An Overdue Catch Up

Hellooooo.. Anybody out there? Quite possible not after all this time haha! Analytics reckon I do still get visitors which is surprising, so I figured I should probably share a little catch up for those long time followers and let you all know I am alive and still here. There’s been quite a lot going on here so I’ll give you a brief (🤣 we know I don’t shut up really) catch up.

An overdue catch up - Me, Eva and Izzy

Home Ed for Eva

I really wanted to pick back up the last time I posted but things spiralled a little and I just had no time or motivation to write. Eva unfortunately didn’t have a great time at secondary, after a fantastic start a group of kids decided to start targeting her on a daily basis. After several meetings and calls with the school and no improvement, followed by Eva and the Mr being followed home one afternoon by the same group of kids who then called on older family members to come out and attack the Mr, I decided enough was enough and deregistered her!

They obviously couldn’t look after her and keep her safe whatever measures they put in place and after realising she made it to year 8 with no recognition or support of her SEN needs alongside their lack of permanent teachers her education and well being was really beginning to suffer all round. We decided home education was probably the best for Eva all round. I won’t deny I was absolutely terrified of making this decision incase it was the wrong one. However, Eva has come a long way across 8 months of home ed, she has a fantastic tutor Julia from DCL Chester who provides workbooks and resources to keep Eva’s knowledge on track so she can sit IGCSE’s.

Crocheted monkey made by Eva

Since we began home ed we’ve worked out which subjects Eva would like to study, her end goal which is to study business and one day launch her own craft/crochet business. She has also picked up crocheting after many years of attempting it and in 8 months has made soooo many toys, admittedly her biggest motivation was to be able to get around my ‘no more teddies’ rule as she can’t part with any she owns and they are growing rapidly! 🙈🤣 I can’t deny her logic, she knows I won’t make her pass them on if she’s made them herself! Alongside this she is becoming a pro in the kitchen, she has mastered a lot of basic meals and regularly makes Swedish meatballs and gravy for our lunch, her home made burgers are amazing and her confidence is building each time she sees an empty plate!

Swedish meat balls, chips, peas and creamy gravy made by Eva

It’s been a rough 8 months adjusting I won’t lie, the lack of rest means I’m permanently exhausted, even more than usual especially as she is such a chatterbox, dealing with the LA had me in a panic but thankfully with Martyn and Julia on hand we were given the all clear and asked for an update at the end of the year.

Eva at flip out

We have made some friends in the home ed community though which has been lovely especially as Eva was scared to try making new friends after her best friend stabbed her in the back but she’s slowly gaining confidence again and loves her visits to rock up, flip out/jump giants and in the summer we went to the cinema with them a lot too which kept us busy!

Gaming

I’m still a bit obsessed with gaming right now but our server on dayz came to an end and I’ve moved on to Elder Scrolls online and naturally I live there most days. There is a fantastic community and I’ve joined a great guild called Mutiny on the EU Xbox server, I spend most of my time helping other guild members, harvesting resources, killing stuff for fun and I’ve even been dabbling in some PvP! I absolutely suck at pvp I won’t lie but I love my lazy, noobish one bar build and zapping people in between dying a billion times myself haha!

I also played Fallout 76 for a bit and loved playing around building and rebuilding my camps but since I started playing ESO it feels a little clunky so I’m struggling to get back into it.

Life

Outside of these, general life has been pretty up and down for us, as always! The Mr has had a rough time losing his dad and sister fairly close together, whilst he hasn’t spoken to them for sometimes it still hit hard. He is due an inheritance from his dad but had to wait for the house to sell and we are still waiting to hear from the solicitor when he will received the funds. When he does we can hopefully buy a house, car, furniture etc and have a fresh start which I am looking forward to!

Izzy has been struggling with anxiety and challenging behaviour, I’m still certain she’s Audhd and PDA but whenever I raise this with school staff suddenly her behaviour isn’t an issue, ‘isn’t every day’ so no cause for concern. Having been fobbed off at the start with Eva it’s no surprise really, I get teachers have a lot to do already, the idea of yet more paperwork to support yet another diagnosis must feel rubbish but I do wish they considered how this impacts the child going forward. With no support I do worry she will start to have more issues in school, especially when she hits secondary school. Because of this I’ve started to consider the fact she may end up best off home educated too, but we will see how things go.

My health is still as wobbly as ever hence hiding in gaming a lot. I’m using a walking stick when I go out to steady myself as my balance is awful especially on uneven ground. My heads also as wobbly as ever but I’m doing my best to try not to spiral when I notice I’m heading that way. Keeping busy in game has been a big help to be honest.

So there’s your overdue catch up, how’s everyone else been?

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