Homeschooling might raise a few eyebrows
and that’s ok!

I know it’s hard for some families and I understand it can be difficult with more than two children in the house, a husband, juggling children, house chores, working from home etc, but whether you’re homeschooling or letting it slide, you’re doing a great job! There’s no right or wrong way, there’s no manual, just relax and go with the flow.

My girls love a routine, so I know I need to plan our days out to stop the moaning and driving-me-up-the-wall moments. I do find planning the day is as handy as it is helpful and it means that we have been having so much fun with our homeschooling “lessons”.

Social media can be an awful place to be at times and I have found myself drifting back on there more and more these days during lockdown. There are so many posts floating about on how not to homeschool, how to homeschool, why people aren’t homeschooling, being the perfect mum, how it’s not a competition, how they’re better than you. Then there’s the Pinterest mums, people b*tching on other parents posts, people having a ‘dig’ at the mums who are homeschooling etc etc, get a grip people *insert eye roll* … my advice … do what the heck you want to!! You wanna set up a mini school and a schedule, go for it! You wanna chuck the kids a bag a crisps and the tv remote, winner!!

There’s enough shite going on in the world  right now without feeling bad for however you want to spend time with your kids!

We have been documenting our homeschooling journey on social media, blogs and even keeping a lockdown diary. Our reasons for this are simple. So that we have memories to look back on, to share our ideas with others and maybe help other families out.

So here’s what we got up to during week two!

 

Monday

We kicked off the week with a potions and spells class. My girls really enjoyed this. They made a potion in a glass jar from items I found in our craft box, basic feathers, sequins, googley eyes etc. I labelled them with magical captions, you know the ones, a bent pipe cleaner became frogs legs, the googley eyes became eyes of newt etc, and the kids wrote their own rhyming spell. Later we took a stroll around our neighbourhood for some fresh air (our daily exercise) and finished the day by making Raffia baskets., which even daddy got involved in.

Tuesday

Early morning wake up with a gentle yoga flow and an exercise class with GoNoodle online – which the littles one loved! We practised maths fractions which I found for free online, both for KS1 and KS2. We had lunch in the teepee and played outside in the sunshine. Later we made paper dolls *so cute* after reading the paper dolls book by Julia Donaldson – one of our favourites. If you have young children and you haven’t read this book, you definitely should, it’s so so sweet! The girls made up their own story for their own dolls, they had such sweet, imaginative stories. Very inspired.

Wednesday

Well after Tuesdays fun yoga class the children wanted to do it again, so we started the day with yoga followed by snack break, seriously need shares in snacks these days! Time for a quick french lesson – I found free printables online to print out to learn the days of the week and a short quiz for some common food names. The kids’ french accents were hilarious! We all had a giggle, ooh la laa! After lunch it was time for a free online history lesson about rationing – I was amazed how interested the girls were to be honest but such an apt topic at the moment, they watched the entire lesson and even completed the worksheets! We finished school early … what a mistak-a-to-make-a! The girls started winding each other up, generally being little madams and then it happened … mummy lost her sh*t … which resulted in a bottle of wine being drunk!

Thursday

After yesterday’s meltdown I decided that today we would learn about mindfulness. We talked about how we can control our moods and what we can do to help each other and ourselves during difficult times. I found a free mindfulness board game online which I printed out, we spoke about our emotions and when we had felt these emotions – it’s good to share right! I must admit, some of the kids answers were funny! We made calm down jars, with glitter glue, water, sprinkles, sparkles and a few drops of food colouring. Simples. And finally we finished the day with a spot of English revision and letter formation.

Friday

Last day of school, woo hoo! So Friday was “Fun Friday” again. Online resources are my saviour this week for sure! I found a Clovid-19 Time Capsule work booklet in a social media lockdown group (they’re full of amazing ideas, it’s definitely worth joining up to a couple!). This was fun for us all to do and a great keepsake for the children to look back on in years to come – well, we are living through history right now. School was out for the day so we decided to teach the youngest how to ride a bike without stabilisers and she got it instantly! I was amazed! The second kids sure got some bravery, I’ll give her that!

Not bad for a weeks work. Schools officially out for us here for the Easter two week holidays. We’re not continuing with our school work ‘routine’ throughout the holidays, as we wouldn’t usually, but we will keep up with some activities, exercise classes and throw some arts and craft lessons in there for good measure. I’m hoping for some fun-filled days and great weather! We also have my eldests’ birthday to celebrate over the holidays so hopefully I can make that a special day for her to remember.

As for now, it’s bbq weather and the fire pit is out. It’s time to enjoy a well earned gin and relax.

Just remember, relax, don’t stress yourselves out over school work. Enjoy the time you have with your children, it’s really not worth the stress, alls you will do is burn yourself out if your taking on too much. Ignore what you see on social media, if you let it affect you, making you feel like a crappy mum for trying, then you’re just doing yourself no favours. Brush it off, move on, follow your heart and do what makes you and your children happy, post what you like. It’s your world, not theirs.

Enjoy the Easter holidays

happy adventures

nay nay x