Home educating right now…

Week one of lockdown done.

How are you all doing? I’m sure, like us, there have been good days and bad days. I think we’re all starting to settle into this new way of life, finding rhythms and routines that suit us, and getting used to spending all our time at home.

I’ve had a lot of people comment/ask about whether this was as big an adjustment for us, as we home educate anyway.

But yes – it is a big adjustment. We do not ever spend this much time at home. There are usually only one or two days in a week when we’re actually at home for the majority of the day, and even then the kids will have groups in the evenings.

Suddenly, the six of us being home all day and evening means we’re having to spend more time in each other’s company, everyone is tetchy and fed up missing friends and groups.

We’ve been making the most of the situation though… no point sitting around complaining about something we cannot change. Obviously, Lola at almost 17 does her own thing, she no longer has GCSE exams to revise for, so she’s been reading, and taking some online courses, and just doing what she wants to.

Kiki, Baya, and Beastie have been keeping busy, filling in all those endless hours that we’ve suddenly found ourselves with.

We’ve meet in the kitchen at supper time, talking about the day gone, and our plans for the next day. Making the three of them a to-do list on the chalkboard so they know what they’re hoping to get done each day.

A typical days list might look like this

• PE {Youtube with Joe Wicks!}
• Conditioning {the girls get sheets from their gymnastics club four days a week to complete}
• ‘school work’ – worksheets/online studies/depending on the kiddo
• Paw Print Badge
• Project
• Chores
• Art/Nature studies – not every day, I’m doing the exploring nature with children curriculum with Beastie and anyone else who wants to join in!

Asides from the PE which is on live at 9am, we have no set times, they can work through their lists in whatever order they choose, and it really doesn’t matter too much if things don’t all get done. It’s more just to keep us on track so that our days are productive and we don’t just sit around… though there is some of that too!

Last week, I gave them the task of choosing a person for their project and finding out about them, then creating a poster/booklet/talk to share with us all. This weeks project is to pick a place. It’s not an in-depth project, just a little something to keep them occupied unless of course, they want to spend more time on it.

These may be funny times, but we are making the most of the time, filling it with lots of fun as well as some educational activities. Just a loose structure as that works best for us, we don’t do too well with a rigid routine.