What a crazy time we are living in. One day I was getting my daughter’s costume ready for a 50s dance and washing my son’s little league clothes ready for our next game, and the next day the world was shut down and toilet paper became a hot commodity. From the blink of an eye, our daily schedules and lives have been turned upside down and we all became homeschool parents (scroll to the end to get right to the best free homeschool resources!) Schools are closed, events are postponed, trips are canceled, sports are canceled, many of us will be home the next few weeks or months with our kids or will be working from home. But what is not canceled is…love, hope, faith, learning, family, community! We are all in this together and I wanted to share some resources to help you keep productive and sane with your at-home time with the kids! I also am sharing updated resources, ideas and videos on my Instagram page so check that out too. We do not know how long or what we will be dealing with in these unprecedented times.
Don’t ignore the worry and stress, but overcome it with positivity! Focus on the special moments you can create with your family during this forced slow down and the opportunities we have to stay connected with technology. May you be safe, healthy and at ease. So let’s get to it…
CREATE A SCHEDULE
Your schedule can be as rigid or flexible as you like but have something the kids know they can rely on – you can do a structured day or a comfortable and flexible daily schedule of “must-do’s” and “want to do’s” to keep you on track and enjoy time together. I do something similar to this in the summertime with goals and work mixed in with fun. Have your kids help you create one on excel, a whiteboard or just a piece of paper to stick on the fridge!
TIPS/RESOURCES FOR ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH YOUR FAMILY
*DO FAMILY HISTORY – Have you created your family tree yet? Reading stories of your ancestors and having your kids help is a great way to spend time together! Create a free account here and learn more about your roots together – https://www.familysearch.org/
*CREATE A FAMILY BUCKET LIST – Think about the places you CAN go when things mellow out. Not just travel but experiences you want to have too! Each person can create a bucket list and you can create one as a family too. Here is a printable one to start – https://golovebe.com/create-your-ultimate-bucket-list
*CHALLENGE EACH OTHER – A few fun online apps where you can interact with family or friends in other locations too include Kahoot! – a fun quiz game that everyone can join no matter where they are using their phone. To get everyone to join in (at the same time), share the pin. It has a friendly competition element. Psych and Quizlet are other great options too!
*PLAY GAMES & CLEAN OUT GAME CLOSET – Go through your game closet and play while cleaning it out – my kids are never playing Candyland again but it was in the closet so we were able to pass it on! A few of our family favorite games – Spoons, Hearts, Dominoes, Uno and Skipbo! Uno Flip and Uno Attack are fun twists on traditional Uno! Or finally, play the marathon session of Monopoly you have been putting off! Amazon can usually one day new games to your house! Here is a three in one pack!
*STAY ACTIVE – Get outdoors, create obstacle courses, participate in online fitness! Keeping active is so important for sanity and health during this stay at home time of social isolation due to the coronavirus! Getting outdoors is good if you can social distance – hiking, walks, beach, etc – but if weather does not allow (of course rain here the first time this year is the next 2 weeks!), find ways to help get that energy out. Kids have fun making their own obstacle courses. And we have fun fitness mornings that often include Workout videos from Beachbody – you can get 14 days free of workouts for yourself and your kids here! (Signup for the 3-month plan and cancel before 14 days if you don’t want to continue and you pay nothing!) or free LesMills Workouts here or free Peloton workouts for 3 months or Daily Burn for 30 days. Fuel your body with great vitamins too like these which are my favorite!
*DISCONNECT from technology for a bit and decompress from the media storm. Talk to your family and housemates. Have genuine conversations and reconnect! Use the stay at home rules to connect at home!
*START YOUR SPRING CLEANING! Hey we’re all germaphobes now anyway, might as well do something with all those disinfectant wipes you bought! Kidding… Go through your closets, declutter cupboards, see what you can donate to organizations for the needy. You don’t even have to leave your house to donate items – take your empty Amazon boxes and fill with used items to donate and the post office will pick up from your door! This website makes it so easy to do just that. No excuses! And there are many great cleaning plans and Spring Cleaning checklists and printables too on Pinterest – Here are some great ideas and free printables on this board for your spring cleaning!
*LEARN SOMETHING NEW – You can learn just about anything from YouTube or Kahn Academy! Try taking a free class online – (after decompressing): learn a new language, take an art class, learn how to make balloon animals! Shayla is learning about gardening and planning and making a garden – a great thing to do when stuck at home and bonus that we will be growing our own food!
*READ – Read that book you have been wanting to read – or reread a classic novel. Download free ebooks and audiobooks for you and the kids from your local library without leaving the house! Most libraries have great options like Overdrive or CloudLibrary to find free ebooks – check out your local libraries’ website to see what they offer. Join an online book club on facebook. Lots of great reviews for kids, tweens and parents here – find a new series or discover a new favorite author! DO a book swap and swap with friends and leave on each other’s doorstep!
*MOVIE TIME – Disney+ releases free movies for families to stream. Comcast offering free Xfinity WiFi nationwide and Spectrum ( call 1-844-488-8395 to enroll) offering free internet for all,
TIPS/RESOURCES FOR YOUR KIDS/TEENS
*ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES – Many companies and websites are giving back and offering free services during these times too. And there are lots of awesome homeschooling parents out there who are sharing great resources and things to use to help your child not have their brain turn to MUSH during this time! But when I look at long lists like these free educational websites available – there are so many great ideas but is a bit overwhelming and hard to see what are good resources and what are fluff – so here are a few favorite FREE fun and educational websites that rise to the top of this list and recommended by teachers and tested by my kids – good for up to 8th grade!
- Outschool – This has AMAZING classes iin anything you can think of. My homeschooling sister told me about this and love the options. Shayla did a Stock Market game and Youtube course and Mitch did an Ocean Minecraft class. They have classes for sewing, language, legos, anything at all – use this link to get $20 off first class.
- Prodigy Games – MATH – My kids LOVE this free math game for all levels
- Studies Weekly – SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE – Standards-Based Elearning – free during this time!
- Scholastic – ALL – Offering Daily lessons which makes it easy to plan one of your elearning times.
- Kahn Academy – ALL – Learn ANYTHING free always!
- Respectful Ways – SOCIAL EMOTIONAL Learning – offering access to 3 modules based on age groups such as respect, empathy, honesty, ego. Very cool!
- Brain Pop – ALL – Great for younger ages 8th grade and under!
- Mad Science – SCIENCE – Fun at-home science experiments!
- Code.org – An easy and fun coding platform for kids!
- Project Explorer – WORLD – Videos and lessons plan about current affairs and world issues and more.
- National Geographic Kids – Science and animal for kids of all ages!
- Adventure Academy – READING, science, math ages 9-13. Free for 30 days!
- Time for Kids – CURRENT AFFAIRS, POLITICS and more – sign up for free weekly newsletter!
A few other favorites that are geared for elementary kids – Abcya.com, StarFall.com, FunBrain.com
TIPS/RESOURCES FOR PARENTS
*MAKE MEALS/SHOPPING EASY – Who wants to go to long lines and germ-filled stores? Not me! To avoid going to the store and still have healthy options, try ordering meals (According to the CDC there is no evidence to support the spread of COVID-19 through food or food packaging), smoothies, and even your fruits and veggies online – we love Home Chef for meals, Imperfect Foods for many fruits and veggies, and Daily Harvest to order smoothies/soups. Click on the links here for discounts off your first orders! And of course, if you just want to feel normal and do some shopping here are a few of my favorite things on Amazon!
*GET PREPARED – Stocking up on Toilet paper is not what I am referring to, but you should have 72-hour kits and some food storage on hand for sure anyway! But I am also talking about “getting your affairs in order”. No one likes to do the necessary things in life, but it’s important. If you have kids you REALLY REALLY need to have a Guardianship form and will and even better to have an Estate Plan in place. You can actually do this all online now with this awesome new website Living Trustify where you can do your estate plan online easily and they give you the directions to complete it – about 1/4 of the cost of going to a lawyer to do it! Or if you already have things in place – just go over them – update your will, submit beneficiary forms for your 401k plans, be sure your family knows your wishes in these areas. Not fun, but it’s necessary – get going on that estate planning today!
*BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY – Be sure you are filling your bodies with healthy foods so your immunity is up to par! Do you know how to boost your immune system? My favorite is using Blast (has elderberry in it!) and Boost (16 servings of fruits and veggies in one) – add to water or a shake and so much instant goodness. Kids love them too and really help boost your immunity!
*START WRITING YOUR LIFE STORY – The #52stories project provides the inspiration you need to write down one story every week for a year, bringing you 52 steps closer to completing your personal history. https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/52stories/
WAYS TO SERVE AT THIS TIME…
Right before I posted this post I knew I wanted to include ways to give back and came across this graphic which shows ways to give back. This is specific to California but you can google the same type of places in your state.
ONE LAST THING TO DO…
LAUGH – Don’t forget to be lighthearted too! Laugh, have fun with each other, enjoy your time together! VidAngel is offering free clean family entertainment (they edit out inappropriate scenes and words from tv and movies) through the end of March – check out their Dry Bar Comedy series and you will definitely have a good laugh from them! To get free you have to make the following commitment…
I will wash my hands regularly and practice social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. And, I’ll give bigger hugs when this is all over.
This pandemic has really thrown me off balance. I worry more than I ever used to. Food banks are in short supply, domestic violence has risen dramatically – and there’s so much more we will never hear about, people are dying alone. It’s so tragic. I am always on the lookout for ways to stem the crazy! Thank you for your resources <3