How are you going to manage summer holidays?

[Patbutcherismyhero]

I've been working from home and had ds9 home since March. It's been really tough trying to balance home schooling and working full time from home but we had finally got into some sort of a daily routine where he knew he'd be doing school work and I had the time to get on with work knowing he was being mostly productive.

Now school has stopped sending work. Bite size has finished but I still have to work and I'm not sure how to keep him occupied. I will be taking some odd annual leave days so that we can have a few days out and we also have a few days booked away in August. But I'm worried it's just going to be a summer of screen time for him because I'm working. What are you plans for the holidays if you're still working?

Same as normal, going to childcare. Holiday club that's in a nursery

My ds is 9 so probably too old for that but I will look into any local sporting clubs or summer schools available.

No he wouldn't be
Places like that take children primary school age like my child
It's literally wraparound care ie for primary school children
Mine is 6

Nurseries do have wraparound care for school aged children as well
It's either that or childminder or sports activity clubs like you say

If you want to do some educational stuff go on the Oak academy, you can still access all of their lessons. Other than that mine will be playing out if the weather isn't too bad.

Our school aren’t running the holiday clubs mine usually do this year, and other sports camps they’ve done haven’t been confirmed either. So far I have managed to get them booked for 1 x week of outdoor activities....the rest of it will be spent mainly on screens while I work. Such a shame, and not good for them, but no other options.

There are a few last minute sports camps popping up round here. We've signed up for 3 days of cricket next week. 5 kids to a coach, all outside except for using the loo.

I also paying a local Uni student to play with them whilst I work a couple of days a week.

Can he nor have some downtime ?
Me and dp have worked through the lockdown so am glad to have some time at home with dc.
They are glad that school is done , we have a week away booked in the U.K. other than that we plan on lots of chilled days at homeS

Someone on here mentioned an online summer camp for kids. Wonder something I think. Might give him something to do for an hour or so while you get on with work.

Wonderopolis

Thanks some great suggestions. Online summer camp sounds great for the days that I'm working.

I'm happy for him to have downtime but the prospect of days upon days on the iPad or Xbox just feels a bit depressing...even though he would probably be quite happy doing that! If I can book at least one day a week off then we can get out to various places too.

Thanks some great suggestions. Online summer camp sounds great for the days that I'm working.

I'm happy for him to have downtime but the prospect of days upon days on the iPad or Xbox just feels a bit depressing...even though he would probably be quite happy doing that! If I can book at least one day a week off then we can get out to various places too.

Can you work flexibly so you can have a few hours off in the morning or the afternoon a couple of days a week so you can go out for a few hours? If not honestly don’t be too hard on yourself about screen time, nothing is normal this year after all. I m currently working from home and up until DD finished school a couple of weeks ago I was doing about 2 hours a day schoolwork with DS and most of the rest of his day was screen time but i don’t feel bad about it, he doesn’t normally have more than a couple of hours a day as he is usually at school and we are out all weekend, it’s just one of those things.

I managed to find 3 different holiday clubs open in our area so there are definitely a few open. They are all for 4-12 year olds so he's not too old at 9- definitely worth having a look at. Ds will be going to one on most of the days I'm working over summer (I'm part time, we've some annual leave and my parents will have him for a few days.)

Maybe you can invite a friend over for him. Can any family members help you by having him for the day or taking him out somewhere? I understand why you want to reduce his screen time. It's such a hard one . Maybe you could make up for it by going out both days of the weekend and doing something fun x

Holiday club is open here. I can't do my job from home and I'm coming off furlough on August 3rd so I'm using childcare as normal.

You haven't said what you normally do for childcare though

I’m amazed how many holiday clubs are taking place on mn - there’s literally nothing here. All Childminders are full and my dc are 12 and 8yo twins. We have a teenager coming to help out as dh is working from home and I can see he’s at breaking point. He needs to shut the door to the study and not have to parent while working. I’d happily send them to holiday clubs.

I have the same dilemma as the OP. And when people ask what we normally do for childcare, we are usually on holiday for 3 weeks and a couple of weeks sports camps so I don’t mind dc vegging out in the screen for the rest of the time. It’s completely different this year as they have already been vegging out for months whilst I work

Microsoft and Apple are both doing online summer school activities eg coding. At 9 my DS was into painting warhammer figures and complicated Lego kits (both quite expensive but perhaps not compared cost childcare). Anime cartoons and drawing. Good old fashioned book reading if you can get them hooked on a series or author that can easily replace school work. Often you can pick up books second hand from local FB page etc A dvd and a popcorn maker I know it’s still screen time but at least it’s not YouTube or gaming and means you may get uninterrupted work time. Also easy thing to do with friends

I’m taking a weeks unpaid parental leave to help OP - with the money I’d usually spend on holiday clubs and childcare during term time that I’ve saved. Appreciate that might not be possible for everyone though ( and not quite sure what we will do that week anyway!)

We're still in lockdown, haven't been above to book anything for 6yo DD and school broke up on 13th July.

The normal holiday club we would use has advised they're not running this year as haven't been able to plan it and the margins won't be high enough to make it worth it to run 24th July for just 1 month with social distancing, less kids and all the cleaning regimes.

So we will be doing what we've done since end of March and just winging it and working till late every evening to catch up on what we couldn't do during the day.

Usually i would have summer childcare planned weeks in advance. He would be with my parents a couple of days a week but they are both keyworkers and as much as I'm trying to get back to normal, I'm still a bit iffy with him spending lots of time in their house like he usually would. I think he will still do a few walks and things like that with them though. He also goes to his dads as we are separated but his dad seems to have forgot about the holidays this year

I have been less organised this year I admit. Partly because I knew I'd be working from home and so there wasn't that urgency to find alternative childcare to enable me to physically be in work.

I'd also usually book leave (like I will do this year) to give us the chance to get out and do stuff but lots of things are still shut here or not fully operating so will need to plan ahead and rethink a lot of the things we usually do - swimming and libraries for example are still shut here.

After a long term of being in school I'd be a lot less worried about the odd day on screens but it feels like he's been home for so long now that another 6 weeks is going to be tough - especially with no school work being sent. I'll figure something out.

Usually i would have summer childcare planned weeks in advance. He would be with my parents a couple of days a week but they are both keyworkers and as much as I'm trying to get back to normal, I'm still a bit iffy with him spending lots of time in their house like he usually would. I think he will still do a few walks and things like that with them though. He also goes to his dads as we are separated but his dad seems to have forgot about the holidays this year

I have been less organised this year I admit. Partly because I knew I'd be working from home and so there wasn't that urgency to find alternative childcare to enable me to physically be in work.

I'd also usually book leave (like I will do this year) to give us the chance to get out and do stuff but lots of things are still shut here or not fully operating so will need to plan ahead and rethink a lot of the things we usually do - swimming and libraries for example are still shut here.

After a long term of being in school I'd be a lot less worried about the odd day on screens but it feels like he's been home for so long now that another 6 weeks is going to be tough - especially with no school work being sent. I'll figure something out.