"Do we need distance to get close?"

I've been finding it harder and harder to write over the last few months for various reasons and it has really been getting on my nerves. The world seems to be going to shit and its been taking my motivation and confidence with it. So in an attempt to get my juices flowing and continue documenting our journey for the boys I'm going to post one picture a day to get us through this slump and give us that little bit of sunshine for these dark times. 

Todays picture is from Titterstones Clee, clearly not practising social distancing from each other but doing our best to keep our distance from others. It was one of those days that was good for the soul and we all really needed it. 

Stay safe people.

"A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind."

I like to try and make the most of our days in full, it doesn't always happen because at times life just gets in the way but making the most of our time together is really important to me . Its so easy to fall into that headspace of getting to a certain point of the day and deciding that there's no point going out, especially this time of year when the weather is cold and wet. 

After an afternoon out with Opeie's home ed friends on Friday we got home, packed our paints, pens and Becci 😂 and headed over to one of our favourite hideaway spots for an evening of creativity while watching the sun go down. We backed the car up to the edge of the hillside at Titterstones, dropped the seats, opened the boot and we had the perfect relaxing view to accompany a creative mind. 

Nights like this are perfection and are everything we need as a family for calm and clear headspace.

一期一会

A few months back I had a message from the mom of Opeie's penpal asking if we would be interested in being interviewed by a Japanese newspaper who were writing a piece on education and had been let down by a home ed group. The whole thing sounded really interesting and I thought it would be a great experience for Opeie and something fun to add into us documenting his home ed journey.  To make the visit even more exciting too, Opeie would get to meet his penpal Caelan as his mom Melissa was driving the journalist over to our home.

On the morning they arrived I was a little apprehensive, mainly because our house isn't a classic style home and although everyone that has visited here seems to love the way that we live, I wasn't sure that would translate well to the journalist (I'm pretty sure eventually someone will think we are idiots). It turns out there was no need to worry, when Melissa, Caelan and Saori arrived they all seemed pretty excited by the madness and as we talked I think it was clear why I chose to have our home this way.

The boys hit it off straight away and disappeared to play LEGO while I chatted with Melissa and Saori. It was really lovely having someone so interested in our home ed journey and despite being filmed (which is really out of my comfort zone) the morning was very relaxing. I feel like we have been home-schooling forever, it's the norm for us now and has been such an exciting adventure for the both of us. Being asked all about the reasoning behind home ed and my feelings on the education system in this country reinforced my passion for why we took the step.

Another thing that really reinforced this was Opeie's confidence talking to Saori and feeling completely comfortable with her observing him and how we are together as a family. He happily played his drums, discussed his beetle project and explained how much he loved having his work on display around the house. I'm pretty sure that Opeie comes across as a very content child to everyone he meets and this one to one education along side our happy home life is definitely responsible for this. I genuinely don't think that he would be the same child being dragged through the education system. 

The article was published last week and it was really interesting seeing the both of us in a Japanese newspaper. It definitely wasn't the way that we were expecting to be starting our first week of home ed this year but every September we have done something special to make sure that we realise how lucky we are to be on this education path for Opeie, and our presence in The Asahi Shimbun Globe is definitely this years bit of magic.  

“If there's a better definition of love than mutual benevolent insanity, I haven't heard it.”

We all have a bad day every now and again, one of those days where you feel like you could either scream or cry at any point and that was Opeie yesterday. He's an over thinker like me and I could tell pretty much as soon as he'd woken up that he was processing some heavy thoughts. It's been a really confusing couple of years for him and Ive done my best to try and help him navigate through it all, sometimes though talking about it just doesn't work and instead you need to do something a little bit crazy to take you mind off of all the head traffic.

So as the weather was a bit rubbish on and off yesterday and Opeie was clearly in need of lots of cuddles, we decided to have a movie day. It would have been far too easy to throw a load of blankets on the sofa though and where's the fun in that? Like I said we needed something to take his mind off of everything so after a little chat and a few giggles we decided it was a good idea to take the trampoline down in the garden and put it in his bedroom.

I love a bit of spontaneity, and little crazy activities like this are really good for the soul. As soon as the trampoline was up and was covered in blankets, Opeie had an hour playing with his friends online and then we gathered snacks and chilled out watching movies. In no time at all he was back to his happy self and the rest of the day was all smiles. Sometimes it really pays to be a little bit creative with your time and showing a little bit of genuine effort goes a long way with kids.

Not settling for anything but the best!

I think I've raised a couple of LEGO snobs! Its important to have standards!

"Then come my black days, MAD and loud. I howl. I growl at every cloud."

After a confusing end to 2017 and what can only be described as one of the worst starts to a year I've encountered, I'm trying so hard to not let recent events get the better of me. Writing was always an escape for me but in the last 6 months it has seemed like such a chore and if I'm honest I'm really having to force myself to write this as just seems like too much effort. I'm really hoping though that it somehow flicks a switch on how I am currently feeling, allowing me to get back to where I was last year, as I have so many happy things to write about. As a blogger (especially a family blogger), how you appear on the surface is so important, I never wanted to be one of those writers that is all doom and gloom. It can be really difficult at times though to write about the happy things in your life when inside that couldn't be further from how you actually feel. 

The blog has always been a happy place for me but amongst the back catalogue of unpublished posts that have been written, there is an insight into how I've actually been feeling deep down over the last few years. 

Do you ever feel like for some reason your emotions are completely out of whack?

Well that's pretty much how I am feeling at the moment and if it wasn't for the boys and close friends I honestly don't know how I'd got through to the other side with only this uneasy feeling to show for it all. One thing I have learnt from all this though, is that it's ok to not be Mr Sunshine all the time (although Ive always prided myself on being that happy guy that people generally like). We all have our 'off times' in life and I'm hoping I'm coming to the end of one of mine.