A homeschool schedule, of sorts, for this surprise-to-us-all, quarantine we’re in! Our own ideas, free resources, and more.

There are, oh, at least a dozen other Moms I could rattle off the top of my head who are much more equipped to write this post than I am. Moms who are actual homeschoolers. Moms who are clucking right now as the rest of us scramble to figure out how to do what they have been doing all along. But, getting advice from a homeschooler as a non-homeschooler is perhaps a little bit like being advised on how to climb El Cap from Alex Honnold himself when you’re wondering, “is there anyone else who can give me some help? Any beginners out there?”

In a sing-songy voice: here I am! Total beginner! No clue what I’m doing! Let’s see if, together, we can just get like ten feet off the Yosemite Valley floor, never mind free solo to the tip top.

As a perpetually curious of homeschooling non-homeschooler, I am certainly ready for this challenge and am in the very fortunate position where I work part time from home already. Day 1 is in the books now and I daresay it was really good! Here’s a rough outline of what it’s looking like for us (plus another print out that’s a book log for Parker; he fills it out himself). I have already edited it having realized that I really didn’t need to be scheduled through 2 or 3:00 PM given that there is much less dead time in a homeschooling day of two boys. Move to the couch for reading, and they’re in position in 4 seconds flat. Move to the table for lunch, and we’re there. Fewer kids, fewer minutes spent herding them like cows on a pasture. Thus, we move through our day quite quickly and can really wrap things up after lunch. (I remember Steve telling me that Shannon’s homeschool schedule was roughly 9-noon or 1ish, and she was pretty much wrapping things up around March for the year. Given that the older kids are all quite smart–sometimes too smart–I’m feeling very validated in my decision to not have our schooling go until the typical school departure time.)

When I say we roughly followed this, I mean we *roughly* followed this. I don’t think they actually got dressed till after lunch. If we completed one task well and they asked for a play break, we took it. They didn’t want to do Cosmic Kids’ Yoga, so we chose a different YouTube workout instead. Independent reading turned into me reading to them. It’s all good, now let’s dig in.

First, we put on a real zen playlist. Might I suggest this one?

Morning intentions. This might be a little woo-woo for some of you, but this was a game-changer, and absolutely set the stage for a really good day, I think. Mindset is everything. Now hang on, cause it’s about to get even more woo-woo. We sat down around the rug together in a circle and held hands. (Didn’t sing Kumbaya, but, hey, there’s still time.) I lit my beeswax candle, we saged ourselves (I’m serious, but you can still laugh), and I gave them the roller of oils I made for them to use on their wrists and forearms. We talked about how this is our school situation for the next few weeks, and because I’m enthusiastic, they’re enthusiastic. (Likewise, if I were panicking, they’d probably be panicking.) They were so receptive, and we talked about how Mom is sort of the teacher, even though I’m still the Mom too. How I want our day to go smoothly and peacefully and we can all work together to make that happen. Then we took a few nice deep breaths together, blew our candle out, and began our day.

Independent reading. This is probably the piece of the day I care about most, so it seemed fitting to have it completed first. My idea was that this would be Parker doing independent reading and me reading to Anders, but instead Parker grabbed a Magic Treehouse and said, “how about I read to Anders?!” This is what I’m talking about. The morning intentions made all the difference. Typically I’d have to beg Parker to read to Anders but this morning it was his idea. The idea of the three of us working together and helping one another out like we talked about had him fully on board. Granting, it was day one. Ask me how it’s going on day 37. They read Magic Treehouse for about 15 minutes before Anders was getting squirrely, and then I grabbed Indian in the Cupboard (we’ll watch the movie when we finish; also, they both are really into it). We proceeded to read for about 45 minutes, at which point I walked into the kitchen and, like the magic of the Food Network when they pull already made food out of the oven seconds after mixing raw ingredients, I placed their plates in front of them– a snack that I had prepared during their Magic Treehouse time. Parker looked at me so endearingly. If looks could talk his would say, “You already had this done? Mom, you are so cute.” And then we laughed.

Which brings me to my TIPS:

01. Predict their hunger. I find that they are much less picky and whiny when I provide the snack before they actually ask for it. Once they’ve asked for food, then they get all, “what are you making us?” and pretty much argue with anything I say short of chocolate chip cookies. Our first snack was a scoop of chicken salad, some almond crackers, and cucumber slices. They ate happily.

02. A mindful start. I already touched on this. But seriously, do it.

03. Think about it the night before. Have a rough plan of what you’re doing to do. It’s nice to have already wrapped my head around what our day will look like before I’m in the midst of it.

Back to the school day.

Math/Science for Parker, letters practice for Anders. For Parker, this was doing a worksheet from Eureka Math that I had from his school, and then logging into a technology hub his school provided and doing some Brain Pop Jr. I’m not sure if this is something you can get into without a school login, but give it a try (there’s also Zearns, SplashMath, and Prodigy). He was pretty independent for this which was great, so I could work on things (the above picture) with Anders–stickers, and them him writing the letter. After that, I’d say a letter and have him attempt to point it out. Tomorrow, I think I’ll do stamps with him with a stamp pad and that might be fun. Sounding out letters, etc. We’ll see how it goes. With Parker, we’re going to draw plants and label their parts. Maybe we’ll get the paints out for this too. Also, there’s a lot of math worksheets you can print out online!

Tomorrow I think I’m going to have Parker write a story, using prompts that I give him to get him started. Here’s some I found while googling.

Look out the window for 30 seconds…
Write a story about a trip you would like to take with your family…
You and your friends build a treehouse…
You are trapped in the mall for the night…
Write a story about a magical pair of shoes…

There’s also this spinner to choose a prompt for them. Kind of clever.

Physical time. Cosmic Kids yoga typically, but they did run outside a bit and help Steve put together a garden bed (wood shop class, check!). Then when they came in, they did this workout. Parker took it a bit more seriously than Anders, but he’s five, we’ll call it good. Tomorrow I’m doing my typical barre class virtually at my sister’s studio (offering virtual classes for the foreseeable COVID19 future–check into it!) and we’ll see if they do a little plank or pushups with me.

Other ideas:

This group is doing a Facebook live every day this week at 10 AM EST for Shark Story Hour, followed by a shark Q/A.
The Cincinatti Zoo is doing a home safari Facebook live every weekday at 3 PM EST where they will highlight one of their amazing animals with an activity to do at home.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems. New videos posted every weekday at 1 PM EST.
Easy science for kids. Like, really easy.
Various indoor activities we’ve done over the years, all winners!
Play games! Card games, build a fort, CandyLand, Monopoly (mothers everywhere are like, “do you actually play Monopoly with your kids? Who has an eight hour time block for that? Truth be told, I actually shudder every time Parker asks me to play Monopoly.), Guess Who, Chutes and Ladders, Dominos.
Kinetic sand! The best. I’ve bought little castles for them to use with the sand.
And when in doubt, perhaps the only takeaway you really need from this rambly blog post of mine is this: READ. When in doubt, read to them. If you do nothing else, you’ll still have done a whole lot. (Rachael says so too, so you know it’s true!)
Spring Art! (An aside–I kind of want another version of Pinterest that is really simplified like… “art you can create just with crayons and watercolors and that will definitely not require a trip to Michael’s to achieve.” Who’s with me?)
Mark Kistler’s live stream on Youtube of drawing tutorials!
Go Noodle for movement fun.
Art for Kids Hub! Parker enjoys this sometimes.

If you’ve got other resources or links doing freebies this week, please comment with them below. And tell me how you’re doing! What’s the next few weeks look like for you? Thinking of you all, especially those of you for who this quarantine is just so incredibly difficult financially, and otherwise.