Learner Dad: The main thing about Home School Hub - the kids find it interesting

Tue, 02 Feb, 2021 - 06:00

Pat Fitzpatrick

Home-schooling question:

Are you supposed to correct your child’s work before you submit it online? I have been doing it because I suffer from the Extreme Morto, a terrible fear of my kids doing something wrong in public, even in the middle of a global pandemic. So whenever they do a bit of sums or writing, I’d check it was right before they upload it to Seesaw, the app we all use for home-schooling. (It’s a great app, but I wonder will kids ever be able to have fun on an actual see-saw again, given that it’s the new word for school.)

Anyway, I was talking to another parent yesterday (on the phone, before you report me talking to someone in person) when she said that she doesn’t check her child’s work. I ask ed why, silently judging her lazy parenting style. She replied that a child needs to be wrong sometime if they’re going to learn and a gentle correction from the teacher will serve them well in future. She’s right of course. We learn from our mistakes, probably because they make us feel bad. So am I doing to stop correcting work before it’s submitted on Seesaw? No. The Extreme Morto runs deep - I have it for life, there isn’t much I can do about it now.

Dr Phil:

RTÉ's H ome School Hub is a triumph. And not just because I can put the kids in front of it for an hour and catch up with some work/scroll through online travel forums to see if anyone thinks we’ll be allowed to go on summer holidays. The main thing about Home School Hub is that the kids find it interesting. It’s astronomy and history rather than spelling and maths.

The only problem I have with it is Dr Phil - an American talk show hosted by psychologist Dr Phil McGraw. I use the RTÉ Player app to access Home School Hub live on my phone, and then cast it up to our TV using Google Chromecast. It works fine until I leave the room, at which point the RTÉ Player switches from the live feed on RTÉ 2 to RTÉ One, and that’s Dr Phil. So suddenly my six and eight year olds could go from learning about gravity to an interview with a sex addict in Milwaukee. Not ideal.

It hasn’t happened yet because the kids don’t like Dr Phil and shout at me the minute it comes on TV. The fix is to leave my phone next to the TV, for reasons that I don’t fully understand. Maybe it’s just my setup, I’m not sure. But you might check it yourself just in case. Because the last thing you need to hear right now is, “Daddy, what’s a sex addict?'.

S ofa dad:

I’m not getting much exercise during the week at the moment. I got through a fair number of Joe Wicks's workouts during the first lockdown, but I don’t seem to have the time or inclination to do it this time around. To be honest, the problem is more inclination than time. All the novelty of being locked in your house with your kids has worn off. I doubt if I’m the only one feeling this.

The fresh sourdough bread and ‘I just ran a marathon in my front room’ posts have slowed to a trickle on social media. It would be nice to think this is because people don’t want to be crowing when the ICUs are full, but that would be to over-estimate people on social media. I think it’s more people are fed up and couldn’t be bothered.

The thing is January and early February will do that you anyway. But then suddenly the daffodils pop up another bit and it’s bright during the Angelus (if you listen to the Angelus), and there’s a touch more spring in your step. So, i t’s time to get up and go.

Just thinking about it there now, we’re not getting up until 8.30 every morning, with no school to go to. So, here’s a daft resolution – I’m going to get up at 7.30 and go for a brisk walk before we get st u ck into another day. Who knows, I might even actually do it. I’ll let you know.