A taste of online school

This time last year the whole world went into lockdown – who would have thought that 365 days later we’d be in the same position?!

I certainly didn’t.

Maybe I was being naive thinking that we would get a few months off school and then it would all be cleared by the end of 2020? During that first lockdown I actually didn’t really have any school work to do as we had reached the end of my GCSE course, so I was honestly just making the most of the free time I had to explore things that I had always wanted to do but never had time for.

This time, it’s different.

The UK was put into a third lockdown at the end of December for at least 3 months, so for me, that meant my first taste of real online school – and it’s difficult! The motivation just doesn’t exist some days, so I thought that sharing what a day looks like for me would bring a little incentive to get some work done; so without further ado, let me show you what a day in my life of online school looks like!

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I like to start off the day by journaling, which is a habit I’ve gotten into recently (thanks to Nayna Florence – I love her!) I find that reaching for my notebook from my bed and writing down thoughts swimming around my head always ensures my day is off to a good start – it really puts me in a positive mindset, and has definitely taught me some mindfulness tips.

Afterwards, it’s time for breakfast! I never used to be a breakfast person, but ever since I started doing school from home I find that having something simple like that to look forward to in the morning makes me want to get out of bed.

On this particular morning, I made my microwave baked oats recipe (which you can find here) which has been a favourite of mine recently!

Of course, I always need a big ol’ cup of black coffee to boost my energy too.

9am and it’s time to start the day!

The way my school works is each of my teachers usually hold one zoom class per week and the other days we have that particular class, we’re set work to submit on Google classroom. I personally find that it works for me because I can be a little bit more flexible in when I do my work so I can give myself more time for other things (ie. blogging)

Today was pretty busy because I had 3 zoom classes which is relatively a lot considering you just have to sit in front of a screen and listen for ages – not ideal, but we’ll get through it!

I felt like the day was off to a pretty slow start and I wasn’t getting loads done since I was just sitting listening to my teachers, but that’s what I would be doing in school anyway. Something I’ve been trying to work on is trying to not beat myself up about not being crazy productive 24/7 like a lot of lifestyle/study YouTubers try to promote.

I might do a more in-depth post about this, but I read a really good article about ‘The Fesitshisation of productivity’ which I really recommend you read if you feel the same way as I do. Productivity can be good but it can also become extremely toxic and it has become a kind of measure of success in the study community: the more hours you study, the more productive you’re being, but we have to remember that relaxing is important too, and studying 18 hours a day just isn’t sustainable.

Anyway, after my calls ended I had my lunch and then got on with some Spanish grammar work and essay questions for my other subjects, before relaxing with a cup of coffee and some youtube before dinner.

We had Dominoes pizza as it was my brother’s birthday, and funnily enough it was on national pizza day this year! I had the vegetable one which is my mum and I’s favourite…what are your go-to pizza toppings?

I had a bit of a post-dinner food coma (worth it) so I decided to go for a late night walk which was kind of spooky, but something about the dark and the quiet streets also soothes me somehow. When it’s quiet I can be at peace with my thoughts and just immerse myself in the atmosphere around me while listening to a podcast or some music.

It was freezing because hello Uk winter – but I made sure to cosy up with lots of layers! Walking and getting fresh air is so good for the mind, especially right now so please try and get out as much as you can!

The last thing I really did was come home and work on blog posts for a little bit. I always like to make to-do lists to help me see what I have to get done in a day, and I’ve found that having a digital one on To-do lists is my favourite – it’s so satisfying to see each thing get crossed off as I complete it. I recommend even listing little things like ‘eat breakfast’ or ‘make your bed’ to give yourself a little boost of motivation.

I try to go to sleep before 11:30pm but as I’m sure you know, that doesn’t always work out too well. Sometimes, we just get sucked into a YouTube spiral and next thing we know, we’re watching videos of giraffes in the wild – but hey, that’s life, right?

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Obviously, not everyday of online school looks like this: some days it’s honestly pretty difficult to leave my bed and I might end up only completing a couple of tasks from the comfort of my teddy bear duvet. I try to keep weekends free of schoolwork and make them purely about things I like to do which definitely helps me keep on top of things during the week a bit more. What I will say is that it will be interesting to go back to real school when the time comes – will I be able to function for that length of time? Only time will tell!

How are you coping during lockdown? Do you have any tips to stay motivated? Let me know!

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