Tag: Homeschooling

Our Family Life 2021 (10/52)

Monday – it’s the 1st March. The end of homeschooling is in sight. It feels like there’s light at the end of a very long tunnel. We’re not quite out of it yet, but it really does feel like we’re a step closer. The weather has clearly caught onto our dreary mood as a nation and decided to give us some much needed sunshine.

Oh and our sandwich shape cutter arrived this morning. It’s funny how a sandwich cut into the shape of a dinosaur will be eaten by a two year old but a normal square or triangle won’t do…

Tuesday I was back at work (from home). At the moment it feels like a day off just to be out of the homeschooling.

The perks of working from home is McDonalds drive-through. It was a bit of a last week of homeschooling treat for us all.

Wednesday I knew was going to be a battle just by the look on Belles face when she came down for breakfast. Good or bad decision but I let her ditch some of her classes so that she could do some craft instead.

She’s really into My Froggy Stuff which is a YouTuber who does all things Barbie from making a setting up scenes to giving them total makeovers. So she decided to make a sweet shop with miniature sweets, a till, wrapping paper and little bags. I thought she did a pretty good job, and put in loads of details.

Thursday I worked on site at work. It’s not the best having to wear a mask all day, but it’s good to be seeing people other than Chris and the kids.

We decided to get Belle a little treat to say well done for putting up with us as shonky teachers for the past year, so we got her a new scooter, and all went out for a scoot. Needless to say, we carried Freddie’s all bar the 10 seconds at the beginning.

I’m still waiting for my teacher present to emerge!

Oh and even better, the school have decided to give the kids the day off on Friday. Today was………THE LAST DAY OF HOMESCHOOLING!!!

Friday we got up. We sat in our pyjamas in front of the TV……It was a good day!!

Saturday and Sunday were the usual chill out in preparation for return to school on Monday. Thankfully Belle’s school shoes still fit her so that was one less thing to stress about.

Roll on Monday. Woo Hoo!!

Our Family Life 2021 (8/52)

Monday was back to homeschooling with a very reluctant Isabelle. I really feel like we’ve gone as far as we can with homeschooling this way. The return to school can’t come quick enough now. That said, we have to remember that we’re still living in a pandemic and life could change again. Hopefully not though.

A while ago I was sent a letter from NatWest who I bank with personally and for my business asking if I would like to swap to another bank, and that they would give me £1250 for doing so. So I did just that and swapped to Starling, and this morning I got notification of the £1250 in my account. Anybody looking for a new account, I would highly recommend Starling.

Tuesday I had this day as an annual leave day, which doesn’t feel that great since we can’t go anywhere.

Wednesday was a day of messy play. Freddie and I started the day by making Playdoh monsters and superhero face masks followed by cornflour gloop (see my Instagram Messy Play Highlights for the full effect) for a science experiment. I brought the tuff tray in the kitchen to hopefully reduce the mess. Well, the kitchen was left with splatters of blue gloop all over it and the floor took days of cleaning before it was clean of a fine film of dustiness.

Thursday was agin just a get the homeschooling done kind of day. Oh and clean the kitchen again!

Same again on Friday!

Saturday and Sunday we went for a walk and just chilled at home. Freddie is really into setting up his play sets and will now sit happily and play with them for a while on his own which is nice. He’s still quite heavy handed with his toys so the train track doesn’t stay together very long and he loves to bash all of his cars and trains together

Overall, the days and weeks have started to drag now and all of our enthusiasm has been sucked away……

Home schooling through the Coronavirus

I know there’s huge debates going on with regards to whether the schools should be shut or kept open during this time, but given the current advice for non-essential contact to be avoided we’ve made the decision to keep Isabelle home from school.

Every parent knows that when you have to stay home with the kids due to illness etc, you start to get cabin fever pretty damn quick and crave getting out of the house more than anything.

Here are a few things that should keep them entertained and you from pulling your hair out. These range from educational recommendations to arts and crafts ideas for all ages.

Arts & Crafts

FREE Printable colouring pages from Crayola.

Lots of great Kids Science Experiments for all ages at Science Sparks.

Hidden Numbers Game.

There are loads of FREE Printables for all ages at Rainy Day Mum as well as loads of play and craft ideas.

Easter Pom Pom Painting.

DIY I-Spy Bottles

Homemade Playdoh – this is our Gingerbread Playdoh Recipe which is really easy and smells yummy.

The Artful Parent has loads of arts and craft projects to do with the kids.

Make a batch of Cloud Dough which is perfect to keep little ones entertained for ages.

Red Ted Art – loads of easy to make crafts and activities.

Online & Apps

BBC Learning has a whole load of stuff including revision tips and bite sized learning for all ages.

Scratch – you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations and share your creations with others in the online community.

Toy Theater – Educational games for pre-school and primary aged children.

Khan Academy offer a range of free learning resources which kids can do at thy so own pace and level.

Future Learn has a whole range of courses which are free unless you want the certificates.

Duolingo– learn a new language for free. Online and app based.

Edinburgh Zoo have live cams on some of their animals which they might be interested to watch.

DK Find Out – loads of educational fun facts, videos and games.

Blockly is a great programme that can be downloaded or played online for computer science based fun.

Ted Ed – all sorts of educational fun videos.

National Geographic Kids has loads of educational fun games and resources.

Mystery Science – fun to watch and easy to complete step by step science experiments that can be completed with things you have at home.

Crash Course Kids – a fun selection of science based videos for kids.

Crest Awards – Challenging and thought provoking real-world STEM projects for young people of all ages.

iDEA – The Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award, known as iDEA is an international programme that helps you develop digital, enterprise and employability skills for free. Through our series of online challenges, you can win career-enhancing badges, unlock new opportunities and, ultimately, gain industry-recognised Awards that help you stand out from the crowd.

Tinkercad – Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. It’s used by teachers, kids, hobbyists, and designers to imagine, design, and make anything!

Oxford Owl – has loads of great Reading, English and Maths resources for primary aged kids.