Another week, another 7 days of the same social-distancing, self-quarantine, work-from-home-with-no-social-benefits life.
Meh...
That's about how I'm feeling right now. Sure, I am an introvert who loves working at home, but without the usual backdrop of meeting clients in person, meeting up with friends, and actually leaving my house for a meal life seems pretty, well... dull.
In this mix is the fact that we have been tasked with discovering new ways to do our regular work that has left most of us somewhat unmotivated at best, and absolutely apathetic at worst.
Additionally, as we enter into the home stretch of another school year I can't help feeling like we missed out on even more. From senior year celebrations to kindergarten graduations to sports seasons, all of us have lost the fun we were anticipating in this season.
I am ready to have some fun... aren't you?
While we can't yet gather together, and we can't go back to work as usual, even just a little, we can look for new ways to have some fun while we wait.
Here are a few ideas I've come up to try and to balance working from home with some fun to celebrate the end of the school year:
Create a job Shadow day for your older students, and a bring-your-child-to-a meeting day for the younger ones. Invite them into age-appropriate conversations about how your work has been affected by Covid-19.
Plan and decorate your front door with memories from this past year with your student(s) and invite their close classmates to do the same. Then do a drive-by of each other's houses.
Set up virtual playdates on your Zoom platform for your younger student(s) and their friends. Coordinate some special treats and/or activities for them to do together.
Create a photo book with your student(s) and their closest friends and add snippets of shared memories, funny stories, etc. Share with all families.
Have a work break dance party. Create a time each day when you and your student(s) all stop their work for a quick dance party to your favorites. Bonus: this will annoy confuse your teenagers which is our job anyway....we just can't do it in public right now.
Make your older student(s) lunch in bed (because let's face it, they aren't probably getting up until lunch time) to celebrate a finished project or great grade on a test.
Pick up dinner and take it outside to the backyard/front yard/open nature-based area of your liking
Coordinate with other families in your neighborhood to do a Parade of Graduates complete with decorating bikes/wagons/strollers and golf carts. Have the kids parade between parents (while social-distancing of course).
Work on a special memory project together that commemorates this pandemic season. A frame with a collage of images from what you posted on social media, a piece of wood you painted together and decoupaged images to and add memory words, or even an online story book or album on your favorite social media platform.
Set up a ZOOM call for friends and family to tell your graduate all they would if they were able to get together for that graduation party you were planning. If you cannot ZOOM (it does cost money for longer than 30 min), ask friend and family to send your graduate video messages instead.
Now it's your turn! What are you doing to balance working from home and celebrating your students achievements this month?
Leave a comment below!
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