Points mean prizes: when reward charts turn toxic.
21st October 2016 INSET day for three youngest. Planned to take children to country park in morning and return for lunch. Free time (art and craft, screens off) until we…
Category: Productivity
Hypocrisy, addiction and excuses.
I hope it’s the thought that counts, because I’ve had so many ideas for blog posts since I last actually wrote one. I had my first experience with a fact…
So?
First week of term is over. For all my worries, my eldest has found his way home from secondary school, done his first piece of homework without fuss and not…
Season of sharpened pencils and mellow productivity
Decades after leaving school, September is still my favourite time of year. It means crisp air, clean skies, oversized uniform and the intention my homework will always be beautifully presented…
Beatrix Potter: sheep-farming scientist and author.
My article on Beatrix Potter’s Lake District is published today in Britain Magazine. Controlled by her mother, constricted by Victorian expectations of women, she worried she’d never find anything useful…
War-zone report from Bournemouth
I think I’m confusing feature-writing with reporting from a war-zone. The Friday before last, I had an hour before school pick-up. It’s a twenty minute journey from home to Central…
Asking for it
Any long term reader of this blog could be forgiven for thinking I’m a bit obsessed with defending my fragile ego. This post will only confirm that. I’ve just come…
Geeky, but grateful
I’m in a grateful mood today. Grateful I could find a parking spot near enough the library, for the sunshine, and for Scrivener. I’ll have lost most people with the…
sophie beal 