We are all walking into a new form of school as we begin this new isolation. Last night, I was talking to my husband about some of the things I have seen written in social media. The struggles I hear from my friends. Even some struggles from colleagues who are now responsible to help students and teach their own children at the same time. My husband reminded me that not everyone has the knowledge of how to set up a series of activities in a way that keeps students engaged. Sooo…
Breaking from my traditional posts, I decided to utilize this space and provide people with something that might help us all through this new era of school with our kids. What I am producing I am using with my own kids first (I work through it with them first, make changes, then post). My children are four years apart in school, one in 3rd grade, the other in 7th. But they are both kind of working through the same stuff together.
I will admit that before we start on these lessons (find it using the content button—three lines, on the upper left hand side), they are working through some minimal work provided through online programs from their school. So far, this has given my son about 30 minutes each morning. That doesn’t even get me through me interacting with my own students in our online platform. From my friends I have heard of packets being sent home with little support, or some have nothing and are being told that work is coming. Many parents are now trying to struggle through working from home and keeping their children engaged. I am hoping what I post can help you through this, at least give you a 2-4 hour window where they will be occupied with something.
One of the biggest keys for us has been establishing a schedule for our day. We start at this time, that means we get up, eat breakfast, get our clothes on, brush teeth, and then sit down to start our day. I then block out a time for “recess” because they need to have those breaks (and parents they are good for you too). My son plays first, I try to get him into the yard, or we walk to the end of the block and back; then he sits down for a snack before returning to these lessons. We then do lunch at 11:45 (even though lunch to most of us is at 12). I let them eat and we chit chat. Then I ask of them to do something active, even call friends, anything that is not school related. Then we get back to it about 12:30 (today we took a longer walk and it pushed it back). I usually have something calmer planned for after lunch, stories or read togethers, and art or some other aspect of school they are missing.
What I am providing does not need to be used straight through, edit it, do as you wish, steal, move around, etc. I just hope that in this time of need it can be used to help relieve stress.
