Discount Duck’s Quest For Mortgage Freedom

DiscountDuck

Thanks BB. I’ll live. I’m just keeping swimming, Dory style. 

I’ve been saving into one of those smash pots every time I get a five pound note for about a year.  It was meant to be to cover nice things for bf’s office/man den when we eventually got a together home, although I hadn’t told him as it was going to be a surprise.  When my dissertation is done in the new year, once I (hopefully) hear it’s passed, I’m going to book a celebratory big holiday with the kids with the smash jar funds instead. I’m nervous about taking them abroad on my own but I think it will be a good thing to know I can do. I can’t be the most scaredy cat single parent to successfully manage it so statistically it must be possible. Somewhere we can all just have fun together instead of it always being me shopping in advance, driving miles, setting up a tent, cooking etc.  Hopefully it will be safe to go by next summer. Even considering this feels a bit giddy and frivolous!

DiscountDuck

I’ve spent this weekend making slow but steady progress on the never ending dissertation. I’ve got my questionnaire drafted, mapped against the key literature and tabulated so I can then analyse the data when it comes in. I’ve also got a first draft of my participant consent sheet. My brain is tired now! 

What I haven’t got is the software skill to work out how to get the uni recommended questionnaire software or put the questionnaire onto it. I’ll try to get hold of someone at Uni tomorrow to see if they can guide me as to how to do it.

I’ve had a no spend day and am going to aim for three a week from now on. Might be a bit ambitious in the run up to Christmas but it’s good to try, right?! 

I also assembled a new chicken hutch that mum bought as a surprise present for DDs hens. It took 4 1/2 hours and my hands were bleeding by the time I was done but it’s great and the hens love it. I’m really pleased with myself for managing it! It was such a lovely present. It’s got wheels so it’s easier to move and the run is bigger than their old one. It’s super easy to clean out too. 

Hope you’re all having a good weekend and staying safe in lockdown. 

trix-a-belle

oh your poor hands DD
if you want to make progress with a questionnaire & not chase your uni's person survey monkey is pretty easy to use to set one up or even google drive like is used for the MFiT form, shout if you need as I think i've grasped form variations in drive (helped a friend with her dissertation questionnaire at the start of this year) & can show you the back end of how the data comes through

DiscountDuck

Thanks so much trix-a-belle I may well take you up on that generous offer.

I’ve finally submitted my ethical approval form tonight and it’s like a great big weight has been lifted. I started this mainly because my grandad looked like he might burst with pride when I said I had the option to do it, he was so delighted that his granddaughter could potentially get a masters and I want to see it through in honour of him. But there are moments I’ve really regretted getting myself into this!  It will be worth it when I’ve done and can show the kids that hard work pays off. Them coming to see me graduate is what’s keeping me working on it despite being exhausted.

My little girl passed her preparatory piano exam with a high merit this morning and I’m so proud of her. Grade 1 next. She played so beautifully and all her practice has finally paid off. The examiner did the test by zoom so it was totally safe and a great confidence boost for her. 

The hens are being lazy freeloaders at the moment but they’re so funny I don’t mind. We are still getting spinach from the garden and we dug up the last of the potatoes and made potato and aubergine curry with them yesterday. We also had the last few snack size peppers out of the greenhouse which DS will be taking to school as his healthy snack tomorrow. 

A good weekend. 😁

DiscountDuck

Tutor bounced back my ethical approval form 48 hours after I submitted it and I buried my head in the sand as it felt totally overwhelming, for A WEEK. She sent an email with no specific feedback just saying it was ‘totally unacceptable to leave any questions blank’. Literally a one liner. Upon getting brave and going back into it, I’d left the questions where I’d answered no and if they’d been yes I would have had to fill in the box underneath. They’ve come up red because I didn’t put in them that they don’t apply. Can’t believe I got myself into such a state over nothing. What an idiot. 

It’s been hard going here doing lockdown 2.0 with two kids alone and pets and a house to look after. Their dad hasn’t had contact because he can’t distance and has his latest gf coming down from York in and out of the house all the time (plus other lady friends), so it just isn’t safe for previously shielded DD. I am beyond annoyed at his love life taking priority over contact. 

The cold and dark don’t help. The whole East Midlands are going to be put in tier 3 when lockdown ends, which I don’t think will be very different from now. It’s worth it to protect my mum and my daughter but single parenting, being a carer, working and studying are a hard combo without being able to see my closest friends for a cuppa once a week or so. I can’t wait for the masters to be done with, and for the spring when the weather is better. To keep my chin up I’ve put up the Christmas tree just because it’s pretty and the lights are cheery, and I’ve got grand plans for the front garden with country garden classics, designed for the bees and butterflies. I’ve ordered loads of pheasant eye narcissus as they were my grandma’s favourite, and I’m going to have some munstead lavender for my great grandma. I may treat myself to a David Austin rose or two as a reward as well when the studying is finally finished. I have a Gertrude Jekyll next to the front door and it’s still in flower now, and has been since July. The scent is fabulous. I fancy something smaller but equally scented for the flowerbed under the living room window. I’ve got two lilacs that my grandma grew for me already out there so it smells beautiful in spring and summer. 

I’ve filled my uncle’s freezer with all the meat from ours that we won’t eat now DD is vegetarian and DS and I hardly eat it, because I’m not cooking two different dinners every night. Also, it’s better for the environment and we can’t really declare ourselves animal lovers, then eat animals. Favourite uncle is delighted. His car actually passed it’s MOT this week, which you wouldn’t believe looking at it. I’m very pleased for him, his life is really coming together now. His neighbours are lovely and there’s a lady I think has a soft spot for him, who I teasingly call ‘my next Aunty’ when he and I discuss her. 

I’ve made sure I’ve got enough savings to overpay my 10% mortgage allowance in January as soon as I’m allowed. I can almost see the end in sight with it now, a few more years and I’ll be free! Then I can take the kids to travel to amazing places instead of paying tons of interest on a silly mortgage! 

Suffolk_lass

Although you sound really fed up, you are making good progress and maybe need to cut yourself a moment of slack to reflect on your achievements and what is going right for you! I think it is too easy for us to run full pelt at our lives without ever really stopping to look, treasure and reflect. It's a nine from me...

DiscountDuck

@Suffolk_lass I will absolutely take a 9!
Today I’ll be following your advice and having a dog walking and baking day with the kids. I am proud of what I’ve achieved so far, the fear of failing at the last hurdle has stopped me from enjoying it yet but I trust that the community I’m researching will support and engage with it. They won’t let me fall on my face.

I’ve got home educating family members and want to give this minority community my support regarding the way they’re being misrepresented in the media at the moment. It’s high stakes betting my masters on getting the engagement and feedback I’m hoping for but I have faith in them that this will turn out ok. That old poem “first they came for the communists. I did not say anything because I was not a communist” where there is none left to speak for the oppressed because the people didn’t stand as one made a huge impact on me and I want to make sure my family can continue their incredible learning journey in the way that suits them. Any Home Edders- look out for my survey on Facebook shortly on some of the HE pages! Please fill it in to tell me how visible your kids are (outside covid)! 

Baileys_Babe

We are home edders but refused to use Facebook. I would like to participate is there any way I can access the survey?

DiscountDuck

Ah thanks @Baileys_Babe that’s so kind of you! What a fabulous choice to make for your kids.  I’ll send you a survey link as soon as I (hopefully) get ethical approval. It’s all about the visibility of HE kids and how many people they see (particularly who have a safeguarding duty of care or a DBS check), outside COVID. I think the Government underestimate how socially engaged and visible HE kids really are, because they mix them up with Children Missing Education and treat them as one group.  

We’ve been for a two hour dog walk up Beacon Hill this morning and the kids are now cleaning our filthy Jack Russell in the shower. The bathroom will be carnage, but I don’t care because I’m too tired and it’s keeping them happy and busy.  I’m going to light the fire in the living room and make us all a nice cuppa and some buttery crumpets with scrambled eggs for lunch after his little sit down. Boudicca (our ginger, angry, hen who likes to start fights with the other pets) is laying at the moment, but Mavis is having none of it. Still eating the last of the home grown spinach happily enough though, greedy little freeloader that she is!  

I might get all our onesies on and really settle in for a lazy day. We’ve got some awesome Attenborough dvds and could have an Attenborough fest for the day. The secret life of plants, and life in the undergrowth dvds we got for 99p with free P&P off ebay and while they’re pretty old the content is still amazing. 

Baileys_Babe

DiscountDuck said:

Ah thanks @Baileys_Babe that’s so kind of you! What a fabulous choice to make for your kids.  I’ll send you a survey link as soon as I (hopefully) get ethical approval. It’s all about the visibility of HE kids and how many people they see (particularly who have a safeguarding duty of care or a DBS check), outside COVID. I think the Government underestimate how socially engaged and visible HE kids really are, because they mix them up with Children Missing Education and treat them as one group.  

I am very interested in your study. PreCovid we were out and about a lot, engaged in lots of groups and projects, some HE only, some not HE exclusive, some all age.  Most HE families are the same. There is a vast HE community around the country which is very supportive. 
Official bodies generally assume we hide our children away and are secretive about our methods. The HE community generally feels the estimated numbers bandied about by authorities and the media are greatly underestimated as many HE families have no reason to be known to the local authority, nor any benefit.
Lumping HE children together with CME is a frustration most of us face when dealing with TPTB as they are unable to see the difference from being educated otherwise and missing from education.