A Mom Trying to Survive Social Distancing
Let me start out by saying that I love my child. He’s insightful, funny, and very caring. However, I do not love our new routine. I’m a self-employed/work from home mom and now thanks to COVID-19, my little human is also home for at least the next two weeks. Technically, we are on Spring break for the week, but I feel like he is already one of those kids that is walking a very fine line of “doing ok, but could easily fall behind.” I also thought it would probably be easier to start the homeschooling routine now, instead of next week, so he’s already in a routine (also read as, hopefully no tantrums). I’m attempting to follow a very “loose” structure of academic time, creative time, and educational games. But, if I’m being honest, I’d rather plop him in front of the TV while I go cry in the corner drinking a very BIG glass of wine. I’m not made to be his full time educational provider. I do not have the patience. I especially do not have the patience in these times of uncertainty. I feel stressed about everything. Everyone is telling me not to panic, but for me, that just makes me feel more panicky. I’m trying to be prepared, but trying not to freak out. WHERE IS THE BALANCE??? All the while, I’m trying to not let my 1st grader lose any scholastic momentum, but I’m also trying not to lose my sh*t. Again, where is the balance?! Please let me know if you find it.
Yesterday, I ran outside to let our dog back in from his morning potty time, and our door did not latch all of the way. I could hear my seven year old yell out (repeatedly) that it was cold. Do you think he would have gotten up to close the door? No, he just continued to yell out. It wasn’t a huge deal, but I was already frustrated, and quite frankly, my fuse is pretty nonexistent right now. I came in and demanded to know if this was how he acts at school?! I then made him write sentences.
He, of course, did not “hear” me, so instead of writing it 10 times, he filled the entire page. Oh well. I didn’t stop him. We had a lot less tantrums after this (under the threat of more sentences if needed).
In an effort for continuity, I’ve been scouring the internet for as many free educational printables/games as I can find. I’ve found several resources that have been a tremendous help, with the best (in my opinion) being Teachers Pay Teachers. You can search by grade level, subject, and price. There are hundreds of free listings. Hundreds!! FREE!! I cannot tell you how many worksheets and games I’ve gotten off of this site. It’s truly been an amazing resource.
One of those free listings (and a fan favorite) was this Easy Egg Carton Math Game FREEBIE! It came with instructions on how to make the “game” (note, it called for 2 fuzzy poms to be used as the balls, but we didn’t have any on hand. I just used torn paper that I shaped into balls. Easy peasy) as well as sheets for the kids to write down their numbers to form the addition and/or subtraction operations. You could do this without printing the sheets out, and just having them write it on a piece of paper. That’s what we’ll do after he uses all of the printed ones. For older kids, this could easily be used for multiplication as well.
He really enjoyed this “game” and actually asked to play it today. Score!
We also use ABCmouse in the afternoons to give him some of his favorite thing...screen time! Check with your school district for a coupon code for free access. This has been another excellent resource for us. And one that I can set him up at the computer and walk away to complete another task (dinner prep/dishes/wine refill...j/k...maybe 😂).
What are some of your favorite educational resources/websites? Share them in the comments! Stay well and here’s to surviving social distancing!