Life with four school children

Yes, all four are in full-time education now.  Sophie, who 18 months ago would not let me leave the room has taken to school in a magnificent way.  She loves it, it has ignited something in her, and she is on the go constantly, amazing us with her speech, observations and zest for life.  In fact she is slightly sad at weekends when she can't go to school!!  What a turn around, and I am so proud that she has done all this in her own time, without coercion. 

They had to go dressed as a Roald Dahl character  the other day, who better to go as than "Sophie" from the BFG! 

 

Ethan went as the BFG and I made him is own Sophie doll to make him a giant.  However, he will not let me post a picture of him dressed up, and I respect that.

 

Luke has had his hair cut, in accordance with his new school's policy.  How grown up he now looks.  



Life with four children out the house has been "interesting".  I have been keeping busy, such as creating some Scooby Doo characters...

...preparing more wool for spinning, in order to fulfill another custom order...

...making brooches to sell at a Guild stall in November...

...making felted soap using the wonderful soap from Michelle over at Handmade Haven.

But I find it so difficult to get motivated.  I seem so much more productive when I have people around me.  I guess I haven't had this emptiness or "me" time to this degree for the last 14 years, and it will take some getting used to.  The frustrating thing is that I can't get down to the allotment in all this nice weather we have had due to injuring my knee a month ago, and still not being able to kneel down. 

Still finding the joy in the world around us though.  Just look at this web that spanned the double driveway and garden the other morning!! 

Wishing you all a wonderful autumn, and those adjusting to a new rythym, I know exactly how you feel!!

New starts

 September is always a time for new starts, and this September is no different.  Luke is off to High School.  Getting there under his own steam, and at a school where only a handful of people from his old school are going.  Also note the hair!  He had to have it cut to collar length, much to our consternation, but Luke accepted the schools decision, and is happy with his new style.

Sophie starts school too, which has coincided with a massive burst of independence (alas not independent in walking, she still prefers to be carried, and is getting really heavy now!)  She is enjoying school, and the first day walked in, waved goodbye to me at the door, whislt all the other parents were going in with their child, all I could do was stand on the periphery and watch her take her first steps to independence.  How she has changed from that child who would not let me leave her at pre-school 18 months ago. 

 

We are seeing how she manages school over the next few weeks, as she has the option of staying doing part-time until Christmas as she is one of the younger ones. 

 

 

Alec has gone back to school minus his best friend who has moved schools.  He is coping well, and is hoping to join a couple of clubs such as photography and chess.  Ethan is in his final year of first school (how did that go so quick?) and is loving being back with his friends. 

 

As for me, I am at home now, by myself for the first time in 14 years!  It can get very quiet, but I have so much to keep me busy, especially with my Aisling Designs shop that has a steady flow of custom orders, and I have been finding time to create extra things to stock my shop with too.

The end of an era

 Today is the last day I will have a child in pre-school.  A sign that our family is growing up.  Sophie went laden with gifts of homemade fudge in sweet little boxes for heer teachers, very excited to give them out too.

 Ethan will miss his teacher, Miss Rose.  She has really "got" Ethan, and has even seen his cheeky side, which is a sure sign he is comfortable around her.  I made a needle felted brooch for her, styled on a rose, which I felt was appropriate for Miss Rose.

 Luke has his last day at middle school today.  He too went laden with gifts for the teachers that have given him inspiration and support. He seems to be taking the whole move to high school in his stride, and is looking forward to the adventure ahead.

Alec hasn't taken any presents in, as he will be having the same tutor throughout his time at middle school.  That isn't to say things won't be changing for him.  His best friend is moving to a different school, and I know Alec will miss him alot.  Fortunately though, he only lives around the corner, so hopefully they will still be able to see alot of each other. 

We are all looking forward to the summer break, with little adventures planned, and the opportunity to work to our own timetable (ie not racing round like headless chickens first thing in the morning!!)  Hope you all have an enjoyable Summer break too, and look forward to the adventures ahead.

Shiver me timbers!

 Another dressing up day for school.  This time they have to go as pirates, and taking "pieces of eight" to raise money for the school funds.  I could have gone to the shops and bought a ready-made outfit.  But I'm always up for a challenge, so the last couple of days have found me raiding my fabric stash and creating a pirate outfit fashioned on Jack Sparrow!

 Of course, there has been a little helper too.  Her job here was to pull the pins out whenever we got to the next one, safest way I could think of getting her to help, whilst keeping fingers away from sharp fast moving needles, and feet away from the power pedal!

And here is the result (not the best photo I'm afraid, I keep forgetting to use the flash indoors)

The boots are some black material sown onto the trousers, with some elastic going under his shoes to keep them in place, a red sash of polycotton, same as his bandana, the shirt is actually Alec's school shirt which he donated (unknowingly!) with lace around the cuffs, and buttons removed from the top half, replaced with a leather shoe lace, and finally a long waistcoat from some thick green denim-y type material.  Ethan was very pleased with it all (and so was I!)

A new chapter

Sophie has started pre-school. I was unsure whether she should start at 2 and a half, like her brothers had done, because she would only be there for a few months before she moved to the pre-school linked to the first school. But we thought it would be better to treat her fairly, and so she has started.



I must say, I am very impressed with their approach. I sit in for the sesions with her (she is doing one session a week), and they actively encourage parents to do this until the child is ready, as they recognise the children have to create a relationship with the staff there. They do not make her "do" anything, she can join in with as much or as little as she likes. She will follow the crowd until she gets bored and decides to prance about the room at story time, and that is ok. So lovely and gentle.



I took some crocheting to do this week, and sat in the corner, trying to get on with it. Except I then had a hoard of children gather around me wanting to know what I was doing, could they have a go, why had I not finished it yet etc. So impromptu crochet lessons were given to those that were interested, and it was interesting seeing how they interpreted what they were seeing me doing, one lad trying to pile all the wool onto the hook! I had various children hanging on to the end of the hook whilst I tried to crochet, as this was the closest we could get to them actually crocheting. I can see me taking it along next week and they can see how much more has been done! Interestingly though, Sophie would just come along and tell me to put it down, and go to play with her, to her it is just a thing that mummy does, not something intriguing!

I can't believe that I have managed to raise 4 children, and never come across this particular activity for outdoor play. A bowl of water and paintbrushes! They were entertained for ages, and again, such a simple unstructured activity.

I am sure that Sophie will have a fantastic time there, well she does already, but once she is independent from me for a couple of hours. It's such a shame she moves on so quickly, being one of the youngest in the academic year

A mish mash of things

Last week Luke was away with the school, doing all the things he loves doing such as abseiling, rock climbing, zip wire, King swing, quad biking etc. It was an incredibly long week for us at home, and we were hoping that it was zipping by for Luke, and that he was a having a great time. Unfortunately the social side of it let him down, spending that long with class mates was a bit too much for Luke, and he came home vowing never to go anywhere again without Mum and Dad! It has set him back with school too. I think friendships is the only reason he goes to school, and now he doesn't even see that as a particular lure The request for home-schooling has begun again, but I am really not sure how realistic that would be. The summer holidays can not come quick enough, and hopefully he can have some time to relax without thinking about the trivialities of school.

As for the rest of us, Sophie had her first ride on the back of my bike. It was lovely to get back on it, but I will need to build up my fitness levels a bit! We went foraging for Elderflowers to make some cordial. More strawberries picked, along with some redcurrants and raspberries. But unfortunately it would seem the extra security measures at the allotment have not been enough to deter the vandals, and they got in at the weekend pulling up whatever they could find. Fortunately for us it was only the remainder of the garlic, which was ready to be pulled anyway, but others lost young plants to the thugs :(

Alec is off on his first cub camp this coming weekend, so I hope he has a great time. And we are getting together camping gear for our first venture into camping with children. We've bought a 6 berth tent which is so enormous the bag for the canvas has wheels on it!! Hopefully this will be the start of many adventures, once I can get past the erecting of the tent whilst keeping tabs on a certain young lady who will leg it at the slightest opportunity! But that's what older children are for, right?!

I feel rather humbled to have received a number of blog awards recently. I will do a seperate post about those when I can sit and think! In the meantime I have some jam to make, and possibly some redcurrant rum!

School Blues

Luke is not happy. He really has not settled in well to school this year. There has been a change in the tutor system so they are in mixed year tutor groups, and Luke has found this rather unsettling, combined with some rather "shouty" teachers, who have struck the fear of god into him, so now when he is confused about something he won't ask, for fear of being shouted at. He doesn't want me to intervene, as it would make him feel "a baby", so we are stuck.

Its heart breaking to see him so sad, and having had a miserable time at school myself at his age, I can empathise so much with him. The best I can do is make homelife as stress free as possible (not easy when organisation really isn't my forte!) so at least he has some nice hours in the day. I had thought of going behind his back to speak with the teachers, but that is just too much of a risk, one that I am not prepared to take, if he ever found out, how could he trust me again?

This parenting lark is tough! I cant wait for half-term to have him happy again.

Fortunately the other two are enjoying school, I must be grateful for that.