The new way

to do "Old Skool"

James had a pile of Maths homework to do tonight - normally this means mountains of scrap paper used to do working out before he writes up in his book. He is a good mathematician, but he frequently talks himself out of a correct answer through self doubt. I have no idea where he gets that from.

I digress.

The iPad has become a useful homework tool - usually we sit together and research with it. Tonight we took a photograph of a table in the back of his book that he needed to transfer to the front of his book - easier to copy accurately when it was on screen rather than flicking to the back of the book. Then, he used a blackboard app for doing all of his working out and methodology before he transferred it. It also broke up the homework with a few comedy doodles on there as well.

45 minutes later and the geography homework began. Draw a diagram of the River Mersey (the length of it) - labelling source, tributaries, estuary and drainage basin.

We discovered that finding a useful diagram of the Mersey is not a straightforward job - took us 15 minutes of trawling the internet. However, we got there in the end and he has also completed that task. 90 minutes of homework this evening. Interesting, but still I think maybe just a little too much, particularly when he has "competitive mum" (or "Nagging Mum") tormenting him to make sure it is perfect. One of these days he is going to tell me to bugger off.

I have heard news full of joy and some other news that makes me utterly helpless and without words - both pieces of news made me want to get in my car and go and give hugs, but for completely different reasons. My thoughts are with both of my newsbearers this evening - I hope that the journey that you are travelling will bring hope and, ultimately, the joy that I think you both deserve.

News has made me ponder on what this life is all about and why, when it is so short, in universal terms, do we have so many ups and downs, trials and tribulations to deal with. I think sometimes, we humans might like to be able to choose the straight path, look forward to the positives, and leave the negatives at the roadside for the vultures to deal with.