A few weeks ago I submitted my application for a “Certificate of Exemption from Enrolment at a Registered School” for Linus.  After a couple of weeks, I emailed the Ministry of Education to find out how it was progressing, and found out that it had been granted! (Of course, the day I decide to chase it up is the day I get home and find the answer in the letterbox anyway!)

So as of now, Linus is officially home-schooled. I’m grateful for the big, juicy application that I submitted because it’s a great reference for genuinely-interested people (like family members) who want to know what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. It was also a great exercise for me to formalise my thinking, and very reassuring to have my application granted – no questions asked – based on a document that I felt fairly reflected our plans.

This week, my baby boy turned 6 years old, and he celebrated, and celebrated, and celebrated some more!

• baked cupcakes to take and share at Playcentre;
• went on a surprise (or supposed to be a surprise!) roast lunch in town with his Gaga;
• had a phone call from his Granny;
• had a favourite tea (macaroni cheese deluxe) cooked by Nana;
• had a Minecraft birthday cake designed by Aunty C, made by Nana;
• went to the pool (including the hydroslide, a special treat) with his best friend CB and Ada…
• …followed by an all-you-can-eat lunch together at Great Taste;
• watched Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope for the first time with Mummy and Daddy after his sisters were in bed.

Linus is great at reading, but I decided a few months ago that – for a few reasons – it would be good to read to him every night at bedtime and to focus on chapter books that would take weeks each to read.

For one thing, I think it’s easy to get so caught up in the technical aspects of reading – especially as you’re learning – that you fail to get immersed in the story and to use your imagination to its potential.

I also chose to do this at a time (first trimester, perhaps?) when I was having trouble coping with bedtimes at all and was getting very grumpy with the swarming children. I figured that I could commit to giving myself to one child for that time, but if I tried to be involved with all of them I’d just end up growly and it would be horrible for all concerned. (Bob is far more patient with them than me… although to be fair, I’ve usually spent the whole day with them while he’s been with them for an hour.)

Choosing books to read to Linus also extends him and opens him up to options that he either wouldn’t or couldn’t choose to read himself.

And finally, it’s always a treat to get one-on-one time with any of my children

So far we’ve read:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• The Story of Dr Dolittle
• one of The Famous Five

And we’ve nearly finished The Hobbit (another perk – I get to choose books I’ve been meaning to read or re-read for a while!).

Next, I’m thinking about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but we’ll see…

Linus’s first ever “favourite” movie was Happy Feet (check out his dancing!!), a cartoon about emperor penguins. When I saw a couple of months ago that Happy Feet Two was coming to the movies, I decided that it was time to finally take Linus to his first movie. The school holidays seemed a sensible time to do it, and on Monday I realised that this meant it was now or never!

So yesterday Linus, Ada and I enjoyed a trip to the movies. We enjoyed ridiculously comfortable seating, smuggled-in lollies (shhhh!), and an almost-empty cinema.

Linus got to spend some of his own pocket money on claw crane “game”, about which he now grumpily says “It’s just a machine for taking your money!”. He’s quoting me when he says it, but he says it with such feeling that I think he gets the gist.

After the movie, Linus and Ada spent about half an hour – penniless! – in the video arcade. They enjoyed imaginary shoot-’em-ups and car races, and would probably have kept going all afternoon if their mum hadn’t been bored and hungry!

Much as I hate a LOT about going to the movies (prices, food prices, failure to display any food prices, empty cinemas that seem to defy sensible supply-&-demand principles, lack of added value and innovation – the list is long and ranty!), I think it will be a nice tradition to have a movie trip each school holidays.

Linus started reading this page out loud to me this morning. I had it open on the screen from trying to identify a bug that Ada found a couple of weeks ago.

He reads amazingly well, and there was so much for me to observe in the short time listening to him:

• I’m surprised over and over again at the words he manages almost without a hitch (like “recognisable”).
• It’s also interesting which ones he gets right but looks at me for confirmation of (like “presence”)
• He didn’t even make an attempt at the Latin insect name – perhaps the italics scared him off?
• I also found out that he read “10mm” as “ten millimetres” without any pause for thought.
• He stopped when he got to “typical” (end of second paragraph) without even trying the word and asked me to read the rest. I guess he makes it sound easy, but it’s a little tiring mentally for him still.

PS from the looks of it the bug is a manuka chafer beetle, a type of scarab beetle.