Monday 20 April 2020

Day 27 of Lockdown

Today we were back to homeschool and it felt much better. I think having a bit of structure to the day really helps during lockdown. You need something to give your day a bit of rhythm otherwise it all starts to seem the same!

We carried on with our Normans unity study. We will finish it this week and try and put on a Norman's day on Thursday before Ramadan starts on Friday! Honestly can't believe Ramadan is just around the corner. It will be my first time fasting in about 6 years due to pregnancy and breastfeeding and I am feeling very nervous about it.

In the afternoon I had a lovely meeting with an SLT who is organising webinars for SLT students who have been affected by university closures. I am going to be giving a lecture on bilingualism - something undergraduates don't get taught enough about in my opinion. I'm looking forward to it!

Afterwards we went on a walk/cycle ride around our local area. It's still pretty quiet outside and we didn't see anyone else walking about but did see a few cars.

When we got back I filmed a very short clip for the Ramadan video I'm creating and now I need to answer some questions for the BBC article. Keeping busy which is just how I like it!

Sunday 19 April 2020

Day 26 of Lockdown

This week has felt like one of my most unproductive weeks ever. We really haven't done much but lounge around the house not getting up to anything in particular. As a generally busy person, this week of nothingness has not made me feel good. I keep thinking about all the things we could have done but didn't do. We could have got stuck into some craft projects or read a whole chapter book. But we didn't.

It hasn't all been bad. I managed to finish my book and start a new one. I am loving all this spare time I have for reading at the moment. It probably has something to do with all the time I'm saving by not travelling so much in the car! Perhaps I will really need to consider my journeys a lot more once all this is over.

Anyway, after feeling rubbish about a wasted week I felt like I had to do something today so we spent the morning doing some crafts. Asiya painted a little rabbit and the others made this cute rabbit pom pom craft. It kept them busy and it made me feel like a better mother! Is it wrong that I equate crafting with good motherhood? I'm sure there are loads of amazing non-crafty mums out there!

Thursday 16 April 2020

Day 24 of Lockdown

I had such a busy day today. The whole afternoon was spent in various meetings and telephone calls. I am a member of the Bristol Muslim Strategic Leadership Group and I am most involved with health and media related activity. We have been extremely busy over the last couple of weeks creating multilingual videos related to the coronavirus crisis. I feel it is so important to make information and resources that is accessible to all and providing information in minority languages is essential. Having the correct knowledge really could save lives!

I spoke to a lovely lady from the BBC who is going to write a piece about our videos on the website. Then I attended a meeting to discuss creating some minority language videos about Ramadan which is starting next week. We have a lot to do but it is good to keep busy at this time!

Tuesday 14 April 2020

Day 22 of Lockdown

Today was a good day. Very relaxed and joyful. I started a new knitting project and spent a long time sitting on the swinging hammock knitting away. Knitting always make the time go quickly. You can easily sit for hours and it feels like only 30 minutes.

The younger children had a great time playing with water beads in the garden. Asiya mainly wanted to stamp on them and break them all up and she spent quite a long time doing this.

In the afternoon we did a 300 piece puzzle together. I think it was the first time Sefer did a proper puzzle! He seemed to enjoy it. After that we watched a film and ate homemade pizza. We seem to be getting on really well and I definitely think spending so much time together at home is having a positive effect.

Sunday 12 April 2020

Day 20 of Lockdown

Today is Easter Sunday and although we don't celebrate (as we are Muslim) my heart goes out to all the people who are trying their best to celebrate it without their normal religious rituals. It must be strange not to go to church on Easter Sunday but I have heard churches are broadcasting Easter mass online. 

We started the day by going for a walk to the fields near our house. It was the first time we had been for a walk for over a week! It was lovely actually and it made me feel that we should try and get out the house more often. It is quiet around here so it is actually very easy to stick to social distancing rules.

We took a picnic blanket and some snacks and sat down in the field for a while watching the horses. The children didn't seem to enjoy it much and can't asking to go home! I was surprised by this and it made me think that maybe they are forgetting how to interact with the natural world! I hope not.

My parents took the older two on a little cycle near our house. It is easy for the older ones to stick to social distancing rules which is why they can go cycling with my parents, but the younger ones do not understand.

The rest of the day we spent lounging around the garden and house. We played bingo with my family over Zoom which the kids really enjoyed!

Friday 10 April 2020

Day 18 of Lockdown

Today was our last day of homeschool before we take a break for the Easter holidays. The children are excited to have a week off but I'm feeling rather worried. I feel like it is good to have some structure to our day and I am not sure what it will be like having nothing in particular to do during lockdown.

The weather has been so beautiful over the last few days. It almost feels like summer! We've spent a lot of time in the garden and Asiya and Kamil have been enjoying the paddling pool. 

I've started reading a new book - 'Calm parents, happy kids' by Dr Laura Markham. I'm finding it an excellent book, packed full of useful information. In fact, the information is so important I feel like I have to reread everything at least three times to really get it to sink in and stay in my memory.

Boris Johnson has come out of ICU so it seems like he is on the mend and one of the lucky survivors.

Tuesday 7 April 2020

Day 15 of Lockdown

I spent a long time yesterday evening following the news about the PM online. Then the first thing I did this morning was check the news to see if anything significant had happened. He's still alive! This is a good thing of course so I can relax a little now. I have found myself checking the news and social media often at the moment. I'm finding it hard to concentrate.

Monday 6 April 2020

Day 14 of Lockdown

Back to homeschool this morning and we skipped PE with Joe as I wanted to get things done quickly so we could finish early. We carried on with our study of the Normans. I know it is the Easter holidays for most people but we had a week off about a month ago when we had a little holiday by the seaside so I feel it is ok to carry on for another week. Besides, we are really getting into our history unit study and it would be a shame to take a break for two weeks.

Late morning I had some time to myself to join in with a virtual knit and natter meeting via Zoom. Zoom is honestly brilliant. I don't know what we would do without it. It is keeping us all connecting in these unusual circumstances. It was lovely to have a chat about knitting as I don't normally have anyone to talk to about it. I told them it would be nice to do it again next week so I hope that happens!

Today it was announced that the Prime Minister's condition has deteriorated and he is now in ICU! I can't quite believe it but I guess it can happen to anyone. So many people have died from covid19 - hundreds everyday in the UK. Young, old, ill or healthy; it seems we cannot be sure who will be most affected by this terrible virus. And now it's struck the PM down. They aren't giving us much information about hos condition. Many people in ICU are on a ventilator to help them breathe. What if the PM is on a ventilator? Apparently, only 32% of people make it out of ICU alive.

Sunday 5 April 2020

Day 13 of Lockdown



We had an enjoyable day at home today. We spent the morning making woven rainbows out of wool and felt. This was a fun activity for everyone except Asiya who is a bit too young.



We had homemade pizza again for dinner. I think we will make it weekly. Sefer makes great pizzas and it's a good way to keep him busy!

This evening we learnt that the Prime minister has been taken to hospital! It has been 10 days since he contracted covid19 and we've seen him on TV a few times since then. It's a strange situation to have the leader of the country in hospital at a time when the country most needs him. I hope he can get back to leading the country soon.





Day 27 of Lockdown

Today we were back to homeschool and it felt much better. I think having a bit of structure to the day really helps during lockdown. You nee...