This schedule is intended for ages 4-9 (or preschool through 3rd grade
After just TWO DAYS of trying the schedule a few adjustments are needing to be made. As I stated in my instagram story, my kindergartener is getting envious of the 2nd grader having lots of time on the computer. He has several videos he needs to watch as well as worksheets and homework. I have also noticed that the kids are much more eager and willing to do school work at the beginning of the day. Therefore, here is the adjusted schedule:
8:30am walk to school
9am. Worksheets
9:30 STEM challenge or building for kindergartener while 2nd grader starts on his first set of instructional videos
10am snack time and drawing/coloring
10:30am. Reading time with kindergartener while 2nd grader does worksheets
11am Kindergartener does her instruction on the computer while 2nd grader finishes school work
11:45am Lunch/recess
12pm-3pm free time/play time
3pm Start homework. This is reading for kindergartener and spelling words/reading log for 2nd grader and piano practice for both
4pm Watch TV or play school games on iPad
5pm Dinner and end of day routine
The day starts at 8:30am with their dad walking them once around the neighborhood. We call this “walking to school”. It gives me time to wipe the breakfast table down, start my coffee, and put the first activity at the table. It gives me a quiet 20 minutes to breathe before we start the busy day. Alternative suggestions would be to have the kids walk 3 times around your backyard if fenced in, walk up and down the hall of apartment 3-4 times, or up and down the stairwell (obviously not without adult supervision). This gets a little energy out as well before they need to sit for 20-30 minutes.
9:00am. The kids come in to “school” and sit down at the kitchen table for the first activity. Starting out with a quick prayer is always a good idea. Suggestions of first activities can be things like bible verse, pledge, play-doh/lego time, coloring page, STEM challenge
10am. Snack Time. I decided at the beginning of the social shutdown that the kids had to have designated snack times or else we would have no food left within days. We have a snack at 10am and 3pm, pretty much the same times they have a snack if they were in school.
11am. My toddler is down for a nap so I need to be really strategic with how I use this time. This hour the best time for the instructional school work that needs to get done- such as school worksheets or assignments given by their school…anything that would require one-on-one help. If you have multiple children, find a way to sit at the table with both of them so that you are available to answer any questions as they navigate through the worksheet. This is also an excellent time to do reading assignments if the child needs help reading.
12pm. Lunch and recess time. Recess can be anything from putting on GoNoodle, playing in the sandbox, running through the sprinklers. If you can go outside, the fresh air and sunshine would be most beneficial to you and your child. If that’s not feasible, Amazon Prime has loads of exercise videos as does YouTube. If you don’t have either, a dance party is always a fun thing. Even opening a window and breathing the fresh air is a nice activity to do together.
1pm Coloring (which if you call it Art Class, the kids will perk up a bit), craft, or science experiment time. Another great thing to do at this time is have kids help with little chores such as laundry, wiping down surfaces with warm water and soap (no harsh chemicals for the little hands!), or dishes. If you like to bake, it’s always fun to have the kids help with quick breads, muffins, or prepping dinner. This is the time that my kids like to tune in to Mo Willem’s Lunch Doodles which is a 20 minute art lesson video that the author of Elephant and Piggie books is currently doing due to the social distancing. Every day at 1pm. Distract the kids. Let you take a breath. You’re halfway through the day.
2pm. This is about the time where you start to lose mama and we reach for more coffee. I like to reserve this time for Computer Lab aka screen time. It’s a quiet 20 minutes or so where the kids are taking turns with educational games (abcya.com or pbskids) and you can start planning for dinner. We can also call this Centers time where one child is on the device, the other doing a worksheet and then switch at 15 minutes.
2:30-3pm. “Pick Up Time” This is the time of day where we end our school structure and go in to at-home mode. If you’d like, you can do a “Walk home from school” to break up and distinguish this time frame. During this time, the kids can do their homework such as studying their spelling words or doing their reading log. This time would also be reserved for practicing instruments or sports.
4pm In our house, we only have one time of day where the children have the freedom to choose a show on the tv. This time is reserved so that I can make dinner as well.
I hope this loose structure is helpful to you! If nothing else, I hope it generated some ideas for your own family. Follow my Pinterest board to see exact activities we are doing each week.
A more detailed look into our schedule including Specials:
Chapel Time: A short time of Bible story, memory verse, and worship (either putting worship music on Spotify or Hillsong Kids channel on YouTube). Here are some resources:
Calvary Chapel Philly Kids Ministry
Music: Listening to different music than we normally do such as Classical, Swing, Blues, Big Band, etc and discussing what we like. Other ideas include pots and pans playing to music, a marching band parade around the house, singing favorite movie soundtracks like Moana, Sing, Frozen, They Might Be Giants
Media Center/Library Time: Mommy reads a book or kids read to Mommy time
Show/Tell: This includes listening to details of child’s favorite toy and asking questions about it
Drama: Create your own play, role play with dress-up outfits, cue cards of acting out different animals, a game of charades
PE: I use this time just for outside activity but this can include learning a sport, riding bike/skateboard/scooter, hopscotch, tag, hide and seek, sidewalk chalk, catch bubbles or balloon