Home schooling overnight

18/05/2020
Home schooling overnight!

How do they think we can do it,
Become a teacher overnight I mean.
For thee,
I’ve got this problem times 3.
The only point in life,
When them being triplets,
Would be handy for me.
Things have all changed now.
What they learn I mean.
Teaching binary code to infants.
How can that be?
I don’t understand it?
At that age I remember doing crayon drawings,
On the bark of a tree.
Not being taught computing skills like binary.
But then i suppose it’s the culture we are growing into.
The world is now practically run by I.T!
I take 1 look at my 13 year olds homework,
Ah,
We’ve run out of milk and out the front door I flee.
Leaving Kobe sat inside,
All Confused,
Wondering why I’ve run off?
The shops closed dad,
Don’t you know its past 9 o’clock in the eve?
So i come back in,
With my head hung in shame,
Produce a phone from my pocket,
And pretend I’ve got a brain.
But no wonder he gets a rollocking,
As His teacher is saying he’s copying from Google again!

So how are we meant to do it,
Unless of course we are trained.
As unless you’re a teacher,
It drives you near insane.
It’s hard enough to teach them to tie their laces,
Although they know more than you this time,
It feels like us that are late to the races,
Why can’t they,
Like us,
All be taught the same?
The only thing I’m now good at,
Is p.e,
Playing games!
Even with that I have my limits,
As even just kicking a ball causes so much pain.
So does it make me a bad dad,
For inventing and creating homemade homework,
Will it all be in vein,
Will their teachers approve of me,
By giving them a break,
Having not to do the schools boring homework again.
So we’ve been cooking,
We’ve been baking,
From the kitchen,
Beautiful smells and aromas,
 in the making.
Chemistry lessons,
With maths mixed in too.
Pouring our scented oils and alcohol,
into our own spray tube,
Making sure each drop is 2 for 2,
Coming out with a scent,
That they did choose,
Reporting on them,
 and then giving me their very own views.
They love these homemade lessons,
As there are no wrong answers,
No way to lose!

So by now I’m on a roll,
I’m back in the driving seat,
And I’m in control.
Turning daily chores into life lessons,
The important ones,
Like how to clean up and even leave the washing bowl.
Dinner in the eve,
Is another sneaky lesson,
As I teach them to cook things,
I.e spag bol...
They can hover,
They can mop,
Do washing and cook.
They can polish,
They can clean,
They can now do almost anything.
All part of one of lifes’ big lessons.
They even empty the bin.
Without these simple jobs,
In the real world,
They wouldn’t know a thing!
They are my 3 Suffolk young carers.
In that,
As always,
With everything,
They’ll always make me proud!

A school day is normally 6 hours long,
How do teachers do it?
I mean,
Keeping them from distraction?
What do they do,
To keep up to 30 of them,
In line,
And not causing complete disruption?
If I didn’t before,
I now applaud,
All the hard work and attention,
To keep our kids on board.
For me already,
My mind is swamped,
Just to get an hour out of them,
To keep them from being bored.
My perseverance seems to be paying off now,
As there’s less shouting now,
No more do they  bawl,
Not wanting to do it,
Instead of a few pages I ask,
They’re now doing 5 times more!
Finally I’ve got through to them,
That an hour learning at home,
Is better than 6 at school for sure.
I get it’s harder to concentrate,
With computer games,
Board games a plenty,
All a non homework lure. 
We are even braving the beach today,
A remote part,
For them to make a sea collage,
From where the sea leaves all the items we need,
Washed up on the shore.
Going where no others are,
So we don’t catch,
That Potentially deadly virus spore.
In and out,
Seaweed,
Sand,
Stones and glistening oyster shells,
By the time this homework gets to school,
My god but it’ll be giving off,
Some dreadful fishy smells!

I’m hoping that what I’m doing for my boys is enough,
I know for the four of us,
These last 3 and a half years,
Really have been tough.
I teach them what I can.
Even though the waters aren’t just choppy,
At the moment they are calm,
But some days have truly been rough!
But I’m teaching them to self preserve,
Growing potatoes and onions,
Amongst other stuff.
Tomatoes,
Peppers and chillies,
Think also green beans to top it all off.
We have fruits that are plentiful,
Once in full bloom.
That reminds me,
Our raspberries will be ready soon.
I think probably from now,
The 20th circulation of the moon.
Who would have thought,
We would have so much we can do,
When the isolation hit,
We thought it was all doom and gloom.
But we’ve switched it around,
To give the house and garden a much needed groom!

So this teaching lark,
If I and we put our minds together,
We should all now feel less fumbling in the dark,
So to this virus at the moment ,
It seems to be us that’s having the last laugh.
As home schooling we now seem to be mastering,
Even though from others,
I hope my kids learning isn't miles apart,
Teaching 1 child is simple,
But 3 and your mind is split 3 ways,
But somehow I’m managing,
To get them to do their homework ,
On each of the 6 weeks days!