cintinative Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Background: In the past we would have been in co-op and Trail Life (like Boy scouts). We decided not to do co-op due to COVID. We were going to do Trail Life, but they are not enforcing masking. We see my dad weekly and my mom is very medically fragile, so it looks like Trail Life is out this year. Plus I am not confident that my own family doesn't bear a higher risk since three of us have autoimmune diseases and one has asthma. The kids will continue to do youth group, which will move inside with masking soon. Anyway, I am trying to think of something that my boys can do during this season. All my youngest wants to do is play Minecraft. He seems interested in cooking but doesn't actively pursue it. I had planned to work with both kids on cooking skills next summer. I guess I could move some of that up? My oldest said he might be interested in learning the guitar. Part of my problem is that just running school for them (and reading and learning ahead) has been a lot this year. So I am not terribly motivated to pick anything else up--it really would have to be my husband who runs with it (he could manage the cooking thing). What new hobbies have your kids pursued during this season that have helped them pass the time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 How old are the kids? Do you live in a cold weather area? Cooking subscription box? Kiwi co subscription box Take an online class Get into biking, hiking, camping Building projects. Start little and go bigger. My kids built so much this summer with dh. Rc cars Rocket Coding Take a music class Cooking class Martial arts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Just now, mommyoffive said: How old are the kids? Do you live in a cold weather area? Cooking subscription box? Kiwi co subscription box Take an online class Get into biking, hiking, camping Building projects. Start little and go bigger. My kids built so much this summer with dh. Rc cars Rocket Coding Take a music class Cooking class Martial arts Oh forgot to say, my kids have stayed with their usual hobbit dance and violin But they have had more time to do other things than they would normally. They built a dance studio on our basement with a sprung floor Built A huge chicken coop Raised chickens Lots of mountain biking Lots of dog walking Drawing and painting Tons of lego building Voice lessons They did lots of home improvement projects 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 8 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: How old are the kids? 13 and 15, sorry you can't see my siggy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, cintinative said: 13 and 15, sorry you can't see my siggy! Oh sorry I am on my phone. Do they have pets? I also got them into cooking a meal for the family once a week. We do movie nights a few times a week 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) 3 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: Oh sorry I am on my phone. Do they have pets? I also got them into cooking a meal for the family once a week. We do movie nights a few times a week Yes, we have a dog and a corn snake. I was joking last night that my youngest should teach the dog agility. It's a joke because the odds of the dog cooperating are slim to none. LOL. Edited September 30, 2020 by cintinative 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) Here, kids are 9 and 16. Activities out of the house have paused, so - for fun - since March there’s been a lot of: Digital art - which encompasses a broad range. Learning to use a lot of Adobe creative products (photoshop, etc) in new and better ways. 16 yr old is getting certified on some. Art - not just drawing. We’ve had a lot of time for working with new types of materials and mediums. Many YouTube videos have been utilized. Game design. DS is working on a game, using Unity. He’s composing music, doing the art, and dialogue. This has been quite a learning adventure. Cosplay. Big thing here. Biking, and working out at home. Baking. Learning to cook more complicated meals. Attending Zoom conferences. Normally we physically go to a fair amount to cons, but we’ve been doing them via Zoom. 9 yr old has been learning some coding. This is fueled by the Minecraft love, but whatever works. Lots of crafting. Piano lessons Workshop in the garage has been sorted and cleaned. Rearranged. Used quite a bit. Helped with home projects, gardening, etc. Lego, craft and science kits, and the usual reading, etc. Editing to add that there’s also been a lot of editing of movies on iMovie and composing on GarageBand. For fun. I sort of include those hobbies in Digital Arts, but wanted to point them out as fun jumping off points. Oh! And outdoor survival skill type things. Fire making, and so on. The book BushCraft was useful. Edited September 30, 2020 by Spryte 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 4 minutes ago, cintinative said: Yes, we have a dog and a corn snake. I was joking last night that my youngest should teach the dog agility. It's a joke because the odds of the dog cooperating are slim to none. LOL. We have 2 dogs. Just added a puppy 1 week ago. Our other dog would never have done agility, she is way to lazy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Stuff we've been doing with our teens: - Pursue a second language on duolingo - Learn a new musical instrument (Irish flute, piano, ukulele, guitar) with or without lessons - Build a back yard tennis/volleyball/badminton courts with a net that can be raised to the proper heights for each racquet sport - Rebuild our back deck - Create a rock garden - One of our sons became a Dragon Master and created several D&D one-shot and longer adventures for our family. It was really fun. It was a LOT of work for him, but he really enjoyed it. He's passed on the torch for someone else to try it. We'll see what happens. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 I would start a weekly thing. Once a week child #1 preps and cooks dinner (assign Tuesday). Once a week child #2 preps and cooks dinner (assign Thursday). You or Dad help as needed - of course more is needed in the beginning and then you slack off as they get more familiar. Preparing meals is a good life skill. I might be tempted to give them a budget for their meal as well - monthly budget so they can have some cheaper meals and one more expensive meal. My kids are college age now. One started a couple of online classes that would help her in her future. She always done a lot of art, but she got a new tablet, so she is experimenting with digital art. The other started doing more sewing and more reading. She's always been a reader but as you get busy (full time college student + doing an internship) there is less time to read, so she has had more time to read with less activities being planned outside. I, personally, would tell them they have to pick up a new hobby that wasn't electronic, doesn't require large sums of money or time away from home. Your boys are 13 & 14, so they should be able to figure out something they might enjoy. If they can't come up with anything, then I would get a book or checklist on life skills, and start them on working on learning those. But I'm mean like that. If you can't figure anything productive out yourself, I will find something for you to do. Much better for you to figure it out than me. Much much better for you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Can you replicate scouts as a family? Hike, camp, backpack, wilderness skills.... Anything to get them out of the house and moving. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) Check out Keepers of the Faith. They have a boys and girls version. Like Scouts except you can do whatever badgework you want, and then buy the badges you choose to earn. Lots of topics, just like the Scouts or Trail Life. Work on single sports, learning tennis or other non-team sports, learn wood carving, wood burning, or wood working like building some bookshelves or other items. Could your husband do car care or put together a small engine course- like fixing mowers and such? Does your husband have any skills to share with them? Astronomy or aerospace they could learn together? Seems like Nan in Mass had a great list years ago, but I can't seem to find the thread. Edited September 30, 2020 by Tina 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Oldest has gotten serious about dog training not agility but teaching tricks and stuff. She is also helping fix up our suburban and an old sail boat. Middle: is into cosplay especially fur suiting and spends tons of time making costumes. Together we do biking, archery and target shooting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennay Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 What about working on Trail Life badges at home? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, regentrude said: Can you replicate scouts as a family? Hike, camp, backpack, wilderness skills.... Anything to get them out of the house and moving. Yes! Or Can they be lone scouts for the year and just do the outdoor things with the troop? Most scouting organizations are making some provision for this type of arrangement this year. If they like TL, it's worth asking the leadership about. Edited September 30, 2020 by ScoutTN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 16 hours ago, Jennay said: What about working on Trail Life badges at home? I will have to ask my husband. I don't know if you have to be officially enrolled in a troop to do this or not. My husband has been trained as a leader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 15 hours ago, ScoutTN said: Yes! Or Can they be lone scouts for the year and just do the outdoor things with the troop? Most scouting organizations are making some provision for this type of arrangement this year. If they like TL, it's worth asking the leadership about. My youngest doesn't like TL and wants to quit (but I was hesitant because he needs social interaction). My husband doesn't want to pursue it if they can't go to the meetings, because not going to the meetings means that the kids can't participate in the leadership stuff like planning the campouts, etc. If that is the case, he (my husband) would rather just do outdoors stuff with them as a family. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 23 hours ago, cintinative said: Background: In the past we would have been in co-op and Trail Life (like Boy scouts). We decided not to do co-op due to COVID. We were going to do Trail Life, but they are not enforcing masking. We see my dad weekly and my mom is very medically fragile, so it looks like Trail Life is out this year. Plus I am not confident that my own family doesn't bear a higher risk since three of us have autoimmune diseases and one has asthma. The kids will continue to do youth group, which will move inside with masking soon. Anyway, I am trying to think of something that my boys can do during this season. All my youngest wants to do is play Minecraft. He seems interested in cooking but doesn't actively pursue it. I had planned to work with both kids on cooking skills next summer. I guess I could move some of that up? My oldest said he might be interested in learning the guitar. Part of my problem is that just running school for them (and reading and learning ahead) has been a lot this year. So I am not terribly motivated to pick anything else up--it really would have to be my husband who runs with it (he could manage the cooking thing). What new hobbies have your kids pursued during this season that have helped them pass the time? I’ve been playing with a lot of power tools lately and my pocket jig is my new best friend. Can your kids learn to build bookcases? Everyone needs more bookcases! I’ve learned a LOT from Ana White videos. I’ve done these utility shelves a couple times now and they’re cheap, easy, and FAST. I would advise you to watch her earlier videos first because her more recent stuff can be intimidating to beginners. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.