w/c 2nd & 10th November 2014

This week M had difficulty with his Briteschool maths assignment on fractions, which for M is very unusual and so this took up more of our time than anticipated. M is behind in maths, not because he lacks aptitude for the subject but because his previous school career was so disjointed and he spent several years unsupported and unable to access the curriculum.

We also went for our first appointment at the new GP to get the persistent verrucca on his foot looked at. I was so pleased that he allowed his foot to be examined and asked sensible questions about the wait and procedure to have it removed. The OT's advice at our last appointment was superb and really made the difference as prior to her prescribed desensitisation programme M would not have consented to the examination. This represents a major success in coping with his sensory issues for M!

Wednesday was Bonfire night and M's recent forays into reading the newspaper have made him curious as to how the government actually works. To begin we used the excellent free resources and lesson plans available here on the topical gunpowder plot:-

 http://www.parliament.uk/education/teaching-resources-lesson-plans/gunpowder-plot-part-1/



M finds the bangs of fireworks problematic, so this helped to keep him distracted. (He does enjoy the visual displays so we watched the fireworks over the Swansea valleys from the upstairs windows of our home armed with ear defenders & his sympathetic whippet). He did manage to attend some of the neighbours celebrations 



http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/Careers_resources/Engineering_activities/ A useful free link we uncovered.

We've discovered the funding for the Children's University does not cover passports for Welsh home ed children and so are cheering on those who are off to a meeting with the National Head Office. Hopefully they'll come away with a result that will mean home educated children will be able to record credits on this scheme, in the way that Welsh school children can.

M is now halfway through the 12 audio book series entitled "Flat Stanleys adventures around the world". This puts him on target to join the postal scheme with his own Flat Stanley after Xmas which is great, as I think he'll derive a great deal out of it.

Our weekend was disrupted by the D&V bug that has been doing the rounds. This meant that most of the week commencing 10th November once M started to feel better was spent playing catch up with Briteschool homework. He will probably need to listen to a couple of the lesson recordings before he can tackle the homeworks set due to feeling under the weather. One of the huge advantage of online school is you can still participate from bed if need be!