Well, back to virtual School! The Easter Holidays are over and normally we would be back to school today. It’s such a surreal feeling. And just like any back to school day the kids are up later than they’ve been over the past two weeks of holiday. Do kids have an inner body clock which makes them get up earlier during the holidays that have maybe not adjusted yet?
Back To School Plan.
I want to make school days different to weekends and holidays. And so far that is my plan! Okay, I may add a little school work into the mix. I’m hoping they will comply. First up, I’m going to make them get up, breakfasted and dressed like it was a school day! (err yes, going well today, they’d be on their way by now and the girls are still in bed.) But, I’m going to wake them and get them on the move soon as I’m done here.
I am going to give the BBC School programs a go, see if they can get inspired. Luckily, The Little Man is already up and ready to start watching at 9am. The girls I hope will be ready by 10am.
Then I have some work from The Little Man’s School, and it looks interesting, so I’m hoping I can get him motivated to complete some of that.
The girls will no doubt get e-mails from their school as to what they need to do. I’m not going to over pressure them, but I will do my best to encourage them. Star has been the most difficult to get outside, but yesterday she saw a news program about the lack of vitamin D possibly being a factor in making the COVID-19 virus worse. Of course, the sun is the best way to get your Vitamin D, so in the afternoon she spent five minutes outside. Yay!
Technology
I had to get The Little Man a new laptop for his school work and within two weeks it was falling apart! So it’s back to the shop in the post and I’ve ordered a new one. Now the girls are asking for a new desktop computer for their bedroom! Ok, I admit, the one they have is nearly six years old, so I guess it does need upgrading. I know they only want it for gaming, but I think if I bribe them a little I may get some school work done in return for a new desktop. I may have to squeeze their birthday money too, desktop computers are not cheap and as I learnt with the laptop, you get what you pay for.
Timetable
We have a vague timetable which is basically, get up, have breakfast, have half hour to themselves. Then do some school work. Then lunch and a little break before doing a little more school work. The aim is two hours of work a day and I think that’s enough. I do want to add in half an hour of reading too, but I want that to be something natural rather than forced.
Day 1 –
It’s nearly 9 am. Boo is still in bed, Star and the Little Man are not dressed yet and we’ve not had breakfast….great start! Fingers crossed it gets better 🙂
I’ve home schooled before but I’m not a teacher.
I have no hope of running a school like environment in my home.
I DO care about my kid’s education and I don’t want them to fall behind
I appreciate that I’m not the only one in this situation.
My kid’s and my own well being has to be thought of first and foremost.
I have to make my children understand that learning at home can be fun.
These are my mantras, and if all else fails, I hope at the very least that I cause no damage.
If you are in the same position or have different views, I’d love to hear your stories. Either in the comments or by sharing your COVID-19 posts on my linky.
These certainly are Interesting Times!
EDIT
It’s now 11.15am. We are all up, breakfasted and dressed. The Little Man watched the BBC Bitesize program for his age group. The author was reading from To Be a Cat by Matt Haig, so I downloaded it on my kindle (just £1.49) and hopefully I will be able to encourage him to read more.
The Little Man has also read William Blake’s, The Tyger and watched a Power Point which went through the meaning of the poem.
He’s now having a break.
The girls have watched BBC Bitesize for their age which ended up in a big discussion about ‘Tone.’ They are now watching ‘Horrible Histories.’ They have some new reading books arriving today which their older brother bought for them, so no doubt they’ll be getting stuck into them.
At this present moment, I’m a happy Mum!
Ahh! My girls have been back doing their school work today too although after they’d finished my youngest realised it would have been a teachers training day. Oops. She was not happy at all. lol
I hope today has gone well. It sounds like you got off to a great start. x
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