Returning to School After Almost 6 Months at Home!

It seems like so long ago now since the kids were at school but that's probably actually because it was! When the whispers started circulated around school and the world waited with baited breath as Boris told the nation that schools would be closed... for the foreseeable future! I think many of us were in disbelief as to how long it would be for. The unknown of it all was so scary and of course the kids all thought it was great to begin with!

But as days turned to weeks and weeks to months, the summer holidays crept ever closer and we soon as realised that this was for the long haul, home-schooling had now become mandatory and we all learnt to adjust our lives to fit around having the kids home, all day long.

I can't even lie, when I realised this was the case I panicked, how the heck was I going to keep two kids entertained, educated and happy for 5/6 long months when we could barely make it through a day or two in the summer holidays without several brawls between the kids and at least 1 million calls of "but muuuuum I'm bored" every single day.

But actually something pretty weird happened... we found a new flow, together as a family. Yes we had ups, downs, tantrums, laughter, days where we were all flipping bored and days where we connected as a family like we never have before. It definitely helped that their dad was also furloughed for work so we all got to spend time together as a family, something we have rarely done for longer than a week since the kids were born.

It sounds like a clique but the saying of "the days are long but are long but the years are short" has been so true this year. Months have ticked on by and having no routine has meant we often didn't even know what day it was that'll own what month it was. And then after months of daily walks, board games, crafts, too much screen and tech time, baking, snacks, family meal times spent together and a whole ton of memories it suddenly dawned on me that it was almost September.

How on earth did September creep up on me that quickly and where the heck did spring/summer go!? Fast forward a few frantic weeks of sorting uniform, school shoes and everything else that comes with back to school and just like that it is time for "back to school" and the start of Year 2 for Evelyn and Year 6 for James! Since they attend separate infant and junior schools this also means that this year will be the very last year for them both in their current schools. Next year James will head off to secondary school (I am definitely not ready for this!) and Evelyn will head over into the junior school.

When lockdown first happened I was so scared about how we would all cope but now as they go back I can't help but shed so many tears. My little side kicks are off to school again, out into the big wide world we have spent so many months protecting them from. Home learning didn't exactly come "natural" to us but I so enjoyed getting to be the one to see them learning, seeing them improving and seeing the huge smiles on their faces when they finally solved a problem or got it right first time.

Before lockdown our lives were crazy with school, clubs, one in one out and rushed meal times and whilst I might not be able to control how crazy our lives become again, I definitely place even more value on family time now. It is so so important and even when our lives might seem crazy as we all start a new routine once again, I am going to make sure we find time for family movie nights, meal times together and making even more precious memories.

How are you all feeling about the kids going back to school? Good luck to all those returning today too.

xXx