At the end of this week, the school holidays will start. This means a different pace for students and staff. However, in the current climate, if you are anything like me, you may be wondering what on earth you will do for two weeks with your child/children if we cannot go anywhere or see anyone. Remote learning has been hard and if you are still at work and faced with two weeks of no structure, this may be concerning you. Having been thinking about this myself and what I am going to do, I thought I would share some ideas in case you are at the low end of ideas at this stage in the pandemic. These ideas can span Primary and Secondary ages and give you some motivation:
For the past three Wednesdays in Primary, and a couple of weeks ago in Secondary, we have had our Wellbeing Sessions. There have been emails sent to students and parents with lots of different activities on them that your child can do for enjoyment. They don’t need parental involvement, so students should be able to self-direct themselves. Here are some ideas:
- Reading is always beneficial to students. Anywhere between 10-30 minutes a day over the holidays would be helpful in increasing their reading ability.
- Perhaps things have gotten a little bit out of hand over the past few months in your child’s room... maybe they can spend a bit of time sorting out toys/books/games and organising swaps with friends.
- It might be time to have a look at Canvas and ensure any missed work is caught up on.
- Perhaps each day could have a theme, e.g., Monday is kindness day where we need to do two things that are nice for someone else, Tuesday is looking after yourself day where we need to do two things that make us feel better, etc.
- Even the youngest of hands can help around the house, garden or with the cooking. Catching up on some of those household chores could be seen as fun if they are presented in a fun way – if all else fails there is always bribery, which is what I will be using to get my car washed!
- Going for a bike ride – a long one will give both energy and something to do.
I have read a lot of articles about how people are going back to older style activities such as listening to a radio play, sitting and drawing, crafting and making photo books to give us enjoyment when we can’t see our friends.
I want you to know that letting your child sleep in, lazing on the couch watching a movie together (I can recommend the new Cinderella on Amazon Prime), eating ice-cream out of the tub together, is all okay. These are challenging times and sometimes just holding your children close and telling them you love them is enough for the day to go well. Please don’t put so many expectations on yourself as if this is meant to be like a family holiday to Disneyland at home. You need to rest along with your children – give yourself permission to not worry if a day or two goes by where nothing really happens.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the term. Again, it has been a term like no other but there is lots to be thankful for. Staff are better than ever at their online classes, and students are doing a fabulous job at keeping up with it all despite so many challenges. Parents are partnering with us so well – thank you for all you are doing!
Stay safe these holidays and I am praying we can come back together soon.