hackett.life
A neighbour told me something yesterday that could disrupt my life. I had hoped that we, as a family, had put some distance between us and upheaval. But, unfortunately, it would seem that the universe might have different plans. So, I said a little prayer to the big U, help us out, will ya?
I took Karta to meet up with his mates at the CycloPark Skatepark today. The boys had a whale of a time. The weather was awesome, I got my first sunburn of 2021!
This is the 700th post on my tiny, insignificant blog! Over the last few days, I have found myself pondering life and my place in the world. I have read books and articles, watched YouTube videos and meditated. Finally, I have concluded that I need to very firmly put the past behind me and move forward through the rest of my time here, one day at a time.
Karta in his favourite place. He is the best thing that I have done so far in my life, I love you son.
I didn’t realise just how much I would miss my wife. She is away on an orientation course as part of her new job in the telecoms sector. She only went away yesterday, but already that feels odd to me. If I go away, the daft thing is that I don’t feel the separation anxiety as much.
So, it’s just Karta and me for the week. This is the last week of term for mainstream schools, and so Karta will be finishing up his latest round of homeschooling on Thursday. I hope to make plans to meet up with friends and get out into the woods for some needed exercise and fresh air.
As for me, well, I have plenty of chores to keep me busy, plus I am going to make time to sit at my desk and write posts for this blog every day. Today is, after all, the day when lockdown restrictions are eased a bit more. We are now allowed to meet outdoors in groups of up to six people from two different households. Outdoor sports venues are reopening, which includes the football club that I am involved with.
That’s all I have to say for now, stay tuned for a lot more going forward.
JP
For the first time in many months, I find myself alone at home; this is rare.
So, what did I do with this slice of freedom? I cleaned the house, listened to some music and watched a few YouTube videos. Is that constructive? I don’t know, but anyway, it has all lead me to sit down and spew forth some words of encouragement and reflection.
This one is 15 today. We had a morning shared with Wallabies and Giraffes, followed by fried chicken and Mexican food. Happy Birthday darling boy, I love you.
I’m sorry Adam Sandler, this is not your best work.
We managed to get out to a skatepark for Karta’s first post-lockdown session of the summer. We met up with one of Karta’s buddies and spent the afternoon at Cyclopark near Gravesend.
The park is easy to get to, cheap to enter and has a very chilled vibe. We will be going back next week!
Karta and I took our first post-lockdown trip to the woods with our friends today. We both agree that we have missed our friends and our days out in nature. With the summer holidays just around the corner, we will be making plans to get together every week.
We began homeschooling Karta in January of this year. We have developed a learning regime that works well for our son. Now, as he heads into adolescence, I have been looking into the life skills he will need to survive in the 21st century.
This morning, I came across the concept of Qi skills, a series of attributes that will benefit children of the 21st century. They are as follows.
In addition to these skills, we are teaching Karta how to do the laundry, cook a meal, shop for food, travel on public transport, wake up independently and how to pack a bag. He is learning how to order food at restaurants, manage money, plan an outing or a trip and, soon, how to care for another living being.
We will show Karta that he must have love, compassion, altruism, morality and justice in his heart as he moves through life. Most of these skills are not taught in school, so we are lucky to be in a position to prepare Karta for the beautiful life that is ahead of him.
So, Karta and I took a trip into Canterbury to visit the Comic Art Exhibition that is on at The Beaney.
Karta has been poorly since the middle of last week. It would seem he has picked up a flu bug. He made a small recovery by the weekend and managed to spend the day at the skatepark on Saturday. By Monday he went downhill again and has lost hearing in his left ear.
We are visiting the doctor’s surgery this afternoon for a check-up.
On Monday the 6th of January 2020, we sent a letter to Karta’s school asking them to remove him from the register.
We are now providing Karta with a full-time education at home. Our focus is on the three Rs, reading, writing and arithmetic.
Karta will also be allowed to follow his passion for videography and ecology. For the next six months, Karta will be going back to basics with KS2 and KS3 maths, English and science. He will also continue with KS3 Spanish.
We are busy deciding on the possibility of homeschooling our son. If we decide to go down that road, I will be putting most of my projects on hold, and will only work on those when I have time.
Home education will take up a considerable amount of time but will give me plenty to write about.
That is all.
Privacy concerns and the right to a private life have long steered me towards a technology purge. I will start that purge in 2020.
