My Kids’ Schools Have Been Shuttered for Almost Two Weeks- Here’s What I’ve Learned

Did you know my kids’ school district was the very first to be shut down in the country? Today is our 9th day of no school and we’ve got a minimum of 6 weeks to go.

There’s still a long haul ahead of us all, to be sure, but I’ve learned some things since we’ve been stuck at home and I have one big piece of advice I’d like to share with any of you who aren’t as far down this road as we are…Take a little time to throw together a general daily schedule- you’ll thank yourself later.

I’m not gonna sugar coat it… Finding a way to occupy the kids during school breaks is always challenging, but this is a different beast. Where summer has lots of travel and play dates and time at the pool to keep us all going, the next several weeks will be spent almost only with family and almost only at home.

Don’t get the wrong idea when I start talking about scheduling… I think it’s vital for children to be allowed plenty of free time to explore, especially outside, and stretch their imaginations.

But just like we worry about a “summer slide” in learning every year, we need to be on guard right now too. A little built in reading, writing and math time now will pay off big once the kids are back in school.

Here’s a preview of my youngest’s school shut down schedule, which is just a modification of the summer vacation schedule we used last year…

Our Kindergartner’s Schedule:

8:45 –Phonics & Literacy Activities / ABC Mouse.com

9:30 – Snack Break

9:40 – Reading with mom

10:00 – 11:30 Outside Play

11:30 – 12:00 Lunch

12:00 Math Activities/ ABC Mouse.com

12:30 Chores & Picking Up

12:45/1:00 – 3:00 Free Time/ Outside Play

3:00 – Art/Building/CreativePlay

4:30 – Help w/ Dinner Prep & Setting the Table

5:00 – Screen Time

6:00 – Dinner and Bath Time

8:00 – Bed Time / Me Time!

This is, of course, only a general (and optimistic) outline of our days. 

There will also be times we chuck it all to go find a hike or even snuggle up for a movie marathon.

But I’ve learned those days are always pretty easy – it’s having a plan for the days we have no plan that’s vital!

I hope this gets your wheels turning and helps you make a plan to make this time memorable instead of painful!

Pssst- I’ll be back soon with more info. for you guys on educational back-sliding during this time, but one way we’re planning on tackling it is by using ABC Mouse.com with our kindergartner and Adventure Academy with my older elementary school kids.

This award-winning curriculum has been created in close collaboration with early childhood education experts and offers over 10,000 books, games, songs, puzzles, and art activities. Each with specific learning objectives in the subjects of reading, mathematics, beginning science, social studies, art, and music, to go along with over 870 complete lessons across all subjects.

I’ve been recommending the program to my readers for the last two summers and I’ve gotten lots of responses from families telling me how much they love it.

I want to give you a heads up:

• In light of all that’s gong on, they just launched a surprise sale (it’s so new, it’s not even advertised yet on their site).
• Starting tonight, get 7 months for free using this link for ABC Mouse (ages 2-8)… and this link for their Adventure Academy program (ages 8-13).

Just make sure you use the links above to get the secret sale price!