12 pages

I have written my long 12-page letter to my MP. It was painful and at times I felt like I was going to pass out (I do mean this literally) because of the blurring eyes and headaches and sick feeling that this Review and Consultation have given me.

This will destroy home education if it goes through. It will destroy the right to privacy in our homes. It will eliminate parental responsibility and the state will be able to act in loco parentis for all children regardless of whether there is a need or not.

I was brought up to believe the Government worked for us. I was brought up to believe that as long as I remained well behaved and didn't commit theft or violence then the state would leave me alone. I was brought up thinking that children could not be removed from parents unless there was an issue of abuse.

Magnets

We've done experiments the past few days with magnets. It's not exactly part of the waldorf school curriculum at this age and stage but we've got a book called Usborne Science Activities and we also have a science kit with magnets, pins and so on (from Sonlight - who not in a million years did I ever think to buy from because they are Creationist but they list some excellent science resources and we just ignore the creationist stuff and stick to the evolutionary stuff).

I've been impressed so far and it means I don't have to spend all my time looking for bits and pieces around the home. They're all in the one box. Yes, I could have sourced everything myself but sometimes I want my life to be made easier.

We did a magnetic experiment the day before yesterday. Springy had to gather items from round the house, e.g. coins, stones, pencils, and pop them in a bowl and then she used a bar magnet to check whether they stuck or not. We charted this up. She really enjoyed this.

Today we did another experiment this morning with magnets (learning - and home education - doesn't stop, not even for weekends!) and had a pin on zero of a ruler and then moved our magnets nearer and nearer. We found that our ring magnet has the strongest magnetic pull and charted this up in Springy's book again.

On Thursday our family had a good afternoon at the beach. It was very hot but we all had sun hats on and Springy had a swimming t-shirt. C and Springy went swimming in the sea whilst I sat on my chair, like Roy Scheider's character, watching for shark fins...just in case. Last night it rained and it is cooler and windier today so it's not going to be a washing day. The next morning Springy got up late because it was so hot at night that she couldn't sleep.

Garden is not growing

Not entirely true but some of our garden has not grown this year. The strawberries did grow in the strawberry patch but as usual the pigeons and mice/voles have been there before us. The blueberries need to be moved because they are not looking so good this year and our potatoes seem to have failed.

Our lettuce has grown rather well though - but no one likes these particular varieties as they are too bitter! The aphids love them this year (I've not got enough feverfew growing this year - that usually acts as a good companion plant to our crops). The guineapigs have also partaken of the lettuce.

Model making and walruses

Today was a really good day. Springy says she really doesn't want to play the recorder so she had a go on our percussion instruments instead. We made 2 cats, a kitten and a dog out of Fimo. Our dog had a walk and a wash under the shower, and then Springy and I did some writing practice on vowels in lower case and we then read an Usborne Animal quiz book and discussed what we were reading about.

We also watched this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6iDtvGbIOU

Class 2 type year

Well we're not really a class - although I learn just as much as Springy at times.

This year we're going to be focusing on Fables, Animal Friends, Saints/Sages, Nature Stories and so on.

I can really see Springy is fascinated by animals. With our new addition to the household, our lovely dog, I can see how Steiner would have observed the interest in animals. He was really astute with his observations. Springy is totally occupied with animals and wanting to accumulate more pets.

Our doggy is gorgeous - she's lovely temperament and ever so loving and easy to care for (apart from the revolting ticks that I had to remove from her the other day).

So:

Times Tables - keep practising 2x, 1x, 5x, 10x and we need to add in 11x, 3x and 4x
Regular use of arithmetic (Magical Maths books by Letts) and conversations on other mathematical themes
I want to do a recap on Roman numerals which we did cover but I'm not sure how much of this Springy retained.
Learning the spellings of common word clusters e.g. would, should, could and peep, sheep, deep etc
Doing small blocks on the Animal themes above along with Form Drawing to help improve that focus and concentration - simple sentences from the Fable e.g. "The mouse saved the lion" or "Slow and steady wins the race"
Increase the frequency of handwriting use and with practice we hope will come improved writing stamina and appreciation

I'm more aware of doing my research before the fable to ensure that I know enough about the animal concerned. I've always been someone interested in wildlife and animals anyway so that makes it easier. Springy already loves nature so it's not hard to instil that love for the main characters in the fables.

Swimming and stories

Springy has a new swimming tutor who is just brilliant at explaining things. He has a real connection with the children in terms of communicating and Springy's swimming has improved so much. Yesterday we were watching her and she was so graceful and strong in the water.

Our current reads are:

Mrs Pepperpot (which is on hold whilst we read:)
The Cat Who Decided

We're doing a transition from Class 1 into Class 2 stuff.

Springy surprised us today because she was asking how many months she had been alive and I said she needs to do 7 x 12 and then she said her friend who is 8 must be 96 months! Somehow she figured out the twelve times table even though we haven't covered it properly yet. It was a lovely moment - and she was puzzled by it too because she didn't know how she knew the answer.

Springy had to write a food list for her Healthy Eating badge - she wrote down fruit and vegetable words. I helped her with the spelling but she did quite well.

The Merry Month of May

This last month we've done lots of things. We did the Jamboree on the Trail (a walk with the beavers and cubs), visited Ikea as a family for the first time (we love lingonberries), Springy and our puppy took part in a dog show (Springy wants to be a dog groomer and dog trainer when she grows up now), I took my First Aid Appointed Persons course again (just a 1-day one), went to the Mind/Body/Spirit event in London (had an amazing Indian Head Massage) and enjoyed the lovely weather outside. We've been going on lots of walks with our lovely dog.

I'm now planning for the next stage in Springy's education - we're slowly integrating animal stories in as per the indications of Rudolf Steiner. We have 3 new paints which we are going to be working with (not because of developmental reasons but because I never could afford 3 new paints before). I feel that we have achieved a lot (with support from friends who have encouraged me to be positive) in our education this year. We've been working on our times tables and so on but we're past Aries and Taurus and into Gemini now so the Zodiac is whizzing by and I like to work my year from Aries to Pisces.

It's already June and we need some rainy weather to stay inside a bit more and do some more academics. Springy and I have been discussing how to use question marks, exclamation marks and periods (full stops).

We're still doing swimming lessons - we got a new teacher this term and he's been great so far. the last few terms were a writeoff but he has made up for it and Springy is now able to dive underwater to collect objects off the bottom (she's better than me).