Tips provided by Greg Smith, Head of Operations at home education provider Oxford Home Schooling

When Covid-19 closed schools in the UK, millions of parents were suddenly faced with the unfamiliar world of homeschooling. While the new routine has certainly had its challenges, a new study has revealed that nearly a quarter of Brits (24%) are considering home-educating their children even after the pandemic is over. Here are five tips on how to make the transition as smooth as possible.

I’ll be honest. Before lockdown, I didn’t know who Joe Wicks was. I vaguely knew the name, but if he’d have walked into my house I wouldn’t have known him from Adam. 

But when I heard that he was going to be doing PE classes for kids every morning of lockdown, I was immediately on board. In lieu of the boys daily ‘wake-up shake-up’ at school, this seemed like the next best thing. So on day one we all joined in to see what it was like. I was wearing my jeans and a jumper, figuring the exercises would be easy enough if they were for kids (I do do a weekly HIIT class after all!) but after a few minutes I was sweating, panting and laughing and I realised this Joe person was the real deal! 

I’m going to begin this piece with my favourite quote from none other than the legend that is Macaulay Culkin…
“I’ve yet to find a level of enthusiasm that tops “Holy shit look at this giant potato chip!” 

by Chris Miezitis, Fathers Network Scotland

I love pictures of small babies. Who doesn’t? Small, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, soft-haired beautiful wee tiny totsy, gentle quiet creatures.

The minute my second child exploded into the world it was clear he was personally offended by the fall in his living standards. He was 9Ib 3oz of furious customer unleashed on TripAdvisor. If he’d had any control over his chubby, raging little hands he would have littered the internet with passive aggressive 0-star reviews. In his last residence he’d wanted for nothing! And now this?! This was a shambles. Daddy? Idiot. This baby grow? Burn it. Milk that I have to get myself? Are you mad? Sleep? How can you expect me to sleep in this wretched, godforsaken place? 

I left Scotland 10 years ago in a bashed up Ford Fiesta and all my belongings in a box. I returned 7 years later with considerably more baggage in the shape of 1.5 kids, a husband, a teaching degree and a lorry 60% full of plastic toys that bleeped. I was 40 weeks pregnant with an apparent future footballer and our daughter was just 3. Had we stayed in England, she would have been starting school the following summer at the tender age of 4. I was apprehensive. From what I had experienced in my teaching career so far it all felt a bit too soon, so I was delighted to discover that as a February born baby in Scotland, her and her January born peers would be entitled to defer their school start date by a year. Not only that but she would automatically be entitled to an extra year of nursery funding. 

If it seems that every second person you meet is giving up gluten or deciding to ditch dairy, then you’d be right. Figures from Allergy UK state that almost half of the population have intolerances to various foods, 48% of adults suffer from more than one allergy and the rate of hospital admissions for anaphylaxis has increased by a whopping 615% over the past two decades - in the UK alone. Studies suggest that as many as 1 in 3 of the population believe they have allergies, but many remain undiagnosed.

You’ve decided you would like to have some family photos taken, so how do you choose the best photographer to take them? ​