School's On Pause

We were in a solid homeschooling routine before the Circuit Breaker started. Playground and/or Pool times were our anchoring forces, with school times following upon our return home.

Other than mandating at what time we did our daily read aloud, I was using sticker charts to let the girls choose which activity they wanted to do when - with the goal to make it through the 5 or 6 activities most days.

The girls chose a reward activity the first few weeks after they got all their stickers. They both choose Scavenger Hunts. After the first few weeks, I "forgot" to follow through on the rewards and just getting to put their stickers on their charts was enough to keep them doing everything. Other than potty training I'd never used sticker charts, so this success was pretty cool.

But then Jonathan started working from home, our new Helper joined our household, the Circuit Breaker and Stay at Home instructions started, the playgrounds and pools closed, our play dates and lessons outside the house all stopped. With all the extra time at home, we used up all the ink in the printer and then we couldn't print anymore of our self-designed "pretty" sticker charts.

And so "school" stopped.

People are finding it a little bit odd that we are having a hard time focusing on schoolwork right now. Asking, isn't it the same as before? You're still schooling at home.

For one, the kids are too stressed too learn anything. They're distracted by all the changes to their routines and too bored in the house. They're not interested in following along with what they're being asked to learn.

And it's okay to take a break. That's one of the major perks of homeschooling.

To be honest I thought we would be getting a lot of school work done in this time. I'm disappointed too that this break had to come when we were having such as effective streak. On the other other hand, I know we had some really solid work done in the last couple months, and we will again soon. Besides I had no intention of stopping school in June like North America does. Sorry kids no "summer" break for you.

Instead we stop "school" when things like this come up; when our friends schools are closed and kids are ringing out bell all day (not during the Pandemic; they're all in lock down too); when Dad takes a week off work or we have visitors; when we want to explore somewhere new.

But the most disruptive part, to our homeschooling is that we didn't school at home.

We schooled in the community. We went to parks and museums. We visited museums and zoos. We talked to real people. We learnt about different cultures by visiting different areas in Singapore like Little India and Chinatown. We had lots of library trips and nature walks.

I can turn a day in Universal Studios into a jumping off point for Ancient Egypt or prehistoric Dinosaurs until interest wanes. But someone might just as easily notice that a ride was full of props and suddenly we're learning about set design for the next few weeks.

So have totally lost our usual inspiration right now.

We are really missing all our friends too.

Before this we went out to attend a class of some sort almost each day of the week: singing or drama or nature class or art. Not to mention our nightly date at the playground with the gaggle of girls. The swimming pools that almost always a choice of kids to splash around with.

The last time we hung out with friends was on March 23, 2020 (Exactly 4 weeks ago). Classes stopped around then too. Facetime, Zoom, and phone calls just aren't the same. Neither is waving to people from a distance. Socialization has never been a problem with our homeschooling before now.

To compensate we call someone most mornings. MsC has taken to playing "Hangman" over video chat with Granny. She plays a Pictionary Game online with a few friends in the evenings. We've all learned how to use Zoom for conference calls. I never know where my phone is because either the battery has died or someone may be on a video call with it.

We have a basket of library books, which we're exploring when the fancy takes us. We're writing lots of letters and journal entries and playing with story cubes. We've been digging into our games everyday: Bingo, Monopoly, Scrabble Junior, the card games. MsI has even started playing "Croque-Carrotte" with us - you only have to be able to count to three. MsE leaned to play Solitaire.

We've had a number of sewing afternoons. The girls have added a number of little hand sewn pillows (stuffed with scraps) to our couch. There's been painting and colouring and crafting. Just today the girls made Mummy Lanterns from a glass jar and toilet paper, a Table Shuffle Board Game, and hanging lanterns (I only supplied the requested materials) and it's not even 2 pm.

There have been some plays scripted and recorded on iPhones complete with props. Today they were trying to recreate the Gruffalo. MsE has discovered that you can edit and draw on photos on the iPhone, one of her favorite things right now.

We're watching a movie after lunch most days. Sometimes that's something quite interesting like the day we were enthralled by a live recording of Cirque de Soleil - You need to check those out! Other days it's more likely to be the Land Before Time, Zootopia, or the Paw Patrol movie.

MsE has taught herself to tell time to the hour on the analogue clock. She was always checking to see if it's 3 pm when she's allowed on the computer. I had to stop the Slime Experiments (I was going to run out of laundry soap). MsC is obsessed with learning card tricks. The girls do weird "challenges" of their own design every day. Today we tried Lego challenges. They had us building fruit and then a boat. I'm pretty proud of my builds.

One night I found MsC on video chat with her math book open and her friend checking her work. She said to me, "Why didn't I know Math was so fun??"

Occasionally I record a significant activity we've done in our homeschool records, but mostly I don't bother. Before I wrote this post I was wondering if we were doing anything at all. I just realized we're actually just "Interest Based Learning" right now.

Yep, we're doing just fine here without our "lesson" time.