Lisa Violo

Pandemic Schooling is Hard – Be Kind to Yourself!

January 18, 2021 by Lisa Violo Leave a Comment

Since the pandemic began, many parents have been trying to manage their children’s schooling from home. Our family has received comments such as “I don’t know how you enjoy homeschooling, it’s so hard!” or “I can’t believe you like homeschooling, I can’t wait until the kids go back to school.”

Let me declare loudly, pandemic schooling is NOT homeschooling. Homeschooling is a conscious choice that families have made. Pandemic schooling is hard. Pandemic schooling was forced upon families in the middle of a global crisis with no warning, preparation or resources.

Here are three (3) major ways that ‘schooling from home’ during a pandemic differs from homeschooling:

Parent Work Schedules

Many parents that are attempting to manage their children’s schooling from home during the pandemic, also have full-time jobs. If you, and any co-parents, have full-time jobs, it is very difficult to manage your children’s online schooling program from home at the same time.

Most homeschoolers have at least one guardian that isn’t working or they have parents with flexible work schedules. For example, I work from home and I reduced my work schedule to about 20 hours per week when I started homeschooling, so I have plenty of time manage our day. Our family had the opportunity, in advance, to plan how homeschooling would work.

2. Curriculum and Scheduling

Most pandemic schooling parents are following a curriculum and schedule that have been provided by their school. This means families have little or no input on the flow of their day or what their children are learning.

Homeschoolers have the freedom to decide whether or not to use a curriculum (FYI, our family doesn’t follow a curriculum). If a homeschool family decides to use a curriculum, they select which one, and how much of it to follow. Homeschool parents also get to decide which days and times they will homeschool. If we want to start learning at 6:00 am, we can. Start at 10:00 am? Yes! If we want to skip a day of school altogether, no problem! This is much less stressful than following a curriculum and schedule that’s been forced upon us by the government during a pandemic.

3. Stress and Mental Health

Many families are feeling the stress of the pandemic. Perhaps you’ve lost your job or you’ve lost a loved one. Maybe quarantining or ‘stay at home’ orders are taking a toll on your family’s mental health. This makes managing ‘school from home’ very hard.

Normally, homeschooling families decide under positive circumstances to keep their kids home with them. Furthermore, there are normally many weekday homeschool programs and events that homeschool families attend. Many of these are currently closed due to the pandemic; however; homeschoolers know that when this is all over, these wonderful events and programs will re-open.

If you’re feeling stressed, you aren’t alone. Many people are feeling this way. We find that daily exercise goes a long way towards helping with mental (and physical!) health. In our area, public parks are open, and we visit them often for exercise, fresh air and a change of scenery (see a list here). Try ditching school for a few days, get outdoors and have fun – your kids will love it, and they will easily catch up on school later, we promise!

We’re All in This Together

If anyone is struggling with pandemic schooling, don’t go it alone. Reach out to us at hello@happyhomeskool.com for support or join the Facebook parent groups that we’ve listed here at the bottom of the page. One of the parent groups is specifically focused on COVID schooling in Canada.

If you’re looking for fun ways to spend family time at home, check out our post about Family Theme Nights. If you’re looking for more tips on surviving pandemic schooling, read our prior post here.

Overall, be kind to yourself – pandemic schooling is hard and it’s definitely not the same as homeschooling. Just do the best you can. If coming out of this with your sanity is all that your family can manage, then that’s an amazing achievement in itself.

We’ve shared this quote in past, and we love it so much that we’re sharing it again:

Quote of the Day:

“Dear Parents, Don’t stress about schoolwork. When school resumes I will get your children back on track. I am a teacher and that’s my superpower. What I can’t fix is social-emotional trauma that prevents the brain from learning. So right now, I just need you to share your calm, share your strength, and share your laughter with your children. No kids are ahead. No kids are behind. Your children are exactly where they need to be.”
― WITH LOVE, TEACHERS EVERYWHERE

Happy Homeskooling!

Lisa & Mara

Fun Family Theme Nights to Beat the Winter Blues!

November 23, 2020 by Lisa Violo Leave a Comment

Winter is coming. We don’t fear White Walkers, lol, but we do fear sitting around and binge watching our dark winter evenings away. To prevent the winter blues, especially during lockdown, our family sat down together in October and made a plan to keep spirits up and screen time down. Our solution ” Fun Family Theme Nights!”

Here are the fun family theme nights we planned!

Mindful Mondays – To start the week off in a good head space, we engage in an activity of mindfulness. Examples are meditation, yoga, gratitude journaling, hiking in the woods, and listening to calming music. We love the Deepak Chopra and Oprah meditations and there are many great free meditation videos on Youtube.

Fireside Reading Tuesdays – We light a fire, we each pick a book of choice and curl up and read for an hour or so. Afterwards, we chat about what new ideas or fun things we read about. I just finished Untamed by Glennon Doyle, which was a fantastic read – it’s on sale at Indigo right now! It’s like our own family book club except we’re all reading different books.

Documentary Wednesdays – every Wednesday, we take turns selecting a documentary to watch together. Afterwards we discus and debate the doc, and determine if any of the ideas require changes in our lives. Currently, we’re into a great documentary called Transcendence about conscious living. In previous weeks, we watched The Social Dilemma, I carus and many episodes of The Nature of Things. Netflix has a ton of fantastic documentaries. After watching The Social Dilemma, we turned off all app notifications. This is a must watch!

Games Night Thursdays – we love board games and card games so every Thursday we can take turns selecting and playing game. Some of our favourites include Ticket to Ride, Catan, Caylus 1303, Prime Climb and many more. We also play many cards games including Cribbage, Euchre and Poker. This night is one of our family favourites!

Free-For-All Friday – we leave Friday night as a free for all. Sometimes we have a social event, we visit family, we go out for dinner, or stay home and watch a movie. We do whatever we feel like after a long week!

Social Saturday – it’s rare that we don’t have something social going on Saturday night, so we’ve slotted this night for gatherings with family and friends, whether in person or over Zoom!

Planning & Prep Sundays – we love to use Sundays to plan and prepare for the upcoming week. This includes grocery shopping, preparing food and selecting recipes for the week. Check out some of our favourite recipes here. We chop our vegetables, marinade tempeh and tofu and bake healthy stuff like breakfast muffins. We also sit down and discuss everyone’s calendar for the week to make sure we have it all covered. This is also when my husband and I plan our monthly date nights, birthday events etc. It allows us to go into the next week ready to go!

There are so many great reasons to sit down and plan fun family theme nights. You’ll spend more time together, spend less time on screens and all the fun will keep your spirits up, especially during these crazy times! To read more about making theme days during the day with your children, check out our post about creating a homeschool schedule.

Quote of the Day:

Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.
― John Boswell, former Historian and Professor

Happy Homeskooling!

Lisa & Mara

How to Make a Homeschool Schedule

June 29, 2020 by Lisa Violo Leave a Comment

We are often asked “How do you organize your day? Or “Do you have a schedule?”. The short answer is yes, we do have a schedule. The long answer is we don’t always follow it and it changes all the time. We use it more like a guideline. If we want to start late or go on a field trip – no problem! If we feel like a day off – we’ll take 1 (or 2!). Here are a few tips on how to make a homeschool schedule:

Make a list of topics/subjects – Develop a list of subjects and homeschool programs that you want to include in your schedule. Keep it simple and realistic. If you have too many things, leave some out and you can swap a few subjects later in the year!
Type of Schedule – There are many approaches I’ve seen used including 1) daily schedule with times for each subject 3) daily subjects but no exact timing 3) theme days with no specific subjects or times 4) no schedule at all! There is no “right” approach to scheduling. Try multiple approaches and see what works for you! For samples of multiple schedules, see the files page of our Facebook page here.
Format of Schedule – We used Microsoft Excel to create our schedule. This had a dual function as Mara learned how to use Excel and how to schedule. You could also use MS Word or turn it into an art project by making a schedule on bristol board!
Post it – We printed colour copies of our schedule for all levels of the house. This way, no matter where our learning takes us, we have the schedule close by.
Don’t get “tied down” – A schedule can provide structure and routine but if you don’t feel like following it, don’t stress out! Your child has lots of time to learn as the years go by. Skipping a few subjects or days doesn’t matter in the long run. In fact, fun leads to learning!
Modify it – We modify our schedule often. Our original one was too ambitious; a few other versions didn’t cover everything we wanted. Revise your schedule as often as needed, that’s all part of the journey!

Our tips on how to make a homeschool schedule are a good starting point. Click here for another helpful article on creating a homeschool schedule. You could also use these templates and ideas to make a summer schedule for your kids!

Overall, be kind to yourself and do what feels best for you and your family. Remember you’re homeschooling – you don’t have to follow practices that don’t serve you. It takes trial and error to achieve a routine that works but you will get there!

Quote of the Day:

So called interruptions to our homeschool routines are in fact great learning opportunities.”
― Belinda Letchford, Homeschool Mom, Blogger and Speaker

Happy Homeschooling!

Lisa & Mara

10 Questions to Ask Before Homeschooling

May 25, 2020 by Lisa Violo Leave a Comment

Has the slower pace of being at home during COVID-19 led to any reflection in your family? Many families have enjoyed the extra time together so parents have been contacting me with questions about keeping their children home next year too! Here are 10 questions to ask before homeschooling:

Do you work outside of the home? If all parents or guardians work full-time outside of the home, it would be difficult to homeschool. You can try to find someone else to homeschool your kids but most families that homeschool do it themselves. At least one parent needs the flexibility to do so.
Do you work from home? If so, make sure you have ample time and space to allow you to do both. I balance working from home and homeschooling so I assure you, with some effort, it can be done successfully!
Do you have help? Whether you work or not, things can arise where you need your own time, or you need to be somewhere. Do you have a family member, friend or neighbour that can jump in and help if needed? My mother-in-law helps us whenever needed and her support is vital to us. You can also join a homeschool parent group for support – check out our resources page for a list.
Why do you want to Homeschool? It’s important to know the reasons you’d like to homeschool and keep those top of mind when you’re planning your homeschooling. See our post on reasons to homeschool here.
Is everyone in your family on the same page about homeschooling? I’ve met parents at odds because only one of them wanted to homeschool. Also, some children are hesitant to leave their school friends. Find a solution that everyone can agree upon, such as a homeschool trial period. To be successful, everyone must be on board.
Do you have the physical space? You will be with your children for most of the day when you homeschool. Having enough room for personal space and a backyard for physical activity are helpful towards long-term success and wellness.
Do you some extra funds for activities? Some families pay for homeschool gym classes or other activities to supplement what they’re doing at home. Also, you will need to buy items such as a printer, art supplies etc. There are many free homeschool activities too, so with a bit of creativity, you can homeschool on a budget if funds are tight for your family.
Do you have the patience and flexibility to homeschool? Sometimes it’s hard to be around your children all day. Do you have the patience to deal with this? Do you have someone to talk to when you’ve had a hard day? Also, if your children argue a lot, you need a strategy to deal with it. Homeschooling requires patience and flexibility. A homeschool day doesn’t always go as planned and often those are the best days. Instead of worrying about it, embrace going off track as a fun learning experience!
What is your homeschooling philosophy? There are many approaches to homeschooling so you may want to think about yours. Some families use workbooks, others do everything online. Some families teach their kids themselves; others register their children in online courses taught by others. There are also families that “unschool”, which is an informal learning approach whereby your children lead their own learning process. We’ve changed our approach many times so don’t worry if you start one way and then go in another direction. For example, we originally used a schedule and now we use a loose plan that goes off the rails often! Lol!
What are the regulations in your country around homeschooling? In Canada where we live, homeschooling is accepted in all provinces. Every country has its own rules around homeschooling so you’ll want to research those before moving forward.

No matter what you decide, every decision is reversible. There is no downside to try homeschooling! You can always send your kids back to school at any point. I recommend trying it for one year before making a final decision. There is a lot of trial and error in the first year of homeschooling to determine what works best for your family.

These 10 questions to ask before homeschooling will be helpful towards making your final decision. Also, here is a site with answers to other homeschool questions you may have.

We’d love to hear your reasons for wanting to homeschool, or any questions you may have, in the comments section below!

Quote of the Day:

“Children are not a distraction from the most important work. They ARE the most important work.” – C.S. LEWIS, AUTHOR

Happy Homeskooling!

Lisa & Mara

Homeschooling During COVID-19

May 4, 2020 by Lisa Violo Leave a Comment

Many families have started “homeschooling” due to the unexpected impact of COVID-19. Our family didn’t know this was going to happen back in September when we started homeschooling, but it was certainly fortunate that we had a few months head start.

Remember “homeschooling” during COVID-19 isn’t truly homeschooling because you’re using the school’s curriculum, you’re likely still working full-time and you’re together with your family members 24/7. Actual homeschooling is when your schedule allows you the time to homeschool, when you get to pick your own educational resources and when you’re not stressed out about income and health during a pandemic. Right now we are pandemic schooling, not homeschooling.

Here are a few tips that we have for you during these difficult times:

1. Don’t worry about your child falling behind or missing something. It doesn’t matter if you follow a specific curriculum. In fact, it doesn’t matter if your child pauses schooling altogether until after this is over. You can simply encourage your kids to read books they love, create art, play outside, watch documentaries, play boardgames and hang out together around the house. Your child will learn through their natural curiosity and by observing you. Remember, there are many types of schools (public, private, Waldorf, homeschool etc.) and they all have different curriculums. The only similarity between them is that children educated in any of these environments all turn out fine. Your children will be fine too! All you need to do is love and support your children during all of this.

Happy Homeskool - Mara playing a board game — Mara playing a board game

2. You don’t have to follow the program that your school gives you. Some schools are sending home projects and tasks to complete at home. If this works for you and your children, great. If it doesn’t, then don’t do it. Teachers can’t mark assignments completed at home and your children will catch up whenever they go back to school. Take this opportunity to encourage any type of learning that your children enjoy. Figure out what interests them. Do they like watching videos of reptiles all day? Great, let them do it! There won’t be repercussions if you skip all or some of what your school has sent home.

3. Get outside. If your family is self-isolating (not under quarantine), you are allowed outside. Get your kids playing outdoors! If you don’t have a yard, take a walk or bike in your neighbourhood. Fresh air gets kids moving, helps them sleep better and may give you a much-needed break from being around them all day. We go on a daily hike together as a family, but Mara also plays outside on her own too.

Happy Homeskool - Mara finding fungus during a hike — Mara finding fungus during a hike

4. Video calling. To keep your kids connected with their friends, try video calling! We schedule a daily FaceTime for Mara with a friend or cousin and she LOVES this! Sometimes they just chat, play a game together like Truth or Dare, or play an online game together like Roblox. Mara enjoys having a daily social connection besides her ol’ mom and dad! Lol!

5. Resources. There are many resources to keep your children engaged in learning when you have limited time. One of our favourite sites is called Outschool.com. Mara has taken 10+ courses on Outschool and she loves it! They have academic subjects including Math, English and Science as well as fun subjects like Card Tricks – Mara is registered in a combination of academic and fun courses. There are so many benefits including: 1) academic and fun course content, 2) your children learn from someone other than you, 3) your children are online with other kids, 4) your children learn how to use the computer and video conferencing technology and 5) you get a break! There are varying costs to these courses, but they are worth it. Be sure to pick instructors with high ratings.

Happy Homeskool - Mara in a card tricks class on Outschool — Mara in a card tricks class on Outschool

6. Parent groups. Many parent Facebook groups exist to support homeschooling families. We’ve provided a list of these groups on our Resources page, check it out here!

If you are struggling with homeschooling during COVID-19 or being at home with your kids all day, don’t go it alone. Join a local homeschool parent Facebook group or reach out to us at hello@happyhomeskool.com for support. Some of you will send your kids back to school once this is over but some of you may decide to continue homeschooling! We’d love to hear from all of you. Be safe and be well.

Quote of the Day:

Dear Parents, don’t stress about schoolwork. When school resumes I will get your children back on track. I am a teacher and that’s my superpower. What I can’t fix is social-emotional trauma that prevents the brain from learning. So right now, I just need you to share your calm, share your strength, and share your laughter with your children. No kids are ahead. No kids are behind. Your children are exactly where they need to be.”
― With Love, Teachers Everywhere.

Happy Homeskooling!

Lisa & Mara

Lisa Violo

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