Helpful home tips

[peachsmama]

Since we're all thrown off our normal, I was thinking maybe what someone else does to make their lives easier, may help another adjust to this chaos.

Like ever since I started keeping the boys home with me I schedule my laundry and cleaning. Legit put it in my calendar so I get the satisfaction of checking it off. I do 1 room and 1-2 loads a day and it makes it easy to keep up with.

I have our dark, the boys dark, light, bleach, towels. I throw MJ's dark in with one or the other. I take the basket of darks straight from the dryer to the closet and put away immediately since for us, it's mostly hanging stuff. So it's easier that way and fast.

[peachsmama]

I normally start my daily load while the boys are eating breakfast. And I get their tooth brushes ready (they cant be trusted to use the toothpaste) so as soon as they are finished eating, they go in and brush, wash hands and face and go get dressed.

[wineallthetime]

We are loosely following this schedule which has helped!

7-9: wake up, tv, breakfast, ect
9- brush teeth, get dressed, make beds
9:30-10- morning walk
10-11 school work
11-12 lunch and books
12-1 art
1-3 quiet time
3-4 play time inside
4-5 walk/outside play
5-6 clean toy room, dinner prep
6 outdoor concert a few doors down
6:30 dinner (if not before the concert), bath, books, bed

[nam2013]

Our routine is based on wat ds normally does at school, school days are 08.30-13.00 5 days a week.

Tuesday looks like this for example

07.30 get up get dressed, eat breakfast, hair & teeth

‘School’
08.30 open the day with songs & stories
09.00 model beeswax clay
09.30 indoor free play & putting everything away
10.30 fruit & story time
11.00 set the table eat sandwich
11.30 outside free play
12.45 end the day

13.30 lunch
14.00 whatever they want to do
17.00 screen time
18.00 dinner
18.30 bath & bed & books & songs

Most days they are asleep by 19.15.

We wrote down the whole school schedule and hung it up, so ds can see it. Dd was supposed to start school in 8 weeks anyway, so she sticks to this routine too.

[chrisy01]

Monday - Friday from 600-400 I’m pretty much working.

At lunch time I take extra time to make the kids lunch and then put them down for nap

They nap around 2 hours. L doesn’t always nap but he stays in his room somewhat quietly

L and E get up at 630/700 get breakfast and the L starts school at 800. He does that for 2 hours then 1 TV show. Then for an hour he either does art or today I’m showing him how to do yoga on the Wii fit. I’m bringing that out of storage for him. It’s been off and on raining. After nap another 2 hours of school work then it’s reading time for 20 minutes then it’s free time.

E just does her thing

After I’m off work if C is home I clean 1 room. If he’s not I make dinner.

I’m trying to not make a firm schedule so on hard days I don’t feel like I failed.

[mwhip]

I'm not really going to worry about a schedule. Keeping us all alive, sane and healthy are my priorities. Once we hear from the school district, then I'll come up with some plan, but for now, it's just extended spring break.

[wineallthetime]

Mar 23, 2020 9:23:41 GMT -6 mwhip said:

I'm not really going to worry about a schedule. Keeping us all alive, sane and healthy are my priorities. Once we hear from the school district, then I'll come up with some plan, but for now, it's just extended spring break.

I'm only doing a schedule to keep us from going insane and to keep the kids from watching TV all day!

[nam2013]

Mar 23, 2020 9:30:12 GMT -6 wineallthetime said:

Mar 23, 2020 9:23:41 GMT -6 mwhip said:

I'm not really going to worry about a schedule. Keeping us all alive, sane and healthy are my priorities. Once we hear from the school district, then I'll come up with some plan, but for now, it's just extended spring break.

I'm only doing a schedule to keep us from going insane and to keep the kids from watching TV all day!

This is us/me. I need some structure.

[peachsmama]

I don't mean just scheduling. Anything you think might be helpful.

[nam2013]

Ohhh i stopped reading/watching m the news before bedtime. I read/see enough during the day, before bedtime I just watch a silly movie/easy show. It takes my mind of things.

After a full day with the kids my h sends me upstairs half an hour before the kids come up, that way I have half an hour in the tub alone.

[guster]

For home:
-I do at least one load of laundry every day. Wash, dried, and folded all at once.
-I fell away from a monthly meal plan in January, but now that we’re home I’m going to create one for April.
- I’m a big believer in making the bed every day. It sets me off with the right mindset.
- We have these big trays – one is the top of an old sensory table and the other is an insert for a dog crate (I bought it new). When the kids are watching tv, I’ll set them both up on the kitchen table with some kind of art activity (playdoh, kinetic sand, paint, marbles and blocks, brain flakes, etc). They complain less when the tv time is over if they see they have something fun to do next.
- I’m also a bit of a proponent for keeping them bored a little bit. I tell them at least twice a day just go in the playroom and figure it out, and they complain for a couple of minutes but then they create a game or play with something and they’re happy.

For “School”
- I’m breaking school up into three separate chunks (at least right now) we do a bit after breakfast, we do another little bit in the early afternoon, and then I let them use the apps that school has provided on the iPad (IXL, Starfall, and Kahn Academy) for the later part of the afternoon while I make dinner.
-Depending on what the school work is, Charlie will either do it with us or I put together a busy box of activities for him. It’s mostly letter and number magnets, a dry erase board with a marker and eraser, some shapes I’ve drawn on paper with crayons and scissors.

[wineallthetime]

Mar 23, 2020 10:19:56 GMT -6 guster said:

For home:
-I do at least one load of laundry every day. Wash, dried, and folded all at once.
-I fell away from a monthly meal plan in January, but now that we’re home I’m going to create one for April.
- I’m a big believer in making the bed every day. It sets me off with the right mindset.
- We have these big trays – one is the top of an old sensory table and the other is an insert for a dog crate (I bought it new). When the kids are watching tv, I’ll set them both up on the kitchen table with some kind of art activity (playdoh, kinetic sand, paint, marbles and blocks, brain flakes, etc). They complain less when the tv time is over if they see they have something fun to do next.
- I’m also a bit of a proponent for keeping them bored a little bit. I tell them at least twice a day just go in the playroom and figure it out, and they complain for a couple of minutes but then they create a game or play with something and they’re happy.

For “School”
- I’m breaking school up into three separate chunks (at least right now) we do a bit after breakfast, we do another little bit in the early afternoon, and then I let them use the apps that school has provided on the iPad (IXL, Starfall, and Kahn Academy) for the later part of the afternoon while I make dinner.
-Depending on what the school work is, Charlie will either do it with us or I put together a busy box of activities for him. It’s mostly letter and number magnets, a dry erase board with a marker and eraser, some shapes I’ve drawn on paper with crayons and scissors.

I saw your trays in your Instagram stories. Need!!!

[wineallthetime]

My neighbors a few doors down do a concert every evening at 6pm. They bring our microphones, speakers, ect and everyone gathers and stays far away from each other. We absolutely love it and the kids ask about it every morning when they wake up!

[tgrimes]

Mar 23, 2020 10:35:00 GMT -6 wineallthetime said:

My neighbors a few doors down do a concert every evening at 6pm. They bring our microphones, speakers, ect and everyone gathers and stays far away from each other. We absolutely love it and the kids ask about it every morning when they wake up!

That’s awesome! On our walk today we passed by a house whose kids are from M’s school. They were outside practicing their violins so we got to listen for awhile. The kids loved it.

[trtlcrzy]

Mar 23, 2020 9:23:41 GMT -6 mwhip said:

I'm not really going to worry about a schedule. Keeping us all alive, sane and healthy are my priorities. Once we hear from the school district, then I'll come up with some plan, but for now, it's just extended spring break.

Same.

[chrisy01]

We did cosmic kids yoga today for PE to the frozen story. He wasn’t a huge fan is willing to try the Moana one tomorrow

[wineallthetime]

Mar 23, 2020 13:33:57 GMT -6 chrisy01 said:

We did cosmic kids yoga today for PE to the frozen story. He wasn’t a huge fan is willing to try the Moana one tomorrow

C loves the Pokemon one!

[guster]

There’s a super yoga cosmic kids. It’s fast and flashy and looks like a bad video game, but the kids like the energy of it.
Josie’s health teacher told us to look at gonoodle.com for more indoor dance/exercise workout for kids. We havent tried it yet.

[kim22]

My best tip is with DH and I both working from home, we meet the night before and discuss what times one of us has a meeting that absolutely cannot be interrupted and then make sure we have a plan for the kids if those times overlap. Luckily, I’m only required to be available 8-11 and most of his team is in CA so they aren’t starting until about then anyway. Today we both had calls at 10 but mine was just with a few students so I had C on my lap (yelling nah nah poo poo at my class because that’s his new favorite phrase).

Our days looks like
7 am Little boys and I get up and make breakfast
8-11 I work, little boys hopefully play, big kids get up and start school work they can do on their own.
11-12 workout/shower- Little boys workout with me and then play on the bathroom floor while I shower
12-1 lunch
1-3 C naps, I do school with T and help big kids with anything they couldn’t do on their own
3- whenever play outside (soccer, hockey, gymnastics).
6 dinner/walk around neighborhood before curfew
7 Family movie
8-9 showers/bed, depending on which kid you are
9-10 adult time

DD’s teacher goes live at 9:30 every morning and the neighborhood has outdoor band practice in your own yard at 2:30 that she likes to do.