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A mum-of-three who was homeschooling her three children before the lockdown says being at home and having a schedule to run the household is nothing new to her.

42 year old Marie-Claire Norman, known as Maz, lives in Glenfield with husband Mick and their three children aged six, twelve and thirteen.

She has been homeschooling her 12-year-old daughter, Seren since May 2018. Seren previously attended Westgate Special School in the city.

But when the school became unable to cope with Seren’s needs, an emergency Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) meeting was held, and representatives agreed that Westgate School was no longer an option for Seren.

The meeting agreed that a very small school with autism only provision, small class sizes - Seren's class size of 5 at Westgate became too much for her - and a more practical curriculum would be more suitable. That was nearly two years ago.

Since then, Maz has largely been educating Seren at home.

In addition to Seren being off school, 13-year-old Phoenix, who attends Martin High School in Anstey, had to take a break from school after starting to suffer from anxiety.

Maz said: “He felt like if he went to school he would be in a car crash or get kidnapped or something bad would happen.

“She was running away a lot which made for quite a difficult time.”

A well-behaved pupil who was doing well with his school work, Phoenix began to think something bad was going to happen to each member of his family. These feelings got so out of control it was agreed that in the interests of Phoenix, he take some time off school.

Six year old Cyrus has also had problems at school and has struggled with his behaviour.

Maz said: "At one point the school were considering excluding him.”

So before the lockdown, Maz felt many of the symptoms people are now experiencing.

She said: “You can’t just nip to the shops. You can’t go out for days sometimes as it becomes such a big deal.”

And she has some good advice to others who are in lockdown: “Make sure you stick to a routine. That doesn’t mean doing schoolwork all day. Plan a movie into the schedule.”

“If they like watching the TV, plan this into the routine and let them take it in turns to choose the channel.”

“If I plan some free time into the schedule, the kids can get a bit argumentative.

“Just make sure they have their own space during freetime. Seren spends her free time in the garden on her own.”

“You have to find what works for each child. Cyrus likes visual timetables, but Seren likes everything text to her on a mobile phone.

“Make use of technology. Facetime family members so the children can talk to them.

“It’s really important to try to take time out for yourself - even if it’s just 15 minutes.”