Gardening, Art, Science, Music, Maths, Cooking and other things

OK, today, I decided that I'd takes little notes of the activities that took place today because I cannot rely on my memory and wanted to put in my blog just how much they get up to, but even though I got some of it written down it's still not all of it!

I was supposed to be catching up on the housework today but didn't really get much done!
I've really noticed how physically active the children are, they've got the trampoline which is in almost constant use, the swings which have been wrapped over the top so they're really short and the top bar is being climbed over, and the slide which is used for all sorts of and the paddling pool, and our chin-up bar in the living room is very popular (except when people are trying to walk through the door!) It really made me realise that if they were in a classroom all day being made to sit down most of the time, I can really see that it would drive them a bit mad! It also made me think about what to do in the winter - maybe get more chin-up bars!!

Anyway.....this morning after messing about for a bit in the garden Jamie came in and decided that she'd play with the big keyboard that we've only just got a new lead for, I got a sheet music book out and showed her how to read music - writing the keys underneath and I wrote them on the keys too so she could play a song.
Alex and Amelia had a go too, had lots of fun making very strange sounds.

Then, back out in the garden, we found a grasshopper had fallen into the paddling pool and drowned, Jamie wanted to bury it, but I suggested that we look at it under Jamies microscope and we spent quite a while studying it. After a while Jamie wanted to go outside and study the mosquito larvae that's living in my temporary pond (bucket) with my lily in. She studied how they move around - did a very funny impression of one- and she saw how they breath - through a little tube on there bottoms! and later on she decided that she'd try and kill them with chemicals!! I explained that that was NOT a good idea and why, and I explained that the best way is to find out what creature eats them, and encourage them to live near by (she hasn't got round to that bit yet)

Then I made a fruit smoothie/milkshake ( 4 bananas, wheatgerm and maple syrup, YUM) and we had three different 4 sized glasses, Alex and Jamie wanted to have exactly the same amount, so we did a few experiments about volumes and how we could make sure we all had the same amount.

We did a bit of gardening because Alex wanted to get the little step ladder out for Amelia, to see of she get up on to the trampoline by herself, but the steps were in the bushes - put there before the plants all grew up, so Alex had to pull them out and trim them back.

Alex and Jamie had a long discussion about how many seconds, minutes and hours are in a day. I showed them how to work it out, then Jamie got the calculator out and realised how much easier it was!

Jamie told me EVERYTHING that happened in her book she read the other day, the one that took her a couple of hours to read. I did wonder once that she was reading so fast that she couldn't possibly be actually taking it in, but she remembers EVERYTHING! I should maybe help her learn to summerise, it was great hearing her recount all the details, but I hadn't banked on being caught for half an hour!

They both helped me chop up vegetables for the dinner, until a big argument broke out....

I'm actually getting somewhere with Jamie regarding her attitude, we had another big argument last night, and she wasn't backing down as usual - she gets so rude and says such horrible things and thinks its ok to hurt people and get revenge, but we got to a non- shouting stage and we actually talked properly and reached the same conclusion. And today, after she beat the cr*p out of Alex because he ran off with something of hers, after she was arguing that she had every right to do that, and me not backing down at all without getting angry myself, she calmed down A LOT quicker and properly apologised!! normally she wouldn't even realise she was in the wrong! So hopefully, it's starting to get through to her that she can't hurt people.

Alex did some drawings, he tried to draw Tree Fu Tom, got frustrated with it, then he watched 'Get Sguiggling' and drew some cool pictures :)

OK. that's all I jotted down, theres still a lot more that happened, but I'd be here all night doing this if I typed it all down!

I'm going to go outside now and see if I can see the International Space Station pass over! :)