You are in for a treat today! Today’s post is written by Gemma Hobb, our Listing Coordinator with Popowich & Company.

 

Hi there,  

My name is Gemma, and I work with Popowich & Company as the Listing Coordinator. I’m also a Mum, Wife, Teacher, Cleaner and much more – Anyone else in the same boat? 😉

 

Life has changed over the past few weeks for me and I know I’m not alone.

 

I thought I’d share my challenges and tips homeschooling 2 children (ages 7 and 2)

 

It’s challenging teaching my 2 children together because my 7-year-old still needs my time and attention, but my 2-year-old demands all of it! I know I’m not alone in this, if you are reading along- chances are you are experiencing a similar reality.

 

Academic days are slower and the pressure on us all to become everything to our kids and family has become larger than ever. Grateful to all of the school teacher’s!

I thought I might share some tips while we navigate these times, and I would love to hear some more from you! Please leave a comment! 

• Turn your dining room into a classroom, nobody is visiting anyway!
• Get the kids involved in setting up your new classroom, and make it fun.
• If you’re working from home, put up your computer in the same room, that way, when you do get a moment of self-driven activities for the kids, you can get that pending email out or report finished. 😉
• Baking – a good way to practice math and making your days fun!
• That brings me to gym time – I do my workout with my kids. Even if it goes off course, which it does, I feel much better for it!!
• An aunty gave me a great tip – Create a journal with your kids on what it’s like “living in isolation” This could open up a ton of thoughts and discussions with the kids. It’ll also be something that you can keep and cherish, and even share with your grandchildren one day. 🙂
• My Mum is always FaceTiming me from the UK (also in isolation) with lots of extra time on her hands and misses her grandchildren like crazy!!! 😉 So, she reads a story to my kids every day on my laptop. I usually get at least 40 minutes to 1 hour by myself!! Win-win! I’ve contemplated setting her up a YouTube channel!

As a side note, my 2-year-old can’t focus on all of this yet, nor would I expect him to. Youtubekids on the iPad allows me some time to focus on my 7-year-old. Blippi is his favourite – he’s educational and my son adores him! Try it for your younger kids! Super educational! 🙂

In all honesty, most of our days aren’t the smoothest, but it’s how we are getting through the days in our “new normal” but in all of this, comes some wonderful things, my husband is home now (he traveled a lot) so we are eating most meals together as a family and are having great conversations during them! I feel happy for the slower pace of life, this time we should cherish. I’m not aiming for perfection, kids learn from us all of the time, so I need to make sure through this I keep calm and go easy on myself.

As we reflect on our days, we notice the kids are laughing so much, if we keep that going at the end of all of this, it’s been a huge success!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you’re all hanging in there, it’s a tough time for everyone, especially for health care workers and front-line workers! Stay home and Stay Safe. Together we will save many lives!

All the best,

Gemma

(and the rest of the Team at Popowich & Company)