Our daily lives have been greatly changed this week. We have gone from trying to keep up with all the errands, work, transporting kids, and juggling schedules to a sudden halt. Maybe we can enjoy this forced staycation, but maybe some of you need ideas. Here are a few suggestions to get your family through the next few weeks.
- Schedule your days. Remember, if you have school age kids they are used to having a scheduled day. Keeping some sort of block schedule will help keep a flow for the day and keep some sanity. Hang a weekly schedule and go over the schedule for the next day the night before.
- Begin the habit of a family devotion time. https://www.challies.com/articles/why-we-fail-at-family-devotions/ Free devotional plans can be subscribed by email with organizations such as Compassion International: https://www.compassion.com/devotionals/family-devotions.htm
- Schedule a quiet rest time each afternoon. Take an hour for yourself and have the kids keep to their beds to read, or write in a journal, or take a nap. Siesta!
- Plan a project to complete and schedule 30 minutes to an hour each day to work together – Clean out that closet, clean the garage, scrapbook those photos, go through summer clothes, start a garden. So many projects are lingering at your house, tackle one with the kids.
- Have a 30 day challenge everyone tries to conquer. Try daily exercise or no sugar diet. Give something up for 30 days, this is also called fasting.
- Plan to meet with friends and family. In your daily schedule set aside a block of time to meet on facetime or skype or other online platform.
- Keep limiting TV/computer/phone time, negative news time, gaming, etc. It is very easy to let the devices take over. We look at a device and just check on… Kids just as easily get caught up in their screen time as we do.
- Read through the classics – Remember reading aloud the Little House On the Prairie Books? Pick a classic book or series of books and begin a reading aloud time every day.
- Learn a new skill. This might take some equipment and most items needed for skills can be ordered on Amazon. (Sewing, knitting, drawing, painting, jewelry making, paracord wristbands, duct tape projects)
- Plan an hour to continue schoolwork. You do not have to get fancy curriculum or spend loads of money. When my kids were little every summer I would purchase workbooks for the kids to do at home. Try https://amzn.to/3bh2FOJ or https://amzn.to/33FtsBV or https://amzn.to/3dfpdBk for ideas.
- Put together a 1,000 piece or larger puzzle.
You can also Google for creative ideas, examples: ‘staycation with kids’ or ‘old fashioned games to learn’.