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And just like that, the whole country became homeschoolers! I can certainly say I never saw this coming… but here we are, and I’m hoping to give you some ideas and resources to make the best of it! You may or not know, I used to be a homeschooling mama myself. We used to live way out in the country in a charming log home my husband built and designed himself, and I homeschooled for the first 5 years of school with my oldest two kids (I know, very “little house on the prairie”, right?!). Then, when our family was moved to the city for my husband’s career, we came across a private school that fit our education preferences perfectly. Having a traditional school option helped alleviate some of the pressure for me, as my husband’s new job includes a fair amount of travel away from home. This has been the second year my kids have been attending school rather than homeschooling, so I’ve had a taste of both worlds.

Let me just say, I totally understand the feeling of alarm and being ill-equipped to handle this sudden change of plans. Even as a former homeschooler, this is a stressful turn of events! When I homeschooled, I had months in advance to plan and prepare the following year’s curriculum, I had a homeschool facilitator to help with putting together a plan if I needed, I had funding to purchase curriculum, and a community of fellow homeschoolers around me with tons of experience for support. Here we are now with no immediate curriculum plan (though we should be provided with something in due time), no funding to purchase curriculum, no forewarning or time to plan ahead, and not even the public library is open to access for resources. It’s not an easy time and I fully sympathize with what you may be feeling!

Deep breaths friends, deep breaths! I’m going back to my homeschooler roots and drawing from what I know to bring some normalcy and stability to the situation. And I figured it might be helpful for some of you fellow ‘instant homeschoolers’ to share some of my top tips and practices to make the best of the situation.

Schedule/routine is EVERYTHING. At least for me and my kiddo’s, it makes ALL the difference to have a predictable routine/schedule that we stick to, at least for our normal homeschool days. Without it, I find myself peppered with questions and requests all. day. long. With a routine, the kids know what to expect and we keep ourselves occupied – everything goes so much smoother. It can be helpful to post the schedule somewhere in your home so the kids have a visual reminder of what to expect next. I just give a verbal explanation to my kiddos and then they get pretty used to it all after a few days of sticking to the same-ish routine. This way I also feel like I have the freedom to stray from the routine if needed, depending on the day.

Feel free to craft your schedule as detailed or loose as you prefer. Some personalities thrive with more detail, others feel trapped by it. Do what works for you! Give the schedule a fair shot, but if something is not working for you – CHANGE IT! That’s part of the beauty of homeschooling – you get to decide what and when and how you’re going to do it. It will likely take some trial and error to arrive at a routine that really works for you and your family, don’t sweat the journey! Another win to homeschooling – if something comes up or you just feel like shaking it up one day, you can! Drop everything and go for a drive, have a picnic in the middle of nowhere. The schedule is meant to work for you, not the other way around.

Here’s an example of what our homeschool day routine looks like. We generally do 4-5 homeschool days per week, Monday-Friday. I might do 4 structured homeschool days like this, and keep the fifth day (Friday), for a special activity like a science experiment, arts & craft project, outdoor activity (social distancing friendly, of course), or the like. Saturdays are kept loose and relaxed and Sundays are our day of rest and worship. Remember, I am not saying that this is the schedule that you should adopt – just that it’s helpful in general to have a routine/schedule. You should craft your schedule in a way that works best for your family, however that may be!

• 7-8am (whenever kids wake up): get dressed, make your bed, quiet play until breakfast, aka whenever mom gets up!
• 8-9am: breakfast, clean-up
• 9-10am: Quiet time/morning devotions - individual bible reading (for reading age kids and myself), individual quiet play time for non-reading age kids
• 10-11am: Table time - all of the things I teach the kids all together at the table before they do their individual school work. We start with our bible subject (includes a bible story/lesson, group discussion, and memory verse work), then review the date/weather for the day, then our read-aloud book (always reading through an interesting chapter book which can be the basis for grade specific individual LA work), Science, and Social/History (usually reading from an interesting book on a topic and/or watching some videos about the topics, could also include hands on experiments, map work, etc.)
• 11am-12pm: Individual work (seat work) - kids go to their own work areas to do their individual grade specific work for the day like math worksheets, LA worksheets and/or writing assignments, Science and social worksheets/activities, etc.
• 12-1pm: Lunch and cleanup
• 1-3pm: Nap time for babies, outdoor play for big kids and/or free time. This is the time of day I set aside to accomplish some of my own goals/tasks. I like to get my workout in for the day, work on blog posts/photo editing/social media posts, and just have some quiet alone time. If the kids are inside, I will often put on a movie (screen time) for them while I exercise so I can do it without being distracted.
• 3pm: Snack time! Everyone's favourite time of the day :)
• 3-4pm: family activity like going for a walk, playing a board game, working on any hobbies/projects on the go, etc.
• 4-5pm: kids free time, supper prep for me; if I haven't already used screen time today for the kids, I'll put something on for them during this time slot.
• 5-6pm: Supper
• 6-7pm: Chores/clean-up from the day, showers/baths, laundry, etc.
• 7-8pm: Kids Bedtime routine
• 8-10pm: Couple time/prep for the next day - we like to spend the evenings together just hanging out, watching a show, talking, making plans, etc. It's important to me to get all of my housework done, if possible, before the kids go to bed so we can keep this time open for quality time together. Most of the time this is totally doable, and the few times I need to put in some more work is just fine. If I have any school prep that needs to be done for the next day like printing out worksheets or marking school work, I'll do it during this time as well - so much easier than when the kids are awake (does anyone else's toddler's come running every time they hear the printing whirring - ready to rip and tear it all to shreds?!)!
• 10-10:30pm: Adults Bedtime

Check out Jordan Page’s Block System for a great resource in how to put together a routine/schedule that works for you and your family!

Some things that work for us…

Complete schoolwork in the morning. This is always my goal and I’ve found it to work best for us. We all seem to have the freshest attention span and ability to focus in the morning hours, so it makes sense to do our school during this time. It also sets us up to enjoy the rest of our day knowing we’ve accomplished what we needed to, rather than having looming school tasks that still need to be done hanging over our heads. Sometimes the kids don’t quite finish their individual seat work in the mornings, so they finish up after lunch – not a big deal! I find they are just as motivated as I am to get their work done so they can move onto other things they have planned for the day.

If you are teaching multiple children of different ages, combine Science, Social/History, and LA as much as possible to a central topic during table time. Then you can assign grade specific assignments for their individual seat work to keep them working at a grade appropriate level. Trust me, the last thing you want to be doing is teaching 3 different science, social, and LA curriculums simultaneously… it’ll just make your head spin! When in doubt, go with the topic that your oldest child is studying and plan from there. For example, my oldest son was learning about the solar system in Science, so we went with that. He will have more detailed, in depth assignments at his age, where as the younger ones might be colouring planet worksheets, labeling planets, etc. My daughter was learning about sound in her science class, so I threw in a few youtube videos about how sound travels in space. Combining the two ideas of what each kid was learning, but keeping it along a central theme, keeps everyone learning and engaged and allows me to simplify/streamline the teaching. I follow the same idea for how I structure social/history! For LA, I pick an interesting novel and read aloud together (currently reading “Because of Winn Dixie”, the book my daughter in grade 3 was reading at school). For read aloud novels, I tend to cater more to the younger ages to make sure the topic of the novel is age appropriate for them (not too intense or abstract). My older kids have always enjoyed the books, even if they are geared towards a bit younger age. Now, I’m not exactly sure how this will all work once we are given a curriculum plan from the kids’ school teachers, but you can bet I’ll be strategizing the best I can to keep as many things combined for my own sanity!

Free online curriculum resources I actually use:

• Teacherspayteachers.com - make a free account and you can search by grade and also by price (I stick to the "free" resources). There are great resources for virtually every topic and grade level you can imagine on here - this has been my main resource for finding homeschool content, powerpoint presentations, activities, and worksheets for the kids while we wait for the curriculum package to come from our kids' school.
• worksheetfun.com - this website is great for really straightforward worksheets (geared towards K-4 I would say). I've been using it mostly for printing out math seat work for my kiddos to work on, but there are also plenty of other fun activity sheets to explore as well. And the best part, it's all free and no account is needed!
• math-drills.com - this has been my go to for higher level, more challenging math worksheets for my grade 6 son. It's been great for keeping his multiplication and division facts sharp! Again, it's all free and no account required to use.
• Mr. Nussbaum - our son's teacher recommended this website as a math resource and that's what I've been using it primarily for. However, this website includes a plethora of games, worksheets, and activities for grades K-8 in all subjects!
• Super Coloring - I've used this one a ton for my pre-school aged son. You can find free printable colouring sheets for pretty much any cartoon character, numbers, letters, bible stories, you name it. This is great to keep him busy while the older kids do their work.
• YouTube - This is one I would never let my kids used unsupervised. I make sure to mute all ads and stay close by since this is not a regulated child education website - you have to be careful! However, you can find quality educational videos for pretty much anything your imagination is curious about. I usually search for the videos on my phone and once I've found something that looks appropriate, I screen mirror it to the TV for the kids to watch (after ads have played or been skipped). Some of my go to publishers on YouTube for kids content are: Free School, Homeschool Pop, Discovery Kids, National Geographic, Garden Answer, and Liberty Kids (excellent resource if you're interested in American History, or just a neat educational show for the kids to watch).
• Hoopla Digital - All you need is a library card from anywhere in Canada to join and you can then access a plethora of movies, audio books, ebooks, music, etc. For homeschool I've used this mostly to play audiobooks of the novels we are reading, or educational movies.

Have non-distracting individual seat work locations. I don’t know about your kids, but mine require some serious isolation in order to be able to focus in and do a good job of their seat work. If I tried having them all at the table or in the kitchen while I’m working away and gave them their math homework to do, you’d never hear the end of chatter, arguments, questions, etc., and the school work would take 10x longer to get done (at great expense to my mental health…). At a desk in a quiet spot in their rooms, they complete quality work in a fraction of the time! Your kids may be different, so do what works for your family.

Lean into special interests. You might find along the way that a child shows a particular interest in something – maybe it’s a certain time in history or a specific geographic location, a plant or animal species, etc. Take this time to dive deeper in to that topic – find interesting videos and activities online, look for quality books on the topic (somewhat tricky in these times, but you might be surprised what you can find when you dive through your own book stash or ask friends/relatives to safely swap), or do some hands on activities. It’s going to be to all of your benefit to study things the kids are actually interested in – they’ll be more motivated to engage and you’ll reap the rewards of their enjoyment/cooperation! My son came out of his bible reading time the other day with the question, “What are turtledoves?”. Well, I really had no clue, so we did a mini research dive on turtledoves – it was fun and we all learned something new!

Help them find a new hobby! We’re in a very unique time where we’re actually required to be inside our homes or non-crowded/public areas. What better opportunity to try some of the things we always thought we didn’t have time for. Knitting, sewing, crocheting, charcoal sketching, painting, journalling, drawing comic strips, fashion designing, cooking/baking, learning a musical instrument… really the ideas are limitless. Brainstorm some age/developmentally appropriate ideas with the kids and let them choose what they might like to try (they’ll be more likely to take ownership of it if they had a hand in choosing!). You can find free tutorials for pretty much anything on YouTube, and can call on relatives or friends who may have expertise to provide some teaching/instruction via FaceTime or Skype. Most of the supplies you may need should be able to be ordered online, or rummaged up from around the house. Who wouldn’t want to come out on the other side of this with a useful skill and enjoyable past time to show for it?!

Some of my kids current favourite craft/hobby kits & supplies:

Melissa and Doug No Sew Quilt – With a little guidance off the hop, my daughter was able to make this completely on her own, and it took her a few weeks working at it here and there to complete (nice that it wasn’t just a one hour activity). It’s a nice size and she loves having it on her bed.

Orb Plush Craft Pillow – a great tactile, no-sew craft that kids can do on their own. This brand makes all sorts of designs, there are plenty to choose from!

String Art Kit – another great tactile busy work type of craft that requires no adult supervision. This kit makes three separate art pieces!

Rainbow Loom – my daughter absolutely loves making these rubber band bracelets, in all sorts of patterns and colours. She started off using the loom but now that she’s got the hang of it, she’s figured out how to make them by hand. The loom was helpful to get her started though!

Rubber Band Refill Kit – the perfect refill kit to keep my daughter’s rubber band bracelet hobby going. She loves adding in beads and having lots of different colour options. I love that she can make without any help or supervision!

Sketch Pencil Set – my 11 year old son is very artistic, he’s always loved to draw. I got him a sketch pencil set, sketch pad, and instructional book for Christmas and he has been making some beautiful sketches. He loves having good quality tools for the job that are special for him to use.

Sketch Paper – my son loves having his own sketch pad that keeps all of his sketches together, with high quality paper that does justice to his new sketch pencil set.

How to Draw with Photorealism Book – a very helpful step by step approach to help your child draw gorgeous, realistic sketches.

Use screen time as a tool. I think it’s pretty common knowledge that our children tend to turn into whiny, angry gremlins when screen time starts to get out of hand (at least mine do!). That’s not in anyone’s best interest! I’ve found that offering screen time at a predictable time of day for a predictable amount of time helps quell the constant nagging for it and bad attitudes. Like I mentioned in our daily schedule, I usually offer a movie/show of some sort in the afternoon while I exercise. Anything else would be extra or a special treat and the kids have learned by now that this will never come from them nagging for it! Think about the time of day when it would most benefit you to have some distraction-free time, and use screen time in your favour. Maybe it’s while you take a shower and get ready for the day, or while you make supper or do school marking/preparations. Whatever works! Also, screen time does not mean a free for all in our home. The content is chosen or approved by parents, and monitored to ensure it is something that fits within our beliefs and values. Don’t assume just because a show falls in the kids section on Netflix that it will be appropriate for all kids. I like to use websites like Common Sense Media or Plugged In to give me a quick but detailed overview of what to expect. These websites categorize and highlight important areas of content like violence, sexual content, language, spiritual content, etc., so you can see exactly what to expect and decide whether or not it will be appropriate for your children.

Some of our favourite Netflix kids shows:

• Preschool Kids: SuperWhy, Octonauts, Treehouse Detectives, Animal Mechanicals, Paw Patrol, Veggie Tales, Puffin Rock, Curious George, Dora the Explorer, Thomas & Friends, Word Party, Super Wings, Robot Trains, Charlie's Colorforms City, The Cat in the Hat Knows Alot About That, Mighty Pups, Ready Race Rescue,
• Elementary kids: Wild Kratts, The Magic School Bus, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, Justin Time, Night on Earth, Our Planet, You Vs. Wild, Babe Pig in the City, The Smurfs, Peter Rabbit, The Land Before Time, The Prince of Egypt, Mary Poppins Returns, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Adventures of Milo & Otis, Angela's Christmas, The Star, The Giant Pear, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Cat in the Hat

Get outdoors! As long as the weather permits, you can bet my kids find themselves outside for at least a short spurt (but usually an hour or two), each and every day. We don’t have a fancy plays structure or a bunch of toys. They entertain themselves using their imagination and whatever they can find from nature, and a shovel or two to boot! My oldest son is heavily engrossed in building an igloo with the hardening snow chunks in our backyard at the moment. He can’t wait to get out there and get at it everyday! The younger ones generally just enjoy running around, jumping in puddles, playing tag, digging in the snow/mud, pretending to be dogs/cats, you know – normal kid stuff. Once we are graced with the joys of summer the possibilities really open up: sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, painting/building birdhouses, gardening, water fights, kiddie pool play, sprinklers, trampoline jumping… all the good stuff! You can also utilize the outdoors in your schooling – go for nature walks and observe the plants, animals, and seasonal changes around you. A breath of fresh air is so good for all of us!

Assign some chores! With everyone home, all the time, things are bound to get even messier than usual on a regular basis. Not to mention the extra efforts we’re all making to keep things clean and sanitary amidst a global pandemic… Don’t try to take on all the cleaning by yourself, have everyone pitch in! I haven’t started a formal chore chart/routine yet (contemplating instituting one…), but have begun implementing regular jobs for the kids depending on their age. I’ve got the older kids trained on laundry duties, changing bed sheets, kitchen clean-up, cleaning floors and bathrooms, some basic food prep skills, garbage/recycling duty, shovelling snow, and any other random jobs I can think of around the house. The younger ones put their own laundry away, tidy up their books/toys after playing, take their dirty dishes to the counter, wash walls/doors/baseboards (a favourite for them!), and any other small tasks I can think of throughout the day. I have a super wise friend who is a mama of 7 (shoutout to Denise!) who pairs one of her older kids with a younger kid for chore duty so the older can train/supervise the younger. This is a fantastic idea! Then when the older kids are leaving the nest, you have a fully trained next generation ready to fill their shoes – genius!! I can honestly say that my kids seem to actually enjoy pitching in (at least so far!) and it really helps keep our home feel restful and inviting to keep on top of the chaos that so rapidly builds up when we put off our chores. I’ve always framed the narrative on chores along these lines: we are a family, and families pitch in and help each other so that we can all enjoy the home we live in. Works for us!

Cleaning Resources:

The goal is equipping, not entertaining. I learned early on in my parenting journey that it was not going to be a sustainable model for me to be the entertainment for my kiddos day in and day out. I don’t believe that’s our job! Rather, I try to focus on equipping the kids to be responsible, well-functioning humans in their own way. We all know that self-soothing is an important skill for babies, and the same goes as the kids get older. Don’t be afraid to let them encounter boredom and find their own way out of it! I like to plant a few ideas, provide a few resources, and let them figure out the rest. Set some boundaries for them if you need to – “you’re going to spend the next hour (or whatever time frame is appropriate) outside/in your room/colouring at the table, etc, have fun!”. I try not to entertain constant complaining and nagging – instead, encourage the child to be content in the situation God has put them in and make the best of it (modelling this yourself goes a long way!). Of course there’s nothing wrong with being entertaining – do that as often as you like! I just want to encourage you to not feel like that is your main job or role for your children – that would be an exhausting, unrealistic, and ultimately crippling role for anyone to take on. Give them some tools, a welcome dialogue, and an example to follow; let their imaginations, problem solving skills, and individual personalities/strengths figure out the rest.

Resources for self-directed boredom busting kid activities:

Busy Toddler - check out her instagram for all kinds of easy toddler activity ideas using things you probably already have around the house. Her blog is packed with all kinds of resources (some free, some for purchase) for toddlers, up to age 12. She has been adding specific resources for the Covid-19 situation as well!

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🛁LEGO BATH🛁 This is the activity you need ASAP 🎉 It is LIFE and I need to shout it from an IG mountain top 😂 It is a game changer & it’s just LEGO Dulpos IN THE BATHTUB 🙌🏻 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here’s the 411: Baths are amazing tools for kid play and it can really help break up a morning or long afternoon ✨ Fill the bath like normal and drop in all the Duplos or Mega Bloks – or other big plastic blocks 🙌🏻 It is an EPIC moment the first time you set this up for your kiddo 😱 This buys me SO MUCH TIME to sitervise (sit•er•vise: to supervise from a seated position) 🎉 as the kids build and soak and play and relax ✨ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ FAQ: the Legos DO NOT mold from this 😉 Remove them with a colander and lay on a towel to dry. This is a great kid job. Flip them all over so no water is trapped inside (another great kid job) 🙌🏻 Try other “toy baths” too – the randomness and unexpected change of pace is fantastic for kids 🤯 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ My kids love this – it’s been a hit over here for years and I break it out in the mornings when we need a reset or in the evenings if time is ticking backwards 😂 I imagine in the next few weeks, we will be using this trick A LOT… 😉 Here’s hoping it helps you too ❤️

A post shared by Susie Allison | Busy Toddler (@busytoddler) on Mar 18, 2020 at 1:09pm PDT

Pinterest - you can search for just about any theme or age specific activities, crafts, games, etc. There are tons of free resources and ideas for any age and skill level. Caution - if you have a tendency to compare yourself to others and feel guilty about not measuring up, be careful on here. Use Pinterest as a tool for ideas that work for you and your family, do not let it become something that overwhelms you and makes you feel guilty for not doing all. the. things! I've got a Learning Time board on my Pinterest account that I've used to collect some easy kids learning activities over the years. Check it out if you're interested!

Use your strengths. Don’t feel pressured to be someone you’re not. Before I started homeschooling, years ago, I was sure I would be one of those unstructured homeschool mamas who taught math while we baked and learned science off of the cusp while frolicking in nature. While this may happen from time to time, I quickly discovered that I was not, in fact, the Marry Poppins I thought I would be. I am a routine, task oriented person who thrives off checking things off a list, having tangible duties and completing them. It really stressed me out not having a set routine or structure and always questioning myself whether we were really doing what needed to be done in terms of education and age appropriate learning. So for us, it’s really mentally freeing to have a set routine and tangible, structured schoolwork being done each day. Then, when it works, we can also take advantage of the natural learning opportunities afforded to us in nature and our day to day lives. I have at least a few friends who really do thrive in their Mary Poppins like ways and it’s amazing to watch! My advice would be try out a few different approaches and see what works best for you and your kiddos before feeling like you need to commit to an approach long-term. If something isn’t working for you, you don’t have to feel guilty that you aren’t “that” mom – be the best version of the Mom God made you to be! There is no one right way to homeschool.

Don’t try to do everything at once. To become “good” at anything takes time, work, and patience; trial and error, baby steps forward, a few steps backwards – it’s all part of the journey. If this homeschooling scenario is completely new to you, I’d like to encourage you to not feel like you need to implement all the changes at once, or master this whole routine in an instant. Maybe it starts by implementing a morning quiet time – having everyone in their own room or space quietly reading or playing to start the day off peacefully. Then you add in table time – tackling some school subjects together at the table. Establish a time for kids to complete their individual school work. Start asking the kids to do a chore when you see something that needs to be done. Eventually you’ll all start getting used to this new reality and before you know it – you’ll be a bonafide homeschooler 🙂 you got this mama!!

Stay connected to what matters. One of the major differences between the current reality and a normal homeschool routine, is that we are actually required to keep away from others in physical gatherings. This nixes a lot of the normally encouraged activities like field trips, play dates, public outings, support group meetings, etc. I encourage you to find creative ways to stay connected with the community around you. Stay connected via phone and text. Get your kiddos writing old fashioned letters to grandparents and friends (also educational!). Join an online mom’s group that is mutually encouraging. My ladies bible study group that I so enjoy is looking at shifting to an online bible study discussion group, so we can be motivated to keep up with our study and continue to grow and be encouraged by one another (the Goodreads app is a great platform for this!). Tune into your church’s livestream for Sunday Services as a family, or find a like-minded church live stream to watch on Sundays. FaceTime and Skype are great tools to interact with friends and family. Check-in with the people you know and make sure they’re doing ok, feeling supported, and have the daily necessities to get by. Perhaps you could drop off groceries or a meal to someone’s doorstep who is under quarantine or unable to get their own supplies. And if that person is you, please reach out and ask for help! We are made to live in a community – no one should feel like they have no one and no where to turn to. The ultimate connection of importance for our family, as Christians, is to God. Bible reading starts our day, each and every day, with the hopes of informing our actions and thoughts all day long. We pray individually and as a family for God to calm our anxious thoughts, to help us love one another and our neighbours, and to keep us in step with Him. These intentional steps go a long way in maintaining a peaceful, restful atmosphere (or as close to it as possible) in our home during these uncertain times.

At the same time – we make sure we are disconnecting from the things that bring fear and anxiety. We keep our news intake to a minimum, especially for the kids. We answer their questions as honestly and age appropriately as we can when they come up, but beyond that we aren’t actively bringing up the subject or watching/listening to news streams when the kids are around. I’d like for my kids to look back and remember this time as a strange but warmly tinged memory of being together at home, learning new things, spending time together, and growing in love for God and each other. In order to provide this for them, we as adults need to be wise with our own intake as well. I limit checking the news to once a day and keep it to the main important updates (not delving into all the horror stories and worst possible outcomes…); I aim to keep my social media intake to things that inspire and encourage me towards the good; I eliminate as much as possible anything that would turn my heart to fear and anxiety.

Whew, that was a lot to say… I hope that these tidbits give you some tools to create a restful, peaceful, productive environment in your home over the coming months. None of these tips are meant to be prescriptive or burdensome – so take them or leave them in whatever way serves you and your family best. You’ll find your own way Mama, and there is grace for you along the journey! Please leave me any questions you have in the comments below and I will be sure to get back to you. If you want to chat privately about anything I’ve brought up here, you can email me (under the “Contact” tab) or send me a DM on instagram; I’d love to connect with you. If you have any tips or resources to share that have been working for you and your family, please share those below also! Take care and stay safe Mamas, we’re all in this together 🙂