It has taken us a while to get here but Beth is now on Stage three of the Gaps diet Intro.  As well as broth and soup and casseroles (aren’t they really the same thing with extra ingredients and different levels of liquidity), yoghurt and honey she can have avocado, pancakes and eggs scrambled in Ghee.

Her appetite has really picked up and this is barely enough for her to eat so we will hopefully whizz through this onto stage four.  

Stage four adds roasted and grilled meat but for some reason not fried or barbecued, cold pressed olive oil and pressed juices which I am really looking forward to.  I could have them any time but fitting them in when I don’t have to doesn’t happen at the moment.   Also almond bread starting with a tiny bit.  That sounds a lot more substantial but a even more hard work but the diet is working beautifully, the hollow eyes and pale complexion and lack of energy have been transformed to pink cheeks and bounciness.

Gaps intro for us all

Making at Artcore

Most weeks we spend a couple of hours at Artcore doing our own thing with their equipment and support.  Beth is working at the wheel determined to get the knack of centring the clay, everything else comes relatively easily to here but this is difficult requiring firm but delicate pressure to an exact degree.

I am still working on my wire horse, it seems to be taking for ever but we had a break of about 6 weeks in the summer, I am very much enjoying the process which is completely new to me.

Ilam and Dovedale: Friday Walk

Something Beth has longed for has recently been organised by an enterprising home edder so on Friday we went on our very first of what I hope will be a long series of monthly Friday walks.

We met in the car park at Ilam and took a track that was supposed to take about 2 hours, four hours later we marched into the tea room for a very welcome cup of tea.

Here are some pictures of our route.  And us.

URGENT: SUPPORT WELSH HOME EDUCATORS TODAY

I am sending this message via email to the Senedd today, it would be lovely if others sent something like it, I do not want the welsh government to think that because the weather and the distance and just life stop some of us from being there that we are not wholeheartedly behind them giving them all our support.

We are sending this message to support the Welsh home educators braving the weather and gathering outside the Senedd today.  Although sadly we can’t be there with them we are with them in spirit.

There has never been a demonstrated need for government to interfere in home education,  in all cases where a home educated child has come to harm (very few in reality) government agencies were already involved for other reasons than education and failed to act.

As the home educators in Wales hand over the “Hands for Home Ed”  I will be sending my thoughts to support them along with many other people.

Yours sincerely

Maire Bruce and Beth Stafford.

Please share this far and wide, we are sending it to Leighton.Andrews@wales.gov.uk

And copy to  David Jones. Tory MP Secretary of State for Wales.

david.jones.mp@parliament.uk

Recovering skills: Autonomous Home Education

Beth has started the Open University openings course Making Sense of the Arts.  She wants to write and now she is set up with Dragon Naturally Speaking and a decent headset and mike and a voice that she cannot hear two voices in, her writing is flourishing.

These however were hand written (a rare occurrence) and transcribed by me.  This is the work of a few minutes here and there over the last couple of days.  I must say I am a bit awed, it is not something I can do with any ease or even at all.  

But slowly we both remembered that she used to make up songs and poems and stories all the time, she would be constantly telling herself them under her breath when she was little, she was almost born doing it.  



Of course this was pre school, school destroyed her confidence because as she is dyslexic she could not write her ideas down and was pressured to produce work far beneath her abilities rather than provided with the support to work at the level of her ability.  So all that was almost lost in the mists of time, but not lost forever as you can see.

                          I love you

                          I Iove you 

                          You are perfect in every way

                          You are inspiring every day

                          You are bright enough to light the way

                          You are brilliant to this day

                          I love you

                          Sullen Angel

                          One day when I’m a grown

                          I will act all angelic

                          You’ll never see me nor

                          Any angel acting in a sullen way

                          But till that day 

                          I’ll just be me in every way!

                          .........................

                          Dogs dogs 

                          sleep all day

                          unless you have some 

                          time to play

                          Love

                          I love you so so much 

                          that if I tried to measure it

                          I’d have to give up

                          ...............................

                         The cold grips at me

                          In the chilly breeze

                          It seeps in through to the

                          Deepest core and even when the

                          Sun and heat come out it lingers

                          Dancing through me

                          Just that bit longer

                          .......................................

                         Rose’s aren’t always red

                         But violet’s are blue

                         You may be sweet

                         I’ve never tasted you

                          English Working Man

                          I would climb a mountain

                          But I haven’t got the time

                          I would swim the channel 

                          But I haven’t got the time

                          I would run a marathon

                          But I haven’t got the time

                          I would go for a bike ride 

                          But I haven’t got the time

                          I would come and see you 

                          But I haven’t got the time

                          See I’m an english working man

                          Fish fish how do you have your baths

                          Fish fish

                          How do you have your baths

                          I have to admit I’m wondering

                          See while you’re in water I’m on land

                          So correct me if I am wrong

                          While I’m in water you are on land

                          Fish fish

                          How do you have your baths

                          I’ve been pondering and pondering

                          the cleanliness of you

                          I find it quite concerning 

                          Howling Howls

                          The humans howl all the time

                          Day and night

                          But when I discuss the latest news

                          With fellow canines

                          They make an awful fuss

                          Running round the garden

                          Excited creature they are

                          Interrupting my discussions

                          With their awful howling howls

                          ............................................

                          You’re there for me always

                          Forever by my side

                          I never need to explain to you what exactly’s on my mind

                          But if I choose to anyway you never mind

                          So don’t forget that

                          When I say I love you

                          It’s as true as

                          The fact that

                          You are you

                          Silent Snores

                          Sitting in his usual spot upon the sofa

                          Sleeping silently with jaws parted

                          Ready for the snores to come

                          Though it is silent now 

                          As he sleeps on.

Sunflowers and other poems: pre school creativity

Sadly not everything is dated but the bottom three are age four, I think the first one is a little younger.

Beth says the image is of food, she vaguely remembers that which I think is pretty cool at 14.

Four years and two months here.