Half term plans

It’s half term and I’d be lying if I said I was overjoyed at the prospect of having a full week of 24/7 Jude. However, following a great parents evening meeting with his teacher, I have a new tactic to employ in order to retain my sanity, get out and about with the children and (fingers crossed) actually have some fun.

 

Jude has a substitute teacher on a permanent basis at the moment because his actual teacher is sadly off sick and has been all term (at the back of my mind, an evil demon is telling me this is potentially a consequence of teaching Jude for so long.)

Anyhoo, something he told me that they always do with Jude during class time may work really well at home and particularly during long vacuous stretches of time, such as half term holidays. Basically, they have a “now and next” card on the wall so Jude can see what they are currently doing and what will happen once that particular activity is complete.

 

In addition to this, Jude’s teacher (really lovely guy by the way who Jude always talks very fondly of) said that we could perhaps break up the day into lots of thirty minute bursts. Think “About a Boy.”  By breaking up a whole day, which for Jude is too long a time to process in his brain, Jude may feel less anxiety and it could help him understand and appreciate the context of time. It will also feel less stressful for me and I won’t make panic decisions as to what we can do of a day.

 

So I’m going to make something like this for Jude:

 

 

 

And at the same time, for my own reference I’ll have a breakdown of the days activities. So here is Monday:

 

9am: Supermarket

10am: Outdoor play area near us (sensory garden, play area, adventure playground, etc.)

11am: Head home so Emmeline can have a nap in the car

12am: Lunch

12.30pm: Do some reading and writing practice

1pm: jigsaw puzzle time

1.30pm: Walk into town to buy Elsa a new jacket and maybe go for a coffee shop treat

3pm: Walk home and start dinner

4pm: Watch tv

4.45pm: Dinner time

5.30: Baths for Jude and Emmeline

6.30pm Emmeline to bed

7pm: Jude starts his chill out time in bed.

 

Now this is certainly not finalised and I may alter a few of the things this evening but each night I’m going to set up a routine like this that we can all follow!

 

Do you plan this precisely at home? I’ve never done so but hope it will ease upset all round.

 

A x

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