Lockdown three; day one. It’s raining.
So far I have conducted 14 homeschooling lessons covering among other things, the rise of the Roman Empire, continents, what a sentence is, the 3 and 7 times table, myths and legends, comparative and superlative adjectives, speech writing, emotive alliteration, the value of education and fittingly, the obliteration of Pompeii.
It’s 2.49pm and my two boys have now been on their computers for a total of nearly 6 hours. As neither of them is in the remotest bit autonomous (the eldest aged 9 finds writing hard anyway and the other just can’t focus without human contact because, well he’s 7) I’ve been bent over one of their screens trying to work out Google docs on their behalf on their Chromebooks for exactly the same amount of time. We’re lucky that they both have access to computers, set up in readiness for periods of isolation (they both had two last term) but I’m a Mac girl through and through and am pining for the well designed pleasures of Indesign.
Another half an hour of free time (Lego games and Art for Kids Hub) and I’ll attempt to get them outside for some fresh air. We’ve almost negotiated a cycle around the block. Hopefully the feel good factor of the hot chocolate and jam on toast won’t have worn off by then.
What of plants then? Or art and design? Both missing from today’s curriculum so far. Interestingly, my book The Botanical Bible (Abrams, 2018, also Collins Botanical Bible, Harper Collins, 2018 for the UK and European market) is a big hit with the pre- and post-Covid homeschooling community in North America. I get lots of lovely messages and tags on Instagram and the like thanking me for the book and its content.
I’m always really pleased when I hear this as I really wanted to create a book that delivered text book botany (via chapters called ‘The Story of Plants and Flowers’ and ‘Botany for Beginners’) alongside what is often considered to be not-as-important-to-the-curriculum content (‘Botanical Remedies’, ‘Botanical Recipes’ and ‘Inspired by Nature’ art, illustration, painting, sculpture, photography, film, design, craft and style) in a really beautiful, inspiring and impactful way.
Simplified but not dumbed down text. Engaging ideas and new perspectives. Lots of visuals in the form of botanical illustrations, photography and art. And scope to access information in a way that makes sense to you personally, regardless of age or background.
The visual approach has been particularly successful. A huge image of a Sequoia tree besides an explanation of transpiration, for example. Or one of Rob Kesseler’s amazing art-meets-science macroscopic images of pollen to illustrate the incredible and wildly varied natural phenomenons that we cannot see with the naked eye, and the bigger picture reward of looking closer.
Most of the homeschoolers who have contacted me choose to homeschool as opposed to having it thrust upon them. Thus they are seeking out materials or creating them to cover the subject matter that they feel is important to them. Some to meet curriculum standards and guidelines, others not. If I chose to homeschool my kids, this is what I would do too.
Instead, like many locked down folk across the UK and indeed the world, I’m grappling with Google Classroom and trying to help my kids complete a daily timetable that – if I’m honest – in part, makes no sense to me.
Grammar, for example. I’m a fully fledged writer and an editor and yet – holding my hands up here (also this is a stream of consciousness blog, so definitely don’t judge me on this year) – I don’t remember learning half the things my kids are asked to grammatically ingest. Grammar, to me, is part of the rhythm of language. It’s what you pick up along the way, by osmosis, through reading and passionate discourse and writing stories, manifestos and poems. I’m hugely interested in words: their meaning, their uses, the way combinations of them can be used to create impact and flow. But the grammar lessons I’ve seen recently always appear to me to be ticking some kind of box, for kids of a certain primary school age at least.
Ah there’s my half an hour of ‘free-time’ up. Will finish today trying to work out how to continue with the given homeschooling while coming up my engaging projects myself while not doing my own mental health in at the same time. Just like grammar, the kids also engage with nature osmotically. But I would like to emerge them more in it during these tricky times if I can. A treat-laced bicycle tour of the front gardens of Forest Gate perhaps. Or a bribe-laden birdwatching scoot up to the Flats with the binocs.
Like last time, it’s likely that the whole thing will be a piecemeal affair. Lower your expectations says the rain. Give into the gloom says the sky. Despite the signs, however, I just can’t quite help imploring that sun to shine. I check the weather like any Brit worth their salt. 4pm: 95 percent of precipitation falling in single drops from a black cumulus cloud (this is a lie, the cloud is most definitely of the blanket type today); 4ºC feeling like 0ºC, apparently; a gentle breeze from the north north east; but half a hopeful sun and excellent visibility. Things are looking up surely! If we do make it out, perhaps a rainbow will be our nature prize.