Your stories: history at home

Anna Norman, Deputy Director of Development & Head of Alumni Engagement at Magdalen College Oxford, is one of the many parents managing work and small children at the same time; and it has been quite the educational journey.

Anna shares: 'there are obviously many challenges involved with learning how to combine working remotely with home-schooling our children – something that many of us are currently embracing. 

Family in a den in the woods

Anna with her children in the den they built together

'My own silver linings, from just the first week of home-schooling my eight year old son and six year old daughter, include finding out about previously unknown family history. 

'My son phoned his 93 year old great-grandmother to ask about her experiences of the Second World War. Among other things she revealed that her family had taken in two evacuees and told him all about them – a fascinating story which none of us had ever heard before!

'We learnt more about our local history too. After working together to build a den in our local woodland, we discovered that the site we chose at random is the site of a deserted medieval village. 

'We’re waiting to see what other gems of knowledge we’ll find.'


Do you have a story to share about how you or your team is adapting to deal with the extraordinary situation we are all facing? If so, please forward the details over to internal.communications@admin.ox.ac.uk