A Potpourri of Ideas to Help us Have Fun

Hello everyone.  I guess the long haul just got longer here in Ontario with schools closed to May 31.  At least the labour situation has eased.  Remember when teacher strikes were happening and how frustrating it was to have no school for a day every other week?

But on to other matters.  I've entitled this post a Potpourri because it's a miscellaneous collection of some ideas to have fun.

My daughters and John and I have been trying to have daily video conferences at the end of the business/school day.  But a week or so ago, my daughter Cindy, in Burlington asked if we could do a special grandparents' video time with Luke (10) and Florence (8) because they were missing their time with us!  So we set up a conference call on Messenger and played Tenzies.  It was a year ago that I wrote the original post about how much fun this game is.  I did buy the deck of 77 Ways to Play Tenzi and I have the set of four coloured dice.

Cindy doesn't have a Tenzi set but she did have a lot of dice from a game called Flash.  You could also raid all the games in your house that come with dice (just remember where they came from later!)

The kids got creative and figured out a way to make sure they had 10 dice of their own and we started to play - Luke and Florence in Burlington, I in Markham.  Note that we used place mats or towels to soften the sound of possibly 30 dice hitting a hard surface all at once!

It was so satisfying that we have now played twice!  

Oldest grandson, Cameron, introduced his mom to a virtual version of Pictionary.  So KC got us set up and it was our activity for our Saturday Family Game Night last night.

We had 7 laptops/tablets between the 8 of us with either a tablet or another window open on the laptop so we could talk to each other.  Highly recommended.

Along the same line (but with a trifle more challenging learning curve) is this site for playing card games.

John and I played Crazy Eights last night after the rest of the family left the video call - he at the desktop downstairs and I on my laptop upstairs.  Once we got the hang of it, we could see that it would be a good way to play together. Luke and John could play chess, but we want to play a game of Hearts first.  There is a good Help section; I think I was too eager to get right to playing the card game and didn't spend any time reading how to do it (think of that Executive Function that controls impulsivity and my deficit there!)

Cindy puts together the newsletter for the Science Teachers' Association of Ontario (STAO) and she found this Scavenger Hunt from the Perimeter Institute.  She was impressed and suggested I add it my blog!

And, finally, this just about sums up how it goes these days:

Hugs (virtually) to all.

Gerrie

Buckets of Time

Today's post is a step-backward from my usual 'could-be-over-whelming' list things to do.  The following article in the Globe and Mail the other day could be helpful to those of you trying to juggle so many things.  This time, you can juggle buckets, and although it sounds like 'Filling Your Bucket', it might just be that by using these 'time buckets', you will be filling both your bucket and those of your kids.

Need to keep kids busy at home? Think 'buckets'. 

by Sarah Rosensweet

Globe and Mail, April 7, 2020.

By structuring days into different activity categories, you can provide a framework both for yourself and for your children.

You are not alone in wondering how to get through the days. There are many parents out there right now who are wondering the same thing (how to make it through the day). Many parents are in an unusual (for them) situation of caring for their children all day and every day. No daycare, no school. And to top it off, many parents are also trying to work from home. It’s helpful to remember that everyone is dealing with the same challenges right now and to give yourself some grace.

In terms of daily life with children at home, I like to think of structure in terms of “buckets.” A bucket is a category of activity. Every day we do at least one thing that falls into each bucket. Which buckets to include takes a little thinking and planning on your part. What is important to you and non-negotiable?

Buckets include things such as exercise, fresh air, reading time, independent play, chore time, schoolwork and social connection. These will be different depending on your family and your values. You might make a schedule if you are a schedule person. At the very least, I recommend using the bucket approach to give your life with children at home a sense of routine and predictability.

Children need predictability to feel safe and secure. Use three to five buckets to provide a framework for your day and refer to them when discussing the day with your child.

Here are some bucket examples and some tips for making them work.

MOVE YOUR BODY

Experts agree that exercise and fresh air must be included so we can stay mentally and physically healthy. There are lots of free resources available right now for keeping kids active. If you have a yard, get outside every day. If you don’t, open the window! This is also extremely important for caregivers. Move your body. Get your blood pumping. This alone can make a huge difference in your ability to cope.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

If your children are school-age and you are pandemic-schooling at home, remember that the most important thing is to keep their minds engaged. It may or may not work for you to keep up with the assigned work. Remember that play is the work of childhood. If you are doing other things to keep your child’s mind active, such as reading with them, and you are not cut out to be their teacher, that’s okay. One of your buckets could reflect this, such as “brain games” or something similar.

INDEPENDENT PLAY

If your child is hesitant to play on their own, make sure to fill their cup/bucket first with some play time with you. When their connection needs are met, children are much more willing to play by themselves. A great way to encourage independent play is to set up some sensory activities, such as water or sand play. Again, Google has great ideas for sensory activities.

HELPING AROUND THE HOUSE

If you don’t already have a chore routine, start by asking older kids how they’d like to help out the family team. If you have younger kids, they can help out by being involved in daily household tasks such as food preparation, laundry and cleaning. If they get to spend time with you and get attention, children are usually happy to help out.

Finally, make sure to schedule some time for yourself. What do you need to do to stay grounded during this unprecedented time? Give yourself so much compassion. This is hard. It includes forgiving yourself for letting the kids have more screen time than you would normally be okay with. 

If we are to get through this with grace, we need to remind ourselves that these are not ordinary times. If you can, comfort yourself with the bright side of more time spent as a family. When things go back to normal, it’s possible we just might miss these days.

And along the same line of thinking, an update just came in from Understood.org called My Five Parenting Rules for Letting Go and Getting Through the Coronavirus Crisis.  Do check it out.  Her last point is awesome:

I always tell my kids they can’t do better than the best they can do. It’s advice I’m going to have to take right now. Amid all this uncertainty, my best isn’t as good as it typically would be. I’m distracted and worried, and it affects my productivity. But it’s still the best I can do. And I can’t do any better than that.

April Showers

I'm just going to bypass all the usual thoughts we have these days, other than to say I hope you are trying to stay sane.  John and I are doing well; we teleconference almost every day with our daughters and their families.  My stepmom is by herself in Ottawa (how I wish I could 'rescue' her) but at this point, despite her saying that she's 'tired of herself' she is willing to stay on her own in her apartment.

Enough about me.  This will be a short post in terms of what you see from me but do check out this link for Wide Open School from understood.org.  I know we've been bombarded with lists of what to do with your child but this really is one of the best sites I've seen.  I've called this post 'April Showers' because showers in April bring things to life.  Fingers crossed the post gives you some cheerful thoughts.

"Understood has partnered with the best in education, tech, and media to launch Wide Open School. It's a free collection of the best online learning experiences and activities for kids curated by Common Sense Media to help families and educators adapt to online learning."

It is without a doubt, the best presentation of possible resources for you as an educator and/or a parent.  I've clicked on both being an educator and a family and the resources vary for the audience.  What I particularly like is that lists are not overwhelming.  Plus, it's a colourful setup.

Under 'educator' I found links to knowing how to use Google Classroom (as a parent you might want to check that out for more information).  I also found information on how to use Zoom - my go-to conferencing site for my tutoring sessions.  

In the same email that came to me from understood.org was a link to a diary written by a parent.  You might identify with some of her thoughts, especially if you have a child at home who learns differently!  

Finally, to both my parent readers and my friends who are educators (and there is definitely overlap) good luck with the upcoming assignments.  I hope the learning curve, just like the virus, levels off quickly.

Best to all,

Gerrie