Being a self-confessed Autumn obsessive, I love October half-term! The kids are settled nicely into their new school year, we are surrounded by such beautiful colours in nature and Christmas is just a short sleigh ride away! Halloween is a fab excuse to have some fun and given the weather, the holiday is an amazing time of year to get outside and explore.
However, if like me, you have to spend some time working in your Virtual Assistant business, it can be a juggling act to keep everything going.
I have detailed below 5 easy ways you can keep the kids busy whilst you work this October half term!
Encourage them to finish their homework early on!
My eldest daughter has just started high school and I must admit that she has done an amazing job so far of balancing the demands of homework with her 10 hours of dance training per week.
It is human nature to leave things to the last minute, but for our best chance of peace and harmony, I am encouraging her to get it done as soon as it is assigned!
So the rainy Monday morning of half term will consist of work for me, homework for her, and Maths practice for my seven-year-old using a fantastic free maths games website called calculators.org.
We had parents’ evening a couple of weeks ago and they asked for her to practice her 2, 5, and 10 times tables. I found the perfect game here, which enables her to independently practice and test her knowledge in a fun way!
Online games
The same games website also has a massive selection of board games available, perfect for when you aren’t available to play with your child but you don’t just want them slumped watching TV!
My youngest daughter absolutely loves playing Connect 4, and has been known in the past to play against herself! Fortunately, with this website she is able to play against the computer and she is delighted to be able to hone her skills to unleash them on us later in person!!
Non-messy craft
I am one of THE most anti-glitter people you will meet, so don’t worry – I am not going to suggest your child takes full, unsupervised reign of the craft box!!
No, I am talking about activity books, drawing, colouring, Hama/Aqua beading, clay modelling, play-doh, or even knitting/crocheting/cross-stitching if they are old enough.
But…..give it a Halloween twist, then take your goal-setting skills and set them tasks! For example, can you colour me in three pages of your colouring book, make me two Halloween bead/doh characters etc. I find that works better for mine than just, ‘go and do some colouring!’
Halloween films
Obviously, this is a fun thing to do as a whole family, BUT, if there’s a film you’re not keen on then allow the kids to crack on without you and make the most of two hours of work time.
Why not make it even more exciting for them by helping them make some Halloween-themed snacks ready for the film?
There are some fantastic ideas here!
Make up a Halloween dance routine or performance
As a child, I loved working with my younger sister to come up with ‘shows’ to put on for my parents and grandparents. We would work for hours on it, invite everyone officially, dress up and go for it!
I am sure a lot of you will have Halloween parties to go to, so why not put them on a Halloween playlist and let their imaginations go wild! They could even put on their fancy dress costume/s to really get in the mood!!
Whatever happens, don’t sweat the small stuff!
Holidays are always going to be a fairly stressful time to manage when you are self employed and don’t have annual leave that you can throw at school holidays and childcare.
However, with some small adjustments to your routine, and acceptance that things won’t be perfect no matter how much you plan, October half-term can be full of fabulous fun and that much-needed break before the craziness of Christmas build-up starts!