Since the beginning of January, parents throughout the UK have again had to take on the challenge of juggling home schooling or looking after children whilst working from home. The cold weather, shorter days and Government advice to stay home, has made this lockdown harder to navigate for parents trying to avoid cabin fever.

We asked several QEII staff with children for their tips and advice on how they have been able to balance keeping on top of work and their children’s education whilst sharing some of the hurdles they have had to overcome.

Top Tricks and Tips

Planning, preparation and patience are essential when you have to combine parenting with work. Our staff have discovered that although there are limitations to their teaching ability, having the relevant equipment and set up will enable their children to have the best chance to learn in the home environment.

James: “Planning the night before is key. If you have the next day’s work sent the night before (which our school does) then you can read through, print out materials and get the equipment ready in advance so that everything is set for the next day”.

Neil: “Don’t worry about it or lose patience as you are the parent not the teacher. It isn’t your role to teach, it is just to make sure there complete the work set to the best of their ability. If they don’t know what they are doing or get it wrong, the teacher can explain or provide support”.

Deborah “A laptop and a rabbit.  The laptop to run all calls for your kids, grand parents, friends, and colleagues. The rabbit keeps your children occupied!”

What has been the biggest challenge and how have you overcome it?

The biggest challenge for staff has been maintaining a routine and having to allocate time throughout the day for work and time for home schooling. Being able to work more flexibly has helped staff at the QEII get round this challenge so that they are able to accomplish both home schooling and the tasks for the QEII Centre.

J: “The biggest challenge is fitting everything in and having time to concentrate on work tasks. The way round this is to allocate time slots for each task (work, school, work, school) and accept that you may have to work later in the day. On occasions they may mean finish off bits of work that you were unable to get done during the day after the children have gone to bed”.

N: “It is really important to keep to a routine and stay focused; following a timetable and moving on to new things as the timetable dictates not when work is complete”.

Emile: “Home schooling and keeping the kids active and interested in learning. Juggling childcare and work is tricky and my wife and I work in shifts; we schedule our meetings around each other in order to accommodate the kids”.

What advice would give parents in the same situation?

The biggest challenge has been getting a routine in place and it is also considered to be the most important piece of advice with all staff finding that it is essential to home school and look after children. Other themes to emerge are to not put too much pressure on yourself and the children, it is a new situation for everyone to navigate together and children are very sociable so the new way of learning and not being able to see their friends will impact them .

D: “Establish a routine…including BBC Bitesize”.

E: “Get into a routine and do not compromise. Just stick to it. I guess keep it as close to normal as possible i.e. get up early, have breakfast at the same time every day. Just like you would when it’s a normal school day”.

J: “Do your best and do not chastise yourself if all the learning does not get completed in a day. This is mentally affecting children and sometimes they will have bad days where they aren’t able to complete everything. It is important to organise some time for yourself away from everyone and everything (go for a run/walk/cycle etc.)”.

Finally, something new you have learnt throughout this last year

Having to home school or look after children has increased the appreciation of how amazing teachers are and all the work that goes into preparing, planning, and educating. Their skill, dedication and excellence has been reinforced during this lockdown. For some it has also demonstrated how much the curriculum and the way it is taught has changed since they were at school!

J: “How hard teacher’s work! I couldn’t do it!”

N: “Maths is taught very differently in 2020”.

E: “If you are fixing yourself a snack, you’d be better off making triple the amount – Thank me later”

We are very grateful to our staff who are having to balance home schooling with their day job and really appreciate how quickly you have adapted your routines to ensure that you are able to fulfil all your duties.