A mum with eight children is refusing to send her children back to school despite admitting home-schooling them has been "hell".
Marie Buchan, 37, lives in Birmingham and has six children trying to keep up with school lessons while another is in college, reports Birmingham Live.
She admitted that trying to home school all her children, as well as keep up with her own health and social care studies, has been "virtually impossible".
"I am doing my best but it is just so tough," she said.
"I've had some criticism from the school as some of the days they haven't registered and got in touch with them when they should have done.
"But it is so hard to ensure they are all doing what they are being asked to do. Some of the school work is quite difficult to get my head around.
"The circumstances are not ideal. But I am just doing my best."
Marie has eight children between the ages of six and 18 and lives in a four-bedroom housing association property in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham.
While home life may be really hard for Marie at the moment, she's still said she won't let her children go back to school until September over coronavirus fears.
She added: "We are nowhere near out of the woods yet when it comes to coronavirus so I won't be sending my children to school until September.
"I just don't want to take the risk of them potentially catching the disease. I am not sure how well that will go down with the education authority but the health of my children comes first."
Back in January 2018, it was revealed that Marie was facing a jail sentence over a school truancy dispute.
The former lapdancer – who receives a reported £37,000 in benefits – said paying a £140 fine to keep out of prison meant she may have to turn to food banks to feed her children.
She received a letter from Birmingham Magistrates’ Court telling her the fine would double unless she paid up within ten days – and bailiffs might come to take her car.
She said she had no choice but to settle the debt.
Marie was also approached by police recently and told to go home when she was out with her children on the Lickey Hills during lockdown.
"I think he thought we were two families meeting up," Marie explained.
"We had just sat down to have some water when my son said 'mom the police are here.'
"The officer came over and told us we had to go home.
"He warned us we could be fined if we didn't move on but obviously we got up and went back to the car."
Marie added that she's faced similar trouble trying to shop at the supermarket.
"I took four of the younger children shopping to a supermarket.
"Staff at the entrance told me there was too many of us and asked for the children to stay in the car.
"There was no way I was leaving any of my kids in the car so I came away.
"It was upsetting as some single mums have no other option but to take their children shopping with them.
"I know we have to be strict with the number of people into shops due to social distancing but in my position I didn't really have much choice."
