Structure, patience … and love: German mother of 11 reveals homeschooling secrets

Katja Heimann is still trying to keep her spirits up after a year of lockdowns

Katja Heimann, her husband, and their 11 children sit on a sofa in their home in Eisemroth, central Germany. AP Photo

Katja helps her children with school work at home. One year into the coronavirus pandemic, she is still trying to keep her spirits up. AP Photo

Katja, her husband and their 11 children sit around a table in their home. AP Photo

Oskar, 3, who suffers from a rare genetic defect, stands next to family dog Bruno. AP Photo

Anni, 13, exercises her Haflinger horse. AP Photo

Katja comforts her son Oskar. AP Photo

The youngest Heimann child Fritz, 19 months old, sits next to his sister Milena. AP Photo

Anni (R) and her sister Leni spend time in their room. AP Photo

Homeschooling is a trying affair for many parents as they grapple with equations, grammar and art around the kitchen table.

The same could be said for children getting used to their parents as teachers. Lockdowns are hard on mental health.

But one German mother has it harder than most.

Katja Heimann, 41, has been at home educating seven of her 11 children for much of the past year.

She is still trying to keep her spirits up and says the secret of her success is structured daily routines, patience and love.

Ms Heimann, who lives with her husband Andre and their family in the small village of Eisemroth in central Germany, keeps a strict daily schedule to get everything done that needs to be done when you have 11 children. That includes a lot of self-discipline: getting up at dawn, cleaning the home, doing the laundry, cooking and – since schools have been closed for most students in Germany since the end of last year – helping her children with remote learning.

Despite her perseverance, the situation “has become very exhausting lately”, she says. “The biggest challenge is to keep on going.”

Like millions of families in Germany and around the globe, the Heimanns struggle with the ongoing daily burdens of the pandemic. But where most families, at least in Germany, take care of one, two, three or even four children, the Heimanns have an entire football team of children in the house.

The oldest, Milena, 22, has already moved out, but lives near by and visits several times a week. In addition to the seven school-age children, the Heimanns also have three little ones – the youngest only 18 months – who are still in kindergarten, which has also been closed some of the time because of the virus.

"It's very noisy here, and cramped," Ms Heimann says with a sigh, but also a smile. When the four high-school pupils are participating in video conferences with their teachers, she helps her three elementary school children with their exercises on the long, wooden kitchen table.

“In the beginning of homeschooling, we had only one laptop for our entire family – that didn’t work out at all,” she says. Friends and neighbours quickly helped out, lending devices to the family.

Husband Andre, 52, a locksmith, says he is in awe of how his wife manages to keep their family together.

“She takes care of the household, the homework, the cooking, the cleaning, the paperwork, everything,” he says. “She’s amazing.”

Of course, the Heimanns have good and bad days.

Sometimes the children argue with each other, they get bored and do not want to do remote learning any more but do want to hang out with their friends again, which is not allowed owing to the social distancing regulations.

"Of course, we have stress and we argue too," Mr Heimann says. "But in general the situation made us closer together."

There is no immediate end in sight. Germany is struggling to lay out a clear plan in the face of a new surge in Covid-19 cases and a sluggish vaccination campaign. That is causing public frustration over the government’s handling of the crisis only six months before a national election.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a rare public apology this week after she was forced to abandon a planned five-day hard lockdown over Easter only 33 hours after announcing it, throwing her government’s management of the pandemic further into disarray.

Ms Merkel dropped the proposal, calling it "a mistake". The withdrawal means Germany is still under restrictions that were gradually loosened before a third wave of infections gripped Europe's largest economy.

Germany is also considering restrictions on travel to foreign holiday destinations.

The lockdown curbs, which have effectively been in place for four months, are relatively mild compared with other countries and include the partial closing of non-essential shops.

Germany has registered more than 75,000 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic a year ago. On Thursday, the country's disease control centre reported 22,657 new daily cases, up from 17,504 a week ago.

However, some of the Heimann children started going back to school part time recently and are hoping for full-time classes soon.

“The best thing will be when we can all go back to school every day and meet and play in groups again,” 10-year-old Martha says.

“And play soccer again, which is currently cancelled – which is really a stupid thing,” says her brother Willi, 12.

The rest of the Heimann family can barely wait for the pandemic to be over.

“The most important thing will be when the kids can finally be kids again and enjoy their hobbies,” Mr Heimann says. “That they are no longer bored and can go wherever they want and do what they like to do again.”