I wake up these days expecting to snap out of a bad dream. Then, as consciousness descends, I accept, again, that this is our new reality. The new world we are in. And it’s only been days.
The news alarms, so after a while I put my phone aside and focus on what to do today. I am grateful that with the kids at home I have a task(s!) to do. I plan their schedule. I decided to take comfort in routine.
The first day I opened ‘school’ at home, complete with the teacher’s chair, morning greeting, and a school bell, I could see they were excited. That fueled me in turn. I am constantly reminded how their teachers did some things differently (bless all you teachers!) but I soldier on, reminding them they don’t have a choice, this is mommy school 😉
Our morning greetings are getting creative with our limited numbers, but they actively participate in suggesting new ways to do it – we did a new jumping game from my childhood days, used math and numbers, used different languages for greetings. Innovation comes to them naturally.
Speaking of creativity, we decided to attribute one fun thing to each day of quarantine and try to rhyme the activity to the number as much as possible. Here’s what we came up with so far: Day 1 – played carrom, Day 2 – something blue, Day 3 – shopping spree, Day 4 – made some smores, Day 5 – jiggle and jive, Day 6 – thank you, Netflix!
We don’t end up with more than 1-2 hours of “work” time (ok, maybe an hour at best!) but things are organized- there is time for backyard play, wandering the neighborhood, quiet time, creative time. Schedules are slightly different for the 5 and 8-year-old to accommodate their interests. Things are also extremely flexible, but overall, I think, it is working.
Our school and class have been awesome sharing things they would have done in school and I try to replicate it at home. We tried an electricity project at home that we missed – haven’t cracked it yet, but we will keep trying. For St Patrick’s day, I had little gnomes make a green mess of their playroom. They had just cleaned it the previous night, so it was sweet revenge when they had to clean it again. I just blamed the naughty gnomes. They made a magical creature since they were to do it at school. Making a turtle that flies was in consideration but our palm tree in the backyard dropped a frond, so we used it to make a wizard’s broom in the end. There are a plethora of online resources too. Mo Willems is an important feature and Khan Academy is being sampled.
I have been impressed by how comfortable they are to new technology – a reminder that our biggest quality as a human race is adaptability. If they can do it, so can we! We are about to start FaceTime music class with their Grandpa in India. Let’s see how that works!
Routine is giving them, and honestly me, some sense of control where the whole world seems to be upside down. It is just day 5, but hey, its day 5! Let’s take a minute to celebrate small victories.#quarantinelife #kidsathome #homeschool #isolatedtogether #alonetogether