I’m happy to report that Travis finished this fifth week of Covid-19 home schooling on a high note. Here’s a quick run-down as we head into the weekend. You’ll notice we didn’t take a break in the morning, which helped ward off temper tantrums of transitioning from play to “class”.

9-9.30: ELA. Travis worked on rhyming today. We looked at flashcards and took turns quizzing each other. Star and can? Thumbs down! Star and jar? Thumbs up!

This thumbs up made it feel silly for Travis. We then put together a booklet of the pairs we’d found, stapling them in since he didn’t want to use glue. He rounded out ELA by writing sight words in rainbow colors and did about 15 minutes on Lexia.

9.30-10: Math. Today’s big topic was subtraction, including an intro video from his teacher. He watched a read-through of Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, and we followed up with a snack subtraction game. Travis enjoyed watching our snack lines of cereal puffs dwindle down. We talked about who had more, less, or equal to as the game went on. “School is fun!” he declared.

10-10.30: Social Studies. Although there won’t be a real Patriot’s Day parade this year, Travis watched a video about the holiday and then made his own parade float. Little sister wanted to help decorate, too!

Of course Travis wanted to play with his minutemen and red coat soldiers, after!

10.30-12.30: Long lunch/free play. This coincided well with baby sister’s nap.

12.30-1: Art. First we watched a video of sea otters, and then checked out animals on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website. His assignment was to draw his favorite animal in its habitat. Here’s a shark in the ocean!

That rounded out the day. The afternoon included a toddler music class for little sister, and a chance to get some fresh air despite cold weather. When he needed direction for his play, tangrams and online yoga helped fill the time.