Week four of homeschooling. If you had told me back on March 16th that I would be homeschooling my kids for at least four weeks (now more), I would not have believed you and may have packed up and left the house. As I have shared in a few episodes of Tell Me This, I am very Type A, I like schedules, to do lists, and plans. You can imagine how that has been working for me during this unprecedented pandemic. The night before homeschooling began, I did what I always used to do before my first day of school; I gathered up my "school" supplies, made a list of things to do, and had my schedule all mapped up (think walking through the high school and noting where all of your classes would be held). The next morning, I wrote up the schedule on a whiteboard I had moved to what our oldest son now loving refers to as our "one room schoolhouse" and wrote out the schedule. I had every minute planed out. We would be in school from 9-2:30pm every day doing math, reading, science, art, recess, and numerous other activities. Well by 9:30, my twins were rolling on the floor and my oldest was ready to move on to something else - I sent them to their room for a time out. The time out was really for me.
Each week, I think I have learned as much (probably more) than my kids. By week three, I was getting up early to do my work, get myself ready, and set the schedule. My four-year old daughter also started getting up a littler earlier and she enjoyed helping me set the schedule for the day. We would head into our school "house" and figure out the daily activities. Well, by week three day three, as I was writing up the schedule and arrived at our ten to ten-thirty block, I was out of ideas. So, what did I do? Well, I needed to include something here - I just could not leave it blank so I wrote three question marks. I had no idea how those question marks would change my perspective on the homeschooling process.
After I wrote those question marks, my daughter exclaimed, "mystery!" I immediately responded, "YES, it is a mystery block and you can your brothers can to choose an activity today." While Sara was responding to the familiar questions marks that she is used to seeing on her favorite lollipop - the dum-dum lollipop actually do have a question mark and they are known as "mystery" flavor.
That amazing exchange with my daughter helped me to realize so much about homeschooling and managing these unprecedented times. I do not need to schedule every second of every day for our kids. Kids thrive when given a voice, a choice, and flexibility in their schedules and days. Now, I look forward to scheduling our days as our kids offer up ideas, volunteer to lead activities, remind me of routines they had at school that we could incorporate, provide feedback on things they liked (and did not like) and it just makes the day a little more manageable.
Please understand me, this does NOT mean that every day is blissful - far from it. Today is a good example. The morning started out really well but then, for no reason I could pinpoint, things just fell apart. These mystery blocks do not alleviate the stress and worry of this pandemic, provide relief from a house full of kiddos, or provide any additional skills that make me a better teacher. What these blocks do, though, is remind me to take a breath, take a moment, slow down, and focus on what is important AND let the kids help! I need to trust my kids with some of their learning. It is good for me and so good for them to take ownership of their learning plan.
So, as everyone continues to manage homeschooling, work schedules, meeting agendas, and lots of other roles and responsibilities, think about adding a mystery block. It might just be what you and your friends, colleagues, kids, and you need to manage another day with COVID-19.