Pandemic Pessimism

Hey, sorry about the New Year’s Eve party post. I wrote that back in January, same with the Halloween post. I was just trying to get some work done ahead of time for periods when I’m usually really busy. Please make sure you don’t host super-spreader events!

A closed Cambridge, MA playground, wrapped in excessive caution tape. Early in the pandemic, the playgrounds were closed to prevent kids spreading Covid-19 among each other. — *April 2020, right after they closed the playgrounds.*

Alas, the pandemic came, and turned all our lives upside down. I stopped homeschooling and stopped keeping up with this blog. Basically it’s been one long nervous breakdown that gets more or less intense depending on the stressors.

According to an article I read recently, 37,000 students left the public schools in Massachusetts this school year. Anyone on homeschool groups could see the the tidal wave of families that joined the homeschooling community. Alas, in this like everything else, I find myself moving contrarywise. For so many, public school at home didn’t work. For me, pandemic meant I couldn’t cope with homeschooling at home. Our flavor of homeschooling was predominantly about being out of the house.

Hopefully the coming of the vaccine means life will get back to some sense of normalcy. For now, it feels like it will never end.

5 homemade cloth masks, fanned out on a table, all made from the same peach-colored fabric with palm trees and poodles on it. The ear bands are navy, fold-over-elastic. — *Wear a mask, sneeze and cough into your elbow, wash your hands, drive safely, share, take turns, be a decent human being!*

Samurai – Pandemic Homeschooling, Theme 9

Books

I’m having a hard time coping with being confined to home, sorry there are no pictures in this post.

“The peace tree from hiroshima : A Little Bonsai with a Big Story,” Sandra Moore, Overdrive,
For tweens and up, “Samurai rising : The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune,” Pamela S Turner, Overdrive
“The way of the samurai : Geronimo Stilton Series, Book 49,” Geronimo Stilton, Overdrive
“Ninjas and samurai : A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #5: Night of the Ninjas,” Mary Pope Osborne, Overdrive

Activities

Origami crafts: wearable samurai hat out of newspaper or some good luck paper cranes. Extra activity: see how small you can make these origami creations? Can you make one out of a Starburst wrapper, for example?
Samurai coloring pages
Design our own family crest after samurai family crests

Meditation – Pandemic Homeschooling, Theme 8

Books

“Moody Cow Meditates,” Kerry Lee MacLean, Overdrive
“The magic of meditation : Stories and Practices to Develop Gratitude and Empathy with Your Child,” Marie Champeaux-Cunin, audio book available on Overdrive
For motivated teens to adults “Meditation for fidgety skeptics : A 10% Happier How-to Book,” Dan Harris,” on Overdrive

Activities

Try some kids meditation with Peace Out podcast. Each episode tells a story, and helps kids learn a little bit of meditation and mindfulness.
Make a meditation jar, sometimes called a mind jar.

Field Trips

Find a lovely spot somewhere in nature and meditate for 15 minutes

Online learning

The Science of Meditation, documentary from ABC Australia, on YouTube, 25:28

Animals & Farms – Pandemic Homeschooling, Theme 7

This is a tricky theme right now since zoos are closed, the Museum of Science is closed, the Harvard Museum of Natural History is closed, Mass Audubon sites have closed (except for hiking, get out there and take a walk in nature), and there aren’t many farms reachable by public transit, and who knows if they’re open….But we’ll do our best!

Activities

Make your own music video to “Baby Monkey”
Some art stores might be open, get some paper mâché animals and decorate them at home
Ideas for Dairy Cow Learning Activities from Ohio State University, a list of possible activities for learning about this important animal in our food supply. Written for 4H but applicable for anyone interested!

Virtual Field Trips

Farm Food 360 offers 11 virtual tours of all kinds of farms, from apple orchards, to pig farms to grain farms. Check it out!
San Diego Zoo‘s live animal cams: penguin, baboon, polar bears, panda, koala, giraffe, burrowing owl, elephant, tiger, and condor.

Books

“Zoology for kids : Understanding and Working with Animals, with 21 Activities,” Josh Hestermann, Overdrive
“Birdology : 30 Activities and Observations for Exploring the World of Birds,” Monica Russo, Overdrive
“Who was George Washington Carver?” Jim Gigliotti, Overdrive

Online Learning

Animal Behavior at MIT’s Open CourseWare
Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology at Coursera

Field trips

Head to your nearest pond or park and watch the ducks and other wildlife. I am at my closest pond right now and there are ducks, geese, doves and woodpeckers!

Oceans – Pandemic Homeschooling, Theme 2

Here is my second themed group of books, activities, and snacks to help you get through this period of Social Distancing at home. Click here to return to the list of themed posts.

Books

“Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau,” Jennifer Berne, available on Overdrive
“The treasure of the sea : Thea Stilton Special Edition Series, Book 5,” Thea Stilton, on Overdrive
“Dark Day in the Deep Sea,” Mary Pope Osborne, on Overdrive

Field Trips

Visit Castle Island. The weather isn’t very good, and most people aren’t going out, so why not take advantage and get you and your kids some exercise and outdoor time! If it isn’t busy it’s very easy to stay really far from other people.

Castle Island is accessible by MBTA Busses # 7, 9 and 11 and has free parking. Take a walk around Pleasure Bay, look for sea glass on the many beaches, collect sea shells and stones. Fly a kite. Play on the playground but bring hand sanitizer. Ride bikes.

Other area beaches accessible by transit: Orient Heights, Revere Beach.

Virtual Field Trips

Monterey Bay Aquarium‘s live animal cams: aviary, coral reef, jelly, kelp forest, Monterey Bay, open ocean, moon jelly, penguin, sea otter and shark.

Activities

Make plaster of Paris sand prints
Paint the seashells and stones you collected at the beach
Make magnets from your painted shells and stones
Solar Still experiment to make fresh water from sea water. Instructions for a very simple solar still on youtube.
Stream past expeditions of NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer.
Online EdX course “One Planet, One Ocean”
Online UCLA course, “Blue Planet: Introduction to Oceanography“

Snacks

Bears at the Beach Jello snack
Crackers with blue dyed cream cheese and “floating” goldfish crackers
Sandwiches + fish cookie cutters = fun

Covid-19 and Homeschooling at Home

All our weekly activities are officially cancelled. I’m betting yours are too. Are you now totally filled with dread at the prospect of having to stay cooped up at home separated from your social circle? I am. I need my external structure and regular access to people in order to stay well.

So to calm my nerves, I’m going to dust off a DIY summer camp guide I wrote in 2013 when I ran a totally different blog in Cambridge. We were broke back then too and since summer camp was off the table I wrote up a plan of themed activities, crafts, books and snacks for 10 weeks.

I’m going to share them with you here to help you survive at home while we all get through this period of social distancing. Maybe some structure to your days at home with your kids will help you too. In general this guide was originally written for younger elementary aged kids, but I’ll try to add things for people of all ages.

For each theme, I’ll write a single post and link them here as I write them. Here are the topics:

My original guide included several field trips for every week. I will only include out-of-the-home activities if they take you places where you won’t be in close contact with other people.