So here we go again.
We've been reasonably fortunate since our initial lockdown in 2020, we've had a few three day lockdowns but that's been it.
Until six days ago.
4pm Saturday the 31st of July, the Delta strain hit Queensland and we were thrown into an initial three day lockdown which was then extended to a week. As I write this, we are six days into the lockdown and hoping that it will end this coming Sunday.
Then online schooling began. At least this time we were prepared for it - teachers began sending information out on how to access online schooling on Sunday afternoon - they were prepared for it this time. O's usual schooling learning is all online so for O, not much changed other then having a few zoom class session during the week. For L, however, everything went online.
Everyone's online/home learning during a pandemic is going to look different. For some families, parents or carers may be considered essential workers and as such they are not able to be at home. Other families may not have reliable access to the internet or an electronic device to access the online resources. Some parents or carers may not feel confident in assisting their children with online learning.
We like to think of of home learning as unschooling. We've been doing the school work online, when I've downloaded the correct work that is! But we've also been doing other learning that isn't necessarily school work but it does have elements of what both little superheroes are learning at school. L likes to call our home learning as unschooling because he's learning at home and not at school, so therefore learning at home is the opposite of schooling, hence unschooling!!
During our extended lockdown last year, I downloaded lots, and I mean lots, of free STEM activities - again type "free STEM activities for children" into your preferred online search engine! Both little superheroes love science and the majority of the STEM activities that I found use items that you would have laying around your house. On the first day of this lockdown, there wasn't a lot of work for L to do online so part of his unschooling for the day was a STEM stick raft - he had to design, make and test a stick raft. L decided that the raft needed to be tested in our local creek and that Batman was going to ride on the raft. To L's delight, his raft floated (we did have a long length of twine tied to both the raft and Batman in the unfortunate scenario that the raft didn't float! Batman ending up at the bottom of the creek would not have gone well!) and he's currently planning how he can improve his raft design. While L was planning and building his raft, we incorporated some of his current maths lessons on measurements into the activity.
It's important during any lockdown, no matter how short or long the lockdown is for, that we all look after our mental health. Sometimes we just need to take a break from school work, or own work, and have some chill time. Chill time could look like going for a walk, having a nap, sitting on the couch and watching television. If we look after our own mental health, we'll be in a better place to support our loved ones.
We were extremely fortunate in that this lockdown only lasted a week and a half, but I am certain that at some stage in the future, we will be put back into lockdown. If you are currents in lockdown, please look after yourselves.
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I would love to hear your thoughts on my blog. I do read all the comments that are posted. Thanks so much for stopping by. Jen xx