My most popular blog post so far was my Bucket List for 2020. Which is ironic because of course, most of it I didn’t end up doing due to the craziness that was 2020. Nowhere on my list did it say stay indoors for the whole year, homeschool, have my baby’s first birthday without family, do tons of nasal swabs on myself and my kids…
But anyway, 2020 has taught me a lot.
I’ve learned that sometimes unexpected things happen. That sometimes there really is nothing you can do to improve things except wait. I like to fix problems and work towards goals. I couldn’t fix covid! 2020 taught me a lot about human nature, and the general level of compassion for other people. I honestly thought that it was the rare exceptions that were lacking in that department. It’s easy to see it isn’t so rare at all. With people not wearing masks, refusing to vaccinate, outright covid deniers.. and even people who you expect to be compassionate and sensible trying at every opportunity to flout the rules. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking. I’ve seen many people online saying they’ve reevaluated the people they’re close to as they don’t seem to care about the lives of others or even their own loved ones.
I’ve also learned some positive lessons, less heartbreaking, from this year. Lockdown in the UK in the spring, taught me a skill I had never managed before. I’m still trying to implement it to the right level in my life. I’ve always been a planner. I overthink and over plan often. Lockdown taught me to live in the moment. Nothing could be planned in advance. Every day was about staying at home with G and the boys, and the only things that needed planning was to make sure the bills got paid and the shopping got delivered, and our homeschooling schedule.
It was freeing. I’ve never lived like that before. I took the time to really slow down. To pay attention to the little details. To make sure to find something to be grateful for every day. It has really improved the way I live. Life moved forwards again and the kids went back to school etc. But I’m trying to keep the slowness, presence in the moment, and gratitude.
During the spring, schools in the UK were closed. I personally, enjoyed this period quite a lot of the time. As an anxious mother, my favourite times are when all my babies (including G) are safe at home with me and I can keep them safe and know what’s happening to them. Lockdown meant this was ALWAYS the case. Really, lockdown actually reduced my anxiety most of the time! During this time we also started home learning. This was very informal. The school did set work but it wasn’t expected that everyone did it all, and I think there were some children who did none.
We took the middle route. I had always wanted to try homeschooling. So we used some of the English and Maths resources. But we also had a weekly theme for our learning and I prepared lessons from the twinkl website, which I know our school uses for their school resources. I even paid for a subscription to it. It’s an excellent website! We learned about world war 2, space, the sea, dinosaurs (M’s specialist subject), predators, and much more. The boys really enjoyed homeschooling as it was only vaguely structured by type of activity and then they had creative time after the formal studying. They spent lots of time working on animations, drawings, powerpoints about the topic, and lots of time in the garden.
During this time, G was working from home and Baby O was only just a year old and slightly awkward to homeschool around. But we eventually figured out a system and made it work. We all enjoyed that time and it was so fulfilling to ask them questions about what we’d learned and they’d know the answer!
We were supposed to go on holiday with my parents this summer. The boys first ever holiday. It would have been to a family holiday camp and they’d been looking forward to it for a year after having been told by my mum. This has been postponed to next summer, so hopefully it will go ahead then.
Another big thing from 2020 is a decision we made about our living situation. We currently live in a rented house in Southend on Sea, Essex. The boys have always lived in Southend, in fact, they’ve rarely left Essex, only for trips to London or Bluewater. However, now we have Baby O, and he’s getting too big to stay in our bedroom. All the boys want (and deserve!) their own bedroom. We can’t afford that here in Southend. So, we have decided at the end of our tenancy here, which finishes in February, we will be moving to Colchester. We have friends there, and the rental prices are much cheaper. The house we currently rent needs work done, but the next tenant is likely to pay £400 more a month than we do after this work is done. For that same price, we can get an extra bedroom in Colchester.
2021 is going to be another strange year with coronavirus still lurking about dangerously, while we wait for the vaccine rollout and to see if that makes life safer again. But life moves forward, and lots of change is coming for our family.
-We will start the next part of our family life in Colchester, moving in February and settling into a new home and a new town.
-I am making big decisions about my career and my business Natural Causes Art (more to come in a future blog post)
-I am making new goals for 2021, our family, my career and other aspects of our lives
-The boys and Baby O continue to grow and develop. A just turned 10, M will turn 9, and then Baby O will have his second birthday. The toddler years are fun and hard work so we have that to look forward to.
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