57 challenges for the year ahead

Following my birthday at the end of last week, I have been putting together a list of things to do over the next year. Some of them are very straightforward, some I am already doing such as learning Spanish using Duolingo, and others are going to be much more difficult. This would include the physical challenges in the main.

Here's the list:

Cycle 57 miles in a day
Motorhoming in Cornwall
Swimming at Tinside
Write blog
Thai cooking
Learn a dance routine
Learn Spanish and Gaelic
Run/walk/crawl a marathon
Take part in a charity bike ride
Take part in at least 10 Saturday parkruns
Have a picnic on Dartmoor
Hike from Princetown to Plymouth
Swim a mile
Go paddle boarding
Plant a tree
Turn off the tap when brushing my teeth
Buy an extra item of food each shop for food bank
Bake cakes for a giveaway 'sale'
Woodlands litter pick
Watch a ballet
Plant a hedge
Make a child's wooden tool box
Go paddling in a stream
Visit the Russell Cotes Museum
Visit the National Gallery in London
Read a book by James Joyce
Watch a meteor shower
Visit an RSPB reserve
Do a beach clean up
Walk av. of 15000 steps a day
Make a bird table
Give children materials for making their own reindeer decorations
Decorate the front room
Do a night's wild camping
Make a wooden wine bottle holder
Make a log planter
Make a log seat
Do Junior Parkrun in at least 4 different locations
Watch Plymotuh Argyle home and away
Listen to a new album once a week
Visit an Island
Play Hide and Seek in a castle
Take part in a school activity
Have a snowball fight
Go on Go Ape
Bake a fruit cake
Make blackberry jam
Make chutney
Share a Sunday afternoon cream tea
See the Red Arrows
Collect firewood once a week
Bake using the Dutch Oven
Complete 50 successful keepie uppies in a row
Play boule on a beach in the rain
See an osprey
Have a yes day- say yes to everything
Make my way way home - Dropped off in the middle of somewhere I don’t know and left to get home
A day with no phone
Fast for one day
Sing a song of someone else’s choice to be shared on social media
Spend a day in fancy dress for no reason
Take the children for a midnight ramble

It's going to be a lot of fun getting these done and I'm looking forward to recording my success, or otherwise, here on a regular basis.




In the meantime, it is just after 9am and we are about to start home school learning once again. This has become a routine for us over the past two months and the children are handling it well. We do 25 minutes per subject period for 6 periods, alongside two 10 minute breaks meaning we work from 9 - 12 with the two breaks plus a little bit of room to extend the learning or extend the break depending on what is happening and how the focus is at that time. Joseph at 8 is able to concentrate for relatively short periods and is enjoying it less than Maria. She is 12 and gets into the work quickly and in a sustained manner. It is incredibly helpful having regular feedback from teachers on the work completed.