Post Covid-19: Back to School?Or No?

I wonder how many people will send their children back to school after this is all over. I had always considered the idea of homeschooling ever since I became a mum. I never went through with it because of a lot of valid reasons. But mostly because I was scared.

I was scared of all the (mis)information I had heard about homeschooled children. Biggest of which was the “fact” that they tend to be socially deficient because they stayed home all day with their mum (or dad) and never learnt how to make friends. This worried me the most because I was new to the UK and my social circle was painfully small nonexistent. LOL. And, for a long time, the only people my son interacted with were his mum and dad. As a new mum, all I could see were the ‘unreached milestones’ and ‘speech delay’. So, at the age of 14 months, I bundled him up and took him to a childminder three days a week even when I had no job to go to and no other child to look after. “ He will learn social skills and mix with other kids his age”, I reassured myself.

That was the beginning of the end of my homeschooling dream. Seven years later, here we all are, cooped up in our living room; homeschooling and home working. And now, as  I watch my little big kids, learning and creating from the comfort of our home, my dream of homeschooling begins to look real and attractive to me once again.

Unfortunately for me, I have an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old who are absolutely in love with school, their teachers and their friends, and I wonder if I may have missed my chance. Every time I broach the topic of not going back to school after the Coronavirus epidemic has blown over, I am met with loud and adamant ‘NOOOOOOs’ from both kids. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  “Surely, learning from mum and dad at home hasn’t been that bad”? I ask them.

“Not exactly, but I am going to miss all my friends and teachers and everything else, I can’t wait to go back to school mum”!

He is definitely not that 14 month-old boy anymore!

My children truly love school. So much so that the other day, my son made a point of addressing me as “Miss Fashola” for a while and then proceeding to ask permission to go to the restroom. I roll my eyes and say “Yes, you may go to the restroom”.

“Thank you, Miss!”  He says 🙂

If I’m honest, I am not sure if I REALLY want to homeschool either. It will mean a lot of sacrifices, mostly on my part and I am not sure I want to give up my job or my ‘me- time’ just yet. But I also feel like they’re not getting everything they need from school and I can give it to them…

I don’t know.. I am just thinking out loud guys. I don’t have it figured out yet.

What’s your plan post Covid-19? Back to school? Or a new homeschooling adventure?