Next year - 2009

It's not very long until 2009. Springy will be starting Brownies next year which she is looking forward to, along with continuing with her Beavers and swimming. I have been trying to find dance classes but to no avail.

Her reading is great. She has a dictionary and I will be asking her to make more searches in it during next year to find new words for herself to discover. She's been making her own word searches and loves the ones I have been giving her with various themes. She enjoys word puzzles and I think she will soon be into simple crosswords. She really wants to do joined up writing so I have explained that she needs to do more Form Drawing first and that it will get there if she practices with lines and curves first. We now have a Spelling Word Book which is an exercise book that I place words in that she would like to spell. Springy also has her own poetry book - again it's just an ordinary exercise book but she has been inspired to write her own poems and illustrate them on its pages.

In terms of maths we will continue with the four processes and lots of mental arithmetic for a while yet. We've covered Roman Numerals but I would like to do a recap on them with her and go on a Roman trail in the Spring and visit Roman remains with the numerals on. Our Times Tables need more recitation and drilling.

Summary of Summer

Our learning doesn't stop during summer or any holiday for that matter. Springy had a number of playdates which has been lovely for her. She's also had music lessons and the bantams have been a valuable asset to our home. We went swimming twice (we would have gone more but I would only go to a private club pool around here as the public one makes me feel queasy). We went to visit my parents and saw my beloved Oma (sad because my Opa is no longer around). Springy got to hear quite a bit of German because of it (and she seems to take to pronouncing the sounds with ease). Springy went to the cinema for the first time ever and saw Wall E.

We've finished The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse and started The Wise Enchanter. Springy has started her own Magic Book (sort of a main lesson type book) which relates to The Wise Enchanter. We've had lots of other stories too, both from oral and book formats including our favourites Rapunzel, Rose White and Rose Red and the Michael Hall readers (last night we read the September one).

We've played a great deal with The Noble Knights of Knowledge maths curriculum and ... yes we have even done some workbooks such as the letts Magical Maths one. Springy has a reading age of a 9-year old. Her writing and spelling require working upon but this is happening. She can write well in upper case and likes to leave notes, create cards for people and so on. She has created some lovely pictures in recent weeks and has made some pretty patterns with her Hama beads which show signs of symmetry. We're practising our music almost every day in between the weekly lessons (although sadly we have to stop next week as money is once again very tight). I'm still using the odd smattering of French and German with her and she responds in turn. Singing is something we do all the time and we're still doing fingerrhymes, beanbag stuff and so on (I just don't call it circle because we're not in that shape when we do these things).

Springy has been to craft and countryside events, watched the harvest, been to the zoo, seen performances (not many though and in fact one was so inappropriate for children I had to complain to the event hosts but that's another story! I do regret not being able to take her to the theatre this summer as there have been some really good shows on but money is tight).

We have had lots of walks, playing in the garden - running, football and Springy has swimming weekly so this covers all the physical exercise side of things. She also does lots of physical activities at Beavers. We discuss the food we eat and how to stay healthy. We go shopping with Springy and she helps choose the ingredients for our meals. We've also grown tomatoes, courgettes, red currants, blueberries and various herbs such as rosemary, oregano and mint. We go to a museum quite often that enables us to see history in action - there are demonstrations on early food, traditional crafts and so on. Springy also went on a special trip to visit the Victory in Portsmouth with her father.


Yesterday we made pastry and today we had quiche - all homemade. Next week she resumes swimming and Beavers.

We watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on the 8.8.08 together. Today we watched the Paralymic Opening Ceremony which was even more moving for me because it wasn't as epic but somehow had much more of a human component to it - needless to say I bawled my eyes out.

It's very clear to me that if my LA ever asked for what we do I would have to write about past tense stuff because planning and my family doesn't work well. It's much better to write summaries of what has happened rather than to try and predict what may happen. However, they'd have a lot to read because we do so much.