Home Schooling For Dummies*: We Did It!

*Me the parent, not the kid

We did it! We somehow got through lockdown home schooling and we can now breathe a massive sigh of relief - and give ourselves an enormous pat on the back. It's been a long 17 weeks (probably the longest term-and-a-bit in the history of schooling) but it's a time we won't forget. I'm going to keep all of Isobel's home schoolwork in a file, which will be something to look back on fondly with the grandkids one day.

For Isobel, it isn't only the end of home schooling - it's the end of primary school. When she started Year 6 back in September, I never imagined her leaving ceremony would be a socially-distanced one in the school playground ('social distance' wasn't even a thing back then. What a time that was!) but I'm glad she got to go back yesterday and say goodbye to her friends, her teachers, and the school she's attended since nursery. Before lockdown, she'd been walking to and from school by herself, but this was my last chance to do the school run, and I took it!

Home Schooling For Dummies*: 2 Weeks To Go!

*Me the parent, not the kid

If you're still home-schooling, give yourself a massive pat on the back because the end is in sight. In just two weeks, our home school adventure/nightmare (delete as applicable) will be over!

I've just had a look at my original home school blog post, and it brought back how anxious I felt when the text message came through from Isobel's school telling us that her school had closed. I had no idea what I was doing, so I'm grateful for the help that was out there: the online classes from her teachers and the work they set, Twinkl for their resources and worksheets, BBC bite-size, and other parents on Twitter, especially those who admitted how stressful they were finding it too because they made me feel normal. We usually present our best lives on social media, so I can only imagine how much of a failure I'd have felt if everyone else was showing how wonderful it all was going (even if they were hiding the bad bits).

I was also feeling anxious about my writing, worrying how I was going to work with a house full of people while juggling home-schooling. Luckily, Isobel's at an age where she can mostly get on with the work set, so I take my hat off to those parents with younger children - you really do deserve the hugest pat on the back!

We quite quickly found a new normal, with three of us working in one room (my older daughter has been doing her college work upstairs, on her own. She's obviously the smartest of us all) and while it hasn't always been a pleasant experience, we've somehow muddled through. I usually struggle to write during the school holidays, but as I've written 60,000 words of a new book so far and released the paperback of Everything Changes But You during lockdown, it should be a breeze from now on. Right? I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks...

Home Schooling For Dummies*: Still Home Schooling

*Me the parent, not the kid

Some schools have started to take some of their pupils back in. My daughter's school decided to only take their Year 1 classes back in, but as we're in the North West and the R rate is still high here, they postponed this (though they may be in now, I'm not sure). Isobel's in Year 6 and they're looking at bringing them in from 29th June for the last three weeks - but only if the parents are happy to do this. As things stands, we're going to continue with the home schooling.

Our timetable has had another tweak over the past couple of weeks. Because some pupils were due to go back into the school, the online classes Isobel had about three times a week have stopped because the teachers are needed for the classroom 'bubbles' at school, and I've also decided we're having a little break from basketball in the garden after my washing line came down three times in one week.

As well as the schoolwork provided by school and the worksheets I downloaded from Twinkl, Isobel has been watching BBC Bitesize every day, which has been a godsend over these past few months. It's twenty blissful minutes where somebody else takes over. I'm not sure if they'll stop too now kids are starting to go back into school or if they'll carry on until the end of term, but I'm grateful for every episode that's been made!

There are four weeks of term left, so we're on the home stretch now. We can do this.

Home Schooling For Dummies*: The Shit Sandwich

*Me, the parent, not the kid

Confession: we've had a bit of a shit sandwich of home-schooling over the past couple of weeks.

The first slice of bread for the sandwich (good) was that SATs were due to be held last week. Usually, this would be BAD because I have a hate/hate relationship with SATs. But the tests have been scrapped this year, which means Isobel doesn't have to sit them. Hurrah!

But then we have the shitty sandwich filling - and it's a double helping. First, we have the government's insistence that schools should open on 1st June (too soon, in my opinion), and our local council agrees. Isobel is in Year 6, which are supposed to be going back and although we've agreed as a family that this won't be happening for her on 1st June, it adds even more anxiety to this whole thing.

And secondly, we've had a bit of a tough week. There's been frustration and shouting and the lowest point was the debate** whether a calculator can produce two different answers if the same information is put in. Isobel later said they're not allowed to use calculators in school. NOW I KNOW WHY.

** debate is stretching the truth. There was frustration and a major difference of opinion. Lots of it.

But now we get to enjoy the other slice of bread that makes up our shit sandwich - half term! I have never been more grateful for a school holiday.

Home Schooling For Dummies*: A New Normal

*Me, the parent, not the kid

When is a bank holiday not a bank holiday? When they've moved it from the Monday to Friday to coincide with VE Day. And guess who forgot about this until Sunday night, after Isobel had gone to bed under the assumption that she had a day off 'school' the next day? Yup, this numpty.

It seemed cruel to snatch her day off away from her in the morning, so I didn't. She had the day off schoolwork. AND she's had a day off today, on the real bank holiday.

My school, my rules.

I'm finally starting to feel a bit more relaxed about this home-school stuff. We have our new timetable that seems to be working, and it's starting to feel... normal. Or a new normal, at least. We're five weeks into homeschooling (with two weeks of Easter hols in between) and the thought of Isobel going off to school every morning seems a bit weird. That isn't to say I think it's a good idea for her to home-school for a long period - far from it. Supervising is very different to teaching, which I discovered last week when Isobel needed help with her maths.

Do you remember when we were at school and we scoffed at maths, and questioned when we'd ever need to know these things? Well, that came back to bite me on the arse when I couldn't explain how to work out how many non-red cars were originally in a car park if some left and 60% of those remaining were red. NOW IS THE TIME I NEED TO KNOW THAT STUFF, and I failed.

My brain was frazzled, but luckily BBC bite-size came to the rescue when we found a clip with the formula you need to follow (confession: I still don't understand it).

If lockdown has taught me anything over these past few weeks, it's that I shouldn't give up the day job and go into teaching.

Home Schooling For Dummies*: Home School Lite

*Me, the parent, not the kid

The Easter holidays are over so we're back to home-schooling. The first two weeks were a bit stressful because it was new and neither parent or child had a clue how it was going to work, and then the novelty quickly wore off. 

We received a newsletter from the school at the beginning of the week, part of which says 'we do not expect parents to "teach" their children lessons but will give ideas and links to resources and activities which will help your child gain an understanding of some of the learning they are missing' and 'please don't worry about your child "falling behind" - it is the same for everybody', which was reassuring and made me less anxious about trying to cram too much into Isobel's timetable.

So we have a new timetable now. She has reading and maths tasks every day, plus any Live Classrooms her school set, and some writing, spellings and art throughout the week. This week, the BBC have put out a daily Bitesize program on iPlayer and the red button, and there's loads of content on the website too. We've also been making the most of the sunny weather this week by getting out into the garden to do some basketball drills we found on YouTube.

The week has gone well. Tweaking the timetable has definitely helped to keep the house a bit less anxious. I've even been able to start writing a new book this week and it's felt great to get some kind of normality back!

Home Schooling For Dummies*: Another Week Survived

*Me, the parent, not the kid

If you're home-schooling because of the Coronavirus lockdown, give yourself another pat on the back, because we've done it again - we survived another week!

The second half of last week was tough, but I've found it a bit easier this week and there haven't been any school-related meltdowns (though we still have this afternoon to get through, so I hope I haven't just jinxed myself). We've been a bit more relaxed this week, which has helped, and I've decided to only work in the mornings, while Isobel's dad is on 'duty', and I'm finding this approach less stressful. It means I'm only getting half the work done that I normally would - and I know I'm lucky that I can choose to do this - but I was finding it a struggle to concentrate on the two things at once.

Another thing that has helped this week is the promise of the Easter holidays. We just have to get through this afternoon and then we have two weeks off from home-schooling. I don't think I've ever looked forward to the school holidays more!

After the holidays, I'm going to try to be even more relaxed with this home-schooling thing. At the weekend, I was stressing because the school hadn't updated the home-school work on the website for the following week. In the end, I made up my own projects, based on the maths and reading tasks from the week before, plus some Easter-themed tasks I either downloaded from the Twinkl website or made myself. And then, on Monday morning, guess what was there? A new set of work for the week! (I still stuck with my Easter work, because I'd already printed quite a few things out, plus it had taken me AGES to make an Easter-themed crossword!)

So, lesson learned for me: chill out. Being super-organised helped during the first week when we didn't know how this was all going to work, but nothing bad is going to happen if Isobel isn't sat with her schoolwork at 9am on Monday morning.

How have you found home-schooling so far? And, on a scale of one to ten, how much are you looking forward to the school holidays?

Home Schooling For Dummies*: Surviving The First Week

*Me, the parent, not the kid

If you've been home-schooling for the first time this week because of the Coronavirus, give yourself a pat on the back because we did it - we survived the first week! (Almost, it isn't quite lunchtime as I'm typing this, but fingers crossed there are no major meltdowns this afternoon.)

I'm not going to lie, it's been a bit rocky these past few days. It started off great, but the novelty soon wore off for Isobel and learning at home was no longer fun. She was fed up and wanting to chill out in her pyjamas (I can't blame her, but this thing needs doing). BUT WE GOT THERE. It's Friday and Isobel is currently - and peacefully - working on a task set by her teacher online.

It's been a steep learning curve for all involved, but we're adapting. Chris and I are taking it in turns to take charge of the home-schooling (Chris has the mornings, I have the afternoons) so we both get a chunk of time where we can fully concentrate on our work. We have a little sign hung up on the door to remind Isobel (and us!) who's on 'duty' if she needs help.

Like the rest of the nation, we've had a go at Joe Wick's PE lessons on YouTube (I may never walk again without wincing) but Isobel's also been having a go at kids' yoga. There was a cute Frozen session, where the instructor tells the story while incorporating yoga poses.

We've also completed our first game of Scrabble, which was fun and we'll be starting a new game on Monday.

How have you got on during your first week? Any tips to share? Let us know in the comments below :)

Home Schooling For Dummies*: Be Prepared

*Me, the parent, not the kid

I've been anxious about home-schooling Isobel, but it's something that has to be done and so I've thrown myself into preparing for our first week. I've read advice about home-schooling that says you don't need a routine or a schedule, but I know that for us, we definitely need some structure.

Isobel's school has provided a list of daily and weekly tasks and some online resources, which I've organised into a timetable for the week. I've also added some outdoors/physical time and some educational TV each day.

Joe Wicks is holding PE lessons every day on YouTube, and we're also going to look for some kids' yoga. When the weather's nice, we're going to crack on with some much-needed weeding in the garden, so we're ready to plant some seeds next month. Isobel's on a basketball team, but while the league has been suspended, she has a net in the garden so she can practice shooting and ball-handling skills.

For the educational TV, YouTube is our friend again as there are loads of BBC clips (around 3-6 minutes each) on there, from Shakespeare in Shorts, to history and science. I've saved loads of them in my Watch Later folder so Isobel can choose what to watch from there when the time comes. There's also Horrible Histories on Netflix, which we'll be watching (yes, me too, because I love it).

On Twitter, Noel Fielding is running an Art Club, where he sets a theme and the kids can create a picture or collage or model and send him a photo of it.

As well as the time-tabled lessons, we've also set up a community-style game of Scrabble. It's a more relaxed game, with one set of tiles, and we're taking our turns whenever we get a spare minute. It's going well so far...

We've almost completed our first morning, and so far so good. Isobel's just taken part in a live classroom lesson with her teacher on internet safety, which was a nice bonus for the day.

If you're home-schooling for the first time, how are you getting on?

Home-Schooling For Dummies* (*Me, The Parent, Not The Kid)

Yesterday, I shared my tips for working from home during the Corona virus social distancing and self-isolation period, because this was something I felt confident I had covered. I've been doing it for a few years, so this wasn't a change for me.

Fast-forward a few hours and a text comes through from my youngest daughter's school. They're closing earlier than the government's planned nationwide shutdown so once they closed for the day, that would be it until who knows when. And that's when it really hit me: I'm now home-schooling my daughter. Her education is in my hands and I'm not prepared for this, even though I knew it was coming and it's only one day earlier than planned.

I have no idea how to home-school, no idea how to teach. The way maths is taught, for example, has changed a gazillion times since I left school (and I can't remember how to do most of the non-basics anyway) and, although I'm a writer, I struggle with nouns and adjectives (seriously).

So I started to feel rather panicky.

Isobel's school is closing a day earlier than planned. So i guess we are now home-schooling. Not anxious about this. Not. At. All 😐

— Jennifer Joyce (@Writer_Jenn) March 19, 2020

After tweeting about it, another writer who is already home-schooling reached out and offered to share the schedule she's set up for her boys. I really appreciated the offer because not only did I have something solid to work towards rather than a series of increasingly anxious thoughts floating around my brain, it was also a reminder that I'm not alone in this. There are so many people going through this strange period, and we can help each other, whether it's sharing tips and ideas or simply reminding others that they're there too, winging it as best as they can. So, if you're as anxious as I am, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

The school has provided a list of daily and weekly tasks for next week, plus links to online resources, so this has also helped to ease my anxiety a bit as we haven't been thrown in the deep end and left to sink or swim (I can't swim very well, so I'd definitely sink).

I'm going to be blogging about our home-schooling - the good, the bad and the ugly. It may help somebody else in the same situation, and it'll certainly help me to document what's happening. I'm a writer; spilling the weird thoughts in my head onto screen is what I do.

Wish me luck. Lots of it. And if you have any tips, please, please share them :)