We seem to have settled into a rhythm whereby Travis loves school in the morning, but protests anything I suggest after 1 p.m. or so. That’s why our schedule is so front-loaded, so feel free to space out activities more if you have kids who aren’t freshest first thing!

9-9.30: STEAM. Travis’s workbook page today involved reading the names of ocean animals and then coloring them in. We expanded on this ocean theme with porthole scratch art!

9.30-10: ELA. His workbook page involved sequencing a story about a coyote chasing a prairie dog.

He then invented what would happen next/last in the story with a drawing. I did try to entice him into writing this out, similar to a classroom Writers Workshop, but he only wanted to do the picture. That was fine, since he gamely sat for 20 minutes on Lexia. (Little sister was busy painting with trucks).

10-10.30: Snack/recess. (Li’l sis had a toddler sing-along class).

10.30-11: Social/emotional learning. We read an encyclopedia page about healthy bodies, which overlapped nicely with wellness questions sent home from the school counselor. The QR code took us to a link about yoga poses, so we followed up with yoga of our own… Jedi-style of course!

With Tuesday as his half day, we never got back into academics from here. The afternoon involved social time (Skype with a friend!), time outside (a leisurely neighborhood walk), and cooking!

His bedtime story was Leo the Late Bloomer.

Before I dive into Monday, a quick note on the weekend! I had planned to do a shadow activity on the previous Friday but the weather was too cloudy. So it made for a nice Saturday morning activity instead. After tracing a maze in his summer workbook (helping a camel follow shadows to a shady oasis), Travis and I talked about shadows and then headed outside for a shadow chalk experiment. Full details are here.

Meanwhile, it’s Monday and we had a successful morning, once more going off-book from teacher suggestions.

9-9.30: Math: The corresponding page in his summer workbook involved counting jewels from a box of hidden treasure. This was great because all the numbers were in the teens, and he was due for a review.

There were so many ways to extend the play from there! We did a repeat craft of old “acorn jewels” (although to make it quicker I filled them with hot glue instead of waiting for white glue to dry) and then hid them all around the house. We also pulled out an old treasure box to play with.

9.30-10: STEM. Floating fish made for a quick lesson on density and buoyancy.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. We played a game of tag out in the yard, which counted both as play and exercise, since I knew he would nix any gym suggestions from the P.E. teacher.

10.30-11: 20 minutes on Lexia, once again working on story sequencing.

11-11.30: Science. Our encyclopedia page of the day focused on rocks.

After a quick watch of the QR code video, I pulled out an old set of rocks and a magnifying glass for further exploration. Just as I hoped, the props from the day were now coming together in imaginative free play. You’ll notice the rocks and minerals are being guarded as treasure, as the pirate ship comes to plunder!

11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2: Spanish. His teacher had recorded a wonderful read of Mouse Paint using the Spanish words for colors. Travis flipped the pages of our home copy to follow along.

I didn’t want to deal with the mess of paints, so we mixed food coloring to see how this worked in real time, naming all the colors in Spanish as we went.

2-2.30: Outside. We walked in a local park and picked flowers for Teacher Appreciation Week!

2.30-3: Art. Back home, we fit in some last-minute art in a project that was actually intended for baby sister, since he wasn’t interested in his class’s standard “Over the weekend…” writing and drawing.

His bedtime story was Ira Sleeps Over.

TGIF! We’re off book from the teacher’s suggestions again, and whoops, maybe had a few too many projects. But it kept Travis (and baby sister!) engaged and happy all day, so I can’t complain.

9-9.30: Letter A/Apples: His summer workbook page focused on the letter A, including coloring in apples marked with “A” and circling words with the short a sound (I asked him to give me a rhyme for each of these, too). Then we carried forward that theme of apples for some silly fun!

First up was erupting “apples” made from baking soda and vinegar. We then did a simplified version of an old apple experiment to test whether an apple browned faster in lemon juice or vinegar.

Late day results revealed that lemon juice had kept the apple white! As a bonus, all of these activities allowed baby sister to happily get involved (when she wasn’t busy with bottles and lids).

9.30-10: Social studies. The corresponding workbook page was about matching community helpers to their tools. I liked that it featured some unexpected ones like sanitation workers and lifeguards.

We made the play hands-on with a magnet doll dress-up set, and Travis proudly dressed it as a firefighter, police officer, and more.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. Travis wanted to join in some super messy toddler shaving cream fun, perfect for a rainy day pause.

10.30-11: ELA. Travis did about 20 min of Lexia story sequencing.

11-1: Lunch/free play.

1-2: STEAM. The encyclopedia page today was about storms, expanding upon yesterday’s tamer lesson on the weather in general. Travis watched the QR code video about hurricanes, then we made a “tornado in a jar”, an old experiment that is really just watching glitter swirl through water.

The sun came out from the clouds just in time for us to make a rainbow, too, using a CD tilted in a tray of water, then reflected against a sheet of paper.

2-3: Little sister had an online music class, and Travis joined in, making this his music for the week, too!

3-3.30: Outside. I thought we would use a walk for his teacher’s suggested “jump and count” math game, but after a rain storm, it turned into art class instead! That meant we really didn’t do any math today, but there’s always next week…