We do a stretch every school day at 10.00am, my sons and I. We put aside whatever we're working on, get up from the kitchen table, and spend five minutes jumping around. The dog tries to join in, we all bumble around in an effort to escape him (shorts weather offers no protection from his too-sharp claws), and we finish by properly Shaking It Out. It lifts our spirits, wakes us up. It helps. Then we make ourselves a cup of tea, sit down, and get back to whatever we were working on before.
When I started The 10.00am Stretch (yes, more capitals. Get over it) back in the dark days of the third week of March, we were new to homeschooling. We were also new, like everyone else, to Lockdown, and the whole complex combination of awfulness, relief, dread and - dare I say it - spasmodic sense of peacefulness that comprise it. We - or I - hadn't yet realised how much it was going to mess with our heads. The constant low-level fear of what might happen next seemed likely to be a temporary condition.
Well, it's now Lockdown - or a version of it - Week 11. I wish I could say that the cocktail of feelings I described above has changed significantly but it hasn't, not really. Of course, boredom has been thrown into the mix, along with frustration and despair at how badly the response to Covid19 has been managed in the UK, and a guarded sense of acceptance that other than by wearing a mask whilst shopping, I can make very little difference to that. And obviously there's yet more fear. Not for me personally, but for my children; what will this mean for them, long term? For my parents; will they have to stay in isolation forever? For the world at large; for those still unable to venture out due to health conditions and who consequently can't support themselves and their families, and finally yes, I'm going to say it, the horror of being a distant witness to the unrest - and the causes of it - in the US and elsewhere.
But, we have to keep on keeping on. Time and tide wait for no man and all that, so we need to push through this the best we can and hope it all comes out alright in the end.
For me and my boys, keeping on means jumping around the kitchen for The 10.00am Stretch, even when we (or, increasingly, I) don't particularly feel like it. Because, even if the dog's claws are sharp, and my shoulder hurts, and we're feeling a bit meh, we're doing it together and it makes us feel better.
It helps.
When I started The 10.00am Stretch (yes, more capitals. Get over it) back in the dark days of the third week of March, we were new to homeschooling. We were also new, like everyone else, to Lockdown, and the whole complex combination of awfulness, relief, dread and - dare I say it - spasmodic sense of peacefulness that comprise it. We - or I - hadn't yet realised how much it was going to mess with our heads. The constant low-level fear of what might happen next seemed likely to be a temporary condition.
Well, it's now Lockdown - or a version of it - Week 11. I wish I could say that the cocktail of feelings I described above has changed significantly but it hasn't, not really. Of course, boredom has been thrown into the mix, along with frustration and despair at how badly the response to Covid19 has been managed in the UK, and a guarded sense of acceptance that other than by wearing a mask whilst shopping, I can make very little difference to that. And obviously there's yet more fear. Not for me personally, but for my children; what will this mean for them, long term? For my parents; will they have to stay in isolation forever? For the world at large; for those still unable to venture out due to health conditions and who consequently can't support themselves and their families, and finally yes, I'm going to say it, the horror of being a distant witness to the unrest - and the causes of it - in the US and elsewhere.
But, we have to keep on keeping on. Time and tide wait for no man and all that, so we need to push through this the best we can and hope it all comes out alright in the end.
For me and my boys, keeping on means jumping around the kitchen for The 10.00am Stretch, even when we (or, increasingly, I) don't particularly feel like it. Because, even if the dog's claws are sharp, and my shoulder hurts, and we're feeling a bit meh, we're doing it together and it makes us feel better.
It helps.
