This had better work or I'll smash the computer!!!

The other day I spent over three hours updating this blog, only for it to disappear completely!! To say I was fuming is an understatement!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I can't really remember what I wrote, so I'll just put a load of photos up of things we've done recently:

Romy holding her sleeping sister :o)

When it snowed in March!
Day trip to Cleethorpes in April...





Taking a swing at the pinata at Tansy's birthday party.
Grading with Daddy for her red/black belt. It'll be black belt in November!!


Romy's birthday cake (made by Nana)
Some of the vegan spread at the party.
Pinata-ing again!
Helping Tans.
With Uncle Stephen.
With Tans on the 'bouncy bouncy' (Tans has become obsessed!!)
On holiday in Berwick upon Tweed...
Holy Island (Lindisfarne)

Romy hugging a saint.
We had to leave before the tide came in or else we'd be stuck there for several hours!
Roo with Tans in the sling. (She only walked a few yards with her on, lol.)
Eating gorgeous food in a vegan cafe we found in Edinburgh. Yum!
Is it sad to have been this excited about a vegan baked potato shop? Lol.
Roo enjoying herself in Edinburgh.

Beautiful sisters.

More fun!


Bamburgh castle. Breath-taking!


The girls enjoying themselves...

A very rare sight! Romy's hair freshly washed, brushed and 100% tangle-free!!! *Gasps*

A gorgeous spray-on fairy tattoo.
Angel of the North photographed on the way home out of the car window.
Roo meeting an owl at a taekwondo display she did recently.
And enjoying a go on the quad bikes.
An amazing visit to White Scar Cave for my birthday.
My friend Nikki will be impressed with these orbs ;o)


Romy drinking the water in a pool in the cave.


Fossils.
Being home educated Romy benefitted from one-to-one attention from our wonderful guide. She learnt so much and was so not impressed when she saw the three school groups pass us being rowdy and screaming and shouting. I'm sure they heard barely anything that the guide told them.
Yesterday we went to Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk. What an AMAZING place. I love it. They rescue farm animals from slaughter and terrible cruelty. I was so proud of Romy who spent a lot of her birthday money 'adopting' a sheep who was found trying to suckle from his dead mother on a farm and a pair of cows who were rescued from terrible conditions. She is such a thoughtful, empathic person. We had a lovely day too. Here's Romy's foot being pecked by chickens. (The cage above illustrates how five chickens are shoved in each battery cage.)
Feeding the chickens grass ;o)
In the vegan cafe they had there. Romy had just polished off a hummus and cucumber sandwich, a chocolate milkshake and an ice-cream cornet. She couldn't manage the ginger cake, so I 'helped' her, lol.
Today we went to a local park with a group of home edders. Much fun was had by all :o)

Holiday and (hopefully) an educational epiphany!

On Friday we came back from a lovely holiday at Centerparcs in Sherwood Forest. We had such a great time. Most of it was spent swimming, as that was the only free activity. The best moment for me was being in the outdoor (35 degrees C) pool at 9pm looking up at the huge moon and crystal-clear stars whilst the steam rose up around us. A very cool thing to do in January methinks :o) The stuff memories are made of! Romy and I did an Introduction to Belly Dancing class which Roo enjoyed and I found to be absolutely fantastic! It has inspired me to find a nearby class and learn to do it properly. Colin and Roo did an archery class and that was about the limit of our finances, lol. It was soooo expensive! Luckily we got a good deal with it being January. Could never have afforded to go at any other time. We'd definitely go again though.

Some pics of Roo:

Feeding a swan outside our patio door. The first morning I opened the curtains and a swarm of ducks, squirrels, swans and birds (including loads of tame robins) came speeding towards me demanding I feed them all our bread... Oh, ok then, that was me being soft as usual ;o) That swan even took to 'knocking' on the window with its beak when it wanted feeding, lol.
The squirrels were just as demanding and tame. This one looks as though it's going to bang on the window any second, rofl.

Romy feeding it yet more tidbits. Best fed squirrels around, they were!

On the 'Bridge to Terabithia' near our lodge.

Looking at (and feeling) the Braille map.

Snowdrops and fully-opened daffodils in the woods.

The fire-beaing station in the woods.

My gorgeous girls playing and looking out for squirrels.

God, I'm lucky!! How amazing are they???

Beautiful Woodland Sprite.

Hilarious sign in the tiny boiler room :o))))

The score (in favour of Romy!!) for a game of air hocky. Daddy lost - yay! ;o)

Taking some time-out at the Jardin Des Sports.

Beautiful sisters. Inside and out.

Romy receiving some archery tuition.

This is harder than it looks!

In the village square, about to go late-night swimming :o)

Steamy camera lens, sorry! Bathing beauties.

When are we going into the big pool? ;o)

Having a splashing time. Romy became a veritable mermaid whilst there. Went swimming twice a day, every day!

The last supper. Veggie nuggets, fries and Sprite as a last night treat. There were tears on the way home, but she was philosophical :o)

A caterpillar found on the floor inside on the last morning. Apparently it was photo worthy, rofl.

Back home to reality on Friday and a really messy house as usual. Time for a serious de-clutter and decorate I think. Need to clear my surroundings as it affects my stress levels. Fed up of living in a jumble sale, lol.

A couple of ideas have merged in my head recently, been stewing and finally melded themselves into what I hope is a workable Home Ed idea. I've been struggling recently (well, to be honest that's a huge understatement) with finding stuff for Romy to so which sustains her interest and makes use of her natural abilities, but doesn't involve too much writing - which she hates :o( Quite a tall order, I'm sure you'll agree! Anyway, I believe (she says, tentatively) I may have a workable solution.

Some background: A couple of weeks ago Romy had to do a three-minute presentation for her drama group. She had a week to prepare it and she absolutely LOVED the whole process! She chose to talk about guinea pigs (surprise surprise!) Props such as piggy food, hay and photos of our pigs were used as she explained about their care and went through each of the eight we'd had as pets (ironically, Scrappy died the next day, so we only have two left now.) Anyway, this was the first little light bulb to switch on in my head. She seemed so enthusiastic about the whole process of deciding what to say and imparting her knowledge to others. It also made use of her most amazing talent; namely, her phenomenal memory.

This brings me to the second part of my idea. For months and months now Romy has been obsessed with the sitcom Black Books. It was televised a few years ago and we have the box-set of the whole three series'. In all there are 18 episodes and Romy can reel off whole episodes word-for-word. She has a quote for every occasion and has us in stitches with her dead-pan delivery and natural comic timing. I really don't know how she does it, but she's always been the same. I remember before she was two. There was s book she loved called Hannah's Helpers. She'd heard it so many times that she could 'read' it out loud without being able to read iyswim. Her intonation and timing were perfect. I remember we taped it because it was so amazing! Her vocabulary has always been unbelievably well advanced for her age. She uses words I didn't understand until I was in my late teens in the correct context. However, she struggles with writing. In all honesty I think it's all just too slow for her as a form of communication. She prefers speech and imagination - boy, has she got an amazing imagination!!

So... I finally come to my idea to radically shake up the boring routine we've fallen into of me nagging Romy to do some 'work' (usually something dry and boring from a workbook that she, quite rightly can see no point in) and her taking three hours to do something she's quite capable of doing in ten minutes because she's too busy talking to herself, watching Tansy, or singing, rofl. It suddenly occured to me that a better way to utilise her talents and bring back that eagerness to learn is to set her a topic to research (or get her to choose one herself) and give her a week to find out as much as she can about it before delivering her findings at the end of the week to us. I think that deserves a smile :o) She is really keen and has chosen to do "Centerparcs" first, lol. She'll be able to use the PC to find out everything she can about it. Look at pictures, brochures, ask people and use any other primary and secondary research methods she can think of to find out her info. I'm really hopeful that backing off about the writing will do the trick and mean that she'll turn to it maturally herself like she did with reading a few years ago. Watch this space! I'll try and update each week about her topics.

Yule, Christmas, and a Wintry Walk...

On the Friday before Christmas we went over the Nikki and Emily's house for a lovely day of Yule activities. I was well impressed with the stuff that Nikki had arranged for the girls to do, despite being ill with the flu' - SuperHomeEducatingMummy!!!!!! Here are the girls making special bread that we all put lots of wishes into. It tasted lovely!
Romy's turn to stir...

Then they decorated the God and Goddess figures for Solstace...

The finished Goddess...

Tidying away before a story...

Listening to a fascinating story about Yule...

Finally a special cave was made for the God and Goddess figures to 'live' for a while. Complete with candles. Looked fabulous!

At the weekend we nipped over to Gainsborough to visit Colin's relatives. Whilst there we dropped in at Marshal's Yard; the new shopping centre. Romy isn't very impressed that this Christmas tree now stands where her beloved fountain was over summer, but you must admit, it looks rather amazing in the dark! Here are a couple of pics of Roo standing in front of it...

Christmas was spent with me having the Lurgy :o( I tried my best to be there for the kiddywinks, but it was hard. Romy was fantastic as usual and was more interested in whether I was ok than in being cross I was missing everything. I love her so much. Have I ever said that? Lol.

She got some lovely presents, including lots of lovely craft sets for us to get out teeth into. Here are a few pics... Opening one of Tansy's presents for her ;o)

Opening her strange 'breathing' life-like dog from Nana - her favourite present I think!

Our special present - a giant fairy puppet :o)))

A quiet, contemplative moment...

We went for a lovely walk to Normanby park in-between Xmas and New Year. With out new camera I managed to get some fabulous pictures too....

Romy in front of a dead, gnarled tree...

Do you think fairies live here?

Let's have a look :o)

A tree ghost!!!!!!!!

Bridge to Terebithia..?

Spooky tree.

Pet cemetry.

It really wasn't that dark and spooky. Weird!!

Romy's favourite steel sculpture. She loves to make music on it :o)

A view up into a tree.

Acting Antics!!

OMG, Romy did her drama school performance today. I was soooo unbelievably proud of her. It took me all the strength I had not to burst into tears! She had to do some solo poetry and I was hoping her stutter wouldn't come out too much under the pressure. I needn't have worried though as she sailed through her piece brilliantly. She was fluent, loud and clear. Fabulous! Oh, and a quick plug for me - saw an old friend of my Mum's there who was watching her grandaughter like my Mum was. She said I only looked about 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (You knew I'd put that in Mum, rofl.)

(Edit: My Mum wanted to know what this was on Tansy's nose. It's a sticker that Romy put there, lol.)

Here she is (far right) doing her solo.
Really getting into the singing. No nerves at all!!!

What a beautiful person she is, inside and out. Stunning girl!!

Yesterday was the Taekwondo Christmas party. Loads of pics over on Mad Mama's Musings, but some more of Roo here. She had a fabulous time and has so many friends there now. It's ace :o)

Gorgeous girl.

With Mum :o)

With one of her friends.

Burning off some energy.

Attacking Master Smith with SEVEN other kids, lol.

Hanging around his neck.

Phew! Some time out.

Receiving her gift from 'Santa'. Looks familiar ;o)

Vegan loot!!!!

We also had the home ed xmas party last week. So really busy couple of weeks. More treats coming up this week, including visits from friends and a lovely day planned at Emily's on Friday for lots of Pagany/Yule activities.

All manner of cool stuff.

Firstly, the BIG news; Romy and Colin got their red belts at Taekwondo today. Yay!!

Of course, here follows a barrage of shamelessly indulgent photographs, lol...

Roo and a friend doing self-defence:
In the middle of her pattern...
Padded up and ready for sparring...

With her gentle giant friend :o) Roo and I did that Christmassy picture in the background!

Glam location eh? With her friend Vicki after getting their new belts and certificates...

Colin, having just smashed his way through a board. V impressive :o)

Proud Red Belt...

Other exciting news (for us - we're v sad.) We found these dark chocolate coins at Thorntons (thanks to the Vegan Family website!) I went and bought five bags and somehow they've all gone before they even found their way onto the tree :-O Could have something to do with our totally irrational elation at finding them, seeing as Romy has never had a chocolate coin in her life and Colin and I haven't had one for around 15 years, lol.

We had a couple of weeks recently when we were all poorly. Romy had allsorts including impetigo, sore throat, high temperature and sickness!! Poor thing. Here she is looking ill during the worst of the impetigo. Luckily it cleared up with antibiotics. Colin and I had tonsilitis, which was a new experience in pain... Jeepers! Colin even went to the doctor which is unlike him. They asked if he'd been out of the country as he hadn't been to the docs in almost nine years, rofl.

We met up with a new home educating family this week at a local park and, whilst the weather was less than friendly, the family definitely were. Romy had a great time playing with the three children and the Mum and I had loads in common. She's a hippy freak too, rofl. She's a doula, uses slings, etc. Hope to see much more of them!

On the way home we got caught in a sea of kids leaving a comprehensive school. They were all walking one way to their buses and we were struggling to walk through them. There were hundreds of them! Struck me as a rather apt metaphor for our lives. We seem to be constantly swimming against the popular tide of opinion and have absolutely no wish to turn around :o)

On the way to the park, do you kjnow what we saw??????? Trees with BLOSSOM on!!!!!!!! I even took a photo with my mobile but can't be bothered to upload it at the mo'. Anyway, what's with that? The world's going mad!!

Me and my big girl :o)

Drama Queen!!

Yesterday Romy started a new drama club. She had such a fab time, just as I thought she would. This is one area in life where I don't mind saying she is truly gifted! Her imagination really is second to none. She always has a story running through her head and lives her life as a narrative, lol. She is constantly bursting with ideas for plays and stories. Anyway, The lady who runs it was so impressed when I picked her up. She said (and I quote - or paraphrase at least!) "She was spot on. Absolutely excellent. They are never that good when they first come." *Beams with pride* She was given some lines to learn for a Christmas show too! I am soooo proud of her. She can't wait to go next week :o)

Mammoth Post!

Well I see I haven't posted on here for two months! So I thought I'd add a few photos and try to remember some of the things we've been up to over the past few weeks. Our camera's broken at the moment so you'll have to excuse the poor quality mobile shots.

Firstly (and most importantly) Romy was a bridesmaid at my sister's wedding on the 1st Sept. Needless to say she looked absolutely stunning and had a brilliant day. Below is a pic of her and Tans with their cousins Lewis and Daniel.
At the reception with Lewis: Don't they look as though they have those scary false teeth in? Lol.

And an enhancement picture I had done here. Looks absolutely stunning eh?

We've been very busy on the taekwondo front lately. Here's a pic of Roo at one of the open days we went to to do a demonstration. Unfortunately I don't have any photos from the fabulous open day and party we had in September but there are loads here.
Here's a photo of Roo and Tans in the ball pool at the Wacky Warehouse. We went there for the afternoon recently because a lovely lady we know at taekwondo works there.

We've been to Normanby park a few times. Here's Roo and Tilly in the famous Climbing Tree ;o) We were playing in the playground in the dark the other day when we realised that the other family who were there were also home edders! Gave them my email address but they haven't been in touch yet. Perhaps we were too weird for them, rofl.

We've been swimming a couple of times with Nikki and Emily which was fun but expensive! I'm just waiting for a card from Surestart that will mean Tans and I can get in for 80p.

Roo had her cousins; Lewis and Daniel to sleepover on Friday which was much less stressful than I had anticipated!

On Sunday we had a taekwondo demo to do at the Great Youth Debate in a local park. The weather was freakishly hot for October which was made worse for me by having a baby strapped to my chest, lol. Anyway, a fab time was had by all. After the demo Roo had time to get her face painted...

...And practice some circus skills with The Earthbound Misfits. Here she is balancing on a ball. The rather lovely man helping her said of the 30 or so kids he'd helped that day Roo was the best by far. He was actually able to let go of her and she walked forwards and backwards a bit on her own! I was well impressed :o)

On the education front we've been up to various bits; Going over telling the time with a fine tooth comb in maths. Lots of spelling, local geography, oh and Romy has started a correspondence course with the London College of Art.

On Saturday Romy will be starting at a drama club that had a stall next to ours at the above demo. It sounds fantastic and just the sort of thing we've been looking for. It's £5 for two hours whreas the others I'd found were v expensive and cost hundreds per term! Can't wait to see if she enjoys it :o)