Surviving Covid-19 Homeschooling: Recent Episodes

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New plan today. I skipped a day for this update. Tuesday was really really hard. I was still trying to hold down a fulltime job and figure out how to keep the kids engaged. As this is a video series about survival, the only thing I can really suggest is to try to negotiate with your employer to take at least a few days, a week, or possibly 2 off, to get family life in order. These are exceptional circumstances and I know for some this is not really an option. But for me, I had the great privilege of being able to do that, and so for the rest of this week, Wednesday to Friday, I cleared my work desk and focused 100% on homeschooling prep. For me, even one day has been liberating, and I want to thank Anil Sood, founder of Bright Yellow for supporting this. Cheers Anil! You'll hear more about Bright Yellow later.

Dreams. I had my first Covid-19 nightmare last night. It was so vivid. Local news: it's really nice and quiet now. The peace outside is simply marvellous. There are still planes and cars, but vastly reduced. Actually, various animals across the world have been emboldened to venture into the cities. Wild boars in central Rome, deer wandering around major cities in Japan, wild turkeys in San Francisco. Word of the day: furlough. Furlough is basically an employment status that says "forced leave of absence". In many cases it's because the workers can't physically do their job, or that government policy has severely affected how your business operates (such as travel agents). 80% of up to £2500 monthly will be paid by the government. There are lots of loose ends around this but this is at last progress. Money-saving Expert, Martin Lewis, has it on good authority if you just left your job, some employers will be ok for you to be rehired, on furlough, at 80%. But here in the UK the self-employed have been in a bit of a limbo.

Neighbourhood feels like the neighbourhood WhatsApp group works really well. We've established some basic etiquette to try at least and keep the volume of messages down — Specifically the neighbourhood WhatsApp group is being used for: Sharing resources. Shared online order delivery. Shared updates Exercise: we've continued with the Body Coach daily at 9am GMT+1 2 x 10 minutes. What's not really said though is particularly if you're over 40, the warm-ups and warm-downs are even more important than the exercises! I'm hobbling around a bit because my achilles tendon on my right foot is a bit sore. Do the warm-downs. Our local school has been really good in providing resources to use that the kids can follow. Key thing I did was to put the resources provided in a spreadsheet, and then have a completely separate sheet for scheduling the actual events. T The school was very helpful in providing links to free online materials such as Authorfy for the writing masterclasses. Resources for UK primary school children here https://www.stlukes.kingston.sch.uk/page/?pid=138

My favourite survival resource of the day — Lego! For my 9 yo I grabbed a bunch of random lego and said "make something cool with just these blocks". That kept him super focused and busy for well over half an hour! My kids at least, love challenges that are fun, creative and most importantly, receive praise from us parents.

The teacher hat. Wearing something that is my signal that I'm now the teacher, with the word TEACHER on it.

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= Local News (UK) = Good news: tests for UK for millions “within weeks”.

= Global News = Covidiot. The new word for people who brashly disregard new norms around physical distancing. They closed Richmond Park to car traffic today as there were concentrations of turning up. Bondi beach was also closed for the same reason.

= Survival =

Day three, first day of homeschool. We’re mostly winging it. My wife and I are both fulltime with high-touch teamwork. So much for the ultimate homeschool classroom. A big exhausting chunk of yesterday was just dealing with argumentative, stubborn, and bickering — ie normal — children. I realised in retrospect that of course kids are experiencing a huge disruption to their routine, losing access to daily contact with friends, and, critically I’m reminded by others, sometimes aren’t equipped yet to process their responses. So this might mean the kids are moodier than normal. We’re aiming for 2h high-contact time each.

Kids went to bed quite late last night because we’re a bit of a night owl family and starting schooling at closer to 10-10:30 works better for everyone. Key thing I’m reflecting on today: the power of adult conversation with kids. This happens 1:1a LOT less at school, so just talking with your kids is extremely valuable. And, the hard bit, for younger kids, the conversation may be factually inaccurate. My 5 yo will make some of the more hilarious pronouncements with unshakeable certainty. It’s tempting to say that’s nonsense or argue with them, and sometimes I do that, but I find accuracy they just want to talk. So I say “oh? Tell me more”. Or “that’s an interesting thing to say. How did you come to that conclusion?” Integrate more advanced words and then check that they understand those words. Word games are super fun, and here’s something that feels really appropriate for now: the feelings game. There’s a product that put 365 feelings in a jar and sold it. But you can make your own. This is for kids I guess from reaching age onwards. It’s ok if the kids don’t know the words sometimes: that’s part of the point. My 9yo leapt into this game, found it incredibly funny acting out the emotion and us trying to guess it. The first letter of the word is often shared because it’s really hard actually! I found a video for teaching the 10x10 times table. My wife and I were aghast that the 10x10 table was part of the curriculum for years 3 and 4 here in the UK. My son memorised the 3 and 4x table in 10 minutes. General tip— “fastest way to (things)” search. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Ih3-mDPUk Conflict resolution. Mental health is critical. Hoo boy this weekend was a one. Sibling rivalry is regularly a theme — and is more important than ever to dig into those issues when they come up. https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Talk-Siblings-Without-Rivalry-ebook/dp/B00EF1MJMM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3G7T5789R6P3P&keywords=siblings+without+rivalry&qid=1584973335&sprefix=sibling%2Cinstant-video%2C149&sr=8-1

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Make the world better, don’t be a spreader!

= Local news =

• ‪I’m seeing wonderful solidarity at the local neighbourhood level with WhatsApp groups and Google Sheets for tracking isolation status and when people need help. So maybe this is the beginning of a new social mesh that rebuilds things in a better way. ‬

• Another accessible update Dr Hope’s Sick Notes, his experience as a junior doctor in the UK dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. https://youtu.be/zf7jW2ck7AI

• NHS Applause: 26 March 8pm the whole of the UK is going to applaud outside for the amazing job the NHS have done DESPITE the Tory cuts.

= Global news (fun, facts and good news) =

Azithromycin + Hydroxychloroquine research (8 March) that's caused "excitement" about possible slowing down Covid-19 https://www.mediterranee-infection.co...“Despite its small sample size our survey shows that hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients and its effect is reinforced by azithromycin.” I share good news with others into a news feed here http://brightyellow.co/covid19 — a climate change venture I joined in January.

= Surviving Covid-19 Homeschooling =

• School curriculum: I'm thinking of it like two buckets “parents needed “ and “parents free to do the thousands of other things that keep the home running (including me time, which includes extra "processing" time).

• Tidying up: “discovery” boxes. Aka “leaving stuff all over the place”. You know what happens when you try to put things away that the kids aren’t using: they’re immediately using them again.

• Use discovery boxes or questions kids have to drive inquiries into the school curriculum. You have control over the day! At least, those who have flexible work time. Test things with your kids. My eldest was excited to do all the basic study from 5:30 to 9am, freeing him up for the rest of the day. * You can actually keep in decent shape in 7 minutes. There are a bunch of apps for 7 minute workout challenges. Find a buddy. Goad each other. We're there for each other. Be kind to yourself.

• Tinyhabits.com is so far the best way I've found to make changes in my life. I've banned phones and laptops from the my bedroom and stuck to it after just a couple of days, something that was not possible before :) Cool homeschool survival resources:

• YouTube Kids. My parental definition of a microsecond is “the amount of time after you take your eye off your kids watching YouTube before its radicalisation engine sends your kid down dark and bizarre alleyways.” Today I’m mostly going to be, in my kids eyes, “creating the coolest homeschool classroom in the world”, being helped somewhat by them not having actually ever seen one keeps things sane.

That’s it from me today. The last day before the greatest educational experiment the world had ever seen. Links in the video / show notes. Remember: make the world better, don’t be a spreader.