MODERN FAMILY
WALKING into the classroom/dining room, the last conversation I expected to hear was the deputy headteacher telling the pupil that no, he couldn’t try some whisky.
Son junior lost the argument not just because he is only 11, but because it was also before 10 in the morning.
It didn’t stop the forthright pupil trying to push the teacher’s resolve as he practised his already honed skills in the art of persuasion.
Introducing whisky into the lesson had actually been an inspired way of explaining how trading between different countries works for an online geography lesson. Not only did he learn a bit of history about how the drink started out as a medicine, he learned about different countries and how business works and what profit is. It all finished up with a lecture on the dangers of alcohol.
As we enter week eight, the homeschooling is not getting any easier.
But at least we know we are not alone, and for much of the time, teaching children at home is not the pictureperfect portrayal of children sitting serenely at the kitchen table studiously working on an extremely hard maths equation, or writing a two-page essay about what they will do when they become prime minister.
I am definitely more like the parent who wrote on social media: “Been homeschooling the kids since 9am. It’s 9.08am and I’m starting to think teachers deserve the long holidays.”
There is a lot of admiration in this house for the teacher who begged parents not to homeschool their kids and encouraged them, instead, to act as their social support during the coronavirus lockdown.
Year Six teacher Mr Hodder urged parents to “bake a cake, build a Lego model, set up a den in the front room, tell each other a story, do a jigsaw, play a game, make a card, paint a picture”. He says the most important thing is talking and listening to our children.
It is difficult to see when children will be able to go back to school like they used to before the middle of March.
In Wales, no date has been set, and teachers and parents have raised concerns about the difficulties of keeping young children apart.
In England, it looks schools will be going back sooner but they have been told to consider introducing one-way circulation, or placing a divider down the middle of the corridor, to keep young people apart.
Realistically, how is that going to work with children who are excited to be back at school with their friends?
My husband has been amazing as he has taken charge of homeschooling over the last two weeks. He has shown real patience and determination, mixed in with fun – but the whisky has come in handy a couple of evenings.