The week long swimming course has finished. It was a great success, not only because she learnt to swim but because she really enjoyed it. She’s shown that she can learn in a group setting, can follow instructions, can be regulated etc. All the things that non home-educators talk about. From day four we had to arrive half an hour earlier to join a different class which was interesting. It was harder work for Ms R and she was no longer used as an example to the others. They were introduced to breaststroke; she got the hang of the arms but her legs seemed to do their own thing and after trying to swim a width of breaststroke she gave me a rather sad look and a thumbs down sign. I wondered if that would end her enthusiasm for swimming but on the last day she discovered she could swim lengths on both front and back and was awarded a ten metre certificate and badge.
Master R has also got loads out of swimming on a daily basis. He liked watching people jump off the diving boards and was really impressed with one person doing somersaults and turns. When we were in the pool he kept jumping in and a couple of times tried twisting round in the air which made him quite difficult to catch. He’s also pretty good at dunking under the water. When he asks me to let him go I push him towards the edge and let go at the last minute so he can grab hold. They both completed their first fitness diary and recieved a voucher for a free swim or a free entry to a soft play.
They’ve both been doing quite a bit of cycling. Master R has got the hang of his pedalless bike so it won’t be long before he’ll want to attempt riding a proper bike.
We visited our very close little park today. It has lots of climbing and balancing things and it was fascinating to watch Master R clamber across everything. He seemed to instinctively know where to put his feet and how to balance on things, it all came so naturally to him. Ms R is two years older and has had the benefit of me helping and showing her but was still faltering and doing it in odd ways.
Ms R has been doing a lot of drawing lately. Her people are still stick people but we can usually spot who is who by their hairstyle. She’s getting more adventurous and is drawing cars, aeroplanes and animals with smiley faces. She’s also taking more time, using different coloured pens and doing decorative borders. A lot of the pictures depict things we’ve done or plan to do and she’s trying to show feelings and thoughts. She drew many pictures yesterday while I was at work and one of them was a picture of Master R thinking (thought bubbles) of a ham sandwich and crying because he wanted me. Another picture showed her and Master R stroking Buzz and others showed all four of us having a fun day. Master R attempted to write an R but it didn’t bare much resemblance to mine. His drawing often consist of a quick round and round scribble which is then presented to me as something he has done especially because I’m the best mummy in the world.
One of our library books has been illustrated with cartoon characters over photographs and we’ve talked about ways of doing this.
The summer holidays are whizzing by, I had visions of long lazy days stretching before us (not that the rest of the year is much different to that). I don’t think we get as much for our six weeks nowadays as we did when I was at school.
They both weighed themselves (which they do every so often but I don’t usually take much notice). Ms R is 20kg which puts her on the 75th centile and Master R is 15kg which puts him on the 50th centile.