Last night I had the chance to chat with friends about home school. I have some recycled thoughts and inherited wisdom to share. I hope it helps. We’re not in an educational crisis. The country is in crisis. You are managing a crisis. You can’t learn (or teach) under stress or in crisis. These few months are a snapshot, a fraction of time in our kids formal educational career - don’t stress about the content and what they are learning. Take the pressure off.

Even for us, nearly 5 years into homeschool this is a shift and presents us with new challenges. We too are not used to being with each other all day everyday. So to try and help keep the peace somewhat (at least for a couple of ours a day) and to help shift our focus we have reframed this time period with a question;

‘What memories do I want my kids to have of this time?’

When we were going through the transition from going to school to being at home we had very little structured content for about 12-18 months. None of us were able for it, so we decided to let it be what it was and work on connection, disconnection and reconnection and let’s face it, it will be a regular (sometimes all day) occurrence as we are with each other ALL THE TIME. We used that time to learn how to fall out and reconnect with each other well. It’s an ongoing process but progress had been made.

With that said, I do recognise how long the day can feel with kids at home and that it needs filling so you don’t all kill each other! My suggestion is to start doing what you enjoy doing with your kids and build from that. For us that looked like lots of outdoor time in the woods. We went to forest school sessions, I trained as a forest school leader. We still do lots of outdoor time in the woods and forest schools. We wrote letters, read books, built Lego, baked, played board games, made friends, drew, coloured, did jigsaws, cleaned, learned how to look after stuff, football, more football, tried lots of groups and new things. Some were great experiences some not so great. Occasionally we would all sit down together and try to do something more formal. Usually it ended in tears. Mine and theirs. We tried again later sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. Let’s be real, this is still a regular feature of our day to day. The kids were bored a good amount too. They had stuff to do they just didn’t want to. We then learned about choice and consequence. So, I let them be bored and tired to wrangle myself away from being chief entertainer and the guilty feelings of allowing them to be bored. Afterall, boredom is the playground of creativity. Someone clever said that once. I can’t remember who, but it stuck with me.

I know this is not a choice you have made like it was for us. I do know though it’s far from easy. If you’re struggling, I feel your pain. If you’re bossing it, I’m cheering you on. I know too there’s a lot of other stressful things going on around us in adult world. The kids won’t get that but they’ll feel it. Give yourself and your kids permission to have time. Check in with them when you can. Their perception of the truth is more powerful than the actual truth. Sit with them, if they’ll let you, work it through. You are family. Good enough is good enough.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.