2020 Vision
Their first ever school trip to York was planned and my boys were excited, it was to be their first time away from home for a few nights... their whole year group was going, I had even called the hotel ahead to make sure George could have his Bernard Matthew’s Turkey dinosaurs for tea! The Manageress of the hotel had a daughter who was a fussy eater and had kindly agreed to go to Tesco to get them in stock for my son.
The Dark Before The Storm
Dark rumblings of Covid were all over the news and I found myself facing the parental dilemma of do I let my sons go with all their friends or was it too dangerous? We are a close knit tribe, so we sat down around the kitchen table and wrote down the pros and cons. The decision was made that Grandparents were more important than their first nights away from home.
The whole nation was transfixed to the daily news of grim numbers and the spread of an alarming pandemic that was changing our way of life. School was sending email after email of work and three full school timetables to be covered daily. I found myself spending long tiring days, on a kitchen stool, bent over, sitting with each child in turn and just trying to keep up.
“School was sending email after email of work and three full school timetables to be covered daily.”
One morning I decided to tell School that we would not be following the timetable but would home school for the rest of the term. We made things simple, we followed the curriculum and focused on where the children needed more help. The result was extraordinary, they flourished academically and they matured with confidence. They also had time to just be.
“I found myself spending long tiring days, on a kitchen stool, bent over, sitting with each child in turn and just trying to keep up.”
The imaginary pause button has been softly pressed on their childhood. The madness of life had slowed down, we found ourselves not rushing, not driving, there were no deadlines to meet. We were a tribe and we lived as one, in our 1940s existence out in the countryside.
You see we live far from the madding crowds, in an old Victorian Manor House, on an Iron Age hill adjoining an ancient deer park given from the King at one time.
Natural Connection
Mornings were spent schooling, after lunch, I would read endless Michael Morpourgo novels as the children swung steadily on the swings imagining the various magical stories that this master of children’s literature wrote. Their understanding of the world was changing as they learnt about empathy and kindness that Morpourgo so cleverly conveyed.
Then the daily magic happened, we hiked all over our Iron Age hill, like a tribe. A long time ago where we lived was under a huge prehistoric lake and a shark had died in the corner of our field. We had had a 6ft ditch dug for drainage and we found heaps of sharks teeth in one spot. Edward unearthed a huge whole ammonite and the children dug and found fossil treasures from a time long forgot.
Not only did we dig in ditches, we jumped ditches for fun, we made the most of the day, be it simple. The sun shone all through Spring and we climbed our hill daily.
The adventures usually involved building dens, having picnics, climbing trees, picking berries and learning about history. Our hill had a big history, starting from the ice age where you could see the ancient valleys, to the monolithic King and Queen Stones where the pagans had worshipped and witchcraft had been undone, to the impressive Iron Age fort where many battles had taken place and sacks of gold treasure unearthed, to the remains of the medieval castle that once stood ever so proudly on our hill.
We lived, we breathed the outside. We used our imagination and we loved every single second of childhood as it should be. As a mother I will cherish these beautiful memories I have of my children, at the time in history we lived through and I will forever keep them in my heart and smile.
