Had a fantastic parents evening with Li’l Bhaji’s teacher this evening. He is in Reception and adores her with all his heart and soul, and it was obvious that the feeling was mutual!

He has apparently met all his targets for Foundation Stage already and has been set Year 1 targets in writing, reading and numeracy – although the teacher was keen to stress that she only believed in stretching him when he was actively choosing the advanced activities and he was still going to get lots of time to play.

His behaviour in class is good, deteriorates a bit when he’s tired or really really REALLY wants something (!) but nothing that is unexpected for a boy in Reception.

Considering that he’s not even 5 years old yet (May birthday), so one of the younger ones in the class, he’s doing incredibly well. I am so grateful that he has such a passionate and caring teacher in his first year of school – her enthusiasm is obviously catching!

The big hit of the half term has been an impulse purchase of a Junior Puzzles magazine each for Akra Jr and Li’l Bhaji. They have spent hours puzzling away (in pencil, I’m not that crazy) while lying on the floor.

Akra Jr, in particular, has really got into Sudoku puzzles once I sat down with him and explained how they worked. The pride when he managed to complete one entirely on his own was immense. Li’l Bhaji’s favourite is the dot-to-dot puzzles, easily completing some very complex ones with numbers over 100 (timely considering his holiday homework was to recognise all the numbers in order up to 100, don’t you think? Tick. That was painless).

However, unsurprisingly, some of the puzzles were a bit beyond Li’l Bhaji, being aimed at an age group somewhat higher than 4 years old, so building on the success of his dot-to-dotting I got them both a copy of The Greatest Dot to Dot Book in the World: Book 1 and it is awesome. It has really captured their imagination plus they’ve been great at helping each other out in order to find a particularly illusive number.

The only downside to dot-to-dots that I can see (and this is not a reflection of the book, all the others we’ve tried in the previous magazine and the free downloads we’ve found on line (thank you @ginnikelley!)) is that the cry of “but what is it supposed to BE?” seems rather common.

Still, the abstractness…. oh… it’s an ELEPHANT… see there’s its trunk… no, that’s its ear…. doesn’t seem to have put them off too much, so that’s good.

It was very foggy and icy this morning. Lethally so… we virtually ice-skated to school rather than walked.

I’m sure there were lots of accidents out there today and I warned the kids to take it easy and not mess around to avoid slipping over.

Did one of them slip on the ice anyway?

Oh no.

Li’l Bhaji decided to walk straight into a staggered fence instead because he was too busy talking to look where he was going. Sigh. Still, it makes a change for him to have the accident on the way to school, rather than during school – so it’s a progress of sorts.

He’s okay now, but does have a rather lurid blue bump on his forehead as a memento.

Two and a half weeks to the end of term. Only the hurdles of various non-uniform days, seasonal plays, party days and school discos to negotiate and we’re home free.

It’s been a struggle, and I didn’t expect it to be. This has been a very long term, the time stretched out further by the seemingly endless number of demands in letters brought home. I’m tired. The kids are tired and tearful. We’ve all had enough. For the first time, I’m wondering whether a system of 4 semesters might work a lot better than our current term system.

I’ve always been pro-school before and I’m still generally happy with our local school – the staff are lovely and the boys are getting on really well there, but I’m finding myself feeling increasingly resentful of how much it is taking over our lives. While the school day ends at 3.30pm, the rest of the day is a write-off and I can’t really remember the last time we did something special together as a family of 4 at the weekend – the kids are too exhausted by then to contemplate doing anything other than veg out.

Having one child at school was different somehow. Perhaps because Akra Jr was still in Key Stage 1 then, perhaps because extra demands on time, energy and money for only one child didn’t seem so bad. It still felt that we had time and interest for other things… non-school things.

This is the cue for parents of multiple school-age children to reassure me that it gets easier…

I don’t quite know where to begin to fill in the blanks of this last week of silence. Needless to say, I didn’t start to feel better from the conjunctivitis the next day, in fact I’m still ill today and feeling wiped out, exhausted and emotionally fragile.

However, the highlight of the week has to be yesterday when I received the dreaded phone call from school “Akra Jr has had an accident and I think he might need taking to hospital”. I ran over there (then ran back and got the car and DROVE round there – doh!) and rushed him to A&E, did the worst example of parallel parking in my life and got him through to the reception.

Three HOURS later we finally emerged. No stitches (wrong kind of wound apparently) but some fairly impressive looking bandages and dressings covering a nasty and deep cut to his side and various scrapes on his elbow, knees and chest.

I really have to teach my son that he needs to stop picking fights with the playground – the playground always wins.

A day late, I know, but I was ill yesterday.

Li’l Bhaji has obviously been told about the significance of the 11th November at school. He explained it to me this morning while waiting for the bell to go. “Mum, you know the people who were fighting? Well, when they died, they all turned into poppies!”

Close enough, kid. Close enough.

Okay, I’m fully prepared to admit that a lot is due to the culture shock of having TWO rather than just one child in school, BUT:

• Residential school trip for eldest: £145
• School dinners for 2 children for 1 term: £240
• School year/individual/sibling photographs: £55
• After school clubs: £10
• Cinema night (fundraising for PTA): £6
• FOUR dressing up days (none of which we had suitable old clothes to use): £60 ish
• Miscellaneous charity collections: £5
• Book fair and reading sponsorship event: boycotted because broke by this point
• Look on teacher’s face when I tell them what to do with the next begging letter: priceless

Okay, the last one is a joke. I am a true brit and stump up with a smile on my face then moan about it to anyone who will listen afterwards.

But by my maths that’s over £500 I’ve spent at the school this term, and we’re only half way through. Admittedly all of those are optional. I could send them in with a packed lunch, refuse to let them go on trips and not let them participate in any of school life. They would have a miserable time of it though if I did.

I WANT them to be able to participate. I WANT them to have special events at school and for it to be memorable, fun and exciting. I just would like it to be a little more spaced out, please.

It’s getting to the point where I’m dreading letters coming home from school because I then have to find more money from somewhere, and this is not a private school and we are not that badly off. It’s starting to tarnish my enthusiasm for their education.

There are many families in the catchment who are not doing so well in the current economic climate, and I really don’t know how they are coping with the constant demands. It’s as if the school doesn’t have an overview of what a little bit here and a little bit there all totals up to.

But for better or for worse, the letters still keep coming and it’s the Christmas season approaching. The money for the Christmas fayre, school discos and costumes for the plays (surprise, nothing we have in that will do AGAIN) all need to be paid for somehow.

Every drawer in Akra Jr’s bedroom is full to the brim. Overflowing. To the point they jam and get stuck every time you open one to get something out.

It’s not that he has too many toys or too little storage. We’ve been careful with both. No, the problem is paper. Loads and loads of paper. Every scribble he’s drawn, every model he’s made is crunched into the back of a drawer, other stuff piled on top of it and then the drawer is shoved closed as best as it can be.

I have tried teaching him how to sort things out and only keep the very best, I have told him that drawers too tightly packed get toys damaged and lost, I have bought him a lovely A3 art folder and allocated a single drawer for 3D models, we have had big clear outs. It’s the same story – within a week it’s all come back again, filling up every available space (and most of the carpet too).

He is beyond the age where you can clear out half the stuff and have him not notice. At some point, I’m just going to have to accept that he’s a hoarder and that he’ll have to fight his way through every night to go to sleep in a nest of paper, aren’t I?

After my rant back in September, I think most people know my stance on homework, particularly in primary school – ban it.

Now, a teacher friend of mine has started a petition on Number10.gov.uk to stop schools giving out excessive formal homework.

As a qualified teacher of more than 30 years’ experience, I see children being loaded down more and more with multiple subjects of homework every night of the week and weekends. I am very concerned about the effect it has on them.

At the end of the school day, children should pursue other interests; Brownies, Cubs, Guides, Scouts, learning an instrument, sports, voluntary work, youth clubs, gardening etc. Those with talents need time to hone these lifetime skills.

Time spent with family is limited enough as it is. Time together to sit down for a family meal once a day used to be the norm. Now if they can have one meal a week sitting together around a table, they are doing well and homework is a major divisive factor in family evening life.

The musicians, writers, artists etc of our future should be learning these skills in their spare time. Excessive homework as a concept is out-dated, unnecessary and the last resort of teachers who fail to cover the curriculum in class time. We urge you to have OFSTED examine the practice urgently.

I know many of you expressed similar homework annoyances at the time (it’s something that seems to get a lot of parents riled!) Could I ask that if you have similar feelings and are a UK taxpayer that you spare a couple of minutes to sign it yourself and/or pass the link on to other people you think might be interested? It would be really good if this could get some attention. Thanks.

Akra Jr is quite good at maths. I know this because every single teacher he’s ever had has told us this. However, Akra Jr doesn’t believe that he’s good at maths and unfortunately, that perception completely colours his willingness to try.

Now he’s in Keystage 2, he’s starting to need to know his times tables, and let’s face it – how utterly BORING is learning times tables? Yet it’s a really crucial skill to have at your fingertips and a huge part of feeling that you can “do maths”.

As a result, I’m constantly on the look out for fun websites and games to give him more confidence and this time I think I have found the perfect thing: Timez Attack.

Timez Attack, unlike most educational software, is a PROPER game. Looks very similar to some of the RPG style games that I play, so Akra Jr really enjoys playing it (and nags me to play). At the same time, it’s not short on the educational content either – it reinforces each sum over and over in a fun way, so it becomes an automatic fact rather than having to count on in your head all the time. You don’t get to move on to the more difficult tables until you have “passed” the lower ones.

The absolutely brilliant thing about Timez Attack, though, is that there is a free version which helps you learn ALL the times tables. It costs nothing, zilch, nada, nowt. The paid for version costs $39.99 (roughly £20) and includes additional scenery, not additional educational content. I think this is absolutely awesome and really makes it accessible to everyone. I actually bought the full version in the end, as Akra Jr liked it so much and I wanted to support the company.

Available for PC or Mac. If you have primary school children who are struggling with their times tables, you really should try it.