Janice Montgomery shares her personal experiences of juggling childminding and homeschooling during lockdown

Mummy: “Ella, how was mummy’s school?”

Ella: “It was good, we played great games.”

Mummy: “Are you glad you're back at school?”

Ella: “Yes, I am.”

Covid-19 has changed the way of life as we all know it within the past year.  We have all had to adjust and deal with a lot of changes in our lives. 

 A major change for me was having to homeschool my three children, Hannah, aged 10 (P7), Aimee, aged 7 (P4) and Ella, aged 5 (P1).  I am currently a registered childminder and have also been working fully during this pandemic.  We have had a few lockdowns and homeschooling has been the major task each time. During the first lockdown in March 2020, my three girls were excited and thought that homeschooling was great. You could do it in your jammies and watch TV when you wanted.  They had a shock to the system when their school sent home packs for them to complete and watching TV all day was not an option.  

Being a childminder, I thought I could cope and thought I was prepared to help and guide them whilst doing their work - I encourage children on a daily basis to learn new things for themselves.  I was wrong - each of them needed my attention, help and as they were in all different stages of their primary education, splitting time between them as well as working full-time was extremely difficult.  

Most days we managed to complete the work but during the year I did find myself struggling more and more. There were days that actually I hated waking up in the mornings and wondering,  “what day of hell awaits me today?”.  These days became more and more frequent as the lockdowns happened for longer.  I was constantly tired as I wasn’t sleeping, I was eating a lot and piling on weight fast, crying most days and feeling useless/failing at everything.  Days felt like they were getting longer and longer as I tried to keep my girls in the routine they were used to, by getting up at the same time, play time at 11 am, lunch time at 12.30pm and making sure all school work was finished by 3pm.  Then they had homework each day as well which made it harder. They adjusted so quickly to homeschooling whilst we as parents, stressed over everything related to it and worried what the school would think of us if work was not completed in time. 

In my opinion, the children have not been given enough credit for the work they have put into this past year and the impact it has had on them - they really have been amazing.  Thankfully, this week they have all returned to school and are extremely happy to be back.  I have finally had a weight lifted off my shoulders and am starting to feel myself once again.