Please let me do another worksheet........

Yes, those words were really what Leo said to me on Tuesday. Words I never, ever expected to hear him say in a million years, as he is a boy who worried about, and hated, Maths more than anything else at school. I mean really worried.....and not just 'oh dear I'm worried about maths' but as in crying, nightmares......I had prepared a worksheet for us to do, and he enjoyed it so much that he ended up doing three complete worksheets. They are quite basic at present precisely so that he can succeed and we can build his confidence.

A good start!

The Civil War ink project went really well too. Leo made the ink with blackberries, salt and vinegar, and we then used a technique of wetting the paper and then dropping the ink on. He made a cover for his Civil War folder and really enjoyed the technique and enjoyed experimenting, coming up with a 'flicking' technique of his own, which made what looked like blood splatters, something that pleased him greatly. He's bloodthirsty!!!

I think I'm going to try and update this blog perhaps weekly as a summary of what we've done - I just don't get time during the week, really so maybe a week's worth of photos and notes will be what I need to aim for...

New starts

Well. We had no internet while we were away for the last week during our holiday in Malvern, so keeping this blog going wasn't an option really!

Llyncroft, Malvern

We did have a fabulous time, really fun and relaxing. Leo climbed the Herefordshire Beacon, the 'British Camp' with us and made it no problem, he's a very good walker, better than me, that's for sure. He learned about the history of the British Camp - it's an iron age fort basically, so he was able to see and feel the fortifications of it as he went - and we discussed (and experienced!) the fact that being in residence at the top of a big steep hill gives you a massive advantage, as any potential marauders are pretty puffed out by the time they are near you ;-)
Other stuff he much enjoyed (apart from spending holiday money, haha) were daily walks on the local common, lots of playing ball and kite flying.

Leo and Dan conquer the Herefordshire Beacon!

Very successful kite flying

 We came back to check the Allotment 'project' - weeds had almost overtaken it, in just a week or two, but this is Leo's patch after some intensive weeding....



Leo has herbs - Rosemary, Lavender, celery, thyme, and Mint - and at the back, potatoes, onions, and broccoli

Very Important Moment - first harvest from the allotment - Radishes from Leo's patch!

So today marked the start of our new 'term' of homeschooling. We have a loose timetable based on who he is with each day. Mondays are Gran, so it's humanities - English, History but of course it's all wider than that in reality. Leo has chosen to study the American Civil War as his first project (because Wolverine was in the civil war.......!!) so they spent the morning researching it. Already one of the beauties of homeschooling is totally obvious, in that as well as choosing to study something he is interested in, he was able to record his research in ways that the Occupational Therapist recommended - using a scribe, (eg Gran) and computer. School never got this together despite many requests and despite the OT recommending it in his official care plan! Now he can record in ways that suit him and enable him to learn best - he's making a lapbook/folder for his civil war studies as a good way of collating/presenting his work.

After they were done, he and gran had a long walk down to the sea and around the local woods and back through the village. All in all a lovely 'first' day for him!

Tomorrow it's our day together, which means starting the day with Maths, then we are tailoring our art/craft session to the Civil War project - we're making home made ink, as the soldiers would have done when they couldn't get proper ink away from home. We need to get a couple of things for the ink project, so following Maths we will be walking to town to get Supplies, which should have us firing on all cylinders for being creative when we get home!