Georges Hall’s Georges River Grammar has most of their students being homeschooled, including the Toddie family comprising Shelby in Year 6, Brock in Year 4 and twins Indy and Sierra in Year 2.
Mum Lisa is working from home while Dad Shane is an essential worker who helps at home whenever he can.
Lisa tries to get as much done with the children as early as possible as their attention wanes later in the day.
“It’s hectic but it is going well and I’m in touch with all of their teachers bar one,” she said.
“My oldest daughter is highly motivated and doesn’t need much help. She generally finishes her work early and will take the twins for a geography or craft lesson so I can get back to my work as the little ones take up the majority of my time; I’m very lucky to have her.”
A typical boy, Brock requires more work to keep motivated but has also been doing well, Lisa says.
“It’s great when my husband is home as he takes charge of Brock’s lessons,” she said.
Though resisting the trend to pack lunchboxes the night before, Lisa has been serving up a fruit platter for their morning break, which would normally happen at school and then supervises her children on their bikes, roller skates or scooters for about half an hour before returning home for more lessons.
“The children are all on zoom with their classmates and that makes it fun for them and my son had a virtual excursion back to convict times yesterday so it’s great we have so much school support.
“Everything, of course, is technology-based these days which has its positives and negatives but the school is very big on having regular breaks and even released a video for eye exercises to help balance out the screen time; we didn’t have that in the last lockdown.”
