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.

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 7 of Lockdown

Today is the start of the new homeschool week. We had a shortened school period because I had a meeting at 11am about telepractice - carrying out speech and language therapy online. I am hoping to start work again as a speech and language therapist on the temporary COVID-19 HCPC register.

Despite out shortened time, we managed to do maths and copywork and I read the next chapter of our homeschool coop book, 'The fantastic flying journey' by Gerald Durrell.

The meeting was very useful. It was carried out over Zoom and I am getting used to using Zoom now. It seems a really easy-to-use platform. I learnt loads of tips on how to carry out speech and language therapy using Zoom as a platform as well as useful apps and resources.

In the afternoon, Sefer had to go shopping for food. The children played in the garden and I read a bit of my book. Then we made pizza dough and, after this, the children watched a film.

Sefer and the children made the pizza for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Sefer is good at making pizza as he used to work in a Kebab shop and Zizzi Italian restaurant. 

After dinner we played some games. I played Scrabble with the older two and Sefer played Dobble with the younger two. Delal managed to get an extremely high score by using the 'Q' on a triple letter score! She won the game and then the children all played hide and seek with Sefer before bed.

Day 6 of Lockdown

Today we went on a walk to the fields near our house. It is only the second time we have been out the house for exercise. I have felt quite content at home this week but now that the weather is cooler and we haven't spent as much time in the garden, I thought it best to go for a walk to have some fresh air.

We did not see anyone on our short walk to the fields, however, there were a few families in the field. Normally, I never see anyone there. However, the field is huge and it was easy to maintain social distancing rules.

The children had great fun running around, seeing the horses and finding ladybirds. It was surprising how many ladybirds there were. We will come back again in a few days time.

Day 5 of Lockdown

It's the weekend so no school work. Today has been quite a slow day. We haven;t done much. The weather was not so good so I didn't spend any time in the garden. The children did though. They enjoyed playing on the trampoline in the afternoon. They have been spending so much time on the trampoline recently.

Day 4 of Lockdown

Today we discovered that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has coronavirus! I bet he's now wishing he put the country into lockdown sooner! Meanwhile we spent another day at home. I'm actually feeling quite content and don't even feel the need to venture out for a walk yet. The weather probably has something to do with it.

Day 3 of Lockdown

Day 3 has been much the same as the other days this week. We started with some read alouds and then did the PE lesson by Joe Wickes on YouTube. We did maths and copywork and then I thought I'd bake a Turkish snack this morning. This was a bit of a mistake because it took so long so we ended up with an extra long morning break. I must remember to save this recipe for the weekends in future! 

This is what I made. They were delicious and very moreish and thankfully I've made enough to last for a few days.

After morning break we all hung out in the garden - it's still beautifully warm outside - and did some foreign language lessons. We started off recapping the French vocabulary we learned recently and then practised Turkish. Then Sefer gave the children a lesson in his mother tongue; Zazaki. Zazaki is a Kurdish language spoken by around 10% of the Kurdish population of Turkey. I hardly know any Zazaki, mainly because there are no books on how to learn it so the only way is to learn it from a native speaker of the language.

After this we read some more about the battle of Hastings. Then the children did some watercolour painting. The children were very happy playing in the garden so we didn't go out for a walk. We really have to make the most of this glorious weather!