Wow what a strange world we are living in right now. Who would have foreseen this coming! I want to share with you 8 things i’ve noticed since we have started home schooling. Spoiler: It’s difficult and it’s the ultimate juggling act.
I felt quite a lot of pressure to write up a schedule of how my children would be spending their day now they are at home. I know that a huge amount of school age parents have done the same. Social media has been saturated with schedule examples and homeschooling ideas.
I felt a bit anxious and overwhelmed about it as I knew my husband would be at work and I would be at home but also trying to get some work done. I think also there was a sense of needing to take control of the situation and feel like I have some say in how we spent our time. So it’s been interesting.
8 things I’ve noticed since homeschooling:
- Things don’t always go to plan. We need to be flexible with our timings. Getting cross with my kids because they won’t do something that we said was going to be done just because it is on the schedule won’t help any of us. If there is a lot of resistance then it’s ok to amend things. If you give it some time then you might naturally notice a pattern of when your child’s energy is highest needing to move and when they are most able to sit and do some pen work. Writing a schedule before you’ve noticed these natural highs and lows is near impossible. These schedules are meant to help not hinder us.
- I’m not their teacher, I’m their mother. This isn’t a choice I have made, this is a national crisis and i’ve been put in this situation and I am going to do my best without feeling guilty. I like to think of it as bridging a gap and not homeschooling as it takes off some of the pressure.
- We need to choose our resources carefully. The internet is saturated with examples of how to home-school. It will be impossible to read them all, you don’t need to join all the groups you don’t need to read all the information. Just join the ones that are useful and silence the rest.
- It’s important the schedule you create fits the pattern and values of your family so for example if getting up and dressed, teeth brushed, breakfast eaten before 9 a.m. is important for you, then put it on your schedule but equally if you are a bit more of a ‘wing it’ person then it really doesn’t matter. Find your rhythm and follow that, don’t compare what you are doing with other families.
- I’ve realised that I am enjoying the slower pace of life and thinking differently about how to manage situations. It has definitely brought out a more creative way of thinking about how to spend the day and finding joy and fun in something you might normally overlook.
- It’s ok to not know what the hell you’re doing right now, and to feel like you are mourning the old way of doing things. Sometimes just wishing we weren’t in this situation. It can feel a bit like mourning, mourning our freedom, our choices, missing the job and lifestyle we had before. We have no end date to this so it’s ok to feel sad or angry or fed up or hopeless about our situation. They are all normal feelings and it is ok to be feeling them.
- Kids are naturally inquisitive and allowing them to feel bored is good for their creative side. Let go of the need to control all their activities, they also learn from free play and exploring things by themselves. They are learning as they explore and play.
- This is going to be hard and difficult however hard and difficult are not impossible. Seek to find the fun bits in between and cling onto those. Humans are tough, resilient and most importantly right now – we are adaptable.
Emma has two children aged 6 and 8, we have all been home together now for about 3 weeks now. Read about Emma here and her Mother’s Mentor service here