School's Shut Down For Weeks!? - What Are We Going To Do!??
My family just heard the news that most families around the world have already been hearing: our local public school is shutting down for over a month.
The news is stressful and concerning. And a lot of people are suffering. But I admit that it was sweet to see my kids celebrate an unexpected holiday from school. I caught their impromptu dance on video.
I’ll also admit that I couldn’t fully enjoy the dance party because my brain was spinning with questions like:
What will life be like with the kids at home for over a month?! What will our daily schedule look like?
How much time will their “distance learning” online school work take? And how much will they need my help with it?
How will our health be affected as well as the health of those we know and love?
How will this crisis keep unfolding and how will our world cope?
So after settling down the dance party and getting my kids into bed, I decided I’d better write up a tentative schedule/plan.
(Note: I’m really curious what you and your family are feeling and going through and needing. If you have a second, please share in the comments below.)
My Ideas For Our-New-Family-Schedule-Because COVID-19-Shut-Down-The-Schools
1- Sit the family down for a big family talk.
I’ve already told my family that we are going to spend a good hour or more talking after their last day of school tomorrow. I also know that I’m going to have to make space for them to do plenty of talking and question asking. Here’s how my family talk will probably go:
“Hey kids, you had your last day of school for over a month! Wow! Take turns telling me…
What was the last day like?
What did your teachers say?
What did your friends say?
Show me the papers you brought home and lets read them outloud together.
How do you feel about not going to the school building for over a month?
Do you feel like the teachers gave you a lot of work (or a little work) to do while the school is on break?
Will you miss anything about school?
Is there something in particular you’re looking forward to about being at home for a month?
“Thanks so much for telling me what you feel. Did you know that Daddy/Mommy has feelings about school being closed for a while? Here are some things that I feel….
I will make it a point to tell my kids that I’m happy that I get to see them more often and that it’s a gift to be with them. (Lots of kids are hurting inside because they don’t hear this enough from adults.)
I will make it a point to tell them that I’m a little nervous. (It’s good for kids to hear that I don’t have all the answers and that my plans aren’t perfect and I don’t always know what to do.)
I will make it a point to tell them that we will have to have additional special talks like this one. …that I won’t know exactly what the break will be like and we can enjoy figuring it out together…and that any time they have questions…we can enjoy talking it over together.
“Kids here are some things that will be important for our family while we enjoy the next several weeks having a different schedule:” (And at this point I’ll give them a brief heads up about the remaining bullet points of this post.)
2- Try to keep bedtimes and wake-up times the same as usual.
The school closing will likely cause my family to be like, “Hooray…I don’t have to go to school so let me have fun staying up later and sleeping in if I want to!!!” Although I think there’s good things about enjoying a more flexible schedule, I think a month of being out of school will be a bit of a marathon and a normal, firm schedule will likely help my kids emotionally.
3- Enjoy fun things but only after you’ve taken care of your responsibilities.
Motivating my kids to get school work and chores done will be a multiple-times-a-day-battle. And the battles will be more fierce if I let them start the day with things like toy playing or entertainment on a device. I can make things like toys and tablets be my friends and allies if I leverage them rather than try to compete with them or fight against them.
4- Write down a typical day’s schedule and post it where the family will see it often.
My family will probably have a daily schedule that looks a bit like this:
7:20am - Wake up, get dressed, brush your hair
7:40am - Meet at the breakfast table when you hear the morning song play on Mommy’s phone. Help finish setting out the breakfast.
7:45am - Pray and thank God for the food and for the day. Eat and have family devotions. Check in on how everyone’s feeling.
8am - Breakfast is over. Do morning chores.
8:20 - 8:50am (This is usually the time when we left for school. Now, with no transit time, I’ll probably make my kids use this time for some kind of physical exercise. (i.e. stretching routine, exercise video)
8:50am - 12pm School work. (I have no idea how long school work will take or how much work their teachers will assign. If the work can be done quickly then I will assign my kids extra work. For example…my 2nd grade daughter hasn’t been getting much reading homework this year. So I will probably make her read some level-appropriate chapter books so she can keep improving with her reading level. Other things I might make them do is creative writing, practice Spanish on Rossetta Stone, watch and write a reflection on a world cultures video, watch a series of educational videos or social action videos on YouTube to start inspiring them with vision to be future leaders.
12pm - 1:15pm Lunch and free time.
1:15pm - 3pm Finish school work and/or enrichment activities. (Not sure what I’ll do for enrichment. I might have them
Practice the piano or another instrument.
I might get them a cursive writing workbook and have them learn cursive writing.
I might have them learn a craft like knitting…etc.
Take a nature walk.
3pm - 4pm Imaginative play or leisure reading alone.
4pm Play outside with Daddy/Mommy and/or help Mommy/Daddy with dinner
5pm Dinner (We might also use this time to talk about how the day went and bring up things we might need to change for the next day.)
5:30pm Dinner clean up and evening chores
6:15pm Leisure with mom and dad. (Maybe games, movie, read aloud, write letters to friends/cousins/neighbors.)
7:15pm bedtime routine
8:30pm lights out
Please share and stay in touch.
Although I have a tentative plan laid out…I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. I’m also really interested in what ideas you’re going to use with your family. I feel like I could use a lot of ideas. Please share in the comments below.
