Slowing down and learning from home

The world has changed and will never be the same again.

3 pictures of views along the coastal path - grass, trees and sea

Everyone's experience of this time will be different. I really have no intention of pretending this has been anything other than a hard time for so many and of tragic loss for far too many. I also don't mean to leave any impression that this is a holiday rather than an international emergency that we have to somehow get through. For us, some days are OK, some days are less so. Some days are productive and we manage to get things done, other days we don't. I like the memes about it not being a competition and those about there being no right way to feel. This is something new to all of us and although there may be experiences in many peoples lives that have given us tools to help us navigate, we are all in uncharted waters.

Field of daisies with empty bench in background

We are watching the world closer to home but more closely. Currently we can go outside for exercise once a day. From where we are at the moment we can walk from home along the coast path or along the shore line and meet very few people. A directive from the harbour master has stopped any kayaking, paddle boarding or other water activities so we are very glad we can still go walking. Along the coast path we have been watching the lambs growing and the woods and coast path move slowly from spring into summer. We've spotted centipedes, numerous butterflies, King Alfred cakes, forget-me-nots, gold finches, grass hoppers, ravens and many more. The water and shore around us has also given us plenty to watch with cormorants, ducks, mullet, oyster catchers and even a curlew.

School of mullet in the river eating algae on a submerged branch

We have found before that walking around places slowly you can find things that can be so easily missed when you are rushing. We often think of St Quay-Portrieux in Brittany which has a reputation as a dull and concrete place. We were there a for a while waiting for some engine bits and explored the area around the marina possibly more than some, especially because the sea dog needed walking. As we went beyond the confines of the marina we found amazing views from the coastal path, a couple of lovely towns and some quirky buildings. Sometimes we start looking at what is around us more when we don't have the option of going anywhere else. My Dad often quoted the lines from WH Davies poem Leisure:

'What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare'

Old building with view to sea, St Quay

School is a big concern for many people at the moment. Our boat schooling experiences have probably helped us but this 'doing school work at home' is not the same as home schooling. The schools I know of have been brilliant at communicating and providing suitable material for the children to continue to develop. They have also done welfare checks with the children on the phone. Having that responsibility for learning is hard though, at least when we were boat schooling we had the advantage of setting our own curriculum and projects.

Boy on deck with nautical charts in sunshine, making notes

Our three are all at secondary school now and over the last few weeks alongside the school work we have been watching lots of YouTube such as Minute Earth, Scishow, CGP Grey, NileRed, Tom Scott and Numberphile. We also found a great book a while ago that we were using for exam revision until they were cancelled and is now just a bit of fun and writing practice; The very short story starter by John Gillard has lots of prompts and ideas for writing with challenges ranging from 4 word stories to 500 words. If you want writing ideas just to have a bit of a change you could also try Chris Fielden's list of ideas. Full disclosure, Chris is a family friend and Mr Davis is my brother.

If you are worried about primary school children missing out you might be interested in what I wrote in a blog a while after we returned to England and the children had returned to formal schooling:

Possibly the question of most interest to those who are home educating is what do I have to teach? What are the important bits in hind sight? I would personally suggest that the best gifts to give any child are a love of reading and a love of learning. On a more practical note, if you intend re-entering formal education at any point then for any child the basic building blocks will make any further learning much simpler: correct letter shape formation, an understanding of phonics and knowledge of the times tables. With those firmly under your belt anything is possible.

3 boys round a table on deck doing school work

Missing family and friends is hard. We used Skype when we were travelling to spend time together. In some ways it feels a bit like that again but now there is no date in the diary for the next time and place we will be able to meet up. We always enjoyed being back together when we had visits and really appreciated the time we got to spend together, sharing our journey with our support team in interesting places. I know that there are many people over the world stuck in the 'wrong' country and how difficult that must be. We are really looking forward to when we can safely meet up with our family and friends again.

Nanny and 3 boys sat on a wall in Spain, beach and sea behind

We have managed to carry on with some work on the boat using the things we had ready for fitting or building. Lots of odd little jobs and some bigger things like wiring have been done or are being done. We're particularly glad that we have now got the new fridge wired in. The dog is loving having everyone home and also enjoying the new cockpit flooring which is foam, looks like teak planking and feels lovely underfoot.

5 mugs of various hot drinks in a circle on a table

Wherever you are and whoever you are with during this time, stay safe.

Sunset over the river just after 8pm on a Thursday evening