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The first week back to home ed in 2019 and weirdly it wasn't too bad. I'm giving the kids more freedom to choose their own topics and projects this term while keeping the curriculum worksheets of English and Maths going. It's been really nice not having the huffing and puffing, although I'm fully expecting it by the end of next week. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in previous posts but I've agreed to a 3 day home ed week as long as they put in the effort on those days. We'll see how that works out!
I'm trying to incorporate some of their Christmas presents into home ed. O* got a spirograph which I took a real chance on as he likes things to be perfect. As anyone who's ever had the frustration of circling a perfect spiro only for it to slip away at the end creating a huge line through the pattern will know it's not a toy for the perfectionist. But he's also a very determined lad who doesn't like to give up and he kept trying until he cracked it. He was VERY pleased with himself, and the girls love it too. We also bought him an Addicaball which is great for hand and eye co-ordination as well as practising patience. Gawd, I'm sucking the fun right out of his toys aren't I?! Well anyway, I* got some Fimo which is great for some creative fun, and N* got a whole bunch of books (she's a little book worm) so that will keep them busy.
We're starting to give our eldest daughter a little more freedom. I've always been protective of the kids, maybe a little too much but I'd rather know that I've done all I can to protect them and keep them safe than not enough. But today she went with her friends on the bus to a water park, over to Maccy D's for lunch, and then had a wander around Asda to look at the clothes! (They were too far from the shopping centre to walk there so Asda had to suffice) They had a really great time and to finish the night off her friend is sleeping over.
That'll be it now, she'll be out all the time. We bearly see her as it is, she's become a bedroom dweller, only surfacing for food and drinks. I guess that's the life of a teenager. Quite different from my teenhood though. Loud music, posters on walls, watching my favourite movies over and over again, and writing in my diary was my itinerary. But N* hates loud music and I usually find her face-space-time-webbing her friends.
O* has spent almost all of his Christmas money on video games. I* went mad in New Look, and N* (as I've just written) has been going out. So they are happy little chickadee's.
The hubs went back to college, or the playground, as he calls it. Being a mature student is not easy when you're surrounded by a bunch of school leavers who are only there so they get their £30 per week government allowance and so their mums continue getting their Child Benefit. Not all students are like that, obviously. Unfortunately the ones in construction this year seem to think to throw lime cement around and kick down other students walls is funny. The tutors do nothing on the account of 'ADHD' even though what the kids are doing breaches health and safety, they still don't reprimand them or kick them off the course. The place is a joke, but what can you do when formal complaints don't even work? So he grits his teeth and does what he needs to do, and I thank him every day for it.
I have had a bit of a crazy week. Wednesday is my sign-on day which I dread each time I go. However, this week I had some good news. I've been transferred over to a training centre for the next 10 weeks once a fortnight to complete a course aimed at getting people back to work. I have already completed 3 employability courses over there and have to say I didn't learn much that I didn't already know. But it means no job centre sign-on for 10 weeks makes me a very happy lady! Anyway, whilst I was at the jobcentre I asked if doing voluntary work would affect my JSA, the chap said no and so now I have a possible opportunity to join a mental health art and craft therapy group which takes place locally only once a week for a couple of hours (and luckily on an afternoon that the hubs isn't at college). Awesome! It might lead to something, it might not but it falls in line with my Mental Health Awareness course that I'm doing (and it keeps the jobcentre off my back a bit more)
It was my birthday on Thursday and although I do love having a birthday I hate getting older, I guess everyone does. The kids got me some lovely things, I* made me some birthday cupcakes, and O* made me a card. Later on the hubs took me clothes shopping and then for a pub meal near where we live. We haven't been there for a long time and they have a new vegan menu. A full vegan menu, might I add. Not just a vegan option on the main menu but a whole menu of starters, mains, and desserts. I made the hubs have a vegan burger and he actually REALLY enjoyed it, he said he wouldn't have known it was vegan, it tasted so much like a real burger. The day was wonderful and I enjoyed every second of it.
Friday wasn't so great. I was supposed to have my smart meters removed and replaced with analogue ones for my gas and electric supply. No one turned up and when I phoned the supplier they had no record of me. I was not happy and I will not be switching over to TOTO Energy or recommending them. So now I still have the deathly smart meters and I'm back to square one of trying to find a supplier to switch to and that will take out the brain melters.
So that's my first home ed week wrapped up for 2019. Oh yeah, and before I forget, or maybe I've forgotten that I've already told you, can't actually remember, I've secured myself 4 more articles for Gainsborough Life Magazine for this year and have had the first 2 accepted for the February and March editions. WOOHOO!! xx