expanding our horizons in all directions

I mentioned before that the sprogits and I agreed on book reviews and pen friends as ways of doing reading and writing. Well I contacted a lady who had posted on a fb group looking for pen friends for her children, and we swapped addresses. The next day I told the kids and they sat down to write introductory letters :) I knew Little would do just fine by herself, but Small needed a bit of help with spelling and letter formation (which I was expecting). Nevertheless I was impressed with his concentration and determination, considering that he claims to not be able to read or write. I really hope his pen friend is understanding and encouraging. They were both very enthusiastic so fingers crossed this will become a regular thing.

They also each chose books off our lovely new bookshelf, to read in time for next week. Little chose Flat Stanley which we just bought off a sale group a couple of weeks back, and Small chose Tessa and the Magician from the Puddle Lane series because he says it's a tricky one :) I'm chuffed that they're enthusiastic about it. I said before I wasn't sure whether we would use a form or not, well I think I'll create a form for Small to use to help him, and let Little write hers by herself. Little has already started reading Flat Stanley and seems to be enjoying it (we also have 4 of the other books in the series). Hopefully she will remember how much she loves reading as there's a rather a lot of books which are just her level which she would love hiding under my bed just waiting for her ;)

Finally, we had a bit of a disappointment after being excited earlier on in the week :( we've been watching Stargazing Live all week, and someone on one of the fb groups mentioned that they had bought a telescope from Jessops for the bargain price of £39.99 reduced from £119.99. Fantastic, thought I. Mentioned it to the sprogits and they were thrilled with the idea. In fact, I think thrilled is an understatement! So we reserved one to pick up yesterday. Only then the company announced they were calling in the administrators, and all the stores closed on Friday. So no telescope for us, or at least, not from there. We have bought a different one, but it's cost us more and isn't as powerful. The sprogits aren't bothered about that of course, but I am. Anyway, we are very much looking forward to it arriving and us being able to look at the stars in more detail. Podd has Google sky map on his mobile which tells us which stars are which when looking at the sky, which has lead to much excitement about spotting Jupiter every now and then, so hopefully we can take a closer look very soon!