Benjamin giving Deborah a cuddle. Btw, not sure why he was wearing his ear defenders here, as he actually wears them for only limited amounts of time. In general, he seems to be coping with noises a lot better at the moment (though this could change again, as some things seem to come and go over time). But he usually only wears his ear defenders for falling asleep at night and during singing at church (or sometimes during the sermon too, if he's not coping very well). I think having learned to read really helps him understand life a lot better - as if he realises that events in life (things to do later in the day or the next day) can be put into words and he often wants me to write things down on paper, or write a note so I'll not forget something! :) In many ways he's been calmer recently - as long as we manage his environment enough, trying to prevent a sensory overload, etc. Life is never easy (still plenty of obsessions and other issues), but it is encouraging to see a child mature in some ways, however insignificant they might seem to others. He's started writing letters/words too, which is really encouraging - and actually knows how to spell a number of words by memory. I'll just ask him to write "cat", "cow", "boy" and very quickly the words are on paper, quite neatly too - he attempted "woman" with "womn" on his own, and "evil" with "evl". And since he got very frustated trying to write letters in his workbooks, it's exciting that he's just learning it himself - all by himself. I guess he doesn't think he needs a teacher! ;-) lol We're still waiting on his diagnosis - hopefully sometime in the next couple of months. I think it was about 4 weeks ago that we had the educational psychologist at the house and her visit went really well. So now we await their results when they all get together to discuss what they've found.
This little lady *loves* pencils & crayons - and even better than drawing with them, she likes to throw them everywhere. It's impossible to keep the floors cleared up when she's awake!
So cute and so sweet! She's walking along the furniture and even crossing from one thing to another. I wonder how many weeks/months until she's walking!
Looking all grown up, like she's about to walk away!
She looks soo different when she just wakes up! :-) (maybe we all do! lol)
Nearly 2 weeks ago we went for a meet up in Elgin with other home educating families. There was one family from near where we live, but most were from Elgin/Huntly way, so lots of new faces. The kids had lots of fun playing with others and the weather was absolutely perfect that day - lovely drive there and lots of sunshine in the afternoon. After the meet up in Elgin, we went to explore Duffus Castle, only a few miles away.
Approaching Duffus Castle, which is from the 14th century, on the site of a previous 12th centry wooden castle. It seems when they built the stone castle they didn't realise the motte wasn't strong enough, and the tower sunk into the hill, as well as other parts of the castle fell down.
sign outside
Abigail and Benjamin running up the hill to the castle...
Benjamin is way ahead of the others!
Peter and Benjamin climb over the broken wall, closely followed by Abigail, and Clement tries to catch up!
eventually Clement crawls up the hill! :)
inside
one of the inner walls
inside
going out the other side
the bailey (which is basically an enclosed courtyard)
Exploring! :-)
up the steps and looking for more to see
a sign with more to see
Clement running down the hill on the other side of the bailey
Can you spot Benjamin? He *loves* to run in open fields - and boy, can he run fast! :)
going down to see the moat (which had water in it)
walking back up the hill
part of the walls that were still standing
view of the castle from the other side of the bailey
Benjamin found a sword shaped piece of wood
the wall with a door
Climbing up to the castle again
the castle as seen from the other side
time to sit down and have a snack!
resting after all that climbing!
more ruins
Abigail with her Egyptian mummy kit she got at TK Maxx in Elgin! We'd just been reading about the ancient pyramids in our "Mystery of History" book, so she immediately spotted this book with a kit and was delighted to get it.
The mummy out of his box! :-)
and back inside again!
Deborah and her big brothers - lots of fun together! :-)
The summer school holidays are nearly over! :-O The local schools go back on Tuesday next week. It seems as if the holidays just started. Abigail will now "officially" be "school age"! They grow up so quickly! I know I've already started homeschooling them (and Benjamin over a year early - because he insists!) but I think it will feel a bit different now that I'm actually "required" to educate Abigail! :-)
