Week 1 - The New Normal – help for the reluctant home schooler

Let's face it 2020 has been off to a rough start.  The world is reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and life as we know it is changing by the day. 

Here in Melbourne we started school holidays a little earlier than planned and many parents are wondering how they can best support their children's learning (and keep them happily entertained while man parents are working from home).  If your Facebook and Insta feeds are anything like mine they are jam packed with educational resources which while helpful it can also be overwhelming and that's where I'm I can help.   

Before I started Max & Me Designs I worked as a Primary School teacher and I have also been a lecturer and tutor in Education at RMIT University.  I have a passion for teaching and I want to help you by finding resources that will help you support your family in a fun way. 

I don't want you to have to turn your house into a classroom or rush out to buy a laminator (although they are lots of fun ;)  Instead I hope to highlight that the world (or your backyard) is our classroom and demonstrate how to use simple activities to facilitate deep learning in a way that is fun you and your kids. 

I also want to stress that what we are experiencing is not true "home schooling", at best it is distance/remote learning and at times, as parents, we may not even be able to do that.  And that's okay... More than anything else at the moment our kids need to feel safe and loved, so if that means having a pj and movie days or a day where you just spend some family time together painting, playing, reading books or watching TV then that's okay as well.  

So, here's what we have been up to this week. I hope these activities give you some simple and fun ideas for your family. 

For a few days we set a theme e.g. A Beary Special Day.  This day was all about having fun with your teddy bear.  My kids love their soft toys and loved having activities to do with their teddy bears. 

We read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" or you can watch a video of the author, Michael Rosen, reading and acting out the book here if you don't have a copy at home. 

We played games with our teddies, my kids LOVE this Bingo game from Kmart and it was a great buy for $9.50. 

After morning tea we went for a walk/bike ride around our neighbourhood to find some bears (making sure we were practising social distancing while we were out).  Many communities around the world are placing bears in their windows at the moment to bring a bit of joy to kids (and grown-ups) in this difficult time.  We loved looking for all the bears and you could extend this activity if you wished in the following ways: 

• Record the colours of the bears and make a graph
• Count how many bears that you found
• Make a list of the different types of toys that you found, they're not all bears!
• Write a story from the perspective of the bear in the window, what did he see that day?  

When we came back my daughter did a colouring sheet of a teddy bear while my son read a book about bears.  

For lunch we had a teddy bear picnic in the back yard with our teddies.

We wrapped up the day with some Cosmic Kids Yoga - We're Going on a Bear Hunt. 

If you're looking for a way to explain social distancing to young children, this video called "Time to Come In Bear" is a great way to explain what is happening in the world right now in a kid-friendly way. 

Our other days were a bit more fluid but here is a list of some of the activities the kids enjoyed the most are listed below: 

• A morning exercise session - PE with Joe

 

• We've been going for a walk each day around our neighbourhood (making sure that we are practising social distancing at the same time) and the kids loved doing this Nature Treasure Hunt
• LOTS of Lego!  The kids rediscovered their Duplo after watching this awesome clip which has lots of briliant ideas of the things you can make with Lego or Duplo - 50 Things to Do with Duplo clip

 

• Creating paintings/drawings to give to our neighbours to brighten their day
• Lots of board games and puzzles