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The Learning Institute

The Learning Institute

Love (of learning) in the time of Coronavirus #1: I am a full-time mother, a full-time student and suddenly… a full-time ‘home learning facilitator’

Kate reflects on how much has changed since she started the FdA Inclusive Education in September 2019.

Summer 2019: I am a full-time mother.

Autumn 2019: I am a full-time mother and a full-time student.

Spring 2020: I am a full-time mother, a full-time student and suddenly… a full-time ‘home learning facilitator’.  That escalated quickly!

So how are we all doing in these strange, uncertain times?  None of us know how long this will last and so for now we all persevere with our new ‘normal’. My family are some of the very (very) lucky ones… we live in a very rural part of Cornwall, the sun is shining, and we have plenty to do to feel like we’re being useful.  The lockdown is even enjoyable most of the time but knowing that others aren’t having it quite so easy, and the unknown threat of what will come, are the dark clouds to our silver lining.

Suddenly the teenage one and I are competing for the good laptop (I almost always lose as teenage egos prioritise their own needs first and foremost!) The middle one happily requisitions the old brick of a laptop.  The desk that I bought only a week before (to use for writing my essays) suddenly turns into the husband’s office so he can work from home.  Hmmm……

I look back with rose-tinted spectacles on the blissful hours of child-free time when the big ones were at school and the grandparents had the baby so I could get on with my course work.  I am now fiercely protective of the minutes I can squirrel away from my family to concentrate.  Those minutes are the moments that my mind can expand and breathe, away from constant requests for biscuits and entertainment.  I had no idea when I started this course that it would become (for a short time hopefully!) the only ‘me time’ I would have for days on end!

We are all studying varying types of education on our course, and, actually, isn’t this the most amazing and historically unique opportunity for a different take on understanding education?   As an Inclusive Education student, this is probably the most ‘exclusive-inclusive’ education that I will ever experience!  What an amazing opportunity for us all to gain a fresh insight into education and at the same time get to know our offspring, partners and ourselves in an entirely new (relentless) way.  And I will embrace this opportunity … so long as no one panic buys all the coffee and biscuits!