by Chantelle El Sawy, GRoW Team Member
My 2nd week in quarantine with my family and a weird and unknown time to say we are living in. I have two boys who are close in age, 7 and 9. My oldest son has autism, so his needs are different to my other son’s needs. So far what I’ve learned from my own experience when it comes to home schooling is that homeschooling my kids together can become tricky. I say this because of the different levels they are at and their different needs.
I was starting to feel overwhelmed with trying to keep on top of schooling the boys and trying to keep a routine that suited everyone and then also attending to my own work.
I decided to homeschool them separately one hour each and then an hour of homeschooling together on something I can continuously give them my attention on. Once I know they have done some work I can then go on to concentrate on my own work.
My son likes a routine, nothing too strict but he likes for some consistency to be there. I stressed myself a little over these past 2 weeks to make sure he had a strict routine. My plan was to home school from 10-2pm in reality that was too much for all of us.
I sat back and said to myself not to stress as long as I can get one thing done with them a day that was great and if I didn’t I will try again the next day. And just take my days as they come.
Even though it feels like a long list of things to do: Breakfast, homeschool, play, lunch, work, dinner, bed I must say having something that I have to do or have deadlines for is a blessing in disguise. It’s a home routine, maybe not the one we know from before but it’s something and it’s keeping me going through these times that will definitely never be forgotten.