The Last Three Days

Tuesday

We got started on our Tudor project yesterday. I've been collecting resources for this for the last 2 years as I knew we'd get to them eventually! I have a basket full of books in the living room and Jack had picked up two from the library. But, not content with any of those, he pulled one from my book selves. A massive political biography of Henry 8th. He likes to aim high. Last night, when Jamie went up to pray with him at bedtime, he was sitting at his desk making notes about Henry in his notebook. We saw a portrait of him as an old man in the Museum of London last Sunday. Not particularly preposessing. Jack seem to be focusing on him as a person, so I think I might use that interest to show him the effect Henry had on the Reformation and the forming of the modern political state. I had planned on looking at the whole Tudor period from a social history point of view and that may still be more appropriate for Grace. But maybe Jack is ready for Reformation History and politics. We'll see.

I found some cool photocopiable resources for Grace to use the last time I was at the British Museum, designed for younger kids but they suit her just fine. I like the way they organise the information into game-like formats and she spent some time drawing and colouring tudor costumes.

We are plodding on with Maths, Jack on his own, speeding ahead. I can't afford to buy the next level of Singapore Maths yet, so he is doing some Maths Puzzle type books until then. Grace is still valiantly trying to come to grips with multiplication and money, aided by her 'brain oil'. LOL!

Tuesday

More of the same.

In the afternoon I took Grace out to the health centre for a podiatry assessment. She will need regular treatments but the NHS won't pay for it. When she is next in pain and needs treatment I will have to find a private podiatrist and pay an extortionate amount to have her feet treated. I am angry about this. As with all working people in the UK, we pay into the national insurance fund and then have a clear right to expect treatment 'free at the point of need'. The podiatrist agreed with me and suggested who I should appeal to. He gave us a name and address and I will be on the warpath shortly.

Wednesday

I enjoyed our trek across Southern England to sports today as the trees are all turning yellow and orange. Autumn was late this year and the frosts too. So the leaves are only just beginning to yellow and fall. We drove through the Chiltern Hills on the way back to flat, flat Oxfordshire. I bought lots of books to sell and now need to spend the next couple of days typing up book lists for my business.

I counted the number of laps I swam yesterday. 22, not many, I know. But my technique is so appalling they took me a whole hour! I calculated that was 550 metres. More than half a kilometre (or klick as they used to say in Canada). I have a plan to figure out how the ticker thing works and set it to tell me when I've swum across the English Channel. In the pool, of course!