I confess that home school felt a little mundane today; should I have planned something more elaborate? On the other hand, it meant the day felt easier and smoother than most!

9-9.30: Morning circle. We’ve gotten away from the routine of morning circle and songs that Travis was used to from his classroom. Luckily today’s workbook page on letter S was a good reminder to review! For example, after writing September we sang his months of the year song. Sunday and Saturday likewise prompted singing Days of the Week, and Spring was a reminder to go through the seasons. Plus it was sunny, and we began a belated weather chart for the month of June.

9.30-10: ELA. The second workbook page was on letter T. We took the time to tap out syllables and sounds for all the words on the page, something else we’ve neglected to do recently. Then he did Lexia for 15 minutes.

10-10.30: Recess/snack. Travis wanted to play inside but little sister was out hunting for frogs in the grass!

10.30-11: Math. After Star Wars droid math problems, Travis wrote a full math story about it and drew a picture to boot! He struggled but was ultimately so proud of his work. A high point on the day.

11-11.30: STEM. Travis designed a pom pom maze, an activity we tried with marbles about a year ago. Then he used his hands as measurement tools to find items that were shorter/longer, heavier/lighter etc.

11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2: Social studies. Taking inspiration from a page in Highlights magazine about Gallant kids, Travis learned about life skills and disaster preparedness, including a funny video on how to use a fire extinguisher.

Highlights was also great for some quiet time puzzling over the Find It page.

2-3: Specials. For Music, Travis recorded himself saying chants fast (hare) or slow (turtle), For Spanish we listened to a beautiful song on la luna (which arguably interested little sister more!) and then enjoyed a Zoom with the teacher.

3-4: Outside. We took a nature walk with a family friend, who taught Travis about new plants, flowers, birds, and bugs. I didn’t have a camera to capture the beautiful moment, but sometimes that’s for the best.

Following up on yesterday’s success, we started with a “fun” activity before diving into the more academic. As a result, we mostly had good spirits all day!

9-9.30: After a workbook page filling out some of our family’s favorite things, I pulled out old family photo albums. Travis – and little sister, too! – loved looking at baby pictures of themselves, spotting pictures of “young” mommy and daddy, and pointing out other relatives.

9.30-10: Travis did a quick workbook page on subtraction problems, and then we played Go Fish with a twist…Go Make Ten! Instead of asking for a pair (i.e. a 2 for a 2) you had to ask for a card that would make yours equal 10. So if he had a 2, he asked for an 8. This was tricky for Travis, the first time he was doing sums in his head instead of counting objects on a page.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. And dropping rocks on the patio!

10.30-11: ELA. Travis did a workbook page on letter R, and we searched for digraphs on the page (sh, ch, and th words). He did Lexia to round out the half hour. I asked him if he wanted to do some of the digraph worksheets his teacher had sent home. You can see the resounding no in his posture here.

11-11.30: Art. We made friendship bracelets! This was great not just for fine motor skills and creativity, but also thinking about others.

As he worked he decided which friend or relative each bracelet was for. Little sister was happy with the beads, too, and I was happy working alongside them both!

11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2: Class Zoom. This was the toughest part of the day and we’ll leave it at that.

2-3: Cooking. We reset with a favorite activity, and today we cooked Moroccan food!

3: Outside. We played hopscotch with teen numbers, then drove around town to leave the friendship bracelets in friends’ mailboxes. A heart-warming good deed to end the day.

Travis’s Writers’ Workshop wrapped up today, the first of the “lasts” for his kindergarten year which is so hard to believe! Before we got to that, though, I wanted to start his day on a super fun note to avoid yesterday’s mishaps. So…

9-9.30: Math: After a workbook page on addition with marshmallows, I surprised Travis with a bag of the real thing (Dandies vegan minis). We put together each math “sentence” with the marshmallows, after which Travis got to eat them of course!

Then (because why not on a random Tuesday?) we made proper s’mores with graham crackers and chocolate squares, plus put together an old favorite STEM activity: a marshmallow launcher. Honestly, Travis was more into playing with the marshmallows than eating them, but I let him have his gooey fun.

9.30-10: Writing. Now it was time to wrap up Writers Workshop, something Travis has fought me on during home school. I challenged him to turn the latest page in his Star Wars writing book into a little story. He phonetically wrote one sentence, drew a picture, and then added his name and title on a cover.

I played up the moment with great excitement, saying now he was an author with a book! This did produce a moment of pride.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. We made a straw fountain on the patio to cool off!

10.30-11: ELA. I thought just for a second I might convince Travis to roll dice in a sight word game, but he bailed on it quickly. On the other hand, he did a great stint on Lexia. (Little sister kept busy with stickers!).

11-1: Lunch/free play.

1-1.30: Social/emotional. After watching a read-through of the story We’re All Wonders, Travis filled out a chart with a kind word or compliment for each classmate. I was proud of the thought Travis put into this assignment from his teacher.

1.30-2: Science. After filling out a workbook page about the seasons, Travis and I celebrated spring with some seed planting!

His teacher had dropped off supplies on the front porch, enabling us to plant the following 4 seeds: pumpkin, sunflower, bean, and pea. The kids loved mixing up the soil with water on the patio!

Travis helped scoop it into cups, dig small holes for the seeds, and add them to the cups.

2-2.30: Outdoors. We headed to the park for exercise and fresh air. And fit in a scavenger hunt, too!