Maintaining a Schedule During Stay-at-Home

I’ve read comments recently about the importance of maintaining a schedule while we remain in our homes during the Coronavirus pandemic. Here’s how my schedule has evolved. I’m a morning person so I tend to get up between five a.m. and six a.m. anyway. I have my bowl of cereal and orange juice while checking the news, and them I’m ready for activities of the day. First, I do a number of exercises. This routine has resulted from past hip and knee replacement surgeries, as well as needing some light weight work to keep my arms in shape. Then I ride the stationary bike for twenty minutes.

Since my wife and I take care of our four-year-old grandson during the work week, the rest of my day is focused on activities with him. He arrives between 8:30 and 9:30, so my day is filled with building blocks, cars and trucks, art projects, games, stories and indoor adventures. Recently added is three Zoom calls a week with his preschool teacher for online interaction. We also periodically do Zoom calls with his cousins and friends.

During the first month of staying at home, I also carved out time to write my story, Coronavirus Daze, which I reported on in my last post. I wrote this in near real time, a fourteen day journal of a middle school boy during the pandemic. I completed this writing project, got it edited and self-published it as an e-book all within a month.

After our grandson is picked up in the late afternoon, I shower, fix dinner and then we watch movies on television for a while before I crash between 9 pm and 10 pm.

Weekends are my down time. I take an hour walk both days, catch up on reading, and even enjoy a little nap time.

I know many people are suffering from boredom, but I’ve been fortunate to have been kept very busy with this schedule. What has been your experience during the pandemic?

Coronavirus Daze story available free on Amazon Kindle

I’ve published an uplifting and humorous story about a boy keeping a journal during the Coronavirus outbreak titled, Coronavirus Daze.

Tad, a middle school student in Southern California, must deal with the boredom of being stuck at home with his parents during the Coronavirus pandemic and has a life transforming experience when he makes an unexpected discovery. Readers may shed a tear and will certainly have some chuckles as Tad recounts his adventures in a time of chaos and uncertainty.

You can get it on Amazon Kindle https://amzn.to/2KgFIA3 free beginning Monday April 20, 2020, through Friday April 24 or email me (mikebef@aol.com) and I’ll send you a free copy. If you enjoy this story pass it along to your family and friends.

 

Writing During Coronavirus Times

Many people are complaining about boredom and/or stress during this Coronavirus stay-at-home time. As I’ve posted recently, much of my time has been spent with our four-year-old grandson who has kept me occupied during the workweek.

Over the last few weeks, I have also squeezed in a writing project: a story about a middle school boy who keeps a journal for a school assignment. Stay tuned, as I will let you know when this is available.

Coronavirus Days with a Four-Year-Old

My wife and I take care of our four-year-old grandson during the week while his parents work. This week we’ve had needed rain, but that meant we stayed inside all the time. With that in mind, we’ve been inventing and playing a number of games. Here are a few:

We gave him an empty soap container that is shaped like a fish. He named it RoboFish and then decided that RoboFish needed to move things from his bedroom to the living room. I’d tell him to have RoboFish get a toy, such as a red car, and to go in turbo mode. Then he’d run into the bedroom with RoboFish to retrieve the requested item. He kept this up for half an hour and got a good workout.

We also played balloon volleyball. Sometimes we see how many consecutive times we can hit it in the air before it hits the ground, but this week he wanted to count to a hundred times with the balloon hitting the ground. He was more interested in letting the balloon hit the ground so he could say the next number than in keeping it in the air.

He also put on a birthday party for his police car, and invited other cars to attend. With a cake made out of blocks, he served the pieces of cake and we sang happy birthday.

These were just a few of the activities at Grandma and Grandpa pre-school this week.

Coronavirus Days Continued

In the last two week, I’ve only gone outside to go to the food store and pharmacy and to take walks on the weekend. I look at the food in the refrigerator and calculate how long I can put off going to the store again. There is some risk with each trip, so I want to make as few trips as possible.

Our four-year-old grandson has been a real trooper. He’s with us every weekday, and now he can’t go to preschool to be with his friends. We have done several Zoom calls with his cousins and neighborhood friends to give him a chance to speak with other kids. We have a small sand box in our back patio that he plays in some days, but other than that he’s inside with us. We have a white board easel and erasable markers which he has enjoyed drawing with. Even more than the drawing, he enjoys erasing. This has kept him occupied for hours the last few days. We’ve come up with some new games, treasure hunts and board games. So far so good.

Stay healthy.