Today was our first day of ‘homeschooling’ during the coronavirus crisis and I think it was a success though it was stressful at times!

I had to go into work for a few hours today (I teach) so this made it slightly more tricky, especially for my husband who was home working and had to supervise them while I was out.  But from tomorrow I will be working remotely from home so this should be easier.

This morning my son woke up in a joyous mood, thrilled that it was Monday morning and there was no school.  My daughter is finding this time at home harder, however, as she misses her friends and enjoys school.

We had breakfast at 8.30am and after the kids got ready for the day I actually started them with household chores.  They have never had set chores before (aside from cleaning their rooms) so I thought it was high time they started, especially as having them both at home for several months will inevitably mean a messier house.

This week my daughter has to hoover downstairs and my son is in charge of putting breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and folding laundry.  Next week they will alternate tasks.  One child did their task quickly and efficiently with good attitude however the other child did not display quite the same positivity and prolonged it somewhat!

 After these tasks were completed the home learning began.  We started with Reading Comprehension tasks which were set by my children’s school.  My son learned about Armed Forces Day and my daughter learned about successful female athletes.

Following this they both did maths tasks which took them each about half an hour.  Both the Reading comprehension and Maths tasks are online although my kids completed these tasks in their exercise books.

Then, both children ‘read for pleasure’ for half an hour as recommended by their school.  My daughter is reading a Jacqueline Wilson book and my son is reading a graphic novel.

In the afternoon I set them both some work which I have organised for them.  Before the libraries closed last week, I borrowed a load of books including one about Politics and a book about Australia.

My son is interested in Politics so I listened to him reading aloud and then set him some questions relevant to what he had read which he did on his computer.  As well as this being an opportunity to work on his touch typing skills, I also taught him how to do number formatting on the computer so this task combined reading and IT skills.

I also listened to my daughter read aloud and then set her some questions about what she had read.  So this meant she had a Geography lesson as well!

My kids did do some exercise today, my son walked the dog and my daughter played outside (on her own of course) on her heelies.  My husband also took them out for a long walk at lunch time.

From tomorrow my children will do an exercise session with Joe Wicks on Youtube at 9am every morning which will be a good start to the day.

On my way back from work today, I bought some seeds and compost as I want to grow some vegetables over the next few months.  We will start planting these tomorrow and this will form part of my children’s home learning.

And, as well as maths and English we MUST do some spellings tomorrow (one of the tasks recommended by my children’s school as being done daily!).

I am hoping day 2 of home learning should be a little easier!