Well the “Easter Holidays” went by in a blur and this week is back to school Well ‘homeschool’. It’s not quite like the home school we had in our minds when I took the kids out of school a few years ago though. This is homeschool Lockdown style.
Home School but not as we know it!
My four have been off school since march 18th. At first it felt hard work. We had been thrown into a life that we didn’t necessarily chose a life where we are now teacher as well as mum. Then as work started coming in from school it felt a little easier. We decided to just to pick and choose what learn as fitting in all of the home learning in while still trying to entertain the little two seems an impossible task.
Then we’ve just had an easter so we scrapped school work and decided to have an adventure instead. But now it’s time to get back into the school routine and really get a grip on some learning as well as having fun.
So what does that look like for us?
Without going into too much of our morning routine as I am going to hopefully create some more content around that here is my plan for the next few weeks at least.
First off I’m going to be making an effort to get up and ready for “School” by 9am otherwise when we do eventually head back to doing the school run its going to absolutely kill us getting out of the door for 8.30 every morning.
Our learning Day
There are 5 areas that I think are important to keep on top of each day.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing especially at this time is so important. We probably like to think that our children are resilient and can handle life in lockdown really well but if your kids are anything like mine while they seem their usual self most of the time there are moments that make me stop and see they are struggling with some emotions they havent had to deal with up until now .
There are some great resources out there for promoting wellbeing in both children and adults
Movement
Now we are no longer walking to school or anywhere really its important to fit in some form of exercise each day.
So far we have tried Joe Wicks live pe lesson on Youtube & Cosmic Kids Yoga Im also going to have a look at doing some kind of kids zumba too.
We are currently allowed to head out for some exercise each day which up to now we haven’t done because our garden is a good size to exercise in however I think I am going to try a walk around the block a couple of times a week just for some added stimulation to the week.
Reading
Its important to read each and every day. Reading with our kids not only helps them to read themselves and gives their brain a bit of exercise but its a great way to increase creativity and imagination.
Literacy
There are loads of things our children can do for Literacy Or writing practice. From making a family newspaper to writing letters to their friends. Twinkl has a great range of worksheets and activities to help with keeping up with literacy work.
Maths
I hate maths, I am terrible at it. I used to work in retail and could count you back your change but ask me to do the kids fractions homework or divide big numbers and I panic. I want the kids to have a good grasp at maths as I think its so important in life. So they are doing their school online maths work. They use Mathletics but we also have some maths books from when we homeschooled. Its a couple of years below them but it boosts their confidence enough for them to then want to do a little more.
So that is my Lockdown/ Home school plan for the next few weeks. I wont be sticking to a strict schedule. Though I will have a little rhythm for our days. we may also have the odd day off if the kids are just not feeling it. This is a crazy time for all of us and some times we all have off days ad need a break from things.
How are you doing Schooling while the kids are home? Id love it if you left any similar blog posts that you have done about schooling during the lockdown
Nina x
