I woke up this morning determined to make this work, but equally not in any doubt of the challenges ahead. This was the first full week of educating all four children at home.

I’ve also been trying to remind myself that this is not home schooling in the sense that home-schoolers know it. This is crisis schooling and that is NOT the same thing. No one has done this before and we’ve had little time to prepare.

Monday

Today we covered a range of things. On reflection, I probably went a bit full on at everything but it was day one with all four children at home so we had so see where the bar was at really.

We did music practice (keyboards and guitar), spent some time on their chosen projects, covering IT, research, reading and writing skills. They went for runs in the garden and field next door, flipped some tyres in the garden, did the Joe Wicks workout, played board games, learnt how to fold clothes, cook dinner and did some times tables, cutting and sticking.

We finished up by melting chocolate and decorating marshmallows.

Tuesday

Today we covered spellings, maths work set by school, project work, drawing rainbows to stick in the window, jigsaws, finger painting , and more Joe Wicks on YouTube. We also discovered National Geographic Kids, went for a walk, did some number sequencing and I taught the children how to clean various parts of the house.

We also used our cork board map of the world to discuss continents, countries and capital cities. The children really enjoyed this and it really helped to make it more visible.

Wednesday

More walking today. The children are taking it in turns to choose a topic to discuss everyday. We are also using the walking time to learn bits of new languages. We’ve been counting to ten in a different language each day and using basic words. They have really enjoyed this.

We also use the walking time to discuss things like the types of clouds, types of trees and how they are feeling. Fuelled by Hariobo.

They prepared an area of the garden for planting veggies. There was digging and weeding and we discussed what they need to grow.

They played word games in the garden as it was a really warm day and went running.

After some project work and maths they did the Joe Wicks workout. The little boys also did their reading books.

Thursday

More walking, a longer one today and lots more good discussions along the way, as well as some singing.

There was more music practice done today and loads of maths work. They baked cookies and planted the veggies in the ground we prepared yesterday.

They played a game called Grabalo and did lots of their work out in the garden as it was really lovely and warm.

They planted some flowers and also fed the birds and we had a big bonfire which they helped with.

We finished the day melting marshmallows and making smores.

Friday

LOADS of puzzles were done today by the little boys whilst the big ones tackled some of their school work.

The little ones did a bit of writing practice, but were not keen so we went back to maths which they engage with well and then did some craft activities.

We walked again and they spent time outside playing tag and hide and seek.

They played several games including Othello, Bank Attack and Rubiks and the little boys practised their gymnastics.

There was more running in the evening and some competitive tyre flipping too.

How was your first full week? My work has mainly happened in the evening, minus a few emails here and there during the day. A challenge in itself.