Corona Diary

The last six days have disappeared in a blur. Each evening I’ve sat down and tried to write this diary and failed miserably. I’ve just been too tired, or simply too busy.

This home schooling lark is taking up a considerable amount of my time and patience. I know that the schools are not expecting miracles with a year 2 and a year 5 child in the house, but sadly it seems that my children’s normal teachers are so wonderful that they’ve set the bar extremely high! Today is the first day that the 9 year old hasn’t had a melt down when I’ve suggested that we didn’t need a formal paper timetable for the day. Each evening I’ve been printing worksheets like mad and spending spare moments marking them and researching the million and one “useful sites” that I’m being bombarded with on all social media platforms and the numerous WhatsApp groups that have sprung up.

We’ve found some great things over the last week. Joe Wicks’ morning PE lessons are fab, if a little too energetic for my kids’ liking. Twinkle is simply magical in terms of all the worksheets and plans that you can download. I also really enjoyed a life history lesson that we did last week from the Western Approaches Museum in Liverpool.

Today my 7 year old took part in an online History of Railways talk that an academic from the University of York was doing. At just 30 minutes he managed to fit in numerous interesting facts whilst making it accessible to a young train loving audience.

It hasn’t all been school here though. My daughter Cub pack started with an online Zoom Cub meeting last Wednesday evening and then, seeing as she was supposed to be on Cub camp last weekend, they ended up doing an online Virtual Cub Camp from Friday evening through to Sunday morning. With four Zoom sessions for all Cubs over the weekend there were also numerous activities for them to join in with. We had bridge building, campfire making, map reading skills, survival skills and even a Harry Potter online Escape Room. She made a den in her bedroom (from her little sister’s Wendy house) and slept in that for the weekend – meaning that she even qualifies for “nights away” under modified Scouting rules. It was epic, if a tad exhausting for those of us facilitating it all. A brilliant way of keeping the Cub Pack all together though and making the children still feel involved.

As for me… Well, last night I finally managed to catch up with some of my WI friends online. I’m honestly struggling to find the time to do things for me though. I’m yet to read anything and my crochet has sat abandoned too. With everyone in the house all day every day the amount of housework increases exponentially and there are still the the jobs like ensuring everyone is fed and has clean clothes to take care of. I see people online talking about having time to bake bread, watch box sets and take up new hobbies and I think they must be living in a lockdown parallel world to the one I’m in. Just having the kids at home 24/7 for over a week now is taking up pretty much every waking hour. The fact that the youngest in the family has been teething badly (and so not slept properly for the last 4 nights) just adds to how tired I’m feeling. What I wouldn’t give right now for a couple of hours of peace in front of the TV with a cuppa and my crochet and knowing that I’m on top of the housework. Add trying to work and earn money into the mix and I’m finding it all pretty overwhelming.

Anyway – tomorrow is another day. And I’m really hoping that I might finally get some proper time for myself. I made a real effort on Sunday afternoon and whilst the youngest was napping I handed the older two their tablets and sat down with a jigsaw. I’m just slightly regretting my choice. All the tube lines are now complete, but the white background is proving to be more challenging than relaxing!

Three days of home schooling under my belt and I’m utterly exhausted. So much to write about, including some brilliant resources I’ve found online, but just too tired to write about them right now. We’ve made boats, made pencil pots, done maths and English workbooks, online PE classes, virtual history classes and even a virtual Cubs meeting. This weekend we’re even going to be taking part in a virtual Cub Camp. The mind boggles slightly, but I’m pinning my hopes on a sew on badge for my efforts. Surely I at least deserve that?

We had a worry that we might be coming down with the dreaded virus, but after just 24 hours of a bit of coughing and the shivers it’s vanished. Was that it? Was it something else? Who knows at the moment.

My head is full of stuff that I want to get out, but for now I need to sit down infant of some mindless TV and enjoy a couple of biscuits. Although, right now I feel a bit guilty about doing that. It’s like that period before Christmas when you’re not sure if you’re allowed to eat anything or if everything needs to be saved. Just in case.

 

If I’m honest I feel too tired to write properly tonight.

Today was Mother’s Day and I was really hoping to carve out a bit of “me time” today so that I could recharge my batteries a bit for the week ahead. No such luck. I did get a gorgeously cute card from my youngest though, a brilliant picture my eldest made at Brownies and some yummy chocolates from my son, plus a letter thanking me for tidying his bedroom! The important stuff.

My kids seem to think that I can seamlessly step into their teachers’ shoes at 9am tomorrow. Somehow I’m going to wake an expect in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 (Years 2 and 5, if you’re interested) and that in-between all the other million and one things I have to do running a house of 5 people I will have designed a whole singing and dancing curriculum that will engage them from 9am to 3.15pm. I fear they’re going to be disappointed.

In the one hour today that I got between breaking up fights and cooking meals (errr – isn’t today the ONE day off the year when I’m not supposed to be doing that?) I managed to knock up a very rough timetable for tomorrow. I scoured the various resources that are being shared madly on both class’ WhatsApp groups and printed loads of worksheets from Twinkl and various other sites. I designed a worksheet on bridge design as my son keeps telling me that he is desperate to learn about this and I made a quick list of educational TV programmes that we might be able to base some of our learning on over the next couple of weeks at least.

I know the school don’t expect me to suddenly magic up a PGCE and an intimate knowledge of the National Curriculum, but my kids do. And to be honest I’m more scared of letting them down than their teachers.

I had so many other things I wanted to achieve though today and seem to have failed at all of them. Knowing we’re going to be at home and needing some fresh air I hoped to get the lawn cut. No chance. There were things I wanted out of the loft to keep the toddler amused whilst I deal with the older two tomorrow. They’re still in the loft. There’s a pile of ironing that needs doing and in just a weekend my laundry basket is overwhelmed again. The kids also seem to be eating me out of house and home already. Ideally I’d find the time to do some baking as well so that I could top up the snack supplies that way, but time is the thing I’m lacking right now.

I also wanted to get the desk we have assembled and in my son’s room before tomorrow, but we can’t find all the bolts to put it together. That means he’s going to have to work at the kitchen table instead, which is where I was planning to squeeze in a bit of work myself. Ho hum.

Oh, and to top it all off, tomorrow is the day that Royal Mail increase all their prices. So with my work hat on I have 200 listings on eBay that I need to go through and alter the P&P charges on before midnight. Because, you know I’m just sat here at 10pm on a Sunday evening twiddling my thumbs and wondering what to do to fill an evening.

Seriously though – I need to take a bit of down time right now, or else I fear burnout pretty soon.

There were a few nice bits of today. I managed our first family FaceTime session with my mum, sister, brother in law and nephew to celebrate mothers day. I’m not sure we’re technically savvy enough to run a family pub quiz online yet, but at least we got to talk to each other. It was also nice to see that my mum’s local pub are offering to deliver meals to people in her village. 12 weeks is a long time for her to be sat at home so at least she can enjoy a meal cooked by someone else every so often.

There is also one thing that I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The BBC have brought forward their launch of a new adaptation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers. It’s described as Downton for kids and to be honest, having seen the trailer I can’t wait. I just need to persuade the nine year old to watch it with me, rather than rushing ahead and bingeing it all straight away on her table!

Today was calm and peaceful. I didn’t expect it to be, especially with it being the first day of the eldest two kids being at home after their schools’ sudden closure, but it really was. And I feel so much calmer myself as a result.

We’ve followed the advice and socially distanced all day. We had some parcels to take to the Post Office, so we all headed out this morning on foot and scooter and make the trip to our closest one. Ot’s located inside a Tesco store on a parade of shops, so I stayed outside with the kids – positioned away from where other people were coming and going – and just my husband went in. There was a queue to be served, but whilst he was there he managed to pick up a box of eggs in the Tesco part of the store and also a few sweet treats. A Cream Egg has honestly never tasted so good.

On our walk we kept our distance from other people and made the most of a gorgeously sunny day – despite a bit of a cold wind. The local butchers had a queue out of the door and the local chemist shop was serving everyone from a table placed across the shop doorway – so that only the staff themselves went into the shop. A sensible precaution. It’s all very weird feeling though when just a couple of weeks ago we were able to buy most things without any problems at all and yet now we get excited about finding a shop with eggs in it.

I felt very proud of the kids though. The route we took today took us right past the park where they usually go to the playground, but they both understood that this wasn’t an option today. I’m so hoping that walks can continue to be a thing, but that’s all going to depend on whether or not the rest of the population follow the social distancing instructions and if we don’t have to go into a lockdown like other countries have.

Back at home we’ve all managed to keep ourselves busy all day. It’s been perfect weather for clothes drying outside so two loads of laundry are all complete without having to turn the tumble drier on at all. My daughter spent some time in the back garden practicing her football skills, skipping and playing on the trampoline. Thank goodness we’re no longer in the tiny flat without a garden that we only moved out of a couple of years ago!

My son has spent a fair amount of time building Lego, but at one point he burst into the kitchen and announced that he was going to do some school work! I’d told both of them that I wasn’t going to make them do anything school related until Monday, but off his own back he sat down and did a comprehension exercise from one of the Key Stage 1 workbooks that his school sent home with him yesterday.  The final question flummoxed me and his elder sister though. The passage of text was about Amy Johnson and then at the end it simply asked. Is this fiction or non-fiction? How can you tell? Errrr. How can you tell? That question had be foxed somewhat! I might have to email his teacher next week.

Normally on a weekend dinner ends up feeling all rushed. We’ve been out somewhere and upon returning there’s a bit of a panic to get dinner on the table before someone’s hunger makes them snap. It was quite a contrast today to have what felt like all the time in the world to get it cooked and served up. I even got offers of help in the kitchen. Almost unheard of without some prompting.

In addition to all that the kids have watched a film on Netflix, I’ve managed to clear out a box of paperwork that I’ve been meaning to do for about a year, computer games have been played and old toys rediscovered. My eldest has done a spot of computer programming from a book on Scratch that she found in her bedroom and also started working through the projects in an electronics kit she got a couple of Christmases ago.

I’m not expecting all days to be as calm as today, but it would be nice to think that there might be some calm days amidst all the craziness to come.