Ten Things to Do at Home Through a Coronavirus Shutdown

Right now, there are approximately 250 million children in China, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Iran who are homebound for an undetermined time while the coronavirus runs its course.

We hope the current coronavirus (COVID19) does not spread widely through the United States.  But if it does, it is possible that your local school system will shut down for a period until the spread of the disease is under control.  When that happens, parents may find themselves caring for their children at home rather than attending school.

The first thing to realize is that this is not a time to panic or worry that your children will be falling behind.  Kids can learn in many different ways and this is the time to focus on practical application and life skill learning rather than memorizing geography maps or multiplication tables.

This can actually be a time to accelerate your children’s learning and development. Don’t let the time devolve into endless hours of television or video games. Rather, plan out your day with some fun activities that help your children put to use their knowledge and build closer family relationships.
There are some very practical applications from the homeschooling world that can assist parents who are faced with the unexpected task of teaching their children from home for a few days, weeks, or months.

Here are the Top Ten ideas to get you started:

1. Plan your day. Put together a rough schedule and follow it.  This doesn’t mean a schedule that is regulated to the minute with a bell going off telling you to change to a new topic.  Rather set aside time for various activities and follow that routine.  It will help to keep your children from getting bored and you won’t feel that you are a victim reacting to circumstances. Instead you are in control of the circumstances.

2. Read with your kids.  With younger children, read to them. With older children, have them pick a book or story that they read to you.  Our family did this when our children were in the elementary grades.  Everyone had a book and during family time everyone would take turns reading a chapter from their book aloud.  This helped to develop their reading and speaking skills and we often had lively discussion about the story that was being read.

3. Do some craft projects.  Have the children paint pictures, make Lego forts, put together the train set, assemble models, create a doll dress, string together beaded jewelry, or any other crafty, creative projects you can think of.  This helps them with their motor skills and planning skills, and often provides an outlet for creativity.

4. Create a scrapbook. This can be a physical book or a virtual book.  Pull out the old family photos (or download them from your phone).  Let your children organize them into a scrap book or a powerpoint presentation.  Again, this encourages their creativity and development of motor skills or computer skills.  It also is a wonderful time of family fun and fellowship as everyone remembers what was happening at the time of the pictures.

5. Create a movie or video for the grandparents or other relatives.  Let your children decide on their story line for the script.  They can create their costumes.  Then go about filming it.  You might then edit it and add music.  This can occupy them for several days and, once again, it helps them develop creativity and apply many of the skills they have been learning.

6. Play board games or do puzzles. This is a more sedate activity and helps with pattern recognition and teamwork.  Once again, it is a great way to create some family time and relationship building.

7. Create your family tree.  Do genealogical research online and find stories about your ancestors.  Your younger children can draw out the tree while the older children are doing the research.  As you find that Grandfather Robert served in the Navy during WWII, you can look up the history of his ship.  And when you see that Great-Aunt Lucy came to America through Ellis Island in the late 1890s, you can look at emigration at that time and watch YouTube videos of Ellis Island.

8. Binge study a favorite subject. If your child has a favorite subject from school you can set aside time every day to help them do in-depth study.  For example, maybe they like castles. There are some great YouTube videos that talk about old castles, how they were built, and how people lived back then.  This is a time where you let your child decide what topic they want to learn in more depth and then help them to find the material to watch or study.

9. Cook something new. This can also be a time to pull out grandmother’s cookbook and the children and parents working together can make one of her specialty dishes.  Cooking is a good time to bring many of the lessons from school to a practical application.  There is a little bit of science in the chemistry of cooking.  There is math in the mixing of the recipes and measuring out ingredients.  Since it is grandmother’s recipe, we can bring in a bit of history as you talk about the world when grandmother was growing up.  And of course, the best part is you get to eat the results!

10. Do chores! I saved for last one of the best things you can do for passing the time in a productive way and that is chores! Take the time to clean out the toy area, or their room, or vacuum the house, or straighten the garage.  This is work, but it is helpful for the family and builds the idea of planning and working together.

All of these activities and many more can be used to pass the time productively.  But even more important, they give you the opportunity to interact directly with your children, building memories and relationships.  They also give you a chance to help them develop their character and morals as they work together with you and their siblings.

Rather than a season of frustration and boredom, this time at home can become one of the greatest blessings that your family has experienced!

Boredom Is Good For You

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." This quote by Dorothy Parker says a mouthful. And it explains why our society is becoming increasingly uncurious and apathetic. We are never bored. But boredom is good for you. It’s good for your children. Your schedule should allow time, every day, for Strategic Boredom. Why? Read on!

But first, my definition of Strategic Boredom. Strategic Boredom consists in wise parents giving their children times when there is nothing pre-arranged to entertain them, including mindless, pre-fab, technological distractions.

And now for the reasons for Strategic Boredom!

Being bored forces us to think. When we are truly bored, whatever is going on around us doesn’t hold our interest. Our thoughts fly off to other things. This leads to daydreaming, planning, musing, in short – to actually using our brains. When we are fully entertained or distracted and have every minute filled with planned activities, there is little time for in-depth thinking.

Being bored gives us time to hear God. The Bible tells us that we must “be still” to hear God, that His is a “still, small voice.” When we are busy all the time, racing from one activity to another, it is tough to hear God above the cacophony. There’s a reason that Bible study time is also called “quiet time.” We must have time with no distractions to truly hear His voice.

Being bored engenders creativity. Most people hate boredom. Even lazy people still want to be entertained. So boredom causes people to find some entertainment – and this often leads to creativity! If a child has no TV, internet, video games or smartphones to play with, he has to come up with his own entertainment. Thus (after the obligatory whining which you should pleasantly and firmly cut off) he must turn to books, projects, games, something of his own invention to occupy him. Children today (even homeschooled children) very rarely have time for developing creativity because their parents never let them get bored.

Being bored creates initiative. If you allow your child to be bored occasionally instead of constantly entertaining him, he will have to come up with ideas for entertainment all by himself. Of course, a wise parent will have provided items in the house that he can latch onto for entertainment (such a books, raw materials for crafts, sports equipment, etc.). But it is up to the child to decide himself what to do about his boredom. I am often saddened by watching today’s children (even homeschooled children) when confronted with a chance to take initiative. They often simply sit back and wait for someone to tell them what to do – because that’s all they know. They have never had to exert their ingenuity to occupy their time.

Boredom can lead to fun and fascinating hobbies. During the Strategic Boredom times planned in our childhood by our wise parents, my sister and I started digging into the how-to books on the shelf. One time, we pulled out a book on crocheting. Mom had already given us yarn and taught us some basic stitches. But it was during periods of Strategic Boredom that we actually got enthused about crocheting real projects. This led to us attempting more and more complex crocheting projects as we grew older. And finally, it led to us winning “Best of Show” ribbons at one of the largest American county fairs for our crocheting! We can tell similar stories about our other many hobbies and skills (including skills we now use to support ourselves). Most of them were developed during Strategic Boredom times in our childhood.

Boredom prepares you for real life. Is there an adult in the world today who never experiences boredom? I doubt it. Perhaps it’s a routine chore every day that gets boring, or a task at work that becomes tedious. Maybe it’s a dull evening at home, or a long commute to work. Whatever the case, boredom is unavoidable and happens to everyone.

A person who has been prepared in childhood to deal properly with boredom is much safer from temptations that the person who has been constantly entertained faces. He will be less likely to give in to time-wasters like TV and endless video games or damaging activities like online porn or shopping addictions. The children trained by Strategic Boredom will have well-developed character muscles that help them take initiative, think, be creative, try new things… or simply sit still and listen to God’s voice.

But it all starts with Strategic Boredom!

Written by Heather Sheen