We are having a very quiet weekend here with most of our usual activities cancelled due to the current coronavirus. We actually went to Studley Park Boathouse with the 4 youngest members of the house to look at the ducks and get out of the house this afternoon as they were going a bit crazy. This year we are homeschooling 4 and we have 2 in school but I am sensing that in the next few days I will have my 2 at school home with me if/when their schools close down. They were encouraged to bring their books home on Thursday and Friday and I just feel like they’ll be home soon.
For me no school means business as usual with 2 extras at home. For some families this is going to be a big change having kids home from school and the days will feel long. If the kids have to be online from 9-3 it won’t be so long and you can get some work done during the day but if you are required to help with work and entertain younger kids (kindergarten/year 1) and not so independent learners then it’s going to be a big change. So here is how we spend our days…………..
We try to be dressed and ready to start working by 9am. I have usually set out the work that needs to be done – my 7 and 11 year old work independently most of the time and come and ask questions or for more work but don’t need too much attention during book work. My prep/kindergartener has a lot of trouble sitting to do work so I sit with him and we get about 1 hour of work done and then he likes to create his own Star Wars cartoon books and play Lego and will then join in other activities with the rest of the kids. My little one with special needs starts most days with 2 hours of therapy which is when we do our book work with the others. Overall we can get all of our book work done by 11 for the younger ones and lunchtime for my older one. I am also teaching 2 kids to read – we are using Fitzroy Readers and Teach your Child to read in 100 lessons as well as Letterland. I do this one on one during the day when the other kids are busy.
For record keeping I have an Officeworks diary with 1 day to a page and I jot down everything we do during the day. The kids keep scrapbooks to put in Science experiments and stick in any worksheets or art and we also have a plastic leaf binder per child which is their portfolio and one piece of work from any subject goes in each week. It is much easier to create portfolios as you go than do one at the end of the year or before review time – trust me!
After lunch and a play outside we usually do board games, a puzzle, art, music, read a book, do a craft project or watch some Horrible Histories on YouTube. We usually keep the TV off all day but if motivation levels are low towards the end of the week then its time for a good movie in the afternoon and some quiet time- think old school like Mary Poppins, Annie, Roald Dahl stories, Disney classics and so on. The recent Pete’s Dragon had everyone very quiet one afternoon. We go to the library once a week and love it – this week we went twice!
We also love online learning and have a subcription to ABC Mouse and IXL for English and Maths. During the week the kids will 1-3 hours of online learning.
If you are going to be at home its a really good time to learn to play an instrument (piano, keyboard, recorder – ha ha if you’re brave enough for the recorder and have headphones), to learn a craft like knitting, sewing or crochet, to get a stack of library books or read a book you’ve always wanted to read, work on your baking and cooking skills and have the kids help you organise cupboards, toys and wardrobes.
If you have a couple of balls we like to take a few to the oval nearby with some witches hats for soccer and tunnel ball and then go to the park afterwards. By 4pm we are usually doing our activities like kumon, choir, swimming and basketball but since most have been cancelled we will probably have some quiet time until dinner and then its bathtime and a bit of tv or a play upstairs before bed.
A couple of our favourite games to play at the moment are Monopoly Deal (we love it so much and our 5 year old keeps beating us!), Go Fish (we have Toy story and Disney editions), Monopoly, Guess Who and Twister. They are great for turn taking, having some fun, speech and passing time.
And that is how we spend our days! We are going through a crazy period right now which I’ve never seen before in my lifetime and I know it feels like everything is up in the air but keep smiling and I’m sure positives will come out of time spent together and a quieter way of living for a while. I really love being at home with the kids at the moment, I don’t have to worry about what I am wearing for the school run because I don’t have a school run and we have settled into our rhythm for the day but it took some time so I know how crazy it can be at times.
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