Like many parents across the state right now, Moree Champion's Leah Hancock is able to breathe a sigh of relief that the school holidays are upon us.
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School holidays can often be a stressful time for working parents who need to take time off work or find alternative childcare arrangements during the two-week break.
These holidays however will come as a relief for many, like Leah, who over the past few weeks have found themselves in the triple-tasking role of teacher, professional and caregiver, all while trying to maintain their own sanity in an uncertain and worrying time.
"The biggest challenge is, you're still expected to do your job and give your job 100 per cent but I also now have the boys there and have to try and supervise them," Leah said.
"It's a challenging time."
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Leah, who is a sales and administration assistant with Australian Community Media (which means she puts together the layouts for ACM papers across the country, including the Moree Champion), had already been working from home like the rest of the Moree Champion staff for a number of weeks.
She had been enjoying working from home, had gotten into a good routine and found she was a lot more productive without the added distractions of an office environment.
However, that all changed when the government advised parents to keep children home from school if they could and on Wednesday, March 25, the Hancocks were one of many families now thrust into a life of homeschooling their two boys, Jared (13) and Cooper (nine).
Jared, in year eight at Moree Secondary College, was provided with a work pack, while Cooper, in year four at St Philomena's, has his work regularly uploaded onto Google Classroom.
Leah said she is lucky her boys are that bit older and don't require constant supervision.
"I just can't give them that supervision," she said.
"We've been so busy at work coming up to Easter, with a lot of papers stopping publishing and ads being pulled.
"Trying to supervise my boys and do my job has been hard. Last week was pretty bad."
A typical day in the Hancock household now sees dad Simon leave for work before Leah is at her desk and ready to start work by 8.30am. Jared and Cooper then start their schoolwork in separate rooms at 9am, trying as best they can to follow their regular school timetables.
"We muddle our way through the day from there," Leah said.
"I'll yell out and ask them if they need a hand and they'll come in and ask me something."
And while the boys are generally good and do their work, Leah said one of the hardest things is being with her children 24/7 with no break and no outlet. With Simon picking up extra shifts packing shelves at Coles of a night time, Leah is alone with the boys for the majority of the day.
"I love my kids but I love having a break from them too," she said.
"It's like when you have a newborn baby and you're with the baby 24/7 with no contact with the outside world.
"Normally you'd have outlets like school and work and sport but we're now completely cut off from all of that. We're with each other 24/7.
"I'm honestly concerned for my mental health. I don't know how I'll go if this lasts for six months or more.
"It's not that we don't enjoy being with our children. If I wasn't working full-time, and I'm so grateful to still have a job and the facilities to work from home, but we need to work out a routine and find that balance.
"I think because it happened so suddenly, I wasn't mentally prepared to homeschool. But we've just got to find a way to make it work."
However, the new work and schooling arrangements does have its upsides.
Leah, an avid baker and cook, has enjoyed spending time in the kitchen with her boys.
"Jared is now doing home economics and so we baked a cake and he learnt to make spaghetti bolognese," she said.
"Coop and I made cookies."
The family also planted fruit trees on the weekend together, a project Leah and Simon had been wanting to do for years.
"We are spending more time with the kids," Leah said.
"Because we haven't got that routine where the kids have to be in bed early and up ready to catch up the bus by 8am, the boys are staying up a bit later and we've been watching a movie together.
"We're a little more relaxed in our evenings and mornings now, we're not rushing out the door. It's nice not to have that stress. I don't miss that.
"Patch [the dog] is also loving having the boys home. They'll go outside and play with him."
Leah is particularly looking forward to the upcoming school holidays and not having to worry about reminding her boys to do school work.
She hopes the few weeks off school will give her a bit of breathing room and allow her to more mentally prepare for what is likely to be many more months of juggling full-time work with homeschooling and housekeeping.
And her message to other parents in a similar situation, as much to herself, is to try not to put so much pressure on themselves.
"We've got to realise that we're not teachers," she said.
"We've got to be honest, let's not pretend everything is perfect.
"If your partner's out working and you're at home, be supportive. But also partners that are working need to be supportive of those at home. They need a lot of support. It can be tiring.
"But it will be fine, we'll get through this."