>> March 23, 2020
>> Blog Post #44
The COVID-19 induced confinement period has
been an opportunity for me so far. Of course, there are many problems because
of it, and I’ve ranted enough about how afraid I am that governments are just
going to seize this fine opportunity to grab more power and screw us more. But,
overall, the mood has been very positive, and I’ve seen it as a chance to do
more and to do things differently. Having the kids 24/7 and the weather being
pretty nice have also been an underlying reason for this all.
This will probably turn into some big
experiment for me and I decided to take a blank notebook and start writing down
all my ideas around it and I will also probably take a journal of what I do to
keep track of it all.
Being in confinement means spending all your
time together. It means you have to reorganize both your time and your
interactions. No more school, work, week-end rhythm punctuated by set alarm
clocks and meals.
As I’ve said, I’ve taken this positively. I
know I have more time to enjoy – and completely loose it – my kids, and I also
know that they need to keep busy.
Mens sana in corpore sano – a healthy mind in a healthy body.
I actually like the Latin version better as it includes
that notion of saneness, which for a ton of people is paramount when they are
faced with spending their entire days locked up with their kids.
I am still figuring out my exact setup here,
but so far, I try to have my kids work every morning and then spend some time outside
in the afternoon on outdoor games or yardwork.
I am guessing that physical activity would be a
better way to start the day, but thee reason I am keeping this for the
afternoon is that it is still too chilly in the morning these days.
Here are some of the things we have done over
the past week:
- We’ve cleaned out an area on our lawn to grow a vegetable garden
- We’ve recycled old wooden pallets in making a compost
- I’ve trimmed the hedges and the kids helped me pick up the branches so that the garden is clean
- We’ve trained the dog outside – or at least we’ve attempted too, but he’s so young the distractions are too frequent for much progress
- We started discussing how we should proceed for the planting of the vegetables, when to do it, what to plant, where to plant seeds, etc.…
- We’ve cut off the butt of one of the leaks we ate the other day and left it in water, as it is supposed to grow back, and we should be able to repot it in a few days’ time.
- We’ve set aside some potatoes to sprout
- We’ve cleared out an area to grow some fruit trees
- We’ve played a board game every single day
- We’ve introduced more frequent movie nights
- We’ve let the kids “camp” in each other’s’ rooms
- We’ve started to do half of the homework on the computer in order to start teaching them how computers work. Our hunch is it might be useful someday 🙂 We’ve maintained handwriting for the other half because I don’t want them not to know how to write with a pen properly.
- But the most exciting, or at least the one which I was the most proud of was the 10 min race between my kids to see who would gather the most worms in the yard so that we could settle into our new compost. That was a hit and got them really excited.
What I’ve wanted to do but
haven’t incorporated in the schedule yet:
All of this has taken more
time than it should, as being all on top of each other does create
organizational “problems”. Especially when the adults are also supposed to be
working etc. So, we’ve taken it one step at a time, guessing that we will
probably have a lot more time in confinement anyways. At least that’s my bet.
I want my children to read
every day and to learn how to enjoy it. Reading at least 30 min a day is
paramount in my opinion and this hasn’t been done every day. My plan is that it
should be.
I also would like to
incorporate some kind of muscular wake up routine, just to get some of the kids’
energy out in the morning or during our homeschooling breaks.
I’d like to add some
elements to the school program that are more philosophical or geared towards
building confidence in my children that we are all capable of pretty much
anything that we set our sights on if we work hard and persevere.
And finally, I would like
to have them do so internet searches on whatever we plan on doing together so
that they bring ideas, get creative, start dreaming and maybe provide me with
some guidance on what there is to do. This should tie in nicely with the goal
above.
All in all, this should be
seen as an overarching goal to develop the mind, the body, the personality of
each kid in their own way.
I’ll follow up on this post regularly in the coming weeks.