I know I haven’t blogged in a little while. We’ve just been struggling with the realization that every day is the same. It’s not that we’re bored – we have plenty to do between cleaning, crafting, walking, appreciating live streaming of free releases of content every day. It’s just the difficulty that every day feels like the one that came before it….and the one before that….and the one before that. At least when you have to leave the house to go to work or school, there are differences between your Monday and your Thursday. I miss those differences.
Luckily, when the weather’s nice, we’ve been outside and that helps. However, on school days we have done such a good job keeping a routine that I have grown to dislike it. Yes, there’s still a routine in our ‘normal’ lives, too, but it’s still got it’s differences. For example, I teach on Mondays and Wednesdays. I can tell the difference between these two days easily, however, because I teach different things on those days. I see different students and have a different schedule, despite being at the same location. The girls have differences in schedules day-to-day at school, too. One day they have art class, the next music, Fridays are spelling tests, etc. I know these seem like small differences, but it’s these things we are lacking in our online life. I no longer just teach on Mondays and Wednesdays. If a student or a parent has a question on a Thursday, I’m not going to make them wait all of the way to Monday to get an answer. That’s silly!
So, today, I’ve vowed to make differences in our days. Even when we are on summer vacation, there are certain differences in our days (Wednesdays and Fridays are for community band!). I don’t know if we’ll do something crazy to set each day apart, but we are making modifications.
Today was field trip day. We went to the Fox River Park in Waukesha. A friend and colleague of mine posted on Facebook that she found a wishtree this last weekend. Squid has been working on setting one up in our town, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do a little research. We walked around the park (3 miles!) and giggled while picking up caterpillars. We read the signs people made on the wishtree. We enjoyed ourselves before the rain hit. It was nice to go for a walk somewhere other than our neighborhood. Afterwards, Squid got to work emailing the Town Supervisors to ask permission to go ahead with her Wishtree project. I am excited to see what happens (and hopefully someone responds to her).
We also are working to make weekends screen-free. With all of the chromebook/computer time the girls need for school, and the same for my husband & I, we need a break. It’s hard, as I feel like I am addicted to checking my email every ten minutes during the week. The break felt weird this weekend, but my days actually felt longer (in a good way), and my stress was significantly better.
I’m still working my way through how our days will be different. Maybe we’ll go back to Family Game Nights on Fridays (as opposed to sporadically throughout the whole week), or Crafting Wednesdays. Who knows. It will take us awhile to figure it out, but hopefully this tip fills in the void that you may have been experiencing as well.
Car Full of Harmony 