Renovations and Repayments.

A_Frayed_Knot wrote: »

That is amazing news, you must be so pleased and disappointed at the same time. The girls parents must have caught sight of the pencil and made her return it. She obviously liked it and maybe obviously didn't know the value sentimental or value's worth.

So pleased it's back with it's rightful owner.

I thought it was gone forever, so I am certainly pleased to have it back.

I do think she was genuinely sorry and regretted doing what she did but that hasn't stopped me being very disappointed. Managed to not lose my temper, at least.

CathT wrote: »

Good news the pencil has been returned.

Do you have any plans for half term? Not long to go. We have a couple of NT properties locally that we enjoy this time of year.

Thanks, Cath.

Not even thought about half term yet. It's also my son's birthday in just over a month and still have no plans for that, either. At the moment my son seems quite run down and tired, so I think we'll have a quiet half term. Will probably have a walk around the Chatsworth estate one day with my parents and the dogs, possibly have a look what they're doing for Halloween there. How is your son settling into Reception?

newgirly wrote: »

Glad you got the pencil back, although wrong to take it she was brave returning it to you.

I agree, NG but hope she realises it is an unacceptable thing to do. We talked about an act such as this potentially putting her future career choice (violin teacher, which she seems very set on) into jeopardy and that she was very lucky I didn't get the police involved.

NSD today. Apart from that, it hasn't been so good. Had a terrible night's sleep and not been particularly well today. Managed to get through it and I've kept myself busy, also managed to put a couple of things up for sale which should see some profit. Son had an awful day at school with a substitute teacher who refused to let him go to the bathroom, apparently because lunch was 10 minutes away. :mad: After I thought everything was going fairly smoothly with school, he now doesn't want to go to school tomorrow.

Decided that for the rest of the year I'm not going to buy anything unnecessary for the cars. Hopefully I'll be able to put a little more money into the savings before the end of the year.

CathT wrote: »

A quiet half term is planned here too. Over the last year or so whenever I've asked the children what they would like to do at the weekend I.e a day out, they just want to go to the park or ride their bikes. They're so busy with extra curricular things that half term is needed for a rest! NT properties are our limit!

He's settling well thank you. I did think transition would be smoother as he's gone to private nursery full time since he was 2 and did 'wrap a round' during his nursery year. He found the days quite long though as think he was used to moving around more.

Alex do you have any advice re: piano tuition please? Dd started a year ago, she's 8 niw and actually picked up scale of c on y0utube which impressed her first teacher at the initial lesson. She had a few lessons and then we started with a music school shortly after. I've been informed she's ready to work towards grade 1 but apart from a sheet of paper in her book there seems to be little progress or feedback. We are debating switching to a private teacher (for several reasons) as she is taught in a group of 4-6 children. Any tips re: timing? I thought getting her through grade 1 would be best but we don't seem to be moving forward and she's losing interest. She has a natural ability so want to nurture it and until recently she has been super keen and played at a concert at school and loved the feedback she got.

Sorry, that went on longer than expected!

My son is tired and it's been a long half term too. To be honest, I'm rather glad he will be happy with a quiet one this time. Though we did talk about going to my parents' apartment in Spain, not done anything about it and time is running out. May look at flight costs as I suppose it would be nice to get away. It seems the black dog is brushing up against me at the moment, trying not to let things get as bad as they've been in the past though.

Going to school was quite an ordeal for my son (OK, I'll admit it, for me too. ) but sounds like yours was much better prepared. It is a long time for them to be there and I think most are tired; both my cousin and brother-in-law have children and said something similar despite being better prepared than my son.

Re. piano: I'd be moving on now as I don't personally think a child can learn to play piano being taught in such a group whilst building good technique and a good general awareness of music. Clearly, I cannot tell you whether your daughter is ready to sit Grade 1 when I have never heard and seen her play but after a year most pupils are ready. To give you an idea of feedback I provide, each one of my pupils leaves their lesson with an A4 sheet of paper stating what to / how to practise over the coming week. They have books / folders for technique, repertoire / composer studies, theory and musicianship. I do not have pupils sit exams until all components of the exam are to a satisfactory standard and I personally believe the pupil is a Grade x musician. Many teachers will get a pupil to learn three pieces by rote and have an idea of how to play the required scales. To me, this is not a Grade x standard musician. Further, I would not get hung up over exams. I'm fairly certain I could coach my son through higher grades than he has currently sat but I would be neglecting to give him a broad education in music as well as things he enjoys like playing duets and putting together mini-recitals.

Do you play piano / another instrument? If so, you may find your daughter's interest is renewed if you are willing to play duets with her or even have her play simplified accompaniments based around the primary chords. Ask her what she likes about playing the piano and what she dislikes. If you don't play an instrument, learning to play piano / any other instrument well is a disciplined process which is not going to always be wonderfully "fun". Listen to Radio 3, talk about music and take her to see a concert.

Hope this is useful.