The best Christmas present

Just been watching the classic Snowman on DVD, and pleased to be returning to my old friend, my blog. I've missed you. Today our H800 ECA results came out, a few days earlier than expected. I'm really pleased with my result, especially since I ended up doing the whole thing inside two weeks. The best Christmas present ever though, is that we have climbed the highest mountain, flown in the clouds and still not back down to earth; my intelligent 10 year old son is for the first time able to read out from a book fluently, without stumbling and hesitating; finding it so difficult without either of us knowing why. Since early September I have finally got everyone on our side to realise that intelligence, 'coping' in the classroom and trying so very hard can mask a learning difficulty in a child. As a result of the Cellfield intervention from Australia, my son's specific difficulties have been vastly eased. I have learned such a lot about about the mechanics of reading and how we need to have the correct neurological pathways in place before we can read successfully. We are not out of the woods yet; but certainly in a much more hopeful space for the future. It's like him suddenly being able to swim beautiful front crawl after doggy paddle had to do.

So we feel deserving of our holidays, and looking forward to the new year with renewed optimism and hope. We have decided to stay in South Africa for the time being, and I am going to try and progress my research studies somehow with the OU from afar, maybe by next tackling H809 Practice Based Research in Educational Technology. I have a few weeks to decide.

Making connections

Three of us had a great time at the weekend making collaborative connections on Twitter to arrange an impromptu Elluminate session. Alan in Leeds, UK; Philip in Adelaide, Australia, and myself in Joburg, SA. We all came together within a couple of hours and had a good session, even with Alan's mike problems. (Technical glitches can be very frustrating in Elluminate).

I've been reading a paper for my ECA which talks about mechanisms for reducing the 'distance' in distance learning and boy, did we do it then. I've written about this before; I find student-led Elluminate sessions really rewarding and there is actually no distance between us as we grapple with the ECA and share our different approaches. For me it was indispensable as I really needed that connection to get the adrenaline running again. I'm now in Base Camp 2, which feels a bit easier. I will be working for two weeks flat out now, as much as I can.

The other wonderful connection I made yesterday was with a lady in the OU Library, who helped me with access for a paper and signed it 'from a fellow South African'. We have struck up email contact and it's fabulous to talk to someone who knows MK and South Africa as well. We can share the joys and challenges of each country. We love SA, it's spacey, and as she said has sun and big blue skies, lots of them. We as a family are considering moving back to England and to MK, for me to apply to do a PhD at the OU. But what to do for the best? There are three of us in the family, and each has their own opinion. It's like having two cakes, each with nice things and not-so-nice things on top. Of course one wants one cake with all the nice things, and it's just not possible. It's very rewarding to make a connection with someone who understands both.