Fiona Provost has welcomed the state government's timeline for students to return to face to face learning, saying it provided much-needed certainty.

But she said by the time year five students, including her son Jack, return to classrooms on November 8, they will have been away from school for more than three months.

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"It's too long for him," Mrs Provost said.

"I'm okay, but I just know how much he is missing his mates.

"That's a long time he's away from his peers and that interaction and that fun and there's not even an alternative, it's not like I can take him to the park to meet up with his mates either.

"Academically, it's okay, we'll be fine, I'm not stressed about that.

"I'm hoping and praying that we keep doing [well] in our local government areas and we can come out of it sooner."

Kindergarten and years 1 and 12 will return from October 25.

Years 2, 6 and 11 will return from November 1 and remaining grades from November 8.

If stay at home orders are lifted in an LGA or region before October 25, all students living or learning in that area will return to face to face learning.

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The Hunter has been in lockdown since August 5.

Regional NSW will be in lockdown until at least September 10.

Remote learning is a family effort in the Provost home.

Mrs Provost juggles helping Jack with working from home three days a week. When she works on site on the remaining two days, her daughter Emily, 21, steps in to help her younger brother.

"His sister is much stricter than I am, I think he prefers when Mum's home!" Mrs Provost said. "She sets herself up here with Jack and he can't escape."

She said she was "super impressed" with how Jack's school, St John's Primary at Lambton, had managed the transition online, setting up daily video calls and timetables, with regular breaks for activities such as 20 starjumps.

Mrs Provost said this worked well for Jack - who likes routine and can be self sufficient - but she still kept an eye on his schedule to ensure he was not skipping activities he didn't like.

"We sit not far from each other and he can manage it himself, if he's stuck he'll ask," she said.

"Sometimes he needs help when I'm right in the middle of something.

"I'll go 'Hang on, I'll be with you in a minute', then that thing I'm doing will take longer and you just get overwhelmed with guilt... there's times I just don't have the time to sit with him, so I let him work it out for himself and say 'I can't do it now, so you give it a go, do what you think and we'll look at it together later,'."

Mrs Provost said they "hit the wall" on Thursday, but have found ways to adapt to challenges.

"I was feeling I needed to be everything, I needed to maintain my job and make sure Jack was okay, but I just did not feel on top of it," she said.

"The thing Jack's missing the most is his mates.

"He's a 10-year-old boy who loves sport.

"So for him not being able to kick the footy with his mates at the park or play weekend soccer, he's really struggling.

"We make a point to do something active every day, even if it's just here in the backyard.

"We've got to give each other a break, it's okay not to be good at everything, it's okay to drop the ball now and then."

She said sometimes they wrote a list of what they were grateful for, or took a short walk.

She said the school's newsletters focused on wellbeing, mental health and looking after each other, which reinforced the family's philosophy.

"I want him to know this is not forever, it's a hurdle and you've got support," she said.

"The most important thing is these kids stay connected to they school and their friends and feel safe, that it's going to be okay.

"I don't want the schoolwork to be an extra burden on top of what these kids are watching and listening to on the news."

"It's a lovely distraction and it keeps their minds active, but at the end of the day the most important thing is how is he feeling, 'What do you need right now that's going to help?' Schoolwork is important, but it's certainly not the priority right now."

Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell told regional reporters she was open to the idea of students having a 'bubble buddy'.

"I think that's an interesting idea," she said.

"We haven't looked at that yet, but obviously we're happy to talk to Health.

"I think the wellbeing piece is really important, because obviously they're at home studying for school, they then don't have that break to then go on and do the normal study they do after school.

"I'm pretty open to looking at whatever we can do.

"I don't have health advice on a buddy bubble for students, but happy to get some advice on that."

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