARGC rang out of the blue … I must train myself to say ‘thank you’ when people express their condolences, you know rather than ‘it’s okay’ because it really isn’t. Either way the point I’m trying to get across is I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. Until the point comes when I learn to be like Julie who can talk about sad things without whoring herself it isn’t going to happen. A girl has to have some dignity.

Went onto a sodding UK HE board which is probably the cause of my foul mood - I find them so utterly depressing. I hadn’t looked at any for yonks but was doing my search for French stuff … hopefully it will be another couple of years before I’m tempted to look again.

J has awful nappy rash and is really teething badly poor boy. He’s standing really well now abd has a great laugh - he crawls over to the phone stand when I make a phone call, attempts to put Lego together, peg things & waves the remote control at the TV expectantly He loves music & singing & when he’s really excited he waves his arms around like a preacher callng the Holy Spirit. Jeeezzz I love that boy.

Argh. I got a fab knitting book though & have cast on the famous chevron scarf. I also managed to source a ball of discontinued yarn to finish my shawl. Yay me