Paul Brown: I think the biggest challenge is making sure you are doing your best to engage every student. Not everybody learns the same way, so you have to deliver a variety of different learning experiences so that everyone has the best chance to engage with learning. As a music teacher this can be hard when not every student has an instrument at home and you want to encourage your students to practise a song. I’ve instead been offering songs to learn on instruments as well as showing students how to use technology to make music. It has been a pleasure seeing some of the creative work that has come out of students (particularly at Parkes Christian School) when they are allowed to spend more time on the subjects that they love. The nature of at-home learning means that even though we provide the learning experiences with students, they can spend as much or as little on a task, which for some students, they can be more creative and produce something that shows their understanding of a topic in a deeper way.

Ronel van Wyk with Le-Rie and AJ: The challenges are keeping the kids focused and motivated to complete their work. I’m a high school teacher and now I have to be a Year 1 teacher – LOL. The kids miss their friends a lot and playing with them. The pleasures are having all this precious time with my kids, the one-on-one learning experience, being able to see my children grow in their knowledge on a daily basis, and being able to create my own outdoor learning experiences with my kids! We can go for numerous walks and playtimes at the park.

Roxanne Gallacher: My favourite lockdown activity has been games night with my extended family. We all jump on Zoom and play various games together using our phones! Some of our favourites are Trivia on Kahoot! (an online quiz game), Jack-Box (for this you need a Playstation for someone to host the game) and Gartic (GarticPhone.com) which is like a cross between Chinese Whispers and Pictionary. At the moment it is so important to maintain connections with people, physical isolation is one thing, but emotional and mental isolation is much more damaging. So connect, make that call, do a video chat, send an email, take a picture of something that brings you joy and share it with someone else. And be kind, we are all in this together.

 

Lea Orr: We have just moved house after 40 years on the farm! So this lockdown is perfect for uninterrupted sorting and unpacking! Plus full use of garbage service too!

 

Bronte O’Shannessy: I have been doing heaps of baking and have perfected my cookie recipe.
Tom Morrison: My favourite thing has been eating all Bronte’s cooking!!

 

Maureen Massey: I’m getting some mosaic projects underway. All our hockey Australian championships have been cancelled. So, between retirement, no hockey and COVID… I would go crazy if I didn’t have mosaics!

 

Another of maureen’s mosaic creations. She made garden pavers for each of her grandchildren.

 

Oscar Hendry (Year 4):
Best: Every now and then you can have a break and get some fresh air outside in this beautiful weather. Worst: You can’t go out and see your friends.

George Hendry (Year 2):
Best: You can work at your own pace, so if you finish your school book quickly, you can spend time doing other things. Worst: If you have a little brother or sister, it’s hard to do your work. My little sister is a big distraction! It’s also tempting to play games and not do work when Mum and Dad are busy working… so it takes a lot of concentration to do my school work. Oh and I had to spend my birthday in lock-down on Wednesday…

Gloria Hendry (Pre-School):
Best: Staying at home with my family. Worst: I miss my friends at PECC. My brothers are busy doing school work and don’t have time to play with me, and Mum and Dad are busy working.