… and so it ends. Today I received a letter that has left me in tatters … it was from the executor of my dads will following the sale of the family home where I was born. It’s done. Dusted. Finished.
Now don’t be imagining me as the heir to a fortune (when I said “family home” it wasn’t Downton Abbey … I’m from Newport!!!!) because its not a fortune (its not even a small fortune) and left me sad not because of the paltry amount, but the fact that momentarily I found myself judging the impact of both my mam and dad based on this small (very small) cheque. How feckin’ shallow is that? I quickly gave myself a good talking to, because I’m not that person – I never think like that! I know that they were so much more than what they have left behind – They were people in their own right before I was born and continued with their lives when I left Newport .. we forget this sometimes as children of our parents and I suppose I was lucky to get to know my dad as an adult. He was my bezzie mate and I still miss him every single day. I miss the way I was his “baby” (he was nearly 50 when I was born). I miss the fact that I can’t just pick up the phone when I’ve had a sh!te day and have him say “oh hello … it’s my baby on the phone” as if he was announcing the fact that I’d called him to the world, even though he lived alone.
Much of “who I am” I get from my parents and I am proud of that. It’s also handy that they were both fiery Mediterranean types as I can blame them for my shortfalls (What’s that I hear you say: “But Mel, surely you don’t have any failings?”) but the one thing I get from my mam specifically, is my work ethic which means work comes in handy as a diversion tactic from time to time. Which is why this evening (along with taking part in this weeks #mathschat) I found myself finishing off some “background” homework that we’re going to get on the VLE for when we may forget to set HW or for parents that want to push their children on some more (you know who I mean!). We’re starting slowly and looking at Spring1 just for our year 7’s … we’ll see how it develops for other year groups … as you know I have a weird obsession with homework!
The idea is that it provides them with an opportunity to practice the basic skills (this “deliberate practice” is becoming more and more a theme in my posts!) and aren’t limited to those topics that would be in our scheme of work at that time, teaching isn’t that linear in maths and I don’t believe we can be that prescriptive to other teachers in the department about what they must use in terms of resources. They can of course use these if it works for them.
Anyway I’ve been self-indulgent enough and so in return I offer you the fruits of my evening:
LEARN – Addition and Subtraction
PS: If you haven’t spoken to your parents for a few days and are able to: call them, see them, speak to them and tell them how much they mean to you. xxx
