@AndSmelly
What with all this home learning and working and the recent spate of regular running, I've found that its really hard to fit in all the things. Add to this all the lovely kind people who are sharing extra bits and bobs that might "help" keep us occupied and I'm finding that I'm ignoring lots… Continue reading Things I don’t have time for
Ding ding ding, seconds out! We're on our own again, well sort of. As everyone suspected would be the case, English schools closed for the spring term. No, not at the end of the winter term, during the holidays, or just before reopening. No, they closed after one day of the children being back -… Continue reading Home Learning Round Two
A year ago I wrote my first looking forward post to 2020. After the awful, disastrous year we had in 2019 I didn't ask for much. I'm not making resolutions - I just want 2020 to be less painful than 2019 please. Please. And, well, 2020 was certainly a rollercoaster but it wasn't as painful… Continue reading Reflecting on 2020
Warning: I'm just going to dive right in here, no gentle preamble or stories about silly things the boys did. The issues around inclusion and unconscious bias (as well as just basic exclusion based on gender, race, social position, education, religion, and orientation or identity) are a bit of a bug bear for me. From… Continue reading Inclusion – a how to
I know homework for primary school children can be a contentious topic. In 2017 an OFSTED report stated that more than 30% of parents don't think its helpful. Indeed, its recently caused lots of chat in large boy's class parent's Facebook group. I certainly found in year 1 that there was a lot to deal… Continue reading The homework dilemma
Back to school 2020 isn't quite the same as 2019 was. It's been so much longer since they were in and we still aren't quite sure what school will look like next Wednesday. School have sent us an email with some information but there are still plenty of questions. Here's how we prepare for R-day,… Continue reading Back to school countdown 2020
It's still only a few weeks since small boy's birthday so we're working our way through his new games. We loved Bug Bingo and this weekend we decided to give Dobble a go. This was another Amazon wishlist purchase: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Asmodee-ASMDOBB01EN-Dobble-Card-Game/dp/B0031QBHMA Getting Started Inside the packaging (bah humbug, too much unnecessary plastic) there's a lovely compact… Continue reading Review: Dobble
Its been said thousands of times by, well, pretty much everyone. 2020 hasn't quite been what anyone could have expected at the start of the year. I'm not going to get absorbed by the ins and outs and the politics of how we've ended up in such an awful mess. The 17 weeks we spent… Continue reading 10 Things Home Learning has Taught Me
As we approach the end of the summer term in England, its tempting to feel like this is the home stretch towards a brighter reality without the weight of home learning hanging around our necks. I'm bracing myself though, for that being totally unrealistic. School Holidays After the end of term comes school holidays. Not… Continue reading The Home Stretch?
This is a little diary of our eleventh week in social isolation, back to home learning after half term, me working from home, and himself in work a few days. Here are the highlights and low lights. See what happened in week 10. What will week 12 bring? Stay safe everyone, I hope you're doing… Continue reading Staying home, staying safe – week 11
Smelly Socks and Garden Peas 