Homeschooling, a thread, after two days with an 8 and 6 year old:
1/ Kids are entering this latest round already demoralised and confused after nearly a year of this, any novelty has worn off, and it’s very very hard to motivate them to work on their own in a kitchen.

2/ All the talk is about getting “devices” to kids that need it. But it’s not devices they really need, it’s their friends.

3/ The rules permit no social meeting with any other children. If school is out for months, this HAS to change and needs to be campaigned on. You are asking parents to either break the rules, or inflict cruelty on their own children.
See @playingout https://playingout.net/dear-pm-outdoor-play-is-essential-for-childrens-health-and-wellbeing/

4/ The longer this social isolation is forced on them, the less it will be possible to teach them anything at all at “home School.” And the longer lasting the damage

5/ “Remote learning”. For most children, I think this is an oxymoron. Children learn mainly through interacting with others.

6/ This thing of key worker’s children getting places. It is so divisive in communities, possibly favours middle class public sector families, and feels legally dubious to me.

7/ And “vulnerable children”. I don’t like this phrase, because all children are vulnerable.

8/ I’ve seen the timetable of online learning offered by a private school. It is incomparable. The gap will be widening.

9/ I can only speak of the personal toll of trying to be their teacher, cooking, PE coach, cleaning, caring, being their best friend etc. All of this is alongside the heartbreak of seeing how this is affecting your kids, and a whole generation.

10/ Feels like for some the schools row is settled. But this will have a profound affect on mental health, development, inequality, even stuff like sport. I am not saying open schools again. But we need urgent and creative action to improve this situation for families.