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I phoned Adult Education yesterday morning and they said they'll help me get a placement, so fingers crossed. I still might hear from some places I contacted a few weeks ago. I'm attending my first tutorial on Friday. My course would cost almost 500 but will only be 255 to me because I'm on Jobseeker's allowance.

I'm thinking about getting a part-time job to fit around the course and placement but I'll see how things go first. I want to get away from Jobseeker's allowance (and I've been told I won't have to pay back what the government paid towards my course if I sign off) because they impose certain rules on me like saying I have to give up the course if I'm offered a full-time job (and they aren't expecting me to find a childcare job until I have the qualification so the job would be most likely office work if I got offered one). I don't want to quit the course for anything and if I get a job for 16 hours a week or more I won't need to claim jobseekers anymore (and the pay might be slightly better as well). It could just be hard finding something to fit in with my course as most advertised jobs don't say start and finish times and days. Maybe joining an agency who will ask when I want to work part-time? Can anyone suggest anything please?

On Monday I got the placement in my college's Creche & Pre-school and started there on Tues Afternoon with the 3+ children. I had such fun helping out and the children are so lovely (the group isn't too big). My police check form is being sent off but it could be a month before it's complete.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be in the baby room (under 3's) and I'm looking forward to it a lot. They seem to be cuter the younger they are.

Friday morning will be my second class session (Tutorial, to give it the proper name). Not looking forward to finding out how much homework there is this time, last week's was just to write a little bit about ourselves. I don't mind sharing what my homework is if you guys are interested.

Yesterday afternoon I helped look after 6 children under 3 (most were over 2 I think). There was a baby girl who was 7 months but I couldn't deal with her without my police check completed. I had a lot of fun looking after the children and made friends with a few of them (some were a bit shy and kept mostly to themselves). We were able to take them in the college's hall where they could run around and play with some balls, ride-on vehicles and little dolls prams. One little boy kept chasing one of the girls which was okay and he even helped her up when she kept falling down on purpose. But he kept spitting and making a rude noise and we kept telling him not to and threatening to make him sit down on a chair but he kept forgetting. Hopefully he'll get out of that very soon. I didn't feel worn out afterwards as it didn't seem to take much energy but maybe it will next time.

This morning I had my second class where we started work on our first element of our first unit. It's all about communicating with adults (co-workers, parents etc) and children. Most of what we need to do will be covered by what we do in our placements but we have some homework assignments which cover bits as well.

We have 5 bits of homework but they aren't long assignments. I need to ask at my placements about a few things in them and one was about a communicating activity we did in class today and I've done most of that assignment already. We have two weeks to do the assignments but will get extra time for any corrections we are told to make. At the moment I'm planning to use 1-2 hours a day for my homework. I might need longer because my wording of things is sometimes a bit long winded so I want to make it all easier to read before I hand it in. My experience in checking and rewriting bits in my fics will come in handy!

I can't see me having time to start working on more Mag. 7 fics although I want to go back to writing fics eventually. I occasionally get emails from fans of certain stories asking when more will be done.

It was 4 bits of home sorry, I miscounted. I have 2 and a half bits completed (I'll get them checked Fri incase I need to do more before the next Fri due date). The other 1 and a half I need to ask a few questions at my placement tomorrow and look through my placement's policies too.

My second session with the over 3's tomorrow. It didn't feel much like work last week. At least this week, I know to ask if they need help tidying up (I didnt last week and was asked to and felt bad that I didn't offer first). I'm hoping that I will be able to learn more names to faces tomorrow. There are 2 blonde boys and I don't know who's who. I think I remember most of the names and faces.

I feel more relaxed this week as I'm not so busy. At the moment I'm still not sure if I should find a part-time job as well (16+ hours and I think I don't need to sign on anymore ) I've always liked having some time to myself and not being pressured by lots of homework I have to fit around other commitments. Also it would be hard to fit work around my placements as they're two afternoons a week 1-4 and my class is Fri morn 9.30-12.30. At the moment I'd rather stay as I am and use some of my savings if I need a bit of extra cash (I have less time to go shopping and spend extra money anyway which is good).

I finished my second class's homework on last Weds and handed it in last Fri. My tutor loved all my homework and says try to keep it at that standard and I'll have no trouble.

Spent 2-3 hours today on homework I got yesterday. We have to make sure our work covers all the knowledge and performance criteria for Unit 201 (which has four sections called Elements). Some of my previous homework may cover the knowledge but I need to check with my tutor next Friday.

Yesterday's class made me feel quite tired by the end. She covers a lot of things and there's a lot of info to take in. We have two new students who have to catch up now. I wouldn't want to play catch up.

I have a few short write-ups to do tomorrow then Monday I have a choice of two things to work on (longer term projects)

1) Child study over 3 months. First have to choose target child and discuss with nursery, then give a letter of explanation and asking for permission to their parents. Child mustn't be able to be identified in my reports and the parents and nursery can ask to read them at any time. I have a few choices for the target child incase one is no good. The child needs to be there for about 3 months for the study and I need to observe and record without the child knowing so they don't refuse to do anything or show off.

2) The other project is to make a game or book for 3-5 year olds with learning outcomes (so they learn things from it). At the moment I'm planning to make cards for a card game with numbers on some and possibly quantities of objects on the others so it's like a matching game. One thing that could be learnt is to wait for a turn in the game. I keep changing my mind on the rules. I'm rubbish at making things so I'll be using my dad's printing to help a bit with templates. Project has to be child-safe and fairly durable so I need to use strong card I think. I am rubbish at drawing so I might end up having very simple drawings or using Google images for anything suitable. We are allowed to get pictures to stick on.

IMO, I haven't got more homework than the previous week as two bits are ongoing and aren't expected to be complete for a few weeks/months.

I've ordered the handbook from Amazon which may help (dispatched on Fri), but the postal strikes will delay that I'll let you know when it does arrive and we'll see if the postal strikes delayed it badly.

My third week at the nursery starts on Tues Afternoon and I can't wait. Unfortunately though I have an interview for a part-time office job on Weds morning which I can wait for (they don't know about my NVQ for a different type of job so it may be that I can't get hours to fit with the NVQ but NVQ is my highest priority). So really I don't want Tues afternoon to come too fast because of my interview the following day. I've never gone for an interview where I have to tell them about other things that I need work hours around, I'm scared they could get angry about that. The job is quite a distance from nursery and course so I would need at least 30 mins between if I had to do both things on the same days. I don't think the nursery would change my volunteer days/hours. I would just say I can't do the job if it won't fit in because I only want a part-time job if it fits in with my other commitments.