Be thankful to our children... Mum's poem reflects the challenges of home schooling

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An online school poetry session during the coronavirus lockdown has inspired a local parent to express her thoughts on the situation in verse.

It came about after Yvonne Shearer's daughter Rylee Harper – a P5 pupil at Canisbay Primary School – was doing a poem task via Google Classroom. Yvonne's well-crafted words touch upon the challenges of home learning at such a difficult time, and how the children are longing to be back in school with their classmates.

The poem captured the imagination of the school staff.

Head teacher Rhona Moodie said: "Yvonne shared it with the teachers in Canisbay and we all thought it was really great and summed up the current situation."

A picture tells a story

That only our eyes can see

We can choose what to make of it

But won't necessarily all agree

A quick snap of an achievement

Can feel like we’ve found gold

But the end picture shown to everyone

Leaves the beginning of the story untold

When something made us beam with pride

And we chose to show you all

Don’t forget that what you didn’t see

Almost drove us up the wall

The tears, the tantrums and hissy fits

Have become a daily event

When working through the school tasks

That teachers have kindly sent

Not many kids are happy

Having a school inside their home

They long to be back in their class

Not having to learn alone

So while the crying may not end too soon

And some days aren’t so good

We’ll struggle through the worst of it

And pray tomorrow brings a better mood

If there comes a time where you’ve found joy

And something you want to share

Please show us all, we’d love to see

And show you that we care

We won't need to know the beginning

Of the story you’re trying to tell

We’ll see the end, the picture

And we’ll see it’s turned out well

It’s easy to hide all the stress

And feel you’ve failed the test

But rest assured we’re all the same

You, me and all the rest

So if we see a picture

We’ll try not to compare

We’ll not know what led up to it

That made them want to share

It's certainly a very strange time for all

Like no-one has felt before

We’re staying in, seeing nobody

Barely stepping out over the door

One day this will all be over

And our kids will begin to smile

They’ll get back to school,

to their teachers and friends

Who they’ve missed for such a long while

When this happens be thankful

For big things and for small

But mostly to our children

For the way they have dealt with it all.

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