Mumma’s log 04.01.21
My senior school kid will be home schooling till at least 18th January although Boris is due to make another announcement this evening so that may change again soon.
His senior school have been extremely prepared pre xmas holidays making sure the children knew how to log onto the online live classes and assignment apps. They have today sent us a full timetable near enough mimicking their usual school day, also making sure we are aware the children are able to email/call the staff anytime with queries, worries and for a lifeline if needed.
This is amazing I think it may be very a ball ache for the teachers they have worked so tirelessly throughout this pandemic and between the children and the staff their will undoubtedly be some teething problems technical issues, oversleeping parents, children forgetting to charge the laptop etc.
But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again Imagine being your parents 30 years ago being faced with this with only dial up internet, your Nokia 3310/one of them cool pink Motorola flip phones and google! I checked and google literally became available to the public around the year I left school WHAT this blows my mind imagine a world without google I can barely remember it!
I do remember looking things up in the yellow pages and the local newspaper though, even going onto the teletext channel on the TV for the weather to see if I would be able to get a tan that day in the summer holidays (I also once put actual cooking oil on my legs to try and get a tan quicker…see I should not be allowed to home school my children)!
We MUST appreciate the blessings of technology along with the detrimental effects and bashing off silicone filled influencers there would have been a whole heap of distraught parents and guardians this year without it that I’m sure of!
I am not ashamed to say there was a shed load of googling going on in my house in lockdown 1.0!
How do I teach an 11-year-old long division?
What is a fecking adverb?
When will my husband go back to work?
Can you send an uber to buy fags and wine during lockdown? (I’m now a non-smoker yay me)
Will my child’s future be doomed if we sack off home schooling for sunbathing?
But this time is different so far…the senior school seem well prepared although it will be hard for my son to sit in front of a screen 8.30am-3pm daily for the next few weeks it would be harder for him If his good old Mum tried to teach him Maths with my D grade GCSE and deep-rooted hate for numbers it’s just not my thang you will never pass your GCSE maths with only me tutoring you, I would put money on it!
My daughter’s junior school however have today announced she will go back to school initially for just two days a week pending further government announcements. Bang goes my quiet mornings with maccie d breakfasts and Phillip and Hollie on the box ergh.
I’m assuming she will be sent home with worksheets and assignments for the other 3 days a week but haven’t yet been told. Unless it’s regarding little mix, barbies, or stage school she has the attention span of a flea when she works with me so this could get interesting quick! (I’m told at school it’s a different matter which is great for normal school life, but not so great when I’m the maths, English, science teacher actually credit where credits due PE, art, and music I would smash just not the “real” subjects).
I’m kind of hoping she is not set specific homework for the days with me and now thinking eagerly about creating the best of the best exciting, stimulating but challenging schedule for us to complete together.
We can work on her Acrobatics (seen as I became qualified in the summer last year and have been too lazy to give her extra tutoring since). We will have quiet reading time together in the den, bake cookies, write stories, do some cosmic kid’s yoga from you tube (check it out trippy AF but fabulous for the little ones). Just school of life physical and mental wellbeing type stuff.
We shall see it may not happen that way and we will work with what we’ve got I feel slightly less anxious compared to the first lockdown as it’s not so new to me now, but on the other hand I had smoking cigarettes and sunny lunchtime walks to de-stress and the kids had a swimming pool and late sunny evenings to play out in.
I worry about the lack of exercise if they are sat in front of laptops during the daylight hours will it be too cold and wet to take them for a walk in the evenings, am I going to put the effort in to do it with them or will I be ready to ditch them for an hour? Do we need to get booking their check up’s at Specsavers to ensure their eyes aren’t suffering already from xmas holiday you tube and Fortnite?
Sooooooooooooooo many questions with not so many answers!
Surely there are some things most of us can do, I think these are goers for sure......
1. Just do what you can to keep you all sane whether that’s letting them have an hour on Fortnite or being the parent hiding in the loo with a bar of galaxy and a pocket size prosecco.
2. Feed them whatever you have access to at home, feed them something non beige once per day if possible, maybe blend some cabbage and chuck it in a chocolate milkshake greens are greens, right? Also, parents and guardians try not to survive solely on coffee and biscuits, maybe no coffee after 5pm if you want to catch 40 winks before you drag them out of bed for online learning Groundhog Day.
3. Give them a cuddle/smile/tell them you love them/some dedicated
wholehearted no distraction time with you once a day, no phones no Netflix in the background just one on one time. Play a game of their choice or just have a chat ask how they are so they are just reminded someone is here for them, someone loves them, and they are worthy of your time because you are their person.
If you have ten kids, 2 jobs and a house to clean right now then 5 minutes before bed for a snuggle and a book is 100% ok (also forget the washing some days and let them wear whatever they want for home schooling, batman costume, Peppa pig swimsuit) everyone will have different capabilities right now JUST DO WHAT YOU CAN.
4. IT'S IMPORTANT SO IV'E PUT IT IN BOLD ...Remind yourself and them how frigging lucky we are to have each other, to have this time together home schooling to have a roof over our heads, food in our fridges and laptops to work on we are blessed we are healthy we can do good things with this… CHANGE THE NARRATIVE!
5. If all else fails cut the Wi-Fi wire ring the school and say they will have to send the work in the post instead of virtual classes and you can all enjoy two days off whilst you wait for it to arrive! WINNING
My Mum Mantra for home school 2.0 🤎
Add pocket sized chocolates and prosecco to your click and collect order, not because they have fewer calories but because they will fit in your dressing gown pockets thus meaning they are efficiently transported with you to the garden shed to hide/cry/snack on without alerting the adolescent members of the family. Thank me later.
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