Week #1 of homeschooling my six-year-old son is done, so far he’s been taking everything in his stride and is enjoying being at home - but we’ll see how he feels in week #3!

He understands we have to stay home to stay safe from the Corona-Bug which is making people sick (Corona-Bug is the name we’ve been using to describe the virus to my son) and he knows that brainy scientists are trying to stop Corona-Bug in its tracks - KA-POW!

We’ve been keeping a ‘physical’ distance from everyone as instructed, but have had lots of ‘social' interaction with family, friends and the nation’s PE teacher, Joe Wicks! If someone had told me a few weeks ago I would be an ‘extra’ in this scary, real-life B movie, I'd have said ‘you’re having a laugh’ but these are strange times and this is no laughing matter.

Before the Corona-Bug reared its ugly tentacled head, I’d spent a year building trust with like-minded collaborators, parents, local schools, colleges and community organisations to bring art, maker-craft, digital design and 3D technology to children in Haringey.

Our kids live in a world where gadgets, computers, and smart technology are a part of their daily lives. The type of work they will be employed to do in the future will be very different from the traditional forms of employment their parents have been used to. 

Then finally, all our hard work came to fruition last October when we started our weekly Witty Ditty Kidz, after school tech hub in the local library, and local organisations began to listen to show lots of interest. A tech revolution had begun.

The irony is not lost on me that after years of trying to encourage communities to embrace future technology such as 3D printing and 3D digital design, the Coronavirus outbreak has made everyone kids and grown-ups alike, embrace tech innovation, more than ever before! 

Everyone has had to become more tech-savvy and now cross-collaboration -something my colleagues and I have been practising for ages by using our different design skills for one aim - is helping the NHS get the ventilators they so desperately need as engineers from different fields work together.

In mid-March, like so many others, I had to suspend our weekly hubs and with no work to speak of since, like so many other people, I’m now looking at ways to bring the kid's tech hubs online.

So watch this space.