I’m happy to report that we survived! Day 1 of home schooling and home pre-schooling has been challenging but the Smiths don’t shirk from something just because it’s difficult.
It didn’t help that I was insanely busy with work (trying to establish if and how the company I work for could continue to operate under the current lock-down situation). My day started with nearly two and a half hours of unexpected back-to-back conference calls. As such, the lion’s share of teaching fell on Megan today (who did bloody brilliantly). That’s not how we’ll run things in the future – we will find a new normal.
But enough about me. This is meant to be a recording of Genevieve and James’s adventures and escapades while they’re under house arrest/learning from home. And boy oh boy, did they have a busy day today! Just reading Megan’s list of activities left me feeling tired (and I was safely ensconced in the office upstairs for most of it!).
When I asked the kids how they found today, Genevieve’s hand shot up and she quickly responded: “Amazing”. You have to love her enthusiasm!
And I can see why. On top of the learning (which I will come to), the kids have had a busy day, including:
- Working out to Joe Wicks’s online PE lesson.
- Building Lego (James “builded Star Wars” and Genevieve “started building something but it didn’t work”).
- Painting their nails (Genevieve “painted her nails all by herself” but, sadly, then transferred a lot of her hard work on to the sofa, and James enjoyed picking the colours for his nails).
- Scooting to the shops to buy bread.
- Building a Brio train track.
- Getting measured for new bicycles.
- Colouring, cutting and generally making a crafty mess.
Genevieve also found a craft set while I was making them both breakfast. Unbeknownst to me, as I was buttering toast and tending to porridge, she’d uncapped a small pot of PVA and had gone crazy making a bracelet and hair clip, but also spreading the glue over the floor, chair and her hands. Brilliant. To add insult to injury, she was then a bit sick in her big box of L.O.L. dolls (I think just from eating breakfast too quickly – she was fine afterwards). So many small bits of plastic to extract, clean and disinfect!
James also got messy but for more wholesome reasons – he very proudly planted his sunflower seeds from pre-school. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience but was distraught when, a mere six hours later, his plant had yet to sprout (“it’s not growing right now”) let alone turn in to a flower! The little chap will have to learn to be patient.
The kids did all of the above and I’ve not even mentioned the learning. There was mathematical colour-by-number art, phonics, spellings, Times Tables Rock Stars and reading. Today’s book was “The Way Back Home”. Genevieve’s summary of the book was: “It was all about a little boy and a little alien. The little boy got stuck on the moon and so did the alien. They helped each other get off the moon.” I think a future career as a literary reviewer is definitely on the cards.
So we survived day one. It’s going to be an interesting experience but we’re in this for the long-haul and I know we’ll get through it. Let’s see what day two brings.
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