I have a confession: I am not a gifted math teacher. My inability to teach algebra is legendary in our home. As a homeschool teacher, I was saved by the very gifted math teachers who provide curricula and instruction online. How anyone homeschooled before the internet is a mystery to me.
As you plan for the week ahead, I am sending along a list of educational sites for you. The number of resources within these links is vast. I encourage you to take it slowly. If you find one lesson useful, that is great! A successful day can be: an older sibling reading to a younger sibling, a child noticing halves and fourths when cutting an apple, your child telling you a story while you take a walk, noticing a bird outside and learning the type of bird, building an elaborate structure with blocks or legos, writing messages with chalk on the sidewalk, or helping you as you make dinner. Learning happens in large and small ways. Online Resources: For young children: Other Goose is a homeschool site focusing on open-ended learning ideas for children ages 2-6. For the next three weeks, they are offering their resources free of charge. For all ages: Khan Academy is an excellent resource for children in preschool through high school. There are video lessons as well as virtual practice options for all subject areas. National Geographic created lists, divided by age groups, with learning activities to use at home. Tinker Lab provides art and science activities for children ages 2-12. I would argue that the ideas are appropriate for all ages, so included it in this category. For older children: Crash Course was created by brothers John and Hank Green, providing fun and informative educational videos for teens. Tip- They talk very fast, but you can slow down the speed on YouTube to make it easier to follow. I hope your week is filled with moments of wonder and learning.
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The swiffer was the first tool that drew our daughters to chores. I am not entirely sure what the draw was: the adjustable handle to fit their height, the way it moved across a smooth service with ease, or that it collected dust and debris on a tidy cloth that could be tossed in the garbage. Whatever it was, they loved it. A close second was washing dishes in a large tub of soapy water. More water ended up on the children and floor than the sink, but the sense of pride and accomplishment in completing the job was palpable. That great love of chores has subsided over the years, but everyone in our family still lends a hand. With the amount of use our house is getting right now, chore distribution is a must. Knowing what chores are appropriate for various age levels can be tricky. The chart Age Appropriate Chores for Children from the Flanders Family blog is a good place to start. A few things I have learned over the years about chores:
Are you thinking about setting up a workspace for your children this weekend? Are you wondering where to begin? I suggest thinking about how you created your own, personal workspace and what was important to you. Perhaps it was finding a dedicated space, minimizing clutter, collecting all the tools you need in one place... Our homeschool workspace has changed numerous times over the years. We are constantly adjusting based on what works at the moment. I encourage you to get started and make changes as you go. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started:
Two articles for your weekend reading:
When Chloë and Clara were younger, Friday was our field trip day. Sometimes the experience brought about deep learning, but more often than not it was a time to step away from the regular schedule of our days and enjoy the experience of wandering around a favorite museum or walking the trails at a nature preserve.
I couldn't always predict what would bring about deep learning. One Friday, we stumbled upon a documentary, "The Mystery of the Great Lakes," at an imax theater at one of our museums. The girls loved it! We went back four times to rewatch it and researched everything we could about sturgeon. We bought a picture book and sturgeon frequently were the topic of creative writing projects for months. I did not predict that response! Other Fridays found us at an old grist mill with nature trails to walk and explore. We toured the mill a couple times, but walking the trails was the real draw. The outings may not have appeared educational, but spending time outdoors with no structure or expectation was invaluable. Those days are often memorialized with great fondness. Field trips, in the traditional sense, are not in the cards right now, but setting aside a fun activity or nature walk may be a good way to mark that it is Friday.
Learning at home is a new reality for many families today. I imagine that you might feel overwhelmed by this new role in your children’s lives. I created this blog to help a little with the day-to-day decisions you will have to make. There are so many great ideas about learning from home out there, and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. I will include links along the way. If you have specific questions, please send me an email ([email protected]) and I will send ideas and information your way.
This is an unsettling time in so many ways, and a gift you can give your children and yourselves is developing a rhythm or schedule for your days. Children and adults thrive with structure, so developing a routine that works for your family is essential. As you develop your plan, pay attention to the rhythm that is already in place and work backwards. Be flexible and adjust your plan as you live into it. A written schedule, with squares to check off, is always popular around our house! Here is our current daily rhythm:
I found an excellent article, “How to Keep School Rhythm and Routines for Young Children at Home”, https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-03-17-how-to-keep-school-rhythm-and-routines-for-young-children-at-home, that may be useful as you develop your rhythm at home. Although they’re labeled for young children, many of the suggestions on routine are useful for children of all ages. Here are some important take-aways from the article that I found useful in my own early homeschool days:
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AuthorWelcome! My name is Heidi. I am a mom of two daughters, one dog, and one rabbit, and wife to one guy. I have been a homeschool mom for thirteen years – the first ten in Chicago and the last three in St. Louis. I am glad you found your way here! Archives
July 2020
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