Lia, seorang ibu rumahtangga dengan dua anak yang tinggal di Sydney, mencoba mengisi masa lockdown dengan mendampingi anak-anaknya homeschooling. Sebuah pengalaman yang tak terlupakan.
1.Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family
We are a family of four; my husband, myself, and my two children. I am a mum of two school children, currently Year 4 and Year 2.
2. How long did you stay home and homeschool your children?
We did that since the NSW Premier asked us to keep the children at home, so approximately we did three weeks of online learning from home in Term 1, and four weeks of online learning from home in Term 2.
3. How would a day look like during lockdown at your home?
We basically follow the online learning that was provided from the school during the school hours. So the children woke up (a bit later than the usual school days) and then had their breakfast, and getting ready (changed to casual attire, not wearing their pyjamas) and then they follow the online learning for the day until school hours finished.
4. How does the children react to school at home condition?
They were enjoying it! Of course they missed their friends and all the sports and games that they can do at the school grounds with friends, but somehow they enjoyed being at home and not rushing to school in the morning. And also they enjoyed time spending with mum and dad at home.
5. What resources do the school gave to help teaching your children at home?
For my eldest in Year 4, the teacher assigned his daily tasks via Google Classroom. We were lucky because his teacher was online almost all the time (during school hours) and she was so helpful and readily gave guidance or patiently answering questions from the students.
For my youngest in Year 2, the teacher assigned her daily tasks via Class Dojo. Her teacher also quite helpful although she was not as prompt on responding online compared to my eldest teacher. It was most probably because the teacher is a mum that has her own children to be supervised doing online learning too.
6. Are there any tips you can share or lessons you learnt during this homeschooling period?
Just enjoy the time spent with the children. We might not get another chance in our lifetime to spend almost 24/7 with our children ever again. Demand a high-quality school work from them but also be supportive and understanding towards them. They do not have any other support except from us (parents) during those home-based online learning time, so it is up to us to make them feel supported and be a mentoring figures in their learning. I feel that I have more insights and understanding of what are my children’s strengths and weaknesses in their learning process. And also have a better knowledge on how to help them improved with their learning.
Now that both of them have been back to school full time make me realized how much I actually enjoyed spending time with them and being very much involved in their daily learning. I do miss the time we spent together during those months in the “lock down”. [IM]
