Home Schooling Day 1

Hi all,

So last Thursday my kids’ schools all shut down (as did all schools in the Republic of Ireland) to avoid spread of the Corona Virus.

I was delighted. Firstly, the government made the right call, quickly. Secondly, I was going to have time at home to work on projects that I’ve wanted to do with the kids for years now, like science experiments and art projects.

So I set up a room to be the “home school room” – which also took most of the morning, so it was a late start to the school day! Easing into things!!!

But then I got the 6yr old to do her sounds, and then colour her new letter in. She then did more colouring in pictures, and then made the St Patricks Day chains with her brother. Then they did some free play colouring on the whiteboard. And now are in playing lego.

The nearly 10yr old did his reading, a bit of dictionary work, some maths, the St. Patricks Day chains, planned the menu for an Instant Restaurant later in the week, drew some little comic strips and is now is playing lego.

The secondary school child, the 13yr old, did her Geography homework, her French work and an hour of Maths revision. She made their lunch, and a hot chocolate for herself while they worked out a menu plan for an Instant Restaurant. She’s now gone for a walk with her Dad and the dog in the woods.

At 3.30pm my 13yr old said it felt like 6.30 and that the day should be over. I was explaining to her that that is the reason that I want to put a bit of structure and planning into our days, because otherwise the time will just gel together into one big mess and nothing will really get done and it will get so boring just watching mindless tv or something.

I had a lovely day, and I’m really happy that we are on the same page about self-isolating and just staying home to do our part to stop the spread of the virus. It’s giving us lovely family time together too.