Thursday photo #317

The few small changes to lockdown that have taken place this week seem to equate to a lot more freedom. For us, days out at this time of year inevitably take place outside. It is quite rare for anybody outside our immediate family to join us too, so the four of us going for a day out felt relatively normal. We didn’t venture anywhere exciting but took our camper van to a local beauty spot 10 minutes down the road for a picnic. As there is a toilet in the van, it makes a huge difference to how long we can stay somewhere. We played rounders, the girls rode their bikes and I walked the dog. Not the most exciting day out, but probably the most welcome one in a long time.

Not going back to school

Last week, we thought Lia would be returning to school on Monday. However at the last minute, the school changed their mind and decided that they didn’t feel it was safe to return just yet. The hope is that they will go back on 15th June instead. Lia was looking forward to going back and was really quite upset about it when she wasn’t allowed to go. That said, I understand the school’s reasoning and appreciate that they are doing what they think is best.

So, we are back to education at home after a break for half term. Much as we are all looking forward to them being back at school, I do think there are advantages to staying at home. The one to one learning has really benefitted Libby in particular. Her maths is a completely different level to they way it was when she first started doing it at home. They have a quick maths test every morning that should take them eight minutes. When she started, Libby would manage a few questions but not many. Now, there are only one or two she can’t do.

We’ve gone back over division and multiplication and I’ve shown her how to cheat on questions involving times tables. A couple of months ago, she wouldn’t even have attempted a sum like 6 x 7. She doesn’t know her times tables and if she’s anything like me, she’ll never properly learn them. Instead, I’ve taught her to look at the numbers and pick the one that is closest to an ‘easy’ number. She doesn’t know 6 x 7, but she does know 5 x 7 and now she realises that she can just work that out and add seven. It’s amazing how much difference a bit of one to one attention can make with a subject like maths. I do hope to be able to carry on helping her to some extent when she goes back to school.

Redecorating

This week, we were able to get a carpet fitted in Libby’s bedroom. It is the final step of the girls’ ‘divorce’. Lia moved into her new room a while ago, but it took me a long time to decorate Libby’s room and book in an appointment for the carpet.

I had to completely empty the room for the carpet fitter, which was a huge job. Once the carpet was done, we then moved a lot of furniture around, swapping wardrobes between two rooms and trying to create a bit more space in general. Yesterday, I finally got to a point where Libby’s room had the furniture in and everything was put away well enough for her to do her zoom ballet class in there. It’s the nicest it will ever look and of course, I forgot to take a photo. So, here’s one of a wild rose instead.

Thursday photo #317

The girls posed for a photo just before bed last night and unusually, it was Lia who absolutely had to pull faces. I think this photo makes Lia look a little bit older than Libby, I’ve never thought that before. It may just be the fact she looks taller, I think she was standing on something.