Teresa Palmer reveals her top tips to keeping your children focused while homeschooling

Australian actress Teresa Palmer, her husband Mark Webber and their three children have been in lockdown in their Adelaide home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia this week, Teresa, 34, admitted there have been moments of challenges throughout the lockdown.

‘Each day feels new and I’m definitely navigating the ebbs and flows of it,’ she said.

‘I can recognize just how fortunate we are to be able to be living on land and have a roof over our heads and that kids are able to run outdoors and play and explore’.

Teresa and Mark are parents to sons Forest, three, and Bodhi, six, and daughter Poet, 11 months. Mark also has a 12-year-old son, Isaac, from a previous relationship.

While the Australian government has not ordered for schools to be closed, many parents are choosing not to send their children to educational facilities.

Teresa also revealed homeschooling her two children, Bohdi, six and Forest, three has been tough.

‘The juggle has been challenging at times, but I read a really beautiful piece on homeschooling and the woman said, ”Just pick two hours in the day where you do education and it doesn’t need to be a full school day”.

‘I think the first week I packed lunches, they got to choose their uniforms,’ she said.

‘I did an entire day from 9 to 3 and then I realized that actually they only need these little snippets of time with me doing one on one learning.’

Teresa added that after she took some the pressure off ‘learning time’ it feels like everyone’s enjoying it much more now. 

Meanwhile, the Adelaide-based star has just released a parenting book, Zen Mamas, which she co-wrote with her friend Sarah Wright Olsen. 

Teresa said she wants her book to be a source of comfort for women to turn to and disappear into while trying to find what works for them and leave what doesn’t.

The mother-of-three said: ‘I look at parenting like it’s a sensitive and delicate dance between you and your children, and I think if at all possible, you’re able to find those moments of self-care, then you can embrace the imperfect picture of parenting.’

‘That’s where we say being Zen is actually trying to come back to place a calm and getting rid of the self-critical voice.’ 

‘It’s so imperative that we take the pressure off of ourselves as parents and really show up for ourself and ”say, you’re doing a great job”.

Zen Mamas is out now via Penguin Books on paperback and E-book.