100 Days of Distance Learning

(And 100 things that kept this working momma of a kindergartner and newborn sane!)

Hurray! It's the 100th day of school! Which of course means we made it... someone give us a gold medal... We survived 100 days of distance learning. How? I don't know either but here we go... A list of 100 things that helped get us through.

(Pictured - My daughter's work space/classroom/left over decorations from her birthday party. What a fun way to celebrate our 100 days of this thing we call Distance Learning!)

• Embrace the Suck- Look... this sucks. Honor that. At no time do we pretend like pandemic life is the best life. We acknowledge the suck... express our frustrations when needed and then do what we can to make the best of this.
• Set Firm Limits on Work Time. - When I was pregnant I was so stressed out with work and preparing enough plans for my long term sub to take over my 4th and 5th grade class that I asked my doctor if I should take an early leave. She suggested to first try putting firm limits on my work day. So at 4pm, I shut my computer and didn't go back to it until 8 am the next morning. This might not be news for some of you but for a work-a-holic teacher, promising myself to stop work every day at 4pm to put myself and my family first was life changing. And my work life is still thriving! (Imagine that!)
• Emphasizing Independent Play.  Pre-pandemic our calendar was jam packed with activities so when the pandemic hit, I felt overwhelmed trying to schedule things to do inside, without friends, for my daughter. I put the bulk of the responsibility for her "not being bored" on me. I'd say about two days into that the pressure and stress of being the sole provider of entertainment to my daughter was overwhelming and completely unsustainable. So I channeled my inner Elsa and... I let it go and fully embraced independent play.
  • For my 5 year old that is usually 30 minutes to an hour but can now be hours of genuinely engaged imaginative play.
  • For my 5 month old? Maybe it means 5-10 minutes of me sitting near by as he rolls around in his playpen.
  • For more on this- I highly recommend checking out Janet Landsbury who is an expert on the 0-3 years and an advocate for incorporating independent play time into your routines. Here are some of her best posts on the topic Stop Entertaining Your Toddler in 3 Steps, Becoming Unglued, Solo Engagement, How To Stop Entertaining Your Baby and 7 Myths That Discourage Independent Play..
• Outdoor Play Dates - Social interaction is crucial for developing kids (and all of humanity) so we try to keep it safe with short outdoor play dates with families we trust. Cold weather put a damper on this so we've tried other things
• Zoom Play Dates - My daughter hates (HATES) talking to people on zoom. But she loves her friends and understands we cant see them all in person. Sometimes she'll chat with them for thirty seconds, sometimes she will play elaborate games of hide and seek somehow with them and her ipad running around the house. We let her guide us with this and never pressure her to interact with people on Zoom if she doesn't want to.
• Our "Bubble" - We paired up with one other like minded family and have been stuck with them since the summer. This one outside family provides great interactions for our daughter where she can get some of all of those great social skills she would be learning in person at school (like compromising,  problem solving, forgiving, and working things out) I was afraid their friendship would be strained by being the one and only other person they see outside of their family but so far so good!
• Lean on quality screen time. We didn't even have a tv in our house until my daughter was 2. But to stay sane with all of us home all of the time I let go of my rigidity around screen time. You want to watch more than 30 miunutes to 1 hour a day of screen time as a 5 year old? Cool... tune in to
  • Alphablocks,
  • Little Einsteins,
  • or one of the many engaging but maybe a little guilt free shows that incorperate learning on PBS. You are not a bad parent for letting go of rigid screen time limits. Keep it quality, keep your sanity.
• Get Moving as a Family. In the beginning I had to schedule in purposeful active time and made it a family affair.
  • We love Cosmic Kids Yoga and
  • Peloton's Family Work out with Jess Sims.
  • But we also LOVE just taking a walk.
• Make the walk an adventure. Sometimes we picked up "the best" pine cones or collected leaves of different colors in the fall to create a rainbow.
• Use your nature walk collections for art. WHY BUY THINGS when you have so much around you? My daughter now has a deep love for gluing leaves onto paper and turning those leaves into fun creatures.
• Skip the expensive toys. My daughter literally ignored the $100 block set I purchased from Lakeshore Learning and preferred things like empty water bottles and Tupperware. Observer your child and their preferences! Roll with their love of what might have been trash (I'm looking at you water bottles)
• Get Organized. Am I a fancy pinterest mom with a house that is in perfect conditions at all times. HAHA! NO. My house often looks like it was hit by hurricane toddler and then just to make extra sure that nothing is in order a bunch of frat boys came in to ensure there are an extra large pile of unwashed clothes . But... there is a place for everything. So when I need to work on lesson plans, email parents, or grade assignments my daughter knows exactly where her art supplies, STEM activities or toys are.
  • These shelves (via amazon- not an affiliate link. I am too lazy for that and don't want to spam you with ads) are low to the ground and great for organizing for littles. I organize my playroom in a Montessori based way.
  • These bins (also via amazon. Ditto to the above) keep things visual for 0-5. I rotate out toys maybe every two weeks. Sometimes once a month
• Minimize Your Workload When Prepping Activities For Ages 3-5 "Academics" should involve little to no prep by you. If it involves printing and laminating and cutting all of the things... skip it! Opt for something easier and more natural to incorporate into YOUR life and routine. Remember, things like cooking provide a much richer learning experience than any workbook ever could.
• Avoid Workbooks- Toss Em. I spent probably $100 dollars on writing workbooks, math workbooks, reading workbooks etc.... my daughter maybe used them five times. I am a teacher but I am not her teacher. Trust me- your kids will have a life time of worksheets. They do NOT need them outside of what their actual teacher assigns and they definitely do not need them now.
• Sing Songs- Singing with your child will build all of the wonderful pre-reading skills they need entering kindergarten. Remember Raffi? Ya... all of those lol They will establish a lot of key reading skills (Like Cause and effect- The Itsy Bitsy Spider is a prime example!)
• Rhyming games and songs- This is HUGE for building phonemic awareness. Check out this post for inspiration.
• Beginning Sound Activities- You can print a bunch of stuff off I guess but what working parent has time for that? Instead go on a scavenger hunt (or send your kid on one!) "Find something that starts with.... B "bu". Let them search their play room for something  like a ball! This will get your child ready for all things reading and build a love and excitement for it.
• Chalk Obstacle Course - Check out this instagram post. Look at your calendar and make sure it wont rain for a while lol. Dip your chalk in water to ensure it stays on the ground for a while... just a little work lasts for potentially weeks and kept my daughter engaged and moving on the daily.
• Kinesthetic Word Work- When my daughter started kindergarten, I had to find ways to get her engaged with learning site words. So... enter more chalk! Check out this instagram post for inspiration.
• Sensory Bins - This post has some good ideas! Don't go overboard. Start with one that you think your child might like and if they do... move on from there.
• Real life learning experiences: Cooking incorporates math, language arts, health, science... so. many. things. Cook with your child!! I had to let go of a lot (like my idea of a clean kitchen, and efficient techniques of scooping flour our of the bag or stirring things) Let the kids help! Even if it means some egg shells in your food.
• Family Reading Time - Confession, I am not a fan of baby books and not so big on most picture books either (sorry not sorry). I am super stoked that my daughter is entering the chapter book phase of life so every night we all snuggle up and read a chapter of her new favorite series Drangon Masters. (Early reader chapter books) and for sweet baby bro? I am putting sister in charge of the baby books now! Gives them bonding time and me time away from reading those... :)
• Visual Schedules - I still have this up for free. Look- don't go overboard with this. My daughter's visual schedule is currently is Breakfast, Fundations (a school  reading activity) Reading group, play time, math group, play time. lunch, writing group, play time, reading group, Zoom social group, and you guessed it.... play time. When I first implemented this, her day was schedule in almost 30- 45 minute blocks with an activity pictured in from 8am-Bedtime. It was too much! Keep it flexible and incorporate Parent-Guilt-Free Independent play time often. In our schedule those play blocks are either with a parent, a friend from the family we formed a bubble with, or independent play.
• Ditch the Chore Reward Chart - Yes on visual schedules but no on chore chart? I can't keep up with Reward charts of any kind. If you can't be consistent it wont be effective. Even though I know research points to a HARD PASS on reward systems for kids at home or in school, I tried this with my daughter anyway. And it stressed me out. So I ditched it. Chores should be a normal part of the day incorporated into your schedule. I do not recommend rewarding your child to do chores. Start involving your kids at a young age. Kids love to be involved! Make it a family activity where they can help. Read this blog post for more
• Check in on Your Child's Distance Learning Engagement - My mom helps monitor my daughter during the day. She was switched into a K/1 online combo class and a week in started to pretend that her computer was broken and told my mom she would fire her if she tried to fix it *still laughing about this* I checked in with the teacher and asked her to put her in a lower reading group. Thats right. A lower reading group. She is reading at a end of year kindergarten level but was in a group with first graders. This made her feel like she couldn't keep up so she started avoiding work. I did NOT want her to begin to establish a hatred for reading knowing this would create a HUGE problem for the rest of her school career so I asked to have her switched into a lower group where she feels more confident and is therefor able to spend more time in her group laughing and smilng with friends while she reads. If your child seems disengaged or is hating online school- talk with your child's teacher to find ways to increase their engagement.
• Avoid battles- I do not engage in school work battles with my daughter. I want to establish a FIRM love for learning at this age. Monday Asynchronous work does not always do that so... as a teacher I fully support skipping some of the work on such days if it means maintaining a positive relationship with your kids and a positive relationship with their ideas of what school is. (i.e. school is not torture)
• This List of Resources- If you need more inspiration for quality screen time, screen free, low prep or high prep activities- I've got your back with this list.
• Snack bins - filled with healthy snacks. Working at home is hard. My 5 year old is now old enough to get snacks on her own and the bin is filled with things I am not worried she will over eat. (i.e. no candy or fruit snacks) She has open access to fruits, veggies as well.
• Stocking my House with Healthy Things - But accepting that sometimes I need chocolate and aint no one tryin to survive this on healthy food alone.
• Hello Fresh OR another meal prep service. I would say our biggest martial problem stems from the question "What should we eat tonight?" Hello Fresh solved this! If you want a code, leave a comment and I will send you one but I can almost guarantee you can find a great deal via google.
• Family/Friend Zoom dates- This got exhuasting in the beginning but I still have once a week zoom dates with extended family and occasion zoom dates with friends!
• Purge the Clutter - Being home all day every day I got overwhelmed with clutter. So... I joined a local mom "Freebie" facebook page and just give away all the things I no longer need- and in exchange I snag some baby clothes for my 5 month old that is already in 9 month clothes!
• Prioritize Self Care. My husband and I communicate when we just need to time for self care and we do what we can to help facilitate that.
  • For me its 30 minutes to an hour on my Peloton (follow me on the LB #MoiraRoseJazGal) or maybe sometimes its just sitting on the couch without a kid and my phone in hand while I catch up on Social Media. Either way, when either of us need it, we ask for it and support the other parent in taking out time.
• Therapy - No one likes to talk about this but Im going to. My therapist is my hero. I went through a year of back to back traumatic losses in 2018.... while I no longer need her for that level of life intensity... I still need her. Some days we just celebrate how great things have been. Others we chat about strategies to remain grounded and sane.
• My Apple Watch - Oddly this has kept me strongly connected to some friends as we social distance. The competitive ring challenges have kept me motivated to the max. (I'm looking at you friends who I refuse to allow to get more daily points then me even if it means twenty squats at 9:30pm lol)
• My Peloton - This was a pre-pandemic splurge/mental health purchase. Winter was coming and I knew I wasn't trying to keep up with my morning runs or walks when temps started dipping below 20. Best purchase of my life. If you want to follow me on the LB board MoiraRoseJazGal is my name lol . If you need a referral code for $100 off of accessories, hit me up!
• The Shipt Account I Got a One Month Free Trial for and then Forgot to Cancel - Am I proud that I accidently spent $100 on a year membership for this? Nope! Is it worth every penny for a working mom of two while we are all stuck at home? Absolutely!
• Binge Watching Shows That Bring Me Joy - After the kids go to bed I put on something that makes me happy. Sometimes that means putting on Schitt's Creek for the five thousandth time or sometimes it means watching something mindless like Bling Empire.
• Know Your Limits - When you set a lofty goal (like 100 things that kept me sane over the last days) and you only make it to 50 something.... that is OKAY lol You are surviving a pandemic. You are doing your best. You are doing a great job. Honor that every single day.