2 down, 1 left!

Good Afternoon Company Girls - and anyone else that drops in!

Sorry I'm late with the coffee, but I've only just found the lead to download my picies from the phone! Blame Sprog 1 - she says she didn't hide it, but I think she just didn't want to show off her lovely new uniform! Lol!

Anyway, it's offical, 2/3rds of my family is now back at school!
Sprog 3 is due to start Nursery at the end of September, but I think we'll be hanging on until after October half term as we still haven't mastered the bathroom! ......Sigh!
But that's a post for another day!

So, Friday morning dawned bright (and far too early for me!) and Sprog 1, who had been full of plans to be up by 6.30am and out by 7.30, almost missed it!
The look on her face when I shook her awake and said "It's gone quart-to-7!" was a picture.....she hasn't been up much before 9am all holidays!

Give her her due, she was ready far more quickly than I expected - and unfortunately for her my other half (ocassionally 'D'H for dear husband, usually just OH!) was on a rare day off and ribbed her mercilessly about her new school outfit!

Ties don't bother her - she's worn one for school since she was 5, but normally she wears a jumper. The new school has created an "unusual" (for round here anyway!) uniform of baby blue tank top and blazer. Both of which are compulsory!

I think she looks quite smart! - She hates it! :-)

Mind you, I have to say that if my Dad could see her, he'd be shaking his head and tutting about the blazer that is FAR too big across the shoulders and threatening to take it away to be fixed!

But he's not, sadly, so she'll just have to grow into it!

Never one to miss an opportunity, here's all 3 sprogs, after 2 and 3 butted into the photo session!

And here's Sprogs 1 and 2 together so you can compare with last years picture!

So, here's to Sprog 3's departure to school in a few weeks. Although I must say I have mixed feelinga about that, I'm leaning towards Home Educating, but OH isn't keen and it would severly limit my ability to go back to work to buffer our coffers.

Ho hum, no one ever said parenting was easy did they?!

Have a good week everyone, see you next Friday!

One Down, Two to go!

Sprog 2 went off to school this morning, happy as Larry and excited about what she'll get to do.

She's gone into year 1 this year, and personally I think she's in for a bit of culture shock as she discovers that things are far more formal ....... and there are no toys! (Well there are, but they don't come out just yet! lol!)

Will she survive? Heck yes, Sprog 2 bounces back from just about everything, it's not in her nature to be down for long (she's a bit like me in that respect.......probably why we often rub each other up the wrong way!)
Will her Teacher survive?

Hmmmm. I still haven't decided about that! :-)

Sprog 2's teacher this year is a Lady I know very well and have an enormous amount of respect for. She's practically superhuman as far as I can see!
We go waaayyyyyyyy back (too many years to tell you about!) because we started as newly qualified teachers together, 1 Headteacher and several OFSTED inspections ago!

I've worked with her through many trials and tribulations and she's seen me through a wedding (when she and a fellow teacher hijacked my class and sent me home a day early to get ready for the ceremony!) and the birth of my 3 girls, the death of my Father and my difficult decision to give up my post and take up Supply work.

.........And how do I repay this friendship?

I've sent her Sprog 2! :-)

........Ooops! :-)

Outside the classroom

AM


Updated to add photos, Saturday 4th September!

Last year Sprog 2 came home covered in goodness knows what! This year she looked like this...........

Crikey! Smarter than she left home! Lol!

AM

Going "Around the Twist!"

As I write I'm sure I'm slowly going mad!

OK, we all know about "Baby Brain" but is there such a thing as "Toddler Brain" or "Nursery Schooler Brain"?
I've been at home now for almost 2 years, and even without the red bills and bank balances showing minus amounts that seem to fall throught the door with depressing regularity, anyone would know if they tried to hold a conversation with me.

Recently we had the TV on while my Husband was home. He chuckled away to himself all the way through the programme and couldn't understand why I didn't find it amusing. I'd seen the episode several times and could almost recite the script.
- The programme?....... "In the Night Garden"

I can wax lyrical with my 4 year old about the merits of Upsy Daisy dancing instead of singing, (and know who will be the only one out of bed at the end (always Iggle Piggle!), and we've shared all sorts of theories about Makka Pakka's love of stones, but do I know what the current requirements for Numeracy in the classroom are? Or how to plan the "new" phonics work?

Its depressing! :-) Here I am, trawling the recruitment sites of education authorities within a 20mile radius for a job, and yet I now have little understanding of what that job entails!

I'm beginning to think that I'm doomed forever to be several steps behind the general adult population whenever I'm included in a "proper" conversation (thankfully rarely, because I'd be embarassed!)
Is it me - or do other Mums feel the same?!