A New Zealander living in Scotland who loves cargo bikes
We had Meatless Farm burgers for dinner last night. I’ve become a Meatless Farm convert: they’re UK-based and much cheaper than the Beyond Burger but with similar ingredients. Both are … Continue reading Meatless Farm and Elizabeth’s biology poster
The covid situation in the UK is pretty dire right now with close to 60,000 cases per day. It’s worse than it was back in March at the height of … Continue reading Full lockdown for Scotland
The kids started back at their online school yesterday. Everything went very well and I think they even enjoyed it. They were both ready to go back. Elizabeth started labelling … Continue reading Online schooling
I’ve spent most of my Sunday crocheting. I didn’t get to the allotment this weekend which means it’s going to be full of weeds next weekend. I find it hard … Continue reading Crochet, cat, courses, and hair cuts
We splashed out and ordered the three-course meal from Roots Catering on Friday night. Roots is an Aberdeen vegan food business. In normal times they sell vegan burgers by the … Continue reading Roots Catering, science experiments, and my crochet fox
I started doing a course on coursera.org and I noticed the lecturer was using a clear whiteboard in front of the camera which enabled him to draw on the whiteboard … Continue reading The lightboard
There’s an article in The Sunday Times about Scotland’s “failed lack of leadership” for state school pupils during the lockdown. This echos my own thoughts and I have wondered why … Continue reading State schooling in Scotland, more on the DC situation, and long-term changes after lockdown
There’s a Chinese curse, may you live through interesting times. On a personal level, the Christchurch earthquakes make this pandemic seem like a walk in the park because that was … Continue reading May you live through interesting times
The kids started online school today and so far so good. You can choose which subjects they study and they each have seven. Classes are live via video link and … Continue reading Online school
I saw this on Twitter yesterday. I don’t know where it was taken but it’s obviously somewhere in the UK – the scenery, the sky, the houses, the signs, and … Continue reading All humans must self-isolate by order of the Daleks
It’s the first day of homeschooling and the kids have been following the timetable they created yesterday. It’s likely this will change as we figure things out but it’s working … Continue reading Resources for kids at home #COVID2019
Schools will be closing on Friday this week for the foreseeable future. It’s unlikely they will open again before the summer holidays which means they’ll be shut until August and … Continue reading 19th March 2020 update #COVID2019
Last night we had parent-teacher interviews at Daniel’s school (if any locals came trick or treating at this time this is why we didn’t answer the door then. We were … Continue reading Parent-teacher interviews, visiting relatives, and investing for retirement
Daniel started high school last month and he’s loving it. I was worried about it all summer but I needn’t have been. He’s settled in so well, his best friend … Continue reading State schooling
The Scottish state-funded education system is brilliant. Daniel will be starting secondary school in August and they have a transitioning program for pupils that starts in primary 6, two years … Continue reading Scottish education, doggies, and Brexit
Parents in Manchester have been protesting outside schools about the No Outsiders programme which teaches kids that it’s ok to be gay. When I first saw the protestors I thought … Continue reading LGBT lessons and protesting parents
It was parent-teacher interviews at school last night and I’m so proud of the kids. They’re just amazing in every way. Elizabeth, according to her teacher, finishes her maths work … Continue reading My kids are amazing and I was on TV!
Elizabeth received a Kano computer kit for Christmas this year. It consists of a Raspberry Pi with all the other bits required to build your own computer and learn to … Continue reading Build your own computer kit for kids
It’s tough when your kids don’t have any friends at school. That has been the case for Daniel until this year. He was put into the wrong year when we … Continue reading Making friends at school and cycling in the rain
We got some great news today about Daniel: it looks like they’re going to let him repeat year 5 next year at school. It might seem like a strange thing … Continue reading Repeating a year at school
