It has been a year that no-one could have predicted and it would be easy to write off the whole year but I want to move into 2021 with an honest reflection of the year. There have been some highlights and there has been many good things to come out of this year.
I usually finish the year with a blog post on places we have visited and achievements that we have celebrated. Travel has been off our agenda for the past year but we have had some good times worth remembering.
We start the year in tier 4 and I’m feeling a little low about it so this post is to remind myself of the good things too.
Firstly we all have our health and that is not to be taken likely this year. Zuu Fitness has been my saviour this year, a mix of in gym sessions and online training has meant that we have been able to continue to train together. Chloe started the year by getting her Gradus Qualification which means that she could even teach zuu if she so chose! It means in reality that she points out when I do things wrong!
Spring and birthday’s were spent in isolation, but the hot tub was out and the garden basked in the heat. It wasn’t all bad!
GCSE’s were cancelled for Dylan but he got what he needed to start his A Levels which he is actually enjoying. He has become quite the expert on British and American politics!
Erin worked hard on her home learning and kept her focus on the grammar test and she passed the test with flying colours and qualified for the girl’s grammars schools. Although we don’t know for 100% until national allocation day in March, it looks very highly probable that she will go to the school she picked out which is a huge achievement in any year and feels even more so this year when she had to switch to self-learning and me helping her!
We managed a week away in the summer – staying in UK but getting a much needed change of sceanary. Hopefully international travel will be back on agenda next year as Erin ad I missed out on our holiday to Florida and Dylan and Lee to Spain.
Chloe has spent much of the year at home with us. She caught Covid in October but has since made a full recovery, despite feeling really poorly for a couple of weeks. University students have had it really tough in my humble opinion and it is certainly not the uni experience she started with.
Work-wise we have been fortunate, schools have never known a year like it but I’m thankful that it is a secure job for Lee. My self-employment has been going great – luckily I haven’t seen much of a downturn in work. I’m experienced and old enough to weather the storm in blogging. I have had some great press coverage over the year which keeps me visible and created some content that really supported others through their home learning this year. This upturn in traffic meant that I hit mediavine levels which is an ad agency that pays well for placing adverts on the blog. Whilst not everyone likes to see the ads it is how I make my money!
Along with Louise I also started a new venture www.topblogcoaching.com in lockdown and it has started off so so well. We have huge plans for the year ahead as we support and coach others who want to make an income from writing and blogging. We know what you need to do to make money so it seems only fair to share that knowledge!
I am even doing a little bit of academic tutoring as students need that support online and it feels right to be offering some A-Level and GCSE support in English and Sociology to a few students.
It has been a funny old year but as I said not all bad by any means. Hopefully next year will bring more certain times for us all and we can return to a more normal way of living.
