Lockdown January 2021- the Beginning: Wildly Optimistic.

I've been keeping a diary on actual real life paper, but thought I'd share from this current lockdown. Why? Well, it helps me to keep sane and I'm hoping that it might help to legitimise my recently mega increased screen time.

Here we are again: schools are shut and we're supposed to stay at home.

When the news was announced, I was actually quietly happy (I know, I know).  Of course, I was devastated by the news of new Covid variants and rising R numbers and the ever increasing death toll.  But I was deep in the cosy joys of a Christmas at home, staying at home with my fledglings close by, hunkering down with the expectation to travel removed.  It didn't seem right to be sending our children back into primary school (especially with the new strain passing more quickly by children), nor my husband (A) back on the long daily commute into London (where 1 in 30 supposedly have Covid!), teaching in a busy city high school (amongst the biggest spreaders with very little outdoor space).  

Plus, I had quit my job last year after the last Lockdown living/teaching/working/parenting thing almost DESTROYED me. I was teaching part time English in a local school, but I couldn't do it all and something had to go: the last fragile strand of my 10+ year profession. After Boris finished his "schools must close" (hours after saying "schools will open"), I thought about my current lack of paid work and actually said out loud to my husband: "I can do this. Bring it on". 

Oh how naive I was.

A's working full time from home (taking over a corner of our room as his work space).  I've got our three boys (6, 4, 2) to teach, parent, feed, keep hydrated, emotion coach, entertain, comfort, get to sleep, clean and wipe.  I'm obviously not totally alone in this: A helps when he can, we've got amazing content supplied by the boys' teachers via Google Classroom, BBC and of course, darling Netflix.  We've managed to get our hands on a couple of devices from A's work, set up to try and surf the tidal wave of school tasks. We've also got a garden big enough to run around, grow vegetables and keep chickens (more about that later). Sooo lucky and so aware of how much easier it is for us than thousands. But, despite knowing how much easier I have this than most, I've already started drinking more wine, eating more cake (thanks to my legendary mum for sending us a whole Christmas cake in the post) and I've started swearing like a drunk badass.  

Before the first week of term, I devised a colour-coded timetable on a spreadsheet (who even am I??) in keeping with the school's schedule: wildly optimistic, but I just wanted to see what we might have to try and do to be able to keep up with the three Literacy, three Maths, Phonics, Spellings, Geography, History, Science, French, Art, PE, PSHE, plus the getting outside and fresh air thing. 

Just to re-jog the facts here. Our kids are 6, 4 and 2. What the actual fork was I thinking?

Rare mili-second where all 3 are engaged in the same task.