Elmer on Tyneside

I got the bus to town to go to a friend’s for lunch. It was sunny so I decided to walk from Haymarket but as it was so long since I’d walked I took the wrong footbridge over the motorway and ended up too far south. This meant I had walked 3 sides of a square by the time I got myself back on track. I certainly saw a different part of the city.

Marion made a lovely lunch of grilled halloumi on spinach. She was an educational psychologist so I asked her advice about James. He has just started school 2 weeks ago and his teacher is not happy with him. He won’t do his phonics. #2 daughter is so worried and is having sleepless nights. She is trying to get an appointment to discuss with his teacher how they can work together on the issue. (She asked James about it. He said it was stupid and the teacher lied to him. On further quizzing it transpired the teacher had said she was bringing a talking frog to school. “But it wasn’t a frog. It was a toy. And it didn’t talk. She talked”. Daughter said if they got a frog at home they could practice the phonics with their own frog but he said only if it was a real frog in a jar.

Marion had no answers. Just that school must have experience of tricky kids so there must be strategies to engage them. (Most kids love the frog making the sounds and they take turns in figuring what word it is. But not James. )

Now we are in Gosforth and have taken Ella and Nathaniel to gym club. I’ve got some cake left from yesterday for a treat on their return. Their dad has gone for a run and mum has a school open evening so won’t be home till 9.