Well, we have seemed to survive our first week at home. Tomorrow my husband starts working from home, so I'm sure that will have some adjusting to that too. Last Monday was so surreal, and it feels like it was months ago...but in actuality it was a week ago. Anyways, Monday wasn't the best day. Both of my kids, Kaysen 9, in grade 3 and Callie 6, in grade 1, were both sad to say goodbye to their friends and teachers, they love going to school. I don't think my 6yr old fully understands the situation, but my 9 yr old does. He had a heavy heart that day, a lot of tears were shed, and because of the no touching rules at school, he couldn't hug anyone good bye, and that didn't make things any easier. This broke my heart to see the weight of the situation weigh him down. All of this change and the unknown really hit me hard too. We made a schedule together that evening, and it is displayed on our fridge. I haven't started 'schooling' them yet, so we haven't really followed the schedule, but it really helped me just to have it. It helped me feel a little more in control, so last week we took it slow. We had a PJ day, we went for daily walks, baked a bunch of stuff. Being busy and having some ideas on how to fill our time, made the week go by smoother. Don't get me wrong, there has been fighting and yelling too....with all this stuff going on, it's to be expected. So, here are some things I plan on doing with my kids to help us all deal with social distancing, take it or leave it. I would also LOVE to here about your activities too!! Msg me, or tag me in your posts! I hope you all are staying safe and healthy!
1. Make play dough
This play dough is so easy to make, and it is really soft and fluffy sort of.....anyways, when I first looked at this recipe I had no idea what cream of tartar was. Well it is a white powdery substance that reminds me of corn starch. You can find it in the spices isle of your grocery store. Kaysen & Callie haven't been interested in play dough for a while, but we made it together, and then they played with it for an hour! Win - Win in my books!!
2. Paint and plant a flower
This is probably one of my favourite things we have done. It was fun to paint the pots, and then fill with dirt and a couple of flower seeds. The fun doesn't stop there, they get to water and watch it grow everyday!! I just used some small clay pots from the dollar store, used the acrylic paint we had on hand, and picked up some seeds from Wal-Mart. I had all this on hand because I was planning on doing this activity for Callie's Birthday party......well sadly we had to cancel, so we are making the best of it. We have so many pots we are probably going to plant some tomato plants as well.....The last time I tried to start my plants from seed, it was a big bust so I'm trying to stay positive and optimistic.
3. Watch Frozen 2
Well I hope you have heard that Disney+ has released Frozen 2 three months early. Both of my kiddos have watched it al least twice, Callie has watched it a few more times!! Not a frozen fan, well there are a ton more movies to watch and explore......the other movie we have watched is Sandlot, man that is a great movie!! I haven't watched it since I was a kid. Since I don't have a photo of us watching TV, here is one of Callie as Elsa and Anna from Frozen.
4. Super Teacher Worksheets
So I just stumbles upon this site today, I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with what and how I'm going to teach my kids. This site is really well laid out and easy to follow, they have some free downloads, but if you want to access to all the learning sheets, you would have to pay a subscription. I was planning on writing out my own worksheets, so this is so much better!! Check it out for yourself!!
5. Build a puzzle
We are usually avid puzzle builders during the Christmas break when it is cold outside, but we plan on digging out our big 1000 piece puzzles and doing that as a family. So far the kids have just been building their own puzzles that they haven't touched in a while, and I love it!
6. Enchanted Garden Character Company Virtual Story Time
As most of you already know, my daughter loves princesses. So we have booked and followed the Enchanted Garden Company since it has started. Owner, Kayla, is truly the best!! You can book her characters for a party or event, they all are amazing!! The quality and knowledge her characters have for their role is the best we have ever seen. They sing, read, dance, have slumber parties, we have made bath bombs with Ariel, the list goes on. But the best part is, now she is offering virtual story time! So even though we are stuck at home, we can still have the magic of Princess story time. She is also putting together activity pkgs you purchase and follow along with a princess virtually from your own home! Check out these events and more on her FB page.
7. Baking
Baking with your Kids can be awesome and amazing, but it also can be a hair pulling, wine drinking event. I have learned through the years that it is much better on my sanity to just let it go.....things aren't gonna be perfect, but once you step back and just observe and enjoy, you really see the beauty in the chaos. So pull out your favourite cookie recipe, or cinnamon bun recipe and get cooking!!
8. Read a chapter book together
This is a summer tradition for us because during school they have their homework and such to read. But we will be starting this again. The very first book I read to them was Charlotte's Web. I am planning to pull this out again and have it be our first home schooling book to read together. There are so many reasons this is awesome, but I love it because we are are invested in this story and really look forward to reading the next chapter!! When I started reading to them I found it was difficult to remember the books I read as a kid. So here are a list of the books we have read, and loved.
Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
Charlie and the chocolate factory - Roald Dahl
the BFG - Roald Dahl
James and the giant peach - Roald Dahl
The one and only Ivan - Katherine Applegate
These are some of our favourites....we have some more Roald Dahl books on our list, we will have to order it and hope it comes quickly. Previously we have borrowed books from our local library. They have a great ordering service, where you log into your account online, order or save the books you want to borrow and they email you when they are ready for pick up. It's really a great service. But for now, ordering will have to do.
What are some books you remember reading as a kid and loved. Have you read any books to your kids that aren't on my list and I should check out??
9. Get some fresh air!
We have started going out for walks everyday. This is pretty important, fresh air just improves our families mood so much. It gets us outside, moving and you just kinda forget that you were cooped up all day. On our walks we have seen people are already pulling out their bikes and scooters. I am not that brave yet, as there is still a lot of ice around, and I don't want to hurt myself. I have also seen encouraging messages written in chalk on the side walks, I am planning on doing this too. You can spice up your walks with a little eye spy....or in the spring or summer do a treasure hunt, like look for a round rock, find three different kinds of leaves, etc. If all else fails, just get some rays on your face!! I know you will feel better doing it.
10.Create a story with photos for your kids favourite toys
You can take this anywhere you like.....we love to build puzzles as a family, so you can build a puzzle and make a story about with the puzzle picture. Or get your kids to gather some of their toys, and get them to take pictures and then write a story about it. Depending on your kids ages, you can assist them with taking photos and writing a story or send them on their own and see what they come up with. Or if they are too little to write a story, get them to gather their toys and take photos of their toys and you both come up with a story about what the toys are doing. We have done this, where each person adds one sentence to the story. It gets pretty interesting sometimes!! Well have some fun with this!
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