DeLappenings: Distancing Day 2: Doodle Time

Well, m’peeps.

Our school closure has been extended another two weeks, so we’re officially looking at a longer, three-week haul before there’s even the possibility of re-opening.

Not really unexpected, but definitely feels like heavy news.

Our teachers are assembling lesson plans to be distributed in packet form or online, and it sounds like that will be required work come Monday.

So...we’ll definitely be making adjustments as that happens, but in the meantime, we’ll be following our same, loose structure that we’ve kind of established—with the allowance of one change-up each day.

There are so many online resources and activities becoming available for those who are sequestered at home with school age children. And though it’s amazing to know that so much is out there, I’ll admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed by the plethora! And also, to feeling a bit guilty if I’m not taking advantage of it. :(

But the reality is, you just can’t commit to so many extraneous bits of entertainment—especially when you have school work (and sanity!) to maintain. So I’ve decided in order to keep the stress low and the entertainment high, I’m just going to select one new thing each day (if possible), to test out.

And today’s selection was a winner, and probably something that we will continue daily:

Doodle Time.

With the author of a popular children’s book.

Basically, it’s a 20-30 minute video posted to YouTube (more helpful to us than live events of any kind through social media that we aren’t on, ha). Between stops and starts and pauses for, well, doodling, it took us about 45 minutes, and the kiddos were pretty pumped.

It took us awhile to figure out the structure of the video, and it might change a bit, as this was the first one, and it actually aired yesterday.

But it allowed for some free doodle time, some small bits of fan questions/answers, and then the best part, which was the actual instructions for replicating one of the doodle characters.

I really enjoy the vibe of this author. He’s nice and calm and mellow, and obviously, very creative. And he’s placing a nice emphasis on being in this strange at-home time together, and is conversing well on a children’s level.

So...yay, for finding something that could be a regular event. :)