School Withdrawal

Only 4 days after the start of the Summer Holidays, I should be relaxing after the very long and extremely busy half term, but after going into school on Thursday to clear the classroom out and briefly on Friday to drop off a few things, I still find myself pacing up and down unable to sit down and relax. Have I forgotten how to relax? Probably not forgotten, but it seems I am out of practice. My mind is still racing, coming up with new ideas for topics, spotting resources I could use etc. I hadn't realised how much school work I was actually doing at home until I stopped (or tried to stop!). I only counted the hours I sat at the computer planning and the time I sat marking & assessing work, but do any of us count the hours we spend thinking about school? It's probably not a good idea to do so. It would certainly remind me how much time I am stealing from my own children.

I have often said I believe things happen for a reason. I think I now know why I do not have a job for September. It will be good for me to do supply teaching again for a while. It will allow me to catch my breath again after my children have gone back to school, to leave school at a reasonable time (any time before 18.00 would be an improvement) and to be there for my own two children.

Goodbye Uncle John

I remember when I was little. Visits from Uncle John were so special. He made such a fuss of us. I used to sit on his knee and he would tell us all funny stories of things he had done. He ran his own company and always brought us keyrings and pens and things with the company logo on. They were the best things in the world then. When I got a bit older he used to come down and take us out for a meal in a posh restaurant. It was the only time I ever got to go to a proper restaurant. I loved telling my friends about.

I remember once, he was showing me the credit cards in his wallet. I really liked the holographic bird on one of them. He said that when the card expired I could have it. Mum & Dad both told me not to be upset if he forgot because it would be quite a long time before the card expired. I forgot about it, then one day months and months later I got a little letter from him with the holograph attached. I was so excited. It meant a lot that he'd remembered.

I was really excited when he said they were moving closer to where we lived. He lived in Hertfordshire and we only got to see him about twice a year, so it would mean we would see him a lot more. He was selling the business and buying a couple of old cottages which he planned to convert. I never saw what it looked like before he had it renovated, but apparently it was just two old large cottages and some stables set on a very large plot of land with a pond and woods etc. When it was renovated it was lovely. I remember being amazed by how big it was. I used to get lost just going to the bathroom.

When Larry & I decided to get married, we were quite young and although we had a bit of money saved we were going to settle for a small wedding that we could afford. Uncle John said that if we wanted a big wedding we should have one. He was well off, but he had worked hard for the money he had and I told him I could not accept his money. He didn't give me a choice. He insisted on giving me the money, so I very gratefully accepted. He also let us use his Daimler as a wedding car and was our chauffeur for the day even taking us to the hotel we'd booked for the wedding night. We had a lovely wedding in a big church and couldn't have done it without him.

The following year we bought our first flat in Southampton. Again, he helped us out with lots of helpful advice about legal matters and helped us out temporarily with a loan for the deposit.

After moving away from home, we only saw Uncle John at Christmas and family occasions such as weddings. In recent years we have lost touch with him and my Aunty apart from Christmas cards. We were busy with our children and work. We haven't visited my parents so often and when we have, time has always been so short we haven't had time to visit anyone else.

On Sunday I had a call from my Dad. I knew it was important. Dad never (almost never) phones me. Uncle John was in hospital with Pneumonia. They had been to visit him and although he looked tired and pale, he was in good spirits, still telling amusing stories.

This morning, I had a call from my mum. Uncle John died this morning. He had been ill for quite a long time and for a few years now he has been warning everyone this might be his last birthday or his last Christmas. Well, he didn't make it to either this year. His birthday is next Thursday.

I am glad my dad got to see his brother before he died and that he will have a recent memory of him joking and telling stories. I am sad I didn't get to see him, but I shall remember him as my favourite uncle who used to sit me on his knee and tell me silly stories which he exaggerated so much that they bore no resemblence to the actual event, but which were amusing and entertaining all the same.

Goodbye Uncle John xxx

Why I Hate Facebook...

I really am starting to hate the bloody thing. Yes, I am just about to go off on one of my rants, so please stop now if you are in a positive mood, because you'll be reaching for the Prozac (or more of it if you are a regular reader :s) by the time I am through!

Firstly, I hate the way facebook tells you "10 of your friends think you are sexy!" Get stuffed. Most of the people on my friends list don't even think I am worth inviting out to the pub, let alone think I am sexy.

Secondly, 'friends list' - that's a joke. Hardly any of the people on my 'friends list' are true friend's. Some of my good friends are not even on there as they have either decided not to join Facebook or only use their computers when they have to. Some of the people on my list don't even know me. It's ridiculous!

Thirdly, on my 'friends list' I have parents (of children I have taught in the past), teachers I work / have worked with, parents (from the playground at Little Z's school) and real friends. You will notice 'real friends' is at the end of the list. This is because it is the category with the fewest people in it! Many of these people know each other and some of them have a 'teacher / pupil's parent' relationship. I am not very comfortable about this. Conversations on Facebook are very public. I have had some conversations with some people that I would not like certain people to read, but as you never know who is on your friend's friends' 'friends lists' (still with me?) you could be talking in front of anyone!

Fourthly, Facebook makes me miserable. I regularly see the pictures and read reports of all the great things my 'friends' are doing that I am not. I am not a jealous person, but it reminds me that I don't have any money and that even if I did I probably wouldn't be invited anyway!

Fifthly, (yes, I am still ranting, you might as well keep reading now you've started!) I just don't see the point in all these 'send your friend a snowflake', 'ooh, send your friend a different crappy snowflake'. It reminds me of when I was a boring child with no imagination (er.....??? ok, leave that one :s) and my friends at nursery wanted to play with dolls. I never understood why they wanted to. What's the point? They are not real!

Sixthly (is that even a word? I can barely pronounce it!), Groups. There are too many groups set up by people who can't spell or punctuate or at least 'check their work before they hand it in' :) Again, what is the point of these groups? I can see that some groups have been set up so that people can discuss areas of interest with likeminded facebookers. However, when people just set up a group to rant about something in the news when there are already 8 existing groups on the subject, for goodness sake, get a blog! (oh, yeah!)

There are a few things I like about Facebook. But I am not going to write about them in a post entitled 'Why I Hate Facebook...' now, am I!

I've got a new job!

For anyone who checks my blog regularly (yes, I know, just pretend, okay?!*) you will know that I am updating this very retrospectively, but as I have been whinging about not having a job for ages, I thought I ought to update my blog to let anyone who reads it (*see above) know the good news.

Over half term I received a letter inviting me for interview on Friday 7th November following my application for a maternity cover year R teaching post. I had had an interview there before and had been given some fantastic advice by the headteacher which had helped me get the next job I had been interviewed for.

I worked really hard to prepare for this one. I made resources, borrowed resources and used some I already had. I spent a long time thinking through, planning and then practising my lesson until I felt it was good. I practised interview questions & answers over and over. I did lots of reading on the new EYFS and other relevant topics so that I was ready for anything they could possibly throw at me during interview. I was lucky that most of the interview questions were the same as they were last time, so were on my list of 'likely to be asked' questions which I'd prepared answers for.

It worked. They loved my lesson (children and interviewers) and I was pleased with how it had gone. The interview also went very well. I was glad I had prepared - it paid off. I left the school at 12.15 feeling very confident, but knowing that they still had one more candidate out of three of us to interview. At 2.15 I received a call to offer me the job. I am not sure if I was more excited or relieved. If I didn't have a job for January, things would be very tough financially.

I have to remember, though, that it is a temporary contract to cover maternity leave and no matter how many times people say, "well, you never know, she may not come back." I am not taking anything for granted. I want to have a job ready to go to when this contract finishes. I am not going to hang around to see if there is a permanent job at the end of it, because there may not be one. I've been there, done that and learnt a hard lesson I'm not likely to forget for a while.

Sleepover

There are many things we do as parents that after we have done them we look back and say "Thank Goodness that's all over." Birthday Parties, for example. Having 10 of your child's friends running around your house, is something you just have to put up with once a year (per child! - glad I stopped at 2!) It is always difficult when you have other children in your house. They never have the same house rules at home that you do and they do things you wouldn't let your own children do, not because they are naughty or disrespectful, but just because everyone has different routines at home.

Little Z has been asking for weeks if Little A could come for a sleepover. Little Z has never had a sleepover before, but having just turned 9 is at that age where she feels more grown up and wants to start having her friends to stay the night. They asked so many times that I finally gave in and so yesterday I picked up Little Z & Little A from school and after watching Little Z take part in the school's last cross country race of the season we all went back to our house for dinner.

I was surprised by how calm and sensible they were. I expected to have to keep nagging them to pick their things up and not make such a mess or to stop teasing Big J (something Little Z tends to like doing when she has friends around), but they were very well behaved and Little Z was much calmer than she usually is. We watched Doctor Who on DVD during which the girls sat together quietly snuggled up on the sofa. They had their hot chocolate and then went to bed. Again, I expected to have to go in there several times to tell them to go to sleep and not to make so much noise as they were keeping Big J awake. I didn't. They talked for 5 minutes, then it was quiet. Within 15 minutes, they were asleep. It is never that easy when it's just Little Z and Big J to put to bed. Maybe we should have friends to stay more often!

What a day...

Feeling energetic, I woke up this morning and decided we would walk to school. So having hurried to get ready for school, I ushered Big J and Little Z out of the house to take Big J to the childminder's. Despite the fact that I am going to the school and could take Big J myself, it is a long way to walk for him and I don't want him getting worn out before starting the school day. I am also trying to keep him in some kind of routine so that he knows he must go to the childminder's every morning whether mummy is working or not.

So, after dropping Big J off just around the corner, Little Z and I had to just pop back home to get her bags and then we could go. That is when I realised I did not have my house keys with me. Having been in such a hurry to get out of the house on time, I had pulled the door shut behind me without taking my keys out of the other side first. Great!

Little Z and I tried for 10 mins to open the door from the outside using the very sophisticated 'twigs through the letterbox' method. We were not successful. Luckily I had picked up my car keys and so we were able to drive to school where I had to drop Little Z off without her school bag and lunch and then had to go into Big J's school for sharing time, where he gets to take me around the class and show me all the things he has made etc.

I then had to go to the Junior school for an informal meeting with Mrs C, their ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) which was very beneficial to both parties. I was able to express my concern about Little Z's recent change in behaviour at home, namely her frustration and anger, and Mrs C agreed to try to see Little Z today to give her some time to talk through anything which may be worrying her and which she has not felt she could talk to me about.

I felt very positive after the meeting with Mrs C, however, I still had the issue of the keys to sort out. Thankfully, Larry had not yet left his office to go on delivery so I was able to collect his keys from him.

After such a busy few hours, I was glad to be able to sit down and relax until at 11.55 I suddenly realised that I had not taken Little Z's bag to her at school (it had been locked in the house and so left behind) and she therefore had no lunch! So much for trying to be economical with petrol this week. I called the school. They were not answering and I was not going to leave a message. I jumped in the car and took her bag to her.

As luck would have it, the deputy, who is also the SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) was in the school front office and having just had a meeting with the Ed Psych was able to give me some feedback on that meeting and its outcomes. It is a big relief to know that finally something is being done. I have to say. I think the school are being fantastic. The class teachers and SENCO are very supportive and have been receptive to recommendations I have made. Having then also spoken to the class teacher at the end of the day, he seems to be taking the recommendations of the Ed Psych on board and in addition to the things he already has in place for her, is considering how he can support her further.

I have spent months with my 'Teacher Parent' head on, not knowing which one to be and not being able to separate the two roles. Now I can relax and just be a parent where Little Z is concerned. She already has a teacher who is doing a good job, she doesn't need another one.

Oh Deer!

Sundays are our family time. We always try to get out somewhere with the whole family and have some quality time together. Last Sunday we took Seany & Granny to Bolderwood. This is fast becoming our favourite place to visit in the New Forest. We enjoyed the walk so much last week, that we decided to go back again this Sunday. It's great whether you want to go for a long walk, short walk, cycle ride or just a picnic on the grass. As it is a deer sanctuary, there is a viewing platform and daily talks by the local keeper when the deer get fed. There is a lovely picnic area which also has barbecue facilities and there is plenty of parking. I recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere new to go that doesn't cost a lot of money. Take a look here to see for yourself.

2nd Chance?

Interview last week at one of the lovely schools I mentioned did not go well. The lesson I planned was really good, but I did not deliver it well. I did not prepare enough for my interview and it was a tough interview with some difficult questions. I am using the excuse that I had not been well for a few days prior to the interview and so was not feeling 100% on the day. Doesn't make any difference though. they are not going to give me a job because they feel sorry for me. I do have another applicatioon to send off this week to a school I have had an interview at before. It is across the other side of the city so would take about 30 mins to get to in the mornings, but I have to take what is on offer. It is a nice school with a good ethos and having interviewed there before, I know what sort of things they are going to be asking should they invite me for an interview. In the meantime, supply is going okay. I enjoy being called by schools direct as apart from getting paid more, I get satisfaction out of knowing the like me / like my teaching and are asking me back.

Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes!

Big J has been going to school for four weeks now. I am amazed we have (so far) not lost any of his jumpers, his trousers do not (yet) have holes in the knees and his shoes are not scuffed beyond repair. I wonder how they manage it. We have not been so fortunate in avoiding headlice. Even with Big J's short hair, they managed to go forth and multiply leaving the poor boy scratching and scratching. Luckily, as a teacher, I have become slightly obsessed with spotting headlice and they were gone quicker than you could say "nit nurse". As a precaution, I have taken the clippers to his hair and he now has a number 2 all over. It suits him and I think he has had long enough at school now for them to know that he is not a little thug despite his resemblence to one:)