more musical theatre

As well as JK and Madi both rehearsing for a musical in a week, now that I can turn photos around ;-) I can post some pictures of Madi's recent 'Annie' birthday party.

After an afternoon rehearsing with the marvellous Maxine, twenty girls performed 'You're never fully dressed without a smile' to friends and family.

Emilia, Pheobe, Priscilla, Jenni and Abygail

Evie, Holly, Madi and Aimee

Ruby, Lucy, Lily, Grace and Chloe

Zoe, Luci, Flic, Ellie, Molly and Abby

the whole cast (including Jem!)

In fact musical theatre is very much the theme of the week, as JK is practicing songs from 'Mary Poppins', and Madi's new piano book has just arrived and she will be adding to her current 'Take that look off your face' with songs from 'Oliver'.

Much to JK's delight, we've even been joined by C4's Big Brother, with a Charles Dickens task that includes a housemates' performance of 'Consider Yourself'!

technology almost defeated!

Despite my new gadget's very best attempts, I have now managed to upload some photos to my computer, and spent a very happy couple of hours looking at them and labelling them. So in celebration here are some pictures of some favourite pre-blog moments... (all I need to do now, is work out how to fit pictures in to the text!) cheesemaking at Stichelton Dairy, near Welbeck

being a bunny in Bugsy Malone at The Palace Theatre, Mansfield

a visit to the Iron Age roundhouse at Calverton

making pomanders in a Tudor kitchen at Wollaton Hall

art and nature at Shirebrook

self-service at Pizza Express, Buxton

creating a movie at the Apple shop in Meadowhall

playing ice hockey

and the dance school show- Let's Get Loud!

Lots more too, especially now that I've worked out the way to post portrait photos the right way up!

a musical in a week?

Well, my little gadget still isn't working, but I'll keep on posting and add the pictures when I sort it out! This week, both children are putting on musicals in a week. Madi is a cheerleader in 'Ghoul School Musical', this year's Theatre Week production, but JK has decided he is now too old for this, and is reprising his Fat Sam role in 'Bugsy Malone', at the Nottingham Arts Theatre. As even I ;o) couldn't possibly drop two children in different towns 25 miles apart, JK is taking himself on the bus. I'm really proud that he has risen to the challenge of something completely new and taking on some new independence and responsibility, and can't wait for both shows on Friday! This also means that Madi and I are spending quite a lot of time together in the car, so are making the most of it with a very girlie audio book- Noel Streatfield's 'Ballet Shoes', a story from my own childhood. It is also the first recording we've listened to in play rather than story format, but this doesn't seem to have caused her any difficulty, and she is really enjoying the story, during which two of the Fossil children perform 'The Blue Bird' by Maureice Maeterlinck, which also gives us a great opportunity to look at a written play format, as it is available as a free download from The Project Gutenberg.

A is for Archery

Whilst the schools are on holiday, a lot of our regular activities don't take place either, so a great opportunity to try something new, and today was the first session of an archery course.

Madi has been wanting to do this since last year's star appearance as Maid Marian at the Robin Hood Festival, but is only just old enough. JK has tried archery before at Cub and Scout camps, but still seemed to find it difficult to decide whether he was going to shoot left- or right-handed. I have bought myself a little gadget so that I can upload photos more easily, so will be adding them soon (when I can work out how to use it!)

do you stop in the summer like the schools do?

http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/is a great blog that gives a much better answer than I could to this question! So today is the first day of the school six week summer holidays. This has its pros and cons. Unfortunately there will be lots more children in parks, pools and other places we want to go. But, there are also lots more activities and opportunities organised in the day time. We were up very early this morning because Madi had a skating lesson, and as we are spoilt and used to just half a dozen others sharing the ice, Coach Nicki had found us a slot before the public session started. But I think Madi is still recovering from the nasty virus that hit her last week, as she was really tired afterwards, so we've been taking things easy today. She does have new found enthusiasm for music practice after she found out at the weekend that she had passed her Grade 1 Piano. Currently working on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Little Donkey, which aren't exactly seasonal but make a pleasant change from the exam pieces which were starting to get a little tedious for us all. We dropped JK off to meet some friends from his drama group and he will be getting the bus back in practice for next week's big adventure. Unsurprisingly he hadn't done any of the things he had planned for today when he received the call inviting him out, but he has promised to catch up tomorrow. Hmmmmm.

starting a blog!

I can't believe we've been out of school for a year and a half already! Finally I'm going to start keeping more of a record of what we get up to. But why am I doing this? Well, obviously it'll be useful as evidence of an education should the dreaded LA start looking in our direction. It'll also be handy for answering those people who find out we home educate and look at me with either a 'patronising and pitying' or 'genuinely interested but can't imagine anything more than school-at-home' expression and ask, 'but what do you actually do..?'. They then proceed with a list of things I must be depriving my children of, generally including but certainly not restricted to: socialisation, chemistry labs, sports days, school plays, exams, and the national curriculum. But most of all, it will be something lovely to remind ourselves of what we have been up to. I'm very privileged to be sharing my children's learning, and yet already there are things that I don't or soon won't remember. So whatever else we are doing, somehow I will have to find the time to keep posting too!