5 Great Virtual Experiences To Stave Off Boredom

Today I sit in day 8 of self isolation.  Home schooling is going better than expected and I'm actually getting work done with the kids home.  So far we haven't heard the dreaded call of "I'm bored" from anyone in this house and I'm hoping to keep it that way.

As Molly likes to say, from a motto she learned in kindergarten, "Sharing is caring" and my community has done an excellent job of sharing online resources for people of all ages to enjoy while they're social distancing and self isolating so I thought I'd do the same.

Some drawings from our second day doodling with Mo Willems

Nature & Science Related

Live Shark Tank At Ripleys Aquarium

Canadian Polar Bear Habitat Live Webcam

Games & Activities

Harry Potter Escape Room

Art

Molly's Pigeon

Weekday Live Drawings by Mo Willems

We've integrated this into our weekday routine as art class and the kids love it.  This happens live each weekday at 1PM, but you can also catch past episodes on YouTube and doodle along.

Geography

360 Cities 

Pick a city, any city, and stroll around it from the comfort of your home with a virtual 360 tour.


Stay safe, busy, healthy, and home!

Rainbow Connection - Keeping Social & Engaged While Self-Distancing

I'm coming to you today from day four of self isolation.  Last night we ordered some pizza from Uber Eats and left a Home Alone Esque note on the door to confirm why we wouldn't be opening the door until after they'd left.

via Giphy

As a freelancer I am fairly used to large stretches where it's just me, but at the same time I routinely enjoy board game nights with friends, coffee with a neighbour, and conversations at school drop off.  This is a luxury that we don't have right now, particularly as responsible humans trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect our loved ones and those who are most vulnerable within our community.

We've already started to feel some of the impact, but have begun working on ways to keep connected and stay social while keeping inside our home.  Technology will allow us to really connect while keeping our germs to ourselves in the coming weeks.

The good news is we don't have to do this alone.

via Tenor

Movie Night With Friends

Pick a movie, Netflix, Crave, or whatever, put it on at the same time and start a group chat to comment as it goes on.  Want to up the ante, join each other for a Facetime call afterwards to answer some trivia questions and hash it out about the phone.

Virtual Tours 

Stir crazy is different than social isolation.  A lot of our time is spent exploring the world around us.  Thankfully a lot of businesses are offering free virtual tours of their spaces.  Here are some examples I found to check out:

Canada's Wonderland Virtual Roller Coaster

Canada Blooms

Hockey Hall Of Fame

14 Museums That Offer Virtual Tours From Around the World

Sports Replacements

Hey there sports fans.  I know this one hurts a lot.  No hockey, no baseball, no fun.  Last night Chris told me about the fine art of marble racing and we watched our first 'race' last night.  It was fun and kids and race fans alike will enjoy it.  Check out Jelle's Marble Runs on YouTube here.

Facetime Play Date For The Kiddos

Yesterday my cousin asked about Molly having a Facetime chat/playdate with his daughter.  The two stayed on the line for over an hour. They planned crafts and clubs together, they explored their favourite toys together, showed each other what their pets were up to.  It was such a success that they're doing it again next week.  I will begin reaching out to other kid friends shortly to arrange more Skype/Facetime play dates.

Face Time Board Game Session

Tonight at 7:15 we are joining my brother and sister in law for a Facetime game of Yahtzee.  Games, dice games in particular are wonderful to play this way.  Other programs, like TV games offered by Jackbox Games are a great way to keep the good times rolling (from a distance), even if you aren't a hardcore video gamer.

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Face Time Coffee/Wine/Beer Date

You, me, 5 bucks and a good conversation, that's all we need.....Last night we had a virtual drink with a friend and it was great.  I'm planning many more in the coming weeks, because even when we're out of self isolation we'll be social distancing so time at the bar is out of the question.

Virtual Jam Session

Chris is going to be attempting to schedule some band practices/ song writing sessions with his bandmates from our house.  I'll update on how this goes.

Remote Book Club

Pick a book, read it alongside some friends, schedule a date and time to talk about it remotely.  If you don't have a Kindle or would rather support a small local bookstore do so, call and ask around and find out if you can arrange a private pick up or delivery!  Our local book retailer (Type Books in the Junction) just took my phone order and is hand delivering some books to our door tomorrow.


How are you connecting and staying social beyond Netflix and Chill? Stay safe and healthy friends!

5 Home Schooling Ideas To Help Get You Started

Now that we're home and in self isolation following some time in the US (13 days to go), we're trying to start up some routines.  We needed one that will allow the minions to stay on top of their learning and let Chris and I both get work from home completed without relying on TV as a constant babysitter.

From all of the research I've looked at, elementary school students only need around an hour and a half to two hours of more formal structured study because you are working with your kids one one one (or one on two in our case).  We've started with three, half hour blocks of time each week day.  The first one of the day is more traditional study using math work sheets and reading exercises with Q&A courtesy of their tutor (Thanks R!).

via The Nelson Daily

Here are some other ideas we're going to be working on for self study to help inspire you:

History

Molly is watching each episode of the CBC Show Back In Time For Winter and writing a short journal response about 5 things she learns about life in winter in Canada from each episode, which focuses on a different decade through history.

Nature/Science & Art

The kids are each picking animals of choice, we're researching about the animal, writing down 5 things we've learned about the animal and then drawing a picture of the animal.

Reading

There really is nothing than sitting down and reading together and talking about the story and answering questions together to work on reading comprehension.  Thankfully we have a family full of readers so this isn't like pulling teeth.

Gym

In addition to this each morning we've been starting our day with breakfast followed by kid friendly yoga.  The kids are loving the stories offered by Cosmic Yoga on YouTube.  So far we've enjoyed yoga with a Moana and Frozen based story.

Cooking Class

Also separate from lesson time is cooking. Each night the kids are helping me make dinner, which involves fine motor skills for chopping and cutting, reading recipes, math, as well as teaching them a real life skill that will last them a life time.

How are you tackling self-study?

Things My Kids Said As Posted On Twitter

Not everything my kids say or do warrants a blog post.  This is why I like to share this roundup and snippets of recent conversations I've had with M&J as shared on Twitter.  Enjoy!

J: you know hot metal? Me: what’s that? J: like really loud guitars and someone screaming like they’re being burned by something really hot. Like #ACDC -hot metal Me: I think you’ve invented your own music genre.

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J: eww this smells like dried grapes. me: you mean raisins? Dried grapes are raisins. J: That’s disgusting. I didn’t know that.

Dad: what’s all over the remote control? M: Caramels (this is why we can’t have nice things) #parenting

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J walked into my bedroom this morning with a nerf bow and arrow, shot five darts against the wall, screamed “Happy Valentines Day” and then ran away cackling. If this isn’t the epitome of #parenting I don’t know what is #HappyValentines

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J: what’s the name of that cartoon character who is old and can’t see properly?  Mr. Man Goo? Dad: I don’t think that’s anyone’s name. Me: Are you thinking of Mr. Magoo? J: That’s it! #parenting #thingskidssay

J: who’s that drawing of? M: Super Girl. J: why is she wearing pants? Super Girl always shows some skin. Your drawing isn’t accurate. #comics #parenting #sadbuttrue