Day 1 of 25 Home-Schooling and I’m barely surviving – but definitely am setting expectations to manage our sanity.
I mean – talk about interesting times we live in. Not sure it’s a full-on Hamilton-ian “How Lucky We Are to be Alive, Right Now”, but hopefully soon we will look back in appreciation for all we learned – especially about human fragility in an instant-gratification era in which we all feel entitled and impenetrable.
We’ve begun day 1 of homeschooling. We will have more direction from our teachers after they’ve got through intensive training later in the week about remote-learning from the NYC DOE.
But for now, it’s all about setting expectations to manage our lives.
As I constantly harp on and rely upon in my own parenting, everything is about setting expectations.
The best way to do so is to have the kids’ input.
This morning, we sat down and had a “morning meeting” in which we set daily expectations with a to-do list that the kids helped craft.
- Set a daily routine schedule
Set some goals for what kids would like to accomplish on a weekly basis – culling through old toys, learning a new skill - Find a reward system for sticking with the program – incentivize (fine: call it a bribe) with screen time, sweet treats. But also – this is just life, kids. Rewards come from exceptional behavior. They don’t need a reward for every tiny thing they do.
- Make a check-list chart so kids can gauge their progress.
- Set lots of timers.
- Keep your own expectations low so you don’t get too frustrated.
- Be kind to yourself and the kids – it’s a strange time. Space everything out with snacks and breaks.
And at the end of the day, give up, have a drink, and hand over the iPad. You did good setting expectations to manage the kids’ enrichment. hell, they’re going to learn a ton during this pandemic and be touched for the rest of their lives.
Make a calendar to chart progress and check off your to-do list