I’ve written a couple of times about home education during the current pandemic.
The whole thing is getting old now.
2020, for various reasons, has seen our approach to the children’s education become a little disjointed. At the start of the year, Damian injured his ankle quite badly and it meant that for a couple of weeks he was barely able to walk. It’s not an exaggeration to say that for a couple of weeks I became all things to all four people in the house. I had to do everything, from helping Damian get up in the morning and help him to bear weight on his ankle, to ensuring he has drinks and food, ensuring the children were occupied etc. It was a hard gig alongside the everyday mundane tasks of cooking, cleaning, shopping and washing and ironing. It felt like a lot of plates spinning precariously. It meant there was a change to our home education stuff as I had to postpone events at the house (due to Damian working from here).
Just as things were getting back to normal, and he was able to get back into the office for work, Covid became a real thing in our lives and, a week or two after some return to normality we found ourselves thrust together again, 24 hours a day and, like the rest of the country, entire cancellations to our way of life.
And still, as we get into the last week and a bit of September, we find ourselves still together, 24 hours a day. As we are in Greater Manchester we were hit by another local lockdown at the end of June.
It is exhausting.
It is frustrating.
Yes, we chose to home educate the children, but we didn’t choose it like this. Some people have recognised the tough gig that we have, others ignore the whole thing.
I am eternally grateful that I haven’t had to make decisions about sending my children into school and juggling the different start times and the sceptre of seasonal colds and whether they need to stay off school or not.
But it’s hard. Not having those decisions to make just means we have other things to think about instead.
It’s really hard to maintain enthusiasm all the time. In normal times our days would be punctuated with meetups with friends, activities with other adult input. I would throw open the doors to our house and welcome in our friends to have exciting and fun opportunities to learn. I had so many plans of things I wanted to do at home; events and sessions I wanted to hold. Activities I wanted to share.
But that’s stopped. Instead, the children have only my input. They’ve seen friends briefly when we have seen them on our road, and we have only actively met with one friend – to celebrate two birthdays. It was much welcomed for the children and us! To be able to just chat about life and the such was a welcome break from the new normal.
I have to remind myself that my children are happy and content; they’re not showing any signs of being worried or stressed by the pandemic. And it’s key to Damian and I that we don’t let the children see our worries and concerns. They seem to have, so far, taken things in their stride.
The ‘Rule of Six’ has made things infinitely harder for us to meet with friends, but not impossible. Under the exemptions to the rule of six, we can meet for educational purposes and it is under this exemption we will meet with friends next week There will be just two families and we have written the necessary risk assessment and have our plan for the walk. Whilst nothing is risk-free in the covid era, we think it represents a minimal risk. The children need to see their friends, six months is an awfully long time.
Home Education this year has been tough. But I am heartened by the progress I can see with maths and overall general knowledge. I’m not optimistic for a return to our normal schedule for some time, and I think in reality a range of groups just won’t happen again as people move on and priorities change.
Autumn time is usually a time when we are renewed and energised for the term ahead. It’s usually the time of year when I feel most productive and we really get some fantastic projects underway. This year I’ve felt like I’ve hit a wall. I’m struggling to maintain enthusiasm and the children are too.
It’s been a hard gig.
But it will get better. Maybe not right away, but it will settle.
