Home schooling would be much easier if there were at least two of me

The first two weeks were chaos as I was being pulled in many different directions; getting the children online at the right times, ensuring work was uploaded, dealing with technology issues plus I was trying to fit in all my normal household chores and dog walking (thank goodness I wasn’t trying to work as well).

In fact, I think the puppy suffered most as she had no idea why we were suddenly all at home, but she was being ignored and seemingly forgotten about.

Things improved after the Easter break as timetables were tweaked and workloads adjusted and the children became more confident, however the youngest (8) still needs me on hand to help with some tasks and the eldest (14) needs encouragement to stay on track to get all work finished within the normal school day, otherwise he doesn’t get that much needed downtime (we’re failing miserably on that one).

I have adapted my routine and just grab opportunities to do tasks as and when I can. I have actually found it much easier to deal with than I ever thought I would, probably because we are in the middle of a pandemic.

I can’t say I usually relish the 6/7 week summer break but I don’t dread it either but to have remained fairly calm these last two plus months isn’t what I was expecting, especially without the chance to escape!

I really have enjoyed having them at home

I’ve enjoyed not rushing from one place to the next and I’m so impressed with how they have just got on with it.

We have asked a lot from these children and they have adapted so well

No, I would never choose to home school and I can’t wait for them to be able to go back to school and be reunited with their friends etc, but I’m actually quite thankful that I’ve had this experience and I do believe we’ve become closer as a result.

Ironically, we are a lot less stressed too!