One week ago today, I was sitting in the study room of a library, with two text messages coming in simultaneously. One was from my oldest son letting me know about orientation for his new job starting Monday and his plans for balancing that with his final college classes/assignments this week. The other was a quick message from my daughter, letting me know that she’d been dropped off from art class and had gotten into the house just fine using the spare key – no problem. I relaxed back into my chair and continued reading a classic together and discussing with the other guys and their friends. I even got up and drank out of the library water fountain – three times. That was Thursday afternoon.
By early Friday morning, all of those things had changed. There would actually be no classes to balance with work for my oldest son and beginning a new job turned from feeling exciting to temporarily questionable. There would not be another art class the next week for my daughter, or likely the next. The very library the other boys and I were sitting in had been closed indefinitely an hour after we left and even if it had been open this week, I wouldn’t be there and I certainly wouldn’t be drinking out of the water fountain!
Tickets for things and plans we had were suddenly cancelled, churches were reduced to bare bones services and then closed. A couple of people we know who already live semi-isolated lives came to mind, and I did a quick check that they had food and a point of contact. And there was suddenly no toilet paper to be found anywhere for Pete’s sake!
None of this was terrible and parts of it actually felt cozy and relaxing, but it certainly was sudden and different. When we get a whole lot of different at once, it takes our systems a bit to sort it out.
So, as the world (the whole world!) comes to terms with what all of this means, families are suddenly left with an extremely different reality this week, at least in our province where schools are officially closed for 3 weeks, but I think, realistically, it may be quite a bit longer. In at least some provinces here in Canada, public schools are officially closed for the rest of the school year. That’s a big deal when everything else is closing as well.
In the last few days, there has been a surge in online activity with people figuring out what to do because they feel they need to start homeschooling. We’ve had a number of emails asking for ideas and online, I’ve noticed an abundance of people, businesses, teachers, home educators and fellow parents offering advice, much of it very helpful and positive. I’m glad. I’m glad that people are offering ideas and encouragement and optimism to one another. There are some wonderful, practical solutions and an extending of great belief in one another with a general sentiment of “You’ve got this!” And maybe you have. If you have, those pieces of information are just what you need. They offer a range of rich resource ideas and practical steps. You can sort through how they might work in your own situation and you’re ready to roll.
But maybe you don’t feel like you’ve “got this” when it comes to suddenly getting the sense that you need to homeschool with less than 24 hours notice and almost nothing is open. Maybe you were thinking you had enough to figure out on a practical level. Maybe you had a sense that at least it would be a lovely time just to spend time together as a family. We have been home educating for a long time and actually, right at this moment, I don’t feel like I “have this.”
Like us, you and/or your spouse may have work that has changed and is needing to be rethought really carefully, medically vulnerable people in your lives who you’re trying to figure out safe hospital visits and appointments with. You might be thinking about how to present the current pandemic situation to a child who might already be dealing with some anxiety. You might have sustained an unforeseen injury that is now requiring regular trips out for medical care, just at the time you’d been hoping not to be in a clinic around a lot of sick people. It might not be the easiest weather and climate in which to spend large amounts of time outdoors at the moment. You may have more, fewer or different circumstances that are occupying your mind, heart and energy and suddenly jumping into homeschooling may not feel very realistic.
Why else don’t I necessarily “have this” right now? Because the provincial online credit that M is just a couple of days away from finishing is now on hold. The seasonal job he was to begin again in a couple of weeks may be on hold too – or because it’s outdoors, maybe it won’t be. We don’t know. Choir, art class, L’s Provincial online classes, youth group, libraries, carpentry, basketball, getting together with friends, the local gym, scheduled appointments, my work meetings – all not happening. We had started making a list of different places to do smartphone photography and some of the places we were hoping to go to are Provincial parks – all good because they’re outside and have ample social distancing! Nope, Ontario Provincial parks closed as of last evening! And now I’m undergoing a bit of treatment that will have me off my feet at least some of the time. So, these things can all be worked out and as our GPS is always quick to tell us, we are “recalculating” …
And that’s alright.
Another reason you might not feel like you “have this” is that home education is not something that people usually jump into, without having pondered for some period of time. There is often a deschooling period of time, followed by either a decision to continue in a life learning /unschooling way or a fair amount (ok, a lot!) of researching different homeschooling approaches and resources. Regardless of which direction parents move toward, there is usually reading, listening, asking, trying and discussing that happens over quite a period of time. When this happens, many families find home education to be a pretty amazing experience – I would go so far as to say most would describe it as life changing. However, it may be hard to be thrown into the situation and come out feeling like it’s working and your relationships are intact.
You also don’t know how long these circumstances will last. If you’re trying to make sure your child doesn’t “fall behind,” that’s difficult to measure without the external system in place, particularly when children around the world are missing school as well.
Families who homeschool take great advantage of parks, gyms, ice rinks, pools, zoos, museums, libraries, aquariums, festivals, travel, homeschool networks and playgroups and NONE of these things are available right now. Home educating families often make grocery shopping and errands a part of the regular day. That’s pretty hard to do right now with social distancing measures. They sometimes have times when kids are with grandparents, at lessons or playing with friends. Again, not easily available right now. Beginning to homeschool right now in comparison to easing into it with a variety of community and cultural options is, quite honestly, like comparing apples and oranges. Not even – maybe rotten onions to oranges! What a challenging thing to get your head around!
My initial feeling was that this could be a wonderful opportunity for people to understand more about home education and just living and learning together in natural and relaxed ways (and I still hope it is!) but when I started to hear frequent references on the news to “and now parents have to set up school at home,” I thought – oh, that’s a lot of pressure in the midst of an already dramatic time. For some people, they might be in the right circumstances to just go with it, but for others, it could be a big and sudden juggling act that might make learning together a whole lot more stressful than it needs to be.
We are in what could be the beginning stages of this situation. We are in a pandemic. If we need anything, we need good family connection and relationship.
And there is some good news…
A combination of open time, collaboration and connection is a really good recipe for learning. It’s also a really good recipe for relationship.
So, how does one go about figuring out that combination? First of all, there’s no rush. My family is just very much chilling and processing right now, but questions are starting to come up about what grocery shopping, courses they are taking and outdoor opportunities might look like next week, so I anticipate we’ll sit down quite soon and think through, given the changes, what we each want to do individually, what we want to do together, what doesn’t need to change, what challenges there might be and what opportunities there are as well. Hopefully that will bring some rhythm and organization to our time and “new normal” for a while.
Maybe you could try that as well? Just sit down and ask:
What would each person like to do individually? When and how could that best happen?
This could be everything from reading, art, music, fitness, craft, learning a language, building – the list is endless.
What might be fun or interesting to do together? When? How?
-puzzles, stories, movies, documentaries, menu planning, trivia, walks, bike rides, hikes, outdoor games.
What could we look into or explore to make those happen?
Are there some online resources you can look into? Are there certain times of the day that work well for certain outdoor things? Is there an audio book you can check out from your library online or find online if your library is closed (and it probably is!). Are there particular ingredients you can get from the store if someone wants to try making something new.
What can stay the same?
Daily things like feeding pets, likely many other routines you do around the house or as a family.
What challenges are there and how can we help one another with them?
For example, S is concerned about collecting payment from customers for his newspaper route amidst Covid 19 but also has a cell phone bill and online video gaming bills to pay so we’re strategizing ideas. Of course, we’ll help him if there is simply no possibility.
What opportunities would we like to take advantage of with so many outside activities on hold?
Many familes are already maybe doing more baking and cooking.
There will be lots of opportunity for board games.
There might also be more time for movies, series and documentaries you haven’t gotten to.
Home projects like spring cleaning or painting. Kids of many ages can be helpful in their own way with this.
Who could use our encouragement or help? How can we do that from a “social distance?”
For us, one idea I have is looking at our Jacquie Lawson membership and sending people e-cards
Making a list of people to regularly check in on.
You might also be able to research different missions or outreaches. Spend some time now finding out who might be the hardest hit from the current situation. It’s likely that food banks might be short or maybe longterm care facilities could use vibrant art and cheerful cards. See what the kids think and what they’re drawn to.
We’re living in a giant piece of history, science and geography right now. If you have older kids or non-anxious kids, this is truly an experience in character, ethic, politics, math, statistics and reading as well. Maybe do some research on the unintended benefit of changes in pollution levels, even though we would never have wanted to come by it in this way. Predict what societal changes might happen as a result of Covid 19.
If you do feel organized and confident and have gotten some strategies that feel like a fit, you may be much more comfortable with a schedule of core subjects to cover. Your kids might too. If so, there are lots of curricula to choose from, many more than I can get into here and there are sites better suited to do that. You might find it helpful to go to www.cathyduffyreviews.com for a huge range of well-reviewed curriculum (and I do mean huge – buckle up!) or for purely secular curriculum, you could go to www.upabovetherowantree.com/secularresources.
If, like me, you’re feeling a bit wobbly and uncertain about what the next few weeks will look like as things unfold, give some family conversation a try using those few questions above and then get out a notebook and calendar and work together on writing down what that might look like. You might not feel wobbly at all. You might just like the look of more relaxed and open-ended living and learning and I think the same suggestion would be great!
Have a look at some of these ideas or resources. You don’t necessarily have to buy resources (although you might want to), but they might give you some ideas or things to add in. Hey, you might want to keep these available regardless of what happens with the school year!
*Before you go too crazy, ask your kids what they already know about and are interested in! My kids have often already found apps, websites and YouTube channels that I would never have thought of. Yours might have too and might not need as much help keeping occupied as you think.
Free or really reasonable things:
Outschool.com (reasonably priced online classes with a huge range of topics and skills)
Kahn Academy (standard academic subjects – free)
Duolingo (language learning – free)
Mango (language learning that is often free through partnership with your public library)
Wow in the World (all kinds of great stuff!)
Curiosity Stream (thousands of documentaries, very, very good price)
Audibles (audio books, very reasonable price)
And so many more … I’ll add them as they come to mind.
High quality resources you might find very worth investing in:
Film School 4 Teens (read our review here)
*Just found out FS4T has something for families called Film School 4 Quaran-Teens, which is a 72 hour opportunity to make a short film as family and submit it for cash prizes:). Only $20 per family for the instructions and entrance fee! Register by Sunday, March 22 by 6:00 pm. Now, that could be a fun family learning experience!* Also half-price opportunities for their courses to students who have been affected by the Corona virus.
SQUILT Music Appreciation – a wonderful range of Music Appreciation curricula
Masterpiece Society – variety of fantastic art lessons – www.masterpiecesociety.com
You Are An Artist – www.chalkpastel.com
The Animation Course -Learn from instructors who have animated for Walt Disney Feature Animation and Sony Pictures- www.animcourse.com
Brave Writer – learn more about the beautiful courses, online and hard copy as well as a free opportunity to do the 7-day writing blitz! www.bravewriter.com
Mr. D Math (self-paced or live, Mr. D is a highly appreciated resource by many) – www.mrdmath.com
Usborne Books at Home – a huge assortment of activity, reference (with an enormous range of internet links) instructional and fiction books, trivia cards and puzzles . Drop us a line directly, if interested- www.usbornebooksathome.ca.
Family Pastimes Co-operative Games – See our review here and again, drop us a line directly –www.familypastimes.com
Best of all … resources that offer ideas and perspectives!
Games can be one of the most pleasant ways to spend time together …
For some great gameschooling ideas, check out: www.my-little-poppies.com
Reading together might be one of the most wonderful opportunities you have with this extra down time. For read aloud and even individual reading recommendations, insightful podcasts and interviews with authors, go to www.readaloudrevival.com.
Goodreads has a whole lot of features you may not be aware of! It wasn’t until I read Hayley’s posts that I realized you could organize, track and plan your individual or family reading – such a great resource. Read her take on it at www.takingakinderpath.com
Fun fact, word search, handwriting printables and much more – Sallie Borrink Printables and Planners Shop
Positive quotes, growth mindset bookmarks to colour –www.rockyourhomeschool.net
A very helpful variety of perspective on parenting and homeschooling:
For an awesome variety of all things Canadian homeschooling, go to www.thecanadianhomeschooler.com
For learning through life and a big variety of unschooling ideas, go to:
Likely more links to come!
Last but not least, don’t underestimate the stretching that our brains are all doing to take in new information and adjust our routines – that’s HUGE growth and learning for your kids right there. Your kids likely need you to be a parent much more than they need you to be a teacher (in the academic sense) right now.You can make adjustments as you go along but if you haven’t “got this homeschooling thing” right now, I think you’re in good company!
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Hey Erin, strange times indeed. Our days are not at all like our ‘normal’ home ed days, so much recalibrating and rerouting for us all. An emotional rollercoaster all round.
Really appreciate this reminder of resources and some new ones I’m keen to check out. Crash Course, The Art Assignment, Mystery Science (aka Mystery Doug) and all things Maddie Moate are all popular in our house right now.
Honoured to get a mention alongside so many of my fave bloggers 🙂 Sending love and hope to you all x
Thank you, Hayley. Thank you for those suggestions. I just had a look at Crash Course, The Art Assignment and Mystery Doug – those look great!Thanks so much for adding to the list:).