A couple of days ago we went to the English bookshop to get another Jack and Annie (Magic Tree House) book.
He saw a Star Wars Encyclopedia there that he desperately wanted, but didn't have enough money (he gets a certain amount a week) to buy it.
So I agreed that he could earn it. And so, the 10 Book Challenge.
Chris Evans and I have chosen (with the agreement of Dr John) 10 books that he has to read to either of us. Once he has done that, we will buy him the Stars Wars book. We are roughly aiming for the challenge to be complete by Christmas (about 10 weeks away!) but not with loads of pressure.
The 10 books are:
The Runaway Pancake
The Wish Fish
The Little Red Hen
The Scaredy Cat
A nice mix of books I think. Some easy, some not so. Reading is something that Dr John doesn't have too many issues with, but I think this will add a bit of spice to things.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
A Clean Break
The start of a new school year brings with it new decisions. What after school clubs should be done?
Enfantine which took place before drama was okay, but didn't really offer anything that I couldn't. Drama for in my opinion the worse when the old teacher left and it turned into more of a movement class. We stopped football when I got too pregnant as it was too much to get to on a bus, train and walk in 45 minutes. And Dr John was still enjoying yoga and atelier.
The biggest issue for me wrt his classes was that except for atelier, they were all in English. So we had to have a balance between what Dr John wanted to do and what we thought would benefit him the most. Drama had always been a favourite so I found a theatre class in French. Atelier stayed (I'm not looking forward to his last day there) and instead of football he agreed to try rugby (its in French and a 15 minute bus ride from our house). Yoga stayed too although there was a discussion about a local football class near our house instead of yoga but the lure of playing with his friends in the soft play afterwards was just too great.
So quite a big shift towards French speaking classes but he really needs a bit of a kick to practice his oral skills. So far it appears to be going great. His atelier has commented that he is getting more involved with the other children which is also helped by there being no other Anglophones in the class. We have changed French teachers as his previous one was no longer coming to our house after the birth of her baby and it was just too far for us to travel to her on public transport. His new teacher is lovely. She is a retired primary school teacher and takes such a relaxed approach to his lessons. She refuses to speak English to him but they can often be heard giggling away. A definite result!
The theatre class he enjoys although the language is a slight issue but the teacher and another child translates in times of great need. You can see the downside of not being fluent in French in rugby as he is always a bit behind as he has to watch what the others are doing. He enjoys it though, particularly the full on tackling (at 6?! heart in mouth stuff!) and he took part in his first tournament a couple of weeks ago. Its just a shame that he will miss several weeks after he fractured his hand in training! I wasn't there as we are sharing pick ups with a neighbour whose son also goes but apparently the coach had said several times not to sit down between the exercises which Dr John kept doing, and right at the end of the session he did it again and coach tripped over him, standing on his hand!
Of course being the crappy mother that I am I didn't take him to the hospital that day but 4 days later after he had played a match in his first tournament. To be fair it wasn't that painful or swollen but he is now the proud owner of a cast. Amusingly we had to get his cast replaced as he broke the first one! I don't think the plaster guy at the hospital was too amused.
Still I can forgive a slightly abrupt manner as both times we were in and out of the hospital (xrays, plaster and everything) in less than 90 minutes.
He has the plaster on for 3 weeks, and then he can get back into the swing of things again. He hasn't been too upset at the things he hasn't been able to do, but he will definitely be pleased to be able to climb in the park, do proper cooking, and lay in the bath for ages as he loves to do!
Enfantine which took place before drama was okay, but didn't really offer anything that I couldn't. Drama for in my opinion the worse when the old teacher left and it turned into more of a movement class. We stopped football when I got too pregnant as it was too much to get to on a bus, train and walk in 45 minutes. And Dr John was still enjoying yoga and atelier.
The biggest issue for me wrt his classes was that except for atelier, they were all in English. So we had to have a balance between what Dr John wanted to do and what we thought would benefit him the most. Drama had always been a favourite so I found a theatre class in French. Atelier stayed (I'm not looking forward to his last day there) and instead of football he agreed to try rugby (its in French and a 15 minute bus ride from our house). Yoga stayed too although there was a discussion about a local football class near our house instead of yoga but the lure of playing with his friends in the soft play afterwards was just too great.
So quite a big shift towards French speaking classes but he really needs a bit of a kick to practice his oral skills. So far it appears to be going great. His atelier has commented that he is getting more involved with the other children which is also helped by there being no other Anglophones in the class. We have changed French teachers as his previous one was no longer coming to our house after the birth of her baby and it was just too far for us to travel to her on public transport. His new teacher is lovely. She is a retired primary school teacher and takes such a relaxed approach to his lessons. She refuses to speak English to him but they can often be heard giggling away. A definite result!
The theatre class he enjoys although the language is a slight issue but the teacher and another child translates in times of great need. You can see the downside of not being fluent in French in rugby as he is always a bit behind as he has to watch what the others are doing. He enjoys it though, particularly the full on tackling (at 6?! heart in mouth stuff!) and he took part in his first tournament a couple of weeks ago. Its just a shame that he will miss several weeks after he fractured his hand in training! I wasn't there as we are sharing pick ups with a neighbour whose son also goes but apparently the coach had said several times not to sit down between the exercises which Dr John kept doing, and right at the end of the session he did it again and coach tripped over him, standing on his hand!
Of course being the crappy mother that I am I didn't take him to the hospital that day but 4 days later after he had played a match in his first tournament. To be fair it wasn't that painful or swollen but he is now the proud owner of a cast. Amusingly we had to get his cast replaced as he broke the first one! I don't think the plaster guy at the hospital was too amused.
Still I can forgive a slightly abrupt manner as both times we were in and out of the hospital (xrays, plaster and everything) in less than 90 minutes.
He has the plaster on for 3 weeks, and then he can get back into the swing of things again. He hasn't been too upset at the things he hasn't been able to do, but he will definitely be pleased to be able to climb in the park, do proper cooking, and lay in the bath for ages as he loves to do!
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Villars to Le Diableret
One weekend we took the camper van to Le Diableret for Chris Evans and Dr Johns' mammoth walk.
They took the bus to Villars and then walked back.
I'm going to leave Chris Evans to blog it, but I will say now that I am extremely proud of both of them.
They took the bus to Villars and then walked back.
I'm going to leave Chris Evans to blog it, but I will say now that I am extremely proud of both of them.
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