Our Quarantine Homeschool Routine
Who would have ever imagined that the whole world would be working from home AND homeschooling their children all at the same time? This whole quarantine situation has been quite an adjustment. In all honesty, we are still trying to figure it out. And in about a week, this routine will be changing all over again because I’ll also be returning back to work. But for now, with just my husband working from home, with having a newborn, and toddler, and a school-age child, this is the routine that has been working for us. I am also very thankful for a very thoughtful and caring teacher who sends us a daily plan catered to my daughter to have the most effective home-schooling experience.
Here’s Our day: Keep in mind that it’s not always in this order and we learn to adjust and adapt where we can.
Before 9 am: We wake up, eat breakfast, make our beds and get dressed like it’s a normal school morning. My husband has been starting work at 5 am so that he can help with the kids throughout the day and all of my kids wake up between 6 and 7:30 am.
9 am - 10 am: We do some type of family exercise, whether that be a family walk, stretching, yoga, a dance party, or a combination of things. My kids personally have been loving Cosmic Kids on Youtube. It’s yoga and storytime all wrapped in one and I do it with them.
10 am - 11 am: Academic Time - My husband takes a break from work and takes over Jaxon and does puzzles, flashcards, or some type of hands-on activity while I give my oldest, Jordan my full attention to focus on her lessons for the day.
11 am - 12 pm: Creative Time - This is where the kids are coloring, painting, playing with Kinect Sand, Play-Doh or doing something creative with their hands. It also gives me a chance to prep lunch.
12 pm is Lunchtime!
12:30 pm - 2 pm: Jaxon goes down for a nap and we have more Academic time for Jordan so that she can finish her lessons for the day. The good thing is that the work she’s been getting doesn’t take more than 3 hours.
2 pm - 3pm: Screentime
3 pm - 4 pm: We walk the dog, play outside if the weather permits or have free play indoors. Something to get them moving.
4 pm - 5 pm: Free Play, I usually start dinner around 4:30 pm.
Dinner is served between 5 pm and 5:30 pm.
Depending on the night, baths are around 6:30 pm and we have reading time and coloring time. Basically quiet activities to start getting ready for bed. My husband does also initiates the before bed dance party to get all of the lasting energy out. Jax goes to bed at 7:30 pm and Jordan is 8:30 pm. That extra hour Jordan gets to stay up gives us some one-on-one time which has been really nice.
Other than that, that’s how the last few weeks have been going for us and it’s been working quite well. I enjoy time blocking the day and Jordan does too because it gives us a plan and something to look forward to. It also makes it very easy if we need to switch things up.
I’ll, of course, share our updated routine when I have to start working from home too. BTW, if you’re wondering where Jada is in all of this, she’s still at the stage where she’s sleeping a lot. So she’s either in her bed, in her chair, one of us is holding her, or she’s wrapped to me. I swear by babywearing!
What kind of routine have you and yours have been following? Or are y’all just winging it?
Love & light,
Jalesa