For the last year, I have been homeschooling my kids. And there are loads of people in the same position as me. The big question is, how are we going to get through the last couple of months before everyone heads back to school?
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Preschoolers
I never realised how much energy the little ones need to burn off during the day if you can’t leave the house. Last year, even if we have a rainy day and couldn’t play outside, we could head out to a soft play centre. Instead, we are trying to burn off our energy by being creative in the house and the garden. Here’s a fun fact about preschoolers, if they don’t burn off that energy, it can be tough to get them to sit still for anything. Crayons and colouring can be a great pastime if they can sit still. Using things like cactus svg and other online resources to help create colouring and activity books can help to create some variety in the day.
Primary school
My eldest son is still in primary and his education is the one that is a priority for me. Unfortunately, he is at the older end of primary education and will be heading to secondary school in a few short years. I have been very lucky that his school has provided a lot of stuff to help us get through the school week. That being said, I find myself trying to pad things out in the hope that he isn’t accidentally left behind. My husband is great with maths, and I am good with science and English. Between the things that the school provides and the books that he has been reading, I hope his brain is getting a good workout. One place that has been brilliant is The Barrister in Wonderland children’s bookshop. Not only do they have an online kids book club, but they have signed copies of books in stock that are ready to be shipped across the UK.
Secondary school
Thankfully, I don’t have any kids at secondary level. However, guess what I have decided to start training as? Yep, an English and history teacher. Once I’m done with my degree, I’ll be getting my teaching certificate so I can expand the minds of the next generation with the English language. At the very least, I hope I can teach them some basic English. Although reading through the sentence structure of some of my posts, and my spelling mistakes, those poor kids might have their work cut out to pass their GCSE’s. I hope that the kids who have been affected by the lockdowns get some extra support to get them through their exams. The only advice I can give to these parents is to try and expose your kids to as much information as you can, even if it’s not at their current learning level. It’s not ideal but the idea is to keep the brain flexing and hope that something sticks.
College and further education
Although I am technically in this category, I’m not including myself as part of the homeschooling experience. I do have a 17-year-old who is attempting to complete an art course at home instead of in an art studio. Thankfully, she is using this opportunity to expand her digital skills. I’m going to admit, it’s been a while since I took an art class, so most of the things she talks about go over my head. However, the one thing I did understand was photo usage for projects. Using things like lips svg to help complete her projects, including photo mashups, has been a massive help. We might not have a kiln or a massive studio to rotate oil paintings in progress, but we have quite the collection of digital prints.