24 April 2018

I’ve not written for a few weeks, and I miss it.  My Amazing  Mum (Techno Granny) is building this new site for me, which is very exciting.  So, what with being “in between” sites, and life being more hectic than usual, I’ve got a bit of catching up to do.  I’ll do it mainly with pictures.

Easter Day was lovely.  Doing the short study as a family on “The last words of Jesus” during Holy Week, prepared me more than usual to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.  I always lay the table out with egg cups filled with chocolate eggs, and orange juice to counteract all the sugar which will inevitably be consumed in lieu of cereal.  I bought the “Jesus story book bible” by Sally Lloyd Jones for the girls, and an audible credit for each of the boys to buy a Christian audio book.

It’s been good to feel rooted in our community at this time, too.  We had several families round on Good Friday for hot cross buns and cake, and enjoyed being at our local church on Easter Day.

The second week of the holiday was busy; we had fun catching up with some homeschool friends one day over lunch; most of the teens  then went off for a walk, but a few younger girls stayed with us mums and made some felt Easter Eggs. 

The boys went up to the Big City for a few days to take part in church led community projects.  The girls and I went up for one day; it initiated a good discussion about drugs as we found several syringes and other paraphernalia as we cleared up a local area.

In stark contrast, this year’s pig group congregated on our field, to prepare the ground and enclosure for this year. I enjoyed watching an influx of little boys busying themselves with spades and wheelbarrows.  It brought back memories…

And then we hurtled into term full pelt.  Lanky Dude has maths A level looming, and his EPQ deadline impending (the robot project).  It’s continued to involve lots of unexpected challenges and it’s a good thing we have a van for the amount of ferrying we’ve had to do.

Rhythm Dude is so struggling with remembering all he has to for his chemistry exam.  I hadn’t realised quite how disadvantaged he is, with the dyslexia. His short term memory is very low (though long term memory good), which means constant repetition if he’s going to get any facts to remain. And it seems unfair; both boys work hard, but Lanky Dude got an A* and Rhythm Dude is hoping for a C.  

We celebrated a special birthday for Granny with lunch at my brothers’ house.  All eleven of her grandchildren were there. I feel truly blessed to be able to celebrate such occasions in this way. It was a busy week end, as we then took Sparkly Eyes back to Brownie camp, and went on up to join the 18th birthday party of one of the boys’ home ed friends; another celebration with many families.

I’m aware we’ve lost our normal rhythm, which includes times of rest.  There have been so many demands on both my time and emotions, that I didn’t plan our learning in my usual way, and the number of unexpected or extra jobs have simply compounded to life seeming rather out of control.  However, I had time last week end to sit quietly, pray and plan this half term, and I think some sort of new normality is setting in to our weekly routines.  More on all this another time.

After a copious amount of rain, we’ve now had some welcome sunshine, and have been busy planting out seeds and pulling up brambles in the front garden, in an attempt to finally bring some order there.  It’s satisfying to look out at the results of our labour.