We’re four weeks in, with home schooling due to begin again on Monday – how have you been finding lockdown life? For us the first week was full of good intentions, including detailed lesson plans and structured educational activity timetables, but reality soon set in and it became clear that a new and more flexible approach was needed for all concerned! There is so much good stuff out there that can be easily mixed in with the educational tasks that school is setting. Just remember to always check out the instructors qualifications and experience.
Here’s what we’ve found has been helping to keep our five-year-old happy and healthy:
1 – The nation’s PE Teacher, Joe Wicks, has been delivering regular workout sessions Monday-Friday (even in the School Holidays) with his PE with Joe session at 9.00am on YouTube. We love it, especially the ‘Fancy Dress Friday’ themed session – who knew how tricky it would be to train in a Mr Incredible outfit??
2 – Oti Mabuse, Strictly Champion, Greatest Dancer judge and all round amazing individual, has been providing dance classes for children (and adults in the evening) via her Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts at 11:30am every day. Once the livestream finishes, the classes are then saved onto Oti’s YouTube page so you can take part later in the day if the 11.30am start time doesn’t work for you. The Frozen routine has definitely been our favourite so far!
3 – Staying connected to friends has been hugely beneficial to our five-year-old. She chats to her classmates in a daily Zoom meeting every morning where they talk about how much they are missing each other, tell each other jokes and update each other on all of the activities they are taking part in.
4 – So far our daily walks have generally consisted of counting the number of lovely rainbows displayed in people’s houses so over the next three weeks we will try and make things more interesting by adding in a nature hunt where we can try and spot and collect items during our walk.
5 – Camp Bestival created a fantastic online Easter festival including Yoga, Mudpie Workshops, Storytime Special with Kate Winslet and a DJ Set by Nelly Cook (Fatboy Slim’s daughter). All of the content is still available on their online channels.
6 – Many of our daughter’s friends have recommended Cosmic Kids on YouTube as a great way of chilling out with a kids’ yoga session. We will definitely be checking this out in the coming weeks!
Feel free to share your tips and suggestions with us, take care and stay safe x
