School's Back

So, on Tuesday Tom went to school.  He came home a happy chappy, bouncing off the walls, full of energy and happiness.  So great to see. They didn't seem to do much work in lessons at all, and no homework - yay!  On Wednesday, which was when everyone was back at school, they had an extra PD lesson (instead of Music) where they learned all about great communication - rich coming from the school who are so so bad at comms!

So, Tom will still get a 10 day isolation if he is anywhere near anyone who tests positive for Covid, meaning we are still driving him in and out everyday.  It feels so wrong to do be doing it and he is desperate to be on the coach again, but we just can't risk another isolation so soon after being 'released'!  Infection rates are down to zero round here now, but QES has such a large catchment area including areas where there are more infections, that for now we will continue to take him in.

The kids have to wear masks at all times (except when they are eating) - so Tom has had the odd sore throat - we think maybe from not drinking enough and shouting in lessons to get his voice heard!  He has been tested using the lateral flow test every 3 days, we believe there hasn't been one positive test at the school so far which is grand.

School work has been much more relaxed.  Tom says that they haven't been doing that much in lessons and he has had barely any homework.  Why is it that when they are at school there is hardly any work and when they are at home there is mountains of it?!  I will never understand the thinking behind giving piles and piles of work for homeschooling!

Anyway, Tom is a happy chappy with friends to hang out with - he asks to go to school early (arrive at 8.20 when they don't start until 8.45) so he can hang out with his friends before lessons start.  

It has taken me some readjustment!  Initially I found it very hard to concentrate on anything for longer than 5 mins, so would start something, distract myself, do something else, then distract myself again and do something else etc etc. I was delighted to be able to put the radio on again and have some sound in the room, however, I found that I missed actual real life conversation.  Gradually I have got used to my own company again.

To get back into the swing of things and busy, I launched my new on-line chocolate shop which I have been working on and advertised for Easter orders in the village.  I got quite a few new local customers this year - mainly grannies who were looking to spend money locally and not in supermarkets.  Fabulous, they are good customers to have. Oh and if  you were wondering - my on-line shop is here: https://www.lilypadbakery.co.uk/shop and please do tell family and friends about me - everything on the site is postable.  My biggest challenge now is getting myself known by people I don't know.  I have had a couple of orders on it so far, but mainly from people round here who have seen me advertising on local social media sites.  I have been advertising on social media so far, but think I may have to explore some other avenues...

Weekends have been spent going on walks / bike rides.  Matt and Tom now tend to do a long bike ride every weekend, (15 plus miles) whilst I stay at home, do a run and then house work / chocolate work etc etc.  Can't wait until 29th March when we can move a bit further way (ie get in a car for a walk) and meet up with others. 

Oh we found out that we are actual bona fide locals last week.  Matt found out about 18 months ago that he was loosely related to a lady in the village.  They were going to meet up to discuss family trees etc, but Covid happened.  Last week, she posted a slightly creepy image of an Archibald Cowin from the 1st World War which was animated.  It certainly stood out and it renewed his interest...turns out it was his Great Great Uncle.  

They started chatting again, turns out that the churchyard in Thornton (hamlet next to Ingleton) has a family plot - with quite a few relatives in it.  As the pub next door to the church was doing take away waffles this weekend, we decided to walk over for a look.  We found them: some Cowins, Drinkalls, Hutchinsons and Blacows.  They had a big plot too - with a big cross etc, says they were of 'Thornton Hall'.  All very interesting.  They say that you need 3 generations of family in the graveyard to be local here - we now meet that requirement!  We will now shout hello every time we walk / drive past!

Tom came home on Thursday with some Covid self testing kits as we have to do them at home from this week onwards - Sunday nights and Wednesday nights.  We have to report the results to the school and the government and continue to do them through the Easter holidays, however, they haven't actually given us enough to get us through the holidays?!

End to homeschooling

So, we have had another two weeks of home schooling.  It hasn't gone well - within 30 minutes of starting on the Monday Tom was in tears, and I was almost in tears!  The cause...Biology!  I think his Biology teacher is from another planet.  His lesson was to learn about DNA, so he watched a video about the scientists who discovered it, learnt about the chemical structure of it etc etc.  Fine, all understandable.  He is then given an assignment, he opens it - has a photo of a strawberry, a potato and a mushroom.  The first question  - how do these plants reproduce?  What on earth has that to do with DNA?  It completely threw me too.   It was all to do with assexual reproduction - but how on earth is a 12 year old who has never heard of the concept supposed to answer questions on it??!!.  Of course it took us over an hour to do it - more like 2.5 hours.  Tom was in tears and I think at one point I was in tears too - from frustration more than anything else.  What I want to know is, how do children who have no help at home manage?  Next lesson is Design Technology which is also a nightmare,  certainly not one of Tom's preferred subjects - he still has trouble drawing a square, he has to drawn his dream house - floor plans, views from different angles etc.  He can't do that for toffee - so more frustration.  Luckily we were saved in the afternoon by History which was well planned, informative, and fitted within an hour's lesson - phew!

So all the wonderful karma we built up over half term died instantly and we were back on the gravy train of homeschooling, trying trying to keep up, do everything and understand everything.  Teachers still don't reply to Tom's emails or messages on Teams, which means that I end up having to chase all of Tom's queries.  It is almost as if he is invisible.  He submits assignment after assignment, but very rarely hears anything back - it is like it disappears into the ether.  Maybe they set the assignments to tick boxes on their sheets, they certainly don't involve the children in how they are doing, what marks they are getting, even if their understanding is on track - I just don't understand how that is good teaching?

Anyway, we were told the kids were heading back to school on March the 8th.  Last week, an email went out to all parents Tuesday morning with details of when the kids are returning.  Everyone got one, except us...we were told we should know by the end of Tuesday - nothing!  I write an email to the school, we get a call on Wednesday, Tom hasn't been overlooked, but they don't know why he hasn't got an email and they don't know when he should be returning.  How can that be?  I despair!  We finally got it last thing on Wednesday.  He's going back Tuesday at 11am.  They have to test all children as they arrive, so they have staggered arrival times Monday to Wednesday.

Tom is excited to go back.  I don't think he likes my frustrated approach to teaching.  I don't think anyone should teach their child, it is so difficult.  I find him frustrating and he finds me frustrating - not a great combination.  However, saying that, he has shown himself to be very conscientious and dedicated.  He hasn't moaned about the work or tried to shirk the work at all - he's done everything as best he can and he has completed every assignment on time.  He has received no encouragement from school at all - I think a weekly well done for completing all your assignments would have gone a long way!  Anyway, I couldn't ask for a better student, just wish we didn't get frustrated with each other so much.  I'm excited that he's going to have 1 hour lessons again, not the regular 2.5 to 3 hour lessons that we suffer from some subjects weekly.

Just to not hear him say 'well that's annoying' again would be wonderful - my heart sinks when he says that - it means he doesn't understand, something has gone wrong, technology isn't working etc etc.  It's a phrase I wish to never hear again.

Fingers crossed he doesn't get isolated - we will be taking him to and fro school again to avoid the bus.  Although the government said that if there is a positive test at school, pupils in the same class will then be able to take a lateral flow test every day and be allowed to stay at school if they test negative, QES aren't doing that - they are still going to do the mass isolations - oh joy!  

Let's hope his uniform still fits tomorrow!