The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith

 

I have to be honest, I thought this was going to be a kids' book, but I was wrong.  The very start of the book is odd, because the protagonist is in the body of a toad who as to eat it's own shedded skin in order to defeat the magic that has cursed it.

The blurb says:

A young witch emerges from a curse to find her world upended in this gripping fantasy set in turn-of-the-century France.

For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.

Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.

I did enjoy this book.  It is written really well, and though I wouldn't say I'm particularly interested in historical France, nor wine-making, nor even this type of fantasy (modern fairy tales), it kept my interest, and I wanted to know what happened next.  There is even a twist at the end of the book that I didn't see coming.

This book is the start of a series, but I read and enjoyed it as a standalone.

 

And another month goes by...

 I'm reminded of the song from Come From Away that sings "And then another, and then another, and then..."

TLDR: 

So this past month, we have had covid in the house, we have had a dance festival, we have had uncertainty around DD1's surgery, we have had exhaustion from school, we have had good days out over half term, we have eaten too much and not exercised enough, though I have exercised some.  I have watched a fair bit of TV and not read much (which tbh hasn't helped my MH much) because I know how far behind I am of the reviews of books that I have read over the summer, and I'm behind on my paid work too.  

Positives:

DD1 came 3rd in her Tap Solo at the dance festival.

DD1 & DD2 came 1st in their Caberet Group dance at the festival.

I have gone on some runs when I've not seen my PT, and am s...l...o...w...l...y increasing in speed.  Still nearly an hour to run (and walk) 5Km, but under an hour nonetheless.

I have watched my first Christmas film of the season.

Despite being fully booked and not advertising at all, I am still getting enquiries about maths tuition.

My house is slowly becoming more organised.

I am trying to catch up on reviews a couple at a time.

Ugly Girl by Mary E Twomey

 Ugly Girl is U in my A-Z of Fiction Titles challenge.

Having read a few of Mary E Twomey's books before, and indeed having just finished reading Taste, I knew I would get engrossed by this book almost immediately, so took a little while (maybe a week, lol) before delving in and starting this series.

Rosie is an ordinary girl.  She lived with her Aunt after her parents died in a car crash when she was small, and her best friend Judah was the only person to look past her spots, scars and hunched back.  Living the best life she can, she goes to college by day and enjoys being a pool shark in the evening.
One evening, however, Rosie loses her beloved necklace, and all of a sudden her world begins to change.  No longer is she ugly and ignored, but she gets kidnapped and taken far away.

The blurb says:

When a grizzled stranger crashes into her life and lifts the concealment that has marred her face since childhood, Rosie Avalon leaves everything she knows behind. Pulled into a realm teeming with magical creatures, Rosie must navigate this new, broken world while avoiding capture by the evil queen, who knows there’s more to Rosie than meets the eye.

Bastien is an Untouchable, feared and shunned by all but a handful of elite warriors. His realm has been ravaged by the evil queen’s reign, but he will stop at nothing to save the land he loves, even if it means pushing Rosie past her breaking point.

Thrust into a quest that threatens to destroy her family, Rosie’s path is clear: she must sacrifice all she holds dear to save a world on the brink of collapse, and hope she doesn’t lose herself along the way.

This 14 book series is split into three parts Books 1-7, 8-11, and 12-14, and it is possible to read one part and take a break before reading the next, however, I wouldn't suggest starting midway through (eg at book 8) without having read the earlier books.

These books are set in between Common (ie Earth) and Avalon (another dimension, where there is magic and magical creatures).  Rosie learns that, though her Aunt is her Aunt, her parents are not dead, but live in Avalon, and her mother is the evil queen, Morgan Le Fae.  There is romance, intrigue, battle, a fair bit of feminism too.  Having read Taste immediately before, some of the magical powers I have seen before, but it's to a lesser or greater degree and doesn't really impact the story.

I did really like these books - you'd be unsurprised to know that I read all 14 straight off, without a break, then had to take a break afterwards as I allowed time for me to grieve leaving their world and reconnecting with my own.

And another month goes by...

So, I'm still seeing my PT twice a week.  My weight was still going up, and I almost hit 100kilos, which I've never been before.  But, I am still decreasing my size, and have even dropped a bra size when I got measured recently.

As sexy as I look in a bra and a pair of shorts (not!), I am pleased that even *I* can see that my back-fat is going, and I now have a waist again.

Both my girls are now in school, as DD2 recently started year 7.  She does enjoy it, but is very tired.  Having gone from needing 10-12 hours sleep a night, to having to leave the house at 7.30am, return near 5, then rush straight to dance lessons and often doesn't get home aain until 9.30 or 10pm, is a bit of a shock for her.

As schools have gone back, I'm tutoring again now.  My days have changed this year, so I work Tuesday mornings, Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.  I don't have much free time, though, as I'm still involved with Home Education locally, nationally and politically.  (Ok, I don't know if 'politically' makes any sense in that sentence, but the rhythm made me feel like it needed a third thing there.)

I am trying to read too, but that has slowed somewhat.  As I don't need to wait at dance in the evenings anymore, I don't have as much time to read.  Also, in the few gaps I've had during the day, I have had a bit of a TV binge, watching non-kids TV during the day! Very exciting.  I have recently watched Sex Eduction, Love on the Spectrum, Motherland, and I was getting into Making a Murderer, until my husband joined me one day, and now I'm 'not allowed' to watch it without him.  Yet, since then, we haven't watched it together at all, so if he's not careful I'm going to continue watching it and just not tell him, lol.

And yes, I am aware that I haven't caught up with the book reviews I said I would write a month ago.  Despite everything I've written here (and this feels like a lot to me), I've even more things going on.

DD1 has been having mini absence seizures/blackouts for a while, though she didn't tell me that they had become frequent until last October.  I told her to keep a diary in case it was related to what she had been eating or time of the month or anything like that, and we made an appointment to see the GP.  Fast forward to February, and we were referred to hospital to see a neurologist and to have an EEG.  As part of this, they gave DD1 a general health check and discovered she had a heart murmur.  Not a big surprise or concern as my husband had one when he was little, but they referred us for an ECG.  And another.  And an echo.  And a heart consultant who told use they would be bringing in the big-guns from a nearby city to look at her heart, because she has a hole in her heart.  As you can imagine, this was a bit of a shock, given she was 13yo at the time, fit as a fiddle, loads of dance, and zero symptoms (breathlessness, fatigue, palpatations or enlargement of the heart).

Anyway, we saw the big-gun heart consultant, who did another ECG and echo (which incidentally, is really interesting, as the computor automatically colours the blood blue and red depending on whether the blood has been oxygenised or not).  She confirmed that the hole in the heart is nothing to do with the mini blackouts DD1 had been having, and because the EEG was clear, they (the hospital) are not following that up at the moment.  However, DD1 does not have a hole in her heart - she has two plus a leaky valve! (It's a partial AVSD for anyone who wants to google it.) Due to where the holes are located, they cannot go up the leg/groin to close it, but she will need open heart surgery.  But, it isn't urgent, because she has no other symptoms, so don't worry about it too much.  It's a fairly straightforward procedure, etc etc, and just has to be done before she becomes an adult, as if left unfixed, it could cause massive problems when she's in her 20s and 30s.

Then over the summer we had a virtual consulatation with a surgeon, who said they expected surgery to be in October!  DD1 would have to be in hospital for at least a week, at least a month off school, at least 3 months off dancing.  All of a sudden this became very real!  Due to dance festivals finally starting up again (and the enxt one being in October) we have asked for the surgery to be postponed until the summer term, but we will follow the guidance of the consultant.  Meanwhile, DD1 has had even more hospital appointments, and had to wear a 24hr heart monitor, and been asked to participate in research before/after surgery, so my suspician is that it will be sooner, rather than later.

Oh, and we have got a second dog, Luna.

A-Z Challenge 2021 Fiction Authors

So here is my new A-Z Challenge by authors, and this time I won't be filling in the letters that I'm missing.

A - Meadowlark by Melanie Abrams

B - Brainrush by Richard Bard

C - Exodus by Andreas Christensen

D - Thicker Than Blood by C J Darlington

E - When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason

F - The Singapore Grip by T G Farrell

G - The American Gods Quartet by Neil Gaiman

H - The Last Safe Place by Ninie Hammon

I - The Messiah Conspiracy by Ian C P Irvine

J - Hidden by Megg Jensen

K - Earth - Last Santuary by Christian Kallias

L - Heaven by Mur Lafferty

M - The Wedding List by Autumn MacArthur

N - A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

O - Daygo's Fury by John F O'Sullivan

P - Mr Rook by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

R - Where the Shadows Lie by Michael Ridpath

S - The Phoenix Conspiracy by Richard L Sanders

T - Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

V - The Time Traveller's Almanac by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer

W - Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb

Y - To Fear the Dawn by Sean Young

Z - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafron

(Note: If it turns out that some of these listed either are non-fiction or I have previously read them and forgot whilst making this list, I will change them for books I haven't yet read.)

Where has the time gone???

I can't believe it's nearly a month since I last posted anything on this blog!  I've got lots to say, but want to post it all separately, so I'll give a quick overview now, and hopefully will find some time in the not-to-distant future to actually write properly.

This past month, it was my 16th wedding anniversary, (did I tell you in July that my hair is no longer purple?  It's red now), I went to Back To the 80s & 90s Festival by myself and had a fab time, I finished reading all the books on my A-Z Challenge list, plus the rest of the Ugly Girl series, I went to London twice with the family to see 2 different shows, I've started going out with friends again in an evening, DD2 had her 11th birthday yesterday, and today was her first day of Summer School (transition week) before starting secondary in September.  I am officially not home educating any more!  I have some new tutees and some old ones lined up for me to start tutoring again.  I am still involved in HE politics, despite it being the summer holidays.  And I'm still seeing my PT.  I know I didn't update you guys with my last set of progress photos (even I can see a difference now compared to how I looked when I started!), but I'm due to take my next set this coming weekend.  I'll also be taking new measurements, and will have a look to see if I am finally starting to lose weight.  Since I started with her in April, I have only put on weight, so it will be good to see if that finally starts to change!  And, as I finished my A-Z of fiction titles I need to set myself a new challenge (based on the books I already have on my kindle that I haven't read yet).  As, on my kindle, I can only sort by Recent, Title or Author, I suppose I'm going to go back to Fiction Authors.  Unlike last time, however, I will not be buying any books to fill-in the letters I'm missing.

Strengthening Home Education - Part 5

If you haven't already read it, please click HERE to see Part 1 of my read-through. 
And HERE is the original report. 

"100. In this chapter we consider outcomes, assessments and exams for children receiving EHE. During the inquiry, we heard about a lack of robust data on the outcomes for them as a group"

Same old refrain (and this is a clickable link, if you haven't watched it or got the message yet): RESEARCH EXISTS! 

"The difficulties faced by private exam candidates during the covid-19 pandemic shone a light on the pre-existing inequity they face in accessing public examinations." 

This was a real and impactful problem that was faced by home educators.  And as much as I cannot say research exists specifically about this, I can say that research is ongoing in this area!! And if you are, or know, a home educator who was impacted by exam cancellations due to covid, please encourage them to take part by clicking HERE.

What do we know about outcomes?

The first section is about the lack of data, especially longitudinal research, about home education.  This is to be expected, because it's not really been as popular as home education is now.  With the internet, anything can be learned anywhere - you are not restricted to learning only what your local library has in stock, nor restricted to old skool mailing lists for getting in touch with other home educators.  As such, most home education research of this type is US-based.  If you follow my FB page (and if you don't, why not?? it's HERE) you will see that I do share various research projects.  Not all of them are applicable to everyone, but if you can do a short interview, or a series of interviews, in order to create the data that the government is demanding, doing it with an impartial researcher is better than selling your soul to the LA.

"106. Little is known about the educational or other outcomes for the EHE cohort. Despite this, there was resistance to the idea of applying the kinds of standardised assessment used in schools to EHE."

Well, duh! If people are choosing to educate their children otherwise than at school, why would they want to force their child through all the same hoops as schooled children?  The beauty of home education is the freedom and flexibility.  Home education is not, and should not, be simply a recreation of school-at-home - and I think that's true even if you do decide to purchase a school-at-home style curriculum or package. 

"All EHE children should have the opportunity to take GCSEs, A-Levels and vocational exams as appropriate."

Yes as appropriate or desired!  Have access to, not that they should be compulsory.

 The next section is all about exams, specifically the massive impact that Covid has been.  A part from an erroneous "with a register in place it [would solve the world's problems]", this section is a good summary of various issues faced by home educators.

"124. The Government must place a duty on every local authority to ensure that homeeducated children and young people have fair access to centres where they can sit accredited public examinations, with the Government meeting the entry costs for those exams. The Department for Education must also work to establish the appropriate level of entitlement, to which examinations the entitlement will apply, and the additional funding the Department will commit to support this."

 

Now we are on to the final section in the main body of the document... 

Conclusions and Recommendations

• They want a more specific definition of aa 'suitable' education.
• They want a statutory register.

"8. When a pupil is excluded from school for more than five non-consecutive days in a school year, the pupil and their parents or carers should be given access to an independent advocate to help them navigate the process."

This is a school problem, not an EHE one.

 "10. Schools should publish their permanent and fixed term exclusion rates by year group every term, including providing information about pupils with SEND and looked-after children. Schools should also publish data on the number of pupils who have left the school."

This is a school problem, not an EHE one.

"13. In light of the evidence we heard on children with SEND, the Department must reconsider the potential for creating an independent, neutral role, allocated to every parent or carer with a child when a request is made for a needs assessment, which has the responsibility for co-ordinating all statutory SEND processes including the annual review, similar to the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer for looked-after children."

How is this different to the Named Person scheme that Scotland tried, and failed, to implement?

Elective Home Education: Local Authorities and support

• More specific definition of 'suitable' education
• Clearer expectations on LAs and Parents with regards to EHE.
• DfE should track and publish SAOs at a national level on an annual basis. 
• Ofsted should have a role in quality assuring Local Authorities.
• LAs must have the ability to see a child in person.
• Contact with EHE family is at least annual.
• LAs should ask to see samples of work.
• LAs should "assess" [note, how this didn't use 'monitor' here] children's progress from one year to the next.
• DfE to provide clear set of criteria against which suitability of education can be assessed.
• DfE should commission and roll out a national training package for all EHEOs.

Outcomes, assessment and exams for children receiving EHE

• There should be more research done examining the life chances and social outcomes of EHE children.
• Government should act on the issue of inequitable access to exams for EHE children.
• Removing barriers of cost and distance to exam entry would help.

And that's the end of the main document.  At this point, I'm only on p46/67 but it's all appendices and things left.  I'll give it a quick skim through....

Not much interesting of note there, other than the list of published submissions: There are only 488 listed submissions, even though the ECS stated it received over 900.  And I know plenty of people who wanted to be published, have not been included at all, including leading academics.

My personal submission is there - it is one of the anonymous "Member of the Public", yet when you click through, my name is clearly displayed at the top!
Have a nosey through the list and see if you can see any names you recognise. 😀