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Desperately seeking purpose...

I have discovered first hand this week the importance of purpose. Of course I know that I feel better when I know why I'm doing something, but watching the kids with their school work brings it home so acutely it's heart-breaking. There is a very clear difference between those lessons where they know what they are being asked to do and why, and those where with all the best will in the world, they don't. I'm also making notes for when it comes to choosing their GCSE options. Unless things change I will fight tooth and nail for Abi to have as much opportunity to take science as possible and for her not to have to do French - it just isn't worth the tears and the hassle, not least she is very unlikely to either retain any of it or use it at a later stage. Poor Izzy will have to do maths regardless, but hopefully by then they will have moved away from rote learning of algebra for the sake of it - what normal person has ever used such things since school anyway?!

If it wasn't so disheartening watching, it would pose some very interesting questions as to why they are taught some of what the curriculum covers. This morning both girls had their PSHE class at the same time, and both had to sit through an hour of dental hygiene theory at the most basic level - what?!?!? As they said, at their age they should know better and is this really the best use of their time? Some of their lessons are really good but in others it's just like forcing them to sit through hour after hour of dull conference calls - hopeless.

 This morning Izzy had a problem with her PC and went into complete meltdown before she'd even logged onto her first lesson. It was relatively simple to fix but she was really upset - it shows that beneath all of this they are finding the whole school experience (if not lockdown) quite difficult. 

Today's win was that we had a power cut and so Abi got to miss RPE (which is RE with a P in it - not sure what that stands for as Abi says its all about Jesus) and Izzy got to miss French. In reality Glenn had the generator plugged in and the whole house powered within minutes, but I decided that after the tears this morning for Abi's French lesson, they could have a break. Abiu joined me in the garden and had a very relaxing and purposeful hour of planting up some pots (we managed to get a click & collect slot at the local garden centre!!). As she finished she said how much she'd enjoyed it and was so pleased with her efforts. It totally changed her mood and just shows that maybe a less structured but more purposeful study programme for a few weeks would be beneficial. If only I had the time to sort it out - I took a day off today, hence the gardening.

We are entering into week 8 ad yesterday was the day we've been waiting for - the big reveal on how the lockdown might be eased. We knew from the media that nothing much was changing but even so we dutifully sat down to watch BoJo tells us we should stay at home but go to work (but don't use public transport) and be alert but be safe. We can meet someone not from our own households, but only one at a time and only in a public space (in case they need to use the loo in the event they come to the house!). It's nowhere near as confusing as the media would have us believe but it demonstrates just how much harder it is to bring the country out of lockdown than it was to put us into it. Worryingly there is a growing admission that a vaccine may be a much longer way off than first suggested and so we may well be living with this for a long time yet. This means we are going to have to learn to live with it and get on with whatever changes that brings us - good and bad. The worst thing? Very unlikely to have the girls back in school before September.... ugh.

Mow off with Larry!


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