Well, I am sure we are not the only family to be affected by the news this week: non essential travel is banned for 30 days and the kids are off school (with no end date) due to the Coronavirus. It’s such a daunting time. In less than 2 weeks, we had planned to go to Dubai to visit friends. It’s crazy to think how this has all transformed in such a short space of time. I know it’s important and I understand why, don’t get me wrong, but what a shock for the system! With that in mind, I am planning on covering a lot of ideas and resources over the next week to help other families in a similar situation.
Cancellation of our trip
Firstly, the Dubai trip was cancelled. We were staying with friends, initially Dubai closed their schools and brought the Spring break forward which meant their break started at the beginning of March, not the beginning of April. So if we had of travelled to Dubai, they would have been back at school and work by then. Which would have been disappointing. In a way I am glad the UK decided to ban travel for 30 days as that meant our decision was made for us, as up to Monday of this week, we were still planning on going. When this announcement was made, British Airways immediately emailed us to say our flights would be refunded. This was a great weight off our minds.
If you were planning on travelling over the Easter holiday, I would advise you to check in with your holiday operator or flight company and see if you are able to get a refund or change the date of your booking.
Homeschooling
Hubby and I have never done this before, much like the rest of the population we are a bit worried about how this is going to work. Juggling work and school, family time and fun. I really hope the kids react well to this and do their learning without too much fuss. We have a plan for what we are going to do, I am just waiting for Hubby to confirm with his work that our plan is ok!
Our plan is to take the kids school routine and continue this, so school (at home) will start at 9am. No doubt Isla will create a register for me to take every morning! In the mornings, Mummy is teacher… We will be doing Maths & English work until break time. Break time will consist of a dog walk to the nearby park (whilst we can). Then back home to do reading until lunchtime. Then Daddy will take over and no doubt do lots of fun activities with the kiddies. I have never been more grateful for our trampoline, that will be perfect for break times with the kids and exercise for us adults too!
I have ordered comfortable chair pads, as I figured if we are sitting down for the entire day we need to be comfortable. I have printed out blank timetables so we can work out how our weeks are going to look. This will help the children to understand what we will be doing.
I will be sharing tips and resources of things I have found in other blog posts.
Cleaning
I have, thankfully, cleaning products stocked up from before this outbreak happened. I am going to make up boxes for our grandparents and neighbours as our neighbours are both elderly and unwell. One has had a lung removed this year due to Cancer. I will be packing up wipes, gel, soap, and some packets of long life foods. Oh, and toilet roll!
I have some tips and tricks on how to use cleaning products that I will be showing you all and I have a fabulous cleaning competition coming up too. Look out for these in the coming days.
If you have any tips, resources and ideas I would love to hear them in the comments below or on social media @mummyconstant.
