Well, we made it through a full week! Here’s a recap of our Friday.

7-9: Breakfast, get dressed, free play.

9: Check-in, ELA. The read-aloud suggestion today was to read a book and then to act it out. I picked one that I knew would maximize Travis’s fun: The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds.

Travis (and baby sister!) got to play with all the toys that the naughty bunnies play with as they try not to sleep, and there was lots of tiptoeing and marching. We then connected the book to moments in his own life. We rounded out the hour with a workbook letter page (B) and 20 minutes on his Lexia program.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. With a rainy day again, some Nat Geo Kids clips kept Travis entertained.

10.30-11: Math. We played with dominoes! First we counted pips, then made shapes with the dominoes, and then lined them up in order of smallest to largest.

We also read a fun book from our personal collection, Usborne’s Count to 100.

11-12: Science. Travis’s class recently did a unit on wood, so today was a wood scavenger hunt around the house. Travis couldn’t believe how many things are made of wood, whether furniture, toys, or more.

In honor of the first day or spring, we also planted a bean sprout: Wet a handful of cotton balls, but squeeze out any excess water, then place in the bottom of a mason jar. Add two to three dried beans, placing them between the cotton and the side of the jar. We’ll water it daily and see!

Thanks to Little Passports for this suggestion.

12-1: Quiet time/free play (while baby sister naps!).

1: Over lunch, the kids watched a performance from storyteller Bill Harley I’m so touched how many musicians, authors, and other performers are providing these resources to our children.

2-3: Art: His special today would have been art, so Travis drew our family. He started out very studiously drawing himself, before it all got a bit sillier!

For social/emotional learning, we also talked about a kind deed we could do today. He chose to scatter some leftover birdseed outside for springtime birds, then drew a picture.

3-3.30: Crafts/Movement. We finished the day with silly sock puppets.

A final Go Noodle dance and a walk outside for fresh air, and our first week of home schooling was complete!

 

 

The whole family has a little sniffle today (thank goodness nothing more) so we kept to “home school lite” and threw in an afternoon movie. How is your adventure in home school going? Please share in the comments!

7-9: Breakfast, get dressed, free play. And help mommy clean the bathroom! Anyone else’s house extra spic and span right now?

9-10: ELA. While reading a story (A Stone Stood Still), Travis was on the lookout for five sight words from class. He got a kick out of the fact that he could use marker in the book, since it’s one from home. He also did one letter page from a school workbook and 20 minutes on his Lexia website.

10-10.30: Math. We went around the house looking for things to count, including toy balls into a bag (42!), and socks. After we counted individual socks, we paired them up.

10.30-11: Snack/free time.

11-12: We did a Scholastic science unit on spring, which included a nice read-aloud, a few quizzes, and a physical activity to get us moving. I also read Usborne’s See Inside: How Things Work about machines.

12-1: Lunch/quiet time.

1-2: Travis’s special today would have been Music. We sang his school song, and talked about some of his favorites from class, followed by a Spanish song on colors. Little sister loved joining in with instruments.

2-2.30: Skype with a friend! I’m learning that social interaction is just as key as the education to Travis’s school days. We also played a card game for “social learning”, taking turns going first on Memory.

2.30-4: Movie time! Why not on a rainy day when you have a cold.

4-5: We capped off the day with a “cooking lesson”. Travis and I love to make recipes together, and making a lovely salad was the highlight of the day.

We’re hoping for no rain tomorrow…

Friends: Day 3 of COVID-19 home schooling went well academically, but the toughest part about today is that Travis misses his friends. It breaks my heart that our playgrounds are empty, that our children cannot play together, despite the importance of it. Who says we are turning into a virtual culture? It’s clearer to me than ever that kids need other kids physically. To that end, we made sure to do a Skype with a buddy from school. Travis’s teacher also sent a video of herself reading a book. These “face-to-face” interactions were crucial, and I hope you are all finding ways to do them. At one point he just crumpled into tears, missing his buddies, and I held him for a long time. I am sending virtual strength to all, and here was our day!

7: We slept in! Home school is exhausting.

7.30-9: Breakfast, get dressed, free play.

9-10: ELA. Today we read a favorite book (Ralph Tells a Story), and when it was finished we talked about who the characters were, specifically the main character versus secondary characters. Travis loved doing his Lexia games while I played a quick game with baby sis!

10-10.30: Recess and snack.

10.30-11: Math. After playing a “Number Squeeze” game online, we made a hands-on version.

Travis had so much fun drawing monster faces, which we then taped to straws to “squeeze” our way to each number, using the concepts of greater than and less then.

11-12: While baby sister napped, Travis and I made a batch of homemade playdough. This alone was great fun, and then we used the playdough to write his name.

He wanted to make all capital letters first to avoid curves, but then got a little more confident and tackled a few lower case letters.

12-1: Lunch/free play.

1-2: His special today would have been “Library,” so we sat down for a story (I made sure Veronika had a few tactile books to go through, beside us), then listened to two episodes of the Kids Ask Authors podcast.

Finally, we modified the StoryMarch concept here; we printed pictures of six of the word prompts and lined them up in various ways. Each time the pictures were in a different order, we made up a different story about them!

2-3: Frankly, Travis was exhausted this afternoon and I barely got him to focus. So instead of energetic physical movement, we did a “Chillax” video from GoNoodle. For science, we read a book about bugs, and watched a quick video about the first day of spring.

We capped off the day with a walk outside to take advantage of the nice weather, and looked for signs of spring. Travis was so proud when he spotted buds, or flowers coming up.