A Day in the Life of..

the Newsteads!

Joshua has been a bit unwell so yesterday morning he stayed behind to do his english project, and watch Class TV, whilst I took Samuel and William to our Medway meeting.

On the way, at about 70mph, our tyre blew on the M20!

Praise God, somehow, it didn't "explode" but just deflated instantly. This meant I was able to keep control of the car (it was the front near side tyre) and get it safely to the side of the motorway. Of course, this was in the middle of the road works, with a coned-off, narrow hard shoulder! I even managed to make it though a gap in the cones without knocking any over!

Of course, inside I was shaking but conscious of the kids, I had to keep a "its ok, nothing to worry about" face on. We couldn't get out the car and get to a safe place, as we were at a bit with a 20 foot drop right at the edge of the hard shoulder, so we all sat on the passenger side of the car whilst we waited. I called the breakdown, then Roarke - only for Roarke to say that he didn't think our policy was in force! No matter, however it happened, the nice man did come along.

Whilst I can, and have, changed a wheel before, being in such a tight place, and being 5 months pregnant, I didn't intend on doing it unless I had to!

By then, I felt quite shaken and we decided just to turn around and come back home.

In the meantime, Roarke had been for a job interview, as we'd been considering a change for some time - something that didn't involve shifts so we are free of evenings and weekends for church activities.

Ironically, he then went into work to find them discussing "voluntary redundancy"... The yard has to go from 147 staff to 93 by May at the latest.

Whilst in one way, Roarke would be the last to lose his job - as he has a high reputation in the yard - but there are other staff there who will be in deep trouble if they lose theirs. People who probably couldn't get another job due to age etc. So all in all, it seemed the "right" thing to do to take their offer.

Quite a day, huh?!

We are a bit worried - but also excited as I truly think that this is all coming together for a reason, and that there is "something better" out there.

In the meantime, a lot of internal and external planning and tidying is going on!

The number of people calling me in my role as EO Local Contact is increasing. I've had 5 enquiries in the past two weeks, and am enjoying getting out and about meeting these new home educators, and trying to help them in the way I've been helped by so many in the community since we started out.

Joshua and I are planning some science work together, which should be good. Samuel - excited to have his Dad around - is planning to do more Kleeneze!

My hope is to get more reading time with William - its how the other two learnt to read: no workbooks, no phonetics, just being read to all the time. It may or may not "work" with him, but it will certainly start him off well.

I also intend (ahem) to try and blog more often, as I've fallen off from once a day to once a week sometimes! Not only is the blog writing something personal I like doing, it is also such a useful record of our days. I used to write a diary, and have always found them useful. I certainly enjoy reading back over the past year and a half of home education.