Learning at Home during the Coronavirus

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Learning at Home during the Coronavirus

What day is it? How many weeks have we been quarantined at home? When will school start again…if ever this year? This has been rough…are you with me?

Luckily, both my boys are still rather young, so school is more about socialization and learning is more through play, asking questions, doing experiments…basically happening all day. However, spending time on some age-appropriate topics each day helps the day move along is beneficial for my son as it provides some structure, focuses him, and exercises his mind and creativity on other ways. My focus right now is numbers, the alphabet, and learning to spell and write his name. I’ve been using a couple of resources to come up with fun ways for him to learn. First, I use groups on Facebook like 253 Parents Get Resourceful and Too Cool for School. Then there are two awesome Instagram accounts: Busy Toddler and Happy Tot Shelf.

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Simple Science Experiments for Young Kids

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Simple Science Experiments for Young Kids

My 4-year-old son is obsessed with experiments and our isolation indoors has only increased this obsession. His favorite experiments involve water. Generally, he wants to freeze little things (like the tiny animals and insect figurines) in his science test tubes and then melt it. Better yet, add color tablets we have to color his bath water to change the water’s color of his experiment. I guess there could be worse obsessions, but I’m constantly drying the floor, tables, chairs, etc. Water everywhere!

Honestly, I love that he’s so interested in experiments and I want to encourage it. I try to come up with simple experiments for us to do together. The experiments need to have rather immediate results because he’s four-years-old and needs instant gratification. And simple so that I don’t have to go to a special store to get supplies, and better yet, I already have them all at home. I’ve gathered a few good ones and thought I’d share so you have some fun ideas in your back-pocket during all the social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Coronavirus: Keeping Busy at Home

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Coronavirus: Keeping Busy at Home

I imagine you’re at home right now like me trying to figure out what the heck to do to keep your kids busy since school is closed (and everything else we do is closed like the zoo, YMCA, Children’s Museum, etc). UGH! I feel so much anxiety about what I’m going to do to keep my little guys entertained and learning. And social media is overwhelming me. In fact, I almost feel more anxious after going online - it’s like all this information is being tossed out into the world but I can’t seem to keep track of it all, and not to mention how to deceiver what will actually work for my kid’s age and temperament. On top of that, I’m thinking I need some sort of schedule since everyone is doing it. AHHH.

….. DEEP BREATHE ….

So I started a list since that makes me feel better usually. Below what I’ve gathered. Then as we were on a walk yesterday, I came up with a schedule. It needed to be pretty relaxed and flexible given weather and moods.

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Toddler Flight Survival: Apps

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Toddler Flight Survival: Apps

Do you remember the days when you could go on a flight and just read a book or watch a movie? Oh, or even better, just close your eyes and fall asleep to the drumming of the plane? So dreamy. Instead, I get this knot in my belly before we go on a flight. Will my son be the next viral YouTube sensation like the "Demonic child" that threw the 8-hour tantrum (it's true, check it out)? I hope not! But, I do what I can to prepare to make a smooth, tantrum-free (or tantrum reduced) flight. 

Before my flight down to San Diego to visit my parents (Caleb's grandparents), I decided I better load up on apps. I know there are other tips and advice for keeping a toddler busy on a flight, and maybe I'll write a post on that sometime soon as well; however, I want to focus on apps. I want to focus on apps because when I did my search, I was completely overwhelmed at all the options. Almost like bringing a toddler into a toy shop and asking him to pick just one. How?!? 

So I did what any reasonable mom would do. I turned to FaceBook. I went to all my mom groups and looked for past inquiries from moms on apps. Here's the kicker: every time I saw a mom ask for app suggestions, everyone just gave other tips for flights. That's cool, but they (and I) want to know what APPs we should pick. That didn't go as I hoped, so I took another try: my friends. 

This is when I start singing, "With a Little Help From My Friends" to myself because when I asked MY FRIENDS on FaceBook, I got some real results. Thank you, friends. You rock! 

I couldn't purchase all of them, but I did download quite a few and noted the others for later (likely our next flight). I even created a folder on my phone for all the apps. Here's what it looks like (side note: there is a third page to the folder, but it's like white noise apps, etc.):

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Preschool Decision Making

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Preschool Decision Making

I'm back and it's more preschool talk. You may have thought I talked it all out in my earlier post, but no. When you get to know me, you'll find I talk a lot. In fact, after a first few dates with me, apparently my husband (boyfriend back then), told his friend he wasn't so sure about this Heather gal, "she talks a lot." Luckily, his friend responded with wisdom, and told Josh that he also talked a lot. 

I wanted to let you know we made a decision on preschools. Hallelujah, a decision. No more going in circles with indecision and uncertainty. Isn't there such relief in decisions sometimes? 

Some of my friends have asked me why and how we made our decision. First, let me share our decision. We decided to enroll at First Presbyterian Preschool (FPP). Frankly, all the schools I looked at in person were great. I don't think you can really go too wrong with preschool. But here are some of the considerations we put into our decision:

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Let's not panic, it's just Preschool

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Let's not panic, it's just Preschool

Here's a truth: I'm a worrier. As a response to my worries, I go online to research. Practically 97% of the time I go online, I end up getting even more worried. Or, I come up with even more things to worry about. It's a terrible cycle. 

Even though it causes me to worry, I am thankful to have the Internet as a mom. I have so many questions every day. I don't know how my mom and did it without the Internet! Not only that, but who knew that part of being a mom would require you to also take on a research job? I shouldn't call myself a stay-at-home mom, I should call myself Child Raising Researcher (CRR). I hereby declare this a new thing. 

When I first had Caleb, the fact that I literally had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING was terrifying. However, I press on and tackle each new thing as it comes. I still worry about missing something or not even being aware of something I should be doing. For instance, I didn't know that you had to basically teach your kid how to sleep. Yes, really, to sleep. I thought it was a totally instinctive thing. Sure, sure, they can sleep...but sleep through the night...yea. And, yes, I read an entire book about sleep. 

Anyway, let's get to the point. The latest worry (and research mania) for me has been about preschool.

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