Need extra maths support for your child?
If you need some extra maths support for your primary school child then I can highly recommend the book “No Nonsense Maths”. It supports the mathematics National Curriculum and gives children plenty of practice with problem solving word questions which is now the way many of the Sat’s questions for mathematics have evolved.
I’m pretty sure I bought mine over the summer in Bookworld Espana in Puerto Banus but you could certainly order it from them. No Nonsense Maths by Bond. My youngest has got big gaps in her learning and this is helping to go over those gaps as well as giving her the work for the week ahead so that when she sees for example negative numbers for the first time she feels a degree of confidence about them and doesn’t panic. Unfortuantely in Primary Schools the mathematics teaching isn’t always good. Teachers have to speed through subjects and if your child has a gap in their knowledge, this is going to give them problems with future learning objectives.
The book I have mentioned is broken into years, so I bought age 8-9 as my child is in Year 4. You obviously would choose the right book depending on your child’s age.
Now recite with me,
1×2 is 2
2×2 is 4
Survivors Chicken
I call this recipe Survivors Chicken because I’ve made it five times, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and so far I haven’t killed anyone. Although my husband hasn’t come home yet and it has gone 8pm…..
Now with me, you must remember that I cannot cook. Therefore when I give you a recipe you can guarantee that you won’t have to find some peppery spice that is only grown on top of Mount Everest and sold only on one website whose server is always down. You also won’t need any Jamie Oliver cooking utensils and all my recipes are best made after downing half a bottle of any Lidl red wine. It helps with the nerves.
This costs about 6.00 euros for the whole meal and feeds 5 people and looks REALLY amazing when it goes into the oven ( make sure your mum in law sees it) and looks just as good when it comes out. It is also one of those meals that you don’t have to do very much, the oven does all the work, so ideal if you have guests or hungry children.
Ingredients
5 portions of chicken ( Mercadona sell them for under 5 euros)
2 large onions
1 sweet red pepper
coarse sea salt ( look at me sounding all pro…., pepper and sage ( the word for sage in Spanish is salvia)
Olive oil to drizzle
Method
THIS IS SO EASY.
Place your 5 chicken portions on a baking tray so that they are only just touching.
Chop into quarters your onions and place on tray with chicken.
Slice into thickish pieces your red pepper, not too small otherwise it will burn.
Sprinkle lots of sea salt, some black pepper and sage onto the chicken.
Drizzle a small amount of olive oil onto chicken.
Place into a hot pre heated oven at 180 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, baste at least once if you can…..
Voila, food cooked, looks great, onions will taste divine and your mother in law will be placated if not stuffed.
Celebrate….
My wise dad has always said to me, “celebrate when you feel like it and not when you feel that you should.” In other words, open that dusty bottle of Moet when the feeling comes over you, don’t wait for that special occasion which may never come. Enjoy your life here, now, in this moment and don’t wait for tomorrow….
Well today I felt like celebrating. I don’t have any dusty bottles of Moet, I don’t even have a bottle of Sprite lying around, so I’ve eaten a full bag of Leys Salt and Vinegar crisps, a whole bar of chocolate and a full can of coca cola. Full sugar too I’ll have you know. You can’t get high on aspartame.
The reason I feel like celebrating…..its Friday, its raining and my Spanish house is still standing.
Day one…half term, six to go
Day one of half term this week. Job was put on hold so that I could put my ” mummy hat on” and I was really looking forward to doing some outdoor things…..so waking up to pouring rain wasn’t a good start.
Found a great way though of keeping everyone happy. I turned the whole day into school. We had homework hour….well 2 hours. We had break time, I couldn’t find a bell so made up the sound of one. Then we had playtime……children could do whatever they wanted so long as it didn’t involve killing each other and then we had sports….ping pong or table tennis as I’m told it is called and a go on the community walking machines etc.
It worked REALLY WELL and didn’t cost a penny….children didn’t mooch about like they do at the week-ends in their dressing gowns for hours upon hours, everyone had purpose, we got lots of that horrible holiday homework given out by Gremlin Teachers out of the way and my eldest daughter even had time to help me make a curry. So she is now in charge of school dinners.
Tomorrow we start school at 10am.
Just need to find my cane.
Children travelling alone on flights
BMI airlines are now offering a service for children travelling alone. The charge depends on where they are flying to but is for children aged from 7-15 years and the cost is around £50-100 per flight. You take your children to the airport and after check in a member of staff will look after you child throughout the entire journey and the person at the other end that will be meeting your child will have to prove who they are to the staff member. All very safe and very efficient.
It is nice to see lower cost airlines taking on BA who used to be one of the few airlines offering this service. If you are living in Spain and have children at boarding school this will really help and also nice if you have children that may wish to visit grandparents in the UK during their holidays.
Happy Valentines Day
We went out today and bought ourselves a joint valentine’s day present much to the delight of the children.
His name is Valentino and he is a hamster!
We bought him from the large garden centre just before Estepona and he was only 5 euros, but his equipment was 85 euros. We also looked at the pet shop underground in La Canada where they were 7.50 euros and had been handled more as the lady there has a particular fondness for them. However we had more choice of sweet little casas, soft duvet bedding and cages at Agro Jardin so that’s where we bought everything.
Oh, have to go, my daughter has just told me that Valentino is awake!!
Bedtime comforters
Children take their favourite blanket or cuddly toy to comfort them at bedtime. What do grown ups take?
I’ve just been shopping in El Corte Ingles, Puerto Banus. I went in for minced beef and came back with….well a bit more of the cow than the mince. Tonight I’m going to bed with a full leg of hair and my husband is being replaced by my new, softest leather, black handbag that was half price. Please note it was half price because I am trying to get over the guilt. I wish I had bought chocolate, that would have helped. I can’t even use my new handbag for the moment because I can’t stop sticking my head inside and smelling the leather. Perhaps I can wear it as a long hat.
Many apologies to any vegans or vegetarians that are reading this, but be sure that the cow will be worn with pride. Once I can stop sniffing it.
Zip it, block it, flag it
There is a new campaign in the UK to help teach children and parents about the dangers of using the Internet, games such as Club Penguin where little ones can talk to strangers who may or may not be children and the dangers of chat rooms for older children. The slogan is zip it ( don’t give out personal info), block it, ( block anyone that makes you feel uncomfotable so they can no longer communicate with you) and flag it ( talk to your parent/teacher/adult about what has happened) I like the slogan, it’s catchy and gets to the point.
My teenage son has just asked for some headphones for his birthday to use with a playstation game. It was so that he could hear more clearly what online strangers are saying as they play the game with him. Not the best birthday gift idea as the language can be terrible as people play this PS3 game. To its credit, the PS3 does scramble it so you can’t hear clearly what is being said, but the odd swear word or sentence does get out and you don’t need to be a brainbox to know what f stands for. Clearly there is no way he is getting headphones.
My daughter is begging me to give her MSN. She’s 11 and is the only one in her year group of around 40 children that doesn’t have it, or so she tells me. Letters have gone out to parents about bullying that has happened within another year group using MSN, another letter came out about children sending emails with nasty chain mails attached. I’m standing firm. If she wants to chat to her school friends she can pick up something called a telephone. Or I can be really cruel and she can wait until the next day to speak to them.
My 8 year old doesn’t have email. I didn’t think that was a problem until her French teacher told the class that they should all have email by now and set them homework where they would be required to enter their email address. She didn’t do the homework. She’s 8, she plays with Barbies, she still believes in Santa, she doesn’t need an email address. Who would she email?
I’m not operating in the dark. We have three pc’s in the house, the children can use the pc’s at certain times of the day but I know that there is either homework going on or specific games which I know about. Nasty chain mails, bulling with MSN all passes me by. The children are happy and if the only battle I have with my daughter is on giving her MSN then I think we are getting on pretty well!!
Remember, zip it, block it, flag it……
Shrove Tuesday 2010
Shrove Tuesday, pancake day is on Feb 16th 2010. We usually make regular pancakes but I found a packet mix in Mercadona of American style pancakes so I’m going to give those a try this year. You need a griddle with American Pancakes, so mine are likely to end up burnt or on the kitchen ceiling as,
1. I don’t have a griddle
and
2. I can’t cook
Skiing in Sierra Nevada
Did you see me in Sierra Nevada, I was the one wearing lime green?
The most gorgeous Brit that you have ever seen,
Gucci glasses perched on my head,
I replied, “Gracias” to whatever you said,
I couldn’t really ski but I looked the part,
When I whizzed past, people clutched at their heart,
I was going too fast but I only toppled a few,
Ever so sorry if it was you,
The problem I had was that I was in such a hurry,
And no-one taught me to stop, which was a bit of a worry,
I would shout “You Hoo” as I went flying by,
I really didn’t expect people to die,
I’ll never bring ski poles again when I am feeling so tense,
And I’m sorry if it was you that I impaled on a fence,
There is no need to look at me with such an expression of fear,
Coz I’ve booked tickets to Gran Canaria and am going scuba diving next year.
