Well, today was not as rough as Monday, not as fantastic as yesterday, but I can accept a middle-of-the-road middle of the week here in Covid-19 home school. Don’t forget to share how your day went in the comments!

9-10: ELA: Today’s focus was on the sounds in words. I put ten objects in a pillowcase, all with one syllable (pen, car, etc.).

As Travis drew them out, he tapped out the sounds on his fingers, so, for example pen has three distinct sounds (p, e, and n). He enjoyed the tactile nature of the game. He then did one letter page in his workbook and 30 full minutes on Lexia but then…

10-11: Math. When I asked him to come to his math lesson, he had a meltdown. I recommended free play and recess, but that didn’t cut it. So I pulled out a surprise (his latest package from Little Passports; stay tuned for my full recap!). Even this didn’t really reset him so I sort of just talked him through the lesson on 3-D shapes, despite a fun rap song to watch and a scavenger hunt.

11-11.30: Social studies. Travis watched videos on nurses and farmers as two important community jobs. He drew a picture of a farmer and wrote a sentence about how they help. Eating lunch after he told me, “Mom I ate my crops!” A cute, positive moment in the day.

11.30-1: Long lunch/free play.

1-1.30: Library. For his special today, we watched his librarian do a story read online of Tops and Bottoms, and do a silly bunny rabbit finger play.

1.30-2.30: Outside! We took a long walk. It was cold but sunny and it did everyone good.

We rounded out the afternoon with a bunch of miscellany, whether playing the card game Uno, fitting in a STEM craft on muscles, or just letting the siblings play.

On the heels of a trulydifficult Monday, we had a Terrific Tuesday around here. Travis loved school today and was up for every bit of it. Color me one proud mama.

9-10: ELA. For Tuesday writer’s workshop, we watched a read-through of Plant a Little Seed for an Earth Day unit. He then got busy writing a recap (first, next, last), using full sentences and periods, and he was so proud of the picture he drew. Baby sister, meanwhile, was happy with chalk. Travis was on such a roll that he requested extra time on the Lexia spelling program, after.

10-10.30: Recess/snack. Travis went off collecting rocks. Baby sister was happy with pom poms. I was happy in the sunshine.

10.30-11: Emotional Learning. Travis watched another read-through (How Full Is Your Bucket), and then we discussed the story and ways to fill our own emotional “buckets” each day. He drew himself playing a game nicely with his little sister!

11-12: We took a STEM break to make LED magnets!

12-1: Lunch/free play.

1-2: Outdoor time: We turned a beautiful spring day into a nature scavenger hunt.

Travis enjoyed checking off items on the list his teacher provided, as well as finding novelties like a square-shaped stick!

Little sister squeezed in some nature learning, too.

2-2.30: Acting: After a quick watch of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, Travis built a bridge so we could act out the story. His involved two stools and a big cardboard box. Kids might also like making a bridge from smaller objects like Legos or building blocks. Then we acted out the billy goats gruff!

This led to an inventive afternoon of pretend play, leaving me free to make dinner. So hurray for Terrific Tuesday.

Well, happy Monday. There was lots of resistance and tantrums today, folks, a few moments of laughter to break the tension, and a toddler who refused to nap. Chaos, in sum! How did your day go? Please share!

9-10: ELA. Travis and I started out with a game of sight word Fiddlesticks. Ideally play this with craft sticks, but I recently used mine up so I wrote sight words on the end of paper strips.

We put these in a cup, along with one strip marked with a purple diamond. Travis and I took turns pulling out the strips and reading the word. If we drew the purple, we declared “Fiddlesticks!” and our strips went back in.

This got some laughter at least. He also did a letter page in his workbook and 20 minutes of Lexia, which involved a fair amount of yelling, fussing, and hating me.

10-10.30: Math. While Travis wrote the numbers 1 through 10 on red squares of paper, I marked 10 additional squares with hearts in corresponding amounts. Travis laughed at making me draw so many hearts. I’ll take laughter where I can!

Then we played a version of Memory: finding a number card and the corresponding number of hearts means you keep the pair and get another turn.

10.30-11: Much needed snack and free play (sigh, pouring rain).

11-11.30: Science: Travis watched a read-through of The Tiny Seed. Then we made a giant flower by coloring a green stem, yellow center, and tracing his hand on red paper for the petals. As a bonus, we glued down dried beans in the center for seeds! He was mildly into the project. At least he wasn’t screaming at me.

11.30-12: Gym. Everyone needed to move and baby sister wouldn’t take her nap, so we checked out his P.E. teacher’s suggestions.

A rhythm stick dance to ‘Thunder’ by Imagine Dragons fit the bill, followed by a game called Kicking Corners. Put 2 cups in each of the 4 corners of a rug or other open area. Time your child and see how long it takes to kick all the cups down with a soccer ball. This was great for kicking skills, no hands allowed.

12-1: Lunch/free play.

1-1.30: Spanish. For some silly fun we watched the teacher’s dog “sing” a song about 10 little dogs. Then Travis drew 10 animals in circles, and was proud of his own details!

We then looked up the names of each animal in Spanish. Mommy even learned a few new ones.

We called it quits early, turning to a fun cooking project instead and going for a drive in the pouring rain just to get out of the house. We’re hoping for a nature walk, fewer tantrums, and more naps tomorrow.