Lord of the Flies or Spring Break 2020

Yelling over one another.  

Chaos. 

This could be a description of Lord of the Flies OR what I thought the Rodgers' house was going to be like during Spring Break 2020.

This week is NPC's Spring Break. I don't know about you, but after three weeks of shelter-in-home, online learning during a pandemic, the idea of Spring was a little scary. Krista and I came up with a plan of attack. We are two days in and it seems to be going well. I pray it continues this way, but if I am able : ), I will report back at the end of the week.

I wanted to share the why and what of our planning.

WHY?
Because we want to keep our sanity.
Because we don't think a week of endless video games and movies is healthy.
Because we want to use this difficult time to help build some positive memories even if we don't go on a trip somewhere.
Because there are projects around the house that need to be done.

WHAT?
A plan for the week that doesn't account for every minute.  
A plan that has structure but also is flexible.
A plan that has purpose and fun.

So here is a snapshot of our work.

Monday was Work Day.

• Everybody up and ready by 10:00 a.m. "Ready" meant dressed (actually dressed to go outside, not merely pajamas), breakfast eaten and devotions done.
• From 10:00 am to 2:00 pm we organized our garage and boxes that have been in storage.
• The fun thing for our family is we opened some boxes with stuff we had not seen in close to three years. It was fun to see the kids' reactions to toys, books, and other things. By kids, I also mean Krista and me. Krista found a box of cleaning supplies and decorations. I found some books I have been looking for.
• We had a late lunch
• During the afternoon we had a great time looking at picture books, playing with toys, chasing each other with Star Wars masks, lightsabers, and Nerf guns. O.K. it did look a little like Lord of the Flies at that point.
• Ended the evening by watching an "old" movie The Incredibles while talking about some family memories.

End product. Hopefully, it will stay this way for a little bit.

Not sure if this is an approved protective mask.

Joel and Jadyn going through a box of legos we found.

Tuesday was Grow Day.

• Everybody up ready by 9:00 a.m. "Ready" meant dressed and breakfast eaten.
• Then we had an extended devotional time, about 20 minutes, from Colossians 3:12 - 17. We have been working through verses 12 and 13 before this week. Some great thoughts for our family, and every family, to remember. Here are the questions I asked each of us to answer.  
1. The main idea of verses 12 and 13 is...
2. Verse 14 is about...
3. The main idea of verses 15 and 16 is...
4. Verse 17 is about...
5. The similarity between verses 14 and 17 is...
6. The following lists appear is 12 - 17 (the title of the list and items in the list)
7. Based on these verses I need to...
• After this time we watched an episode of The Chosen, a VidAngel series on the ministry of Jesus. (we've been watching this over the past week)
• Next, we had 40 minutes of reading. The reading had to be a physical book or magazine.
• We ended our Grow time with an unplanned hike on some trails near our house.

The adults on the hike. Resting?

The kids on the hike. Exploring!!

Wednesday (today) is another Work Day, which will focus on yard work and if possible helping one of the neighbors with raking.

Thursday is another Work Day, which will focus on indoor spring cleaning.

Friday is a Free Day, not sure what this means but I know it will not be going to an amusement park, zoo, movie theater. This day will also involve reflecting on Jesus Christ's death and what it means for us.

There are a couple of things that have helped the first two days go pretty well.  

First of all, Krista and I tried not to have unrealistic expectations about what could get done each day. Second, we have been flexible with our plans. There is a lot more I would have liked to have done, but I realized we had spent a big chunk of time doing some excellent stuff, so we did the hike instead of some other activities I planned. Finally, we have taken time to pray with and explain to the kids what we are doing.  

There have been arguments, a little complaining, even taking laps around the block to run off crazy energy - social distancing was practiced. Everyone seems to be having a good time and we have had opportunities to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience (Colossians 3:12) and help each other when this isn't the case.