The spread of COVID-19 has up-ended the world; there’s no getting away from it in the right now. Many companies in the US and around the world have implemented work for home for all possible employees and at the same time schools and day-cares have shutdown. While childless employees have taken this time as a time to get big projects done and binge on long-neglected TV series, and families with a stay at home parent have seen little change, families with two working parents have been put in an impossible situation. Either one parent has to take precious PTO time or work extreme flex time to do child-care, or the children have to go to alternate care situations often with grandparents which puts carriers and high-risk people together. There’s no good solution.
How COVID-19 Disrupted Our Life
As a family with two working parents and three kids 6 and under, we were watching the news closely. On Friday March 13, my company announced a work from home plan effect the following Monday along with plans for extending extra PTO for those who needed it. This didn’t really affect me since I already work remotely, but it was good to hear confirmation that the executives had the employees well-being close to the top of concerns. The same day, our county and school district announced that they planned on keeping schools open. This was a big shock considering the highest number of confirmed cases in the state were in our county. Why would the schools be kept open? All the surrounding counties were closing.
One day later, our governor announced all public schools were closed for at least two weeks stating Monday. Suddenly, we were staring at needing to figure out care and lesson plans within 36 hours for our kindergartner. Day-care for our youngest two was still open, but with high-risk family in the area that would be our only option for help, we decided to immediately pull them and start a quarantine of our family.
I messaged my boss and let him know Monday would be a half day at most while we figured this out. Thankfully his response was “Take the time you need. Just keep me updated.”
Spoiler: Monday was a mess and I ended the day crying.
Happy Ending: By Friday I knew we could and would succeed in keeping our family safe, sane, and moving forward!
Our New Daily Life
Mid-post disclaimer: I know not all of us have companies that see the need for parents to require more flexibility. I am blessed to work for a company that does understand this, and normally allowing for an extraordinary amount of flex time for parents when kids are sick and whatnot. My company also is global and has already dealt with COVID-19 in our Shanghai office so has plans mostly in place for our US and European teams. I have the utmost sympathy for parents who do not have these benefits. However, I wanted to share what we’re doing in hopes that it can help anyone who needs it.
Like my spoiler said, Monday was terrible and we were 100% in survival mode. After a good cry and a few glasses of wine, hubby and I cam up with the following plan for the rest of the week. With minor tweaks for nap-times, it worked very well for us, and allowed us all to feel more relaxed and confident.
Home-Schooling and Working Schedule!
4:45am – I get up and throw on real clothes. No shower or makeup. No breakfast. Wake up and water. I’m weird and don’t drink coffee – so sue me.
5:00am – I log into the VPN and start my workday. This is my first hour and I review any overnight emails first. After that I either get quick items out of the way or start long-process work. Daily work time – 1 hour
6:00am – Work stops. Kids wake up and are hungry. Hubby and I work together to get the boys fed and dressed. This is the normal time for them, so we include their morning jobs like making beds and bringing laundry downstairs if needed. Clean clothes are put away. (I’ll be posting about my tips for laundry soon!)
7:00am – Ty leaves for work. The boys and I talk about the day and what they want to do. Playtime for the boys, and school prep for me.
8:00am – I have a mandatory team meeting, and kids are invited. The older two get to watch a PBS show, and the baby sits on my lap. We meet by webex, and everyone is on video. There is another baby hours younger than my son, and they love to talk to each other. It seems to lift everyone spirits because on Wednesday Pip was on the floor playing, and the team wanted to know where he was and why they couldn’t see him. Daily work time – 1.5 hours
8:30am – First schooling session of the day. I start the day with Scholastic’s Learn At Home program to set the theme for the day.
9:00am – Snack time and Pip goes down for a nap.
9:30am – Dand and Tam pick which app they want to work on. Luckily they are close in age so they can learn together. Tam watches Dand when he’s working on kindergarten level stuff, and Dand helps Tam with his preschool work. I get to work for a short bit. Daily work time – 2 hours
10:00am – Pip is up from his nap and it’s school time! I use a book I have from when I was little called “Everything Your 1st Grader Needs to Know”. My version was published in 1991, so it aligns pretty well with the current kindergarten curriculum. We read a few pages that go with the Scholastic theme. Then we talk about the theme and how it relates to our life.
10:30am – I work on emails and quick tasks while Dand and Tam work on worksheets I’ve pulled from books (the books I’m using are below) or play outside. Pip plays with toys on the floor next to my desk. Daily work time – 2.5 hours
11:00am – The boys play either inside or outside, while I do a quick sweep of the house. Generally the mess isn’t terrible and I can clean up in 10 minutes (I’ll be posting about using the Montessori method of toy storing soon!). I relax and play with the boys.
12:00pm – Lunch time! I talk with the boys about our lessons for the day.
12:30pm – Pip goes down for his afternoon nap and the real work for the day start. Dand and Tam start by finishing their worksheets. They are then allowed to work either on the educational apps or they are allowed to watch approved TV. They can also choose to play in our fenced-in backyard. I work on my design-intensive projects that required more concentrated thought. Daily work time – 4.5 hours
2:30pm – I go over the worksheets and talk to the boys about things they had problems with. We also have time to explore questions they have to the topic of the day. Seriously – on the Animal Babies day they wanted to know how animal babies walked and why their baby brother didn’t.
3:00pm- Snack time! Pip is up from his naps and we play inside or go for a walk in the neighborhood. We also use this time to do a science experiment if I’m up for it that day.
5:00pm – The big boys help with dinner prep.
5:30pm – Dinner time. We talk about the theme, and indulge most of their tangents.
6:30pm – Bedtime starts. I put Pip down, and Ty focuses on Dand and Tam. (Bedtime post coming soon!)
7:00pm – I get back to working while Ty finishes bedtime. Daily work time – 6 hours
8:30pm – I sign off for the night. Shower, relaxing, and connection time with Ty.
10:00pm – Lights out for me.
Educational Resource Recommendations
I started this process with resources I had and those recommended to me by Dand’s teacher. Most of them are free or cheap, but some of them can get pricey quickly. Check with your child’s teacher to see if they’ve gotten any deals with apps for products. I am not affiliated with any of the companies/products I’m recommending, nor are any of these sponsored.
Work books
I am using a variety of work books pulling pages as they fit our daily theme and/or a skill that needs practicing. Because I’m using multiple books for two kids, I pull the pages out and store them in a folder by child. This also helps because I am able to review the work in chronological order so planning for the next day is easier.
- Scholastic – I like these books because they have a progression of knowledge as well as a variety of ways to cover topics.
- Highlights – These books are great for rout practice and fun games.
- Sylvan – We are using these books for more advanced practice.
Apps and Websites
Again, I’m using a variety of websites and apps. There are a lot of options out there, but these are the best ones for us.
- Scholastic Learn At Home – Scholastic is great for setting the tone of the day. They currently have 10 days up, and have committed to 20 days of lessons available for free with no expiration. Every day has a theme, which is helpful when jumping into homeschooling like we are! The lessons take about 30 minutes each.
- Khan Academy Kids – Khan Academy is a non-profit educational research that has been around for years. It has a large array of tutorials for all ages and most topics. They have a Kids app for ages 2-7 that is free. It is customized by age, with the younger ones being focused on feelings and other social topics along with letter recognition. Topics for older kids cover math, reading, and social topics. They are somewhat random when playing through, but you can access specific topics for focused practice.
- Epic – Epic is an app that allows your child’s teacher to assign reading. It then keeps track of books opened, and reading time. I a finding the books include a few words that are too above-grade level, but that allows us to learn new words and concepts even if Dand isn’t reading them.
- ABC Mouse – I am not using ABC Mouse right now, but I have friends who love it. It is subscription based at $9.95/month. They have 30 days free and 49% off of their annual subscription.
Science Kits
- KiwiCo – I love KiwiCo crates. Last year we had a subscription for Dand and he loved doing the activities they are age appropriate and teach a wide variety of topics. I know there are a bunch of companies out there, but this is by far my favorite.
These tips won’t work for everyone, but hopefully you found something useful! I will be writing a followup post next week with more resources and tips. Please leave a comment below with your ideas, or submit them to me below to have your ideas included in the post. You’ll be added to my email list.