There are a lot of “homeschoolers” right now with schools being closed across Canada and the United States. There is a lot of information out there about how to schedule the day, how to re-create school at home. School at home is going to look a lot different than actual public school.
Doing School at Home
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School at home is going to look different than public school. To start, you have a very small amount of kids in your school, and in your classroom, especially if you have multiple grades.
Let’s Take A Breath
You are stressed about working from home or being off work, and now you are stressing about how to teach your kids. Relax, take a breath and let me tell you about deschooling.
Deschooling is a period of adjustment that child goes through when leaving school and begins homeschooling. The child has the chance to decompress and disconnect from “school” being the default and “school ways” being the standard expectation. But this only happens through a lack of strict scheduling, and maybe even a complete lack of “school”.
How to do School at Home
This is where most of you are. You are now home with your child you are trying to figure out when to get school work done, and then school work is finished super early in the day. What you are supposed to do with the rest of the day, because doesn’t school take 8 hours a day?
School at home doesn’t take all day because your child is working at their pace and not working on someone else (or a classroom of someone else’s), and are able to get their work done faster… assuming they work and aren’t getting distracted by the fact that they are home.
School at Home & Screen Time
You can use screen time. At this point, throw out the rules on limited screen time. Maybe your school has classes online, maybe you’re kids are super interested in learning more about graphic design or coding right now. You know where they are going to learn about those things: online, on the computer, screen time. Just go with it. We LOVE Teaching Textbooks which is online.
There are a lot of places that are doing live videos on Facebook showing and teaching new things as well as this goes on. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden for example is one that we have been enjoying each day. We just love seeing and learning about animals from them.
Get Outside
Just because you are having to stay away from people does not mean that you can’t get outside and get some fresh air. In fact, I recommend it for helping everyone burn off energy, to keep people from climbing the walls in the house.
Going for a walk is a great way to get out of the house without, hopefully, coming into contact with many people, and if you do, remember the 6-foot rule. Walking is a great way to start a nature study, and you don’t need to be formal about it, just talk about what you see and hear.
Arts & Crafts Time
This is a favorite pastime for my six-year-old. He loves to color and draw. One of our favorite YouTube channels is Art for Kids Hub. Step by step drawing of kids’ favorite characters, animals, and more. I really like these videos for my kids and I to do together.
You don’t need formal art time, just let your kids have free range to crayons, markers, paper, etc.
Reading
Any homeschooler will tell you, reading is the best thing ever! You kids can read to themselves, they can read to you, or you can read to them. The answer to many questions lay within a book.
With all the closures libraries are also closed for physical books which is completely horrible but many have access online with OverDrive. There are also online book subscription places that are offering their services for free for a certain amount of time. Scribd is one of these places, Epic offers reading FREE for 30 days , and Amazon is offering children’s books for free on Audible.
You don’t need to make this time stressful and hard on yourself or your kids. Just be together. Read a book out loud. Maybe take some time for yourself in your room away from everything.
Kindle Books for Homeschool Moms