It’s only been 4 days and I am EXHAUSTED! If I haven’t written this before, let me state it now; and if I have, let me reiterate, I have so, so, so much more respect for homeschooling moms now! Not that I ever doubted the tremendous amount of work they do but now, having been somewhat in their shoes for a few days, I have a renewed appreciation for all that these superhero moms (and some dads) do!
Academics: I continue to face challenges in trying to manage a schedule that is both preschool and kindergarten friendly. Given how committed J seems to the homeschooling process, despite his occasional protests, I enjoy working with him. He is a good student and works hard when he needs and wants to.
So far with him, in 4 days, we have completed ALL the assignments his teacher set out for the kids for the week and the usual homework assignments as well. I also did additional work: Senses, Homonyms, Rhymes, and Fact or Opinion (tomorrow). I hope to introduce something different for him every week so that he can learn some advanced materials. Lest you think I am overdoing it, I am only doing what he can comfortably understand, and process. If he doesn’t, I don’t push it. Not yet, anyway.
Poor sweet darling E loves her independence and enjoys doing her own thing. She will blatantly refuse to do what I ask her to, whether it is completing a worksheet I printed and laminated for her or an activity I planned for her and not to mention, the cleaning up after herself of the many messes she makes around our “classroom”. I am still struggling to find activities and work that engage her. I know she enjoys coloring but today, even with her favorite Frozen coloring sheet, all I got out of her were some scribbles on that sheet. She did have fun being the weather and calendar girl today which is where she looks out the window to determine what today’s forecast predicts and then together, with J, we go on to talking about the month, date, and day.
Anyway, the morning work was pretty much a non-starter. However, after lunch, recess, and some outdoor play time, she was able to work on some Math worksheets of which I was really proud. She excels at her numbers and alphabet recognition…both upper and lowercase. She is unable to write all of them yet but she is very close.
Yesterday and today, we went for a neighborhood walk and bike ride respectively. I will be making this a regular part of our post-lunch routine. The kids seem to enjoy these outdoor activities even though, yet again, not without some protests 🙂 but we do get some fresh air and the exercise is so important with these homebound days.
Our schedule today:
| Time | Activity |
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Workout and ease into the classroom |
| 9:00 – 915 | Weather, Day, Learning to write date |
| 9:15 – 10:00 | Tricky Words; Sight Words |
| 10:00 – 10:20 | Reading Time/Story Time |
| 10:20 – 10:45 | Snack Time |
| 10:45 – 11:30 | Alphabets Practice, Skills Workbook Exercises |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Creative Time – PlayDoh |
| 12:00 – 1:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 2:30 | Recess – Walk, Self-Play |
| 2:30 – 3:15 |
Math (Assigned worksheets, Word problems) |
| 3:15 – 3:30 |
Snack Time |
| 3:30 – 4:00 |
Science Experiment – Sink or Float |
| 4:00 |
School ends. |
Something I am starting to also enjoy with the kids is doing minor science experiments. They seem really, really into it and nothing beats experiential learning so this is good! On Tuesday, we did the Oil & Water Density Experiment, as well as the Fishing with Rubber-bands activity. Today, we did the Float & Sink Experiment and boy, did they love it!
So this is where we are on Day 4. Tomorrow we’ll be concluding one whole week in homeschooling. I will be writing about things I have learned in this one week and where we hope to go from here.
