A LIFE WORTH LIVING....: Holiday photo post.

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Holiday photo post.

The horrible caravan park that looked a bit like a concentration camp had a rather lovely beach 500 metres away =D

Bear in mind that most folk walking had three layers on.She went prepared with cossie on, got to the beach, threw off her clothes and off she went.

Milly in heaven.

A visit to Kelburn Castle.After lunch we went exploring,The Secret Forest

was a big hit:-)Whilst exploring the adventure playground Tom managed to get stuck on a platform at one point.She bravely faced her fears!Great fun was had in and out of fairy houses and mazes within the forest.We then walked around the grounds and ended up in the playbarn which at first glance looked very small but they had packed a great deal of fun into a small space.We had it to oursleves and when Emily couldn't face going down the death slide Tom just "had" to go on to help her summon the courage and then just "had " to have a go herself:-) Luckily we had the place to our selves and Alan even had a go.Just looked at this in preview and it is all going a bit strange!Not liking this new blogger image adding need to work it out but have no time now:-/

The outside of the castle had amazing graffitti on it.I think you would either love it or hate it.I loved it!

A train trip to the "Big city

" for us country dwellers.Glasgow had Emily open mouthed at all the buildings and enormous shops and hustle and bustle.We are definatley country folk.Tom loved it! We had made the trip specially for her and could have done with many more hours to explore the shops.Didn't get to see more than the shopping centre but may plan a trip in the future to see more of Glasgow.

Alan had seen some info about a Windfarm visitor center he thought would be interesting.The girls didn't agree:-) Tom very kindly offered to stay with Emily and they headed off to the beach whilst we took a longer drive than anticipated (one of those detours that always seem to occur on any journey we take!) really want to invest in a sat nav but Al won't hear of it,his argument is that we always get there in the end and don't need to spend so much money:-/

As it turned out it was quite an interesting visit,and a lovely site to walk amongst the turbines.Amazing how quiet they are.

Went to Pirate petes playbarn in Ayr and it was massive but Milly didn't really enjoy it.She was unhappy that two toddlers had shouted at her and then was concerned in case she went in to the wrong areas and went into the under fives play area by mistake:-/ Took a couple of walkrounds to show her she couldn't as it was all netted off but by then she had been put off.So out we went and found this outside for free!She played for over an hour and made a new friend! Tom sat with us chatting but couldn't resist trying some of the equipment out.

On the last morning we decided to visit another play area at Ardrossen to shake of the cobwebs before travelling.We had passed it a few times as we had been going out on day trips and she had wanted to go to it.This trip involved a rather longer detour that we normally manage!!

Within half an hour of being home! PJ'S on and out on the swing making up stories:-)

5 comments:

Lisa G said...: That castle loks amazing!
Sounds like you had a good holiday despite the grotty caravan park.; 25 October 2009 at 10:31
Deb said...: Really great pictures, Lynn - I love that castle! :) xx; 25 October 2009 at 11:56
Michelle said...: I love the new header post so much. Very contemplative. Not the sheer sense of exhileration and freedom from the first ever pic but I really, really love it.

Sounds like a good break. xx; 25 October 2009 at 16:22
Lynn said...: Thanks Lisa and Debs xx

Mich,
I wish I could say that was how I intended the picture to come out! The truth is it was a fluke and it must have been the position of the sun or something that gave it that effect!!

Regardless of that,I love it too.I would agree with the contemplative feel and that suits where we are at the moment:-) xx; 30 October 2009 at 14:53
MillieMadHatter said...: It was a devour, not a detour xD
Twas a fun trip :); 2 November 2009 at 14:51

This is me.....

There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout: This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad - you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.” Stacey Charter.

Why we Home educate

( Slightly edited from a blog post I did when we started out) In the end the actual decision to take Emily out only took a matter of days but before that it had been around a year and a half of talking about ti and reading books, Free range education by Terri Dowty, Educating your child at home by Jane Lowe and Alan Thomas were two that had a real impact for different reasons. Free range education has lots of examples of real life home educators and I think I can say that it was this one that convinced me the most that we could do it. We are two very average people ,neither of us left school with many qualifications, we went on to do quite well in our chosen professions and had no need to think about the education system at all until Emily came along.

I knew about home education and when Emily was born considered it as an optionbut always felt my lack of education would be a problem and that I wouldn't be capable of providing her with what she would need.Looking back with hindsight it is easy to see how wrong I was!!

School never really suited Emily......After the nursery year at a very highly rated, high achieving school we knew that particular School wasn't for us and took her out. We enrolled her in a lovely village school with only 70 children in the whole school .The ethos of the school was totally different, the children didn't wear uniforms and there was much more emphasis on the children being individuals.The head was a sensitive and principled man who wanted the best for the children. We thought we had struck gold.Over the reception and year 1 Emily gained confidence and really started to bloom. It was at this time she was diagnosed with dyspraxia( we had had to go down the diagnosis route as our observations of Emily's difficulties were not enough to enable the teachers to tailor things so she was helped and given less work in class) but she managed quite well in the more relaxed play orientated early years.Year 2 with more emphasis on academic activities got progressively harder for her. She is very sensitive and it wasn't just the academic side it was the embarassment of having to put her hand up for the toilet,seeing others being told off and worrying in case she did something wrong and got the same treatment, panicking because she couldn't do the work and the teacher never had time to sit with her (alot of this did not come out until she had left school) her behaviour at home became worse and worse she was so angry and obviously stressed . At this time we began to seriously consider taking her out but held back because of my lack of confidence in my ability to provide her with an adequate education ,my health being so poor was also a major stumbling block.

Then in year three it became blatantly obvious that something needed to change .She was struggling on all levels and we couldn't allow the school system to damage our daughter anymore.She became ill with a bug that was doing the rounds and she was off for two weeks , during that time I had a conversation with a friend who home educates her two children and I was so upset I couldn't make a decision and she said just go with whats in your heart and that really helped me to shift my thinking and stop worrying about what I couldn't give her and focus on what I could give her.

We never sent her back.I still get emotional when I think of that time , the look on Emily's face when we told her she would never have to go back to school was priceless,the immense sense of relief that we were off the treadmill of school life and the excitement of the time ahead and to be honest the fear of the unknown......

So here we are four years on and a lot of reading and researching later I feel comfortable with what we are doing . The changes that have happened so far have been helped along the way by the many wonderful blogs out there.They are so varied and there are so many different approaches , I have found ones that I can identify with and have read a lot of archive material that has been written in each and found answers to so many of the questions I have had that they have helped me to sort out what will work best for us .As much as I wish we had done this earlier and saved Emily from the distress that she went through I do believe things happen for a reason and that the time was right for us to take her out and that looking on the bright side one of the benefits is that at least she has had a taste of school and now we all know without a doubt that it is not for us !!!!

It is very liberating to be making decisions based on what works best for us as a family and not what society expects.

Let your child be a child.

No child was ever spoiled by too much love.

Be authentic with your child.

Listen openly to your child’s needs.

Believe in your child’s good intentions.

Find the humour.

Look past the behaviour… what is your child feeling?

Have fun with your child today!

“There is no reason why we cannot say ‘No’ to children in just as kind a way as we say ‘Yes’.” - John Holt

“Play is really the work of childhood.” - Fred Rogers

“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” - Oscar Wilde

Children thrive in a peaceful and loving environment.

A child needs love most when things go wrong.

Children reflect the treatment they receive.

A few qoutes I like....

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in, broadside, thouroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly shouting, 'WOW'.... Beth Moore

The perpetual testing of public school children is like a gardener constantly pulling his plants up by the roots to see if they are growing....(unknown)

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instuction...Helen Kellers teacher

I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do and I understand...Confusious