Reasons to be Cheerful: Certified! #R2BC

I am leaving the linky in the safe hands of Jo at Ojo's World until the end of the month as she is doing such a great job! She seems to be bursting at the seams with her reasons again this week. Here are mine:

1) I did it!

I was officially signed off as a qualified teach this week! All the blood, sweat and tears have added PGCE to my title. Its been a roller coaster year but getting that piece of paper makes it worth while. Now to recover over the summer before undertaking supply work and seeking a permanent job.

2) New home

The biggest reason to smile about the new house is that my son's bedroom has finally been replastered so we can decorate it:

We have also done some work on the garden and things in the front room are finding their new homes.

3) Proud mummy

My daughter carried the Union Flag for her Guide company at the Sea Sunday service at church. Its a heavy flag and she did really well:

4) Prizes

I had forgotten that I had won an Avengers canvas from an Instagram competition. It was a lot bigger than I expected and will look amazing on my son's bedroom wall:

Please join in and share your happy posts!

Reasons to be Cheerful: Feeling Fab #R2BC

So glad to have handed the hop over to the safe hands of Jo at Ojo's World for the month! Like me she understands the value of focussing on the little things that have made us happy in the week. Any way here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Operation House

I put in a lot of time to sorting out my kitchen on Saturday. This included sorting out some of the storage which has meant for clearer worktops. Still some way to go but even my daughter was impressed with the way it looked:

2) New vacuum

As part of Operation House I was pleased to receive the prize Miele at the weekend. My daughter has claimed it for her own and was the first to try it out. She loved the quietness and was able to easily clean the stairs:

Reasons to be Cheerful: End of the Month #R2BC

My last week hosting until March. I will be handing you back to the care of Ojo's World for February. Thanks for joining in this month its been fabulous to see all your positive posts.  

1) Teaching

I am finally relaxing in my teaching practice with the younger ones. We have also had lots of fun with things like visiting birds of prey. Its fascinating to see how young children start to learn English and maths as well as wider subjects. I am doing such a variety of things including teaching singing so no two days are the same. I get to have a lot of fun too:

2) Running

My running is improving so much at the minute. I went out with a younger, fitter friend on Sunday in the pouring rain and broke my 1 km and 1 mile personal bests! It was nice to prove to myself that I can run fast I just need to keep it up. Here is my face when I realised what I had done:

3) Operation House

After a couple of hard work Saturdays things finally seem to be improving in our chaotic home! Even if its just an organised under sink cupboard in the kitchen and my daughter's room having a tidy bookcase:

That'll do for this week! I look forward to reading your posts..

Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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Striking Mums 2015 - launch post

Kate has challenged us to kick off our Striking Mum's campaigns for 2015 with an introductory post. She has posed some questions for us to answer so here I go:


1. Look at an old photograph of yourself. How does it make you feel? What hopes and dreams did that person have? What things did they enjoy doing? What might this person say to you now?

I was looking at the photo album my mum and son made for me this Christmas with old photos showing my life so far. This set was me as a toddler:

I was so sweet and innocent, full of adventure and keen to learn about the world around me! My granny and I had such a fabulous relationship and I miss having her around. I would say to myself carry on wanting to know how things work and make the most of family whilst you have them. My younger self might ask where some of my adventurous spirit has gone as I am a lot more cautious now!

Reasons to be Cheerful: It's the end of term! #R2BC

Thanks once again to Jo for hosting the linky for December. Hopefully people will find plenty of reasons to be cheerful in this festive season! I am actually on the right day this week:

1) Teaching

Got my formal report and in every area I have improved and in most have moved up a grade which is great to know. I have plenty to work on in January with my new keystage but ended on a good note. Lots of lovely cards and pressies from the children with I think 4 variations on the spelling of my surname... Best comment:

Thank you for teaching us about Islam I've really enjoyed it.

I have agreed to run a French club next half term which is really exciting too.

2) Christmas Service

Term ended on a beautiful note with the Christmas service at church. It was very traditional and included solo singing, musical instruments and readings. Obviously I can't share photos of the actual event so you will have to make do with the beautiful advent ring:

3) The Hobbit

We are big Tolkien fans in this house so just had to see the latest and last Hobbit on the first weekend it was out! A family vote meant that we saw the 3D version and we were all dead excited waiting to get in:

It was amazing piece of cinema with scary bits, great fight scenes and reasons to cry! Wonder what Peter Jackson will do next...

Reasons to be Cheerful: Better late than never! #R2BC

Thank you Jo for hosting the linky for December. Hopefully people will find plenty of reasons to be cheerful in this festive season! Slightly belatedly here are mine for this week:

1) Teaching

Finished my first formal teaching practice. Been a bit of a roller coaster but ready for next placement in the New Year in the infants. I even got a Christmas present of a homemade sticky toffee pudding from a pupil!

2) Christmas Plays

The play I have helped to put on went fantastically over its to performances this week. So pleased that everyone's hard work was worth it:

My children had their show over two nights and I saw the final performance from the front row. With one in year 6 she had a major speaking role:

Little brother in his junior debut was a dancing chimney sweep:

Very proud of all them and the entire cast and crew!

3) Christmas party fun

I was out last night with my university colleagues to celebrate the end of placement and Christmas with a festive dinner. It was just down the road from my house so I could walk there. We had a lovely evening with good company, great food and a disco. We even had a secret Santa. My daughter just screamed in angst when she saw what I got:

At least it will be safe in the staffroom!

Reasons to be Cheerful: Feeling festive #R2BC

Thank you Jo for hosting the linky for December. Hopefully people will find plenty of reasons to be cheerful in this festive season! Here are mine for this week:

1) Teaching

Things are starting to come together with my teaching now. Its hard to get it alright every time with planning an effective lesson for pupils to learn with good differentiation whist being creative! I don't get it all right all the time but things are improving and I am certainly improving on making my lessons exciting and different.. I managed to combine World War Two with gymnastics this week..

My best subject so far is French and I am looking forward to teaching the little ones next term. I was even told that I sounded French by a child who is half French themselves! 

2) Christmas Plays

My children are both rehearsing hard for their production next week whilst I am doing my bit to help at my school. So much work behind the scenes to create props and today I helped to paint the backdrop:

3) Family Fun

Its all a bit manic at the moment but we all had a great time at a disco in Staveley on Friday night. My daughter was invited by her friend and we all went along! There was a table of parents so I got plenty of adult conversation, my daughter danced the night away and my son was mucking about with the younger boys:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Learning Lessons #R2BC

Thank you Jo for sorting out this week's linky whilst I was busy on my teaching practice! I have had a roller coaster week so I need to focus on this week's reasons to be cheerful for me:

1) Running away 

Well not quite but if you read my Workout Wednesday post you can see its been my best running week for quite some time!

2) Teaching Successes

Its a steep learning curve being a trainee primary teacher and having to know 13 subjects and how to teach to a range of children! Most lessons its ever so easy to not get it right so to have a fabulous French lesson today made me feel great. 

3) Autumn in Cumbria

This is definitely one of the most beautiful times of the year to be living in Cumbria:

See my Silent Sunday for another Fell Foot photo.

Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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Striking Mums: Setting Out

I have decided to join in with Kate On Thin Ice's Striking Mums group to help motivate me to improve my life and my children's lives! Each week she is giving us prompts to ponder on. Here I go with this week's ones:

Are you match fit as a mum?

Well having stood on the scales on the last day of the school holiday I would have to say no! I need to lose a fair amount of weight to be healthier and to be able to keep up with the children.. My running took a major back seat during the school holidays and it is showing in my weight..

So now we are back in routine (although its a new one for me) I need to get running again on a regular basis. I also need to take more care about what I am eating and drinking to help shift the extra pounds.

Luckily I am up to date with all the health checks that I qualify for so its a case of just doing my best to get that healthy weight range. Its going to take planning and organisation but its all feasible.

Let's hope I can squeeze in more runs like this one around my training:

What baby step can you take towards your hopes and dreams this week?

Well I took a huge step and started my teacher training course. One week in and I am surviving so far. Its taken a long time to reach this point so I had better make the most of it...

Who can help you on your journey

I wouldn't be able to do the training without a huge amount of help from my parents and other local family. Having people around to share the load when it comes to school runs and even over night stays is worth its weight in gold. So grateful that my family are fully behind me on this big step. 

Hope other mums join in and support each other.

Reasons to be Cheerful Back to School! #R2BC

Thanks to the wonderful Jo at Ojo's World for hosting in August and taking good care of everything. The hosting is back to me for September so its time to share my reasons to be cheerful:

1) Mintfest

This weekend was the Mintfest Street Theatre festival in Kendal. We enjoyed lots of fun over the Saturday and Sunday. There were oh so many reasons to smile:

2) Back to uni!

Twenty years after completing my MA I officially went back to university this week. It's both exciting and nerve-racking to be starting teacher training at my age but on a campus like Lancaster and at a lovely village school there are plenty of reasons to be happy:

3) Being lucky

I won a Facebook/Twitter draw this week from our local shopping centre. So now I possess a deluxe art set and I've been enjoying spending my voucher at Rymans on stuff for uni! Just goes to prove that these competitions are genuine.

Keeping this short and sweet as I am shattered after starting my course... Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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Reasons to be cheerful: running, family fun and good news #R2BC

Thank you everyone that joined in last week with my experiment with the new style link up! We will see how it goes for the rest of the month.. Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Herdwick 10km

I amazed myself by completing the Herdwick 10 km on Saturday despite all the illness and problems in the week leading up to it! I may have not been the fastest ever but it even some how was my 2nd fastest recorded 10 km run (my previous goes on this route only came up as 9.9!).  It was such a lovely laid back event too with so many friendly participants and supporters. I am still waiting to find out where I finished in the field - hope it beats my 191st from April..

2) Family fun

We all had such a great time at the Langdale Gala on Sunday in glorious weather. There was something for all of us and it was a photographers dream! 

3) Teacher training

Yesterday I passed my interview for teacher training so now I just need to pass the literacy and numeracy tests to prove I am intelligent enough. There will be a lot of practice tests in the next week as it is a one attempt only exam... Exciting to be on the verge of a new and momentous career...

Short one from me as I am shattered after all of the above! Please link up and grab the code/badge if you want:

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Time for a change?

One of the big problems about being a lone parent with younger children is that finding work that fits into their requirements and needs isn't always easy. Having moved to Cumbria to be nearer family I discovered that most of the jobs advertised where completely unsuitable as in retail, tourism and care work they all want flexibility with evening and weekend work. If you haven't got access to childcare at these times then these jobs are a no go.

It just about leaves working in the education sector with mostly term time only hours. Most of these vacancies such as teaching assistants or school admin have an awful lot of applicants as there are many mums (mostly) seeking family friendly work. I was very lucky a couple of years ago to be successful in getting a job in a local secondary school even if its only 20 hours a week.

Whilst I get plenty of job satisfaction working with young people I am not earning enough to get us off needing top ups in the form of Housing Benefit etc. It does also worry me what will happen to me as my children get older if I am not earning a decent salary. Also I am not using much of the skills I spent 4 years acquiring at university...

In the past I had contemplated training as a teacher but this was a logisitical impossibility as the courses were all too far away to juggle children's childcare etc. However the school I work at is going to be offering Schools Direct training from this September. It will all be based in my local town or close by so its doable.

So I have bitten the bullet and spoken to the co-ordinator who told me I needed to get some in class experience at both keystage 1 and keystage 2 before I can apply. With a short time frame I spoke to my children's school. They have agreed that I can spend time in class from next week for rest of the half term! 

I will be 44 this October so still have time to start a new career (especially if government keep raising state pension age!). So a new year and change of direction? Obviously the course wouldn't start until September but I need to apply and hopefully get an interview. Then if successful I would need to apply for funding... apparently there is extra help for lone parents but its a big leap to leave a job and take this chance!

Watch this space...

This is how scared I feel!