Diary of SIP Parent: Schedule It

Part of my anxious prep for shelter in place, was buying things I expected the kids would need while sheltering. From journals, which they have been writing in for 5 days a week, magazine organizers to hold all of their workbook packets, summer break work books which covered many titles, and a dry erase board which is still hung on the backsplash of the printer desk. This dry erase board probably was the most heavily used item in our house during SIP. The kids were out of school officially on Friday 3/13 and the district didn’t have a at home solution till two weeks after school was out. Four weeks later the teachers were now in control of their class assignments. 

The week before school was out, I spent the week breaking up their workbooks into 4-5 page packets so they wouldn’t fee overwhelmed by the work and giving them a sense success completing the work. On Monday 3/16 the packets were ready, journaling began and the schedule was up on the wall. In that first week, I was playing with the schedule. By the second week that schedule finally came together. Having 2 kids in first and 1 kid in 6th, came the challenge making each week fruitful and fun at the same time. I didn’t keep the same schedule each day as each day presented new conflicts with Zoom meetings for the kids. 

If you know our family, naps are paramount and naps were scheduled but not expected. As the kids are getting older, naps are more like quiet time but with a suggested, close your eyes. Quiet Time was even scheduled. Typically both only happened once during the school week, some not at all. The kids need a little recharge. In our house, Thursday were nap days, if we skipped it during the week, the kids were super moody when it came to Monday morning. 

The schedule was a great way for the kids to keep track of the day. It only took the little one’s about two weeks to grasp the idea of checking the schedule once they were done working. My oldest grasped the schedule pretty quickly. Typically if they finished early that was free time. iPad time was goal in free time or unscheduled time. All three kids used either IXL or Lexia in their online learning. The school gave us access to a few other learnings apps. When I gave them access to such apps as RAZZ Kids or Brain Pop, I was met with a big old MEH! 

The outlook for next year for next year is pretty foggy still but to keep the class headcount down, we will need to augment with online learning. My gut tells me the dry erase board will heavily used next year. One tip, I used a thick sharpie pen to create the outlines for the schedule. It allowed the schedule to be used for several weeks in a row. To clean dry erase boards, I suggest buying alcohol prep pads. They clean the sharpie off pretty quick. A large dry erase eraser will wipe it clean. Another helpful items on the schedule was list out our personal meeting schedules. That way the kids knew when to make sure they used lower voices around us or to hold off on small or simple questions.