Home schooling wasn't something I ever planned on. I think my kids benefit from being around other kids, they benefit from their teachers rich experiences, I like them being away and at school 9am-3pm! I don't think this has changed as I don't believe I am home schooling now. I am educating them at home as I do normally on a weekend through our experiences as a family and we are topping up with a bit of structured reading, writing and numeracy tasks on top. I didn't consciously choose to home school, I didn't agree to deliver a full curriculum at home. I am merely helping out whilst school is closed. My kids are missing their friends and luckily we all live locally so often we socially distantly accidentally bump into kids on our daily walk. We have a group whatsapp and can share with his classmates and their parents there. His and my close mum pals can video call. It isn't the same but it is the best I can do and they are staying connected.
The bit I cannot fulfill is that relationship with their teachers. That connection, that understanding that belief that they can do anything their teacher asks them to do. I am mum, I am boring, I am a nagger who feeds them. I do not have that yellow aura glowy halo that they see when they look at their teachers. I am someone who is stopping them from playing in asking them to do boring work. I know I am not alone, it is a common source of discussion with my pals. As the one who is an educator though, everyone looks to me to help, I have little to give!
One thing that has helped me is a structure, something simple like maths one day, English the next, enrichment or science project followed by a maths day and an English day. We do school work straight after breakfast. That way they haven't wandered far by this point and I can sometimes even keep them in their seats after breakfast to get them to do their work straight away! Luckily our school is a faith school so we have daily prayers and updates from the school to share, this also helps them stay connected. It also helps me in the pretense that any misbehaviour will be reported back as I clearly have a direct line to school!
Another thing that has helped is to hold the belief that I am not home schooling. I don't have to cover the entire curriculum. I had a call from a pal in tears as war had broken out with her son who refused to do any work for her and she was terrified that he was going to fall behind when they return to school as he was already at risk. I explained my view to her that we are not home schooling and everyone will be in the same position when we return. She hadn't seen my point of view before, she was putting herself under too much pressure, instantly causing friction before she began.
Parents are teachers, we know what is best for our child, but we teach through rich family experiences that a teacher cannot generate. Teachers are not parents and they teach through their own expertise of the curriculum and knowing what is best for your child. Lockdown hasn't changed this. Parents trying to become teachers isn't the answer. We are helping and supporting our children in their education but we are adding in some more structured work to help this support as we are away from our kid's teachers longer than the usual 2 day weekend. Parents need to give themselves a break, it is a tough enough job without taking on a new teaching career too. SJ
