Welcome to the house of yuck, la la la laa laa.

Thank you for being so patient and popping back on here to see what life is like for the Pollards.  I'm pleased to say that we are finally recovering from our bleurgh moments, and I hope to be fully fighting fit by the weekend.

On Monday I did something crazily stupid.  Our home-ed group had arranged a visit down to the Eden Project in Cornwall.  We had also arranged to meet up with a few of the Cornish home-ed families, and we were really looking forward to it.  I decided to leave it until the last minute (ie, when we had to leave the house to get their on time, ie, shortly after 9am), before deciding if it was a yay or a nay.  On Monday morning, I got up and immediately stuffed myself with honey and hot lemon drinks, hoping that all would be well.  The kids came downstairs one by one, and all were seemingly a lot better.  I felt ok (not 100% but ok).  As I hate letting people down after agreeing to things, and I didn't fancy having to tell the kids we weren't going, I decided to take the plunge and head off to Eden.

Now bearing in mind I've never driven to Cornwall before, which of course in turn means I've never driven to Eden before, and well, it was a bit of a task.  I estimated it would take approximately 1 hour and 40 mins to get there, meaning over a 3 hour round trip.  Eeeek.

The journey there wasn't too bad at all.  Thanks to my fabulous husband who mapped out my route for me on Sunday night, and to the brown tourist signs which marvellously pointed in the right direction, we actually made it spot on time (11am).

We bought annual passes for a fiver each, then had to "activate" them , which was a time-consuming task in itself.
*Note to Self*  No more than one child in my next life please.

It was really lovely to meet up with people - friends old and new :)  It was all a little hectic and disorganised, with people having to buy their tickets, then activate them, whilst others were waiting around with littlies who really just wanted to run off and explore!  We did have a lovely walk around to the Biomes though, and I managed to take a few snaps along the way.

Sadly we were parted from the rest of the group when we went into the Biomes.  By this time I was feeling quite rough, with my cold symptoms returning with absolute vengeance and it seemed I needed a tissue continuously connected to my nose.  As we had bought the annual tickets, I didn't feel the need to ensure we got our "money's worth" so to speak, as I knew we could return as often as the children desired (finances for fuel permitting, obviously).  We didn't take in as much I know we could have, rather whizzing around just admiring and enquiring about things that caught our eye instead of really looking.  

Then Tiegan began suffering.  We stepped away from the crowds and walked the long way around back to the entrance - and to the cafe, where we stocked up our bodies with hot chocolate and cream.  Mmmmm.  by this time my head was starting to ache and my eyes were tiring, and dear Tiegan was sneezing more times than I've seen anyone sneeze before - poor love. 

We decided to make our exit home - but really couldn't face trying to find everyone again to say goodbye, which was rather rude of us, but I didn't want to linger any longer than necessary.  The thought of the drive home was a struggle in itself, without prolonging it.  I replied to a couple of "Where are you?" texts, and we left. 

The journey home was pretty much ok.  The kids were very quiet, all struggling silently with their illness feelings.  Callum broke the silence about half way home with shouts of "I'm going to be sick!".  Cue me pulling over into the (thankfully very close) parking area on the dual carriageway and Callum being released to do what was necessary and gain some fresh air.  Nice.

Boy oh boy, did I pay for that "I am a superhuman being who can do what I want to even though my body is telling me otherwise" moment of stupidity.  Very thankful for being able to get home safely (despite taking the wrong turning, heading off down some awful stupidly narrow country lanes, and there not being any brown tourist signs pointing to Pollard Towers disappointingly).   

I spent the evening snuggled up on the sofa, feeling mightily sorry for myself, in between ensuring all my bubba's needs were met.  Such is life.

We hibernated for the rest of the week, trying to shake off whatever bugs and diseases that had rudely encroached upon our beings.  In between the lazy must just lie-down and get myself better moments, I have been busily creating with crochet.  Totally loving it :) You can visit my crochet blog if you want to see the progress, and YES, there IS progress!

Sadly we missed out on the Exeter group meeting on Wednesday as I didn't fancy passing our ills on to everyone else, I'm friends with most of the peoples there and would like it to stay that way for as long as possible.  

Thursday bought us a nice surprise of a delivery of books I'd ordered.  I say a nice surprise because I had ordered them so bloomin' long ago I'd forgotten all about it.  I do love the cheap prices over at http://www.bananas.co.uk but the delivery time does make an impatient soul such as myself squeal rather.  Never buy anything you need soonest from there.  Like I say though, the prices are good.  It cost me £6 to get this little lot...

Bargains, obviously.

I shall leave you with a few photos of the week that managed to make me smile.

The first being these.  Only my kids could argue over who was doing the hoovering...

Oh we did giggle.

Then there is this little treasure, with her "Rose-tinted lip balm mama? What rose-tinted lip balm?"

*Love the Innocence*

I'm really hoping that normal service shall be resumed by next week.  I have so many plans and things I need to do, I really need to be in tip top working supermama order!

Apologies.

I apologise for the lack of blog posts.
We have all been hit with cough and cold bugs and it's made for a pretty miserable few days in the Pollard household.  Our coping mechanism is lots of sofa snuggles and TV watching, not making very stimulating blog reading.
Normal service shall be resumed asap.

Meal Planning, Study Planning, lots of planning...

I seem to be all planned out.  I've done meal planning, home-ed group planning, blog ideas planning, home-education planning, and house decorating planning.  Phew!

Last week has whizzed by in a sort of super blurry blur, and I feel as if I'm on some sort of exceptionally fast high speed train and I can't find any way to get off.  Still, it's almost all good so can't complain.

On Monday we didn't go to our usual home-ed group meeting, preferring instead to have a baking, art, and reading day.

Tuesday was my favourite day of the week, as we headed off to spend a lovely few hours with friends.  Pizzas and cakes were consumed, role playing games were acted out, a stroll to the beach was enjoyed, and various movies and music videos were watched.  Taisia entertained everyone with her little ways, and I received a lesson in using Powerpoint, so it was a rather fruitful day.

Wednesday, again we missed home-ed group.  I spent much of the day rearranging the dining room, sorting through our home-ed resources, and finding lots of things that have inspired me for future "schoolwork".  The children played board games, including Monopoly and Game of Life, read books, watched a Viking documentary and helped me work out our finances.

We went to the library on Thursday, and new books were bought home.  I always know not to plan anything for after our library visit as I seem to lose the children for a few hours whilst they pour over their new reads.  This does give me time to spend with Taisia on a one-to-one basis though which she really does benefit from.  She is coming on in leaps and bounds development wise.  She can walk steadily (and is fiercely independent, frustratingly so).  She often refuses to be carried when out and about now, instead preferring to take things at her own pace and wander aimlessly along.  I have to keep reminding myself that the world is fresh and new, fascinatingly exciting to her and a wonderful learning experience.  Not easy to do when I am desperate need for the loo or running late for an appointment.  Vocabulary wise, Taisia amazes us everyday with new words.  She picks things up incredibly easy, quickly mimicking back what is said to her - it means we have to watch what we say!  Off the top of my head, words she uses frequently and in context include...

"Pwease" = Meaning please, as she reaches up for or points to what it is that takes her fancy.
"Mama"
"Ta"
"Batpan" = Thanks to Chelsea singing the Batman theme tune.
"Cookie" = When she wants the C is for Cookie song on.
"Chocochoc" = Chocolate.
"Jo Jo" = when calling Joseph.
"Harry" = This is said really clearly when talking about or calling our cat.
"Keer" = Short for Kira our dog.
"Cat"
"Miaow"
"Baba" and "Baby"
"Whatisit?" = What is it? Sometimes said as "Whatsat?"
"Hello"
"Bye Bye"
"Up" = when wanting to be picked up or sit on the sofa.
"Car"
"Pat Pat Pat" = as she's stroking the dog or cat.
"Happy"
"Pwetty" = Pretty.

She roars when she see's dinosaurs, lions or tigers, and miaows when she see's a cat.  She "awwws" when she sees animals or baby's.

I've just had an appointment through for her developmental check and cancelled it.  I see no point in wasting my time and that of the health visitor's when it's clear she has no issues with vision, eyesight, health, or development at this stage.

Thursday evening was spent with Tiegan and Chelsea heading off to the pantomime with Tiegan's Brownies. Taisia missed Chelsea so much, she wouldn't settle until she returned home again, then snuggled up with her to watch music videos on Chelsea's phone...

Sisterly love.  

This snuggling time gave me some much needed respite, and allowed me to get on with planning group meetings for the Teignbridge and Torbay home-education group.  I've planned meets up until March 5th, so feel quite pleased with myself!  Future meets include visiting a zoo, a National Trust property, travelling to Cornwall, and visiting a park/nature reserve.

Friday.  I dyed Chelsea's hair red for her before the teens went to youth club in the evening.  She wants it a much brighter red, but we did a basic red as a base coat.  The day was spent writing stories, looking at what we needed to get for science experiments, and reading through some bird spotting literature.  Joseph did more research into what he needs for a career in forensic science, whilst Chelsea starting researching contacts for the make up industry.

The weekend.  Saturday we went to Torquay.  We had a snack in one of the pubs, and bought new books. Chelsea got "Kiss, Date, Love, Hate" by Luisa Playa, whilst Tiegan bought "The Longest Whale Song", by Jacqueline Wilson.  We also bought "War Horse" by Michael Morpugo, which will be next months chapter book.   Tiegan and I went through a few ideas for lapbooks and project ideas, and Joseph read some of the British History book to Callum who has started to show a real interest in historic events.

On Sunday we stupidly decided to go to Trago Mills, which was over the top busy and not particularly pleasant to walk around.  I did treat myself to a new knitting and crochet book, which will prove to be very useful I suspect, particularly when I'm creating new pieces for the nature table display or taking part in Season's swaps on the Greenparent forum.

Talking about crochet, do you know what I did at 3am this morning?  I made these...

Now, don't look too closely as there are mistakes.  I know it's not perfect.  I know it's not anything special.  I know that I'm bloomin' proud of myself.  I know that I'm grinning from ear to ear as it feels as if I've made a breakthrough.

For pretty much 10 years, on and off, I have been desperately trying to teach myself how to crochet.  I just didn't "get it".  I couldn't see where the hook had to go in the chain, I couldn't see where the hook had to go to make a stitch, I just couldn't do it.  Full stop.  I'd tried learning from books, from magazines, from website tutorials, from watching people, and from the ol' trusty YouTube videos, but all to no avail, I had almost resigned myself to never being able to crochet which was horrid.  There are so many utterly fabulous patterns out there that are crying out for me to make them.

In the early hours of this morning, it all fell into place.  Why the change, I don't know, but all of a sudden I could clearly see each stitch and where the hook needed to go (this doesn't mean it always went in the right place mind you - hence the few mistakes!)  So now dear readers, I can foresee my home becoming a haven of multi-coloured granny-ness, with crocheted blankets and throws, cushions, artwork, toys - the list goes on and on.   Can you tell I'm just a teeny weeny inchy winchy bit utterly fantastically chuffed with myself?

I am.

In other utterly fabulous news, the giveaway is coming together nicely.  I am awaiting to hear from a few companies I've contacted, but I am very happy to tell you that the very nice people over at Creative Steps magazine have offered a free year's subscription for the winner.  The magazine is only available on subscription, and I was a little dubious as to whether it was good value for money.  However, I have been sent a few copies to review, and wow, I really like it.  I will write an in-depth review in the coming week when we have had chance to make some of items that are contained within it, but definitely on first impressions I'm loving it.

Tiegan has thoroughly enjoyed looking through and choosing what to make too, so much so it was done before she got dressed or had breakfast...

Watch out for more giveaway information coming soon....

Playing catchy uppy!

It's been a pretty good week all in all.

On Wednesday we had a lovely slow start to the day. I had made a conscious decision to no longer stress about time and hurrying.  So often on group days I'm rushing around getting everyone up and ready, whilst trying to ensure the house is kept tidy and we've cleaned up before we leave.  Husband is often home before us on Wednesdays and although he would never complain, I can't help but think how I would feel if I returned home from a full day of work to find the house in a mess and floors and dishes in need of washing. 

With all the nagging and general rush rush busy-ness, I usually end up feeling flustered, deflated and annoyed.  

I try so hard not to.  

I try so hard to be the kind of free spirited mother who just goes with the flow totally relaxed.  

I will be that calm and pleasant to know even in a hurry mama one day, I will!   I have already improved a little bit.  I'm starting to slow down and consciously give myself time to really think before creating issues and bad feeling.

Look,  I even took the time out to have a cuddle before we left with Callum (now a not so light to carry 6 year old).

We finally got around to visiting Exeter Museum for the first time since it reopened in December, and it strangely felt like we were visiting old friends.  It had been closed for a long time (4 years?) and the kids have really appeared to have missed the place.  We literally only had half an hour or so to waste before home-ed group, so I don't really want to comment in depth on our first impressions as that would be unfair.  What I will say though is that I did find it difficult to navigate around (although I know we should have used a floor plan to assist with that).  I didn't much like the way things were categorized into eras as opposed to content.  


The way the museum used to be set up seemed much more child friendly.  The children knew exactly where they wanted to go - usually to the room with the stuffed animals.  Now though things are dotted around in various rooms, and we missed some of our old favourites (these may have been absent, or just not seen on our short visit).  


We were pleased to see this ol' fella though...

Callum thought that this was interesting...

But alas, it has to be said we were very disappointed by the "Gerald" display.  Gerald the Giraffe is such an icon of the museum, and has always stood oh so very proudly all by himself, with head and neck standing proudly above all else.  You could really get a sense of his grandeur and immense size as you climbed stairs and were greeted by the head of Gerald as you walked around the second floor gallery.  Now though, dear Gerald is plonked beside a bull elephant and a very pretty floral piano - with a whale skeleton above his head.   He may well enjoy the luxury of having company, but for me it just seemed odd.

Wrong, so very wrong.  *sniff*

This, erm, not particularly pleasant but strangely fascinating piece was met with a squeal of recognition by the children...

Whilst this handsome fella engrossed Callum's attention for some time...

The home-ed group in the afternoon was pleasant as always.  Fortunately the weather was dry and Taisia is still absolutely loving the freedom her feet are giving her.  It does make things, erm, shall we say interesting at the group.  I am constantly on my toes trying to watch where she is going and what she is attempting (that girl she has no fear!)  whilst staying alert to the whereabouts of the four others.  

Here she is enjoying a quiet moment with two of her siblings...

Unfortunately, I drove home with yet another headache.  I don't know what it is about Wednesdays and the group that isn't suiting me, but it seems to be quite a regular occurance. I'm thinking it could be the pressure of the "not able to relax for 10 seconds" thing.  With the drive there and back it means full concentration for around 5 hours solid.  Joseph has been a bit unhappy at the group for a while too so I think worrying about him may have something to do with it.  I'm not really sure what to do, but possibly taking a short break from group stuff might be on the cards.

We shall see.

Thursday and Friday were at home days.  Books were read, drawings were done, game consoles were played with, stories were written, discussions were had.  Much of Friday afternoon was spent clearing out the "junk room" in order to create this fabulous set up...

Regular Classroom Free readers will know that that set up only means one thing.  YES, we are going to be proud ratty owners again :)

This morning we headed out to pick them up.  We ended up with three instead of the planned two as I didn't want to leave one alone - I'm such a softie, but also a fairly knowledgeable "ratty person" who is fully aware that a single rat equals an unhappy rat in the majority of cases. I don't want to preach, but please please please bear that in mind if you want to keep rats as pets.  They are incredibly social animals and thrive on company - humans just can't replace cage mates no matter how much time you can spare to spend with them.

*steps off soap box*

Our 3 new babies are very similar looking, so it will take a few spot the difference games and close-up studying to ensure a fail proof way of telling them apart.  We have named them Rupert, Jasper and Noodles - yes, they are boys, we love cuddly boys!

Sometimes, they like to snuggle and hide a little, but they do enjoy scritches by gentle hands.

Sometimes they just look heart-meltingly cute.

I repeat, sometimes they just look heart-meltingly cute.

Sometimes they pose ever so nicely for photographs.

Sometimes they are just too darn quick!

I can't begin to tell you how joyously filled my heart is to have ratty members of our family once more.  Those that have been long-time blog readers will know that rats used to be a large part of our lives, with us taking on small scale rescue duties and having up to 18 rats at a time.  My day has been busily taken up with settling in the new fellas and mixing up their food mix.  I don't feed an off the shelf ratty food, preferring instead to make up my own.  It currently consists of a base rat food, dog kibble, pasta, brown rice, weetabix, cornflakes, and egg noodles.  I will also supplement their diet with fresh food every day.   Very often they will get a small sample of what we are eating if suitable.

If you have fallen in love with these guys and are considering buying your own, I would implore you to buy from a reputable breeder and not support the pet shop trading in animals.  If you wish to know why my feelings are strong on this, please contact me for more info.

You can find a great deal of information on keeping ratties here:

http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk

and the new forum (as the old community forum is now locked) here:

http://www.fancyratsforum.co.uk  - I am on there as Devonbunny.

I am looking forward to free-ranging the boys, creating hammocks and toys for them, and coming up with new play and food ideas.  Just like the old days!

If anyone is interested in rat nutrition, you can buy an excellent book called The Scuttling Gourmet, available here:  http://www.shunamiterats.co.uk/scuttling.shtml

The children have already asked if they can do a project on Rats - so they are going to be an educational source too!

World Book Day 2012

Have you registered yet?

Home-educators are welcome :)

http://www.worldbookday.com/index.asp

Crystals in the making...

Another day planned, another day that went bums up and not to the plan.  Ho hum.

On the agenda today was reading, a trip to the park, chemistry set opening, blog and website work, and making crystals.

What actually happened was a complete rearranging of the dining room, an overhaul of the home-ed resources, and a thorough on hands and knees clean up.

*sigh*

The day started out very promising.

I made a good start with the tidying up and daily cleaning whilst the children occupied themselves.  Reading and workbooks seemed a very popular task today with history, geography, mathematics and french being covered by various small and not so small people.   I was able to wash dishes, hoover and mop floors, put laundry in the machine, hang out now washed said laundry on the washing line (yay for nice weather!) and clean the bathroom whilst this "work" was going on.  The very littlest person assisted me throughout.

Chelsea started writing her blog again after a very long break away.

She wants to try to blog at least every other day, which will hopefully encourage her to do something interesting at least every other day so she has something to write about!

As you can see, that Haunting Violet book that Chelsea reviewed on her blog is very interesting, even to oh so little people.

I was so pleased that I had achieved so much so early on in the day.  I had promised Tiegan that we would look at her Crystal kit that she got for Christmas together, so that was next on the list.

Oh dear.

I got side tracked.

I walked into the dining room (where we planned to do the kit) and was shocked at the total disarray.  I knew I wouldn't be able to "work" in there so set about tidying.  I should have taken photographs, at one point no one could get in or out of the room as there was so much mess on the floor.  All home-ed resources were taken out of the filing cabinet and cupboards, and books were removed from shelves.  It was one of those jobs that you wish you'd never started.  It took hours.  No actually it took hours and hours an hours.  It took so long that husband returned home from work, hung around for an hour, and still no dinner had even been discussed let alone started.  I ended up leaving the mess and nipping out for a takeaway.

Once dinner was eaten, I set about trying to restore order again.  It's almost done, just need to sort through Taisia's toy boxes.  That can wait for another day.

At 8pm I was hoovering and mopping the floors and doing the dishes again (I think everyone else has forgotten how to do the dishes today, I have washed up so many times!), After changing Taisia's nappy and putting her into pyjamas, the time finally came to break open that Crystal kit...

I was not going to back out of my promise, even if it was 9pm by this time and my body was yearning for rest.

So, we had a late night science lesson mixing Aluminium Potassium Sulphate with coloured salt.

Poor picture quality sorry!

Waiting for the salt to dissolve. Yes, it's THAT dressing gown again!

We have left it looking like a pure purple liquid in a lidded tub and will check if anything is happening in the morning.

After this we went back into the lounge and the 3 children asked if they could read to me - at 10pm - what is going on?  So Tiegan read two chapters of her Jacqueline Wilson "Best Friends" book, Callum read "The Gruffalo" (what else?!) and Chelsea read a chapter of some book I can't remember the name of.  I shall find out and add the title tomorrow.

Talking of tomorrow, we are off to home-ed group in the afternoon and checking out the museum that we should have visited last week in the morning. Busy but fun :)

Did anyone else see the programme on Channel 4 tonight called "15 kids and Counting" ?   I watched it and now feel incredibly broody...

A sneaky peek into our world...

Today went a little bit off what was expected.  Usually we go to a home-ed group meeting on a Monday, but this week sadly we couldn't afford the petrol cost to get there.  So sad as I was really looking forward to meeting up with friends and trekking on Dartmoor, but it was not to be.  Our bank balance is much lighter than usual as it hasn't yet recovered from the bashing it took at Christmas.  We would have managed absolutely fine except husband had to take our bathroom and put it back in again as part of his NVQ assessment for college which cost us £90 for parts - eeek.  So that was our "spare" money gone and this week we have to be really frugal with our pennies.

So, a day at home for us instead, with a college assessor joining us for part.  

Fun.

Our morning started with a quick clear up and reading session.  Chelsea finished reading her chapter book - Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey.  

Don't you just love this style?  Fake glasses that she doesn't need, scarf and a dressing gown over clothes is the new look for 2012 dont'cha know.

I won't share Chelsea's thoughts on the book on here as she is, as I type this, typing up a book review for her own blog over here:  http://unschooledmusings.blogspot.com  Chelsea would love to have more readers and followers if anyone fancies popping across to read what a 16 year old has to say.  If she actually thinks people are interested in what she writes she may actually continue writing - I can hope.

Tiegan is reading Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson.  She does love reading so much, I often look over across the room to see her with head buried in a book.  Tiegan also really enjoys reading out loud to me too,  which she did yesterday whilst I tried to get to grips with crocheting.  

Please note, I didn't knock Taisia out as it looks like I did in that picture, I wasn't that desperate to crochet.

I did however, master the single crochet stitch.

You can just tell how chuffed I am huh?  That saying simple things please simple minds has never been so true.

We went for a lovely walk around the village, watched birds flying and tried to identify leaves and trees.  Taisia is loving her ability to stroll around with us, although it does turn a 20 minute jaunt into something nearer an hour.  

Home again to get warm and for Joseph to practice his Guitar Hero talents.  He takes it very seriously...

I bought a second hand different version of the game from Gamestation which has a Bon Jovi song on it (just for me) - you can imagine the rockin' that goes on to that one!