ideas for those of us thrown into homeschooling?

[esperanza]

I'm sure there are other moms on the board who are suddenly homeschooling after having their kids in public/private schools. Friday was our last day, which was completely unexpected. At this point our schools are closed indefinitely. We are getting some enrichment materials sent in the mail, which I know will be too easy for ds (they were made by the district, same thing for every kid at the grade level). At this point our district is not providing online instruction yet for a variety of reasons. We do have quite a few online resources. I taught first grade for many years, so I feel totally equipped in the actual curriculum part.

What I am looking for, however, are ideas on how you structure your day. Pretty much everything is closed. We aren't going out other than to go for a walk/play outside, so we can't do any field trips. That leaves a lot of time inside. Also no play dates, so it's just the two of us all day. Ds really likes reading and will do that on his own with no problems. He also likes math and will work on that too. I'm mostly struggling with the amount of screen time. There are a lot of good things on the internet- he has Epic with school (online books), Lexia (an English literacy program), and I'm going to look into Khan Academy tonight for some more math work. I don't want him doing everything online though, partly because of the amount of screen time and partly because writing is something he generally avoids/can be harder for him, so I want him keeping up those muscles. But at the same time, he'll get pretty into some of the activities and will work on it for a long time (so he's learning/working, but on the screen).

We've been doing a list of work that he needs to do, but he can sometimes get through it pretty fast. I totally understand that we don't need to spend all day on school work, but he also needs some structure, especially since we can't go outside. He does play on his own some, and of course I just leave him to do that when he's into something. I'm also piecing things together since we were really thrown into this. I'm super fortunate that I have some appropriate math books and reading materials here, which I know a lot of families don't have. But it's not like we have a curriculum we've been using all year that I can just have him continue with.

So... how do you organize the work your kids are supposed to do? And how do you balance work on paper vs work on screens? He also likes to have some time to play some game on my phone, which is not educational. I'd been letting him have some time to do that after lunch, which I don't totally mind because it's a nice break for both of us, but it is also more screen time. The reality is setting in that we could be in this for the long haul, and I need to get a good routine and structure for us now as we're beginning that we can sustain possibly through the beginning of June. I'd also love to hear from some other moms who are in a similar last minute, scrambling home school situation. (I also recognize I'm super fortunate that I can be home with him and don't need to also do my own job while homeschooling ds!!)