Breaking our Routines
Most years, students have spent three months in traditional school routines before the first longer break, Thanksgiving. This break is followed by three additional weeks of school and then we go out on the longer, winter holiday. These breaks don’t usually cause students to truly relax from the established school schedule because, unlike summer, there are usually ongoing assignments and units of study that are waiting to be completed.
This year, everything is a little different. Many students haven’t spent a lot of time “in” school. Students are already engaging in very different school routines and potentially fewer long-term projects and tests. The lack of the routines that are typical of in-person classes forces us to create routines that allow students to stay engaged with their schoolwork. While we know that breaks are crucial to good mental health and most focused work, this year children need to schedule their days with activities, structures, and breaks so that they don’t slip further from the good planning and organization habits that were developed before the pandemic.
In previous years, children could distinguish between school and break schedules and routines. This year the two schedules look closer than we wish and don’t allow students switch between the two mindsets of work and rest or play. Current studies show that students are struggling to be motivated with hybrid learning and are struggling with scheduling and follow through, that once wasn’t a problem. Without the bells, the class schedule, and the passing time in halls, students are no longer practicing discrete, scheduled activities with as much success and they had prior to 2020. While we wait for school to return to normal, this year’s breaks should be scheduled so that children feel some shifts from their “same room-new day” routines.
This year, parents need to help children create their vacation schedule so that they don’t completely move away from their day-to-day routines. We need to make sure that children are scheduling good sleep time, exercise, memory, comprehension, and analysis activities, planning for future activities, and social time. Our children should be time-managing these activities so that they feel that they are in control and have accomplished what they want/ need during their vacation.
Parents should help children set a standard sleep schedule that is relatively similar to their current distant learning sleep schedule. The consistency of sleep will help students be most alert and able to return to their school schedule without issue. We know that the traditional school day actively schedules exercise, develops memory, comprehension, and analysis skills, requires planning and organization skills, and embeds social activities into daily routines. Parents need to help their children recreate these structures during the pandemic. While safely social distancing, we need to help our children build on these skills with deliberately placed activities. Exercise is essential for students, and parents can use family walks to ensure that their children are moving each day. Playing games, helping with holiday cooking, and reading will allow students to use memory, comprehension, and analysis skills. And, seeing family and friends, in person or through zoom, will reduce the feelings of isolation as holiday traditions with loved ones are altered. To help our children keep up with their planning, we should make sure that our children keep their calendar, even during these vacations.
We still need brain breaks and vacation breaks, but this year they are looking different. Like everything else about school, we want to consider the amount of shift that our children are experiencing and make sure that they are still engaging with and structuring activities that excite and challenge them. The required activities are limited to what is safe but should not become structureless days. Our best gift to our children during these breaks is helping them schedule productive, not necessarily academically rigorous, activities, keep a regular sleep routine, and be as independent as possible in creating their plan.
Essig Education Group wishes all those who follow us a happy and healthy holiday season, see you in 2021.