My phone camera really doesn’t like the dark…. It tries its best…..Sorry no glossy, professional photos here 😂😂😂😂 Being in focus is much overrated, that’s what I tell myself each day when I unfortunately see Shrek looking back at me in the mirror.
Unexpected bonfire night sky show, just when you think it’s been a quiet fireworks night. Especially as the public shows near us we’re cancelled due to flooding.
But if you give it a chance, if you look up ……. life, nature, all around us can be truly breathtaking.
That’s a shed load of water heading towards the sea just a few yards further on.
Too many times in Hawklad’s school life, he came across an inflexible school system, setting him up to fail, blocking his path.
Two of many examples…..
He was struggling with French. The way it was taught wasn’t working for him, he was falling behind and getting really anxious. Parrot learning how to spell and read French for weekly tests. I approached the teacher to talk about this and our preference to try something different. A more visual and interactive learning App approach. An approach producing great results in some US schools for dyslexic pupils. We even offered to pay for the software. The response sadly predictable. No learning approach could be used that differed from the standard national programme. Even when I pressed on the fact that it just wasn’t working for Hawklad, it was a firm, he just has to work harder using the set learning script. In the end Hawklad was given just two options. Follow the class programme or drop the language course. So he dropped the subject, even though he really wanted to learn a language……
Computer Studies featured a significant element of learning and practicing coding. Month after month, trying to read stuff of a classroom screen then re type it. Get it slightly wrong and it errors out. A nightmare with dyslexia. Again Hawklad started to fall behind. Again the teacher was approached. This time more understanding but still inflexible. The teacher realised it wasn’t working for Hawklad and talked about in the past being able to try different things or switch out coding out for something else. But now the Teacher wasn’t allowed to do that even when the method isn’t working. He had to stick to the set curriculum. End result, Hawklad dropped the subject at the first opportunity…….
So many more examples but you get the picture. At no stage did school ever ask Hawklad what he wanted to do, what were his dreams, his big hopes, the things he was interested in. At no stage was the learning environment tailored to his needs or wishes. It was always, here is the education you must follow. What makes it worse is that this set education is ultimately dictated not by children, not by educational professionals, not by parents but by vested interests and politicians.
As a result far too many children are overlooked and forced into moulds that just won’t ever work for them. A WALL is built blocking the child from thriving, from enjoying developing, from dreaming big and for going down the path that works for them.
Surprisingly given the amount of rain, Yorkshire isn’t exactly overstocked on waterfalls. However over the last couple of weeks we have ventured to a couple of the local examples.
Not too shoddy at all.
There is one much bigger Falls just over an hours drive from us.
There is history there as well. It was the last place we visited as a family of three. After the world changed, going back seemed impossible. TWO could never be THREE. But now 7 years have passed. TWO still isn’t THREE, but now THREE is about memories, TWO is about living right now,
Maybe we will venture there this weekend for an adventure.
Sometimes even I can’t totally mess up something. Coming from Yorkshire, it would be the stuff of excommunication if I couldn’t cobble together an edible Yorkshire Pudding.
They might not be the biggest, or crispiest or most golden in The Land but in my defence they are egg, dairy and gluten FREE.
One old legend states that these puddings got the name YORKSHIRE from COAL. Originally these were made over an open fire and because of the Yorkshire Coal, the higher coal fire temperatures made for a crispier, bigger pudding.
See everyday is a school day…..
Surely you can do way better OR maybe you are truly a Generational Talent and can actually lower the bar even lower than ME.
The EXPRESS YOURSELF Great Bloggers Bake-off is back. (26th-27th August 2023).
If you fancy having a go either wonderfully well or worryingly woefully, you can send photos of your creations or monstrosities to
crushedcaramel@gmail.com
Check out Mel’s wonderful site for more information and the latest baking creations.
As places go for a bloody battle, this one is rather picturesque. This one was definitely Scotland 3 England 0 but nothing like the Mel Gibson history movie lesson.
Deep sigh. The College Hawklad is hoping to start in September has been sending some pre joining information packs. They are definitely one of the better places round here for providing special educational support. But there is still a sigh.
I was reading the pack explaining how the College is really proactive with dyslexia support. Definitely way more than his last school. But here’s the problem. The College is forced to set course entrance requirements for Hawklad’s preferred subjects. These mandate good results in the GCSE exams which Hawklad had just sat, in particular English Language. The very exams that are most definitely Dyslexia Unfriendly. The exams that desperately try to penalise students like Hawklad. That’s Government Policy.
So it’s fingers crossed for the next few weeks, hoping the results allow Hawklad to follow his chosen path.
Yesterday was Yorkshire Day. A Day when we celebrate all things marvellous in the White Rose County just like the tropical weather, rhubarb and Sean Bean. The perfect day to go a high viewpoint and take in YORKSHIRE…..
At least Yorkshire Folk are always modest….
I might be biased but it’s not a bad view…..
And yes that Lake in the distance is BOTTOMLESS, HONEST.
The kinda weather not for hanging off the side of a fast moving train….
We ventured off to the cinema to watch the latest Mission Impossible instalment. Here if you go to one of the early afternoon screenings it’s usually pretty quiet but by the end of the movie, the cinema is mobbed. It was this way today, when we arrived we had the food and drink counter to ourselves.
What could possibly go wrong….
“Can we have a medium sized sweet popcorn bucket….”
The chap on the till helpfully pointed out that for just extra 50p more we could get a LARGE tub.
‘No thanks, medium is good”
The chap looked puzzled, ‘but you can get twice as much for just 50p more’
‘No it’s ok, we won’t even finish the medium’
The chap was unrelenting, ‘but it’s better value for just 50p more’
‘We never finish the medium, it would just mean more food wasted’
The chap wasn’t letting go, definitely trying to be INEVITABLE. ‘Well if I was you I would get the larger one, makes sense, as it’s much better value’
‘No, it would be a waste’
‘But much better value…’
‘Well only if we eat it all’
After what seemed like an age the MEDIUM bucket arrived. Guess what. Asking for a medium Dr Pepper, then a medium Coffee brought about the same philosophical debate. I was exhausted before the movie. Well at least this made us miss the annoying pre movie adverts.
Medium sized snacks in hand we enjoyed the frantic Tom Cruise ‘Save the World’ madness. Enjoyed with the added spice of picking out the parts of the movie filmed just a few miles from our house. The Alps Train segment was partly filmed on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. I hope when Tom was hanging off the top of the train that he had his thermals on…
It’s getting a bit of a common theme as the latest Indiana Jones movie had Harrison Ford visiting our local train line.
Back nearly six decades and Hawklad’s Grandad helped reopen the Steam Railway after it had been closed by the Government. After the movie we mused over what he would have made of all this. Movie stars hanging from the side of his beloved Steam Trains, with explosions, gunfire and much carnage.
We agreed, his Grandad would probably have ‘tutted’, ‘sighed’ then made sure that Tom and Harrison had bought a ticket for the journey.
Hawklad was watching The Simpsons today in between some seriously heavy summer showers.
It was the episode where Milhouse gets to watch ALL of FINDING NEMO. Hawklad was not impressed….
‘DAD, I need a serious word with you…”
“Say that again….. NEMO had a mum…..”
“I can’t believe you did the same as Milhouse’s parents.”
YEP, Hawklad has only seen that famous fish movie once when he was really young and yes I did that Milhouse Parent thing. I started the DVD at chapter 2. He was blissfully unaware of the tragic parent carnage that happened in the first few minutes. Blissfully unaware until today….
I wonder how many parents did the same thing.
But here’s the thing, who was I really protecting. I suspect it was ME. I would have definitively blubbed….
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 