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 )