The weather today has been horrible, very rainy and windy so no gardening. Eilidh and Ben were busy playing in Eilidh's room for ages this morning so we left them to it until they were hungry! They eventually appeared for some hot porridge and we sat and watched some of the schools programmes on the telly. Ben was very interested in one learning about how concrete was made and tested, probably had something to do with the fact they were making railway sleepers! They also watched an English programme which was a little too old for them, in fact I didn't even understand half of it ...suffixes, short vowels and goodness knows what else??

After lunch they decided to go upstairs and listen to a Winnie The Pooh story tape while I managed to get some washing and vacuuming done (yes, it does happen occasionally!) Then they came down to watch some 'Jolly Phonics' videos we have just been given off Freecycle. These are designed to teach children to learn to read and are what Eilidh had used at school in Reception class. Ben has been showing much more interest in learning his letters and numbers just recently so we shall try this way and see what happens. He was engrossed in the videos and nobody was allowed to make a sound while he watched!! Eilidh began to remember some of the bits from school and was helping Ben learn the actions that they have for each letter sound. Quite an educational day even though most of it was in front of the telly!

While Ben was busy watching, Eilidh helped me to start making some Christmas cards. We are trying to have a low key, environmentally friendly Christmas this year (so be warned everybody!)