Just a few thoughts for home-schooling parents as a parent who has had a 12-13 year old daughter out of mainstream school for most of the last 18 months. I appreciate that this won't help everyone (maybe just one person) but hope it brings comfort.

Our daughter has been in and out of mainstream school since October 2018 due to an ongoing medical condition she’s being treated for. The first few months were hard as she completely fell between the cracks of education and health care. She had no education for about 3-4 months
Her condition is not aided by extra anxiety and therefore we have had to take a soft approach to her education. Since sorting things out through various services, she was back at school part time for the last semester. Things were taken day by day
Although she is only studying certain subjects, she soon made up ground in those areas, and though she may not be top of her class, she is doing OK. Her mental well being remains most important to us.
Remember that the school system was very anxiety inducing for some of our kids. Some have thrived more under lockdown without peer pressure, constant testing and anxiety/expectations. As adults we can better coping skills to deal with anxiety and we can share them with our kids
Even though kids might be at school 6 hours a day, they do not actively learn for 6 hours, so don’t feel that they have to be in front of a screen all day. They are also dealing with this, it’s scary for them, if you are stressed about their education, it will make them anxious
You don’t have to be a perfect teacher, you are not qualified to do this. I know teachers who admit that they struggle to home school their own kids. The dynamics have changed. Things will get better.
If you are lucky to live in a stable, loving household that values education, your kids have a good foundation Learning just does not happen exclusively behind the school gates. If they are watching an instructional art video on YouTube or Horrible Histories, that’s education
I feel for the kids less fortunate than mine, where no life long learning takes place at home. Where there are no laptops, books, games and most importantly no love and assurance. What your kids need most right now are the last two things
I don’t pretend to know enough about secondary education and it’s easy to say what another profession should be doing to improve. But we have to remember that the system our children are in does not fit all, testing and exams is not great for all kids.
Home learning can be flexible, and less regimental. Watching a documentary as a family & talking about it has value. I know not one size fits all. Kids are different ages with different vulnerabilities, demands, families have pressures, workloads and caring responsibilities.
So I don’t mean this advice in any demeaning way. We are resilient, we are entitled to offload and complain, it’s important to communicate. Don’t feel bad about all of the things and don’t beat yourself up if you think you’re failing at home schooling.
It’s not a competition, focus on love and learning will come easier once you start to relax a bit. Forcing it all is just not going to help any of us, especially the kids. x

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Viruses and other pathogens are often studied as stand-alone entities, despite that, in nature, they mostly live in multispecies associations called biofilms—both externally and within the host.

https://t.co/FBfXhUrH5d


Microorganisms in biofilms are enclosed by an extracellular matrix that confers protection and improves survival. Previous studies have shown that viruses can secondarily colonize preexisting biofilms, and viral biofilms have also been described.


...we raise the perspective that CoVs can persistently infect bats due to their association with biofilm structures. This phenomenon potentially provides an optimal environment for nonpathogenic & well-adapted viruses to interact with the host, as well as for viral recombination.


Biofilms can also enhance virion viability in extracellular environments, such as on fomites and in aquatic sediments, allowing viral persistence and dissemination.
The first ever world map was sketched thousands of years ago by Indian saint
“Ramanujacharya” who simply translated the following verse from Mahabharat and gave the world its real face

In Mahabharat,it is described how 'Maharishi Ved Vyasa' gave away his divine vision to Sanjay


Dhritarashtra's charioteer so that he could describe him the events of the upcoming war.

But, even before questions of war could begin, Dhritarashtra asked him to describe how the world looks like from space.

This is how he described the face of the world:

सुदर्शनं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्वीपं तु कुरुनन्दन। परिमण्डलो महाराज द्वीपोऽसौ चक्रसंस्थितः॥
यथा हि पुरुषः पश्येदादर्शे मुखमात्मनः। एवं सुदर्शनद्वीपो दृश्यते चन्द्रमण्डले॥ द्विरंशे पिप्पलस्तत्र द्विरंशे च शशो महान्।

—वेद व्यास, भीष्म पर्व, महाभारत


Meaning:-

हे कुरुनन्दन ! सुदर्शन नामक यह द्वीप चक्र की भाँति गोलाकार स्थित है, जैसे पुरुष दर्पण में अपना मुख देखता है, उसी प्रकार यह द्वीप चन्द्रमण्डल में दिखायी देता है। इसके दो अंशो मे पीपल और दो अंशो मे विशाल शश (खरगोश) दिखायी देता है।


Meaning: "Just like a man sees his face in the mirror, so does the Earth appears in the Universe. In the first part you see leaves of the Peepal Tree, and in the next part you see a Rabbit."

Based on this shloka, Saint Ramanujacharya sketched out the map, but the world laughed