It may be May already but there is no maybe about BustedDreams Girls keeping on being brilliant

[SunshineCake]

Apologies for the terrible title but I wanted to encapsulate the boss and how supportive everyone is.

torysuck yes a good approach that incorporates everyday living BUT if your trying to wfh I can see problems. Which in turn makes food choices hard?

@fallfallfall it sounds like it should be more work but we've actually found it's easier to get work time.

I think because we spend half an hour late evening sorting out the treasure hunt, but it gives us about 90mins during the day while she is happily searching the house and doing the activities. Then we've structured our working from home so each of us can take an hour during the day for outside time which we also use for the education bit.

Then the rest of the time she plays inside and outside and is mainly happy to self entertain with a few bits of encouragement from us.

We have bought LOADs of Lego and crafty stuff so if she ever says she's bored while we're on conference calls or the like we can just direct her to an activity, and I spent an hour one evening writing a massive list of challenges which is pinned on the wall in case she can't think of something to do.

Things like:

• build a rocket ship
• drawn sunset on a beach
• invent a new type of animal
• make a special box to keep your treasures in
• create a barbie house from Lego
• create a vet office from Lego
• how many Lego blocks can you stack before it falls down
• measure everything in the room with a tape measure
• build a bridge and see if it can hold Barbies weight

Four bean salad made, about to do some tai chi (as soon as I serve dh a cup of tea, poor soul is filing taxes...2 days past the deadline...)
My UK son in law has never had 4 bean salad is this a North American food or something he’s avoided his whole life?

@fallfallfall DC was sent home on 20/3 and since then the little school has sent a weekly pack with work (daily maths, English and then other topic work such as Geography and Science linked to eg predators or The Romans or whatever)

I had anticipated that DC would be off for about 10 weeks, but now they won't be returning before September and just to break my will more, an ex Minister of Education and now charity head said today they expect disruption up to Christmas.

It would be easy to day not to worry about it, but 6 months out of education is a big deal and I say that as someone who find the English schooling system starts too early.

Also they get very little work and DS is very bright - he just doesn't want to do it, so doubly infuriating.

Older DD gets work daily through their electronic means and while less work than normal school days, she has worked diligently despite being the one who struggles more academically.

Hope that essays answers things a bit more

That sounds great @TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 but does it mean you've abandoned the curriculum? What year group is she in again?

We are also doing lots of other things such as baking, walks and playing, watching documentaries, gardening etc but I don't think we can abandon the school work.

Let me give you an example of what we're dealing with...topic is the Greek Gods, so he says, "I don't fancy learning about the Greek Gods, I'd like to learn about the Egyptians." OK, so I spend my evening looking at Egyptian things only for him to go... "I like them now"

It's draining and infuriating and I've said he can do his own cutting out for his activity tomorrow because I'm spending time printing and planning and preparing and he moans about it all anyway

Wow, that's a big rant lucky only you girls will read it!

Hope that you're OK and the kids are OK with school @RubySlippers77

@mrsjonesandme DD is yr 1, thanking my lucky stars that this has happened while she's young enough that I understand the maths and science.

We are doing the curriculum but not the worksheets school is sending, she finds them boring and I engaging so we're sticking to the topics and themes but finding our own ways to cover it.

I'm guessing based on romans and predators that yours is Y3. We took the curriculum outline from the school website. This one is y3:

primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/caldecote-community-primary/UploadedDocument/7d3bff4ec37f4c5aabbff201c9b814f5/curriculum-overview-2019-year-3.pdf

Then found our own ways to get DD interested. So Romans for example, they were a bit gross and gruesome,

• horrible histories on BBC have some great romans episodes
• would he write a story about roman prisoners being thrown to the lions, he would have to research what crimes earned that punishment, where it happened and when it stopped
• would he create a Roman shield and flag from cardboard/pens/paint
• he could give himself a Roman name and design a standard for his flag
• if he leans more toward detail/engineering type activities, romans were seen as the inventors of plumbing, aqueducts, etc he could draw out a design for a viaduct or use plastic straws and empty bottles to create a functional plumbing system to move water from one place to another.

That certainly overlaps with the general themes but not the topics and to be honest, I haven't got the head space to deal with setting up new activities. That's the teachers' jobs and they are doing a good job. He's just not buying in a lot of the time.

He also won't really do anything independently at the moment other than some playing or screen time!

Especially after I set off preparing stuff about the Egyptians instead thinking it would cover the same skills set like maps, gods and myths etc.

I know this is a bit of a generalisation but (from a survey of my friends with DC!) young girls tend to be more motivated/ interested in schoolwork than young boys. My friend who has twin girls the same age as my twin boys is actually finding home ed ok; she said they have a printed schedules which the girls check and follow, they do activities by themselves, enjoy drawing/ writing/ colouring etc, she can get work done whilst they occupy themselves. Whereas my DC get bored of most things within 5 minutes unless it involves mud

As you can tell, I completely sympathise (empathise!) @MrsJonesAndMe! It's been lovely having the DTs back at school, about half their class are back, but honestly two hours a day of freedom is nowhere near enough for all the stuff I need to get done without them... the school seem to be managing the return well, I estimate about a quarter of the pupils are back and it's always quiet when I do pick up/ drop off - they have staggered start and finish times etc. I don't know how well it will work in September if all the kids have to go back then - but disruptions till Christmas?!

In the meantime @TorysSuckRevokeArticle50, I'm in awe of all your learning ideas; I did make an effort with the DTs and they had plenty of resources but if I'm honest there was a lot of Peppa Pig too!

Sorry to hear about your DD being a worry @SunshineCake. My friend had this with her teenage daughter (about 10 years ago now) and in the end had to have an honest chat with her about why it was happening, the effects etc. Her DD said the same as yours - she didn't have a big appetite and just didn't feel hungry often - my friend made her aware of the health risks but compromised and bought her some of her favourite snacks to have them available and put some ready meals in the freezer for her, so she'd always have something she could eat quickly. Not ideal I know, but it did make her DD eat more often when she had more options - chose the snacks/ meals and knew they were on hand to eat straight away.

@fallfallfall glad you are continuing to mend well!

@Foreverlexicon maybe your weight loss is slowing down now you're not far from goal? It sounds like your fitness level is improving though, which is great.

Nothing exciting to report here other than I lost 1lb last week, but AF due tomorrow so I'm bound to put it back on in a mound of chocolate. Sigh.

Morning sorry for the epic rant last night

Thanks @RubySlippers77 he's a good kid really, but it's hard going. Glad they're back and OK, 2 hours??? What's the point???

Weight miraculously still around 12kg off. Last night I sacrificed my yoga slot to drink hot chocolate and play a board game with DD. Feel she's being ignored while I'm busy fire fighting everything else!

Cold today Just what I need for our jolly walk

Thank you *@RubySlippers77. I have said to dd I would rather she ate brunch bars than nothing but then fully tried to take advantage. I think it will just have to accept she is who she is and offer lots of variety as I do and make sure fruit and veg go in. She will eat chicken every time so that will be on the menu tomorrow or Saturday.

Today I ran for two lots of eight minutes with a warm up and walk down walk of five minutes at either end and the same recovery walk in between the two runs. The first two minutes of running was up a slope and I thought I am not going to be able to do this and wondered if it was because I cycled 6.5 km on my exercise bike last night. By 3-4 minutes in I was finding it easy and then it was really good. I am eating 12.30-8.30pm, still having a treat, drinking a lot of water especially when I feel hungry and 9/10 it turns out I'm thirsty not hungry and I am five pounds down in a week . I am also mainly avoiding the food I am intolerant too but it isn't 100% as I can't get the stuff.

Just have Australian damper bread in the oven and cracked black pepper naan dough in the airing cupboard to have with my homemade carrot, swede and potato soup.

Hopefully your walk will warm you up, *@MrsJonesAndMe and no sacrifice. Emotional well being for both of you is important too.

Hi all, back from hiding as usual.

Nothing much to report other than trying to stop a random chocolate snacking/comfort eating habit. 🙄 I've gone 0.5 kg higher than I've been in 6 months, so need to get my head sorted. I kept of the snacks last night, need to do that more often.

I normally keep the extra treats for the weekend but it's been increasing a bit much. I just been to avoid beating myself up about it as that usually leads to "fuck it I'll eat more"!

It's a bit hit or miss home schooling for us I think. I'm obviously not seeing as much of it being out at work, but some days the boys get on ok with it and other days either one or both get nowhere with the work they're set. Then the added fun of smallest one looking for "work" to do as well. She's due to start school this year and is pretty keen so I hope it goes ok whenever it happens.. August up here so far I guess.

Zero exercise happening for me due to the shift I'm on, maybe get out next week.

Well, thanks for the rant last night, we had a pretty perfect "school day" today.

Wowzers @SunshineCake Well done on the jogging and the 5lbs off! I think I used the word sacrificed because it was really the only slot of me time in the day and I had to spend it with someone else. We had fun, but I need some space so desperately I could scream!

Think everyone is just doing the best they can to get through it @galvantula.

Much better day today and no work tomorrow just a long to do list

I have a long to do list too and dh has a jobs around the house list. Things are getting done though.

Haven't seen dd other than to go to her room. She's barely said a word to me. I think she has eaten cereal. She is clearly annoyed about yesterday still. I am leaving her to it as normally I would go and talk to her and somehow she would get chocolate or similar out of me and nothing would be learned by her and she certainly wouldn't apologise. She is stubborn so I will leave her to it.

*@MrsJonesAndMe I sympathise about the lack of space. You will get some soon. Grab it when you can. Sometimes I feel I sacrifice time with dh to do something for me but then that is usually when my need is more than my want.

It's a juggling act isn't it?

Hope you all have a good day. I'm about to start the ironing. Rock and roll on my day off

Morning all

I'm not feeling life today. Not even walking the dog cheered me up. I feel so tired, upset tummy feelings but no expelling of anything, feel sick, emotional. Don't really know why.

Sorry to hear that @SunshineCake. Could it be your cycle finally sorting itself?

DD's had a melt down about school work, so we've turned everything off and her friend is coming round so they can both get rained on together in the garden - stupid British weather!

No clue. I'm over ten weeks late. Been laid on the bed for an hour and half and fell asleep for a bit. Just feel poorly as well as low.

Sorry to hear that sunshine, I hope you feel better soon.
I’m not happy with my morning weigh in after several steady days of recorded weight loss, this morning was a big jump up...with no food or exercise changes...

Sorry you're feeling unwell @SunshineCake

Ironing @mrsjonesandme rock on

This evening I will be mainly sewing lots of masks for friends and family, hoping to get about 15 knocked out after DD settles.

Night all

I feel like I felt before when in bed for two weeks. Hoping I sleep and wake up feeling better but feel really rough tbh.

Thank you for the good wishes .

I hope you feel better this morning @SunshineCake

Ah, that is nice of you @TorysSuckRevokeArticle50

How very unfair @fallfallfall, hopefully it will go back down quickly.

We are having a family game of mini golf this morning - how very novel at the moment! Weather still horrible but at least dry for being outside.

Catch up with you all later.

Morning everyone.
I’m back but feeling pretty low. Gained 6lb 🤨 I didn’t go mad but we did have an Indian takeaway and I had the leftovers last night.

Feeling very low but dragging myself back on the wagon.

Oh that's very unfair @Foreverlexicon might be water retention too, so hopefully will come off quickly. Sending you a (((hug)))

Up another .2 and believe me I’m staying between 12-1300, small 100 calorie treat after dinner. Exercising well!!! No added sugar argh my body mystifies me at times.
forever it’s salt give it 3 days.

What a disappointment *@Foreverlexicon, is it possible you are intolerant to Indian food? Is it like Chinese with the MSG in it? That can cause tummy problems in some people.

Dh and I didn't sleep very well thanks to the dog waking us twice and I am really struggling to get comfortable and have stuff in my mind. Worrying about DD and also feeling awful when I went to bed.

Today was running day and I really didn't want to miss it as I've been doing so well. I decided I would try and run but got a shock when it was a five minute warm up walk then a twenty minute run. Also, not the day to forget to do my inhaler and didn't want to go back in in case I woke up anyone. But I did it! I never believed I could run twenty minutes without stopping and some was up hill! When I had to slow down to do the warm down walk my thighs were like jelly. I felt I would rather have kept running!

I have a bit of a cough, a sore throat and chest discomfort but I am wondering if the chest thing is anxiety .