A NEW School at Home Routine that ENHANCES their Learning while Stuck at Home

Here's a fresh school at home routine while in quarantine. This new routine will help ADVANCE your kids' learning as well as  reenergize and reconnect your family after feeling bored and frustrated.  It's a school at home routine that makes it simple to be intentional and make the most of being stuck at home!

Are you finding that your kids are bored and that you’re frustrated and worried that they’ll fall behind in school? We’ve all been stuck at home and thrown into a life with school at home for awhile now. You may have worked out a schedule and a rhythm. But if your kids are bored and you are frustrated and worried, then this new routine is just what you need. It will reenergize and reconnect your family and actually enhance their learning at the same time. It’s simple and will make our school at home while stuck at home experience be intentional and maybe even make you want to stay stuck at home!

The Gift of Time and Attention

Before diving into the new school at home routine, let’s focus on a gift that has been given to us during this unusual and scary experience. That gift is TIME and ATTENTION. All the time and attention that is normally given to the school day, homework, friends, and extracurricular activities is wrapped up and given back to us…our family. We got the slow down that many times we crave. So instead of focusing on the things that are annoying us, making us crazy, or having us say that we can’t wait for life to get back to normal, let’s be intentional with our focus. Let’s focus on the gift of time and attention our family has been given. So how do you want to use that gift? Do you want to use that gift to….

• Laugh together?
• Smile together?
• Ponder together?
• Explore together?
• Learn together?
• Cuddle?
• Connect?
• Bring out the best in each other?

If so, then dive into this school at home routine.

Routine

Let’s not just make it through it. Let’s not just follow a schedule. Let’s not just let our kids have free rein. Let’s not just leave it to the learning websites to teach and inspire out kids. Let’s take this concentrated time with our kids and inspire desire. Let’s inspire the desire to want to know more. Let’s inspire the desire to share with passion. Let’s inspire the desire to work together. Let’s inspire the desire to be good to each other…like their siblings. Let’s simply…inspire. Let’s not just get through it, let’s take this concentrated time with our kids and nail it. Whether you are working from home or you just don’t feel equipped to teach, dropping the schedule and focusing on the right routine will get you there.

School at Home: Routine vs Schedule

A schedule is a plan for carrying out a process with lists of intended events and times. A routine is a sequence of actions regularly followed. So the schedule ties you to specific times. The routine lets you know what is coming next…not time related. There have been really great schedules going around for the quarantine to school at home. If that working for you, then awesome! If you are reading this, though, it must not be working that well for you. So keep reading.

Problems with a Schedule when Stuck at Home

If you are using a schedule, do you find your family getting off schedule many times? Everyone gets up a little later because you all stayed up a later to watch a movie. Your toddler has a potty accident. Your kids are distracted. A friend or family member wants to FaceTime. Lunch takes a little longer. It’s beautiful outside! There are so many things that can throw you off schedule! Are you stressed out and don’t know what to cut if you get off schedule? Or is your family bored of the schedule and uninspired?Why does a schedule work at school but not at home? It HAS to work at school. The school day has an official start and end time. Home is not school.

School at Home is Different than School Away

School at home is very different. They are at home! You are not their normal teacher. You did not decide to homeschool and then planned and prepped. This is very different. We are stuck at home. EVERY.SINGLE.DAY….ALL.DAY. So even homeschool families are experiencing something very different than their normal routine and rhythm. Many of us are also trying to work at home. We still have meals to prepare (even more now that everyone is home for all meals and snacks!). Laundry still piles up (although rewearing the same clothes more than normal isn’t so bad!). The house still needs to be cleaned (although, cut yourself a break…it doesn’t need to be perfect!). And we don’t have our activities and outings to mix into the days. So lower your expectations and cut yourself a break. Everyone is in the same boat….this is not normal.

Benefits of a Routine when Stuck at Home

Our kids still crave and need structure. If you decided to give them free rein to do what they want as long as their school work gets done, do you notice your kids fighting more? Or complaining more? Even though they proclaim to want to do whatever they want whenever they want, kids still work best with routine. We all do. This new routine gives us an opportunity to have great conversations, connect over books and shows. We can share old or newly discovered hobbies. We can use our hands and our brains to build something, sew something, cook something, share something. Why now and not before? Because we have the time. So here is a new school at home routine that can reenergize and reconnect us as a family. Read below on how to still work at home and school at home.

Here it is…the School at Home, while Stuck at Home Routine

I was inspired by Julie Bogart, author of the fabulous book Brave Learner and creator of the Brave Writer writing program, and her homeschool routine. Her methods are so fitting for during our school at home while stuck at home. So here it is…see details below the photo.

1. Me Time!
   1. Everybody enters the day in a different way. Some I call “Poppers” which means they pop out of bed all ready to go (i.e. my husband, my son, and my youngest daughter)! Others (like my oldest daughter) need to ease into the day. Personally, I am one that eases into the day, but I am a “Popper-in-Training” (which has worked pretty well). This “Me Time” is what they do in the morning to enjoy their own time. For those that pop, this might be by exploring a quiet activity like puzzles, reading, listening to music (with headphones), building (with blocks, LEGOS, Magnatiles, etc.), playing with modeling clay, crafting, drawing/coloring, etc. For those that ease into the day, this may mean a little more sleep than those previous school mornings. massages their brain on their own…what

1. Wake up your brains!
   1. If you are like my household, you have some kids who pop out of bed super early, and others who drag out of bed super late. Allow time for kids to wake up their brains and allow others to sleep. Types of activities that are ok during this time are puzzles, building blocks, LEGOS, reading, play dough, artwork, etc. Quiet activities. Here are few specific ideas…
      • Tip: For those that have teenagers that really like to sleep in…keep this a pleasant experience, so wake them up in a gentle way. Ask them to at least make it to the couch. Near the couch, leave some activities that are things that you know they enjoy. Once they are at the couch, chances are, they will stay awake and start to explore the items you left.
      • Parent Option: You can either wake your brain up, too, by listening to or reading something. Or this is a chance for you to get work done.
2. Dressed, Beds, Pets, & Breakfast
   1. Once everyone has had enough time to wake up their brain, then everyone should get dressed, make their beds (even the toddlers can hep with their beds), feed any pets you have, and eat breakfast. Of course, the order of these can adjusts on the day. We base it off of how hungry we are or what is being fixed for breakfast.
      • Tip: It’s ok if you decide as a family to make it a goal to get going with family reading time by a certain time. We have decided as a family 9am is a good goal for us…its’s a good balance between the really early risers and the late sleepers.
      • Parent Option: When should you get dressed? I highly suggest you make your bed and get dressed immediately after waking up. If you come out into the family room/common area of your house, then you are ready for the day…you take charge of the day rather than the day take charge of you.
3. Family Reading Time
   1. Sit down in a comfy place with your kids and read….delve in…even if for a whole hour. Read picture books, nonfiction, chapters from a novel, poetry, anything. Listen to an audio book together. If you only did one thing to focus on your kids’ education during this quarantine, then read, read, read. Read to your kids, have your kids read to you, listen to books together. Books expand minds, teach grammar, punctuation, literary elements, history, science, and more. They are the yellow brick road to a land of learning. The conversations that will occur from a book you read together will be invaluable to their minds. Make it enjoyable…go where it makes you feel cozy that day!
   1. • Tip: Set out some books the night before with a common theme. Or let each child pick a book. End with your family novel (either you reading it aloud of listening to the audio version).
      • Parent Option: If work must be done during this time, still sit with your kids in the comfy place if you can. Explain to them that you still have work you need to do, but you’d love to sit near them during the morning reading. The more time and attention that we give our kids, the more quiet time they will give you later because you will have filled their attention needing (and deserving) buckets.
4. Table Time – Writing and Math
   1. Move to a table and work on writing. If you are having your kids do their work assigned from their teachers, then this is the time for them to work on their writing and then their math components. If you don’t have work from their teachers or you’d like to explore other options of working with your kids on their writing, then read my post about a Budding Writer. There are some wonderful ideas to make this whole school at home experience one you all will never forget.
      • Tip: Take advantage of another opportunity to take a commonly difficult or unenjoyable subject for our kids and give it a rebirth! My post is inspired by the AMAZING attitude and works of Julie Bogart the creator of Brave Writer, a writing program for homeschoolers. She has a wealth of information and inspiration for teaching writing to your children. Right now, she has a page on her website specifically to help those of us that have been thrown into school at home during the quarantine.
      • Parent Option: Again, if you need to work during this time, try to make it happen at the table with your kids. If they see that you have computer work or handwritten work (if that’s what they are doing), then it makes their school experience easier to digest. Togetherness, even if it is just working side by side, goes a long way in effort and enjoyment to get their schoolwork done.
5. Outside Time (or Physical Movement Inside)
   1. No explanation needed here…just get them outside to run and play! If outdoors is not a possibility, make sure they are doing something physical inside.
      • Tip: If it is the appropriate time, then get lunch ready. Or join them outside!
      • Parent Option: This is a great time to make those business phone calls. Or if you have the liberty, do something for your own enjoyment…or get your exercise!
6. Group Projects – Rotate between Social Studies and Science
   1. Explore what your kids have an interest in with these two subjects! Let them work together. Pose a question(s), or better yet, have them pose a question(s), and then go on a hunt for the answer(s). Allow your kids to share their findings in a variety of ways. Present their findings through a slide presentation, by acting it out, playing teacher with a white board and marker, singing a song about it, or simply just share their answer.
      • Tip: If you have a game that explores topics in these areas, let them play it (i.e. Settlers of Catan)! Search for interesting documentaries or YouTube videos with scoial studies or science topics. Hello Magic School Bus videos! They can be found on the internet. The internet is full of interesting options that your children will love and so will you (either because you watch it with them and love it or because they are totally quiet while they are watching!). See my post on a Survival Unit Study for ideas to tie into COVID-19 affects on our lives and how people have survived through other hardships as well as how were people self-sustainable through history.
      • Parent Option: Work away while they are engulfed in their project. You can either do work from your job, housework, or begin prepping dinner.
7. Music / Instrument Practice
   1. If they play a musical instrument, have them practice. Or play allow them to hear talented musicians during this time to appreciate either the instrument they play or inspire them for the future! America’s Got Talent and other reality shows are a fun way to appreciate talent and get jazzed about music!
      • Tip: Playing music from different decades to expand their musical knowledge and appreciation is totally acceptable as musical education…yep, let them hear the music you love from your day!
      • Parent Option: Join them! Pick up that guitar and search out a YouTube lesson, or be the student and have your kid teach you how to play their instrument.
8. Free Time
   1. I literally mean free time. Let them do whatever they want during this time! They need the freedom just like you do.
9. Dinner Time
   1. What a great time to sit together while everyone has something that entertains them…food! Enjoy this time together and have the meaty conversations about the novel you are reading together or about the TV show you binge watched together. Normally we have activities, homework, and bedtime interfering. Be intentional with this time and really get to know your kids and create lasting memories of joking around and comparing your personalities to the characters you are enjoying through those books and shows. While you are stuck at home, you will actually have more things in common to discuss in more depth.
      • Tip: After dinner every night, be a team and truly clean up from dinner together. Rotate who does the dishes, who dries and puts away, who wipes down the table and countertops, and who sweeps. These are the things our kids sometimes participate in during the normal routine of school and activities, but so many times are we rushing them into the shower or sending them off to get their homework done. Let’s be a team and get it done together.
      • Parent Option: Let your kids make dinner (or at least help depending on their age…but don’t underestimate them because of their age) and serve you. Let them have fun and create a restaurant together.

*Lunch fits in when it works for your family.  For my family, most days I prepare lunch while the kids are playing outside.

School at Home Weekly Routine

• Day 1 (i.e. Sunday) – Family Meeting; Kids in the Driver’s Seat; Rest
• Day 2 (i.e. Monday) – Mindfulness; Talking – One-on-One Talks
• Day 3 (i.e. Tuesday) – Tea Time Poetry; Reading Shout-Outs
• Day 4 (i.e.Wednesday) – Word Sculptures
• Day 5 (i.e. Thursday) – Theater / Movies
• Day 6 (i.e. Friday) – Freewrite; Lifeskill Focus
• Day 7 (i.e.Saturday) – Jot it Down; Clean House; Life Skill Focus

Check out my post on the above School at Home Daily Routine to be even more intentional with this unique time with your kids.

*These are labeled by numbers instead of days because you can adjust it to fit your life.  Alliterations help me remember things, so I have Monday-Friday as alliterations with the days activities.

That’s a Wrap for a School at Home Routine while Stuck at Home

The best advice that I can give you in this routine is to give as much of your time as you can in these different moments to your kids. And read. Experience some learning together, and they will benefit immensely…so will you. Bonding with your kids and making them feel comforted and safe during this unsettling time is the best gift you can give them. Find joy in each others’ company. Give out fun snacks at surprising times. Cuddle. Give them you. Then if you have work to get done, you will be more productive because they feel content to give you space and quiet, and you feel more content because you spent valuable time with your children. The flexibility of a routine versus the rigidity of a schedule allows you to have not only a successful school at home experience but an intentional and memorable one.