first day of school


5 Simple tips to make going back to school easier 1

Hard to believe but I have been doing the back to school routine now for over 11 years This year Maxi will be going into year 11 (his GCSE year) and Mini into Year 10. After all these years being a school mum I have some excellent tips that make the back to school routine easier for all involved.


The Ultimate Back to School Resource 21/22 1

Over the years, I have gathered together some amazing information, tips and tricks all about going back to school or starting school and each year I gather them all together to create this The Ultimate Back to School Resource 221/22.


Mourning more than the children being at school

Since I am laying it all bare about how I feel about the boys being at school, it is only fare that I really admit as to why I feel so bad. Back in July 2008 I had my ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, an oophorectomy is the technical term.  As you may know I carry a genetic spelling mistake which makes me very high risk for a number of cancers.  My Aunt died from ovarian cancer and my other Aunt who had already had a hysterectomy had primary peritoneal cancer (she is currently in remission).  So my risk of ovarian cancer was over a 60% lifetime risk. We talked to […]


Why We Need More Male Primary School Teachers

I spent Thursday night at 9pm glued to BBC2 watching their School season, more specifically Gareth Malone’s Extraordinary School for Boys. It highlighted what is a real worry for me the feminising of teaching and the lack of male teachers in our primary schools.  According to a recent piece in the telegraph am only make up 12% of of the teachers in primary schools. As a mum of two boys I find this a worry statistics and would love for my boys to go to a primary school where the teaching mix was much more appropriate to the society we live in. We are lucky in the Maxi has a Male […]


The Winds of Change

Change, that words sweeps a world of emotion over me at this time. It makes me feel a little scared, a little worried, a little apprehensive for what will be, for you see my world is turning and changing.  My whole family is experiencing the winds of change. I have lost my youngest companion, my wonderful Mini to school this week and it is a huge change in my life. My balance is off, my sense of direction skewed and I am not sure which way I should be facing. For you see, my child, my wonderful confident, happy child has embraced this change in his life with open arms and […]


My Top Tips for Starting School

I feel like an expert, now I have survived the first four days of both the boys going to school, so I am compiling my top tips for starting school, so I can remember them for next year (oh and look back on them after the each half term break)! School clothes I have the boys school clothes hung in their wardrobes in sets and they get them out the night before along with a pair of underpants and socks.  I also get my own clothes out the night before.  School shoes I am a big fan of the spray on protector and then we use good old leather polish.  The […]


I survived their first day at school

We were all prepared the clothes were names, ironed and set out last night. Mini was beyond excited this morning, he has wanted to go to school since Maxi started last year.  I took these images this morning and have kept myself busy today, MadDad and I are painting the kitchen (he didnt like the colour I chose and I took my upset out on him and then we went and exchanged the paint) and I have taken mum to her COPD appointment at the hospital too. I really missed having Mini around this morning, most acutely around I0.30am at cup of tea and chat time.  But I also missed our […]


On Monday – A letter to MiniMad

You are so excited, on Monday you start the first of what will be many years at school.  It is not a big step for you as Preschool is in the same building and you have walked the register down to reception and had a lunch with the bigger children too. You are looking forward to getting your uniform on with Maxi and taking those first steps to adulthood, but I am not yet prepared.  I am following your lead and making sure that I am excited with you and we are busy talking about your friends, your wonderful teacher (who was Maxi’s last year) and school lunches. I have written […]


A New Beginning

The sixth of September marks a new beginning for Mini and I.  Yes you guessed it he will be going in to Reception full time and Maxi will be going in to year one. I have trying to make the most of this summer together as it seems like the end of an era, but I have decided that I am not going to look upon it as such, oh no this is just the beginning, the start of something wonderful. To help the boys on their way to school Clothing at Tesco sent us a school uniform bundle of each of the boys and also a voucher for me to […]


Mima with Maxi

Maxi’s class were lucky enough to go to Mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) on a school trip and I managed to get MadDad to work from home that day so I could go to. Now I am not sure I will be taking the boys back just yet, but it was a great, if not a little long day.  In between looking and thinking about the installations the children did get to do some art activities, but they were not allowed to touch anything and with a group of 4 and 5 year olds you can imagine how hard it was for them. I was very proud of all the children, […]


Whats going on In TheMadHouse

Things are moving forward in the MadHouse at the moment and we have so much going on, so this is a bit of a mixed bag of a post to say the least! Mini and School My wonderful, adorable and perfect little one is due to start school full time in September and I am finding the transition and knowing this really hard at the moment.  I commented on his preschool review that I was disappointed that they had been unable to move him to mornings with his key worker to enable the transition to full time easier for him and guess what, the head of year informed me last week […]


He thrived, I survived 6

Well today was MaxiMads first day at school. He went to the preschool at the school, but this was his first day in reception, his second time for school lunch and his first full day. As you know if you read my earlier post, I was not looking forward to this day. In fact I was in complete denial. I was up till one labeling clothes and sorting lunch money and then slept really fitfully, finally falling into a deep sleep just before the alarm went off and slept right though it! So we had a mad dash to get ready and then MaxiMad would not pose for a photograph and […]