Shadow lands........

Scenes from our stroll

A few pictures I took when we took the dogs for their walk.......when you walk down to the pond now the grass is literally moving around you with frogs of all sizes...they all rush back towards the pond as you go nearer....Lloyd caught this little one for me to photograph......in the sunlight it was almost copper......quite beautiful.

The little white shed is actually the bus shelter...because it is so cold here in winter most acreages have a little shelter so the school children can stand in there waiting for the bus to pick them up from the end of the driveway.......I think ours is lovely....most of them tend to be shabby and ugly. I'd like to stencil plants around the bottom of ours one day....

The pretty old gate that is still standing behind Lloyds workshop...I plan to keep it simply for photographs over the years.......and the last picture is Rosie with the ball....she adores playing fetch and is quite brilliant at it...not like her big sister Amber...........Amber hasn't got a clue about retrieving!!! I think she's an Irish Setter in disguise......

Chicken feet

Don't chickens have the most enormous revolting feet??????

Here are some of our girls....soon to start laying.......they are such odd creatures...they just sit on thier roost and stare at you..........yet as soon as you go they wander around...you go in again and they stay still again...as if they are playing musical statues at a birthday party and the first one who moves is out! .......or roasted on Sunday lol!

Lloyd adores his chickens...as does Chris....these are very, very pampered chickens. But they aren't very bright ;)

Summer evening stroll with the dogs....

My girls Rosie and Amber in the front paddock this evening.......

Plant life.....

Some of the plants and flowers (and cuckoo spit) from our land today.....Lloyd hadn't heard of cuckoo spit before but I remember seeing it on nature walks as a child...it's created by little bugs as a protective layer during metamorphosis......in this top picture its hard to focus on it but it's the white bubbly stuff by the plant stem.......

Peony pleasures

Flowering at last......and they are stunning......

F-ant-astic!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5128604.stm

We have Field Ant hills all over our land......they don't often come by the house so we haven't bothered to do anything about them......I find them facsinating.....and the article above shows just how amazing these creatures are at measuring distances....

.....maybe our house will cave in from all the ant tunnels under ground but ants sure are neat to study!!!

first impressions

Sometimes you meet people and you instantly feel comfortable with them...conversations flow easily and you just feel like you've met a new friend in this big old world......

And then there are those people that you meet and you just know you will never be friends...you feel uncomfortable, they 'rub you up the wrong way' (is that an English term????) and conversation is so hard......and you leave the situation feeling low....sometimes this happens with those you come across online and sometimes with those you meet in real life and sometimes both...but its most difficult to handle when you know you are going to cross each others paths again and again......

This has been a week where I have experienced both of the above......and I certainly know which situation I prefer ;)

How ironic

"Our third workshop will be held in May titled " Here there are dragons” .
Using Schema focused methods for challenging childhood/traumatic life traps or
resistant behaviour

" .

So The Farmhouse Therapy Centre recently held the above workshop.....hmmmm its about issues adults have that date back to childhood experiences......hhhmmmm

http://www.farmhousetherapycentre.co.uk/home.htm

interesting.....

And how funny that it was run by the owner of this therapy centre......my EX...the same ex that has not spoken to his children since Xmas 02...the very same Ex who hasn't seen his children since September 02...and then was late to come and pick them up because he didn't get out of bed on time........the same ex that lives in a half a million pound farmhouse and can honeymoon in the Caribbean and visit NYC regularly to see his Mom but can't come a few hours further to see his own children.....he doesn't send letters, doesn't email, doesn't phone....they sometimes get birthday cards and a little money...sometimes not...it's a guessing game for the children....maintenance hasn't been reliable lately......even though he pays a lot less than he really should...

He's 'curing' clients who were treated this way by their fathers....and they are paying hundreds for the privilege........can't he see that he's doingt he same thing to his own children?????

How ironic is that???????

And I bet none of his clients have a clue what their therapist is really like......ah but of course they all probably believe his wicked ex wife 'stole' his children away from him! That I won't allow contact.......he even has his new wife fooled...doesn't she wonder why he doesn't maske any effort to see his children????

Irony...what a funny thing it is........

Honours Award

Here are Chris's awards for getting Honours in grade 7. He's proud of course, but more than that I think he is just happy that the year is through and he is finally free of that school board.

Well done Chris!

Blackberry picking :)

Lloyd is at the homeschool boards end of year award ceremony. Chris is being given an award of some kind...he gets honours all the time so maybe its for that....... or who knows what award they have come up with....last year Chris got a special award when he graduated grade 6. It was voted for by staff and students for being an all-round great person...helpful, clever, friendly........I was very proud :) to me that award meant so much more than an award for honours because I know how easy studying comes to him......

That doesn't mean I'm not proud of him for his results...just that the fact that he is growing into such a good, kind, respectable and responsible human being is so much more important than test results.

Anyway Lloyd keeps emailing from his blackberry...some little girls are playing violins atm and he wants Abby to learn ha!!!! I told him she can practice in his office ;)

He also needs the bathroom so I keep emailing him water sounds....I also told him to stand up and swear and pretend he has tourettes...that would liven the place up ;)

Chris wrote a fab book report today....another book about the second world war...his interest atm.

I started feeling worse and worse this afternoon so popped some tylenol and soaked in a cool bath for a while......I read the entire Live Free Learn Free magazine from cover to cover - wow what an issue!!! EVERY article just spoke to me......if you homeschool or unschool or have the slightest interest in your childs education then subscribe to this magazine - or just order the July/Aug issue because it's worth every penny!!! www.livefreelearnfree.com

I read an article about 'exploring the slow lane' to Sam.....he loves to be read to...he doesn't mind whether its a childrens book or one of my magazines, he will happily sit and run his finger along the page and look around the room as I read to him.....

Laurie got invited to a sleepover tonight but I said no.....Lloyd came home and then drove back into the city for the ceremony and I don't feel up to driving tonight...but he can invite the boys over another night....I'm sure they'll be here a lot through the summer and he will be there too.....

Great Lloyd just called to say they are on their way home...with dinner :)

Ignorant to homeschooling

Quite often I read ignorant comments about homeschooling....silly things like 'people only homeschool so they can stay in bed late in the mornings'....or 'they only homeschool so they don't have to bother making school lunches'......or 'they only homeschool because they are lazy'......

.......and then days like today you read comments by these same types of people saying how they are so happy their kids are on summer holidays now because they get to do 'fun things' with them........

.....don't they see that THIS is why most people homeschool....because they LIKE being with their kids and they WANT to be the person their kids are doing these things with ALL YEAR!!!!

I hope if anything that this blog shows the few who read it what homeschooling can look like.......every homeschooling family is different but this is one way it works. I don't stay in bed all day.......I don't sit and watch Dr Phil and Oprah all day.......I'm not homeschooling because its the 'easy option'.....I homeschool because I love what it brings to us as a family. I love what it brings out in my children. I love being there to see them learn and do and watch and grow and shine. I don't want all this limited to 9 weeks in the summer.

What annoys me most is that those with these ridiculous opinions actually seem to know very little about homeschooling and don't seem to know many if any homeschoolers...so what are their opinions based on???? Jokey comments that homeschoolers have made?????? Or what?????? Because in all my years of homeschooling and mixing with homeschoolers and chatting online with homeschoolers, not ONCE have I EVER come across anyone say that they homeschool so they can stay in bed in the mornings.....or not have to make lunches......

This is a total misinterpretation. I have heard homeschoolers say that its nice that they don't have to get up and rush their kids out the door to school...I have heard them say its nice that they don't have to make lunches in the evenings when they are tired or early in the morning in the before-school rush.........but thats a 'benefit' not a reason for choosing to homeschool.
What do these comments (and others) prove to me? they prove that these women are ignorant and a littler sad because they seem to have no better argument. Are they just trying to justify their own choices??? I'm not sure.......all I know is that I have never judged their choices in that way yet they feel able to judge mine quite rudely. My opinion of these women is not very good but I'll leave my opinions about THAT to myself ;)

Comment changes

I recently changed it so anyone can leave a comment here...not just bloggers...i'll see how it goes and if I get any spam maybe I'll change it back......

...so if you read the blog please feel free to leave a comment and say hi! If you haven't fallen asleep at the keyboard from reading about my unexciting life ;)

Soccer monster

Sam loves balls...he has a huge collectiopn all different sizes and he loves to throw and kick and roll them.......he's pretty nifty at throwing a baseball too ;)

A good mail day....

Fuzzy Felt Farm

Laurie making the plane that came with his magazine.

Susie with the headband from Grandma and the card from her penpal.

Abigail in her headband from Grandma playing Fuzzy Felt Farm

Abby looking cool in her new headband.

Today was a very good mail day which made me sad that ew didn't go on that walk and collect mail on the way as I know the kids would have loved opening the box today! There was a parcel from my Mum and Dad in England......with FUZZY FELT FARM!!!!! Woohoo! I had asked her to look out for old fuzzy felts at car boot sales and charity shops but this one was one she found new at the toy store.....

I remember sitting in bed sick when I was little, with my stripey blanket I always had since birth and boxes of fuzzy felts to play with....fuzzy felt hospital, fuzzy felt circus......we had a lot of them including the farm!

Also in the parcel were two Beano's for Laurie....one with a plane to make on it.....

Susie had a Happy Canada Day card from her penpal R so she was thrilled.

I had my 'Live Free Learn Free' unschooling magazine which I can't wait to read, and a newsletter from the homeschool board (the one I'm not signing with).

Some days I wish I had a Grandma like my kids have - she sends them such cool things!!!