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Winter Blues
I'm not loving this cold weather. Even though I rarely leave the house, I still can't stand the cold dreary sludge of dank leaves and damp air. It's been drizzly yukky rain for the last week, you know, that kind of teeny tiny micro bead sized raindrops that don't look too intimidating but soak you through to your core. Ughhh I hate it.
The worst thing is that it just makes you want to curl up and slum in your jim-jams snuggled with blankets and steaming cups of tea and buttery toast. But we can't, well not every day anyway. There's home edding to be done.
The kids are pushing through division and multiplication at the mo and doing really well. But I must say some of the workbooks that they also use really do complicate things. One method is to separate the numbers and multiply them singularly then add up the answers all together at the end. Stupid, right? So we're doing it the easy way, the way every adult does it, the way it's been taught for generations, what they now call "column method". It wasn't called "column method" when I was at school because that was just the way they taught it. It didn't have a name as far as I'm aware. It's the same for the division. The way it's always been taught is now called "bus stop method". I don't even want to try and fathom any other method and I don't see the point.
But who am I to argue Mathematics strategies?! I'm just a home ed Mum and I don't mind admitting I strive to keep things as simple as possible whilst challenging them.
The cold dreary days are really beginning to get to me. I keep remembering back to the awesome summer we had this year. Yes, I baked but I loved sitting out in the garden every morning having my breakfast and listening to the birds twittering away and watching the flowers open up and stretch towards the sun. It was lush and I miss those days dreadfully.
The only thing that keeps me from completely shutting down is the prospect of a new box set series. We've just finished watching series 1 of The Sinner. It was nothing like I expected. It was VERY dark and there were many a moment I felt uncomfortable watching it. I'm not sure I want to watch the next series but people are saying it's really good so I probably will give it a go.
This week doesn't help with feeling ughh because I have to sign on and sign up to an online course on Wednesday and on Thursday I finally have the meeting about my P.I.P. Appeal. I'm dreading it. My anxiety is raging already, Christ knows how I'll be by Thursday. My head feels like it's ready to burst.
I'm lucky to have the kids around me, they make me laugh and I enjoy the cuddles. I was getting the shower ready for *O earlier and when he got in I asked him if the water was OK and he said "Yes, it's fine. Now wash me!". It did make me laugh. He wasn't saying it in a bossy mean way, he was only playing. He's a funny lad.
My eldest girl hasn't long been back from her Senior Section duties. She's now a Young Leader and helps out with a Brownies Troup. Not sure if I've mentioned it before. Probably have. She brought home some of the things they are making there. She'd made Christmas cards and festive pen pots with them tonight. It brings back memories from when she was a Brownie. It was actually quite a heartwarming moment.
My middle girly told me the other day that a girl from her class (from the school we recently removed her from) is now being home educated and her friend who she keeps in touch with has said her Mum is also considering home education. Viva La Home Ed Revolution!
She also made a real money maker of a cake the other day. It was a vegan vanilla sponge with a butter cream filling and covering topped with various edibles. Mine and *N's section was blueberries, *O's was crushed bourbon biscuits and *I's and the hubs had sprinkles. It was lush!! I think she might be in charge of making that for our Christmas cake!