Resolutions of the New Year Kind

Before sharing this year’s resolutions, I’m going to reflect on the progress of last year’s.

Start a YouTube Channel

Last year my main goal was to start a YouTube channel. In this I have been partially successful. I have set up a YouTube channel and have filmed the first seven videos which will have gone out live this week. I am half way through a comprehensive course on how to run a YouTube channel (I received this for my birthday). When I made this resolution, I had hoped to be up and running by now. I am not quite. But I am moving towards that goal so, for me, that is as good as a success!

Only those close to me will understand how huge this is for me. I do not even like having my picture taken so talking to a video is awkward and embarrassing. I am however, enjoying the whole process of making a video in terms of editing and learning new skills the more videos I make.

That said, I don’t think I’m terribly good at it, but I feel brave and accomplished just publishing my first video! Yes, I know, I’m easily pleased! So here’s my first ever video:

Changing the Focus of my Blog

After a bit of faffing about for the past twelve months, I have finally taken the bull by the horns and stopped posting regular family stuff on my blog. For the last month I have completely changed the focus of my blog to simple home-schooling helps, concentrating mainly on history based unit studies. Having dragged my feet for so long over this, it is a relief to finally have made the decision. And it has not been nearly as upsetting as I thought it would be. This may have been helped along by the start of a new blog based on my Seasons of Joy posts. My new blog is called Seasons of Joy. It is here I will be posting, just once a week, blogs of a more personal kind. This is going to become my warm and fuzzy place, somewhere for me to gently come to terms with not being a mother of young children any more – a place for me to find the me underneath motherhood.

With this new blog also comes a new YouTube channel. I will post videos on an ad hoc basis, depending on if I have stuff to share. These videos are far more up my street than my school ones. No talking, no face, just me creating. Whilst I feel somewhat awkward about sharing my angelicscalliwags videos, I am looking forward to sharing these. The first will be out tomorrow alongside my first Seasons of Joy post.

Publish my Book

In this I have failed. Although I have finished writing my little romance novel, I do not have the courage to publish it. It is my baby which I have been nurturing for years. I have no clue whether or not I can write, and absolutely do not know if it is any good or not. I can’t bear the thought of it being ripped to pieces.

That said, I have begun writing my second book, which is an historical fiction (sort of…but not quite). I’m almost 20, 000 words in and am thoroughly enjoying writing it. Whether I’ll have the courage to publish it is another matter all together!

Lost Weight

This ol’ chestnut. The bane of my life. Have I been successful? What do you think?!

No, not really.

However, I have joined Noom for ten months and I am learning an awful lots about me and why I am overweight. It is starting to show on the scales but only very very very slowly.

Things I have Achieved Without a New Year’s Resolution

I want to celebrate a few things which are important to me but which I didn’t purposely set out to do. The first is that I achieved 93% in the first year of my Master’s degree in Childhood and Youth. My goal was to pass. I simply had no idea I was capable of achieving such a high grade, having never in my life received any grade even close to that. It was a nice surprise.

I joined a community choir. I do not consider myself musical at all, and really don’t have a very tuneful voice. But I love to sing. It was incredibly hard. I am such an introvert. I cried week 1 and week 2. But after that I was fine. My two eldest daughters have now joined me, and we have so much fun each week! Joining the choir was probably, to me, the biggest challenge this year, but I’m so pleased I did it!

The last point is an unusual one, but something I discovered this year, which I thought I would share. This September, I bought myself a large, hardback spiral note book. I think it was £3 from the The Works. Usually I have copious notepages on the go at the same time. One for each ‘thing’ that I do. You know me….I do lots of ‘things’! However, there were always too many and they all felt a bit disjointed. This September I combined them all into one. It is a notebook with no rules…which of course suits me right down to the ground! I LOVE having everything I write in one place. I mean, it won’t surprise you to know that there is absolutely no organisation within the book! It skips from recipes to notes about Mesopotamia to blog post ideas, books I want to read…I could go on…and my note book does! This is the best thing for a disorganised person such as me. Everything is in the note book. Everything. Literally I can’t possibly lose anything. If I’m looking for something I know I’ve written down, it’s guaranteed to be in the note book. How cool is that? Each blank new page is like a whole new note pad. I can’t really explain, except this is the BEST thing since sliced bread. I’ve almost finished this one, and I know I will keep it which is the first time EVER! Usually I just chuck my notes in the recycling, but not this time!

This Year’s Resolutions

I’m gonna keep it simple. Here’s my list:

Publish 52 posts on Angelicscalliwags Homeschool and Seasons of Joy
Publish 52 videos on YouTube
Finish writing the Mesopotamia Unit Study I am working on, along with all the printable and the book to go with it.
Continue learning more about why I am overweight, whilst continuing to make small changes towards being a healthier weight.
Redecorate the Living Room and Hallway and Bathroom in our little cottage

There you have. Either I will or I won’t. But I shall try.

I’ve been busy posting videos all this week. I shall include them all below. After today, they will be posted once a week, along with a blog post, each Thursday. Monday I posted my introduction which I’ve included at the top of this post.

Tuesday, I posted about Tips to start planning a History Unit Study: