What I learned from temporary home schooling

I'm hoping that we have finally said goodbye to the home learning. I've thought this before of course, but this time things seem to be moving in the right direction, and I feel more confident that the schools won't be closing again.

I was relieved to see the back of home learning, and I don't at all envy the poor teachers trying to help children get used to being in the classroom again, without their Roblox and constant access to snacks. But having the children at home gave me the chance to spend more time with them, as well as get a small insight into their school day. And looking back, it wasn't too bad overall.

So here are some of the things that I learned from home schooling the children:

* Teachers deserve a great deal of respect. I can't imagine how stressful it must have been to have planned out all the work for the year, then at the last minute (and not once but twice!) having to rewrite everything and adapt it so that it could be taught remotely. It must have been such a change to their normal working patterns and I don't know how they did it.

* I always thought that I would have liked to be a teacher, but now I know for sure that I don't have the patience. It was hard enough trying to deal with two children, let alone an entire classroom.

* I also always thought that home schooling permanently might be fun. But it wouldn't be for me.

* I'm so glad that my job is part time, hours can be worked to suit, and I don't have to do any live meetings or calls. With my husband's job being so demanding it would have been impossible to juggle everything.

* I had to learn to step back and not get overinvested, and I had to learn to stop myself jumping in to correct spelling and grammar.

* I found that the children are more independent than I give them credit for, and I often do things for them that they are more than capable of doing for themselves. When left to their own devices they had no problems understanding and completing the work set, they just enjoyed the reassurance of me being involved.

* It was interesting to see the areas where the children need some extra help. Fractions and decimals in particular proved to be tricky.

* Their different personalities mean that their learning styles are different. Harry likes structure and clear instructions, Mia enjoys more open-ended tasks. I had to help them adapt to home learning in different ways.

* I found out how much maths in particular has changed since I was at school. While I could always find the answer to a maths problem, it wasn't usually in the way that the teacher wanted me to find it!

Second time around it was all much easier, and if it does happen that we need to learn from home again, perhaps due to a positive case in the class, we are all much more confident with the situation. But fingers crossed, this time they'll be remaining in the classrooms!