With Spring Break officially ended this week there are many South Cariboo parents like Kimberly Vance-Lundsbye who are going to have to find fun and educational activities for their children to do during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we are all keenly aware of by now, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change daily life across the world and cause the shutdown of businesses, public spaces and institutions. Important for families has been the cancellation or indefinite postponement of the scholastic year for millions, if not billions, of children across the globe.
Few know the importance of promoting education within young minds as more than Vance-Lundsbye a mother of three and the immigrant settlement services and language coordinator for the Cariboo Chilcotin Partners For Literacy Society in 100 Mile House. One of her duties there is running educational programs and events such as a Facebook-based book club which she ran earlier this year that 30 families took part in.
“What I’m doing now is I’ve been really active on social media, in local moms’ groups and our Facebook page Cariboo Chilcotin Partners For Literacy, giving ideas for families every day of ways to balance screen and offscreen activities that you can do in the day that are educational and fun,” Vance-Lundsbye said.
For those who are homeschooling their children or preparing to, Vance-Lundsbye said it’s important to remember that SD27 is beginning to connect with families and students to plan ways for them to support at-home learning. In that respect, she says it’s important to relax as no parents will have to figure out how to teach their child every subject.
That being said, Vance-Lundsbye said that learning should be fun and that if your child is resistant to learning it will be up to parents to change their approach to suit their children. Unlike school, you don’t have to force your children to stay still and can allow them to get up and move around as they need to. For elementary-aged students a few hours a day of focused learning is all that’s really needed, she added.
“You can teach anything you would ever learn in school in your home in a fun way that is interactive. It doesn’t always have to be worksheets and working at a table,” Vance-Lundsbye said.
One of the challenges she’s personally facing as a parent is also having to take care of non-school age children at the same time who are usually at programs of their own. Vance-Lundsbye has found it’s helpful to build a framework to her day that helps her make sure her children have regular downtime, snack time and activity time. The idea is not so much to have a rigid schedule but more to ensure her children don’t spend their entire day watching Netflix.
She feels that she and many other parents, in part because it was Spring Break and in part because they were upset by COVID-19, let their children have too much screen time in recent days. However, as it’s clear now that this crisis is likely to continue for longer then we’d all like, it’s important to build some structure around your day and ensure the things that are important to both your family and child’s education are taking place.
“A stressed teacher is not going to be able to teach a stressed child so if families are feeling stressed, that is something that needs to be worked on first before they try to teach their child academics,” Vance-Lundsbye said.
She plans to post ways for parents to destress themselves on the CCPL’s social media in the coming days as well as ideas for activities for children. While she encourages families to look at and use online options for activities, she still thinks that most of your day should be spent offline doing regular in the home activities.
These include arts and crafts, board games, reading, playing with their toys, getting physical activity out in the yard and cooking together to name but a few. If you find your children are having difficulties focusing, Vance-Lundsbye advises people to try putting on some music that matches the tone you’re trying to set for the day.
Making use of the concept of “invitation to play” can also be useful Vance-Lundsbye said. Basically, this is when a parent will arrange toys or items in a place where children will stumble upon them in a way that encourages them to start playing with them organically.
Vance-Lundsbye also advises parents to reach out to one another during these times and remain socially connected. If you need help it’s important to ask for help from others as social distancing doesn’t mean we don’t stop supporting one another. Forming and maintaining friendships will be important, Vance-Lundsbye said, when all of this is over. One online group that would be good to join is the 100 Mile Mom’s Facebook group.
“I think this situation is very difficult for families, I know it’s a major learning curve for me, I struggle with just adapting to this way of life. At the same time, it is a real opportunity to grow as a family and to really have some say in what you think is important that your child learns.”
