To reflect upon the last 2 months of learning at home I thought I'd write the things that I enjoyed and think I will miss and the things that I found challenging and probably won't miss.
Things that I enjoyed and think I will miss:
1. Teaching again.
It was nice to realise that I do remember a lot of what I used to do lesson wise. It was nice to see it from a parents' perspective too and hopefully that will help me if I send homework home in the future - how practical is it for a kid to do independently? How much does a parent need to explain the task, therefore it isn't so helpful to be sent home to do.
2. Being able to see what my kids are able to do.
The reports give a small glimpse of their abilities and how they work in the classroom. The kids telling me about their day gives me a small glimpse about what they are learning at school, but it really is a small glimpse because they don't say too much about their days.
3. Seeing the kids play so well together.
They have played the best that I can ever remember. They worked together to build cubbies. They worked together to do experiments, build obstacle courses, they encouraged each other, Daniel and Eliza helped Alexander write. They would listen to books together. It was just lovely to see.
4. The relaxed mornings.
This is a thing that I am keen to try and continue even with the need to get to school. In the mornings the kids would get dressed (most days) and then play, create or read. There wasn't a rush to have to be somewhere. They had freedom in the mornings.
5. Bike riding and walks.
While I want to try and continue this when they're back at school, I'm not too sure how we will go. After school (or even in the mornings) the kids would hope onto their bikes and we would go for a walk/ride around the block. It would be around a 30min trip and the kids loved it!
6. Celebrating my kids' achievements there and then.
While I do this when they get their reports, I often don't know how they are going. While learning at home I was able to jump up and down when Daniel finished a writing task, clap and cheer when Eliza spelt or said a word by sounding out, be so excited when Alexander was forming some of his letters correctly. The joy on their faces when I celebrated what they did is just so special and stays in my mind.
7. Having the kids make me lunch to show thanks.
It was sweet that they did that a few times.
8. Longer afternoons.
It was nice to not have to rush to places after school. Things like swimming, play dates, etc. we didn't have to rush to.
9. No set starting time.
It was nice to be able to just start school when we wanted to/needed to. We would aim to start at 9am but if the kids were engaged in playing, then we would just start a bit later or finish a bit later.
10. Being able to invest in the kids each day.
Things that I found hard and don't think I will miss:
1. Trying to help Daniel do writing
Daniel had a great attitude towards school at home until he had to do writing. His head would slump down, he couldn't think up any sentences, he couldn't remember the sentences he did think up. It was so hard to keep encouraging him during these lessons. I know what he is capable of and he just needs to believe in himself and his own abilities. So most of the time writing was like pulling out teeth. He would end up in tears, I would end up in tears. It was a hard slog. I hope that he will believe in his ability and grow in confidence when he is asked to do writing. He can do it, he just needs to know it. (although thinking back, I was like that too. No confidence with writing for most of my schooling life).
2. Eliza exploring the names in her class.
The kindy teachers made the work the same structure each day for Term 2 so that the kids could try and work independently. This is a great concept, however it did get boring for Eliza (and me too). She had to listen to a kid in the class talk about their name (that was fun), she then needed to count how many letters were in the name, recognise if they were tall, middle or tail letters, identify the first and last letter and if there were any double ups. She loved it for the first couple of days but then she started to get frustrated with it, particularly when she needed to then find 5 things around the house that started with the first letter of the name. She just hated doing this. She didn't like thinking up things that started with different letters and then she couldn't remember the ones she came up with. It was just painful.
In the last couple of days Eliza would say she didn't want to do it. I told her she had 2 options. 1. We can send a video to her teacher saying that she wasn't going to do her work or 2. We could send the videos of the work she had completed. Fortunately she chose option 2.
3. When the kids just wouldn't listen
There were days when they were hard. Can't really remember why they were hard, but they just were. The kids wouldn't listen, they would do the opposite to what I said, I'd ask them to come multiple times and they would say no. I'd help and they'd shout at me for helping then shout at me for not. Some days were just hard.
4. Getting the lessons last minute
I made a decision to teach a day behind because I wasn't coping with getting the lessons between 8:30 and 9am and getting my head around it. So it made a huge difference going to a night before. I did feel a bit bad though about not doing the work on the day it was set.
5. iPads
While the kids loved using them, give me pen and paper any day. The kids would play on the iPads at times instead of doing work. They would take up more time than they would if they were just writing in their books. Daniel's maths tasks took so much longer because we had to make the text box fit into the little space on the worksheet on the screen. It was time consuming and frustrating a lot of the time. The other hard part was where Daniel would accidentally delete his work and then save it so that I couldn't get it back. He did it about 3 times, so not that much, but it was still frustrating when it happened.
6. The shout of 'no' when I asked them to finish playing and to come and do their school work.
This one was hard. When the kids were happily playing I didn't want to interrupt but it was important to start school work. So it was hard when they took that frustration out on me.
7. Feeling bad about not being able to invest in Alexander
Alexander has been a champ through all of this. While sometimes he drove be crazy, most of the time he just adapted and made the most of this time. He would sit down next to the big kids and want to do their handwriting or writing with them. He would sit and listen to books with Eliza. But he would also come up and ask if I could play a game with him or read him a book. Sometimes I could say yes, but most of the time I'd have to say sorry, no. Even the times that I said yes, it would often be interrupted by the older kids. I just felt so bad not being able to invest in him and pushing him to the side. But he coped really well through it.
8. The kids not being able to see their friends
I know that all 3 of the kids have missed seeing their friends from school and preschool and mothers' group. They have been lucky to see a few of their friends when they came to visit the art gallery and had a play out on the road, but it hasn't been the same.
9. The juggle between being teacher and mum
I found it hard to be a caring mum at the same time that I needed to be their teacher to get their work done. It was a tricky balance and I don't know if it really did it well or not. But we made it through.
There are probably many more reflections that I could make but these are the ones that first came to mind.
I also asked the kids what the liked and didn't like about home learning and here are their responses.
Daniel
Liked - That I got to play with Alexander each day
- That I got to ride my bike a lot
Didn't like - Having to do writing every single day
Eliza
Liked - That I got to do Mathletics
- That I got to watch lots of Epic (a reading app)
- That I got to do Maths in my writing book
- Having to write
Didn't like - That I couldn't play with Alexander all day
Alexander
Liked - That I got to write with Daniel and Eliza
- Riding my bike
- We get to build cubby houses
- That I got to do playdoh with them
- That we got to do the cherrios one
Didn't like - nothing
I had a couple of people send me this photo during home learning time. Pretty funny. I don't think I quite look like the photo, but I do definitely feel that I have aged over this time.
Bye home learning.
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