Festive W. London Chat

[vbus]

Hello

Just popping in and saw thread already full up! The craziness of November is well and truly under way. Sorry I'm behind on your news, hope everyone is well.

The scarf video, I thought she was going to hang herself for the final tie

Still undecided about floor, have got loads of samples ordered. I want a fresh, modern look whereas Dh wants more clinical, utlitarian (sp?) look, need to find something that we both like

tilly dd goes to Kew young musicians and it is on Saturday mornings at Queen's school, just up the road from me. it is half hr classes.

Thanks for the link sfx, will definitely look into it. There are quite a lot of children in ds1's class that do Kumon as well, a few of them have been doing it since nursery . Don't have a problem with it as such, just worry about the extra work on ds1, especially when we already do a lot of our own games etc at home around maths!

Will keep the music in mind. He does have a recorder, I'm tempted to teach him myself!!

personally I think it is useful to play games or rather include concepts in everyday life, like cooking and weighing ingredients, playing dice games, doing shopping etc.
I quite like the teaching at KYM small groups and teachers who are musicians.

tilly - we are at questors young musician club. Probably similar setting to the Kew one. I bought a recorder beginner book but haven't had time to start yet. I think it's good to teach your children things. Establishes an interesting relationship and gives you new perspective on whatever discipline you are teaching. Certainly makes me question how I was taught and how the "professionals" do it.

hello
feel more wintry now I like it all Christmassy

watched limitless last night quite fun

must bake some kick ass cake plus cookies for Christmas fair

I have so far:

• had coffee with friends

• baked lovely tiny little bread rolls

• had a pot of beef rendang on the hob

Time to work, I think. Amazing what you can achieve when you have to set exams.

Copper, thanks, will have a look for the recorder book. I don't want to add another class to ds1's week this year, so like the idea of being able to play when we can/want to, get him used to the idea of it!

Took ds2 to Piccadilly today, had lunch with friends. Ds2 did really well, though a friend's ipad saved the day (well, the last 30 mins anyway)!

tilly - I've got this one but since I haven't actually used it can't tell you if it's good or not!

Where did you go for lunch? [nosy emoticon]

recorder book this is the one used and the recorder is an Aulos

strike day tomorrow not yet sure what we will do
dh staying home as he does not want to cross picket lines even if it does not apply to him
but that means us making ourselves scarce
swimming still on

Just to Pizza Express, but it was nice to catch up

Schools on strike also, but ds2 still has nursery! Planning to do something in the morning with ds1, probably some art stuff & baking, then go to ds2's football as usual in the afternoon. Still, nice to have a day off

I think it might depend on the weather it is supposed to be ok during day with rain to follow but if the rain comes as early as today we wil be very damp on way from pool

Having computer (or isp, NOT SURE WHICH) troubles so not posted much.

DS was six today. Can you believe that that little scrap I brought home is six today And more remarkably can you beleive I haven;t killed or maimed either one of us (yet).

KewC that never ceases to amaze too, but regarding my child and us

what a gorgeous day, must drag child out

Sfx - thanks for fun afternoon, the boys enjoyed playing in the forest and assorted games We got our errands done, DS2 crashed out as soon as he got in car seat. Good luck with job search

Kew - Sorry didn't see you in cafe, hope DS had a good birthday. 6 sounds so old!

Tilly - looking forward to Harrods trip, I'm slightly more excited than DS2!

Hoep everyone well

vbus my pleasure dd loved it, we got a lift to the pool (thanks island lovely to see you and dd1) and another one back, then we went out for dinner with dh

am feeling quite optimistic regarding jobs and so on
at least we are all together and healthy enough
I am feeling blessed having my family and good friends

sfx - that's what counts at the end of the day

Hello All :)

It was very nice indeed to chat SFX :) Dd1 had a great time. And we did stayed there until she couldnt see you dd. (as they made a deal :) ')

Vbus, Harrods sounds a lot of fun, with a lot of people around :D

I just read , that you all have been talking about Kumon. I am now looking for smth like the for dd1. Maybe the school is going to provide with some help, butif not, then i think we will consider smth like that. I just didnt understand if you were against this Kumon? Or maybe some of you have some good place to recomend?

Have a lovely day ! :)

Hello!

Out last night with women friends. Out tonight with work friends. Exhausting.

Now awaiting DH to come back with bacon sandwiches before heading off to office.

Island - why are you considering Kumon? I've not had experience and have friends who like it and friends who hate it. At least for the arithmetic bit I think I don't have objection to repetition and training to do it quickly. It's just that we have so many other fish to fry that it seems not the right thing to do at this point...

In fact re: arithmetic - I bought a little basic calculator from Tesco and now kids are obsessed with it. Pressing random buttons to fill display up with large numbers. At least I'll insist they know how to say the numbers. At some point...

Copper, we considering help with math and English. I t doesnt have to be this Kumon, but i just read the chat today, and saw that you were talking about it here :) We are going to have some help to speed up the process . She is still in a reception level, and we have a goal to be atleast Year one in the end of year2. Hopefully more, as we learned that she catches up pretty fast. Still a lot of work ahead :)

hello

just did double gym session feels good but perhaps should not have drunk half a bottle of wine last night

island do you know about Kew Sparkle? dd was asking if you would bring your girls,we will be there from 5.50 as dd will sing in the school choir, they can spend some time chatting and walking around the stalls
That is tomorrow 2nd, will text

Kumon to be fair dd does extra maths at home because she suddenly developed a love for it, she wants to do sums and assorted problem solving, I got some booklets from WHSmith and Amazon
generally I prefer to fit it into everyday life but if she is happy doing sheets then so be it only 10mins a day

must study a bit before pick up

Sfx, that sounds and looks like fun. I think we will come :)

We do math at home, i have workbooks and we count anything and everything. But i feel like having some professional help

great island,dd will be very happy, get there early to see Santa arrive on the coach

We also have workbooks from WH Smith, but tbh we've done about 3 pages since the summer. DSs have spurts of doing random sums. I, contrary to how I was brought up, tend to demand explanations on how the sums were done. This week we are mainly doing "what is 1 + 2 + ... till 103049". What goes through those funny little heads!?

We also have music theory workbooks and Chinese writing workbooks to scribble in. We'll complete one of them eventually, I'm sure.