Keeping Children educated, fit and entertained on Covid-19 lockdown

Back on topic:)

School is setting a couple of homeworks via email every day and then that's it!
Its getting harder to motivate the youngest to do any schoolwork, fortunately Y6 are returning to school on the 1st of June to a very different school experience.
Small classes and social distancing in place, it shall give him some closure from primary school as he leaves for the high school.
He's been out with the dog when he's not on his PS4..
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Also helping his dad make a crazy pacing patio..
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I reckon the dog was impressed :)

The eldest is still keeping up with his homework because he has exams next year that will affect the rest of his life.
Apparently pupils who left this year were given GCSE grades rated on their previous grades,good for some...

The middle child has been very busy interior designing the house and her room, took her out yesterday and let her have fun jet washing the car.
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Petrol is less than a £ a litre,top left of pic!

I've been keeping my sanity with a decent bike ride every other day..
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Before all this lockdown malarkey, I was working all the time and lucky to see my children for an hour a day.
The house was in bits, my cycling regime had disappeared, the dog rarely got walked.

Now it's all good and the planet is getting a break from the polluting people.

Keep up the good work parents.

Good stuff Chitty. You are a breath of fresh air versus these stuffy, miserable locked down in the Sandpit fuckers, griping online all day, with one eye on Lockdown on Cam 006 or stuck next to a pool with no heater or Birkenstocks in NZud.:)

Ive been enjoying my daughters online lessons. Its been an eye opener to what level she is at and nice helping her out in real time and perving at her teacher. The rest of the day is spent whiling away the hours in the pool, reading stories,walking dogs and can now go out on the bikes
Been progressing well with my weight training, Although I need to be supervised now and realise theres not one more rep left in me. :)

Keep on keeping on bro.

Checkmated without a piece being taken.
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Seeing as though there's been naff all help coming from the school, I've put my daughter on the payroll earning £10 an hour teaching my youngest maths,English and various course work.
She's going really well at motivating the youngest!

Just as well because the school opening dates keep getting pushed back..

JK Rowling has surprised fans with the announcement of a brand new children's book, which she is publishing in daily instalments on her website for free.

The Ickabog is her first children's story not to be linked to Harry Potter. She wrote it over a decade ago for her own children and has now dusted it off.

It's for "children on lockdown, or even those back at school during these strange, unsettling times", she said.

She had previously referred to it only as an unnamed "political fairytale".

Chapters of The Ickabog are being published daily until 10 July on The Ickabog website .

The first two chapters, which went online on Tuesday, introduced King Fred the Fearless, ruler of Cornucopia, and five-year-old Bert Beamish.

Readers also learned about the myth of a fearsome monster called The Ickabog, which is "said to eat children and sheep".

The author said she originally intended to release the story after the seventh and final Harry Potter novel came out in 2007.

But she decided to take a break from publishing, and put the manuscript in her attic.

Image copyrightJK ROWLINGThe Ickabog graphic
"Over time I came to think of it as a story that belonged to my two younger children, because I'd read it to them in the evenings when they were little, which has always been a happy family memory," she wrote on her website .

A few weeks ago, she suggested to her children that she might retrieve it from her loft.

"My now teenagers were touchingly enthusiastic, so downstairs came the very dusty box, and for the last few weeks I've been immersed in a fictional world I thought I'd never enter again.

"As I worked to finish the book, I started reading chapters nightly to the family again.

"This was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my writing life, as The Ickabog's first two readers told me what they remember from when they were tiny, and demanded the reinstatement of bits they'd particularly liked (I obeyed)."


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It was written to be read aloud, but is suitable to be read alone by children between seven and nine, she said.

It will be published as an actual book in English in November, with all author royalties going "to help groups who've been particularly impacted by the pandemic".

Illustration competition
She has also asked young readers to draw their own illustrations, with the best pictures to be included in the published books.

"I want to see imaginations run wild!" she wrote. "Creativity, inventiveness and effort are the most important things: we aren't necessarily looking for the most technical skill!"

The story is about truth and the abuse of power, Rowling explained.

"To forestall one obvious question: the idea came to me well over a decade ago, so it isn't intended to be read as a response to anything that's happening in the world right now.

"The themes are timeless and could apply to any era or any country."

Fairytale life?
It was in a 2007 interview with Time Magazine that she first said she was writing a "political fairytale". She later revealed she had written the text on her fancy dress outfit for her 50th birthday in 2015 - when she went as a lost manuscript.

Tuesday's announcement is confirmation she was referring to The Ickabog.

A theme of inequality is clear from the story's first chapter.

Most of Cornucopia was a "magically rich land" with happy people and fine, abundant food, readers are told.

But in the northern tip lived the Marshlanders, who scraped by on meagre resources. They had "rough voices, which the other Cornucopians imitated", and were the butt of jokes about "their manners and their simplicity".

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Follow us on Facebook , or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts . If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk .

Kids are back in school on Monday, part time so only half the class in at one time. Getting them to keep to social distancing rules is gonna be a nightmare.

The whole situation is a nightmare for children and parents.

Dug out a few old Beano and Dandy annuals to keep the youngest entertained at bed time...
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Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

Dug out a few old Beano and Dandy annuals to keep the youngest entertained at bed time...
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Brilliant stuff. Takes me back to the good old days of waking up on a Saturday, getting them delivered by the paperboy at my gran's and then going out playing and watching football for the rest of the day.

1. The Beano
2. The Dandy
3. The Beezer

In that order.

Shame you haven't got any old copies of Shoot!, Roy of the Rovers and Match lying about.

A new page has been added to the British Council kids website with a few extra ideas you may not have tried yet:

Covid-19 support for parents | LearnEnglish Kids | British Council

McDonalds is open!
Zoos and Safari parks are opening.!!
FFS even Primark is opening on Monday!!!

But schools....NO!!!!!

Here's a bubble in a bubble Boris...
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:sssh:

Had the youngest out doing some gardening and earning some pocket money so he can pay back the money he siphoned out of my account to pay for playstation V bucks...
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No school till September for him thats 6 months!!!

Flaming lockdown and school.

It's been a hell of a long 6 months, but finally they're going back to school tomorrow with face masks and loads of social distancing measures put in place.

I thought I'd finish this thread with a positive, my youngest showed me his replica of the International space station that he's been secretly constructing on Minecraft...

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CCC

Good work, CCC. You deserve the back to school break!

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Originally Posted by misskit

Good work, CCC. You deserve the back to school break!

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Thanks, I'm looking forward to it:)

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Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

Dug out a few old Beano and Dandy annuals to keep the youngest entertained at bed time...
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Brilliant, I had probably all of those but they usually disappeared during or after being passed to the rest of the street.:)

My kids do this too and it's really nice! Still, I encourage them to try out some physical activities to give them some time away from their computers.

Back to the grindstone!

We had a good four months of school education with some important exams, overall the grades were excellent considering the year

Although no leeway has been given for lockdown in respect to grades with regards to Covid and lack of schooling.
Unless you're Scottish or Welsh.
Must be difficult for children and parents on borderline grades.

Google classroom is set up and three laptops are ready to go for home schooling ar 8.45am tomorrow.

The thread unfortunately continues...

^Best of luck to them. Happy New Year, Joe!
Google classroom is pretty good, that is what I use. Back to work tomorrow for myself as well.
Is it all online now in the UK? All schools in Ontario are online till Jan 28th because we are in lockdown at least till then.

There are many vids on using google classroom on youtube. Here's an introductory one.

Google Classroom for Students & Parents (Google Classroom Tutorial 2020) - YouTube

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Originally Posted by MarilynMonroe

Is it all online now in the UK?

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Apparently so, till at least the 18th when this new mutated covid dies down a bit.

GCSEs exams have been cancelled for my eldest now after he'd worked so hard in his mock exams getting mostly 8's.
Which is the old A+.
What and when is the alternative?

The schools have eventually got their act together and all lesson are online from 9am till 3pm which is good.

Getting them out for an hour exercise is another challenge.

Started up our home gym sessions which so far is going well.

Ruddy virus.

On the plus side I'm spending more quality time with my children at this important time in their lives, so shouldn't complain too much.

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Originally Posted by MarilynMonroe

Is it all online now in the UK?

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UK be like....

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2021/01/5.gif

Children are back in school on Monday after a tedious winter lockdown.
They've got to have three tests in the first two weeks before they can attend full time, so remote learning is still a part of their education.
After the first fortnight, I must test them with a lateral flow test at home.

So we had a trip out tonight to collect the test kits from an isolated apocalyptic car park tonight.

4 x 7 tests, the maximum issued at one visit..

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The irony..

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The contents..

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I've just tested myself so have to wait 30 minutes for the result, it's a bit like a pregnancy test kit.

If we had these self tests a year ago Covid would of done a lot less damage.

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On another note, I've managed to get my kids into home gym workouts which is helping them with their muscle development.

That must be the first school test you've passed.

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Originally Posted by cyrille

That must be the first school test you've passed.

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:rofl::rolleyes:

First day in for all three today!

The responsibility is someone else's for 6 hours.

A year of this lockdown malarkey now but there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Celebration time with a Greggs breakfast roll.