Homeschooling
- natalyarogers
- Jun 23, 2020
- 4 min read
The word itself is daunting to me, but with our situation right now. I wanted to start creating a more structured schedule for the kids. I never thought I could do it, but to be honest its helping me as much as its helping them.
I had to set up our garage to create a temporary classroom. (Also so the house will rid of loud toddlers and Steve can have his morning meetings in peace and Gieo can concentrate on his online class).
Each morning they watch a little TV while I wake up and make breakfast. Then I walk with all 3 kids up and down our street. We play games while on our walk, we also check out spider webs and bugs along the way. And we do our morning exercises.
Our eldest son (15 yo) is doing extended year class online every morning. (We love his teacher, he's been great at distance learning because of her) This is the time I work on my 2 little ones (3 yo and 4 yo).
I had to remove all of our supplies and materials, to be able to organize and label everything. I bought plastic bins and containers from the dollar tree (and some from ikea). And trust me on this- organizing everything helps to have smoother lessons.
I love the dollar tree, because you can buy materials on a budget. I try to do themed subjects each week. Right now we're learning all 26 alphabets. Each week is 1 letter. (I will have another blog about it) So this coming 26 weeks we have our lesson plan covered.
I used masking tape and a sharpie to label the plastic containers.
I bought an electric pencil sharpener (from Costco) And its awesome! I put all crayons and colored pencils in its own container.
I have a bin for the materials I will be using for the week. Sunday is my prep day to plan my weeks curriculum; books ill read, prep for the crafts, flash cards etc. This helps with quick turnaround in each activity. I have a list of activities I have for each day to guide me esp on the days I am lazy. It helps a lot!!
For now I only do 15 min at a time. We usually have dance parties, bubbles, bike rides, morning snacks or rest on the cot. This helps with having breaks in between lessons, so they won't get bored right away. I want them to enjoy our class while learning.
Recess time!
Our 1st day was a disaster. Of course my kids wanted to do what they want to do. Since they are used to free play. I had to ease in to it. And by the 2nd day, they were already excited.
Each morning after our walk, we do circle time 1st. I sing a song about what day is it, what the weather is and what we're going to do for the day. Our theme for the week is letter Aa. Everyday we read books that starts with letter A, we also do flashcards, I also write on our whiteboard. And I display the craft they do for the day. (I will blog more about it in detail in another post)
I used items we already have around the house. White board, alphabet magnets and the chicken wire window for art display for the day.
Everyday we practice writing the letter on a lined paper (Also from the dollar tree)
Kiara's 2nd day writing the letter A.
I bought this pencil holder since Mason still struggles a little in holding the pencil the right way. And it has helped him a lot!
And around 11am we go back inside the house, and this is the time I prep for lunch. I turn youtube on in our TV and play videos of our theme for the week. I usually just search letter A (We watched sesame street etc)
We also love these channels on youtube
There are mornings where they tell me they don't want to go to our 'classroom'. Thats when i switch things up. We do indoor activities. I don't want to force things because I want them to have fun while learning.
Once a week, we go on a field trip. (For places that are open and not crowded and outdoors) Usually the arboretum, beach, hike etc.
And after lunch is MY TIME!
Its quiet/ naptime. All kids go to their bedroom. The 2 little ones nap for 1-2 hours. And since a few weeks now our eldest also takes a nap at the same time!
After nap time is outside free time. We paint rocks, play in their mud kitchen, ride bikes etc. This is usually just free play, as long as they are outside. Then when I have to make dinner around 5pm that's the time they get to use their ipad/ TV time. And I clock out of my job lol :)
Steve takes over, and I usually do things for myself away from my kids lol ;D
Comments