This has been our kitchen table for what seems like a long time!! We have survived self isolation following a positive contact with another little friend….then afterwards the school bubbles burst so we have had 3 weeks of home schooling! For the last week, the kids could go for walks etc as they had “done” their 14 days, it was just unfortunate the classroom remained closed for the last week. Luckily we have remained well and no one has shown symptoms so that is great.
Home schooling for us, has been easier this time than it was in #lockdown The kids knew more what they were doing, the material sent by the school was great and the online learning app has been great (once we learnt how to use it). The barrage of questions is hard on us as parents but we muddled through. We picked and chose the lessons they wanted to do in any order. To be honest they tended to choose by what teacher they wanted to see on the video. It certainly made it easier than forcing them to do Maths or English at a specific time.
For us, one struggle was sharing devices! Running Mumbler means I need access to a device but I’ve had to share with both kids so I am sorry if the content has been a bit dull!
Having two children self isolating of different ages makes school work tricky when both are clamouring for attention! We found that if one did something they could do easily and the other did something harder so I could help them….then we swapped. A lot of to’ing and fro’ing for us but at least both weren’t shouting “I need help!”
Patience isn’t something I have in abundance, so I found, make a cup of tea, deep breath and away we go! At one stage F definitely wasn’t for foxtrot! At that stage it was definitely time for a break!
Big tip for #selfisolatingwithkids GET ALOT OF SNACKS! It felt like we were always catering!
Exercise is tricky as they can’t leave but we are lucky and have space outside so we did let them run around. For those without gardens – indoor games, Joe Wicks PE lessons and dancing to YouTube! Dancing to YouTube was a big hit in our house as I forgot our gymnastics Zoom lesson not one week but two (Bad Mummy who was told off!)!
We have done a lot of Lego which has been brilliant, as well as some crafting including a lovely kit from Forest Craft and Play (read a review here). A bit of cooking but to be honest by the time we’d done everything else, we all just wanted to eat so it was quicker for Mummy to cook! We needed food there and then!
Henry has got really into the Horrible Histories books and we found the films, they are fun for all the family and I persuaded myself they were educational too! My favourite was the Rotten Romans. Did you know they brought us peas (did they have to?!), stinging nettles and Eliza’s favourite, the sprout!
Eliza’s good friend had her birthday during lockdown and we did some craft activities which was a massive hit. Crafty Creations can help do this – information HERE. Here is a blog as to 20 Ways to Celebrate Birthdays During Social Isolation.
When I am not Mumbling, I tend to spend a lot of time preparing thoroughbred horses for and at public auctions so we’ve spent a bit of time watching Facebook clips of previous sales and watching Bargain Hunt to show the kids how an auction works. It helps their maths too! As well as talking about profit and loss. The kids now understand why mummy often runs around like a headless chicken trying to fit everything in!
We also had an American themed weekend where we ate American food, did American crafts and the kids had Movie Night with popcorn. We watched the American Horse Racing and had fun with friends via Zoom. It gave us something to do and a bit of a focus.
Both my husband and I have had to keep working throughout which has been hard – some late nights and early mornings….but the main thing we are all well. It has been really hard at times but a bath and a glass (es!) of wine at the end of the day certainly helped!
We’ve had some fun and laughs along the way too. I hope Henry and Eliza will mainly look back on this time fondly.
One lovely Mumbler user has sent an amazing tip. “Be kind to yourself – we are all doing our best….”
I hope those of you also going through this can relate to some of the above. Please do send me in your top tips for getting through isolating at home with kids, you can send them to me here and I will add them to the article.
You can find a reminder of the rules around self isolating here as well as places to find support
Stay safe everyone.
