Do you homeschool?
The internet is filled with homeschool memes, lists of online resources and accolades for teachers as parents everywhere are bracing for what it might mean to have our children home not just for these next two weeks, but possibly for the remainder of the school year. Let me be the first to tell you - I am no teacher. Now, I easily teach what I know. I share wisdom and I coach, but teacher to a 1st and 5th grader? No way. The idea of homeschooling my children is equal parts terrifying and denial that this may be in my future.
Last week was Spring Break for us and we stayed home. We played, slept in and watched movies. We celebrated our sweet girl’s 7th birthday at home. Now I’m facing the next two weeks and it’s sinking in a bit that we will all go crazy if we spend the next two weeks repeating the last.
Another thing about me that you may have picked up about me is that I don’t shy away from a challenge. So, today, I feel like I’m taking a deep breath, pulling on my big girl pants and thinking about what the next few weeks should look like. I like to approach any new challenge by setting some intentions and creating realistic and stretch goals. Now, here’s the thing. My kids are already missing school and ready to go back. Even my 5th grade boy who HATES school asked today when he “gets” to go back. They want to see their friends. My daughter doesn’t really understand why no one could come to her birthday party. Now their mom is their teacher, too?! Stop it right now.
My goal is to keep my kids learning some new things and to keep them from falling behind like they do every summer. Also, my son hates math and they are both really strong readers so I’m going to use their strengths and accommodate their weaknesses for a low stress approach. This new life of ours is presenting us all with some new challenges and I, for one, plan to incorporate some fun ways to learn some new things and practice things they already know mostly as a way to give them something to do other than play video games for days on end. If they could take some imaginary test to pass 1st and 5th grade by the end of May and pass - bonus. Newsflash - no one is expecting that!
So, I have a basic plan of attack that will leave lots of room for flexibility and keep their brains from turning to mush from too much Roblox, Minecraft of Apex. We will create a basic schedule for our day, but I will put the control in my kids hands. Much like I do during the summer, I will give them each some basic things to accomplish each day before they earn screen time. They can take as long as they need to or zip through their list, but they get to choose, to a certain extent, how long it takes them to complete their “work”.
In addition to some self led activities like reading and writing, I will be more hands on with some other activities. I’m also going to read when they are reading. I will create a “field trip” each week, which toward the end may only be to the back yard, but we will get outside every day, create some art and learn some new things. Also, they will have some fun and get a chance to just relax and play in what is a really weird time.
My ideas thus far:
Reading - an hour every day - we will also read a new book together as a group
Writing - 15 minutes - they will write in a journal every morning and I’ll give them a new prompt every day
Math - Honestly, we may do flash cards or play math games online - Lord help me with this one, but I don’t see math worksheets in our future.
Science - we may incorporate a science experiment or YouTube videos or documentaries
Social Studies - same approach as science
Gym/PE - 30 min to 1 hour - walk the dogs, soccer drills, hockey drills, dance party, or yoga with mom
Art - create something pretty every day (draw, color, paint, sidewalk chalk, sew with mom, paint a bathroom, etc.
Music - research possible band instruments, listen to new genres, music trivia
Weekly Field Trip - week one - Trip to take pictures in the bluebonnets. Next few weeks, these maybe field trips to the back yard or virtual field trips to museums or different countries
Ask me on Friday how it’s going, but our theme for week one is SPRING. I’ll try to choose a different theme each week to help springboard ideas for each of these subjects. Again, my goal is mostly to entertain them and keep them using their brains. I am not trying to be a fill in teacher for these trained professionals. I have some lofty goals for myself, but full on homeschooling my kids is not one of them. How about you?