Stay at Home Stories
Stories compiled by IHSD parent Nora Melendez.
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Nora Melendez, IHSD parent
The recent shelter in place order took all of us by surprise.
Our normal routines were suddenly interrupted and my husband and I were forced to scramble to figure out how to deal with the school shutdowns, deal with anxiety of the coronavirus and making sure our family was safe, as well as getting to the store to buy whatever we needed to weather the situation. Not to mention the financial stress of not being able to work. My kids are really young (ages 5, 4 and 3) so they haven’t asked too many questions. The oldest understands that we can’t go outside as much because of a nasty bug that we need to protect ourselves from.
Our new routine includes lots of drawing, educational videos of insects and how-to art videos for Archy. And now that we have a lot of time at home, potty training for our youngest.
We need to remember that the children will only be this little for a short while longer.
After three weeks of confinement, our family is reaching a new normal. I have relaxed some of my more strict rules like bedtime and the amount of sweets the kids are allowed. But overall, the adults in the room, have tried to keep a stable home environment. Just today, we enjoyed a walk as a family. The school has been great at sending out resources that will help us with food, mental health, legal help for renters, and of course; activity ideas for the kids.
Rather than lament our inability to do a lot of the activities we were able to do in the past, we are trying to enjoy this downtime. We need to remember that the children will only be this little for a short while longer. Enjoying them now has become a priority.
Angel Barrios, IHSD Executive/Program Director
Just know that I have been thinking of all of you and wishing you good health and happiness.
Hello IHSD families. I hope this message finds you and your family doing well. It is
definitely a challenging time for all of us but I am grateful to work with an incredible team of dedicated staff. We really miss you and the smiling faces of your children. This week, I have finally got into a good routine with my son’s home-schooling. We wake up early in the morning as if we are getting ready for school. Then, we set him up for his studies. Then, I log on and begin my work with IHSD. Just know that I have been thinking of all of you and wishing you good health and happiness. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Jasmine Cuevas, IHSD parent
My name is Jasmine Cuevas. These past few weeks have been really tough on me as a single mother of 4 kids. I have a 7-year-old, 5, 2, and 1 year old. Trying to keep the kids busy according to their ages is challenging. My 7-year-old has online classes and I have to guide her through it every day. We take about 4hrs doing homework. My others just practice their name and numbers and do a lot of coloring. After all is done, we go outside and play or have “P.E” as my daughter likes to call it.
Most activities that we do is all counting and spelling and sometimes we have a “dance class.” We can be in the kitchen cooking, and I ask the kids to bring me 4 eggs and they count together, and then I’ll ask my older daughter how to spell “egg”. Just small simple activities help us a lot. It’s very stressful being at home all day but having a schedule helps a lot. They wake up at 6:30 am watch 30mins TV, and then we start our day. The best part is that they are in bed by 7 pm. I get time to myself after that, and I catch up on my school work. Working is impossible right now, because there are no childcare centers open. There are many resources out there that the teachers have been giving us and for that I’m thankful. I know that if we all work together to keep staying home and healthy all this will be over soon. I really hope I get to see everyone soon!
Samuel Giron, IHSD parent
It has affected us by turning our daily schedule a whole 360 from being in class to homeschooling. They were sent home with a laptop and tablet to do classwork, and I have ABC Mouse for them. It’s hard on us, because the kids want to do things and go places. I’m just happy we’re all in good health.
Jennifer Haro, IHSD parent
Shelter in place has affected my family financially. Both my husband and I work in buildings with other people meaning we are high-risk in getting infected. We were able to work until about two weeks ago, and now are working from home. We like many other people rely on paychecks every month especially in this area. Thankfully, in our community, we received help with groceries and our families. Our son’s afternoon class has been checking in with video conferencing. Either myself or my sister will sign in with him and do circle time, singalongs, and a reading activity.
He misses his teachers and classmates very much.
My son also receives speech therapy, and we get homework. We have been going over numbers, colors, and even reading with his sister too. We also go on walks, play in the backyard, or even play with their blocks at home. The stress of staying home is not easy! I am constantly cleaning, cooking, keeping them busy. On top of that, I am still working five hours a day and Chris is too. What has helped us is tag-teaming through the day. Both kids get very bored and upset when we can not give them attention, but thankfully my family helps me with playing with them or taking them on walks, when we are both stuck working. We are all taking it day-by-day, especially the kids. My son still gets up and grabs his backpack and wants to go to school because that was his routine. He misses his teachers and classmates very much.
Moana Lupe, IHSD Family Engagement Manager
My name is Moana (means Ocean) Lupe (means Dove in Samoan). I have 4 children plus many tribe children (teens and young adults). I am a staff of IHSD.
I am so grateful and more appreciative of the people, places, and things I have in my life.
I am just now starting to adjust to being interrupted throughout the day because of being at home with everyone. My family now has access to me at all hours of the day. In the beginning of our quarantine, it was driving me and them bananas. LOL! I do love that we see and hear each other more. We had planned family time before, and now we have intentionally scheduled family time. Meaning we’ve created a structured time for things we do together so we can enjoy being in each other’s company more.
I now don’t see our time at home as stressful after having a structured schedule for us to do what we need to do. Our food supply is another situation that needs to be on a schedule. I am so grateful and more appreciative of the people, places, and things I have in my life. Be safe and keep your head up, reach out when you need help and reach out to help someone else.
Click here for Part 2 of Stay-at-Home Stories from IHSD Community.