Dear Parents,

You are now each the captain of your own ship. It is up to you to set the tide.

Let us all try to stay on top of our ships and make this the most memorable time for our children (get the camera ready). Let us give over a message to them that staying home with them, our most precious possessions, is a positive thing you are looking forward to. Only speak and think positive your children will pick up on your true feelings. Give them the message that Hashem is running the world and this is the best thing for us right now. He loves us and he is constantly with us.

Having said that, how can we make this time most productive and enjoyable? By making a schedule with a mixture of preferred and non-preferred items we can all keep goingJ To help you with this I have attached various schedules, activities and reward systems you can use. Pick the one that suits your family best and customize them accordingly.

Below is a brief description of each sheet. You can contact me with any questions at [email protected]

Much Hatzlacha

Schedule

Everyone craves routine and that is what we will all be missing with no school. Now you need to create it yourself. There are various looking schedules attached. Some have a Column to check it off when you are done and some have a point system attached. Choose the one that you like and fill it out each day. You can hang it on the fridge or in any accessible place. One schedule includes times however; I prefer not to lock myself into a timeframe. If the going is good let them keep at the activity once the activity wears off you will want to switch and not wait for a designated time. Some families may need multiple schedules for different age kids. Keep the main things like lunch/supper the same across the board. Each schedule will have the first row filled in as an example.

Activities

Attached is a list of ideas you can put on your daily schedule. There are also activities written in boxes for you to cut out and place on your schedule each day. These pieces make it easy to manipulate the schedule and use the same materials each day. Obviously not all items on the list will apply to all children in your family. Be creative and come up with your own ideas. When setting up the schedule it is best to mix preferred activities with non-preferred activities. If your child loves to do projects or play a specific game put it on the schedule after school work or pesach cleaning. This will give them something to look forward to after they are done with the activity they don’t like to do. Try to plan the schedule the night before so you’re ready in the morning.

Charts/Point System

Just like most classrooms run with a point system of some sort you may want to implement one in your house for the coming weeks. This will really vary from family to family but attached are some ideas and you can always adjust them to suit your needs and availability. Some kids will need the rewards to be edibles and have them immediately. Older children can earn points and tokens to be redeemed at the end of the day or week. Generally the older and more mature the child is the longer they can wait for the prize or privilege.

Activites Activity Cards Chart 1 Chart 2 chart 3 Chart 4 SCHEDULE 1 SCHEDULE 2 SCHEDULE 3

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